In the final scene of last week’s episode, Padrig left behind the arcane protections of the Makers’ Roads and ran into the night in pursuit of the nosgolau — witch-lights that speak with the voices of the dead. Since there was a cliffhanger, we’re jumping right into the action, and we’ll do housekeeping and notes at the end!
Scene 5: A dark, misty night on the Flats
Will o’ the Wisp, oil on canvas by Arnold Böcklin // 1882
The flickering witch-light hovers over a broad pool of standing water, left over from the last spring storm. Padrig comes to a halt at the pool’s edge, breath ragged from his sprint from the roadside.
“Ionas?” he asks, in an unsteady voice.
There is a long silence, and then a whispered reply. “Who else would it be?”
Padrig looks down into the pool, and on its surface in the light of the crescent moon, Ionas is reflected, still geared for battle in his bronze ringmail and half helm. His curved sword is broken near the hilt, and arrows pierce his heart, his belly, and his throat.
Padrig kneels by the pool. “I never should have split the crew. I never should have let you stay behind.”
“Then we’d both be gone. Nobody left to lead the lads to a greener country.”
“I can’t get them there without you,” Padrig says.
“Maybe that’s true. But who, if not you?”
A dark cloud passes over the moon, and the witch-light flickers. The breath leaves Padrig as the shade vanishes from the pool, and he feels as though a great weight is pressing down upon him as he hears another voice from the mists.
“Tender words. But they do not absolve you, Padrig of the Claws. They only serve to deliver you to our judgment.” It now speaks with a deep rumble and a rattling hiss, two voices intertwined like writhing snakes. “Shades cling to you like corpse-flies. How many more will you lead to their deaths?” The witch-light flickers and in the water below, more shades are reflected, their faces twisted in anger: Old Ulrike. Dagmar Dog-Face. Handsome Sonam, with his dueling scars. Sabi, the Hillfolk outcast. Padrig can hear their accusations rattling painfully in his skull: “You should have died with me.”
Padrig’s eyes rise from the pool. The mists are is now illuminated only by the witch-light. Standing above the pool, holding the light in its open palm is a tatter-cloaked figure. It is towering but slender, its face is shadowed by a hood. In its right hand, it holds a heavy, double-headed ax, as long as Padrig is tall. A pair of blackened iron manacles trail from the haft, rattling softly in the night’s stillness. Padrig tries to speak, but his tongue is leaden in his mouth. He tries to stand, but his legs are cold and heavy.
“Plead your guilt, and receive the mercy of the ax.” The creature releases the witch-light and stoops down to clasp Padrig’s face in its huge, pale hand. “Or deny it, and suffer a more painful justice,” it says. This close, Padrig can smell a terrible foulness, rotting meat, and worse.
Then, from the mists, Anwen’s voice comes, as though from a great distance: “Padrig, no! Get away from it!” She is rushing towards the creature, ax raised high. Behind her, Vahid and Ozbeg emerge from the mist — from Vahid’s forehead shines the pure, white light of his third eye, guiding them unerringly through. Anwen is splashing through the water when the monster rises to its full height, nearly ten feet tall. It throws its hood aside, and beneath, there is a pale, mottled face, empty of features save a yawning maw with countless rows of cruel, stained fangs, hooked inwards. The whispered, echoing voices rise to an ear-splitting bellow: “Interloper! Flee, or share the fate of the guilty!”
Anwen stops mid-charge, tumbling backward, frozen by terror. The monster raises its ax like a scepter, and the chains lash out towards Vahid, pulling him off balance and dragging him towards its feet. Ozbeg looses an arrow, and another, and another — but they pass uselessly through the creature’s form. “We cannot hurt it!” he shouts. “We must withdraw! Padrig, run! Get back to the road!”
Padrig rises haltingly to his feet, but before he can take flight, the creature is upon him, seizing him in one hand and hoisting him into the air by his throat. The pale flesh of its arm is corded with muscle and shot through with thick, wine-dark veins of pulsating corruption.
Anwen scurries backward on her knees, splashing through the water towards Vahid. She pulls in vain at the chains, before thrusting her ax handle through the loops encircling him, desperately trying to loosen its hold on the scholar. Just as Vahid wriggles free, the handle shatters like tinder.
“How can we kill it?” she shouts, anger boiling beneath fear.
Vahid frantically takes in the creature’s deathly, corrupted form. “Bronze! Bronze is the bane of the corrupted!” he cries.
“We haven’t got any fucking bronze!” Ozbeg yells, nocking another arrow. But Anwen is already in motion — on her feet, running through the water towards the creature, something in her hand flashing in the moonlight. She leaps, her hand held high, and strikes the meat of the creature’s forearm. An unhallowed wail issues forth, and the maw snaps shut. It drops Padrig into the pool below as it lashes back at Anwen, clumsily slamming into her with the flat of the ax blade and driving her to the ground. Red blood mingled with thick, dark corruption flows freely from its wound, fouling the water at its feet. Anwen now stands between the creature and its quarry, clenching tightly in her right hand a slender, sharp needle of bronze — Blodwen’s hairpin, abandoned by the village stream many moons ago.
The creature draws itself up before her, and she feels its eyeless gaze. “We will remember you, Anwen of Stonetop,” her name coming out in a sibilant hiss. “The daughter is heir to the guilt of the mother. Your judgment night will come soon.” And as quickly as it appeared, it is gone, its corrupted flesh and tattered cloak dissolving into the mist.
Scene Breakdown
Let’s start with what happened off-screen: Vahid awakens Ozbeg and Anwen, and they need to find Padrig, who is lost in the unnatural mists. First, they arm up, which takes a bit of time, and Vahid attempts to command the campfire to the Azure Hand. He fails (lots of misses in this scene), and takes a small amount of damage — not from the fire, but from the magic of the wards supressing it as he loses control of the elemental energy. He also marks progress on the Azure Hand, moving one step closer to unlocking its true power.1
Once they’re geared up, Vahid uses his minor arcana, “The Eye, Opened.”
Source: Stonetop // Jeremy Strandberg
He meditates and opens his mind’s eye, rolling Defy Danger with Wisdom to do so quickly. He scores a 10 and asks “What thinking entities are present here?” allowing hm to see the thought-auras of both Padrig and a strange, alien entity in the mist. He activates Seek Insight, and scores a 7 — with his one question, he asks “Is something controlling their mind, and if so, what?” and learns that Padrig is indeed being dominated by the alien presence before him.
Ozbeg then leads them through the mist at Vahid’s direction, gaining advantage for doing so. Padrig rolls for him (he’s Padrig’s follower) adding +1 for Ozbeg’s scout tag, and scores an 11. They arrive on the scene as the creature is preparing to pass judgement on Padrig.
Meanwhile, Padrig fails to throw off the creature’s influence and stand to defend himself (either from the accusations of the shades or physically) — he rolls Defy Danger and scores a 6. The situation escalates as the creature begins to reveal its strange corruption and what it has in store for Pad. He also suffers 8 damage as the creature’s power saps his strength away.
Anwen charges in, but the creature reveals its true form, building on the consqeuences from Padrig’s missed roll, awakening her fear of monsters (you can read more about this in her session zero if you need a refresher). She must Defy Danger to hold her course, and she fails, rolling a 4. She falters, and the creature seizes the opportunity to attack — not her (she seems harmless, for now) but Vahid, who has a glowing third eye on his forehead and is wielding an ancient staff.2 The chains haul him off his feet. He’s knocked out of his meditative state, and loses his grip on the Azure Hand.
Padrig tries to throw off its influence again, and again fails with a 5. The creature snatches him off his feet and prepares to consume him his guilty flesh, dealing another 9 damage, for 17 total. The next hit will likely kill him, in which case the creature will start to devour him.
Anwen grabs the spotlight again to activate Anger is a Gift, now that Padrig is clearly in mortal danger — she has two uses to activate her various special ability. She uses one immediately to set aside her fear and act, and she frees Vahid from the chains with a 9 on Defy Danger — she succeeds, but her axe haft is broken.
Vahid then Knows Things to figure out the creature’s weakness, and scores an 11 (rolling +INT with advantage, for his Well Read move). He sees its corruption, and knows from many tales that bronze is the answer.
The party now has to consider the question: What do they have that’s made of bronze? At the gaming table, this would likely be a moment to pause and consider. To me, the most interesting answer is Blodwen’s bronze hairpin from the first session, which Anwen found with her hound’s help. We never narrated what became of it, so it’s certainly possible Anwen had it. The move in Stonetop’s ruleset that governs this moment is Have What You Need.
