Session 10.1: To the Delve

Spring is fruitful on the homefront. The party sets off for the Delve. Padrig remembers the old days.

Recap and Setting the Stage

Session 9 covered Winter in Stonetop, and this winter was a long and harsh one, which tested our heroes and their bonds to the village. It began with signs that the hdour’s forces had been probing Stonetop’s defenses for weaknesses, which the party moved quickly to address. This, however, ran them afoul of Owain, their longtime rival and local strongman — this wasn’t the first time they had crossed paths with Owain, and the situation quickly escalated. Though they attempted to broker a truce through Cerys, Owain’s mother (and the village’s priestess), violence erupted when the marshal’s warriors clashed with Padrig’s, and blood was spilled.

The subsequent legal maneuvering before the village council ended with Anwen challenging Owain to a duel of honor. Rather than die on the field, Owain surrendered and went into exile, leaving Anwen to succeed him as marshal. With Padrig and Vahid advising her, she is now fully responsible for the protection of her adopted home, and now we play to find out if they are up for the job!

After their time with the Hillfolk in Sessions 7 and 8, and their winter travails in Sessions 9 and 10, all the characters feel like they’re primed for some solid heroics. But it shouldn’t necessarily be a victory march from here: We’re also set for a solid reversal — something on the scale of Padrig being captured by Brennan, perhaps, or maybe even a little more dramatic.

Last week, I revealed the results of last episode’s poll, which opted for the party to head to Gordin’s Delve in search of Stormcatcher’s Crown. Before they set off, they have a few loose ends to tie up, so we’ll have a homefront scene covering those beats, and then jump into our expedition to the Delve!

Spring bursts forth on the land. Source: Midjourney

Scene 1: The Village Green

The snow melt is crystal clear and numbingly cold as it falls on Vahid’s hand, cascading down from the terra-cotta gutters above, the stream breaking into droplets that shine like diamonds in the warm sun of this Spring morning.

The freezing water feels as sharp as a dagger, but Vahid holds his hand steady, smiling at Rhys, who stands across from him, grinning back. At their feet, the water flows down a clay channel, set into a carefully-laid line of heavy granite stones, and away to the village center to fill the pools deep below.

“We’ve done it,” Rhys says, his voice still a bit disbelieving.

“The work was yours. And your crew’s, and Marged’s1 sons, and a dozen others we could name. And should — you should, when you tell the village about our work this Aratis’s Day.”

“Me? Surely it should be you, Seeker. It was your design, your idea.”

“The design is nothing without the labor. Ink and paper; Of no use to anyone. And besides, it would be best if your folk heard about it from a son of Stonetop.” Vahid absently draws the hood of his cloak down, shading his pure blue eyes, which now gleam softly with pride.

Vahid triggers Persuade: 6+6+4+1 = 13, Strong Hit

Rhys smiles quizzically, but shrugs and offers his hand in thanks. Vahid clasps his wrist, his hand stiff and numb from the cold. Together, the pair look out over the village green, where the folk of Stonetop are busying themselves filling buckets and clay vessels with the melting Spring snow, hurridly trying to collect a bit more water before it is gone, and they are once again at the mercy of Tor the Rainmaker’s generosity — or so they think.

Rhys shakes his head in wonder. “We won’t have to worry about collecting the snowmelt anymore. Or putting out rain catches or hauling water from the stream,” he chuckles. “What will we do with all the time?”

“I have no doubt you will make the best of it.”

Rhys laughs and waves as folk from his work gang approach, looking to share in the triumph. After a few friendly nods and encouraging words, Vahid excuses himself and departs, heading down the hill towards the southern watchtower, where Padrig and Anwen await.

The sun is warm on his face as he walks down the wide path that leads south. The Stonefolk are busy about their morning business — washing clothes in buckets of snowmelt, carrying baskets of winter potatoes to their larders, and mucking the pens of goats and sheep — but only a few are so absorbed in their labor that they don’t look up when the Seeker passes by. Some nod respectfully, and many stare or whisper to themselves or their kin. A young, dark-haired girl, splashing her brother in one of the many puddles that line the path, pauses to smile and wave at him, but before he can acknowledge her, he hears their mother calling them away, and the pair scampers off.

