Session 12.1: A slim hope

Anwen decides. Padrig hopes. Vahid persuades.

Recap & Tallying XP

Today we’re finally diving back into the fiction with Session 12, in which the party will seek to form a temporary alliance with the Bosses of Gordin’s Delve in order to repel a planned raid by Cirl-of-the-Storms, the villainous sorcerer with designs on the great arcanum hidden under Stonetop. Last session, the party largely spent trying to locate Elder Kirs, who has critical information on the whereabouts of a powerful artifact sought by the hdour, but in the course of locating and securing his cooperation, Vahid discovered Cirl’s plots during a brief diversion to treat with the Valerix, a leader of the Ustrina.

During last week’s GM prep, we outlined the political situation in the Delve and decided which of two of the key leaders of the Delve the party would first approach: Jahalim, the most powerful boss, who has old, bad blood with Padrig, or Smiling Ffransis, the underdog boss who hails from Stonetop, a lifetime ago.

Let’s see what the readers selected:

Vahid has started thinking big, and the readers are thinking big with him: We’re going straight to the top of the Delve. We’ll jump back into the action at the moment of this decision and play through it, but first, a quite note about XP.

Level 6… Soon!

In the comments thread on Session 11.6, new reader D G noted that we never use the Burn Brightly move — a unique addition to Stonetop that allows PCs to exchange excess XP for bonuses to particularly critical rolls (on a 2-for-1 basis). They made a compelling argument that it’d be interesting to add that move into the mix, and to that end, I did a rough (very rough) XP tally of the last few sessions. The current totals stand at:

• Vahid: 16

• Padrig: 18

• Anwen: 17

That means that Padrig is capable of using Burn Brightly once, and Anwen and Vahid will be able to if they miss a few more rolls. So I’ll be keeping an eye out for opportunities for our heroes to really push themselves to the limit and burn some XP. It also means that once we get back to Stonetop (or have a week of downtime), everyone’s leveling to 6, which gives us some exciting advanced moves. Now, without any further dickering with the rules and the recaps, we’ll dive back into our heroes discussing their next move in Madam Parvati¹’s room:

Scene 1: Madame Parvati’s Chambers

“The Bosses’ bravos are searching the Swap for us,” Vahid says calmly. “If we wish an audience with one of them, there will not be a more opportune moment. But we must decide now: Escape and seek the crown²? Or stand fast and fight for the Delve?”

Anwen paces across the thick carpets layered over the earthen floor. The lanterns in Parvati’s chamber cast a dim, violet light, and the four of them sit in silence and shadow. She finally looks to Padrig. “If we can stop him here, we have to try. There are so many people here, Pad -- all those folk we saved on the road, and hundreds more like them. We can't walk away from them, can we?”

Padrig's brow furrows in worry, but he shakes his head and meets Vahid's gaze -- the Seeker's one eye betrays nothing. "I fought the wrong fight here once. Maybe this is a chance to fight the right one. If we face him here, maybe there's a chance this war never reaches our kin. I say we stand."

Anwen turns to Elder Kirs. "Sir, I know it is a terrible thing to ask you to fight against the tu'd, alongside the Delvers. If you don't want to fight, I understand. What I want is safety for my people and justice for your son."

Kirs nods slowly, still staring at the smoldering remnants of his daughter’s handicraft³, his eyes misty and distant. "For justice, then."

Anwen looks back to Padrig. "Can you keep him safe as can be, Pad? If we make it through this, we'll need his help on the other side."

Padrig's lips quirk up in a proud half-smile at the nearly-given order. "As you say, Marshal."

"Right. Marshal," she says, under her breath.

"It seems, according to our gracious hostess, that both Jahalim and Smiling Ffransis' bravos are seeking us -- myself and Anwen, specifically. No doubt they wish to see for themselves what new arrivals have caused such a stir. Thus far, Padrig, your involvement seems to have been kept quiet -- if Jahalim had news of you, no doubt he would be seeking you by name, correct?" 

