Mythras: Tarnen the Wanderer Part 3

After playing through the first scene I realised Mythic GME sort of clashes a bit with the old school D&D methods of hexcrawling. The D30 Sandbox Companion provides a lot of encounters and ways to generate terrain and locations in the wilderness, but Mythic expects you to do this by asking it questions like “Does Tarnen encounter anyone on the road today?” rather than rolling a D6. I’m going to continue using the hexmap I’m generating (which I haven’t scanned for the blog yet), rolling dice to determine the biome of each hex but asking the oracle about encounters once per day.

Scene 2 | The Downs | Year 645, 1st of 7th Month | Chaos Factor: 4

Threads: Find work in Queenstead, The Beast, Investigate the dead Var follower
Characters: Family, Ally 1, Ally 2, Contact 1

Testing the Expected Scene

Expected: Tarnen arrives at Queenstead City and begins making enquiries about the dead body.

D10 roll: 9. Over chaos factor = Scene goes as expected.

Tarnen continues along the road through the plains for about 12 more miles before reaching the city. Since the economy is doomed we have to do a daily D30 roll to see if it collapses.

D30: 11 = No.

Fate question: Is there a temple of Var in Queenstead? (Very likely)

86: No.

Tarnen asks around about the nearest temple of Var but is surprised when people tell him there isn’t one to be found in the city. Thinking he might be able to find a follower of Var somewhere, he asks for the nearest temple. Let’s roll on the Mythic gods table to see what the deity is.

Imprison / Majestic / Worshipped / Mammalian

And for its name:

As / Oth

A helpful shopkeeper tells him there’s a large temple of Asoth on a grand plaza in the centre of the city. Asoth is the fallen king of the gods who, legend has it, made the world and the other gods but was then betrayed by them and overthrown. He has supposedly languished in a heavenly prison cell for thousands of years. His followers patiently await his escape and restoration to power. Asoth is usually depicted as a man with long curly brown hair dressed in fine purple and gold robes, a brilliant golden crown upon his head.

Tarnen thanks the shopkeeper and buys a honey nut treat from him for two coppers, then heads to the plaza.

End of Scene Bookkeeping

Chaos factor raised to 5.

Scene 3 | Queenstead | Year 645, 1st of 7th Month | Chaos Factor: 5

Threads: Find work in Queenstead, The Beast, Investigate the dead Var follower
Characters: Family, Ally 1, Ally 2, Contact 1

Testing the Expected Scene

Expected: Tarnen visits the temple of Asoth and asks about known Var followers.

D10 roll: 6. Over chaos factor = Scene goes as expected.

Tarnen arrives at the temple of Asoth after a long walk through the city. Along the way he stops for lunch at a market (-5 CP) and overhears a market trader and a customer talking about ogres terrorising travellers and trade caravans to the north. He makes a mental note to follow up on this once he’s helped lay the unfortunate roadside victim to rest.

Thread added: Ogres near Queenstead

Rolling on the Locations table for the temple:

Stylish

The temple looks like it was built recently, in quite an interesting modern architectural style. The interior continues this theme, appearing more like a young noble’s mansion than a place of worship.

“Welcome, brother.” says a priest, approaching him. An elderly woman, she wears a tool belt like that of a builder. Noticing Tarnen’s interest in it, she says “Oh, we all chip in with anything that needs doing here. I’m helping with a bit of renovation in one of the smaller prayer rooms. What brings you to the house of Asoth, my friend?”

Tarnen explains the mystery of the dead body on the road and asks if she knows of any followers of Var in Queenstead who he could talk to.

Fate question: Does the priestess know any? (Likely)

44: Yes.

Fate question: Will she freely give up this information? (Likely)

2: Exceptional yes!

“Actually, we have one right here in the temple.” She says. “Many of our brothers and sisters follow more than one god. My name is Volla, by the way.” Volla takes Tarnen through the building to a courtyard at the back where a (D2) male gardener is tending a bed of flowers.

“Faval!” Volla calls to the man, who turns around. “This man would like a word with you.” 

NPC descriptor: 18. Bold

Tarnen introduces himself to Faval, a burly man in a brown robe who cheerfully shakes his hand. Tarnen explains what he found on the road outside town and hands over the holy symbol.

NPC conversation tone: Warm

“Such a shame, what a terrible way to die, alone on a road like that. At least this person will be welcomed into the loving arms of Var in the world beyond.” Faval smiles sadly. Tarnen enquires about any Var followers who have gone missing recently. I’m not going to ask the oracle if he’s heard of anyone going missing since I don’t want to overcomplicate this with a no answer. Instead I’ll roll up an NPC using the D30 Sandbox Companion.

“Someone has gone missing actually. A ropemaker called Anmah Yarvan.” Faval explains that the man had been out of work for a while and was seeking work as a ropemaker in Queenstead, but had been unsuccessful so far. No one has seen him for a couple of weeks.

Fate question: Did Anmah mention that he was going somewhere before he disappeared? (50/50)

68: No.

Did he live in a house? (50/50)

4: Extreme yes. He left a spare key with Faval.

Tarnen gets Anmah’s address from Faval, who mentions he left a spare key with him.

Will Faval hand over the key? (Unlikely)

5: Extreme yes. He will accompany Tarnen as well.

“Look,” Faval says. “If you’re going to investigate this then I want to come too. Anmah was a friendly chap, a bit aloof most of the time but he was well liked around here. It sounds like he died to foul play… We owe it to him to find out what happened.”

The two men set off for Faval’s house, a modest dwelling in a poor district.

Do they find any clues in the house? (Likely)

80: No.

They spend the afternoon searching the small house, but everything seems normal. A wooden bowl and spoon and a ceramic mug are piled in a metal basin ready to be taken outside and washed at the nearby well. It looks like he had left his house for a normal day of jobhunting around the city.

“Perhaps we need to go back to the remains with someone who knows how to find tracks in the wilderness.” Tarnen suggests. “Some kind of local ranger.” Faval looks at him like he’s mad.

“This is a city, my friend. You won’t find many rangers here.” He says. Tarnen rubs his eyes. It’s getting late in the day. “Alright, let’s call it a day then. I’ll find an inn for the night and see if I can find anyone who could help us. Then we can go out in the morning, and if we can’t find anyone to help we’ll just hire a horse and cart to retrieve Anmah’s body, so at least we can lay him to rest.” Faval agrees, and recommends a nearby inn before heading home.

D30 Sandbox Generator will be used to detail the inn.

The Veteran’s Garden is an old one storey timber building in a rough part of town near Anmah Yarvan’s house. It is packed full of locals who seem to be much drunker than is normal for the early hour of the evening. There’s only one dish on the menu: beef and wine pie, which turns out to be delicious. Tarnen pays for his food and an ale plus accommodations for the night, which turns out to be a hammock in the main room (total 12 CP). Then he turns in for the night.

End of Scene Bookkeeping

Added character: Faval. Chaos factor raised to 5.