Vahid hears Padrig before he sees him, his sharp, stentorian voice carrying up the hill. “Breathe deep as you draw, find your target, and exhale when you loose. Do not let the archer beside you rush your shot¹ — fire when you have it, and not before! Good, Seren, good!”

At the base of the hill, archery butts have been erected. A line of men and women are letting fly at them, under the watchful guidance of Padrig, Ozbeg, and Hywel the huntsman², as Anwen looks on, her axe slung over her shoulder, with Tomos and Talfryn of the warrior’s circle at her side.

Padrig is the first to spot the Seeker’s approach, and when their eyes meet, his face clouds over with trepidation. He quietly excuses himself from his fellow drill masters and approaches.

“Seeker,” Padrig grunts. “How goes the work on the hilltop?”

“It is done. The water is flowing, and the reservoirs below will soon be full. Spring rains and summer storms should ensure they remain so.”

“It feels like only yesterday you came to me with this scheme³. I thought it was a flight of fancy.”

Vahid smiles and stokes his beard. “I remember. Thank you for trusting me, all the same.”

They stand for a moment in companionable silence, watching the militia drill. Anwen joins them, shooting Vahid a questioning look but saying nothing. The quiet is punctuated by the snap of bowstrings, the whistle of arrows, cries of dismay and triumph, and Ozbeg’s gruff corrections.

Vahid waits patiently as the old bandit chews on his next words. Padrig, sensing he is being waited out, chuckles grimly. “So it’s time, then.”

“Yes,” Vahid answers smoothly. “Time, and past time. We must soon proceed to Gordin’s Delve in search of Stormcatcher’s Crown. Spring is passing; the nomads will be traveling north from the Steplands and returning to the Flats. Whatever plans the hdour has will be put in motion, and we know his path leads him to the crown and thence, to Stonetop. Now is our best chance to stay one move ahead of him — or even confront him when he does not expect us.”

Anwen shifts from one foot to the other uncertainly, watching the archery drills. “Do you think they’re ready, Pad? If we’re away, and danger comes to the village, can they stand?”

Pad blows out his breath in a sigh. “Things are going well enough. We’ve about two dozen with a knack for the bow now, and with our patrol drills…” he pauses thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t want to attack Stonetop with fewer than fifty hard fighters, and there’s no force that size near here — that we know of. Ronhl and Merid say the largest Hillfolk bands can field a hundred blooded riders, but if the hdour commanded a hundred riders, the Sun-Spear would be no more.”

“Who from the Companions will come with us? Who can stay behind to shore up our defenses?”

“They will all stay,” Padrig says flatly. “I can’t in good conscience ask any of the lads to follow me back to the Delve. And Ronhl and Merid are Hillfolk — they believe that place is full of black magic. They won’t go within five leagues of it unless it’s with ill intentions. No, it has to be me alone.”

Anwen frowns. “Are you sure you should come? Maybe you should stay behind, too. Safer for everyone. I can go with Vahid to Gordin’s Delve and find this crown.”

Padrig shakes his head. “Believe me, I’ve thought of it. But if you’re going on this damn fool errand, I’m coming with you. For one, I can’t command the militia, lest I run afoul of my oath to Cerys. Second, I swore to fight by your and the Seeker’s side that night in the Companion’s Hall. And third, I know the ground. You’ll need to find the elder Kirs and hire a crew. All while not running afoul of the Keeps, or Danu protect us, the Bosses.”

Vahid nods along, following the argument to his expected conclusion. “So, when can we depart?”

“Give me two days to gather supplies, and I’ll have us ready to move.”

Anwen nods. “Who should I leave in my stead?”

“Who do you reckon?” Padrig demurs.

“I was thinking Tomos. He’s been in a battle before when Llewellyn put down the Lord of Jackals, and he’s faced crinwin in the woods. He’s not a hothead nor a coward. He’s fair; folk trust him.”