Padrig nods grimly.

"Very well. Then I propose you do what you can to hide your face, travel as a fighting man in Anwen's retinue, and we approach the Master of Keys directly."

"Ffransis is Stonefolk, isn't he?" Anwen asks. "And Pad, didn't you say Owain drove him out at swordpoint? He might thank us to know that Owain's met the same fate." 

"That's so," Padrig replies. "His gang isn't the biggest, though."

Vahid shakes his head. "I think it must be the Master of Keys. He stands to lose the most if the hdour has his way. And we have the most we can give him. The greatest gifts we can offer Ffransis, we've already said and done. Anything else that we offer, he'll have to fight for."

"And if Jahalim wants to take Pad? Revenge himself for Brennan's betrayal?" Anwen asks. "It'll be the three of us against all his strength."

"Our considerable strength, Anwen. We have in our command the same power that the hdour intends to use against the Delvers." He taps the aetherium shod of the Azure Hand against the earthen floor. "We are just as capable of unmaking all that Jahalim calls his kingdom as Cirl is. And if we do it first, we rob the sorcerer of his victory."

Anwen gasps. "You would do that?"

"We three swore to stand with one another, to whatever end. But we will not let it come to that."

Padrig shakes his head. "I hope you know what you are doing, Seeker."

Vahid smiles. "My friend. I've spoken on your behalf to the elders of Stonetop, to the spearmoot of the tu'd, and turned Marshedge's most loyal sergeant to free you from the donjon. You have trusted your fate to me many times, as I have mine to you. Let us not hesitate now."

"Jahalim, then," Anwen says.

Padrig rises, masking his face once again with a frayed woolen scarf. "Right. I'll make arrangements with Parvati to lead them to us. If things turn sour, might help her stay on his good side if she carries the news."

"Have you taken leave of your senses?" Parvati hisses, when Padrig recounts their plan to her. "There's no telling what Jahalim will do if he sees you here."

"Jahalim has bigger problems than me, 'Vati."

"You forget yourself, bandit. Just because Ozbeg referred to me this way does not give you such liberty."

Padrig holds up his hands placatingly. "Jahalim is looking for Anwen and the Seeker, not me. And when he hears what the Seeker has to say, I hope that the bad blood between us is quickly washed away."

"You hope? That’s a slim hope to bet your life on."

"Maybe. A better hope and a better cause than the last time I risked my life here. Will you help us?"

Padrig triggers Persuade: 5+5+1 Charisma = 11, Strong Hit

Strong rolls to kick off the session. Let’s hope their luck holds when they meet Jahalim. Parvati can still put a condition on her agreement, however — the 10+ result for Persuade says she either agrees, or reveals the easiest way to convince her.

Parvati's face twists like she's swallowing something sour. "I have tell Jahalim's people that you are here. If I do not, and you are unmasked, Jahalim will next look to me and mine."

Pad digests this for a moment. "I understand,” he says, slowly unwinding the scarf that hides his features. Parvati stares him in the eye for a moment longer, but makes no reply. In a swirl of silken skirts, she is gone to find Jahalim's men.

Scene 2: The Common Room, Madame Parvati's

Parvati ushers in Jahalim's bravos -- four of them, clad in fighting leathers and tattered yellow linen. Cudgels and notched short blades wait at their hips, ready for close, quick violence. Anwen, seated at a low table with Vahid and Padrig, recognizes the man in front -- a tall, broad-shouldered Marcher who had led the bound Hillman through the Swap regards her from across the common room with narrow eyes, trying to place her face. 

We need a quick NPC here — someone to represent Jahalim’s muscle. I make a roll on the Ironsworn Theme Oracle, and I get Love. From that, I’ll envision that this crew is lead by someone who loves Jahalim — his first wife (in the fashion of a wealthy Lygosi, he maintains a modest harem). We’ll make her Lygosi, like him, and I pick the name Demetra from Stonetop’s name list. Finally, I record her instinct: To protect Jahalim, even from himself. Jahalim’s instinct is to amass power, to rule the Delve, so we’ll imagine that she’s worried he’s painting a target on his back with his ambitions — sort of an anti-Lady Macbeth.

