Session 5.6: Initiation

Anwen makes her decision.

Happy Monday! Just some quick housekeeping before we dive in — this episode ended up being on the shorter side, and very heavy on the out-of-character notes and breakdowns. We’re coming to the conclusion of one of Anwen’s storylines (as we did for Padrig at the beginning of this session, and Vahid in the middle), so there’s a good amount to analyze. I’m always trying to strike the right balance between fiction and behind-the-scenes, so any feedback on that topic (or any other topic!) is always welcome in the comments.

With that bit of throat-clearing out of the way, onward!

Last episode, we explored the heart of the House of Nine Thunders with Padrig and Vahid and discovered a powerful artifact beneath the village before we moved the spotlight to Anwen, who was recovering after her encounter with a thunder drake. While she rested, she was visited by Cadwyn, the father of her friend who was slain by the drake. He offered to stand for her during her initiation ceremony, and provide her with a simple, peaceful initiation challenge that she could complete and be recognized as an adult, neatly sidestepping Owain’s opposition to her.

Anwen, of course, had been planning and training to challenge the warrior’s circle and be recognized among Stonetop’s warriors, but that training had been interrupted by her dire injury.

Cadwyn’s offer took her aback — she didn’t want to back down from her conflict with Owain, but the support of Cadwyn and his friends and family represents a lot of things that Anwen wants very badly — acceptance from the village, recognition of her courage, and, obviously, a straightforward path to her adulthood.

We put the choice to a reader’s poll, and results were very sharply divided:

I was excited to see such a narrow margin — I think that’s the closest vote we’ve had since the reader polls started! Anwen will take Cadwyn’s offer and be initiated with a simple, honest ‘challenge’ — take Cadwyn’s herd, go alone across the Flats to the Titan’s Bones, and trade with the nomads there. It’s an easy task for Anwen, but enough to satisfy the initiation ritual and see her recognized as an adult.

The reasons for this choice are the more ambiguous of the two — if Anwen chose to fight, her reasons for doing so would be pretty clear-cut. But there could be lots of reasons why she’d take Cadwyn’s offer instead: She might desire the acceptance of the village and the forgiveness for Cadoc’s death that the offer represents. She might be uncertain of her ability to win in a duel with one of Owain’s best, despite what the storm-priest advised her in Session 5.1. And finally, she might be curious about the offer that Cerys hinted at in Session 5.5 — a chance to mend their relationship and learn from the priestess. Given that Anwen is still young, her motivations are probably all over the place, so the most likely answer is she’s making this choice for all those reasons.

At the table, setting the next scene would be a collaborative exercise between the GM and the player. If we want to explore Cerys’ offer — power that doesn’t involve fighting — we need to make it specific to serve the story and create some interesting dilemmas for Anwen. The question I’d ask Anwen’s player is this: What problem does Anwen most want to solve without fighting?

Let’s set the scene between the two of them and see if you came to the same conclusion as I did on that question:

Scene 19: The Pavillion of the Gods

It is the night before the initiation ceremony, and the Pavillion of the Gods is lit only by the distant bonfire at the foot of the Standing Stone, casting long shadows on the altars of the gods of Stonetop.

In the center of the Pavillion, Cerys kneels on a doe-hide mat, strewn with green leaves and small white flowers, before the altar of the Earthmother, Danu — a stacked stone altar upon which grows a carefully pruned hazel tree. Hanging from its twisted branches are bundles of smoldering sage, and the hot, still air is thick with the smell of it.

Anwen approaches Cerys slowly and quietly, unsure if she is filled with reverence for the goddess or mere trepidation. She watches for a time as Cerys prays. In the distance, towards the public house, the sounds of revelry can be heard — the night before initiation is a time of celebration, and the aspirants are feasted and toasted to fill them with courage for the day ahead.

A breeze rustles the leaves of the hazel tree, and then it is quiet for a time before Cerys’ calm, controlled voice breaks the silence. “You should be with the revelers.” She cocks her head towards Anwen. “It is tradition.”

