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A beautiful (half-)elven woman warrior with blond hair, green cloak, and several weapons.

Half-Elf Fighter from Wyrmfathom: Lidia Toma
© Dean Spencer

"Previously..." and Campaign/Arc Summary
The Stone Crack'd 8 — The Knight and the Portal

A Strange Sensation of Otherwhere
A Thorn Bush on a Hill
Clint's Big Gamble & Felix's Delayed Happiness
Inside the Swirl
Entering Wyrmfathom
Rescuing Lidia
Deeper into Wyrmfathom

Wrapping Up This Session's Progress
Doug's Commentary
Mechanical and Story Notes
Credits

Previously, on The Bloody Hands REBIRTH: The Stone Crack'd

The brutal battle of Oone ended with an ancient water spirit being freed. Arden and his squad have taken the children and other willing survivors back to Tyv and Jorn. This also gives them a chance to rest up and heal, themselves. Arden has predicted a great Second War is coming to the Shallows, and has decided to start gathering up an army to fight.

About The Bloody Hands Rebirth: The Stone Crack'd

The once great Khelia Empire has crumbled due to a long war between mages. Now, after five generations, the world is starting to rebuild. Arden Ulet leads his team - beast-master Jalmar Dax; Probationary Guardian and explosives expert Natalia Wilson; and the Scholar Izzia Kor - on an expedition across The Shallows, a vast plains long abandoned by the Arcane Order. Their goal is to find a magic site of potential once great power to help Arden to understand the lost ways of magic that the Arcane Order are working to stamp. Along the way, they encounter places of great power, ruined villages, long-term feuds, and other strange things.

Content Warning: Mostly fantasy violence with occasional dives into harder horror [including body horror and cannibalism]. Mild and infrequent substance use, often with a fantasy twist. This is a world where a lot of people suffered and died for many years even as it tries to rebuild itself.

This post is in the standard Doug Alone post style. See Anatomy of a Post for more details. The Image Oracles described in the post (gamemaster phases and mechanic notes, especially) are from the Guardians of the Shadow Realm one-sheet. They can be seen on the Tricube Image Oracles page.

Attribution for the tools and materials used—including the splash art—can be found in the Credits below along with some details.

The Stone Crack'd 8 — The Knight and the Portal

Setting the Scene: A Strange Sensation of Otherwhere

What feels like "way back when" — really just a month and a half agao — in The Stone Crack'd 3, one of the three waypoints before the finding the site was to be, "Near some standing stones, a sudden silence spreads over the land as a strange ripple appears. This is a portal to another place. Nearby a knight stands." At the time, the exact nature of the portal and who the knight is waiting for was left up in the air until we got there. There is the added question of what is meant by a "knight" since that kind of terminology hasn't tended to show up in the world lore, but I think it suffices to say someone who has taken on a protector role of some sort.

This session (and potentially the next) will deal with "The Knight" and "The Portal" and "The Explorer" and so for this first scene we will take a moment to back up and try and find out some details.

Who is The Knight? Using Universal NPC Emulator and some other tools. 07 Romantic 08 Occultist + 36 Cheery 45 Actor. Name → [c113] {Felix | Maude | Cameron } → Felix. Felix Osterling. A {younger | same | older } → a cheerful guy in his mid- to late-30s. How good is Felix at fighting? → [c30] 5 → average for the game world (so notably but not exceptionally).

Who is The Explorer? 82 Shrewd 33 Warden + 72 Cultured 66 Champion. Someone a lot more established, maybe a bit more controlling. Name → [c27] { Clint | Stacy | Kumara } → Clint. Clint is { younger | same | older } → around the same age as Felix. Relationship is { Familial | Working | Romantic } → Familial. Clint Osterling. Felix's slightly older brother who is more the established family hero. The current future Lord Osterling who keeps Felix in his shadow.

What is on the other side of the portal? Image Oracles → 6,5 Lightning Trio + 1,1 Magic Portal. This portal is a place that is a hub for other portals. It appears to be swirling clouds and flashes of light light and vortices. Kind of like a modern Doctor Who opening sequence. This is why Felix can't find Clint because Felix doesn't know which of the other paths that Clint took.

How well stocked is Felix? → [c47] 7. Very. How well stocked in Clint? → [c69] 9. Even more so. Essentially the danger isn't that the mission is going on too long, but perhaps something on the other side.

Once we figure out if Arden can track Clint, we'll figure out what is going on. Otherwise, this might have a different approach.

As of now, no clock on this one. The Osterlings have weeks (at least) of supplies. Probably folks and pack animals with them. Clint is just running a good deal overlong.

Let's add a bit of a wrinkle to the tale for mild human interest. Felix is with his long-suffering partner. Brought along on Clint's plans, this person wants Felix to leave his brother's schemes. A fellow actor, perhaps. This person is a 30 Habitual 48 Fortune Hunter and 75 Touchy 25 Hermit. A person who wants to make money now so they can Felix can retire together. [c65] {Armak | Sharilyn | Taylor} → Sharilyn Larkis. A few years older than Felix, the two have been in love for a long time since they toured together.

