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One Shot Open Table Play Report

Mythic Bastionland

The Fanged Knight

The Leaf Knight

Myths

The Tree - SW Region

The Elephant - SE Region

The Lion - NW Island

The Demon - NE Island

The Rock - radiant

Prologue

Picking up where last session left off: the Company had found the Seer and this session was slated to be about taking her back to her realm. I had rolled up some sparks between sessions, the Otherworld table produced Smoke and Tunnel, so I went over the landmarks in this realm and found that I had a "scalding heat" hazard at 015.009. So clearly this was a perfect destination. It also worked out nicely that there is a steaming volcano in the prime realm.

The realm still has an enormous tree spanning the sky, but I only remembered to mention this about one hour into the session.

Lake Stennisse - 007.008

The last session ended with the Fanged Knight placing a stick on the muddy ground and calling out that a sign might be useful. Then he went for a brief walk. In that time the Seer (who under no circumstances wishes to be seen or heard) marked an eastward arrow, under that were four suns and three moons alternating. The Company needed no more explanation and set off eastward.

Elephant 1 - 009.008

While travelling the Company crossed paths with the Elephant knight and her entourage. They exchanged brief pleasantries. At one point the Company asked where she was coming from and Ktrey helped me decide that she had recently had a portrait of herself made. The Company scoffed at this, but the Elephant Knight assured them it was a reward for a noble deed and that they would do well to strive for such accolades.

When the company set up for the night they were visited by some playful stoats who kept the horses company. The Fanged Knight was having absolutely none of it and characteristically induced each of the horses into sleep with a tender bite.

Rock 4 - 010.008

While the Company enjoyed their noon rest 9 pilgrims came up the mountain path. They were bringing lovely weapons to the Rock and asked the Company to contribute, for is there any greater deed than aiding in what could possibly be the deciding blow in a great battle? The Company begrudgingly offered up their daggers and the pilgrims offered them fine talismans in return.

During this exchange the Seer got up to some mischief, but we'll talk about that in a moment.

011.007

While setting up camp the Company saw something drift down from the clouds above. It turned out to be Svein a cloud man dislodged when his cloud was torn apart by the Tree. He's a glass half full kinda guy and used this opportunity to find some cool stuff to bring back to the clouds. He liked the red glowing rocks the Company was sitting around and asked if he could have them. The Fanged Knight told him those were the final embers of their campfire and he could rather have some real fire. And so he was gifted a lit torch. He received little safety instructions so let's hope that all goes well.

During the night the Seer got up to some mischief, but we'll talk about that in a moment.

012.008

The new day brought thunder storms. The lightning mostly struck the realm, but a not insignificant amount hit the branches of the Tree. While travelling through this hex the Company witnessed such an impact. An explosion above brought bark and mulch hurtling to the earth, the branch creaked and followed suit. Luckily it landed in the hex to the south. (The knights were too cowardly to go and see if anyone was injured.)

013.008

The storm continued and while traversing this hex another branch was blasted off the Tree, this time landing before the Company and impaling the soft heath, creating an arborist's rendition of the Tower of Pisa. 4 bear-like cloud creatures had ridden the branch down and wasted little time in dismounting and surveying the area. The Fanged Knight especially wanted nothing to do with these creatures and the Company took a wide berth around the colossal branch. (Cowards.)

013.008

Nightfall and the Company wished not to rest close to the recently descended cloud creatures, so they pushed through the night. Given the poor weather, unfamiliar lands and darkness they wandered with poor direction. First light showed that they had ended up back at the leaning branch.

The new day brought fog that covered the land, granting the cloud creatures some convenient camouflage and before the Company could opt out the creatures were upon them in a rather ferocious manner.

The knights were surprisingly well prepared, for the Seer had foreseen this clash and wished to tip the odds in the Company's favour. The Fanged Knight had 2 fanged shaped daggers in her saddlebags (stolen from the pilgrims) and the Leaf Knight had natural caltrops (organically sourced from thorny spiral-branched bushes).

The Company finally saw the bear-like cloud creatures up close and witnessed that while the creatures were part bear and part humanoid, the exact parts shifted. A bear face would have certain human-like characteristics which then dissipated as the cloud form shifted.

The battle was brief but explosive as the knights generally rolled pretty decently. In its closing moments the Fanged Knight dismounted to behead a mortally wounded creature and the Leaf Knight rode down the final one. With their focus turned away the Seer silently dissected one of the creatures that fell early in battle.

At this point we had a mere half hour of session left, so I asked my players the following:

• The Seer cut out an organ for you, what organ?
• The Seer wants you to travel to hex 015.009, how would she direct you?

It seemed the players knew enough about how the Seer functioned that prompting them would be okay, plus I get the joy of seeing what they come up with. They determined the organ was a heart, familiar enough to a human heart to recognise, and it was still beating as well as faintly emitting sun rays. They also decided that this heart was a beacon that showed the way to a desired location. A one use Jack Sparrow compass I guess.

This was great since the players answered both questions with this cloudy heart.

014.009

The Company came upon 6 soldiers from the nearby holding who were doing some heavy lunchtime drinking. An invitation was extended. The Company learned that the soldiers went out after every storm to hunt the cloud creatures. The knights told them of the creatures they had just slain and about the fallen branch, hearing this was great news for the soldiers because they could claim it as their own work!

Bergen Field - 015.009

The Company navigated hills and dunes of grey stone and sand. Geysers pumped the air full of sweet black smoke. But they followed the beat of the cloud heart and made it to the southern coast where they easily found a cave entrance that lead down into the depths of the realm.

The Company spent hours walking deeper into the earth as the black smoke billowed above their heads. Gradually it shifted from sweet black smoke to hot white steam and the descending tunnel lifted to a welcoming incline.

009.006 - Mt Arduus

Hours later and the heart dissipated with a soft poof, ahead shone the cave exit in stunning daylight. The Company emerged to a familiar sight.

Epilogue

The Company travelled to Meredith and told of Andy's demise. The Fanged Knight neglected to mention that he was the culprit. Meredith was saddened but generally felt that Andy had had a good one and that he probably wouldn't have feared the end.

She did mention that his herb garden (010.006) had some absolute gems and that it would be a pity if that went to waste. The players noted that in the Quest Book!

Final Thoughts

This session had several social encounters that weren't pertinent to the story. I think in a campaign this wouldn't be an issue at all since you are learning about the world and finding threads that can later be picked up, but I struggle to fit them into a satisfying B-plot in one-shots. As the Company travelled east I was hoping the Elephant would unravel, but alas the dice wished otherwise. Writing this summary I also realised that at one point the Company travelled through the myth hex for the Elephant and I didn't pick up on that. So the dice shouldn't receive all the blame.

Looking back I could've used every night's rest as a moment the seer would roll up her sleeves and leave notes and clues for the Company for what the coming day would entail. During the session I opted out since it seemed she would worry a knight could suddenly wake and see her. But thinking about this now, surely the Seer would be able to foresee such an action and time her actions accordingly. Oh well...

I don't love how the Tree myth ends in the book, so as preparation for this session I replaced the final omen and added 6 more. But now that the Company is back in the Last Isles (prime realm) I do wonder how long until those omens see the light of day. 

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Mythic Bastionland