Session 1.3: The root-woven arch

Vahid reveals the Azure Hand. Anwen leads the way into the depths.

Just some quick housekeeping notes before we dive in. First, thank you to everyone who is still reading — it’s been great hearing your impressions and getting your feedback.

One thing that folks have mentioned is that folks who are reading in their email and not on the substack site are having trouble following the footnotes. In this segment, I’ve incorporated the mechanical breakdowns in the body copy. When there’s a scene with a lot of rolls, I’ve consolidated them into a longer note, rather than interrupting the narrative for every roll. Please let me know which you prefer, or if you have a different opinion about the role of the game mechanics in these stories altogether.

Cheers, and enjoy!

-SGH

Thomas Claveirole // CC 2.0

Session 1 // Scene 5: Within

Vahid hands out lights — two torches and an oil lantern, drawn from his heavy packs — and Anwen leads the way into the ruin, pushing aside the curtain of vines and stepping through the arched doorway into the stone chamber beyond. Shadow awaits at the threshold, hackles up, ears back. The roundhouse’s interior is a single, domed chamber. In the center, a yawning well descends deeper into darkness. The roots of the oak tree above have been carefully guided through the stonework ceiling, and follow the well into the earth, spiraling down. The tree’s still-living roots cradle dozens of slate stepping stones, offering an easy pathway into the black.

The walls are covered from floor to ceiling with bas-relief, dancing in the shadows of Padrig’s flickering firelight. His eyes intent, Vahid lifts his lantern and casts its steady light on the walls.

Vahid uses his favorite move, Know Things, and gets a Weak Hit with a 9. He is able to glean some broad facts about the Green Lords, but nothing that gives him clues as to what may have become of Blodwen here.

The carvings on the walls show giant figures, clad in fur, antlers, leaves, and flowers. They are worshipped and served by smaller beings, who rejoice at their masters’ feet and take part in great feasts and revels, provided by their masters’ wealth and beneficence. Vahid’s light slowly circles the wall, lighting great battles fought by these giants, between one another and with other titanic monsters, creatures of tearing claws and grasping tentacles.

“The Green Lords, without a doubt. This must have been built at the height of their power, just before the fall. These sagas show the great battles they fought between one another, and with The Things Below. There are scholars at the Lycaeum who would kill for a coal rubbing of these walls. And that is not a figure of speech.”

Anwen glances at them, but her gaze returns to the well. “We’re here for Blodwen. And if she’s not in here, she must be down there.”

All three stare down into the hole in silence. Padrig breaks it after a beat. “Well, scholar? What should we be prepared for, if we go down there?”

Vahid replies: “I wish I could say. I have read nearly all the Lycaeum has to offer on the Makers. There is no record of what the Green Lords built here, on the fringes of their domain. If we descend, we should be prepared to see things that no living human has seen.”

Anwen frowns. “No one, save Blodwen.”

Vahid nods sadly. “Yes. If she still lives.”

Anwen’s face sets, determined. “Then what are we waiting for?” She draws her hatchet from its ring on her belt and holds the torch high as she starts down the stairs. Padrig and Vahid hurry to follow her — Padrig unslings his bow and nocks an arrow, while Vahid unslings his heavy pack and opens the long leather sheath containing the Azure Hand. In the firelight, the aetherium hand that crowns the staff glistens with a strange blue-silver sheen.

“So, that’s what a wizard’s staff looks like?” Padrig asks.

“I am no wizard. I am a natural philosopher,” Vahid says, his tone growing didactic. “Truth be told, there’s little evidence that any wizards have ever existed — they are merely jumbled and misunderstood tales of the powers wielded by the Makers, their servants, and their successors. The Azure Hand is simply a powerful tool. Once we understand its power, its magic will seem quite ordinary. I assure you.”

Padrig chuckles but does not contradict the scholar as the two descend the well, following behind Anwen.

Session 1 // Scene 6: Below

As the three climb down the living-oak stairs, the air grows chill. The outermost roots, winding around the edges of the well, begin to seep globes of orange-yellow amber, fist-sized, smooth, and almost perfectly spherical, showing only the occasional warp or pit. Vahid reaches out and brushes his fingers against one, and in response, it springs to life, lighting the stairs with a warm glow.

