I.

Hate.

Preparing.

For.

Games.

I tend to prioritize game books with bullet points, neat layout, quick summaries, and evocative touchstones. I don’t want to read and memorize 50 pages every week. All I need is a few good ideas and I’ll fill in the rest with my classic style of imaginative bullsh*t.

But there have been a few times when I, too, enjoyed that solitary creativity of taking notes, drawing maps, and making plans (that I know will be ruined by my players). It’s time to come clean and share the games I’ve actually, truly, deeply enjoyed prepping for!

Mythic Bastionland

There’s been a lot of buzz about Mythic Bastionland on my social media. I loved Into the Odd because it came with a killer dungeon, but Electric Bastionland disappointed me by being more of a toolbox than a bespoke adventure. So I was fully prepared to skip this newest entry.

And then I played a fantastic campaign of broken knights and ancient evil. And then one of my favorite poets, Malcolm Guite, started teasing his newest book about Aurthurian Legends. And then I found a battered copy of Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy at a local thrift shop. So I guess we’re doing knights now.

Look at this beautiful art of the various knights you can play as!

There’s a simple two-page spread of rules for creating a realm. You grab a blank hex-map, plop down a few myths, place some major holdings, scatter some sanctums, and finally sprinkle some hazards on top. Then you populate them with leaders, knights, mad seers, monsters, and weird folks. Lastly, enscribe a name atop the map and hand it to your players. Voila! The process was really simple, but more surprisingly it was really fun! I spent 4-5 hours building out my realm and enjoyed every second. These generators by loner were a huge help!

Huge credit to Chris McDowell for getting me to enjoy prep for the first time in actual years of running games. If you already like worldbuilding, then this game will consume your brain and output a beautiful, gameable hex-map.

Index Card RPG

As I was telling my friend Jeff about Mythic Bastionland he prompted the idea for this blog post: “What other games are easy to homebrew? I love creating my own worlds and stories.” After some introspection I brought him a pile of books to check out. After looking through them all, he reached for Index Card RPG.

I woke up the next morning to this text from him:

Okay, so I may have woken up at 5am and started looking at ICRPG. I gotta go to the card shop tomorrow and get some sleeves. Im also out of index cards haha! Looks like a target run as well.

Poor guy was HOOKED, and I don’t blame him! ICRPG has this rough, middle-school marker art style that encourages you to draw (even if you don’t think you can). Here’s some of the art from the book:

And here is some of the art that Jeff drew while prepping for his game:

This video explains the Index Card Method better than I could. All the other advice facilitates this index-card based approach to theater of the mind. Abandon minis and terrain and AI-art. Instead just grab a bunch of cards and markers and jump into an adventure!

More importantly than the art is the fantastic advice scattered throughout this MASSIVE book. Advice for creating one-shots, campaigns, monsters, maps, encounters, NPCs, magic items, and more. It all has a lab-tested feel to it; as if the person writing it has been a GM for decades and has mastered the art of prepping…which is true!

Even though it’s been a few years since I played it, I still use a lot of the advice and principles in every game I run. If you want to skip the boring parts of prep and really dig into the fun stuff, then ICRPG will help you focus your energy. And you might just find yourself reaching for those forgotten markers in the junk drawer.

Valley of Flowers

I ran a 6-month campaign of this fantastic setting, so obviously I had a great time! This is an observation that I stole from the wildly entertaining podcast Between Two Cairns (04/11/2024).

I want to read this again because I feel like I’ll get more out of it. It does the rare thing of making you want to read it like a novel and then run it like a game.

This one stands out because it was such an engaging reading experience. I remember staying up late to finish certain sections. And ended up taking notes just so I could enjoy tracking connections between all the elements.

This is DENSE! Each NPC is tied to another NPC, or a location, or a scenario, or an important piece of worldbuilding. Even minor elements end up being tied together by the end of the book.My players were effortless guided around the entire region, each random encounter leading to the next. It was beautiful.

In fact I would warn anyone who wants to run this that they should plan to read through it twice. And plan on taking notes for their second read-through. Does taking meticulous notes on something count as prep? Especially considering I improvised and added very little from my own brain? I dunno. But I enjoyed this book before any dice hit the table.

My Hypocritical Conclusion

“Sometimes a hypocrite is nothing more than a man in the process of changing.” - Oathbringer

And sometimes I’m just a big hypocrite. If we take a peek at the DOWNLOADS section of this very website you’ll see a bunch of game prep that I took the time to cleanup and share with the world. I’m always surprised when I look back at this stuff. In my brain I tell myself “I don’t like prep” but here’s evidence to the contrary!

I spent so much time aligning and printing coasters for Barkeep on the Borderlands. Hours meticulously guessing at stats for Hot Springs Island. Days (at least two!) trying to get the Wildsea Map to look how I wanted. And I know I tested a friendship while playtesting some of the UVG pets I created (they really didn’t want their Flabby Jelly to float away!)

I’ve always known that prep is worth it. That my investment of time and energy will pay off as soon as my friends arrive and the dice start rolling. But only recently have I started to crave that solitary creativity. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t published anything in a year. Or maybe it’s just because my brain is changing (“growing” seems like a stretch).

But one day I hope to convince myself that I actually DO enjoy preparing for games. And I’m so grateful to all the fellow GMs and creators who inspire me. What are some of your favorite games to prep for? Leave it in the comments!

Just kidding, there are no comments. Languish in isolation! Or reach out on social media or whatever. I’m going to try and post here more regularly, and hope to be working on something exciting soon…

The Short Version

1. The book is beautiful and fun to read.
2. The game does not seem fun to play.
3. The book and game are both limited by a fear of Tolkien.

Overall I recommend it for reading and enjoyment, but I do not recommend playing the One Ring TTRPG. Read on if you want to hear these thoughts expanded in far too much detail.

An Unexpected Journey

The past few months have been difficult ones for me. Work is stressful, some personal issues have drained my energy, and the online flood of misery makes me want to disappear to another world…like, say, Middle Earth. And thus began an epic journey of research and immersion I’ve never before experienced.

I grew up loving the movies, like everyone. And I have tried to read the books a few times, but found them slow and dull compared to the modern fantasy I usually read. But a few months back I found “The World of Tolkien” at a steep discount. I picked it up, and was determined to immerse myself into Tolkien’s world. I suspected there was joy and inspiration to be had, if I just dug deep enough.

The Tale of Months

When life is difficult, a massive and complex fictional world becomes much easier to engage with. Here’s a brief timeline of my descent into The Lord of the Rings:

• October 2024: I purchased “The World of Tolkien” collection. I read most of it; enjoying the peek into Tolkien’s inspirations and deeper world building…but I can tell it only scrathes the surface.
• November 2024: I finished reading “Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring” on kindle. So far so good.
• December 2024: I picked up the audiobooks read by Andy Serkis and quickly finished “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King”.
• February 2025: Some friends of mine decided they also want to read LOTR (some for the first time, some for the 21st time). We formed a little bookclub and I started my second re-read.
• March 2025: I snagged a used copy of the LOTR hardcover books illustrated by Allen Lee. They are a joy to read through, and I ditched the audiobooks and kindle completely.
• April 2025: A used copy of “Unfinished Tales” showed up in the mail, and I got a glimpse of Tolkien’s other stories and poems. They are a great little distraction.
• May 2025: I completed my Tolkien hardcover collection with a few more books. These were not written by Tolkien directly, but were compiled by others and assembled from unfinished bits and pieces:
  • “The Reader’s Companion”, a collection of definitions, trivia, and footnotes. It’s made my second reading so fun and engaging.
  • “The Silmarillion”, the famously complex ancient stories of Middle Earth.
  • “The Children of Hurin”, an expanded version of a story from the Silmarillion.
  • “Unfinished Tales”, a collection of stories set in Middle Earth.
• June 2025: My friend lent me their copy of “The One Ring TTRPG”, and I began compiling this review.

Until this year I thought that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were the only things of note that Tolkien ever wrote. I was amazed and delighted to discover all of these other books and stories; unfinished though they were. It’s incredible to see how much care and attention people have paid to collecting and completing Tolkien’s work. I even have a book of 500+ letters that he wrote throughout his lifetime!

“Surely for these books to inspire so much effort they must be filled with wonders”, I thought to myself. And for the most part I’ve found that to be true. Right now the greatest value these books bring is escapism. I really feel like an explorer researching some alternate dimension, discovering little treasures and clues on every page. Some parts are boring or cliche, but it’s so dense and detailed that I’m enjoying my delve.

A Warm Welcome

Naturally I was excited to read the One Ring TTRPG. Most role-playing games already feel like doing research on fictional worlds, and Middle Earth is already one of the most detailed stories to ever exist. Seems like a great fit for the numerous bits of lore and information that an RPG requires.

Additionally since basically ALL fantasy stories are inspired by the Lord of the Rings to some degree or another, I was curious how an official LOTR game would make itself stand out amidst a sea of imitators.

Things started off well. The One Ring is a stunningly beautiful book. It’s something that we as TTRPG fans have been spoiled by; beautiful books overflow our shelves. But even among them The One Ring stands out. In particular it feels at home alongside the other deluxe Tolkien hardcover books. In particular I like how the red text matches the red print from the hardcovers.

Very easy to read, well-organized, and absolutely packed with evocative art. Just holding the book was a joy; some books just FEEL good. This is one of them. I enjoyed (almost) every page and even enjoyed re-reading it for this review. But I’ll never play the game itself.

The Review Goes South

I had originally planned to play the game. I found a few people who were interested, and I started making reference sheets and notes for our first session. But after a week or two of prep…I was just dreading playing this thing. It is possible that when the game hits the table all of the rules combine to provide a seamless and engaging experience…but I highly doubt it.

The whole game just feels overly complex and fiddly. A few examples that contributed to my dread:

• The most common roll is 1d12 + a number of d6s (depending on skills and bonuses). The goal is to beat a target number. So if the target is 20, what are the chances that 1d12+3d6 will succeed? Oh, and if the d12 rolls a 12, you succeed automatically and fail on a 1, regardless of other dice. It just feels hard to estimate chances and make informed decisions.
• Each round of combat players choose which stance their character is using: Forward (deal more damage and take more damage), Open, and Defensive (deal less damage and take less damage)…oh and Rearward for ranged weapons. Each stance additionally allows for different combat actions and limitations, and some character skills modify different stances. It just feels like more complexity to an already slow and boring part of the game.
• Some treasure hoards are tainted, and if players loot them they suffer Shadow points from greed. But…why? Is this really a fun decision to make? The rest of the game is about getting stronger and upgrading equipment. And then you punish players for wanting those things?
• Some of the skills seem too niche and lackluster; like they were added just to fill out the character sheet:
• AWARENESS, SCAN, and INSIGHT are very similar skills
• COURTESY and SONG could just be cultural knowledge
• TRAVEL and EXPLORE also seem very similar
• RIDDLE is used for obscuring the truth or figuring out puzzles. I actually love this one, and wish the other skills were as evocative and fun as RIDDLE.

In isolation none of these are a deal-breaker. Every game has weird bits or strange details. But while reading the One Ring I never felt like I grasped the overall gameplay loop. I never understood the purpose of each piece as a part of the whole. I never found the fun.

However all of that might have been worth it if the adventure content of the book wasn’t so dreadfully limited.

Lord of the Tropes

This feels like a tangent, but bear with me.

I avoided reading the LOTR books (in part) because I assumed they would be cliche. Almost every work of fantasy has its roots in Tolkien’s work; so obviously his stories, while groundbreaking at the time, will feel stale and worn out to modern readers. Right?

I was delighted to discover that was not the case. Sure, in broad strokes you can describe the LOTR using cliches and tropes. But it was the little details that I found to be as fresh and exciting. Tolkien seemed to go out of his way to avoid certain tropes and add nuance to familiar themes:

• TROPE: Aragorn is the prophesied hero with the secret blood of royalty who will defeat the dark lord and rule the kingdom (and get the girl).
  DETAILS: Aragorn doesn’t defeat the dark lord and the only prophecy he fulfills is taking the Paths of the Dead.
• TROPE: Gandalf the wise wizard has a plan and guides everyone to victory.
  DETAILS: Gandalf regularly falters, makes mistakes, and nearly dooms the world. He has flaws like anyone.
• TROPE: After the dark lord is defeated, everyone lives happily ever after.
  DETAILS: The heroes return home to a ravaged town that they have to work to save. Frodo never truly recovers from his adventures. Evil still exists and there is a lot of work left to do.

When lesser skilled writers attempted to duplicate Tolkien’s success, they kept the broad strokes but were unable to come up with their own details. It is in these details that Tolkien’s work shines: his poems, clever turns of phrase, small character moments, and subversion of tropes.

My favorite example comes from the Swedish version of LOTR. When the books were translated into Swedish the translator made a bunch of unauthorized “improvements” to fit his idea of what the story should be. In one instance he re-wrote the battle against the Witch King so that Merry was the one who struck the final blow (since the idea that a woman defeated a powerful foe seemed like an error to him). The translator brought back an old trope that Tolkien went out of his way to avoid!

And it feels like the One Ring TTRPG makes this same mistake. Instead of adding unique details that would inspire players, they simply brought back the tropes we’ve all seen a million times before.

Scouring of the Book

My biggest criticism and overall disappointment is that there’s nothing new here. I don’t expect the writers to exceed Tolkien’s skill with worldbuilding or prose, but I do expect them to present something new and exciting for players (who presumably already enjoy Tolkien’s work).

Now the counter-argument is that Middle Earth is so intricate and detailed that there isn’t any space for new content! After all, you can’t invent a new country or culture. But that’s exactly what I was excited about. Despite Tolkien’s attention to detail, it’s a BIG world with a lot of things left unexplained.

Let’s use an example to demonstrate what I mean, something that should be a slam dunk: The Forsaken Inn.

In the Hobbit the dwarves mention camping in a long-abandoned building, but by the Lord of the Rings Aragorn calls it “The Forsaken Inn” (italicized like a location rather than just any old forgotten place). The implication being that at some point the Inn was revived and perhaps even in use. But Tolkien never mentioned it anywhere else, or expanded upon it’s history or function. What a fantastic place to drop some new lore or contribute to the world. The One Ring TTRPG gives us three paragraphs about the inn:

On the eastern edge of Bree-land there is a ramshackle wooden hovel that is easily mistaken by the casual observer for a forgotten and abandoned cabin, rotting by the road. It is only the steady stream of unsavory characters trickling in and out of the crooked front door that reveals it to be an inn – if only in the most broad sense of the word. Aptly called The Forsaken Inn, this establishment attracts patrons fitting its appearance and name. Criminals, desperate wanderers, and those who are best avoided seek refuge here, drinking the worst kind of swill, and sleeping on flea-infested mattresses set out beneath the leaky roof of the common room. Those who complain of a draft in the evening are given a lice-ridden blanket and charged and extra silver penny for the privilege. Even the ill-favored Rangers of the North do not often go here. The proprietor, who refuses to give his name even to paying customers is then called simply ‘Jack the Forsaken’ by most, has no concerns about who enters his establishment, as long as they have silver to spend. Unfortunately those with coins to pay had best sit with their backs to the wall, lest a patron make quick use of a dagger and relieve them of their wealth. (pg. 191/192 of the One Ring TTRPG)

So…why would anyone go here? Why would they pay for “the worst kind of swill” or “lice-ridden blankets”? What criminals are seeking refuge in such a crappy and miserable place? Why would the Rangers not visit a place filled with dangerous people?? That’s their whole thing! They’re the vigilante heroes of the West! This place is devoid of interesting hooks or engaging characters. And it barely makes sense as a location that people in this world would visit.

