Anarion

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Constance

“Me?” The man barks out a laugh that makes his whole body shake with mirth as he drags himself to his feet. “Perish the thought, I could think of no one less suitable than an itinerant magician cast out from his noble court. No, not me. But...I’m less convinced that it’s not you, at least temporarily. Do you really think that a sword of such nobility has but one destined wielder and a single name? That you are the first such seeker?” He laughs again, this one sharp enough to cut your heart.

Did you know your grandmother, Constance? The one who was a witch of a grand lake. Did she ever talk to you of her life, or tell you stories of the sword you bear?

Robena

The lady Sandsfern was thorough. Your body aches in every muscle, some you had forgotten you had. The last time you felt like this was after a long massage in the baths of Constantinople, and there is nowhere here to melt into a pool of hot water to relax. But the victory is yours and the lady Sandsfern’s respect for your prowess.

“I guess I do” she says. “Your protection in particular” and there is a smirk on her face that shows just one fang and promises much later. She steps over to the bar, where the tavern keep is giving her a dirty look while handing out a pile of silver to...is that Tristan, the monster slayer you met in Lostwithiel? Wasn’t he going on a hunt when you left, what’s brought him here?

Regardless, the lady Sandsfern hands the tavern keep three coins of gleaming gold and the woman’s scowl turns to a grin. “Come back for another match anytime my lady, beer on the house” she nods happily, and the lady Sandsfern beckons you to join her.

You ought to greet Tristan first, then you can tell your lady your story over drinks.

Tristan

It seems you’ve won your bet. It was quite a match, Robena withstanding blow after blow like a great boulder more even than a bear until she cornered the bright-haired lady (Sandsfern, her name was, didn’t she have a keep near Lostwithiel that had been burned down in a fire?). Have you ever seen anyone else fight like that?

The tavern keeper doesn’t really have eyes for you, though she gives you a sheepish grin as reward for your victory along with the coins before turning her scowl to Sandsfern. A scowl that turns right around as you see three gleaming gold coins brought out to pay for the expenses. The lady takes a seat next to you, and the other patrons start spreading back out to a few other tables, a couple slipping out for the evening as well. Robena seems to be coming over as well, and you may have much to catch up on given your adventures.

Sunshards

Chen was just growing relaxed with her routine when Rose sets her down for the sheep and gives her the most undignified pat on the butt. She lets out an "eep" through the scarf and shoots Rose an indignant glare, ruined entirely by the renewed blush creeping up her face and the fact that her wriggling butt is in fact more wriggling than, strictly speaking, is needed to settle herself on the ground.

When Rose then jumps straight to the task of herding the sheep, rather than merely lift the travelers past them and move on, Chen's eyes grow wide and she stares closely at Rose. It's a lesson in movement and style, jumping from point to point, making her presence somehow greater than the whole herd so that they have only a single route to follow. Chen's eyes track her as a practiced learner, taking notes on how she lands, how light she is on her feet even as she asserts herself. Chen wondered if the old world was really like this, though. In her mind, she thought Rose was something special and instead of this impressive showing, the old world probably just had ten knock-off Roses for the same job, each one barely lifting a finger while they stood around under their master's orders. Every time her Mom told such stories, the burrows were always too much heat and excess and it made her feel rather queasy thinking too hard about it.

Instead, her buzzing phone finally gets her attention and she turns to the technomancer and her mask cart. Wait, did she just say that Chen needed a technomancer? Did she think she needed rescuing from Rose? Oh, oh no! Chen squirmed and tried to wriggle to loosen her bonds, squeezing her thighs and then flexing her legs to turn herself in the grass while she wriggled her neck to try and work her scarf down a little bit.

She needed to explain that wasn't what she...did the technomancer just say Kikil?! No! No no no. Princess Kikil was in the cold alliance, but whenever she visited Sourcefall, Princess Hestia always made sure that Chen was at a safe distance and couldn't get anywhere near her. Something about "static discharge" one time, she couldn't remember anymore. But Princess Kikil was scary! She liked to fly around wearing that huge burrow mask that stretched almost to the ground when she was standing. The mask had these spiky tips on its bottom half and jagged red and black painted lines like reverse lightning on them! Now that Chen was old enough to travel on her own most of the time, she did kind of want to get to know Kikil. She thought maybe there was a really nice Princess under the mask and it would be neat to learn more about burrow tech, an area where Chen's education was relatively lacking.