Padrig glares at him, but Vahid doesn’t notice, entranced by the living craft of the Green Lords. Anwen pauses briefly and looks up to them, her eyes drawn by the light, before continuing doggedly in pursuit of the end of Blodwen’s trail, for weal or woe.

Soon, the bottom of the well is illuminated by her torchlight. The circle of the stone floor is covered with more reliefs, but what draws Anwen’s attention is the doorway, with warm light shining faintly from within. She whispers excitedly to Vahid and Padrig above: “There’s light down here!”

And before Padrig can caution her, she hurries down the remaining stairs and calls out: “Blodwen! Blodwen, are you hurt?” She races to the doorway and looks within.

The chamber beyond is an arched stone cellar, again adorned with relief carvings and the twisting, amber-spotted roots of the ancient oak. The roots traverse the length of the cellar, reaching their terminus at the far wall. There, they weave together, forming a roiling archway, covering the stonework entirely with its twisting pattern. Here and there, the amber globes shine softly, giving Anwen barely enough light by which to see the crinwin.

Crinwin. Image Credit: Lucie Arnoux // luciedraws.com

There are four of them, crowded against the far wall. One abases himself at the foot of the root archway, another hunches by one of the glowing ambers, mesmerized by its light, and two scuttle up the oaken roots, pulling and scratching vainly at them.

Breathless, Anwen ducks behind the archway, hiding from view. From within the cellar, she hears a crinwin’s voice hiss and rattle in mimicry: “Blodwen! Blodwen! Hurt! Hurt! HURT!” The others take up the call, echoing up the well. Anwen is frozen behind the archway, pale and fighting back tears. Blodwen is surely dead, killed by those monsters. Another villager, taken from them, just like Ifan was.

Her grip tightens around her hatchet as Padrig and Vahid reach the bottom of the stair.

Padrig mouths silently to her, 'How many,’ but she doesn’t see him. Instead, in reply, she rounds the corner, her hatchet held high, her torch held out in front of her in a low guard. Padrig swears and follows her, drawing his bowstring taut as he goes. “Vahid, your lantern! Give us light!”

“GIVE US LIGHT! GIVE US LIGHT!” the crinwin shriek, as the three storm in.

Anwen charges into the chamber, coming face to face with one of them. She swings her hatchet, hoping to bury it in the creature’s forehead, but her momentum carries her too far forward, and it is already inside her reach. The haft of her ax glances off its mottled grey flesh and its jaws find her torch-arm, clamping down. Anwen cries out and drops the torch to the ground. It rolls deeper down the cellar, lighting the remaining three, loping on all fours towards the archway, shrieking. “GIVE US! BLODWEN! HURT!”

Padrig, following behind her, sights one of the creatures as they move into Vahid’s lantern light. He can see their milk-pale eyes and filthy, curved talons, perched on too-long fingers. He lets fly and one of them stops short, his arrow fletching sprouting from its midsection. It falls to the ground, still struggling to crawl forward. A second crinwin following behind it surges forward and throws itself at Padrig, howling wildly. His arrow strikes it in mid-flight, but not enough to hold it back. It slams into him, bearing him down to the ground, its clawed fingers wrapping around his throat. Vahid bludgeons the beast once with the heavy iron foot of his staff, drawing its attention, while Padrig snatches an arrow from his quiver and drives it through the crinwin’s throat.

Meanwhile, Anwen tries to wrench her arm away from the snapping jaws, to no avail. It sinks its teeth in and her blood flows freely now. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she rears back with her hatchet and cleaves the creature at the base of its neck. Its jaws go limp and she flings it aside.

The last crinwin wails in dismay, and skitters back, running towards the root-woven arch, Anwen in close on its heels. It throws itself at the arch, pulling and tearing at the roots, screaming incomprehensibly. Decisively, Anwen strides up and lays into it with her hatchet. It snarls and turns, scratching frantically at Anwen, tearing at her hide-wrapped tunic and drawing blood, but after three blows it stops, and after five it is silent. Anwen’s hatchet clatters to the stone floor.

