View source for Witch: Road to Lindisfarne: Miles to Go

19 February 2016
8 pm: Witch: Road to Lindisfarne: Miles to Go

*Jeff Collyer: GM
*Stephen Kilpatrick: Sister Brigid, nun
*Me: 'Sir' Thorne, failed knight
*Danielle Popelsky: Eloise, the witch. Gets no vote at the end.
*Daniel Linehan: Ham, skeevy guide
*Megan Dornbrock: Berrick, squire to Sir Hayden
*Cat Ramen: Brother Armond
*Rich Mottern: Sir Hayden, old, untested knight

Sister Brigid is an extra character, not part of the original game, possibly intended as a female version of Brother Armond, possibly not. Jeff didn't want to turn away the extra player, whoever that was, so he pulled out the extra character. Stephen was an excellent Sister Brigid, so it felt like she'd been intended to be there all along, except for one thing which I will discuss later on.

Witch: Road to Lindisfarne is a game that is very much on rails -- but with a surprising amount of freedom within its framework.

The premise: It is 1350 or thereabouts, in England. Many have died of plague. Eloise was accused of creating the plague with witchcraft, and has confessed to it. She is being brought to Lindisfarne, escorted by the other PCs, to burn at the stake.

*All narration is done by the players.
*Everyone _must_ reach the end of the journey alive, including the witch, who cannot escape permanently. (That is, she can get out of her cage, but somehow, she will be returned to it and she will be brought to Lindisfarne.)
*The group will go through specific locations in a set order.
*At the end, everyone except for the Witch will decide whether or not to burn Eloise. This is what Jeff called "pseudo voting".
*Everyone, including, I believe, Eloise, got one scene in each of the four acts. Jeff noted that this meant everyone got four scenes and exhorted us to make the most and the best of them. Other characters could be one's scene if one permitted.

Character sheets were very simple. This is what I had for 'Sir' Thorne:

<pre>

Intimidating
Rational
Confident

What order could you not follow in the Crusade?
How do you know Eloise prior to this situation?
How has the plague caused you to suffer?

</pre>

And that was pretty much it.

For the first question, I decided to take a line from the beginning of Guy Gavriel Kay's _Under Heaven_ and twist it. Thorne had done pretty much everything asked of him during the Crusade, and had done some fairly reprehensible things without being asked. But, somehow, for him, the last straw was when he was ordered to dig up enemy bones so that they could be desecrated and excommunicated. He left, returning to England.

For the second, after checking with Danielle, I decided that Eloise was Thorne's niece. I probably should have gone with sister, with 20-20 hindsight, but niece was fine.

[I sent this write up to everyone ahead of time, and am going to include folks' comments. Most of these are from Brother Armond's player.]

Introduction: A short scene to introduce the characters

Brother Armond: We see a Cistercian monastery outside the city of London in what will become Spitalfields. Brother Armond is finishing some illumination work on a text. Then, he sets off with a staff and a sack. The right side of the illumination he was working on is obscured. The left side is an illuminated picture of the Devil rising above Hell, incredibly detailed.

Brother Armond is on the cusp of middle aged for the Middle Ages. That is, he is in his mid-30s, gaunt and severe. He follows the Rule of St. Benedict.

[Brother Armond's player: Strictly; that is, he's a Cistercian, also known as the "Trappists." They were a reform movement within the Benedictine order--most people know them from their vow of silence.

Me: Oh that explains So. Much. It really does.]

Berrick: He is in his teens, packing for Sir Hayden. Next, he packs for himself. Berrick is new to being a squire, and new to being _Sir_ _Hayden_'s squire! He is filled with excited energy.

Ham: We see an inn. Bandits break down the inn's door. Inside, the bandits slaughter people and take money. Ham is huddled behind the bar, clutching his knees, terrified, making sign of the Cross over and over.

Sir Hayden: He is an older knight, with a full beard. He is dressing himself, getting into knight's gear, alone, not getting any assistance.

His left hand is disfigured, gnarled, probably a birth defect. One of the last things he does is to put a glove over his left hand, to hide its deformity.

Then, he calls, "Berrick."