“I was looking for you. Shouldn’t you be there, too?”

Cerys sniffs distastefully. “It is the storm-god who tests our young, but Danu saw them grow from a seed. It is easy to forget; My duty is to show the Earthmother we remember and pray for her blessing over the aspirants and their tasks.”

“All the aspirants?”

“I tend the whole garden, Anwen. Even the most unruly weed.”

Anwen’s chest tightens with hot anger, but she holds back a fiery reply. “I came to tell you I won’t challenge the warrior’s circle tomorrow,” she says instead.

Cerys nods sagely. “That is wise. You can wait a little longer for your initiation. Put aside your strife with Owain, let another year pass peacefully, and I can stand by your side before Tor’s stone when the time is right again.”

“No.” Cerys turns towards her now, her gaze searching. “Cadwyn has offered to stand for me.”

“That is a great kindness he does for you,” Cerys speaks after a long silence; her voice is calm, unaffected, and full of finality. She turns back to the altar. “You have no more need of me or my family, then. I counsel you to end your feud with my son, but you will be a grown woman soon and can make your own decisions.”

Anwen presses her. “You said there were other ways I could be powerful than to fight.”

Another silence before Cerys replies. She reaches down and picks up a carved wooden bowl from the mat and, with two gnarled fingers, dabs a thick, dark liquid on the roots of Danu’s altar. “So, there is something you still need from me.”

“Yes. Something you owe me and my family. You gave my mother hospitality here — she agreed to honor you as her elder, and in exchange, you would protect her as you would your own family. But you allowed her to be taken by the Marshedgers, and for the last four years, she has languished in their prison. You dishonored the guest-right and your duties as an elder, and you hid it from me all these years.”

“She went of her own accord, Anwen. And I heeded her wishes not to tell you the truth of what happened that night.”

“No. They threatened her.” Anwen says. “She was afraid of her past crimes risking my place in your household, so she allowed herself to be taken. But you could’ve stopped it, if you had only made yourself worthy of her trust.”

“You hold me to an exacting standard, young one,” Cerys says, defensiveness creeping into her voice.

“No more than the one you have held me to, elder.” Anwen retorts.

Cerys turns towards her now, eyebrows arched in surprise at Anwen’s audacity. “Very well, then. Speak. What do you seek from me and from Danu?”

Anwen lays out the truth and the lies of her mother’s tale — her past as a fenwalker, her secret and forbidden affair with Conor, her flight from Marshedge and Conor’s disgrace and corruption by the dark magics of the Fen. And, finally, of her oath to Alastar, to return and slay the fen-troll her father had become to free her mother. Cerys listens, her face lined with concern.

“Alastar says that the transformation cannot be reversed — that my father is lost forever and must be put down before he claims more lives,” Anwen continues. “But he doesn’t know how to heal with Danu’s blessing, nor does he speak to the spirits of the wild. You do. Tell me: Can the fen-blight be cured?”

Cerys peers at her with dark, appraising eyes. “Ferrier’s Fen is a stew of corruption from The Things Below, and the fen-blight comes from their grasp. Purging their influence from a man’s body and mind will require old, deep magic.”

“Magic you have?”

“Not I. But I know three who do, deep in the Great Wood. Reaching their abode and asking for their aid will not be easy.”

“Show me how.”

Anwen triggers Persaude: 5+4+2+0 Charisma = 9. Weak Hit

Anwen is appealing to Cerys’ sense of tradition and the Bond theme that we established for her earlier in this session to persuade her help find a nonviolent way to fulfill her oath to the Fenwalkers. It’s not a given that they’ll forgive Conor for his crimes, of course, but it’s a sure thing they’ll keep trying to kill him if he stays a fen troll, so Anwen sees it as worth a try.

A weak hit means Cerys will ask for a condition. She continues to push her agenda: She wants Anwen to knuckle under, apologize to Owain, and let him keep throwing his weight around unbothered.

