Round 2

Chaos Card

This time I drew “The Smith”. Which states: “Someone in that group creates a new object of power.” 

This is interesting here. There’s no conflict really between the three groups yet, so I’m resistant to making it some kind of weapon. I think I know what it is and who uses it. 

The Mycine develop an artifact of some sort. Perhaps, it’s a magic orb. It can help spread the mushroom forest. So, I updated the map with where the forest has expanded. It may not be immediately obvious from the book, but when it’s applicable you can draw on empty tiles without specifically using the Draw the Map action. For example, if I had a card that somehow connected multiple groups together I would be able to define multiple tiles between those groups. When playing with others, I recommend you let them be who defines the tiles.

Turn 1

I had an idea that might have worked better as a react were I playing with multiple people but playing solo, I think would work well as a set scene.

The Question: How do the people of Nothia and Vel’lia react when they see the light from the Mycine Orb?

When the mycine used their orb to grow their mushroom forest, it created a bright light that could be seen for miles and miles. Rumors spread among people of Nothia and Vel’lia that the light was the wrath of Ilah and a sign that she isn’t fully pleased with either of them. The Goddess, herself, is not sure why these rumors came to be. So she inspires both groups to investigate.  

When they get to the edge of the fungal forest they are greeted by the Mycine but soon discover that neither human nor elf can breathe in the forest and it turns out that the mycine cannot survive well outside of it. The mycine tell their guest that they have further plans to expand their forest and their Goddess’s blessing to do so. Both parties are not sure how they feel about this, and return to their respective cultures with the news.

Turn 2

I could draw some more of the map, but I have an idea for another scene. My humans are very close to where the Static starts to have influence so I have to wonder: What happens when humans try to explore the area just north of them?

Legends had already been passed down for generations that you do not venture north beyond a certain point, but that did not stop the adventurer, Alma Hill. She had to see it for herself. She had to be the one who mapped it. She was stubborn in that way. Especially once she put her mind to it. There were few who wanted to join her, however, and she was only able to establish a small party of 10 others, including an elven diplomat named Dazzlewind.  Ilah speaks in a whisper to each them that they will not like what they will find there, but her warnings go ignored.
They set off from the capital of Nothia, Grenebrug, and arrived at the forsaken lands a few days later. At first there didn’t seem to be anything strange or horrible about this place and the set to work mapping along the coast. It was the morning of the third day when Dazzlewind went missing. An examination of his tent showed no clear evidence. It didn’t seem like he fled in the night or anything. He was simply gone.
The next five days went off without major incident with one exception. This is when they started to notice the humming sound. It sounded like radio static, though these people would not have context for that. They could sometimes hear voices or language in the humming, but when they tried to focus on it, the words would disappear and become nonsense. In the humming they again hear Ilah's warning, but it is drown out by the Static.
As they pressed on they noticed the color seemed to leave the world. Things felt grayer. They would see strange things too. Shadows of things that are not there and disappear once they look away. There was a call among the ground to cancel this expedition and return home. The group argued that they had discovered more than enough to prove the legends correct. Alma disagreed. She would not be satisfied until they fulfilled their original goal. Only two others stuck with her. The other six travel home to Greneburg. Seemingly under some mystical protection. They would never find out what happened to Alma and the others.
Eventually those that remained came to a small mountain range. That night it started to heavily rain. Alma and her hangerson found shelter in a cave. This is where they were confronted by a most curious being. Shortly after getting a small campfire going they heard the sound of footsteps from further in the cave and they were getting closer. When the trio turned toward the direction of the sound, there was nothing. When they turned back a skeleton was standing in the mouth of the cave and began walking towards them. The skeleton was wearing the clothes of an elven diplomat, the very same clothes of Dazzlewind. From it’s boney fingers shot arcane bolts that tore into the trio.

Since this scene established some of the map, I will also update it accordingly. As mentioned before if I were playing with others it would probably be a good idea to have one of them update the map. Of course when you are playing you do not need to do the sort of detailed coloring that I like to do. It’s okay to just label things, draw a little picture of the scene, or have coordinates attached to the scene in some way. All of that counts as “Defining the Map”.

On the map I also moved the names of the established societies so far so that I could get city names in there eventually. This scene also let me bring in something from my palette, ANIMATED SKELETONS! wooo!

Turn 3

To round out the round, I’m just going to draw some more of the map.

This tile it’s to the west: G3, G4, G5. 

I continued the already established theme of mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and grassland. Nothing too out of the ordinary there. The interesting fact is that a species of dwarves emerges from the mountains in G5. They call their city Ironhelm and, as typical fantasy dwarves, make the inside of the mountains their home mostly.

REACT
What happens when the dwarves meet with the nearby elves? They are actually viewed as having a shared kinship as they came from the same mountains. They end up having a stronger alliance with each other than the humans and elves do.

EDIT
There's something I realized that I messed up here. When you use Set a Scene as a deity your deity should be a major (not necessarily a main) character in that scene. For the two scenes I set here I didn't really include Ilah. While this is what it is for the context of this play test (I'm lightly editing these scenes for her to have more involvement), it's something you should keep in mind for your own games. The game book does not push this enough either so I'll be updating that as well.