Fellowship

20 February: 2pm: Fellowship, a PbtA game

• GM: M. P. O'Sullivan: The Overlord
• Me: The Dwarf, Vestri Blackrock
• Tony Lower-Basch: The Halfling, Robin Muddyfoot
• Michael McDowell: The Heir, Delphyne of the Lost
• Cat Ramen: The Elf, Arkona, Lady Twilight

Fellowship models a certain type of epic fantasy, which seems to encompass Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. All of us were more in a LotR mood.

The GM explained that the game focused on friendship and exploration, as well as confronting the Big Bad, known as the Overlord.

The Overlord is played by GM, using its own playbook. The other characters are each representative of their own cultures. YOU decide what the details of that culture are.

Fellowship is not really built for one shots, though it's good for chunks, such as the defeat of one of the minions of the Overlord. We didn't get that far, but we did cover the first step of journey well enough to get a good taste of what the game has to offer.

As is generally the case with PbtA games, the first chunk of the slot was devoted to creating the PCs and their interactions with each other, the world, and, of course, the Overlord.

Robin Muddyfoot: A round fellow with big eyes, luscious curls, waistcoat. Interestingly, at this point, I cannot tell whether my notes say "Do Right" or "Fight". Robin was a storyteller.

Delphyne of the Lost: She had braided hair and a serene face. She wore a martial suit, and my notes say something about her manner, I think that it was perhaps not as severe as her clothing? Her people had a unique ability, ancestral memory. They remembered all that they had learned.

Arkona, Lady Twilight: Her name was a title taken by an Elf Queen before she resigned, which meant that she was the former Elf Queen. Some of her people felt that she had resigned too early. Naturally, the reason she resigned was to take up quest. Her people were very much Tolkien-style elves, with eternal patience and all the time in the world, as they were immortal. My notes say that Arkona might have a fiery gaze, and that her movements were very much in wuxia style. As a wood elf, she was one with the forest and the trees.

Vestri Blackrock: I have the playbook, so naturally, this will be more complete than the others.

Vestri was the given name, and Blackrock the clan name.

Look: Weathered eyes, braided beard, stony skin, soldier's armor

Agenda -- As for all characters:

• Be Brave, Take Risks
• Tell Us Of Your People
• Improve The World Around You

AND, specific to Vestri:

• The Dwarven Craft: Create, restore, or protect something of lasting value

I could have chosen a different, specific Agenda, either:

• Insatiable Greed: Take for yourself that which was meant for others, OR
• The Honored Word: Keep your word in all things, and punish the liars and oath-breakers

Dwarves have a special Stat: Iron +2 In addition, they have +2, +1, +1, +0, and -1 to assign to the regular stats. Vestri had:

• Blood +2
• Courage +1 / +2 (later in the session, I think)
• Grace +1
• Sense 0
• Wisdom -1

What is a Dwarf? Of the options available, I chose:

Stoneborn: You have more in common with earth and stone than they do with flesh and blood. Your armor is your bare skin, solid as stone. _When you stand on solid ground_, you cannot be knocked off your feet or moved unless you want to be, and you can stop anything trying to get past you by Keeping Them Busy with +Iron.

Gear: This includes companions of one's own race, and I spent a lot of time fretting over the options, trying to get the right feel. I could have gone for an automobile (a prototype), but this really didn't fit the mood any of us, definitely including me, wanted. I finally chose:

• Weapon: A simple mace, plain but functional
• What do dwarves have that no one else does?: Gunpowder! You have a rifle.
• Trade: Tunneler's gear
• Two companions: Dwarven defender Austri Silverseam, dwarven stout. NOTE: Dwarven stout is alcohol, not a sentient companion. It had two uses and, for dwarves only, could serve as food. Using it affected the stats, but as I didn't use it in play, I'm not clear on how.

Possession held most dear: First thing ever crafted, badly worn, but still in one piece: First pick ever made, rough, but so well balanced! When you hold it in your hands and admire it (1 Use) you are filled with Hope on your next roll. [I went the Guy Gavriel Kay Fionavar route here.]

Bonds: Do 4

• I owe Delphyne a life debt
• Delphyne knows of my secret shame
• Robin's forefathers and mine knew one another
• Arkona is not allowed to operate dwarven machinery

1 bond with Austri Silverseam: Austri's seam is next to my vein.

Level 1

Dwarven Custom: I chose these two moves:

Earth Friend: You can speak to the stones and hear the words of the mountains. _When you Look Closely in an area with natural or worked stone_, you may also ask, "What secrets gas the earth seen?", regardless of your roll.

