GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Karen Twelves, Adrienne Mueller, Eric Fattig
System: Spell and Blade
It had been two months between games (due to planned life things that we good) and in that time I had a chance to finish the adventure, create props, and remake the characters that I’d hastily assembled. I was quite pleased to show of these bits in game. Pics from the game at the start of the post this time:
Isn’t that cover sexy? Cris Viana did the template for it and I used some existing art as a placeholder (I plan to commission a piece before it is released). The maps were done in Inkarnate, which I just started using so there’s a lot I’d improve there as well as I get better.
Last time on Spell and Blade
Zaya was curse, they got a lead for a cure on the Blue Quay, and they rode aboard the Candlelight to get there. On the trip, they helped navigate the Dragon Strait, won a competition for who could stay under water the longest at Wat’s Bounty, and found the source of the unnatural storms at Shipbreaker Reef. We started this session on a rowboat frowning from the Candlelight to the Blue Quay. Find all the deets here.
There were a few notes I had from last time to check in with the players:
- Did Thōrgi want to visit the Tkat garden before getting off the ship. They had herbs, rations and Fish Lung (a bladder that holds air) available. Yes, she did! (For next time, think of a couple of cool herbs). Some coin was spent to add items to their gear.
- Did Loka want to challenge the navigator on her beliefs about Zaya (that a cursed one shouldn’t be on the ship?). Yes, she did. Explaining her loyalty to her friend (and a successful sway roll) shifted Vukri position.
I also handed out new packets for Loka and Thōrgi, which meant Karen and Adrienne needed to spend some time rebuilding their characters. It caused some expected confusion because the characters had changed and I got some feedback about the process that I’ll put at the bottom of the post.
I also asked everyone to redo their oaths, as I got it wrong last time (everyone swears an individual oath about how they aid the party, rather than having one they shared). Thōrgi and Loka kept theirs most the same “I’ll have your backs” but Zaya changed hers to “I’ll find the clever solution to our problems.” I think as I run more my oath explanation will improve.
Finally I shared a rough calendar with the players. Strict timekeeping isn’t necessary for this game, but since the curse is getting stronger with time, I wanted to have something. I made this in a way I thought the Tkat might do.
In play we added that Loka improved the crew’s disposition after Wat’s Bounty and that they had a camp with the Fearsome Three after the arrive on the Blue Quay, but before the Gibbous Moon.
A Prophecy
“A lion shedding silver tears as it walked across a great chain.” That’s what Zaya saw in her vision and that’s what I was going to make sure appeared in the game. I had time to think about it and came up with something I was happy about.
The Blue Quay
A lush island filled with soaring palms, brilliant birds of paradise, purple tuluwah, and spiky palmetto.
There as no dock on the island so the heroes had to either swim or buy a rowboat to get their. Swimming would have been easy for Loka, and easier still for Zaya, but Thōrgi has a lot of cooking supplies that shouldn’t get wet, they they others thought Zaya getting in the water was a bad idea.
The heroes opted to land on the eastern beach instead of the rough reefs on the west side. The beach was a wide strip featuring thousands of tiny scratches in the sand, a thin whisp of smoke coming from around the bend. Beyond the beach and into the jungle vision was impenetrable beyond a few feet.
The inspected the scratches and determined they were made by Rock Crab. Tasty meet, but a nearly impenetrable shell. At Thōrgi’s request, Loka caught one in her net and the Thōrgi cracked it open against a rock. She wanted to look cool and do it in a single below (despite the aforementioned very tough shell) so she used enough force that she almost smashed her finger in the process, but deft hands at cracking eggs saved her (mixed result on a craft roll, would have been a physical wound but she resisted it). The other crabs got wise and scattered!
After procuring lunch the investigated the smoke and found a campfire. Zaya studied the footprints nearby and gathered that a group of three people (one with very large prints) were cooking here and put out the fire recently, probably when the Candlelight appeared (Success on a Study roll. In this case I considered “spending extra time to look at everything a gear die).
Thōrgi also collected some of the Purple Tulwah but couldn’t quite remember their medicinal effects other than being calming (1-3 result on a recall roll, I decided it didn’t have any negative effects other than extremely foggy memories).
Into the Jungle
The ventured into dense foliage, stifling hot under the palm canopy. Birds, monkeys, and other animals rustled the trees above and they had the sense that eyes are upon them. It was nearly impossibly to avoid getting lost.