Source: Stonetop // Jeremy Strandberg
Nevermind the first two paragraphs — they deal with Stonetop’s inventory mechanics, which are great, but not critical to explain here. This move lets us imagine that Anwen has had Blodwen’s hairpin all along, maybe as a keepsake of that day, and she can now use it against the creature. She spends another hold from Anger is a Gift and acts immediately, surprising her opponent. She stabs the creature, and rolls a 9 (rolling with advantage from Vahid’s advice). A lot is at stake here, so she uses her Impetuous Youth move to upgrade the result to a 10+, dealing extra damage.
Source: Stonetop // Jeremy Strandberg
She chooses the second option, and ‘escalates the situation.’ The creature takes 11 damage, and deals 8 with its counterattack. Rather than escalating the situation in the moment, we escalate it to a broader conflict — the monster now remembers Anwen personally, and will seek her out again. Immortal creatures don’t like being wounded (and Anwen managed to deal more than half its HP in one shot), so it vanishes to bide its time — but not before threatening Anwen, and revealing an unwelcome truth by hinting at some secret crime in her mother’s past.
We’ll wrap up with some more Keep Company — Padrig still has yet to reveal his old, bloody affiliation, and is probably in a confessional mood after his close encounter with death.
Scene 6: Back at camp.
The company, battered and haunted from their encounter with the nosgolau, returns to the waystation. Ozbeg coaxes the campfire back to life, adding more fuel gathered from as near the road as could be managed. Padrig sits against a cartwheel, looking into the fire with a thousand-yard stare. By the light of the fire, Vahid and Anwen peer at the bronze hairpin, stained with the fouled blood of the creature. Shadow watches them from a safe distance, sniffing the air and whining quietly.
“What was that thing?” Anwen asks. “The nosgolau?”
“Nosolgau simply means ‘night lights’ in the old tongue of the barrow-builders. That thing commanded the witch-lights, but it was something greater.” Vahid replies.3 “I suspect it was the judge who presided over the trials at the Crossroads. It had the stature of a Maker — the size of many of their ruins suggest they were tall and mighty. And the weapon it wielded, the ax and chain — it was the sarkur, which in the Maker language means “Authority.” Those who wielded them could bestow the two great condemnations: Death and enslavement.”
“Were all of the Makers so horrifying?” she asks.
“On the contrary, they were much like us — some fair and some foul. This unfortunate was corrupted by The Things Below, and trapped in a state between life and death. Near the end of their dominion, the influence of the Things crept into the Makers’ minds and bodies. No doubt this is the source of the tales of the nosgolau — an unliving judge-priest condemning those that it lures into its court with the voices of the dead,” Vahid says.
Padrig breaks his silence. “Whatever it was, I owe you my life.” He gestures at the hairpin. “Clever girl. And you too, Vahid. I am in both of your debts.”
Anwen looks to him. “Why did you leave the road, Padrig? After everything you and Vahid told us? Who were you speaking to?”
Ozbeg grumbles. “Ionas, I’d wager.”
“Aye, it was,” Padrig replies. “He was a friend. My first friend in the Claws, from years and years ago, when we were both new blood. When I became a leader, he was my second-in-command, before Ozbeg. He made sure I wasn’t too cautious — without him in my crew, Ulrike never would have made me one of his lieutenants. And if I had listened to him, I would’ve stood against Brennan when he made his play to take command.”
Anwen digests this. “Who are the Claws? I thought you and Oz were in the Companions?”
Ozbeg’s eyes widen as the truth tumbles from Padrig. “The Claws was our band. Or, is our band. Started as caravan guards outside of Gordin’s Delve, then the merchants hired us to deal with the Hillfolk. Then the Hillfolk hired us to help them rob the caravans, and then we started to rob them on our own. We ranged all over — all the way to the Manmarch, across the river. That’s where the old chief, Ulrike, was from. After a time, Ulrike lost his hold over the men, and a new chief, Brennan, took over. Hanged Ulrike from a dool tree on the banks of the Dread River. Brennan led us back to Gordin’s Delve with big plans of taking over one of the gangs there, living like kings on the riches from the mines. We partnered up with one of the crew bosses, Jahalim of the Keys, but once he caught wind of Brennan’s plan, he sold us out to the other bosses — the only time they work together is to cut someone out of the trade. When we walked into their ambush, the Claws were 40 strong. Now, half that at best.”
“And the Companions?” Anwen asks quietly.
