The Bloody Hands REBIRTH: The Stone Crack'd 02 - Dealing with Leonardo Miller [Tricubes + Mythic]
Reminder, this campaign is presented in a "recap" format with the full notes from the session provided towards the end.
== RECAP ==
The Showdown in the Marketplace
Arden's main plan is still to talk to Leonardo Miller and try to get another ally on his side. He goes off to do that the next day with Izzia Kor and Natalia Wilson being sent back to the library to try and track down any information. However, on his way to find Leonardo, he finds the Probationary Guardian not in his barracks. A Retainer shows up and tells Arden that trouble is brewing in the marketplace and requests Guardian Ulet's presence. Arden runs to the area.
Here he finds Leonardo confronting Senior Agent Jalmar Dax. Leonardo is not alone (though his ally-in-chaos, actually the perpetrator of this confrontation, is mostly overlooked by Arden). The shopkeeper is Edmund Wright. Edmund is a manipulative man who longs for his own magic but takes out the jealousy by spreading hatred against the Outsider types. Leonardo has been an unfortunately too sympathetic ear to Wright's cause. Wright spotted Jalmar in the marketplace and had Leonardo sent for and is now goading a drunken Leonardo into attacking Jalmar publicly.
Outside of a perfume shop, Leonardo started shouting some nonsense about "gills" (based on a bad Veilborn rumor that Outsiders develop special gills that allow them to bread dark energy, something Leonardo had been trying to confirm in his failed and disastrous Ord experiments). What Leonardo does not know, and probably would not care about even if he did, is that Jalmar is here in the marketplace to try and find Matthew Calderon, the Senior Guardian who has gone rogue* and is aiding The Bloody Hands. Right as Jalmar was approaching an arrest, the interruption allows Calderon to start escaping.
Jalmar tries to capture him but this pursuit is misinterpreted not only by Leonardo (who thinks Jalmar Dax is fleeing from the accusation) but by onlookers. Even the older ones (predating the true Veilborn status since the Veil is only around 30-years-old at this point) think that there might be something to this Outsider issue. Still, most of the crowd is just annoyed.
Arden eventually shows up and openly declares control over the situation and announces that the Outsider being accosted is actually Jalmar Dax, one of the known heroes of the realm. This turns the tide towards Arden and Jalmar and deflates Leonardo's rant. Edmund Wright dissolves into the crowd and hides as Leonardo is arrested. Sending up his crow-hawk, Ruk, Jalmar is unable to find the trail of Calderon and so joins Arden in an interrogation session against Leonardo.
Back in the library, a few leads help the Scholar and Probationary Guardian to find out about Marel's obelisk after all.
* Note: If Arden's theory that The Bloody Hand is actually members of the Arcade Order trying to fight back against the Veil, then Calderon is not so much "rogue" as probably working for some older power group who wish to maintain a sort of Old Khelia status quo.
Arden Fails to Reach Leonardo Miller
Leonardo is held in an interrogation room and Arden and Jalmar spend a couple of hours trying to convince him that they are on the side of good. Arden points out that there is, south of the Onnalian Sea which marked the southern boundary of Old Khelia, the great Forest Midnight and in it are the 100 Little Kingdoms. There, magic is still used, even in fights between the kingdoms, but the region never collapsed. Then, to the east, past the Auk'guin mounts that made the eastern border of Old Khelia, the Valley of Dust is testament to a country that took magic even further until the whole region was turned into a glittering wasteland. Arden's point is that magic is a tool and how people use it is on the people, not on the magic itself.
Arden also points out that Veilborn are a rising population but the very idea of the Order's tower plan is to spread the Veil to places currently outside of its protection. If Outsiders were inherently evil, the Veil would not work since a large amount of the population, even in the central stretch of New Khelia, were technically Outsiders for the Five Generations (and before).
Arden finally points out that the Ulets have often tended to towards forward thinking and "seer" powers [despite Arden himself having no natural seer powers, he is actually a "bad Ulet" by the family reckoning]. If they were truly corrupted by the Outside then the family who made the first towers would have been unable to create the anti-magical field to start.
Despite all this, Leonardo refuses to back down from his beliefs that the Outside is a corrupting force. He accepts that Arden was right in arresting him (he was drunk, disorderly, creating a scene, and disrupting Order business) but he will not be joining in with Arden's cause.
Arden is frustrated by lets the Retainers take Leonardo Miller off to a jail cell. For his part, Jalmar is somewhat sympathetic because the older beastmaster is aware that even in the "utopia" of New Khelia and the benefits the Veil offers that the old power struggles are at play.