By contrast, the Lord of the Rings Online video game fleshes this place out considerably:

In this adaptation, the role of the inn is greatly expanded. It is the Lone-lands settlement closest to Bree-land and lies in the shadow of Weathertop. A respite for travelers, the Inn has a milestone, mail service, and many merchants, in addition to a great number of people in need of travellers’ assistance. These include the Inn’s proprietor, Anlaf, and his staff as well as travellers, guests, and some of the Eglain, meaning the Forsaken, that have recently been displaced from Minas Eriol. (Tolkien Gateway Wiki)

What a cool twist on the meaning of “Forsaken”! A place for refugees and travelers. Lots of people who need help from the players, or folks looking for escorts to return to the dangerous wilds near Minas Eriol (which was a new location added to the world of Middle Earth).

Here’s another example: Carn Dûm. It has a rich history as the previous stronghold of the Witch King of Angmar. Tolkien mentions in Appendix B that orcs have begun making a secret stronghold in Carn Dûm, some of whom traveled into the Mines of Moria (eventually chasing the fellowship to the Balrog). But Carn Dûm itself is a blank slate, ripe for ghosts, balrogs, dark wizards, or orc chieftains building power. This is what we get in the One Ring TTRPG:

Once the seat of power of the Witch-king of the North, this icy tower is hidden in the endless labyrinth of passes and tunnels that snake through the Mountains of Angmar. Even though the Witch-king himself has yet to return home, rumors of rekindled forges, gathering armies, and fell sorcery occuring in the dungeons of the broken tower are heard as far as Bree itself. Whether these rumors have any substance to them or not remains to be seen, but the growing threat of the Enemy’s forces and their increased presence in Eriador hints at there being a terrible truth behind these dark whispers.

“remains to be seen”?!? Why did I buy a book of ideas and inspiration when the writers refuse to provide any? This made me so mad. “Ooohooo, who can say if something cool might be here?” YOU! You can say, and help me run an adventure for my friends. Ugh. What a wasted opportunity.

Flotsam and Jetsam

The bestiary is another disappointment. Here’s all the creatures included in the One Ring TTRPG creature chapter:

Evil Men, Orcs, Trolls, Undead, Wolves…and that’s it. Now you might think “maybe there are some cool troll variations: stone trolls, ice trolls, forest trolls, mithril trolls, dragon trolls, etc.” Alas. We have two kinds: Cave-Trolls that hunt deep under the earth. They hunch a little and walk on all fours. “Nobody knows if Cave-Trolls can endure sunlight” OH GOSH I GUESS I DON’T KNOW EITHER! And we have Stone-Trolls who are a bit smarter and turn to stone in sunlight. No other cool details or fun abilities or anything.

Same with Undead: We have Barrow-wights, Fell Wraiths, and Marsh Dwellers. Orcs, Wolves, and “Evil Men” are even more cliche and boring. Heck, they include Werewolves, but this is the bland description:

Chosen for its ferocity and malicious intelligence, a Hound of Sauron is a minion of the Dark Lord, a servant sent on a precise errand, be it the gathering of forces for a coming war, the hunt for a specific individual, or spying on an area. Hidden by the shape of an ordinary Warg, a Hound of Sauron conceals much greater powers.

These greater powers are not mentioned or detailed. We just get a statblock and things like “This creature deals piercing blows to armor.” No shapeshifting, or cool abilities, magic spells, or anything. Just a big wolf.

Of course the argument could be made that these are all the creatures that Tolkien himself detailed. We can’t just be adding new creatures to an existing and cohesive world!

Except Tolkien describes all KINDS of awesome monsters and beings in his stories:

• Massive intelligent spiders that have a web (heh) of informants and influence.
• Twisted creatures like Gollum with strange motivations and uncanny intelligence.
• Oliphaunts and Giant Eagles (and presumably other massive creatures).
• Sentient trees that trap you inside and absorb your nutrients.
• FLYING DINOSAURS.
• Massive tentacled THINGS that live in deep water.*
• And so much more!

• After this review went live someone pointed out the “Nameless Things” section of the appendix. It’s a collection of some random tables to generate strange creatures. You can generate stuff like: “A large pig-fish that is a legend among hobbits. It can only be sated with water from a dewdrop flower.” While these are interesting, I don’t think they’re a real substitute for a robust bestiary. But I wanted to mention it in this note.

The Intro Adventure

Actually this review is long enough already. It’s a bad adventure.

Many Partings

I know I went into this book with high expectations, having just started my deep dive into Middle Earth. Tolkien is a hard act to follow, and I don’t envy the writers in their task. But I feel like it would have been a let-down even if it was my first roleplaying game and the first I’d ever heard of Middle Earth. I can only explain this blandness in one of three ways:

1. They’re saving all the cool stuff for the published adventures. Which could be true and would be very lame.
2. Everything magically works better at the table, but because I never played it I won’t really know.
3. A dedication to the source material that is borderline cowardly. Each page is filled with direct quotes, examples from the books, and lore from Tolkien’s writings. However the game refuses to expand any further. It is determined to help you tell stories just like LOTR, and no other kinds of stories.

The end result is shockingly dull and disappointing. Tolkien found a way to engage with classic tropes, fleshing them out with unexpected and beautifully written details. The book is too afraid to add any more details of its own, and hides behind an already well-crafted world.

• The Crew
• The Beginning
• DAY 1
• DAY 2
• DAY 3
• DAY 4

The Crew

All equal members and owners of the ship “Pilosa”. It features 6 flexible limbs that can crawl along the treetops.

• Alya - She/Her - Itzenko Windward Horizoneer
• Mothball - They/Them - Mothryn Shipborn Augur
• Otzetzuk - They/Them - Tzelicrae Submerged Wordbearer
• Reaper - It/Its - Ironbound Ridgeback Hacker
• Shade - She/Her - Ardent Spitborn Wordbearer
• Sprek - She/Her - Ektus Rootless Horizoneer

The Beginning

• Potential quests or important clues have a “♠” in front of them.
• The player-characters are collectively known as “The Crew”.
• No concern is given for how the player groups shift and change. For all intents and purposes, assume that players pop in and out of existence week to week.

DAY 1

Alya, Mothball, Reaper, Sprek, Shade

MORNING. The Crew is en route to Three Masks, a tiny trading spit. They have a cargo of fantastical (and fictional) maps to deliver. Only a few hours from the safety of the port, The Crew is attacked by 3 pinwolves!

• Mothball jumps into a pilot seat and tries to manuever the ship and lose them in the treetops. But that only inspires the pinwolves to hunt more ferociously.
• Alya uses the Amber Eye of the ship to identify where the pinwolves are, and shares that information with her crewmates.
• Mothball does manage to snag a pinwolf with one of the ships legs, but now the ship (and the pinwolf) are tangled up in some branches; dead in the water.
• Sprek dives off the side, grabbing one of the pinwolves, and tackles it down to a large branch.
• Shade fires a chemical flare and distracts the third pinwolf, preventing it from leaping down to the deck of the ship.
• Alya runs along one of the legs of the ships to cut it (and the pinwolf) loose while Sprek kicks his pinwolf off the branch into the depths below.
• The final pinwolf realizes its friends are defeated, and it slinks away.

Minimal damage sustained, but the tiny holes in the ship are a memento of this battle.

AFTERNOON. The Crew arrives at Three Masks only to be interrogated by the dockmaster, Mahkis. He insists on searching their ship for evidence related to the One-Armed Scissor. The Scissor is a library ship that was supposed to arrive a month ago; and no word has been heard about it.

Of course the search is clean, and Mahkis apologizes with the promise of drinks at Polaski’s bar. The Crew heads to the Overlook House to negotiate the sale of their cargo. Old-Spar Lizbeth agrees to buy it and rewards The Crew with charts and a ship upgrade.

Polaski’s is not only a bar, but also a small local library. The patrons are disappointed that The Crew have no news about the One-Armed Scissor. Mahkis buys everyone a round, and explains the situation a little more. As Mahkis leaves to return to work, a Tzelicrae named Carshaw bursts through the door, eager for any news. The Crew console him, and learn he’s looking for his sister who was serving on the Scissor.

EVENING. The Crew split up to enjoy their evening in the safety of Three Masks.

• Sprek and Shade tour the splineapple farms, and get enough materials to start their own little growing patch on the ship.
• Mothball reads some books in the bar, learning a little about the Scissor and a LOT about how to cook splineapples.
• Reaper works a shift at the docks, helping repair another ship. He earns some scars and supplies for his efforts.
• Alya visits Carshaw and asks more about his sister and the Scissor. She agrees to let Carshaw join them when they leave Three Masks. “Better to be out there searching than sitting here waiting” he says nervously. “I think…”

The Crew return to the Pilosa and bed down for the evening. Tomorrow will certainly bring adventure, risk, and reward in equal measure.

DAY 2

Mothball, Otzetzuk, Sprek

MORNING. Carshaw walks up the docks towards the Pilosa. Otzetzuk is packing boxes to prepare for the journey, and welcomes him aboard. Carshaw is nervous, but determined, and having another Tzelicrae helps him feel better. The crew sets sail to track the last known position of the One-Armed Scissor.

AFTERNOON. As the fog rolls in, Mothball spots something glinting off in the distance. The Pilosa slows to examine it. Someone has strung a bunch of rusty chains across the treetops as a kind of snare for ships. Mothball lowers the ship to hide from any nearby vessels while Otzetzuk and Sprek prepare to wavewalk. The chains are rigged with bells and alarms, but Otzetzuk manages to clear a path to a sleeping watchman so Sprek can put them in a chokehold. A short interrogation later, they learn that the Jackalbone Raiders laid this trap. The raider gives them a map of other traps in the area and a minor lead on the One Armed Scissor. Surprisingly, Otzetzuk gifts the raider with some mail addressed to the Jackalbones. “We have no quarrel with raiders; consider this a fair trade.” Otzetzuk and Sprek return without harming the raider, and Mothball quickly scoops them back onto the ship before any other Jackalbones see them.

EVENING. The setting sun makes a distant fire burn ever more brightly. Sprek sees it, and fearing the worst urges Otzetzuk to pilot at dangerous speeds towards the flame. They arrive to find a small spit of farmland with a brightly burning barn atop it. The Gau family that runs the farm is trying and failing to douse the flames. The Crew takes command, digging a trench to prevent the fire from spreading any further. After rescuing what they can, The Crew and the farmers just sit and watch the rest of it burn. It’s a quiet, haunting moment. The family Matriarch, Reco, thanks the crew and offers them some supplies as well as a trained crow lookout for the ship. The Crew stays docked at the farm, and settles into an exhausted sleep.

DAY 3

Mothball, Otzetzuk, Sprek

MORNING. They awaken and help the Gau family clean up whatever remains of their burnt barn. The family matriarch, Reco, feeds them breakfast and gives them a few pointers about their new crow lookout. One of the Gau children comes running back excitedly talking about a metal stump they found on the edge of the spit. The Crew goes to investigate. After a short walk with the excited Gau-ling they find a large metal canister embedded in the ground; a warhead or a package? Hard to tell. With some caution Mothball opens a sealed compartment filled with medical supplies. They are Ardent focused and strangely sterile. Most medical supplies on the Wildsea are scrapped together; clean but messy: fogged glass poultice jars, oft-repaired bandages, herbal bundles, etc. The medical supplies from this canister are brand new; sealed in plastic and covered in strange writing.

AFTERNOON. The Crew takes the supplies back to Reco. Reco offers takes whatever supplies would be useful for Gau, and gives the rest to The Crew. The Crew also asks for help digging up the “metal stump” (Reaper might be interested in it). The Gau family helps them dig it up and transport it to the Pilosa.

EVENING. The Crew is eager to get underway. They continue searching for the One-Armed Scissor and wave goodbye to the Gau farm. Otzetzuk is on watch, and smells the strong scent of splineapples mixed with something else. Tempted to investigate, they instead decide to continue forward.

DAY 4

Mothball, Otzetzuk, Sprek

MORNING. Another few hours of sailing, and dawn breaks on a disturbing sight. A large ship is listing to the side, half submerged and tangled in the branches of the Wildsea. This is the One-Armed Scissor, bleeding ink and leaking pages. Torn pages hang from the galley walls, the deck is littered with a broken alchemical preservative vats, bent lifting equipment, and a strange black goo puddles in the corners.

• Sprek is the first to touch down; eager for a fight. She heads down to the engine room to see why the ship is disabled.
• Carshaw wants to find their sister, but is nervous to explore the wreck.
• Mothball and Otzetzuk agree to explore the crew quarters first, to find Carshaw’s sister.

Mothball and Otzetzuk carefully navigate the tilted shipwreck. Signs of an unexpected battle are everywhere. Spilled cups, scrapes on the deck, patches of blood, and that strange black goo is everywhere. Soon they reach the crew quarters and find one door closed. Otzetzuk carefully opens the door while Mothball keeps a lookout. Inside is a small Tzelicrae lady; afraid and wide-eyed. “Quiet!” Techevez hisses, “the monster is still here. Still here. Still. Be still.”

At the same time Sprek is exploring the lower decks. The ships galley and engine room are one and the same (nothing like a massive chemical furnace for roasting vegetables). He hears something squelching in the cargo hold, and carefully approaches the noise. Inside is a massive creature chewing on the books. It secretes a gross black ooze that smells of rotten ink. Sprek raises his instrument and prepares to strike.

Soon Mothball and Otzetzuk (and everyone else within a quarter mile) hears the sounds of a fight coming from the belly of the ship. Sprek battles it into the stairwell just in time for Otzetzuk to arrive. They shout their Whisper, “Forgotten Embers”, and ignite the black goo under the creature. The creature knocks Otzetzuk into a closet and slides up the stairs attempting to escape the flames.

Mothball runs to the upper deck and tries to lure the creature near an alchemical vat. It’s a close call, but they jump aside just as the creature lumbers into the vat. With a quick SNAP-HISS the vat slams shut, trapping the creature inside.

Otzetzuk and Sprek douse the flames before they spread too far and Mothball ensures the vat is sealed tight. The creature slithers wildly inside its clear prison. It’s trapped…for now.

Shade, Reaper, Otzetzuk, Sprek

AFTERNOON. While the creature is trapped The Crew works hard to right the One-Armed Scissor. Reaper begins to throw mooring lines over the vat, securing the creature further. Otzetzuk heads to the bridge and takes the controls while Sprek goes down to chop some of the trees trapping the Scissor. Shade uses some of the Pilosa’s arms to assist. Soon the ship is righted, the vat is secure, and the situation has been defused.

GM’s Note: I had originally planned to have the creature break free and lead them back to the library. But they rolled so well and planned for every contigency! So we just decided the creature will stay trapped, perhaps to be recovered or studied later.

Otzetzuk and Carshaw go to retrieve Techevez from the crew quarters while Sprek and Reaper explore the rest of the ship. After some investigating the full story becomes clear:

The One Armed Scissor was sailing along it’s normal trade route when it came upon a trail of scattered pages and books. After following the trail, they discovered a massive hanging library! A few days before there was a rootquake (the term for when a massive tree topples over, creating a huge chasm in the Wildsea). This revealed the previously hidden library tangled up in the branches. The crew of the Scissor immediately began exploring the Library, filled their hold with forgotten texts, and headed for Three Masks…unaware that a horrible creature had hidden inside one of the crates. Along the way the creature broke free, attacked and killed most of the crew, and ended up stranding the scissor well of its normal route.

While Carshaw is desperate to return home to Three Masks, Techevez wants to return to the Library. “We must rescue those books before some maurader or lightning spark destroys it! That knowledge is priceless, and worth any risk. Especially now that the creature is dead.”

I can recommend JetPens as a fantastic store with excellent guides and reviews. (And a fun Youtube Channel)

Letter Writing ($50)

• $30 - Lamy Safari
• $7 - Diamine Ink
• $12 - Clairefontaine Pad

Journalling & Drawing ($50)

• $10 - TWO Platinum Preppy
• $14 - TWO Diamine Ink
• $10 - Water Brush Pen
• $15 Midori Dot Grid notebook

• The Players
• Ten Thorn Tavern (Fame: x4)
• The Beginning
• DAY 1
• DAY 2
• DAY 3
• DAY 4
• DAY 5
• DAY 6
• DAY 7
• DAY 14
• DAY 15
• DAY 16
• DAY 17
• DAY 18
• Lyra’s Tomb
• DAY 19
• DAY 20
• DAY 21
• DAY 22
• DAY 23
• DAY 23
• DAY 24
• DAY 25
• DAY 26
• EPILOGUE
  • Eamon
  • Silcy
  • MayFae
  • Reefer
  • Red
  • Madrigal, Gerrick, Theo, and Sandon

The Players

• Eamon - He/Him - Cutpurse
• Gerrick - He/Him - Beast Handler
• Jory - He/Him - Outrider
• Madrigal - He/Him - Fungal Forager
• MayFae - She/Her - Foundling
• Red - He/Him - Greenwise
• Reefer - He/Him - Bone Keeper
• Sandon - He/Him - Scrivener (Status: Captured)
• Silcy - He/Him - Jonglier
• Theo - He/Him - Barber-Surgeon
• Willow - He/Him - Greenwise (Status: KIA)

Ten Thorn Tavern (Fame: x4)

The players own an old tavern together. They’ve invested time and money to upgrade its features, and are growing in fame and fortune (however slowly). It also acts as a secret base for the Riverkeeper League.

The Beginning

• NPCs have their factions and loyalty in bracket. Ex. “Elzia Tevayn {Riverkeepers}”
• Potential quests or important clues have a “♠” in front of them.
• The player-characters are collectively known as “The Players”.
• No concern is given for how the player groups shift and change. For all intents and purposes, assume that players pop in and out of existence week to week.

Eamon, Reefer, Sandon, Jory

The Players arrive at Ten Thorn Tavern in Verinwine Vale. Elzia Tevayn {Riverkeepers} is eager for someone else to take over so she can return to tending the various shrines of the valley. She gives The Players some useful information about the valley (history, factions, etc). Thirsty Benyam {whoever last gave him alcohol} helps clean up and get The Players settled in to their new home. ♠ Benyam mentions that the best wine (Deepshine Umbral) comes from Sunbelow Abbey, but no one has heard from them for weeks.

DAY 1

Eamon, Reefer, Sandon

MORNING. The Players set out for a nearby orchard that might sell them drinks and wine. The hear a loud buzzing in the distance, and encounter large wasps attacking a family of farmers. “NO EATING DURING THE DAY” they say, even as they are defeated. The farmers thank The Players, and promise to spread word of Ten Thorn Tavern (gain x2 Fame).

AFTERNOON. Arrive at Alleheim Orchard. ♠ The workers flee when anyone gets too close. The owner, Velmare {Ignoble Court} is arguing with a woman named Miriam {Ignoble Court Accused}. She is going to be tried by the Ignoble Court, and Velmare will not help her. ♠ The Ignoble Court meets regularly during bright moonlit nights. Velmare asks The Players not get involved, and to also not bother his workers. He agrees to sell drinks and fruit to the Ten Thorn Tavern.

NIGHT. Approach Fort Flumenel. Knights of the Golden Promise are having a big party, most are drunk, some bags of gold lay out on the tables. Marcel {Golden Promise Leader}, demands payment and leads them to the stables to sleep. Eamon tries to sneak out and steal some gold, but is caught by Marcel. Marcel is killed, Sandon is captured, Eamon and Reefer flee on stolen, lesbian horses.

DAY 2

Eamon, Reefer, Gerrick, Red, Madrigal

MORNING. The Players lick their wounds. ♠ Elzia tells them about the Riverkeeper League, a group of rebels who might help assault Fort Flumenel and rescue Sandon. ♠ The Gundlach family are Silver Nobles who secretly fund the Riverkeeper League.

AFTERNOON. On the way to see the Gundlachs, they encounter a merchant caravan being attacked by Verinwine Serpents. The caravan guards struggle, and The Players jump in to help. In exchange for the help, the caravan agrees to trade with Ten Thorn Tavern and give The Players a ride to the Gundlach’s Castle Brobdin.

NIGHT. While riding in the caravan, Gerrick hears someone crying out for help in the woods. Gerrick, Madrigal, and Eamon jump out to help. Unfortunately, it’s a trap, and all three of them are shaken down for gold and equipment.

Reefer and Red continue riding with the Caravan and stop at The Champion and Blackguard Inn. This inn is magically protected by a seal of peace, and no violence can happen within. Alyotta Truttle {Goldthistle Gang Leader} and Knights of the Golden Promise are negotiating a treaty. ♠ The Goldthistle Gang has some influence in Cimbrine City, and is looking for magical artifacts and power.

Gerrick, Madrigal, and Eamon catch up to Reefer and Red at the inn. Together they ally themselves with the Goldthistle gang and come to an agreement with the Knights of the Golden Promise. The Players also make a deal:

In exchange for the release of Sandon, the owners of Ten Thorn Tavern agree to cast out the ghosts that haunt Fort Flumenel. They have until the end of the month (Day 30) to accomplish this, after which Sandon will be executed. ♠ The ghosts that haunt Fort Flumenel are most active on the nights the Ignoble Court is meeting.

The Players secretly decides they may still want to work with the Riverkeepers and assault the Fort. This agreement with the Knights was a handshake, no binding oaths were exchanged.

DAY 3

Eamon, Willow, Gerrick

MORNING. The Players leave the Champion and Blackguard (waiting for the Knights to leave first to avoid an ambush). They come across Willow who is looking for travelling partners. An hour or two later they see Gluster Fumm {Aspiring Hero} asking for help along the roadside. Gluster fires his arrow at something in the sky, and wants their help finding it. But first he plans to tie his heroic ribbon to the Festschrift Tree.

AFTERNOON. The Players arrive at the Festschrift Tree, but the keeper, Alastor {Garden Neutrality} will not let Gluster tie a ribbon until he actually accomplishes something heroic. Willow swears an Oath of Garden Neutrality, and Alastor accepts it. ♠ Alastor gives Willow a letter for Grymothy {Wizard}. The Players nap in the safety of Alastor’s grove.

• ♠ Eamon dreams of a man shackled to a tall tower.
• ♠ Gerrick dreams of a knight crying golden tears.

DAY 4

Eamon, Willow, Gerrick

MORNING & AFTERNOON. The party sets off in search of Gluster’s arrow, and eventually find a large crater that glows. Gluster is afraid to enter, and decides to “keep watch” up top while The Players descend. They explore an upside-down house; everything has reverse gravity except for the party members. Some notable events:

• The Players discovers a cold blue fire that freezes instead of burns.
• They ally themselves with tiny “Glow Dough Soldiers” and help rid the house of Star Spiders.
• Eamon breaks a mirror that showed a silvered noblewoman.
• Gerrick acquires magical gloves, one that is heatproof and one that is coldproof.
• Willow touches a Deathwish, and is forced to attack the party.
• In a room of 4 mirrors, the Wizard Grymothy is trapped (a different part in each mirror).
• Grymothy scolds Gluster, and demands he stand up and take charge.
• A big battle ensues, and only Eamon remains unscathed. The rest are injured, but still succeed in defeating the Star Spiders and closing the portal.
• ♠ Grymothy reveals his plan: He summoned a falling star and planned to use it to grant everyone in a valley a single wish. Only “good” wishes would be granted. The Players did not like this plan, and refused to help Grymothy any further. Grymothy still rewarded them with money and valuables, but was disappointed they wouldn’t help him escape the mirror or experiment on the fallen star.

NIGHT. The party and Gluster return to the Festschrift Tree and all tie on their ribbons.

DAY 5

Willow, Theo, Madrigal

MORNING. Alastor gifts forest leaf cloaks to Willow and Madrigal. Gluster declares himself a Great Hero™ and parts ways. The Players head to Brobdin Castle to meet with the Gundlachs. Along the way they meet Theo tending to Chay Logia {Aethur Knight}. They help Theo, who joins their group. ♠ Chay tells them of Aubin’s Tomb, a storehouse of valuable relics.

AFTERNOON. The Players decide to camp for the night and recover from a very busy few days.

DAY 6

Willow, Theo, Madrigal

MORNING. The Players head to Aubin’s Tomb, and discover it is indeed filled with lots of gold and magical artifacts. They each take from the tomb, leaving a piece of equipment behind in exchange. They are suspicious of such an easy treasure haul.

AFTERNOON. Arrival at Brobdin Castle. It is large and lively: tall walls, 3-4 stories, lots of guards patrolling, lights dance in the windows, etc. A young girl introduces herself as the Gundlach Firetender, and says that the Gundlachs will see them in the morning. ♠ Only family and trusted allies may enter Brobdin Castle.

DAY 7

Willow, Theo, Madrigal

MORNING. The Players awaken to find that all the loot they took from Aubin’s Tomb has disappeared. As promised, two members of the Gundlachs meet the party outside. Effie Gundlach wears many rings and is friendly. Hovrador Gundlach is tall, handsome, and desperate for a fight. ♠ They agree to fund a Riverkeeper assault on Fort Flumenel and offer to sponsor Ten Thorn Tavern as a secret Riverkeeper base (gain x3 Fame). They plan to assult Fort Flumenel at the end of the month (Day 30), and demand that no survivors remain. The Firetender will travel back with The Players to Ten Thorn Tavern to begin setting up the Riverkeeper base.

The Players take a week of rest to heal up and prepare for the upcoming assault. The Tavern is upgraded and the Riverkeeper base is established.

DAY 14

MayFae, Theo, Willow

MORNING. The Players decide to recruit more allies for the assult, and sets out to investigate rumors of a wandering tower filled with powerful soldiers. Something large and tower-like crashed through Alleheim Orchard recently.

AFTERNOON. At the orchard, Velmare is upset about the damage the tower caused. He serves them warm cider (how he likes it) and apologizes for the late shipment of fruit and drinks. ♠ Mayfae notices strange writings along inside of the house; it looks different to each person.

NIGHT. The Players leave the orchard and follow the large tracks of the Wandering Tower. Along the way the encounter a duel between Flower Knights riding bumblesteeds. The knights invite them to join, but The Players stay out of it. Later that night they catch up to the Wandering Tower and meet Agnos {Stone Servant Leader}. ♠ The Tower and its followers wander in search of Saint Selos, who disappeared long ago; their vows of silence help them hear the Tower. Theo uses his regrowth potion to heal one of the tower knights, and is gifted a small black candle that will summon the tower. Eamon wants to see inside the tower, but must take the vow of silence to enter. ♠ Agnos mentions that they are interested in secrets of the Silver Nobles. MayFae convinces the group to sleep outside the tower, and ride it into the night.

DAY 15

MayFae, Madrigal, Willow, Eamon

Sleeping near the tower grants visions and dreams:

• ♠ Eamon again dreams of Saint Selos, trapped in a tower.
• ♠ Madrigal dreams of a large leafy giant crying pink tears.
• ♠ MayFae dreams of a bell being forged near a lake.
• ♠ Willow is visited by Alastor, who reminds him of the Oath he made.

MORNING. The Players leave the Tower, Eamon ignoring Agnos plea to join their ranks. Mayfae keeps hold of a small piece of the tower walls with that strange writing. Together they head up the path towards a crumbling building deeper in the mountains.

AFTERNOON. They approach the front doors of Nevruné Hall, noticing that the entire place is divided down the middle, with the left side covered in dark purple flowers, and the right side blooming bright red roses. Past the doors is a large courtyard where a platoon of Flower Knights are engaging in a formal battle, moving like pieces on a chess board. The two noble sisters watch on, hoping to defeat the other. ♠ Lady Gemna {Bright Red Knights} and Lady Scarlova {Dark Purple Knights} have an ongoing feud that divides their family. Madrigal sits on the purple side, MayFae sits on the red side, while Eamon and Willow watch from a neutral place. After the battle ends, Madrigal spars with the knights, earning their respect. Willow and MayFae talk to some of the spectators: Meldrim {Silver Noble} and Haurice DeBecque {Conclave Priest}. MayFae ingratiates herself with Lady Gemna while Eamon sneaks past some knights into the greenhouse. Eamon steals some soil from the greenhouse; the same soil used to grow new Flower Knights.

NIGHT. Eamon and MayFae enjoy a dress-up montage with Lady Gemna while Willow and Madrigal help setup the dance floor. Eamon sneaks off to join Lady Scarlova. Turns out both ladies have a plan to assassinate the other during the dance tonight, and The Party tries to make BOTH assassinations happen at the same time. They succeed, at the cost of Willow getting beat up and thrown out into the bushes outside. The others attempt to sneak into the greenhouse and steal some Flower Knight bulbs, but are forced to flee. The Players spend the night hiding in the mountains while Nevruné Hall erupts into chaos.

DAY 16

Theo, Madrigal, Eamon

MORNING. The Players awaken in the hills, bruised but safe (mostly). They sneak back and sent Theo to scout the status of Nevrune hall. Theo hears fighting and activity happening within, and The Players decide to leave for now and return in the future. They still want one of those flower knight bulbs and strange bloody dirt. For now they head towards Little Motte to find rest.

AFTERNOON. Along the way they meet Haurice arguing with an eclict mage named Methiew {Aspiring Wizard}. The two are debating the merits of “death magicks” and the players help dissolve the argument. Haurice returns to Salmuri Chapel and Methiew joins The Players on their walk to Little Motte. Methiew proffers a bottle of sweet smelling brandy from Little Motte. Methiew claims that the bottle has a hint of death magic to it, and she’s curious to know more.

NIGHT. The group arrives in the evening and admires the many flower beds and scented pathways of this charming little village. They enter the Stinky Cheese Tavern to rest for the evening. Eamon sneaks around outside and sees that something is wrong with the town; people walk with their heads down and seem subdued. ♠ The bartender, Eldora {Outsider} mentions that her wife (Ambrosia {Local}) is sleeping off a strange sickness upstairs. Over the next few hours townsfolk trickle in, and even the mayor arrives. The Players sneak upstairs to listen in on the town council and learn that the townspeople are panicked, and the mayor has no idea how to help.

DAY 17

Theo, Madrigal, Eamon

MORNING. After breakfast, Theo agrees to examine Ambrosia, but can’t identify the sickness. ♠ Those infected, sleep, drink, laugh, and dance in some kind of drunken haze, almost like a fever. Eamon goes to investigate the mayors house, and uses his magical lockpicks to secure the entrances. Theo and Madrigal have tea time with Lady Freck {Village Grandmother}. Freck tells them of the stories of Lyra, the famous poet, and about how people would dance around her statue in better days. Madrigal also defends himself against Billson {Local Asshole} and learns that the mayor is clueless and afraid. They learn that the Mayor has called another meeting at the statue in the middle of town tonight.

AFTERNOON. To investigate Methiew’s “death-smelling” brandy, they visit the Frothing Headstone, a local distillery. Inside there are a dozen people in the final stages of the illness; they dance drunkenly and drink from the many casks of liquor. The Players don’t learn much else, except that even the dead have risen to join in this diseased dance. Everyone seems to be singing old songs of Lyra. The Players intercept the Mayor and convince him to call another town hall meeting at the Stinky Cheese. It seems The Players have decided to guide the mayor and offer some assistance in this matter.

Theo, Willow, Mayfae, Eamon, Madrigal

NIGHT. While the Mayor calls a town meeting, The Players head to his house, intending to see if the Mayor is hiding something. After feeding the mayor’s cat, Thimblebottom, and subtly re-arranging the furniture, their detailed search has revealed nothing. The Mayor really is just a bumbling goof who doesn’t know how to handle this sickness. They return to the Stinky Cheese tavern just as the Mayor is being booed and yelled out. The Players intervene, proclaiming that they will get to the bottom of this. The townsfolk are dubious, but what harm could these strangers bring? A few questions are answered, Lady Freck tells more stories of Lyra, and the townspeople return to their homes. The Players sleep at the tavern, with Eldora’s blessing.

