Session 12.6: I've come to bargain

A tense vigil, a whispered bargain, a brush with death

Recap & Poll Results

Last episode, a two-parter, the party spent trying to get to the bottom of the attacks on Mutra the Teeth’s logging crews. Earning Mutra’s allegiance would put the final piece in place to mount an effective defense against Cirl-of-the-Storms, the Hillfolk sorcerer currently planning an attack on the town.

As the party worked to secure the town from a the sorcerer’s threat, their investigations revealed another, nearer threat to the Delve’s security — Odo Thriceborn, the only Delve Boss the party has yet to treat with, was revealed as the true mastermind of the attacks against Mutra’s people, prosecuting a secret feud under the cover of the rising tensions with the Hillfolk. The end of the episode saw the party rescuing (kidnapping?) one of Odo’s newest bravos — a fighter named Young Brogan, who once served in the Claws alongside Padrig. A brief questioning of Brogan revealed that Odo is no mere gangster — he appears to be up to some very dark business in a lair hidden deep in the tenements his gang control. The party’s allies who hail from the Whitefang Mountains — Madam Parvati and Mutra herself — were able to quickly connect tales of Odo’s savagery to the Howling Curse, an ancient and eldritch affliction found in their homeland that has somehow made its way to the Delve.

All were agreed that Odo must die — for good this time. But Mutra demanded that Pad order Young Brogan to lead them to Odo’s lair — a prospect that terrified the young warrior. Pad feels deeply at fault for what happened to Brogan after the Claws retreated from the Delve, and now he must choose: Will Brogan be forced to confront the terror he’s lived with for the last two years? Or will they reject Mutra’s demand and find another way down to Odo’s Lair? Let’s see what y’all chose:

They don’t come much closer than that! I think this margin is pretty appropriate for Padrig’s state of mind — he’s always one to put the success of the mission first, and he’s made sacrifices for that in the past. But finding Brogan was still alive rattled him a bit, and learning what the young man suffered after his abandonment put our old bandit in a tough spot, emotionally, and in this case, he has decided to put something — honor, principle, or maybe just sentimentality — ahead of the straight path to victory.

This episode will be the last of session 12 — in it, we’ll see how the party figures out how to contend with Odo without putting Brogan in further danger, and set up the denumount . We’ll rejoin the action with the party discussing their next move:

Scene 11, Upstairs at Madame Parvati’s

Padrig, Anwen, and Vahid crowd the narrow upstairs corridor of Madam Parvati’s, speaking in sotto voce as Mutra stalks around downstairs, awaiting their decision.

“It’s your decision, Pad,” Anwen says. “You know Brogan best. Can he do it?”

Padrig frowns. “I don’t know. You saw him in there — he was hanging by a thread when we took him, and now he’s had a bare moment to lay down his burden and rest. It may break him if we ask him to take it up again, even if we get what we want.”

“There may be another way,” Vahid says mildly.

“Aye, there is. I’ll go — alone. Ask him to tell me the path best as he can, and I will find it. One man, forewarned and forearmed, might make it through. Once I find the doorway he described, I’ll mark well the path and return.”

“We cannot risk you in the coming battle with the hdour,” Vahid replies. “Odo must be dealt with, but Cirl-of-the-Storms is our greater enemy.”

“Downstairs, a moment ago, you said, ‘Odo must die,’” Padrig says, jabbing a finger in the scholar’s chest.

“This was my counsel to Mutra,” Vahid protests. “It is her duty foremost to see him dead. If we can choose only one victory, surely it must be against the man who would come to Stonetop.”

“No,” Anwen says with finality. “We can’t let this stand — what they did to Brogan and the others. If we can end this evil now, we must.”

For a bit of fun, Anwen triggers Persuade on Vahid here, using Speak Truth to Power to get advantage: 

4+4+1+0 Charisma = 8, Weak Hit

Vahid still gets to make his own decision, but he gets a shiny XP if he goes along with Anwen! He has misgivings, but he did promise to follow Anwen’s lead, and here she is, leading.

Vahid is silent for a moment. “Very well. Let us do it swiftly, and turn our attention to our true foe. Can Odo be lured from his lair into the open?”

