AP (TB) - Ruins of Aldornia - Session 01

A month ago, I was invited to play Torchbearer on Google Hangouts, and since the Sunday, Dungeon World game I was playing in sadly fizzled out, I welcomed the opportunity to finally give Torchbearer a try. Needless to say, I really fell in love with this game. The fact that I'd played other games with the player who invited me, as well as the GM, certainly helped, and the player who I hadn't met before turned out to be really awesome. They had all played TB together before, and even though I was a noob coming into this without any prior Mouse Guard or Burning Wheel experience, they've really helped me ease into this game with little to no hiccups.

As of yesterday, we're now four sessions in. I tried to get the first AP up weeks ago, but time hasn't been on my side and other priorities got in the way. Better late than never, I always say, so here we go. Note, some details, like the conflict toward the end, are a bit fuzzy, since this took place four Sundays ago and I'm going strictly off memory (with a bit of help from the GM and other players, of course). Since it's from my Dwarf's point of view anyway, I'll just blame it on the wine.

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The Adventurers

1) Sig of Varik, Human Barbarian (played by +brian meredith) 

Hails from the tribal village of Varik. Proper bio to be added soon.

2) Sobel Barefoot, Human Monk (played by +Chris Gardiner)

Sobel grew up in the Crooked Tower, an apprentice of the wizard Malvolio. She fled after seeing him conjure and interrogate the spirits of the air, with their six-fingered hands and serpent-tongues. She joined the mendicant order of Saint Colbin, studying in the library and trying to forget the gleeful voices of the wizard's spirits.

In time, Malvolio disappeared, and the secrets of his tower passed to his other apprentice, Luciens. But Luciens could not unravel Malvolio's sorceries to access his sanctum and library. He came to believe that Sobel had taken the key to their master's wards when she fled. He sought her on the road with her mentor, Benbaras the Cartographer. Benbaras protected her, and died. Sobel fled.

The other PCs

She found Sig floating in the river one day and healed him, though he was one of the barbarian tribes. She think's he's the emissary of her god, send to help her. She healed him. Vonar found them while Sig was recovering and drove off an owlbear that would have mauled them.

Her god is the Mountain Lord: a grinning, antlered god who dwells in the heart of the Last Mountain. He dug fire from the earth and brought it to man. His throne sits before the door to death, and he judges the dead as they pass through, with a tablet of law and a sceptre of bone.

- Written by +Chris Gardiner. 

3) Vonar Bouk Strongmaul, Dwarf Adventurer (played by myself)

Vonar is from the Dwarven Hills near the other side the Last Mountain. He was an orphan most of his life but was a troublemaker and ran away from the orphanage at a young age. He made an lifelong enemy while he was there, Torvald Redblade, who continuously tried to exact revenge on him and vice versa.

Over five years ago, Vonar traded in the life of laborer and craftsman to pursue a more adventurous, glamorous career as a lone, intrepid, treasure hunter! Little did Vonar know at the time what that life actually entailed, and he certainly didn't know Torvald had been one step ahead of him the entire time. 

The last incident occurred fairly recently, actually. Torvald stalked Vonar into a cave and found the perfect opportunity to trap him inside by caving in the entrance. What an asshole! Luckily, Vonar found a way out back through some dark tunnels. He eventually escaped and found himself chasing after a rabbit for food, since he'd run out of wine and rations.

That's when Vonar heard Sobel and the owlbear, and he ran through the trees, toward the river, to help drive the owlbear off. 

Preface

The Ruins of Aldornia

The land of Aldornia is one that, 1000 years ago, had some of the greatest nations the world had ever known. Then, during a massive earthquake that shaked the nation (known as the apocalypse) a great many places where lost. The ruins about 5 hours away was one of them, rumoured to be the secret hall of King Jeremiah from that time. Now, 1000 years later, a tremor has shifted the earth, and the ruins, formerly trapped under a lake, might be accessible again. If the players can clear the path to it, they can get forgotten treasures beyond their wildest dreams.

- Written by +Lloyd Gyan. 

Our awesomely evil GM is +Lloyd Gyan.

Ruins of Aldornia
Source: Unknown :(

Actual Play, Session 01

ADVENTURE PHASE 1

Five hours outside the town of Merkast, we came upon the shore of a foggy lake. It was the middle of the night, and the sunken Ruins of Aldornia stared at us in ominous silence. A small, wooden rowboat sat in the murky water, begging us to get in. There was no one inside, just a couple of oars, and after careful consideration, we paddled off. Sig rowed, while Sobel and I kept watch.

We reached the opposite shore without a hitch. There were strange statues and totems piled there, which Sig and I had absolutely no clue about. Sobel seemed to know a thing or two, as her eyes grew wide with interest. She stared at those statues with the same look I always gave in the face of sumptuous treasure. 

Sobel proceeded to explain the significance of the religious statues to us and who they represented. The first was the Mountain Lord, King of the Mountain, or simply, the Mountain King.

The King of the Mountain is often perceived as a combination of stag and Man. Tribal priests commune with his spirit through the use of mushrooms found growing under the sacred trees. When a tribe member reaches the age of accounting, they are prepared by the priests and sent up the mountain to find their destiny. They are are given the spirit soup, a weapon, and sent on alone. Not all come back. 

Once their destiny is given to them in a vision by the King of the Mountain, they share it with the tribal priests and make way. They are known only by their child name until their destiny is fulfilled and they are allowed to return to the tribe, their duty fulfilled.  

