dungeon world session report

While resting in Alby's barn after their previous adventure, the party woke up to discover the room filled with smoke. They escaped from the fire and, once outside, saw a figure fleeing into the distance with a lit torch. Acting quickly, Gooseberry transformed into a cheetah and bolted after the villain. Bean hopped onto her back at the last possible moment, hanging on for dear life.

As the halflings pursued their quarry, Malone and Tomat worked to contain the fire in the barn. They weren't able to save the structure but they prevented the blaze from spreading to nearby buildings.

Gooseberry, finally drawing in range of the cloaked figure, pounced! But she fumbled and only managed to tear off a scrap of their cloak. The maneuver dislodged Bean, who fell from her perch and got a nasty cut when she struck the ground. Winded from her previous attack, Gooseberry was unable to continue her pursuit. Bean tried to hamper the figure's escape with her crossbow, but all her shots missed. She was ran out of ammo.

While Gooseberry caught her breath and Bean searched in vain for more ammo in her pack, Tomat and Malone arrived on the scene. The four of them discussed the events and decided to consult the village elder Iza. Iza suggested that the attacker was probably another member of the Blackblossom clan. They no-doubt wanted revenge for the killing of their brethren in the woods the previous day.

The party restocked on arrows and healing poultices by trading with local farmers. They also commissioned a hunter named Tavrim to help them track their attacker. He agreed, as long as the party promised to work in the interest of the village. Together, they set out to the north.

After several hours' march, Tavrim lost the trail at a river crossing. He suggested that the Blackblossom hideout was probably a ways to the west, so the party continued under that assumption. Sure enough, they soon spotted the ruins of an old wooden fort. And, judging from a glint spotted in the central watchtower, the party had been noticed as well.

As carefully as they could, the party approached the fort (save for Tavrim, who was ordered to stay behind and call out a signal if any danger was approaching from afar). They reached the stronghold's ruined outer wall without any interference, and quickly found a large gap in the fortification around the side. Oddly, the ground spanning the gap was lined with empty glass bottles. Tomat and Malone theorized that the arrangement was probably meant to serve as a crude alarm.

Bean decided to slip around the back of the fort and find her own stealthy way in, hoping to dispatch the watchtower's occupant without making a fuss. Tomat, though, was impatient. He decided to try carefully stepping over the bottles. But he had no sooner placed one foot on the ground within the fort than a BANG! rang out from the watchtower, and one of the bottles exploded into shards of glass. Ma Blackblossom called out to Tomas, demanding that he proceed no further.

Tomat decided to disregard this order and dove for cover behind an empty stable within the fortress courtyard. His dive was not quick enough, though, and Ma managed to shoot him in the side with her revolving musket. Meanwhile, Malone made a bee-line straight for the base of the watchtower and Gooseberry transformed into a lizard.

Around the back of the fort, Bean was locating a safe place to clamber over the wall. Her first try was no good - a few bandits were sitting in the dirt and gambling, happily ignoring the gunfire behind them (Ma engaged in target practice all the time with her glass bottle collection). She traveled further along to a vacant spot and entered the fort. Unfortunately, as she attempted to cross the courtyard unseen, she was spotted by more attentive bandits who were running to investigate the gunfire. They immediately set upon her with crossbows.

Gooseberry had just managed to clamber to the top of the watchtower in her lizard form when Tomot decided to join Malone at the base of the watchtower. Not realizing their compatriot was at the top, the two of them set to work destroying the legs of the tower. It was an easy job thanks to the barbarian's raw strength and the fighter's demolitions expertise. The tower began to tip ominously toward Malone.

Up in the crow's nest, Gooseberry reverted to her halfling form and attempted to wrestle Ma's musket away from her. Unfortunately, she wasn't counting on Ma carrying a knife in reserve. The druid received a blade to the gut and was forced to retreat - she transformed into a goose and flew out of the tower as it began to topple over in earnest.

