GM: Eric Fattig
Players: Adrienne Mueller, Karen Twelves, Sean Nittner
System: Under Hollow Hills
We picked back up on our Under Hollow Hills game. Mostly playing the same character but I came back as Curly Q, the Lostling (the human girl who followed the circus from Calistoga into the Fey). I had some delight filling out the character sheet, trying to get as close to the way Eric depicted her last session as possible. I chose to have all of my features be on the “Careful” side instead of the “Free” side, since Curly Q seemed like a very careful girl, but since she did abandon her home and run off with the circus, I chose one “Free” option, that her hair was unbraided and wavy.
We were invited to Grandfather Sun’s day, which happens every year, and without fail features someone breaking Grandfather Sun’s prized vase Chauncy, him throwing a fit and kicking everyone out, and then retreating into his home for winter to repair his vase and treasured companion.
Grandfather Sun’s Manse
Big, rustic, a bit shabby and run down, with a giant courtyard. In the center, of course was Chauncy, sparkling bright after just being cleaned. A few new flowers inside him. Arms at his side, delighted by all the attention.
Delilah Drowning found Curly Q lathering sunscreen on her face, oily white cream, made mostly of zinc, that would never absorb into her skin. “Did I miss a spot? If we’re going to meet the sun, I had better have protection.”
Delilah smiled and shared with Curly Q the rules of Grandfather Sun’s Manse, which Curly Q was quick to write in her notebook:
- You must never step on your shadow. Practically speaking that means you can’t ever walk away from Grandfather Sun, he has to walk away from you.
- You must not break Chauncy Roundbottm. Curly Q could not fathom a reason why she would break a vase, but she did not know the legacy of the day.
- Be very careful with that bit of metal you have there. Curly Q had no idea that she meant the iron rings that was part of the bit and tackle she used on her goats, so she put away her brass fire poker, as it was the closest thing she had to weapon.
Old Jesper was taking her time getting ready, so Curly Q knocked on her door, staying off the wagon stairs so that when it swung open she wouldn’t get clobbered by it, but Old Jesper had a stable door, and she only opened the top half. Curly Q shook her head for getting it wrong again, but then climbed the stairs to peer in. “Old Jesper, we’ve arrived. It’s time to…you know, put on the show.”
Old Jesper was taking her time preparing, combing through her jewelry, and she appraised Curly Q’s brown overalls and polished Mary James and pointed the young woman to her impossibly overstuffed closet and told her “just go grab something.” [Open Up To Someone]
Curly Q could not tell one article of clothing apart from another, they were packed so tight. She pushed her hand in to try and grab one, and then fell in completely, lost in the closet. Ah well, she’d probably find her way out eventually.
Appraising the Audience
Delilah Drowning mingled among the collected crowd, which included the prime minister and vice minister from the Ministry of Clocks, a badger who was preparing the meals, the Frog Queen and her entourage, a witchy person, an artsy person, and of course Chauncey, delighted to see everyone.
She [Sniffed The Wind] and spotted just over the horizon the red tuft of flossy hair from a creature that could only be Great Big Dolly, or sometimes just Big Dolly, or GBD.
GBD, who was so titanic her head was never in frame, was a perfect candidate to break Chauncy, and the conniving sort might imagine someone invited her for just that reason.
Grandfather Sun, gracious host
Old Jesper told Delilah that Curly Q was lost in her closet. “Oh dear, I hope she makes it out. Maybe she’ll find Sunny in there, we lost his mages ago.” Absolute models of parental behavior!
The approached our host Grandfather Sun and he was delighted to see them. “What an honor it is to have the Nightmare Horse in my humble abode!” Though gracious, after sometime it became clear that he was not going to leave, and you couldn’t leave him, so Jesper had to follow as he gave her the tour of the great hall. “Oh, isn’t that the Frog Queen?” was enough to get Delilah free, but Jesper was trapped. [Miss on Put Them Off]
Curly Q appeared in the hall, she had found her way out of the wardrobe. She was wearing a giant mirrored sandwich board that reflected all light cast on her, so she would never cast a shadow! It was also so big that she could barely move without clunking the base of the board on the ground. It made bowing or looking down impossible.
Here presence however, drew the attention of Grandfather Sun, and Old Jesper was able to escape. Curly Q stayed and conversed with her host. “Your suit if covered with patches on patches, it looks very old. You are quite old, aren’t you?” She said with no savvy at all.
