Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Against the Wind Part Two

For our second session of Against the Wind, I wanted to try out the settlement building procedures. Like everything in this game, creating parts of the world is guided through dice rolls. The tables here cover everything from the angle of the streets and the number of intersections to how dense each block is. You’ll use tables to detail activity on the street and the purpose a building serves if you choose to enter one. I found it to organically build the community and provide many natural adventure hooks or set up potential NPCs to encounter again. Below is my second session playthrough, which ends with a clear direction for our third and final session.

Traveled south along the coastline searching for clues to the whereabouts of Simbi’s Finger.

Lore: The Lunar Keepers – violent apostles of the moon goddess Athora, they sleep during the day and hunt at night.

Sights: Enchanting phenomenon, glimpses of the world’s magic or mystical mirages

Event: Encounter – People – Local Hunter

What does Caeleth hunt? Answer: Glacial Serpents

Ask the GM: What is Caeleth avenging? Answer: Bond, Elusive, Decay

Aelwen comes across a campsite in the lush, mountainous jungles. The hunter sits before the fire warming his hands. An ornate spear with an obsidian head leans against a nearby tree. Aelwen makes sure his presence is known. The hunter reflexively grabs the spear and aims its point in Aelwen’s direction.

Action: Aelwen keeps his hands raised and announces himself, including that he is a monk from the Forge.

Roll: 7

Leverage Masterful Diplomacy (5+5 = 10) – Hit

Aelwen remembers that the people on the eastern coast expect a stranger to bring food. He’d caught some fish earlier in the morning and pulls those from his satchel offering them to the hunter. They are roasted over the fire and Aelwen learns his dining companion’s name – Caeleth.

Caeleth is from a nearby village. He’s been hunting for glacial serpents, pointing to the use of their skin in his leather clothing. The serpents’ thick hides allow them to forgo hibernation in these cold environs, so it helps keep the humans who wear it warm, too.

During the conversation, Caeleth asks if Aelwen has seen a young woman and man traveling together. He gives a brief description.

Ask the DM: Has Aelwen seen this couple before? Answer: Yes

Aelwen saw those two a few miles up the coast. Caeleth mutters something to himself and then asks if there are any villages further north and if Aelwen knows anyone there.

Ask the GM: Did Aelwen come across any villages to the north? Answer: No

As far as Aelwen knows it’s just wilderness. He does mention the shrine but warns of the undead druid there and that Caeleth should stay away. Aelwen asks the hunter about the village and the area. He wants to know if there are any known users of nature magic – druids or shamans?

Ask the GM – Answer: Yes, but – Modest, Scarcity, Chaos

Caeleth knows of one lone shaman that visits his village from time to time. He lives alone in the jungles and it’s said he practices a very dangerous, volatile magic. Aelwen asks for directions to the village and Caeleth provides them.

The town of Iggen

Location: Clustered around geothermal springs | Architecture: Colorfully painted wooden homes |

Mood: A vibrant hum of daily commerce

Block #1

Activity: A lone figure practices with a sword in a quiet alley | Smells & Sounds: The creaking of old wooden signs | Sights & Details: Tattered banners flapping violently

The wind has picked up and causes signs and banners to wave wildly. Aelwen spots a clever young woman who has found an alleyway out of the wind. She wields a simple shortsword and parries with a torso-sized bag of sand hanging from a hook off the side of the building. Aelwen watches quietly.

Ask the GM: Is the young woman any good with a sword? Answer: No, but she shows promise.

The woman has good footwork; she just needs to learn how to hold the blade better. Aelwen clears his throat and offers a tip.

Young Woman – Traveling Merchant – Loreth

Disposition: Hostile or suspicious | Revealed Aspect: Charismatic

The young woman scoffs at him and continues. He catches her looking at him from the corner of her eye and smirking. Aelwen notices a large bundle nearby, the kind merchants carry from town to town, hoping to make a sale. He decides to learn more about her. Standing up, Aelwen extends a hand for her to hand him the sword.

Challenge

Maneuver: 1 | Endurance: 2

Action: Aelwen takes the sword and proceeds to show off some of the fencing he was taught in the monastery. Roll: 3

He ends up tripping over his own feet as a gust of wind knocks him off balance, landing in the snow.

Challenge turn: Aggressive action

Aelwen loses 1 Talent – His training never accounted for this type of harsh weather. Where exactly is all this wind coming from? The sky is not that cloudy.

Aelwen stands, dusts himself off and makes another attempt as the young woman leans back, arms crossed watching the show. Roll: 7 (5+2)

Leverage his role as a Forge Warrior (5+5 = 10)

Aelwen focuses on the words of his mentors, letting the muscle memory take over and delivers a killing blow to the bag of sand. Then he flips the sword around, presenting the young woman with the hilt.

Challenge turn: Special Action

Spend 1 Maneuver to Gain 2 Endurance, Aelwen loses 1 Vigor

Aelwen realizes the cold is making his joints ache. He did receive his fair share of blows in his training and that seems to be catching up to him. The woman walks over to her bundle and appears to be preparing to move on.