To answer the question, Padrig considers what he knows of the man and their tactical situation:

Pad triggers Seek Insight: 1+2+2 Wisdom = Miss

Not a great start. Like last episode, we'll use this opportunity to Reveal an Unwelcome Truth: That if the rumors they’ve heard so far are true, and Odo does have some supernatural means to spy on folk in the Delve, it's very possible he's aware of what they're doing, and looking for Brogan right now.

Padrig grimaces. “Hard to say. If the tales are true, he has spies everywhere. If that’s so, he might be forewarned of any plan we hatch with Mutra.”

Padrig’s brow furrows. “In fact, we’d best take precautions.” He leaves them, descending the stairs to speak quietly to Baraz in the common room and Mutra’s bravos, waiting anxiously outside. Anwen and Vahid, upstairs, can hear the armed men shuffling about, moving furniture, and taking positions by the doors and windows.

Vahid watches him go quietly and then turns his attention to Anwen. “There may be a way Brogan can help us while remaining here in safety,” he whispers.

“How?”

“He described the entrance to Odo’s inner sanctum. The inscription over the archway -- ‘Heed the whispers, and never again be prey.’ In his mind, I heard these whispers, and it was not Odo’s voice who called to me. Perhaps I can speak to them — bargain with them. Odo may wish to keep his lair a secret, but whatever thing he has bound himself to wishes to be found — and worshipped.”

“But if you listen to the whispers, can’t the curse pass to you?”

“I will have to be cautious and guard myself well. Stay my hand from cruelty and bloodshed. It seems that is what marked the point of no return for Brogan.”

She opens her mouth to object but then holds herself back. Vahid awaits her impassively. “This is beyond my ken, Vahid. If you think this is the right risk, I trust you.”

He bows his head respectfully. “Thank you, marshal.” He turns and enters Brogan’s room.

There, Brogan is dead to the world -- fast asleep, with one of Parvati’s women sitting at his bedside. When the Seeker enters, she departs with graceful haste, not meeting his strange, azure eye.

Standing over Brogan’s bed, he closes his eyes and brings his awareness to the place in his mind where his third eye rests. He lifts his eyepatch as white light spills forth, revealing the world of thought and mind in luminous color as the world of flesh falls away into smoke.

Vahid, using his third eye, is trying to glean what the presence that seems to be the source of the Howling Curse wants.

Vahid triggers Seek Insight: 4+1+1 Wisdom = 6, Miss.

Uh-oh. A few misses in a row, here. Given that we've already set up the threat of an attack, it's time to make good. We’ll do some quick foreshadowing, and then smash cut to Padrig.

Lodged in Brogan’s slumbering mind like a broken blade in a wound, Vahid sees the pulsing red hunger, and in from its rhythmic motion comes a haunting, maddening whisper. “You see me, Seeker. But I see you, too...” 

Scene 12, Downstairs at Madame Parvati’s

Padrig and Baraz put their shoulders into one of the heavy tables, sliding it the last few inches against the doorway to the street. The pouring rain licks their faces through the gap, and the curtain that hangs in the entrance whips in the gusting wind. Together, they peer through the gap into the dark, muddy streets. It is late, and the Swap folk have withdrawn indoors. The only light comes from the cracks in the closed shutters, and the only sound is the raindrops beating down.

Mutra motions for her guards to take positions by the windows, shuttered with wooden slats now soaked by the rain. Up above, on the rooftops, Pad thinks he sees a fleeting shadow darting swiftly across the slick tiles and ramshackle timber. As he tries to catch sight of it, he hears splashing in the muddy street below. 

“I heard that too,” Baraz rumbles. “Someone’s out there.” Pad narrows his eyes, trying to pierce the darkness and the rain.

Padrig triggers Seek Insight: 1+2+2 Wisdom = 5, Miss

The party can't catch a break here.

Odo remains aloof. Source: Midjourney

For a moment, he catches a glimpse of a tall gaunt figure, cloaked and shrouded by darkness and rain, watching them. Pad sees the shine of a predator’s eyes, and he is filled with a certainty that he can’t quite name that this is Odo. “They’re here!” he bellows, and then he is confronted by another, more terrible sight.

A fanged, grinning face and glowing yellow eyes fill the gap above the barricade, and a pair of muscle-corded arms slither through in an instant to seize Padrig, their too-long fingers wrapping around the old bandit’s throat.