“Very well. Return to me after the harvest. Owain has much to oversee as we prepare for winter — feud with him no more, and I will guide you.”

Anwen struggles to keep the distaste from her face. “I won’t stand by if he hurts someone again.”

Cerys is unmoved. “He does what he must to help bring in the harvest. In the lean days of winter, we cannot feed ourselves with kindness. If you cannot abide that, you will learn nothing from me.” She turns away from Anwen, back to the altar — a clear dismissal.

Anwen swallows her anger and takes her leave as Cerys returns to her prayers, smiling very slightly.

Scene Breakdown

I have to confess: I was definitely expecting the poll to shake out in the other direction. That would’ve lead to a much more action-packed, immediate set of scenes, but I’m very curious to play to find out where this more setup-laden scene leads us down the road. We’ll need to start by answering two big questions:

1. Will Anwen be able to avoid feuding with Owain through the harvest?
   This might be easy — we’ve been building up some story momentum towards visiting the Hillfolk, so the party will spend a bunch of time out of the settlement. On the other hand, we might decide to advance Owain as a threat in response to a Miss, which likely will force Anwen to back down, or run afoul of Cerys.

2. How will Anwen change if she seeks out this knowledge?
   This is something Anwen’s player and the GM would want to discuss a bit prior to playing out this storyline. Is the PC genuinely interested in having Anwen turn away from the warrior’s path and become some sort of holy figure? Or, alternatively, is this plot thread more of a step on her warrior’s journey — something that will teach her something important, but not fundamentally turn her away from that path?
   
   From everything that’s come so far, my sense is that we’re leaning towards the latter — Anwen wants to be a warrior, but she needs to understand how to do that and still retain her conscience and compassion. Thus far, her only mentor in this has been Padrig, so maybe Cerys also has something to teach her. Of course, circumstances and the dice could always throw us for a loop, so ultimately, we must play to find out.

Now, we’ll finish this session with a closing montage to complete Anwen’s initiation and bring that arc of her story to a conclusion. Some folks in the comments had suggested that we might complicate her ‘simple’ task from Cadwyn with some extra danger, but when we began this session, the dice dictated that we dial down the threats during this homefront session and give the PCs a chance to bank some wins. Sometimes as a GM it can be hard to let the PCs have an easy victory, but it can be a nice break from all the suffering we like to inflict on them.

Montage: Anwen’s Initiation

It is dawn when the whole of the village gathers to recognize Anwen and her fellows. A dozen youths are standing in the middle of the throng, in the shrinking shadow of the Standing Stone — five boys and seven girls. The revel continued late into the night, and several of the aspirants look a bit strained and haggard as Bronywn takes her place before the storm-god’s monolith.

Anwen stands with friends she’s known since she was a young girl in Stonetop — on her left is Lewela, Olwyn’s younger sister. Lewela looked up to Anwen since long before she saved her older sister’s life, but now she hangs on her every word and gesture. Lewela has trained with her woods-wise mother to recognize healing plants in the Great Wood and now must brave the woods alone to bring back a bundle of red-thorn harvested in the moonlight. On her right is Rheisart, the blacksmith’s younger apprentice. He and Anwen have often daydreamed together about exploring the world beyond Stonetop — now, he plans to leave for Gordin’s Delve when he is recognized by the village to better master his trade.

NPC Breakdown

Just a quick aside regarding these new NPCs — At the gaming table, they would be defined by some quick scene-setting questions — i.e., “Anwen, what friends are by your side when you’re standing for your initiation?”

For our purposes, I fired up the Ironsworn character oracles and roughed out two quick childhood friends using the Character Role table. They gave me Forager and Blacksmith, and then, I associated both of them with important locations — The Great Wood and Gordin’s Delve. Now, if we end up heading to those places, we can rope these NPCs into whatever shenanigans we get up to.

