Dungeon World PBP play (Inactive)

Game Master Elsine

We have no desire to fight...you I indicate the Helf I parried. We came into your home and while I don’t normally suffer an Asmodian to live, it wouldn’t be practical to scour this entire realm. After all, I didn’t pack for an overnight. You may be eyeing my sword. It is Skysteel, I forged it myself from the bones of your brother. That means at one point I had to kill an Asmodean with my bare f$$$ing hands. Consider what I can do to you when I’m fully armed. Instead, you can simply leave us Sarah, who I should note has shown your compatriots no loyalty at all. Leave now or die with your inside parts spilled on the ground.

Parley: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 3) + 1 = 8

I step out of slicing range of the Helf so he knows I’m serious about letting him leave with all of his bits intact.

Roshan starts to walk forward, unarmed.

Defy Nature: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 4) + 1 = 7

Halfway to Seprahime, Roshan stops. With a shaking hand, she draws her chakram. Her voice is thin. "I have come so far. I will not return to g-groveling in filth."

Hack & Slash: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (3, 5) + 3 = 11
Smite: 1d8 + 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + (2) + 2 + 1 = 9
1 Wrath remaining.

The cobalt ring sings through the air before striking the remaining hellf. When it returns, Roshan's cloak of divine wrath is thin and pale. She seems to sag under the weight of her armor.

I look over at Roshan and give a long low sigh.

Or...

Elemental Defense kicks in to negate the damage; 1 Control remaining.

Belym glares at "Sarah". "We will not abandon Roshan to you." She stomps one foot for emphasis, and also to pull stone from the earth behind their adversaries, cutting off the obvious escape routes...

Bender of the Elements: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 2) + 3 = 10

Spend all 3 hold for as coherent a barrier as I can make behind Sephrahime.

In hell

Right as the creature seems about to surrender, roshan strikes it down, cutting its stomach open.

Is that how that woman taught you to think? She told you that you were filth? You were so strong, that is why I choose to foster you, to help you. Please, Rhistel, don't spur me based upon lies.
all through this, she is slowly backing up, before her heel brushes against Belyms wall.

Ron

The dwarf is alive, and in the eastern tower, on the fifth floor. the cleric did not return, though he might be elsewhere. She gestures to one of the guards.

Come with me, Archbishop He says, exiting the throne room.

Ron gestures for his group to follow.

Roshan's lips press closed a mouth overfull with teeth, and her eyes narrow. "If I am filth, it is for ever following through with your intoxicating commands. We lived in sewers and ate the sick. I have crawled on my belly through the bones of my brothers and sisters for you. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the land beyond the dark portal to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great. You have no power over me."

Defy Nature: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (3, 3) + 1 = 7

Roshan's wrath extinguishes entirely, leaving her in plain mail, but she stalks forward nonetheless. A curl of black smoke rises from the back of the templar's neck. When she reaches Seprahime, she stops, grasps the front of her clothes and lifts her up. "You will return to the plane of ash and stone and confess your involvement with the destabilization of Eloen. What power you have will be used to help rebuild, and if you ever return to the transgressors, they will flay you as a traitor, and rest their talons on your spine for an eternity... You saved my life, Sperahime, and for that I am sparing yours. Spend it in service to the humans, or I will return to finish this."

What do I need to roll first?

Ron

The group follows, to a room that the guards remark ought to be guarded...

inside, there is blood, both white and red, spattered on the floor and walls. one patch of white in particulat is arranged in some half-finished spell. the group has apparently left.

Slate and shale! What happened here? Therain exclaims

Couldn't tell you... but there should have been 4 guards on this room... I don't like this the escort says

Roshan

That was an amazingly badass move... which kinda makes me sad that it doesn't mark a parley. Demons just can't defy their programming like that.

I think we both know I can't do that, Rhistel. Seprahime says, glowing with power the moment you touch her All I did, I did for love.

ac fast, something is about to go down

Conwall and Belym see Cassandra swipe the possessed manacles from Roshan's torture kit.

Ron points at one of the guards. Return to the Duchess immediately and report. Whoever was tasked with managing these guards is likely compromised.

He points to the other guard. Raise the alarm. Find someone who knows where my friends went.

He speaks to the guards as if they are his, and brooks no disagreement. He crouches down into a squatting position and examines the scene, looking for signs of the direction the surviving combatants took.

Discern Realities: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5

As he crouches he addresses the cultist and the two dwarves. Any ideas?

I give a subtle nod to Cassandra and position myself to block her as needed. I'm not entirely sure if she intends to use them on Sarah or Roshan and frankly I don't care. Either one will keep this insane situation from escalating any further.

defend: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 3) + 1 = 9
I'll hang on to this hold as needed to protect Cassandra for whatever she chooses to do with those shackles.

Loyalty: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 5) + 2 = 11 I don't know how to feel about this! =D

Cassandra attempts to cuff herself to the Orphan Mother with a possessed pair of manacles. With gusto!

Woo! Family reunions! Happy thanksgiving!

Belym maintains a ready stance as she watches the confrontation. The stone dog's agitation belies the dwarf's outward calm.

Ron

The left in a hurry, but your group isn't in the habit of leaving traces... but you notice one of them, likely Cassandra by the gait, walked off with bits of ichor on her shoe. the tracks lead to the dungeons. the guards rush off to fllow your commands. what do you do?

Roshan

Ummm... that lightening spirit is pretty ornery... are you sure you want to shackle Cassy to Seprahime with those?

Roshan

Ummm... that lightening spirit is pretty ornery... are you sure you want to shackle Cassy to Seprahime with those?

Casandra is as stupid as she is loyal. And she's as loyal as a sack of bricks.

Ron turns to the dwarves and the cultist. does he/she have a name? I've been calling him Cassandro in my head.

This way.

He takes off after the ichor trail as fast as he can, drawing his blade and holding it low.

Should I have marked XP?

Ornery doesn't sound like deadly, and I'm not sure we have the opportunity to second-guess an attempt at a non-lethal resolution. As long as it's not obviously and devastatingly counterproductive.

I'm pretty sure "obviously and devastatingly counterproductive" is our default setting without Ron's guidance

Ron

you arrive in the dungeons,a nd push past the jailor, who shouts back at you about adventurers having no manners, and damn the lot of you outlanders. you follow the trail of destruction (broken chains, damaged bars, scorch marks) and find yourself in a cell, with a dead, desecrated body (one of the lords, you think), a note in a foreign language, and an unstable portal... what do you do?

on the other side

Cassandra claps the manacles around herself and Seprahime in one fluid motion. as soon as the pieces connect, both begin to writhe and shriek. the good news is, it seems to stop when they fall to the ground and go still. hopefully it won't cause permanent damage... what do you do?

and no, the cultist doesn't have a name... amnesia is bit of a thing, isn't it. And do, in fact, mark xp

Ron whispers under his breath. Larune guide me.

He turns to the dwarves. I'm not going to ask ye to do some damn fool thing like I'm about ta do. But Belym is likely in there.

He turns to Cassandro. Coming?

Ron rushes in.

On the other side of the portal, a grey, toothy creature in Roshan's armor sheaths her weapons, mounts her shield, and attempts to haul two women onto her shoulders.

On the other side of the portal, a grey, toothy creature in Roshan's armor sheaths her weapons, mounts her shield, and attempts to haul two women onto her shoulders.

I share Ron's reaction. WTF is happening over here.

if you must know, Roshan is actually a kinda demon-y thing (plus, Bastian missed having sharp teeth), and thye managed to kill 3 antagonists, and cff Cassandra to the fourth, which electric-ed them to sleep, and now you all might want to leg it!

I eye Ron suspiciously as he comes through the portal.

Look alive, guys. It's another copycat.

I draw Catastrophe and move toward him. How dare you keep using my dead friend's face like this.

Ron immediately puts his hands up and drops his blade, and his face opens into a huge smile when he sees Belym.

Easy! It's me. We first met outside a tower that had been infested by cultists. I touched me spear to the altar and got strange powers. Yer sword talks to ye and ye got a strange mechanical owl that ye never seem to use anymore. We are Godkillers and were there when the Emerald Lady died and rose. We have a bit of a friendly competition going on about killing demons.

He looks around the area. I'm ahead.

He keeps an eye on Catastrophe while addressing Belym.

I found Bogdoruhl. Jera and Therain are just back through the portal. Gods it is good to see you!

He gestures to monster-Shan. What is the plan here? And where is Tom?

Roshan sags, but not under the weight of her eclectic family. He sees the shock in Ron's eyes, and as glad as she is to see him, she'd have rather he hadn't seen her like this. Plus... "We were hoping he was being kept with you. Signs indicate he may have passed into Hebron's realm. I fear to petition Hebron for an accounting of his spirit, but we will have to do so when we have more time. For now, we needs must re-cross that portal and destroy it before things become truly dire." She shrugs, indicating the woman cuffed to Cassandra, "This is the creature who raised me. I'd ask you not kill her, though she certainly deserves it."

Belym returns Ron's smile, once the initial shock wears off. Hers widens further on hearing that her kin are near. " As Roshan said - the plan is to get through the portal first. We can catch up on the other side." With that, she leads the way back through.

I drop the sword down to my side. I use the owl sometimes. He's...he's having a hard time seeing any of this stuff due to Asmodean trickery.

I eye Ron sadly. If Tom isn't with you then...it probably wasn't a shapeshifter that Belym buried. We...we should probably get out of here before any more demons or elves or demon elves show up.

I look to Roshan. You got your demon mom ok, or do you need help carrying her?

Ron follows Belym once Conwall and Roshan have sorted out the logistics of carrying their wards.

Is Remorse visible on any of you?

DD(STR): 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 4) + 3 = 8
Without her reservoir of strength, Roshan stumbles toward the door. Dunno if there was a roll needed. What's the haps?

