Stonetop, session something
My in-person Stonetop group that was formed over the summer is still going strong. We play with most of our roster on the weeks we schedule and every session has been exciting, a marriage of lore elements and GM creativity. We changed GMs a few sessions ago (I stepped down and a player took over) which has admittedly been tricky, mainly in terms of communicating and learning content guidelines after a change of hands. Everything has been handled maturely in terms of backtracking and updating the established fiction to feel comfortable and appropriate for the group which, in my opinion, contributed to an awesome session. Speaking of...
We opened on a fight that was happening at the end of our previous session. My character, a Would-be-Hero who is legally distinct from Anakin Skywalker, was tangling with an abnormally lethal monster outside of a transient Fae market. We ended that session on a very bad roll with horrible consequences. Most of the party was near death or in a dangerous position. However, last session our Judge was missing, so on returning they got to show up in the nick of time (fictionally speaking) and bash the monster (a Zrajedak, Fae hunting killing machines) before my WBH could actually be seriously messed up.
I mentioned that my GM likes going to dark places, but he's equally as enthusiastic about being a fan of the player characters when the dice allow. After our Judge rolled high to Cleave Monster in Twain, we saw it dissolve into a mote of light, cleansed by holy Judgment. The Fae market happening nearby exploded into cheers, hailing us as their saviors. They textually love us right now, convenient because we need good neighbors. A flock of tiny Fae swarmed my WBH and I used a Haggle conditional move to see if one would become my follower. This was a success, and I am now attended by a chitinous, Spiderwick-esque Wee Folk named Pea's-Blossom.
And, yes, it's a Fae market, so there was shopping. Technically Treasure Hunting per the move title. They were happy with us, but Fae business is Fae business. Every successful barter came with a cost, usually a favor or boon offered that would inconvenience us or wasn't ours to give. I got some indestructible ribbon that would unwind forever, inspired by the rope that bound Fenrir. Our Judge acquired instructions on how to make a seedling pot that would be perpetually replenished, furthering our meta goal towards growing the best cannabis in World's End. We also acquired information about where our former Marshal, the current GM's PC, ended up. Most importantly, someone got us a collection of frogs who will croak when danger is near, but they also just croak sometimes.
We also tied the bow on a short quest given to us by a Stonetop NPC. This has been cute, I made up a Fae cat villager on a whim who lives in Stonetop and torments some people but pretends to be a mundane cat at other times. Her name is Ravaquirelle, and she asked our Fox to fetch a special parcel from the Fae market and deliver it to her unopened. We did this but we also opened the package. The cat didn't punish us too badly, but we realized that the package held the sling used by Cadfael, Stonetop's previous Marshal. There was nothing really scary or dangerous left in the parcel after all, just a sentimental object--Cadfael is maybe dead, buried at the foot of the Golden Oak in hopes that he'll come back to us.
That last note is integral to how this session ultimately took shape. I wrote a monster called the Oak-Ward a few sessions back, which stole the memories of most of our players after they asked it to teleport them across the country. For many sessions, we've been asking our GM what happened to Cadfael. Every piece fell in place, a secret the GM has been building for who knows how long: We don't know what happened to Cadfael because after we buried him at the foot of the Oak, the Oak-Ward wiped our memories once again. I really loved this callback and use of my contributions to the campaign. This felt very special and only possible because we've adopted a communal GMing approach. Now there are in-game dramas coming to a point: the Blessed's mentor warned us not to visit the Oak the first time, and everyone who journeyed into the Wood came back wrong, not even knowing that they disregarded her message. Then our PCs went around asking what happened to Cadfael, even though most of the town knew we had already thrown the last possible Hail Mary to save his life. Will Gwendyl, the Blessed's mentor, realize that we were meddling with dangerous magic? This is a big question for me right now and something that I feel is a core theme of Stonetop as written. Who gets to take these risks when every villager is needed, depended on for the community to survive? Who decides?
We leveled up after the game and instead of furthering my Would-be-Hero playbook, I chose to take a move from the Lightbearer book called And Behold a Pale Horse. It's what it sounds like, she's going to gaze into fires at night and get horrible visions and portents which I can ask the GM how to prevent. I like this thematically--WBH has an optional Background that explicitly involves Helior, a sun god with Jesus-ish overtones, granting them visions of doom and destiny. My WBH has been really chaotic so far, putting herself in harm's way for heroics both selfish and selfless. I'm curious about exploring her life after Helior starts to give her warnings and omens. Will anyone listen? I also like the idea that she's affected directly by a God, but not really in a significant way (yet). You get little prophecies, but it's a ray of light through clouds, and other people are in full sun. I'm excited. She's a Stonetop local, just a kid in most people's eyes, another one with parents who left to earn a fortune in Gordin's Delve.
The direction of this campaign has taken a shape that is fascinating me. We have several lore elements unique to our campaign that are evolving slowly. I think in a few months this story will be something very special.