Padrig slams his fists into the arms, trying to break their grasp. There is a crunch of bone as he slams into the thing’s elbow, but the grip does not loosen, and the twisted, grinning face lets out a howl of maniacal laughter. Baraz leaps to Pad’s aid, slamming his shoulder into the beast’s arms and knocking his quarry free. Denied its prey, the creature wriggles forward through the gap and sinks its teeth into Baraz’s shoulder -- the burly Lygosi roars in pain. In the light of the common room, the thing looks barely a man, wiry and twisted, its bony spine peeking through the torn, sodden rags it wears.

Pad steps back and draws his sword. In one smooth motion, he thrusts the iron blade upwards into the beast’s jaw, a glancing blow that leaves an angry red gash across the creature’s face. The beast howls with mad laughter and withdraws behind the barricade, tearing its fangs free from Baraz’s shoulder and leaving a terrible, bleeding gash. There is only a moment of respite before the barricade shudders as an awful force slams against it from the outside. Padrig and Baraz put their backs against it, holding it firm against the onslaught.

Scene Breakdown, the first exchange

This is a relatively complex action scene with a few different exchanges, so we’ll break it down as we go. Here, Pad suffers the hard move of being grabbed, and takes 3 damage, leaving 17 HP remaining. He then tries to break free, with Baraz’s Aid granting advantage:

Pad triggers Defy Danger with Strength: 5+3+1+0 Strength = 8, Weak Hit

Baraz takes 6 damage, and has 4 HP left.

Then, Pad tries to put the thing down before it can crawl all the way through the barricade, once again with Baraz’s advantage:

Pad triggers Clash: 5+2+1+0 Strength = 7, Weak Hit

They deal 5 damage to the creature, which does not down it — these things are a bit tougher than your average mook. Baraz takes 3 more damage -- he has one HP left. Pad knows he has to get him out of the fight, and to make that decision even thornier, we escalate a bit, adding a few new combatants to engage Mutra:

On the other side of the common room, the shuttered windows explode inward in a shower of splinters as two more ragged creatures throw themselves into the fray. “Get Anwen, Baraz! And get your people out of here!”

The Lygosi hesitates. “You cannot hold it alone!” 

“They’re already inside! Go!” 

Baraz makes for the back, clutching his bleeding shoulder and shouting for Anwen.

The champion of Stonetop comes pelting down the stairs, the double-axe Bearkiller ready in her hands. She is confronted with Mutra and her bodyguard, engaged by two snarling, twisted creatures -- they shift and dodge between pools of lantern light -- sometimes looking human, sometimes like starving wolves. One of Mutra’s men lies at their feet, already mauled and dying. With a roar, she charges forward, axe raised high.

Her blade tears into one of the creatures, nearly severing its arm. Heedless of the pain, the thing throws itself with her, jabbing in a frenzy with a dagger of sharpened bone. The blade bites deep into Anwen’s calf, and the gibbering monster lunges at her, seeking to get inside her reach, but Mutra is there, seizing the creature from behind and throwing it to the ground before laying into it with her iron-shod cudgel again and again until its struggles cease.

At the doorway, Pad has a moment of respite, and he moves to the side, laying in wait for their attackers. It only takes a moment before they surge through -- three more cackling things.

Padrig swings his longsword overhead in a double-handed strike, drawing a cut down the nearest beast’s entire length. It turns back towards Pad, snapping its jaws, but it stumbles as its strength fails it, and it collapses to the ground.

The two remaining creatures round on Padrig. One of them stands taller than the others -- powerfully built with a shaggy pelt of rust-colored hair and powerful arms that reach almost to the floor. It bares its fangs at him and charges.

Pad gives ground, dodging beneath the alpha’s sweeping strikes to run through his wounded underling. Pad’s longsword pierces the creature’s rags and leathery skin, and as it dies on his blade, he turns and throws it bodily at its leader, using the moment bought to withdraw out of reach of the thing’s long, strong arms and catching claws.

With Mutra’s aid, Anwen dispatches her remaining foe and turns to aid her friend.

