Our Mythic Bastionland, Session 9

Here’s the play report for our ninth session of Mythic Bastionland, which we played last night. 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.   

Today’s post was aided by some session notes, so hopefully I won’t miss anything important. 

The Knights found themselves in the destroyed village of Belfin with a handful of survivors of the Tree’s fall. Sir Yorick:

… suggested that there ought to be some sort of memorial ceremony for the lost, and the villagers agreed. They hurriedly scavenged some liquor—mostly Footman’s Mead from Caerwyn Town, but also a mysterious distilled liquor—and cooked a porridge of grains and forest nuts. During this time, Sir Yorick scavenged some black clothing from the ruins (as his own clothing was covered in tree-resin), and found a dull sword which he went and presented to their squire, Davith:

He also gave Davith lessons in horse-brushing, and urged Ser Lyssa to begin teaching him how to use a sword. Davith was wowed by this: his first sword!

Meanwhile, Ser Lyssa:

… chipped the resin off her armour and then passed it to Davith to polish it, while she distracted herself by observing the grief of the villagers. (Raised as an orphan in a wasteland of fire and ash, she never saw people grieve the dead before, so it is an unusual experience for her.) Meanwhile, Sir Augustine…

… busied himself cleaning a few spots of resin from his own armour and wondering whether these villagers knew just what the value of gold was.   

When the memorial ceremony began—a sort of wake, really—the Mayor Escorial spoke one by one about the lost villagers, but it became evident to the Knights that while he was a respected mayor, he was not a particularly good public speaker. When he looked to the Knights for wisdom, each Knight offered their thoughts. 

• Sir Yorick explained his philosophy: that, finding ourselves living in unpredictable, chaotic times, the best we can do is to try to live in the present. This left the villagers somewhat deflated. 
• Ser Lyssa spoke about the importance of laying down a strong and steady foundation for the village in its rebuilding, because without a strong foundation, even the mightest things can fall. She phrased this thought in a way that managed to sound hopeful, and the villagers responded a little more positively. 
• Sir Augustine, a bit off-guard, intoned a phrase about how “It is not for us to question why, but it is for us to do and die.” The villagers were baffled and stared at him for a moment before awkward, unconvincing cries of “Hail!” and “Yes!” followed. (The medieval equivalent of a slow clap.)

Then the characters ate and drank with the villagers, who told stories of the dead and sang old songs together. Lyssa, as usual, drank too much, and began snarling about the rich, while the other Knights did their best to be sociable. As the evening gave way to night, the Knights decided to set up a watch. 

Augustine’s watch came first. He decided that he wanted to chisel open the giant acorn, since he had reconciled himself to having no ready means to transport it. As he chiseled away at it, he heard the sounds of tiny horns and drums off in the distance. As the instruments grew closer to the edge of the village, he also heart voices singing and laughing, and saw dozens of small, soft, warm lights flickering in and out of view beyond the fallen trees and branches. He sat still, listening and watching, and a few fireflies flew over to him, buzzing around him for a few moments before flying off again to rejoin the apparent procession. When it had passed the village by and faded back into the night, Sir Augustine returned his attention to the giant acorn, and finished chiseling it open. Its interior did not resemble anything he had seen before: rather than being a solid mass, it was striated with rings, and has he looked at the rings he found himself mesmerized by them:

Hours later, Sir Yorick woke and roused himself for his watch. He found Sir Augustine still staring into the interior of the acorn, mesmerized. He kicked the acorn aside and Sir Augustine snapped out of it and, baffled, realized that the entirety of his watch had passed in what had seemed like a few moments. When Augustine went to bed, Sir Yorick gave the chiseled-open acorn a single glance before deciding to burn it. The aroma was unlike anything he had ever smelled before, a mixture of woody smoke and some sort of powerful floral scent that he found quite stimulating. [Mechanically: thus restoring his lost Clarity.)  Then Sir Yorick had a long, thoughtful monologue with the skull he’d taken from the catacombs about the loveliness of the area and his thoughts on life in general, because talking to bones is the kind of thing Sir Yorick does when he’s alone at night. His watch passed without incident. 