“Rather aged, yes I am.” Grandfather Sun said with great delight.
Curly Q pressed, as she normally does, to learn who Grandfather Sun really was, and what he wanted. [See Through Someone].
We, as a table talked about Grandfather Sun’s repeated behavior and what might be behind it.
- I thought he was the kind of guy who was only happy when he had something to be angry about. He liked going on a tear.
- Adrienne suspected that this was the way he recharged. He’s old and tired and putting Chauncy back together is something he likes doing, but he can’t admit any of that.
- Karen pointed out that he wants it to be everyone else’s fault that he ends the party. He needs an alibi and can’t just say he’s tired and wants to rest.
We liked all of these ideas and thought they all could be true, so they were!
Ministry of Clocks
Delilah Drowning approached the Prime Minister of Clocks, a tall fellow much like a grandfather clock, accompanied by his vice minister, a woman with an hourglass figure. “Greetings ministers, anything you are looking forward to at the occasion?”
The prime minister answered for both of them “Oh yes, excited to see someone in due time.”
Further into the conversation Delilah realized three things. The PM was nervous, he was the one who broke Chauncy a few years ago and had just now been forgiven. He didn’t want to repeat the offense. If anyone was going to get kicked out, he hoped it would be the Frog Queen “I’m sure you’ve smelled her” he said snidely. Finally, his vice minister did not like her boss very much, and would eagerly take his place if she could. [Size Someone Up]
That Artsy Fellow
Next Old Jesper and Delilah approached the artsy fellow, who looked like a cloud stuffed into a suit.
He greeted them nervously “Most charmed. My name is Nimbus.”
“Your first time?” Jesper inquired
“Oh, is it obvious?” He fretted
Delilah and Jesper said “No” and “Yes” at the the same time.
“Well, I think you for your kindness and your honesty” he said to them in turn.
Through conversation Old Jesper got a chance to inspect his invitation and confirmed her suspicion. It was a fake! She suspected someone wanted him here to rain the parade, or to block Grandfather Sun’s light. The invitation smelled of brimstone. Old Jesper was delighted in having her suspicions confirmed and wasn’t at all upset about the ruse. She encouraged Nimbus to go and be bold “You should mingle. I’m sure everyone here would be delighted to meet you!”
Privately to Delilah she said “Someone sent him a fake invitation. Someone witchy!”
Hazel Newt-Toe
Curly Q had finally escaped Grandfather Sun’s gravity well and rejoined her companions as they talked to the other witch-folk present Hazel Newt-Toe, a tiny figure (even smaller than Curly Q) who was all full of mischief that she’d never admit.
Old Jesper and Delilah confirmed Hazel sent an invitation to Nimbus but not exactly why. It seemed she wanted him there as some kind of insurance policy rather than to spoil the party. She knew GBD was coming needed to be prepared.
Old Jesper tried to glean more “Clouds can be stormy, no?”
Hazel tutted with delight “Not this one. I picked him for his mild temperament.”
Curly Q appreciated the nuance of their words but disapproved of the deception. It’s okay to say one thing and mean that thing and another thing on top of it, but to say one thing and not mean it, that’s a lie and she hated lies. She called out Hazel but instead of being the voice of truth, she just insulted her, and fey take insults very seriously.
“You dare accuse me little girl. I’ll give you something to reflect on.” Hazel poked at Curly Q with her bony finger and the young woman stumbled backward, tripped over her sandwich board back, and crashed to the ground shattering her mirrors, and becoming trapped in one of their shards. [Miss on Confront Someone, shifted from Careful to Free and changed her polished Mary Janes in for muddy boots]
Everyone started at the sound, assuming it was Chauncey breaking, and we relieved when the realized he still whole. Everyone except Grandfather Sun, who looked mildly disappointed. Old Jesper quickly snatched up the shard containing Curly Q before the house staff cleaned up the rest of the broken mirror.
Into the Mud
Old Jesper handed the shard of glass to Delilah, who stepped into the mud with Curly Q as a reflection and pulled her out in human form. Curly Q was covered from head to toe in mud, where as Delilah was spotless because of “witchy reasons”.
She instructed Curly Q to “Go back to Old Jesper’s and find a new costume. And if you find him in there, bring Sunny back with you.”
