Final Character Sheets

Pinterest for the campaign

Arjen - Fighter(Grimworld)(2). Damage d6, hit points 16.

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
13 (+1)	9 (+0)	6 (-1)	7 (-1)	6 (-1)	7 (-1)

Alignment: Neutral: gain fame or wealth

Race: Human; worships Balinor; Survival

Moves: Armoured; Weapon Specialization: Two-handers; Battle-Ready; Combat Awareness; Sundering Blows

Equipment: Leather armour, short sword, spear, 40 gold coin, bedroll, adventurer’s kit, 12 rations; 40 gold coin

Appearance: 21 years old, 6’1”. Arjen is roughly-dressed in homespun brown peasant’s trousers and a leather hauberk (still bearing burn marks in places). He carries a shortsword.

Background: A lumberjack from near Wyr in Aundair. His parents were farmers; he lived in a rural community there during a period of decline, due to the Last War, the loss of the nearby Eldeen Reaches when it declared independence, and a loss of people due to urbanisation as the technology of the Five Nations began to change the way of life of ordinary people.

Personality: Arjen has always lived a rural life and is adventuring partly to escape from the changes that are eroding that way of life in his homeland. He is somewhat in awe of all magical and strange things; he shies away from a fight, and is more comfortable scouting ahead than joining the fight. Worships the Host, particularly Balinor.

Sakhisli - Channeler(3). Damage d4, hit points 26.

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
11 (+0)	14 (+1)	16 (+2)	8 (-1)	9 (+0)	12 (+0)

Alignment: Chaotic: Use your conduit to cause great disorder or chaos

Race: Dwarf; conduit for flame, emanating from her fingers

Moves: Summon Elemental; Trickle; Channel; Techniques: Gout of Flame: blast, 2 piercing; Elemental Protection; Callus; Thread the Needle

Equipment: Leather armour; blanket; 0 rations; 40 gold coin; flaming spearhead (Awkward, Fiery); cursed dragonshard

Appearance: a stout dwarf woman; 4’0”, 49 years old. She wears red trousers and a leather hauberk, and carries an old dwarven forge hammer. She wears her black hair in a long braid. The left side of her face and left arm were badly burned recently.

Personality: She can be loudmouthed and her temper flares sometimes. Otherwise, she is happy to work as part of a group, and willing to do hard work without complaining.

Background: Born in the Mror Holds in north-eastern Khorvaire. She was a smith, born to a family of smiths, and has spent at least twenty years working a forge. She was forced to leave her homeland and her people for unknown reasons; she worked as a blacksmith in Atur for a while, but grew tired of such routine work and decided to seek riches by a faster route, joining the Clifftop Adventurer’s Guild around a month before the current expedition to Xen’drik was formed. She was badly burned by a fire mephit during the fire giants’ attack, and seems to have gained some ability with fire magic as a result of that exposure. Worships Onatar, of the Sovereign Host.

Kyorlin - Hunter(3). Damage d8, hit points 22.

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
9 (+0)	16 (+2)	14 (+1)	15 (+1)	13 (+1)	11 (+0)

Alignment: Chaotic: Free someone from literal or figurative bonds

Race: Drow elf: When you undertake a perilous journey through wilderness, one job you take you succeed at

Moves: Revenge; Hunt and Track; Hunter’s Mark; I Wander Alone; Set The Trap; Hawkeyed; Lone Wolf

Equipment: Leather armour; shortbow; arrows(3); 1 ration; 80 gold coin; long hunting knife and a dagger; athame (magical, cancels or probes magical effects); giant-sized twilight mithril chain shirt

Appearance: 5’7”, 130 years old. Kyorlin is grey-skinned, slender, with white hair but a young face for an elf. He wears well-fitted leathers, made himself from his kills as a jungle hunter; his clothes are grubby from years of travelling the jungles of Xen’drik. He carries two long-bladed hunting knifes on his belt, and a shortbow on his back.

Personality: Kyorlin is intelligent and thoughtful; he can act in haste when required but prefers to have time to plan. The loss of his brother to fire giants has affected him, time will tell how. He hates fire giants, and resents their presence in Xen’drik far more than the outsiders from Khorvaire. A worshipper of Vulkoor, the scorpion god.

Background: He was born into one of the Vulkoorim drow tribes that populate the jungles of Xen’drik. Trained as a hunter from a young age, he has a hundred years of experience in the harsh and unforgiving wilderness; the only other civilisation that he has seen is the city of Stormreach. With his brother, he left his tribe some years ago for reasons yet unknown, and has made a living as a guide for Khorvairian expeditions through the jungle. His brother was recently killed by fire giants.

Languages:
Arjen: Common
Kyorlin: Giantish, Common
Sakhisli: Dwarven, Common

16. Inheritance of the Sulatar

Mythic GME Chaos Rank: 9
Scene setup: d10=9 (Altered scene)

This was going to be the scene of Sakhisli being interrogated, but instead we’ll start with Kyorlin.