“When we fled the Delve, Brennan ordered us to split up and regroup in Marshedge after the winter. We were out on the Flats, and game was scarce this year. We didn’t have the strength to steal from a Hillfolk band or a caravan. We could see smoke from Stonetop’s hearth fires from where we were camped. We needed a way through the winter, and I knew I could call on Stonetop’s hospitality — but not for a pack of bandits. So I lied, and the lads lied with me.”
“You’ve stolen?” Anwen presses him with questions. “Murdered?”
“Never anyone who didn’t have a weapon close to hand, but yes. I’ve sent more than my share of mother’s sons through the Last Door. Stolen? Gods yes. Not much to show for it now, though. And the Claws sometimes dealt in terrible cruelty, especially after Brennan took over. I told myself it was never me that held the knife, but I couldn’t stop it either.” He corrects himself: “Or at least, I didn’t.”
“And you’re going to Marshedge to meet up with him?” she asks.
“Yes, to tell him I’m done, one way or another. Brennan could always make it feel like paradise was just on the other side of the next battle, but what we won never ended up being worth the fight. Leading the crew to Stonetop, spending a season not looking over our shoulders, seeing Donal find a bit of peace with Nia — that finally felt like something worth fighting for,” he says. “Maybe now that he’s got ahold of something in Marshedge, he’ll be willing to let me and a few of the crew go.”
“And what if he’s not in a giving mood?” Ozbeg growls.
“I’ve followed him through the worst of the worst. If he won’t let me go after all this, then he’ll just prove to the rest of the Claws what kind of chief he really is.”
“Why tell me and Vahid now?” Anwen asks.
Padrig smiles darkly at Vahid, who has been listening silently. “Vahid knew already — saw through my deception from the outset. He counciled me to tell you, and others. ‘Only a righteous future can redeem a wicked past,’ some dead, wicked fool wrote. Vahid was right about the nosgolau’s whispers. And about the bronze. Might be he’s right about this, too.”
Anwen’s gaze turns to Vahid, accusing. “You knew?”
Vahid nods. “Not every detail, but enough to judge for myself. Now you have the truth. And you see the man before you. He protected Stonetop from the crinwin when they came in the winter. He went into the Great Wood for Blodwen, who was neither kith nor kin to him. He is here, on this journey, helping us to better the village. Now, what will Anwen do?”
Anwen looks at them both with wary eyes. “I don’t know. I can’t keep this from the village. But for my part, I guess it’s like you said before — trust, until you see the signs.”
Session Notes & Leveling Up Anwen
Phew, that was a long one. Those who are still reading, I salute you. To close out the session, we’ll talk quickly about the level ups and skip the usual post-session notes —but I’m happy to talk more about the episode in the comments if folks have any questions or comments!
In last week’s reader poll, we chose Vahid’s advancement, and as you can see, Sage Advice is our scholar’s new move.
In fact, he activated it this very episode, when he told Anwen to use bronze to strike at the judge of the crossroads, and earlier when he advised Ozbeg on how to make his way through the mist. Without that advantage, they might have rolled a few more misses, and Padrig might not be with us any longer.
Now, we’ll choose an advancement for Anwen:
Source: Stonetop // Jeremy Strandberg
Speak Truth to Power is great for Anwen’s Defiance instinct, and even if she fails to persuade (her +0 Charisma is not very persuasive, even with advantage), she still gets Resolve to power her Anger is a Gift move.
Payback is a move from the Heavy playbook (not currently in play) that Anwen can select through Stonetop’s version of multiclassing. Anwen’s anger is stoked by threats to her friends and loved ones, and this move neatly dovetails with that part of her character.
Iron Will represents her defying the judge of the crossroads. She stood tall and denied it it’s prey. Now, if it — or anything else — tries to dominate her mind like it did to Padrig, it will not find an easy target.
Improved Stat: We can also improve her stats — Strength is the easy pick, since she is nearly always first to battle.
Mash the button below to make your choice known! (voting closed as of 12/23/2021)
Next episode, we meet the Hillfolk, and we will reach Marshedge (unless something goes terribly, terribly wrong).
Apologies to folks who feel these breakdowns stop the flow of the story — the mechanics footnotes, especially when they come rapid-fire, are very frustrating for people who read on the phone to engage with. Until substack adds some additional options, we’ll do extended breakdowns for complex scenes in longer notes, and quick rolls in the footnotes.
The idea of the witchlights' controller as a corrupted judge of the ancient world is incredibly cool
Awesome combat encounter and moving conversation.