“Ohhh…that’s who that was.” Curly Q said as thought it was a great epiphany.
The Occassion
We started the show with Curly Q and Sunny (finally saved from the closet) taking tickets. Curly Q was wearing a create moon headpiece and Sunny, as his namesake would suggest and in honor of hour host, was wearing a great sun.
When they took everyone’s invitations, Curly Q inspected them carefully to find forgeries. Sure enough, when Great Big Dolly’s foot through knee came into frame and Curly Q looked up to ask for her invitation, a slip of parchment came floating down. When inspected however, the handwriting looked a bit too neat, it was almost perfect…like clockwork. “Wait a sec—” [Miss on sizing someone up]
Curly Q’s question was cut off by a sharp sting her her back. The Prime Minister of Clocks had a knife to her back, and without the protective mirror board, she was at his mercy. He escorted her off to the main house and locked her up inside a grandfather clock.
When he turned to leave however, there was Old Jesper, the Nightmare Horse. She had been working security and noticed that Curly Q was not at her post. Very unlike the very rules following young woman.
Old Jesper put her hand to the PMs forehead and he fell into a deep sleep, troubled by nightmares, unable to force himself awake. The power of her magic so strong that Old Jesper could not wake him if she wanted to either.
She opened the door to find Curly Q inside holding the clocks pendulum like a weapon, and was surprised and relieved to see Old Jesper!
The quickly made it back to the tent and Curly Q made sure the GBD was seated in the back where she could clap all she wanted but wouldn’t block anyone’s view or endanger Chauncey [Changing her fortune by name from being the one everyone expected to break the vase, to being the life of the party. Unanimous vote!]
Old Jesper had done her job as security, but she has further machinations. She sat down in the PMs seat (knowing it wasn’t taken) and told the VM about what had happened, offering her two options. “You could stay in your seat for the rest of the show and let things play out as they will. Or you could go seize the opportunity and owe me a favor for giving it to you.” The VM nodded and agreed a favor would be owed indeed. She snuck out of the audience and by the end of the show, the VM was the new PM of the Ministry of Clocks!
Our first act was a conjuring act done by Delilah. Chauncey was of course in center stage, as we were all here to celebrate him, but Delilah conjured a mist to conceal him. When the mist cleared, he was protected by it for the rest of the evening, stopping him from breaking. [Changing Chauncy’s fortune as well]
Next up were the jugglers, who of course juggled no other than Chauncy, who loved being tossed about. However, when he was dropped, the mist protected him and he did not break. This was all…a little dull for everyone. The suspense was gone and soon everyone, including Grandfather Sun grew bored.
Grandfather Sun, seeing that Chauncey would not be broken this evening, eventually retired on his own, a little…dissapointed.
However, as soon as he left, the Dandyseed players came out and played a raucous tune. Everyone realized that with Grandfather Sun in bed and Chauncey safe, they could finally relax and enjoy the party. We celebrated until the last rays of summer yielded to fall [Advance the season] and nobody was in trouble! Well, nobody except the former prime minister, likely locked up in a clock himself by now.
Epilogue
As the party wound down we had a few moments between the players. Old Jesper found Curly Q cleaning the muddy tracks she had accidentally left in Jesper’s wagon when she want to get her second costume and gave her some advice “Next time, just reach your hand into my closet. Sunny has been missing for 50 years.”
Delilah greeted Sunny who she had missed all this time and invited him back to her wagon to brush Scamper’s fur, he was always the best at that.
Nimbus was indeed popular. He taught everyone a new dance “Everybody do the Nimbus, the Nimbus is a dance…”
Hazel applauded our efforts and told Delilah “Well done, that was unexpected.” The the two witches wheezed “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” until the sun set completely.
Thoughts on the Game
We had a great time. Fattig’s occasion was delightful as were all the characters. There were a few things about the rules we noticed that gave us pause during game.
- In a three player game, if everyone has two votes, and you can’t vote for your own circus action, it means every circus action can (and did) get unanimous approval.
- Some of the moves had questions that felt a bit like sledgehammers to the plot. Here are all these beautiful characters and a single play could reduce them down to their base desires and force answers from them. After some discussion we agreed that some of our plays should have had more narrative scaffolding to explain how the knowledge was gleaned and the contest for the answers (mingling with someone, casting a scrying spell, listening in on conversations, etc).
