Road to Madari (Part 1)

Disciples of Bone and Shadow

Intro

I’m starting a new campaign with Disciples of Bone & Shadow, I got the fantastic, super cool, sexy, hardcover limited edition of Disciples of Bone & Shadow: Conquered Sun Edition right at the end of last year. I’ve been playing Seekers Beyond The Shroud quite a lot lately (I have like 40+ of in-game days to write about), and also a bit of Forbidden Lands and Ultraviolet Grasslands, but I should get back to Disciples, it has the sexiest book. I’m thrilled about this new acquisition, as you can see.

Character generation

I will be using the Lifepath Character Generator from Marrow & Splinters, the official zine of Disciples of Bone and Shadow. I generated a couple of characters when I got the zine to test how things turned out with it, and to be able to compare it with the character generation options introduced with the Narrative Playbook, and I prefer the way that the zine does it, a bit a la Forbidden Lands. This is one of those characters, and the one that I’m selecting for this campaign:

  • Home region: Deathrot Marsh
  • Parent’s Occupation: soldiers
  • Archetype: Hunter
  • Formative events: worked at a fishing boat at the Sea of Glass
  • Significative events: never promoted to the position that was rightfully mine
  • Stats: STR 14, DEX 17 (16), CON 12, WIL 12, INT 14, CHA 12.
  • Name: she-Thythe (I’m pronouncing it as tai-té)

I’ve got the stats already given from the generator, I have an extra attribute point from the Significative events that said that my character was Bad Tempered II, that I will put it into DEX, and I have 2EPs to spend, I get Disarm Traps and convert the remaining EP to 10 skill points for Herb lore. Then I’m going to redistribute 10 skill points to Parry, since my character uses a sword, and that gives me +10 parry, so, I will be avoiding attacks using parry instead of dodge. Update: also, parry is for melee and dodge for ranged attacks, and there is a lot of melee combat on Disciples, so we want to have a strong parry skill.

So, apart from the basic skills my character has: Concussive Shot and Disarm Traps, she also has Markmanship as a passive skill; she is equipped with a long bow, a one handed sword, a healing tincture, a lantern, lamp oil x1, provisions x10 and bandages x10.

Play report

Thythe was born in a poor settlement near Deathroot Marsh; hunger came and she moved with her parents to Madari, where they served as soldiers and mercenaries. When she was older she wanted to make a fortune by herself, so she moved to Akkar Strand. There, she tried to make ends met as a hunter and later on as a guard in a fishing boat. She left the fishermen years later, as she thought that the captain wasn’t paying as much as she deserved, she was the one who protected them all from the sea monsters after all.

We start in a random hex.

· HEX I23, Akkar Strand. Thythe is done with Akkar Strand. Life is difficult in here. She won’t go back to providing security for fishermen, so she will go back to Madari. She doesn’t want to admit it, but her old parents took the right decision when they moved from Deathrot Marsh and settled in Madari many decades ago. She heads north-west.

10 milestones to Everscar Highlands

And then another 10 milestones to Madari.

· HEX H22, A.S. Thythe comes across a pool of liquid metal. She doesn’t have anything on her to carry at least a little of this treasure, she must come back in the future to take it all with herself. She spends some time looking for any useful herbs, but the terrain looks completely desolated. She eats her rations silently.

Orientation fail, no surprise Twist: 0 -> 0 +2XP hex

The Twist counter that we are tracking is a modifier to the surprise roll. If we are in control of the situation of whatever happened during the day we update it with a +1, whereas if we are not in control it is a -1. If nothing relevant happens regarding the “control of a situation” I don’t update the Twist counter.

· HEX G21, A.S. Thythe slowly continues her journey to the Everscar Highlands, but a flash flood surprises her. She grabs a tree with as much force as she can and hopes that it won’t collapse. When the water seems to have slowed down she checks her belongings, the oil that she was carrying for the lamp is now lost, the flasks are in pieces.

She is feeling a bit disoriented, the landscape has changed, and she doesn’t hear the sound of hundreds of goats marching. There is a woman with her dog looking at Thythe. Thythe raises her soaked hands, she doesn’t want to appear threatening, although since she is covered in mud she doubts that she will. She asks for directions to the goatherd. She tells her a little bit about this region of the Akkar Strand, Thythe thanks her and keeps going. Once that she has put some distance between her and the goat-lady she eats her daily ration while she looks for any herb that may prove useful.

