Suikhulahde: Session Seven

So this is a bit of a strange situation. There are some times when you're playing Burning Wheel and you find yourself wincing, because you know exactly what the character would do but you, the player, do not want to do the thing. I think we can say pretty safely this is Lena's current experience with Nomi. Nomi is off on a journey to break the space/time continuum... something Lena didn't think was a good idea. I mean, I don't either. But you play what's before you! I basically said we should play it out and see what happens, keeping in mind the boundaries we had set up.

Yes, that's foreshadowing to that getting a little weird. Boy this act is getting surreal.

Nomi

B1. I don’t care how weird Dream is, I’m going through it until I’m able to get to Constantine in time.

B2. I will direct Olivia’s focus to Anneli and get out as fast as possible. 

B3. My personal life is no one’s business but my own, pry at your own risk. 

I1. Always bend the truth for personal advantage

I2. When in trouble always try to talk my way out first

I3. Always disregard others’ personal feelings

Traits

Educated, Call of the Sea, Spite, Deceptive, Compulsive Liar, Callous, Charismatic, Memory’s Influence, Bitter, Guarded

Anneli

B1. Giving aid to the corrupt Aloysius was my greatest shame, but I can atone by saving Constantine.

B2. When I failed to see through Nomi's treachery, I failed Fingar and Thungl.

B3. I don't have time for my past when the world is ending.

I1. Never reveal my intentions.

I2. Always take command.

I3. Always give Nomi a space to speak.

Traits

Call of the Island, Righteous, Mortally Wounded in the Head | Shaky Hands | Slightly Clumsy, Haunted, Commanding Aura, Driven (Pilot)

Anneli and Nomi got to the strange Island from Session Three, just as before. Anneli and Nomi made excuses and headed to the woods, supposedly out to look for deer. Nomi told Anneli how Sydanelma worked (cutting a hole into Dream) and handed it over to Anneli. Anneli didn't realize that elves with Spite were different. Nomi, flustered, told Anneli that could be explained later. Open the portal! So Anneli, holding Sydanelma, focused on the deaths of Fingar and Thungal, and how dai thought dai had failed them. Anneli cut a hole into Dream (I finally gave it a proper name! Havay!)

Olivia the Thunderer, Nomi's and Anneli's legendary mother (not to mention dead), was standing on the side of Dream, glaring at her daughters. I called for Steel tests. And Andy and Lena screwed that up, royally.

An uppercut knocked Anneli on dail rear. Olivia backhanded Nomi so hard dai fell backward. Sydanelma flew out of Nomi's hand, cutting through a nearby tree. I should have handed out Superficial wounds. I really have. Damnit. Olivia told them they were crazy for what they were planning. She told them they couldn't save Constantine. Dark shadows began to appear around her.

I challenged Lena and Andy to a Duel of Wits, in Big Deal mode.

Wait, Burning Wheel Gold Revised doesn't have the Big Deal mode?

No. Nope. That's a good rule. We're keeping that.

Olivia's Statement of Intent: You cannot save Constantine. I got 16 hp (yeah, I know, that's not the term, but I can't remember it right now)

Anneli and Nomi's Statement of Intent: You will be proud of our efforts. They had 15 hp (see above)

And here's what we scripted!

Olivia:  Obfuscate | Incite | Dismiss

A&N: Rebuttal | Obfuscate | Point

Now, I'll freely admit that I'm a bastard when it comes to my plotting here. Oliva is dead; she has a full set of powers the living do not have. Olivia also does not have that many scruples, even now, as she's passed onto Seitseman (yes, Lena, I named Heaven too). So I'm throwing around a good many more dice than you'd think. 

The shadows coalesced into the people Nomi and Anneli had killed, particularly Nomi. They whispered that Constantine wasn't the only collateral damage; why not use Sydanelma to help them, too? Nomi replied to the ghosts that they were trying to honor the deaths they'd perpetrated by saving Constantine, who could help keep the Argentum Empire from falling apart further.  Anneli scoffed at the shades, telling Olivia to face her children directly. Lena rolled against me, and I won with Obfuscate. Huzzah I get an extra success on the next interaction!

Olivia wasn't impressed. Her daughters were phenomenally selfish, thinking their own cause more important than others' needs for their dead loved ones. The shades asked if their value was truly less to Anneli and Nomi. Anneli began asking what value was; Andy truly delivered a brilliant Obfuscation that beggars description. Nomi said that, maybe if Olivia had been a bit more loyal to her own family, then none of this would have happened in the first place! Olivia was a hypocrite for talking about loyalty, of all things. And this is where I got tripped up. I thought of Incite as making Anneli make the Steel test, canceling out the next action, giving me an open shot with Dismiss. Even if I didn't knock them out in one shot I'd be able to avoid the incoming blow. But Andy pointed out (logically) that if Nomi was the next actor it would be Nomi to make the Steel test. And I wasn't about to be that level of unfair.

Of course Nomi passed the test, dai has a freaking B7. Jeez

Crap.

So what was supposed to be getting a free shot became a broadside exchange. And believe me, this is where I went and was unfair. Olivia peeled back the mask of reality and showed them everything. The Dahaka, protector of the timeline ("You are in a test, barely allowed by the Dahaka, Constantine is outside those bounds"). The fact that Dream could connect to all points in time, which meant that they could use Sydanelma to save all the people they were responsible for killing. All. And they were only going to save Constantine? Everyone matters. Nomi, trying to block all that out, said that had nothing to do with saving Constantine.  I did 11 points of damage with my Dismiss. And they got 13. 13! What the heck??

They scripted a Point, of course. Anneli told the stunned Olivia that the smallest things could become the biggest, it was just a matter of perspective; Constantine was everything to Nomi, and to Anneli, and therefore needed to be saved. Yeah, Andy got that. Olivia smiled, and then said if they were going to save Constantine they couldn't force it. No manipulation. That was my major compromise: they couldn't just save Constantine, or try to force his brain from falling apart, like they'd done with Fingar. They had to accept what Constantine's decision was, period. Even if it meant letting him die. Andy and Lena agreed.

Nomi got Sydanelma. Anneli and Olivia shared a significant glance, and Anneli felt a bit more at peace with dail mother. Olivia transported them to Constantine herself. Constantine was sitting on his bed. It confused Anneli that someone so noble could love the two-faced Nomi. Constantine saw them. And he remembered. He remembered being murdered by Aloysius and the despair of his wife. And he screamed. An Eldritch Egg, which is a manifestation of despair and link to Rayona, the Dark Ocean, began to appear. Much, much, much too quickly. Constantine was having a breakdown from the two timelines converging in his head. 

They don't have much time to save him, before the Eldritch Egg completely scoops him out and can manifest fully into the world. It shouldn't be moving this quickly, but there you have it. Session Eight is looking brutal.