Let Me See That: _When you take a few moments to handle or examine an interesting item, vehicle, or architecture_, ask the Overlord two of the following questions. They must answer truthfully.

• Who made this and why should I care about them?
• What was this made to do, and how do I use it or break it?
• What's wrong with this and how might I fix it?

And, as in most PbtA games, questions were asked and answered.

Are Halflings travelers by nature, or is Robin the traveler?: In their youth, by nature -- and in their youth, they think they will travel always. Robin, I think, was _not_ young, and had been settled for decades.

Was Robin the greatest storyteller in community? No.

He was one of the longest holdouts of the travelers. He was also a good correspondent, and he had an amazing network of fellow correspondents.

Do Halflings have their own communities or do they live with other people?

• They have their own, and I always know where. [I think Halfling communities were hidden in plain sight?]
• When they live with other people is when they are on the road.
• It takes you three hours to walk around village green.
• It's good to meet the neighbors.

Are Dwarves born?

• They're carved from the mountains. My notes seem to say "packness", which I think may mean that they're carved in the darkness, but I'm not sure.
• Status goes down. I think this means that the further down the rock from which one is carved, the higher one's status?
• While other races may think of "Blackrock" as a clan name, those who share it were literally carved from the same vein.

Arkona is one with the forest. Does this mean that she can speak with animals and trees? Here, my notes are particularly confusing. Arkona, or perhaps all elves, are heir to all sorrows, and I think that they don't talk with trees per se. My notes also say, "NO one knows where I", but I can't read the rest of that.

Some question for Robin's player, likely about the Elves and the Halflings, had the following answer: No -- we were always there. You noticed us one day, and it awkward for all. We're hoping you'll forget us some day.

More from Arkona's player

• The Elves broke the world. We had cities once. We're always in pain now, but they hurt _least_ in the forest.
• We're flesh, but we don't die -- rather, we can die from harm. Rarely from sickness.
• We're tied to the world -- when the world ends, so do the Elves.
• And if world doesn't end? Sooner or later, the elves end.

My notes say, "Hidden -- haven't lost memories", but I'm not sure whether this is about the Elves or about Delphyne's people. There's a comment. "Well, at least nobles and noble by-blows won't", which may mean that only the nobles of Delphyne's people have ancestral memories -- or, it may mean something else entirely, as this was over a year and a half ago.

How were Delphyne's people forgotten? Either the larger kingdom waned or there as a magical cataclysm.

Arkona, Lady Twilight (hereinafter referred to as ALT): *cough* Sorry.

The cataclysm hastened the descent and fall of Delphyne's people who, my notes say, were "barely humans", whatever that means, by then.

Delphyne: Magic cloaked us.

Was that your people's intent? To hide from the world? Yes. I think the ruler at the time drew all memories of her people from the outside world into herself.

The Cataclysm created the Dwarves. Yep, they were all the Elves' fault.

ALT's player: Look, we're still paying for that -- we're very, very sad.

Arkona remembered the Cataclysm, naturally. She had been there.

At this point, my notes talk about succession among the Elves, and I'm not sure I got this right. Arkona named Lady Morningstar Dawn, presumably her successor.

ALT: If I do not return, there will not _be_ a Lady Morningstar, and the long, long line of Elves will end.

Arkona had been Lady Dawn, but had cut her reign short to go on the quest.

[Clarification from Arkona's player:

It actually went like this: my assumptions were that being basically immortal, no elf would or should be in charge forever. So there were the three ladies (and you better believe I was riffing off of Jim Butcher here): Lady Morningstar/Dawn, the heir apparent; the Queen herself; and Lady Twilight/Eveningstar, the most recent queen. The idea was that queens would abdicate at some point and take on the mantle of the emeritus Queen, Lady Twilight. Lady Twilight's main job was to find the next Lady Morningstar and groom her to be queen one day. When the reigning queen abdicated, then Lady Twilight would be released from her position. Being queen was certainly no obstacle to being queen again; my mental notes had Arkona having been queen a couple of times before.

The thing here was that Arkona had abdicated too soon; there wasn't a Lady Morningstar, and so if anything happened to the current queen, that would be it: the unbroken line of queens would fail, and probably the elves as well, or as indicated later, they would fall into the shadow of Quelaaga.]

Do dwarves make things for other people? And here, I stole shamelessly from one of Alan Kellogg's zines years ago. Dwarves did make things for other people, and these had a warrantee that was a lifetime guarantee -- the _Dwarf's_ lifetime. In other words, as with Alan Kellogg's dwarves, if your parent bought a toy from a dwarf and it broke during your grandchild's childhood, the dwarf would repair it for free. Granted, I said, the Dwarves probably kept the best of what they made for themselves.

