Everyway: Blood of Queens

Given the situation with Kat's earlier game, I told Patrick that he could probably get into Blood of Queens, her 5pm game. Sure enough, we were the only 2 players, though Josh later joined us.

Queen Radiance of the realm of Twilight was dead, and all who believed themselves to have a valid claim to the throne, regardless of gender, were invited to make their case. All PCs had to be potential candidates.

As the silent Shadowspeak watched, Chancellor Day welcomed the candidates. These included:

Warmaiden, Patrick's PC. A seasoned general who had led troops for Twilight in the past, she believed her skills were what the realm most needed. Her sword glowed with light when unsheathed. Her real name was Cuail (pronounced "koo-ale"), which Patrick tells me is Gaelic for "hound of Ail", Ail being her homeland. Accompanied by a trusty lieutenant Conrad. I believe Conrad loved her.

Sword Dancer, Josh's PC, a shapeshifting mage, as Josh, like myself, wanted to see the new magic system in action. Believed there was a family connection to the royal family of Twilight.

Twilight's Daughter, my PC. A selkie who also believed she had a family connection, and her tiny, pointy-eared lawyer, Sharp Eyes, agreed. Naive enough not to see how presumptuous her newly chosen name was, she nevertheless radiated purity (her 0 point power) and was surprisingly perceptive in some ways (thanks to Kat's interpretation of what a high water score is good for).

Talon: A PC from an earlier run, played as an NPC, to add another candidate. A genuine relation of the royal family, if a distant one, she fled when things got sticky.

Ember: The hot-headed cousin of the late queen, she didn't see why there was any question of anyone other than herself succeeding Radiance.

Fauna, half woman, half goat (though not the same character as in City of a Thousand Moons), was not a candidate. She had gone to sleep elsewhere, but woken up in this realm. Perhaps her help might be needed? I'm wondering if she's there in case no PC has healing magic.

Twilight's Daughter was delighted to meet her cousin, but clearly, Ember was the logical heir. Why look elsewhere? Annoyed, Sharp Eyes gave her a swift kick.

Ember, not at all charmed by Twilight's Daughter's name or her insistence on addressing Ember as "cousin", agreed with her on that point. However, Chancellor Day insisted that she was following tradition and that Queen Radiance had insisted on this. She led everyone to a set of locked double doors, only to discover that she was missing the key.

Shadowspeak quietly led Fauna and Twilight's Daughter away, hoping to spare the 2 innocents. However, Day called her back and demanded the key. She produced it, with silent reluctance.

The doors were unlocked, revealing a huge cauldron with a green flame. The candidates were told that they had to stick their arm in the flame. Warmaiden did so, and her arm was instantly consumed. Conrad grabbed her sword and chopped the arm off, keeping the fire from spreading further.

Fauna healed Warmaiden. Ember decided it was her turn -- she had tried to go first, but Warmaiden was faster. Twilight's Daughter tried frantically to stop Ember, convinced Day had set the whole thing up as a trap to eliminate all possible successors to Radiance. This was when Josh arrived.

As Twilight's Daughter tried to block Ember, she tripped over Day's outstretched staff, this being Kat's interpretation of the Usurper card being drawn. I liked it.

Sword Dancer used her magic to slow Ember and turned her away from the fire. Day decided to drop all pretense. The fire in the cauldron turned black, sucking the light out of the room. The dark fire was alive. It attacked, as did Day, who proved to be no more than dark fire herself.

I forget many of the specifics of the fight. The darkness kept splitting and rejoining. Warmaiden's sword shone with light, and this proved not only a source of illumination, but also a weapon capable of hurting the darkness. Sword Dancer was also an effective fighter, especially when moving supernaturally fast. However, the dark could regenerate, and the cauldron held a seemingly endless amount.

Ember and Fauna wound up unconscious, Ember getting burned by the dark fire, Fauna transferring Ember's pain to herself. Shadowspeak tried futilely to light a torch. Twilight's Daughter moved towards a door to let more light in.

Finally, doors were opened and light drove the darkness into the cauldron, which was covered. Only Shadowspeak knew what was going on, but, as the PCs guessed, speaking would kill her. She nevertheless chose to talk.

Shadowspeak: These are the last words I shall ever speak.

Twilight, she explained, was a realm of perpetual twilight, but night was falling. If it came, Prince Night would reclaim the realm that had once been his, locked in perpetual night, until the first Radiance had claimed it from him.

Each succeeding ruler had also been Radiance. It was true that one had to test oneself with flame, but the flame was in a crack in a cave on a mountain. A worthy candidate would become Radiance, giving up all she had and all she was. Without Radiance, Prince Night would reclaim the realm, and everyone would die.

Everyone needed to go quickly to the mountain. While Twilight's Daughter did not like the thought of leaving Ember behind, she was unconscious, and I thought Kat was trying to get the PCs to leave her. I didn't want to slow things up, so I had her raise the objection, but be prepared to go along. However, the others decided to bring both Ember and Fauna, one on Conrad's horse, the other on Warmaiden's.

Ember woke first and tried to flee, not knowing what was going on. She gave everyone a tongue lashing which Twilight's Daughter tried to cut short by telling her that Shadowspeak was dead. Ember was brought up to date and said that she already knew the price for becoming Radiance, having been preparing for this for years.

I gave some thought to the question of who was to become Radiance. I suspected Twilight's Daughter was the best choice, as she was something of a blank slate in terms of personality. The purity helped, and I tried to have her give an order or two, though this was not her strong suit. And I knew what she would say to try to convince the others she should be Radiance's successor. However, I wasn't sure if that's where the story would -- or should -- go, and at the moment, Twilight's Daughter had every reason to believe Ember the ideal candidate. I decided to stay open to Twilight's Daughter either supporting Ember or pushing her own claim until the moment came where the correct choice would be obvious. It was oddly like gming in some ways.