Aelwen asks her if she’s traveled very far for her work. Roll: 5 (3+2)

She gives a dismissive look and looks ready to leave.

Challenge turn: Aggressive action

Aelwen loses 1 Resolve. The woman clearly has no interest in him and is keeping her distance. She departs.

Aelwen decides to see what building this is with the hanging bag of sand.

Category: Common | Type: Blacksmith’s Forge

Aelwen makes note of the place. Might be useful later.

Block #2

Activity: People bartering over goods at a street stall.

Ask the GM: Are there any shops nearby that look related to magic? Answer: Yes, but…they haven’t opened yet. It is still early in the morning.

Aelwen notices a sign swinging in the wind advertising a herbalist. He assumes this is likely a place a shaman living in the wilderness might sell what he scavenges out there. They are closed, set to open soon based on the activity of stalls and other shops. Aelwen listens in on the people bartering.

Ask the GM: What are they talking about? Answer: Chaos/Peace, Cold, Scarcity/Abundance

The woman who runs the stall is arguing with the customer about her price on blueroot radishes. He thinks she is charging far too much. She cites the war west between The Lunar Keepers and The Fae Ring Enclave. The latter are led by a great Fae military general, Cintrine. Aelwen had heard about these battles but wasn’t aware they had left much of the once fertile land arid meaning the blueroot radishes have become scarcer. The customer argues that he’d heard the Fae had retreated leaving the land free again. The stall owner claims they have not.

Action: Aelwen attempts to interrupt and explain what he knows from his studies in the monastery.

Roll: 6 (5+1)

Leverage his Clear as the Mountain Air voice to sound authoritative (5+5 = 10, Hit)

They listen raptly as Aelwen explains that the Fae often like to feign retreat in order to draw the enemy closer. When their foes are in environments more favorable to the Fae they will strike. Because the Fae do not eat the foods of men, they will often ruin the land so no more can be grown, hence the increase on the price of blueroot radishes. The customer appears to accept this fact and buys a couple less than that had planned.

Ask the GM: Does the stall owner know about the shaman who lives in the jungle? Answer: Yes

The stall owner says he comes into town twice a week to sell herbs, plants, fungi, and other things he collects in the jungle. He should be coming by this morning when the herbalist opens up. Aelwen does just that.

Aelwen continues to explore and plans to loop back in an hour.

Block #3

Activity: Locals standing around a fire sharing stories.

Aelwen sees these as a great opportunity to rest while he waits for the herbalist back around the corner to open. He sits and listens (Recover 3d6 resources = 10)

Ask the GM: What does Aelwen learn about? Answer: Stillness, Strong, Rupture/Bond

The geothermal springs that Iggen was built around seem to be dying as they are producing less energy than in the past. They were once so robust that the snow in and around the area melted. The locals believe that there is a rupture somewhere deep inside, but it’s simply too dangerous to dive down there and check.

Aelwen returns to the herbalist’s shop – Willow & Thistle Potion Supplies.

Wild Shaman

Disposition: Neutral or indifferent | Revealed Aspect: Cheerful | Look: Charred black, edged with crimson

Aelwen enters the store where the shaman is having a lively, friendly conversation with the shop owner. They glance for a moment, the shaman reveals nothing in his reaction & returns to the chat.

Ask the GM: Is there anything for sale here that seems exceptional? Answer: Yes, but…it is behind lock and key. Oracle: Strong, Shadow/Light, Elusive

Aelwen notices that behind the counter, locked in a case, is Specter’s Essence. Aelwen read about this potion and its special properties of transforming a person into a ghost for a limited amount of time based on the concentration of the brew. This particular one is labeled as “Xtra Strength”

Aelwen asks who made that potion. The owner says it was her, but points out that Elanar, the shaman who slightly bows towards the strange man in their town. Aelwen explains his background at the monastery and his search for Simbi’s Finger.

Ask the GM: Does Elanar know anything about the whereabouts of this elusive wand? Answer: No

Elanar, like others, has heard about the wand, but he has no idea where it could be. Aelwen inquires about the stories he’s any insight regarding the diminishing potency of the hot springs he’d heard about.

Ask the GM – Answer: Yes, but…Peace, Open, Modest

Elanar explains that the hot springs flow from an underground river which was overseen by a Dwarven tribe, the Dwolin, who had a vast city beneath the mountains to the east. There was a peace treaty signed between them and the citizens of Iggen. Contact between the humans and the dwarves was minimal and then one day the heat from the springs started to cool. Elanar posits that something bad has befallen the dwarves, but he’s not sure how to go about remedying this.

Action: Aelwen offers his services if Elanar will join him. Roll: 7 (6+1)

Leverage his Masterful Diplomacy (6+6 = 12, Hit)

Aelwen explains how he would like to strengthen ties between the monastery & Iggen, that this is something that could plant the seeds for such a thing. Elanar nods in agreement.

Here’s the map I had drawn by the end of this session. I realized in retrospect I wasn’t doing the intersections quite right. Note to remember for next time: