A pair of women toil gathering hay under the light of the moon in a dark-themed oil painting.

Nightfall (The Gleaners), by Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859–1929) 🅮

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Introducing Keyed Scenes for "The Stone Crack'd"
"Previously on..." and Campaign Summary
The Stone Crack'd 06

On the Outskirts of Oone
Entering Oone and Triggering the Trap
Storming Interrogations by the Overflowing Creek
Betrayal and Flight

Doug's Commentary
Mechanical and Story Notes
Credits

Introducing Keyed Scenes for "The Stone Crack'd"

In the previous session I had included a note that this scene would be next and that I would not allow it to be interrupted (maybe altered). However, since then (that was around 2-3 weeks ago when I last played) I have re-read sections of Mythic and found out about "Keyed Scenes" in the Variations chapter of Mythic (starting on page 149). The idea behind Keyed Scenes is to have certain points where the story re-aligns with expectations.

The wording on page 150 of Mythic is: "A [Keyed Scene] Trigger can be just about anything. For a dungeon delve maybe the Trigger is if you roll a 6 on a 1d6 and the Keyed Scene Event is a wandering monster encounter. For a superhero trying to maintain control over their wild powers the Trigger could be a total of 4 Scenes where they use their powers at maximum and the Keyed Scene Event is their powers suddenly raging out of control. Maybe for an adventure that you are trying to keep on a schedule your Trigger is one hour of real time passing and the Keyed Scene Event is an automatic Move Toward A Thread Random Event."

The trigger I am going to use is "one diversion at most" between the 4 main waypoints with the waypoints of this current arc being (1) Oone, (2) The Knight and the Portal, (3) The Stranded Merchant, (4) The Marel Site, (5) Thelmion, and (6) Meeting up with Marel. A diversion would essentially be any interrupt scene or side adventure that diverts from the start of one of those waypoints. Currently we have had three already just kicking this off: Leonardo Miller, Kalbarn Karn, and Brother Hyrdale. To keep this on the road (pun!), this will burn off all diversions at least through #4. However, each of these waypoints may be from a couple to several scenes, so that keeps it fairly loose.

In that light, we have another type of Keyed Scene for this campaign: When Arden runs out of resolve, he enters into a forced vision state to heal.

Previously, on the Stone Crack'd...

Awakening from a vision of a previous mission, Arden Ulet has a new sigil carved into his skin and the voice of a long dead Saint in his mind. Using these two new tools he was able to bring together all three pieces of Brother Hyrdale's triptych relic and restore at least a temporary unit in Tyv and Jorn. Now,he and his group head toward the town of Oone which is the source of a strange voice calling him forward. He senses it is a trap, but needs to find out how bad the situation really might be.

About The Bloody Hands

The once great Khelia Empire has crumbled due to a long war between mages (The Troubles). After five generations (roughly a century and a half) a new technology has been developed: The Veil. Its anti-magical properties allow the remnants of the empire to rebuild without the threat of mages and their creatures of darkness they used to lay waste to towns and cities. Now the Arcane Order employs Guardians and Agents to protect the Veil. Guadian Arden Ulet, a Seer, was given a fool's errand task of tracking down a shadow organization knowing for its signature mark: two bloody hand prints left at the scene of their crimes. Only Arden has made fast friends and loyal allies and have dived deeper than the Order expected. As he gains in power and reputation, he beings to suspect the truth of "The Bloody Hands" is something more sinister and devious than he ever imagined.

Content Warning: fantasy violence, mild and infrequent {smoking | drinking | mystical drug abuse}, cannibalism.

The Bloody Hands campaign is played using The Guardians of the Shadow Frontier one-sheet for Tricube Tales and the Mythic GM Emulator. See CREDITS for more detials. If you need help understanding the flow of this post, see Anatomy of a Post (seperate page). The Image Oracles described in the post (gamemaster phases and mechanical notes, especially) are from the Guardians of the Shadow Frontier one-sheet and were made by game-icons.net's various contributors. They can be seen on the Tricube Image Oracles page, including their attribution.

First, catching up some stats. Arden refreshed after his collapse then spent some more. Jalmar and Natalia are so far behind rolls that they should both be at full. While Izzia broadly gets Crafty, he is a secondary character still and does not get Karm. This brings the current values up to:

Arden Ulet: 3 Resolve + 2 Karma.
Jalmar Dax: 4 Resolve + 3 Karma.
Natalia Wilson: 3 Resolve + 3 Karma.
Izzia Kor: 3 Resolve.

Setting the Scene: On the Outskirts of Oone

Chaos Factor: 4
Keyed Scene: The group approaches the outer limits of Oone and can see it in the distance.

At the core of this entire segment is the question: Who is calling Arden? We know she is female. We know she can sense Arden at a distance. She is not a good person. She is pulling Arden in for a "group goal" to help the town. In the last session we had a vision sequence about the time that Arden was tasked with stopping a young female wizard from trying to get a powerful relic for some mischief. At the time, Arden realized he was being played by the Order and chose to let her go. Behind the scenes, that vision was mostly an excuse to give tribute to Dean Spencer's art and the book The Book of Random Tables: Dungeons. However, in the context of the world, Arden is a fairly powerful seer so the storyline justification that makes the most sense is that the person in this town is her. He recognizes her voice from those years ago. Likewise, while she sensed him interacting with Kalbarn-Karn, part of the reason she could pick this up from such a distance is because she recognizes him.

