Anarion

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Constance, Tristan

Sir Harold nods, blows his nose into a small kerchief, then nods again. "Lady I, it's not my place, but you...give us all hope. Hope that there will be more tomorrow, in spite of all we've done. In spite of..." He gestures vaguely with an arm. At the castle, the snow, the kingdom, the country. A country of oathbreakers, fearful of what it could be.

"I would that it had been different" he says after a pause. "If I were thirty years younger, I'd demand you grant me that king's blade of yours and I'd ride off to right our wrongs. As it is, it's not mine and never was meant to be. I'll be glad enough that I could offer you a clean castle and cloth enough to make your dress. Yes, that will be enough to leave me satisfied, whatever may come of all this."

He leans back and lets you, both of you, return to your work.

Tell us of the finished dress with its scales and its moltings. And of how it reassures you, of how you reassure each other as you prepare for Robena's return.

Robena
Despite your exhaustion and your stubborn horse, you hunt with endurance and bravery. Liana, for her part, pulls out a small golden harp, made to fit in the crook of her arm that she can set the reins and grasp the harp at once and pluck with her other hand, absurd as that may seem.

Where before there were trumpets and hounds braying, she offers a gentle yet persistent song that nevertheless drives the white hart before you once it presents itself, never allowing it to rest.

Hear now of our hero, on gallant horse riding
Our foreign foes felled, she returned to her land
Now hasped in her harness, though mendicant mottled
She rides to her ruin, knowing not where she goes

Her eyes are looking to you, Robena, and though she plays the role of pure maiden in this hunt, there is nevertheless a knowing in her eyes that says much of the preparations of these knights for your coming. Yet her eyes are wide, and worried, and fear that you will spurn her, and she sings on.

Our king came to Camelot, and thence took his throne
In war never wanting, he took him a wife and a child he sired
But bearing his blazon, all burnished and bright
He defied death and found it wanting

No new generation was near to his knights
He kept them from Camelot, drove them away
He feasted and fought, always fearsome with fury,
keeping the cold and calm away with ever grander building

the king his death did fear
so flung his youth away
He clung to visions dear
Of time held all at bay

She looks at you again and clears her throat. The hart skips behind a tree, the dogs are chasing in hot pursuit as forest leave rustles in sudden quiet. The hart cannot be allowed to rest. "You've perhaps heard that part or something like it from Constance, but you may not know the next" Liana says, striking another chord.

Perchance a prophecy came forth in which the king partook
When an heir to Excalibur emerged, his reign would end
Only a proper heir, pure and puissant,
chosen by the Lady of the Lake in her largesse

She looks again to you, Robena, and sighs.

Though cunningly wrought, the prophet's words,
Neither heir nor hero neared on the nonce
False friends followed a mad king fuming in her furor,
till death in dishonor did her doom declare

What hero cannot hear
the calling of the land?
A father that I fear
who holds his grave in hand

And in the chill of her song, the hart comes at least to bay, cornered by a small pool where it had hoped to drink and catch its breath but it is instead beset by you. Roll to take bold, decisive action and end this hunt.

Sunshards

Chen offers Jessic a thoughtful look and an actual giggle at the image of Qiu shouting “hewwo!” at people’s doors. It really did help her understand Qiu better, though she would need to tell the Princess that just asking for a duel was a better approach for Chen than all this pressure to force a fight with her at high stakes. Well, maybe. She was trying to figure out what made her want to fight, that was part of this conversation. It’s complicated!

