Hilander RPGs

Upon a Pale Steed, Part III

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The Cast

Escaping the Undead

Following their encounter with Melkis, the party found themselves surrounded by a growing hoard of undead. The bodies of those long dead and recently deceased rose to evil unlife, killing any found with warm blood yet in their vines.

The knights fled for the city of Grandseld in the Northwest of the Isle, a town already panicked with rumors of the doom racing toward them. Though they tried to convince the Duchess of the isle to help them, in the end the city was unprepared.

The Knights, crowding into the port along with every citizen, saved the life of a young girl from the trampling feet of the mob, and her father—the captain of a merchant vessel—gave them passage off Grandseld, just as screams and flames of chaos rose within the city.

Back to Velka

Rumors of Grandseld's fall outpaced the knights to Velka, but by their word, Taurebon and Gauvin made the situation clear to Queen Irene.

It was clear: Melkis, ever jealous of his sister's crown, could not be trusted not to destroy Velka. What remained unknown was how to undo this fate. How could death be killed?

So the knights set out across the land, to the Academy away in the Southeast, to find an answer.

The Road

Along the way, the party saw a trail of slime, promising "The truth in time." And the next day, a slime trail leading into the earth, and runes upon which whispered "A passage to anywhere..." Trusting in God, fate, or luck, the knights took the road of slime, and found themselves immediately several day's travel away, indeed, at the very door of the Academy, but strange hounds made of worms and bile assaulted them for their underground trespass.

Answers, or Questions?

Within the academy, they found the Arch-lector was already dead. Dead, and not moving. But according to the academy's clerk, the Arch-lector still occasionally spoke, if an interesting enough question was asked.

So, as Gauvin made his way to the library, Taurebon requested libations, and sat a few hours in the presence of the Entombed Arch-lector, chatting idly without response from the carved stone face.

And then, a question. "So, how do you kill a god of death?" A curious voice whispered out, "Well, I don't really know."

The Arch-lector, only "mostly dead," stood frozen on the exact edge of life and death, just peering out into the realm of the dead, but able to restrain herself from fully falling. And so Taurebon learned of the giant figure who strode through that land, cutting the threads of life as they ripened, a figure who had suddenly grown clumsy, as if newly born. "A first year student set free in the lab, unknowing even what questions to ask."

And Taurebon learned that "each day, about sunset, the giant vanishes, if only for a moment. I do not know where he goes."

Gauvin reunited with the university's librarian, and with her aid found the tale of the Knight who Slew Death. In the illustrations, the Knight stood atop a mountain, dueling with a vicious looking thundercloud. Gauvin also found countless spellbooks on necromancy—a practice usually resulting in terrible curses on the practitioner (though that may have been the work of a sane god of death).

And the question returned, how to kill a god of death? Well, to kill someone, we usually just put a knife in them, but to kill a god, we would need a spiritual blade, or to somehow force the god into human flesh.

Just then, a student burst in, "Another gate has opened, the goblins have returned to Togsden!"

"The Goblin's realm," The librarian said, "it is spiritual..."

Referee Thoughts

Trust the Game - At some point in a previous session I forgot I was running Mythic Bastionland—a game about knights exploring strange lands—and started trying to fashion things so they would make sense. That's a horrible way to play a game inspired by media like The Green Knight.

In trying to make the world make sense, I made it boring (for myself at least).

When I rolled an encounter and ended up finding "giant trail of slime," my first thought was "That's really odd." And my second thought was, "Fuck it, let's see what happens."

And you know what happened? We interacted with something we didn't fully understand, and we had fun with it.

I'm looking forward to further adventures in this land (and stranger lands)?

Next Chapter

#recap