"Sir" Thorne: A man is thrown out of a tavern. Thorne follows him, twisting the man's arm behind his back. Thorne is the inn's bouncer.

Thorne says, "I'll break the arm if you come back here."

Sister Brigit: We get a glimpse of her before she became a nun, not so long ago. She is in her very early teens, walking down the road.

There is a funeral procession. The mourners, all poor people, doff their hats to show respect. Her family ignores this sign of courtesy, going on their way.

Brigit is thin and tall. She is also Irish.

Brigit's player: It sounds like it would be way harder for her, so let's do that.

Act I: London Mood: Hopeful

Sir Hayden readied the cart and checked on the cage containing the witch. If I read my notes aright, we started framing scenes with Eloise's player and moved around the table clockwise.

Eloise was 19 years old. The player decided that this should be an eating scene, with Eloise, Brother Armond, Berrick, and Ham.

Eloise (eating with impressive gusto, all things considered): We're not gonna have food like this in a couple of days.

Ham: I didn't have food like this a couple of days ago.

Eloise: Well, enjoy it while it lasts.

Brother Armond said something in Latin, likely a prayer or an admonishment on the order of "Get thee behind me."

Eloise: It's going to be a long trip if you're only going to speak Latin to me.

Ham: So did you do the plague by yourself?

Eloise: Oh yes, my 19-year-old self, screwing my family, my city.

I think Brother Armond said something about "Under the canons of church law", but I've no idea what. This probably led to some kind of philosophical statement that triggered this:

Eloise: Isn't it the job of the Church to tell me what the Truth is?

Berrick and Ham, after all, wanted to know if Eloise had done this whole plague, and she had confessed, and wasn't in exactly the best mood towards people like them, given how her confession was obtained.

Eloise: Have _you_ ever met Satan? I sure as hell _haven't_.

Brother Armond may have admonished them not to succumb to Eloise's blandishments.

Ham: It sounds simple except when it is _not_ simple.

Berrick: Did she do the _whole_ plague?

I think Brother Armond tried to explain that Eloise called on Satan to do that. Or maybe Eloise said, sarcastically, that she did. 

[Brother Armond's player: As I recall, Ham asked about how witches have their power, and Armond told him they got it from Satan; that they had fallen to his lies and now did his will, or something of that nature. In these early scenes I was still feeling out Armond--I was only vaguely aware of what the details of his backstory had to be.]

Either way, this cleared things up for the duo.

Berrick & Ham: Oh! You're Satan's Squire!

Next, we moved to Sir Hayden:

Sir Hayden: Berrick!

Berrick: Yes sir.

Sir Hayden: Attend me.

Berrick: Whatever you need! What can I do?

Sir Hayden: You are young. I think it best you not engage the witch in conversation.

Berrick wondered who, in that case, should speak to the witch.

Sir Hayden:  Only the wise -- you will find out who that is. Attend me, stick to your job, do not yourself be swayed by the words of the prisoner.

Next, we turned to Sister Brigid, whose player wanted Sir Hayden and maybe Brother Armond. The nun wanted to know what her responsibilities were.

Sister Brigid: Sir H2, what duties do you expect of me on this trip?

Sir Hayden: What... duties... were discussed with you?

Sister Brigid: Church protocol, but I want to be more than just--

I don't know if she finished the sentence, but she did talk to Brother Armond as well. He thought she should "attend to [the witch's] _womanly_ needs".

Brother Armond: If I may, Sir Hayden, I think from now on, Sister Brigid should be the one who gives food to the witch. She has already tried to corrupt the young man.

Sir Hayden: With what?

(Eloise: With logic.)

Brother Armond: With what you'd expect, with wiles, honeyed lies of the Father of Lies.

And I think this was agreed upon.

Next was Brother Armond. It was a few days later, Spring, newness wearing off, and there was a troubling heat.

In the small watches of the night, Brother Armond, reading from a Psalter, approached Eloise for a conversation that grew rapidly in intensity.

Brother Armond: Will you not confess to me?

Eloise: I've already confessed.

Brother Armond: Confess to _me_.

Eloise: I confess to fury, anger, a sense of betrayal.

