Here’s the play report for our fifth session of Mythic Bastionland. If you’re just joining us, I’d recommend starting at the first session and reading forward from there. It’s all organized in a series, so it should be easy to find the posts that follow the first.
Last time, we ended off with the player characters experienced the fall of The Tree, a cataclysm comparable to the detonation of a WMD—maybe not a nuclear bomb, but close. They were within the blast radius, but far enough from the epicenter that they survived with relatively limited harm to their persons.
They’d planned to set out toward ground zero, but suddenly Sir Yorick:
… thought of the pilgrims and militia that they’d sent off toward Caerwyn Town, and his vow to Serve the Realm overrode his vow to Seek the Myths. He convinced the group to instead check for survivors among those groups, and to escort them to Caerwyn Town before . They set out toward the southeast through a changed landscape. Trees had been torn up and hurled aside by the falling branches of The Tree, and when they crossed over into what had previously been apparently-abandoned farmland they found it was now boggy. The whole area had flooded, and indeed the course of the Gold River to the south had been altered by the cataclysm. Sir Yorick’s horse had no problem with this, being a marsh steed, but the others were less happy with the landscape.
The Knights did eventually find survivors—the pilgrims, including their leader Eloesa:
Those hardy pilgrims, all but one old man, had survived the flood. However, the militiamen, led by Melca:
… had been washed away and were nowhere to be found. Their wagon was ruined—one of its wheels no longer functional—and it seemed like it would take too long to repair it, so the pilgrims agreed to proceed on foot if the Knights would help them along. They removed all of the Century Blooms from the wagon and loaded down their horses, along with Sir Augustine’s horse (to Sir Augustine’s dismay):
Sir Augustine couldn’t really object, though: Yorick was giving Eloesa a ride, while Ser Lyssa:
… had done the same with an older pilgrim woman who was struggling to walk through the mud:
Reaching the bank of the river, the group was surprised to find that the course of the river had changed so much that it no longer flowed beneath the Caerwyn Bridge, which was visible as a white tower-like structure in the distance. The Knights were at a loss for how to get the pilgrims across, but after some searching they found a massive branch of the fallen Tree that spanned the mighty river. They set up a rope line and helped the pilgrims across. They continued on through a brilliant sunset—the dust kicked up by The Tree’s fall had clouded the sky.
As they approached the bridge, they realized it wasn’t a tower at all, but just a massive white stone bridge, its rampway leading up gently hundreds of feet into the air. They rode up the rampway, and then spied buildings, apparently built onto the bridge, about a mile distant, with lights visible in some of the windows. (It was a seriously huge bridge, seemingly built to giants’ proportions.)
After considering camping on the bridge, the group decided to carry on the last remaining mile and arrived at the town. They met a Knight there, Garmelia, the Iron Knight:
.. who introduced herself to the group as the Guardian of Caerwyn Town. She was surprised to see travelers arrive, and asked what they’d seen and knew of the cataclysmic events of the day, which the Knights shared with her. (She either did not see, or was not impressed by, the Century Blooms that the group was carrying.) She commented in passing that normally she would challenge any visiting Knights to a sporting duel, but that now didn’t seem the time. She led the group into Caerwyn Town, explaining that the town was under the protection of Caerwyn Fort, under the command of Tresera the Pearl Knight. The town was a curious place, clearly built upon on top of the bridge and accessible only through a sort of massive “tunnel” passageway that led through the middle of the buildings, always covered by walkways and extensions of buildings overhead so that the sky was not visible above. Despite they lights they’d seen in the windows, nobody seemed to be awake within the tunnelway.
Garmelia suggested a place for the pilgrims to stay for the night, and Augustine happily offloaded the Century Blooms he had been carrying. Eloesa, seemingly smitten, offered her thanks to Sir Yorick, who did his best to maintain propriety and promised to check on her in the morning. The pilgrims went through a large doorway, horses and all, and left the Knights alone with Garmelia, who led the group on through the rest of the town and down the far side of the bridge to the Keep that blocked the way onto and off the southeast end of the bridge. As they made their way to the Keep, they chatted with Garmelia, who’d heard The Tree fall whilst on her way to her post on the bridge. She’d recounted fighting off Cloud Raiders alongside Tresera (the Pearl Knight), similar to the ones the Knights saved the pilgrims from.