The Heir's people were once again stepping out into history, but of course, all memories of them had been removed.

Delphyne: Everyone had to have forgotten, when we returned.

This may have been what set off the quest to fight the Overlord and the resignation of Arkona, Lady Twilight.

Either the GM or Delphyne's player: But the overlord has not forgotten.

I think the next question was whether the various races told stories of the Cataclysm. If so, there were basically two types of stories: the comforting tales told by the Halflings and the cautionary tales told by the other races.

There were no stories of the cataclysm hurting the Halflings. They had stayed out of the way.

Robin's player: The Cataclysm went through all the powerful and beautiful places. And, and we went, "Did you hear something?"

In other words, the Elves had seen it all. Any Halflings in eyesight of the Cataclysm said, "Run away." They then proceeded to take their own excellent advice.

My notes next discuss the gear that other folks chose.

The Halfling had swords, or so my notes claim. they also say:

halfling swords
stones skz
good stone

Robin also had a lot of food, including what my notes say was "3 Halfling lunches" twice. And, there was pipeleaf, which was apparently "shade only" and "rich with whispers of hidden spaces".

Delphyne had food and healing poultices. She also had a warhorse, Calafia. Calafia had been give to her by her uncle, who was the ruler of their people until Delphyne was of age, which will be very soon.

Does Delphyne's uncle intend to keep their people hidden? No -- he intents to restore them to the world.

So, the Heir was a harbinger. She also had a beautiful blade with a long and storied past. It was Elven-made, a gift to one of the known kings, millennia ago. It was probably what had proved to the Elves that Delphyne was who she claimed to be.

The Cataclysm was caused by Elves trying to ascend to godhood. The result was (among other things), the Dwarves, who were the antibodies of the world.

I think Delphyne also had:

• Bodyguard: Aurim
• Advisor: Ufu
• Loads of cache
• A map to a source of power that the Overlord does not yet have, which was a nice way of giving us a goal.

Arkona had the sword with the long history. She rode the unicorn Evenstar who was also not supposed to leave the Elves any more than Arkona was, but who did so anyway.

Henly was her other companion, the Bearer of the Hungry Blade, Aerwyn. With this, he was to

• protect Arkona
• behead Arkona if she dishonored office of Lady Twilight

At this point, my notes talk about Elfsong and other things, but not in any coherent fashion.

I decided that Dwarf food was moss, algae, and fungus. My notes mention a stone rifle, which may have been Vestri's or Delphyne's, and "Heart's moon-sword (arrow to bit about cataclysm producing antibody dwarves)", which I don't recall what it meant.

I've listed Vestri's moves above.

• Robin had the Halfling moves Courage of Halflings and Talk Nonsense.
• Arkona had the Elven moves Elven Might and Way with Words.
• Delphyne had the Heir's moves How DARE you-- (which I've glossed as "lash out or remain stoic") and Noble Bearing.

At this point, the GM had enough material to create the Overlord. I think her point of view on what the Elves had done was: You didn't break the world -- you _fixed_ it.

I think at this point, someone made a comment about the craziness of that opinion.

The Overlord had agendae as well:

• Create opportunities to do good -- give the Fellowship people to save
• Play to find out what happens
• Ultimate Power -- needs it by any means possible

I'm not sure if that last was an agenda or only a goal, and if it was an agenda, whether that's always the Overlord's agenda or whether that's one of several possibilities.

The GM put down his name tent on the table. It said:

Evil Overlord
QUELAAGA

The name was pronounced: kweh-lahhh-gah. I think the stress was on the second syllable.

Seeks: Ultimate Power

Quelaaga the Shadow Queen

• She had Elven sword that was exotic in design.
• She wore magical armor and my notes say "Magical bolts of energy can be reflected back at me", which I think means I misread what I wrote or wrote it down wrong to begin with, since I doubt the Overlord's own bolts were hitting her.

She also had A Traitor. This meant that the GM could point to an NPC at a dramatic moment and declare that NPC to be the Traitor, on Quelaaga's side.

The Overlord also had Bonds with some of the PCs.

Overlord: Delphyne -- I killed someone important to you. I killed your uncle. He's dead. You know about that. You now have his memories. (to Robin's player) You have a question?

Robin's player: Did you have a message for her as he died?

This was an excellent point, and the GM decided to think about what that message had been.

Overlord: Arkona was once my friend.

