A Pint Of Cthulhu
Mappa Mundi Playtest part 2
So as we stand to begin the journey phase for route and branch, the party stands on the edge of a vast forest. The azure reward looms before you, fog emanating from its fringes. You can make out the sound of water bubbling somewhere, and the core of an occasional raven reverberates through these labyrinthine passages. Other sounds and perhaps furtive movements dot the underbrush right on the edge of your senses, but the mist is too thick to determine what caused them. This wood is a place that is very much alive, full of mystery and perhaps peril. And somewhere within these leafy pathways, the route and branch monster awaits. So for those people who are unfamiliar with mapamundi, the journey phase is played with cards. So as in the research phase, that our party had been going through, I have been building a deck of cards based on things they have and haven't discovered. And the journey phase is played through these cards until they reach their target at the end of the deck that I have assembled. And so we begin our journey phase, as I said, on the edge of the azure rewards, and the first card we have is the forest inverted. And for some context, cards can be placed right-wise, which is right-way up, and the party will receive a chance for an opportunity, or they will be revealed inverted, which means they will have a challenge to overcome. If they overcome that challenge, they are then able to take the opportunity and game whatever they might gain from that space. So the forest inverted, thorny brambles dot every corner of the woods confines. As the chroniclers enter into the woods, what started off as a relatively open forest border seems to, begins to feel like it's closing in on you somewhat. What little sound there was coming from coming from the bog on the edge of the forest, the omnipresent sound of rain, the gusts of wind, even they seem to start to die away as you walk further into the forest. And as you take, as you continue moving in 100 meters, 200 meters, 250 meters, 275, 300 meters, the forest feels like it has begun to close behind you, almost as if it's defending itself. You suddenly come to a point where you can no longer move further forward. Brambles have snagged your clothes, and all paths that once appear to be in front of you appear to be closed. How do you propose to get around this forest seemingly defending itself? Well, to me, it's all a trick of the mind. I mean, this forest is defending itself by blocking us off. We must almost push through this obstacle, and as I say it, we must figure out a way to get to prove these brambles and these fizzles that are front of us. Am I right? Yeah, they're what they're in front of you and all around you. Can I use my resourceful resourceful as to potentially pick up like an old log and place it over the top of the brambles to kind of push them down a bit so we can traverse across? You certainly can. Yeah, as anyone else got any other skills or any interventions they would like to make while Matt is trying to push you. No, I mean, I was really much better to do the same thing Matt was, she just beat me to, but I can help Matt can't tie. So, between us, we can grow a bigger log and use that as a bridge. That'd be most healthful goods. Well, you are an old and elderly fellow and your back has seen better days. Not that old. The older than me. This is getting far too into real life. It's very better. To me, to you, to me. What about our other two companions? Have you got any ideas as well? Traverse in dangerous, trade isn't exactly my specialist. No, it seems to be mine. Is this first trying to keep us out? I'll try to keep something in. Oh, good question indeed. Does not get us over the brambles. No. Hi. In which case, I think we'll find the log. So, in this case then, what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask for, I'm going to ask Flower J and Sam to make traversal checks, please. No, I mean... So, I've got a D6 for me. Yeah, close specifically. Oh, one. Yeah, that's in character. I've got a two. Flower, what'd you get? I got a four. I got a four. So, Flower, you are able to kind of, hunkering down into your armour and you are protected and suited to push your way through things. So, Flower starts to kind of physically fight their way through the brambles. In the meantime, with the fixers, you know, natural innate resourcefulness. Matt kind of scrounges around on the ground and finds a log to kind of push the brambles down as much as they can and try to kind of manages to almost like crawl their way through. J and Sam, on the other hand, are falling victim to the forest, almost seemingly desperately trying to keep them out. Brambles are scratching at their faces. Their clothes are being ripped and torn and snagged. You know, capes are being caught in, you know, caught in, in bramble bushes that are almost, almost willing you not to go in any further. No, this damn bush is just dragging me down. So, in this case, you haven't overcome the challenge, but two of you, two of you have succeeded in kind of coming through these brambles, relatively unscathed. So, while while J and Sam are continuing to fight their way through, Matt, I would invite you to shape this bit of the forest. What is it? You know, what is this bit of the forest saying to you? What are you feeling while you're here? What does this forest look like to you? Fastly overgrown woodlands dark the occasional hoot of an owl. Brambles surround a massive clearing before turning back again into further brambles. Trails lead off in all sorts of different directions from sort of woodland critters. Perhaps a small ephemeral pond sits filled with water with life buzzing around the outside. The overall sense of peace and potential seclusion surrounds the area surrounded by a bramble. And flower, how do you, like with, with this being a more, a more difficult kind of a success, nonetheless, you're able to move your way through these brambles, but with, with almost a slightly more antagonistic feeling. What, what is flowers kind of take on their, on, on this part of their journey? Um, probably, as I got my way through different from the log, it's basically, you just tuck his hands, like, hands in basis what, through this thing, if you're a little hole in. But it's like, with all the arms, it's more, it's a bit quieter, and I'd say, more overgrown, so there's only a little bit of light coming through, so you can't really hear that much, only, basically, like, more of the busy things of his own hearts in the armour. Knowing that, basically, some of his friends hasn't been able to get through, so it'll be a bit more, but he's more calm at this sort of aspect because this is his bed and butter, so he's calm, but he's also worried for his friends, so he doesn't want to go too far, so he's basically gonna stay where he is, so he doesn't exert those he, those he cares about. Understood, okay, so this section of the forest then, while, while, when Matt, when you step through the brambles, for all step over the brambles, is it where you've managed to come into this, this, this moment of peace and tranquility that is distinctly at odds with the experience of half of your party, who you can vaguely hear kind of scrabbling through the brambles, you know, that the air turning somewhat blue as you hear them swearing their way through, that the cuts and scrapes that are afflicting them, but you notice, you notice that the forest it seems, or this entrance to the forest, is a barrier that you have managed to overcome, and you've done it almost as part of the forest. The forest is seemingly almost read your intention and has allowed you to cross over the top of it, and as you turn to face flower, and you see that your friend, someone you've trained with, someone who, you know, you've been out into the semi-wilds with multiple times, and you see them, the calmness of the place that you've found in the woods is mirrored in