“I’d do the same. Ozbeg can serve as his advisor — the old dog has seen a lot in his travels.”

“Two days, then,” Vahid says. “To the Delve.”

Scene Breakdown

This scene began with two triggers of the Homefront move Pull Together, as the PCs move to get the village ready for their absence. First, Vahid moved to complete his Raincatching project. I’ll provide a refresher here, since the playtest rules have been updated since we advanced this project some months ago. One thing I really love about the Stonetop team’s work is the regular improvements the creator makes to the game as he’s getting playtest feedback:

Source: Jeremy Strandbeg // Stonetop

This Spring represents the third opportunity to advance the work, so Vahid seizes the moment and finishes his design.

Vahid triggered Pull Together: 6+4+1 Population + 1 (Tor’s Blessing⁴) = 11, Strong Hit

And the project is done. Next, Vahid attempted to Persuade Rhys to take the credit, and since he’s offering him something that Rhys wants (prestige, esteem, etc.) he also triggers Let’s Make a Deal, which upgrades weak hits to strong ones:

Vahid triggered Persuade, 4+3+1 Charisma = 8, Weak Hit→Strong Hit

And Rhys accepts. Vahid is doing this for a few reasons — one, as he’s become more outwardly magical (the weird burnt hand, the glowing blue eyes, the magic cloak that stirs in an unseen breeze) he’s started to withdraw more. While this is primarily a decision about characterization made by the player, as a GM, I would also avoid proactively targeting Vahid with homefront threats related to the Stonefolk’s distrust or prejudice, since he’s taking steps to minimize his contact with superstitious villagers. He’s also further insulated from open hostility by his association with Anwen and Padrig, who are clearly rising stars, as well as the services he’s done for the village (he did stop a lightning bolt from reducing a bunch of militia fighters to a fine red mist, after all⁵).

Next, we see the results of Anwen and Padrig’s work — they trigger Pull Together to advance the Well-Trained Militia improvement, which we last dealt with in Session 9.1. Padrig has advantage on Pull Together thanks to his Logistics move (one of the Marshal playbook’s starting moves):

Padrig triggers Pull Together: 6+6+4+1 Population + 1 (Tor’s Blessing) = 13, Strong Hit

Hot dice today. The militia is now trained in Archery as well as Readiness. This is largely valuable for fictional positioning if the village is attacked, but it also grants advantage in the mass combat move, Deploy, when fighting in a manner where the training is relevant.

Then, the PCs have a brief conference. The only move triggered here is Strengthen Your Bond: Padrig marks one Loyalty for the Companions by deciding that none of them will come to Gordin’s Delve, since the Companions’ cost is risks taken, by you, to help them.⁶

From here, we’ll smash cut to our heroes already underway — at the gaming table, players could call for additional scenes with NPCs to establish some important details before they leave, but in this case, I think we’re better served by hitting the road.

Setting the Scene: Journey to the Delve

The party’s path from Stonetop to Gordin’s Delve, marked in red. Source: Stonetop // Jeremy Strandberg; Illustration Credit: Lucie Arnoux // luciedraws.com

Since we’ve already spent a good amount of time on the grassy flatlands surrounding Stonetop (particularly during our sojourns with the Hillfolk in Sessions 6, 7 and 8), we don’t need to spend too much game time detailing the journey. To envision the time passing, we’ll trigger the move Keep Company. It’s been a while since we used this move, which is one of my favorites in Stonetop, so to refresh your memory: Each PC chooses a question from a predefined list⁷ to pose to a PC or NPC that's present, which helps characterize the journey and give moments for less structured interactions between the characters⁸. For this journey, I chose the following:

Anwen asks Padrig: “How do we pass the time?”

Padrig is doing his best to impart his experience in leadership and tactics to Anwen, so they spend a good amount of time in disection of some of Pad’s old war stories — a sometimes painful topic, but important for Anwen to hear if she’s to step into her role as marshal and champion of Stonetop.

Vahid asks Padrig: “What do we find ourselves talking about?”