Orientation OK, no surprise Twist: 0 -> -1 Milestones: 1 Travel complication CHA test OK +2XP hex

· HEX F20, A.S. She can see a small group of Madari rats in the distance, she readies her long bow, she will try to eliminate them before they get any closer. x3 Madari Rats, HP: 2

Thythe has a DEX of 17 so she gets 2 shots before the enemies get into melee range if she wins the initiative in this round, otherwise she only gets one.

Thythe kills two enemies with two precisely shot arrows and the remaining one is sliced with her sword. She nods, recognising her own skills.

She eats a ration while she searches for herbs, and this time she finds something interesting, 6 doses of Dwarf Yellowcrest.

Once that we have a couple of different types of herbs we can use the Alchemy skill to brew different potions. My character has a 0 on Alchemy, but it is still worth it to collect herbs since you can sell them.

Orientation OK, no surprise Twist: -1 -> 0 Milestones: 2 +5XP vermin +2XP hex

· HEX E19, A.S. Thythe sees a settlement in the distance, she decides that she will go there and resupply on rations, maybe a bit of lamp oil, and earning some jats wouldn’t hurt either.

The small settlement is bustling with activity, she hasn’t seen so many people in the same place in a long time. A sudden change happens as the earth starts trembling and water bursts from everywhere. Another flood. Thythe doesn’t see any trees around, so she runs out of the settlement, uphill. DEX check OK

DEX check because I think that it fits.

She manages to avoid the worst part of it, but the townsfolk haven’t been that lucky. People are missing, and the atmosphere that she encountered before, full of life and activity, is now gone, everyone is dead serious. There are some people that have started to organise themselves already to form search groups. Thythe heads to one of these groups, who knows, they might have a job for her.

She greets the strangers, ‘Peace in these unfortunate times, I’m a mercenary hunter, I’m offering my services for the right price,’ she says Are they friendly? Yes, but.. Something that we think is the other way Swear, time, obstacle, surrender

The townspeople tell her that this hasn’t been a natural disaster, they had been given an ultimatum, they had to abandon this settlement by mid-day or their enemies would destroy a floodgate that they relied on. Since they haven’t abandoned the settlement, their enemies’ threats have actually come true. Thythe asks who are these enemies Are they an individual? Very likely They are a single person, but a powerful one. Thythe tells them that she might be able to get rid of the problem for them if they tell her more about this individual. Do they want her to do that? Almost impossible They don’t want her to get rid of this individual. Maybe capture them? UnlikeyCapture is a no-go again. What if she had help? Unlikely, and... Something that we thinks is the other way Dominate, danger Due to the multiple refusals that the townsfolk are giving her, she is starting to think that these townspeople are dominated by fear and the dangers that they would to face if they dared to oppose this individual. Thythe then tells them that she is an outsider, and thereby this individual wouldn’t need to know about her, if she fails, she would be dead anyway. Do they want to hire her? Almost certain

It might seem that I’ve forced this outcome a little bit, but I found it difficult to believe that they didn’t want any help after seeing their homes destroyed. Also, they’re a pile of scumbags xd This has turned out to be very funny.

This seems to convince them. They tell her that her target is and old bounty hunter that lives 10 hexes away to the east of this position.

I generate this using the rules to create a mission.

Thythe decides to stock up on rations before heading east, she finds a small tent already set up by a wandering merchant that still has their goods intact. She also buys lamp oil, just in case. +13 rations, +1 lamp oil

Orientation fail, no surprise Twist: 0 -> 1 Name: Clear Wood Event: Disappearing Townsfolk +2XP hex

· HEX F18, A.S. Thythe hears the horrible sounds of a Spawn of Vhol’Est in the near distance, and then she readies her long bow. She uses her Markmanship skill to aim at it, and the abomination comes closer. Her arrow misses the enemy and she draws her sword. She decides to fight it, she is angry about missing her shot (Bad Tempered II trait in action). The first few rounds seem to be good for her, she parries the abominations’ attacks, lands a few hits, but the Vhol’Est does too, and it attacks much quicker than she does.