A Strange Sensation of Otherwhere

The weather has held well these past two weeks since the group has left Oone. The trip to Tyv and Jorn had not been without incident, though Arden and his friends had easily handled it. One of the older children had tried to bring along one of their parent's books. Unfortunately, the book had a somewhat irate spirit with a thirst for blood. It had came forth and attacked the poor kid before Natalia and punched the book hard enough to rupture any connections it might have to either the spirit world or this one. [1]

Even though all the ringmasters of Oone — including the nameless wizard — are all dead, Arden knows that others from the town were willing participants in its horrors. It will take a long time to sort through the wreckage and the recriminations, but the Shallows will take care of some of it. It can be a harsh place without proper care.

At least the site of Uunne's Spring should be well guarded. Jansen Dels is gathering up some other strong quarry workers and some soldiers to guard it. Danna and Rishard continue to build up the Hyrdale monument but will take trips to help build a roads to this new holy site. Once they connect it to the tomb of the old saint by the lake, the three sites will be a start in a network of holy energy. Arden's plan is to try and gather people to such places. To build up energy so the land itself can help fight back against the darkness.

That is the future, though. Today's weather remains bright and calm. Clouds are still building in the sky. The temporary peace from the incessant rains will not hold, but for a few more days the travel has been rather pleasant. They are five days south of Tyv and Jorn, now, and two days south of Uunne's Spring. According to Izzia's map, they are only two or three days travel from Marel's ancestral site. Closer, if the weather holds.

While Izzia is joking loudly with Jalmar about how much roast pork he will eat when he gets back to Hub, Arden is remaining quiet. He can sense something. Something off to the west. He finally comes to a stop. [2]

"What is it?," Natalia asks. Whatever it is that Arden senses, none of the rest are able to pick it up. [3]

"I can see a place. A circle of stones on top a hill. A gathering of folks. An argument. Many doors. A storm overhead. A...storm, within that storm. A place of swirling colors. Also, love. Real love." [4]

"Is it dangerous?," asks Izzia.

Jalmar is the one who answers. "This is us, Kor. It is always dangerous. Well, let's go trigger another trap!"

With that, the four ride off to the west to learn what this new thing Arden has detected might be.

Setting the Scene. A Thorn Bush on a Hill

Arden and company approach the standing stones and the portal

Not a lot of scene setting at this point. Generally, what is the mood of the non-Sharilyn people? → [c67] ᚦ (Thurisaz): Thor/Giant. Reactionary, defensive destruction. Instinct, willpower, and regeneration; lightning, electricity. → they are a bit on edge.

A Thorn Bush on a Hill

As Arden's squad approaches, they a hill with standing stones upon it. Floating above the hill, and the stones, is a swirling shape that seems to be very nearly a trick of afternoon light. Like a big of fog catching sunlight in a particularly inexplicable way. The air here is strangely quiet. Sounds do not carry well. Even more poorly than is normal upon the Shallows.

Once they are close enough to see several people around the stones, those people are also able to see them. At this distance, the people, combined with the stones, look something like thorns sticking off a bush without leaves. Three figures, clearly larger a bit sharper as thorns, gather up horses and ride fast in an intercept course. Arden guides his group to ride even more so towards these new figures but with a hand gesture he cautions calm. When Jalmar starts to unstrap the axe, Arden calls back that this time is different than the last. These people he can sense are on edge but are not inherently dangerous like Oone.

Pulling up short a few hundred yards from the hill, Arden and the rest wait. The three riders from the hill stop around ten yards away. The one in the center seems to be the leader. Around Arden's age, he is a handsome man lacking the worry lines of a life spent fighting. Still looks like he might be good with the sword he is pulling out. His voice has a certain resonance to it. Deigned to carry his weight. Despite giving the impression that he prefers things when they are funny, he is used to being heard.

"Alright, that's far enough you four, I'm afraid you might need to take a detour around this hill. No ill will but I am willing to fight to protect it. As are my two fellows. We are well trained." The two other riders are younger than the speaker, and Arden doubts they are greatly well trained, at least by the standards of their usual mission. Still, he suspects they will fight hard. The woman on the left — Arden's left, the speaker's right — is a stern pale person who is currently staring at Jalmar's armaments. The man on the left is dark. He has a slight smirk on his face. His eyes are on Jalmar himself. [5]

"The warning is well-met, stranger. Only I was called to this place by a sense that you needed help," Arden says as he pulls back his cloak to show the sigils on his skin. "We mean no harm and I sense that neither do you."

"By Khel! You are a long way from the Veil, Guardian," says the main talker who orders the other two to stand down. "What are you doing so far out there? And help, well, I am not sure we need it but it could be appreciated it." [6]

"Um, sir, what is that?," asks Izzia as he points to the swirling light. His curiousity of things in the Shallows is growing. [7]

"That, young man, is a...well, you could call it...it's like..."

"A gateway to another place. A door of storms into other storms," describes Arden, for Felix.

"Right oh! Jolly well spotted. Do you know these, then?"

Arden shakes his head no. "I can 'see' it, though. I mean, I could see it back a few miles that way."

"Ah, right, well, we can talk about this back at camp. Do you fancy some tea? I'm always parched this time of day."

With that, the stranger, still not having introduced himself, turns and points back towards the hill.

"We would love some tea. My name is Arden Ulet. Guardian Arden Ulet." Arden gives the name of his other companion, who nod or wave as they are mentioned.

"Introductions among strangers, I love it. Here is Talia and Dylan. They are good and loyal companions. My name is Felix. Felix Osterling. And that portal is my brother's favorite research topic. Too bad Clint is trapped inside. Come and meet the others."