The Ballad of Lyra

I do not fear the night, So much as the darkness in my heart.

I do not fear the crowds, So much as I fear an empty bed.

I do not fear the silence, So much as a hollow echo.

I do not fear death, So much as an empty life.

Yet she fill my heart. Yet she warms my bed. Yet she returns my cries. Death is my final and greatest lover.

DAY 18

Theo, Willow, Eamon, Madrigal

MORNING. The Players awaken to sounds of a scuffle coming from the first floor of the Tavern. Ambrosia is trying to leave that tavern (having progressed further in her disease), while Eldora prevents her with limited success. Madrigal helps secure Ambrosia, and promises that they will try to get to the bottom of things. The Players head to the statue of Lyra in the center of town.

AFTERNOON. 10-15 infected stumble around the statue, muttering Lyra’s songs and drinking or laughing or crying. Theo, Madrigal, and Eamon run back to the Tavern to get some barrels of alcohol while Willow charges into the fray. He climbs up the statue and surveys the crowd. Theo, Madrigal, and Eamon return with some barrels, and break them open to distract the infected. Only 4 infected remain, and The Players defeat them without killing them. Unfortuntely, Willow is killed in the scuffle. A travelling musician, Silcy, helps clear a path to the statue. The Players find a hidden entrance below the statue and secure themselves inside.

Silcy introduces himself, explaining that he’s been looking for more songs and info about Lyra. Silcy agrees to join the players on their exploration of Lyra’s tomb.

Lyra’s Tomb

A brief summary of things that happened during the exploration of Lyra’s Tomb:

Theo, Silcy, Eamon, Madrigal

• The Players descend an iron staircase. Ghosts from the distant past briefly merge with the Players, granting visions of Lyra performing to a crowd. ♠ A creeping darkness overtakes Lyra, but she seems to embrace it willingly.
• A statue with a music box in its chest lies against a marble door. Madrigal cranks the music box, and the statue moves enough for Eamon to wedge the door open.
• Within a large greenhouse a pink light streams in through the windows(even though they are underground?). Large humanoid plant hedgeforms wander slowly around the flower beds. The leader is playing a black vielle and the rest are crying red sap tears. Silcy engages in a musical duel with the leader, and is gifted the black vielle. ♠ Silcy realizes this was Lyra’s ville, and it was given to her by a lover. Silcy continues to play the sad dirge, and the plant forms follow Silcy around instead.

Theo, Silcy, Eamon, Gerrick, Reefer

• While Silcy keeps the hedgeforms distracted with their playing, Reefer turns to smoke and explores the northeast room. Perfumed dead are digging a new alcove, and other alcoves lie filled with wooden caskets.
• A poetry golem in distress runs into the greenhouse, through the marble door, and steals the paper from the first golem they meet at the foot of the iron staircase. It shoves the paper into it’s own music box, and saunters back the way it came with a much more relaxed air.
• The Players decide to follow the golem through the overgrown archway. When Silcy stops playing, the hedgeforms become aggressive. Two of them destroy one another, while the remaining three charge after The Players. Gerrick dispatches one with his fire knife, the others are cut to ribbons, dousing Silcy and Theo in the strange red tears of the Hedgeforms. ♠ Silcy’s tattoos are dyed red, and pulse slightly, while Theo’s metal leg is undergoing some chemical reation with the red tears.
• In the next room is a large pool surrounded by benches and a walkway. The Players watch as the poetry golem walks right into the pool, submerging beneath the surface as it’s music fades. However another golem is sitting on the bench, playing a sad melody. Several shades and perfumed dead surround it as if listening.
• Gerrick dives into the pool, and sees evidence of dozens or hundreds of broken poetry golems littering the bottom. He remembers a vision of a pale woman crying with red markings like those of Silcy’s pulsing red tears.
• A large marble door to the south is locked, and reads, “Finger to lip, enter her chamber with reverence. However when The Players try to silence the poetry golem, the shades and perfumed dead get violent. The Players douse the perfumed dead with oil, and ignite them. But the shades flow right into Reefer, Gerrick, and Theo. ♠ They feel a strange heaviness, like carrying a great sadness.

Theo, Gerrick, Eamon, Madrigal, Reefer

• They enter the now open marble door to find a large black marble sarcophagus. It has a thin crack running through the top of it, and a subtle vibration hums from within. Gerrick peeks inside, but only sees a dark something lying within.
• The Players work together to open the top, and a well-preserved corpse lies at the bottom. Her eyes snap open and she sits up, reaching for a white vielle. The Players try to offer comfort, but instead she starts playing an angry tune. She cries black tears as shades begin to rise from the floor: violent and angry.
• Madrigal slaps the vielle from her hands. It cracks as it hits the floor. The corpse breaks into tearful sobs, and the shades fade away. ♠ Reefer holds her close, and her tears stain him like tattoos. Eventually she finds her voice and tells her story. This is Lyra, the famous poet from hundreds of years in the past. She was giving a performance in a small town when a dark shadow came over the stage. Everything went black and she woke up here. She knows that some powerful patron gifted her the white vielle, which has “From an admirer” inscribed on the back. She doesn’t recognize the black vielle she was playing before, but it does have “When you are ready, follow me below” inscribed upon it.
• Reefer helps Lyra out of the sarcophagus, and The Players discover a hidden stairway beneath it. The obsidian steps lead down into darkness. “I…I must follow these steps” Lyra says, as if in a dream. The Players join her, going down, down, down into the depths.
• Eventually they come to a massive obsidian bridge that leads off into an unnatural blackness. The cavern is silent, no walls or ceiling can be seen beyond the range of their torches. “My fancy with death was always a romantic fiction; never a true goal or desire…until now. I feel drawn across that bridge; like a bride to her wedding ceremony. Thank you for your help.” ♠ She offers both the white and black vielles to Silcy and with a sardonic smile she walks across the bridge humming her own funeral dirge.
• The entire dungeon goes quiet, and The Players return to the greenhouse to decide their next steps. Reefer finds some black obsidian coins under a now still perfumed dead. ♠ Some believe these coins are a token of thanks from the realm of the dead.

DAY 19

Theo, Gerrick, Eamon, Madrigal, Reefer

MORNING. The Players return up the staircase to the town of Little Motte. A dozen perfumed dead lie around the statue; quiet and still. Several townsfolk also sleep nearby, as if deeply hungover. The Players close the entrance to the dungeon so no one notices. They return to the tavern amidst a tired celebration within. Eldora the bartender greets them with free drinks, “He did it! The sickness is cured. My Ambrosia is back to her terrible puns and beautiful smiles!” The players see the mayor taking full credit for the cure.

The Players convince him to speak with them in private upstairs. He admits that he didn’t know why the sickness was suddenly cured, but was relieved to have the problem solved and wanted the credit. The Players agree to give him the credit if he convinces the town to offer good trade deals to Ten Thorn Tavern (Tavern Features improved, special deals offerd). Methiew is in attendence, and looks suspiciously at The Players as the mayor tells an elaborate lie about how the sickness was cured. She tells The Players to meet her back here later tonight. “I will have questions for you”, she says as she leaves the tavern.

AFTERNOON. Eamon trails Methiew without beind seen. Methiew casts some minor spells, muttering about how they actually did it. Eventually she makes her way to the statue of Lyra, and discovers the secret panel leading to the dungeon below. Eamon reveals himself, and they both descend the staircase. Eamon tries to engage her in conversation, but she insists on silence. “I will figure out how you did it on my own.” She re-traces the steps of the party, taking note of every detail. When she enters the room with the black marble sarcophagus she stops. “There is great power below…a place of death energy like none I’ve ever felt.” She summons a torch of darkness and descends into the depths, barely containing her excitement. Eamon waits in the room, suspicious of any danger that might arise. When an ominous black fog rises from the steps, he is already out the door and running to the surface.

Meanwhile, back at the tavern, Reefer, Gerrick, and Theo are feeling the effects of the shades that have joined them:

• Reefer’s shade demands earthly pleasures (food, drink, sleep)
• Theo’s and Gerrick’s shades want..something. I need to review my notes. Will update later.

NIGHT. Eamon catches up with The Players, and fills them in on the situation. They all return to the sarcophagus to find that black fog has gotten even thicker, and spills out of the obsidian steps like a bubbling cauldron. They attempt to slide the sarcophagus back into place, hopefully blocking the strange fog from flowing any further. They manage to succeed, but both Madrigal and Theo come into direct contact with the fog. ♠ The fog is thick like mud, and turns their skin semi-transparent wherever they touch it. The flow has been halted…for now. But the dungeon is no longer silent, and perhaps there is something terrible stirring across that black bridge.

Silcy, Eamon, Mayfae

As the quiet of the tomb returns, and the threat is halted…Mayfae wonders if there’s more to this situation. She asks Silcy to play the Melody (Lyra’s white vielle), and tries to see how the music interacts with the dark fog. They open the sarcophagus, and notice that the fog stretches in a thin line drifting towards Silcy, as if it is reaching for them. Silcy begins to slowly draw the fog away, revealing a thin, clear path down the stairs for Mayfae and Eamon to follow. They descend.

Mayfae approaches the bridge, drawn towards the quiet and the mystery. Eamon is less enthused, and carefully wraps his wire around Mayfae so she doesn’t go too far. After a few steps, Mayfae sees a dark, hazy figure on the other side of the bridge. She throws her walking stick to the figure, who catches it, and in return rolls a small bottle of dark liquor back across the bride. Mayfae takes the bottle, and looks up to see the figure revealed in her torchlight. It looks like a combination of Methiew and old paintings of King Aethur. The figure asks what Mayfae is seeking, and Mayfae responds that she is looking for her childhood friend, Daisy. “Daisy is here, and you could have her back. But what price will you pay?” the dark figure asks. “My arm. Or half my soul. She was worth that and more to me.” Mayfae responds hopefully. “Silly girl. Death never lets you choose your price.” the figure says with a smile. At this moment Eamon pulls Mayfae back from the brink, and they tumble onto the safe side of the bridge. Mayfae is clutching a small, pale girl in her arms. Daisy is sick, shaking, but alive.

Meanwhile, Silcy has their hands full trying to keep the fog distracted. As they start to run out of room, they briefly consider leading the fog back up to the town of Little Motte, but instead decide to risk climbing through the tunnels. At a dead end Silcy meets a ghost who introduces himself as Harold the Miner. “Probably should stop playing before the fog eats your soul.” Harold says languidly. “I cannot! I must keep it distracted to save my friends. Could you help me distract it?” Silcy says in a rush. “Let’s make a deal. I’m a little too dead to leave this place, and you’re too alive to safely wrangle the fog. Together we could be something in between death and life.” Silcy agrees, and a bargain is struck. Silcy becomes semi-transparent, their breathing stops, and they feel a new, cold power within. Silcy grabs the fog like a snake, and pulls it taught, giving Mayfae and Eamon the time they need to safely ascend.

The Players regroup in the Greenhouse. Eamon notices that Mayfae has different colored eyes, and Silcy’s puppet has a different voice. Oh, and now they have a sick child they pulled from the realm of death. Eamon tries to keep it together a little longer. The Players ascend the tomb and emerge from the hidden plaque under the statue of Lyra. Several townsfolk are shocked that a secret tomb was lying in the middle of their square this whole time. Eamon ignores them, trudging off to steal the mayor’s cat Thimblebottom, while Mayfae and Silcy leave Daisy in the capable hands of the town healer.

The Players all meet up at the Tavern and talk through what just happened. It’s a lot to take in, and it’s been a long night. Just as they are about to turn in for the evening (or morning?) a group of warriors arrive in the town causing a stir. “We ride for the annual tournament joust at Nevrune Hall!” Surely they’ve heard of the death of the two princesses of Nevrune hall…how can there still be a tournament?

DAY 20

Eamon, Mayfae, Boreas

MORNING. The Players go to visit Daisy and arrange some transportation back to Ten Thorn Tavern. Boreas is on the quest for a talking bird, and may also be working for a Silvered Noble; he joins the group to determine their involvement with the Riverkeepers. They discover that Billson {Local Asshole} is driving a wagon into Cimbrine. A complex negotiation follows, and Billson reluctantly agrees to let them ride along (and manages to avoid getting beaten up by anyone). The Players also visit the Frothing Headstone brewery to discuss details about Ten Thorn Tavern carrying their famous cider.

AFTERNOON. Billson loads up the carts. One cart carries 3 vases of Stormbreaker Petunias from a local flower shop owner, and the other cart carries 4 kegs of Headstone cider. The Players and Daisy squeeze in to fill the gaps. They depart from the Town of Little Motte, heading to Ten Thorn Tavern.

EVENING As the sun begins to set, a terrible storm whips up. The Players are delighted to learn that the petunias have a magical quality that create a bubble that protects both carts from the rain. Travelers heading towards The Players also notice the protective bubble, and ask to take refuge until the storm passes. The Travelers are a group of Sunbelow Monks, here to sell the last cask of Umbral Wine. The leader of the monks introduces herself as “The Poet” and seems completely dry despite walking several miles in a rainstorm. The Poet passes the time telling the story of Sunbelow Abbey:

For centuries the monks of Sunbelow Abbey found purpose and peace in the art of winemaking. Their Umbral Wine is famous throughout the land, bringing joy and merriment to all who taste it. However the monks themselves never partook; agreeing that to do so would distract them from the craft itself. “To drink a sip of wine would be to steal joy from a dark and cruel world.” So the monks contented themselves with tending and brewing…never drinking.

Until one day Brother Kresi had a terrible sickness, and the rest agreed he should drink the wine for medicinal purposes only. But in those few glasses Brother Kresi found the joy that lives in every sip of Umbral Wine. He sang and danced and convinced the entire abbey to drink deep of their hard-earned bounty. The monks invite folks to join them in a great celebration; for the joy of drinking Umbral Wine belongs to all, even the monks themselves!

As the storm passes, the Poet and the monks bid farewell, walking on towards Little Motte. The Players continue towards Ten Thorn Tavern.

DAY 21

Eamon, Mayfae, Boreas

MORNING. The Players arrive at Ten Thorn Tavern. They unload one of the vases of Stormbreaker Petunias, and one barrel of Headstone Cider. Billson leaves with a huff, and The Players keep one wagon and its horses in the stables.

Elzia mentions that it’s time for her to leave. She promised to help get the Tavern back to its former glory, but she would prefer to be tending to the shrines instead of tending bar. Mayfae bakes her a farewell breakfast of Bramble Cakes, and takes some up for Daisy as well.

The Players also decide to invest in a piano for some live music. When Eamon and Boreas go to the greenhouse and start planting Stormbreaker Petunias they discover a strange message in the moss.

AETHUR WILL RETURN WHEN THE GODS LIVE AGAIN

Home at last in the safety of their tavern, The Players must decide what they will do next.

• ♠ Investigate rumors of more black fog in Ylgotha (the same as they encountered under Little Motte? Or different?)
• ♠ See if they can convince the monks of Sunbelow Abbey to make more Umbral Wine for their bar
• ♠ Prepare to rescue Sandon from Fort Flumenel before Day 30
• ♠ Join the Riverkeepers in their attempts to bring back the gods
• ♠ Investigate the Knightly Tournament Games happening in Nevruné Hall

DAY 22

Eamon, Mayfae, Silcy

MORNING. The Players awake, check on Daisy, and set out to investigate the blacK fog in Ylgotha. They pack the wagon with a vase of Stormbreaker Petunia, supplies, and hitch the lesbian horses.

AFTERNOON. Along the way, an old monk comes up to the wagon requesting a ride. ♠ “I’m off to join Sunbelow Abbey, and find the peace the lives in every bottle of wine!” He finishes off his own bottle and quickly falls asleep in the back.