But he is not their leader -- from behind him steps a tall, wiry, dark-skinned woman, her short hair braided up with rings of yellow gold, matched by a stack of thick golden bangles on her left wrist. Her arms are bare and criss-crossed with the scars of a knife-fighter, and she absently sheathes and unsheathes a blade from its place at her hip.

The common room is empty of patrons and courtesans -- they sensed the coming trouble as though it was a foul odor, abandoning their wine and shisha pipes and retiring to the rooms upstairs.

The woman scans the room, and her eyes fall on Padrig's face, his mask and deception cast aside. "Padrig of the Claws. I had to see it with my own eyes: Alive, and mad enough to come back here."

"Demetra," Padrig acknowledges her greeting with a nod. "I wouldn't have come if there was any other choice."

"How's Brennan? When we lined up the corpses of your dead jackals, Jahalim was furious he wasn't among the slain."

"He's in Marshedge, as belike Honest Draigh has told you. As for how he is: the last time I saw him, he had thrown me in a deep, dark hole and was raving about visions of a new kingdom. I'm quits with the Claws, and them with me."

Her eyebrow quirks upwards. "Ah, so the master finally drove away his loyal dog, and you think you can come back here for some fresh scraps? You're sorely mistaken."

Vahid clears his throat. "Padrig has no need of scraps. The elders of Stonetop have welcomed him home, and he has a place of honor there. When you treat with him, you treat with his kin. Even in the service of one so mighty as Jahalim, you would be wise to remember that."

She sneers. "Stonetop is a backwater -- nothing but woods-witches and dirt farmers. What honor do you have to dispense?"

Anwen's fist clenches and she rises to her feet, but Vahid raises his hand in a placating gesture and she holds fast. "Stonetop is a home to warriors,” he replies. “You would not be here if you had not heard tell of our strength, from the emigres we saved on the road from the depredations of the nomads, and the wayward merchant in your patronage we protected from Smiling Ffransis' men.”

She finally tears her eyes away from Padrig and looks to Vahid and Anwen, sizing them up for the first time. She notes Vahid's strange storm-marked eye, and the makerglass battle-axe, leaning against the table and gleaming dangerously in the lanternlight. "We've heard things, aye. And who are you?"

"I am Vahid ebn Sulaim, a traveling scholar and guest of the Stonefolk. This is Anwen, the village's Marshal and champion. And Padrig, who leads the Companions, a brotherhood of warriors in the service of the village. An attack on him is an attack on all, I must warn you."

Demetra approaches them slowly, her left hand never leaving the hilt of her blade. With menace thinly veiled by casual glances, her fighters begin to spread out. Parvati, in her corner behind the bar, whispers to Baraz⁴, who departs, ushering the two children out before him. Demetra’s eyes are fixed on Padrig. “The Companions, eh? Same scum with a new name? What dragged you back to the Delve?" she asks the questions slowly, deceptively casual in her manner as she strides closer.

"We are seekers -- It is said the Delve is full of them,” Vahid answers while Padrig clenches his jaw in silence. “But what we first sought is now unimportant -- we have learned of a great threat to this town, the people in it, and Jahalim most of all," the Seeker replies, his eyes fixed on Demetra, awaiting her reply.

Here, Vahid is paying close attention and trying to get a sense of what Demetra wants most from this interaction.

Vahid triggers Seek Insight: 6+4+1 Wisdom = 11, Strong Hit

Very hot dice indeed this session! Vahid asks three questions from his list. He starts with his special question from the Let's Make a Deal move, "What do you really want?" and learns that Demetra is truly loyal to Jahalim, and she wants to do what she can to protect him personally and his power base second. That puts her in a tricky situation here -- she's intrigued by the information Vahid is implying he has, but also very mistrustful of Padrig and what he represents.

He for his second question, he asks "What here is not what it seems?" and learns that, contrary to Padrig's assumption, it was new news to Demetra that Brennan had escaped to Marshedge. This raises questions about Draigh, of course, whose traders in that area would surely have brought news back, but Vahid keeps this to himself for now.

For his third and final question, he asks “What should I be on the lookout for?” and learns that Demetra is Jahalim’s first wife (we can envision he spots the particular style of the golden bangles on her wrist as a Lygosi wedding custom), and therefore is both quite loyal, and able to influence Jahalim’s decisionmaking.

Back to the action:

Her advance freezes. Her voice drops to a dangerous monotone. "What threat?"

"A dangerous band of Hillfolk are planning a great raid on the town."

She scoffs. “The Delve is impregnable. And the Foundry doubly so. We do not fear the nomads."

"You should fear this band."

“What makes these savages so different?”

"That is for the Master of Keys alone. We speak on behalf of all the Stonefolk -- it is only right that Jahalim should speak with us, face to face. Surely a man of his stature understands these decencies."

Anwen gestures to the tall Marcher. "I saw your bravos swaggering through the Swap, claiming only Jahalim could protect them from the Hillfolk's spears. Was that truth? Or just bluster?"

Vahid's triggering Persuade here, with Anwen's Aid, granting him advantage. He's offering her something she wants, so a weak hit will be upgraded to a strong one thanks to his Let's Make a Deal move. 

Vahid triggers Persuade with Advantage: 6+1+2+1 Charisma = 9, Weak Hit->Strong Hit

She's too curious to hear what this strange outsider has to say, and she suspects Jahalim will want to see it with his own eyes. She will append a condition, though — just like Parvati did.

Demetra's face is hard to read in the dim, red lantern light. She gives Padrig a long, appraising look. “You’ll leave your weapons with Baraz. Mani can sharpen them until you return.”

“Padrig will consent to be disarmed,” Vahid replies. Behind him, Padrig winces, but does not gainsay. “Anwen is the Champion of Stonetop: She never goes unarmed, not even in the presence of their gods and elders. Jahalim, despite his great stature, is neither.”

“As for myself,” Vahid continues, rising from his low seat. “I cannot be disarmed, and I would be a liar to agree to such a condition.” With a gesture of his charred left hand, the Azure Hand appears in a crackle of blue-white energy and the smell of ozone. Demetra flinches almost imperceptibly as her three bravos take a step back, their hands going to their weapons. She raises up her hand to them, holding back their violence for a moment.

“A scholar, are you?”

“Of a sort. I can be a powerful ally to you and your husband, but we must stop trifling with one another. Jahalim is the strongest of the Bosses — without him, the coming battle cannot be won. If you will not trust us, then we will simply depart, and leave the Delve to its fate.”

Her lip curls in distaste. “Come then, ebn Sulaim. My husband will judge the worth of your words. Know this: He does not suffer fools and liars.”

“Then he and I will understand one another perfectly.”

And we’ll close out there! Next episode, our heroes will meet with the Master of Keys, and we’ll see whether they can persuade him of the need to unify in the face of the coming storm. As always, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in your inbox next week!

1. Madam Parvati is the brothel proprietress who seems to have a soft spot for old Ozbeg, which the party leverage to gain her cooperation in giving them a place to lay low.

2. This is Stormcatcher’s Crown, an arcanum that, among other things, is required to use the device hidden beneath Stonetop to bestow the mystical Storm Markings.

3. This is the bracelet of woven grasses that, when burnt, allowed Vahid and Elder Kirs to communicate with Kirs’ daughter, Katrin, through a drug-induced dream state. Katrin persuaded her father to aid the party in their mission to claim the crown and take revenge on the hdour whose cultists killed Elder Kirs’ son in battle.

4. Baraz is the jovial harem guardian-turned-brothel bouncer whom Anwen befriended in Session 11.4.