But! Even worse than being scary and mysterious, Kikil was scary skilled at her tech! If she showed up with Chen in this state, pictures would find their way onto the phones of every princess in the world, nevermind Rose's legendary sheep herding. Chen would never live it down, and she was not prepared to be that deep in Kikil's debt for sparing her that fate.

Chen tried to squirm again, stretching her shoulders and wriggling her arms from side to side while shaking her head a little that no she did not need a technomancer, thank you very much! If she could just wriggle her hips and her shoulders a little more, maybe she could loosen the tape so she could start working on an escape and...ah would you quit staring with your knowing phone?!?! Embarrassed at hearing her own name (not noticing in the moment that the technomancer is teasing her) Chen starts getting worked up and struggles faster, straining with all her might (okay maybe not all) to push the tape apart without ruining her scarf, to no avail. She tries to say "I'm fine" but it comes out as "mmphhmm!" instead. Frustrated, she rolls back and forth on the grass and tries to look imploringly over at Rose, who is, alas, busily engaged with some kind of spirit in a hat helping her with the sheep and some kind of car. Oh no, she was on her own here and all she could think about was being strung up in front of Kikil for the entire world as she gets redder and redder.

[Reputation: 1+3+2=6. A downbeat for the MC.]

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Robena

The lady Sandsfern gives a joyous smile that shows off her fangs. "Now there's the Robena I know, the great bear of a woman who thinks she can throw me! None of that dour face you were wearing when you came in here." She laughs, and the deep sound is the mirth of a woman who does not know the shape of fear and has no place for it upon her soul. It is the joy of flowing blood and tensed muscle ready to spring. Though she takes another stance, you can tell that she is not going to simply stay still and wait for your next move. She's going to rush you on your next move and try to match or exceed you in prowess. She's going to revel every time she overpowers you and swell with pride in any move where you throw her balance.

This is not single combat as such, and indeed the lady Sandsfern denies any right you may have to make it so. This is a brawl between two opponents of great strength seeking to know one another through their approach to the conflict. Choose how you approach the match. If you seek to win the match in a decisive move, tell us how and leap into action. If you choose to endure no matter how the fight ebbs and flows, undertake great labor.

Tristan
The tavern owner, careful not to move too fast and distract the two knights, makes her way over to you and leans across the bar, resting her elbows on the surface with all the confidence of owning the place and knowing that one way or another she's going to be paid for every chair. "You know them?" she asks, gesturing to you sipping your beer without picking up her arm. "You sure seem a lot more calm than the rest of these guests, to be enjoying your drink. Care to bet for one? I'll give you two to three odds on the fiery-haired one, up to five silver pieces."

Constance

"Because you!" he raises his voice, and Cath Palug hisses, causing him to pull up short and begin again slowly. "Because...you are holding a very important sword that you are not ready for. Because I made, or will make a promise to your grandmother. And because I am eventually going to tutor a very important king and that won't work out well if this kingdom falls into decay and splinters."

He looks at you, and his hand is still on the box. He doesn't want to take it, you can feel that he wants you to take it. What do you have to say to this man?

He is also quite clearly not giving you the respect you deserve and are entitled to. How does it feel to be spoken to thus, even knowing that this man is likely to become your tutor?

Sunshards

Chen makes a distinct “ffeeep” sound through the scarf pressed into her mouth that is clearly “sheep” with more than a little delight, despite the chaos.

She’s been quite calm during the walk. She had protested at first, of course, a series of attempts to speak through the scarf that should have been “remove this gag immediately, how dare you use Mommy’s scarf like this!” But it had come out more like “ffww brrr uu!” and the way Rose had grinned at how cute she sounded had sent her into a furious blush that strained at the tied scarf and caused her to start swaying on her bindle in a way that felt equal parts precarious and oddly relaxing. Heart racing, Chen had tried to collect herself after that and had allowed Rose to go along her march while Chen got to watch the landscape.

