- \n
- One says \u201cIreena\u201d is afflicted by Vague Evil \u2122 , and the one true love of the Burgomaster<\/li>\n
- One says she\u2019s got an \u2018unholy wound\u2019 and the Burgomaster\u2019s stepdaughter. No. Adopted daughter. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Okay. Obvious facts that can be easily checked.<\/p>\n
- \n
- BY THE WAY: Mira on the road. Ireena. Mad Mary and her daughter Gracie. Or Gertruda. Whatever. All women or girls. All victimized. Brigitte is sensing a vile little pattern.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Okay.<\/p>\n
\nI head up to the bar, lay coin down for a drink, and say. \u201cIreena Kolyana. Who\u2019s she to the Burgomaster of this town?\u201d<\/p>\n
I rate it \u201clikely\u201d a fact as simple as this will be shared for the asking without me needing to coax it out of anyone. I check the Oracle, which agrees with me.<\/p>\n
The bartender nods to the boy who brought me, pours ale, but says nothing as you ask about Ireena Kolyana or the Burgomaster. He simply nods with his chin in the direction of the quiet man sitting near the fireplace. \u201cThere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okay, it\u2019s likely, but Barovia is a place of caution and paranoia. Fine. I head over.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The young man looks up, but says nothing, as I approach – the locals seem quite tight-lipped, but he DOES react when I sit down and quietly ask him about Ireena.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cIreena is my sister – adopted sister, if you insist. We are -\u201d he pauses. \u201cThe Burgomaster was our father.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Was. Fantastic. But at least I know which letter is true.<\/p>\n
I pull out the battered letter I found on the tradesman just outside town and hand it over to him without any explanation.<\/em><\/p>\n
I\u2019m going for a Compel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Okay, I\u2019m going to get what I want, which is him opening up. I\u2019ll roll right into a Gather Information with a +1, but I remember he wants something in return, which I\u2019ll get to and agree to.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Well, okay! Strong hit with a favorable twist! I thought I knew what he was going to ask from me, but now I think I\u2019m going to twist his request into an opportunity. We\u2019ll see it coming here at the end of the conversation.<\/p>\n
He looks mildly surprised to recognize the handwriting, but nods at several points as he reads, his expression increasingly grim.<\/em><\/p>\n
“The Devil Strahd is fixated on my adopted sister – he’s been trying to take her away for nearly half a year – ever since he first saw her with his own damned eyes.”<\/em><\/p>\n
I shake my head. \u201cStrahd?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cThe Baron of these lands, or he once was. He\u2019s ruled from his castle for almost 400 years, and is the last of his bloodline, though he\u2019s hardly alone up there.\u201d He takes a drink of his ale. \u201cHe\u2019s all but waged war on us these last six months. As bad as it was before, when he neglected us, now\u2026\u201d He shakes his head.<\/em><\/p>\n
“We had some protection thanks – my father believed – to a holy heirloom that\u2019s been handed down to each Burgomaster, for centuries, but two weeks ago it was stolen, and a few days later, my father was killed.”<\/em><\/p>\n
“Since then, it’s all we can do to keep our homes barricaded against assault, and pray.” He glances at me. \u201cNo offense, lady, and I can\u2019t speak for anyone else in town, but *I<\/em> at least was praying for more than one farwarden.\u201d*<\/p>\n
I nod. \u201cI\u2019d have asked for a company at least.\u201d I reach over the table, extending my hand. \u201cBrigitte.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
He looks a bit surprised, but smiles a bit and shakes. \u201cIsmark Kolyana.\u201d I move to sit back, but he holds onto my hand. His grip is strong. His eyes are steady on mine. \u201cTake me with you. Whatever you decide to do, if you are here to help us, take me with you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
He\u2019s strong. Strong willed. And I like that smile – it\u2019s a smile that says he might be able to hold himself together when things get dark. \u201cCan you follow orders?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
He smirks. \u201cWill you ask nicely?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
I roll my eyes, but my grip tightens a bit. \u201cIf I have to ask nicely, it\u2019s not really an order.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
