Seize the Grey

Two Shot Open Table Play Report - Part I

Mythic Bastionland

The Leaf Knight

The Weaver Knight

The Shield Knight

Myths

The Child

The Imp

The Lizard

The Beast

The Bat

The Inferno

Prologue

I wanted to play a game for some people in the Dungeons&Dyslexia discord server (YouTube). There had been a lively conversation about Pendragon and as a Mythic Bastionland-enjoyer I just couldn't let that slide.

In a recent conversation with Horst (of Black City Gauntlet fame) I was shamed for making decisions where the dice and/or players would generate more interesting and surprising results. I tried to lean into that style of play slightly more than what I generally prefer. I would usually curate the myths somewhat, but for this game I rolled up 6 myths and placed them randomly. I was tempted to remove The Inferno which I had recently ran, but the potential judgement of Horst loomed great in my mind and I decided against it. Anyway there is a substantial chance that specific myth isn't going to be the focus anyway (right? RIGHT!?).

Arrival

The players rolled up characters (out the gate the Shield Knight rolled 1&1 for VIGOUR!!) and I asked the group some establishing questions. Were they already familiar with the realm? Would they have a predetermined quest? Where would they like to start? That kind of stuff. Looking back, I like the fact that the players got to dictate what is going on, but I don't think it is worthwhile in more time sensitive games.

The players decided they had the goal to find out more about the grey lands in the NW. Could the scarring of the land be undone? Is it spreading? Could it happen to other lands? They wanted to better understand it. When I created the map it just seemed cool to have some strangely dead lands where barren trees and dead grass seemed to persist without issue. This means that the image of laying tracks in front of the train is really applicable for this session!

Sudden Storm - 003.003

I described how, when the Company neared the coast, the colour seemed to drain from their surroundings, as if the rays of the sun itself were weakened. The Leaf Knight took a moment to describe his amazing green cloak and how disappointed he was that the brilliance was fading when approaching these lands.

The Company disembarked onto a stony shore and their horses kissed the gravel, glad to be on solid ground again. They took a moment to take in their surroundings before making their way up the hill to a protruding black stone tower.

At Sudden Storm they learned that the people had somewhat become accustomed to the new landscape but that more information was possibly garnered at the Seer who resided on the northern tip of the island. The Company asked very little about myths which reminded me that I hadn't emphasised that they have Oaths. Admittedly my players seemed to grasp the knightly-calling sufficiently without extra coaxing, so I let it ride.

The Barrier between 003.003 and 004.002

Detheena, the Steward, had warned the Company to avoid the blocked route to the NE and travel to the shore NW of Sudden Storm. The Company heeded the warning but wished to see for what reason this path was blocked. I was sure that there was a Barriers-table somewhere in the book, but that turned out to be wrong. I had recently read a blogpost where brambles were a hurdle, so I described a valley of barren grey trees and a thick sea of brambles. The Leaf Knight was the most concerned but decided that this might be a problem for another day.

Inferno 1 - 003.002

The Company headed for the coastal path where they could enjoy the view of a colourless ocean. The sun was setting so they prepared for the night and the Leaf Knight decided to eat some grass, testing if it would be okay for the steeds to graze upon. As they were preparing for their rest the ground started to warm up, as if being heated from below. This was somewhat unsettling, but not really a setback since there was a unheated rocky plateau close by. 

I don't love omens like this that are easily ignored/circumvented, but my players seemed to really enjoy how fast this place was becoming very weird.

Beast 1 - 004.002

The dice decided The Beast should come into play here and to make my life easier I thought it best to just run with this as the secondary myth and neglect random myth rolls going forward.

The Company noticed a furry shadow moving amongst the trees and immediately went into battle formation and approached the tree line. Not long after that they had slain the strange beast that had somehow altered form in the meantime. My reading of the myth calls for rapid burrowing to immediately escape, but where's the fun in that? So I ruled that it would take at least 2 turns to do so, only it never made it that far.

I had a chuckle because the Weaver Knight had rolled a ranged weapon with a bonus on attacks to fleeing targets and lo and behold the first target that pops its ugly head up has a cowardly retreat scripted into the scenario.

The beast went down and the Company looked on with furrowed brows as the carcass showed grey flesh and leaked no blood. A reason for concern, but nothing out of place for this island so far.

The Fetid Sanctum - 004.001

Travelling along the rocky coastline the Company came to a well decorated cave mouth. Adorned with old but vibrant banners which stood out against all the muted colours the island seemed to induce. The Weaver Knight noted that normal is odd when you are surrounded by odd, and I thought that was well put and a very knightly thing to say in that moment.

The cave led to an underground tunnel that was well lit and recently swept. Then came a door and the door opened and an acolyte welcomed the knights. He was just glad that after several predictions the Company had actually arrived this time (and oh boy does he hate sweeping the tunnel in expectation of guests!!).

Inside was a nice lounge area with lit fireplace and comfy armchairs. The acolyte sat down, said nothing, and made awkward eye contact. To the shock of the acolyte the Leaf Knight, decently weirded out, suggested departure. This seemed like folly to the acolyte since the tea wasn't finished brewing. What tea you might ask? Well, the tea made of the rotten flesh of the Seer. While the knights were taking a moment to think this over a nice cup of warm tea was thrust into their hands. The Shield Knight tepidly took a sip, while the Leaf Knight gulped the whole cup down. The acolyte had met the knights so many times before in various visions that he forgot the knights knew not that a mere sip or two is sufficient.

The Weaver Knight took a sip and then the Company was led into the Resting Chamber. Three bed rolls were made up for the guests under watch of the Rotted Seer who has plastered to the wall with fungus, lichen and moss. They slept well.

Dreams

The Weaver Knight was hit with visions so hard that he didn't wake (read: the player had out of game issues and had to excuse themselves). The other two players asked me a question and I got to answer it in a very symbolic but actionable way. Long dream short, the Leaf Knight got a vision of seeking life on the island and being led to the tallest mountain. The Shield Knight asked how to stop the curse on this land and was shown a dying river that was revived when he cut out his own heart and placed it in the waters.

Now it might be a good moment to note that up until this point I really didn't know what was going on regarding the curse upon this land, but I now know 2 things! I have this concept in my DnD world where mountains have hearts that impact the lands when ill. So when the players asked for more info about the curse I ported the idea over.

After three days of sleep the Leaf Knight and the Shield Knight awoke and swiftly left this odd place.

Inferno 2 - 003.002

Another nocturnal Inferno omen. I had previously described the land as having patches of grass and clusters trees. So when the Company saw some trees burning down they justifiably weren't really concerned. In the morning the Shield Knight contemplated heading into the midst of the burned down patch and investigating for anything unusual. I was getting ready to award them some odd treasure, but the Leaf Knight advised them against it since the area would still be dangerously hot. Looking back I might've suggested that waiting for the patch to cool down is always an option, but I feel that if the players make a decision in this manner it's okay to let that happen.

Beast 2 - 002.003

The omen calls for eyes on the horizon, but the knights are heading up a mountain so I couldn't let the opportunity pass to have the eyes emerge in the mountain side. The ground trembled and shook as the eyelids opened and then closed. Hot winds swept down the slopes. The Leaf Knight decided this mountain was a dormant volcano (the warm breath absolutely did not help!) that was not planning on staying dormant for much longer and the Company high-tailed it out of there.

End of Part 1

At this point we had reached time and were also one player down. So I decided to call it here and, as is so often the case in this hobby, extend the one-shot into a two-shot.

Part II can be found here.

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Mythic Bastionland