Since the time where he smashed the shield and helped her to escape, she seemingly has grown worse. Can Arden reach her again? Unknown. Let's find out.

Let's add in a couple of { complications | details }. Oone was first generated using the upcoming Ashes Without Number Enclave tables (for Kickstarter backers, currently in Beta 0.14 as of writing this post) and I love to use Kevin Crawford's Tags whenever I can. Let's try out the Enclave Tags with some massive grains of salt/interpretation to fit the differing campaign worlds (though The Shallows are on the verge of being fantasy post-apocalyptic).

Tag #1: Burning Grudge. The enclave, or at least some people in it, have a burning grudge against another community.
Tag #2: Sustained Technology. The enclave has somehow held on to remnants of the ancient technology.

Bring in a couple of other notes/details to weave this a bit more.

Knave, from the "Signs" table: 53 Molted Husk + 17 "Clothing" → Pocket.
The Great Book of Random Tables, from the "Non-Combat Encounters" table: 40 Group of monks on a pilgrimage + 68 Child asks for bread.
Image Oracles: 5,5 Meat + 2,5 Boot Stomp.

People in Oone have a grudge against the Order and this fact is why these people are living in such a place as this bleak town near its fetid pond. Someone in Oone (the wizard) has retained the old magic used to summon beasts of darkness. The molted husk will be an insect like beast that has clearly gotten bigger. The clothing will be monk robes from priests of Khel, found torn in the grass.

In town, there is food available but some people are not allowed to partake due to the control over the food. In particular, one kid at least is hungry and wants bread (perhaps does not want the meat).

This leads to an obvious question: Are they actually eating the travelers? (50/50) → 3 Exceptional Yes. There is a pecking order, though, where one of the 2-3 families that make up this group are given first dibs and the others are being controlled.

To answer the question from above: this is a very bad wizard.

That is enough to start, though. We will set the Focus Thread Progress Track of Stopping the Evil in Oone at 15-points. Hearing the voice, having the vision, and being told to avoid the area by Wren will be worth two: Arden is forewarned.

Progress Track: Stopping the Evil in Oone
1	2	3	4	5F	6	7	8	9	10F	11	12	13	14	15F
P	P

On the Outskirts of Oone

The two men approach the town slowly. The older man—bearded and wearing a face showing many years exposed to the elements—hops down off of his horse and picks something up off the ground. A shred of cloth. The remnants of a monk's robe.

"Like someone grabbed it by the pocket and yanked back hard. It's a Khelian monk's habit. One who did not go willingly. Between this and that overgrown bug husk back there, are you sure you do not know who is calling you?," asks the older man. [1]

"No. It seems familiar. I cannot yet place it, though," responds the younger man. He is still on his horse. Like the older, he wears a sturdy cloak designed for outdoor travel. A slight boon in the constant drizzle that has marked the day. Doubly so because it hides the battle-hewn bodies of these two men and the silver sigils that mark their skin. Here, they are playacting as just travelers. The younger man is cleanshaven, and his eyes carry a look that seems to be both focused on the here-and-now but also some far away place. As the older watches, the younger turns to his side like he listening to a third someone speak. It is only the two of them, though. [2]

The older man is Arcane Order Senior Agent and Beastmaster Jalmar Dax. The younger man—still nearing middle age—is Arcane Order Guardian and Seer Arden Ulet. The two have worked together for many years and have become friends. They are used to very dangerous situations. Arden has been tracking a voice calling out to him for several days, bringing him to this town in the distance. Only the rumors about the place—called Ooone—are not good. Travelers are told to avoid. Only, as the remnants of the monk's clothing show, not everyone gets heeds the advice. And the sight of what appeared to be a insect husk that would make a large dog seem small might explain why man don't get that far.

Others have been traveling with them but are currently hidden. Order Scholar Izzia Kor and Order Probationary Guardian Natalia Wilson—her speciality is in blowing things up—are holding back. Jalmar's two beast friends are acting as relays. Ruk the ravenhawk is flying higher than most bows could shoot, keeping an eye out. Kif, the monkeydog, is with Natalia. Through his mystical connection, this gives Jalmar a sense of goings on near Oone. If things go poorly, Kif will alert Natalia to approach. Otherwise, the two trainees have been told to avoid Oone.

"I guess we trigger the trap that this witchy voice is laying for us, then," says Jalmar. Even in the drizzle, it is not likely that the townsfolk will not notice them for long. Only the dark green colors of their clothing have offered them any semblance of stealth against the dim, gray backdrop of The Shallows. The Shallow Plains are a vast expanse of land abandoned by the Arcane Order and New Khelia after the years of the Troubles left them a wreck from numerous territorial conflicts by various wizards. And all those miles of gray backdrop might mean nothing if a mystic powerful enough to track and contact Arden is up ahead.