Setting the Scene. Clint's Big Gamble & Felix's Delayed Happiness

Arden and the rest enter the camp and hear some background.

Pretty much just pure people stuff. If we need, we can pull an additional character or two but everyone not named is "background character #5" and so forth.

How long has the "home camp" been here? { 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 21 } days → 13 days. Almost two weeks.

Clint's Big Gamble & Felix's Delayed Happiness

Riding up into the group, Arden can see they have been here for a good amount of time. Tents have are mud splattered, some sunken a bit back into the earth. There are multiple fire pits, a few having been washed out during the frequent storms of late. Trash and debris have built up a bit on the edges. People have a look of exhaustion that long expeditions start to show on the face.

With all that, the supplies seem fine. Horses are well fed. There are several barrels marked as beans and flour. Drying racks show game and wild herbs. No one looks particularly starved. Just a bit tired.

While Felix is dismounting, a woman runs up towards him. A pretty woman. His age or a few years older. Like him, a person clearly used to being in the limelight. Unlike him, she gives the vibe of regretting it. Brightly dressed. She stops when she sees Arden and Jalmar. The two men dismount. Jalmar keeps up the appearance of a coiled spring. A warning to not push any luck. This frees up Arden to make friendly with their host. Izzia is busy jotting down notes in his journal. Natalia is staring at the swirling light fog mass with a bit of awe.

"Felix, who are these people? You know Clint said to not let anyone else..."

"Shhh, Sharilyn. These are Guardians. The green-one there said he felt called to this place and wanted to help. All exciting isn't it?"

"Oi, Guardians, why are you down here in the Shallows? Doesn't the Order need you to protect their bankers up north?"

This jab causes Jalmar to break his stern character and move towards laughter. Despite not being quick to trust strangers any time soon after Oone, he is always down for a good roasting of the Order. "Maybe the Order is investing in long miles of grass, now, ma'am."

This helps to break the tension — everyone but Sharilyn's at least — as folks chuckle and swap pleasantries. And information.

The group is from the town of Oster, a half-day's ride back to the east, toward Lumin. Felix (and someone named Clint) are of a central family that gives the town its name. The sons of the current Lord Osterling. Clint found the swirling light while exploring and laid claim to it.

In the center of the ring of stones is a much larger stone. Above it is the light. Scaffolding of some quality and skill make it possible to go right up to it.

"And inside it," says Felix, noting the direction of Arden's eyes. "Which is where Clint is. For...um, a bit."

Dylan, the young man-at-arms that was with Felix fills in some more details. Felix's brother Clint has gone on an expedition to explore it and Felix is in charge of securing the site until Clint gets back. Only what was meant to be a day or two tour has turned into...

"Nearly a fortnight, alas. I'm sure Clint is fine. Clint is always fine. Just, I'd like him to show back up so we can go home. Just so he can drag me off on his next romp."

Sharilyn stomps her foot at this statement and storms back into one of the larger, better built tents.

"Ah, well. She'll be ok once Clint is back and we are not stuck here tending the garden. I'll take her on a nice vacation. Would you like to see inside the...swirl?"

Setting the Scene. Inside the Swirl

Arden and his squad enter the swirl.

Does the Swirl have a "natural occurring" walk away? (Even) → [c77] No.

Hmm, what is the floor like then? → [c19] Water as an element. So they use boats the float upon a swirling, colorful sea. Clint has built a small dock.

How many other portals are visibile? → [c22] 4. A few. Traversing futhur ones requires a bit of travel.

What would it require for Arden to find Clint's path? (3+1)D6 with difficulty and effort getting +2. Hard Crafty. No effort, though. It's one of the more nearby tunnels.

GENERATING SOME REALMS

For this I am going to generate 4 realms. I am primarily going to use the same "Lost Lists" document from Brian Yaksha's Academies of the Arcane that was used to generate some details for Kalbarn-Karn. In this case, I am going to use the "Sphere Name," "Descriptor," "Twist," "Palette," and "Vibe." The chance that most of this being relevant is almost none but who knows. Once we enter a realm, we can use Tricube Solo to generate an event or two, maybe a place.

[3,6,2] Qlennagyn. [1,3] A beatific land of heavenly light and pearlescent sands... [1,2] ...Deeply rotting from within due to a malignant cyst upon its world-soul. [6,2] Crudely gaudy, like a child’s undesired finger paintings upon outdated wallpaper. [6,3] The rhythmic zen state of carving wood into shape, where all feels unified and the conscious mind fades.
[1,3,1] Magna Mori. [6,6] The realm of a grand metropolis, both infinite and inevitable... [1,4] ...Its city-states are ruled by masked overlords. [2,5] Embryonic pinks, swirling like sickly sweet candied muscle tissue. [4,3] The devil-may-care attitude towards a bleak future, for you are too enchanted by a life yet unaware of the horrors that await.
[2,3,6] Wyrmfathom. [2,3] An obscured realm, held inbetween the blinks of an eye... [5,2] ...Warped by a sarkic sculptor’s touch, all forms are malleable here when in knowing hands. [4,6] Royal blue, pompous and assured of its own righteous purpose. A sovereign’s depression made bold and someone else’s problem. [4,4] The dizzying tummy-ache that follows indulging too deeply in sweets you were previously denied.
[3,2,1] Danakriti. [1,5] A fecund realm of tumorous biology, squamous and twitching... [2,4] ...It was once host to a magnificent school of sorcery, though it lost accreditation.[3,5] Bronze in all the beautiful potential its shining glean promised those who first forged it. [5,1] The groaning discontent of an exhausted soul, asked for more than they can expend.

