Session 7.5: The Seeker

Vahid forges alliances and seeks visions.

Last episode, we spent time with Anwen and Vahid — she had a chance to acquit herself well in the warrior’s circle against a skilled opponent, and he met with the band’s spirit-talker, seeking understanding of the hdour and the unseen world they command.

Vahid advanced to level 4 during the downtime with the nomads, and last week’s poll chose his advancement. Let’s see what y’all picked for the antiquarian’s next advance:

A strong showing for Safety First — now, if Vahid goes into magical danger (which may happen in the very near future), he’ll have some protection.

In the context of the fiction, this ability is linked to his mastery of the Azure Hand, but he doesn’t have to be carrying it to use this power, so perhaps it is linked to his burnt hand — it represents a permanent connection to the staff, and through that connection flows some of its power. This fictional positioning probably won’t come up too often, but it’s useful to know if Vahid ever heals that wound, or abjures his ownership of the Azure Hand in some meaningful way.

When we left off, Katrin the spirit-talker had proposed a secret rendezvous that night, so she and Vahid could talk without being watched by her protector, Maikl, who took a dim view of our scholar’s explorations of the unseen world.

We’ll rejoin the party back at the tent that night. We haven’t gotten the whole gang together for a while, so we’ll set the scene with all of them:

Scene 7: That night, at the party’s campsite

“What exactly did she say would happen at this midnight rendezvous?” Padrig asks as he paces pensively from one side of the tent to the other, leaving a furrow in the thick, patterned wool rug.

At Juba’s order, the party’s encampment has been augmented with a large pavilion tent, appointed with Hillfolk finery — a tall bronze brazier with burning tallow casts a dim light and warms the chill. The air smells of burning cedar bark. Above the entrance hang the twin horns of the aurochs brought home by Padrig and Juba, and a carved wooden basin holds water carried from a stream miles away.

“She did not say. Only that I would have to prove that I earnestly seek knowledge and not power,” Vahid replies. He sits cross-legged on the earth, packing pale stoneware pipe with Marshedge herb. Across the rug from him, Anwen sits against a pile of round pillows, chewing on a piece of goat jerky and only half-attending the conversation, with the ghost of a smile on her face.

“Knowledge is power, in my experience.”

“Knowledge can be used to gain power over the foolish. They are not the same,” Vahid says, defensiveness creeping into his tone.

“That’s a scholar’s distinction,” Padrig says. “Do you think Maikl will see it?”

“Is she beautiful?” Anwen asks, interrupting and shooting a sly smirk at Vahid. “She’s Kirs’ sister, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” Vahid answers absently.

“Yes, she’s beautiful?” Anwen laughs.

Vahid sputters, but before he can reply, Padrig interjects. “And that’s another thing — her meeting you here in the dead of night, unaccompanied, is a risk. The Hillfolk take these matters seriously. Marriages can end feuds — and trysts can begin them. Tread carefully here, and do not let anyone mistake your intentions, least of all yourself.”

Anwen goes quite silent and takes another bite of jerky.

“She arranged this meeting with me, sir.” Vahid huffs. “I intended only to learn more about this sorcerer who threatens your home — and my hosts.”

Padrig ponders this for a moment and gives a conciliatory nod. “You’re right, Vahid. You did as I asked. Well done, but step carefully. You’re not in Lygos anymore — the knives could be out for us at any moment.”

“You have never been to Lygos, my friend,” Vahid replies archly, standing to light his pipe from the brazier, but he stops short as he sees Katrin part the tent flaps and enter the shadowed pavilion.

“I heard you speaking, but I do not speak your people’s tongue,” she says, quietly reassuring. “So you need not fear what I overheard.”

Anwen stifles a nervous laugh, and Vahid’s dark face flushes. He glances at Padrig, and then back to her. “I have awaited you, Katrin. Will you help us stand against this sorcerer?”

“We will speak of the hdour soon. First I wish to speak of Vahid.”

Vahid draws himself up, self-consciously hiding his burnt arm beneath his sky-blue cloak. “What do you wish to know?”

“Why do you refuse the title ‘magus’?” she asks.

Vahid watches her warily as he replies. “That is the same title borne by the cruel Sorcerer-Kings of a bygone age. They bargained with The Things Below for magic, miraculous and profane. The power I have comes from understanding — my study of the Azure Hand and the White Key¹.”