"Yeah. Just remember, if things go bad, fight to escape. If we get clear, we meet up with Nat and Izz. If not, we lead them away from the younger two. Be careful with the killing. Chances are not everyone is fully devoted to whatever bad things are happening there," responds Arden.

"Leave the talking to you, got it." Jalmar knows that Arden is prone to going off on his own and taking a lot of risks and responsibility for the group. The last couple times this has happened, Arden has gotten in over his head. Jalmar makes a self-promise that this time he will refuse to leave until he is sure Arden is safe or avenged. What troubles Jalmar more is that Arden has been acting increasingly strange since they left Hyrdale's old farmland.

What Jalmar does not know is that Arden's head currently holds more than Arden's own thoughts. Besides the voice of the woman calling out from the dire town a few hundred yards north of them, there is an kindly old man who lead Arden to carve three lightning bolts on his hands. And, sometimes, another voice. Like a hum. Gentle and beautiful. Experienced more as a thought about light than anything definite.

The old man voice speaks up, again. "Stormlight, people will die, today. Maybe you. Or worse."

Arden does not answer. He is not sure how except out loud and Jalmar seems stressed enough already. Instead, he prods his horse to start walking forward.

Setting the Scene: Entering Oone and Triggering the Trap

Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: Arden and Jalmar enter Oone, pretending to be lost travelers.
Actual Scene: 7, as Expected.

Let's find out something: Is the wizard able to tell how close Arden is? (50/50) → 74 No.

Are the townsfolk on the outlook for Arden? (considering the previous answer, we'll say Very Unlikely) → 94 Exceptional No. The wizard has not told them she is contacting him. The "group goal" is possibly not the town's goal then. Factions are fun, so let's say she is working for someone else (even if she has summoned a beast of darkness being used by the town).

That out of the way, let's build a town in a few set pieces. Starting with the initial description with a few updates to better fit later changes:

A small, very ramshackle ~~village~~ town. A few poorly tended vegetable fields with an old scarecrow leaning over at an angle. Huts and small cabins made of wood, mud, and hay have wet smoke floating overhead. It is built around a pond that lets off a pungent odor. The people here, largely just ~~one or two (fairly inbred)~~ three or four families and hangers-on are led by a patriarch. The whole family/group was kicked out of ~~another town~~ the Veil.

A simple map showing a ramshackle town around a sickly green pond.

Look, Ma! I made a map!

We'll generate four families using a mixture of the surname tables from Knave, Image Oracles, and Tricube Solo table as needed.

12 + 69: Birdny (Patriarch = Arne Birdny). Image Oracles: 6,4 Magic Bottle + 6, 6 Compass.
28 + 59: Cumbermark (Matriarch = Alma Cumbermark). Image Oracles: 4,6 Magic Swirl + 6,2 Dig Dug.
33 + 43: Drolham. Image Oracles: 3,6 Pointy Hat + 6,1 Wolf Head.
31 + 40: Drawgrave. Image Oracles: 6,6 Compass + 5,3 Conversation.

As a younger man, Arne Birdny sold potions in Hub to feed his family. After the Ulets launched the first resonance tower, Arne lost his gift. He begged for the ability to continue to work but the Order was unbending. He fled with his family and other people who thought magic was needed for a good life. Over time, he has grown increasingly bitter and dark and has led the others to [literally] feeding off passers-by.

Barltlett Cumbermark was a miner married to Alma Cumbermark who worked with Arne. After Barltlett was injured in a mining accident, the lack of potion brewing was considered by her to contribute to his death. She followed Arne into the Shallows and is a source of some of his bitterness. She acts as a kind of second in command.

The Drolhams were other hedge mages practising in low level witchery and caring for animals. The followed Arne and Alma. The Drawgrave were travelers who got caught early in Arne's descent into depravity and cannibalism and joined forces rather than being some of the first victims.

Is the wizard related to one of these families? (50/50) → 84 No. Either she joined later or was caught later.

Now for just a few landmarks besides the pond and the fields.

Tricube Solo Urban Locations (3): 3,2 Hospital/Physician + 6,3 Smithy/Craftshop + 5,1 Pharmacy/Herbalist.
There will also be a sturdy stone structure near the bond and next to a place where butchering takes place. For reasons.

Will the townsfolk try and get the PCs to leave? (50/50) → 84 No. Despite having a full larder, they are always looking for more.

Entering Oone and Triggering the Trap

To the townsfolk of Oone, the two strangers look like travelers who maybe bit off more than they could chew. Soaked from the rain, huddled under cloaks, riding their horses like they have been in the saddle for far too long. The one in front has a sword. The one in the back has a hunter's bow and a woodman's axe. None of these weapons are strapped into a place for easy reach. A foolish act even if they were not coming here. Maybe the townsfolk note that the men have covered all the skin on their arms and neck, but most likely not. Who wouldn't want to stay as dry as possible? [3]

To Arden and Jalmar, this blighted town looks rough and smells rougher. Arden takes in several things. Most of the houses are made of cheap wood and repurposed brick likely stolen from some other collapsed burg. One large building near a fetid, rancid-smelling pond stands out as being much sturdier. A handful of folks are out and about watching them ride in, despite the rain. A shop up past the larger brick building looks has various herbs hanging from the porch rafters and looks to be something like an apothecary. He can sense magic in the air, just not of the pleasant sort.