your friend's demeanor as they try valiantly to ease the way for their friends as much as possible, and finally, the calm that relaxes you and lets you know that while the forest has tried to defend itself, it has not specifically tried to defend itself against you and your party, this is just the natural behavior of the forest. You then see your two companions who have struggled through, finally break their way through with the, you know, with the guiding hand, the guiding hand and I of flower having tried to help them get through these brambles, they stumble out, roll around a little bit, and then come to come to see the quiet that's around you. Jay, do you want to, do you want to add some shaping in here, how is it that this moment, like, how is it that this moment of quiet and contemplation, how does that sit with your experience of having almost to physically fight your way through these brambles? I think Kathy started out like her nose almost and had a little sketchbook attempting to take vivid a record of the forest behavior in the curling bramble stalks, and because of the she trips and falls, and trips and falls and trips and falls again on the tangling, snagging thorns before finally face planting her way into the clearing, and going from that struggling through the forwards to the dead, well, not dead quite, there is birdsong and such, but relative quiet and openness of a clearing, in short contrast to the peaceful quiet, this is unnerving for someone who is very much a observer from the sidelines to be in essentially the middle of an open space that is far too quiet and far. Well, not so good enough for her to feel safe, the monsters and creatures she observes are in open clearings and calm glades, she is hidden in the ferns, usually outside, so it's quite unnerving. Understood, understood, and Sam, can you give us, can you almost zoom in onto this scene, something in this scene that catches, you know, as you emerge from these brambles, you've almost been going through eyes closed, just crawling through thinking right, just one more, one more crawl, one more crawl, one more crawl, and suddenly the pools aren't there, what is the first thing that catches your eye when you emerge? I'll start the scene a little bit before this, I'm just getting to the edge of this thicket of brambles, and just this damn cape, and it tears and then I sort of fly out this, you know, bored roll into this clearing, and the first thing that probably is going to take my eye would be the tranquility pool or the small pond, that it's just on the edge of this clearing, I'd say that's the first thing that strikes my eye, apart from obviously the overhead denseness of the oak trees and the mixing of horn beams and a few ashes in there as well for good measure, and just, you know, a general, you know, clearing in, you know, surrounded by brambles, but the mysteriousness and the almost tranquility of the water in front of me is what really draws me to the scene, draws my eye as yes, that is what gets me. I understood, so this scene of tranquility has, for what is tranquil for one person and mirrors the, almost the inner emotional fortitude of another, is actually unsettling for, for Jay, it's, she is not experiencing this, this scene in maybe quite perhaps as welcoming away as, as, as Matt and flower are, potentially because of the experience of having come through the brambles, but also a kind of general sense of solitude is both welcoming and threatening and equal measure in, in, in Jay's eyes, and that, that kind of apprehension is, is centered around this, this reflecting pool, this tranquility pool, as Sam called it, that, that centers the, centers the clearing and provides almost, there is life in it, but that life is indifferent to your presence. So as you begin to, as you kind of get yourselves back up and you, you kind of collect yourselves as a party, it, what, what appeared to be only an animal track before, one of the tracks that, that's, that Matt saw as he entered and contemplated the space, actually appears to be more of a well-worn path, and heading out down this path, the, the forest starts to kind of open up a little bit more, in any, in some places it becomes a little bit sparse, and the trees take on a different, a different kind of hue and a different kind of color, where they were once rich browns, you know, fed by, evidently fed by the abundant rainfall and the, and the rich soil. These trees start to look kind of gray and white and ashy, and as you move through, suddenly you will realize that it's not the trees necessarily that have changed color, but that the fog has, has, has been very, very slowly over the mile that you've been walking become incredibly dense in a way that you weren't really aware of until you paid attention, it's almost as if the quietude that the fog has brought around has, has, has doled your senses, and so we come across the next card in the journey phase, which is the fog right-wise, so here you see suddenly out of the corner of your eye, you catch, you catch a bright red ribbon tied to one of these trees, and as you reach forward and flower, you're the guardian, so it's likely that you're going to be leading the walk through the forest here, so as flower you reach out and grab one of these ribbons, and you remember that the bastion, the mayor of Gaskar had said to you, don't forget that we've put the ribbons up, if you follow the ribbons, this is the safe path through the forest. So as you can, as you continue forward, you notice that these ribbons are all in bright shade of red and orange, and so are easy to spot, and other comforting markers can be seen from afar despite the thick mist. Some ribbons have also been knotted in a style commonly used by barbecia trail explorers to denote upcoming changes in terrain, such as potential potholes or roots. Flower, as you're leading this through, what is it that flower is feeling, what is it that flower is experiencing with this part of the forest and the ribbons, providing, you know, guiding your way through? It's always getting better to get more information about where we're going than where we've been, from past experiences, but also of if any of this has changed since these were put on here, got to be aware to adapt, persevere, if anything else goes wrong. And how, Sam, with how difficult it was to get through the brambles, what is it that this part of the forest, does this part of the forest feel different? Are you kind of getting different emotions or vibes kind of emanating from it? Well, yes, as you said, it's almost like a, a break in the monotony. We've just come from, I don't know, traveling through these very dense woodland with thickets of brown or was terrible for to walk through, and all of a sudden it's just spaced out. We've got this pond in front of us. It's a bit like, you know, oh, a breath of, I don't know, an island of calm in a sea of storm, it's better to put it, I guess. And you touched upon there about the vibe. And yeah, it's almost like there's some sort of energy in the area that just, I don't know, differentiates it from the rest. So you can feel this, this energy, it's interesting that you should pick up on this energy. And this is, this is the diviners art at work. As you will look, as you were all continuing to move through the woods, there is an unusual energy that almost feels like a power hidden within the fog. And it appears, it looks to you as you look, you know, off the trail, hands still firmly on the ribbons and following flowers footsteps through the, through the woods. Shapes appear to, well, the shapes kind of appear and disappear in the forest around you. Jay, does Karen notice anything about what these shapes might, did she get a sense of what these shapes might be or what they might signify? I think Kathy will be after knowing the old man. Sorry, I said Karen, not Kathy, I apologize. She was a Karen, actually. She would love to speak to the forest manager if