Bronwyn’s booming voice brings the crowd to silence as she invokes the blessings of Tor upon the aspirants. She recounts the tale of Tor’s joining with the tribe of the Sky-Folk — he boasted of his deeds as the Thunderhead, the Rainmaker, the Slayer-of-Beasts, and so their king bid him prove himself three times — once for every name he claimed.

Then, in turn, each Bronwyn speaks out each aspirant’s name and calls upon the village to gift them their tasks. In turn, their elders provide, and Bronwyn marks each aspirant with a smear of sky-blue pigment on their faces as they set off to the things their fathers, mothers, and teachers have demanded of them.

When Anwen’s name is called, her eyes dart unbidden to Owain, standing among his warrior’s circle in the front of the crowd. He is watching her, a sneer of disgust plain on his face. When their eyes meet, he leans to Talfryn, on his right, and mutters something. Talfryn’s young face flashes with uncertainty but then hardens, and he nods sturdily.

When Cadwyn steps forward and stands for Anwen, Owain’s face is surprised, then smug. Anwen once again swallows her anger and approaches the Standing Stone, kneeling respectfully before Bronwyn. “Why did you send Cadwyn to me? I thought you wanted me to fight.” Anwen blurts out in a whisper.

Bronwyn smiles enigmatically. “I confess, did. I thought it would be a fine test for you,” she pauses, her eyes flicking towards Owain, “and for others. But Tor-of-the-Thunders had other plans — I would be a poor priest if I did not see my god’s hand guiding yours when you slew the drake. Cadwyn felt the same, and so I sent him on.”

She marks Anwen’s face with a streak of blue. “Now go, goatherd. Keep your flock safe, and I will see you when His winds blow us together once again.”

Cadwyn and his kin accompany Anwen to the edge of the village. Olwyn’s grateful mother presses a hide-wrapped bundle of goat jerky and cheese into Anwen’s pack; Cadwyn’s cousin lends her his crook. Shadow nips at the heels of the slowest goat — an ornery grey billy who snaps back at the hound — as Anwen says her final farewells.

Padrig, Ozbeg, and Vahid are there to see her off, smiling fondly and beaming with pride. “You don’t think I’m a coward for not fighting, do you?” Anwen asks uncertainly.

Padrig shakes his head. “Of course not. ‘Always get over heavy ground as lightly as you can,’ I say.”

Vahid perks up. “An aphorism first coined by Atur Walijhi, in Meditations on the Craft of Battle and Kingdom.”

“Who?” Ozbeg grunts.

“Never mind them,” Padrig chuckles. “Remember: It’s fire season on the Flats, so if you smell smoke…”

Anwen cuts him off with a grin. “Find the wind and put it at my back. You already said.”

“Yes, I suppose I did,” Padrig mutters. “When you meet with the nomad traders, see if you can learn from him what bands are camped nearby. The elders have asked us to seek them out, to look for possible allies against the hdour, and to learn more about what Vahid has uncovered beneath the village.”

Anwen promises again to learn what she can, thanks everyone once again, and departs.

Two days later, she meets the nomad traders at the base of the Titan’s Bones. She has never visited them before, and none of the village’s stories prepared her for their scale — four massive, curving ribs of smooth, yellowed bone jutting a hundred feet high above the grasses of the flats, visible against the clear blue sky for hours before she reaches them.

At the crest of a small hillock a half-mile off, she spots the traders — there are two of them, waiting by a campfire burning in the shadow of the Titans. One of them keeps watch, while the other works his knife against the bone, adding to the hundreds of years of scrimshaw that covers every reachable inch of the towering remains.

As Anwen approaches, they speak to one another in the Steptongue. The watcher is armed with a bronze-tipped spear slung over his shoulder; the carver has nothing but his knife, which he sheaths as he goes to his pack and fetches a heavy horsehide coin pouch.

