Pendragon Play Report - Year 3, Session 2

19 Oct, 2024

Last session we left off on a cliffhanger, with Sir Elias and Sir Eogrim deciding if they would do the old blind crone's bidding (hunting a griffin) to learn how to defeat the Yr Hen Wrach - the incarnation of the Lady Catrin who has somehow been turned into an evil hag that spreads disease.

Before the session, I ran Sir Valerius' - who was away last week - joust with Sir Matthew at the bridge, saying that he was following the lads at a distance. He ended up winning, and got the memory of a beautiful, auburn-haired lady named Catrin from the cursed knight at the bridge, and also a passion for her; he now loved her despite never having met her.

Valerius showed up to the witch's cottage and they talked about the griffin, deciding that they would enlist Gwynn, the peasant that was around and one of the victims of the hag. The peasant said he'd never fight a griffin with a spear, but he would do so if he could go back to his village and get his longbow.

Sir Elias and Sir Valerius then left Sir Eogrim at the wise woman's cottage to heal while they escorted the peasant to his village. And that's where we continue.

• 1st of Early Summer, 3rd year of Arthur's reign, Wednesday - They travel from the wise woman's cottage back to the bridge, and from there up to a fork. The path on the left seems overgrown and leads to the coast, while the one on the right goes ahead. They have to spend the night on the road. Elias stands watch.¹

• ES 2, thursday - Elias wakes up with black, swollen masses under his armpits and a sickly palor. The peasant that's tagging with them says the Yr Hen Wrach visited them overnight and Elias has come down with Hag's Breath, incurable. Elias says fuck it, I'll kill her myself, and starts marching down the left hand path with Valerius.

The Castle of Tears

• An hour later on that path a few hunting dogs come barking, their lord behind them demanding they heel. Once he reaches them, he apologizes for his dogs, introduces himself as Sir Brewnor, and offers his hospitality at his home, Castle Pleure. Our knights accept it.

• At dinner, the lord introduces a custom of his castle: none shall sit before his lady Melior does. That night, Elias tells them what happened and what is his quest. Both of them are moved by the tale and offer to help them reach the Yr Hen Wrach under the condition that they bring the Lady Catrin to Castle Pleure so Lady Melior can shower her with gifts and fine gowns so that she can marry with some wealth. Elias and Valerius accept this pact.

Hunting the Yr Hen Wrach

• ES 3, friday - Elias and Valerius move on north, they know the hag lives in the Cardigan Cliffs along the shore somewhere, on the marshes. They go by boat for a while until they can continue on their feet, looking for Yr Hen Wrach, whereupon they find a small mound of little bones.

• Approaching to examine reveals the Yr Hen Wrach coming from a cave nearby. She breathes her foul breath, Elias jumps out of the way while pushing his squire, but Valerius freezes in place (fails a Valorous roll) and breathes in the foul miasma. He resists it, though, and that draws his attention to the hag's foot, which has a single thorn sticking out of an ugly wound.

• They fight it out. Valerius gets clawed down first (and knocked out with a Major Wound that luckily has no lasting repercussions), Elias uses his spear to push the hag to the ground and then spear her on her neck, disappointed because he thought he could have solved this with words.

• With the hag out of commission, him and his squire wrap her in their canvas tarpaulin they were using for a tent and drag her back to Castle Pleure. Valerius stays there to heal. Sir Brewnor says not to keep the hag around, it would offend his lady. Elias continues on, depressed.

• Later that day, at sunset, he reaches the bridge that Sir Matthew guards. He shows the knight what has become of his lady, but Sir Matthew is cursed and can't even climb down from his horse, so he just lets out a heart-rending cry of pain and starts shaking, impotent. Elias also is sad that the curse hasn't been broken, so he buries his sword on the former lady's heart and is at a loss as to what to do.²

• When he starts considering suicide, his squire (that is, me as DM) points out that maybe the monks at the abbey might have some counsel? Elias' heart is restored.

The Monks at Llanbadarn Fawr

• ES 4, saturday - First order of business is going to the abbey. There's wolves following them and staring at the tarpaulin bag, which seems... different, and moving a bit, but Elias is too distraught to notice it.

• At the abbey they meet with St. Padarn, who seems disdainful of knights and cold, but courteous. He approaches the bag and reveals that the Yr Hen Wrach has returned to life overnight and has been trying to break free. He tells Elias that, sometimes, mercy is the answer, and removes the thorn from her foot.

• As he does, the hag reverts back to the beautiful Lady Catrin. Elias is beside himself and thanks the abbot profusely, saying he'll take her to Castle Pleure once she's feeling better. The abbot, however, discourages that plan, saying that the men of Castle Pleure are pagan and dangerous, but that they're welcome to stay at the abbey and heal up as they wish.