EVENING. The Players arrives in Estelat to drop off the monk, rest up, and continue their journey tomorrow. Eamon heads into the tavern to pay for a comfortable bed and meal. Mayfae eats in the tavern, but prefers to sleep under the stars. Silcy tends to the wagon, and in his wanderings bumps into a strange figure. ♠ The figure introduces themselves as “Yltou”, a river god in hiding. “As trade flowed up and down this river, I too wander in search of a good deal.” Silcy agrees to hand over Melody (Lyra’s vielle) in exchange for two things:

• A magical knife flute that can be sheathed in their skin.
• Silcy wants his face to be “fixed” so he doesn’t need the mask. It’s unclear if this is a true healing or if Silcy just needed permission to accept his appearance.
• ♠ Additionally Harold the Puppet also leaves Silcy to join Yltou.

DAY 23

Eamon, Mayfae, Silcy

MORNING. The Players awake, and continue their journey towards Ylgotha. Soon after leaving the town of Estelat they smell the strong scent of blood coming from the forest. Myafae wants to investigate, and the others reluctantly join. After a quick fight with an enraged boar, The Players acquire a Miseriweed Heart (valuable alchemy ingredient).

AFTERNOON. The Players pass by Lake Nyveane and spot two figures desperately trying to paddle a boat through stormy waters. The figures capsize, and crawl to shore. Mayfae wants to help them, Silcy agrees, and Eamon thinks this is a mistake.

A large hooded figure is packing the boat for their next attempt while a young girl introduces them. “I am Lenore, and I’m older than I look. My friend is Sir Tyburn, pledged to protect me. We must reach the island in the center of this stormy lake.” The Players reluctantly agree to help after Lenore promises magical artifacts may be found at their destination. “It’s an old, forgotten city ruin from before the gods; some say.” Lenore explains.

The waters are perilous, but with the Stormbreaker Petunia they all make it safely to the ruin. Lenore and Sir Tyburn approach a large archway standing atop a raised platform. They thank The Players, and disappear through the archway. Mayfae finds some coins among the ruins (♠ made of the same metal that branded Eamon), Silcy finds skeletal remains where Lenore and Sir Tyburn disappeared, while Eamon wants to disable the archway. “It’s obviously magic and obviously dangerous” he claims.

Of course this just makes Mayfae want to investigate. Silcy grabs Tyburn’s sword and moves a safe distance away. Eamon is still climbing the archway when Mayfae walks through it.

She is greeted by a figure from the past, and she offers them her 100 year old bottle of liquor. In exchange, her deathtouch is cured, and she is no longer doomed from her encounter on the bridge. She exits the archway and returns safely to the present day.

♠ Eamon, unfortunately, gets affected by the archway and obtains a massive amount of jumbled memories from before the gods. He is confused, but otherwise unharmed.

♠ Silcy holds the sword of Tyburn and softly whispers his own name to it. The sword seems to thrum with power, as if it got what it wanted.

EVENING. The Players return to the shore and find the Stormbreaker Petunias have their magic depleted; they will die soon if not watered and charged. Hopefully their next destination will have what they need.

DAY 23

Reefer, Madrigal, Silcy, Mayfae, Eamon

The Players camp on the beach and rest after a busy few days. Silcy plays Cacophony (Lyra’s black vielle) to soothe Reefer’s shade. The Shade manifests nearby, and sings old prison songs and soldier marching tunes along with Silcy. Just before they fall asleep, the Shade admits it is a deserter from the war to come.

DAY 24

Reefer, Madrigal, Silcy, Mayfae, Eamon

MORNING. The Players arrive at Nothing Rock, a massive crater with a small chasm in the center. Dark black smoke is oozing from the chasm and forming into shadowy figures (♠ similar to Reefer’s Shade). Hundreds of shadows form two opposing battle lines. Only then do the players notice two more solid-looking figures standing between them and the forming armies: a shorter woman with a pony tail, and a massive bald man, both armed with a huge pair of scissors.

As if hearing a signal, the two figures take off towards the battle lines, scissors held to their sides. Mayfae charges in as well; whether to rescue or to kill she isn’t quite sure. Soon she and the woman with the ponytail are back to back fighting off several shades. The woman drinks from a dark vial, and bends over just long enough to vomit up a shadowy copy of herself that joins the fight. Reefer attempts to do the same with his shade, and surprisingly succeeds. He and his shade also join the fight.

The Players notice that both figures are using their massive scissors to slice off thin lines that connect all the shades; and gather the loose black fog into small vials. Even in deadly combat, the woman takes risks to harvest several bottles of black fog.

Eventually The Players regroup with the two scissor-wielding strangers. “I’m Father Hollis. Thanks for your assistance. Don’t mind Sister Robin; she’s just upset she didn’t harvest as many vials as I did.” Sister Robin sulks while the Father Hollis continues talking. “Our family harvests shades like these, though we are concerned about how large this shadow army is growing. Just last week is was only a couple dozen strong. Now it’s hundreds of shades.” He invites them back to their family farm, especially after seeing Reefer’s shade. “We can help you with that.” Father Hollis claims.

AFTERNOON. The Players, Hollis, and Robin all arrive at The Shadow Farm. An old crumbling fortress now inhabited by the Greyrose family who can harvest the power of shades and black fog. An early dinner with the family offers more insight:

• Eamon sits next to Uncle Filhair, and tries to steal something from the sleeping man. Unfortunately Filhair notices, and gives Eamon a choice: “You either do whatever Grandmother asks of you, or I tell the family about your crime and we suck the soul from your body.” Eamon begrudgingly agrees. He later breaks their bathroom mirror to secure a shard of glass for spotting illusions.
• Madrigal sits next to Sister Robin, listening to her grumbles. Madrigal learns a little more about the shades, harvesting, and the shadow vials the family uses.
• Silcy sits next to Father Hollis to enjoy some bass and learn more about Grandmother (as well as the rest of the family). He then plays a romantic ballad (Grandmother’s favorite).
• Reefer and Mayfae both sit next to Grandmother, eager to learn more about the family and the shades. Grandmother insists they rest, and to “save business talk for later in the evening.”

EVENING. The family leaves the table as shadowy servants clean up the dinner mess. Everyone sits around a warm fire and Grandmother stares right into Mayfae’s eyes. “Before we begin, we need to do something about your eyes, dear.” Grandmother explains that Mayfae’s eyes are not her own; in fact they are the eyes of Methiew herself. ♠ Methiew has been spying on the party ever since the tomb of Lyra; seeing everything that Mayfae sees. Grandmother, Mayfae, and Eamon leave the room to find some replacement eyes while the rest tell the story of their adventures and learn more about the shadowy armies.

It turns out that Methiew used to be an Aunt of their family. But she kept corrupting and twisting the shades for her own purposes, defying Grandmother at every turn. When she was cast out, Methiew swore to find the true powers of shadow and return to prove she was right. Father Hollis is concerned that Methiew’s aspirations have grown far darker since that claim.

Grandmother replaces Mayfae’s purple eyes with eyes of pure shadow fog. This will allow Mayfae to see in the dark, but it looks disturbing to most folks and MayFae will have to return regularly to get her eyes “recharged” with fresh shadow. “You may eventually find yourself part of this family in both title and debt…” Grandmother warns.

The night is still young, and Grandmother has more secrets to reveal to The Players…

DAY 25

Reefer, Mayfae, Eamon

MORNING. During breakfast with the family Grandmother reveals that she was up late doing some shadow magic. Using Mayfae’s purple eyes she gained a glimpse into Methiew’s plans. A great battle is coming: Methiew will use the likeness of Aethur to unite disperate factions and take control of this land. Whatever rebellion remains will be crushed (old gods, Riverkeepers, and any who oppose the church, the knights, or the nobles).

Grandmother has a plan: “Our family shadows shall join the battle, but we cannot win this fight alone. After hearing of your journey I can think of several allies you might convince to join us:

• The ghosts that haunt Fort Flumenel (where Sandon is scheduled to be executed)
• The Riverkeeper League (if they can convince the old gods to fight)
• The Ignoble Court (who will eventually be threatened by Methiew and Aerthur)
• The Wizard Grymothy (who is not a friend but could be an ally)
• Saint Selos (who lies trapped in a nearby black tower, who Eamon has had visions of and Reefer dreamed about)

The Players decide to investigate the Tower first, with The Riverkeepers and Fort Flumenel as backups. Time is running out.

AFTERNOON. On their way to the Tower of First Heresy, they see a runaway wagon being pulled by a panicked donkey. Behind it is some large skeletal bear-creature. The Players decide to pull off to the side of the road, hide, and let it pass by.

EVENING. The Players arrive at the black tower and see a lone warrior standing guard in front of the gates. Sir Morbeck is old and bored. “If you’ve come to dual me, be sure to attack together. It’s too much trouble to fight you one at a time.” He then splits himself into three copies. The Players retreat, not eager to fight Sir Morebeck. Reefer turns to smoke and scouts the tower, noticing a group of thieves sneaking around the back! Reefer alerts Sir Moreback, and chaos ensues.

Some copies of Morebeck try to attack the thieves who are climbing a rope up to the 3rd floor. Some copies try to attack The Players. The hole in the tower opens into a prison cell where an old woman is trapped (in a brief conversation she reveals she is the previous Mother of the Greyrose family). She tries to climb down the rope and escape in the chaos. In the end one of the thieves is killed, the woman prisoner is killed, and all copies of Morebeck are slain. Three thieves survive and enter the tower, sounds of battle coming from deeper inside.

Meanwhile the Players are a bit more cautious: Eamon claims some spellbooks from the fallen thief while Mayfae takes the sword of Morebeck. Reefer was in the cell already, and discovers that he cannot leave! Whoever is the last person to exit the cell is trapped within an invisible enchanted prison. Everyone else is dead, and The Players are a bit confused about how to overcome this obstacle. Will they explore the tower further? Wait for the thieves to return? Or flee to the Greyrose family for help?

DAY 26

Silcy, Mayfae, Eamon

MORNING. The Players rest in the warded cell on the second floor of the tower. Reefer agrees to wait so the rest can venture forth into the tower. There are stairs leading down to the first floor and up to the third floor, as well as a large door on the left wall. Eamon examines the locked door, noticing a finger-sized hole above the handle. He attempts to pick it with his locks, but to no avail. Silcy cuts off a finger from one of the slain prison guards, and puts it through the strange hole. SLICE – CLICK. The door opens to reveal a disorganized storeroom filled with casks, boxes, bookshelves, and bags of stuff. Mayfae wheels a fancy-looking cask of brandy out of the room while Silcy and Eamon search the detritus. Silcy bumps a box of delicate glass bottles, each containing a small glowing ember of light. When one of the bottles begins to glow more brightly, Silcy and Eamon rush for the door, escaping just ahead of a fiery explosion.

Shaking the ashes from their clothes, they prepare to head up to the third floor. Mayfae balances the cask above the downward stairs; a hasty (and expensive) trap for anyone coming up.

The Third floor is filled with dozens of small idols to dead gods. At their center sleeps a large human-ish figure with too many mouths and not a single head. Silcy attempts to clear a path through the idols, but each one he touches floods his mind with a lifetime of memories and nightmares. Coincidentally, one of the idols belongs to Yltou, who makes another bargain with Silcy. “I’ll answer your questions in exchange for a favor to be collected later.” He tells Silcy a few pieces of useful information:

• When Silcy picked up Sir Tyburn’s sword, it asked Silcy for a name. Silcy whispered his own name to the sword. With a wry grin, Yltou explains that the sword is enchanted to slay whatever name it hears. Once that creature is killed, a new name may be whispered. Silcy has a sword that’s only effective against himself!
• Yltou also explains that the horrific creature is a nameless soul who has been warped and twisted by the power of the idols in this room. It is fiercely protective of these idols.

The Players take turns moving idols, enduring painful memories, and trying to carefully cross the room. Eamon is the last to reach the ladder leading to the 4th floor…and trips! The creatures awakens in a rage. With just a few powerful blows Eamon is on the floor, reeling and disoriented.

In a moment of desperation Silcy clutches the idol to Yltou again. “I call upon you to grant me one last favor!” Silcy cries. “I pray that this creature be named ‘Silcy’, and its soul reflect this truth!”

“This is going to cost you.” Yltou warns, but grants Silcy’s request. With a cry Silcy endures a blow from the creature and stabs it with the sword of Sir Tyburn. Slain by a magical blade, it begins to dissolve, along with all of the idols in the room. In a furious sandstorm, the grains flow down the stairs. After the storm calms, Silcy tends to Eamon, and The Players rest for a while.

AFTERNOON. Their strength (somewhat) restored, Yltou reveals the favor he has for Silcy. “You will whisper the name ‘Louis the Liar’ to the blade, find him, and kill him for me. Then your debt shall be paid.” Silcy doesn’t know who that is, how to find him, or why Yltou wants him dead…but he doesn’t have much choice in the matter. The Players climb the ladder to the top floor of the Tower of First Heresy.

A plain room holds an empty bookshelf, a small table, and a bed. An old wizened man lies atop the bed, his ankle secured by glowing silver manacles that are chained to the center of the room. “Come in, come in. Enjoy the stars with me.” As The Players look up they see a clear night sky where the ceiling should be; the stars are unfamiliar but just as beautiful as the ones they know.

Mayfae sits on the bed with the man, and Eamon recognizes the man from his dreams. “You are Saint Selos!” he exclaims, “I’ve been looking for you.” The man smiles, “Yes. Thank you for visiting me. It is time for me to return to the world and spread my truth.”

Saint Selos explains that he was once the king of an ancient people. As time went on he realized that any kind of ruling body infringes on the dignity and freedoms of every individual. He renounced his throne, and began a ministry of independence, preaching of a world where each person is their own king; subservient to no one. The Conclave didn’t much like that message, and built this tower to contain him. As time went on, other forbidden relics and heretical items were stored here, locked away forever.

“Once you take these manacles off, the Wandering Tower will find me and I can continue my mission.” Eamon carefully removes the shackles, and the Players climb back down to the cell on the second floor. The Players and Saint Selos wait until the Wandering Tower arrives.

EVENING. A deep rumble heralds the approach of the Wandering Tower. It comes right up to the hole in the second floor, allowing The Players to jump across. Saint Selos waits behind, obstensibly trapped in the magical cell…until the Tower of First Heresy is smashed to rubble by the Wandering Tower. Saint Selos safely jumps across in time to avoid being crushed. The Stone Servants celebrate the return of their Saint, crying out in joyful song as they fulfill their oaths of silence. The Players rest in the Wandering Tower, perusing the books, listening to Saint Selos, and preparing their hearts for the final war of shadows.

At this point in the game we have several players who have their own goals. Instead of trying to accomplish them all together, we decided to have a kind of epilogue. I met with each player individually and talked through how their stories would conclude, and how the war of shadows would play out.

EPILOGUE

The War of Shadows, like all wars, was too chaotic to be contained within a single story. We can only enjoy brief glimpses. In this case, each glimpse acts as the final chapter for the members of this Cairn campaign.

Eamon

In the search for adventure, riches, and glory, Eamon emerged with mental scars and a damning brand. After the heist, during the Barkeep job, and within the mysterious Valley of Flowers, Eamon finally decided to abandon his pursuits and settle for a life of peace…mostly.

With the money he earned, and with full support from the other players, Eamon assumed ownership of the Ten Thorn Tavern. He slowly learned the ins and outs of running a roadside inn. In fact his particular brand of notoriety proved very profitable indeed. With a dramatic flourish he wielded his scars and his stories as deftly as any set of blades. He became known as a dependable information broker, and offered numerous services that bordered legality.

Even more than Eamon, his cat, Thimblebottom, took well to tavern life. Patrons learned to respect (and fear) the tiny creature; often bringing tiny offerings and snacks to win over his master. Curled up next to Thimblebottom each night, Eamon found himself finally at peace, even as war waged in the valley. Eamon’s role in the War of Shadows was not heavily advertised, but many of Methiew’s plans were foiled with well-placed whisper in the Ten Thorn Tavern.