Padrig and Anwen fan out, moving to flank the hulking creature. As Pad harries it with a few quick slashes, Anwen charges in, but the monster is canny -- at the last moment, it whirls and slashes at her with its hooked talons. Anwen bulls through the strike and the pain and cleaves down with Bearkiller, the makerglass cutting through hide, flesh, and bone. The alpha falls, and Anwen slumps against the wall, her vision white from the pain of her fresh wound.

Scene Breakdown, the second exchange

First Anwen enters the fray and strikes with Mutra and her bodyguards aiding:

Anwen triggers Clash: 5+2+1+2 Strength = 9, Weak Hit

Anwen deals 10 damage to the creature — she’s already adding 1d4 for Payback, along with the +3 damage Mutra and her bodyguards add. In return, she receives 7 damage leaving her 13 HP.

Then, we check back in with Padrig — he does a quick Read the Land to plan a hasty trap, and rather than trying to hold the barricade, he's going to move to the side and strike at whatever comes through. When the enemy obliges him, he strikes, gaining advantage from Read the Land:

Pad triggers Clash: 6+4+1+0 Strength = 10, Strong Hit

He chooses to deal extra damage, but suffer some in return, gambling he can kill the creature in one hit. He deals 10 damage to the creature, enough to put it down, and receives 6 in return, leaving 14 HP remaining.

Against the alpha, Pad plays it cagey and defensive:

Pad triggers Defend 5+4+1 Constitution = 10, Strong Hit.

Pad holds 3 Readiness, and spend it all immediately. 2 Readiness negates the alpha's attack¹, and then 1 Readiness lets Pad deal his damage to the other attacker -- the one he wounded through the barricade -- albiet with disadvantage. 

Amazingly, Pad rolled max damage, dealing enough damage to kill the other creature. Not bad for a fighting retreat! To keep the action moving quickly, we abstact Anwen and Mutra’s next attack, keeping the camera on Pad and the alpha:

Anwen triggers Clash: 6+4+2+2 Strength = 12, Strong Hit

She deals 8 damage, enough to down this lesser foe. Then, she goes to Padrig’s side to deal with the alpha, rolling with his Aid:

Anwen triggers Clash: 6+5+1+2 Strength = 13, Strong Hit

Anwen wants to end this -- she chooses to deal extra damage while suffering the alpha's attack. Everyone rolls near-max damage -- Anwen deals 12, enough to kill the alpha in one exchange. The alpha in turn deals 8 to Anwen, which would leave her with only 5 HP. She chooses to halve it -- after all, they still might have to fight Odo tonight -- and as a consequence, she's out of it for a bit. We take that opportunity to cut back to Vahid:

Scene 11, cont’d: Meanwhile, upstairs at Madame Parvati’s

“Who are you? What is your name?” Vahid addresses the phantoms of Brogan’s mind with the tongue of the storm spirits he has mastered.

The whispers wheeze, like a bitter wind rushing past the ears. “I am the starving wolf in every heart. Heed me, and never again be prey.” Brogan turns fitfully in his sleep, pressing his hands to his ears.

“I wish to bargain.”

“The only offering I wish is blood and flesh.”

“Then I will offer it. Lead me to your sacred place, and I will bring a bloodbath and flesh for the slaughter.”

Vahid is trying to turn the last bunch of misses he’s suffered to his advantage. He’s attracted the attention of this malignant presence that is behind the Howling Curse, and now he wants to use that attention to get it to divulge Odo’s hiding place. He wasn’t able to use his insight to learn its motivations, but he’s banking on the idea that something this primal and savage won’t be a subtle negotiator.

Vahid triggers Persuade: 5+1+1 Charisma = 7, Weak Hit→Strong Hit

Let's Make a Deal (in this case, a literal deal with a literal devil), upgrades this to a strong hit, since the presence wants murder and violence, and Odo is slow-playing things (thanks to his earlier defeats).

Visions assail Vahid -- twisting halls of the tenements, a dark hole in the rock, a pitch-black cavern, and a bloody archway. Beyond, the blood-stained pit, where the hungry presence looms. Then, a torrent of last moments -- the sights of dead men and their killers, and bloody feasts on the remains as Odo’s gaunt face smiles down, an inhuman, maniacal gleam in his eyes.

