After School Revival

Mörk Borg - Session 3

Use the tags to find my other play reports.

I realised that the hex map I posted in the first report isn’t numbered. Here’s the full numbered map I’m using.

HexMap-ValleyOfTheUnfortunateUndead

Prep for this session was minimal. I’ve adopted some ideas from the Mothership Wardens’ Operation Manual about how to track faction goals, adding pages for King Fathmu IX, the Cult Of The Forsaken, Eldar and Qilnach, and Techiya the devil to my campaign notebook and giving them all goals with varying numbers of checkboxes next to them based on their difficulty. Each in-game week I’ll roll 1d100 to see how these goals progress.

For this session I didn’t roll anything for the Cult of the Forsaken, since the party only met them last session and we’re starting play with that encounter still ongoing. I rolled for Fathmu IX and Techiya’s goals, and to see how much progress Eldar and Qilnach have made in their journey towards Galgenbeck.

In the notebook I’m tracking these with squares that either get filled in when they make progress or crossed out when there’s a setback. For the purposes of these play reports I’ll indicate unfilled boxes with a _, filled boxes with a C, and setbacks with an X. Their goals look like this:

Techiya, Devil

Eldar and Qilnach

Fathmu XI

It’s not important that I know exactly what impact most of these goals have on the fiction, just that I’m aware of them. The only one I’m keeping an active log of is Fathmu’s second goal, which is going to impact encounters and hex fills nearer to Schleswig as his forces tax and raid more of the countryside. Right now, though, the party are nowhere near that area, and so it doesn’t really impact anything in the game.

Hex fills used this session:

Play time: 2 hours.

With the remaining two cultists fleeing into the trees and the sound of a large force heading down the road from the nearby village, the party decided to break south into the forest and try to reach Schleswig in the next few days. Brint made an attempt to heal Westward’s broken arm using a scroll but failed. The scroll wasn’t damaged, but Brint suffered ill effects and the next hour of travel was marred with dizziness and mild hallucinations.

Westward attempted to navigate for the group. A failed navigation roll (just a DR12 Presence test) meant a secret check to see if they veered off course and became lost, but fate was on their side and they managed to keep a southerly route.

I use a very basic procedure to check for veer, rolling a d10 and mapping it onto the three sides of the hex in the direction of travel. 1-4 means veering to the left (so in this case, exiting through the south east side), 5-6 continues straight, and 7-10 veers to the right (south west, here).

The afternoon passed without incident, with no sounds of pursuit from the forest behind, and as night fell the group emerged from the edge of the forest into the foothills of a sprawling mountain range. They decided to press on uphill a little, finding a spot where they could watch the edge of the forest for signs of pursuit and making a dark camp with no fire.

Watches passed without incident and the morning brought no Miseries. My weather roll gave a result of 6: Dead quiet, and the group decided that this was good hunting weather. As Westward continued to navigate south into the mountains (passing the navigation test), Brint led the hunt.

Here I called for a Presence test from Brint to see how successful the hunt was, and he failed it. The group had been excited to use the ‘Eat. Prey. Kill.’ hunting rules from Feretory and were disappointed by this failed roll. My encounter roll came up positive, though, so rather than using my normal encounter table I instead rolled on the creature list for this area in ‘Eat. Prey. Kill.’ and treated them as a normal encounter.

As the group wound their way up a steep ravine they heard the sound of hooves ahead and, rounding a corner, saw a group of three fleshless, boney horse-like creatures grazing on bracken and moss. Brint drew his bow and started to sneak up the ravine, trying to get high on the wall and duck behind rocks to remain out of sight. A failed Agility test meant that he sent a small avalanche of gravel tumbling down the slope, alerting the Bonemares to his presence. The mares immediately began to charge the group.

The Bonemare’s Special ability is that, on its first go in combat, it uses a random Unclean Scroll’s power. As well as rolling for reactions (Hostile Reaction) I rolled a random power for each mare ahead of the encounter moving into combat. Since ‘Hostile’ is distinct from ‘Immediate attack’, and since I’m treating these as wild animals, I gave a 50/50 chance that they’d either break and flee or else charge the group. The dice told me that they’d charge, but I made the call that they wouldn’t stick around and fight - they’d simply try to charge through and flee down the ravine.

