Last session the party set out for Marshedge, each with a purpose. Vahid is hoping to secure materials to improve the village of Stonetop (while investigating the Maker ruins it’s built upon), Padrig seeks information about his old bandit chief’s plans, and hopes to be released from the crew, and Anwen wants to see her mother, who left her in Stonetop almost five years ago.
In the last installment, we had a reader poll to determine what dangers loom on the road to Marshedge. Here are the results:
A pretty clean split decision between Hillfolk and the nosgolau. Specifically, readers called out the nosgolau as an opportunity for Vahid to help the party with his deep knowledge of the mysteries of the world, and the possibility that the Hillfolk we encounter on the road may be in league with the sorcerer who wants to claim Vahid’s staff for his own. So, this session will probably end up being a bit of a spotlight for Vahid, which is good, because once we get to Marshedge proper we can expect Anwen and Padrig to take more of a leading role. And never fear, Claws-voter — a run-in with those bastards is extremely likely in Marshedge proper.
Much like the night in the Great Wood in Session 1, we’ll use the Keep Company move here to have the PCs interact a bit (if you want a refresher on that move, the full text is in the linked post). Each character present asks a question of another:
Anwen asks Vahid: What do we find ourselves talking about?
Vahid would not be able to resist the opportunity to talk about the Makers’ Roads, a great wonder of the world.
Vahid asks Padrig: What new thing do you reveal about yourself?
Padrig will most likely have to reveal something about The Claws to Vahid (who already knows that Padrig’s past is bloodier than he has let on), and more importantly, to Anwen (who has no idea).
Padrig asks Anwen: Who or what seems to be on your mind?
Anwen is most certainly thinking about her mother on this trip, and the circumstances of her departure five years ago.
We’ll spread the answers across the journey to add a bit of character color throughout the session, rather than packing it into a single scene like we did in Session 1.4.
Finally, stick it out for the session notes — we’ll trigger the Level Up move for one of the PCs, and do a reader poll to choose their new move as part of their advancement.
The vicinity of Stonetop, the party’s path marked in red. Source: Stonetop // Jeremy Strandberg // Illustration Credit: Lucie Arnoux // luciedraws.com
Scene 1: On the Makers’ Roads
The dirt path out of Stonetop leads southwest through the fields to the broken line of the Old Wall, where it meets with the ancient Makers’ Road at the top of a gentle embankment. The party pauses at the crest and sees the road stretching out for miles before them: a grand, twenty-foot wide highway of black basalt slabs, impossibly uniform, each one pristinely clean and undamaged despite untold centuries of use. On either side of the road, the grassy expanse of the Flats stretches out for miles in both directions, the spring grass bending in an ever-blowing wind from the south.
When their feet fall on the road, a hush descends on the party. No leaves fall on the road, and no grit scrapes the stone beneath their boots. When Anwen breaks the silence, her voice comes out low, almost a whisper.
“Vahid, I feel strange. Is this the spell woven into the Makers’ Roads? I’ve heard stories, but I didn’t know if they were true.”
Vahid looks surprised. “Have you never been on the roads, Anwen? It is the Makers’ high craft, yes. Even now, after they are long gone, their works remain nearly pristine. Is it not a wonder?”
“I don’t care for it. I feel foggy, and penned in.”
“That feeling will pass, as you grow accustomed to the roads. They were built by the Stone Lords, who mastered shaping things from the earth as the Green Lords shaped the stuff of life. If we were to overcome their magic and turn up these paving stones, we would find upon them petroglyphs of enormous potency; spells woven upon spells. They protect the roads and those upon them from harm, through power subtle and overt. As you can see, not even a mote of dust will land upon the road. And if you were to draw your ax and strike at me, the magicks of the road would stay your hand. It is written that those who struggle too hard against the wards will fall dead themselves before their hands will commit violence.”
Anwen looks incredulously at Padrig, who nods in confirmation. “It is so. The Makers were powerful, no doubt. But it is not quite the protection you imagine it to be. If we see other travelers on the road, do not approach them closely. Thieves can take advantage of the roads — after all, caravan guards cannot strike them. So, anyone who approaches a laden horse or mule too closely will be assumed to have ill intentions. Some will leave the road rather than let strange travelers get too close.”
Anwen quietly digests this for a time. Then, she breaks the silence again, her voice not quite so quiet as the first time. “Not much trust out here?”
Padrig’s face softens a bit. “There can be. Just got to keep your wits about you. You might meet a traveler in need of aid, just a ways off the road. Maybe their life is truly in your hands. Or maybe they’ve got three friends waiting just out of sight, with iron drawn. But out on the Flats, there’s always a sign when something’s amiss — grass that’s too heavily trodden, or the sounds of seedpods cracking underfoot or the wind whipping a cloak. Trust, until you see the signs — then draw iron.”
