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| LAST TIME ON.... |
Nomi and Anneli had to face Fingar, who had become warped by the eldritch Nameless. Fingar hid, fashioning some odd magic. Fingar got the jump on Anneli and stabbed dai in the gut; a strange eldritch poison entered Anneli's veins and dai died on the spot. Nomi knocked Fingar over and stabbed Sydanelma right through Fingar's face.Anneli found dailself on the banks of the river Styx. Standing next to dai was the Prostitute that had been haunting Anneli for so long. Anneli gave The Prostitute the coin dai had, so the Prostitute was able to move on with Charon. Anneli met Akseli, from The Undertow, who gave dai his white stone, sending Anneli back to the mortal world.Anneli noticed that Nomi didn't feel grief. There was something... wrong... to Nomi.They saw a massive teal glow from the west, in the dark. With their elven eyes they saw it was an army of glowing teal.... things. And somehow Anneli and Nomi knew, they just knew, that Thungal was at their head.
Anneli
B1. Indecision brings disaster; I will never hesitate again.
This is one of my favorite kinds of Beliefs. This Belief was written from the blood, tears, and history of the character.
B2. Akseli Belief: Anneli must learn to trust.
When Anneli was given Akseli's white stone one Belief and Instinct had be to be "Akseli Beliefs", as Akseli was now a part of Anneli. Lena and I, who had come up with the mechanic, explained how the mechanic worked to Andy, and encouraged him to get creative with it.
B3. I put Thungal on this path; I will put an end to dai.
So as of recently I haven't really had much of an inclination to challenge Belief assumptions, not right out the gate. I usually let them lie. But this one piqued my interest. How did Andy know that it was actually Anneli's fault? I had a thing or two to say about that.
I1. Akseli Instinct: Always rely on others.
Not gonna lie, I wasn't sure what to do with this one, but Andy seemed rather confident it would happen, so I decided to let it be for now.
I2. Always command the hesitant.
Man, this has been a useful Instinct! I've really enjoyed watching Andy use this to get rid of hesitation on Nomi and others. And I'm good for watching it play out another hundred sessions.
I3. Always give Nomi a space to speak.
This is one of those Instincts that just keeps on giving. Over and over, and Lena just keeps paying it out. it's beautiful to watch.
Traits: Call of the Island, Righteous, Mortally Wounded in the Head | Shaky Hands | Slightly Clumsy, Bound to Akseli, Commanding Aura, Driven (Pilot)
Nomi
B1. There will be no more loose ends in the name of misplaced mercy; this ends.
This was.... there was something about this Belief which took me aback. There was a finality in it, one that complimented Anneli's Goal Belief. Much more than half of being a Burning Wheel GM is listening to the player BITs as if it was music. I was hearing "This is the end of the arc", loud as anything.
B2. I can’t forget what Anneli did for Constantine.
Oh my gosh, another short one from Lena? Something is changing! The tone on this Belief was purposefully vague, as Lena laughingly told us.
B3. Grieving doesn’t get things done.
A third short Belief. I'm.... who is this woman??? What did she do with my friend from The Undertow, who wrote actual, literal paragraphs is writing short sentences? Well gee, I guess Burning Wheel is about growth and change.
I1. Always bend the truth for personal advantage
I should have criticized this one a bit, given what we knew was coming, but the other stuff was so good that I just didn't have the heart. It's a very Nomi Instinct, even now.
I2. Never worry about others’ personal feelings
So. Very. Nomi. I'm going to need to make sure that this one gets hit harder in the next arc, but we had other things to take care of this time.
I3. Always act towards my own goals first.
One of the things I really appreciate about Lena's characterization of Nomi is that, while dai can be quite noble, is not necessarily selfless. From heroic to selfish, Nomi has a lot of shades of grey. And this is definitely showing up in this third Instinct.
Traits: Educated, Call of the Sea, Spite, Deceptive, Compulsive Liar, Callous, Charismatic, Memory’s Influence, Bitter, Guarded
And here we go! Strap in for some infodump!
Anneli, Nomi, Alosio, and Remus saw the eerie teal glow and strange things over the water; the pulse of the Music was low, but it was there. Thungal was coming. Anneli and Nomi didn't know how they knew, but they it; Thungal was at the head of that incoming army. Anneli turned and saw Constantine’s ghostly form next to Nomi, who couldn’t see or hear him. Constantine turned to and told Anneli not to worry: that the cavalry was coming.
Telos, Marian, and Decima showed up. Telos called Nomi and Anneli members of the Council, laughing at Anneli’s confusion. "You would have wound up here, one way or another!" assured Telos. He then asked for a summary of the situation. Anneli tried to turn it around on Telos, but he deflected; there were so many world-defining events going on, he couldn't keep track of everything! That's why there was a Council; no one could do it alone. Anneli shoots it straight: Thungal was at the head of that strange army; dai had somehow changed and needed to be stopped. Nomi made a snarky remark about how Thungal had cracked from being unable to deal with.... everything.
Anneli asked for guidance on how to fight the strange things. What were they? Telos explained that these were the former cultists, changed and warped by a strange confluence of "Shadow" and Rayona, the Dark Ocean. They all emitted The Music, just by existing. And that meant that what should have been a cut and dry combat was more complicated. Telos and Marian, as powerful as they were, immortal though they were, were still human; humans could not survive against The Music, no matter how long they lived normally. But everyone has gifts; Decima reluctantly revealed her ability to counter the Nameless because she had been given a white stone from a dead star, which let the star counter Nameless through Decima. It hurt and was not natural, but Decima could do it.