Brother Armond: I must know if you are innocent!

Eloise: What does God say?

Brother Armond: God says, "Vengeance is mine."

Eloise: Then I am terrified for you, Brother, because when God sees what you have done to an innocent woman -- then you are next.

[Brother Armond's player: Well remembered! I have to thank Danielle with all my heart for being such a willing and engaged foil. Rivals 4 Life, D!]

Next was Berrick. He approached Sister Brigid.

Berrick: Sister, could I ask you something?

Sister Brigid: Of course, Berrick.

Berrick: Do you think it's possible for mortal men to meet God?

Sister Brigid: How would I know?

But I think she allowed as how it was possible.

Berrick: So then, would you sat it's possible for mortal man to meet the Devil?

Sister Brigid: I don't think I've met anyone who has.

Berrick: Why doesn't it happen more often?

Sister Brigid (I think): Aren't we in very trying times?

And I think the scene closed with:

Sister Brigid: All of life is trying and all of life is a blessing.

Next, Ham approached Sir Hayden to ask about the particulars under which he gets paid.

Sir Hayden: Your job is to complete the _journey_.

Ham: You seem like a practical man. Do _you_ believe in witches? Does that seem like a thing?

Jeff: This is the smartest Ham that has ever been played.

Sir Hayden: Do not concern yourself--

Ham: I'm just saying that I do not understand it.

Sir Hayden: Do you need to understand it? Are you saying you're not the man for the job?

Ham: No -- no -- I can do this -- The Bishop maybe looked into this -- he's a smart man. Okay. Let's burn this witch.

My notes say that Sir Thorne's scene probably involved Brother Armond somewhere. I forget what it was about. Maybe Thorne was sounding out whether Brother Armond was available to hear confessions and give spiritual advice? If so, he almost certainly said he was.

[Brother Armond's player: I think so; at this point we hadn't revealed the questions yet, so I was dancing around Armond's.]

We now talked about some of the characters' questions and our answers.

Sister Brigid: When did you previously meet Ham and why does he not remember the meeting?

Ham had been a grave digger for her mother. But, that was years ago, and she had been dressed quite differently.

I confirmed that Eloise's player was fine with Eloise being Thorne's niece.

Sir Hayden: Why do you despise Sir Thorne?

He was envious of the younger man. Unlike him, Thorne went into battle. But, Thorne "thinks he's too good for the thing you could never have."

Eloise: Why are you terrified of Armond?

You know that he burned a witch before and was involved in other witch burnings.

Ham: Who _is_ paying you?

Sir Hayden.

What offer would it take to betray your companions?

Ham is twitchy, greedy coward -- and ashamed of it. It would take some offer that he would never have to feel like that again. In other words, SAFETY.

Berrick: Why would you rather follow orders of Sir Thorne over Sir Hayden?

For the same reason Sir Hayden hates him -- he _had_ that battlefield experience. Sir Hayden was not a bad guy, but not very glamorous.

Brother Armond: Why were you chosen for this mission?

Witchburner -- it's on his resume!

Why do you doubt Eloise is a witch?

He had doubts about the last one -- a good 10 years ago.

[Brother Armond's player: So this is an interesting illustration in game design, I think. My play for this entire session was basically driven off that single question: because from it I took what I found to be Armond's central characteristic, his torturing, existential doubt. All my scenes with the witch were driven by that nature, although at the beginning I was only vaguely aware of how it would work.

Me: Whereas for me it was the combination of the question about how he knew Eloise, the question of why he'd deserted, and hoe Eloise dealt with him. They had an oddly positive relationship, all things considered, an acknowledgement of how shitty reality was, maybe a certain lack of pretense.]

Sister Brigid: Why haven't you cried in a long time?

She was taught not to. A noblewoman never cries.

How'd the plague make you suffer?

Her family died.

Sir Hayden: What item do you have from your father?

His sword. Sir Hayden is ashamed he hasn't drawn it in battle -- the sword tasted blood, but not in his hands.

Ham: Who makes you want to be a better person?

Sister Brigid. She is 13. But pious, innocent. _Berrick_

Berrick: How did your younger sister die?

Plague.