Vahid is looking for some insight into what she wants, here. In a situation with a lot of free-form roleplay like this one, a player may want some more information from the GM about how to play a particular conversation — what the mood in the room is, and how their character might respond to it. Seek Insight is a great way to address that issue, particularly with Vahid’s Let’s Make a Deal ability, which allows him to ask the question “What do they want or need?” and get an honest answer from the GM.

Vahid triggers Seek Insight: 5+1+1 Wisdom = 7, Weak Hit.

This gives him some information about her motives: Now that she’s convinced that a hdour is responsible for what’s befallen her band, she needs an ally — she is a relatively inexperienced spirit-talker, and can’t go up against what may be a very powerful sorcerer alone. But also she wants to know if she can trust Vahid’s motives — after all, even worse than one power-mad sorcerer would be two of them. Vahid will respond accordingly.

“So you do seek power?” Her cold blue eyes fix on the scholar, rooting him to the spot. Anwen, who does not speak the Steptongue, starts to ask for a translation, but Padrig quiets her with a gesture.

“Not for its own sake!” He protests. “The Makers, with their knowledge, achieved mighty works. A great flourishing. We could learn to do the same.”

“The Old Masters inflicted terrible cruelty, as well. Surely you have studied that,” she says, her voice growing sharper.

“This knowledge — and the power it brings — will not go undiscovered merely because we wish it to,” Vahid says, taking a few slow steps towards her. “Others will seek it out and misuse it. That is why men like this hdour must be opposed. And if we mean to oppose him, we must do it together.”

I was a bit torn about whether to make this a roll — after all, Vahid already successfully triggered Persuade on Katrin, convincing her to tell him more about the hdour and their ways.

Ultimately, I decided to include another Persuade roll here, for a few reasons: First, we have a threat countdown clock running, and we want to make sure that threat stays in play, hanging over the PCs’ heads. Second, this is part of Vahid’s central challenge for the session — he generally won’t have combats that trigger a dozen moves like Anwen will, so instead we construct multi-layered social and mental challenges for him to navigate.

So, we’ll envision that the first Persuade move allowed him to secure an audience with her, away from her meddling guardian. This second move is to convince her that perhaps he can be an ally, even though he meddles with shunned magics.

Vahid triggers Persuade: 6+5+1 Charisma = 12, Strong Hit

They watch each other silently for a moment. Anwen and Padrig do their best to stay still and quiet in the shadows of the pavilion. It is Katrin who breaks the silence.

“Let us speak of the hdour, then. You say you have met him?”

Vahid breathes a quiet sigh of relief. “In a vision. His reflection appeared in the makerglass obelisk, where we met your brother and his riders.”

“Yes,” she nods in confirmation. “Some sorcerers are capable of leaving their flesh behind and traveling in the unseen world for many miles. What did he say to you?”

“He told me that he and I were heirs to a great legacy; the power wielded by the Tempest Lord called Indrasduthir. That to claim that legacy, I would need to become greater than I am — and then he sent the lightning and raised the wildfire.”²

“He believes your fates are intertwined,” she says. She meets him in the center of the tent, circling him with slow steps. “Do you think it is so?”

Vahid turns to face her again. “I do not believe in fate. Each of us carries the freedom and burden of will.”

She smiles wryly. “The rabbit and the drake are as free as any man, but when they meet on the grasslands, are their fates not intertwined?” Before Vahid can offer a skeptical retort, she continues. “There is a holy place my teacher once took me — a place where great destinies can be dreamt of. There, I sat with the spirits and dreamt of my brother.” Her eyes dart to glance at Anwen and then return to Vahid. “I will take you there and show you how to dream of the sorcerer. Then, we will give your vision to the spearmoot and call them to act.”

“Is this some magic of the Makers?” Vahid asks, his face lighting with wonder.

“No — this place was old when the Makers were young.”

Vahid doesn’t even breathe before replying. “I accept.”

Padrig pauses, digesting this strange plan for a moment, then purposefully strides over to his pack and begins to check it. Anwen follows his lead, straining to tease out some meaning from the Steptongue. “We’ll leave at first light. Where is this place?” Pad asks.

Katrin smiles apologetically. “You will remain here. It is in the foothills of the Huffel Peaks, to the northwest.”

Padrig looks at her incredulously. “There’s more than a hundred miles of dangerous territory between here and there. You’d need at least a week to make the journey and return — if you returned at all.”

“Not with the help of a magus. Follow,” she says as she withdraws from the tent into the dark night.

