Dungeon World - Aaron's Game

Cast

Player Characters

Melliandre the Elven Bard (Eva)

Lilliastre the Elven Wizard (Alan). Cursed by Death to only address spirits.

Annika Dim the Dwarven Fighter (Sarah)

Brynn the Halfling Thief (Ben)

Demanor the Elven Druid (Lelah)

Baldrik the Human Bard (Jaime). Cursed by Death to only gain power after seeking vengeance, not justice.

Non-Player Characters

Slythorpe the Younger - Head of the Windlewythe theives' guild

The Wizard of Windlewythe - Long since gone. His tower still stands and its top floor is a museum. His dungeons are still under the town.

Riahnon - Former (and possibly still) con-artist, high priestess of Windlewythe's temple to Reddegar the Deceiver.

Efion - Possibly half-extraplanar. Involved with and perhaps head of the Assassins of Niffu. Infiltrated the Windlewythe temple of Reddegar the Deceiver. Visions from the future suggest he will be high priest of the temple (despite being male), and will become Duke of Windlewythe.

Olwyn - Unknown woman, the new high priestess of Reddegar.

Gods

Reddegar the Deceiver - Goddess of hope, beginnings, gates, and second changes. She is also the patron goddess of Windlewythe, which doubles as the center of her faith. Her totem is the golden eagle and her colors gold and brown.

Places

The World - It's widely held to be shaped like a waffle.

Windlewythe - A large town and center of a duchy. Once home to the powerful Wizard of Windlewythe. The Wizard's tower still stands and his dungeons unlie the city. Windlewythe has a powerful thieves guild lead by Slythorpe the Younger. The main temple of Reddegar the Deceiver is in Windlewythe. The town has an annual waffle festival, celebrating how the pastry saved an earlier Duke.

Wizard of Windlewythe's tower - The tower still stands in Windlewythe where it is used as a wizard's academy. The top floor is a museum of the Wizard's artifacts. The museum used to hold the broken parts of the Wizard's staff, but it was stolen by Brynn and Lilliastre (March 12th, 2013).

Wizard of Windlewythe's dungeons - The Wizard's dungeons run underneath the town, especially under the thieves guild. A variety of monsters live down there. There is a magical golden throne that can be used to teleport to safety.

Windlewythe's thieves guild - Run by Slythorpe the Younger. Brynn and Melliandre told the rest of the group that the Flask of Reddegar was present, and the party tried to break in (January 2013). The party was caught and dumped into the dungeons below the city.

Skyhaven - A town 5 days walk from Windlewythe, roughly northeast past the Mountains of Fear(?). The town is high in the mountains, with dwellings carved into the cliffsides. The paths up are too narrow for carts. For larger supplies there is a system of pullies and baskets. People can ride the supply baskets for a fee, but the prices are high, the trip is slow, and the route is easy to ambush. A small, fortified base camp controls the bottom of the pully system. The area is relatively barren, no trees grow, although the natives do herd mountain goats. The city trades for other supplies, trading from its rich mines. The mines are rich in gold, leading to many buildings being heavily decorated in gold. A lot of dwarves live in Skyhaven, and many of the humans have taken on dwarvish customs, including wearing long beards and eating spicy food. Skyhaven is independent from the several nearby nations which have historically clashed nearby. 500 years ago the town was at the base of the mountain. Half of the town was killed in a battle between two nearby nations across the town. The dam was bombed by one of the two sides, flooding the town and killing 42% of the population. The town swore to remain independent and moved up the mountain. These days the town has no formal military, but all children are trained in the spear, tumbling, and brawling. Bar fights are common.

Skyhaven temple to Reddegar is the highest cathedral in the known world. It's spire is the tallest structure in Skyhave by a small amount.

Common Skyhaven food is mountain goat, usually seasoned with cinnamon. More noteworthy is beef from their rare cattle, usually prepared in cow's milk; the dwarven name for the dish translates as "mother and child."

The town is a monarchy, like all good dwarven holds. The dwarven king recently died of apparently natural illness; his teenaged daughter is now queen.