Defy Danger(Con)(Arjen): 2D6(4 5) -1 = 8 Partial success.
Condition no worse, but no better.

No-one gets to heal, of course.

Defy Danger(Dex)(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 5) +2 = 10 Success!
You slip your bonds.

Kyorlin sat, slumped, against the wooden stake to which he had been tied, back to back with Arjen who was in the same predicament. The drow had secured them close to their campfire, and one Sulatar warrior was watching them while the others gathered firewood or fussed over Sakhisli.

Discern Realities(Kyorlin): 2D6(4 6) +1 = 11 Success!
What is about to happen?
What happened here recently?
What here is useful or valuable to me?

The dwarf was unconscious and badly hurt, Kyorlin could see, but the Sulatar were taking great interest in her. They had done nothing for his own wounds, but they were binding Sakhisli’s wounds. The Sulatar commander was standing over her, directing the work. The dwarf’s fire magic must have caught their interest; we would be dead already otherwise.

Kyorlin’s was in pain down his side, and he had lost a lot of blood from the wound there, inflicted by the Sulatar this morning. His head still ached from where one of the Sulatar had bashed him with her shield. But he knew that he needed to keep thinking and working on an escape: the Sulatar would show no mercy to a follower of Vulkoor. He worked furiously with his hands, pretending to be in a daze while actually looking around the camp. After a few minutes, he had slipped his hands out of the bonds; he remained in place, with his back to Arjen, waiting for the guard to be distracted.

The Sulatar had now bound Sakhisli’s hands and tied her to a tree with chains; having lost so many of their patrol to her fire magic, they were not taking any chances it seemed. Looking around the camp, Kyorlin could see his bow and hunting knife, lying in front of one of the tents that the Sulatar had erected.

“Wake her,” said the commander, in Giantish.

One of the warriors stepped forward, and backhanded Sakhisli across the face with their mailed gauntlet. After that failed to rouse the dwarf, they grabbed her hair and shook her until she groaned.

“It’s time to answer for your crimes, dwarf,” said the commander.

Sakhisli’s head hung forward, and she struggled weakly against the chains.

“Where are you from?” The commander spoke in Giantish, and one of the soldiers translated to Common.

“Sharn,” said Sakhisli.

“Why did you come here?”

Sakhisli was looking around now; she looked over and her eyes met Kyorlin’s. She bared her teeth, as if in anger; Kyorlin looked away. She tried to save me from them, and got caught herself; does she blame me?

The commander repeated the question, but before it was translated, Sakhisli replied—in Giantish. “That is in the past. I am here, and that is all that matters now.”

Kyorlin was stunned; Sakhisli had never spoken a word of his language before, but she spoke now as if the words came easily—albeit with an odd accent. The Sulatar exchanged glances, and there was some murmuring amongst the soldiers. The commander raised an eyebrow, and continued, “You speak our language?”

“I speak it.”

“Your friend told us that you seek Kappefesting. Know that the places of our forefathers and their benefactors belong to the Sulatar; we will kill any outsider that seeks them out. Do you know how to reach Kappefesting?”

Defy Danger(Int)(Kyorlin): 2D6(6 1) +1 = 8 Partial success.
You see what’s coming, but there’s so little time. Put someone in a spot

She doesn’t but I do. And she is going to tell them. The guard who was watching him was distracted, looking towards Sakhisli in surprise, so Kyorlin took his chance. He rose to a crouch and darted behind the guard, across to where his bow and dagger lay, grabbing them up as Sakhisli replied.

“No. Esinor had a map, and Kalina knew it—but she died. Now only the Vulkoorim scout knows it.”

Defy Danger(Dex)(Kyorlin): 2D6(4 2) +2+1 = 9 Partial success.
You have a head start.

Defy Danger(Con)(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 2) +1 = 6 Failure!
But falter due to your wounds

Kyorlin bolted into the trees as heads turned towards him. There were several shouts, and the commander yelled, “Stop him!”

Kyorlin ducked under some hanging vines and ran. The pain in his side made him stumble, but he stayed on his feet and kept moving, moving fast through the treacherous roots and creepers of the jungle floor. A glance back showed him that several Sulatar were in pursuit, spread out to try to encircle him, but they were slower than him and he stayed ahead of them at first.

But his strength faded quickly. The wound in his side was bleeding again, the pain jarring with his every step. He slowed and stumbled, grabbing at a tree and leaning there for a moment. He tried to set off again, but could only stagger a few paces before falling to his knees. The Sulatar quickly surrounded him, grabbing his arms and dragging him back to the camp.

---

“Your friend has spirit—for a vermin.”

Several drow had set off in pursuit of Kyorlin, but the commander and several guards remained facing Sakhisli. The dwarf met the commander’s gaze with disdain.

