Anarion

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Robena and Constance
"Nothing burns aye?" the man looks at you with an appraising eye, Robena. Much more carefully than before. "I suppose you've been to places where that's not so and come through the other side of it then."

The man puts one hand on his chin to think, his stance so thoughtful that you both nearly miss him flipping the carrot with the other hand so that it lands right in Constance's lap. The mule, held less firmly than may have first appeared, makes a beeline for it and, heedless of any sense of decency, goes straight for the carrot, nuzzling Constance's thighs in the process.

[Constance, your right to be acknowledged by the traveler is denied. The mule, however, has definitely acknowledge you.]

The man, attention on Robena, finishes his thinking. "Perhaps you could help a traveler with something, you seem noble of bearing and strong of arm enough for it. There's a ruined castle a little ways down the road from here, less than half a day's ride. I thought I'd spend the evening there, but it was haunted by..." he shrugs, not offering the words for what it might have been haunted by and runs a hand sheepishly through his thick hair. "Well, I got so scared that I ran out and left something there, two something's actually. An old lockbox, no bigger than two handspans and my cat, you see. If you could find it in your heart to bring them back to me, I'd be grateful."

Nin

The beast begins to calm and starts sniffing it's surroundings, it's snake tongue lashing outward. It picks something up in the direction of Pellinore and lunges to the side as another shot lands where it had been.

Your best way out of here is to ride the Questing Beast. It is not clear if you could bring Tristan, but you've managed to hang on long enough for it to accept your position and if it leaves with all its strength, it's doubtful anyone could keep up.

There are two ways to preserve your strength, I think, but that's a harder question to answer. One is to hold on and get the Questing Beast to run, there will be no other threats to you unless or until you enrage the beast. On the other hand, if it stays and you can dismount before King Pellinore enrages it and seek shelter with the hunting party, that too would preserve your strength.

As to the biggest threat. Difficult to say, everyone present is quite dangerous. As you stand now, at this exact moment, King Pellinore and her party are your biggest threat. There is a high chance that they interpret you as either protecting the beast or trying to assault it when it is Pellinore's quest to hunt it. Either may lead them to turn hostile to you and collectively they are as strong or stronger than the beast.

King Pellinore is approaching, though you won't be able to see them because of the slight rise in the ground created by the Questing Beast. Tristan obviously can though, and they'll be upon you in a few moments.

What do you do?

Tristan

Two things happen to change the situation. One, the approaching hunters hear you shouting and two the Questing Beast stops shouting and moves from where the arrows were raining. King Pellinore hesitates and relaxes the next arrow on her bowstring, guiding her horse instead towards the upturned tree scanning for you.

Her party is still riding in haste with Pellinore and at least ten knights plus at least as many hunting hounds coming through the trees. They are making for you as fast as they safely can and will be upon you in a moment. King Pellinore appears indeed to have already spotted you from your perch and is waving an arm to hail you to come down and speak. Because of the earthen barriers, they have not yet seen Nin an the beast, but they will as soon as they crest the little rise where your broken tree hangs on precariously.

What do you do?

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Robena and Constance

As you crest a slight rise in the road, you see a youngish man, perhaps in his early twenties, walking along the road. He's got thick tawny hair worn loose so that it peaks out every which way from his straw traveling hat, and he's otherwise wearing an unremarkable off-white tunic turned tan with the dust of the road and plain brownish pants and boots. He is leading a gray pack mule, which has bells on its saddle. Leading is perhaps too strong of a word. The actual mule leader is clearly the apple strung out on a rod just far enough ahead of the mule's mouth that it can catch a stray nibble but not quite seize the whole thing. The man is merely along for the walk wherever the apple may direct the pair.

When he sees you, he tips his hat up and gives a friendly wave with one hand, while trying to yank the mule backwards with the other. He quite nearly overbalances in the process, but manages to reach the rod and pull it up faster than the mule can get the apple, bringing the pair to a sudden stop. "My master here" gestures at the mule "could use a break. What news from...hmm, Lostwithiel, if I've got your bearing right?"

Nin

You're up and off like a shot, faster than Tristan or the Questing Beast or the earth itself can react and all of a sudden you're grasping that snake's neck and digging your feet for purchase into the fur at the shoulders and the thing can't manage to get you off. It rears and shakes, but does not run off, instead thrashing in its anger. It may or may not have heard you, but whatever happened to send it into a frenzy has not worn off yet and so it has not been inspired to follow your directions.

After a moment of wild throwing in which all you can do is close your eyes and hold on for dear life, you hear the swift "thfft" of an arrow shaft lodge itself into the Questing Beast. Did Tristan shoot despite your command? The fool will only drive the beast to anger!

Still, it is beginning to stop thrashing, at least enough for you to do something while holding onto it. What do you do?

