Man's Best Fiend

One Shot Open Table Play Report

Mythic Bastionland

The Fanged Knight

The Amber Knight

Myths

The Demon

The Hound

Prologue

Confronted with the question of what the session would entail the Fanged Knight player (a familiar face) suggested an old fashioned take down of an epic beast. I threw my prepared myths out the window and rolled The Judge The River The Hound.

The Amber Knight had given up her weapon to the Leaf-Clad Guards and wished to see it back in her possession (see Bull 3). After a brief discussion we decided that today's session was going to start with the Guards saying "You have proven yourself, here is your weapon back, now we do have something to ask of you..."

One of the Leaf-Clad Guards had joined the party before, and I thought it fitting that they join the Company for this session too.

Edynn Yonder - 007.004

The Company was informed that the fauna were acting erratic, something was stirring in the east.

The Hound 1 - 009.004

The Company came upon the peak that had been cratered by the Sun. The Amber Knight gazed on in confusion while the Fanged Knight contemplated the best time to explain. While thick in awe and contemplation a search party of three villagers (Rockers, a name that might make more sense a little later) walked out to meet them. They were out seeking Valerie, an elderly lady who had been missing for several days. The Company knew little of her, but offered to keep an eye out.

The Hound 2 - Finn Rock - 010.004

Heading to Finn Rock (home of the Rockers) the Company passed a patch of dried blood. In the middle of the patch a single finger, tanned and wrinkled. The Company picked up the finger and searched the direct vicinity for more clues. The omen calls for pieces of flesh to be discovered, slowly revealing that they belong to the elderly woman. So I had them find a single ear with an "old lady earring", a foot with a faded heart tattoo, and at that point the Company thought that it would be possible to find all the pieces. The Amber Knight feared she was being tortured, while the Fanged Knight wanted to find a head or torso to be able to confirm passing.

I was not emotionally ready to list off body pieces so the Leaf-Clad Guard called out that he could see the hamlet of Finn Rock and that it was getting late. The Company was still worried about possible torture so I thought it fitting to tell them that this was not that kind of game.

They soon arrived at Finn Rock and spoke to the de facto leader who was saddened by his mother's inexplicable disappearance. The Company opted to give the man hope by saying they would do their best to find her.

The Demon 1 - 010.005

The morning saw the Company travelling SE. Keeping in theme they came across a puddle of blood, this time accompanied by a disembowelled goat. The Fanged Knight (wisely) opted not to bite it and it was soon buried. I mentioned to the players that it's a common belief that white goats are Seer reincarnated but kinda kicked myself for not giving this line to the Leaf-Clad Guard.

The Hound 3 - 011.006

Leaving the bloody patch behind the Company continued into this hex until they stopped when they came upon a bloody patch. This time pieces of deer lay strewn about. The Fanged Knight wondered if somewhere out there people believed that deer are reincarnations of something, but the universe didn't produce an answer.

The Company thought it might be best to collect the pieces of deer and at least tidy the place up. As they were doing so they all were overcome with an intense desire to prod and paw at the pieces, as well as get some real good sniffs in. I generally dislike telling players what their characters wish to do, so I was willing to say that they could try to resist the urge. But I didn't get the chance to say that since my players pounced on the chance to describe their Knights gleefully going along with the urge.

The Hound Within woke in all in the Company. When night fell the Amber Knight was unable to use her hands, her player made a joke that she would bite any threat and shake it like a dog would. The motion was acted out, and I had to stifle a chuckle at how close to the truth she was.

 

The Hound 4 - 011.006

Later that night, as the campfire was dying, the Company noticed the dancing shadows deepen and elongate. Something was in their periphery, circling them, dancing ever out of sight. None braved the darkness to confront whatever it was, and that was probably for the best. I thought some SPI loss would accurately represent the effect this would have on them, but the Amber Knight has a max SPI of 2, and I am a coward referee.

The Demon 2 & The Hound 5 - 012.006

Omen 5 of the Hound needed something to spice it up, so I added omen 2 of the Demon!

Upon a fallen wall of an old ruin sat a simple man and his drum, gazing out to sea and singing a ditty about knights who lingered while the Sun scorched the earth. He followed that up with an absolute bop about a beautiful calf, taken too soon by blood-thirsty knights who then managed to bamboozle the realm into believing in their innocence. Thanks to her newly acquired keen hearing the Amber Knight followed along and gleefully passed the lyrics on to the rest of the Company. The Fanged Knight, who had been mixed up with both the Sun and the Bull, furrowed his brow but was determined to not take offence.