And Clint went into... 3. Wyrmfathom. A place where things shift and blink and meaning cannot hold. A deep blue place, leaving you feeling like you have over-indulged.

Setting a Seed

I mentioned this back in an Eustace & Hitomi session but sometimes when juggling some ideas it is nice to build up some things that are not "on-paper-canon" as possiblities. I came up with two terms: Insights and Seeds. Insights are assumed to be around 70% true are basically ideas I have for the background until something might show up that changes are alters the assumption. Seeds are more like colors that could go on the canvas. Both are roughly equivalent to Keyed Scenes from Mythic but both are softly applied, rather than more rigidly so. In this case...

+ SEED: Similar to how Kalbarn-Karn made a good solution to the Oone sub-arc, the way that Wyrmfathom can be shaped by a knowing artisan makes me think of Brother Hyrdale. If it gets very dire and people get very stuck, Hyrdale might become part of the solution. Not sure how, just yet, but something to note.

Inside the Swirl

A structure very much like a pier has been built to jut off the top of the center stone into the swirling light. Walking along it, you feel a sense of disorientation and then you are standing in a place unlike where you just left. The "swirl" is now all around you, stretching for seeming miles. Underneath, as much as that term has meaning here, the swirl pools into something like a liquid but a liquid that flows up and around into strange streams in the distance. Almost like you are seeing the circulatory system of some ancient god. Strange vibrant hues pulse in the light.

The place you just came through twists like a vortex in the clouds and glows a deep green. It looks more solid than the thin cloudy swirl elsewhere. A distance away is another one, glowing bronze. Let your eyes travel up one of the strange streams heading up, and you can spot a third, glowing blue. A fourth, along another stream stretching up and behind you, is pink. Another is off the distance, at the crossroad of two different stream. This one looks like almost like bone or china, but has garish tints to its colors.

"Clint was the one who first entered into the swirl. Said it was not fair to risk anyone else for his exploration. Well, and how else do you take the glory if you send a young squire where you refuse to go, eh?"

Felix is standing by Arden, Jalmar, Natalia, and Izzia. The four newcomers have mixed reactions to seeing such a place. Jalmar is gripping Ruk and Kif so the raven-hawk and monkey-dog remain still. They are exceptionally well trained but he is anxious. Natalia is somewhere between elated. Izzia is writing notes down furiously but the scribbles will be a struggle to decipher later: "What pink up and over flow?" Arden is curiously tapping the sigils along his skin. They still pulse with power at this point but how far this will carry, he does not know. [8]

"What is it?," asks Izzia.

"Ah, well, it's a bit technical, you see. At least, I think it is. A bit beyond me. Clint thought it was like taking a big pile of dice and rolling them. All these...streams...are like map between the different rolls. Or maybe are the rolls? Ahem, well, like that..." [9]

Felix points to the furtherest swirl. The one that looks like a china plate with garish colors. "That's Qlennagyn. The other side looks like a beautifully bright desert swirling in many shimmering colors. But Clint said he could sense something wrong with it so never went far. The pink one is Magna Mori. A massive city full of strange people with masks. Again, did not go far. That one, the brozen...um...swirl...is Danakriti. Clint thinks the people there used giant beasts instead of bricks to make their building. Very squelchy. Smells a lot like liver. The blue one he called Wyrmfathom. Like a big house but the rooms shifts and fade."

"Did he explore that one?," asks Arden.

"Oh no. Well, not really. As you can tell, the other places are all a bit off-putting to us."

"Where did he go, then?"

"That's the rub, old man. He was going to plot out a few more swirls, what he calls Valves, beyond the ones you can see here. Spend a couple of days trying to map it out. Then come back. Only..."

"A fortnight, you said?," asks Natalia.

"Right-oh."

"Wait, Qlennagyn? Magna Mori, where did the names come from?," Izzia has been trying to figure out how to spell these words.

"No clue! Clint said the names just came to him as he was poking his head in."

Arden stops and and lets his vision-self take hold. He can see a man that looks a lot like Felix, only sterner, along with a few other people in a boat...going up to the blue-tinged swirl and going inside. He does not know why they did, though. [10]

He points to the blue one. "Your brother went in there."

"Wyrmfathom? Oh dear. That might be tricky."

"Why?"

"The place is a sort of maze. It looked to be the safest so he first tried exploring it. Took two rooms in before he realized that none of the rooms made sense to the one that had followed it. Backing up didn't necessarily put you back in the place you started. He eventually, after a few hours, lucked up. Left and decided all these valves were too dangerous."

"Inhabited?"

"Ah, yes, but not by folks like us. At least, not entirely so."

Arden stares at the deep swirling blue light but part of him is thinking of a different place. A place where a river the color of blood flows under a giant setting sun. Where a city of bone thrives under that river and where strange pale shapes harvest the minds of people from other places. A person like Clint might be a useful ally to have with taking the fight to that place. Because The Bloody Hand have some pact with those being that live in that river.