at all possible. Seriously, it's just not acceptable. The brambles are far too wild. How dare you? So Kathy would, after the old man thing with the notations from the village's diviner, would be looking for anything that sparks her knowledge is like a folk signal, a symbol that comes up in a lot of traditional stories or artworks. Is anything that would, anything that would be familiar in that tone, or if there happens to be glimpses of smaller animals, mice or rats or voles sprinting away from the disturbance of people walking through or birds suddenly going quiet. So to met a game, to met a game somewhat, and obviously because you were all fresh mapamundi players, these questions are for you to tell, you know, these questions are for you to provide answers to. You, engaging in shaping a mapamundi is an act where the players are telling the narrator the story. So rather than in a lot of other games, I, as the narrator or the GM in other games, would tell you what those kind of folk signals and shapes would be in this case. In this case, I'm asking kind of specifically, what is it that Kathy is seeing? This is Kathy's world and Kathy's experience of this one. What is it that she sees and she feels in the woods? So I think Kathy sees some big shapes for an innocent of old nature gods, of wardings off against evil, and perhaps flickers of even that braided helix pattern we saw earlier, but nothing definite and nothing consolidated. Additionally, oddly for such odd times in the forest with disappearances with a hunter going through, the animals don't seem disturbed. They're used to people well enough in the village, most likely, and these smaller animals obviously don't like your humans, they'll flinch away and scurry into the underbrush, but none of them seem afraid. There's no obvious hint of a predator stalking. Absolutely. Okay. So, and then Matt, what is, what is Sederic feeling here? Is this, this, having come from the tranquility of the clearing that he discovered, you know, in the, in the early part of the forest, what is it that is this, what is it that this fog is, is feeling like, what is it, you know, is it dulling his senses, is it heightening his senses, is it, is it, you know, unsettling him or making him feel more secure? It almost feels as if there is something old, but in this wood, something this fog is not necessarily going to be hiding, but companion to perhaps. One goes hand in hand, the old, mysterious creatures, and the fog that goes with them, the energy merely being a residual of the other. So, this forest then is, is communicating with you, almost in its indifference to your presence, where you entered the forest and the forest began to defend itself not specifically against you, but almost any kind of intrusion. Now it seems to be trying to communicate with you all. In Flowers' case, it's the human mark that has been left on the forest is communicating with him, and as a guardian he feels secure in the knowledge of the land that other people are sharing with him. For Kathy, it's a case of the patterns that are emerging in the, in the forest, harken back to nature gods and lessons that have been learned. And Matt, Matt, you seem to be picking up on this idea of the old and the symbiotic that these nature gods are perhaps aspects of the fog or vice versa, that one cannot exist without the other. And while they're not hiding from you, they're also not necessarily inviting you to witness them. And as you carry on through, as that, you know, following this trail along for two, maybe even three miles, suddenly the fog begins to lift and break. And you hear the sound of ripples on the water. And what appears before you is a vast, vast lake. And suddenly, as you, as, as a flower steps forward and a foot kind of steps through the fog and a splash happens as, as his foot hits the water, you come across the lake and the lake card here is inverted. The, the lake that confronts you is enormous. It almost beggars belief that a lake this large can exist inside of a forest. And you can see trees all around it. It's difficult to see over to the other side of the lake. But what you can see is a log raft lying by the lake's banks. But the wood it appears has rotted and the cords holding the logs together are frayed and taught. It's, it's the forest around you, you've approached this lake on a path. The forest has thickened so densely on either side of you that it is clear that it would take days, if not a full week, to try and get around this lake. So the crossing it appears to be your only real option. But as I said, the lake is vast in front of you. And what, you know, what appears to be your, your, your route across has seen better days. How do you propose that you are that the chroniclers are going to move across this, this body of water? Well, I think the first thing is that Kathy's going to remember, someone mentioned, I think it was Philip the Elder, that this whole area near the lake was swampy. So Kathy's going to grab a big old stick and start poking in the ground in front of her. So she doesn't get sucked in by mud and sludge. Very sensible. Is there a way we can maybe make a raft? Well, there is, there is a log raft lying in front of you, but it's, it's, it's planks, it's planks are rotted and its cords are frayed and torqued. Could I use deduction to see if it would hold our weight? You absolutely can. Roll me a deduction check. That's a D six. Oh, that's a two. So as you put your foot on it, um, you know, the way, the way that you determine whether this is going to hold your weight or not, is to put your weight on it. As you put your foot on it, you punch straight through the center, which opens a kind of hole in it. The, the wood on the outer edges appears to be in better condition than the wood in the center, which you've just put your whole through, uh, your foot through caused a hole, rather than put your hole through, which is a weird thing to say. Um, bugger. Yeah. So bugger indeed, Derek. So, I mean, how are we going to fix this? Could we maybe get some more wood to, you know, reinforce this? And then we can sail over the water? I think given the nature of this somewhat sentient force, deadwood might be the option rather than trying to cut down some living. Yeah. Well, deadwood, deadwood, a girl still hold our weight and it still floats. That's not, it's not rotten. Yeah. It's something to either. I don't want to damage anything. So can we fix the boats is what I'm asking? You can give me, each of you can give me an exploration check. So this is going to be a great exploration check. So we'll add your results together. Right. T four. Oh, that's a, that's three. We're gonna fall out of six. Uh, I kind of minus it is a four. Lovely. So let's see. Yeah, it's something for me. So that's two threes and two fours there, right? Three threes. Month four. Three threes and a four. So a total of 30. Okay. So as you decide, you know, collectively, you make the decision that this raft needs to be, if not repaired, then it needs to be bolstered with, with other wood. So you set out back a little bit down the path, looking for, you know, as the fog has somewhat lifted a bit, you notice that there is dead wood and detritus kind of larger sticks and some logs about as well. Um, there's even, um, the map, you know, mapamundi Institute chroniclers are sent out with, you know, standard things that they will normally require out in the wilds and each of you is carrying a length of rope. So you are able to bind these logs and sticks and bits of wood to the raft. And as you, you know, as you push it out a little bit, you kind of walk into the water with it, as you push it out and try and put your weight on it, it does appear to float. So this will, with some, you know, some paddling on your part, well, at least, you know, you will at least be able to propel it across the lake, la la la la. Can we get a, can we get a long stick to make like a gondola, you know, like, absolutely, you