So, too, did Lyssa’s watch: she searched the perimeter of the ruined village and then eventually woke Davith, ordering him to prepare breakfast for the Knights. This he did, willingly if rather decidedly poorly. (He made something somewhat resembling the gruel of the night before, as well as frying some eggs he’d found in the woods.) As Yorick had suggested, she gave Davith training in how to sharpen and use a sword—the first of his lessons. Then they woke the Knights, ate. With the sun up, Augustine remembered seeing the strange lights and hearing the strange sounds of the night before, and realized that the procession had passed the village from north running southwest. He relayed this to the others, who reacted quite differently: Sir Yorick chided him, encouraging him to wake the other Knights should anything interesting like this happen again during his watch, but Ser Lyssa insisted that she was not to be woken under such circumstances.

Then the Knights decided to leave town before the villagers woke, leaving them to sleep off the drunkenness of the night previous and, perhaps, to wonder if the Knights had ever really been there at all.  

After a few hours’ ride, the Knights reached the bank of the Gold River—the same river they’d crossed by barge earlier—and they were spotted by the same bargeman who had helped them cross last time. They chatted with the bargeman, but discovered that not much of note had happened since they’d been away, save a few bedraggled survivors emerging from the devastated woods to take refuge in the town. Lyssa also asked about Garmelia (the Iron Knight) and how likely it was she’d challenge the Knights to a duel, now that things had calmed down a bit. The bargeman only observed that Garmelia is a sporting type who does enjoy duels. 

As they crossed the river, there came a lull in the conversation, and mysteriously, all three Knights began daydreaming at the same time about what it would be like if they became the ruler of the realm:

• Sir Yorick imagined himself the neglectful ruler of a somber realm, everyone clad in black and sipping tea and thinking about death.  
• Ser Lyssa imagined a realm full of drunken brawling and madness. 
• Augustine imagined himself as a benevolent dictator, generous and ruing over prosperity, but with everything having to be done his way.

Each of the Knights was possessed of a curiously acute feeling that this future was fated to come true, and was haunted by the feeling that a voice was speaking to them about it, almost audible, as the daydream dissipated like steam in the spring air.  

Not too far from the far bank, they could see Caerwyn Bridge in the distance, and as they rode toward it, they spied The Iron Knight Garmelia:

… who had already spotted them and was holding up a hand in greeting. They spoke with her, recounting what they had seen and done over the past few days, and then asking after Tresera, the Pearl Knight:

They learned that Tresera had ridden off all of a sudden. This was unusual, since Tresera had not left Caerwyn fort in several years at least, but she had gone to speak with the Painted Seer in the mountains to the southwest. Sir Augustine noticed a pearl inset in the front of Garmelia’s helm, and suggested Garmelia ought to know more of what’s going on if she’s been left in charge of Caerwyn Town and Caerwyn Keep. Garmelia revealed that she was bound to her position as guardian of the bridge by a promise she’d made to Tresera, but that if Tresera ever left Caerwyn Keep and the place were in good hands, she would be once again free to follow her Knightly vows to Seek the Myths, Honour the Seers, and Protect the Realm. 

Finally, Ser Garmelia asked who was brave and strong enough to duel her, as she longed to test a fellow Knight’s mettle. Ser Lyssa stepped up, and terms we set—the duel was to first blood, unmounted, and there were no further conditions attached to the duel. (Sir Yorick in particular had worried perhaps Ser Lyssa might end up being the bridge’s next guardian, but this was not the case.) Just before the battle began, Ser Lyssa noticed something odd: on Ser Garmelia’s scabbard, she caught a glimpse of an unusual image, one she swore depicted her and Garmelia in combat. However, the battle was extremely brief: although Ser Garmelia blocked the worst of Ser Lyssa’s first blow, at the last moment Ser Lyssa struck her and drew blood, at the exact instant that Ser Garmelia’s cleaving blade bounced off Ser Lyssa’s armour. Impressed, Ser Garmelia grasped Ser Lyssa’s hand with respect and welcomed the group to Caerwyn Town properly. 

(Ser Lyssa earned herself 1 Glory from the duel.)

Davith (the group’s squire-in-training) led them into Caerwyn Town, bringing them to the finest salt fish pie stand, where several pies were given gratis. 

After eating, the Knights left their horses for Davith to get stabled and set about pursuing different business. 