Last I checked, Belym had The spear... it would be very visibe

also, no need for that roll, Roshan. you have help, and neither of them is over 60 Kilos.

The four (well, 7) of you return across the portal. you don't know how long the portal will remain stable.

You're alive... He wasn't lying Jeira says, as you cross over, staring at belym

what do you do?

We just returned from a demon dimension. Our friend is secretly a demon. Our dead friend suddenly was alive and our maybe alive friend definitely was dead. My people were possibly descended from demons.

There was only one thing to do.

Stand back. I’m going to wreck something dangerous with my magic sword.

Bend bars, rend the fabric of the universe: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 4) + 1 = 11

I slash across the demonic, admittedly unstable portal with a sword designed to totally screw with demon things.
Fast, nothing I care about breaks, reasonably quiet but it will never be a portal again
Obviouslly this is only if “hitting portal with sword” is something that triggers BB/LG. Feel free to tell me to pound sand.

Roshan eases Cassandra into a seated position, and lets Sarah drop face-first into the wall. On this side of the portal, and run dry of Wrath, Roshan is still in her impish form. "In personal experience, these gates don't tend to close-" Then Conwall whacks it with a sword. "-quietly..."

"Pound sand"? also, I'm stoked that Catastrophe can close portals.1 caveat. I've seen BBLG rewritten as "it's as repairable as you want it to be" as an option, instead of "You can fix the thing again without a lot of effort". I think that's a better one, if you agree.

Ron tries to give Roshan a reassuring smile, and then quietly removes Remorse from Belym's back, doing his best not to interrupt the reunion.

Hello.

We missed you.

We?

. . . I missed you. The other was wrong.

Ron glows softly with green light, traces of red lightning coursing over his spear arm. He falls to the ground in pain as new knowledge overwhelms him.

Where did you learn these?

From the other. I always knew.

These are dangerous. More dangerous then the others.

Yes.

He moves to guard the door, while the others sort out some family issues that he does not begin to understand. The cultist stands near him, staring at the red lightning with concern.

I like that read better. In that case I choose to break it fast, break it so nothing I like gets broken and break it so it stays broken. It’s loud though.

"Yep, still here. Long story. It's good to see you two," Belym says, giving one-armed hugs to Jera and even Therain. "So, do I need to thank you for rescuing Ron, or the other way around? "

Conwall

The portal falls with an almighty crash, as if gates of iron, hundreds of feet high had suddenly fallen to the ground, you suspect that guards or other personel will be inbound.

Belym

Well... we found hi wandering in dwarf tunnels, would have starved to death before he got out... but he warned us about a murder-cult we were about to run into, so call it a wash Jera says

You mind filling us in on what's going on here? why are you in Eolen?

Roshan drops onto the floor, her armor and weapons crashing together against the floor. "The town is plagued, the nobles have been manipulated into amassing materials to burn down the effected areas, and perhaps the whole city. Demons, elder things, elves... everyone seems to want a part in ending the first truly human-ruled settlement. Half of the noble court is dead, an the other half are cowed. This one, under the name Sarah, and the guise of an illuminator." The speech deflates her. She looks bone-weary.

Ron glances back at Roshan as she finishes.

So is it over then? With her out of the picture? He gestures towards Sarah.

I cringe at the sound of the portal shattering.

We should...probably go. We need to clear our name, after all.

"Should they be? Belym, sure, but the four of us? A cambion, an imp, a cultist, and... whatever Ron's gotten entangled with? We lost all credibility when Tom..." Roshan sighs, and lets the sentence die quietly. "I need time to... make myself presentable."

Do we have time for a rest? If not, I can just do Penance once to get 1 Wrath.

You guys definitely aren't getting a rest... unless you want to barricade yourselves into the disused section of the prison. Also, is there a reason you shouldn't be able to do penance just once?

Because my next d4 is a 4, and it puts her at 1 Wrath, 18/24hp, and everyone here is also injured, and wrathless Roshan is... different. Less of an arrow in flight.

Seeing the others' faces, Roshan jerks the knife out of her belt. "No rest for the wicked..."
Penance: 1d4 ⇒ 4

It takes a moment for Roshan's form to reassert a human appearance.

Belym

Jera whispers in your ear An elf, the most terrifying mage I have ever met, and whatever she is... what have you gotten yourself into?

"I'm not sure you'll believe me; some mornings I don't believe it myself. But Ron's good people, Conwall has saved my life more than once, and Roshan... isn't bad." she replies, quietly. " We came here on hearing of a plague; another friend, a surfacer priest, thought he could help, but he didn't survive."

"What news from Bogdoruhl? Did you make it there?"

Ron bows his head when Belym says . . . didn't survive.

Are ye expecting company Conwall? He shifts Remorse slightly and stays at the door.

Cast Invis on self: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 4) + 3 = 11

His now disembodied voice continues. I will follow yer lead.

I return Catastrophe to her sheath.

You know me, the consummate host. Still...I think a non-violent approach may be best.