Last time, we returned to the stream. Yeah, that stream. Now onto the game.
So Althus and crew are finally heading to Sommersbrooke (for the first since the first session of this particular vow, if we want to split hairs). I’m not terribly interested in the trip at this point and I think that Blackfalls was close enough to Sommersbrooke that it doesn’t qualify as hazardous or unfamiliar. It’s also likely that, before dealing with Kiah and his bandits, some of the townsfolk of Blackfalls could have told Althus the path to Sommersbrooke, so we’ve got our way there.
Once the team arrives, Althus gets a first hand look at Brynn’s work. Everyone in the town is shut up in their homes, weary of outsiders. Large sections of the town have been excavated, looking for Firstborn artifacts. This place probably looks a bit like a ghost town.
We Ask the Oracle if anyone in town is willing to talk to Althus (unlikely). Surprisingly, someone is (87). We check with the Character Role Oracle and they are an Adventurer. We continue checking with Oracles and learn they are Taylah (he | bitter, cunning, and old) and are Curious about Althus and his friends.
We’ll ask Taylah about what happened here and roll +wits to Gather Information. We get a strong hit (6 vs. 5, 4) so luckily Taylah has some good information (as well as +2 Momentum). He tells Althus about Brynn and her take over of the town, her search for the Healing Springs of the Firstborn, and his own experiences with the site (I imagine he explored it as a younger man and tried several times to unsuccessfully bypass the guardian on his own). But this means Taylah can also tell us about the guardian.
We’ll use the new Monstrosity Oracles from Delve (Delve, pg. 214-216) and learn that it is a giant-sized bird with four taloned legs and an oversized mouth on its stomach, lined with rows of sharp teeth. Taylah also tells of its poisonous breath, its incredible swiftness, and its ability to recover from any injury thanks to its bond to the healing springs. Fantastic.
Well let’s see how we’re doing on this quest. We’ve made it to the town of Sommersbrooke and found out about Brynn and her plot. I think that qualifies for two milestones on our quest which, since this is a Formidable quest, counts as two progress (2/10). We’re going to make some headway here.
With that out of the way, let’s return to the guardian of the springs. Normally I would say something like this is an Extreme foe, nigh unassailable in combat, but Taylah has armed us with knowledge of the beast’s capabilities. Let’s see if we can fashion a makeshift gas mask.
We roll +wits (since this seems like something insightful) to Secure an Advantage and get a strong hit (7 vs. 1, 2). This seems like the definition of preparation, so we get +2 Momentum (now up to +6) but since it will partially nullify one of the guardian’s traits, I think it makes sense to drop the threat of this monstrosity to “merely” Formidable. Let’s see if we can secure another advantage…
We make another +supply roll to Check Our Gear and get another strong hit (10 vs. 2, 6)… the law of averages is going to be pain soon I suspect. We get another +1 Momentum (up to +7) and have something very useful against the bird and its tactics. This should also knock it down from Formidable to Dangerous. At this point, we are just about ready to fight the beast.
Next time, we fight the scary bird monster and maybe face-off against Brynn.