Skyfall

One Shot Open Table Play Report

Mythic Bastionland

The Leaf Knight

The Fanged Knight

A Leaf-Clad Guard

Myths

The Toad - NW Island

The Boar - Centre Island

The Troll - NE Island

The Plague - SW Island

The Sun - radiant

*I have altered the Wilderness Roll to be: 1-2: radiant myth, 3-4: myth from corresponding island.

Prologue

This months game night had an attendance of 5 GMs and 2 players. No one had signed up for my game! We realized the sign-up email didn't reach many on the list, so my disappointment over a lack of players was eliminated. Nonetheless I managed to wrangle three to play at my table.

The Leaf Knight player took no time to decide that the Leaf Knight would be hanging out in an orchard. In a previous session something fruit related had happened in the area of 010.008, so I deemed this the spot for the Leaf Knight. The player took a moment to describe how plump they had become from gorging on fruit and leaves. The other players decided they were to seek out the Leaf Knight, but we never got round to clarifying for what reason. Destiny, I guess.

The Fanged Knight had an unusual water body depicted on his scroll, so the Company decided to head to the lake to the north. I wasn't sure they had thought through what the following steps would be, but who am I to stand in the way of their enthusiasm.

The Sun 1 - 010.007

On the way to the lake the Company crested a peak and saw in the valley below a vast carpet of bright yellow flowers. The Leaf Knight wasted little time in eating some of them.

While describing the omen I had misremembered the intended position of the sun and described it as hanging at high noon, the temperature rose accordingly. The Company wondered if the lake was in some way causing the sun's odd behaviour and the rising heat, which, after some testing, turned out to not be the case (but a great mythical idea I might use in the future!).

Placid Lake - 010.006

It was nightfall and the sun still lingered high in the sky. The Company arrived at Placid Lake and the Fanged Knight concluded the shape of the lake differed from the drawing on his scroll.

A vortex of mist persists on the water's surface at the centre of the lake, the eye large enough for two school busses (maybe a more fitting comparison would be several ox drawn wagons). This vortex was left behind in the wake of the Mist myth that concluded before I started writing these play reports.

The Fanged Knight doffed his armour and took a wee swim and caught some fish. The Leaf-Clad Guard surveyed the shoreline and spotted a small cabin, battered by the elements. The Company regrouped and went to the cabin.

The Cabin

Approaching the cabin they heard loud snoring. The Fanged Knight crept within, seeking a neck to bite! The Leaf-Clad Guard thought it wise to instead knock loudly and announce their entrance. The Fanged Knight felt rather silly, being caught stalking their prey.

Andonar (Andy), had come here to live a calm life of fishing and philosophy, but developed a strong fascination in botany (much to the Leaf Knight's joy). He was willing to let the Company rest in his adjoined boathouse, warning them to ignore the night-time screaming that came from the mist vortex. The Company raised an eyebrow, but took the old chap up on his offer nonetheless.

The combination of high noon sun and what turned out to be the incessant but somewhat distant screams of a young woman kept the Company restless, all SPIRITS dropped to 0.

Deciding to make good use of their time, the Company abandoned any attempt to sleep. The Leaf Knight raided Andy's allotment, it turned out Andy is somewhat of a proto-Monsanto and has made a hobby of interbreeding plants to create many new herbs. Afterwards the Leaf Knight and the Leaf-Clad Guard mended the hole in the bottom of the fishing boat with woven leaves and some tar (conveniently present in the boathouse).

While this was happening the Fanged Knight sneaked back into the cabin and tried to bite Andy. He awoke but in his waking dream-like haze mistook the Fanged Knight for Meredith, an old acquaintance of his. Andy's sweet tender words and delightful embrace was not going to thwart the Fanged Knight's blood lust and two fangs were promptly plunged into Andy's neck. The Fanged Knight used the bite to put Andy to sleep, which made many wonder what the point of the whole operation was anyway. Then, for some reason, the Fanged Knight left Andy to bleed out. Andy's final memory is of seeing an old friend again, so I guess it's not a the worst way to go.

Travel to the Centre of Placid Lake

The Leaf Knight and the Leaf-Clad Guard asked the Fanged Knight to clean the blood off his face before casting off and soon after all were headed to the centre of the lake.

Approaching the vortex the mist became more dense, the screaming louder, the current stronger, the sun dimmer. At least at this point the screams of the women were actually intelligible and a brief conversation was had.

The woman had been taken by the mist, she didn't think that was even possible, so imagine her shock! She was currently in another realm and desired to return for she knew not who she could trust in this new and strange realm. The Company had little need for further specifics and rowed straight into the eye of the vortex.

The boat entered the calm of the eye, the noise of the vortex around them was deafening, but the winds and waters placid. This lasted but a few seconds before the vortex surged and all were whisked up into the air. They were thrown about. travelling up and down and from side to side, until all were ejected from a hole in the sky.

They fell to the sea below.

The Company had arrived in Great Orlinde.

Boy, was I glad I had a second realm prepared!

The Tree 1 - 003.003

The Company took in where they were (and the players crossed out what they had left behind). The shore was not far and a brief swim brought them to dry land with sprawling plains of dead grass, a forest standing proud in the distance. The sun had graciously moved from high noon and was back to its regular arc (was this even the same Sun?). Ever growing tired, the Company sought out the shade of the forest to the west.