The group won initiative, and Brint unleashed an arrow that made contact with one of the Bonemares but skittered off the exposed bones, not seeming to do as much damage as expected. (Brint rolled a 4 for damage, but the Bonemares have -d4 reduction and I rolled a 3. This seemed the most obvious way of narrating that.) While Ator climbed a nearby tree to stay out of the fight Svind unleashed his sling and Westward charged forward to try and backhand one of the mares with his broken arm, which has the severed arm of one of the hanging cultists from the forest strapped to it like a splint. All of these attacks missed.

I’ve ruled that while Westward’s arm is broken, all of his attempts to do things with it will be at DR+4 (so DR16 as standard). This did not help him out in this situation.

Initiative switching to the horses, they unleashed their random powers. Svind was immediately rendered unconscious (Eyelid Blinds the Mind), but Westward managed to shrug off the effects of two powers simultaneously trying to push him backwards along the path (Te-le-kin-esis) and choking him (Daemon of Capillaries).

Here I gave each player a value from 1-4 and rolled 3d4 publicly to choose targets. Mörk Borg doesn’t call for the GM to roll very often and I tend to make my encounter rolls, reaction rolls, etc. privately, but when I’m picking targets for random effects I like to roll in the open so that players know I’m not unfairly picking on anybody. Westward passed his first test, then used an Omen to reroll the second one that he initially failed.

As the mares closed ranks they attacked, one trying to bite Westward and another simply charging down Brint. With the Bonemares in their midst, Westward brandished his warhammer and attempted to strike the mare that had just bitten him but was unable to make contact as it barreled past him.

Here Westward’s player chose to use one of his Omens to reduce the test of this attack by 4, bringing it to DR12 and missing. Ator’s player then questioned whether a warhammer uses one or two hands. Most of us agreed that, traditionally, it’s a two-handed weapon, but Mörk Borg doesn’t particularly care about this and the illustration of the weapon in the book makes it appear much smaller than we’re used to in other fantasy games. We decided that it is a one-handed weapon, and since we’d already ruled that Westward has broken his off hand I agreed that the warhammer can be used one-handed. Since that would have made the DR for this attack 12 rather than 16 we agreed that there had been no need for Westward to spend the Omen and he got it back, but he was happy to stand by the result of the original roll - which was still a miss.

Up in the tree, Ator began to concoct a plan to throw down a length of chain, wrap it around Svind’s prone body, and drag him up to safety. He quickly realised that not only would this be very difficult to achieve but that a chain long enough to reach from the top of a tree to a body several feet away on the floor would be very heavy, and would be likely to do serious damage to his friend on impact. Instead he applied some poison to his arrow and unleashed a shot at the charging Bonemares, which missed.

The charging Bonemares lashed out again at those around them, kicking Brint who would have dropped to 0hp without the use of an Omen, and attempting to bite Westward but being foiled by his use of an Omen to reroll his defence. Svind, asleep on the ground, took some damage from being trampled but was mercifully not killed. Having now broken through the party the mares continued their charge down the mountain, and the group chose not to pursue them.

As the dust settled the group decided to press on up the mountain, guessing that they should be approaching the end of the range at this point and being a little dismayed to find that there was still lots more mountain ahead of them.

If I were running this in person I’d ask the group to map, and when I’ve played hex-based campaigns on VTTs the GM has often revealed the map to us a few hexes at a time. In this instance, because the group started out with a map of the area and because none of them are used to this mode of play, I’ve given them access to the full map but am leaving it up to them to figure out which hex they’re in. So far they’ve been used to covering two hexes per day, but their pace has slowed as they climb these mountains and they hadn’t accounted for that in trying to figure out where they are.

With Westward navigating again they continued south, and Brint once again went on the lookout for something to hunt to replenish their rations. Successful navigation and hunting rolls meant that they were able to proceed along their chosen course, and Brint harvested a clutch of fat grubs clinging to some rocks that he thought looked edible.

As night fell the group began looking for a cave to camp in, somewhere sheltered from the massing storm on the horizon where they might also be able to light a fire. Westward had rolled very well on his navigation check (a natural 20 on the dice), so I provided a clean, empty cave for them to spend the night in. They decided to set up Westward’s bear trap at the entrance of the cave, assigned watches, and turned in for the night.

