Our Mythic Bastionland, Session 13

Here’s the play report for our thirteenth session of Mythic Bastionland, which we played on Sunday 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. 

When we left off, the Knights were sharing a camp with the Scab Knight:

Ser Tyack:

… had just returned from a scouting and rabble-rousing mission, whilst Ser Augustine and Sir Yorick, as well as their squire Davith:

… shared the campfire with the Scab Knight and got to know him a little better. During the discussion, there was a lot of out-of-character speculation about the [gross/funny-sounding medical condition] Knight, such as the Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Knight and the Plantar Fasciitis Knight. The Knights turned in for the night, planning to leave early in the morning. 

Our game picked up in the morning. The Knights rose before the dawn and prepared to set out for Caerwyn Keep. Sir Yorick approached the squire Davith and handed him some bones—the ring and pinky fingers from Ser Lyssa’s hand, to be exact, which he identified as such to Davith. This disturbed Davith, but he agreed to hold onto them for him.    

On the way, Sir Yorick spoke with the Scab Knight, asking what kind of special power he might have. The Scab Knight explained that he had the power to inflict boils or fever upon someone by touching them. This did nothing to make him seem more trustworthy to the Knights, who quietly agreed that they should be ready at any moment to strike down the Scab Knight. After all, they suspected him of… well, suspiciousness. The “serendipitous” timing of his arrival outside Caerwyn Town, the ickiness of his appearance, and his general comportment made them very suspicious of him. Sir Yorick stayed close to the Scab Knight during the ride, the better to keep an eye on him. 

They arrived at Caerwyn Keep as the sun rose in the east, casting a bright halo of light behind Ser Augustine in his golden armour. The Knights demanded that the Canker Knight come forth and show himself, and ignored the guardsmen who attempted to dissuade them and send them on their way. When the Canker Knight did not immediately do so, the Knights engaged in mockery. Eventually, the Canker Knight:

… rode out on his big black warhorse and, glancing at the Knights, immediately began to mutter to himself under his breath. The guards got anxious, and when the Knights spoke to him, the Canker Knight proclaimed himself the ruler of Caerwyn Keep. 

Sir Augustine challenged the Canker Knight to a duel, weapon against weapon—specifically hoping to prevent the Canker Knight from using his pus-spitting power and blinding him. In the background, guardsmen beat their weapons against their shields as a bloody battle ensued, in which Sir Augustine landed one good blow before the Canker Knight struck him down. Sir Augustine fell from his steed to the ground, and the fall killed him dead as a stone. 

(Rest in Peace, Sir Augustine, the Gilded Knight.) 

Seeing this, the remaining Knights all immediately rushed the Canker Knight and attacked him all at once. The Canker Knight was mortally wounded and fell from his warhorse to the ground, dropping his blade. Sir Yorick dismounted and went to him, dagger in hand. The Canker Knight begged him, saying “Please… wait.” 

“You have three words,” replied Sir Yorick. 

“It… wasn’t… me…” replied the Canker Knight. 

Sir Yorick muttered about those three words—being four, as one was a contraction—and swiftly ended the Canker Knight’s life, stabbing him in the eye through the eye-slits in the visor of his helm, as the guardsmen stood in shock, some of them terrified and others looking somewhat relieved. Then he called Davith over, took the late Ser Lyssa’s sword from him, and beheaded the Canker Knight, hoisting the villains head up. 

Meanwhile, the Scab Knight looked over at the fallen Canker Knight, and glimpsed the man’s dropped sword. For a moment, he had a vision of what the kingdom would be like under his rule, and felt a powerful surge of belief that ruling the realm was his destiny. He went over and picked up the Canker Knight’s blade. 

The Knights checked Sir Augustine and confirmed that he was dead. Then, they reacted dramatically. Sir Yorick Childermasse, weeping for his fallen friend, unleashed a sream of insults at everyone he met, including assorted guards but also the late Pearl Knight’s advisor Viralak, who was terribly bedraggled and looked as if she’d undergone serious abuse recently:

He ignored her weeping and pleas, and lashed out at more guards, the Canker Knight’s head still gripped in one of his hands, insulting them for their uselessness and their failure to stand up to the Canker Knight. In vain, he sought for a viceroy, a chamberlain, someone invested with the Queen’s power, but found none. 

Meanwhile, Ser Tyack rounded up a group of guards—those who were identified as collaborators with the Canker Knight—and led them out onto Caerwyn Bridge. When she began forcing them one by one off the bridge, plummeting to their deaths, several of them ran away. She killed a few of those with her bow, but a couple of them escaped toward Caerwyn Town. 

Finally, the Scab Knight took stock of Caerwyn Keep and, while he did not lash out at the guardsmen neither did he interfere with the other Knights’ actions toward them. When a guardsman asked him to intervene on their behalf with the enraged Knights, he responded sarcastically that perhaps they ought to speak up and do something themselves, as they did (or rather, failed to do) when the Canker Knight took over. To drive his point home, he inflicted boils on one of these guardsmen. 

And that was the point at which we ran out of time, and we ended.