Tristan

You did not shoot despite Nin's command. At least not yet, though she can easily be forgiven for not grasping the full situation given her current precarious purchase. Her nobility and kind soul are in full evidence here, though stupidity might also be on the list of ways to describe what just happened. Regardless, you manage to scramble your way up the tree despite nearly being crushed by more flying boulders and the tree itself being halfway uprooted, so you're holding on with one hand to avoid sliding off due to the tree now being at close to a 45 degree angle to the ground.

What you can see from your (oddly diagonal) vantage that Nin cannot is the train of hunters and baying hounds approaching through the forest paths. Their heraldry is a field of azure crosses on a background of or. You'd recognize it as the sign of King Pellinore. And indeed, there she rides at the head of her train atop a swift black stallion. She wears her mail coat polished so it shines and in front is her tabard of that same heraldry apparently untouched by the dirt and damp of the woods. On her head, an open helmet that covers her dark hair down to her neck but leaves her tall, lean face exposed. Her expression is intent, and her hunting bow is strung already for a second shot from horseback as she rides fearlessly through the forest at the head of her party. She is not close enough to see past the chaos and is instead firing arcing shots by the sound of the beast's cries, her first having landed near its rear haunch but barely sunk past the skin, a mosquito bite for the thing at best. She has no way of knowing that Nin is on the creature as she prepares her second shot.

What do you do?

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Nin

Your offer is perfect. You are presenting the Questing Beast with exactly what it craves. The crux of its resistance is distrust. It knows the shape of temptation, and that shape is the shape of a trap. It roars and charges, sending you hurtling backwards in the dark spaces of its mind. Your soul crashes into an invisible wall and it feels for an instant as though all the world is shattering.

[The Questing Beast is ejecting your from your spirit journey, and further, it is Denying your Right to step out of your earthly life again until you have time to rest properly and recover.]

You awaken with a shock to the uncomfortable sights of Tristan's lower back as you're slung over his shoulder. The ground is unsteady and...we'll let him tell it from here, but you are free to act or to assist going forward.

Tristan

Something is wrong. Before the beast was in panicked flight, yes, but it had a certain control of the environment around it. Chaos, but chaos at its command. Now though, it rears and roars and there is madness in its snakelike eyes and more than small sound of pain. Nin seems to stir, but before you can do anything, the creature thrashes and the whole earth thrashes with it. You are flung unceremoniously into a rock, though this is a good measure better than if the thing had hit you itself with those venomous fangs or those massive claws it has.

[Take one harm]

In the distance, you can hear the faint sound of hunting horns braying, but the questing beast is too lost in its current madness to notice. What do you do?

Constance and Robena

Apricot snorts at the indignity of bearing a new rider, and one less familiar than the horse would prefer. But there is no interruption on the lonely British roads with the low grey clouds in the sky that threaten a summer storm. At least not yet. Over a low rise in the road, there is a distant jingling of little horse bells, but it is faint and you have time yet to speak.

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

[Potential 1. Insecure. Angry.]

Ooof, Anathet felt like her insides were being hurled about every which way, and in distinctly different directions than her outsides. She wants to just double over and lie down, but that wasn't possible for like, twenty different reasons. That had been wrong. Like, way wrong. And Canada had followed her through to boot. Had it been her fault? No, she'd taken Canada many times and nothing should have been different. Maybe...

No time! Set grabs Canada, and shoves both of them deeper into the bushes. If someone is shouting, they've been heard but maybe not clearly seen. Her first reaction would be to port back out, especially if they could duck into cover. But...how sick she felt, it didn't seem safe.

"Something's wrong" she whispered urgently to Canada. "We didn't come out right...some kind of dimensional resonance or something. I think...it's got to be short range, the Annunaki don't have the technology to cover more than a small space, the main building at most. We just need to get a little distance away and I can get us out of here."

Unfortunately, Set isn't doing a great job of actually dealing with the immediate situation of getting spotted, but she's hoping that they can hide long enough to find an opportunity.

[Watched c-beams glitter: 3+4+2=9. Set's claim about the dimensional resonance is right, but it's incomplete, flawed, or tangential]

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

[Potential 1. Insecure. Angry.]

Set takes #MAT's list and starts scanning it over. Salmon roe, really? And how many kinds of noodles?! Okay, she was definitely getting taken advantage of here, Phantom Thieves were not grocery delivery services. But, it was an excuse for a breather, and it did feel like all of them in this tiny apartment would suffocate with the way Canada was pouting and #MAT was making excruciating slurping noises from her entirely empty bottle.