Grim Prison - (January 29, 2013; Februrary 12, 2013) A mythical prison that appeared suddenly among the farms north of Windlewythe. It spawned weird seeds that grew into dangerous trees and generally threatened to kill all of the nearby lands. The party ventured in, facing weird metal giant bugs, eventually escaping as the Prison collapsed, having grabbed the magical key Meuric.

Early January 2013

Present: Melliandre (Eva), Lilliastre (Alan), Annika Dim (Sarah), Brynn (Ben).

The group was mid-heist of the thieves guild of Windlewythe. Melliandre and Brynn had convinced the group to try and recover the Golden Flask of someone or another. The group was captured by the thieves and their guildmaster, Slythorpe the Younger, and thrown down into the dungeons below the city, dungeons that were long ago the castle of the Wizard of Windlewythe. The group fought an angry spirit (accidentally summoned by Lilliastre), strange bugs that lived in crystal stalactites and stalagmites, a giant spider, and goblins. The group found the Wizard's magical throne and used it to teleport to safety in a local tavern.

January 29th, 2013

Present: Melliandre (Eva), Lilliastre (Alan), Demanor (Lelah), Brynn (Ben).

The local news is that a section of farmland has suddenly disappeared and been replaced with the stone ruins of a building. Also, a large number of nondescript strangers have been arriving in town and disappearing.

Nosing around suggests that there isn't a rash of people failing to pay their bills. It seems likely that the people disappearing are doing so under their own volition.

The party heads toward the ruins to investigate. Local farmers don't know what happened, although farmers who lived in the affected area are missing, along with their homes. The missing crops are present, simply heavily rotted on the ground.

The party finds a foot sticking out of the ground. Digging it up, it suddenly unearths itself as a mass of body parts and organs. 6 or so blobs pull their way to the surface and attack. In the battle Lilliastre and Brynn are stung. Brynn cuts a black pea-sized thing out of his injury, but accidentally drives the one in Lilliastre deeper in. Lilliastre ties a crystal over the sting wound in his neck to solve the problem.

Moving closer to the ruins a small forest of willow trees has appeared. As Lilliastre appraises them a willow branch shoots out of his neck and tries to strangle him. The rest of the party eventually pulls it off of Lilliastre and out of his neck.

Regrouping, the party finds a path avoiding the trees toward the ruins. Beyond is a newly formed butte, topped with a squat fortress-like building. It looks suspiciously like the Grim Prison. A large crack goes down one of the sides, providing an opening into the strange growth.

February 12th, 2013

Present: Melliandre (Eva), Lilliastre (Alan), Demanor (Lelah), Brynn (Ben).

The group heads into the crack. Seed pods occasionally fly out overhead. Inside is a larger chamber. Above machinery grinds away, occasionally releasing another batch of seed pods. The center of the room is a large pit, from which screaming can be heard. The pit is criss-crossed with metal slat bridges at various heights. The edge of the pit extends both directions.

The group heads right. The passage spirals downward. Pipes or tubes of the same metal as the bridges run along the walls. They're cold. A giant metal spider attached to one of the tubes approaches from below. The group retreats and is trapped by another spider from behind us. The party skirmishes with the spiders, ending with one taking Lilliastre downward and the other taking Melliandre upward.

The spider with Melliandre crosses the pit, stepping from bridge to bridge. Melliandre pried herself from its grasp and fell down, catching herself on a lower bridge. Demanor shoved the spider off the edge, down into the pit; Melliandre easily swung out of the way. The two headed back down to check on their companions.

Below, Lilliastre was shoved into an alcove along side many other humanoid creatures. All of the creatures were screaming and had a pipe running into some part of their body. The spider attached a pipe to Lilliastre, it started draining his very soul. Lilliastre's struggles injured himself that he collapsed. At the Gate of Death he was offered the option to return, but he could only address spirits henceforth. Lilliastre agreed and found himself back in his body. He yanked the pipe out, leaving his mind addled.