When Jessic asks about the Princesses, Chen contemplates for a second, resting her chin on one hand and almost pouting. Then she starts ticking off fingers for the nine kingdoms as she goes through them aloud. “Pasalkhen: Qiu, I wanted to be friends, but I hurt her feelings and my moms aren’t cool with it, it’s a whole thing.
Terraced Lake: also Qiu right now. Ishan was friends my Mommy Ysel I think, but she’s more like an aunt to me, I don’t really know her that well and have no idea where she is now.
Sourcefall: Hestia’s my mom, so I mean, I guess she’s cool.” Chen stopped, chose not to laugh at her own pun, moved on. “I mean, Sourcefall is most of where I grew up after the hot and cold alliances split up, but it’s hard to say I’m friends with my own mom cuz it’s different.
Ys: same thing, I think Mommy Ysel tries to be more like friends than Hestia but she’s also really demanding and kinda scary.
Plains: Jezara is cool! Maybe I could say she’s my friend? We haven’t really hung out that much, but I text her cat pictures of my leopard sometimes. And uh, I really want to go visit her and turn into a cat, it sounds really fun.” She blushed at that one.
“Tesla Hive: I’ve only seen Kikil at formal visits and she’s kinda scary
Radiant Lands: Yin’s a vassal, but I kind of hate her. I mean, I know it’s mean of me, but but, she’s so over the top and she scares other people, and she cursed Hyra (the wolf that’s here with Yue) and really upset Rose! And when I defended my friends earlier she backed off, but I’m pretty sure Mommy is gonna be really mad at me for not siding with Yin, so it’s like extra double frustrating!
And, uh, Sky Castle is you and you seem cool but we didn’t really know each other before this.

So...uh, I guess I kinda hope to be friends with Jezara and you, and maybe Ishan. And I don’t know if I can really be friends with my moms but I want to like them and for them to like me even if I can’t beat up Qiu. And I want to be friends with Qiu but like, not in a way where she’s, like, expecting me to give her this big special fight with so much pressure where no matter what I disappoint her or my moms or all of them all at once!”

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Giriel takes in a sharp breath. That tooth. She...ah, can you imagine a bear wrestling with a dragon? The pinpricks of teeth like little needles pricking the skin. Giriel's strong arms and stronger thighs holding the Red Wolf firmly pinned, save for those merciless teeth?

Who could think about anything else in that moment? The sign of the demons banished from the mind. That they opposed a Hero of the Dominion made perfect sense and needed no further consideration. And if it did need further consideration, which it did not, wouldn't it be valuable to have someone nearby trained in the Art, able to see the signs of dark magic or hidden demons that might wish to trick, deceive, and manipulate?

As for the N'yari. They were just territorial, and this was the sort of problem that could be solved over a good bowl of spicy noodles and a few bottles of shochu. Of course, Red Wolf had a good explanation why the N'yari were picking on her forces, but Giriel was sure she could clear up the misunderstanding, that Red Wolf would be reasonable at the end of the day about the N'yari's space and the N'yari reasonable enough about raiding caravans. They wouldn't stop raiding them, but perhaps the dominion could come to understanding about how they'd raid and what was off limits. A fair way to test their skill and prowess. Okay, sure, Giriel was dreaming, the N'yari wouldn't accept being chained down (of course, exceptions notwithstanding) but they were fine in that space and she was sure she could get them to see that disturbing ghosts wasn't the way to have this fight with the Dominion and that would have to be good enough.

But anyway, the point was, those signs in the teacup weren't important and indicated no problems with Red Wolf that would get in the way of little teeth playing across Giriel's neck and some bone-cracking cuddles.

No, the problem as Giriel started to lose herself in thoughts of great soft beds, was the lifestyle. Giriel was a Witch, she couldn't be an equal partner to a Hero. It was written all over her. Even if she put on that gorgeous starlight dress, soft as the night sky, people would still know she was a witch. There was an aura of the otherworldly about her after so much practice, and she had no intention of dropping her work, her pleasure just wasn't nearly as important. So, of course, anything she could imagine, any games that Red Wolf was playing, it was obvious that she'd never really choose Giriel, never be more than a dalliance and a servant, no matter how skilled, strong, and respected. She just wasn't fit to be anything better than that and that was fine. It was fine. Giriel had come to terms with her status as a witch long ago and she didn't need to feel any feelings about it now. Or so she'd thought as her heart and her hands betrayed her in equal measure, as she shook in that warmth and her heart thumped and she found herself swearing by her grandmother's grave below the very mountain's roots to come back when her task was done.

[Giriel is smitten with Red Wolf, who gets a string for it. She will mark XP for swearing very seriously to come back.]

Sunshards

“I...uh” Chen stops short, unsure how to answer. None of the things she’s worried about have changed, but she’d also forgotten about all the things she did today. T-those weren’t princessy things anyway, right? She’d let herself get captured by Cyanis in exchange for a pretty dress that felt so nice to wear, which was totally below her station right? And she’d done nothing to rescue Rose yet. And she had entertained the Sky Castle at the expense of her own kingdoms, hadn’t she???

And yet...she was having fun. She’d been having fun all day and they had gotten to the sky castle exactly as planned. And...Qiu had chatted ahead for them to expect her and everything. Like...like she belonged at least a little.

“I guess...” Chen said. She blushed because Jessic was being so nice. She was giving Chen all this time to just think and asking such good questions. “I dunno. Like, this part was fun but...why are we even expected to fight over the shards? Why does Qiu want so many shards and my parents care so much about stopping her? I don’t know how to handle that part, I wanted to just, like, be friends with her.”

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Giriel blushes, almost hunching into herself. Of course, this request ought to have gone to Peregrine. What if she makes a mistake that brings down the armies of the dominion upon them? What if she sees the armies of the dominion falling upon them and it isn’t a mistake? What if she sees them kissing each other?!

N-nevertheless, she cannot refuse. That would be far worse, an unforgivable act of arrogance and insult to withhold her talents now and after such a compliment.

So, taking a deep breath, and telling herself inwardly “Giriel Bruinstead, you can do this” she takes the last drops of the tea and pours it into Cathak Agata’s cup. “Swirl” she says, making it happen by placing a large, gentle hand overtop Agata’s (she tries only to hold, not to brush any skin at all, though she is not so dexterous as to do this perfectly). She lifts the arm up above the head (such presumptuous behavior!) and swirls again, then slowly and carefully moves the Red Wolf to lower the cup, pouring out the tea slowly, drop by drop upon her saucer as she does.

When the last drop falls, Giri moves Agata to place the cup upon the table and only then does her hand release the other woman’s. The lingering warmth pulses through her and she has to resist the urge to flex her fingers and stare at them.

She glances then into the tea cup at the patterns of the leaves. They should form a sign: characters of a name, or perhaps symbols and elements. Patterns of water or fire for various sorts of disasters, trees for new life, heavenly symbols for good fortune, birds and paths for journeys, bones for illness, swords for violence, demons for misfortune (or meeting demons, which meant the same thing) and so forth.

[Divination: 5+1+2=8. Giri sees something interesting about what Red Wolf will face that she does not know. Red Wolf learns the truth and clears a condition.

Also, I apologize for the double roll, but I think this is an Entice as well, for which I have rolled an 11 (6+3+2).]

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Robena

You manage the horse. Would you dare even think of him by name at this moment, lest you give him additional power? The balance is so tentative. Nevertheless, you are mounted, outside the barn, and Lady Liana (who had the presence of mind not to get anywhere near you during the contest) offers you a sympathetic look that is either the deepest empathy you have ever received in your long travels or scalds you to your very soul. Perhaps both all at once.

Nevertheless, and despite the ache in your muscles, the retribution your mount is sure to wreck upon you, and the lack of proper sleep pounding behind your eyes, there is a hunt to be had! Though you and Liana shall be the only knights leading the chase, there is still to be train. The Lady Sauvage meets the two of you, mounted today on a black stallion that she reigns with a strong and steady hand. Beside her are two scouts in the light gray browns used for moving in a deep winter forest, who have already picked up the trail of the hart for you, and a group of grooms and squires, three each for you and Liana to carry such equipment and victuals as you and your horse may need for the day.

The houndmaster too makes a return and she and her dogs have grins for you. That battle was hard fought the previous day and they know someone they can respect. There is, at least, this solace.

Liana looks to you as the senior knight despite your mendicant status, as does the Lady, who will be riding some distance back and is deferring to your leadership. How then the hunt?

Tristan, Constance

Sir Harold is crying. A few muffled tears strike his lit pipe and put it out. He looks aghast at himself, clearly aware that he should not be interrupting this moment, but he cannot seem to help it.

“I’m sorry” he says. “I have never sought forgiveness and none has been offered. I foreswore my oaths as a king and vassal near on twenty years ago. I...I’m sorry, really, I should not have...I, please ignore an old man. I am just here to see things are attended to.”

Sunshards

Chen blinks and for a moment she simply twirls, silent and suspended in the air, her dress sparkling and shining little rainbow patterns onto Jessic’s scarf and fur neck lining.

How did she start here?! She ought to have rehearsed on the trip over, thought about what happened with Qiu and her parents and Yin and why she had freaked out. But gosh it sure had been a lot easier not thinking about any of those terrible things and having fun with Rose, Yue, and Cyanis instead. Especially Rose. Especially being carried around by a woman twice her size and paraded in the fairgrounds. Especially one she had called her girlfriend~!

But as well and good and blush-inducing that that thought was, she was still left with a situation that she had pointedly tried to push out of her brain until the last few minutes, and that had all been spiraling. What was she supposed to say?

Jessic, I hate my moms! That was a lie, this would be much easier if she just hated them, but instead she wanted their approval and their love and also hated how they treated her and had no idea how to talk to them about it in a way that would be seen as anything but a tantrum and cause to send her back for stricter training.

Jessic, Qiu kicked my ass and it’s sending me into a spiral because my job seems impossible! Kind of accurate, but if she had just wanted to beat Qiu at all costs she could have leaned into what her parents wanted whole-heartedly and without any qualms. But she...can’t somehow and she’s confident that just trying to hone her sword work without figuring this out won’t help at all. She doesn’t want to be what her parents want, maybe? Or maybe she just doesn’t want to get there how they want her to get there. She doesn’t view Qiu as her arch-nemesis (though she does want Qiu to stop hoarding power and messing up the world for all the other kingdoms) and she hasn’t figured out at all how she wants to view Qiu. All she knows is that they’ve very far apart, much more so than she had thought before their meeting, that they had hurt each other, and that thinking about it makes her heart hurt.

Jessic, I have a toxic relationship with my own talent! I love the things I’m good at, but I hate how people constantly judge and define me by them to the point that I’m destroying myself with pressure to never mess up and then I messed up anyway! Accurate. Too accurate for Chen, she’s not capable of articulating herself this well and probably needs someone to bonk her over the head with this realization more subtly and over time. Also, this would be all well and good but she has no idea what to do about it or even how to ask.

“Jessic, I think I’m a bad princess!” Chen blurts out. She freezes, staring at that massive dragon, but the way the voice had touched her mind and...Qiu’s advice, she keeps barreling forward.

“I mean, I know the rules and stuff, and I thought I was good at the swords and magic and everything, but Qiu wrecked me hardcore! And...and I hurt her when we fought cuz I didn’t actually do things right, like she wanted. And I hurt Yin cuz she expected me to back her up and I didn’t. And...and I’m pretty sure I hurt my moms cuz I couldn’t do what they wanted and I’m just waiting for them to call and chew me out for it. And I...I didn’t wanna tell anyone cuz I really actually love this and I’ve never felt more scared in my whole life than when Qiu told me that maybe I should take a break!”

Then she does start crying. Small, quiet, and warm tears that pool in her eyes and, because she remains upside down and twirling, make little angled routes towards her temples before catching in her hair.

Sunshards

The true beauty of Chen’s dress is that Cyanis appears to have designed it precisely for being strung up in a public square. It’s almost as though she could have known the outcome, so uncanny were her fox senses!

She thus finds herself hanging by the heels suspended over ten feet in the air. Her hair decorations, so cunningly set with many gems, bounce the light of the sun from the horizon into a glimmering pattern of sparkles and shimmers on the ground below. It’s guaranteed to attract the attention of every shopper passing by and make them look up to Chen.

The dress itself, set with its formed hoop skirt, splays out beautifully, rotating with Chen in a wide circle of pink fabric rather like a spinning top moving in slow motion. The ropes on her heels offer just enough rotation that the dress is held in place at its greatest width as Chen slowly rotates back and forth and the rope settles its way inexorably towards a settled state.

Or rather, the rope would settle itself if Chen did not periodically squirm and try to reach up towards her feet in a powerful leg lift, only for the thick dress to bunch up too much, floor in her face with the wind and push her back downwards, setting the rope into a new and faster spin. Of course, she knew that she couldn’t (and shouldn’t) actually escape, but it was important to put on a show. And though Chen was at her reddest being offered on display for all these people, she was also enjoying herself immensely.

This sort of thing was a special type of Princess embarrassment. She had been caught and was being displayed by a rival kingdom! She had to put on a good show for them, and she also felt a certain kind of special joy in the ritual. They had strung her up like a particularly impertinent handmaiden, which was the point of course, and she knew that everyone was looking at her, but at the same time it made her feel kind of important and special, like Jessic and the Countess cared enough about her to do this sort of public display, and she’d give them the same honor if it ever came to it (though she’d have to think long and hard about how to display a dragon at Sourcefall or Ys. Maybe she could temporarily freeze Jessic and display her as an ice sculpture at a party. She’d have to ask if that would be too unpleasant, she didn’t want to do anything painful!)

So, at least initially, Chen was quite enjoying herself, almost a cute squirming time of meditation after such an overwhelming day. She was a little worried about Rose and Yue, but they were both eminently competent (even if they didn’t realize it themselves), so she felt like there was ample time for a daring rescue. Although with Rose...she was a little worried. Rose had looked happy, but she’d also still been kind of out of it, Chen hadn’t really seen any reaction before she had been dragged off, and she’d had quite an outburst. So she did want to make sure Rose was okay, which was weighing on her. Breaking out now wouldn’t help though, it would be better to wait until the candle burned down and Rose was ready, and for Chen to finish her punishment and have some time to herself. A daring escape in the courtyard would ruin her dress and turn the whole thing into a public spectacle, which would mean Jessic would be forced to catch and further embarrass Chen for the humiliation of trying to escape alone and surrounded like that (granted, if it succeeded it would be a coup throughout the kingdoms, but Chen wasn’t confident enough she could do it to go for the moonshot).

It was that last that sent her spiraling though. Chen wasn’t confident in herself. She was way out of her league and not at all up to the level of talent she expected of herself. Qiu had shown her that and sent her here. And all of this would be getting back to Chen’s parents one way or another. Mommy Ysel in particular was going to be so mad. Just so mad, it made Chen’s heart sink into her stomach in defiance of gravity.

That made her worried too. Maybe they didn’t know. What if Jessic left? Qiu had recommended Jessic help her, but they’d treated the whole thing like a normal capture and if Jessic flew off to go do something else before Chen got a chance to talk with her, she might be stuck for a while. Or what if Jessic just couldn’t help? It wasn’t like Qiu had really understood how Chen was feeling, she had her own thing going (Chen still felt guilt for missing that until it was way too late and hurting Qiu). So maybe Jessic wouldn’t be able to help at all and Chen would just get dragged home, raked over the coals (hopefully metaphorically, though Ysel might go literal on that one), and put back into training for a couple more years until they thought she was ready for another go at Qiu. The idea made her want to cry, which really would be awful hanging in the public square (if she started for real crying, it would get reported and they would come take her down, but it would be just like with Qiu and knock her out of being part of this Princess thing and that would just make her feel worse).

So Chen hung there, wiggling every so often, and tried to just kind of meditate and hold back tears. She tried not to think too hard about her parents or what they wanted, why she still wasn’t good enough, why Qiu even wanted to conquer all these kingdoms instead of just...like, giving her a hug earlier, why she felt guilty about how things went with Qiu, and anything about Rose actually being in danger because that was giving her anxiety the more she thought about it.

She ultimately settled on distracting herself with wondering what Jessic might have done in her life to be any good at counseling. Maybe dragons had all sorts of problems that were just like Chen’s. She tried to imagine a dragon mom and dad shouting at their kid for not breathing fire well enough or...or flying too slowly and bungling it when she tried to swoop and pick something up in a talon quickly. That seemed incredibly cute and at least brought her a little smile. Enough to ward off the dread of her phone ringing or someone coming to get her only to find out that everyone she hoped for had collapsed in the interim.

[I think this scene triggers Help Me~~ for Jessic or Keron since they’ve taken Chen captive now.]

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Giriel frowns. It is an honest frown, a straightforward sort of frown. The sort of frown that happens at just the right timing when she hears about disturbed graves that says “gosh that’s serious” and “that sounds like a terrible thing” and comes with a side of “I’m already thinking about how to fix this” all wrapped together in one furrowed browns and downturned lip. Her tea and the dress are both, for the moment, forgotten in that frown.

Cathak Agata ought to be entirely reassured. There is no doubt that Giriel will drop what she’s doing and head out there as soon as it’s polite to leave. She’s certainly not going to bring up any sort of reward or pay or...well the dress is already more than enough and she’s not interested in having chests of gold dumped on her or whatnot. If she solves the problem, she’s earn a few meals selling simple potions to relieve itches and ease sleep to the soldiers and be more than pleased with herself.

She ought to be reassured except for what Giriel blurts out next, the only result of such an honest frown: “If the N’yari desecrated the graves, why are the ghosts haunting your soldiers and not the N’yari?” Giriel frowns, hands pressed on the table. “They must have one of their most powerful shaman’s there! Gosh, I hope, well, I’m sure I could talk some sense into her, no shaman would want to do this, so there must be some really good reason.”

Giriel nods to herself in satisfaction, her bangs bobbing forward, and the frown disappears. “Thank you for telling me, I’ll do everyone I can...er uh, I’ll help everything I can...or I mean, I’ll help everyone I can to help!” She quickly pours another cup of tea and downs this one quickly, hiding the awkwardness of her response and how much Agata had flustered her. Besides, it would be rude to leave without finishing, so she needs to hurry up!

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Giriel raises the porcelain teacup to her lips with a hand that makes it look so small. She ought to swallow the whole thing in a single gulp, but she savors it, the steam from within joining in its slow entwining way with the gray veil without.

That teacup is her only defense. She can, politely, say nothing, so long as it touches her lips. It would be the height of rudeness even of a Cathak to interrupt a woman tasting a freshly brewed green with delicate hints of chrysanthemum and jasmine.

She knows that once she lowers it, she will accept the dress. What matter that a gift packed so tightly is an omen of long entrapment? Or that Red Wolf is, in her entire symbolism, the embodiment of the seductive flame that burns all who touch it in rapture? She’s not even trying to hide it and that’s really the point. The flame isn’t seductive if it’s hidden and distant. It is seductive because it dances naked right before your eyes and nothing stands between you and its warmth.

But this is the thing, she knew all this before ever taking a meeting with Cathak Agata. Her reputation preceded her. And while she might give off that air of uncertainty, that too was part of her symbolism, one of her key tools in fact because it meant that people gave her the right context to do her magic rather than run in with swords drawn. But she had taken that meeting anyway because...well, she wasn’t exactly sure and she hid that behind the tea cup, which really was very good and deserved several seconds of being slowly savored.

Perhaps she had taken it merely because she had been asked. Someone important needed a favor from small town witch Giriel Bruinstead? It must be something very specific to her talents and if someone this important needed that, well, that must mean there was a very important ghost up to mischief or some divination that needed doing and was specially up her alley. Whatever it might be, she had more or less resolved to do it because it needed doing before ever coming to the tea house. Now, in that context, how could she possibly refuse such a kind and lovely gift? Even seeing the entrapment it represents, how could she?

So she lowers the teacup gently and carefully, and then offers Red Wolf a broad smile. “This is far too kind a gift for me” she says, making no move to push the box away. A humble acceptance, rejecting in words while taking no action. Even as a foreigner, Red Wolf would understand the gesture and the girl with the box would move to place it with Giri’s belongings that she might try it on later.

Gosh, who would she pose for? S-she needed to think about that but later!

[Red Wolf may take a string and make her request.]