The Judging of Maidens

• ES 18, saturday - We skip 2 weeks as Lady Catrin recovers. Valerius and Eogrim do too, being able to travel, and they convene at the abbey to discuss what to do. Elias wants to follow Padarn's instruction, but Valerius and Eogrim are honorbound to take her to Castle Pleure. They eventually agree that the abbot is just disdainful of pagans in general and being a tool.

• Castle Pleure is just 30 minutes away from the abbey cross-country, it can actually be seen from the abbey.

• That night they dine at Castle Pleure, tell the story and how they plan to marry Lady Catrin to Sir Matthew at the bridge - something she's very happy to do - and everything is going fine.

• After dinner, Sir Brewnor tells them that they were introduced to one of the customs of his castle, and now he presents another: every time another lady sits with them for dinner, she must have a champion who will speak for her. Her champion and Sir Brewnor will then judge the most beautiful of the ladies.

• Sir Valerius promptly announces himself as the champion and chooses... Lady Catrin as the most beautiful.

• Sir Brewnor feels insulted and challenges him to a duel right now. A campfire is armed, his 12 footmen stand around in a circle, and they start fighting with swords, shields, and armour.

• Sir Brewnor very obviously outclasses Sir Valerius. He has more skill (19 to Valerius' 17), is bigger and stronger (deals 6d6 damage to Valerius' 5d6), and more motivated (18 Passion for his lady to Valerius' 8).

1st Round

• Valerius hits Sir Brewnor but it's a poor blow, not enough.

2nd Round

• Sir Brewnor gets a critical. With a powerful, telling blow he hits Valerius and throws him to the ground with the force. Things are looking extremely dire - Valerius hasn't healed completely from the fight with the hag, if just 3 points of damage pierce his armour of 18, he'll be unconscious. Sir Brewnor deals 6d6 dice of damage, that's an average of 21. The only thing he has going for him is the glowing sword Marmidoise that he obtained from defeating the half-giant King Ryons last year.

• Eogrim and Elias are protesting on the sidelines, yelling about how uncourteous Sir Brewnor is being and not to kill a man in front of the ladies! Sir Brewnor doesn't give a shit.

3rd Round

• Both of them activate their respective passions. Sir Brewnor manages it and gets a bonus, but Valerius doesn't!

• Despite that, Valerius manages to hit the lord back - a telling blow that sends him reeling and he falls down as Valerius gets up from the ground.³ He might make it!

4th Round

• Sir Brewnor is fighting as he raises himself off the ground. Valerius manages to strike him once more but not a good enough blow to deal any damage; the man is blocking him too well.

5th Round

• Everything even, both men on their feet, both roll... both get critical successes. This means that they'll each deal damage to the other at the same time!

• Both roll their modified damages and deal a mountain of damage to each simultaneously. Sir Brewnor is struck with a Major Wound and thrown back; Valerius should be struck dead here, but he remembers he still has an Accolade (called a Prestige Reward RAW) to pick and one of the options is saving the character from death once. He picks that.

• Through sheer knightly grit and divine intervention, Valerius is still standing with 1 (one) hit point left and a sword sticking out of him, while Brewnor is on the ground, one of his hands chopped off, screaming for Valerius to end him. Lady Melior runs and presents her neck too, to die with her beloved.

• Valerius is unsure what to do. He even tries leaving the choice to the dice, rolling his Merciful trait versus his Just trait, but both fail so he must choose it himself. Ultimately he refuses to kill either of them, and says they're exiled, and that Castle Pleure shall now belong to Lady Catrin.

• Lady Melior screams in anguish, runs out of the castle and as she does, the knights notice her mutate and transform into a blue-skinned hag - the Yr Hen Wrach returns.

Epilogue

• ES 19, sunday - After spending the knight on the castle, Elias and Eogrim escort the lady Catrin to the abbey and, accompanied by a monk, go down to the bridge and marry her to Sir Matthew, breaking the curse. The two of them move to Castle Pleure and settle there, their curse broken and their nightmare over. Sir Brewnor is executed with the support of the men of his house for his crimes, and Sir Matthew becomes the new lord of Castle Pleure.

And that's where we'll leave them, with a truckload of glory and a mostly happy ending. This was pretty cool! But there are still some questions left: What will happen to the new evil hag that is stomping around? Will the custom of Castle Pleure be over or was there magic there?? Will we ever reach the North of Wales??? Will we let Eogrim actually do something for once???? Will we get any resolution at all on the fucking rampaging griffin?????

Find all of this and more, next time... on...

SUNRISE QUEST!