Silcy

As he approached the dias of the Ignoble Court, he tried to remember what Mayfae had taught him. He tuned out the jeering monsters, the mis-shapen grins, and bloodstained teeth of the court members.

“The court respects power and ruthlessness”, Mayfae said. “All their supposed rules are just a way to make these meetings more tense and bloodthirsty. If you can win over the crowd, you can get away with almost anything. Is that a bird way over there?!”

Louis the Liar was droning on about potential punishments, but Silcy wasn’t really listening. At the crescendo of the charges being read, Silcy called out in a confident voice. “And yet again I am blamed for something that wasn’t my fault, while the true perpetrator roams free!” The crowd gasped, mostly because Silcy hadn’t said a single word until this moment, and they weren’t sure he was capable of it.

“I did not come to hear the same lies repeated. I came to deliver justice on behalf of Yltou the River Trader. Louis the Liar owes a terrible debt, and I challenge him to a duel. Swords, of course, because he has no wits to wield.” As Louis turned to direct a sputtering refusal to the rest of the crowd, Silcy took the opportunity and stabbed him in the back. The Court was divided; they loved the brutality, but couldn’t abide the break of decorum. As Silcy fled, Yltou waltzed up to the dias and used his liquid charms to sway the entire court to his side.

Using Silcy as a scapegoat, Yltou rallied the Court to join the fight against Methiew and the Church. All the Ignoble monsters slew their share of knights and clergy, turning the tide of battle on multiple fronts. Silcy was hunted day and night. Eventually he was driven beyond the Valley, forced to roam godless lands. But he never lost his music, and the sad melodies of Cacophony spread farther than its original owner would have ever imagined.

MayFae

The day that Daisy came home was the biggest party the village had ever had. It was a joyous occasion filled with tears and disbelief. Daisy’s parents kept laying their hand on her, as if to convince themselves she was really home. Hailed as heroes, Reefer, Jory, and Mayfae ate like kings and slept like babes. Reefer and Jory settled back into their lives at home, but Mayfae was unsettled.

She lay awake under the stars every evening, feeling thankful and indebted to…someone. Something. After a few weeks she had a dream of Saint Selos looking up at the same star, and Mayfae realized she had to return.

She joined the Stone Servants of the Wandering Tower, finding purpose within its crumbling walls. Selos mentored her in wisdom and in wandering. One day, she and Selos went swimming in the Verinwine River. The current was strong, and both swimmers quickly tired, allowing themselves to be swept along. They drifted past the remains of a burned village, and Saint Selos wept from the death and destruction. “This place is too violent for a voice of freedom.” he cried. The next day he woke Mayfae and presented her with a packed bundle. “You must leave this Valley. We cannot risk the truth dying with us on some battlefield. Follow the music of your heart, and continue my work of abolishing every kingdom and ruler.”

So it was that Mayfae left the Valley, eventually being drawn towards the sad melodies of Cacophony. Silcy and Mayfae traveled together for a long time; friends in freedom.

Reefer

While Mayfae was called back to the valley by a dream, Reefer was driven back with a nightmare. His shade could not rest while the War of Shadows grew ever fiercer. Eventually Reefer gave in and returned to Ten Thorn Tavern. With some helpful information from Eamon, Reefer and his shade pulled off several key operations foiling the supply lines and leadership structure of Methiew and The Conclave. Turns out the ability to turn to smoke, summon a shade, and dispel hostile spirits was a rare skillset.

He still grew mushrooms and other kinds of herbs in the gardens of Ten Thorn Tavern, careful to offer regular snips of catnip to Thimblebottom. After the War Reefer might have found peace within his garden, or his shade might driven them to more battlefields. Eamon will only give details for a price, and Thimblebottom was bribed to secrecy.

Red

Seeing that the Greenhouse was taken up by Reefer’s mushrooms, Red decided to find better soil for his corpsflower companion. He traveled back to Nevrune hall to discover the secrets of the Flower Knights. Imagine his surprise when he found the two sisters growing from a potted plant with familiar bloody soil. Their fued was even more fierce than before, and with some clever manuevering Red ingratiated himself with both families, switching sides as needed.

He learned how the Flower Knights are grown, how they are tended, and how to improve upon their design. After many long nights tilling soil, experimenting with blood, and arguing with his corpseflower, he finally discovered the secret: The Flower Knights are clones. They are all grown with the same memories, and more importantly, the same loyalties to one of the two sisters.

A few more weeks of experimentation, and Red commanded a detachment of Flower Knights loyal to him (and him alone). These sturdy soldiers were a boon to the war effort, and turned aside many shades in battle. The War of Shadows might have gone very differently if not for Red’s Corpseflower Corps.

Madrigal, Gerrick, Theo, and Sandon

Madrigal, Gerrick, and Theo pursued their original plan from way back in the beginning: Rescue Sandon from Fort Flumenel. With a little helm from Reefer, they managed to contact the ghosts who haunted the Fort.

“If you do not aid us in this battle, then you will surely be forced to fight as mindless spirits under Methiew’s power!” This wasn’t true, of course, but it convinced the ghosts nonetheless. (Methiew’s shades come from a different dimension of the afterlife).

Like that one scene from Return of the King, three mortal men led the charge of an army of ghost soldiers. They quickly drove the knights from the fort, slaying many who might have otherwise fought under Methiew.

As they broke down the door to the prisons, they found Sandon playing cards with a dozen friendly knights. Turns out Sandon the Scrivener had used his charisma and knowledge to win over a few of the knights. They were eager to fight for justice and abandoned their tainted oaths.

• As the War died down, Madrigal returned to Ten Thorn Tavern, tending to the gardens Reefer left behind.
• Theo set up a practice in the bustling metropolis of Cimbrine City. War wounds needed tending, and Theo was glad to return to the satisfying life of a healer.
• Gerrick eventually learned to tame his shade like he would any intelligent beast. Together they hunted many terrible monsters, and retired with more trophies than any hunting lodge could contain.

And as for Sandon, well…someone had to write up all this prose, didn’t they?

— S

In short, I have been delving deeply into the Lord of the Rings, and have 4-5 items I want to recommend to anyone else curious about this obscure little adventure series.

J.R.R. Talkin’

I’m not surprised you’ve never heard of the Lord of the Rings. It had a brief spark of popularity in the U.K. but was a little too weird to gain mainstream appeal. I read the books AFTER seeing the Peter Jackson movies, and they definitely colored my expectations.

I read The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and…that’s it. I’ve made several attempts throughout the years to read through them again and always failed halfway through the Two Towers.

But this year I found myself eagerly awaiting the 5th book in the Stormlight Archive (SOOON!), and I figured I could fill that empty space with Tolkien.

To make this read-through attempt different from previous failures, I found several resources that helped bring the books to life. Maybe you’ll enjoy them as well.

Andy Serkis is a Wizard (and Elf, and Hobbit, and Orc and…)

In 2021, when the world needed him most, Andy Serkis narrated all 4 books of the Lord of the Rings. Although he is most known for doing the voice of Gollum from the movies, Serkis is a talented voice actor for hundreds of characters.

And he brings all that experience to bear in his stunning narration of these books. Gandalf has a rough, weathered voice while Gimli’s speed is deep and clipped short. Frodo has an smooth elf-like quality while Pippin is light and chipper. It sounds like a full cast of narrators! My favorite detail is that whenever a character is being tempted by the ring they start to sound more and more like Gollum! Very cool.

I’ve been primarily consuming the books using these Audio versions, and it’s been a fantastic way to make this reading attempt successful.

Rings of Power Makes the Books Better

Rings of Power is poorly written, awkwardly paced, and looks beautiful.

Watching the show was such a miserable, boring experience that I would return to the books after each episode, desperate for some quality storytelling.

I don’t really recommend it, but it is wild to see such a contrast between the quality of the show and the quality of the source material. Maybe keep the show muted and just let the images play in the background while you read the books.

Malcolm Guite Youtube Readings

Each video is about 15 minutes long. They are rough, unedited, a little awkward, and I love them. Each one opens with Malcolm Guite inviting you into his study to listen to a calm and engaging reading. Malcolm will read passages from The Lord of the Rings, poems, or other bits of literature. He’s the grandfather I never had, and he makes me want to read Lord of the Rings all day long.

I’ll recommend one of my favorite of his videos to start.

The World of Tolkien by David Day

I saw this box set at Costco for $39.99, and I couldn’t resist picking it up. The books have this beautiful engraved cover, and I was hungry for more Tolkien content. I literally (hah) just brought the box set home, took a few pics, and skimmed through the books.

I am entirely satisfied with my purchase and would recommend it as an affordable way to immerse yourself more deeply into Tolkien’s world.

Pros:

• The books are high quality; their softcovers are beautifully engraved and the pages are a nice thick cream material.
• There is SO MUCH ART! It feels like every 5-6 pages I’m presented with a beautiful page of artwork. I really cannot stress enough how gorgeous these pieces of art are.
• The text is large and easy to read. Very much a coffee-table style book, it never felt like a text book or technical manual.

The cons are…a little more complicated.

Upon doing some research I found that the writer of these books, David Day, is not well-regarded among Tolkien scholars.

Apparently he’s notorious for taking liberties with the source material and making implications or guesses that Tolkien probably did not intend. I actually got a first-hand example in the beginning of the book about Hobbits. Here is his opening point, paraphrased by me:

Let us begin by examining the origin of the word “Hobbit”. After all, Tolkien was a master of language, and he built the word “Hobbit” as a linguistic joke. I present as evidence the English Oxford Dictionary (which Tolkien contributed towards). If you look at the 13 words (mirroring the 13 dwarves) listed in the dictionary around “Hobbit”, each word gives us a clue as to their nature. For example, the word “hobo” tells us that the hobbits were once a race of wandering migrants.

This is a little hard to swallow. While I’m sure Tolkien considered various linguistic roots of the word “hobbit”, I don’t think we can make the leap that since “hobo” is similar to “hobbit” then the hobbits must have been wanderers. Feels way more like a fun coincidence. And it’s wild to claim that ALL of this was a very intentional joke that only fellow dictionary readers would ever understand.

If you are interested in more serious Tolkien scholarship, then I wouldn’t recommend these books. However, if you can read these books with a light sense of enjoyment, and focus mostly on the pretty pictures, then I think for $39.99 you’re getting a bargain! Here are a few other examples of the artwork contained within:

I love playing video games and talking about video games and thinking about video games(and even dreaming about video games). But I was sure I didn’t want to actually MAKE one. During the day I’m a mild-mannered software engineer. The last thing I want to do after programming all day is write even MORE code.

And yet, here we are. Let’s talk about the game I made.

The Dream

This is a true story.

Around 1am my dog woke me up by snorting in my face (as she does a few times a week). I emerged from the dream world with a video game FULLY FORMED in my brain. From the mechanics to the visuals to how I would market it…EVERYTHING! It was all there in my brain.

I feverishly grabbed my phone and started writing down notes. They looked a little something like this:

• City builder on your keyboard. No mouse controls.
• Press a key to place a building. Buildings give resources.
• Some buildings require certain resources, others require specific terrain.
• Pretty pixel art, smooth animations.
• It will look like ripping up your actual keyboard and building a small town in its place.
• Inspired by the rebuilding of Laketown in the Hobbit.

I took the dog out and went back to sleep. In the morning I reviewed my notes, and thought “Well…this actually seems doable. Why not?”

Refining the Gameplay

Before I even started programming I wanted to flesh out the game concepts more. I refined the pitch and tried to imagine how I would market this game:

Keyburg Pitch

A simple, cozy, town-building game right on your keyboard. The great beast, Lord Mittens, recently assaulted the town and razed it to the ground. Help the mayor rebuild Keyburg and make it flourish once again!

Goals

Exploration / experimentation is the point (lots of buildings, resources, discovery of the tech tree). Each game is a little different with Plot arrangement. Only the buildings you can currently build are shown when cycling; so there’s a lot of checking on new things and shuffling buildings around to fit right. Hints are shown in the building wiki.

Controls

Press a key to cycle through the buildings you can build on that key. Some buildings can only be built on certain colors, and some buildings require certain resources. For example, a Lumber Mill can only be built on a green (woods) key. And it requires the resource “STONE”. Once built it gives you the “WOOD” resource.

UI

All the resources you currently have are shown up top, and your current buildings are shown laid out like keys on a keyboard. When you press a key you can see which resources the current building is providing. Pressing the key again lets you build a different building.

Sample Buildings

So now that you kind of have a sense of how the game might work, let’s make it happen!

Let’s Freaking Godot!!!

After a few hours of Godot tutorials I felt like I was ready to tackle this thing. I was wrong of course.

Over the course of development the game didn’t change much. Some features were tossed (random events, an in-game building wiki, etc) but for the most part I stuck to my original dream-induced outline.

This consumed me; I was having a ton of fun making the game. I never really iterated on ideas or experimented; it was mostly all about learning Godot and seeing the game slowly come together. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the process.

I ended up using the GORGEOUS Isle of Lore tile pack. Not only does it include a bunch of useful elements, but it even has a script to customize and re-color each element and tile! Absolutely fantastic resource for anyone looking for nice tiles.

Overall I spent about a month tweaking and fiddling with it before I got something that was actually playable from start to finish. I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out how to export it as a playable demo, and eventually gave up.

So instead, here’s a video of me playing the game directly within Godot:

Meh.

I realize now that I had WAY more fun making it than anyone will ever have playing it. I feel good about how I executed on the idea, and I did enjoy some elements or ideas. But I don’t ever see myself coming back to this or “finishing” Keyburg. Heck, I didn’t even bother to export it for other people to try!

I feel really good about closing the book on this project. I accomplished my goal, and made my dream a reality.

In fact, my FAVORITE thing about the current demo is how the buildings fall from the sky and bounce around the tile. I had a blast making that work, and it’s adorably silly. Just look at how high the fire bounces on the water!

…but if I WAS Going to Finish it

Purely as a design exercise, I think there are a few key takeaways now that the game is semi-complete.

Inform the Decisions

The “fun” needs to be refined. Right now the game feels very random. There’s a little bit of fun in the discovery phase (oh, what else can I build here?). But that quickly turns into “I don’t even know what I need to build, what I am able to build, or what I can safely replace”.

I imagine it might require something like a tech tree that players can fill in as they go. “There are 5 buildings that require WOOD, but I’ve only discovered 3 of them. I need to keep the Lumber Mill around until I find the other two WOOD buildings.”

The player’s lack of knowledge into what is/isn’t possible prevents them from making informed decisions.

Add a Lose Condition

Right now the only goal is to build the Crow. You can “win” the current version of the game by just mashing keys over and over until you finally have all the resources you need. There should be a lose condition of some kind.

Maybe the game takes place over the course of a year, and certain buildings can only be built in certain seasons? So you gotta get the Lumber Mill built before the winter comes.

Another idea is an opposing force. Maybe Lord Mittens returns to smash buildings or munch on resources. You need TWO Lumber Mills since Mittens is eating one of them.

More Complexity

To add more strategy and depth you could increase the requirements and benefits of buildings.

For example, maybe the Quarry MUST be built adjacent to the Lumber Mill, but it can’t be placed near the Tavern. This could be a sudoku-like kind of shuffling game.

Another idea is that buildings have secret benefits. If you build the Nest on the Sea instead of the Forest you get different resources. Or putting a Fishing Hut in the mountains reveals an underground lake of rare fish.

Assuming the game had better information, then simply adding MORE information to explore and gather could improve the experience.

Presentation

Originally I imagined a really high-quality pixel art view of the game; something like Stardew Valley or Children of Morta.

But a friend of mine pitched the idea of a photo-realistic game. I could take actual photos of a real keyboard and make different keycaps represent different buildings. It would feel like you’re actually building a tiny town on your keyboard.

On Second Thought…NAH!