This made sense. The Overlord, like everything else wrong with the world, was obviously the Elves' fault, and probably Arkona's in particular. Heck, Quelaaga had almost certainly been an Elf, and probably Arkona's lover.

Somewhere around here I realized one of the logical implications: In Fellowship, you can play Galadriel as a PC. This is wonderful. (Parenthetically, we had a Galadriel / Elrond type and an Aragorn type, both women, while Vestri probably didn't have a gender. Robin was the only male PC. The Overlord was a woman, and not the slinky femme fatale type, but more the tank type, with full battle armor.)

Overlord: Vestri's people now serve me.

Me: Since when?

A couple of years ago. Vestri was one of at most a few free Dwarves. As for the others --

Overlord: I bent them to my will. I used terrible magics to do this.

And between that and Delphyne's uncle, the stakes rose and it became personal.

Overlord: Robin knows the details of my previous defeat.

Arkona's player was inspired by all of this.

ALT: You know how if I don't come back, there will be no new Queen? Not exactly... She will become Shadow Queen and move our people to a new place. Without a Queen, the Elves cannot continue. A lot of elves will just choose to follow Quelaaga as Queen -- the once and forever after Queen.

The Overlord's armies were made up of Titans, small in number, but hard to defeat. They were giants made by enslaved Dwarves -- hewn not _from_ mountains but _of_ mountains.

Bonds between PCs apart from those mentioned previously:

• Robin: Arkona doesn't take me seriously.
• Delphyne: Arkona has had a bad history with my people.
• Delphyne: Robin thinks me an arrogant fool.
• Arkona: Delphyne's name is known by one of my kind because our destinies are bound together.
• Delphyne: I have never had a loyal ally like Vestri.
• Arkona: Vestri doesn't trust me.
• Robin: Vestri really enjoys the finer things in life.
• Robin: Vestri overlooks my stature and treats me like an equal.
• Delphyne: Arkona would give her life for me.
• Arkona: Delphyne knows why I left home and why I stay away.

Robin: I once told a lie so good Delphyne _still_ thinks it's true: Halflings are just the first step down. There are quarterlings and eighthlings. You'll never see them although they live in your cities.

Delphyne (with the perfect expression of dawning amazement): And I don't remember them so it must be true.

Arkona: I have no faith in Robin's abilities because I don't really know what they are.

Arkona: I once was silent for 5 years just to see what it was like.

Robin: Are you sure you remember what it was like? You might need to try it again.

At this point, my notes baffle me:

Every star (ancient most within?)

want and will lose again
Ancient 2 vav alwayside
Armya(?)

Judging from what I can read next, I think it had to do with the relationship between Arkona and her NPC companions.

Relationships with NPC comrades were tricky for Robin, whose player chose all food options. "I've known friend all my life" gets decidedly odd under those circumstances.

Robin's player: I don't think lunch has noticed how much I like it.

Delphyne:

• Ufu gives good advice.
• Avrim insulted me and I haven't forgotten -- because I can't!

The insult was to tell the uncle whose memories she now has that he was a manipulative bastard and Delphyne was a better ruler than he was. I like this because it's unexpected and complex.

Delphyne also did something regarding Calafia, and I can't make out the description of the bond, apart from "for her own purposes", but the thing Delphyne did was: "I rode another horse."

Character creation done, the next step was to start with a Journey, which is a type of thing in the game. A token would indicate which player had the spotlight, and it would move around during the game. It didn't have to move around to everyone in strict order, and players who didn't have spotlight could still have their PCs try to support the PC who had the spotlight. Also, we could set things up for each other.

The group started at what my notes seem to call the "farthest hader city" in the Elven lands, which is almost certainly me misreading something I wrote.

Delphyne's map was light. It was woven and it glowed in dark. The cloth felt like silk, but didn't crumple like it. Even if dropped would lie flat, as if starlight woven in.

ALT's player: You're welcome.

It was dawn, before the journey was to begin. Delphyne awoke from a nightmare, reliving her uncle's death.

Delphyne's player: This happens when someone dies, in the first week or so. It's the memory settling in. But it's been one and a half to two weeks, lasting longer than it should, and that worries me.

Her uncle's final sight: He was surrounded by soldiers hewn of stone, like a Dwarf, but carved savagely, without care with which a dwarf would carve its own child.

They bore her uncle up. He was approached a by person in beautiful armor floating just off the body. The person lifted helmet.

It was a beautiful woman with eyes full of black sky and stars.

She says, "I've _never_ forgotten you" as she drives a blade into his stomach.