Setting the Scene

How are Vahid and Katrin going to travel a hundred and fifty miles in just a single night? The answer goes all the way back to Vahid’s session zero — it’s his minor arcana, which was one of the subplots we selected in the Session 7 prep reader poll. You can reference the front of the arcana card here, which lays out what must be done to unlock its power.

Clearly, we’ve fudged the arcana description a bit, mostly to explain why Vahid hasn’t already attempted to unlocked this arcana on his own. For the purposes of our story, we’ll envision that the spirit is in a deep slumber, leading Vahid to believe that the cloak’s magic had faded long ago, leaving it lovely but mundane. But the spirit-talker can awaken and restore the spirit, allowing Vahid to follow the steps to unlock the Arcana. We can further assume that Vahid has already deciphered the Maker-script word of command since he has the Polyglot move and has had plenty of time to study it. So, all that remains is to “bend the spirit to his will, risking it’s (destructive) escape.” Let’s see how that goes!

Scene 8: A meadow under a starry sky.

They follow Katrin out into the cool, still night. A few nomads are out, tending the smoldering fires beneath the blanket of stars. They do not take note when Katrin passes, but when Vahid, Padrig, and Anwen follow, they look up from their labors and peer curiously through the darkness, chattering among one another in the Steptongue.

She leads them to the edge of the camp, where a small grove of cedars grows, surrounded by grazed-over grass, and in the shadow of those trees, she turns back to Vahid. “There is a slumbering spirit fettered to the cloak you wear. It must be ancient — its dreams have almost gone silent, but it wants to be awakened and to fly, far and swiftly. As the holder of its fetter, you can grant that desire.”

“And it will take us to this sacred place?”

“Yes. I believe it can be commanded— or persuaded— to aid us. But not by me. I can translate your words, but I am not powerful enough to treat with it myself. As I said, the spirits of the sky are proud.”

Vahid, for a moment, thinks to doubt his own power, but he feels a strange twinge in his scarred hand and instead remains silent. He pushes his cloak aside, reaching out with his mind’s grasp for the Azure Hand, hidden beneath his belongings beneath the pavilion. He closes his eyes, willing the staff to his hand, and like a stroke of lightning, it appears with a flash of blue-white and the scent of ozone. The wards and protections he bound into the staff as they waited for Katrin’s arrival give him comfort, and when he opens his eyes, they are determined.

“Awaken it, then.”

Katrin approaches him, placing her hands on the collar of the cloak, above the aetherium fastenings, and closes her eyes, whispering in a strange, inchoate language. The cloak stirs, though the night air is still, and the cool air around Vahid feels damp and heavy with the smell of rain.

She looks up into his eyes. “The spirit is stirring. Its name is ‘His-Laughter-is-the-Thunder.’ You must hold it in your mind when you speak your word of command.”

Vahid speaks aloud the lyrical syllables in the tongue of the Tempest Lords, and no sooner than the final word falls silent in the quiet night air, a swirling wind rises and grows, laying the grasses flat, tearing at cloaks and clothes, and chilling the air. Anwen makes a move to step forward towards Vahid, but he waves her off, and Padrig puts a steadying hand on her shoulder.

The swirling wind intensifies, encircling the pair of them. Before Vahid’s eyes, the spirit manifests a half-visible form of a laughing, barrel-bellied, six-armed deva, as tall as a mounted rider, clothed in loose robes of dried grasses and dust raised from the ground. Its eyes are lit by motes of blue-white light, and its leonine jaws are filled with teeth like jagged bolts. Above, the clouds begin to gather and roil, darkening the sky above.

As Vahid calls out to the storm, Katrin whispers his words in the spirit tongue. “I come to treat with the lord of the sky, whose laughter is the thunder. I would renew the ancient pact of the Tempest Lords that bound you to my cloak.”

In the sky above, lightning flashes, and the thunder rolls, slow and low like a booming chuckle. The wind surges, and Vahid feels a stinging grit and rain in his face. He grips the Azure Hand and calls up the protective magics he has prepared, surrounding himself and the spirit-talker — the staff thrums with power, and a deadly torrent of hailstones and debris cascades off of an unseen shield, falling harmlessly to the earth.

Katrin leans close to him and shouts in his ear to be heard above the maelstrom. “He doubts your worthiness to treat with him — You are but a worm of the earth, whose flesh will turn to dust and blow away in his wake.”