So, sure, she'd go make a grocery run from the Seneschal's larder. At least that sounded kind of funny, and maybe if she ran into any kitchen staff, she could add to the "Set is all over the estate" rumors that were probably already going around. If she were really lucky, maybe she'd even overhear some rumors about how the Seneschal had been found the other night, tied to the chair with his own torn skirt. That would make her entire day and give something to talk to Canada about that wasn't all don't worry, I'll just push myself until I die and everything will be fine.

As she was imagining these things, she started absentmindedly tracing her portal. This was a safe entry point, so she wasn't going for any particular speed or stealth, just taking the one area of the apartment that wasn't covered with stuff so she could have a nice flat entry to through.

"Okay, I'll be back in a little while, then we can talk again, I'm sure we'll get past this," she said, then looking away from Canada, finishing her portal and opening it up to step through.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Tristan

A massive beast bursts forth from the forest and the world explodes around you. The sky is raining corrupt soil, rocks and trees burst from the ground like fast-growing mushrooms and everything is chaos. You selected an ideal time to give up all hope of sense and sanity. The way to escape is forward and upward. You have to bring Nin and cause the beast to falter if you hope to wake her, for all the symbolism of this mad landscape is Nin's nightmare channeled through the beast and so you know in your heart that she is trapped here wit the beast.

Here are some things for your consideration (these are your follow ups, but you may ask another if they are inadequate)

The Questing Beast

It is a massive creature, easily thrice your size in bulk. It's skin is as hard as stone (4 armor) and it possesses both claws (3 harm) and poisonous fangs (2 harm, special poison). From within it, there is a great gurgling and rumbling that reflects the chaos of the world around you. It can freely reshape any place where it is and its presence profanes the earth.

special poison: the fangs of the questing beast can induce a sleeping poison. If you are bitten, you must roll Strong to act in the scene. If you miss, you are overtaken with lethargy until the beast passes.

If you can wake Nin, there may be help for you. The Questing Beast is Hunted by King Pellinore, and she cannot be far behind it if only such forces could pass into this chaotic space.

Nin

You are in a smoky place, dark and full of clouds. This is the source of the corruption of this forest, a spiritual reflection of the Questing Beast's internal world. Despite the power that you felt as you rode the beast to crash into the clearing, you feel here an overwhelming sense of fear. The beast is constantly Hunted and that is its overriding emotional existence. Perhaps it could be something different, or perhaps this is all it was ever made to be in its twisted existence. Still, would you seek to commune with it? It's right here with you, perhaps you can bring some calm to this chaos from within, especially with Tristan's help. Tell us what you do here.

Constance and Robena

Apricot snorts and turns her head and you are left in an awkward silence with Robena's question hanging in the air. Constance, do you intend to exercise your right and claim the horse for your travels?

***

As for the evening, Constance you take a great switch and let its supple strength guide you as you trace the routes of Britain into the dirt. You toss your stones and they are pulled directly towards Robena, who stands west and north outside your circles. A coincidence, for certain, the directions are clear, Northwest into Powys and Escavolon, though not too close to Camelot which you will pass above. You don't recall what might be there, the land has many ruins and is full of hill tribes. Your stones glow as they scatter though. Reflected starlight? No, this is more true, more real. The one nearest to where Robena is standing. Is she to be your guide? Or is there an old ruined castle just on towards Estragales where you are called? Perhaps that is where Merlin is hiding?

Robena, it cannot escape your notice that where you stand is the center of things. There is something of the scrying, the starlight, the madness of the moon that compels you in this moment to speak your mind. Tell the Lady Constance what you are thinking.

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

[Potential 0. Insecure]

Set lets her face fall, a mixture of sadness and disappointment. "Canada, I...I've left everything I know and love twice in my life." She looks over at #MAT, still slurping her soda and gives a sort of shrug, she's helping enough she can overhear. Set's aura hasn't really shifted, it's a combination of calm blues and that little bit of red, stern and a little angry. Her skirts swish in multicolor as she sets her feet.

"As a child, I left my home, I left the Earth and went out into the stars where everything was new and different and terrifying. I had nightmares for years and yet I learned to build a life out there. And when I was finally feeling strong and comfortable and had friends and a new family, I left again because I feared for our home. I came back here and I can't even find my mother, Canada. She might be a slave. Or...or dead even." Set is not calm as she says that, but she holds her composure. Takes a deep breath.

"Don't tell me I don't know what pain is. If I'm naïve, fine, but I'm naïve because I'm going to make the world work like I want, not because I'm fool enough to think it will fix itself by magic. Next time, I'm going to be there to take the hits with you, and we're going to work together to make sure none of us has to take those hits if we can help it. We're nowhere near enough people to afford taking hits." She grins lightly, that was almost a joke on her part considering the rumors floating around that she's twenty-odd people.

