Brunvoldt 20 - Hunt's End

  I've come back to Brunvoldt after a 6 month hiatus and re-read all his existing entries ... So, now to pick up the story and continue ...

Brunvoldt awoke at dawn - something had roused him, what was it? A sound ... someone crying. Getting up, Brunvoldt quickly dressed and sought out the source. It was, as he had expected, Eindride the temple's acolyte. He had found her in the kitchen sitting at the table with her head in her hands, crying with the desperation of the hopeless. Wordlessly, Brunvoldt sat next to the young woman and put his arm around her shoulders. After a moment, Eindride moved her head to rest upon Brunvoldt's shoulder and her weeping gradually subsided. Eventually she stopped and pulled away from Brunvoldt who let her go without comment.

  "Thank you Sentinel," she said simply and began to prepare the breakfast. Feeling no need for words, Brunvoldt left her to it, returned to the guestroom and put on his armour.

When he returned to the kitchen, the food was obviously ready as Knud was sat at the table eating porridge. Bidding him good morning, Brunvoldt sat opposite, recieving with thanks his own porridge from Eindride as he did so.

  "I intend to go back to where we left the trail yester-eve," began Brunvoldt to Knud, "What will you do Knud?"
  "My men and I will do a short sweep of the woods closest to the village as we wait for definite instructions from Templemount," replied Knud between mouthfuls of porridge. "This is very good Eindride," he exclaimed to the acolyte, who smiled shyly.
  "Good luck my friend," said Knud as he rose from the table and left.

Brunvoldt finished his own food and left the Temple in search of Dag. He found the tracker by the gate waiting for Brunvoldt. They went to the stables to get Scar ready.

  I've reskinned the Starforged asset 'Support Vehicle: Rover' as Scar the riding bison, but I'm concerned that it's ovepowered. The asset ability is: "Your unarmed rover provides protected planetside transport. When you Undertake an Expedition or Set a Course, add +1. When you Finish an Expedition in your rover, you may reroll one challenge die"
  My concern comes from the fact that in a 'normal' Starforged game, the PC would make most journeys in their startship not their rover, so the asset would not have that big an impact. However, as Brunvoldt has no starship, this asset potentially effects all his journeys - thus making it too useful. So I'm going to change it to the Ironsworn asset 'Companion Mammoth', still reskinned as Scar, with the 1st ability: "Lumbering: When your mammoth travels with you as you Undertake a Journey an Expedition, you may add +2 but suffer -1 momentum (decide before rolling)"

When Scar was loaded, Dag and Brunvoldt exited the village heading back westwards to where they had left the trail last night. As they crossed the fields, Knud and his men could be seen to the south-west, just reaching the treeline beyond the fields. They soon reached the point where they'd left the trail Dag had been following the day before. He easily picked it up again and they continued after the Varou who had Gunnhildr.

  Undertake an Expedition: 'Find Gunnhildr' troublesome; vigilantly +Wits +1 connection (Dag) +2 Companion Mammoth; 5 +3 +1 +2 vs. 1 & 3 => strong hit => progress now 3/10, +1 momentum from Connection, -1 mom' (Mammoth) still +7
  All this travelling together seems like a good reason for Bunvoldt to Develop Your Relationship with Dag; progress now 3/10

Threading their way through the hills, the trio made good, uneventful, progress, but frustratingly, they found no evidence of Gunnhildr.

  Undertake an Expedition: 'Find Gunnhildr' troublesome; vigilantly +Wits +1 connection (Dag) +2 Companion Mammoth; 3 +3 +1 +2 vs. 3 & 7 => strong hit => progress now 6/10, +1 momentum from Connection, -1 mom' (Mammoth) still +7

As the day waxed and the sun rose high in the sky, the hunt gave nothing to the hunters. Their quarry, the small band of Varou and their hyenas that held Gunnhildr and Tarben (the other Warden) remained at least a day ahead of them.

  Undertake an Expedition: 'Find Gunnhildr' troublesome; vigilantly +Wits +1 connection (Dag) +2 Companion Mammoth; 6 +3 +1 +2 vs. 7 & 1 => strong hit => progress now 9/10, +1 momentum from Connection, -1 mom' (Mammoth) still +7
  Finish an Expedition: 'Find Gunnhildr' troublesome; progress 9 vs. 8 & 2 => strong hit, 1 tick on Discoveries
  But what do they find?
  Ask the Oracle: Are Gunnhildr & Tarben dead? (Almost certain) 75 => Yes
  Ask the Oracle: Are the Varou present? (50/50) 61 => No

Before much more time had passed though, the hunters found the dreadful evidence that they had been seeking, but hoped not to find ... The Varou had stopped in a small copse of trees and 'disposed' of their prisoners. Once more Brunvoldt, Magnus and Dag found the evidence of a Varou meal. The scraps of clothing were all that remained of Brunvoldt's friend ...