Her delight encountering the sheep was therefore the first noise she had made in a while. Perhaps that’s unusual, but as a painter, a scene like this was the perfect sort of life snapshot that Chen would want to paint later. The knowing look in the older woman’s eyes as she tried to pitch camp and the useless flailing of the younger one as she shouted at the flock that had no fear of her were reflecting pure emotions, the experience of living in the world and Chen was absolutely going to paint that later.

She tries, with limited success to make a gesture to Rose to turn her a little on the pole so she can take in the full view for later. A little straining at the scarf, a turn of the neck, a furtive elbow gesture and another grunt through the scarf all saying hey, spin around a little!

If she were free, Chen’s response here would depend on her errand. If she felt pressured, like her mothers were watching her or she were going to be late, she might fly right past this with an apologetic glance. She’d hate it, hate contributing to the impression people had of Princesses as above everyone else, but she was afraid of disappointing important people in her life, so she would have rushed by regretfully. If she had more time, perhaps on a longer errand where she was expected to spend multiple nights away from home or wandering away from a traveling party, she would have stopped to help. Perhaps she would have used her sword and her magic to help lift the carts past the sheep (her control and precision were very good, though to be safe she might have unloaded the carts and moved the contents separately, then helped the farmers repack them after). One might think that using magic to lift the carts would be the hard way, but it was much easier to work one’s will on objects than on stubborn animals like sheeps, which would refuse to part just as much for Chen’s blade as for the young woman shouting at them in futility.

As it stands now, she is most concerned with taking in the scene, relaxed that Rose will handle the problem. Only in a moment will she realize that three travelers are going to be staring at her trussed up on a pole behind Rose from the River and begin a new round of furious blushes.

Sunshards

This is a thorough binding with old world spells. A part of Chen's heart flutters in fear, for she's not certain that she could escape this on her own. So it is good that when she glances, ever so shyly, up to the eyes of the huntress who called herself Rose, she sees gentleness and compassion. A part of her even wonders, in words unvoiced, whether this oh so strong huntress might wish the roles reversed and a strong Chen binding her to be hauled in for judgment at Sourcefall or Ys.

Such thoughts are wiped from Chen's mind as Rose unwinds her scarf, and though she makes to protest, she gets out no more than a meep as her cry is silenced by the sight of the huntress before her wearing the thick woolen scarf and dangling it in her face with such a confident pose and that catlike gloating smile. Chen blushes and turns red again, trying to turn her face down, but Rose will not have it and presses the scarf into Chen more firmly, holding up her eyes so she must look upon her captor. The touch, moderated by the soft and fluffy fabric, feels like heaven and Chen finds herself unable to help leaning into it and pressing her head onto Rose’s arm.

It feels so tempting, this flushing little servant girl wearing nothing but loose silks, does it not huntress? So heedless of any fear, so happy from your touch that she nuzzles into you with pleasure. Do you not wish to lean in further? To take more? To steal a kiss from those blushing lips?

But then the moment passes, and Chen tries to protest. "T-that's mine! My mommy knitted it for me so I'd stay warm! Give it back!"

Are these not sweet pleas to play with dear huntress? Ah, but don't you need to get going? After all, you and your little captive have a mission and your demon snake is gone now. It must be so hard not to simply play in this lovely, secluded clearing amidst the stars until sunrise. So hard, and yet so necessary, for the Way does not follow itself.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Constance

"Don't you want to know what's in the box, river-daughter?" the man asks, placing his other hand over yours so that you cannot fully release the box into his care, even as he lies half-sprawled on the ground. His hair is loose and tousled without that silly farmer's hat, but his expression is serious and the depth in his eyes is older than the mountains. He looks at you intensely, and you feel that even you might drown.