Setting the Scene. Entering Wyrmfathom

Arden and the others begin trying to explore Wyrmfathom to figure out why Clint went inside.

Wyrmfathom gives us an interesting opportunity. Since it is a giant building/dungeon that warps and shifts, it will be fun to use Philip Reed (and Lex Morgan's) On the Other Side decks. Both decks have a series of typical chambers and rooms — vault, crypt, map room, etc — with a d6, d8, d10, etc table on each card to add in some flavor. The idea is each room entered will be a mini-encounter/scene with each scene being 1-3 of these cards. With each room, Arden makes a Crafty test. Set the clock, initially, to 20. The encounter, if there is one, will help to determine the difficulty of the navigation. If it goes well, Easy. If it goes poorly, Hard. Otherwise, Standard. Hits tally up. No hits for a roll adds a miss to the end. Once the 20 is full of hits and misses, roll a d20. Getting lower than or equal to the value means Arden has "solved" the otherworldly math of the place.

If it misses, then we'll bring out the Hyrdale "cheat" to get the team out but Clint will be considered lost.

NOTE: since On the Other Side is more for Dungeons & Dragons type games, the encounters will be a lot more typical of traditional fantasy. That is part of the flavor of this place.

Solving Wyrmfathom (d20): ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

The first two rooms (past the first, which seems to be a sort of games room) will be [otos62] Scullery [6: with 4 walking brooms with spindly arms breaking plates while laughing] and [otos17] Observaory [3: with a glass dome overlooking what seems to be the market place of a strange city].

Entering Wyrmfathom

Stepping through the blue swirl the sense of disorientation once more hits the four travelers. They are, by all appearances, inside of a room like you might see in a gentleman's club back in Hub. A table for playing pool is in the center of the slightly oversized room. Darts boards are on the walls. Smaller tables for dice and cards. A few boxes have chess and checkers according to the symbols. Other games that make less sense to the travelers. The smell of cigar smoke. All in the odd blue light of the place. A lantern hanging from the center glows a faint blue, giving the browns and reds of the room a kind of organic vibe like the inside of some great beast.

Behind them, the entrance back into the swirl is a spiraling tunnel inside of a stone structure that looks much like an oversized fireplace. Felix assured them that in months of obvservation, these portals did not seem to fluctuate. Actually being here and relying on that information feels worrying.

"My stomach kind of hurts," says Natalia, "Like I've eaten too much honey cake."

Arden nods. He feels much the same. The whole place has the vibe of decadent opulence. A great structure that slowly devoured its planet in some strange mathematical formula. The home of some past or future monarch etched across reality.

"Which way to find the other Osterling?," Jalmar asks. There are four doors to leave this room. One straight ahead, underneath a large stag head mounted on the wall. One to their left between two bookcases of strange books that seem to be leisurely reading. Izzia is already thumbing through them and making a face trying to make out the words. Two to their right. One light. One dark. Perhaps a servant's quarters and a room to a water closet. None of the doors shows any labels.

Arden knows it would be pointless. Felix was clear. The doors were just placeholders to somewhere else. And that somewhere else changed its mood based on some unknown factor. Still, he likes the symbolism of going past bookcases and so points that way. He has a decent feeling about this. [11]

Izzia holds up a book while slipping another in his pack. "They are written in Khelian. Something like it, anyhow. Close enough if you squint. Only the grammar is weird. Kind of like if someone took very Old Khelian and used more modern words but kept the old sentence structure." [12]

"Well, that implies that there is some sense, here," Arden says, as he opens a door. And regrets his words almost immediately.

The next room, still lit by the strange blue light of the overhead lamps, seems to be the scullery of a great castle. Pots and pans and utensils line the old brick walls. A large cauldron over a fire bubbles water for some reason unclear since the smell is nothing like food. Jars of spices and ingredients are in shelves, though the labels read strangely: cingamont, kaider, junger. Like Izzia said, if you squint.

The strangest thing though are the brooms. Four of them. Each with spindly arms made out of wood like odd golems. Those arms are gathering up various plates from a massive shelf of cookery and tossing them around. The shards line the floor almost ankle deep. Even weirder, despite having no seeming head or mouth, the brooms are laughing shrilly. "Ahl lee! Sbash Crats!"

As the four travelers stop and marvel at the scale of the destruction, one of the broom — despite the lack of eyes or ears — notices them. After a moment, it sweep-walks its way over to Arden and hands out a place. Arden, holding it a second, takes it and smashes it into the floor to join the other rubble. The brooms are delighted by this and laugh louder while going back to ignoring the newcomers. [13]

Arden figures it is best to leave before anyone gets injured in the cross fire. Three new doors (plus the one back) but again, three or fifty, it does not likely matter. He thinks about and picks one. This one near a rack of what seems to be cooking sherries and wines. He again feels pretty good about his choice. Walks through... [14]

...and blinks. This new place is an observatory of sorts. A large telescope aims out a massive glass dome. A dome letting in thin blue light from what appears to be a small blue sun half the size of Khelia's own, traveling a sky a darker blue. Izzia remains a kid in a candy store, drunk on so much discovery, as he runs around and touches and pokes at the various pieces on the tables.

"Oh, that's weird. It's like a sextant, but the angle is wrong."

"Ain't just the angles wrong, lad, take a look at this," says Jalmar, from up on the mezzanine and looking out the dome.

