Session 3
His Luck Points reset to 3/3.
Expected Scene: It’s morning. The rain has passed. We hear birds chirping in the trees and sun grazes his face. His stomach groans and he knows he has to find food somehow. Maybe he can deal with two birds with one stone. The person that had entered the lodge might be a threat but they might have supplies. He’s determined to catch whomever it is and cinching his belt tighter he gets ready to leave.
Scene test against Chaos Factor 4.
But was this scene altered or interrupted?
4 = 4[d10]
Wow, another one! Okay. This time it is an interrupt scene.
Event Focus
69 = 69[d100]
Close a Thread
Rolling on the thread list I get: Find and rescue Penny Walker
This is one of his main quests... Maybe I should have just had that as Find who took Penny Walker as a thread. Then do a rescue as a different thread. In any case, I found a rule in Mythic 2nd Edition where you can give threads that deserve more time and energy “Plot Armor”. My knowledge of the new mythic system is rudimentary and I am learning things as I go.
I’m going to give this a Thread Progress track of 10 points. I’m going to also give the thread Bring House Anaconda to Justice a 15 point track. Both these threads are protected with plot armor so random events cannot simply bring them to a quick conclusion.
So the thread is protected from the Close a Thread event. The Mythic rules state, “Play out the Random Event as normal but with the extra Context that the Thread will not actually be closed. The Random Event may look like it’s going to close the Thread, but it doesn’t.”
I have no idea how this will work with our main character out in the middle of nowhere with Penny actually kidnapped and somewhere else. But let me roll on the Event Meaning table and see if it gives me any ideas I can use. I’ll try the Elements meaning table... Dunno what that means exactly but let’s see.
72 = 72[d100]
Oh, and I guess I need to choose Locations, Characters, or Objects. I’ll roll 1d3.
2 Characters
Peaceful
Strangely enough, I think I’m meeting some character here in the wild... and a peaceful character? They could be pretending to be peaceful... That’s interesting too. And whatever they’re doing or saying indicates the thread is closed. Hmmm. I don’t have a good idea who this character is.
Is it someone from House Anaconda?
(50/50 | 6[d10]) Yes,
but... +Event: Haggle / Opposition
--- interrupt scene ---
Michel gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the growing complaints that his stomach shared with him. He stood behind a blind of trees some two hundred yards from the valley floor, peering through the scope on his rifle. He had hoped to catch a glimpse of whomever had tracked mud into the lodge yesterday, but the weather had prevented that. Now with the rain passing, and a light cool breeze gusting across the mountainous valley, He felt determined to catch the interloper.
Michel heard a clicking sound behind his ear and felt the weight of cold metal against the back of his head. He tensed and was about to spring into motion when he felt the barrel dig harder against his skull.
“No sudden moves.” A man’s voice said, an older voice with the accent of one who had spent time learning. “Or I’ll send this bullet into your head!”
Michel slowly raised his hands.
Does this man know who Michel is?
(50/50 | 2[d10]) No
Is this man here a crashed survivor of the battle too?
(50/50 | 5[d10]) No,
but...
But he has the look of traipsing through the woods for a few days.
“A wise move. I want you to just listen to me.”
Michel bit down a retort and listened.
“Turn around so I can get a better look at you.”
Michel turned slowly, his hands still held up by his head. He saw an older man of perhaps forty, black hair slicked back, sleek and oily. A revolver pointed directly at Michel’s head. Gray eyes considered him thoughtfully.
“You're House Anaconda,” Michel said, anger bitter in his mouth, the man in his uniform of black and green an affront to his very eyes. He didn’t hide his bitterness, his rancor that rose on taloned wings of hate.
“Yes. And you’re House Lyons,” the older man sat matter of factly, his pistol’s tip brushing the ends of a red and gold--but now muddied and torn--epaulet on the soiled uniform that Michel still wore...his only clothing. “Not very high ranking, though. A midshipman?”
“Hardly,” Michel gave an ironic smile. “Airman Specialist.”
“Ah. Lower still. And specialty?”
“Why should I tell you?” Michel rejoined.
A pregnant pause hung in the air. Then the man continued. “I am considering whether to ask you for help.”
“You--” Michel sputtered at the admission, his words tumbling out of him like embers spilling from an open coal chute. Hot and red and full of ire. “You-- why you must be completely mad! First, our allies... our ‘Brothers in Arms’ for three decades now betray us! You make the air rain with our blood. You sow the desert hills with our broken ships and the broken bodies of my family. And you have the gall to expect
my help?” Michel gave a bitter laugh and felt the heat rise within him. “Have I got that right, or did I miss something?”
“Everything is fair in love and politics,” the older man said in a wry tone that hinted at some hidden disgust. “As the saying goes,” he finished sadly.
“Ah,
that’s what I missed,” Michel ground out between clenched teeth. “The
fairness of politics and betrayal. Just pull the trigger and save me from this idiocy!”
Instead the older man gave a small smile and lowered the gun slightly. He still held it at the ready, but no longer directly in Michel’s face. “My name is Vincent Fairmoor. I came out here on my own...I am part of House Anaconda. But I came out here on my own, at great personal risk in fact, seeking survivors of House Lyons.”
“Why? To put the final nail in our collective coffins?”
“To offer you a deal. To offer a hand for friendship against those who betrayed you--against those who betrayed both their honor and dignity in the slaughter of thousands of innocents.”
Michel’s hot retort died on his lips and his face paled and silence hung between them. “What do you mean, ‘slaughtered innocents’?”
“Your house was not the only one betrayed. Others too have been brought low. Not only prisoners of war have been killed or imprisoned, but civilians too. Women and children are not immune,” Vincent’s hands began to tremble and he sank down onto a log, the gun held loosely now and not aimed at Michel at all.
“What happened?” Michel breathed.
“A massacre of mighty proportions,” Vincent said. “House Anaconda is drunk on its own power. They are calling themselves the ‘New Imperium’. Though they have no legal claim to that save through right of conquest. Nevertheless, they have striven boldly to fulfill that title. With ruthless abandon they crush anyone and everyone who stands in their way. Their spies and secret agents have kidnapped hostages--young children--from all the noble houses to ensure that all bend the knee. Some noble houses, like yours, they seek to attrite to the last man.”
“This makes no sense,” Michel said and lowered his hands. “Duke Armancourt had some shred of honor when last I checked.”
“As to House Anaconda’s true Duke... his whereabouts are currently unknown, though his son, the Viscount Kroll, now commands House Anaconda in both name and in truth, both her considerable wealth and her large navy. He has some audacious claims: that his father has been assassinated by one of the other houses. Not only that--but that Kroll’s own children have been assassinated. He blames House Lyons for that, if you must know. That is the stated reason for his betrayal at the battle where you fell.”
“A lie, surely.” Michel said automatically, the revulsion of someone, anyone from any of the houses assassinating children thick in his voice. Yet he could not still the replay that haunted his memory. A young girl shot with his own rifle, falling like a rag doll to the earth, red pooling about her in the street. He could still smell the gunpowder, even now, could feel the kick of the rifle against his shoulder.
“Is it? A knife in the dark or a poison in a drink have been known to resolve many impediments that war could not solve without the effusion of much blood. It is no secret that all the houses employ such methods.”
Michel wet his lips and looked away and his hand clenched into a white fist. He thought of his own father and a growl burned its way through his clenched teeth. “Kroll is lying. He’s always been a conniving bastard!”
“I agree with you on that score,” Vincent said. “Either way, he must be stopped; he is a power hungry madman and will bring us all to the brink of ruin.”
“And the remaining houses are so powerless?”
“Some are resisting, but many cannot do so openly. I believe it’s only a matter of time before the majority of them, the more powerful houses, in order to save their hostage family members, will slowly fall in line behind him.”
“Have there not been rescue attempts? Surely--”
A sad sigh escaped Vincent’s mouth and he held up his hand wearily to forestall Michel. “There have been, and women and children have been slain, even those of your own house.”
Michel suddenly thought of Penny Walker, the woman who had saved his life. She hadn’t been part of House Lyons, but had been caught up in the battle. He remembered her getting pulled away kicking and screaming and a sudden thought hit him.
“How did you find me here?” Michel said. But he knew the answer.
Vincent looked down at his hands.
“The day my ship went down. You were with them weren’t you. You shot at us. Tried to kill us!”
Did Vincent shoot at the survivors?
(Somewhat Unlikely | 10[d10]) Yes, and... +Event: Carry / Outside
“I was on one of the ships that pursued you,” Vincent said in a small voice. “I--I’m not proud of it. But yes,” misery thickened his voice. “I helped fire the guns. Anyone who refused was tossed overboard and shot. I had too!”
Michel suddenly backhanded Vincent and the man made no move to defend himself, he fell backwards onto the turf, the pistol falling away from his hands. He looked up at Michel, blood oozing from his nose and a cracked lip, shame and misery on his face.
“You killed defenseless survivors! Did you also come back later and steal Penny away? Did you ?” Michel couldn’t stomach seeing the man in front of him, anymore, and he suddenly lunged to pick up the man’s fallen pistol.
Does Vincent try to grab it first?
(Somewhat Unlikely | 5[d10]) No
Vincent didn’t move and Michel picked up the pistol in his own hands that trembled with rage. “Did you!” he shouted into the man’s face.
(Unlikely | 4[d10]) No
Vincent shook his head wearily. “No.” he mouthed with a small shake of his head.
“Tell me what you know!”
Vincent nodded slowly and continued in a louder voice. “I didn’t come back for the search mission. I had other orders. But I knew search parties were being organized to hunt for you and any other survivors. I only saw you both that first day when you both fled into the woods. But I did see her, this Penny, brought back in manacles. She spent some time in the prison camps. And...and I saw her and others rounded up a week later and...shot,” it came out in a rush of words. “Chainguns mowed them all down, and the bodies were left to rot. I’m sorry.”
Michel wanted to pull the trigger but through force of will, he resisted. He needed Vincent alive.
“Why would even Kroll stoop to this? Women and children?” Michel felt sick all over again and his hatred bled out of him again and he sank down next to Vincent, sitting in the dirt.
“To make a statement,” Vincent said. “To let the other houses know he means business about the hostages.”
“He must be stopped,” Michel said in a dangerous whisper.
Vincent gave a sad nod and wiped the blood from his nose and lip.
One last question I’d like to know.
“So that was you who was prowling about the hunting lodge yesterday?” Michel asked Vincent.
(Very Likely | 4[d10]) No, but...
Interesting...
“No... why?” Vincent said.
Michel explained about the muddy tracks he’d seen.
“It wasn’t me,” Vincent reaffirmed. “But I did see someone moving through the hills yesterday, a woman.”
For a moment Michel’s heart spiked in hope that it might be Penny, but then he remembered Vincent’s tale.
“I assume you didn’t come all this way by foot?”
(Very Unlikely | 1[d10]) No,
and...
Vincent shook his head and gave a wan smile. “I brought my own airship,
Mosquito’s Beak. She’s nothing fancy, just a small courier ship. Small enough that I didn’t have to park her in a large clearing and she has a few modifications I’ve made myself. She’s hidden a good three-day hike to the north of here.”
“You couldn't have parked closer?”
“Anaconda patrols still sometimes run over this swath of terrain, probably still looking for you. I couldn’t risk it.”
Michel sighed. “Come on, I’ll take you to the lodge,” Michel said, helping the other man to his feet. “Sorry about the lip.” His eyes darted to the bag at Vincent’s feet. “I hope you brought some food in that bag of yours. I’m not much of a hunter.”
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes +Event: Attach / Business
“Yes,” Vincent said with a small smile, gathering up the bag. “Is my courier bag--mail you know. Of course, I left the correspondence back with
Mosquito’s Beak. Food and supplies only. All to find you.”
“Why me?” Michel asked.
“Diminishing options for one and second, because you don’t have anything to lose,” Vincent said grimly. “And right now the world needs someone like you.”
Michel pondered that as they trod back to the hunting lodge.
---
I think this scene actually helped Michel progress in his goal of learning about what happened to Penny and finding someone who can help him. So the Chaos Factor goes down and is now 3. Of course he doesn’t know Penny is still alive (we do because you are seeing the story unfolding behind the scenes as well). Anyway, the information Michel gained about her counts as one milestone on the progress track. (Find and Rescue Penny: 1/10)
I’m adjusting the threads list:
Old “Bring House Anaconda to justice (plot armor) - 0/15 Track”
New “Bring the Viscount Kroll (of House Anaconda) to Justice (plot armor)” - 0/15
Added “Get to the Mosquito’s Beak”
Resolved “Find more food.”
I also added Vincent and Kroll to my NPC list.
Characters, Notes, Threads