Meanwhile, Brynn had hopped into an empty alcove and held a pipe against himself. This apparently convinced the spider that the situation was handled and it disappeared down a hole. Shortly thereafter Melliandre and Demanor arrived.

The people in the alcoves were almost ghostlike. Lilliastre magically communed with one; it couldn't tell Lilliastre how to free him, but did note that the tube was pulling his life out. The party followed the tubes into another tunnel eventually coming to a cubic metal box into which it seems like all of the tubes lead. A glowing red ring stuck out of the only side free of tubes. Lilliastre grabbed it and pulled, revealing it was a key, perhaps the fabled key Meuric.

Pulling the key out triggered something odd, the passages became smaller and smaller. The party fled out, crawling in parts, and just barely making it out before the crack sealed and the enter mesa disappeared. Brynn had an arm trapped in the crack, but Demanor and Melliandre pulled him free.

Outside the evil trees all appeared dead. The animated blobs of bodies were now just dead bodies. The blighted area remained, but was no longer growing. Demanor sensed that the blight lingered because of something to the south. South, of course, is Windlewythe.

The party returned to Windlewythe and spent several days recovering. Melliandre noted that procession of Reddegar the Deceiver's procession was much larger, filled with new acolytes.

March 12th, 2013

Present: Melliandre (Eva), Lilliastre (Alan), Demanor (Lelah), Brynn (Ben), Baldrik (Jaime).

Baldrik, an acquaintance of Demanor and Lilliastre returns to town after extended travels abroad. He befriends Slythorpe, not realizing that Slythorpe is the head of the thieves guild. At Slythorpe's suggestion, Baldrik namedrops at the inn, which gets him immediate fear and respect, but also attracts the attention of the guard. Baldrik is hauled off to jail, but is let go after "paying a fine."

Meanwhile Lilliastre has determined that with the right tools, he can summon a sort of spirit familiar he can use to communicate through. The broken staff of the Wizard of Windlewythe, stored at the top of the Wizard's tower, looks like just the right component. He convinces Brynn through pantomime to help. Brynn escapes, but is Lilliastre is grabbed by acolytes of Reddegar who have no particular reason to be in the wizard's tower. The acolytes drag him off to the temple of Reddegar.

The temple is packed solid with new acolytes as Riahnon leads prayers. Lilliastre knows Riahnon is a con-artist. On closer observation, it becomes clear that most of the acolytes aren't paying attention to Riahnon, they're paying attention to another man on the dais. The new acolytes are handing things among themselves.

Lilliastre breaks free and confronts Riahnon. She abruptly ends the service and take Lilliastre to the back room. Lilliastre tries to explain through writing what is going on when the man from the dias, Efion, arrives with backup. He impies to Lilliastre that Lilliastre should be quiet, or Efion will kill Riahnon. The party drives off an unnaturally powerful Efion who has super strength, magical protection, and resistance to poison. Efion seems to be partially extraplanar. The party, with Riahnon in tow, flees.

While the party is facing Efion, Baldrik distracts the acolytes trying to break in and assist Efion. He leads them on a chase and eventually shakes them off by running to a guard, who promptly arrests Baldrik again. As the party flees, Lilliastre enchants Baldrik to be invisible and Baldrik joins the group. The enlarged group hunkers down in the Blue Sparrow, a low end inn, to rest and regroup.

From all of this, there is some evidence that the surge of Reddegar follows are actually Assassins of Niffu, a non-religious group of killer, arguably the best in the world. They work for hire, but occasionally make their own power grabs. Niffu is their place of origin.

April 2nd, 2013

Present: Melliandre (Eva), Lilliastre (Alan), Demanor (Lelah), Brynn (Ben), Baldrik (Jaime).

The party rests for the night in the Blue Sparrow. In the morning the party regroups.

Lilliastre writes "Niffu" in chalk on the wall to remind the group. To the rest of the party, Lilliastre says cryptic things about "even writing?", as he privately faces Death who makes it clear that writing counts as addressing mortals. Demanor senses that Lilliastre was briefly at Death's door, and realizes the curse Lilliastre is under.