The others join. Through the glass they can see a great structure like an insane mansion of New Khelian style meets a Old Khelian castle with a city wrapped up inside. Small buildings and streets are built right on top of roof tops and across large archways. Down into the depths, the city-building goes for perhaps many yards into the darkness. Up above, only a few of the tallest spires are above the dome.

People very much like humans, only thinner and paler in the blue light, walk along those streets. Bald, with larger heads, they appear nude or perhaps their clothing is the pale material they see. None of them pay much attention to the four looking out from the dome. [15]

"They seem friendly enough," says Natalia.

Jalmar shrugs and has his axe out. "Enough is carrying a lot of weight, here."

"We seem to be in the middle of a kind of marketplace. Look at the stalls. Just like those in Hub. Well...," points out Izzia.

"Like everything, so similar but just a bit different. Ok. Eight doors this time. Let's try the one over here."

Less sure of himself, Arden picks the one next to a model showing 3 spheres rotating around a larger bright blue sphere in the middle. He walks through the door and waits for the others to follow. [16]

Setting the Scene. Rescuing Lidia

Arden and company go deeper into the strange structure.

So far it has been quite pleasant, really:

Solving Wyrmfathom (d20): ☑☑☑☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

Let's pull 1-3 cards until we get another interesting "scene."

Room Four: [otos2] Cells. 3 cells. Only one occuppied. Lidia Toma. Half-elf fighter. Why is she here? We'll figure it out.

That'll probably do for now.

Rescuing Lidia

The next scene is one that seems familiar. "Seems familiar, does it not, Stormcrow?," asks the old man voice inside of Arden's head. Arden actually jumps a bit. The voice has been quiet since the cryptic warning before Oone. If Arden notes the change in his nickname, he does not truly acknowledge its significance or how it ties to the being of light that now lays in an everlasting embrace with Uunne in that other realm which is also right under their feet.

"It does, old man," replies Arden.

"Um, Ard, what?," asks Jalmar. But Arden gives an embarrassed smile and shakes his head. He still has not told his traveling companions about the odd hitch-hiker in his brain.

The room is some sort of jail. A table on one side has a chair and old food on it. On the walls are a few whips and chains. The other side has three cells. Two are empty, the third...

"Ach, Maw. Plats!? Gunhry! Nosh foolt. Plats sprah?"

The speaker is a young woman. Looks to be about Natalia's age if a little shorter. Though now wearing the ragged remnants of adventurer's clothing, and seemingly half starved, she is clearly fairly attractive and bright when not dirtied by a long, quasi-abandoned stay in a jail cell. Her blonde-hair does little to cover her long, pointed ears. Or her bright, hopeful blue eyes.

The woman points at Natalia, seeing perhaps someone who seems to be of a similar place in life as herself, and gestures towards her own mouth. "Plats foolt?" Jalmar starts to shout a warning but Natalia waves back at him and walks forward, pulling out some jerkied meat and her water skin. Hands it through the cell. "Tak! Tak!," the other woman shouts as she sits down and starts eating.

Arden comes over to look at her. "Why are you here?," he asks. Pointing at the cells.

She cocks her head at the question and tries to parse the words. "Maw yun wahr. Prod sel. Bit strawn. Onrah golgol catsh maw. Fallit." [17]

"Umm," starts Jalmar, still not convinced. Izzia, though, is starting to pick up on the language differences.

"I think she is saying it was some kind of test of strength. Only something called a 'golgol' caught her and put her here."

"Hmmm."

"I do not sense any animosity from her. And it would seem bad to let her starve. Natalia, can you open the lock?"

Natalia looks around. Then looks at the lock. She gestures for the other young woman to back up and then reaches her hands so that one is on either side of the lock. With a gentle, controlled burst of energy, she blows the lock up between her hands. [18]

The cell door swings outward and the young woman runs out and wraps Natalia in a big hug. "Tak! TAK! Maw Lidia!"

"She says her name is Lidia," explains Izzia.

Kif sniffs at the new arrival and then leaps over and the monkey-dog starts snuggling against her two. Lidia laughs at pets him. [19]

"See, Kif likes her," Arden says. This, more than anything else, seems to calm Jalmar down.

"Looks like Natalia has picked up a pet, too," in reference to Natalia handing Lidia more food while Lidia clings to Natalia's arm.

Having eaten a bit more, she turns to face Arden and Jalmar. "Ahw Wahr. Giv swud. Carn hap."

The two look to Izzia. "She says she can help fight if you give her a sword."

"Good, we welcome the assistance," says Arden, unstrapping his own sigil'd sword and tossing it to Lidia. Who grabs it and wields it rather deftly. Then nods and turns and gives Natalia a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Ahw hap."

Only one additional door this time, like that matters, and Arden approaches it. The dungeon-tomb of Komodulus once more comes to mind and he feels he is starting to make sense of the place. "Let's go, squad." [20]

Setting the Scene. Deeper into Wyrmfathom

Arden and company go deeper into the strange structure.

What a fun little side quest:

Solving Wyrmfathom (d20): ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

Lidia Toma will be a Brawny Half-Elf Fighter Who Always Sees the Positives but Can Be Incautious. To represent her half-starved state, she has one Resolve (and no Karma).

Let's pull another couple of cards to wrap up this session.

