Mythic Bastionland Second Session

For my second open-table session of Mythic Bastionland for ATLRPG I ran for four knights.

The Knights:

Session Recap

The Company began the session at Corvale, the Seat of Power, just in time for the Feast of the Sun. The Knights attend the early morning mass to catch the first rays of Spring. After listening to the monk intone a solemn blessing, a couple of the Knights shared some subtle digs targeted at Valamonte the ruler for his supposed part in the poisioning of Sir Croyle the ruler of Cragborough.

Next the Knights prepared themselves for thier part in the bloody games; a battle against some fantastical creatures. But first the Knights were spectators of Valamonte's fight against a fearsome bear. A couple of the Knights noticed something looked off between the lethargy of the bear, and Valamonte's showboating. They were able to overhear some beast tamers discussing the drugs used to slow the bear so the ruler could have his grand spectacle in relative safety.

Disgusted by this, but not above a little prepartion themselves the Hooded Knight made sure to learn what beasts they were to fight and prepare accordingly. They quickly dispatched a pair of giant tigers, maiming one, and driving the other back down its entrance tunnel. This show of mercy and restraint stood in great contrast to the theatrics of Valamonte's bout.

After the adulations of the crowd, the Knights attended the feast held by the ruler. There the Gazer Knight was able to win the good graces of Valamonte, but at the expense of earning a bitter enemy in the ruler's Marshall, Cradokke the Hive Knight. The Hooded Knight and the Pigeon Knight set about gathering information, and learned a little (but I forgot what lol). The Reliquary Knight decided to embrace the tradition of indulging during the Feast, but went too far and suffered hefty Vigor and Clarity loss.

The next day with the Reliquary Knight confined to his bed to recover his Vigor, the Hooded Knight and the Pigeon Knight visited the keep's great library in hopes of learning more about the Cudgel myth. Instead they discovered that the nearby forest was named after a mighty Boar who still roams the land. Eager for glory they later convinced the rest of the Company to seek out this mythical creature. Meanwhile the Gazer Knight decided to capitialize on his relationship with Valamonte and sought him out in hopes of securing aid for the lonely guard near Jouster's Field. He succeed, but perhaps by too much as Valamonte seized on the opportunity to send troops so close to Cragborough. Thus a warband lead by the Hive Knight was roused to be sent out to Jouster's Field.

After everyone shared their information, the Company decided to set out the next day, but the Reliquary Knight urged them to seek the closest Seer to gain any knowledge about the myth of the Boar, and to regain their senses after the great night of revelry. A path chosen, they once again used the Gazer Knight's lantern to lead the way to the Sunlit Seer.

The Sunlit Seer told the Company that they were not the only ones hunting the Boar, and that it would be wise to join forces. She then implored them to take part in the battles that were surely to come between Corvale and Cragborough. Heeding at least the first part of the Seer's messages the Company rode north into the forest. There they met a scheming piper whose help in luring the Boar they secured for a promise of finding him a position as a court musician. Then they met three inexperienced hunters also seeking the Boar, but for revenge not glory.

An accomodation was reached and the large force set up an ambush for the Boar and quickly slew it. A goal reached the Company claimed the Boar's tusks then set out on their separate paths with a plan to rejoin in Cragborough at the beginning of Harvest.

Thoughts

This was the first time the Knights would be in Corvale. Instead of lore dumping on them, I did a light description, then used a Paint the Scene question to spread the worldbuilding load around. My question was something along the lines of:
Valamonte the Thunder Knight seized control of the throne a short while after Sceptremass last year. He quickly went about acts of goodwill and largese to win the hearts and minds of his new subjects. However as you look around you can see there are still pockets of unrest and unhappiness. What do you see?

Not the best worded question, but it proved interesting as the players were able to add in details such as the squalor and noticable increase in guards. These details were fun to work into Valamonte's entourage during his fight against the bear, and showing the haves and havenots. I'm definitely going to incorporate more paint the scene questions when the Knights visit major locations.

The Feast of the Sun was my first feast. And I'll admit I was a bit nervous. How does one make a feast and spectale fun without being a boring set of minigames?

Well first I read Chris McDowall's Mythic Feasts post to gather some more details. He breaksdown each holy day from the rulebook. Here is what he says about the Feast of the Sun:

Feast of the Sun (Sprouts, Early Spring)
Ceremony - A great toast is held at the first sight of the sun, offering thanks for the end to another winter. It’s customary not to mention those lost during the winter, lest spring feel ashamed for not coming sooner, but rulers will make a subtle tally of those absent.
Spectacle - A bloody tournament, in the belief that blood spilt on the ground will strengthen the land. This particularly attracts young knights hoping to make a name for themselves. Older, more established knights may know better than to risk their necks.
Revelry - The expectation is that this will be the biggest, most decadent feast of the year, but coming after a particularly difficult winter can leave the larders bare. Any lack of food is made up for in excessive drink, music, and dancing.

From this I decided I would hold a morning ceremony and asked each Knight where would they be during the ceremony:

  1. Up front with the monk and the ruler
  2. In the middle to avoid attention
  3. In the back with the other lollygaggers.

For the spectacle, I offered them another set of three choices:

  1. Fighting duels
  2. A fight against four other knights
  3. A fight against unknown beast(s)

For the revelery, I informed them they had several feasts they could attend, but Valamonte the ruler had invited them. At the feast I then offered them the three feast pursuits, Chris laid out in his blog post:

  1. Mirth
  2. Whispers
  3. Charm

For the ceremony, the players chose all three options. The Reliquary and Gazer Knights decided to be up front and chimed in with subtle and not so subtle digs at Valamonte when the Monk asked for anyone to offer words after the light. Oh, I also used this opportunity to incorporate the sun table from the Valley of Flowers to add more weirdness to the world.

The group quickly chose the fight against the beast, and prevailed in it quite handily while once again using it a subtle dig at the ruler. I think the ruler might start dispatching some mercaneries to teach these upstart knights a lesson or two.

As for the revelery, once again all three options were chosen. I liked the chance to zoom out here (as I wanted to get back to the myths), but still give the players a taste and potential rewards.

The rest of the session went mostly smooth. I got to introduce a new Seer, the Sunlit Seer. Her desire for her precious Knights to win some battles is going to be a joy to play.

The only rough patch was an inner debate with myself as the players planned their ambush of the Boar. They had only seen two omens. Yet they had a good plan and recruited aid through exchange of favors. Should I have the Boar attack and run away, or answer the ambush at all? Well the next Wilderness roll revealed the next omen for the Boar so I decided to embrace it and the primacy of action and say they planned it so they get it. Not sure if that is exactly how it was intended to be played, but it worked for the table.

Plus this gave me the perfect excuse to embrace Advancing Time. I seized the opportunity and declared we were advancing a season. I'm looking forward to the next feast: the Feast of the Stars. It is when the biggest tournaments are held. I think I'm going to riff on the Thorn Diares ideas in Running Tourneys and Jousting in Mythic Bastionland. I don't want to spend 2 hours of the 4 hours we have doing a tourney so I'll probably fast forward to the Elite Eight and see how things go.

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