This is our first fight! Let’s break down how the action unfolded. First, Anwen runs down into the cellar, we see there are crinwin down there, doing weird crinwin things. We bring Anwen’s fear into the mix — she’s terrified of monsters, and these are definitely monsters. Rather than trying to overcome her fear right away, Anwen instead attempts to hide from the crinwin. This uses the Defy Danger move, and Anwen gets an 8, which is a Weak Hit. She’s hidden for the moment, but it won’t last long.

Next, Padrig and Vahid join her. Rather than answering Padrig’s question, Anwen rushes ahead — she’s just not a careful, tactical fighter just yet. We decide that Anwen can now use her Anger is a Gift move, sparked by the realization that these crinwin may well have killed Blodwen. We’ll discuss that move in a bit more depth in Anwen’s Session Zero (coming up next), but in this context, it allows her to overcome her fear and act quickly, surprising both her allies and the crinwin.

Then, things start to go off the rails for Anwen. She uses the Clash move and rolls a snake eyes, and adds her strength for a total of 3, which is a Miss. She takes six damage (the crinwin rolled the maximum), leaving her with 10 HP. This single hit took more than a third of her HP, so we narrarate as being a pretty dire attack.

Meanwhile, Padrig and Vahid act — Padrig attacks while Vahid uses the Aid move to give him advantage — Vahid narrates his Aid as the lantern light illuminating the space and partially blinding the crinwin. Padrig uses the Let Fly (which is the ranged equivalent of Clash) move and gets a Weak Hit, with an 8. He deals 3 damage (which is how much HP each crinwin has), but is put in danger. We declare that a second crinwin is almost upon him, and put the spotlight back on Padrig.

He uses the Let Fly move again and gets a 7 dealing, 5 damage. Since last time he was “put in danger,” this time we’ll rule that the danger is realized, and he takes damage from the crinwin. It deals 3 to him, leaving him with 17. He then uses Clash, as they are now in melee, with Vahid’s aid (which we represent by Vahid physically attacking the crinwin, distracting it). Rather than having him draw his sword, we narrate the situation as him stabbing the crinwin with an arrow in close-quarters combat — it feels right for a hard-bitten mercenary type.

Then we shift focus to Anwen — she’s still contending with a crinwin latched onto her arm. Anwen rolls Clash again, with a 9. She takes 4 damage, leaving her with 6 HP, and deals 5 to the crinwin, killing it.

Crinwin aren’t implacable foes, so we’ll rule that the last one starts to flee, since the fight has turned badly against it. Since Anwen’s anger is up, we’ll give her the spotlight and she chases down the monster and finishes it off. Fortunately, it only deals 2 damage in return, leaving her with 4 HP, in danger of a lethal blow. Stonetop, like D&D, uses a pretty abstract damage system, so being low on HP represents both wounds, but also being exhausted or vulnerable to the hit that might put you down for good. That’s where Anwen is now — she needs to rest and get bandaged up.

Now we rejoin the narrative, as Padrig takes stock of their small victory.

Padrig approaches her, barely concealed anger on his face. “Eager for a fight, were we? Let’s see your wounds.”

Anwen steels herself, wipes her eyes with the back of her bloody hand, and turns towards him.

“Tor, you’re a mess. They got the worse end, but not by much. Vahid, have you read any books on the surgeon’s trade?” Padrig asks.

“It was not my course of study,” Vahid in a tone of mild apology. His eyes remain locked on the arch. “I do have some bandages and whiskey in my pack, to clean and bind the wounds. I left it at the top of the stairs. Perhaps you could see to her, while I investigate this chamber?”

Anwen breaks in, her voice steady. “No, I’ll stay. I want to know what happened to Blodwen.”

Vahid nods warily, and approaches the arch at the far end of the cellar, holding his staff before him and sensing the currents and reservoirs of energy in the room. He feels it against the Azure Hand as though it was his own flesh and blood, a warm breeze on his open palm. The current grows stronger as he draws closer to the arch, like hot summer air rushing through a cellar door. Anwen, following as close as she dares, feels an electric frisson down her spine. “Vahid? Do you feel that?”