While travelling they noticed an enormous tree to the south. The branches tickling the underside of the clouds. They twist and buckle oddly. The Company prioritised rest.

Meeting Lumpe - 002.004

Lumpe, a young local hunter, awaited the Company from the shade of the trees. He had seen them plummet from the sky, something he had only heard tales of. After introductions the Company asked about a woman falling from the sky, but Lumpe, bless him, was distracted by how much the Company was yawning and invited them to his village.

Bolwane - 001.004

All arrived at a small commune of humble houses that form a circle around the fire pit where rituals are commonly held. Here the Company appreciated some well deserved sleep.

In the morning the Leaf Knight and Lumpe smoked some strong leaf, while the Leaf-Clad Guard inquired with Master Elric about things falling from the sky and such. Master Elric preferred to show off his vast knowledge of folklore and was of little practical use. I had little intention to play out the entire conversation as the session was nearing an end, so Master Elric advised a visit to the Seer in the north.

Lumpe gave the Leaf Knight some dank herb for the journey.

The Tree 2 - 001.003

The Company traversed fields of green grass sprouting forth out of soft red clay. Many critters bearing an unusual red hue. As they travelled so too grew the branches of the giant tree further across the sky, now piercing clouds.

A sssmall red sssnake ssspoke to the Company, it knew of their travelsss and sssought to lead them to the sssanctum.

The Tree 3 - The Coil Sanctum - 002.002

The branches in the sky, now spanning out far enough to be directly above the Company, continued to grow, creaking and twisting, tearing the clouds apart. Six pale humanoids fell to the earth, drifting gently, and gracefully landed close to the Company. Their forms and faces shifting from form to form, from face to face. They addressed the Company courteously, but couldn't hold back their amusement that these strange ground beings take rocks, cook them and then wear the result.

They sought things that grow on the earth, strange and rare. The Leaf Knight shared some of his dank herb, which the cloud beings took gratefully. I had thought of having these folk join the Company in visiting the Sanctum, but the herbs were clearly a better idea! So two cloud beings took the herbs back up to the clouds while the other four set out in search of more of this enticing plant.

The Company proceeded to the Sanctum. They met with Sandy, the well dressed acolyte, who had lived through many visions of the Company visiting, so he listened to all their words with a knowing nod and an unearned familiarity.

He then led them into the two-storey wooden building. The interior was a mere framework of a building, with no internal walls, no second floor and beams jutting out everywhere, not out of neglect or error, every element was clearly intentional. There were a thousand snakes lying around, coiled around, hanging from the rafters, basking on the windowsills. The wee little red snake that the Company had travelled with leaped off the shoulder of the Lead-Clad Guard to join the others.

The Company pussyfooted about for a while, asking Sandy questions he was ill equipped to answer, asking questions of the snakes to which they already had the answers, etc etc. It did become apparent that the woman they sought was the Unspoken Seer and that they were well suited to find and retrieve her, but she must not be seen by anyone, at any point.

It was eventually the Leaf Knight who boldly spoke to an older python and asked a question about the Unspoken Seer and the snake responded "I shall show you" and plunged its fangs into the Leaf Knight's neck, putting him into an odd sleep.

Not wanting to miss out, the Leaf-Clad Guard found a solitary snake and was promptly bitten.

The Fanged Knight thought it best to talk to a stone statue. Sandy thought this behaviour odd, so offered some tea spiked with snake venom. He promised it gives a real kick, so the Fanged Knight couldn't decline.

Visions

The Leaf Knight:

In search of the best and rarest tree in his realm, had a dream wherein he was covered by snakes who constricted him until he was the size of a seed. He grew as a proud tree, first bursting through hard earth, then the height of an immense cave, then through the rocky ceiling, bursting out of mountain like lava during an eruption. For a lingering moment he stood tall and proud in a grey land.

The Leaf-Clad Guard:

In search of the Unspoken Seer's current location, had a dream wherein he was covered by snakes who constricted him until he was the size of a small egg. He then popped into a tadpole that wiggled about. Then he popped into a frog that swam to the surface and saw the cave of the Unspoken Seer flooded by the waters of the lake. Then he popped into a small winged lizard that rose higher above the lake and higher into the sky and saw the nearby Castle.

I asked the Fanged Knight player if she thought it fitting for her knight to have a similar vision and she specifically asked for a vision that explains her scroll. I felt this was player territory, so she got to describe her own vision.

The Fanged Knight:

The scroll had been handed down generation to generation and it all started with one man, a man as old as the realm. This individual has been around for so incredibly long he surely possessed the answers to every question one could ask. This man is also the reason the Fanged Knight is the way he is, for this ancient man also drank the blood of others. This gift started with him and has since been passed to many.

Epilogue

We had reached a conclusion with few loose ends. The only point for the epilogue was the Leaf Knight returning to Bolwane for some more herb smoking with Lumpe.

Final Thoughts

A player has now placed Caine in the realm. Maybe I'll finally get round to playing Bloodlines and see what I can steal.

This session I implemented a new idea where I gave a player a "quest book" (yes, I know, very computer game-y) and asked her to fill in anything that popped up during the session that might be a guiding light to the next party. I am way happier to give this to the next party over reciting some kind of lore dump.

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Mythic Bastionland