Adding to the stench and the miasmic vibe, Arden notices that a farm house over to his left has cloth hanging in a makeshift door. Cloth that no doubt came from monk's robes. He does not have to look closely or long to image that at least some of that cloth has a torn pocket. [4]

Jalmar is looking the other way, past a farm house where an older man is tending a firepit roasting meat. The old man is holding a chunk of the meat and teasing a thin, young boy while the boy looks frightful. Jalmar knows there is a story there but is more concerned about staying alert for more obvious attacks. He taps Arden's shoulder to direct the Guardian's attention to the scene. Arden shakes his head slightly like he barely notices but Jalmar knows that Arden is contemplating all that is going on around him. [5]

A woman of about Arden's age comes forth. She is several months pregnant. Ragged clothes and hair contrast to a generally well fed body. For all the poverty on display, the people seem fed well enough. In a thick, slurring accent, she asks, "Ola, strangers, what are you seeking here?"

Arden speaks for them both, in a voice conveying cheerfulness and exhaustion all the same. "We are glad to have spotted this place. We were seeking the River Lumin but have missed it by a mark. I am Uglas Dirk and this is my cousin Johan. Would you be able to give us directions?" [6]

"Uglas, eh? Nothing ugly about you," she says, smiling, showing strangely blackened teeth. Her pronunciation being, "Nuffin oogly abou eww." Like those blackened teeth are a little too big for her mouth. "Ah, we can get you to River Lumin, but surely you wish to wait out the rain? Get a bit dry while wetting your tongue." "Geh a bih dry why wehhing oor ton." If Arden did not know any better, he'd say her accent is getting worse, like her teeth are slipping. Still her offer seems fair. Arden does not notice, or cannot, that Jalmar is starting to shake his head. Despite the beginning protestations, Jalmar follows to where they are being directed: an old barn. [7]

Inside the barn, Arden gets down from his horse and even unstraps his sword and starts stowing it with the saddle bags. Jalmar, gets down and acts like he is going to do the same with his axe when he turns punches the woman in her mouth hard enough to knock the false teeth loose. Unfortunately, he cannot get a grip on her to stop her from taking a step back. He expects to hear a scream or for her to run but instead she smiles a bloody smile, wipes at her teeth to look at the blood on her fingers, and says, "I like it when you fight back. Isn't it great to feel the fear in your heart? Such fearful boys makes my blood flow. See?" Holds her finger up for inspection. [8]

Arden is slowly coming out of the trance the corpse-teeth had woven over him. He sees the strange woman whose teeth have gone from blackened and oversized to normal but bloodied. Her accent has cleared up considerably. Jalmar is focused on her but still has not activated his sigils fully or pulled a weapon. The Agent unsure how much violence a single pregnant opponent might warrant. Arden stares in confusion to place events. Unfortunately, he fails to notice the other men and women coming out from behind the hay and start surrounding them. [9]

"I told Fern to stop using those teeth, but she says she likes the way they taste. Sorry, gentlemen, it's jut not poetic to steal another man's smile, I say. Wouldn't you agree?" This comes from a fat man of around the same age as Fern. Blonde and red-faced. He places an arm on Fern's shoulder and she shrugs him off. She bends down and picks up the teeth and shoves them in fold of her old dress where they seem to disappear completely, leaving not even a bulge. "My name is Elric, by the way. I'd say I'm pleased to meet you but a crow never won no favors by songbirdin'." [10]

"Jalmar, you should flee. Get to Natalia and Izzia. Bring back reinforcements."

"The hell I will. If we are going down here, we go down in a fight, together. I'll cut as many as I can and maybe you flee."

Arden is wanting to buy more time to try and find out the source of the voice but he knows that Jalmar is going to take this to violence shortly. Elric here makes slightly less ethically challenge opponent. Arden decides to try out something new to him. He raises his left hand in the air and the lighting bolt sigils start glowing upon it, then glowing bright. Immensely bright in the barn's dark shadows. He has a sense that going too far with this power will drain him fast but he figures a wind storm in a rickety barn already most of the way to drafty will not be too taxing. "Cover your eyes, Jalmar!" From his hand a wind whips around the place and blows the old stale hay around and knocks folks down while blinding them. Caught completely off guard, the would be attackers are scattered and stunned. [11]

"Jalmar, get red-face over there, I'm getting black-teeth." Arden leaps back on his horse and forcibly picks up Fern and pulls her in front of him where she can not easily struggle. Jalmar tries the same with Elric but the larger man hisses and fights like an injured wild cat and is dropped. As Arden and Jalmar lead their horses back through the swinging, decayed doors of the barn they hit a full gallop and ride off with their single hostage. [12]

As they are heading out town, taking the northern road instead of retracing their steps back to the south, they hear Elric shout. "Get Pa, we have Order dogs to hunt!" [13]

Setting the Scene: Stormy Interrogations by the Overlowing Creek

Chaos Factor: 6
Expected Scene: Jalmar and Arden find a place to hide with Fern to find out more about the town.
Actual Scene: 3, Altered. How so? 63 Neglect 14 Comfort. The drizzle rain turns back into a full on storm, making it hard to search for any kind of optimal space.