After a moment, the commander continued. “How did you learn to control fire?”

Discern Realities(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 1) +0 = 5 Failure!
Put someone in a spot

“At the forge. Perhaps if your channellers had done the same, they wouldn’t have died so easily.”

The commander gestured, and one of the warriors jabbed the tip of their sword into Sakhisli’s side, through one of the rends in her hauberk. The pain got her attention, though.

“Watch your tongue, dwarf, or we’ll cut it out.”

Defy Danger(Cha)(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 2) +0 = 6 Failure!
Oh dear

Sakhisli is just really bad at social stuff. This isn’t going at all in the direction that I expected.

“Release me, servant. My power is beyond your comprehension.”

The commander turned to the soldiers and nodded. One drew a dagger, and they stepped forward; went to grab Sakhisli’s head.

Channel(Sakhisli): 2D6(6 5) +2 = 13 Success!
Deals d8+d4=4 damage, 2 piercing; takes 2 damage.

And the tree is on fire.

Sakhisli didn’t let them reach her. Fire poured between her fingers, engulfing the base of the tree and the ground around her. The flames drove back the drow, but the tree caught fire from the intense heat.

“The dwarf is mad!” said one of the Sulatar.

“Do that again and you are dead,” said the commander.

Defy Danger(Int)(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 3) -1 = 6 Failure!
Sadly, she just isn’t very smart

But Sakhisli was too angry to heed them. She twisted, struggling against the chains; she released another burst of fire as if the flames could cut through the tree trunk and free her.

“Fernia’s wrath! Kill her!” yelled the commander. One of the drow lunged at Sakhisli; she felt the pain drive through her chest. She slumped, still chained to the burning tree, as consciousness slipped away.

Last Breath(Sakhisli): 2D6(2 4) +0 = 6 Failure!
You die

---

As Kyorlin was dragged back into the camp, he saw Sakhisli still tied to the burning tree. She was clearly dead; the drow turned away, unwilling to look at the gruesome sight as her body was consumed by the flames.

The commander came over and stood before him.

“You will not escape us so easily, vermin,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at the still burning tree, then back to Kyorlin. “Your kind infesting the jungle is bad enough, but now you bring these outsiders to our lands—this one was little better than a mad dog.”

Kyorlin was too weak to offer a reply; he was hanging between the two Sulatar that carried him back to the camp. He was starting to drift off into unconsciousness.

The commander grabbed his chin, lifting his head up to face her. “Yes, I think you are going to be very useful to us.” She let his head fall and turned to her soldiers. “Patch this one up—and bind him properly this time. Kill the other prisoner; we have no use for outsiders here.

“Tomorrow we return to the Obsidian City. Praetor Shadan will richly reward us I think—at last, we will inherit the greatest of the fortresses of our benefactors, the citadel of Kappefesting.”

And that’s it for the campaign; there’s no adventuring party anymore.

I hadn’t expected the final chapter to go that way at all—Sakhisli could have persuaded the drow to accept her, perhaps by sacrificing her companions to prove her allegiance. But she just failed every roll, so I went with her being too obsessed or mad to cut a deal. Poor Kyorlin is going to have a long imprisonment, and he probably dies in captivity.

15. Ancient Legacy

First, we have to resolve Sakhisli’s Last Breath

Sakhisli was back in the Giant’s tower. The huge stone blocks were no longer marred by damp and moss, the mortar no longer pitted and worn; smokeless torches burned in sconces at intervals on the stairs, casting a yellow light and deep shadows around her. She was climbing the stairs, but she was tall, so tall that the steps no longer seemed huge, and the stairway seemed cramped. Sakhisli had to lower the long spear that she carried to avoid scraping the ceiling, bringing the flaming spearhead down to eye level.

She reached a landing, with a doorway standing before her. Opposite the doorway, through an arrowslit that was now at eye-level for her, she could see the night sky outside: the orange moon Aryth drew the dwarf’s eyes, burning brightly over Xen’drik this night, but there was another moon close to it that she did not recognise, dark and blue, hanging coldly low in the sky to the south.

She turned to the doorway and pushed it open. The room before her was much changed, but still recognisable: the walls were adorned with banners depicting fire giants, engaged in battle with creatures that Sakhisli did not recognise, and the room was well lit with torches—but the arrowslits looking out over the jungle were the same, as was the metal frame in the centre of the room holding the dragonshard, which glowed with its own golden light. There were seven giants in the room: not the wild, stupid giants they had seen at the expedition’s destroyed camp, but noble giants, tall and strong and with intelligence in their eyes, dressed in togas adorned with fire symbols and each wearing a red sash from shoulder to waist, each carrying a weapon like her own. All eyes turned towards her as she entered.

One of the giants spoke. “Welcome, warrior. Join us.”