Room Five: [otos20] A summoning circle. Runes are written around on the floor. However, the spell that was here is long used and the blue-flame candles are nearly out.

Room Six: [otos14] Torture Chamber. A dismembered body. Maybe human. Someone should check. Is it one of Clint's men? (Good) → [c90] No. Still, it is a warning.

That'll probably do for now.

Deeper into Wyrmfathom

The next room has a complex seven-pointed star on the floor and many black candles burning with a dim, blue-flame. The candles are sizeable and mostly burned down which, combined with a sense of inscense smoke not quite there any longer, gives the sense the room was used hours and hours ago and has been left alone.

"It's...are they summoning shadow beasts? The points of the stars are all wrong and the symbols make no sense but you have to admit it does look like it," says Izzia. [21]

"Whatever magic is used here feels...different," remarks Arden. Lidia, still sticking close to Natalia and acting something like a bodyguard — a bodyguard with a monkey-dog sitting on her shoulders — seems to take all this in stride. Whatever this place is, this kind of magic is frequent. Or at least, not unexpected.

"Just in case, squad, let's take Lidia's lead. Weapons ready. Izzia, stay near the center as best you can. Jalmar will guard the rear. I'll take point."

Arden looks around and sees that each of the seven points of the star points to a door. Only there is an eighth door that is a dim blue color and almost seems to not be there in the candlelight. He takes that one and holds it open as the others follow him inside. [22]

If the summoning room was a warning, the next room is an even clearer one. A large stone chamber that smells of blood and suffering. Several large devices are clearly dedicated to making people hurt. Blades. Whips. Racks. Since some of the blood is wet, it clearly hasn't been long since it was last used. In fact, a device that looks it might be used to grind wheat to make flour still has a victim in it.

Jalmar walks over to it to check the body. He is curious if this might be one of the Oster folk. However, the clothing and markings look like nothing that Felix or his guards were wearing. In fact, when he pulls the body out of the contraption to set it down, he realizes it is not even, well, human. The face is brutish and green and almost beastlike — a strange dark teal in the blue light — and the teeth jut out.

"Ack, golgol!," Lidia shouts while holding her sword towards the body. She seems quite pleased this one is dead. She lets out a loud laughing noise, at least Arden assumes it is a laughing noise, and then checks around the room at some of the other instruments of torture. [23]

"Well, that answers the question of what a golgol is. Maybe if it was still alive we could talk about the place some more." He looks around at his crew.

Izzia, trying to touch nothing, is stretching. Lidia, completing her circuit, has returned to be near Natalia again. The two women are leaning on each other with Kif grooming both of their hair. Though they have only been through a few rooms, this place has a sense of traveling a great distance with every new door they go through. Only Jalmar seems to be going strong. Arden notes his team might could use some rest, but this vibes of this room is too rough for such things. Several of the doors are heavy and reinforced. But there is one, very much so like a closet. He walks up to it, opens it up.

"Let's go find Felix's brother." [24]

Then steps through...

Wrapping this Session's Progress

Solving Wyrmfathom (d20): ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

Arden has done astoundingly and most of the encounters have tended to mood building which is nice, but for now we'll call it at 10 out of 20 possible progress points. Even if the next session is combat or challenge heavy, seems likely that chances are good that the team will have solved it.

DOUG'S COMMENTARY

January 20, 2025

Played on January 19-20, 2025

This session is a lot of fun but with a few fairly major chunks of world-building and mechanics-setting, it has already gone on fairly long (around the four or five hour mark, maybe, including thinking about how to handle some stuff). Even at optimal rolling, I am over three scenes from the end and the end will potentially involve some complexity, before we get to back to the main world and deal with Felix + Sharilyn's drama. However, I am very happy with how this is going and how different is from the last session.

Other worlds and dimensional realms has been technically been part of this campaign since the second session. Originally a failed vision of Arden, the "Bloody River" was a device where he would glimpse a strange pale figure on the shore of a vast long river that seemed to full of blood. Over the next couple of sessions, it grew more tangible and finally turned out to be a separate place at the end of session four. The pale figure is an other-world Arden and the two halves coming together enable him to have much stronger control of his vision power and is one of the backbones of the campaign.

Lidia Toma (name taking directly from the On the Other Side card) is a potentially pleasant wrinkle. No idea if she will live and if she lives what she will do just yet, but Natalia has been denied a young friend throughout with Jalmar and Arden being older and both a good deal more grizzled and scarred while Izzia is a bit off in his own head. I personally like the idea of her sticking around but we'll see. Her language is a riff of my own prompt that the language in Wyrmfathom is much like the default language, just different. I would essentially think of how you might make some similar sounds and words but pronounce them different and shunt a few letters around. I didn't give it a lot of thought and just kind of ran with it.

When the character that became Felix was first being workshopped, I had an idea for a dour kind of duty-bound person. It quickly morphed into my head to a much more pleasant, openly friendly character. Despite the tension the "thorn" inspired in that scene, as soon as I started writing his dialogue the inpsiration was Hugh Grant's Lord James D'Ampton from The Lair of the White Worm meets John Hannah's Jonathan Carnahan from The Mummy (the 1999 version). Pleasant British men of money with a rakish sense of adventure. A kind of Wodehousian adventurer. Nearly all the generated backstory between him and Sharilyn did not make it out of the prep stage but it's still there. Just not really shared. I think Arden is going to pull something like matchmaker but next session will figure this out.

