Unliving Colour

Two Shot Open Table Play Report - Part II

Part I can be found here.

Mythic Bastionland

The Amber Knight

The Leaf Knight

The Riddle Knight

The Fanged Knight

Myths

The Toad - NW Island

The Boar - Center Island

The Troll - NE Island

The Plague - SW Island

The Cave - radiant

*I have altered the Wilderness Roll to be: 1: radiant myth, 2-3: myth from corresponding island.

Prologue

We ended the last session at the sanctum in the north east. After receiving visions the knights were not unified on their next goal. After some back and forth the Riddle knight prevailed in convincing the Company that the greatest threat was on the grey island to the west. We agreed that it made the most sense to start the session the moment the Company approached the island.

We did do a short travel montage. The vessel was a decommissioned viking war vessel with antique round shields mounted on the ship's railing. The shields had seen better days. The Riddle knight managed to trade an old broken shield for some green paint he had made between sessions.

Sudden Storm - 003.003

Arriving at the grey island I described how all the colours of the world become muted. The Leaf knight let out a cry of sorrow.

Once at the holding the Riddle Knight tried to convince the smith that repairing his shield was more important than the tasks of the Seat. The smith wasn't too keen on going against his liege's wishes but was willing to deviate from his schedule if his palm was greased. The Company felt nothing for this and instead tried to convince the Steward to allow this deviation. Detheena, the Steward thought this an odd idea, seeing as she was willing to part with a perfectly fine shield in the armoury.

The Company made several more (GREEDY!!) requests, but the Motte was not in a position to hand out supplies willy-nilly. They understood that and then asked for directions to the nearest seer (to the north!).

Once on the road the Company were greeted by ever grey lands, where the plants are lavish (despite the lack of colour) but beasts and critters are sparse. The Leaf knight ate many grey leaves and berries.

Toad 1 - 003.002

The Company passed a caravan transporting building supplies in the opposite direction. The book calls for twelve guards, but I thought two well armed guards were more than enough. I was vindicated when my players thought it a rather sussy amount of fighting power. The Leaf Knight sneaked around to the rear wagon and crawled under the canvas to check if it was as claimed. I wanted to pop in some random valuable trinket but the Leaf knight rolled a 1 and got nothing (what they deserve!).

In conversation with these humble travellers the location of the build site came up and I was sure that the players would pick up this on this hook. They continued on to the Seer...

Cave 3 - 004.001

The Company thought it rather important to ride through the night. I feel this was a vibe thing more than any rational decision.

In the deep of the night they came across three pilgrims who were sealing the opening of a cave. The men were pretty convinced that nothing good could come of the existence of the cave. The Amber knight and the Fanged knight took that as an invitation to enter.

I had crystals growing in the back of the cave which were promptly harvested. A roll decided the crystals release a wave of lightning when broken. Which reminds me that I should come up with some kind of analogue for Zeus and add a dope temple. The Amber knight wanted to test the effect and threw one of the crystals against a wall. The boom was heard all the way at the cave entrance. The three pilgrims saw this is vindication that nothing good could come of the cave.

In further conversation with the pilgrims the topic of the caravan came up and the pilgrims mentioned they got some nifty tools from the folks of the caravan. The chisel had a stamp of a crown on it. I was sure that the players would pick up on this hook. They continued on to the Seer...

The Fetid Sanctum - 004.001

At sunrise the Company came across another cave entrance, a non-myth cave! Two banners straddled the cave opening, stunning colours in an otherwise drab land, which the Company took as a warm invitation.

Deep in the cave the Company came upon a tidy wooden door which opened as they neared. The acolyte was glad that this time his vision of the Company arriving was correct.

Beyond the door a cosy living room too small for the placed furniture, but the fireplace was aglow and all were seated. The acolyte was mistaken for the seer, but that's ok, that happened in most of the visions he had had of this visit.

Tea was promptly served and the Fanged knight was even lucky enough to have a small piece of flesh in the bottom of his cup. The acolyte had lived through this meeting so many times he overlooked the fact that in this specific meeting he had neglected to mentioned that a mere sip was sufficient. All but the Leaf knight looked aghast when this was eventually revealed.

Nonetheless the Company was led into the next room. Four bedrolls on a packed dirt floor, another glowing fireplace and one wall was entirely plastered with the foul mossy body of the Rotten Seer. The seer likes to watch the slumber of those who participate in gifted visions. The Leaf knight, having only drunk a few sips woke a few hours later and then spent the next three days playing chess with the acolyte until the others awoke.

Visions

The Riddle Knight:

Wishing to know the location of the throned crown, experienced flight as if a pigeon. The vision took them over grey lands. They came upon a large throne, peaking above trees, a sudden wind took them to a dark grey tower on a hill by the sea.

The Fanged Knight:

Seeking a country manor, witnessed flight as if a bat (for obvious reasons). A gust took them, and a pigeon, to a grey tower. But while the pigeon halted the wind took the bat over sapphire seas until green lands appeared and in the sea of green a white manor.

The Leaf Knight:

The Leaf knight desired enlightenment. I had no idea what this meant to him, so the player clarified that the Leaf knight wants to find people to eat leaves with, and for some reason I was surprised. They experienced their vision as an eagle, chasing a small pigeon, but a gust of wind took them over seas to a landmass with a large smoke column that smelled of smoked foods.

The Amber Knight:

Enticed by the chest of gold in the last vision they wanted to know how to get the chest. Free of ornithology they stood at the entrance of a cave, vines actively barring entrance. They presented something from their pack to the vines and were promptly admitted.

The Riddle knight and the Fanged knight were at odds on where to go next. The Leaf knight didn't seem to care (fitting!). The Riddle knight prevailed yet again in convincing the Company to follow their lead.

Cave 4 - 003.002

Skipping omen 3 since I improv'ed too hard on omen 2 and presenting omen 3 as is would be redundant.

The Company came upon a cave with pitch black opening. Light penetrated not an inch into the interior. So obviously the Company strode straight in.

They quickly came upon a shadow turned to beast that halted their intrusion, blocking further passage. The Riddle knight sent their shadowy horse in to make friends, but the horse was promptly decapitated by the shadow which brought the likelihood of friendship to a rapid end.

The battle was swiftly won by the Company. The Amber knight has a neat ability to ignore armour and add a die which worked pretty well. Clearly the spoils of war were his and he claimed the chest of gold and gems that lay further in the cave.

The Riddle knight collected the blood from their slain horse, but also the essence of the shadow being and tried to use the power of the shadow to resurrect his steed. I gave it a 2-in-6 chance and the player rolled a 6 (a crit!). Not sure how the horse feels about this whole ordeal, but it gets to gallop another day.

Epilogue

The Company decided to rest and recuperate at Sudden Storm. The Amber knight bought some armour for the Company. I am waiting for the Amber Knight to go out on a spending spree and see how that will affect the local economy.

I took a look at the last 2 omens for the Cave and decided it best to seed these into the world and have them show up some time in the future. So for now the Myth has been resolved and all gained 1 glory.

The threat posed by the crown in the west remains for another day.

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Mythic Bastionland