As Westward kept watch he became aware of the sounds of shuffling feet somewhere outside the cave, and as they grew closer he also began to hear low, rhythmic chanting that he identified as being religious. With no night vision due to his proximity to the fire he spent a Power to remove one of his many eyes and tossed it out onto the road, calling out “Keep it down!” and waking the rest of the party. His eye tumbled onto the path behind the group, who ignored his calls, and he was able to catch a glimpse of flapping green robes and sandalled feet disappearing into the night. Telling the group that he had seen some weird green ghosts in the night, the party chose to go back to bed. The rest of the night passed without incident.

At night I’ve been using the ‘Nightly campsite events’ table from Feretory rather than my normal encounter table, just for some variety (at least until I get bored of it). The result here was “A band of blind albino cultists pass by, quietly chanting eerie hymns to their alligator goddess”. My initial reaction roll was ‘Indifferent’, so I had them give the fire a wide berth. Once Westward drew attention to the group I made a second reaction roll, producing the same result.

In the morning I rolled for Miseries and came up blank, and I made the decision that this seemed like a good time to use the “Getting better” rules. The party had had a mostly successful dungeon delve in session 1, survived a potentially deadly encounter in session 2, and successfully evaded their captors in this session, and it felt like time to give them a reward of some kind. Brint’s player - who isn’t using any of the optional classes - asked if he could use the ‘Unheroic Feats’ from Heretic, and we agreed that when we do ‘Getting Better’ he can choose to either roll for ability score improvements or roll for a random feat (or make the case for why he should gain a specific feat if it fits with the established fiction of the game and the things he’s been doing).

This is the first time I’ve used the advancement rules and I think the players were happy to gain some more hit points. I’ll be interested to see if their approach to violent situations changes now that they feel a little more resilient, since so far they’ve been pretty good about not defaulting to violence the second they meet NPCs.

Morning broke, bringing no Miseries and roaring thunder from clouds amassing to the south. They decided to press south , hoping to get down out of the mountains before the storm hit. Westward navigated again and as they travelled south they saw a monastery perching on the mountainside above them, with uneven stairs carved into the stone leading up to it. A rope handrail along the stairs fluttered with green flags.

I decided to combine the scant details from my hex fill (“Monastery. Monks try to prevent Miseries”) with the alligator cultists of the night before. As the party debated what they wanted to do I jotted down some quick notes about this alligator cult. I invented names for their god, the leader/head priest, and the guard who would answer the gate should the party knock on it, and I came up with some details about their customs and attire.

Deciding that this must be where the “green ghosts” from the night before lived, the group decided to try the same trick that they had used on the Cult of the Forsaken and attempt to convince whoever lived here that Westward was the avatar of an almost-forgotten god. He decided to strip off all of his clothes, covering himself in moss and foliage and painting himself as green as possible. Then he climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.

Reaction roll for the guard: ‘Enthusiastic. Volunteers help.’

A small panel opened in the gate and the group were greeted by a very strange man. His head had been completely shaved, the white of his eyes tattooed yellow, and he had small green scales like those of a lizard stitched into either cheek, just beneath his eyes. As he spoke they saw that his tongue had been forked and tattooed black.

He greeted them and asked their business, and Westward began to read from the Book of the Hanged God. The doorman, unable to understand a word that was beng said by this naked man covered in mud and leaves, was obviously concerned for Westward’s well-being and turned to ask the group if he was okay.

The group explained that they are prophets of the Hanged God, that they have big plans to bring roads and running water to the Valley of the Unfortunate Undead, and that they were visiting today to ask if anybody in the monastery was in need of a friendly god and wanted to join the cause. The doorman explained, very patiently, that everyone here already had a perfectly good god that they had pledged their service to, and invited the group inside to bathe, eat, and join the residents for mass.

This is the second time Westward has read directly from the Book of the Hanged God. Initially I didn’t give it any special powers, since I didn’t anticipate it becoming so central to the action, but I plan to change that. The writing on the wall in the catacombs of the church caused one PC to become rapt with religious fervour and hang himself, and the page from it that had been used to create the group’s original map had glowed brighter and brighter as it approached the hanging figure in the room where the book was found, so I want this book to do something interesting. I don’t know what yet, and that will be part of my prep for next week.