What space do they settle for? A single roll on Wilderness Features: 5,1 Raging River. They are going the opposite direction from the River Lumin so this is going to be a smaller river or creak that has completely filled with the recent rains. It cuts off their ability to go any further and they instead ride the horses down onto the thin remains of the bank to give themselves some temporary cover as the water threatens to rise even further and reach where they are.

That definitely counts as a Flash Point. We are possibly going to have a couple in a row.

What is Fern going to do? 14 Block 98 Weather. Ohhhhhhhh.

+ Keyed Scene: The next scene will involve Elric and the others catching up and this scene will determine a bit about how ready Arden and Jalmar are for that.

+ Keyed Scene: Natalia would now be aware that something is up since Kif was supposed to alert her (likely by yanking on her hair and barking like a naughty little monkey dog). She will arrive in Oone in three scenes.

Stormy Interrogations by the Overflowing Creek

"First of all, give me the teeth," Arden says as try to hunker down along an ever-shrinking creek bed to avoid both detection and the downpouring rain. The storm broke a few minutes into their flight which is a mixed curse and blessing. It should be slowing their trackers down but it also is pushing an already full creek all the way to its limit, making further progress in this direction difficult unless they make a risking fording or try to find a bridge. Fern insists there is not one in these parts.

Fern, whom Arden had set down rather gently as far from the rushing water as possible, stares up at him. He is currently holding his own cloak up over here to try and block much of the rain. It exposes his sigils and marks him as a Guardian, but that cat is out of the bag. She smiles—her teeth finally neither black or bloody—and reaches into the strange folds of her dress and pulls them out. He holds them a second before crushing them in his hand and scattering them into the water. She laughs a bit at this show and pats the same folds with a knowing smirk. [14]

Looking down at her, Arden notes that much like her well-fed appearance—and seemingly healthy pregnancy—contrasted to her ragamuffin clothing that barely fits and seems to barely maintain its stitches, her face is both an act of defiance and a plea bargain. However, she has tricked him at least once and the town they just fled seems deeper into the darkness than he was willing to admit. [15]

"You holding that over my head like chivalrous knight is going to give me wrong ideas, Mr. Guardian. Here, let me help." With that, Fern puts two fingers to her mouth to stretch her lips wide and lets out a sound like the wailing of the wind before a storm. After a few seconds the ran settles down. At least where they are. Arden and Jalmar can clearly see a wall of rain only a few feet away in every direction. Like she talked to the storm in its language to ask it to look the other way for just a moment. After doing this, she sags down and looks almost as ragged as her clothing for a minute before snapping back into her mask of pitiful defiance.

Arden puts his arms holding the cloak down. "It's not you. I'd know if you were her. Is there someone like you. Able to do things. Who might be able to reach out across the distance? Call out to someone like me." Arden stops and listens for the voice to see if it is still there. Nothing. Not even the old man or the bright humming. All his many spirits seem to have settled since he entered Oone. [16]

"Her?," she asks, thoughtfully, then seems to light upon an answer. "I would never have guessed you came here for her. Uncle Arne keeps her good and locked away. Makes her... well, I guess you'll know soon enough. Wouldn't want to ruin our conversation." [17]

"And what, pray tell, is our conversation?," Jalmar asks gruffly. Arden can sense his old friend's agitation still growing. The pursuers have to be getting closer.

"I'm just thinking that you two barely moved back there and you beat all of us silly. Maybe you can be the ones to finally help."

"No, shut up. This conversation is done, Arden, we tie her up and she can call them but we need to go. Leave her."

"I'm serious. Uncle Arne and Mama are not good people. They won't let us be good people. Someone like you, though. Think of the good you can do."

"I'm going to punch you in the mouth again. We have no reason to trust you," Jalmar's voice is still kept low but Arden hears the temper rising.

"I DO NOT LET MY CHILDREN EAT THE MEAT!," she suddenly shouts. Far too loud. The sound has to carry a long way on the plains, even above the sound of the storms. Jalmar goes to grab her but Arden holds him back.

"Arden. She already tricked you once. You have got to protect yourself. I have been keeping you alive for a long time and I am growing old. Listen to me for once."

"I will, Jalmar. I will. I just... give me twenty more breaths worth of time."

Jalmar flings his hands up and walks all the way to the unnatural wall of rain and steps through, making a loud sound of breathing in a slow, precise way. He becomes a gray shape out of the conversation. Arden does not know what to say to him, right now, how to apologize. The two of them have never had a truly regulated Guardian and Agent relationship. Even as a Junior, Arden outranked Jalmar. Arden considers himself somewhat outside of titles and ranks, but he realizes Senior Agent Dax has gone above and beyond to follow orders even when Arden gives dumb ones. This one feels like one of the dumbest of them all.