An elf, light-skinned and dressed in sackcloth, stepped out from the shadows near the door and closed the door behind her; the elf avoided her gaze, looking at the ground as she worked, and stepped back to stand quietly beside the door when done. Now that she looked, Sakhisli could see several more elves, similarly dressed, lurking in the shadows.

The giant spoke again, her deep voice echoing off of the thick stone walls of the tower. “Come, warrior, step forwards.”. Sakhisli realised that the giant spoke in her own tongue, and yet the dwarf somehow understood the words. Sakhisli stepped forwards, closer to the crystal.

“While you are here, you are safe, daughter of fire. No dream crawler can touch you here.”

“What is this place?” asked Sakhisli.

“A sanctuary for those fighting the Quori,” said another of the giants. Sakhisli turned towards him; he wore an eye patch covering one eye, and the edges of a scar led from under the patch, crossing his brow. “Your dreams are safe here. Sit, daughter of fire.”

There were stone benches around the room. Sakhisli went to sit down, but pain shot through her chest suddenly, and she lost her balance, falling backwards over the bench and onto the stone floor beyond; the thud echoed through the tower.

Sakhisli pushed her self up, getting back to her feet uneasily. The giants were all staring at her with concerned looks.

“Tell us your name, daughter,” said the first giant; she seemed to be the elder of the group, and her robe was richly embroidered with curling flames that seemed to flicker slightly in the torchlight.

“Sakhisli.”

“I never heard of a giant with that name.” The elder’s gaze moved briefly to her followers; two of the other giants took out their weapons and began to move to flank Sakhisli.

Sakhisli paused, unsure of what to say, then surprised that she was choosing at all; the sensation was less like a dream now, and everything seemed too sharp, too real for dreaming. “I am a dwarf from the Holds.”

“How did you come to be here, dwarf?” The elder’s tone was threatening now.

“I do not know.” The pain in her chest remained, and Sakhisli drew a hoarse breath.

“Did you kill our kind to get here? How did you enter their dreams?”

The giants approaching from either side were closing in, with swords drawn; Sakhisli shifted her weapon to grip it in one hand, opening the other and conjuring a ball of fire. She extended her arm...

“Wait! Stop! Back, back—give her space.” At the elder’s command, the giants moved back, leaving Sakhisli standing alone. The dwarf relaxed a little, keeping the fire burning around her open hand.

“How did you enter this dream?” asked the elder.

Discern Realities(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 6) +0 = 10 Success!
Who is really in control here? The dream originates from the dragonshard that you stole.
What here is useful or valuable to me? Learning anything about the fire faith of the giants and Sulatar may help you escape this situation.
Hold 1.

Sakhisli looked around the room; her gaze fell on the glowing dragonshard in the centre of the room. “I was here yesterday, in this tower. I took that dragonshard—how is it here again?”

“You took the dragonshard?” asked the one-eyed giant; there was anger in his voice, and stepping forward as he spoke.

“How did you learn to control fire?” asked the elder.

“I was a blacksmith; I have always worked with fire. But there was a fire mephit—it burned me, and since then I have been able to control fire directly.”

One of the other giants spoke. “A fire binder amongst the lesser races? I have never heard of such a thing.”

“But now we have seen it,” said the elder.

Pain stabbed through Sakhisli again, and she fell to one knee. Her vision blurred momentarily; as it cleared, she realised that she had dropped her spear and was on all fours on the ground. She looked up to see the elder again; she was looking thoughtfully at the scarred giant.

“This one is weak—near the end of life, I think. You have been through much to get here,” she added, turning back to Sakhisli.

“Every hammer blow makes me stronger,” said Sakhisli in Dwarven—an old saying.

“Who do you serve, child?” asked the elder.

“I serve no one.”

“You have the gift of fire, and use it for nothing?”

“I use it for myself.”

“You will die soon—die with nothing done, nothing achieved. The gift of fire is wasted on you.”

“No!” Sakhisli rasped out the reply angrily, as the pain worsened. “I owe no-one—it is my power, I mastered it.”

“A power you have wasted. Why did you come here?”

“The wealth of giants was here, ready for us to take.”

The elder stepped forward to stand before Sakhisli and took the dwarf’s head in her hands. “If your greed is all that you bring here, dwarf, then you will have died for it. Is that all? Does the fire mean nothing to you but profit? Will you sell all that you have gained—would you sell your power, too, if you could?”

Sakhisli shook her head weakly.

“The fire can save you, dwarf. There is no greater power than fire; it destroys and reshapes all that it encounters. We are its servants, and it grants us the power to smite our enemies and shape the world as we see fit. The dream creatures strive to overthrow us, but we will destroy them in the end.

“The power was given to us to heal and restore the giants that came to this sanctuary. It has been long since any of our kind came, but it matters not: fire consumes all eventually. If you are a servant of fire, you may leave here, reinvigorated, with the strength of Fernia ready at your call. Otherwise leave here as you arrived; a failed thief, dying alone in the jungle.”

Sakhisli had prayed to the forge god, Onatar, all of her life, but it had not occurred to her to pray to him for many weeks. For most of her life, the fire of the forge was something that came from the gods but, now that it came at her own call, she had felt no need to offer a prayer after making the campfire in the evening. Wherever this power comes from, it is mine now; I will not give it up.

As if sensing her thoughts, the elder spoke again. “Few ever gain the power that you have. You were given this for a purpose, Sakhisli. Show the world the true power of fire.”

“Yes,” Sakhisli gasped, feeling her strength fading. “Everyone must see what fire can do.”

The requirements for a partial success on Last Breath are that the character must make a substantial sacrifice or have a life-changing shift of direction. Sakhisli is a convert to the faith of fire, followed by the giants in the Age of Giants and still followed by the Sulatar (and some primitive Giants) today.

Of course, that also makes Kyorlin her enemy now. She is turning her back on the reasonable, civilised faith of the Sovereign Host and embracing a fire cult. And this is a literal baptism of fire.

“Very good. Go forth, daughter of fire, and spread the word. The days of fire are returning.” The elder pressed her hands together on either side of Sakhisli’s head, and suddenly all her sense of place was consumed in burning pain as fire washed over her.

14. On the Run

Mythic GME Chaos Rank: 8
Scene setup: d10=9 (unchanged)

Grunferdfest, west of the Obsidian City, Xen’drik
Dravago 23, 997 YK

The sounds of shouting awoke Arjen, and he winced in pain as he lifted his head to look around the camp. Sulatar warriors began spilling out of the tents; Arjen tried to look around to see what was happening, but the pain in his chest was too great to twist around while he was tied up. He tried to stand, but as he struggled with the rope around his hands, one of the drow stepped up in front of him and put the tip of her sword to his throat, pushing him back to the ground.

Arjen had been asleep when the Sulatar first arrived, and in no position to fight them. The drow had dragged him out in front of the tower, where one of them—Arjen guess she was an officer, from the way that the others deferred to her—had given some orders and he had been tied to a stake in what became the middle of their camp. He had sat there as the drow ate their evening meal; nothing had been offered to him and, aside from a few glances, the drow paid him little attention.

The drow standing over him now was clearly distracted; other drow warriors ran past her, hastily belting on their swords, towards the shouting. Now that Arjen was not moving, she had taken her sword away, but kept it drawn as she looked past Arjen towards whatever was going on. It was still dark, with the sky just beginning to lighten towards dawn; the shouts were replaced by screams as of people dying. At first Arjen imagined that his friends were attempting a rescue; but after the screaming the sounds seemed to grow further away. After a while, there was quiet.

After about ten minutes, a group of Sulatar returned to the campfire in front of Arjen. The officer that had seen him earlier was amongst them; after talking to some of her soldiers, she came to stand before Arjen.

“Ninshusa, kom!” The officer was calling to someone behind him; another drow soldier was suddenly standing over Arjen, and hauled him roughly to his feet. This was another drow woman, one that must have been awoken by the commotion as she wore only a gambeson and the same dark trousers as the other drow. She had the narrow face and angular features of an elf but, unlike any Khorvaire elf, her skin was grey; in the torchlight Arjen could see that she had a deep scar across her left cheek.

The officer was still before him; her cloak, adorned with flame patterns, rippled in the breeze. She said something in her own tongue, which Arjen of course did not understand. The soldier holding him then spoke in common. “Who are you?” She spoke slowly, emphasising each word alone, as if unused to the words.

“Arjen.”

The officer spoke again, and the soldier then spoke to Arjen again in common—apparently she was acting as translator. “Why you come here, Arjen?”

Arjen shook his head and sighed, looking down at the ground. “For adventure.”

The soldier looked puzzled; her brow furrowed and she repeated, “Why you come here?”

She hardly knows any Common. “I, uh, was paid to come here. For money?”

“Money,” the soldier repeated. “gil.” The officer said something, and the soldier then asked, ”Which house are you?”

It was Arjen’s turn to be confused. “I’m just a farmer.”

The soldier shook her head, then grabbed Arjen and shook him; the pain in Arjen’s chest intensified. “Which house are you?”

“I have no house.”

“No house? Who gives you money?”

Parley(Arjen): 2D6(5 5) -1 = 9 Partial success.
You’ll need to give them real information to live here

Sulatar had gathered to stand around him for this interrogation; several of the warriors around him looked angry, and still had weapons drawn. They’re going to kill me, Arjen thought. There didn’t seem any point in dodging their questions. “A wizard named Esinor—from the Esoteric Order of Aureon.”

“magere,” said the scarred soldier. “Where are you going?”

“Some Giantish ruins, in the mountains.”

“What ruins?”

“A fortress—I think they called it Kappefesting,” said Arjen.