At this point, we learned that Delphyne's uncle's name was Namor.

Her bodyguard rushed into the room, having, no doubt, heard Delphyne crying out in her nightmare.

Bodyguard: My lady, has any harm befallen you?

Delphyne: My uncle -- his memory does not rest easy.

Bodyguard: This is longer than it should be. Perhaps the magic of the dark lord is affecting you.

Delphyne: Quelaaga has never forgotten us. That was the last thing she told my uncle, right before she killed him.

Bodyguard: Now that is a disturbing thought indeed.

Delphyne: Are the others ready?

Bodyguard: They seem almost excited.

Delphyne: That does not surprise me.

Bodyguard (about the Elves' city): This does not feel right -- we do not belong here.

Our first glimpse of Lady Twilight: Arkona is sitting in the window, playing a mournful song on a small harp. Preparations for the journey are already made. This is the last night she will spend in her own kingdom.

Delphyne approached her.

ALT's player: We speak Elvish, don't we?

Delphyne's player: We speak Elvish -- First Age Elvish with a boorishly human accent.

Delphyne: Memory troubles me.

She spoke of the her uncle's memory of Quelaaga.

Delphyne: She remembers my people. And I remember her. That was the revenge she gave me.

Arkona: That is unfortunate. If she remembers you then she may remember the destiny that draws us together,

My notes mention something about seeing parallels, loved ones, and older mythos, and I have no idea what all of that meant.

My notes on Vestri are utterly confusing to me, although they do say that the Dwarf is grounded.

Someone (about the Overlord, or perhaps about one of the Overlord's minions): Why is he moving now?

Delphyne: Perhaps because of this?

And she showed the map to the others, possibly for the first time.

Someone: Master Robin --

Someone (to Robin, I think?): So -- are you ready to go?

I think Robin was finishing up breakfast. Unless, of course, everyone else was finishing up breakfast.

Someone who wasn't eating: Breakfast at this hour?

Robin (I think): Was I supposed to wait for you?

Delphyne was speechless, though whether about the breakfast business or about something else, I don't recall.

Someone (probably Robin?): No wonder -- and they probably couldn't get a word in edgewise.

My notes mention pale wine in silver cup, likely being sipped by Arkona.

[Clarification from Arkona's player:

I was reaching for the custom of the cup of farewell: quite a few cultures (including ones invented by Tolkien) have the tradition of the host sharing a drink of wine (or some other beverage) with a departing guest. I think Galadriel does this in LotR. However, the example that always sticks in my head about this custom is from the end of the last movement in Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde."]

Robin: Best I go last, then.

I totally forget the context of Robin's line above.

To set up a spotlight scene, one hands the token to someone else, setting up a challenge and asking how the character of the person now holding the token resolves it.

Tony handed the token to Cat, describing the river as being swollen with snow. The challenge for Arkona, Lady Twilight: How do we get past the raging waters?

Cat asked how much narrative to do, and the GM said that she would need to roll.

She described the scene: A thousand years ago, there was a beautiful bridge. It was long gone -- but waters still remember. Arkona walks along river singing, trying to get the water to lower.

The GM said that normally, one doesn't put that much into the narrative, but that he liked it.

Arkona looked closely to find where bridge used to be. The GM explained that she could get a die (I think for Hope?) if she worked with a character with whom she had one or more bonds.

It sounded like a job for a Dwarf, as the bridge had been made of stone.

Vestri: What kind of stone was it?

Arkona: ...It was white.

Vestri talked to the earth, and was able to learn enough to help Arkona find the lost bridge.

Arkona: Ah here -- I picked the last asphodel of spring.

And between the two, they were able to do something involving the bridge, likely drawing it up at least for long enough for the Fellowship to cross. At this point, of course, they all had their gear, companions, and so forth.

Robin: Say, Arkona, why did the elves have a bridge? You don't seem like welcoming people.

Arkona: We used to have greater lands.

I'm not sure who said what here, so I'm giving it my best guess.

Arkona: Listen to the music of the stars.

Robin: Why?

Arkona: To feel the music of the celestial bodies.

Robin: Could you dance to it?

Delphyne whispered thanks to the earth for the use of the bridge.

Arkona: Show it your blade.

Delphyne: My blade?

Arkona: The earth remembers.

And Delphyne did.

Cat now described a group of human refugees, hungry and desperate. She handed the token to Michael. Delphyne's challenge, clearly, was to help the refugees.

GM: They are _days_ away from nearest human settlement.

And they were armed, their weapons not necessarily drawn, but readied, lest the Fellowship should prove a threat to them.