can. Yeah. So I mean, Jay, Jay, or I could say, Jay already picked up a stick. Brilliant. So what's that guy's name on the, on the river sticks? I can't remember his name, you know, thank you, Karen. Um, we could be, I could be Karen on the river sticks. I mean, we will all be dead. So this is your, uh, hallucination with it. If you, if you believe I'm Karen, I'll be Karen. Karen. I would very much like to speak to the manager. So at the moment, please come back between two and four, six p.m. Four, six, okay, whatever. I don't quite some comment at this point. Being resourceful, could I potentially help find a bit of dead wood even faster or so to just make sure it is a little bit more better. So I say that again, I wasn't quite, I didn't quite catch what you were after there. That's fine. Well, as a being resourceful, is it not then therefore a little bit easier to find a little bit of more material to make this thing a little bit more secure before we do set off? So I mean, you've found you, you know, the thing is as secure as you're going to make it at this point. I think what you could do as a resourceful, you know, as a resourceful thing is try to rig up some form of sale, um, that would allow you to help you, you know, because this, you know, this lake is very, very, very wide. So one assumes that it's going to become very deep as you, as you reach the middle. It's like Michigan. Yeah, it could very well be like Michigan people. So with steady hands and resourceful, could I then potentially do that sale idea? Absolutely, you can. Yeah, absolutely. So you, so, so Matt, you rig up us as, you know, as, um, as Kathy is kind of pulling, pulling the raft off the shore, you spend some time rigging your cape up. Um, and, and, and, and, you know, fix fixing it to the raft in a way where it's going to catch the wind. And then Kathy can begin to use the pole almost as a rudder rather than a proper tool of propulsion to steer the raft across. Um, as you are traveling across the lake, um, you, you, you begin to, it seems it seems as though hours have passed, um, and, and sunset is, you know, the, the, the sun is beginning to set across the eastern horizon to which you are heading. And you're all the, you know, the, the water and the journey has lulled you and your general tiredness and with the energy that you've spent traveling through the forest so far has begun to tire you out. And, and, you know, you're almost beginning to kind of doze off a little bit. And then suddenly, almost out of nowhere, as you seem to hit where the center of the lake is, a huge gust of wind begins to pick up and seems to be swirling and edding around the boat and around the raft and pushing you forward. The sail, you know, the makeshift sail is, is, is fully extended into the wind and you're being dragged forward. And suddenly as the sail starts to kind of almost fray and tear, you realize that it's not just the wind that's pushing you, but almost that the lake is pulling you in. And as the, as, you know, as the sun glints off the water, you realize that the wind is whipping up a colossal whirlpool in the center of the lake. Can everyone give me, unless you feel you have a relevant skill to contribute, can everyone give me a traversal check, please? Steady hands to help with that. Steady hands. How would you use steady hands in this situation? By basically taking two very big hands off the lugs and holding on for dear life, basically. So steady hands is going to, you're, you're using your steady hands to try and steady yourself on the, on the button. And by the look of it, Kathy, as well. Yeah. She was still isn't her best thing. She's just a nerd. I got a six, sir. And I'm, and I've spotted this, this term is in the water. And yeah, it's disturbing me indeed. I'm just going to say that I do apologize for the wind, but the beans do take you down from me. Derek, I told you, you should just, you know, stay away from the beans. They're just like beans. Yes, they're good for your heart, but we know what happens as a result. We don't, you know, I think it's time we have a group decision here, a group vote. On this episode, David had a broken side. What's that brown thing in the water? Oh, come on. It's just a stick. A sticky stick. Yeah, the stick. Right. Anyhow. Anyhow, it's disturbing to have five-year-old shenanigans. I said to disturb us in the water. The force? Right. Let's, so Kathy's going to attempt and feel, I think, to keep the rudders straight. Have you made a traversal check for me, Kathy? Yeah, it's a one. A one. Okay. So. Yeah, I got three. A three and a six. Okay, so Kathy in an attempt to keep the rudder, you know, try and keep the boat on course, actually gets dragged into the water. Now, normally in this situation, it would be the guardian that risks themselves to try and save the person who's in kind of physical mortal danger. But actually, it's Sam having rolled a six on the traversal dice there. Well done. Who's actually just as Kathy, it looks like Kathy is almost all the way into the water, just about still in contact with the boat. And Sam is able to reach out and grab onto her collar, drag her back into the boat, averting disaster there as this whirlpool grabs hold of the boat and starts to spin it round and spin it round. And while you're all hanging on for dear life, eventually the wind dies down and the whirlpool kind of releases the boat, propelling it further across the water. But at this point, the raft is on its last legs. The old ropes that were holding the original rotten logs together have fully snapped at this point. And thankfully, the ropes that you guys tied onto it are holding together. Kathy, with your near brush with death here, can you give us some shaping for how this journey is, how your position within this vast body of water is making the character feel. So Kathy is very much the studious neurotype with a freak special interest, I guess, in urology. She isn't adverse to water, but doesn't, didn't tend to relish the training missions back at the academy, so to speak, that involved, you know, really getting into the wilderness. She liked writing about it, she liked learning, but not so much the actual physical task of it, so nearly falling into the water. A bit more dire than it might have been for any move a bit more level ahead. But she's doing okay, doing all right. Very excited to be even metres up on metres closer to whatever the strain beats us. Matt, with you know, having gripped onto the boat for dear life, you were in a almost in a prime position to observe what the lake looked like while you were being whipped around this whirlpool. What is it that your that Sederic noticed about the like the kind of the the physicality of the lake? It seemed almost as if the lake was being propelled by something deep within. A dark shadow weighed itself across the water, underneath the water almost gripping onto our little old raft. Some sort of almost giant tentacle, perhaps. And flower, how is it how is you know, this is guardians are as we've said, naturally at home in the wilds, but your experience so far has been has been actually relatively hostile for someone that that that immerses themselves in the idea of the wilds as much as the reality of them. How is it that flower is kind of coping with this experience so far? What is it if you almost zoomed out of the experience so far? What has flowers feeling about his first exposure to this thing that he's venerated for so long? How is that how, you know, if you could zoom out and provide us that kind of top down view of it? None of this seems natural. It feels like it's been interfered with it should be much from all this appearances had and all that things he's learnt. This is not right. This it shouldn't be acting like this. It should be someone or something has altered this area. Got you alright I've got you. So this is then the chronicle is find themselves in a wood that feels wrong. While there have been