Zaya followed the footsteps into the jungle but they disappeared once they entered it. She pulled out her Blacksilver blade and got to bushwhacking. They made it a fair ways when Zaya spotted a large python about to bite Sverena (her goat). Zaya reflected the light off her blade into the serpents eyes to distract it and then pulled Sverena close. While the snake was hungry, it wasn’t going to attack four target that were aware of it. It slithered back into the trees [Group action. Success on a scramble roll with limited effect, Blacksilver blade counted as gear, but see below, next time I would have said it was too small to be useful bushwhacking].
At every turn the jungle seemed to cut them off from each other but eventually they made their way to small clearing that seemed to be inhabited!
Lookout Tower
A makeshift hut has been built on stilts on a hill in the center on the island. From the base they could see a rope ladder that is coiled up in the hut, something glinting on the top, and they heard whispers from within.
Thōrgi called out. “I’m Thōrgi of Hallenland. We’ve come to this island in search of a temple. We mean you no harm.”
The whispers stopped an a face appeared in the window of the hut “I’m Aia, daughter of Mirima”. Thōrgi recognized her kin’s accent (she was from Mirima as well) but everything else about Aia was strange. She had cracked copper skin revealing flames beneath, ember glowing eyes, and black teeth.
Loka stepped forward “We looking for a cure for a curse. It seems like you might know something about that.”
Another woman appeared in the hut “I’m am Aya, daughter of Verr”. She also had an uncommon appearance. She was pale on one half of her body, and had scabrous flesh on the other, with ghostly, ethereal hair. “It seems you might have been sent here by the Seasinger as well. We think maybe she sent us to this island on a fools errand. What do you want?”
“We brought fresh crab. We’d like to share a meal with you and learn what you can tell us about the island.”
“Okay, we can do that, but you’ll have to leave your weapons with Corrum.”
A giant figure that had no business being able to hide nevertheless stepped out of the bushes behind them and startled Thōrgi. In a deep baritone he said “You could also just stay down here with me.” The man was over seven feet tall, with thick grey skin and a horn protruding from his head.
Loka looked to him “What’s your curse?”
“Oh, nothing, I’m just helping me friends. I’m Corum Caraseen, but they call me Corum the Carefull.” [Corum is beast touched].
Since she was the only one armed and given her proclivity to bite, the party agreed that Zaya would stay down at the base with Corum (he was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be able to bite through his skin, but he also hadn’t seen what it looked like when her mouth burst dozens of sharp teeth).
At just that moment Zaya had to unburden herself of foul sea water again and she allowed it to gush freely. Thōrgi stood between her and Corum, who she thought was very large and muscular and handsome and wondered if he would hit it off with Zaya, who she encouraged to flirt with him relentlessly.
Camping in the tower
Safe in the lookout tower (Thōrgi and Loka) or safe because their trusty goat was on watch (Zaya), the party made camp with their newfound friends. Thōrgi cooked up the crab with herbs she purchased on the Candelight to make a meal for everyone, and they swapped stories. Mostly about their curses (Drowning for Zaya, Spark for Aia, and Wraith for Aya). Both Aia and Aya had words of warning for Zaya about attempting apotheosis and her undead nature respectively, but since Zaya was down on the ground with Corum they only shared them with Thōrgi and Loka.
Loka came down to delver food and check on Zaya “So, how’s it going? Have you made a pass on him yet? He looks so strong. And he said he doesn’t even mind your teeth…”
“No, I haven’t made a pass at him. It’s not like that. I’m not interested in a big guy, I want to find the temple and get rid of this curse before I accidentally eat one of you.”
From the Fearsome Three the learned about the strange shadows they saw on the reefs edge and that they believe the temple is under the water there (which tracks with the stories Loka had heard as well). The agreed to show them the way in the morning. The earth shook beneath them and Loka wondered if this was a not just an island, but a volcanic island…
“Why do people call your the Fearsome Three?” Thōrgi asked.
“Well, we’re pretty terrifying, aren’t we?” Aia asked as she nodded in the direction of her corner of the tower, all covered in scorch marks.
Reef Edge
In the morning (they slept well with the exception of Zaya who had to disgorge foul sea water every hour) the Fearsome Three lead them to the reefs edge on the western side of the island. A jagged reef where the island broke apart ages ago. Massive forms were visible swirling in the waters below. They found a small rowboat is beached at the edge of the reef. and Tuluwah plants growing there. Hanging from the trees were many talismans and charms.
Thōrgi inspected the boat and found it was badly damaged with a giant hole in the hull. She and Loka went about fixing it but with the tools they had at at hand and neither of them trained carpenters, they weren’t sure it would remain seaworthy for long.
Zaya used her mystic sight to study the talismans and saw they had only the faintest of magical signatures. Trinkets that had been imbued with peoples faith and belief, but no god, demon, ancient, deep one, or dragon had touched these. The earth shook again and as she stumbled back, Zaya saw the waters below glowing brilliantly with power from the gods…and something else.