I realised too late that my character had 9/35 HP before I decided that it was about time to start fleeing, but this enemy attacks twice and deals a d6 of damage, and to flee you have to dodge the upcoming attacks, so I didn’t think that it was worth to flee this late into the fight. I had to dodge those two attacks anyway so it could be better if I continued trying to defeat it. If my character’s HP reached 0 I could use the new injuries rules form the Marrow & Splinters zine, so it wasn’t so bad even if the worst case happened. Also, this campaign has just started, and I print my character sheets double sided in case they die. So, no fuss about it anyway.

She decides to fight until her last breath! She parries the attacks but she doesn’t hit the abomination, then she critically parries one of its attacks and deals the death blow in the next turn.

No injuries rules necessary, I managed to kill the abomination! BUT, I won’t attempt something like this again unless I deal some ranged damage first.

She finds a One handed Shalvan Wood Weapon (worth 1500 jats) near the corpse. She examines the weapon as she applies bandages to her wounds, she is heavily injured, she thinks as she eats a ration, she will need to camp and rest for a few days before continuing with her mission. First aid OK, +6HP

No surprise Twist: -1 -> -2 +100XP elite enemy +2XP hex

Yep, I made a mistake and the Twist counter should have been updated to 0.

· HEX F18, A.S. Having rested for the day, her mind feels clearer, she realises that the Spawn of Vhol’Est that she defeated yesterday was guarding a hidden cave. Why was it guarding the cave? And, why did it suddenly attack her? Was it trying to distract her? Thythe is worried that something else might be happening in this cave, which is very close to a settlement, so she makes a mental note to investigate it later.

This could be a very cool side-mission.

She eats a ration and tries to rest, she also finds some herbs. Herb: Vesselbush x2 Surprise: location/hidden Twist: -2 -> -1 Action: distract Theme: problem +5HP

· HEX F18, A.S. Thythe feels better than she did yesterday, but she doesn’t want to hurry her recovery yet. She patiently eats her rations and rests.

No surprise Twist: -1 -> -1 +5HP

· HEX F18, A.S. Thythe is getting better, she should be ready to continue with her mission tomorrow. She spends some time looking for more herbs, and eats more rations. Herb: Vophis x 5 No surprise Twist: -1 -> -1 +5HP

· HEX G19, A.S. Thythe encounters another goatherd, they talk a bit, and Thythe warns him of the possible nest of Spawns of Vhol’Est nearby. They part ways. CHA test OK

No surprise Twist: -1 -> 0 +2XP hex

· HEX H18, A.S. As she is walking towards the east, Thythe encounters a lonely Centipede, she is able to slay it with a precise arrow shot.

No surprise Twist: 0 -> 1 +5XP vermin +2XP hex

· HEX I19, A.S. Thythe encounters a Sabershadow this time, it has an eerie aura floating around it. Thythe uses her Markmanship skill, aims, and shots the arrow, which critically hits the beast!

This is so cool, double damage and a critical! And I won the initiative round with a 19! (The sabershadow has an initiative of 18)

Thythe rejoices, but something weird is happening with the wound that she has inflicted to the beast, it is regenerating the tissue. The beast, now in melee range, attacks, Thythe parries, and after a couple of rounds in this dance the beast finally dies. Thythe is unable to collect the pelt of the beast, quite a shame, it would have been sold for a couple hundred jats.

No surprise Twist: 1 -> 2 +10 XP common foe +25 XP tainted enemy +2XP HEX

And we level up! We have 2EP points to spend.

Recap

tldr: Thythe is feed up with living in Akkar Strand, she decides to return where her parents live, Madari. She heads north-west and encounters a settlement, they reluctantly ask her to get rid of a hunter that has destroyed a floodgate which has caused a catastrophic flood in the village. She takes the mission and heads east, she has a near-death experience, and couple of encounters, then she levels up.

Campaign goal: Get to Madari and live a more comfortable life there.

Current mission: Assassinate the hunter that destroyed the floodgate.

Side mission tracker: 1) Investigate the hidden cave where the Spawn of Vhol’Est attacked.