Entering the house
I played a one-shot of The Sky-Blind Spire at a local RPG night, using the ingeniously titled The Vanilla Game. At the end of this game I wanted to know what would happen to my character, so here we are.
Previously he was a randomly-created “Fighter (formerly Healer)”. I’ll convert him from the rules above to Trophy Dark, adding random backstory and other details as required. Other random details will come from Trophy Loom.
- Bevan the Red
- Sellsword, and Injurious Healer
- athletics, defence, surprise and surgery
- Drive: Arm the resistance against Lord Haffir’s tyranny
He is armed with a sword, knife, crossbow and wears a nice red brigandine, probably in an attempt to obfuscate the origin of his nickname. He seems strong, intelligent and charismatic but is riddled with the anguish of repeated failures both in his previous vocation and his current life.
He finished his adventure in Titardinal’s Spire with a ring marked with wavy lines and some scrolls on kastromancy. Did he exchange them for ritual powers? (D4-1)=0 rituals. He must have sold them for the information required to start this venture.
- Ruin = 1
He had entered the wizard’s spire to find out where the ill-gotten riches of the thief Cadogan had been buried. He had previously been promised handsome compensation if he could save Cadogan’s life, but alas that didn’t work out so well for either party. Bevan’s bad luck continued and he learned little of value for his efforts in the spire — just that the riches had been found by someone else.
I’ll be rolling 2d6 for oracles and taking the highest score: 1-3 for No, 4-5 for Yes but and 6 for Yes. In an attempt to ruin things for Bevan, I’ll be running a Doom counter that increments when I roll doubles on the oracle. When the Doom counter hits 6 then I throw something awful at him and reset it. Each scene also starts with an Altered Scene Check: if I roll under the Doom value then something changes the planned scene.
- Doom = 1
Scene 1. Recuperation
Indulgences of Rose District? 2, 2 = The Baths
Doom = 2
Bevan had limped back to town and spent what little he’d made on the luxuries of the Great Baths. In a stroke of luck he overheard some useful gossip about newly-monied residents of the Rose District.
Rumours of Charcoal District? 4, 4 = Gold travels by one of 5 routes every week
Doom = 3
It seems clear that someone got rich, really rich. And they’re stashing it all, bit by bit, under their house in the Rose District. The only right thing is to go in and see, maybe relieve them of their burdens.
Scene 2. Late night stroll
Altered scene? 6 = No
Is it a clear night? Yes but... there is no moon.
Is it cold? (4, 3) Yes but... not frosty.
The night is dark but the Rose District shows that wealth can fight back the night, sometimes. The watch patrol the wide streets regularly and ornate lamps hang at cross-roads and outside gates.
Are there any defences at the perimeter? (2, 5) Yes but... just guards.
Is the perimeter wall secure? (1, 2) No.
There is a gatehouse with some guards keeping close to their brazier. Further away from the gates and the lights, ivy overhangs the walls and pushes through the mortar. Whoever has moved in isn’t prioritising security or is attempting to hide their wealth by not spending it.
Ascend the wall, using athletics.
Risk: Rolled 1 light and 0 dark.
⇒ Light 1: Failure and things get worse
Add a dark die to reroll!
Risk: Rolled 1 light and 1 dark.
⇒ Dark 5: Success with complication
Complication = Plotting against old lore or magic
Ruin = 2
Condition = Itching blood-red hands
Tumbling headfirst through an ivy bush maybe wasn’t the smartest way to sneak in but it slowed his descent. His hands burned raw from the climb. Maybe there was more than ivy in that tangle?
I need to work out what's going on with that complication.
Is the magic apparent here? (4, 4) Yes but... easily ignored/mistaken.
I'll say it's the overgrown nature of the garden; this aligns with the itching
hands from climbing through the vines.
Doom = 4
The gardens are overgrown. The gossip from the Great Baths about secretive people buying up this long-neglected place seems true. It’s certainly been neglected. Thick vines cover the floor and rise up the walls and what few decorative trees remain are struggling against the climbing plants.
Away from the street the only light comes from some upstairs windows. Time to approach the house. Its whitewash reflects what little light there is. Oddly, there are no vines on the house. With his back to the building Bevan can see a faint silhouette of thick foliage against the slightly lighter sky above the city beyond. The rest of the garden is complete darkness.
Knowing that there are people inside, he prefers not to walk straight in the front door, though it will be the easiest to find. Perhaps there is a smaller footman’s entrance nearby?
Are there servant's entrances here? (1, 5) Yes but... they're locked.
Did I remember my lock picks? (6, 2) Yes!
Let's see if I can safely pick a lock in total darkness with itching hands.
I'll have to take a Bargain for a light die here.
Risk: Rolled 1 light and 1 dark.
⇒ Dark 4: Success with complication
Complication = A trap is sprung
Bargain = Escort / Passage = Changing of the guard
Ruin = 3
Condition = Compulsively checking pulse
There are steps up to the main door. Going entirely on feel, Bevan finds a small door set into the side of these steps. It doesn’t seem stuck but it also doesn’t open, so Bevan pulls out his lock picks and gets to work. As he is working the main door opens, casting a rectangle of warm yellow light across the yard and overgrown gardens. For the first time Bevan can see how strangled the garden is and how odd that the plants stop a few paces short of the house.