Anwen whistles to Shadow, who lopes in a wide circle around the herd, braying stubbornly before clustering together to graze on the thick Flats grasses. The carver approaches, his eyes on the herd, but stops short when he sees Anwen’s face more closely.

“Where is Cadoc?” he asks.

Anwen’s face twists up in pain. “He met the Lady of Crows, before his time. I am taking up this task for his father.”

The carver nods solemnly. “A sad thing for one so young. I remember when he was just a boy, coming here with Cadwyn. But the Crowmother comes for each of us when she wishes, and not a moment later.”

She nods mutely as the man begins to fuss over the goats, checking their teeth, their hooves, the thickness of their haunches. Behind him, the watcher draws closer, looking Anwen up and down. He and the carver speak again in the Steptongue, and something amuses the watcher — he barks with laughter and turns away, returning to their campsite.

“What did he say?” Anwen asks, her eyes following him closely.

“He said you don’t look like a goatherd.”

“What does he say I look like, then?”

His lips curl in a half-smile. “Like a warrior.”

Wrapping Up and Kicking Off Session 6 Prep

That will conclude Session 5! It was just a homefront session, but a lot happened — Padrig put his past out in the open, and earned at least temporary respite and shelter for his crew. Vahid delved into the depths beneath Stonetop and discovered an arcane device beyond his wildest theorizing. And Anwen earned her place in the village — not in a ritual duel with a rival, but through her personal courage and sacrifice. That seems like enough work to close out the summer months in Stonetop.

To begin prepping for Session 6, we’ll trigger the Seasons Change move and begin autumn. The next session will cover the party’s diplomatic mission to the Hillfolk, but fall is also harvest time — the outcome of these rolls will determine whether any threats rear their heads during this season, potentially threatening the harvest and shrinking the amount of surplus available for winter:

Source: Jeremy Strandberg // Stonetop

Who’s making the roll? I’d argue Vahid is the most determined right now — Padrig and Anwen have won a couple of conclusive victories, while Vahid’s success has just led to more questions, which he is determined to answer.

Vahid triggers Seasons Change (Autumn): 4+3+0 Fortunes = 7. Weak Hit.

The village gets one seasonal gain, and we choose one threat to advance. You can see the full list of seasonal gains right here — for this roll, we’ll select Tor’s Blessing — the settlement will likely pull together to continue Vahid’s Improved Rainwater Collection project, and the fine weather represented by Tor’s Blessing will give them +1 on that roll.

That leaves us to decide which threat to advance. That’s a fun job, so naturally, we’ll put it to a vote. We’ll consider each of the threats we’ve introduced so far:

1. The Hillfolk Sorcerer: We know he’s out there, growing in strength, with designs on the Azure Hand, and perhaps more. If we select this threat, the sorcerer is in a stronger position than the party realized, and will be able to interfere with their attempts to contact and form alliances with friendly nomad tribes.

2. Owain: Owain is our internal threat, and if we select this, his bullying and cruelty are going to cause problems for Stonetop, and the party will have to solve them when they return from their Hillfolk embassage. This may also mean Owain or one of his cronies attempts to interfere with the expedition as well, per an earlier suggestion from the comments.

3. The crinwin: The crinwin have been quiet for months — long enough that perhaps folk have grown complacent. This is another one that, if selected, will be dealt with when the party returns. If we select the crinwin, we may also tangle with Owain as well — given that he is responsible for the village’s security, our heroes might end up stepping on his prideful toes.

4. Brennan: If we select this one, the mission to the Hillfolk will be undisturbed, but at some point on the journey we will learn more about what Brennan has been up to in Marshedge, and it certainly won’t be good. It’ll give the party a bit of a break, but they’ll pay for it down the road.

Don your GM hat, mash the vote button below, and choose our party’s fate!

Next episode will be a shorter, no-fiction installment — we’ll do the end-of-session bookkeeping, award experience points, plan the expedition to the Hillfolk, and choose some dangers for our heroes to face. Until then!

Next Episode: GM Planning - Session 6.