"Don't you want to know what task I set for you, or are you too busy starting fires before you're ready?" His tongue is sharp, and Cath mews and kicks him again, causing him to look a little chagrined. "That was cruel of me. Your companion was not lost lightly and she is a strong knight and safe yet. Still, you need to ask. Don't expect me to just give you everything you need. Don't expect that from anyone. Ask me why I'm here."

Robena

"Robena Coilleghille! As I live and breathe!" The effected formality lasts only as long as it takes the Lady Sandsfern to rise from her chair and lift you, for all your weight, with one arm into a hug. Her fiery hair flows past her shoulders and a little brushes past your nose and catches in the fur of your bearskin. It smells of cloves and ash.

She shifts her weight and, hug done, she leans into her stance and hurls you bodily across the Fox and Stag's common room, a chair crumpling beneath your landing. She picked a spot away from the other patrons (now crowded near the bar), and nowhere near the barrels of ale, an intentional choice if ever you've seen one. Her words rush after you across the room "What gall, to greet me here! Did you not return to my tower and offer your loyalty? Were you not anointed as Lostwithiel's new champion? What have you made of yourself, girl?"

She takes a firm stance, legs planted, expecting you to stand and rush her.

Tristan
You've never been to the Fox and Stag before, but you can guess that it's not the usual custom for one of the patrons to hurl another halfway across the room. Not least because you did not see anywhere near enough carpenters in your arrival to maintain the supply of chairs in the face of such matches.

Also, the one flying through the air was obviously Robena, that knight who was competing in Lostwithiel ere your departure to hunt the badger (and greater things). The other appears before your eyes to have hair of fire and scales of blazing crimson adorning her neck and hands where the skin shows unarmored. She was sitting and having a drink from a large horn when you arrived, notable in her beauty but another in a long line of strangers. You did not see Robena walk in while you were preoccupied buying your beers. You now hold two, one in each hand, balancing them carefully as the tavern shakes from Robena's landing. The handful of other patrons are cowering near you and the various casks. The owner (a tall, heavyset woman with brown hair tied back in a long ponytail that falls past her shoulders) has an exasperated look on her face but seems in no hurry to risk herself trying to intervene.

Sunshards

Chen’s flush feels like it starts at the base of her feet and the warmth rises unstoppable all the way through up until it leaps out the tips of her ears. She imagines her whole face must be on fire and tries to bury her head in one of this tall, strong huntress’s many arms.

It is worth understanding that this is not the first time that Chen has been kidnapped. It’s a regular happening among princesses. Being bested in a close match and taken prisoner for an exchange is considered the honorable outcome, far more so than a cowardly retreat. That it offers the victor an opportunity for some well-earned teasing and boasts isn’t so much a perk as the whole point. Chen has, in her last few years, been both kidnapper and kidnapped, though she tends to be on the gentle end of kidnappers among the princesses. Her mothers taught her to bear this sort of thing with dignity and poise. It’s only shameful if a princess allows herself to be bested by a clearly inferior opponent (being taken by a lowly palace guard might make you a laughingstock for months).

However, princesses never ask in these situations. Being captured is just part of the custom. The huntress was a superior opponent and Chen had committed to a decisive strike understanding that she couldn’t win the match but could give a good accounting of herself and earn better treatment as a result. B-but the huntress was asking Chen to submit to this. To...to...not only submit but say that she wanted to be teased. She ought to be outraged! She ought to just walk off, or at least to take the middle option and bide her time while learning The Way until she could make a quick escape once they found Yue. Under no circumstances should she intentionally choose humiliation. If this got out, the other princesses would gossip about it forever, she’d probably get some kind of humiliating nickname, and both her mothers would be furious! S-so why was she blushing head to toe and speaking something muffled into the huntress’s body?

She tries to collect herself, fails, realizes that she can hardly give an answer shouting into a strong, sculpted arm, and lifts her head, which she promptly turns sideways and tries to bury into her own shoulder (not having any free arms to cover her face) so she doesn’t have to make any eye contact.

“I’m a P-princess and...and you’ll...you’ll never get away with...*deep breath* with subjecting me to this in-indignity.” She says with great difficulty.