Vahid clenches his jaw and reaches out to grasp the whirlwind with the Azure Hand, and as the winds obediently shift and twist around his grasp. He closes his eyes and wills the storm to still, drawing the elemental vis from the spirit’s grasp and driving it through the staff into the earth, which stirs and rumbles beneath his feet. The staff buzzes like a wasp hive in Vahid’s hands, and he tightens his grip to hold it fast, sending a stabbing pain climbing up his spine and into the backs of his eyes.

But the wind quiets, down to a swirling breeze, and the spirit’s manifestation before him diminishes in on itself, shrinking into a flitting, six-winged sylph. The spirit seems to look at its new form with some surprise and then abases itself before Vahid as the wind dies to a whisper.

When he finally opens his eyes, Katrin gasps, and her face is lit by an unearthly blue glow. Behind her, Vahid sees with a strange new vision — the wind swirling around the spirit’s manifestation shines with a luminous glow, and above, he can see the electric coils of the storm’s vis intertwining and sparking.

“Tell the spirit that we are building a grand alliance against a sorcerer, who seeks to enslave his noble peers. Tell him that if he joins us, I will release him from the cloak when the struggle is done.”

The spirit raises its head — its face is barely visible, as mere disturbances in the air, but Vahid can read shock and eagerness.

Katrin turns her face from Vahid’s, straining to hear spirits’ whispers. “He agrees,” she says, whispering in surprise and elation.

Vahid lets out his breath, and loosens his grip on the staff, allowing the winds to slip from his grasp and return to the spirit, gathering around him and restoring him to his former might.

Scene Breakdown

Vahid triggered six moves to bend the storm spirit to his will and unlock the cloak. Let’s take a look at them and how they unfolded:

First, he called the Azure Hand to him, which he’s been able to do ever since he was bound to it in Session 6.3. Then, he retroactively declares that he’s prepared magical protections using his new move, Safety First. It’s sort ambiguous whether that kind of flashback declaration would be kosher, but I decided to do it. Since it’s the character’s first time using the move, I’d be inclined to be generous as a GM, though if the situation were an ambush or a surprise attack, I might rule differently if I wanted to emphasize how taken off-guard the characters were.

Next, he tries to negotiate with the spirit based on its pact of service to the wearer of the cloak, but the storm spirit is having none of it — the Stonetop world almanac characterizes storm spirits as proud, powerful but distractable, arrogant, and always needing to get somewhere, so we’re trying to capture some of that with its manner. Instead, the spirit launches an attack with flung debris and lashing hail. The attack is aimed at both Vahid and Katrin, and at the gaming table we would emphasize to Vahid how incredibly poorly the nomads would take it if she died in this endeavor. In response, Vahid would look to defend her with the Azure Hand’s control of the elements.

Vahid triggers Defend: 5+4+1 Constitution = 10, Strong Hit.

He spends his hold immediately, to redirect the attack against Katrin to him, and then to reduce the damage to him. He also expends one of his Safety First hold, reducing the damage again — all in, he ends up taking only 2 HP of damage, which we don’t really bother narrating, it’s just a bit of fatigue.

Vahid then uses the Azure Hand to quiet the windstorm and diminish the spirits manifestation, just as he did to the wildfire in Session 6.3. We envision this not wounding the spirit, but drawing away the wind it’s using to manifest itself, thereby diminishing its form.

Vahid triggers Eye of the Storm: 6+1+1 Constitution = 8, Weak Hit.

As a result of the weak hit, Vahid has to choose another consequence from the Azure Hand’s arcana. We want this to be a big, dramatic moment for the scholar, so we’re going to choose another one that creates a permanent, physical change in him, bringing him deeper into the realm of the mystical. I didn’t want to stop the episode for a poll on this topic, so I just picked the second place option from the Session 6.2 poll — Vahid’s eyes turn a solid blue and he can now perceive the currents of elemental energy in the world.

But he succeeds in humbling the proud storm spirit, and then he makes an offer — the spirit’s freedom in exchange for an alliance against the hdour. This certainly triggers Let’s Make a Deal, as the storm spirit would be eager to be freed from the cloak.

Vahid triggers Persuade: 1+6+1 Charisma = 8, Weak Hit → Strong Hit.

And so the alliance is made. Vahid can now call upon the services of this spirit, and it’s treated as his follower (similar to how the Companions are Pad’s followers, but of course, the spirit has different abilities, needs and motivations)

Here are the spirit’s stats:

Source: Jeremy Strandberg // Stonetop

You can see how we added a few of the above elements to the scene — damage caused by the lashing wind and rain, for example.