She studied the signature of the magic and felt herself lured in by it. It was so powerful that it wanted to consume her hand make her part of it. Her own Blacksilver blade burned in her hand. Without thinking Zaya dove into the water, felt her teeth grow and gills form as she got closer to the divine and underworld energy beneath the surface, mirroring the same energies inside of her [Failure on a Study Roll. The curse grew and she pushed it to breath underwater.]
Thōrgi and Loka dove in after her and all three of them, spotted the pod of Drill Whales swimming in a circle beneath the surface. The Drill Whales noticed them as well and made to intercept.
Loka saw the whales and the mystic swirls carved or painted into their hides. She could not read the language, but recognized it as the same sigils the Seasinger who sent them on this quest bore. [Mixed result on a Recall roll]. She quickly used divers sign language (something we decided in the moment existed so the Tkat could communicate underwater) to reproduce the same signs in giant sweeping motions. Thōrgi aided by opening a bottle of dark oil in the water so Loka could “paint” with it to make the signs last for a moment. From all she could remember she spelled out there was a curse and they sought the temple of Kahainu to help their friend.
All but one of the whales (who was seeking out Zaya) turned their attention to to Loka, started their sighing and pulsating song. The circled Loka and Thōrgi and welcomed her as one of their own. [Crit on swaying them]. Loka who was unencumbered and at home in the water rose to the surface to take in a big breath, while Thōrgi breathed in from her Fish Lung and held onto the fin on one of the whales to help pull her down.
Meanwhile Zaya, feeling power in her arms and legs, like great fins beneath the water swam for a dark alcove under the surface in the island wall, Something had been damaging the island base and it made for many cracks in the island that she could hide it. Miraculously, It worked and the Drillwhale passed by her, but as it did, her bloodlust nearly overcame her and she felt a compulsion to sink her many teeth into the whales soft hide. Zaya resisted this urge but not without great strain [Mixed result on a desperate scramble. I thought about the Drillwhale clipping her before she made it into the crevasse but the bloodthirsty choice was felt right. Eric had the choice of attacking the Drillwhale (with a bite attack sure to draw blood and grow the curse) or take three resolve wounds to hold back. He took the later and resisted two of them]. Feeling the irresistible need to bite something, Zaya grabbed kelp nearby and viciously tore it apart with her teeth, though it offered her nothing to sate her cravings.
Waters below
As the heroes swam down towards the long shadows under the surface they found the true threat below the waves: Stonebreaker, Beast of Storms. A colossal hammerhead shark with bruised and mottled skin. Harpoons prickling its hide with chains hanging from them. Giant stitches from where it was once cleaved in half and sewn back together.
The swam for their lives. Loka leading them, Thōrgi holding onto the fin of a Drill Whale, and Zaya joining her allies from the shadows (though she noticed as certain kinship with the monstrosity and knew was not coming for her). With the aid of the Drill Whales fending it off Loka and Thōrgi avoided it terrible ram and vicious bite. Instead it took another pass at the island smashing it’s head into the rocks causing the island to shake and stones to tumble down below.
When the got low enough Loka and Thōrgi saw a temple made of brilliant stone and as their air was running out, they wasted no time to observe it’s majesty. The giant stone door was cracked open and they swam inside, praying they would find a pocket of air, as they were both feeling pains growing in their chest. The drew again from their Fish Lung, leaving the bladders deflated.
Temple of Kahainu
Zaya however felt at home in this place and less of an urge to go inside a temple to a god she did not know. When she beheld the ocean floor, she was able to take in the massive stone edifice surrounded by coffins wrapped in chains floating beside it, and wreckage littering the ocean floor.
The coffins, despite being metal, floated and would have drifted to the surface had they not been anchored to the ocean floor with heavy chains. One of them caught her eye. The carvings on it looked familiar. When she got closer she saw the etchings on it were that of a lion. Not just any lion, but the Crimson Loin, prince and son of King Verr, that legend told was turned into an undead knight. The chains around the coffin were black, but she saw that where they scraped against the coffin, and the metal was visible, that they were silver chains meant to bind the undead. They were held bound by a great blacksilver padlock, which she remembered was called the Silver Tear for the tears King Verr wept when he had to cage his son. [Prophecy fulfilled baby!]
Just then, the coffin shook with life, or worse, with something else. Zaya wondered what she would find inside, but her oath to her fellow heroes reminded her to that they might need her aid. They could not breath underwater as she could.