As they entered Caerwyn Keep, the Knights beheld a seemingly reduced force of guards, many of them either young and inexperienced, or older and past their prime. They got the impression that perhaps the cream of the crop had been sent with Melca to deal with The Tree, and that their disappearance was significant blow to the Keep’s manpower.
After their horses were taken to the keep’s stables. the Knights were taken to a building where some empty rooms had been set up for guests. each room contained a bed, a table with some Footman’s Mead and a Book of the Saints. Sir Yorick ignored these things and slept right away, while in the next room Ser Lyssa looked at the mead but thought better of drinking it. Instead, she bathed in oil and then scraped herself clean. Next door, Sir Augustine polished his golden armour.
About mid-morning, some youths were send with food to wake the Knights. They were told that they would be meeting Ser Tresera at noon for a meal and discussion. Sir Yorick quickly checked on Eloesa and the pilgrims, who were doing fine, while the other Knights had a look around the Keep.
When noon arrived, the Knights were escorted to the quarters of Ser Tresera, unarmoured and seated at a table on which a fine spread had been laid out:
They were seen in by the guards, and a long discussion followed. Here are just the highlights:
- Tresera was away of the Mavrydd Chapel, but had never entered it and knew nothing of Mavrydd.
- Garmelia is a good and faithful knight, alongside whom Tresera dispatched a number of Cloud Raiders.
- There was talk of nearby Seers, such as “The Painted Seer” who dwells in a gorgeous palace in the mountains to the southwest, and the “Crimson Seer,” a woman of strange appetites who is a competent seer and lives in a bog to the east, south of the lake and southeast of Bogtown.
- Bogtown was a place where odd-looking people lived, but where wonderful mud baths could be taken.
- To the Southeast lies a Garden called the Garden of St. Bristofast, a place of calm and healing.
- To the Southwest of the keep lay a noxious land, clad in foul smells that cling to all who pass through the area.
- The ruler at Blackwort Castle is Borran Gladsmere, a girl-child who was the bastard of the last knight. Ser Tresera claimed enigmatically that her place in the line was uncontested, but that she was very timid and that attitudes about her worthiness to rule varied.
- Also enigmatically, Ser Tresera confirmed that Melca was dead, along with likely all of the militia folk in his company.
In all these discussions, Tresera betrayed a great love of gossip and rumours. She also seemed frustrated with her position at the Keep, confessing that she hadn’t investigated The Tree because she was busy with her duties there, but that she would have preferred to go into the wilds and investigate.
At the end of their talk, she asked the Knights to cross the river and go investigate The Tree on the morrow. She promised that they would be able to ride on a raft, as several were being scrambled to help with relocating supplies, survivors, and to provide passage across the river. Sir Yorick asked whether refugees from the flooding could seek shelter at Caerwyn Town, which she affirmed they could, adding that if any likely candidates for the keep’s guard force could be sent her way she would appreciate it. She also produced a pearl and asked the Knights whom would like to accept it, apparently as some kind of keepsake or gift.
[SPOILER: One of the players had read The Pearl Knight’s background previously, and knew the power of that pearl—that it would allow Ser Tresera to see through the eyes of whoever carried it—but the Knights were oblivious to this.]
Naturally, given its value. Sir Augustine accepted the pearl, and Ser Tresera suggested he take care not to lose it. The Knights were then left at their leisure in the Keep, and restocked their supplies, purchasing rations of “hare jerky” (actually a kind of hare pemmican made with sheep-fat and wild berries) and dried, salted fish. That evening, supping again with Sir Tresera, Ser Lyssa made a request: that they be provided with a squire, if any young folk in Caerwyn Town might be a promising candidate. Ser Tresera, seemingly having someone in mind, said that the individual would be presented to them in the morning, just before their departure for The Tree.
In the morning, the Knights made their way to Ser Garmelia’s post, just outside Caerwyn Town, watching the sun rise from their vantage point on the bridge as they steeled themselves for their coming journey into the landscape ruined by The Tree.
[Note: Once again there wasn’t time to reveal the map hexes they could see from there, but I’ll reveal those at the start of the next session, instead of doing it here.)