Delphyne: People of the Lost!

Old Woman: Who addresses us?

The woman reached under her thick cloak for a dagger.

Delphyne: Delphyne -- heir to the forgotten lands.

Old Woman: You may be the heir, but you have abandoned the lands.

Delphyne: I have to safeguard it first. My uncle the regent is no more.

Old Woman: So we have heard.

Delphyne: I would see you safe.

She asked Arkona if the refugees could take shelter in the Elves' city. Arkona was nonplussed.

Arkona: We cannot take this many humans!

She explained that her people's cities were inimical to those who were not Elves. Why, the non-Elvin members of the Fellowship would have been driven mad had it not been for the song her people sang throughout their sojourn there!

Robin: I managed to survive.

Arkona: Yes -- under sufferance --

Robin: I meant the song.

Delphyne: Would you not protect what would be lost?

Arkona: Would you raise the bones of your people?

Delphyne: I would.

Arkona told them of a ruined city that was no longer inhabited. There, perhaps, the refugees could find shelter and safety.

I don't recall whether any dice were rolled. I do like how this one was resolved because, on the one hand, it didn't make for an interesting challenge if Arkona could simply solve the problem by letting the refugees stay in her people's city, but on the other hand, once appealed to for aid, it would have been dissatisfying if she could not have given any.

[Arkona's player was of two minds on this one afterwards, saying, "The solution was...okay; I mean, I basically fiated it in any case. More critically, I was losing sight of something I've tried to internalize, to wit: if you're gonna play the "difficult" or "lone wolf" type, you need to make the turn to "at least reluctant team player" right bloody away, especially in a one-shot."

While I see where she's coming from, and she's not wrong in the general case, I think this particular case was fine, for a couple of reasons. First, one thing I hadn't realized until she read this write up was that "stuff with the Elvish tag harms anyone not an elf who touches it. However, I think this came off as far more blocking than it needed to be, and certainly a bit high-handed."

But. I think it would have been equally high-handed and dissatisfying to say yes to letting the refugees stay with the Elves, especially as Arkona's player was the one who'd set the challenge in the first place. Or, as I put it:

Player 1: So, here's this challengey challenge!

Player 2: Okay, oh PC of Player 1, can you just make this challengey challenge go away?

Player 1: Sure! Challenge defeated.

...and... so what? Where's the game play in that? But, once Arkona was pressed, then, yes, she had to come up with _something_ or fall into the obstructionist play her player was concerned about. And this solution both respected the whole business with the "Elvish" tag without bringing the game to a screeching halt or focusing it on that tag, and was something simultaneously perfectly acceptable to the humans, yet so abhorrent to the Elves that it made sense that Arkona hadn't thought of it at once/]

Someone, either Delphyne or the woman leading the refugees, issued a command and some food.

Robin's player: And two Halfling packed lunches.

These lunches could feed a _lot_ more people than one might suppose.

ALT's player: How are they going to carry any of that without pack animals?

Robin's player: Presumably in their stomachs.

There were about 20 people, which meant that, yes, Robin's lunches could feed them all, possibly with some portable amount of food left over.

My notes mention touching foreheads, which might have been how Delphyne's people greeted each other.

Delphyne: My thanks, Robin.

Robin: I cannot let others go hungry.

There were mountains behind where the refugees came from -- and there was smoke visible from their former village.

Delphyne spoke softly with Metrinah, the last living warrior among the refugees, covered in weapons. She was eating as little as she could so that there would be more for the rest. Delphyne, I think, tried, and possibly succeeded, in convincing her that a starving warrior couldn't protect her people.

My notes say:

Source of power
made self known

I don't know what that meant. I think the next few bits were about how characters in the Fellowship could form relationships / bonds with communities, possibly even negative ones. The refugees certainly constituted a community.

My notes next say that I said "with the help from the person who gave food and told stories -- Getting kids involved?" I'm not sure if this was to calm the refugees down, get information from them, forge a relationship with them, or something else entirely. I think the questions asked may have come from a list of the questions one can ask when using a particular move.

Delphyne's player (I think): What can they tell us about their settlement?

GM: It was attacked by men made of stone, who carried weapons made of fire.

I'm fairly sure Vestri became quite quiet upon hearing this.

I can't make out the next question, but it was clearly something to do with why Quelaaga attacked the refugees or what Delphyne needed to be aware of. The answer clearly involved the place of power.

The refugees were afraid, as they had been directly attacked by the Overlord.

Metrinah: Quelaaga is not just attacking us. Quelaaga _wants_ something from us.