moments of tranquility and there have been moments of introspection and actually even potentially some moments of beauty, the forest feels this living forest that the chronicles to one extent or another have realized is a living sentient even conscious being an ecosystem or an amalgamation of beings a network of beings seems wrong that something has upset whatever balance may have been here before. Eventually you make it you know soaking wet cold from the wind you finally make it to the shore of the lake as night has fully fallen and here seems like a sensible place to make camp on the edge of the lake so making camp you rest you recover and fortify yourselves for the journey the next day. No one is particularly in the mood given the experience you know the relatively near death experience you've just had on the lake no one seems particularly in the mood to be sharing campfire stories and as each of you sleep the the image of the the helical shell the helical mound that you've seen in these drawings from Pierre's room and in a nace's notes come back into your mind and Jay you dream that you are moving in the night you remember you know your dreams are almost in 40 they're informed by the story of the old man and the forest and that it feels like you move and when you wake up you all wake up with with a bit of a start you know the sun has broken across the lake from the western horizon and you all awake with a start with the sound of bird song and this is this is something you haven't heard for a while and as you pack up and begin to move through the woods you carry on heading east into the rising sun and the forest becomes starts to feel less threatening it starts to feel calmer almost as if there have been there's there's there's more than just your presence and more than just the presence of whatever it is that is upset and disturbed the forest and suddenly you you're walking through a canopy and almost a tunnel of trees the trees are almost they're formed in an arch and you're able to kind of see through and where you know you can see light at the end of this tunnel the light the sky is almost blocked out above you the trees are so thick in this arch and suddenly you enter into a clearing an idyllic beautiful clearing and this card that emerges here is the clearing right wise the opening sorry the openness of this clearing is a welcome break from the long trek across the confined terrain that has defined your morning so far and it feels like you have stumbled upon the woods best kept secrets now this clearing as you walk into it the clearing feels like an ideal crossroads for the creatures of the azure of wood it's a welcoming space it's a warming space the the canopy of the trees have opened up and the sun beams a beautiful ray of sunlight into the clearing what is it that you would like to do while you were here check for more ribbons if there are any give me an observation check okay that is a d4 and that's a four that's a four so as you were looking around you noticed that the route that you've come in is only one of several pathways or tracks coming into the coming into this clearing it does feel and look like a crossroads point um as you look around you're not seeing any any ribbons or any signs um that people from gaskar have have come this far or at least map to this far um but you do get the sense of that there has been travel here that people have been here before you um what you do notice though is uh one of the trees on the on the uh the northern edge of the clearing um is a huge old gnarled oak tree and up in it you can hear buzzing and you can see bees flying in and out of this tree can i look and see if there's a sign of anything very big having passed through here because it's a clearing so any footprints might stand up more than they would on the forest floor yeah absolutely give me an exploration check i'm not very good at that but i'll try three good ones so it doesn't look like anything of a huge size has been through here but you do notice kind of large claw marks um on the tree with the bees in it as if it's you know as if a bear has climbed the tree in search of honey Winnie are you out there pull the trigger piglet oh boy oh well that shouldn't be too much of a worry biz don't actually care too much about people from what i've read it depends on if they have cobs that is a very good point actually yeah i would explain why we haven't seen any deer yet but it seems like we haven't found the tracks of either the hunter or what he was hunting this is most disappointing um so yeah very quickly i mean um if you you have you can you see any tracks i mean it's wandering here this is the clearing that we're meant to be meeting in there must be some sort of give there must be tracks of there's at least someone who has been here before okay should we maybe you know follow the tracks and see what they need well just a moment what about something hidden maybe hit supplies hmm in a clearing in them to me i feel a clearing for a hunter is a good place to make the final kill i think if we you know maybe look around and maybe follow some tracks we might find our hunter man maybe these people before has moved up the tracks but they might have it's always good to um hang your supplies oh hang your supplies yeah so the bears don't reach their supplies well so we've been taught to pieces by now are you suggesting that we look inside the tree maybe pick a tree that doesn't have bees on it flower give me um give me an observation check please yes make sure so many pages of oh that's only a default two okay so as you're looking around you can't see um you can't see anything hung up in the trees but correct me if i'm wrong you do have the tracks in the mud skills right yes okay so that is a sensible one to use to determine if people have been traveling through this place um so making use of that skill as you know as you're observing you're kind of passively um also looking for kind of signs on the ground as well and you do notice three sets of footprints one slightly seems to be to your eye you know with your tracks in the mud skill to your eye one are heavier booted you know big travel boot footprints that are heavier on the ground appear to have been there um a few days before two other sets of footprints both of which are much lighter on the ground and are moving alongside one another um so as you as you're looking around the clearing it becomes obvious to you that actually people have been here and people have been here recently can you give us um give us some descriptions of um what this area feels like from a from a kind of guardians and trackers perspective um oh god i think it helped um if you can't that's also told i can't i can't think about because it's like i think i'll be thinking of like this shouldn't be this deep and particularly that like the hunter the game hunters shouldn't be interfering with this level of nature mm-hmm well how did they get over the lake that uh rash was on our side meaning that something must have brought it back precisely we didn't see any of the birds they might have gone round actually they're not too much of a time crunches we are we're following them after all i'm more curious about the recency did you say that the two sets were fresher than the older ones the bearded ones yes it seems like the two um much fresher then it seems like instead of the hunter dragging those two people away the local bitches have gone to try and hunt down the hunter if they get in his way they could be in trouble unless the hunter is the hunted that is good though because means we'll likely meet them before we meet him it is entirely possible that something took the boat back something that perhaps the two ladies of the village are perhaps in i would say control but maybe cooperation that seems possible i'd be wary of pointing any fingers monsters that can control minds fairly rare but i think we should properly try and find the girls they seem like they're