They approached the musician and urged him to stop this slander. He paid no attention to them and continued with a new piece he was working on about the greed of a knight that sought to enrich themselves while neglecting the realm (see Cave 4).

Fed up with the minstrel the Fanged Knight wrote some mean words in the sand at his feet. No sooner had he completed his scathing feedback than an icy sea wind blew in, destroying the message and causing the musician to briefly pause his singing. The wind also brought in manic howls and grows and the Company drew steel.

The Hound on the Wind emerged and was swiftly taken down. It really did very little before the Amber Knight managed to knock all its teeth out of its mouth in one fierce swoop. It flopped down and the sea-bound wind took its body back to where it had come from. The Knights stood there for a moment, pondering their next move. The Fanged Knight then noticed that the wind had blown the sand in such a way to leave behind a message, as if drawn in sand with a finger or stick. It said "Follow it 👁️". The Company discussed getting a boat which made the Seer roll her eyes, the wind blew again and a new message read "just walk 👁️".

The Company set off!

The Hound 6 - 012.006

There was a cave along the rocky shoreline, within lay a pile of flesh and skin. An ear with a familiar earring lay upon the pile and the Amber Knight reached out and grabbed it. Doing so disturbed the pile which shuddered and to everyone's surprise the Hound in Flesh sprung forward, flinging flesh and skin around the chamber. This horrific event caused a d6 SPI loss for all the Company, apparently such a heavy psychological blow that all became impaired. Flight seemed preferable to fight, but 't was to be a fighting retreat.

We took a moment to decide on how this would go down since the Hound in Flesh was bound to slaughter them all unless they had some kind of big play. The two Knights remembered they had crystals that detonated when shattered. A gift from the Cave to save them from the horrors of this cave.

The first volley of crystals were lobbed at the Hound in Flesh, lightning and bits of flesh and skin flew around the chamber. The Hound in Flesh took this personally and launched forward. The Leaf-Clad Guard was the first target and went down in a spray of blood, clutching his side. The knights continued their departure and lobbed another volley of crystals. It seemed to me that they were completely undeterred that the blast would most likely kill their comrade, but, as the Fanged Knight so eloquently put it, it was either him or all of them. 

The blast went off and we rolled for the Leaf-Clad Guard first, there was a small chance the rolls would be low enou-... and he died. Then we rolled for the Hound in Flesh, who had a slightly higher chance of survival, but the dice decided that he meet his end here too. The blast left a large hole in his side and he whimpered as he went down. The Fanged Knight graciously bit him into a sound sleep and his last minutes weren't in agony.

The Knights stood looking at the carnage and felt the thing that had awoken within them when they pawed the deer remains suddenly vacate. They still heard the musician, now belting out a tragic song about how man's best friend was torn to shreds by some knights.

Epilogue

The Company buried the Leaf-Clad Guard and marked his grave with a simple wooden cross. While eulogising, a green stem sprouted out of the earth and twisted and climbed around the cross, blossoming as it grew.

The Company returned his belongings and Trevor the Ferret to the Edynn Yonder, a Leaf-Clad outpost.

Pieces of Valerie were returned to Finn Rock. The rockers were saddened to see confirmation of her demise, but deep down they had already known it to be true. A lovely ceremony was held for her.

Some say that to this day the musician still sits out there, spreading blatant slander.

Final Thoughts

Omen 3 of the Hound states that a save is made or an urge is felt. I have a strong preference to declare an urge and allow the players/characters to attempt to resist it if they describe their character doing so. In this case I would ask for a CLA save and deduct d6 CLA on a fail, but a save means one overcomes the urge entirely.

I had thought to blend the Demon and the Hound more together. The image of a Demon-Hound seemed rather fitting for this game. One thing I did was blend 2 omens, which made both more interesting if you ask me. Maybe something I shall do more in the future!

I had really wanted to run the Hound as a hunter that was cursed to take on the forms of the Hound. But we finished to far over time that I preferred to wrap up swiftly. Hopefully that's something I can accomplish next time it comes up.

The Leaf-Clad Guard has passed. I liked having a character in the party that had a different Oath. Let's see if I can introduce a new one to the party at some point.

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Mythic Bastionland