Brogan moans and cries, still asleep, his body twisted in the fetal position, and all at once, Vahid is snapped back to the physical world -- the final echos of the battle below. The light from his third eye fades, and Brogan’s cries die down to quiet whimpers. Vahid puts a regretful hand on the boy’s shoulder and turns quickly to find his comrades.

The Seeker arrives downstairs as Anwen wrenches her axe free from the body of the red-haired alpha. Mutra and her surviving man are tensed and ready, waiting for more to arrive. Padrig goes to the door, looking for a sign of more attackers or Odo himself, but none is forthcoming -- whatever other creatures waited in the night, they have withdrawn. Anwen is resting against the wall, and she draws herself up. “Well, Seeker?” she asks. “Did it work?”

Vahid swallows. His mouth is dry; his heart is racing. Only now does he reflect on the danger of the thing he was communing with and the primal terror he felt under its gaze. He gathers his reserve before replying. “Yes. I can lead the way to Odo’s lair.” 

“What?” Mutra snaps. “How?” 

Vahid clears his throat. “I looked into Brogan’s mind and saw the path he took many times.” 

Mutra looks incredulous, and Anwen, seeing this, adds her voice to Vahid’s: “I trust Vahid. I’m going down there -- with or without you, Mutra. Time to show your iron.” 

Mutra’s eyes narrow, and her lip curls over her black iron teeth. “Don’t worry about me, girl. That bastard Odo put twenty of mine in the ground. You’re not going in there without me.”

Padrig surveys the bodies. “Odo underestimated us. These things were strong and fast — belike he thought these few were enough to deal with us. He won’t make that mistake again.”

Anwen kneels beside the fallen alpha. The other creatures look different in death — their humanity has largely returned to them, with only subtle hints of the curse remaining — too-long fingers or a gaunt, twisted body — but the largest of them remains a monster, its jaw distended into a gruesome, fang-filled grin and its long fingers tipped with cruel, grasping claws. “What are they?”

Mutra grimaces. “These unfortunates are in the grips of the Howling Curse, but have not yet succumbed. This,” she says, nodding to the alpha, “Is what they will become. Kyakaara — the Howlers, the Ones-Who-Laugh. Monsters until the day they die.”

“How many might Odo have?”Padrig asks.

“Who knows?” Mutra says grimly. “People go missing from the tenements all the time. Any of them could’ve found this fate.”

“And we might find it too, if we do not guard ourselves,” Vahid says. “Choose your people carefully, Mutra, and gather those you can trust not to lose control.”

“Aye, and do it quickly,” Padrig adds. “Odo will be preparing a welcome — best we arrive before it’s ready.”

And we’ll close the episode, and the session out here! As always, thanks for reading — as is becoming customary between sessions, I’ll be taking a short break — I’ve got my birthday coming up, and some big work milestones, so it’s more-or-less perfect timing. We’ll resume Monday, July 17 with Session 13, which will be (probably) a shorter session, covering a good, semi-old-fashioned dungeon crawl into the tenements and Odo’s lair.

Truth be told, I’m a little trepidatious about this storyline — it feels like a bit of a plot cul-de-sac. Defeating Odo might be fun and interesting, but it doesn’t build towards the rest of the storyline as effectively as I would otherwise want.

Part of that is the nature of the randomness inherent in the Ironsworn Oracles and the Miss results that kept raising the stakes and complicating matters. I suppose that’s the nature of AP Fiction versus more traditional narratives — I’m curious what y’all think!

As long as we’re circling this cul-de-sac, however, I want to make them most of it, and as such, I’ll be using the Ironsworn Delve rules to create a twisty, turny solo dungeon crawl. So, if you’re curious about how those rules work, next session’s annotations will go in-depth into my experiences with them, whether they’re good or bad. I had initially intended to first use these rules when we visited the Barrow of the Thrice-Betrayer after we got out of Gordin’s Delve, but we ended up staying here a bit longer than the party planned²!

I hope you have an excellent July — if you’re not yet caught up on our story so far, these inter-session breaks are a great time to catch up on the back episodes. Once again, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in July!

1. Spending 1 readiness “halves the effectiveness” of an attack, so I let people spend 2 to negate it entirely — I don’t know if that is orthodox Dungeon World/Stonetop, but it’s fun!

2. Recall that the party’s original plan was to find Elder Kirs and get out of the Delve and onto the barrow as quickly as possible!