• Sir Yorick went to a tailor to arrange for a new suit of black clothing to be made for him. The tailor did this for him for free, or rather for the bragging rights of having outfitted a Knight. 
• Sir Augustine sat outside the tailor’s shop, regaling neighborhood children with tales from his recent adventure, and then eventually dozing off while waiting for Sir Yorick. 
• Ser Lyssa set out for Caerwyn Fort to see how things were going in Ser Tresera’s absence and to see if she could discover why the Knight had suddenly left her post. She was questioning a guard who had no real answers for her, when suddenly an older but quite attractive woman approached.

The woman introduced herself as Viralag, a self-described “hill scavenger”:

Viralag, with a hint of flirtation, invited Ser Lyssa to a tavern over in Caerwyn Town to have a drink and talk. As they walked to the tavern, they saw a man beating a child in the street—apparently a master and his apprentice. The apprentice protested that “it wasn’t my fault” but the man did not relent. Ser Lyssa chided the merchant about his mistreatment of the child, in a town where such a shortage of potential squires was an issue. The man snapped that she ought to mind her own business, which Ser Lyssa did not take well: she hoisted them man up and attempted to toss him off the bridge, into the river. However, the man held onto her firmly, so she finally set him back down on the bridge once the apprentice had run off, and sternly warned him to behave.

At this point, Veralag became even more flirtatious, seizing Ser Lyssa’s hand and leading her off, warning her to be careful in Caerwyn Town, for she had just confronted one Salward Kerren, son of the merchant matriarch Genona Kerren, a rich and powerful woman she characterized as “sweet and enticing on the outside, but bitterly poisonous within.” More children, she implied, surely suffered under the Kerrens in the way they’d seen that apprentice suffer earlier, for they employed children in their hare-fur coat making enterprise. As the pair drank, Viralag took Ser Lyssa’s hand several times, complimenting her and answering her questions. She could not say why Ser Tresera had left Caerwyn Keep, but only that it must be an issue of great urgency given Ser Tresera’s long-uninterrupted residence at the Keep, and asked Ser Lyssa what they’d talked about when they saw her, since to Viralag’s mind something that they’d said to her must have precipitated the change. Viralag had seen Ser Tresera at the start of her rulership, and known her for at least a decade. She knew about the pearls that Ser Tresera gave out, but said nothing of their nature. Increasingly forward, Viralag once more came on to Ser Lyssa, suggesting she would be glad to have her come up to her rooms. Ser Lyssa gently, but none too deftly, avoided Viralag’s overtures and continued to drink with her; at one point she suggested that Viralag ought to see the other Knights in the party before settling on her romantically, although the way she phrased it sounded as if she were proposing something altogether more ribald. Finally, Viralag brought some Burning Wine to Ser Lyssa—the one drink that set off her hatred of the rich—and Ser Lyssa, instead of taking Viralag up on her romantic offers, went off into the empty, dark streets of Caerwyn Town in search of someone rich to beat up. 

Finally, Sir Yorick dropped in on the pilgrims and found Eloesa, who told him that the Pilgrims were now preparing to leave Caerwyn Town, to continue their pilgrimage to see the Seers of the Realm. They were next headed to see The Painted Seer, in the mountains to the Southwest, and though she hoped she would see Sir Yorick again sometime soon, she was not sure their paths would ever cross again. The ended up getting a room and spending their last night together, Sir Yorick living in the moment just as he’d said to the villagers the night before. (Aaaaand… fade to black, of course.)

And that was the end of the session. Next time, the players are planning to set out to find the home of the Scarlet Seer in the swamps they’ve been told lie roughly east (actually slightly southeast) of Caerwyn Keep, possibly after dropping by the Gardens of St. Bristofast which lie directly southeast of the Keep. 

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Oh, regarding Sir Yorick’s ability to get information from traded bones, we settled on the following system: he can “save” the questions and ask the bones when he wants or needs to learn something. The bones can only tell him one thing each, and can only tell him something known or seen by the person or creature from which the bone was taken. He’s got one question pending currently, with the centuries-old skull taken from the catacombs under Belfin village.

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Also, side note: I’m working on some behind-the-scenes notes  on each session. They’re in a single post that will be the last post in this series. It’s fun taking these notes, but I don’t want to spoil any surprises or secrets for my players. I don’t know if anyone will want to read those behind-the-scenes notes, but they’re coming once this game wraps up, anyway.