"You have eighteen more breaths before Jalmar comes back in and the two of us leave you here."

"Uncle Arne and my mother set that town up to be safe haven. For people like you and Johan, there. Only, both were city raised. Had no idea how to do anything. One day some folks stopped by and offered to share some food. Arne killed them. Took their food. Took their clothes. A few more stopped by. Some sniffed the trap and fled. A few stayed. Mama got good at getting folk. Pushed Arne even further. Eventually Arne took more than their food to eat, if you get what I am saying. All the time, Mama was teaching me all the old ways. Teaching Elric and all us kids. I kept learning. Kept hoping someone would come along too tough to kill. Tried to bat my pretty eyes at a few. It never worked. Then I got pregnant and was trapped like all those poor suckers. Once Arne got her, it got worse. No one gets away."

"What do you want us to do? Five breaths left."

"I want you to kill them both. Take my sons so they are never forced to eat the meat like me."

"What about you?"

"You kill them and that witch, you can take me too if you want. I've had worse arrangements, here."

Jalmar comes running back past the rain wall. "Arden, we are out of time. I hear their horses growing near. Are we dumping her in the flood here and going?"

Arden closes his eyes and let's the vision wash over him. For only two breaths he falls into it. He sees himself as a chalk outline glowing brightly. Standing in the ruins of Oone drawn like scratches upon some great beast's hide. Larger than any person. Around him, poor stick figure creatures crawl and bow. Frogs. Toads. Creatures of the swamp. Supplicants in a vast sigil carving itself into that skin, moving in some ancient pattern. Someone else approaches, someone as dark as Arden is bright. She reaches up and embraces Arden, pulls his face down into hers as their kiss becomes a storm of shadows and sound. Around them, all the broken creatures scream words of worship and adulation. [18]

"Jalmar, get her on your horse. We are going to run. Fast. Hard. We'll stop somewhere on the horizon."

In the back of his head, the old man finally answers, "Good call, Stormlight. It is too late, but good call."

Setting the Scene: Betrayal and Flight

+ Thread: Jalmar's dissatisfaction.

+ Keyed Scene: If, at the end of this mini-arc, the above thread is not really resolved, Jalmar will retire from the Arcane Order.

+ Thread: Arden's temptation into darkness.

+ Keyed Scene: When Arden meets the wizard, she will have some way to try and lure him in.

Progress Track: Two more progress. Who knows if Fern is being honest or just living up to her "Femme Fatale" status but even not saying everything would give Arden and Jalmar a picture. Arden seeing a vision of himself joining forces with the evil wizard seems to have put the fear in him.

Chaos Factor: 7
Keyed Scene: Elric and the other Oone folk in pursuit are going to catch up to them. Elric is presumably a fellow practitioner of some degree of magic.

Arden and/or Jalmar losing all Resolve in this scene will equal to them being captured.

To win the fight or flight, Arden and Jalmar need: Easy Agile. Just one success, each. Surprisingly easy. This will be due to something that Fern does.

What will Fern do during this fight or flight? Let's use Image Oracles to make it a bit more interpretative. 1,6 Viking Shield + 6,2 Dig Dug. She is going to actually work to protect Arden.

Keyed Scene: Update: Natalia will arrive in Oone in two scenes.

Betrayal and Flight

The trio are only around a dozen yards from the creek bed when they hear the shouts. Elric and a half-dozen other townsfolk are on horses and cutting across the plains towards them.

Arden and Jalmar lean forward and will their horses to go faster. Like the rest of Oone, the horses the townsfolk are on swing to the ragged. Unlike the people, the horses cannot be overfed on "the meat."

The problem is that Elric has tricks up his sleeve. He shouts some strange words and suddenly a strange scarecrow figure comes running out of the rain. Gangly arms and legs jerking like being pulled by strings. No doubt wearing the clothes of a dead man, the head of the scarecrow is a skull stuffed with swamp grass. It moves to block their flight. [19]

Arden dodges to the left of the scarecrow and has his sword out and cuts a strange pattern in the air with the glowing blade. The scarecrow crumbles and falls, whatever magical cords were controlling it are severed. Elric screams an incoherent curse.

Jalmar leads his horse to jump over the collapsed straw-and-bone man and follows after the Guardian. The beast master realizes the weight behind has shifted and he gives a shout to Arden, "She's gone!" [20]

Arden looks back and sees Fern walking calmly towards the Oone horses. She is pulling blackened teeth from her clothing and putting them in her mouth. While it is possible that she had a second pair, he has the strange feeling that this is somehow the same pair he crushed and threw into the creek.

Just a few heartbeats later, Elric pulls up next to her and then calls the horses to a stop. He bends down to hear something she is shouting and then laughs his strange belly laugh. He reaches down and pulls her up behind him. Right as the storm cuts Arden's ability to see clearly, the Oone folk turn and head back towards town. Only an older man that looks like Elric's much older and much thinner double stays behind briefly to stare. Then he is gone, too. All of them fading into gray shapes. [21]

Jalmar pulls up besides Arden as they continue riding towards Natalia and Izzia's hidden camp. "Do you think she is betraying us? She has to be, right?"