Vestibule
Inside, a forest of kelp stocks grew upward. A glow came from the vaulted ceiling above. The water inside gently surged back and forth. Loka and Thōrgi swam with great vigor towards the light and discovered that there was a pocket of air in the vaulted ceiling. The stone, though opaque, transferred light from outside and the kelp that grew below created air that they gratefully inhaled. When Zaya joined them she briefly choked on the air, forgetting how to breath with her lungs. She spasmed for a moment, chomped at the sea and water around her, spit out a tooth, and finally gasped and remembered how to breath again.
Here companions saw her state and her hunger and fury and urged her to stay with them and continue deeper in the temple.
Tidal Hall
Even at the entrance to this hall, a strong current of preternaturally blue water pulled everything inward towards a tunnel of coral growing inside the temple. Moments later as the water ebbed, it pushes out with equal force. Along the wall and the coral were blue starfish, stuck like barnacles.
Thōrgi inspected the starfish, but before she could think to smash them on a rock like she had the crab, Loka shook her head. She didn’t know exactly why, but they seemed sacred to her. Thōrgi inspected on and realized it held fast to the walls and they could be used as handholds to pull themselves through the narrow gaps between the sharp edges of the coral. [🎵 UNDERWATER ROCK CLIMBING 🎵].
As Zaya lead them through the passage, they made use of the blue starfish and tried to control their speed, but the surge was to strong and at one point Zaya and Thōrgi and were sent thrashing through the water and cut by the sharp coral edges. Though he was far away. Zaya instinctively knew that Stonebreaker smelled their blood! Loka however was more adept at moving in the water and narrowly dodged the sharp edges [Group action scramble. Mixed success, everyone took one physical wound except Loka who resisted].
As they passed through the Bluewater it was so salty felt weightless within it.
Sanctum of Kahainu
The surge sent them all splashing forward onto steps that lead to a sanctum above, where they could once again beath. Loka and Thōrgi finally took in a good breath of air, but Zaya thrashed and choked as she had to remember once more how to use her lungs. She felt a itch on her neck and realized a starfish had attached itself to her. She tried to bit it, but could not twist her head enough to do it.
The walls of the sanctum (where not damage by falling rocks from Stonebreaker’s attacks) were covered in extensive mystic sigils akin to those the whales bore. In the center there was a font of more blue water that filled the whole room with the smell of salt.
Thōrgi collected some of it in bottle, but found that after she had taken one sample, none of her other containers would fill. Loka noticed that Thōrgi and Zaya’s cuts, though ugly, were in the same pattern as the sigils on the whales, the same as the script on the walls. Thōrgi and Zaya had been Marked [both gained the Marked trait]. The irony that she was the only Tkat among them, and the only one not marked by her goddess.
We ended the sesion as they studyied the glyphs on the walls, heard the whale song as the blue water flowed in, and realized that if they sang when the water ebbed, the whales, the first Guardians of Kahainu, would hear them as well!
As they took in the majesty of the sanctum the shook from a great rock above crashing into. Stonebreaker’s hunger was not yet sated.
Heroic Deeds
As the Gauridans were legendary creatures, each hero gained one Cunning deed for finding a way to avoid being impaled by their deadly horns. Further Loka gained an Honor speaking to them honestly and being accepted as their own. Thōrgi gained a cunning deed for thinking to use her oil as a way to draw in the water. Finally Zaya earned a Sacrifice deed for fighting her own hunter and not tearing into the delicious flesh as one of them passed her by!
Next Time on Spell and Blade
The heroes have a chance to learn the songs of Kahainu. What will will the do when the sing them? Will the find a way to rid Zaya of her curse? Will the face the colossal Stonebreaker? Or will Zaya succumb to her hunger and join the terrible creature in its rampage?
Playtest Feedback
Here’s notes from the players as well as my own observations. Many of these are excepted hiccups when running an adventure for the first time. I’m excited to refine it and run it again soon.
Character options: “Add wounds” makes it sound like you’re suffering wounds rather than increasing the number of wounds you can take. Reword that.
Having the ships trade in one good, but prize another was confusing. Consider removing things they prize (they are uncommon materials that players may not recognize anyway).
Underline as many as you like wasn’t clear. Work on clarifying that some options are pick one, and some are pick one or more.
Questions about backstory (family, childhood friend, etc) didn’t feel relevant as those characters weren’t in the game. Consider trimming those down or making them more germane to the character.
What box to check when you resist was confusing (why not check the middle boxes between 4D and 3D?). Also what you could “uncheck” during camp required a bit of review. “Slow” traits (that only refresh during town) were also confusing.