I think Vahid and Padrig would certainly be drawn to discussing the political landscape of Gordin’s Delve and discuss how best to navigate it, since they both are keenly aware that social misteps in the Delve can escalate quickly to violence.

Padrig asks Vahid: “Who or what is on your mind?”

At the gaming table, this would be a great opportunity for Vahid to build on his character’s growing isolation as he’s grown more connected to the the unseen world.

So we’ll cover those moments with a few short scenes. From the GM’s perspective, we also want to foreshadow some of the prep we went over in the last installment during the break: Specifically, we’ll want to show that tensions are on the rise between the Delvers and the Hillfolk, and that Cirl, our sorcerous opponent, is likely behind it. To create the journey at the gaming table, I’d set up each of these scenes with the PCs with a bit of window dressing from the Flats, let them run for a few beats, and intersperse in a moment or two that speak so the growing danger. Let’s dive into just that!

Scene 2: The Western watchtower, near dawn

When the party gathers at the western watchtower, with the rising sun warming their backs and casting golden light over the sea of green fields beyond the ringwall, Quiet Quill of the Companions is there awaiting them, armed and kitted for travel.

The pale, dark-haired marcher’s eyes are hidden under a broad-brimmed straw hat, but when he hears Padrig approaching, he looks up and touches his hand to his brow in a vague half-salute.

“Quill. Didn’t know you for an early riser,” Pad says quietly.

Quill shrugs in response.

“Speak up, Quill. Why are you here?”

“Going with.”

“I didn’t ask you to come, Quill, and I’m certainly not ordering you.”

“Don’t seem right, is all,” Quill grumbles. “You going alone.”

“Does Oz know?”

Quill nods.

“Did he put you up to this?”

Quill shrugs.

Pad’s eyes narrow as he considers this mild insubordination. Beside him, Anwen is busily loading their traveling gear onto Smoke⁹, her tall, grey-and-white Upland mare, poorly feigning disinterest. After a few moments, he speaks. “Stay sharp, then. There will be more than a few folk in the Delve that remember us -- let’s make sure we see them before they see us.”

Quill nods, hauls his traveling pack onto his shoulder, and they decamp, heading down Storm Hill towards the old Maker roads, and from there, to the Delve.

Quick aside: Why have Quill join the party, even though Padrig declared he didn’t want any of them to come? Well, for me, it’s force of habit. As a GM, I always like to have a trusted NPC be close to the party, because it gives me opportunities to start in-character conversations and draw the PCs’ attention to things. Obviously, that’s not as necessary in this format, but I thought it’d be fun to use the technique anyway. From a mechanical standpoint, Padrig’s latest advancement, Veteran Crew, added the Devoted tag to the Companions, so it’s neatly supported by rules text, too!

Now, we’ll use Quill’s presence to jump into Padrig and Anwen’s Keep Company vignette:

Some hours later, when the sun is high in the sky, Padrig calls them to a halt. Here, the black-paved Maker’s Road broadens into a circle, with a place for a campsite and a well to fill their waterskins — as the Stone Lords and their servants did many centuries ago when these roads were first built. Under the protective enchantments of the stones¹⁰, the party rests — Vahid busies himself studying the various Stone Lord glyphs that adorn the place while Quill departs a short way in search of forage.

Anwen and Padrig quietly sit at the roadside, looking out over the vast, warm green expanse, waist-high grass bowing and rising in the gusty Spring breeze. Above the grass, songbirds dart up and down, chirping and warbling as they dive.

“Quill followed you even though you told him to stay home. Back to the place where he almost died,” Anwen says abruptly. Her observation hangs in the air until she can’t bear the quiet. “They’d follow you anywhere, wouldn’t they?”

Padrig chuckles. “I’m glad you think so. For my part, I often fear we’re only a few missed meals away from mutiny.”

“What?!” Anwen cries. “How can you say that about them?”