Delphyne's final question: What would they have us do next?

Metrinah: Don't worry about us -- Quelaaga is bigger than the kingdom. Protecting us, it's _my_ job. Yours is to attack Quelaaga.

Folks rested for the night, and the Fellowship moved on at first light, heading for whatever remained of the refugees' village.

Delphyne's player: The weather turns poorly, and there are drenching rains.

He described the burned out husk of village, with movement from within a building. A few shapes, roughly bipedal, were glimpsed. And he handed the token to me, as these were clearly corrupted Dwarves, and thus Vestri's challenge.

I think the following were my questions, probably chosen from a move.

Sentries -- who or what? What here is a threat or danger to me?

The sentries were the corrupted Dwarves, ripped from the mountains and made aware. I don't recall more specific answers at this point, but it was pretty easy to come up with a plan.

• Delphyne would keep them busy.
• Arkona would help.
• Robin had moves that specifically worked against big things, like, oh, stone giants that were corrupted Dwarves.
• So Vestri could finish them.

Arkona did the "Legolas bow move" from unicornback.

Robin's moves were described as "It just happens." You know, like one of the sentries just, oh, happened to trip over something. That sort of thing.

My notes say something I don't quite understand about Arkona and Delphyne and "as much time as you need". Arkona was helping, and my notes say that Robin didn't need to spend ammunition, whatever form that might have taken.

There were two sentries, roughhewn, with no faces. Their eyes were formed from cracks. Their hands were boiling hot lava in the shape of stone, sizzling in the rain.

Robin's player: One of the houses just gives out on them. These things happen. Just a lucky move, guys.

Nope, Robin did not want credit. Robin wanted to be underestimated, I think. Respected, sure, but underestimated.

Vestri moved in, pounding at the sentries, and rolling Hope. My notes say "-) 9 -) 11", which is pretty good with 2D6 and bonuses.

Vestry was trying to shape the sentries into something better, and was succeeding in the shaping part, but there was, if I read my notes correctly, a lack of spark.

My notes say "-)Outlast as per Tony". I think this means that Tony looked at Vestri's playbook and said that the correct move to use was "People of Stone", which all Dwarves have, and which allowed Vestri to Finish an opponent by Outlasting the opponent.

I rolled 8 + 2 = 10, which was enough. Vestri pounded stone and lava in the drenching rain, and succeeded through sheer stubbornness in turning two giant sentries into four smaller, uncorrupted Dwarves.

GM: Are they born with purpose or need to learn it?

Delphyne's player: Earth knows. Earth gives them purpose.

I liked this and agreed.

Robin's player: It takes a landscape to raise a Dwarf.

We'd earlier pondered the possibility of a Dwarf created to be tiny because that's what its maker thought was needed, and at the time, that seemed kind of horrific. But, looked at this way, it felt more right.

The new Dwarves went to fulfill their purpose. Vestri lay on the ground, exhausted.

Arkona (the only wetness on her face being tears): You understand this slap at elves.

Vestri (lying on the damp ground): Her craftsmanship is shoddy.

Arkona: Yes, I agree about the aesthetics.

Either Delphyne or Robin: Is _that_ what you take away from this?

Delphyne's player said something about "the fiasco with mechanics", and I have no idea what that means.

I think Vestri tried to make some point about the shoddy craftsman, Dwarves, and Quelaaga, but if so, I don't recall exactly what it was.

By now, I had figured out what the next challenge had to be.

The next day, the Fellowship headed towards the village (or town or shire) that was Robin's home. I handed Tony the token and described the meadow that lay between that home and the group.

Me: Robin, your people aren't stupid. They have never been stupid. They saw an army going one way, then refugees fleeing the other way. They have booby trapped every inch of this meadow with traps only you can see. Everyone else just sees a meadow, and they're all about to spring one of the traps.

Tony had a look on his face that I am going to treasure for always.

Robin's player: I love my people so much more with this challenge.

Robin quickly raised a hand and stopped everyone from moving. And, my notes say, we had the first pipeweed smoking of the game. (Well, okay, I'm not sure it was officially called pipeweed, but we all knew that's what it was, and likely called it so.)

My notes say:

Get Away
Hunter traps
and deal with
Stone creatures
Illeg: (cwace?)
Look closely w/D's help

kry(?) -- face
squashed by halfling trap
"seen this one before?"
Siege once

I don't know what all of that means, but I think Robin was looking closely, with Delphyne's help, and someone got 9 on a roll to gather information.

The question: What here is a threat or danger? To identify traps to dismantle the springwork and metallurgy.

