Whale Trappings

One Shot Open Table Play Report

Mythic Bastionland

The Saddle Knight

The Dust Knight

Myths

The Colossus

Prologue

The Saddle Knight had previously worked with an elderly hunter who claimed a curse had rapidly aged him. Today's quest was to find a way to reverse this curse.

The table thought it best to start at the Pale Keep, where the Dust Knight had recently arrived from another realm.

The Pale Keep - 007.009

Since the Company knew little of how to solve this curse they asked someone in a position of authority, the Marshall. He thought a visit to the Seer on the NW island (a Seer the Company had previously been directed towards) was not necessary since the Seer on this island had recently returned!

008.008

The Company left the Pale Keep and travelled East, around midday they came upon a man washing clothing in a brook under the Goat Tree. My intentions were to have a local that knew more about the land, but the Company was really, really fascinated by a tree that had soft goat fur as bark.

After many questions about the Goat Tree, its origins and if there was other animal themed flora in the realm, the Company finally asked the man about the Seer and the best route to get there. He knew that the Seer had returned since several knights had passed this point, but many had stated on the return trip that the Seer wasn't actually there. Nonetheless more knights kept on visiting the site and he saw no reason for the Company to turn back now.

Colossus 1 - 009.009

The landscape transitioned from luscious green to rocky rust-stone. The Company crested a peak and saw below them a man on a simple Bosun's chair, hewing some form into rock. His very own Mount Rushmore.

The Company had many questions so they neared him and called out. He was a little dotty but essentially told them he had little else to do in his retirement so he was making a sculpture in the rock wall. What was it supposed to be? Well, he was more of a go-with-the-flow kinda guy and just chipped away where it felt right. The current state was truly amorph.

The Sculptor was keen to continue work as the late hours were often the most productive. And the Company was keen to find a spot to camp far away from the sound of his hammering.

Colossus 2 - Silent Summit - 009.007

The next day the Company arrived at the Sanctum. As they drew near they heard an elderly lady yelling at her husband. But before they saw who was making such a ruckus the ground shuddered. A tremor shook the entire realm for what felt like minutes. Then a deathly silence followed.

Once the horses had regained their nerve and birds once again whistled as they passed overhead, then too did the Company press on. Rounding the bend they saw an elderly couple who were having a disagreement that quickly dissolved as they noticed the Company.

The elderly couple was fervent there was no Seer here, but that it would be folly for the Company to come all the way here and not stay a night. The Saddle Knight was having none of it and decided she was going to get to the bottom of it. The Dust Knight was mainly confused by the situation.

After dinner Mildred ran a hot bath for the Saddle Knight. A mirror next to the tub fogged up from the steam. The mirror showed an image as if someone had previously fogged the mirror and then with a finger sketched out an image. The image wasn't super sharp, but it clearly depicted a Troll dissected into segments. Now the Saddle Knight just so happened to be carrying a troll hand in her saddle bags, and just so happened to be wondering if it would grow back into a troll and how that would work. So the segments clearly showed how the Troll would grow back.

The Dust Knight got ready to sleep and found a shiny copper coin under his pillow. One side depicted a fountain and the other a whale. Now the Dust Knight just so happened to he wondering how to undo the hunter's curse and if some kind of fountain of youth would come into play.

At this point nothing could persuade them that there was no Seer here!!

So in the dark of midnight they climbed onto the thatched roof to try to access what they had deemed a secret room. They removed one bundle and found a piece of parchment stuck amongst the straw. "Please desist 👁️". That ended their nighttime escapade.

Our session was passing swiftly so I merged omen 4 into the morning scene. The Hammer Knight rode into the Sanctum in search of the two knights and handed over a piece of parchment that depicted a saddle and a broom sweeping some dust. The Dust Knight would've liked to decline cooperation based on his silly depiction, but felt the tug of destiny and opted into a temporary partnership.

Colossus 3 - Placid Lake - 010.006

During departure the Company noted some text in the sand that stated they should head north and heed they did! The Saddle Knight had thoughts of seeking the sea to find a whale, but the message in the sand was definitive enough that those plans were slashed. The Seer was hoping they could make it to the dwelling to the North and hopefully recruit the folks there to help out with the quest.