Here, we’re giving Vahid some spotlight to answer his Keep Company question, and learning a bit about how the magic of the roads work to set the stage for any conflicts later down the road. The only roll in this scene was Vahid using Know Things (with advantage, thanks to his Well-Versed move) and scoring an 11. He gets something interesting — a few tidbits about the Stone Lords, and something useful — that the magic of the roads abjure violence, and can do physical damage to those who resist. Again, a ton of credit the worldbuilding here goes to Stonetop — I’ve only added some flourishes and expanded on some things (which is how the setting is designed to be used).
Scene 2: The Crossroads
The party has traveled through the morning when they reach the crossroads — the West Road stretches on to the western horizon, through trackless miles of grasslands, while the Highway cuts south and east, up through the Steppelands and then down to Marshedge.
As they approach, the strangeness they each feel from the influence of the wards twists and blackens into a deep unease. The winds from the south still, and the morning sun grows unpleasantly hot and hazy. A hill rises alongside the road to the West, and on it is a grove of a half-dozen spreading dool trees. From the nearest tree’s thick, twisting branches hangs a heavy, blackened metal gibbet, it’s door slightly ajar.
“I hate this place.” Ozbeg growls.
“That is natural,” Vahid replies. “I shudder to imagine he who would love it.”
“All the elders say, never come here. Especially at night.” Anwen says. Shadow, the hound, leans hard against Anwen’s leg as they keep pace, whining quietly.
“Sometimes our elders are wise,” Vahid says. “I am curious if the tales I have read are true, however. They claim that once, the Stone Lords meted out their justice here. Every new moon, they would try murderers, and their judge-priests could call forth the spirits of the dead to give testimony, by bringing offerings and speaking their true name aloud. And even though those trials have ended, the Last Door here still stands open just a crack — enough that the dead can be called back for a time.”
Padrig grimaces. “We won’t be finding out today. It’s early yet, and there’s a campsite ten miles down the Highway. Let’s move on.” He urges Sweetfoot forward, who knickers uneasily and steps a bit quicker than usual.
The only roll in this scene is Vahid, once again using Know Things about the Crossroads. Vahid highrolls again, scoring a 12 on Know Things (again, with advantage). He learns that the spirits of the dead can be summoned, and the specific mechanism of doing so (offerings and their name spoken aloud). Doing so trigger this this special move, found in Stonetop’s setting book:
Source: Jeremy Strandberg // Stonetop
Will someone trigger this move in this campaign? I really hope so!
Scene 3: On the Makers’ Roads, that evening.
The party has traveled until sunset. Here, the road widens into a broad circle, the slabs arrayed in a neat spiral. At the center of the circle is a black obelisk, nearly twice as tall as Padrig, with a single, complex rune carved at a head above eye level. Set off to one side is a well and a raised firepit.
Anwen takes it in, a smile breaking through her tired face. “A well! And a hearth fire. Almost as good as home.” She turns to Vahid, smiling. “The Makers liked their comforts!”
Vahid chuckles. “They did, but their idea of comfort was far grander. These roads and campsites were most used by their servitors, not the Makers themselves.”
“Well, I’m no one’s ‘servitor,’ but it’s grand enough for me.” Anwen approaches the obelisk and reaches up to touch the rune, tracing its outline with her finger. “What does it say?” she asks Vahid.
He grins. “It says ‘Stonetop,’ more or less. Your village has had that name for a very long time. Since well before the village chronicle remembers. In the Makers’ rune-script, it evokes not just a hilltop but a summit of achievement or strength.”1
Anwen smiles back at him. “I wonder why they called it that.”
“We will know, someday,” Vahid says.
Ozbeg nods to Anwen’s hatchet hanging at her belt. “Maybe you can take that chopper and wonder about some firewood if we want to eat hot food tonight.”
Anwen laughs and strikes her chest in salute. “Aye, sir!” She draws the ax from the ring at her belt and calls Shadow, who bounds to her side.
“Oz, best go with her,” Padrig says. “It’s near dark; don’t be caught outside the wards, especially this close to the Crossroads.”
“What’s the point of having new blood if they can’t do the drudgery alone?” Ozbeg grumbles, as he takes up and starts to string his bow.
Anwen’s cheer falls a bit. “What happens at dark near the Crossroads?”
The others fall silent. “Some folk say they hear voices in the night, on stretches of the road near the crossing. Calling to them,” Padrig replies carefully.
“Witch-lights! The nosgolau!” Ozbeg says, with a bit of relish. Anwen pales, as he continues: “Those who they lure off the road are never seen again, save for a bloody pattern in the grass or on the bare stone!”
“You need not fear anything if you do not leave the road and its protections after sundown,” Padrig says. “No matter who you hear out there.”
Vahid clears his throat. “It is not so simple, Padrig. If it were, surely no one would fall prey to them?”
“I’ve only seen fools fall for their tricks,” Padrig says.
“I hope you are right,” Vahid says. “I have read differently. Sometimes, it is not a trick. Sometimes, it is an offer that is hard to refuse. When ebn-Rashun led an army here, intending to lay siege to the Barrier Pass, he was called by the nosgolau. Before they were hanged, his bodyguards said he dismissed them, and that he said he wished to reconcile with his father on the eve of battle. His father, whom ebn-Rashun overthrew and murdered twenty years prior.”2
Ozbeg whistles. “Everyone alright with their fathers, then?”