Sword Dancer sped up the horses, which was useful when Prince Night had black lightning bolts target them. The group next found their way blocked by a fearsome champion of the Prince, a man with a mouth in his belly. He was accompanied by more of the living dark fire. An honorable man, but one who owed fealty to his Prince, who had been waiting 300 years to reclaim the realm, he informed us that he would not let us take our current route past him.

The group moved back and out of sight. Sword Dancer decided to give wings to herself and the horses, and Josh made up an amusing ditty asking the horses to learn to fly.

Sword Dancer did give the horses wings, but they had no idea what to do with them. Sword Dancer tried to teach them, but Twilight's Daughter sensed that the horses a) had no idea how to fly and b) were trying to convince Sword Dancer that, yes, they understood her, so that she would leave them alone.

Twilight's Daughter tried to get them to fly to reach an apple she was holding over her head on a stick. The horses wanted it, but couldn't figure out how to get it. She gave the stick to Sword Dancer, who had to hold it with her feet, as her arms had become wings. The horses eventually figured out how to fly for the apple.

Everyone set off, this time on flying horses. Fauna finally woke up.

Twilight's Daughter: Please don't get off the horse!

Fauna, however, did just that, growing wings like Sword Dancer. There was no further excitement until the group reached the mountain.

They found a cave, but it was pitch black inside. Warmaiden again drew her sword, while Ember used magic to make her fingertips glow. Everyone held on to each other until they came to the crack with the true fire. This left the question of who would be the new Radiance.

Sword Dancer used her magic to try to get a feel for who would make the best queen. Everyone had the potential and the willingness to make the sacrifice, Kat said, but Twilight's Daughter, while unused to command, radiated such purity and was a good blank slate.

Sharp Eyes had already tried to discourage his client from continuing to go along with the group.

Sharp Eyes: It was a mistranslation. I see it now -- you're supposed to be in the realm of Dawn.

Twilight's Daughter: No, I think I'm needed here.

Sharp Eyes: Why do you pay for my advice if you won't take it?

Twilight's Daughter: I paid you?

Sharp Eyes: You will.

Twilight's Daughter had been prepared to support Ember, but when Sword Dancer told the others what she had seen, realized that the mage was right.

It was an interesting moment. One could say that I had gamed the session by choosing a naive, pure heroine, and certainly, my choice of Radiates Purity as a 0 point power was quite deliberate. However, I had no way of knowing how the heir was chosen nor how precisely on target the power was, just as Patrick had no way of knowing how useful Warmaiden's light-emitting sword would be. Kat saw both of our PCs in advance, and she had opportunity to veto either attribute or rule that they cost extra points. And for a while, I did think Twilight's Daughter would support Ember.

But once Sword Dancer spoke, Twilight's Daughter agreed with her, despite Sharp Eyes. It fit the story in part because the other candidates had well-defined roles.

Twilight's Daughter (to Warmaiden): I will needs a warlord. (to Sword Dancer), And a mage. (to Ember) And I will need you, Cousin, to tell me whenever I am being stupid.

I forget most of Ember's reply. It began, "Twilight's Daughter, I have known you less than a day," and ended, "I wish none of you had come here."

Twilight's Daughter: And I wish Shadowspeak and Queen Radiance were still alive.

There were a few more speeches on all sides, but eventually, everyone agreed that, if this were truly what she wanted, Twilight's Daughter was the best person to be reborn as Radiance.

Ember (still not happy about this): You take too long. I would have jumped into the fire already.

Twilight's Daughter: Promise me you'll always tell me when I'm being stupid?

Ember: You're being stupid now!

Twilight's Daughter quickly jumped into the fire.

Kat requested my character sheet. I handed it over, and she deliberately ripped it in half. It was a lovely dramatic gesture, but I had to ask for it back later, as I wanted the notes on it for this write up. Even if I hadn't, I'd probably have wanted it for a souvenir. I wonder if Kat has already taken this into consideration, as a sheet ripped into 2 pieces is still reclaimable.

Kat explained that, after the first Queen Radiance reclaimed the realm from Prince Night, she ruled until she grew too old, and a spherewalker gave her -- or perhaps his -- life to the fire that Radiance might be reborn. So it had been from that day to this. Whenever Radiance grew old, someone was always willing to make sacrifice.

Yet nothing was truly lost, for all who gave their lives to Radiance's rebirth became a part of her, and she had all of their memories. Ember should have become the next Radiance, but Radiance sent her away before she died, wishing, perhaps selfishly, to enjoy Ember's company longer, before Ember became part of her. The new Radiance led the others out into a new dawn and back to her palace.

I asked Kat if Ember usually became the new Radiance.

Kat: This is the first time she survived.

In one earlier run, she said that all 5 PCs decided to link hands and jump into the fire together. This resulted in one Radiance with 4 identical helpers.

Kat told her husband that Twilight's Daughter's speech brought tears to her eyes. She gave me the trophy for Hero of the Day. We had a good synergy in the group -- it really was archetypal, with head, hand, and heart characters. Kat gave as good speeches as Ember as I did as Twilight's Daughter, and Josh described Shadowspeak's final speech as heartrending. It wasn't the sort of session that would be to everyone's taste. I know a lot of people aren't fans of rpgs that become collaborative storytelling sessions. But the four of us like that sort of gaming style.

When I emailed part of the write up to Patrick, he said:

Kat told me later that her plan was to reverse the balance of power whenever the Usurper was drawn. You know, day becoming night and vice versa. It wasn't automatically a bad thing; if we were losing, it could be quite welcome.