Hours later, while traversing the banks of the lake, they came upon a lakeside cabin that had been crushed under a cabin-sized boulder. The rock strata matched the formations in the south of the mountain region. Coincidentally similar to the rock that was being carved by the old retiree.

The Hammer Knight climbed atop the boulder and proclaimed that he would rectify this unfortunate event.

The Colossus - 009.005

The Company rode further north, the Hammer Knight opting to take the lead and occasionally yell out to the others that they are wise for following his lead. And that surely they will find glory if but they stick with him. He thought there was a friendship blossoming between himself and whom he called "the Sand Knight". The Dust Knight disagreed.

The Company reached the peak in this hex, and the Hammer Knight called out. This peak, it is told, was the ramp the Sun used when after coming down to the realm it was chased back up to the sky. There did seem to be a dark track of burned flora leading up towards this peak.

While the Company was looking at this strange path a massive rock Whale flew overhead. It let out a earth trembling call and then launched a large boulder from its blowhole. The Hammer Knight summoned the others to his side and rode after the creature, but but he couldn't keep up and soon returned.

Placid Lake - 010.006

At this point we did an A-Team montage and the players described what they were planning on doing to neutralise this threat. They thought it best to trap the creature at the lake. The Dust Knight was able to catch many fish and smoke them in a way that made them delectable, but also horribly addictive. He set a pack of these fish high up, a place the whale couldn't miss and one day the creature flew by and took the bundle of fish as it passed. With the Whale now addicted the trap could be set.

The Saddle Knight infused a cold pendant with the essence of the Troll and the soul of an innocent Eurasian Blue Tit (poor guy). 

A new batch of addictive fish was prepared. The whale soon came onto the scene! The Dust Knight pushed the lake back and placed the batch of fish onto the now dry lake bed. The Whale came down for the snack (walked into it with his eyes wide open!). The hunter and Hammer Knight pulled on their rope nets in an attempts to entangle the Whale, as the Dust Knight released the water. As the water came back the Saddle Knight used the pendant to freeze the water.

What followed was the Company pummelling the whale while it tried to break free of the ice. The Hammer Knight was the only one who took a hit, but he shook it off and jumped atop the Whale where he struck it with all his power and shattered it into many pieces. The head wiggled forward, still trying to break free, but the other shards of its body had already started falling to the bottom of the lake.

The pieces of whale rock were leaking thick black sludge, and the elderly hunter figured this was his key to undoing the curse. He first tried drinking it, but the foul taste made him immediately cough it back up. He looked at his hands and saw the wrinkles disappearing, so he went ahead and lathered his entire body with the sludge and was soon transformed into his normal young self.

The Hammer Knight stood atop the Whale's head and proclaimed that the realm would shout and cheer when hearing the story of the Hammer Knight and the Whale. Obviously his companions the Saddle Knight and the "Sand Knight" would be included in the legends!

Epilogue

The Company filled bottles and wineskins with the Whale's blood, who knows when it will come in handy!

They returned to the Sanctum and just kinda left the Hammer Knight there. Then they passed the location where they had met the elderly sculptor. There was a suspiciously whale shaped recess in the rock. One of the reasons the sculpture was previously so amorph was that upright whales don't appear in mythic pop-culture all too often. At the foot of the rock face lay a collection of sharp rocks that the sculptor had chiselled away, and atop these rocks lay the sculptor, broken and torn. The Company lay him to rest and had some surprisingly nice words to say.

Still obsessed with the Goat Tree (yeah remember that?) the Saddle Knight took a cutting from that tree and planted it at the Pale Keep. Allusions were made to the White Tree of Gondor and emperors that kept royal bonsai trees. The Saddle Knight was just really keen on having more than one of these funny trees.

Final Thoughts

The battle against the whale was probably the most static battle I have ever run. I mentioned this to my players and they thought it pretty static too, but had no issue with this since such was the nature of the trap that they had created. The scene I had built in my mind was pretty tense and my players were in the same situation, so I thought little more of it.

My two players were both in the habit of taking the character sheets home, a nice way to keep track of all the games they had played. For these games I like to keep the sheets since the knights persist into future games. So as a compromise here are the sheets for the Dust Knight and the Saddle Knight.

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Mythic Bastionland