Padrig waves his hand placatingly. “In jest, mostly. It was something Old Ulrike said among his lieutenants. ‘Sharpen up, you dogs; we’re just three missed meals from a mutiny.’ He meant it to remind us that even though the Claws fought for us, we were bound to serve them. We couldn’t fight the battles alone — we needed them. The only reason they’d put their lives on the line for us is if they thought they owed it to us, and every missed meal, every broken word, every time you hung back and let them take all the risk was a red mark in that ledger.”

Anwen nods along, raptly attentive.

“In the end, it bore out for Old Ulrike — once things went sour, Brennan was able to turn the crew against him in just a few months. We left him hanging from a dool tree on the banks of the Dread River. As a leader, Brennan had a different way about him — he spun tales of a bright future where we lived like kings, and it seemed like the Claws would follow him through anything. Of course, any time someone started to move against him, Bertrim was there, with proof of some betrayal and a sharp dagger. It was an ugly time, and Brennan held onto command through it all.”

“I worry all the time that one of Owain’s set will make trouble. Divide the warrior’s circle against us; divide the whole village. Maybe Pryder, or Andras¹¹. What if I have to call out someone else? What if I have to cut them down in the circle? I don’t know if I can do that again.”

Padrig thinks on this for a moment before replying. “You might have to, Anwen — it’s the path we’ve all chosen. But trust this: You have me behind you. And the Seeker. You keep leading from the front, and we’ll watch your back. Deal?”

“Deal,” Anwen says. Then she smirks and offers Padrig the rest of her goat jerky, packed especially for her by Olwyn’s mother¹² -- the scent of smoke and herbs tickles Padrig’s nose and makes his mouth water. “Eat up, then. I can’t have any mutinies brewing.” Padrig chuckles and accepts the offer, and they rest for a while longer before setting off again.

We’ll close out here for the week, and pick back up next week, where, barring any unexpected and dramatic Miss results, we’ll arrive in the Delve.

This episode ran a bit shorter (we hit the Substack length limit early thanks to the inclusion of a bunch of art), and is a bit heavier on setup, character interaction, and meta-commentary, but I suspect things will begin to ramp up soon. Hopefully it was still fun spending a bit of time with the characters and dissecting how to run these sorts of calmer moments as we head into our next big adventure. As always, feel free to hit the comments with any thoughts or questions, and I’ll see you in your inbox next week!

1. If you’re curious, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole about archery tactics and technique, and it turns out that the classic “nock, draw, aim, loose!” commands that produce volleys of arrows may be a modern invention. According to this post on r/AskHistorians (and the subsequent hyperlink rabbit hole), relatively few primary sources attest to volley-style fire.

2. When we first envisioned Hywel as an NPC, the Oracle gave his goal as “Advance Status,” and now the party is giving him the status he desired in recognition of his support, further cementing their support in the village.

3. This was way back in Session 2.1, our very first Homefront session.

4. Tor’s Blessing is what I ended up choosing as Spring’s seasonal boon — it represents fine weather, which gives all Pull Together rolls this season +1, and, when we roll randomly for weather, we roll twice and take the more pleasant result.

5. Back in Session 5.2, when a Thunder Drake attacked the village.

6. As a brief refresher: Loyalty is a currency that Padrig can have up to three of — each one allows him to command the Companions to do something very dangerous or against their nature without using Persuade, as well as a few other useful applications (like banishing their fear or inspiring them to hit harder).

7. For a refresher on the list, see the move’s first introduction in Session 1.4.

8. The Keep Company move is something I think everyone interested in storytelling through RPGs should steal and apply to every system they play in. It’s just so great!

9. This is the first time we’re revealing the name Anwen gave the Hillfolk horse she won in battle way back in Session 3.4, which were selected via reader poll!

10. Recall that the Maker’s Roads are enchanted with spells that make committing violence on them nearly impossible — people who draw weapons and strike have been known to fall dead, their hearts stopped by the ancient magic of the Stone Lords, which we first learned about back in Session 3.1.

11. These are two of the Warrior’s Circle members who we’ve identified as being in the tank for Owain before his exile.

12. Anwen saved the goatherder Olwyn from the Thunder Drake back in Session 5.2, earning her the friendship of her kith and kin.