The Fall of the King of Sota: Chapter Ten

 

The Ideal for Weaving

Crescendo's name for the host is the Weaver. I hate it when TTRPGs have a name different from the Game Master... and my game has a different name for it. So. The name was chosen for a good reason. The Weaver's function is to combine all the bits from his Setting with the Player's Beliefs and the results of Hitting the Books. His job is not to know what is going to happen, or to even do any starting scenario, but to know his Setting well enough to pivot on a moment's notice to what's going on. While GMs are expected to do this, it is not their primary function, unlike the Weaver: it is not a function of the the Weaver, but the primary function.

Because Crescendo takes away all session prep from the Weaver, their primary job is to build a world that they understand, and then take the punches as they come, weaving together all the seemingly disparate threads with the world they built.

Chapter Ten was a pretty darn good example of it.

August 28th Through September 5th

Unfortuntaely, Arriquard's player had to step out, due to a ton of scheduling conflicts. So we had to write him out. It was a sad day, but this is a long-running game, and it happens.

On August 28th, the werecrocodiles launch a short sortie against Newport, but are rebuffed, and Lord Arriquard sacrifices his life in the effort. King Lucian himself fought like a demon, earning the admiration of all.

August 29th

Lady Marie connects with the other heads of Newport, especially Lord Phillippe, and they begin to rebuild the city, on *their* dime. This doesn't go unnoticed. Or unappreciated.

From 28th-31st

Seren and Silvy venture out into the woods with the newly-consecrated exorcism cauldron, and spend the day exorcising the strange fire spirit from there. It flees south, away from the Serpent Forest... where it suddenly *vanishes.*

September 1st

The new year! Celebrations all around!

September 2nd-5

Lady Marie takes over the standing army that Lord Arriquard had built, making them the security forces of *all* the rice farmers, specifically. It was not accomplished without a fight: Silvy the elf, known for her deeds of heroism, tried to take over as well. In the end, however, Lady Marie won out.

By the end of September 5th it's clear that something disastrous is developing in the farms surrounding Newport: wives are accused of going into the city to cheat on husbands, en masse. Rumors abound about everyone, and morale in the farms is becoming disastrously low. If this isn't dealt with, you will all lose your food supply due to violence.

On September 5th, the monstrous Abbadon, along with his fell beast, parks outside the city walls of Newport. And sits. He's impossible to miss. He does not threaten everyone. He just sits.

September 6th Through 10th

Lady Marie provides support for stopping the forest fire. She takes over the Civilian Army, formerly led by Lord Arriquard, to help get the fire put out and supply the volunteers who are helping. Food is secured and spread.

Seren finds Bishop Tatius, and encourages him to go through the city, spreading encouragement and hope.

Unrest continues in the farms around Newport, which Seren begins to investigate. Abbadon has continued to sit outside the city walls. He doesn't threaten anyone, nor does he really comment upon anything. He just sits.

September 8th was the Feast of the Mothers, when all the mothers of the Outsider, and the mothers of all the heroes, saw the future, and knew what their children would become. Children are handed charcoal, and allowed to go into the churches and scribble on the walls. The priests use these scribbles for fortune-telling purposes throughout the year.

Chapter Ten: September 11th Through 12th

The Fallout

Unfortunately, Kuri was pretty upset with how the chapter went down. I offered to talk, and we figured out what happened. I was given explicit permission by her to write it down here.

I accidentally had blocked one of Kuri's turns. Kuri was set to Defy, dice literally rattling around in hand, and I accidentally skipped her, when I shouldn't have. Kuri, being a polite human being, tried to sit back and wait for a gap... but she was contending with Golden and I, who are both very extroverted and have a habit to get on a roll. Now, I know this about myself, and have spent most of my life working myself from it. But, occasionally, I'll slip up.

And that's exactly what I did here.

I told Kuri that anyone has explicit permission to just say "Nathan, shut the fuck up," and I will immediately do so, and assume that I missed a social cue. I apologized to her, and gave her an extra kicker, as she didn't get anything of what she wanted from the chapter. We didn't break anything that happened in this chapter, and it flowed naturally from the fiction that had played out.

I was gonna write what it was.

But you know what? No. Let the players be surprised by what Kuri's got now. I owe her.

This kind of thing happens, unfortunately, but it's a normal part of a healthy social game: cues are missed and things have to get addressed.