Get Away is the move that Robin wanted to use. Someone pointed out that he could also use Overcome to take out the traps.

Robin: I don't want to take out the traps!

My notes say something about Get Away working for "_1_ person". The GM said something about Spotlight and "only with successful Get Away to Resolve This", and of course, I don't recall what that referred to.

Arkona and / or her player offered to help, but Robin and / or his player demurred and asked for Vestri's help. The result was a total of 7, but that was all Robin needed.

My notes then say:

Harm
Carefully -- neither quickly nor quietly
Harm-)Blood -- Sadness
His people have come to this
Blood rolled with Despair from here on.

I think what this means is that the 7 was a partial success or a success with a cost. The group was able to cross carefully and safely, but neither quickly nor quietly, and Robin took Harm to his Blood stat. That took the form of Sadness, sadness that his people had come to this, to having to booby trap the area all around their home. And, from now on, Blood would be rolled with a Despair die, although I'm not entirely sure what that means mechanically.

My notes then say "Confrontation", and I'm not sure what that meant. It may or may not have referred to something we ran out of time before we could do.

Robin's people had a metropolitan Shire, with a huge sprawling population.

Robin's player: Which is to say -- more meadows.

My notes say that there was a drawing of hilly stuff at this point. And, the Fellowship was met by an armed group on war pigs, aka boars, led by Sgt. Poundershay, if I read my handwriting correctly.

Delphyne and Arkona were astonished, wondering what on earth this was.

Vestri: An army.

Where they were amazed, Vestri was probably more than a little frightened, between the army and the traps, and stayed very still and tried to look non-threatening.

Sgt. Poundershay greeted Robin, glad to see him. But, the sergeant did not have the best news, as, I think, the army and the battle and the refugees meant a lot of trampling over the shire's fields, and while all the Halflings were safe, well... the crops were another matter.

Robin: Not the mushroom harvest!

Sgt. Poundershay: That's not all.

Robin: Tell the tale, my friend. Tell the tale.

I'm not sure how much more of substance there was to tell. But, there were reasons Halflings stayed hidden, as Robin explained to his comrades.

Robin: Individually, you're all wonderful. But as a group, you're all assholes.

My notes make a reference to a Halfling magazine that was a play on Home and Gardening, perhaps Home and Burrowing?

By now, the children were coming out to see the tall visitors, and the look on Delphyne's face was priceless.

Delphyne: Quarterlings!

I'm not sure, but I think someone in the shire was dubious enough about the visitors to advise his neighbors to get the kids inside and to say that he was about to get his daughter. And I think the sergeant said something about a "foul beast trying to find the village's" something, but what that something is I cannot decipher from my notes, alas. The notes do say "west ruin", which likely refers to the west fields or meadows.

Arkona said something about recent events and the Elves and Quelaaga that I cannot now recall, but I have Robin's response.

Robin: One: The Elves have not attempted to conquer anyone for thousands and thousands of years and likely never will. You are no more threat than we [Halflings] are and likely less, because we can still do something. Two: Looping back around to what our good friend Vestri said in that this may not be about you.

ALT's player: It's a fair cop.

Naturally, I don't recall exactly what Vestri said, only that it was something along those lines about something, possibly the corrupted Dwarves.

My notes say this:

Father / couly(?)
Can I buy a cup of tea from you?
Very strong

I don't even recall whether the above was in or out of character.

Next, although we had no time for it, would have been Confrontation. My notes say, "The GM gets it back, creates obstacles, and decides where spotlight goes." I'm not sure what "it" was, possibly the token.

The characters could:

• Fill Belly
• Recover -- lose 1 week
• [My notes say, "Clearly need to deal with beast first" (?)]
• All gear comes back

Robin's player: Let me be clear -- my character can feed _14_ people with food he walks out of a village with. (checks the Halfling playbook) Oh -- forgive me. 16 -- the pipeweed comes with snacks.

We now did advancement, I think? If so, this is why Vestri's sheet has that extra +2 instead of a +1. And we added bonds.

• Arkona: I respect Vestri's skills.
• Arkona: I want to earn Robin's trust.
• Delphyne: I have treated Robin poorly and must make amends.
• Vestri: I don't recognize myself in Robin's stories.
• Vestri: Arkona and I agree on Quelaaga's lack of aesthetics.

I don't recall what the others were, if any.

And there we broke. I currently have a pdf of Fellowship, and would like to buy the hard copy, preferably from a gaming store or otherwise in person. This does not seem doable, so I may just have to order it online.