So we are back with another quest for the Northerner. Baron Quinn has asked Althus to check in on the town of Sommersbrooke and their leader: the bannersworn Sibila. First thing’s first, we need to Swear an Iron Vow. I want this to be someone significant, so let’s make it a formidable quest to “Secure Sommersbrooke’s Aid to Wyvern’s Rest.” Since we’re not just the player but also the GM, I’m going to say I already know who is behind what’s going on with Sommersbrooke’s silence (thought Althus obviously wouldn’t), a warlock named Brynn. So we’re going to make them the Threat of this particular Vow. This will be important as we make moves.
So we roll +heart to Swear Our Vow (+1 as it Vow is made to a community we share a bond with) we get a weak hit (7 vs. 7, 4). With this result, we take +1 Momentum (putting us up to +4) and envision what we need to do: the most obvious thing is going to be to travel to Sommersbrooke and get some information.
However before we set off, we have Experience to spend. With 3 Experience, we can either upgrade one of our existing Assets (which would cost 2 Experience) or buy a new Asset (which costs 3 Experience). Per the poll, we’re going to get Saskai as a Kindred asset. Since there isn’t a preselected option for this Asset, we get to choose any of the three options to start with. We’ll select Skilled and say Saskai’s Expertise is “Relating to Others” (since that seems to be hobo protagonist Althus’ biggest flaw).
So now that we’ve got our new Companion, it’s time to grab our mammoth and set out for Sommersbrooke. Since Sommersbrooke has sworn fealty to Wyvern’s Rest, I don’t think it can be that far away and so we are going to set this as a Troublesome journey. We’ll roll +wits (+1 since we’re leaving a community we have a bond with) for the first leg of the journey and get a weak hit (6 vs. 6, 5) meaning we’re going to mark progress (3/10) and suffer -1 supply (down to +2). We’ll roll for what this waypoint is and it looks like we’re going to have to travel through a mountain pass. Lots of steep cliffs and chilly winds. Good thing the group has a shaggy mammoth like Cratch nearby.
We’ll roll +wits for the next leg of the journey (we do not have our +1 anymore, since it was only for departing a bonded community) and get a miss (5 vs. 8, 6). With the mountain pass, I think some of the ground gives under Cratch’s weight and he begins to slide down one of the steep cliffs. This is both painful for the mammoth (we’ll Endure Harm for a Companion in a moment) and dangerous as we’ll need to get him back up onto the mountain pass.
We subtract -1 harm from Cratch’s health (bringing him down to +4) and then roll +health (since it is higher than Althus’ Heart) and get a strong hit (10 vs. 1, 9) which means he rallies and he regains +1 health (back up to full). Since it doesn’t make sense to rely on the supplies Cratch is carrying to save him, we’ll Check Our Gear using our own Supply and get a weak hit (5 vs. 8, 1) which means we gain +1 Momentum at the cost of -1 Supply. I imagine Althus and Saskai get some rope and throw it down to the mammoth, who wraps his trunk around it while the three work to get Cratch back up onto stable ground.
We face Danger with +iron and get a complication (7 vs. 8, 8). Oh dear.
I think the ground gives out under Cratch entirely and all three go tumbling down the side of the mountain together.
This seems like a good place to wrap up and deal with the fallout of the group falling off the side of a mountain next time, but first we’ll going to deal with our Threat. I think this situation constitutes giving ground through inaction, failure or delay, so we Advance the Threat. We roll on the table and get a 79: the threat makes a dramatic and immediate move or a major event reveals new complications; mark menace twice (2/10). Menace is a track to measures how close the Threat is to completing their goal; no matter how difficult the quest is, once the Threat marks 10 menace they have completed their goal.
I rolled on the character goal table for Brynn and found that they want to harm a rival (obviously Baron Quinn) which I believe they will do by turning Sommersbrooke again Quinn. I roll on the Action and Theme Oracles to find out how this manifests and get Release Fear. I think Brynn has just cast a spell over the town which makes them fearful of outsiders. Even in comparison with having taken a tumble down a mountain, I think Althus’ job has gotten much, much more difficult.
Next time, I wonder what’s at the bottom of the mountain. Something good hopefully.