There is a long silence after that.
Scene 4: The campsite, midnight.
Stonetop’s setting book has a custom move for the nosgolau, which we will now trigger for Padrig (of course):
In our version of Stonetop, the nosgolau speaks only with the voices of the dead, and Padrig has a lot of dead folks in his past. Padrig rolls +WIS and gets a 9, so we’ll mark XP for him, and see why he follows the call, despite his earlier warnings.
It is Padrig who hears the call on the wind, while he is on watch just past midnight. The night air has grown cool and misty, and the paving slabs beneath Padrig’s feet are slick with dew. The rest of the party is bed down for the night, arranged around the firepit. The fire is burning down, the wind from the south gusts here and there, swirling the rising embers. At first, the voice is almost indistinguishable from the sounds of the night.
“Pad? Is that you? Did you make it?”
He scans the darkened plains beyond the road’s edge. Here, the grasses of the Flats are waist-high, a pale yellow sea, illuminated by the crescent moon and bowing rhythmically in the breeze.
“I know it’s not prudent, and you always do the prudent thing...”
Now Padrig sees the light-mote, floating above the grass thickets, a long bowshot from the road. It is the color of pale, cold moonlight, and pulses subtly as the whispers issue forth from it, the glow diffusing in the misty air.
“…But I’d like to lay my eyes on you one more time. Just to see that you’re doing all right without me.”
Padrig is now standing at the very edge of the road, as though on a precipice. He hears Vahid’s quiet voice behind him.3 He has been feigning sleep during Padrig’s watch, waiting. “Padrig. Is it speaking to you?”
Padrig doesn’t answer, at least not directly. “Does the nosgolau mimic the voices of the dead? Like crinwin with the living? Or is it truly the dead, speaking from beyond the Last Door?”
Vahid replies, carefully and quietly. “We cannot be certain. But the voices only come near the Crossroads, and…”
“At the Crossroads, the Last Door opens just a crack.” Padrig finishes for him.
“Even if it is not a trick, Padrig — remember the price of what it is offering. Is it worth it?” Vahid asks, his voice rising.
But Padrig can’t hear him anymore. As he steps off the roadside and runs down the embankment into the tall grass, the mists rise up to swallow him up and he is gone.
Session Notes & Leveling Up Vahid
I apologize for the cliffhanger, but if I were running this game with a group, I 1000% would’ve ended the session there, so I figured it was only right to do it here.
Next session we’ll play to find out how (and if!) Padrig survives his encounter with the nosgolau, and continue on the journey to Marshedge, where we’ll likely encounter some Hillfolk, and Keep Company a bit more.
To close out this session, we’ll trigger the Level Up move for Vahid and select an advancement, with your help. In the last two sessions, Vahid’s offered a lot of sage advice and persuaded people to join in his ambitions. In the Seeker playbook, there are a couple of advancements that fit nicely with that experience:
Source: Jeremy Strandberg // Stonetop
Just to show how these might impact play — if Vahid had Sage Advice during this episode, Padrig might’ve been able to prepare himself to resist the Nosgolau’s offer, and stayed on the roadside. And if he had Let’s Make a Deal, he might’ve been able to better understand what Blodwen was hiding and how to convince her to speak of it in Session 2.3.
Alternately, we can increase one of his stat bonuses by +1 — major candidates are his Intelligence, which he uses to Know Things or his Constitution, which is used to master the Azure Hand. That would bring his Intelligence to a +3, which means he will rarely miss on any Intelligence-based moves, and it would bring his Constitution to a +2, making him surprisingly hardy for an academic.
Hit the poll below to help prepare Vahid for the road ahead, and I’ll see you in your inbox next week with Session 3.2! (Voting closed as of 12/16/2021)
Vahid, rolling without advantage this time, gets a 9 on Know Things. Something interesting — the anecdote about ebn-Rashun — but nothing immediately useful.
Vahid rolls Defy Danger (Using +INT, his strongest stat), to enact a plan. He was not actually asleep during Padrig’s watch, he was merely pretending, in order to keep an eye on the Marshal. He rolls an 11, so his plan goes off without a hitch and he re-enters the scene.
I think "Let's Make a Deal" will be the most interesting for the story, as it gives Young Veezy a another reason to be brought places, get more lore from the setting, and move the story along with character interactions no one else is specced for. Pretty sure you can't get a +3 int till 6 level (Yes, I've read all the rules) and in general I think the +1s are C-tier choices for when you've mostly exhausted the moves you want to take.
I think "Let's Make a Deal" will be the most interesting for the story, as it gives Young Veezy a another reason to be brought places, get more lore from the setting, and move the story along with character interactions no one else is specced for. Pretty sure you can't get a +3 int till 6 level (Yes, I've read all the rules) and in general I think the +1s are C-tier choices for when you've mostly exhausted the moves you want to take.
"if I were running this game with a group, I 1000% would’ve ended the session there"
Can confirm, SGH is a menace with this technique 😩😉