We’ll jump back to the action here — Vahid now has the loyalty of this spirit, along with solid blue eyes that glow when he summons the Azure Hand’s power.

The spirit dismisses its manifested form, the winds die, and the storm above breaks and begins to quiet. Behind Vahid, Padrig and Anwen approach, his face concerned, hers filled with wonder. Beyond them, a crowd of curious and wary Hillfolk have gathered. Katrin steps back from Vahid. “So. My lot is thrown in with yours. If you are not a magus, what are you?”

The blue glow is fading from his Vahid’s eyes, and he sighs wearily. “It matters not. If you must call me something, call me Seeker. Padrig commands, Anwen fights, and I seek out wisdom.”

She whispers in the spirit tongue, and the winds begin to rise once again. “Very well, Seeker³. I have told the spirit our destination. All you need do is command it.”

Padrig comes to Vahid’s side, putting a cautioning hand on his shoulder. “Are you sure this is wise? There are other ways to learn about this man.”

Vahid smiles apologetically. “Padrig, my friend. I have come a long way from Lygos to be here, in this place. The things I have seen and done on this journey have taught me more than all my years at the Lycaeum. I trusted you beneath Stonetop, and we did not delve deeper into those mysteries. Now, I ask you to trust me — I will return, with greater knowledge of our foe.” Padrig nods soberly and releases him, stepping back to Anwen’s side.

Katrina once again draws close to Vahid. He pulls the cloak around them and holds the words of command in his mind, and the spirit obediently raises them up with a swirl of wind and cloud, and as they climb high above the plains to the north and west, they leave a wake of stormclouds in their path.⁴

Scene 9: The Titan’s Rest

They fly for hours, high above the Flats. Even from this height, the grasslands spread out endlessly in all directions, the old Maker’s Road carving a black path through the golden sea, and to the south and east, Vahid can make out the dark silhouette of the ruined tower against the starry night sky. They soar towards the Huffel Peaks, which loom against the horizon, towering black slabs of granite and basalt, dusted with early autumn snowfall.

The air is cold, fogging Vahid and Katrin’s breath as the spirit descends into a sheltered box canyon between two jagged granite cliffs. The canyon’s floor is shaded by a towering, yellow-leaved tree, whose leaves shudder as the spirit’s tumultuous winds that bear them aloft draw near.

The spirit deposits them on the rocky bank of a pool of frigid, clear water. Sunrise has nearly come, and the light is creeping across the canyon floor. Vahid takes a few steps forward and leans heavily on the Azure Hand, taking in the wondrous sight.

Laying on its side, half-buried in the hard-packed earth of the canyon floor, is a titanic war helm, forged from bronze and tarnished with age. Each of its eye slits is as tall as temple doors, and the roots of the yellow-leaved tree grasp the helm and enwrap it from above.

The fallen titan’s helm. // Source: Midjourney

“What is this place?” Vahid whispers with reverence.

“There are countless stories that say, which means no one truly knows. My old teacher only said that a great destiny lies decaying here, and what grows from the remains can awaken us to the workings of fate. Come.” She begins to stride with purpose towards the titan’s helm.

Vahid only hesitates for a moment before he follows her into the eye of the titan’s helm. Within is a chamber; Its walls are the tarnished bronze of the helm and the twisting white roots of the tree above. The floor is soft, damp earth, and the chamber is lit by dozens of mushrooms, bioluminescent with an eerie blue light and growing in a perfect circle beneath where the crown of the titan’s head would have sat. Katrin gingerly steps among the caps, draws a short, hooked bronze knife from her medicine bag, and prunes one from the circle. She gestures to the earthen floor. “Sit. Make whatever preparations you require for an ordeal of the spirit.”

Vahid marshals his courage and obeys, sitting cross-legged, placing the Azure Hand across his lap. He closes his eyes and breathes deeply, mediating as Katrin busies herself, mixing her harvest with things from her medicine bag. As Vahid’s third eye opens⁵, illuminating the room with shining white light, he perceives the anchoring presence of Katrin’s mind, quick and sharp. In the air all around them are tiny motes of thought-aura — memories and regrets, desires and inspirations — rising like spores from the luminous blue caps of the fungi encircling them. As Vahid’s attention alights on them, they shift and twist away, as though moving on currents of restless air.