We did have a camp, and the players decided to share things about themselves (or about each other) which was great. The mechanical incentive (and reminder) to learn more about the characters worked!
Both Aia an Aya had warnings for Zoya, but because they spent so little time together, they didn’t come out. Next time I think they’d just go down to the beach to camp together. No need to split the party during a camp scene.
I realized I made another big simple giant character who is just there to support others. Do I have a type? Yes I do. Anywho, I like Corum the Carefull.
For each location I had things that could be inspected for more detail. I realized some of them I was better at calling out than others. I want to practice the technique Dadi uses to frame “this is an interesting thing to look at” (Called Highlight Interactables). I don’t want to fully video game-ify my adventures. But I realize it’s easy to bury the lead if you say “there’s some wreckage on the ocean floor” vs. “there is a sunken Tkat ship on the ocean floor, clearly destroyed by violence.” That’s both a writing skill (putting enough of a hook in the description) and a GM skill (giving it a moment to highlight it).
Also, I need to be cognizant that when there’s not pressure (e.g. on the beach) players will investigate everything, but when there is pressure (under water, holding your breath, with a giant shark chasing you) players are going to skip right past things to address the challenge at hand. I have two tactics for that. The first is to make the things that are in high pressure areas, extra shiny. The second is to make sure I’m not putting anything too critical in those areas.
I think I did a poor job of separating the “water below” from the “outside of the temple”. Those are basically both the same location, so I should combine them into one location rather than try to distinguish between them by making them artificially separate.
Design wise it may be a bad idea to offer the reef edge as a “landing” spot since it skips over the island. I think I should keep it but present enough challenges with landing their that they are either dissuaded or learn through the challenges more of what’s going on.
I think I could have made the Fearsome Three more, well, fearsome. They were pretty amicable and happy to tell the heroes what they had tried and learned so for. I also didn’t have a great reason for them not to go on the rest of the adventure with them. So my design note is to a) give them more reason to be suspicious (maybe someone else came and attacked them, or maybe they only feel at home among others who are cursed) and b) give them a concrete reason not to want to go under water (their boat was destroyed by a Drillhorn whale and they don’t have any way of holding their breath long enough to get to the bottom).
I was surprised that our Master Chef didn’t have the ability to turn one ration into five, which I misremembered from the Home Cooking trait. I think since neither of them have Push abilities, it might be worth combining them and making one of the effects a push ability, e.g
Roll craft to create dishes of astonishing quality. When you Work a Job in a Town Phase you can always find someone to hire you to feed them, and earn +1 coin. Push this trait when cooking a meal to: use one use of supplies to feed up to five people—boost a roll to lead groups to cook enough to feed an army.
I forgot that the blacksilver blade is the size of dagger, not a sword, so it probably shouldn’t have counted as gear for scrambling through the bush. Not a huge deal, but next time I’d made it harder.
Since I gave scrambling limited effect in navigating the jungle, I should have called for a second test (e.g. okay, you’ve made good progress, but now you’re lost, or how to you keep from getting separated when every time you walk around a corner, you lose track of each other, etc). In future runs, I likely rule that unless precautions are taken, getting lost and/or separated is more of a threat.
Create more opportunities for Thōrgi to find Dragon Prawns. According to the description the are “prawns harvested by the Tkat, when they can fight off the giant crabs that steal their nets” so I guess I need some more giant crabs! [Add to notes for next time to ask Thōrgi if she wants to ask the Fearsome Three about giant crab spotting].
Thōrgi was loading up on supplies (fish lungs, herbs, crab, tulwah plant, salt from the sea floor, etc). Next time remember to check load at the start of the adventure and have folks add load as they collect things. Some of these like salt and herbs would be 0 load, but the others are big enough that it matters. Also, remind that some of these things can be purchased as needed as flashbacks.
Is it too silly to have two characters with names that sound identical (Aia and Aya). I feel like it is dumb joke that only I find funny. I should probably change one of them.
I forgot to mention the island shaking till they got to to camp. This is a remined to seed this in every location. Loka thought it might be a volcano, which it wasn’t but I like that idea an imagery, this could be a volcanic island, or there could be one nearby.
Reminder that Tuluwah don’t grow on the beach, only the reef. Not a big deal but I can just remove it from the general island description and introduce them on the reef.
I need to add details for what things look like (starting at the water’s edge and from there on) when you look at it with Mystic Sight.
I think the nature of Legendary Creatures (and their Legendary Questions) means I let the players off a bit easy with Stonebreaker, but I think that was actually the right call. By having him be introduced it’s a chance to announce future badness. He was scary, but now that he has their blood scent he’s going to be a nightmare. Excited to see what they do!