MUSICAL SHOUT OUT: I wanted something a little other worldly to start so I first had Maanskild's Old Moon playing which was superb. Great album [have not played the game that inspired it, yet]. As we got into the weirdness of Wyrmfathom, I brought back Orcus's Berserker used in the previous session and added in the more darkly mooded pair of albums by Dan J. Schulte — Shadows of the Underworld volumes one and two — which also showed up in previous sessions. This gave a blend of otherworldly and more upbeat music with something a bit more dark and sinister. Hit that on shuffle and then let the different moods dictate as they came up.

MECHANICAL AND STORY NOTES

Was there an encounter/attack? (Even) → [c37] Yes. What was it? Image Oracles 1,4 Haunting + 6,3 Secret Book.
Standard Crafty. Arden gets two successes.
Hard Crafty for the non-Seers. No successes all around.
[c65] ᚺ (Hagalaz) Hail/Weather. Uncontrollable forces, (nature, the subconscious). [c59] A series of explosions. [c70] A potrait in odd hues. [c116] Someone proposes.
[c11] Talia Erlson (Chastity/Envy). [c78] Dylan Bradley (Honesty/Pride).
Does Felix have a positive reaction to the order? (Good) → [c7] Yes. Even if he is unsure about needing the help, he is at least going to be fairly aware that his small group could not take out a Guardian.
Would such a portal be written of in his research? (Even) → [c20] Yes. How difficulty would it be for him to know? → [c111] 7. Standard Crafty. He gets no successes, though.
Do the sigils still work in the swirl? (Good) → [c86] Yes. So, for now...
META!
One success vs Hard Crafty. Enough to know which valve. Not enough to know a sense of why.
Starting out with Easy Crafty. 2 successes.
Is the language here similar to Khelian? (Even) → [c58] Yes.
Do the brooms show any sign of agression? (Even) → [c27] No.
Gentle encounter. Easy Crafty again. 2 more successes.
Is the outside inhabited? (Even) → [c87] Yes.
Another easy location, this one with details. Easy Crafty and he gets one more success.
Is Lidia innocent? (Even) → [c81] No. How severe was her crime, really? → [c92] 4. Not severe. What was she trying to accomplish? → ᛊ (Sowilo) - The Sun/Life-Force. Success, honor, life, positive changes, victory; cleansing re, power. A trial. Trying to take something? (Even) → [c4] No. So just arrested for wandering the place.
Are their obviously keys in the room? (Even) → [c91] No. What would it take to open the lock, then? Standard Agile + Brawny. Natalia gets one success.
Does Kif approve? (Good) → [c68] Yes.
Tension has increased slightly. Standard Crafty. Still gets two successes.
Is the summoning circle like what might be used to summon shadow beasts in Khelia? (Even) → [c87] Yes.
Standard Crafty, again. Another two successes. He has rolled amazingly.
Does Lidia know the victim? (Even) → [c2] NO! Not only does she not know it, but she has some problem with it. This can be a golgol. I'd left that open to be either golem or goblin, but I think goblin works best for now.
Hard Crafty due to 'vibe' but still manages a single success. Arden is still locked into the math of the place but hasn't quite pieced it together just yet.

CREDITS

The absolute core of The Bloody Hands REBIRTH: The Stone Crack'd remains Richard Woolcock's Tricube Tales one-sheet: Guardians of the Shadow Frontier. The in-game terms "Khelia," "Guardians," and "Arcane Order" are all derived from the initial one-sheet. Most have changed greatly since their introduction and several related phrases are creations by myself.

The Bloody Hands, as a whole, is a series of exploration with one of the things explored being various solo framework. It started using Tricubes Solo (also by Richard Woolcock), switched to Mythic (by Tana Pigeon), and at this stage is using Gamemaster Apprentice Decks (by Nathan Rockwood). Elements from both previous solo frameworks remain in the series.

Other sources used include:

Zach Best's Universal NPC Emulator.
Cesar Capacle's Random Realities
Kevin Crawford's {Worlds | Ashes} Without Number as well as Scarlet Heroes
Matt (& Erin) Davis's Great Book of Random Tables, Book of Random Tables: Dungeon, and Great Book of Random Tables: Quests [with potentially some others, but especially those three]
Madeline Hale's Table Fables 1 and Table Fables 2
Ben Milton's Knave
Raging Swan Press: Various tools from the GM Miscellany series.

ART CREDIT AND EXPLANATION

I wanted to find art that fit the Dean Spencer art previously used to illustrate Jalmar, Arden, and Natalia. There were three elf women of roughly the right type and while the other two were more the body type I was looking for, the one I went with had more of the kind of pluck and stance that stood out as a great match (and was clearly a warrior, while the others were more clearly a mage or a thief). Someone who will gladly fight but without some of the gravitas the other characters tend to always have.

Some of the fun of using stock art and images in these campaigns is that ideas for characters and situations can change. So, the "new" Lidia is much bustier with bigger ears than my initial quick idea of the character but also feistier and I like that exchange of taking away some of the "waif"-ness and making her much more a happy badass. Something this campaign can use.

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The Bloody Hands REBIRTH: The Stone Crack'd, Part 8. The Knight and the Portal [Tricube Tales] [Gamemaster Apprentice Deck]