Krevborna – Session 6 Review

No more streaming RPGs for me. At least, no more producing streams. It stresses me in unfun ways, especially when I also have the responsibility to run a game. Session 6, despite all the fun we had playing it, did not stream or record correctly. For whatever reason, OBS didn’t pick up my microphone despite my validating that my audio input was not muted and set to the correct device. After several times dealing with these issues, I don’t want to solve them now. Instead, back to Krevborna and Dungeon World (on Wednesdays, not Mondays, due to scheduling issues).

So, what happened in this session?

Narrative

Picking up from the previous session, the party decided to follow a potential pirate through the city after an interaction with corrupt law enforcement. They tailed her through a market and ran into the Paladin, but just as they got back together, they reached the docks and lost sight of their prey.

Another predator found them, though, in the form of a beastly aberration! I wrote up a custom monster for this based on art I found:

Beastly Aberration Group, Terrifying
Tentacle Lash (d8+2 damage) 10 HP 1 armor
Close, Reach
Special qualities: Paralyzing Tentacles
Some foul experimentation or invocation of elder evil has brought forth a beast that should not be. Tentacles lash out from its back, and those who have fought one and somehow survived described their touch like lightning. To them, all others are prey to be hunted. Instinct: to hunt

• Lash out at prey
• Paralyze with its touch

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The other crowds on the dock fled at the sight of this horrifying monster, but of course the adventurers fought it. During the fight, the Paladin briefly suffered that paralysis… and as she came out from it, she let out an intimidating, inhuman roar that didn’t sound like her voice at all. This spooked her quite a bit, so that even when the rest of the group finished off the monster, she seemed out of it. Not quite catatonic, the player hastened to add, just lost in thought.

But the Fighter and Thief spotted somebody suspicious watching them when the crowds panicked! They gave chase and found their way into an abandoned old warehouse with a grate in the floor and lots of crates and other debris scattered about. In their searching, they determined that that grate was just a distraction; the real exit was another grate hidden behind some of the crates and pallets. After fetching their friends and finding a crate of weapons belonging to the League of Rat Catchers (including a blunderbuss!), they headed down into a smuggling tunnel that led back out to the harbor. But the portcullis had been pulled down and locked, so they just watched as the suspect got away on a small rowboat.

The blunderbuss, by the way, doesn’t actually exist in the vanilla Dungeon World equipment list. Instead, I added it as:

Blunderbuss: near, reload, +1 damage, 100 coin, 1 weight
Black Powder: 4 ammo, 20 coins, 1 weight

At this point, it was time to rest. Surprisingly, the Bard and Thief went on a romantic interlude that evening. Remember when I talked about lines and veils? This demonstrated the veil concept quite nicely. The next morning, the Paladin sought out a hedge wizard (or folk witch, if you like) with knowledge of curses and “sealing magic”. The witch told her that it would be so simple and that what grew within her needed holy magic to purge it. That was not the answer she wanted, but she believes she could go to Chancel, seat of the Church of Saintly Blood, to learn more.

For now, she returned to the local cathedral, where the Fighter awaited her. In what I found a very touching moment, the Paladin anointed him with holy water she had previously blessed and prayed over him. We talked about the ritual a bit, and he felt… something. Some warmth and hope blossomed within him that he had previously not felt.

After this, they headed to the tavern where Morrigan Rue had asked them to investigate possible cultist activity. And that ended the session!

Lessons Learned

I continued to focus more on improvisation, even more this time than previously. My preparation time now mostly involves writing up any new monsters or dangers, grabbing new art for backdrops in Roll20, and building out potential NPCs.

By not streaming anymore, I really feel like my focus on the game will get better. No longer will I be trying to worry about technical issues (or at least, fewer types of technical issues) or even Twitch chat. Nobody’s performing for an audience – just each other.

(We’ve already played Session 7 but that writeup will have to come later.)