Discern Realities(Arjen): 2D6(2 5) -1 = 6 Failure!
Deal damage: d4=2 damage

Do the Sulatar know where Kappefesting is? Unlikely (It’s called the “cloaked fortress”, though the Sulatar were allies of the giants so perhaps they knew of it).
Fate d100(92)=No

Okay, so the Sulatar now have a reason to go after Kyorlin and Sakhisli. Oh dear.

The officer reacted immediately; she stepped forward and grabbed Arjen by the throat, her mailed gauntlet squeezing his throat. Arjen’s hands were still bound and he could hardly struggle; she said something in the drow’s language, of which the only word he recognised was Kappefesting. After a moment she released him. Arjen hunched over as he sucked in air, with the drow soldier holding him up. After a few seconds, the officer punched him in the gut, and he fell to the ground in even more pain.

“Where is Kappefesting?” said the soldier.

“I don’t know,” gasped Arjen.

“Who are the others?”

“Just others from Sharn—others hired by Esinor.”

“What of the one with fire?”

Sakhisli. “Yes, she was hired by Esinor. She is a blacksmith.”

Since Arjen succeeded on the Parley and met the conditions, selling out his companions, he gets to live for now. Really he isn’t much use to the drow though, and he’ll have to make more rolls if he doesn’t escape or get rescued soonish.

The soldier translated this answer back for the officer, who gave Arjen a long stare before walking off. The other drow sheathed their swords and returned to their tents and campfires. Arjen slumped on the ground, glad of his reprieve—but he had a feeling that it was only temporary.

---

Tell them the requirements or consequences and ask: You can camp now, or definitely escape from the Sulatar.

The party chooses to camp: they have level-ups pending.

Make Camp(Sakhisli, Kyorlin): Kyorlin back to 15/22 HP, Sakhisli back to 21/26 HP

Level Up(Sakhisli): +1 Str, Thread the Needle

Also Sakhisli retrains her technique as Gout of Flame: blast, 2 piercing.

Level Up(Kyorlin): +1 Dex, Hawkeyed

Level Up(Kyorlin): +1 Dex, Lone Wolf

So Sakhisli now does piercing damage, and can do extra damage optionally (at some risk to herself) with that move from the Channeller playbook. She will be much more effective against the Sulatar now. And Kyorlin now rolls with +2 on his most-used stat, a big upgrade in his effectiveness—plus his damage is 1 piercing and has an extra +1 when he fights not at the side of an ally, thanks to those Hunter playbook moves.

Hunt and Track(Kyorlin): 2

5+18Partial success.You find Sakhisli, but don’t know anything about the approaching Sulatar

Kyorlin woke abruptly, blinking in the sunlight and shifting his head to get out of its glare. Rays of light cut down through the jungle canopy above, telling the drow that it was already late in the morning. He had gone to sleep in the hollow left by the roots of a tree that had toppled, and in the morning light he could see the brown and purple colours of the fungi growing under its uprooted stump.

He was thinking of his brother as he shook out and folded his blanket, stowing it in his pack, going through a morning routine that had hardly varied in the sixty yearsa since they left their tribe. Kyorlin had been a hunter for his tribe for fifty years when he was younger, and the time since had all been in the company of his brother; apart from occasional stays with other tribes, or in Stormreach, they had rarely been separated. Travelling with Kalina’s group had given him a distraction, but now he was alone and truly concious of it for the first time. Kalina and Arjen had been the two in the group that he had befriended, but now one was dead and the other a prisoner; Kyorlin was left to wonder what he was doing here.

He had barely made it away the previous evening, and had abandoned the dwarf to her fate after she drew the attention of the Sulatar. Sakhisli was tough, though, and her fire powers—the idea of an ally posessing such magic still made Kyorlin uncomfortable—were quite deadly, so he did wonder if she might have somehow escaped. Partly out of curiousity, partly to see if there was any signs that the Sulatar were still pursuing him, the hunter decided to go back and search for any sign that the dwarf had escaped.

---

Turn their move back on them: experimenting with your fire powers makes you even easier for the Sulatar to find.

Stay Sharp(Sakhisli): 2D6(3 5) +0 = 8 Partial success.
You become aware of the attack before it happens, but without time to prepare

Sakhisli already has an elemental summoned: we are arriving as she finishes retraining her elemental techniques, so I won’t roll the move since there was no pressure when she did so; control d4=3.

It took the drow less than an hour to find Sakhisli’s tracks. The dwarf was stocky, and made no attempt to disguise the tracks left by her heavy boots. Kyorlin turned to follow the tracks, taking care not to make his own trail too obvious; if the Sulatar did come, it would be better if they did not know that he had been here also.

The day was hot, but with a good breeze blowing that offered a lot of relief from the jungle heat; the rustling of trees and creaking of swaying branches masked some of the sounds of jungle wildlife.