Bevan waits, tucked as small as he can be between steps and house, while two men with a lantern walk down the path to the gatehouse. After a few minutes the relieved guards return, the light swaying gently as they walk up the path. Bevan can see the pool of light getting closer to him as he tries to shrink inside his dark cloak. He holds his breath but he feels sure his pulse must be audible to everyone. The sweat running into his eyes is stinging but he can’t move at all to clear it in case the guards see something. They pass by, up the steps and into the house without stopping.
It takes what feels like hours for his heart rate to return to normal. He feels slick with sweat trying to grip the picks even after he has stopped shaking. Finally he applies himself to the task of opening the small door. When he finally opens the door a little cord attached to a pulley rings a bell further inside the servant’s quarters.
Scene 3. Downstairs
Altered Scene? 5 No
Are there any lights visible in here? (2, 6) Yes
Are there any people? (3, 1) No
At the end of a cramped corridor Bevan can see a dim light. It turns out to be a room with a small fireplace and a fireguard set in front. The embers are visible but the rest of the room is in darkness. The ringing of the bell attached to the door came from here, so it’s probably some common area for the servants. Maybe this is where the guards rest their feet when they’re not on duty.
Time to creep quietly out of here. Nobody stashes riches in the scullery. But where? There’s probably extensive cellars for food and drinks, so maybe down there.
Is he interrupted while searching? (2, 2) No
Doom = 5
Bevan doesn’t find the cellars straight away but with the glowing embers from the fire he can light a small candle. This makes the searching easier but every creak and bump raises his heart rate.
Is there anything valuable in the cellar? (2, 1) No
He should have guessed there was nothing here by the uninterrupted layer of dust as he walked down the steps. The dust began to itch his nose, which at least distracted from his itching hands but didn’t reduce his anxiety at being caught. I’m definitely going to sneeze, I just know it.
He sat in the darkness of the common room, breathing slowly, trying not to sneeze and waiting for heart rate to come down. Maybe I’m getting ill, this is probably the first sign of a fever.
Scene 4. Entrance hall
Altered Scene? 2 Yes
Change of environment (1-2), people (3-4), interrupt (5-4)? 3
How many people? (d4) 3
On a scale of normal to extremely weird? (d6) 3
As he crept up the stairs leading to the entrance hall he heard voices and saw a pale green light. Looking carefully around a corner he saw three cowled figures in discussion. The light came from something on the ground between them. The thing on the ground writhed and the green light twisted and made grotesque shapes appear in the shadows cast on the wall.
Ruin check? 3 = Passed
The three people seemed to finish their discussion, the light returned to normal, nobody seemed to have more heads or tentacles than was strictly necessary. Bevan heard them retire, taking the strange green light with them. His hands itched and his heart raced but the details of what he’d just seen were no longer so potent.
A brief aside to work out what’s going on
I have to take a break to decide what’s going on here. I rolled “plotting against old lore or magic” way back in the first Risk Roll and I’ve been throwing in details about the overrun garden and the untouched house — and now we’ve had some strange figures. But what does it all mean? Turning to Trophy Loom p124, Blasphemous Cults.
This cult is (4) a handful of devotees of a charismatic preacher
and (6) is infected by a demon of contagion it summoned.
Bringing that together we’ve got a cult which:
- is plotting against an old magic, specifically the Forest, which is why their newly chosen home repels the inroads the plant life has made in the rest of the garden
- has a charismatic preacher, who we’ll maybe see later
- has been infected by a demon of contagion, which I think means a demon of plant corruption or rot — let’s call it Ophisto (after Ophiostoma ulmi, Dutch Elm disease)
I think a cult of deforestation would be based around things like fire and salt and axe blades. A demon of plant corruption would be fungal in nature, and since cordyceps is popular at the moment we’ll maybe say that this is how the cult have been infected by the demon.
Urgh, I am disgusted by the implications of what I have written. Excellent. Back to the story.
Scene 4 (continued)
At this point Bevan is wondering why he got himself in this far. But he really needed to give something back to the resistance, for all that they’ve trusted him. It’s time to finally show that he can aid the cause. He would find Cadogan’s wealth and take as much as he could carry. If there was much more he could come back again. Cut the pull cord from the bell on the way out and be back again before anyone noticed the first lot had gone.
Well maybe not immediately, but tomorrow night, after his rocketing heart had slowed a bit and he could find some salve for his itching hands. He rubbed them unconsciously as he sat in the darkness of the top step coming up from the servant’s floor.
Taking some deep breaths he moved into the main hallway. He risked his candle stub again. Now that he knew there were several people awake in the house it would be stupid to blunder about and knock something over. He would just have to hope he could extinguish it fast enough if he heard someone coming.
How many rooms on this floor? (d4) 1
Is the door shut? (2, 5) Yes but... there's activity inside.
Is there anything of interest here? (4, 1) Yes but... not helpful/small
Consult TL p192, Decorative & Ornamental Treasures:
(3, 5) Silver cage adorned with ornamental flame patterns in red bronze,
containing a bird skeleton in a nest of ash.
Like the servants’ floor below, this area was not well maintained. A dead bird in a cage hung on a frame by the door. The cage was maybe worth something but Bevan had hoped for something more pocketable.