Arden, still shaken by the vision of himself falling into darkness, shakes his head to clear it. Another mental image floats up. A starving young boy being taunted by meat. Then Fern shouting that she does not let her children eat it. "I have no idea."

The two men stay quiet as the dim light of the fading day and the rising storm swallows all around them.

Updating Progress for This Session

+ Thread: Fern's betraying someone.

It probably goes without saying that Arne, Elric, Alma, Fern, and "The Wizard" have all been added to the characters list. Oone's presence is being felt right now, just waiting for those juicy Random Events.

No progress for this last scene. Surely things are progressing but not "on-camera" as it were. This brings the total progress to the below state. Next scene, if there is no obvious progress, I will do a Discovery Check to see if whatever Fern is up to is helping or not.

For a numerical reminder: Jalmar lost 2 Karma this session and is down to 2 + 3 Resolve. Arden is still at 2 and 3.

Even though they got away cleanly, Fern is such an unknown right now I will leave Chaos Factor at 7. Rolling such a weird vision really upped the danger of this place.

Progress Track: Stopping the Evil in Oone
1	2	3	4	5F	6	7	8	9	10F	11	12	13	14	15F
P	P	F	F	P	P

DOUG'S COMMENTARY

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Nothing like magical cannibal villages, giant killer bugs, and intense storms to really ring in 2025, eh?

Secondly, this is the first post that fully embraces the month's long transition to my new desired style. I had made a note about it with the most recent Eustace Delmont session and then fully went on to explain it in my Fourth Wall Break #6. The long and short is that realized I really like the format initially developed to curtail some of the rampaging threads and events in the Bleak + Pearl series. In the commentary of that post—see, that's why I write these commentaries for virtually everything, it gives me a chance to see what Old Me was thinking—I called it a dual-approach. By the time the first two sessions of The GLOW had hit, it was more like a quadruple approach. Slightly before that, I wrote a strange apologia for this choice like I have to explain any decisions that make me have more fun with solo play. I really like breaking the different mindsets of play up and it gives me the sort of breaks that lets me weave the sort of stories with puppet scarecrows, corpse teeth, and a man infested with the spirits of long dead saints (because even though the earlier Bloody Hands sessions were in "recap" style, my recap style had basically turned into a way to play the multi-phase approach more offline.

I have added a breakdown of all the main elements including a note about the "Hiding GM Elements" for folks who prefer just to read the fiction.

Secondly, a slight mea culpa. I got done with the long Oone scene and was working on the scene by the creekbank when I realized I had misused Karma and Perks in the former. You can only spend Karma to better your odds if your Perk aligns with the test. Jalmar's Perk is "animal companions." Had either Ruk or Kif been there, they could definitely had helped to resist the charm spell of the corpse-teeth, but they would not have helped with the disguise. It won't matter too much in the long run—the scene still did its thing—but in an alternate universe the two of them ended up captured and Fern nor Elric probably never got much development.

A bonus New Year's Resolution: use Perks and Quirks more. They are fun and they are there and I largely ignore them in the fiction. This is bad of me.

Speaking of New Year's Resolutions, one of mine is to make my own art and maps more for these sessions. I am not saying that the map of Oone is perfect but I am very proud of it. It sounds odd to say as a person who writes one- to two-thousands words a week and slaps the Publish button but sharing such art gives me tinges of social anxiety. No way to get better at it besides just doing and see what doesn't work. That art I made in a kind of short burst using GIMP, a few filters and gradients, and just a rough mental sketch of the town. It serves no real purpose but a few such pieces to lay out the scene for others might be nice.

When I first set the progress track for this part of the arc, I thought I might go for 10 (partially because it took us six chapters just to get here). I went against that and figured 15. Now that we had the vision show up and Arden is aware that the wizard is calling him because she wants him to join her, or at least he will be strangely tempted when he meets her, I am glad for the breathing room. It gives us time to work out the fight with actually stopping Arne and Alma and Elric but also dealing with the wizard and her strange bug pet.

My current longer term goals is to possibly take a break from The Bloody Hands once "The Stone Crack'd" wraps up. I feel like we are getting to a good point to do a full season jump and pick up a few months up to a few years later. I might not. There are still a lot of threads that could be addressed and this one is a lot more sandbox-y than it appears. It is a wide open world map, there are dozens of towns and cities in the Veil, and hundreds of years of lore to work on.

Speaking of lore: The city south on River Lumin now has a name: Agnathy. I came up with it yesterday while working with the new Mythic Magazine and its Society Crafter tool.

Speaking of threads: I realized this session that I need to trim out my threads for each and every mini-arc. Too many characters and threads that had no real place in "The Stone Crack'd" kept showing up in rolls. This is generally a problem I have with Mythic where threads grow like barnacles and more current, appropriate threads get a bit lost in the muck. I trimmed my list down considerably and have embraced, this session, adding in newer ones that might only be in place for a scene or two.