Very cautiously the group accepted the offer and were led into the small courtyard of the monastery. Inside they saw more figures in green robes going about their business, all with shaved heads and all bearing different numbers of scales stitched into their cheeks. The doorman led the group into a tunnel carved in the mountainside and along several branching passages filled with more cultists, finally coming to a large archway hung with a green curtain. As a bell began to ring somewhere above them and cultists began to pass through the curtain, he beseeched the group to disarm themselves before they stepped into the chapel.

Westward and Brint agreed but the others refused to part with their weapons, and the doorman patiently explained that they wouldn’t be allowed to attend mass if they came armed. Westward and Brint handed over their weapons to their friends, who were led back out to the courtyard by a young robed figure the doorman recruited for the task. They were given bread and water and told to make themselves comfortable.

Inside the chapel, Westward and Brint sat through a very long and tedious mass in a language they couldn’t understand. A man who looked very much like he fitted the description of “head priest” - another person with tattooed eyes, and a mass of green scales stitched into his face and neck - led sermons and prayers from an altar beneath a huge statue of an seven-armed alligator with large, fist-sized emeralds for eyes. The doorman explained, in hushed tones, that the god Zushrazk was an ancient enemy of Nechrubel, who had risen from the swamps to the south west and fought to keep the light in the sky. Now her followers prayed for her return and tried to recover her lost magics to fight off the onset of Misery.

After mass the group were offered the chance to bathe. Accepting, they were led down more passages that spiralled deeper into the mountain. The temperature grew, and they soon emerged into a vast natural cave filled with steaming water. They stripped and settling into the pool, but it wasn’t long before they spied movement in the shadows and discovered that they were sharing the water with large alligators. As the beasts moved closer the party fled the waters, shouting for help from their guide who appeared quickly and seemed entirely unbothered by the presence of the reptiles in the water. He explained that the beasts were sacred, and when Westward asked if he could ride one the man laughed and told him that he was welcome to try.

Feeling like things weren’t quite right here, and deeply suspicious of the overt friendliness of these alligator monks, the party dressed and took their leave. As they were gathered at the door, ready to strike out to the south and find somewhere to camp for the night, the doorman stepped out and shut the door behind him so that he could have a private word with the group. He explained that the residents of the monastery were the descendants of people who had once lived in a great citadel to the southwest, in barren land that had once been a swamp. There, he said, they had lived side by side with the living god Zushrazk. Then Nechrubel had sent death from above. Several centuries ago the citadel was crushed under the weight of a falling star and the survivors fled into the mountains.

Zushrazk was believed killed, but many maintain that divinity cannot die and that she must still live, sealed in the ruins of the citadel in the place that came to be known as the Black Star Crater. There had been several expeditions there over the years, attempts to gain entry to the fallen citadel and recover whatever could be saved of Zushrazk, but the monks were not fighters or explorers and they were not suited to this work. The party, though, looked like they might be the types who would take on such a job. Would they be willing to venture to the crater and see what they could recover, in exchange for pay and the use of the monastery as a safe haven should they need to pass through the mountains again?

After some discussion - much revolving around whether they could eventually convert these cultists to the Hanged God and being building an army, for purposes currently unclear - the party agreed, and allowed themselves to be led back into the monastery to sleep for the night.

This final part of the encounter was driven by me deciding I wanted to give the players something to grab hold of here, should they want to. When I placed this monastery in the hex I should have spent some time figuring out who lived here and what they wanted, so that I wouldn’t have to invent this stuff on the fly. I quickly rolled on the Adventure Spark table at the back of the Mörk Borg core book and got the result “Movement in a black star’s crater”. After inventing the stuff about the citadel and the fallen star I decided to place it in hex 24, since that’s barren and the fill simply reads “Barren. Empty.”

Prep for next time will involve writing up this new faction, building out at least one level of the dungeon that the party is now heading towards, and updating some faction goals as it’s now the start of a new in-game week. I also need to think about what I want the Book Of The Hanged God to do, and how I’m going to introduce that to the game in a way that doesn’t feel unexpected or unfair.

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