going to start a fight oh actually what do they lead in separate directions fire no they are all leaving in the same direction they're all leading out they're all leading out the east the eastern route out of the clearing well then we definitely need to get going on that i don't want them interfering with the monster before we can study it so with the party then so it's it's clear that the the your the the missing people or there there are three missing people and there are three sets of footprints leading east one set is what the the pair of the pair of footprints are um are fresher than the the solo pair and so it does appear that you are on the trail of people who are on the trail of of another target so as you as you kind of take what as you're leaving the clearing sam you take you kind of turn around and and and take a moment to soak in the feeling of the clearing and kind of quiet your mind diviners are adept at reading the traces and the patterns that are left in fate's tapestry um in in the places that they're in so while you're while the rest of your companions are kind of moving along this eastern track which is beginning to move up uh move up an incline you take a moment to kind of consider the history of this clearing and its significance in the forest what is it that stands out at you that's um as i said it i think this area of the forest as we have slightly moved on from the prior clearing this area stands out to me in just the sheer how do i say a live of the area we said there was bird calls in the area this area has almost been rejuvenated from the um prior woodland an area we saw where it was much more of a it would be dragged with the state where there were lots of brambles um i feel this area is almost a bit of a culmination or piece but change at the same time it it almost makes me feel unsure so that's i mean i think that's a that's a beautiful description of what is evidently a very very important part you've seen signs of life here both human and uh a non-human all all persons um but not necessarily human persons um yeah you got that there as i said yeah it was more associated to the vibe of the area of how much more alive it was compared to the prior areas we were sort of traversing through and so this in a way then if we if we think about the the experiences of the forest so far that this the the old gods the the old nature gods that cathy kind of felt were melting in and out of the fog that this is almost like a site of pilgrimage for the life of the forest to come and rejuvenate itself in the face of these these old nature gods who who are almost looking looking down into the clearing and and protecting it and you seem to be getting that feeling out of it yeah yeah i can so it's i'll say more the feeling of rejuvenation instead of um divine i would say oh yeah i'll say got you absent okay a hundred percent so there's no god here there is no i'm so paid i want to go that's as far as i say cathy i say the energy of this area is humbling humbling i've taken this place so then as sam as you rejoin the party as you rejoin the party and you start to um move along this eastern track you start to notice that you are definitively climbing what at first was a very shallow incline is beginning to draw you up almost above parts of the canopy and as you look back over your you know as you look you all look back over your shoulder you start to see above the trees you see the lake you see the fog laying heavy on the on the western side of the lake that you've come from and if you really really we have really focus and really kind of try to pay attention you can almost see you think you can almost see the edges of the forest beginning to disappear over the horizon and as you continue to climb the the terrain starts to become rocky it's almost as if you're moving up a kind of escarpment and as you the the path starts to kind of meander and weave in and out and you you know you start to lose sight of what's both behind you and in front of you and suddenly as you turn a corner you are taken aback to see um a woman in her late teens hunched over the unmoving um prone body of a much much older woman now the card that comes out of the deck here is an opportunity card and that opportunity is right wise um and so you see um that the the girl has her back to you and her companion is is appears to be from this from this distance unconscious on the floor and you can hear the girl weeping and kind of busying herself as much as she can over her companion dear child are you perhaps entity so she she hasn't heard you come around the corner and she turns around in shock almost as if and kind of puts her body in the way of you and the woman the old woman lying on the floor and she says how do you who are you how do you know my name the entire village is wondering where the hell you are and they decided we should look for you on our way to actually deal with more important things yes we were sent out here to find you and i'm guessing any's there as well as a potential peer or who we may or may not be about to murder yes depends if that woman's dead to be frank so Elodie kind of she's a little bit with a little bit wary of Kathy with with kind of how direct that that greeting if you can call it that was the introduction was um but she seems more reassured she's she's she's overwhelmed by the fact that other people are here and that she's no longer kind of on her own in this situation and she says she's she's struggling to find her words and she's sobbing and she's like once she kind of begins to calm down a bit as you approach and she begins to calm down a bit still placing her body in between you and a nace she says please anything you can do like really like a nace she's she she took a rock to the head she's she's hurt she's she's unconscious i've you know i've tried to make her comfortable i dragged her down here from the from the precipice um if there's anything you can do to help please you know please help her as a fix of her steady hands can i potentially perform first aid unless anyone else has first did i assist using folk tradition to think of any folk medicine oh i also have to eat that so perhaps i can find useful oh yeah like you can find like poisons are actually medicines yeah i can tell if they're good for folk medicine teamwork so in this instance then j and matt you both want to go what you want you kind of want to scarper back down to the clearing for example and have a look you know one see if you can think of any um any herbal remedies in this place and check and first if she's alive yeah she's dead she's dead there's no point so um she is you can see that she's breathing she's she's kind of it's raspy breath but she is definitively alive right oh before we go who hit up with the rock we weren't judging for you but we do need to know she says it was the the and she's she's struggling for work she says the the the monster we saw it on purpose or accident she said rocks what she said that man that awful man jumped onto its back and and the rocks were flying everywhere okay fine good no one tried to can't enable that bitch language my dear language perhaps we should take the elderly lady down to the clearing clearing we'd know a band's been in i mean if you want to feed their wildlife that's a bad way to do it well we need to take them somewhere safer we can't leave them here honey is indeed a disinfectant oh you're not wrong don't call me honey come here philip i think maybe if you could go into the tree and receive a retrieve some honey for this elderly lady perhaps we could pretend prevent an infection i do concur all right so flower you're gonna if you you go running back to the clearing and you get to the base of the tree i need a traversal check please uh please me quick thinking uh you can use quick thinking in this case it will make the traversal check easier all right go watch out you can quick think all you want about climbing the tree but you do still have