Oh suns, she was in for it now. Except...her heart wasn’t sinking, it felt more like it was soaring.

[Chen is accepting the XP and declaring herself Smitten with Rose from the River (whose name she still doesn’t know). As to why they can’t be together, this just can’t last. Chen has a destiny and it starts with getting Yue and going back to getting her edge over Qiu. She wants this, but she knows, just knows, that it’s going to be temporary and then she and Rose will have to go their separate ways. Rose likely implicitly knows this if she’s familiar with Chen’s world, and it matches with The Way as well.]

Sunshards

Chen stands on her tiptoes, her scarf pulled taut against her neck and for a moment her eyes widen and she feels a blush rise to her cheeks. She glances away as if in shame before bringing her sword around with a slash that cuts forces the huntress's hand away and pulls her loose. They break and split, the fresh dirt of the lakeside hills crumbling as they slide apart and take firm stances again. But the words echo: you wanted to save the Scales of Meaning herself from a monster. She hadn't, she just wanted the Scales to warm to her, to agree to let her follow, to defuse the argument the two were having and calm her emotions. She didn't really think anyone needed saving and she hadn't thought this hunter was a monster then.

Did she now?

Chen blinks, clears her head. Doesn't take initiative on the next thrust. She could have, and she thinks the huntress a skilled enough swordswomen to know that Chen didn't make a move matching the speed she had shown so far. Was it a feint, a trick? Chen lets out a breath she was holding. She felt a slower but more lasting flush rising to her cheeks as she remembered how it had felt be held by someone with such strong arms. How good it would feel to be all wrapped up in that scarf, her wrists and ankles bound, carried close to that strong body...

Before that vision can overwhelm her, Chen charges, a rushing forward sprint, earth spraying up behind her as she channels her power into a flying charge, too fast for her feet to touch the ground. Surely a feint, a game of chicken, she'll pull back at the last second and go for a fading strike of some sort rather than rush a stronger opponent.

"I never thought you a monster" she cries, not pulling back but striking her blade firmly into the blade of the huntress. It's so surprising that for a moment, it throws her stance and crystal light sparks and flies forth in a flash to rival the dawn. And then the air is broken ground between them, both blades flying faster than the eye can follow, blurry after images tracing them like ethereal butterflies. Rose is pressed close, shouting "essan el-heloi" and if her hearing is good, she can hear Chen's heart thunder in her chest racing to keep up, racing to surrender, racing to be held!

"Never! I would never damn you!" she shouts and cuts in close. "I'm one of the good princesses!" she changes the angle of her front foot and curls her elbow, bringing the sword in close to her body. "I'm trying to find Yue too, along with everyone else under the sun because Princess Qiu wants her." The sarcasm is evident, even as she hits the huntress not with the blade but the hilt of her crystal sword, pushing sharply under the huntress's guard and into her stomach. "I can protect her from the small army Qiu's called down, bring her safely to become a handmaiden, and cut into Qiu's power at the same time" The blade flashes outward from its backwards thrust, spinning in Chen's grip of its own accord, a masterful showing of her chi to control it so precisely at this speed without hurting herself. Her scarf's two ends both fly upwards from the wind generated, making them tempting targets. "So help me out!" the blade flares and lands a single solid strike on the huntress, Chen hurling herself bodily forward and nearly into Rose's arms to support it past the opposing blade's guard.

[Chen grants Rose's request to fight her to submission by fighting with grace. 1+4+2=7. She is giving Rose the fight she wants flirting or provoking for a string and seizing a superior position (that being right in Rose's arms after a show of strength). Rose gets to pick one option in turn.]

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Some time passes, a cool breeze blows and there's a threat of a summer storm. The air crackles like lightning could strike.

Robena

The ride is a blur to you, mixed with memories of burning and the smell of smoke in distant lands. You find yourself riding into a nearby town further along the road in Southaven. It's a town and nearby keep that border the forest on its southern side, inventively named as you'd expect. It has only a single inn, the Fox & Stag, and the gate, though barely more than a wooden palisade, had a guard stationed at it whose armor was clean and well-kept.