But I meant what I said: I’m happy with this unfinished demo. It was a blast to work on, and kinda felt like checking off a bucket list item. I don’t really have any desire to return to the concept or explore it further.

Thanks for reading about my video game dream and vaguely disappointing reality. Soon I’ll get back to making Overpowered into a full release!

The Review Portion

I ran a game of Barkeep for 4 sessions (and even made some cool coasters to use during play!). We entered less than half of the bars, and only made it to the end of day 2 (of 6). We could have played it for another 4-8 sessions but scheduling got difficult.

• Did we have deep character moments? A few.
• Did we explore strange places and loot awesome items? Yeah, a bit.
• Did we laugh? So hard that I had to take regular breaks.

I can, without a doubt, say is the most I have ever laughed during any RPG campaign. Of course most of the credit goes to my very good friends who wholeheartedly embraced the immaculate vibes and amplified them with their own sensese of humor. But the books provided a very solid foundation of silliness and hilarity that cannot be understated (more on that later).

• A+. A unique concept excecuted beautifully. A breath of fresh air.
• 5 stars. The art and writing are superb.
• 9/10, because I think the drinking mechanics are a tad clunky. Everything else is perfect.

So What is This REALLY About?

In my Cloud Empress Review I said the tone of the game was something that engaged me and my players:

But more than that it was…melancholy. Not in a grimdark or maudlin kind of way. More like an old man refusing to tell a painful story.

And again with Barkeep, that consistent tone helped put our group in the right mindset. It was like having constant stage direction from the authors.

So this article is really about setting a tone in TTRPGs. I’m going to compare Cloud Empress, Barkeep, and a few others to pin down how they accomplish their respective vibes.

A Quick Look at Other Tones

Before we take a look at Barkeep, I want to drop a few quick examples to demonstrate how tone can be affected by writing, mechanics, art, etc. I firmly believe that the tone communicated by an RPG author is inteded to be replicated by the GM. So while you could run Blades in the Dark as a sexy dating game, I don’t think that would properly reflect the game’s tone.

Cloud Empress : grim, meloncholy, and vaguely hopeful

It uses horror game mechanics to drive tension and make the players feel that this world is dangerous. Even the mysterious chalk that powers your magic and gadgets is poisonous. Your character knows the spell “Lightning Blade”? I hope they never have to use it.

In truth, chalk is a pollutant. It sits heavy in the soil, creeping into the grass and the crops, and settling in the bones of deer-dogs and humans alike. Chalk crawls up the food chain, bleaching skeletons and withering bodies, before finding its way to the apex, to the Imago. Magic lives in the teeth. Frightened caregivers pull their children’s wisdom teeth young, cutting off magic at its roots. Each spell has a cost. All things in life have a cost. With every pleasure there is pain. The spell’s price is paid in full as soon as its effect has ended. You might be done with the spell, but the spell isn’t done with you, not by a long shot. – from the free Cloud Empress rulebook

Most locations have a strong tension between the different factions. The only peaceful places are the uninhabited ones.

A single house sits on a sandy hill, a skull painted on the door. An old woman, Worm, welcomes most visitors. Her hands tremble uncontrollably as she attempts to prepare tea. She seems confused, and any frustration quickly turns to violence. Worm feels no pain, her entire body having been taken over by the white fungus. Each digit, joint, and limb functions autonomously and must be destroyed separately to end the fight. Worm’s wounds expel a white dust and any severed fingers try to crawl into mouths and implant the infection. The Hounds’ Incense Burner (pg. 55) sits on a bookshelf near the kitchen. – from the Land of Cicadas

There is hope and beauty, but it has to be carefully extracted from a dangerous place. The mechanics, writing, and setting details all come together to drive home a strong tone. As a GM, this tone was easy to replicate and fall back on. I had little rules in my head:

• There is always a danger, probably unseen.
• Every benefit has a cost.
• People are hurting but hopeful.
• The Imago are unknowable.
• Soldiers are bastards.

The book taught me those lessons, and I carried that forward to the players.

Magical Murder Mansion : a deadly inside-joke

Let’s contrast this with an equally dangerous setting with a drastically different tone: Magical Murder Mansion.

You can read my review here, but I’d argue the primary tone of this adventure is set by the author himself during the introduction:

Some of the traps in classic funhouse dungeons seem like jokes designed for the module’s author and the GM to share, with the poor players left frustrated and baffled. I’ve tried to make Magical Murder Mansion entertaining for everyone; even the deathtraps and surprises should get an joyful “oh no, I can’t believe we walked into that one” from the players. The GM knows it’s a trap. The players know it’s a trap. But someone’s got to open that door. – Skerples introducting the adventure

Without that introduction I think the humor would take a little longer to emerge from the book. “Wait…is he serious?” would get asked a few times before the group finally realizes that this is supposed to be silly.

Some rooms actually are filled with jokes (like a stuffed lion with “not a mimic” scrawled on it), and some rooms are just outrageous death traps. And while the characters are probably suffering horribly, the players are likely chuckling along with each damage roll.

I also think a big part of the humor comes from a familiarity with dungeon crawls. If this was someone’s first dungeon crawl they might not get some of the jokes.

But Magical Murder Mansion successfully uses subtle clues to provide an undercurrent of humor in the middle of a diabolical deathtrap adventure.

Bones Deep : Evey saves the day

Bones Deep has some grim elements that were very strong in the early drafts. We had cursed wizard rivalries, creepy underwater monsters, and skeleton body horror. Even the Crab Cabal used to be more nefarious (with far crueler punishments for going into too much debt).

However we really struggled with the “miens” of each creature. In Troika every creature has 6 potential “miens” or moods or temperments. I couldn’t get them right; either they felt too boring (“angry”, “sad”, “hungry”) or they were too confusing (how can a fish be “filled with revenge”). I ended up reaching out to Evey Lockheart, who is a brilliant Troika wizard.

She took each of our creatures and spiced them up with some of the most engaging, creative, and silly miens I’ve ever seen. While she wrote less than 2% of the book, her contributions brought a massive amount of levity and life to each creature. Each mien impacts the scenarios during play. I credit Evey with a big chunk of what makes Bones Deep such a fun and appealing adventure for people to play.

Sometimes the tone can be affected by the smallest details of an adventure.

What About Barkeep?

So we’ve looked at a book where the tone is repeated by its art, its writing, and its content. We looked at a book where the tone is subtly growing stronger throughout the adventure. And we saw how a small part of a book can drastically impact its final tone.

As we look at Barkeep, keep in mind that this book has 12 writers and 3 editors! It must have been a significant challenge to keep everyone on the same page with the same goals.

Since lists help me organize my thoughts, I’ve come up with three ways that Barkeep maintains a lighthearted and uplifting tone:

1) Cartoonish Drinking

This was a big one, and the detail that prompted me to write this article.

I don’t drink very often, and I hate the feeling of being drunk. I also have a few close friends who have endured a lot of pain related to alcohol addiction. Alcohol is not a silly or light-hearted thing for me, and I was worried that Barkeep would be kind of dark and miserable (since drinking alcohol can sometimes be dark and miserable).

But it’s not! Barkeep has a very cartoonish perspective on alcohol. Less “throwing up in your ex’s bathroom” and more “getting the hiccups and dancing naked in the backyard”, if that makes sense. In fact it goes out of its way to avoid any kind of misery or alcoholic angst. Here are a few drunk examples:

A patron drunkenly mistakes a PC for the owner, thanks them for their hospitality and apologizes for some catastrophe in a bedroom. 1 Turn later, a porter arrives with a barrel of fine ale but needs the owner of the apartment to sign for it to leave it there.

A street preacher of Chaos targets the soberest PC, righteously angry that they are not drunk enough.

Parliament motions to eject the drunkest PC. They are dragged to the lectern to argue against their ejection.

A drunk wizard tried to order a hurricane but errantly summoned an air elemental. It rampages in search of an exit.

All of these scenarios present being drunk like being confused or silly. It side-steps the darker cliches of alcohol and keeps things light. You never see anyone crying into a bottle of wine, or begging for one more drink; instead the scenario is always played for comedy.

Just to be clear, I think this is A Good Thing™. I’m sure there’s a place for criticizing alcohol abuse and portraying the dangers of addiction…but Barkeep is not trying to be that at all. It wants to be a silly adventure for goofing around with your friends, and in that it succeeds by focusing on the fun.

2) Low Stakes

The big hook of the adventure is that the Monarch will die if the players don’t explore the city and find the missing cure. But the adventure points out that the Heir is quite capable, and maybe even a good leader. If the party fails, the world won’t end, it’s unlikely anyone will suffer, and in fact most people won’t even notice or care.

Even the usual adventure lose condition of “horrible death” isn’t very likely. Instead Barkeep relies on a drinking mini-game and a ticking clock to drive tension. If the characters get too drunk, the day ends and they wake up the next morning hungover. They only have six days to find the antidote.

This means that an encounter like “being challenged to a dance-off” is actually a meaningful decision. Is this worth our time? Can we win? It’s a nice breath of fresh air when every other adventure asks “Can you survive?” and Barkeep wonders, “Can you out-drink a lich?” (spoiler: you can’t).

3) Comedy Bits VS Deadly Threats

A lot of comedy games treat you to silly situations and scenarios, hoping the players will find them funny. “Oh look at this outrageous scenario! Isn’t it funny?” By contrast, Barkeep makes you a part of the joke itself. It ‘s like every encounter is the start of an improv comedy bit, begging you to join in.

There are 20 bars in the book, and each bar has over a dozen encounters. Instead of rolling randomly, I usually choose encounters that seem like the most fun. And it was VERY hard to choose! Just look at these:

A friendly stranger offers a PC (roll d6): (1-2) a pouch of pipeweed for just 1d6 gold coins, (3-4) a knife between the ribs, (5-6) a swift kiss amidst the bushes.

Seniors demand all patrons pour their drinks and potions into a cauldron for a hazing ritual. Desperate freshmen beg the PCs to drink it instead of them.

A cowled coven of parliamentarians holds a debauched cult initiation. “One of us!” Their leader, a lizardfolk in disguise, hands a paddle to a PC.

A PC is challenged to a deathmatch by a future version of themselves. If they win, they’ll join the PCs. They have (roll d6): (1-2) a crab claw for a hand, (3-4) a mechanical eye, (5-6) a child.

A reverse thief tries to place 20 gold coins into a jolly crewmate’s pockets. There is a 5-in-6 chance they get caught in the act.

A goblin who believes a long beard is all that’s needed to cast spells. They demand any bearded jolly crewmate teach them how.

Okay, I have to stop. I literally have a dozen more I want to share, but you get the idea. Buy the book for yourself and enjoy them all!

Each one of these is inviting the PCs to engage with it, either to join in the fun or to cause a scene by refusing (or both). Most aren’t traditional threats but instead are awkward or bizarre situations. And thanks to that ticking clock, they can even have stakes and some lighthearted drama.

I dare you to play through Barkeep and maintain a serious tone or attitude amidst these colorful encounters.

Conclusion

Barkeep is damn good. It’s a masterclass of setting a very specific tone and reinforcing it with each random encounter. It side-steps the harsher realities of alcohol, inviting the players to drink deeply of it’s silly vibes.

If you need something a bit lighter for your table, you can’t do any better than Barkeep.

hiccup

One more, please!

A Chaser

I hated the drinking mechanics of Barkeep. Our group still had a blast, but here’s a short rant from someone who thinks too much about RPG mechanics.

The actual drinking rules have more examples and explanations, but here’s my summary:

1. The GM describes the current situation.
2. Each player takes an action, or the group acts together.
3. Each player rolls their Sobriety Die (see image above)
4. The GM describes the outcome of their actions.
5. The GM rolls a d6.
   • 1, 2 - A random encounter
   • 3, 4 - Buy a new drink and roll Sobriety Die again. If drinking water, increase Sobriety Die size by one step.
   • 5, 6 - An hour passes.

I have a few problems with these rules:

Encounters Are Rare, and I relied on them to engage players in the bar or to fill dead time. If I followed these rules then I would only use the written encounters 33% of the time. Blech. It also was weird to roll encounters AFTER players made their choices. I prefer to present the encounter first, and let players react to that.

Hard to Sober Up. Being a little drunk (d6/d4 Sobriety Die) actually has a few benefits, so players want to ride that line between blackout and sober. Which is neat! But it’s very hard to sober up. You have to decide to drink water BEFORE 3, 4 are rolled by the GM, and drinking water makes the bar hostile to you (since you’re taking up a seat that someone could be drinking in). So even if a player chooses to drink water, they will still be getting drunker and it might be a few turns before the GM rolls that option.

Here’s my solution, and what I ended up using for my games:

1. The GM describes the current situation. If things are slow, roll an encounter.
2. Each player can take an action, or the group can act together.
3. Each player rolls their Sobriety Die (see image above).
4. The GM describes the outcome of their actions.
5. The GM flips a coin:
   • Heads - One hour passes.
   • Tails - Players finish their drinks. They either buy another drink (1d6 silver) or they buy food (2d6 silver) and upgrade their Sobriety Die one step.

This gives players a choice to make, and the Sobriety Die is still being rolled each turn. I might even make a big d20 table of random bar food that can be purchased. Also I love flipping coins.

Anyway, that’s a very minor gripe. Your mileage may vary.

Buy a copy of Barkeep here!

Let us descend to the Lowland Wastes. A land of cicadas, invading soldiers, mysterious sporekeepers, brood monks, and most importantly, a land of adventure!

Welcome to Cloud Empress

After my fantastic experience with Desert Moon of Karth, I wanted to try more Mothership. But I still didn’t want to play a traditional horror game.

So as I was getting excited about Cloud Empress and saw that it was based on Mothership, I knew I had to give it a try. A couple things that piqued my interest:

• Inspired by “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”. Not only is this one of my wife’s favorite movies, but it does a tremendous job of showing a truly alien world that still seems grounded in its own reality.
• Open World Sandbox. Specifically I wanted something like Hot Springs Island or UVG. Not only does a well-made sandbox save me time, but it puts the players in the drivers seat, allowing them to chart their own course.
• Absolutely Beautiful Art. I was probably gonna buy this even if it never hit my table. What a beautiful book to just look through and imagine the world portrayed within.

First Impressions

Aside from the art, what impressed me most was the writing. It was evocative and terse, the way an RPG should be. But more than that it was…melancholy. Not in a grimdark or maudlin kind of way. More like an old man refusing to tell a painful story.

Between the random encounters and the location description, I got JUST enough to set the stage and inject some drama. Let’s look at a random example. Below is a map of the path we traveled through the Lowland Wastes.

For this example I’ll pick a hex we did not travel through:

B36: The six plastisteel buildings of Crawton, five empty, wait for summer travelers to gather. Each dorm is filled with carefully packed furniture, silverware, and small luxuries left by last year’s lodgers. A single old Farmerling, with a similarly decrepit packsquab, sweeps away at the accumulated dust before starting to cook a stew for the many inbound travelers.

And we’ll roll a random encounter:

6 Juvenile Imago

And here’s how I would describe that scenario with stakes and drama:

This is a popular stop for travellers; something between an abandoned bulding and an inn. Travelers who stay here contribute to its upkeep, paying for their stay by doing chores, donating supplies, or helping other travelers. Since the Imperial invasion, not as many people pass this way. But it seems even more quiet than usual. As you approach the tattered buildings you see 6 large Imago crawling around on the roof, buzzing with excitement. The doors and windows are barred, but you can hear panicked yelling coming from inside one of the buildings. What do you do?

And as the players engage with the scenario they might get to help the old Famerling, learn some valuable info, and have a safe place to stay. Or they might get eaten by Imago. Who knows? But do you see how such a short description of B36 was enough to set the stage, and the random encounter was enough to add some tension?

The entire book is like that, dripping with atmosphere. It feels like an ancient, lived-in world. Across the 100+ hexes in the book, I’d say 75% of them contain engaging, evocative content. There are a few bland locations, or boring encounters. But it’s rare.