The King of the Mountain is not a god of blessings. His ways are followed to prevent his wrath. Many stories are told regarding generations who failed to do so and the destruction that befell the tribe, by storms, famine, and plague. This is why an individual's destiny is so tirelessly endeavored. 

- Written by +brian meredith.

When Sobel described the second god depicted as the Dwarf god, Maull, my ruddy ears quickly perked up, and I knew, more or less, who she meant.

Maull is the Dwarven god of Crafting and the Hearth. As the legend goes, Maull's great anvil lies deep underground in the heart of the Dwarven Hills. Smiths and laborers from all over the land would bring raw materials as offerings in hopes that Maull would bless them and their craft or even forge them a tool, weapon, or armor if they were extremely lucky.  

They say Maull only crafted a single item once every one hundred thirty years, though the last one was five hundred years ago, just before the devastating earthquake that swept Aldornia. Many believe the location of Maull's anvil was one of the many places lost during the apocalypse, and a rare few question whether Maull even exists anymore. 

Nearly every Dwarf craftsman pays homage to Maull, even to this day. No one seems to recall what the last, legendary item he crafted was or where it would be. Some postulate that it might have had something to do with causing the apocalypse, but those who revere Maull vehemently refute this claim. 

- Written by me.

Looking around, we knew, from the information we were given in town, that there was a trapdoor hidden in plain sight that would take us further down into the ruins. With Sig's help, I began searching the ground, and after spending a lot of time turning over the wrong set of rocks¹, we finally found the secret entrance.

The moonlight that showered us from above didn't extend to the dark tunnels below, so Sobel lit a lantern and in we went, until we finally found a room with some sort of writing on the wall, along with bookcases and tables filled with empty flasks and half-filled potions in a variety of colors. 

The writing intrigued Sobel first and foremost, and after she deciphered some of it, we learned a bit more about King Jeremiah, who died seven hundred years ago, and Prince Nole, who's tomb was buried five hundred years ago, right after the apocalypse - the same time the ruins were submerged. No one had gone further in past the top, where we were. Worshippers who supposedly wrote the writing were now regarded as heroes, and just five months ago, another tremor shook the ruins and cleared the waterway. Needless to say, it was a fortunate event for us treasure hunters and adventurers. 

Sobel turned to the potion bottles and wanted to take the methodical route of examining them all and reading whatever labels and inscriptions they had on them, but I didn't want to waste any time and fearlessly² took a swig of the first flask of indigo colored water that caught my fancy. 

I immediately regretted my mistake, as I puked all over the floor. After cleaning up my mess, we decided to take a short break to prepare the room for camp and gather our wits.


1. Used the trait 'Born of Earth and Stone' against myself to earn a check.
2. Used the trait 'Fearless' against myself to earn a check.

CAMP PHASE 1

Sig's instinct has always been to cook food whenever we'd make camp, so that's what he did first. He also made sure to preserve the rations for later. 

Sobel tried to figure out what the rest of the potion bottles were by their inscriptions, but they were vague, and she only managed to figure out that the flask with the green liquid was most definitely a strength potion. 

I wanted as much protection as I could afford before delving deeper into the ominous ruins, so I scrapped a bunch of raw materials together and crafted myself a leather helmet.

Finally, with Sobel as our resident cartographer, she began working on mapping out our route thus far.

ADVENTURE PHASE 2

Now that we were all well rested, we set out to continue exploring the ruins and came upon a sparse tomb. There was a casket with a humanoid skeleton lying inside, a nest on the ground that must have been home to something, and a locked, metal gate leading further into another, dark tunnel.

Sig searched through the nest and turned it around a few times, until he finally found several, expensive, but ruined, tapestries. We knew they'd still fetch us something if we sold them in town, so we took them back to the room we made camp in and hid them securely.

In our attempt to revisit the tomb with the gate, we got lost and ended up in an large, flooded chamber with bridges we could cross, though we still had no choice but to wade through the water which nearly rose up to my chest. 

Ignore the lights in the distance. Also, it's pitch black and flooded.
Source: Unknown :(

I attached a rope to myself and attempted to swim across, as Sig and Sobel held onto the other end. Suddenly, I felt something scurry past my feet. I turned to alert my companions, but kept moving forward. Sobel still had the oil lantern, but I was too far out and traversing the water-filled bridge in complete darkness. Sadly, I didn't make it across, because two claws grabbed hold of my ankles and yanked me down into the black depths of the flooded pit.

Flee Conflict

Source: Unknown :(

I couldn't breathe or yell under the water. All I saw were a pair of these piranha-like humanoids coming after me, as I felt Sig and Sobel tugging on my rope, trying to pull me out of there as fast as they could. It didn't work. I tried to grip onto an edge somewhere, but it was pitch black and useless. Sig jumped in to help me, but at some point Sobel's lantern went out - or she might've dropped it, I was too busy drowning - and one of the piranha men cut the rope, leaving Sig and I trapped in the water-filled pit. I don't even remember how Sobel ended up in the water with us, but she did, and somehow we were able to get away by plunging ourselves deep down toward the bottom of the pit.

We ended up in a naturally-lit, cavern-like chamber with water running down the middle and immediately swam up to the side, where we finally got out and stepped onto dry rock. We were lost, wary of more piranha men, and our torches were all soaked, but at least we survived. 

Unfortunately, I don't have the original source for any of the images or who to give credit to, and I take absolutely no credit for any of the images I posted.