All PCs have the Fresh condition and no others.
Party: Durganor, Clough, Tancred, Haar, Ganna, [Grimm]
Early Autumn, Southern Edge of the Black Forest
Prince Farquad's forces made their mark in the summer campaign - the Sorcerer's Tower was sieged and taken, the Crossroads and remote villages chose to swear allegiance rather than face decimation. The Dwarf Halls prepare for winter siege and war. Outcasts of the conflicts, this unlikely band of allies found themselves united by their campfire and stewpot in the forest's eaves, moving every few days to avoid coming under scruitiny.
Last night, just before dawn, that routine was broken by the beaten and bedraggled prisoners who stumbled weeping into your campsite to fall at your feet. They escaped, emaciated and starving, covered in sores and wounds from mistreatment, to tell you their tale. No more than a mile distant along the Old Canyon Road, Farquad's men have established an outpost and shrine. It hides the truth - their brutal overpowering of the canyon's goblins, their enslavement to mine the rich copper ore, and their desicration of the ancient Pool. They hold other prisoners secretly within the palisade as well, victims of other conquests, waiting transfer to their ultimate fates. Whether moved by their mistreatment, eager to avenge a grudge on the human soldiers, desire to stop oppression, fear for your safety so close to such a threat, or curiosity of the other prisoners and shrine locations, you pack your camp and investigate...
You've travelled the forest's edge to where the Old Canyon Road bends westward. The forest lies a few hundred yards distant, sprawling its dark and forboding limbs on the far side of the canyon from which the road derives its name. A deep canyon, hundreds of feet deep with sheer cliff walls and an uncrossable gap at the top, the glimmer of a small river rushing below.
From the goblin's tale, you know that the palisade protects a pilgrim shrine on the roadside, which justifies the soldier's presence. They tell you the shrine defiles the true place of power in the caverns below. The trail down the canyon wall leads to an spacious upper alcove in the cliffside where the humans have made their barracks and they guard the only remaining entrances to the goblin caves, which are now otherwise blockaded and turned into squalid prisons. The goblins are mistreated and forced to mine the copper ore veins in the canyon walls, filling ore buckets that are winched up and down to fulfill the human's greed...
Step 1: State your goal for this session. It should be achievable within the expected setting, before we return to town.
For example, Durganor background presents a clear goal of "I will regain my confidence in battle." Mechanically, he needs to face a fight and succeed at one Fighter test (which is enough to raise his Fighter skill back to 2, and narratively "regain his confidence.") Clough wants to aim for "coins and cleavage" - knowing the humans are smelting copper here, he might pick "I'll leave with my arms full of coins for my trouble."
Step 2: Roleplay. In this game, you engage in freeform roleplay until something happens.
- Discuss options IC if you wish to debate your course (keep your OOC in spoilers and be IC as much as possible).
- Stating an IC action is committing to that action. Once you do so, I'll either narrate success or present you a skill and obstacle number for you to do a roll. (If it's not an instinct, everyone else has an opportunity to participate and help.)
- Remember to play to your beliefs (which give rewards at the end of each session), invoke your instincts whenever appropriate, and try to achieve the goal you made.
- I expect we'll do rule discussion as we go - you guys are all learning. Put questions and thoughts in spoiler tags and I'll respond the same way. It is easy for red text to drown us in this game, so being thoughtful and aware of it will help.