Telos offered to show Anneli and Nomi why Thungal was actually here. Anneli and Nomi were a bit confused; why wouldn't Thungal be there for them? Telos led them to the center of the island, where Anneli had been before, where the mysterious voice had welcomed dai, back in session three... but went deeper, farther than Anneli had gone. There they found a fountain, like the one they saw in the monastery. Dal, the elf who had built the cult city, had built this fountain as well. This is why the island needed protecting, and what kept the monks from going insane in isolation. The water in the fountain came from the center of the earth and flowed through the Flame. Drinking it changed a person, somehow. Anneli and Nomi had both drunk before, but hadn't noticed a change. Thungal had also drank from it, but because of her unworthiness, it had turned her into the awful form she was in now. Thungal was coming for more of the water, as it would warp her further.
Telos instructed Nomi and Anneli to drink again to help in the fight to come. Anneli and Nomi needed to take care of Thungal while the three humans were going to deal with the rest of the creatures. The important thing was to prevent any of them from reaching the fountain
So yeah, this was just a bunch of dialogue and exposition. I'd wanted to nuance Thungal's and Fingar's fall, to add a layer that possibly there was something to to them that made them not the heroes. Burning Wheel is about the long-term, it's the long con. You can afford to set up plot threads and let them linger a bit. So obviously this is something I want to follow up on in the oncoming sessions.
The Music got louder and louder as the evil army approached. Nomi hesitated for a split second, remembering the last time dai heard The Music: seeing Constantine dying. Anneli saw Constantine's ghost, standing behind Nomi with his hand on Nomi’s shoulder. Constantine gave Anneli words to sing to Nomi. Anneli sang an epic/lay, weaving in the words from Constantine about renewal and hope. For a second Nomi could feel Constantine's hand and snapped back to the present. They faced the oncoming Thungal with resolve.
Yeah, I had Andy and Lena make Steel tests. And Lena bombed that test. And all of a sudden Andy's Instinct about using Command was super relevant! And Andy just wrecked shop with Command, getting Nomi back on dai feet. So I tried poking at Lena's Belief about Anneli failing/helping(???) Constantine, allowing the two of them to team up. And it was just... it was a beautiful scene. This may have been the actual climax of the arc. I think we were building to reconciling these two sisters: recovering from betrayal, death, and failure, to heal and become more than they were before. It's a quiet moment, but those are frequently the best in a story.
Thungal was unrecognizable. Standing at over seven tall, skeletally thin, with only a skull remaining for her face, teal fire flashing out from where eyes and mouth should have been. But somehow, someway, Anneli and Nomi recognized her. With a voice like a deep rusty hinge, Thungal begins to monologue: Anneli is the true traitor, preferring dail awful sister to Thungal, who had been with Anneli and hadn't betrayed dai, ever. But now Thungal was going to get hers. Nomi interrupted this monologue, lunging to stab at Thungal, Anneli jumping in to help.
Oh man it felt good to have these two sisters finally, finally, be together. There was a firmness of resolve the both of them felt, a righteous anger that was shared.
Thungal's already long fingers telescoped out, thin and razor-like, forcing Nomi back. Anneli tried to help flank and distract from Nomi, spear in hand, but Thungal maneuvered herself in the surf to keep herself abreast of the sisters. Nomi and Anneli lunged in, keeping up their guards and blocking the incoming razor fingers. Nomi swung at Thungal's head, but a black viscous fluid reached out and blocked the blow from Sydanelma. Thungal lunged forward, telescopic fingers bouncing off of Nomi's armor again. Anneli and Nomi smacked Thungal with the butts of their weapons, finally getting inside Thungal's guard.
Time stopped for all three in the surf, just a for a moment.
And then they all lunged
Sydanelma found Thungal's throat, cutting her head off in a rainbow flurry of stabs. Thungal fell in the surf.
So did Anneli, a deep wound in dail head.
So this is what we scripted:
So this is what we scripted, my actions first:
V1, A1) Counterstrike vs Counterstrike
V1, A2) Avoid vs Beat
V1, A3) Strike vs -
V2, A1) Strike vs Strike
Heh, Andy argued quite quite passionately that I wouldn't be coming out as offensive as I did, because he thought I wouldn't be so offensive in the face of so many people. He didn't anticipate Thungal having the armor she did, allowing her to shrug off some hits from Sydanelma.
What I didn't anticipate was rolling so many freaking 1's on the armor checks! I gave Thungal 3D armor... .and it was almost entirely blown out within the first strike. So when she got hit again I only had 1D..... and it failed. Freaking armor!
Oh, right, Andy spent a Persona point. Anneli is gonna make it.
Nomi began pulling Anneli to the beach, yelling out for Marian to do something. Marian, Telos, and Decima helped pull Anneli to the shore. Marian assured Nomi they’d take care of Anneli. Nomi watched them working on dail sister with a very strange feeling. Nomi knew dai should be feeling grief, should be overcome with worry. But dai wasn't. All Nomi could think of was what to do next. With Constantine, the hurt and anger and vengeance was too strong and became the focus.
This was different.
The tears wouldn’t come and the absence of grief was felt as unexpressed pain.
Decima approached and gently told Nomi dai may not want to watch. Nomi shrugged that off, but Decima pointed out that dai wouldn’t be able to feel it properly, to grieve. Nomi shook dail head.
"What I feel or not doesn’t matter. It’s my sister. And I’m going to be here."
And so Nomi sat beside dail sister. Aloisio and Remus gathered round their fallen captain, and the surf continued to pound, on and on.
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