Purchase Fallen by Perplexing Ruins.

Introduction

Okay, so here’s a review of our session last night (21/09/22). There were just four of us in the end. Short story: we loved it. The mechanics were really great. We all enjoyed rolling 2d6 vs d8 for yes/no answers as we ran the game GMless. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences we’ve had playing this way.

So a little background - we spent about 1.5 years playing 5e, then moved onto the OSR (Knave, Cairn), then onto narrative, diceless storygames.

We rolled randomly for names. I was Beatrice Blackmire, Tim was Fanny Winfaire, Will was Adolphus Theodoger and Ellie was Geoffrey Henderson. We then rolled on an open-ended outcome table for our objective - our two words were “serve” and “darkness”.

We established that we were members of a cult in Hilgraab. We randomly rolled on the rumour table and found that a child had been born with the mark of a cult that existed 200 years ago. Perfect. We established that the child was the Nightsong, destined to be the Nightlord of Hilgraab. The child was born 200 years ago and placed in stasis until now, its location unknown.

Gervaise’s Antiquary

We randomly rolled on the Hilgraab location table to see where we would go first and the result was Gervaise’s Antiquary in the Old Faith Town. We set about getting information about the Nightsong from a book possibly held at the Antiquary.

Tim took command of the shopkeeper Gervaise for the scene. We found the book and Geoffrey Henderson attempted to steal it. The save failed and Gervaise brought out a musket. I rolled for sneak and successfully positioned Beatrice behind Gervaise with a knife to his throat. Ellie used Geoffrey’s incantation skill to convince Gervaise that the book did not exist - we were able to get away but we agreed that the complication would be that Gervaise would remember if we ever went back.

The Windmill

We determined that our hideout was in the windmill and we set out to return there. We rolled for an encounter along the way and found that we were being followed by six outlaws (keywords: outlaw, black clothes, and crime - not good). I took command of the outlaw leader for the scene.

Will remembered that Adolphus’ motivation was revenge and rolled to see whether he recognised the leader. He did and established that the revenge was for a debt unpaid. As we were seriously outnumbered we all fled. Myself, Ellie, and Will passed our flee saves. However, Tim decided that his character was an unreliable narrator. Fanny Winfaire had been working with the outlaws as they are a rival opposing cult.

Ellie and I rolled on the location table to determine where we fled and established that we went to our places of work. Geoffrey went to his normal office job at the Ministry of Public Work and Charity and Beatrice went to the Forge. Geoffrey gleaned from the book we had stolen from Gervaise’s Antiquary that the Nightsong had been kidnapped 200 years ago and has been held in stasis underneath the Guilded Rose Townhouse. Other babies are stored in stasis if they are kidnapped and do not bear the mark of the Nightsong. Brutal stuff.

Tim rolled to determine that the location of the rival cult’s hideout was in the public baths. He roleplayed his best Alexander Skarsgard impression with a character inspired by the Baron from Dune as the leader and tasked Fanny Winfaire with finding the book.

The Office for Public Work and Charity

Fanny arrived at Geoffrey’s office. Geoffrey was unaware that Fanny had betrayed the group and we had a fun exchange where Geoffrey comedically had every reason for not talking about the book with Fanny (they were at his regular office job after all). Failing in that attempt, Fanny visited Beatrice at her forge.

The Forge

When Fanny arrived at the forge, Beatrice had her back to the front of the shop and the master blacksmith attended to Fanny. Tim rolled to see whether the blacksmith was “in on it” and a cult member. Yes. Tim rolled again to see if the blacksmith was in his cult. Yes. Fanny gave the blacksmith a gesture and the blacksmith pulled out a musket, firing at Beatrice.

The shot hit and Beatrice sustained a wound, her rank die moving from d6 to d4. Beatrice turned, clutching her chest, and asked “why?”. She lunged with her hunting knife, missing. Fanny struck Beatrice with her whip, killing her, and says “the Nightsong will rise again, but you will not be here to see it.” (I decided to let Beatrice die here rather than survive and gain a scar.)

Outcome

We ended the session there. About 2 hours. We all really enjoyed it. I decided that I would come back next session as a constable investigating the murder of Beatrice Blackmire. We now have two cult members, a rival cult, and the attention of the local militia.

The Ballad of the Nightsong will continue next week.