Now that you know though, the signs of Uther's corruption are practically everywhere else. Families are smaller than you remember from your youth and children look hungrier than they should at summer's rise. Homes are less well-kept than they ought to be and mold licks at the edges of the beams on some houses.

What knight from your memories do you find at the inn when you arrive?

Tristan, Nin

You rode from the forest's edge at a more leisurely pace, but the ride was tense. The king spoke little and the gathering clouds seemed to reflect the thunder brewing at her forehead. You could almost hear the words so close as they hissed through her mind and her mood held the rest of her knights at taut readiness. No monsters surfaced to confront your party, however, and so instead you rode and the only sounds were the neighs and muffled thuds of horeshoes on dirt paths.

You've arrived at a keep called Southaven, having exited the forest on the same side you entered while drawing an upside down U shape (with some extra curves because of how the Questing Beast tore up the land). There's a town nearby, but King Pellinore appears to be on friendly terms with the keep's lord, Sir Linus. It's a small keep, only five knights make it their permanent residence, along with a handful of men at arms. The town nearby has an inn, the Fox & Stag, but Pellinore insists on having the horses and equipment seen to by the keep smith first before you go into the town. Sir Linus looks rather overwhelmed by it all and is fussing trying to find room for the hunting party.

Nin: How does this remind you of your family and set you at ease?

Tristan: What about all this is making you want to get away from it all and get some fresh air?

Constance

Around the keep of Brythys the air feels less heavy. You went with Cath to fetch the little box, having departed from Robena in something of a flurry, and you could tell that the ghosts were, if not satisfied, at least at ease this time. The small box was heavy for its size, like it was full of quicksilver, though you did not open it nor did it leak.

You present it, along with your newly befriended cat, to the traveler with his thick tawny hair and his straw hat. You had to backtrack along the road a bit, so you're seeing dark clouds gather a ways further along, but they haven't reached you yet.

When he sees you arrive alone, cat and box in hand (so to speak) he gives an excited yell and runs over to you. Cath also gives an excited yowl and sprints forward, tangling herself in the man's legs and utterly tripping him, causing him to sprawl face first into the road with a puff of earth and a straw hat that flies off to land at your feet. Cath, looking extremely proud of herself, purrs and bops him in the head for good measure.

"Damn it, Cath Palug, would you give a man a minute's respite?!" he shouts, as he starts to gather himself.

Tell us how (or if) you go to his aid.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Tristan and Nin

Mort's face darkens, though not at you. Distant memories trouble him. Some past trauma most likely. Abstractly, the answer to your questions is that he needs to trust you and feel safe speaking to you because King Pellinore's anger problem is clearly quite bad. It's not that she would harm you, but she may well harm her knights for their incompetence, most likely when they're alone so that rumors don't spread. But that very atmosphere of terror, lurking just under a genial exterior also prevents Mort, or any other knight, from truly confiding in you. Asking how do people create trust with one another has a million answers. Perhaps the most obvious, if the most frustrating, is time. Ride with them, eat with them, hunt with them. Share stories and laugh together, and surely he will open up to you, intentionally or accidentally. If you're looking for something faster: save Mort's life (or at least do him a great service), swear him a favor and your secrecy with a binding oath, or find him alone and intimidate him with threats worse than what you think Pellinore may be doing if you don't mind losing his friendship afterward for that last.

None of these can be done now, riding amidst the King's other knights. Instead, you come to a break in the forest to find the king standing beside her horse, gazing outwards to the treeline. The Questing Beast is nowhere in sight and its trail abruptly ends.

"Fae magic" she seethes, loudly enough to be heard over the clopping hooves of horses, and you realize that this hunt will not be a short one.

Constance and Robena

The name falls into a silence louder than a shining knight at full tilt. The world is still, save for the tiniest motion from Cath, the black and white cat, who steps quietly forward on little paws to nuzzle into Constance's leg, offering a little warmth in a cold land rapidly growing colder.

*****END SCENE*****