That’s not even including the more fleshed out locations that take up 2-4 pages. Each one includes a little map, some NPCs, and a description of the current situation.

Criticisms

I do have some minor gripes.

Most of the random encounters are lackluster. 6 Imago. 12 Soldiers. 7 Spore keepers. Nothing. Out of a d100 roll, only 5-10 are unique or engaging. Luckily the locations provide enough substance that the encounters are just a little spice on top.

Locations are static. Once you’ve visited a location, there isn’t much reason to return. One of the things I like is that most locations have some kind of situation or danger that the players need to deal with. But once that is over, the hex becomes a blank spot on the map. Make it clear to your players that re-visiting hexes is best avoided.

For an example of this done better, look to Hot Springs Island. Not only did random encounters have more going on, but each area felt alive. “The mountains usually have snakes” or “you never see Ogres along the coast”. Cloud Empress doesn’t have that same feeling. It’s more like a classic western: walk into an area, deal with the trouble, and move on.

Conclusion

It’s hard to review a game that I’ve played. Did I have fun because of the book? Or because I’m an amazing Game Master? Or was it because my players are talented and engaging? Or maybe we would have had just as much fun playing monopoly.

However in this case I’m confident in saying Cloud Empress was the solid foundation our game was built around. Everything else stemmed from that, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique and engaging world for their table.

Play Report

As usual, I hate writing up play reports. In hindsight it’s easy to assemble a story from the random die rolls and improvisation of the players. It doesn’t really communicate the moment-to-moment excitement of playing the game.

BUT! I still hope it demonstrates some of the things that can happen in Cloud Empress and how much it rewarded our investment of time and energy.

I made these slides for a Powerpoint Party that a friend was throwing (which is why I used terms like “D&D” when I really mean TTRPG). And instead of re-typing everything, I’ll just include the slides below, and allow you to imagine me telling you about this story with a glass of whiskey in my hand.

UPDATE: This playthrough used an old version of the Overpowered rules. We hope you still enjoy it.

• Pirate Borg.
• Overpowered Rules and Dice App.

Player notes are in italics. Pirate Borg is absolutely GORGEOUS and dripping with atmosphere. After reading it I could barely wait to explore the setting using my solo game. Let’s see how it goes!

Intro

Frigid.Procyon.11 is different than other explorer bots. While his brothers and sisters search for gold, creatures, and new horizons, Procyon seeks ART.

Of course, some forms of art are valuable treasures, but not all treasures are art. His programming doesn’t disciminate, forcing Procyon to rise above his hardware limitations.

Too bad he was assigned to explore a region with ZERO artistic potential. Procyon rests atop the church steeple of Coral Town, looking down with disdain upon the dirty streets and even dirtier denizens.

He is equipped with an experimental teleporter, allowing him to jump to anywhere he can see, but he has to rest for a few moments between each jump. He’s spent the last day or two carefully exploring the town, getting more and more disgusted with each new discovery.

His appearance is similar to a cannonball, dark and circular shell with a matte pitted surface. He has managed to avoid being seen so far, and thanks to his translator he’s learned of some kind of event happening in the church tonight.

Sunday Mass

Procyon teleports to one of the many nooks and crannies along the church ceiling, giving him a good vew of the service.

Father Wallace has managed to gather several dozen townspeople for some kind of emergency meeting. The Abbot raises his hands, and everyone quiets down.

“My children! Thank you for coming. It is in these dark times we must cling to one another and stand firm against the forces of darkness! Let us read from…”

After a length sermon, several townsfolk get up to leave and a short fat aristocrat rushes up to the pulpit.

“Thank you, Father, for that rousing encouragement! If I may make a quick announcement.” Folks pause and wait to here what the well-dressed man has to say.

“As your Governor, I have watched over you and kept our city safe from a myriad of threats! With God’s help, of course. And as his represented authority, I now beg for your help. My daughter, Veronique, has been missing for over a day.”

Some murmers spread throughout the church. The Governer lets the tension build, and then announces, “As a demonstration of my thanks, whoever brings her back shall be rewarded 1000 silver! I’ve no doubt Veronique herself will be extremely grateful as well, immortalizing her hero in one of her talented paintings!”

The people are obviously more moved by the promise of silver, but Procyon perks up at the mention of a painting.

“Please spread the word to any who might be able to find her” the Governor finishes, “before it’s too late!” He storms down the aisle and out the door. Most people follow, and Procyon teleports away as the Abbot attempts to preach to an emptying room.

Following the Governor.

Procyon decides to follow the Governor, see if he can find any clues about the location of his missing daughter.

It’s tricky; the Governer stops by a few more town centers to give a similar speech, offering various rewards for anyone who can find his lost daughter. After each speech he storms off towards the next location.

CLAUDE BARLETTE (THE GOVERNOR): HP 25 Morale 11 Necro-Aura -d4
▶ Death Touch: d10 + Shriveling spell
▶ Shriveling Spell: Touch drains all stats by 1 for d20 hours. Regain d6 HP.
▶ Levitate: Fly 60’ a turn.
▶ Anti-Magic: Any PC attempting to use a Relic or Ritual against him must first test Spirit DR16.

I, the player, know that the Govenor is a necromancer and is responsible for the island’s curse. I’m hoping to reveal that to Procyon in a fun way at the lighthouse.

Procyon keeps teleporting to dark corners nad staying out of sight. Eventually the Governor storms out of Coral Town towards the Lighthouse.

• Spends 1d8, 1d10 to overcome the Govenor’s Morale and remain undetected.

The Governor mutters something in a strange tone and yanks open the door. He disappears inside and Procyon sees the door seal with some kind of magical sigil. Not getting in that way.

Lighthouse Balcony

Procyon teleports up to the top of the lighthouse balcony. The place is a mess! The beacon has been smashed, the balcony is open to the elements and covered in seagull droppings.

• Gains 1d8 for entering a new area.

As Procyon turns to look down the ruined staircase, something lands on his shell. He takes a feather and analyzes the creature. Just a simple seagull. It should–

Then another lands nearby. And another. And another. They all tilt their heads at the same time and begin pecking and pulling at his shiny metal bits. It’s overwhelming.

4 Scavenging Seagulls: HP 4 Morale 6 Metallic feathers -d2
Claws d4
Bite d4 (1-in-4 risk of infection)

• Gains 4d6 for sampling weak creatures
• Spends 1d4, 1d6 to resist the first seagull’s attacks.
• Spends 1d6 to resist another’s attacks.
• Spends 1d6, 1d10 to resist the 3rd.

The seagulls get agitated, dropping some of the other bits and bobs they had been holding.

• Gains 2d4 for scanning the small handfuls of treasure.
• Spends 1d4, 1d6 to resist the last seagull’s damage.
• Gains 1d10 for completing an area.

In this instance I re-arranged the order of dice, letting Procyon obtain some samples and scan some treasure so he could resist the attacks. Up to you if this counts as cheating or not!

UPDATE: This situation encouraged me to tweak the rule and allow players to accumulate a negative Overpower balance so they can get past difficult encounters like this one. If I were playing it again, I would have definitely had negative Overpower during this part.

Frustrated, the seagulls disperse, allowing Procyon to teleport down the stairs.

Lighthouse Quarters

Procyon carefully teleports to a rafter overlooking the lighthouse quarters. It’s been abandoned for years; beds and tables covered in dust. Procyon waits for his teleporter to recharge as the sun sets below the horizon.

• Gains 1d8 for entering a new area.

A ghostly figure manifests in the room. The old spector strokes his beard and puts the finishes touches on a journal entry.

Ghost: HP 7 Morale 7 No Armor
▶ Cutlass: d6
Ethereal. Can , can be invisible until it attacks, then DR 14 to hit.

“Are ye satisfied? Can not a man write his memoirs in peace? BEGONE!”

• Spends 1d8, 1d6 to power the translator, overcome the ghosts morale, and adopt his strange accent.

Procyon speaks in an equally unsettling voice: “If ye harbor the Governor, surely one more is no trouble.”

The ghost laughs. “That creature is nay human, and he’s nay me guest. If not for his kind daughter, I’d be absorbed into his power.”

Procyon perks up. “You’ve seen his daughter? Where? When?”

The ghost sits back down, looking thoughtful. “The girl came to paint atop the balcony, her father, the sage, accompanied her. I made the mistake of threatening them, but the sage overwhelmed me. Before I could be destroyed, the girl pleaded my case, and I was freed. The Governor and his daughter argued for a time and eventually she left, declaring that the views were likely better at the castle.”

His voice cracks a bit. “I fear I’ve been the cause of yet another lost daughter. Dammit it all.” The ghost begins to pace angrily.

Procyon lights up at the information. “Thank you for the information. I will leave you.” But before he can teleport away, the ghost reaches out a hand. “Please”, the old man pleads, “take me with you. It’s not safe for me here, not while the Governor keeps visiting. My soul is bonded to a purple crystal hidden in the stove.”

Procyon considers, and then uses his force projector to open the stove and retrieve the crystal. “Very well. I will find a safer place to store your crystal.” The ghost smiles a sad smile and fades away.

• Gains 1d20 for scanning a powerful object.
• Gains 2d4 for scanning the small pile of coins.
• Gains 1d10 for completing the area.

Skeleton Point Portcullis

Procyon teleports across the island, making his way to Skeleton Point castle. The old ghost remains alert within the crystal, occasionally dropping bits of advice.

“Are ye daft? Should we not await the sunrise to explore this fortress? At night this place is crawling with skeletons.”

Procyon is impatient however, choosing to ignore the ghost’s warning. Surely his devices will keep him safe. No need to waste any more time in this miserable place.

• Gains 1d8 for entering a new area.

The courtyard looks like the result of a disgusting slaughter. Dozens of skeletons impaled on spikes wiggle and writhe, unable to escape their strange prisons. A few manage to twist free and shamble towards Procyon.

3 Skeletons: HP 5 Morale 8 No Armor
Grave Breath d2
Dagger d4
Small Axe d6

His sleep darts won’t do any good here. Instead, Procyon relies one old-fashioned physics.

• Spends 1d8, 2d4, 1d10 to smash the skeletons against the portcullis, overwhelming their HP.
• Gains 3d6 for taking samples.
• Gain 1d4 for scanning one of the skeleton’s golden manacles.

There are dozens of skeletons here, and Procyon doesn’t care to sample them all; so he won’t benefit from clearing the area.

Procyon sees a path through the portcullis, and teleports into the foyer.

Skeleton Point Foyer

Its dusty, dreary, and…BEAUTIFUL! A massive painting of a stormy mountain range, painted with haunted brush strokes and a deep sense of…frustration mixed with awe. Procyon doesn’t dare to hope that this represents the talents of Veronique. If so, he’s even more motivated to find her.

• Gains 1d8 for entering a new area.
• Gains 3d4 for scanning the painting. It’s not exactly 3 handfuls, but it is valuable.
• Gains 1d10 for completing the area.

Procyon passes through the kitchen and up the stairs to the library.

Skeleton Point Library

The walls are covered in thick metal bookshelves. Before Procyon can peruse the shelves, clanking footsteps come from the stairs.

“Welcome, tiny metal shell, to my humble home. I hope my servants have greeted you properly and made you feel welcome.”

A massive skeleton in conquistador armor enters the room. It flourishes its cape, revealing a well-kept sword sheathed at its side. “As your host, I look forward to welcoming you personally.”

THE BARON: HP 20 Morale - Plate -d6
▶ Expert Rapier: d10
▶ Scream of Death: All who hear it test Presence DR12 or take d6.
▶ Cursed: If killed, he reforms at dawn in the crypt.
▶ Incorporeal during the day.

• Gains 1d8 for entering a new area.
• Spends 4d4, 1d6, and 1d8 to deplete the HP of The Baron.
• Gains 1d12 for sampling a powerful creature.

Lacking weapons to use against this foe, Procyon turns himself into a weapon. He extends his shell, and uses the force projector to turn himself into a cannonball. Battering the Baron over and over, eventually the bones shatter and fall into a heap.

A subtle, echoing laugh echoes around the room. “This isn’t over, little cannonball!”

Procyon scans a few books, and time passes more quickly than he expected.

• Gains 3d4 for scanning valuable books.
• Gains 1d10 for completing the area.

Procyon quickly teleports up the steps as sunlight streams into the room. Hopefully he isn’t too late to track down Veronique.

Skeleton Point Studio

Atop the tower is a small room. Someone has taken advantage of the incredible view and transformed the room into a small art studio. Paints, easels, a few simple chairs, and more fill the space.

• Gains 1d8 for entering a new area.

Procyon almost doesn’t notice the figure leaning against the wall, looking out the window through a telescope.

She finishes her examination of a distant jungle ridge and turns around, appearing startled to see a small glowing cannonball resting on her desk. “Hello? Is this a gift from my beloved?”

Procyon warms up his translator. “Are you Veronique? Your father is worried about you.”

Her expression sours. “Ugh, I don’t know what you are litte sphere, but if my father sent you, then we have nothing else to say. Leave. Now. Before my lord Baron returns and chops you into tiny pieces.”

Procyon tries to soften his synthetic modulator. “I’m afraid I was forced to destroy the Baron in combat. He was very…aggressive.”

She shook her head, and wags her finger. “He’ll be back, and this time he’ll use more than his sword. You had better leave while you can.”

Procyong responds quickly. “In truth, I am here for you. That painting in the lobby…did you make it?”

She looks a little confused. “Yes. What of it?”

“It’s beautiful! The composition is focused, deliberate, but the image is vague and dreamlike. I don’t know how such precise brushstrokes can create such an impression. I would be honored to observe your technique.”

Veronique is amused. “I don’t know if–”

With a loud BOOM the door slams open and a handsome ghost barges inside. He sports a conquistador’s robes, but bears little resemblence to the skeletal monster from the library. “YOU dare to corner my beloved!” the figure bellows, thrusting his hands forward and emitting a scream of energy.

• Spends a d12, d10 resisting the effects of the scream.

The crystal Procyon was carrying, however, doesn’t fare as well. The ghostly old lighthouse keeper materalizes, thrashing in pain, he knocks over a few paintings.

Veronique steps up to the Baron’s ghost. “Peace, my love. This little ball and I were merely talking. Please, don’t disturb the serenity of my studio. I grew up with an angry man controlling my life, and I will not remain with one.”

The Baron lowers his accusing finger. “Are you hurt?” he asks, taking Veronique into a protective embrace. “No, my dearest, everything is alright”, she reassures him.

A gasp of pain from the fallen lighthouse keeper breaks the tension. “Oh no!” Veronique gasps, “Is he okay?”

Procyon examines the crystal, noticing the many cracks within it. “His crystal is damaged. I don’t know how to stabilize him.”

Veronique and the Baron kneel before the old man. The Baron looks at Veronique, and, nodding, makes a promise. “I am sorry for my outburst. You did my no harm and I have killed you. Upon my honor, make any request of me and it shall be done.”

The old lighthouse keeper pulls out his journal from within a coat pocket. “Please.” His voice begins to fade. “I drove my daughter away and this regret has consumed me. Tell her my story. Tell her…I’m sorry.” With a last wavering cough, the ghostly form fades into nothing.

Epilogue

Over the next few weeks Procyon helps the Baron and Veronique keep their promise to the lighthouse keeper.

Veronique paints a beautiful image of the lighthouse as it once was; featuring a loving father and his daughter playing near the shore.

The Baron uses a series of complex arcane rituals to locate the old man’s daughter. Looks like she’s in a distant land, struggling with her own regret and anger towards her father.

Lastly, Procyon reluctantly agrees to deliver the journal, the painting, and the story of what happened to the daughter. At least he won’t have to return to this island. Perhaps this new land will be a little more enlightened?

Even so, Procyon doubts he’ll ever meet another artist as talented, warm, and haunted as Veronique. Haunted in the most beautiful possible way.

Final Score: 35 Overpower.