Around the back of the fortress, Bean was in melee with the two bandits who had spotted her. Things weren't going well for her, and she was down to her last sliver of health when Tomat came rushing to her rescue. Tomat quickly crushed the skull of one of the assailants, and Bean took the opportunity to try and stab the other with her rapier. But at the last moment, she spotted something - strapped to the ruffian's vest were several sticks of dynamite. There was a good chance that a strike from her weapon would cause a deadly explosion. This left her with a morbid choice - slay the bandit and risk both her life and Tomat's, or hold back and risk giving him a chance to respond? Not wanting to risk Tomat's life, Bean was forced to choose the latter option, and the bandit thanked her for her kindness by burying his knife in her chest.

Bean died.

The Outskirts of the After were a soothing place. Bean found herself standing on the mirror-like surface of an unmoving sea, the surface of which reflected the countless stars above. After a moment, she was aware of a figure in front of her - a young human girl with long black hair who wore a long shirt covered in black and white stripes. Bean knew the figure at once: it was Death. Death spoke to her for a moment, judging her for her actions in her final seconds of life. Finally, it smiled and decided that Bean deserved another chance.

Bean awoke.

Tomat killed the bandit standing over the critically-wounded Bean, then, scooped her up and sought a safer position.

More Blackblossom thugs were converging on the tower, and Malone made the very strange decision to try and climb the falling structure. He made it up about half way before Gooseberry, in her avian form, bit at him in an attempt to make him cease this foolish course of action. This, combined with the continued crossbow fire from the bandits below, was enough to make Malone reconsider. He dropped to the ground - right in the path of the collapsing tower. Through sheer luck, the tower almost entirely missed him; he received mere scrapes from a passing beam.

Just before impact, Ma leapt from the tower's crow's nest, landing gracefully right in front of Malone. She aimed her musket right at his head and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened; Ma was out of ammunition. Malone charged, ignoring Ma's quick readying of her own dagger. She managed to embed it between his ribs. He managed to cut her in half.

All was silent for a moment, and then the rest of the Blackblossom clan cried out in anguish at the death of their matriarch. They charged, outnumbering the heroes a good 5 to 1. Gooseberry landed and changed into an owlbear, prepared for a bloody fight.

Suddenly, a familiar bird call - Tavrim was warning of approaching danger. Knowing that things were about to get much, much worse, the party decided to retreat. Malone quickly grabbed Ma's gun, satchel, and head, and the party clambered onto the druid's back for a quick escape. As they fled, one more crossbow bolt struck Gooseberry's feathery hide, but she shrugged it off.

As they sped across the land, they saw a veritable wall of metal in front of them - rank after rank of soldiers decked out in full plate armor and carrying massive kite shields. Not wanting to engage these fellows in combat, they decided to approach peacefully. Gooseberry assumed her halfling shape, and the party tried to be as non-threatening as possible. The leader of the army rode out to meet them, and Bean recognized him as Blessed Captain Rivers of the imperial army. He quickly discussed matters with the group, and informed the party that Ma Blackblossom, who the party had just killed, had an 1800 coin bounty on her head, payable in Luna, the provincial capital city. He wrote a letter for the party to carry, confirming that they had performed the deed, and then ordered his soldiers to mop up the pursuing Blackblossom thugs and raze the fortress. Blessed Captain Rivers also had his medic see to the party's wounds.

Malone searched Ma's satchel and found a magical compass. It could be configured to point towards deposits of any metal, not just iron.

Wearily, the heroes returned to the village. The elder meet them and confirmed that the person who had burned the barn the night before was none other than Shiro Kent-Blackblossom, a villager who had been working for the clan in secret. With Shiro gone (and probably killed at the fortress), the party was free to sleep in Shiro's now-vacant house. Malone inquired about where more black powder for Ma's musket could be acquired, and Iza suggested that the party check out the travelling circus that was currently about three days west of the village - they probably used some sort of explosive powder for their fireworks.