  Finish an Expedition: 'Find Gunnhildr' troublesome; progress 9 vs. 5 & 1 & 7 => strong hit => 1 tick Discoveries legacy
  Reach a Milestone: 'I will determine the fate of Priestess Gunnhildr and her escort', dangerous, progress now 8/10
  Sharing this horrible moment with Dag allows Brunvoldt to Develop Your Relationship with Dag, mark progress per rank => troublesome, prog. now 6/10

There were not even any bones to lay Gunnhildr and Tarben to rest - the Hyenas had seen to that...

Thoroughly depressed, Brunvoldt asked Dag to determine what way the Varou had departed while he prayed that Gunnhidlr and Tarben would begin their Final Journey with the guidance and blessing of Holy Vanth ...

  Firebrand: Gather fire +Spirit; 5 +5 vs. 8 & 6 => strong hit => +3 Fire, now +5 (max)

 

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Cerberon 06 - A Dead Ship 2

  I've realised that I have been playing Hayla as a connection - +1 on rolls associated with her expertise - rather than as a sidekick - reroll action die if value is less than sidekick’s health. Oops.

The shaft finished at the deck above,where there were three doorways; one opened into a smaller room with another doorway in the opposite wall and the other two opened into larger rooms. One had a raised circular dais and the other opened onto an area with tables, chairs and a smaller shaft.

Popping her head through the doorway, Janya saw that the smaller room was some kind of medical area as it held half-a-dozen beds with blank screens above them.

  "Shall we go up again?" asked Janya. "Assuming, of course that, that shaft over there is another elevator tube,"
  "Let's have a look shall we?" asked Hayla, and the drone drifted over to the smaller shaft.

Janya again brought up the drone's visual feed and confirmed it was another elevator shaft - at least it had an exit to another deck above. As she drifted over to the other shaft, Janya noticed that the tables and chairs were all fixed to the floor - explaining why they were still here. Actually, they weren't fixed to the floor - they were completely flush with it, as if they had been 'grown' out of it somehow ... not something that she had seen before ...

  "Hey Hayla," she said. "Look at this," and she pointed at the foot of a table.
  The drone came back from the shaft and pivoted to look at the bases of the tables and chairs. "Wow," said Hayla, "It's like they've grown out of the floor. You know what else?" she continued. "Whoever crewed this ship must've been about the same size as us - the tables, chairs and beds show that."
  "You're not wrong, not wrong at all," replied Janya, "But I've never even heard of a ship constructed like this - have you?"
  "No, I've not," answered Hayla.

Janya headed for the smaller shaft, entered it and, using her jets, drifted upwards accompanied by Hayla's drone.

At the top of the shaft, Janya came out into what could only be a combat information centre. There were what seemed to be crew terminals, although all the surfaces showed only the dulled mirror finish matching every other surface inside the ship. Two chairs in opposite corners surrounded by 'consoles' and a round table in a third corner were the room's furniture. Three doors led from the room - one to the assumed 'front' and two toward the stern.

  Undertake an Expedition: "Explore the Dead Ship" 'dangerous'; +Wits; 5 +3 vs 2 | 4 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 8/10

  "Let's find the cockpit," said Janya.
  "Why not?" answered Hayla, so human and drone headed toward the front end of the ship, through the door in that direction.

Passing through the doorway, Janya entered a corridor with a doorway at the end and two doors on each side. The first door on the left seemed to be an office, and the other a surprisingly human-style bathroom. The second pair held cylinders of some kind. What their purpose was neither sister knew - nor did they particularly want to find out. The strangeness of the ship's interior had unsettled them ...

Reaching the end of the short corridor, Hayla's drone floated through the door and found what could only be the ship's cockpit. As with the rest of the ship that they had seen, there was no evidence of crew or any of the detritus that you would expect on a ship - confirmation of their, joint, unspoken conclusion that the ship had sufferered an explosive decompression.

  Finish an Expedition: "Explore the Dead Ship"; progress 8 vs 6 | 5 => strong hit => mark two ticks (Dangerous expedition) on Discoveries legacy track

  "So what we have here," began Hayla, "is a ship of design and style that neither of us have ever heard of before, never mind seen. Apparently, it had an explosive decompression, leaving no evidence of the crew or their possessions."
  "I agree," agreed Janya, starting to retrace her 'steps' back to their ship. "What do we do about it?"
  "We don't have the resources - physical or financial - to exploit it," replied Hayla.
  "Unfortunate, but nevertheless true," agreed Janya again.
  "So, I guess, we sell it? Or, rather, the location that is ..." suggested Hayla, sounding uncertain.
  "Absolutely," said Janya, "Which only leaves the question - who to?"

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