Finally, the Music Shout Out for this post is the soundtrack for No One Will Save You (by Joseph Trapanese). I have heard other scores by him but No One soundscape is pulse pounding and paranoid and worrying in a way that is perfect for the vibe of Arden and Jalmar having to ad lib their survival in a very bad situation where a mistake could easily lead to not only their death but an entire string of deaths of all the other potential victims, including Natalia and Izzia.

MECHANICAL NOTES

Standard Crafty: Jalmar gets two successes and not only recognizes the source of the torn pocket but also what it means.
Weather Roll: 3 out of 6. Drizzly and wet but not stormy. Standard Crafty: Arden gets no successes. He can still not place the voice despite the recency of the vision.
Without fair warning, Easy Crafty to pull off the disguise. Arden gets one success. Jalmar only gets one success by spending a Karma, taking him down to 3.
Open Roll to see how Arden notices things. Gets a single six which is enough to take some pretty specific details, but just a couple.
Jalmar gets no successes on a Hard Crafty roll to see if he can realize that is human meat.
Opposed Roll. Standard Crafty for Arden. Hard Crafty for her (at 2d6). He gets two, she gets none. He has convinced her.
Unfortunately for Arden, she has also convinced him. How to resist the magic she is weaving using the corpse teeth she is wearing? Hard Crafty. Arden fails. Jalmar gets an exceptional success only by spending another point of Karma.
Does Jalmar go ahead and attack as soon as they are in the barn? (Very Likely) → 10 Exceptional Yes. With prejudice. Easy Agile since she is unsigiled. Only gets a single success, though. Her response is 11 Befriend 33 Fear.
Does the corpse-teeth being knocked out break Arden out of his trance? (50/50) → 40 Yes. Are there already others in the barn? (Very Likely) → 32 Yes. Standard Crafty for Arden to notice them: No successes.
Knave Female Names → 36 Fern. Fern Drolham. Alma's daughter. Married into one of the other families. Couple of children already, including the boy outside refusing to eat the meat. Guy talking is Knave Male Name → 33 Elric Birdny, Arne's son. Using Knave personalities Fern is a 28 Femme Fatale (which makes sense) while Elric is 20 Cryptic.
It would have been Easy Agile + Brawny to escape but I did a simple [roll 3d6, more evens mean yes and more odds mean no] test to see what Arden might do since I really wasn't sure. I felt like he might stay in principle only Jalmar complicated. Instead, it was Standard Brawny + Crafty to take control of the situation and Arden got two successes. An oracle test of whether or not this level would start draining his Resolve returned no. We will say this is the upper limit, though.
Easy Agile + Brawn test to gather the two. Arden makes his. Jalmar does not. Fern is got, Elric escapes.
Does Elric recognize that these are people from the Arcane Order now that Arden used his sigil? (50/50) → 25 Yes.
Does Fern hand over the teeth? (50/50) → 33 Yes. This triggers a random event: NPC Action (she's the only NPC present so her) & Conceal + Time. She hands over the teeth but also has other tricks, possibly still has the teeth in some strange trick.
Fern's appearance: Meaning Tables, Character Appearance → 89 Strong 22 Desperate. Her less obvious actions → 22 Conceal 67 Path. From { Arden | Elric } → Elric. For now.
Is the wizard's voice still there? (50/50) → 88 No.
Will she tell him about the wizard? We will actually do this an oracle test. This combined with the other will help to inform how tricksy she is being. (50/50) → 24 Yes. Character Conversations → 18 Cautious 86 Polite. Will she mention the giant bug beast? (Likely, based on previous) → 73 No.
Meaning Table, Visions and Dreams → 72 Place 17 Control 25 Enemies 13 Contact. Image Oracle → 6,6 Compass + 2,2 Tentacle Barrier.
Image Oracles 5,6 Scarecrow + 3,2 Fishing Pole. Awwwww, yeah.
Easy Agile. Arden gets two successes. Jalmar gets one.
Does Elric and the others stop when the reach Fern? (50/50) → 25 Yes. What does Elric do? 99 Usurp 54 Military. Hmmm.

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 series (primarily Worlds... and Ashes...) + Scarlet Heroes, Matt & Erin Davis's The Great Book of Random Tables (and others), and Madeline Hale's Table Fables.

Other sources will be credit in the appropriate session. Different tools might be used in different amounts per post. I mostly just run on vibes, here.

Graphics come from a variety of sources. A frequent source of the opening/splash images is ArtUK and I recommend that site/resource to any who like classical art. Pixabay is the second most likely. My own strange creations are in the third category. The Bloody Hands tends to use vibe graphics rather than precise depictions to give myself (and you) space to still access your mind palace. Jalmar looks like what you want him to look like. I don't mind.

The one used at the top of this post is "Nightfall (The Gleaners)" by Henry Herbert La Thangue and was made available through ArtUK and the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums. I have an art piece already picked out from whenever Natalia shows back up but since things took long enough to approach that point I was looking for either something that said "peasant poverty," "Fern," or maybe rain-drenched horse rides. I found that one and it kind of hit the vibe for the first two and struck me as a good color and theme to show something like first impressions of the place. Updated impressions are closer to whatever your favorite hillbilly cannibal move set in the middle ages might be.

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