Set pauses a beat and then tries to lighten the mood. "So, I guess we're stuck here a while longer. Until you ask for help, in fact. Can I get you anything to eat?" That's directed to both Canada and #MAT, who's already made a wasteland of the soda she had in her bottle.

[Canada doesn't have influence over Set, so her stats aren't changed. However, this counts as sharing a vulnerability, so as of now Canada has influence over Set. Marking 1 potential and, hmm, let's say Angry.]

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

[Potential 0. Insecure]

Boop!

Canada, whatever focus you had on #MAT is interrupted by Set tapping your nose delicately with her index finger. She's smiling down at you, but there's just a hint of sternness in her bearing and demeaner, a little red in her aura. "I see why Marianne dropped you off here. That's the wrong answer, Canada. You got the fleet key and survived because Marianne helped you, understand?" Her finger in front of your face is making a little back and forth admonishment not far from your eyes. "and if you think working together isn't helpful, then I suppose you don't need me to get you out of here or anywhere close to a mirror, isn't that right? But I think you do need my help, and you're going to ask for it because I can see you're suffering. Stop trying to save everyone Canada, you don't have to be our sacrifice!"

[Anat is using her influence to tell you who you are. Shift your savior down and your mundane up or reject her influence.]

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Constance

The Duchess Marianne looks extremely concerned. Her lips purse, and she almost lifts a hand as if to run it through her perfectly arranged blond hair before catching herself. Presently, she lets out a breath and looks you up and down carefully. "You'll need to depart at once. We are not prepared for such an assault and we lack the resources here. Moreover, if you were present in your own vision, it cannot come to pass until your return. I am tasking you with the quest to avert this disaster."

She nods and then turns to Timothy, her master at arms. "See to it that any equipment and provisions that the Lady Constance requires are made available to her for her trip. And, I think, take Sir Robena with you. She has only just returned but she is the strongest of our knights and will ably protect you. If you have need of anything else, you have but to ask."

Well then Constance, your lady and liege wants you to prepare to depart your home. What do you say to her proposal?

Robena

As you lead Apricot from the field for a much-needed rest, you are greeted by the Duchess's master at arms, hastening down the stairs. Despite his beard, he's young for the job, and you might remember him from when he still came barely above your waist. In fact, it might be that you even taught him a few things.

"Sir Robena!" He pants, catching his breath. "My...my utmost apologies. The lady Constance has had a dire vision and the Duchess has, in the midst of the competition, instructed her to prepare for departure at once, recommending you for her bodyguard and accompaniment. I know you have only just returned, but if you could begin preparations to make ready, the Countess has asked that you depart as soon as possible. Please forgive the sudden intrusion."

Well, it's obviously urgent, he ran down from the stands to catch you before you departed. Maybe you'll at least keep ahead of Yomdaeler for a few more days though. What's your reaction to the sudden development?

Tristan

There is something here, some great creature. It is connected to the King and his men. It should not be here and that it is nevertheless is the source of the wrongness that angers the forest and makes it dangerous and hostile. This is a thing of the very oldest ways. Remember: as the king, so the land. As the land, so the king.

Your contemplations are cut short by the sound of Nin behind you collapsing unconscious to the ground. She is breathing, but she will not awake. What do you do?

Nin

You are pursued! You hiss and run, heedless of the direction, seeking cover. You crash through trees that look like matchsticks. The damp canopy sprinkles drops of dew along your back. Your scales are cold and uncomfortable without the sun, you cannot stop. You dig your paws into the damp soil, and heave with your furry, tanned legs, urging your spotted speckled body forwards. Run! Hide! Eat! Your stomach rumbles loudly, the sound like boulders crashing down a hill and you gaze about for something to devour after your terror. The prey here is so tiny. You rut a badger out of its lair, but it runs off and you cast about for other prey, your fangs glistening with your hunger.

Time passes, you find small things to eat, but that sense of being pursued returns to you. You cannot be caught, not ever. You want to run! You want to destroy! You are a great chimera, free and full of rage and ruining all that you touch!

Tell us how you burst onto the scene in front of Tristan!

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

That miss is an advance, so flagging here that I'm grabbing Watch C-Beams Glitter.

My Hider

When you make a claim about a strange situation or phenomenon based on your experience, roll + Freak. On a hit, you were right; the GM will tell you what opportunity your knowledge grants to you. On a 7-9, your claim is incomplete, flawed, or tangential; the GM will tell you how. On a miss, your experiences are incomplete; the GM will tell you what mistake your flawed understanding leads you to make.

I don't feel like we've progressed enough to set up a call to the Zhianku, but I think calling the cavalry is what I'm aiming for next advance, with maybe some plans to pick up the fictional tech Anathet will need for that in this session (maybe even some spare bits from #MAT here to get things started).