to climb it yeah oh wow five out six how do i climb tree what was that six five out of six oh you're out of six yeah five it's not bad still um all right so you you chin up the tree you're kind of climbing up but one of the things your quick thinking does allow you to do is to think just before you climb up you gather some kind of dead leaves and moss from the bottom of the tree and you we're using some string in your pack you tie them around a stick and you get them smoking you kind of spark use your your flint and sparkle in your pack and you get the wood you get the the tree the leaves smoking a bit so as you're climbing the tree you're holding this up to the hive and the smoke obviously calms the bees down that allows you to reach into the into the hive take some honey without disturbing the bees too much and get back down the tree without being stung um so armed with your honey you go running back up this hill um and and deliver you know deliver the deliver your prize to your party oh well done although she has already died so um I guess then we apply to the wound yeah so yeah so applying the honey to the head wound is you're right obviously honey is naturally antiseptic so this is this is gonna you know it's not going to bring her back to consciousness you know she's she's taken a rock to the head um but it is going to help you um it is going to help you uh kind of deal with deal with any potential infection so while Philip was away finding this honey the rest of the party are obviously still with Elodie and her nace um are there anything anything you want to kind of ask them while ask her because obviously her nace is unconscious does anyone have any smelling salts no um but hang on how about you take off one of your that probably do the same thing i watched them two weeks ago they're fine anise was it around your entity i always forget um why were you and your mentor i think um going after that hunter so she's she's calmed that knowing that you are here to help her she's she's kind of calmed down she's still on edge obviously she's still very concerned she's kind of crouched back down by uh by a nace and has kind of has got her head propped up a little bit and is trying to you know clean off you know clean off the dried blood and and stuff like that but she says that she says a nace uh she is my mentor or at least you know at least i want her to be um she says a nace is a trained diviner she trained at um she trained in multi-airs at um at the diviners college and i'm desperate to go it's it's i've you know my mother before she died my mother was um you know a diviner not quite but she was she was in she says she she heard she heard fate more than more than more than the rest of us did and she says i think i hear it i i hear fate too and so i want to go and train but and they said um i needed more experience of of the wilds i needed to to to see fate in it in her rawest form and to to to see a monster is to witness fate's will up close and so when you know she says she's been alert she says a nace has been researching for months she thinks she she thought that the the change in the weather was was because a monster had come to the area and so we set out um we set out some some days ago and she said that once you know once we came back she would write my letter of recommendation but and then she says but maybe i wasn't ready because look at what's happened she's hurt that man attacked the monster um maybe i'm not maybe i'm maybe my father's right maybe i should just stay in the village maybe we've all taken a rock to the head at one point and you can tell because in any case i would caution you it seems you do need more experience after all while i'm no divider myself i can tell you that to know fate isn't to try and stop it to stand in its way or to think you can control it but to watch it observe it observation is much of what i do her lip kind of starts to quiver and you can you can tell that you've touched a nerve here with this that and she's she said we did we wanted to come out and and to just to see it just to just to see it up close and then we picked up the trail of that awful man and then an ace said we had to do what we could to protect it and that's when that's when we saw him throw himself onto its back and it started to churn itself about and throw rocks everywhere um and once an ace got hit i had to i didn't see what happened to the man but i had to drag her out of there a good heart in both yourself and you meant her then but one thing i'd caution you to remember was humans we often forget we're not separate from this world we're not separate from fate you can't control it you can master it and it will take you on as much of a ride as it will any creature in these woods you're no less a part of this world than anything else but still you've seen kind hearted and strong willed enough to actually come out here and stick with your mentor rather than running so i suppose you'll do quite well so she she kind of smiles at that a bit she's she's really she's really assured tell us where the hunter is i fully intend to dig a grave for that man um so she says she points she kind of points in the direction further up and she says if you we were up there and we saw him on the other side of the crevat the other side of the the dip the depression um i don't know where he ended up we he must he can't she said she's she's she's kind of frantically trying to try to get her thoughts at all and she's like she can't have stayed on top of it the way that it was thrashing about he can't have stayed on top of it she says i'd put money i'd put any money any any number of bears you wanted i'd put money that he's over that hill good and to regards to anything you haven't here scream shouting please from us if i if you don't tell i won't uh let's set it up and i'm starting to get incredibly worried about you oh i'm fine don't worry i'll take you with the rock in the head but did it pour that likely i think she spent too much time with his woods so with um this at this point then i assume the party is is ready to carry on there carry on there that their their mission to try and track down the monster and discover what has happened to the hunter right yes okay so with um with the honey applied to an aces wounds and and hearing her kind of beginning to mumble a bit under her breath you are you're as certain as certain can be at this point that she's not in any immediate danger um so you leave you leave what remains of your your kind of traveling equipment um next to and next to elety in a nace with the you know with the implied understanding that this means you will be coming back to help them out with the forest um after you've you know met your quarry um and so with one glance back just to make sure they're all right and with elety kind of giving you a uh a kind of slightly worried smile you trek up um up this steep steep incline and as you come over the top as you as you kind of reach the peak of this of this incline you see a huge um almost like a bowl made out of the rock um down in front of you it's difficult to see fully down into it from your current vantage point but as you turn to your left you see um a tall tall man easily six six six you know six six six seven built muscled man propped up against the rock with one arm limping you know like hanging limping at his side um and blood coming forth from a kind of uh a gash wound on his um on his right arm um the card coming out of the deck here is another opportunity card and that opportunity is piaver she the huntsman um do i see any like rocks prepared precariously on a cliff edge wily coyote style give me give me an observation check he's already injured he might not be able to dodge five five you um you do not but what you do see is that there are broken shards of what appear to be a spear um littered around where piaer is propped up against you know propped up against some rocks old life for his defenses can't carry hold