Vahid replies: “That is the resonance of the Hand. I feel that always, but here it grows much stronger.” Vahid closes his eyes and casts his awareness towards the arch. He feels the living arcana bound into the tree’s roots. He feels its presence still lingering, like dust in the air against the Azure Hand’s surface, and he can feel a current running through it, as though someone had passed through not long ago.

This is Vahid’s first opportunity to use the Azure Hand. It allows him to use the Seek Insight move related to magical or elemental phenomenon, which is what he’s doing here. He scores a weak hit, giving him the answer to a single question from the Seek Insight list. He chooses “What happened here recently?” He learns that Blodwen was here, that she somehow awakened the Green Lords’ magic, and that she was transported to some other place.

Vahid turns to the others. “I believe she is still here. Or, to be more precise, she is near. It should come as no surprise to you that the Green Lords intended this place to house some arcane power. Whether it is great or small, I cannot say. But somehow, it worked its magic upon Blodwen, and has taken her to some other place.”

Padrig’s face darkens. “Some other place? Where? And how can we bring her back?”

“I cannot say. Yet. Perhaps, with a careful study of these reliefs, the writings and symbols here and above, I can learn the answers to these questions.”

“How long do you need?” Padrig asks.

Vahid holds up his hands apologetically. “Again, I cannot say. I have not even begun. Certainly the rest of the day, and into the night.”

Padrig’s brow furrows. “There are still crinwin out there. You said it yourself before we left.”

Vahid nods. “Yes. There are. I leave it up to you whether you and your Companions can keep us safe. As you said, this is not an easy place to reach. Perhaps that will protect us.”

Padrig considers this, silently. Anwen meets his eyes, imploring.

Padrig turns and heads back for the stairs. “Get to work, then. Anwen, let’s get you patched up.”

Anwen sighs in relief. “Yes, chief.”

GM Notes

We had our first combat encounter. I prefer to keep the first relatively small — if things go sideways and the party gets badly wounded, you build up some nice tension around combat that you can carry through to the next few encounters. If they win without much trouble, it gives the more combat-forward characters a chance to shine.

The big decision for the next session is how and if Blodwen is brought back from wherever she is. I suspect the story is better served if the party has the opportunity to return with Blodwen — if she’s just gone, there’s not really any reason to feel a big loss since we don’t know much about her. If she’s able to return, on the other hand, it provides a thread to continue the mystery and keeps Vahid tied to the village by continuing to develop their relationship.

So, the question to open the next session isn’t “Does Vahid get Blodwen out of the archway?” — she’s definitely coming back. We just need to figure out how much time it takes, how much Vahid is able to learn, and how much danger the party will be exposed to in the process.

Padrig’s Notes

Padrig is taking a risk here, letting Vahid study the ruins into the night. If it goes well, it’s a win for Padrig and the crew in the eyes of the village. If it goes south, this dovetails with the threat Ozbeg poses, by lessening his standing with his crew. Either way, Padrig can get some nice character moments out of the outcome. Padrig also performed an important function in these two scenes, which is he provided some opportunities for character moments to Anwen and Vahid. As a player in an RPG, it’s critical to remember how your performance of your character shapes the other characters and the NPCs of the game. If, for example, someone is portraying a learned character, you can reinforce that by acting impressed by their insight, and I’ve found it makes people very happy at the gaming table.

Anwen’s Notes

Anwen got to use her Anger is a Gift move for the first time, which is an important moment when playing this playbook. As a GM and as players of the other PCs, you really want to let the player take the spotlight and take risks, because it’s a character-defining moment. Often, in RPGs, the instinct players have is to pause and plan every detail of an encounter before it happens. That can be fun, but it can also be a lot of fun just to rush in — especially if it’s more true to how your characters would behave.

Vahid’s Notes

Vahid had a similar moment to Anwen, in that he got to take out and use the Azure Hand. It was a bit less dramatic than Anwen’s moment, but he still gets to play the role of the Antiquarian and have that character moment, bolstered by Padrig’s question (“Is that what a wizard’s staff looks like?”) and Anwen letting him take the spotlight after the fight in the cellar. In early sessions especially, it’s important to let each PC have a moment to ‘do their thing,’ much like a pilot of a TV show.