Melliandre says that the Assassins of Niffu work solitary or in pairs on jobs; a large group would only form during a power grab. The last power grab was more than a century ago, and failed.

Riahnon can't think of a reason for the Assassins to infiltrate her church. The Windlewythe church is the center of the religion, and Reddegar is that patron goddess of the town. The church's only two relics were both lost. The Golden Flask of Reddegar, was lost to time, although Melliandre says that the Windlewythe theives guild has it. The Key of Reddegar was thrown into the Grim Prison as it was too powerful and dangerous. Oops.

A bell tolls in the distance. It's the temple of Reddegar's bell that announces a new high priestess after the previous has died. That doesn't bode well. Riahnon suggests going to Skyhaven to get assistance from another temple of Reddegar.

Lilliastre uses a bowl of water to look into the group's future. He sees a vision of the Duchess of Windlewythe and Efion in a room with the device of the town. Efion is wearing a feathered robe similar to Riahnon. The Duchess gives Efion a circlet of golden pine needles and a sceptor, then kneels before it. Efion ascends to a throne. There is a sense of a great general worship of Efion, giving him an otherworldly majesty. Lilliastre somehow manages to convey this through pantomime to the group.

Melliandre, Brynn, and Demanor (as a falcon) head out to get news. They learn that the Riahnon, the high priestess of Reddegar, has gone crazy and slain many of Reddegar's followers. She and her friends are wanted. Olwyn has been named the new high priestess.

The group heads to Skyhaven. The trip goes well. Demanor as a bird aided by her familiar owl Ayin keeps the group from danger. Baldrik leads the group truly, cutting the travel time. Lilliastre stretches the food supplies, ensuring the group arrives with plenty to spare.

On the way up the mountain to Skyhaven, Demanor notices that the air suddenly feels crisp, and that small animals are fleeing. A golden eagle circles the group above, then starts descending and growing. Riahnon pronounces the eagle a sign from Reddegar. The eagle lands, turning into a ten foot tall brown skinned man with huge wings. The man says the party has brought punishment down on themselves by removing Meuric from the Grim Prison and making it possible to destroy the goddess. The man is uninterested in party's pleas to spare them so that they may fix the situation. The man tells Riahnon to pick, either she or the rest of the group must die. Riahnon picks herself to survive and flees. The man draws a massive spear and turns on the remaining group.

Lilliastre asks to know the angelic being's name, it responds that it is Gwawr. Lilliastre casts a rapid ritual to bind a spirit to answer a single question, briefly binding Gwawr. Lilliastre demands to know how Gwawr can be banished, to which he cryptically replies, "You must open the way to a second chance."

There is a fray, during which Brynn digs out Meuric and turns it in open air. This opens a sort of gateway. This is enough to convince Gwawr to stop and admit that the party may be able to fix the situation. Gwawr enters the gate and disappears. The gate shuts with a massive shock, which Brynn fortunately survives.

Meanwhile Demanor's owl Ayin has chased down Riahnon, who returns to the party blooded.

The group continues and reaches Skyhaven. Meliandre and Baldrick arrange for rooms at the inn in exchange for some song.

May 21st, 2013

Present: Melliandre (Eva), Lilliastre (Alan), Brynn (Ben), Baldrik (Jaime).

In the morning the group heads to the cathedral of Reddegar to see Alarik to seek help. Unfortunately he had sent a messengre to Windlewythe seeking help from Riahnon. Something is wrong in their crypts. The group heads into the crypts to investigate and find that many of the dead have risen. A spirit summoned by Lilliastre reveals that they have been called by "the pit of drowned souls". The group battles some of the undead but loses, getting drawn into the earth. They fall through the earth eventually landing in what appear to be the upper reaches of the old mines. A nearby pit echoes with howling; it changes to sound like Melliandre after she tries to use song magic to heal Baldrik. There is some exploration, a battle with a dropwaffle, and Baldrik briefly dies, returning only after promising to seek vengeance, not justice, before gaining power.

July 2nd, 2013