my dear one moment with don't eat that can i find some mushrooms that are poisonous and potentially with the pretense of healing and oh yes we're here to help feed him said mushrooms i will remind you i will remind you that graduates of the mapamundi institute swear and oath to do no harm in the world damn it god damn it i had my fingers crossed okay after all isn't taking a hunter who hunts endangered monsters out of the world and they're good i mean he probably really doing harm i could be argued as such a good your your definition of harm could you know don't need to serve justice um my my point here is that this huntsman is trying to change the ecology of this uh wild area i like the capy's going on on the murder train so quick not me i mean i feel we need to you know dispose of this husband somehow you must have written this is one of the issues when you make a no combat game the clears will find it well i will add i will met a game somewhat and say this is the 21st game i've run and you're the first people to desire to kill him i'm not he doesn't find no way people have people have found ways to um exacerbate his injuries but no one has missed you so we went torture and not murder the cow yeah torture is maybe a strong word for what they did but should we should we explore the current i mean so let's let's let's bring Pierre onto the scene shall we so as you as you um turn and see him he locks eyes with you and you get the sense that he knows exactly who you are and exactly where you've come from um and he spits onto the ground um and a decent amount of fresh blood comes out of his mouth as he spits um this is a man who is decked out in the tools of his trade he is uh he's wearing um you know foresty colors earthy tones he has evidently attempted to camouflage himself in these woods as as i said his left arm is hanging limply down by his side um and he's he's you know kind of somewhat staunch to the bleeding from the wound on his right arm and as you lock eyes and after he spits he he driesably says i assume you you you do good as a from the mapper monday institute oh yes of course we are you're right a good sir you seem quite injured there yeah he tried these mushrooms just helped uh older women with a head injury too there's quite a lot of people head in these woods well he says so he he is but you know he realizes he's got little opportunity but to tolerate your presence here he kind of tries to push himself up on the rocks and you hear him grunting and he's in evidently in some quite considerable pain um he kind of clutches that he's side with his one you know he's injured but you know but still usable arm um and he says if you come here to find it it's got you know it you know it threw me off it's you know the things yours now whatever you whatever it is you people do the thing is yours now can i give you a question Pierre was it yes yeah once you are healed do you intend to continue hunting this creature this one he's this one's that this one's a dad he says there's nothing i can take back from this one that will do anyone any good all right and um the secondary one i particularly uh did you come here hunting on a noble cause because villages were disappearing or merely for the trophy so he he has a he kind of bursts out into a sardonic um sarcastic laugh and he says you know as well as i do what i came here for and it certainly wasn't for those idiot village villagers well i'm glad i can keep my promise and to help all who would not do hard to others and since you're clearly you have her course in capable of doing half the moment when i take the mushrooms then the only medicine we really have left after helping that elderly woman back there so he i mean he this man is not an idiot um and he as the mushrooms are proffered to him he slaps them out of out of matt's hand and says that he you know he he he scoffs at you and says well what happened to do no harm a like you you you you're like you know you're the doo good as you're the protectors you're the ones that you know you're the ones that look down on people like me imagine imagine offering someone something that you know is going to hurt them well i know how about this i suppose i just couldn't tell i could uh we will not be doing harm the harm merely comes from the mushroom your choice of eating them is your own fault i don't know how we do are we are a legitimate vent harm and as you know the map i'm on the initiative isn't about people is it that i do good as treehouses we very much with mudland's own nature how about what he says so this as as flower as so Pierre looks at Pierre looks at Philip and recognizes someone who at the very least resembles him you know you're both wearing protective clothing and so the the notion of a deal certainly piques his curiosity it says well what is it what's your deal guardian if we help you with this creature and we all survive will you come back and face justice there's no more against this unfortunately in fact if we had if he didn't need to succeed in killing it in some areas he'd be lorders as a hero lorded as a hero and it's a necessary kill it you could always point us in the correct direction i suppose and return me might actually tend as injuries so hearing this hearing this offer and realizing that he is you know he's going no further towards his quarry Pierre says throw me some bandages and get lost get lost down into that dip over there you'll see it he said believe me you can't miss it and you kind of hear him you know you hear him mumbling under his breath you know as if they as if they were calling it the root and branch monster and you know kind of cursing his luck that this that someone as experienced as him should end up in this position you will die eventually your blood will feed the land you once took from and that is all that can ever happen although i would hurry if there's bandages there are quite a few bits around so pushing himself up and propping himself up he kind of pins his arm to his side and starts to kind of make us you know make a makeshift sling it's clear that the arm that's hanging down by his side is is broken that he's fallen from some kind of great height and so as he turns to walk away he gives you one more sardonic look and he says um he says to you i bet you don't even know what it's actually called do you don't need to know and don't particularly care more just observing the creature than its name but do you want to tell us don't push him down the hill then we push him down the hill is it cool another in love he's far enough away from you that pushing him down the hill he's you know this is a man kicking down the hill this is a man this is a man that remains dangerous even in defeat um but he says to you he says those those those stupid villagers they called it the root and branch monster um but he said it he said it some of them at least did know that it existed or thought they knew that it existed and he says we call it in the trade we call it the helix car coal um and he says you'll see why when you clap eyes on it all right then they'll stumble your way back to disgrace and they'll actually hug this thing down and you're scared i suppose they're for much better means so as he turns away you hear him kind of laughing to himself as he kind of limps off into the into the distance um satisfyingly for you as you turn around you do hear um what sounds like elody shouting and then you hear the sound of something hitting him a human body um and um ampere crying out in pain still definitely alive and walking but you like to imagine that elody has thrown a rock at him um just because you have sworn to do no harm doesn't mean that everyone has elody my good girl aim for the arm it's already broken all the family jewels only girl at this point only one thing awaits you and that is to crest over the the top of the hill and finally encounter your target so the journey phase comes to an end and we stand on the precipice of the encounter phase.