The Stone Crack'd
What Natalia and Izzia had discovered is that the "stone" was near a tower at the edge of yet another gorge. Like several of the sites of power (especially the ones targeted by The Bloody Hands) there is some connection to earth being split open and some sort of tower, temple, or other structure that feeds off or manipulates mystical energies.
In this case, there is an interesting twist in that the stone in question was actually broken off years ago and sold to an art collector in the port town of Thelmion. Thelmion (in the deep Veil and well protected by New Khelia) is an industry town full of trade. What happened to the stone since then is unknown, but could be there or sold on to some other port of trade.
In the meantime, Arden suggests the four of them - Arden, Jalmar, Natalia, and Izzia - go and investigate the place the stone originated from.
== DOUG'S NOTES/COMMENTS ==
Not wanting to force the Leonardo Miller arc means we get 3 scenes directly related to a new character who ends up not really panning out but that's ok. It gave a LOT of impetus to explore some of the issues of the Veilborn vs Outsiders (which was one of the initial story beats and technically the "reason" behind Jalmar Dax). Once the REBIRTH happened and all elements related to the "outside" being a corrupting force, the creation of the Wildkin, etc...it took a slightly step back. This slightly recasts it with a more expansive worldview while distancing it more from the weird cross-over aspect where both this and The Bleak & The Pearl campaign were essentially the same campaign just played differently. Now, with that one, the "outside force" is a terrible threat while here it's more about power distribution.
Of course, a running aspect of this one is now that if you have an entity like The Arcade Order that regulates who has access to power, how long can it maintain before it loses control or becomes the new villains?
A fun fact is that the "ravine/gorge" with some sort of temple/tower structure nearby has shown up so often that I'm retiring that roll/check. There is some aspect to magic involving gorges and pits and ravines and chasms and caves. After the fifth or sixth of these to show up in a campaign is now just canon. Place of magic = "a structure near a hole". It's probably Freudian but what do you call a Freudian Dice Roll?
== ACTUAL PLAY NOTES (RAW) ==
++ SCENE, Chaos Factor 5.
Expected: Arden tries to convince Leonardo to join him and talk to Jalmar. Izzia and Natalia return to the library.Scene is… Interrupt Scene. NPC Action. Jalmar Dax. Separate People.
Leonardo has actually decided to confront Jalmar outright. What is Leonardo hoping to accomplish? 44 Illness 85 Reveal + 87 Riches 76 Place. He thinks he can get Jalmar to expose being corrupted by the Outside. If that happens, he expects to get a reward.
Is Leonardo alone? (50/50) No. He has someone else with him. Back to UNE!
24 Subtle 72 Shopkeeper + 99 Righteous 45 Actor // 53 Complete 96 Magic
A shopkeep who really wishes to gain magic for himself but pretends to be against anything abnormal and stirs up trouble by acting righteous. Edmund Wright.
Arden goes to ask after Leonardo in the barracks where the probationary Guardians and finds he has gone out. A retainer runs up and gets Arden and says there is trouble brewing…
Where is trouble brewing? Tricube Solo Urban Locations: 3, 6 → Mall / Marketplace. The shops. Locations: 39 Fragrant 73 Protection. A perfume shop with various perfumes in sturdy glass bottles. 88 Stylish 57 Mobile. A shop that sells higher end clothing for people involved in sports [Victorian-esque society means games at least analogous to tennis, badminton, football, golf might exist, so we know some sort of sport is played]. Both hint towards nicer shops, along the inner ring. Neither are the kind of place where Leonardo’s outbursts will be welcome.
Is Jalmar shopping? (Unlikely) Yes. Ok, why? Motivations: 7 Attain 21 Enemy + 15 Death 63 Mistrust. Ohhhh. Jalmar is shopping but he is on an assignment. Is this related to Returner activity? (Likely) YES, but…A GOOD ONE
Random Event: NPC Action. Neglect + Distraction. And the NPC… Matthew Calderon.
Jalmar has been tasked for hunting down a shop (flip of the coin…the clothing one) with ties to the Returners because he has been told that (ex?) Senior Guardian Matthew Calderon is there and using it as a way to get into the inner ring. Jalmar, being a somewhat sporty looking fellow, was tasked with getting close enough his beast friends might be able to confirm Calderon’s scent. RIGHT as he was getting close to try some sort of arrest/intervention, Leonardo Miller shows up and is accusing him. Miller is drunk and Edmund Wright is goading him into acting. Leonardo stumbles up and confronts Jalmar - “Tell us all the truth! Show us your… -
Using the image oracle, what sort of markings/mutations does Leonardo think that Jalmar might have: 3, 2 fishing rod + 6, 5 lightning bolts.