He tips his head in agreement. \u201cFair enough, and yes. Absolutely, farwarden.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Alright. I\u2019m going for this.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I maybe don\u2019t technically<\/em> meet the criteria here, but I like Ismark and I got a Strong Hit with a twist, dammit, so there it is – he asks to come along and I\u2019m forming a Bond with him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dammit. I cannot catch a break on these dice. Man I could have used the Momentum, too. Ahh well.<\/p>\n
Okay, so I still get the Bond on a weak hit, but he wants something from me. Either do whatever it is, or Swear an Iron Vow<\/strong>. Hmm.<\/p>\n
Well, hell. I was going to wait on this, but I might as well get it over with.<\/p>\n
Still holding his hand, I touch the other to the iron of my armor, over my heart. \u201cI am Brigitte of the Farwardens, and I swear, now, on this iron, I will see this land free from the Devil Strahd.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Ismark\u2019s face, serious but still playful, goes pale. The tavern goes quiet at my words.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Okay, so first I\u2019m going to swear the vow and write it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cDestroy the Devil Strahd and Free Barovia.\u201d That\u2019s pretty straightforward. Fucking horrible and impossible, but simple.<\/p>\n
And\u2026 I mean\u2026 fuck it. I might as well set the challenge at Epic. It doesn\u2019t get much more Epic than that. Finally, I’m going to attach a Threat to this vow (something with Strahd – I’ll figure out the particulars later), which is a really nice feature of Vows that’s being added in the new Delve<\/em> expansion that’s in beta right now.<\/p>\n
Then, roll +heart. I\u2019m making the vow to a person with whom I share a bond, so +1.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And I literally can\u2019t ask for a better roll than that, so I\u2019ll take it. That\u2019s +2 momentum.<\/p>\n
\nI release Ismark\u2019s hand and sit back, but turn at a low, choked sound from the barkeep. His boy is staring, but the man has tears, actual tears, in his eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cBless you, farwarden,\u201d says the barkeep. \u201cBless you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
The Vistani at their table seem\u2026 less impressed, but one of their clan brought me the false letter in the first place, so I\u2019m not exactly happy with THEM, either.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m going to mark a milestone for my vow to Come to the Aid of the Village, since everyone heard me just now and knows what and who I am. That brings my progress to four, and SIMPLY for the sake of cleaning up my sheet a bit, I\u2019m going to risk it and Fulfill that Vow. (Note: This is stupid and I shouldn\u2019t do it – my odds are bad, but I HAVE come to the aid of the village. I mean, I\u2019m here, aren\u2019t I?)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ohthankgod. I complete the quest with a weak hit, which has me mark 1 experience for the Difficult vow, which isn\u2019t enough to do anything with yet. HOWEVER, \u201cYou may Swear an Iron Vow to set things right. If you do, add +1,\u201d and I\u2019m pretty darn sure that swearing an Iron Vow to free Barovia counts, so I\u2019m taking the extra XP. [Also, I\u2019m taking a Bond with the Village as my third \u201cfree\u201d bond that I just noticed I never took during character generation. Good thing I looked while I was writing down Ismark. The \u2018free\u2019 bond is with the Village of Barovia, thank you very much. Probably coming at that sideways, a bit, but something tells me I\u2019m going to need all the help I can get.]<\/p>\n
\nIsmark is still watching me. \u201cWould you like to meet my sister, Brigitte?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cVery much.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
He nods, stands, leaves coin for the bartender, and the two of us depart.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Okay, so I’m heading back up the street from the home of Mad Mary, to the tavern. The GM is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,128,6],"tags":[150,307,269,308],"class_list":["post-44359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actual-play","category-online-table-top","category-table-top","tag-actual-play","tag-ironsworn","tag-pbta","tag-ravenloft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44359"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45027,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44359\/revisions\/45027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- BY THE WAY: Mira on the road. Ireena. Mad Mary and her daughter Gracie. Or Gertruda. Whatever. All women or girls. All victimized. Brigitte is sensing a vile little pattern.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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