Kyorlin saw something flicker through the trees ahead, and then a tree in the distance burst into flame. What is the dwarf doing? Kyorlin dropped low, approaching carefully to avoid revealed his presence.

Defy Danger(Dex)(Sakhisli): 2D6(5 5) +1 = 11 Success!
You dodge the archers, running for cover

Elemental Attack(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 1) +3 = 8 Partial success.
Control reduced to 2; deals d8=6 damage, 4 after armour

Okay, there are 20 Sulatar still in action from this group; the commander holds back with some guards and the prisoners, so let’s say 15 are moving to attack, including the one remaining fire binder amongst them. That is a lot of enemies to take on; the party would do better to run here.

Sunlight flickered off of something shiny through the trees to his right; as Kyorlin dashed forward behind the trunk of a tree, there was shouting from that direction, and the sound of arrows whistling through the air. Peering out, the drow saw a fire elemental moving between the trees towards a group of armoured Sulatar that were rushing forward; they stopped their charge and began to spread out, but not before the elemental blasted them with fire; the drow’s shields gave them some protection from the fire, but there were cries of pain and they began to spread out to encircle the creature.

Discern Realities(Kyorlin): 2D6(5 6) +1 = 12 Success!
What should I be on the lookout for? A fire binder.
What here is useful or valuable to me?
What here is hidden? (to Kyorlin) Sakhisli.

Is the useful thing terrain? Likely (96).
Fate d100(No)=

Hunter’s Mark(Kyorlin):

Deal damage: 1 control lost on the elemental.

Elemental Attack(Sakhisli): 2D6(6 6) +1 = 13 Success!
Deals d8=3 damage, 1 after armour

Kyorlin glimpsed Sakhisli, peering out from behind a tree about fifty feet to his left; she did not see him, as she was intently looking at her elemental—perhaps controlling it, the drow surmised. The Sulatar evidently had seen her and were trying to get to her; the first group, of four drow warriors, was busy with the elemental, but another five were circling around and heading towards her, and there was another group of drow with archers and a fire binder, their red cloak flapping in the breeze, further back. The fire binder would be trouble; Kyorlin took a moment to feel the direction of the wind and find a good line of sight to the binder, staying concealed while drawing an arrow from his quiver.

Defy Danger(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 5) +1+1 = 10 Success!
The boar stampede the archers and binder

Volley(Kyorlin): 2D6(5 1) +2+1 = 9 Partial success.
Risk retaliation; deals d6+2+1=5 damage, with two piercing

Binder is at 1/6 HP.

Then something else caught his eye. A group of wild boar, startled by the shouting and fire, were moving away from the Sulatar towards his hiding place. In a moment, Kyorling swung his bow and shot an arrow into a tree in front of them; the boars panicked, turning and charging in the direction of the binder’s group. The Sulatar turned, surprised, jumping out of the way of the stampede. Kyorlin drew another arrow and shot the binder while they were distracted; and the binder staggered as the arrow struck them just under the arm, finding a gap in their plate mail.

Channel, Thread the Needle(Sakhisli): 2D6(3 2) +2 = 7 Partial success.
Deals d8+d4 (3, 2) =5 damage, 2 piercing, taking 2 damage from her Thread the Needle.

Deal Damage: takes 2d8k1+2+1 = 8 damage, 7 after armour from Sulatar attacks

Sakhisli is at 15/26 HP. She really wanted just a little more damage there.

Elemental Attack(Sakhisli): 2D6(1 4) +1 = 6 Failure!
Elemental killed, and another 4 Sulatar are on their way to you. Put someone in a spot

Volley(Kyorlin): 2D6(2 2) +2 = 6 Failure!
Put someone in a spot

Defy Danger(Dex)(Kyorlin): 2D6(1 1) +2 = 4 Failure!
Deal Damage: 2d8k1+2+1=8 damage, 7 after armour

That drew attention to the hunter, however. Several Sulatar shouted and pointed in his direction, and two drow began pushing their way through the undergrowth towards him. Sakhisli was fighting too, now, shooting fire at the group of drow that had closed with her. Kyorlin drew back for another shot at the binder, but the two drow were too close. He hastily tried to shoulder his bow but dropped it instead; he barely had time to draw his belt knife to meet his assailants. He parried away a sword stroke from one of the Sulatar, but could not parry the other in time and took a nasty cut down his side.

Channel, Thread the Needle(Sakhisli): 2D6(6 2) +2 = 10 Success!
Deals d8+d4=11 damage

Let’s enumerate the Sulatar quickly: 5 warriors (closed with Sakhisli): 2 (that flanked her) are dead, the other 3 are at 1/6 HP each 4 warriors (defeated the elemental): 1,2,2,5 HP (/6) respectively. binder: 1/6 HP 3 archers (with the binder): 6/6 HP 2 warriors (fighting Kyorlin): 6/6 HP

Hack and Slash(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 6) +0 = 9 Partial success.
Deals d6+1=1 damage, negated by armour; takes 2d8k1+1 = 5 damage, 4 after armour

Kyorlin is at 4/22 HP.