Rather than lightning, those can be gills. He thinks that Outsiders develop some sort of special breathing mechanism to absorb/breath the dark energy floating around. So he is ridiculously saying “SHOW US YOUR GILLS!” to a Jalmar Dax who is aware that he is losing the man he was hunting. Jalmar is trying to ignore Miller but Miller has been running after him. Now, Jalmar finally has to admit he has lost Calderon and is furious. He has a brutal streak but is also a Senior Agent who has spent years protecting Hub. He is on the cusp of losing it but also aware of his long running attempt to not have Outsiders branded as lesser people.
This is where Arden comes in. A drunk Leonardo shouting about gills. A clearly angry Jalmar starting to tip towards violence. Rolling 2d6 with the first being “for Jalmar” and the second being “for Leonardo,” how is the crowd reacting: 5 for Jalmar, 6 for Leonardo. There are a lot of people backing up both sides but Leonardo is winning out. He is in (probationary) Guardian clothing while Jalmar is undercover.
Arden walks in between them, full Guardian garb, runes glowing bright.
“PROBATIONARY GUARDIAN LEONARDO MILLER! You will DESIST! Thank you for your diligence but this is Senior Agent Jalmar Dax…” Standard Crafty to suss out a bit of what Jalmar was up to based on clues/seer power → 1 success. “...on an important mission.”
“He has gills!”
Hard Crafty for Arden to try and take complete control of the situation without having to escalate. Easy Craft for Jalmar to calm down enough to actually help. With another Karma point down (that’s only 1 remaining already) 2 successes for Arden! 2 for Jalmar as well, no Karma needed.
The crowd knows of Jalmar Dax. Even before serving as Arden’s chief agent and back-up, he had been involved in a lot of important missions. The crowd actually is excited to have such a person here and several start talking about stories they have heard. Jalmar is now calm enough to shake some hands and put on a friendlier face. Leonardo looks deflated (and Edmund has vanished into the wind). Arden leans over and says to him, “It will be ok, I am detaining you for the potential assault of a Senior Agent while proclaiming Order Status. Let’s go quietly and we can all three discuss this somewhere quietly.”
Turning to Jalmar, “Is your mission salvageable?”
Jalmar sends Ruk into the air to see if any passage of Calderon can be found. Since Calderon is resisting, Hard Crafty→ no successes and almost a critical failure (2, 1). Absolutely not.
“Ok, let’s get this hothead calmed down and we’ll figure out how to proceed.”
Let’s do another Hard Crafty (this time with 2 effort) to see if Natalia and Izzia have any luck on day 2:
- Izzia finds a lead (one success)
- Natalia finds nothing (-1 Resolve)
- Izzia finds another lead (+1 Success)
- This allows Natalia to get a +2 success which means they have located the obelisk.
- That will develop in the next scene.
++ Scene, Chaos Factor 4
Expected: Arden and Jalmar in a holding room confront a now sober Leonardo. Scene as expected.First, a question we’ll treat as a Fate Check modified by a Stat one: Can Arden get official permission to take Leonardo into the Outside to hunt for the obelisk? I know I’ve punished the boy with a lot of Hard Crafty checks but here’s another. Spending his last Karma, Arden convinces his higher ups that it is worth studying the obelisk - the Bloody Hands have been targeting old places of power and having a group of folks interested in places of power might be worth making note of - with a single success.
As for the first question, this will bump it up to Likely: Can Arden get permission to take Leonardo with him? No. This means that Arden is going to do something more drastic.
Arden: “You have to stop this.”
Leonardo: “Why are you siding with…with..an…out…”
Arden, putting a hand on Jalmar (who is actually somewhat used to such claims by “Insiders”): “You need to watch your language. You, as a Guardian, spent months cutting open animals and finding, what, nothing?”
Will Leonardo actually claim to have found evidence (there was none)? (50/50): No, so he stays honest.
Leonardo: “Just because I could not find anything does not mean that something is not out there.”
Jalmar: “You spent months in the Outside. Where are your gills?”
Arden goes on to explain how south, past the Lighthouse and the Onnalian Sea there is another land where records describe the great Forest Midnight. Around it and in are the 100 Little Kingdoms. People who use magic for all sorts of tasks (including war) but who never took it as far as the Khelian Empire. Out east, past the Sundered Plains, past the ruins of Guillarme, there is are the Auk’guin mountain and through the Guillarme Pass is the Valley of Dust where the same magic was abused even harder and everyone thing in the Valley was turned into dust making a silver desert where the sky is always darker than the time of day.
Arden: “My point is that magic exists. All over. Different people have done different things with it. For a thousand years, the Old Empire used it to make lives better. Then a few people went too far. It is as natural as the trees of the Ord Wood. As natural as the animals you slaughtered. It is chaotic, prone to abuse. There are reasons to contain it. That’s what the Resonance is. It is Anti-Resonance. It disrupts the natural energies that allow magic to work. Life inside the bubbles is not the default state. We are the natural world with the magic restrained. Each generation of towers improves how much control the Order has over that one particular natural force. In this way, it stops the old oligarchs who gained too much power from being able to end it all in a moment over some useless power struggle.”
Jalmar: “Now new oligarchs run the place with barely a struggle.”
Arden waves his hand, not entirely dismissively: “Folks our age are given these speeches about right living, the implication that we are in the Veil because we are good. That the Veil keeps us good. That’s a complete lie. Bad stuff happens inside the Veil all the time. Good stuff happens outside of it. The Veil is a tool to make our old way of life possible again, just minus the archmages lifting entire streets into the sky for petty revenge.”
Leonardo has been quiet through most of this. “Why are you bothering telling me this?” he finally asks.
Arden: “Because I want you to realize if people like you were right, there would be no Veil. We were all Outsiders for Five Generations. My family would have been corrupted before coming up with the prototype for the Resonant Towers. Hell, the family rumor used to be that our people used magic to get inspired to build a tower that destroys magic.”
Is Arden a natural seer? (Likely) Exceptional No. The “Ulet Intuition” is not a magical force and Arden has no inherent magic. He is a great seer with the help of the runes but without them he will not have any magical family.
Arden: “We spread the Veil because we believe in the Outsiders. We are hope for those who are trapped outside, but we are also allies with those who choose the outside and help us to protect our Veil from without.”
To figure out if Leonardo agrees to trust Arden, will roll 2d6. 2-5 = bad (-1, -2 on 2). 9-12 = good (+2 on 12). He will start with 0. -5 means he absolutely refuses (and essentially becomes an enemy). +5 means he is wholeheartedly on board. >0 means he will work with Arden on a single mission to learn more. 10 rolls total before Izzia/Natalia interrupt and Ardenhas to go.
- 5, -1, -1
- 8, 0, -1
- 7,0,-1
- 3,-1,-2
- 5,-1,-3
- 10,+1,-2
- 6,0,-2
- 7,0,-2
- 7,0,-2
- 10,+1,-1
Does Leonardo hold the arrest against Arden? (50/50…just to see if he owns to his mistakes or not): No. Leonardo is loyal enough to the cause that he appreciates he made a mistake. However, next time Edmund gets him drunk…
++ Scene, Chaos Factor 5
Expected: Meeting up with Izzia and Natalia to discuss their findings.Scene is altered. How? Image oracle:
Heh…a crack’d stone…that’s the name of this story arc.
Anyhow, the altering of the scene is that the stone was found but it was noted in a merchant’s journal as a structure that was removed and sold.
Is it located inside the Veil? (Nearly Certain) Yes. In Hub? (Unlikely) No.
We will use this to create a new place, somewhere between Hub and Khalid City. Let’s roll up a new settlement:
Using the Large Settlements table of Tricube Solo, we get a “Port Town”. And the populace seems Industrious and Busy. Using the name generator: Thelmion.
Where was the original stone located? Tricube Solo Wilderness Location: 4,1 Mysterious Tower + 3,5 Gorge/Ravine. So, another site of power near a crack in the land with a structure of power nearby. This is the 4th or so time this has shown up. Somehow this is connected.
Currently Arden has the choice now of going to Thelmion to try and find the obelisk itself or to go to the site where it was and explore that area first. Standard Crafty: 1 success. He has a good grasp of which is more important and… (1-3) Thelmion (4-6) Site. Site first, then Thelmion.
== CREDITS ==
This game uses Tricubes Solo, the Tricubes one-sheet "The Guardians of the Shadow Frontier," [both by Richard Woolcock and Zadmar Games] and The Mythic Game Master Emulator (2nd Edition) [by Tana Pigeon].
Additional tables come from Cezar Capacle's Random Realities, Ben Milton's Maze Rats + Knave 2nd edition, Kevin Crawford's Without Numbers (primarily Worlds) + Scarlet Heroes, and Madeline Hale's Table Fables. Other sources should be be credited in the raw play notes.
Graphics come from a variety of sources. Pixabay/Unsplash is a source of some of the stock art and illustrations I use to create the original graphics. A frequent source of the opening/splash images is ArtUK.
The splash painting (as always, more of a mood piece than precise illustration) is "Conway Market" by Robert Jones.
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