He dimly hears Katrin shifting before him, and he opens his eyes. His mundane vision is rendered muted and grey by the opening of his third eye, but the strange concoction she offers him from a stone mortar glows in vivid azure. “It is mixed with goat’s milk and sweetened with honey — but even still, it will be bitter.”

He takes the mortar in his hands. “What should I expect?”

“If I tell you, it may elude you. Drink up the honey, Seeker, and ask no more questions.”

As he raises the mortar to his lips and drinks, his heart begins to race, and the taste of the brew is stomach-turningly bitter at first. Then, it takes on a strange, airy sweetness, an elusive flavor on the tongue that is long-remembered but indescribable.

He meets her eyes and asks, “How long must we wait for it to take effect?”

And then he is falling.

Scene 10: Elsewhere

At first, Vahid falls through cold, dark water, sinking faster and faster, as though dragged down by a great weight, and as the seconds seemingly stretch to minutes and hours, a need for breath claws at his throat, but then his descent slows. The water around him is illuminated, taking on the color of golden honey, and he feels as though he is rising towards the light. His lungs are on fire, and he shuts his eyes tightly, straining against the urge to give up and breathe in the water.

When he at last breaks the surface, he fills his lungs like a first breath, and he opens his eyes to find himself floating weightlessly in an endless mirror sea, its surface strewn with floating golden leaves. Far above him is the infinite canopy of a towering, tree of luminous gold, and below the canopy, countless leaves descend, twisting slowly downwards in the still, quiet air. Above the surface, in the distance, Vahid can see its white trunk rising up into the sky, branching countless times till it dominates the horizon, and beneath the surface of the pool, the massive roots can be seen twisting down for untold miles into the darkness.

In the silence, he hears Katrin’s airy voice whisper to him, each syllable sending ripples through the water’s surface. “Do you see it?”

Vahid whispers in response, awed to near-silence. “I see it.”

“It is the fate-tree. The fallen titan dreams of great heroes and tyrants, and from those dreams, the tree grows. It is rooted in their many pasts, and its leaves are their ungiven future, out of reach in the boughs above.” Her voice grows urgent. “Approach the tree, Seeker, and find a dream of the hdour — If you and he are truly bound to one another, the visions will be drawn to you, as you were drawn to this place with me.”

Scene Breakdown

No core moves are triggered here. The objective of this scene — and this episode overall — is to empower Vahid, allowing him to embrace his status as a wielder of powerful magics, and to allow him to learn about his rival, the hdour, in a mystical, arcane way, and to that end, we’re going to use a custom move developed specifically to cover Vahid’s communing with the fate tree. Here’s the move text I whipped up:

When you consume what grows from the remains of a dead god and see the fate-tree, roll and don’t add anything. On a hit, choose 1. On a 10+, choose 2. On a miss, choose one anyway, but what you see will look back at you:

1. Dive down among the roots of the fate-tree and receive a vision of the past. Learn what set the hdour on his path.

2. Float in the present moment at the trunk of the fate-tree, and receive a vision of another place. Learn of the hdour’s current plans, what he might do next.

3. Rise into the boughs of the fate-tree, and receive a vision of the ungiven future. Learn what the hdour’s ambitions look like if they are realized.

We’ll conclude the episode here. This choice will be the basis of this week’s reader poll — I’ll roll the bones when I start writing next week’s episode, and we’ll envision the top pick (if we miss or get a weak hit) or the top two (if we get a strong hit). This will be a pick-two poll, just to get a clearer read on the true top-two choices.

As always, mash the button below to make your choice, hold forth in the comments about what you picked and why, and thanks so much for reading!

1. This is the minor arcana that allows Vahid to enter into a trance and perceive the auras of conscious minds. We haven’t used this power in some time — back in Session 3.4.

2. This is from their brief encounter in Session 6.2.

3. Obviously, this is the name of Vahid’s playbook, but don’t worry, I don’t plan to engineer dialogue where each character says their playbook name.

4. As a quick aside — Padrig used Defy Danger with Charisma here to smooth things over with the nomads. He scored a strong hit, so he was able to calm nerves and convey Katrin’s plan to Juba without causing an incident. Given there were no consequences, I didn’t bother narrating it in detail, but we may reference it in a future episode.

5. This is Vahid activating his minor arcana, the Eye, Opened. You can see the reference here. The detail about the mushroom spore is in response to the question, “what conscious minds are present?” — this whole place has a weird consciousness of its own.