Defy Danger(Dex)(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 1) +1 = 5 Failure!
Put someone in a spot: stunned, knocked down

Kyorlin is in danger of becoming another prisoner. He is really no good once he gets into a close-quarters fight with these enemies.

The Sulatar on the left was a little taller than the other, and slower, so Kyorlin tried a quick strike against her, stepping to one side and driving his knife into a joint in her plate. But she saw his move and pivoted, so his blade scraped harmlessly across her breastplate—and then her shield slammed into his head. Everything went dark, and Kyorlin felt himself fall to the ground.

---

Sakhisli had been practising her control of a fire elemental when the Sulatar showed up. The dwarf had sent the elemental straight at the first group of drow that she saw, while she ran for the cover of a tree to avoid the archers; but there were over a dozen drow coming for her, and another group rushed her hiding place. Three approached her directly, and she scattered those with a blast of fire, but two more can around the other side of the tree; Sakhisli killed them both with fire, but not before one with his sword.

Defy Danger(Dex)(Sakhisli): 2D6(1 5) +1 = 7 Partial success.
Tell them the requirements or consequences and ask: go slow and you’ll get there unharmed, but Kyorlin is at the mercy of these drow; or get there quickly but take a hit

Sakhisli chooses fast. Deal damage: d10=10 damage, 5 after Callus. That takes her to 7/26 HP.

She had glimpsed Kyorlin off through the trees to her right, and heard the shouts of the Sulatar as several turned and headed towards him. She now ran in his direction, seeing that he was beset by enemies. Sulatar were shooting at her again; the first group had overcome her elemental and were now pushing their way through the undergrowth towards her; but it was a bolt of fiery energy from further back in the jungle that struck her, the burning pain lancing through her side and causing her to stumble.

Channel, Thread the Needle(Sakhisli): 2D6(3 6) +1 = 10 Success!
Deals d8+d4 (4,2) = 6 damage, takes 2 damage

Sakhisli at 5/26 HP, Kyorlin at 4/22 HP. All three drow standing over Kyorlin are killed.

5 out of the 15 drow here are dead, lots more are badly injured, but the heroes are in trouble.

But Sakhisli kept going, charging at the three Sulatar standing over Kyorlin—who was lying on the ground—stretching out her hand and releasing a blast of flames. She strained to put forth as much power into the flames as she could, and she could feel the burning pain in her side worsen as she did so; the Sulatar were all caught in the blast, and their screams were cut short as they were all consumed. Sakhisli reached down and pulled Kyorlin up; the drow was bleeding badly from his side, and his face was bloodied and bruised, but he was able to walk.

“Come on, we have to get away from them,” the dwarf said; she grabbed the drow’s bow from the ground nearby and handed it to him. Kyorlin merely nodded in acknowledgement and they turned to run.

Aid(Sakhisli): 2D6(5 6) +1 = 12 Success!

Volley(Kyorlin): 2D6(1 6) +2+1 = 10 Success!
Deals d6+2=6 damage, 4 after armour

Kills the fire binder.

Channel(Sakhisli): 2D6(2 1) +2 = 5 Failure!
Deal damage: d8=8 with 1 piercing

Sakhisli is at 0 HP.

Sakhisli was not a fast runner, however, and not used to moving quickly in the jungle. Kyorlin sprinted ahead a few yards, then turned and loosed an arrow; there was a scream from off in the jungle behind them. He turned and ran ahead again; Sakhisli kept going, struggling to keep up; arrows whistled past her as she ran, and she could head the clanking of the armour of more Sulatar warriors chasing behind her, closing in on her. She turned, intending to unleash more fire on them, but an arrow hit her in the chest, and she fell to the ground.

Last Breath(Sakhisli): 2D6(6 2) +0 = 8 Partial success.

Defy Danger(Dex)(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 1) +2 = 6 Failure!
Also captured

Sakhisli rolled onto her side, gasping in pain. She grasped the arrow with her free hand and with one sharp pull she drew the arrow out. The fresh stab of pain drew another gasp from her; fire oozed between her fingers, burning away the arrow shaft in her hands, as she fought to stay concious. She barely heard, and didn’t react, to the heavy footfalls as Sulatar surrounded her. A heavy blow struck the back of her head and she lost conciousness, lying amid the dirt and fallen leaves of the jungle floor.

End of Session(party): Sakhisli had met her goal over the last few sessions I think, creating chaos with her fire channeling.

Sakhisli replaces her bond with Kyorlin with: Kyorlin came to my aid when the Sulatar trapped me.

XP: Arjen: 1 failure; 7 XP.
Kyorlin: 4 failures; 11 XP.
Sakhisli: 2 failures, +1 goal, +1 bond; 9 XP.