Brother Armond: What dark secret does Sir Thorne know about Brother Armond?

10 years ago, in a moment of doubt, he gave secular life a bit of a try. Drunken! Swearing

Sir Thorne didn't even consider it memorable.

[Brother Armond's player: Yeah, it wasn't all that memorable. Wish I had come up with something a bit better, as in the end there was some potentially fascinating tension between Thorne & Armond that we didn't get to explore nearly as much as we could have.

OTOH, _I_ consider it just fine, for reasons I'll get to later.]

Sir Hayden: Why do you cover your left hand?

He hates looking at it. It is why he hasn't gone anywhere.

Berrick: Which of your companions can you trust the _most_?

Probably Sir Hayden starting out, but that's likely to change.

Next, Eloise framed a foreshadowing scene. It had no other PCs, but could have minor characters, a scene that _might_ come.

It was in Hangman's Woods. On the edge of the coastline, there was a huge bonfire. A hanged man was slowly spinning around. A storm was coming.

"I see the unsaid truth."

I don't know if Eloise or someone else said that.

Act 2: Tone: Threatening

I think we started with Ham.

Ham: Not a place to be without a guide.

There was an upturned wagon upturned and something I can't decipher in my notes. There was a peat bog with a body floating in it, a few feet away from the wagon.

There was also a small pouch of money. Tempted, Berrick took it.

My notes say:

<pre>
S uncle?

It's weakness?
Don't know
Always appear brave?
</pre>

I don't recall what that means.

Next, we turned to Berrick, whose action did not go unnoticed.

Sir Hayden: What is in your bag?

Berrick: Just my belongings.

Sir Hayden: That purse there.

Berrick: We found it in the cart, sir.

Sir Hayden: You _took_ that from the cart?

Berrick: I -- yes. No one seemed to be using it.

Sir Hayden: Perhaps it would be a good time to make a donation to the Church.

Berrick pointed out that they were in the middle of the woods. Sir Hayden pointed out that Brother Armond was there. I think Brother Armond made some reference to the money as "the Devil's Coin".

Eloise: So shouldn't I get it?

Berrick appealed to Sir Thorne, who was bemused. I am not sure he was aware Berrick was knight shopping, although I was. But, he did have a certain amount of respect for chains of command, in the abstract, at least, and he had no reason to want to undercut Sir Hayden's authority. He may have suggested giving the money to the next church they passed or to the monks at Lindisfarne.

[Brother Armond's player: IIRC, Armond's advice to Berrick was to try and find the family of the man who had died and give it back to them, or failing that to donate it to a church. This was about the point where I realized how crucial it was for me to keep Armond sane and rational in his other scenes with people (especially the daylight scenes); he only showed his true torment at night.

Me: Yes. I mean, by the end, Hayden knew Armond was insane (by Hayden's standards), but you need variation for the high points to mean something.]

Brother Armond's scene took place late at night.

Brother Armond's player: The only time Brother Armond _does_ things --.

He went to Sister Brigit, waking her up right in the middle of the night.

Brother Armond: Sister, you must assist me. I may have to put bodily harm on the witch.

Again, he demanded that Eloise confess, and he heated a poker.

Eloise: Are you angry at me or yourself?

Brother Armond: You do not talk to me!

Eloise: You just asked me a question.

He continued to remonstrate with her.

Brother Armond: It is I, like St. Peter, who holds the keys to heaven and hell for you.

Somewhere during this, Eloise confessed to being a frightened, angry woman.

Sister Brigid: She has confessed to the Bishop.

Brother Armond: She must make confession to me!

Sister Brigid: Why must she make a confession to you?

I forget his answer, but I remember one of Eloise's responses.

[Brother Armond's player: Wish I could remember! I am pondering if it was something about freely confessing.]

Eloise: Says the man holding the hot poker!

Sister Brigid: Eloise has confessed to being a witch to the Bishop and of being a woman to you. We are both guilty of that.

But, he was not satisfied. Self tormented, he needed to hear the witch confess. And, he would see her burn.

Eloise: And you will be able to sleep at night?

Brother Armond: No -- but you will be in Hell.

Eloise: And you with me.

Brother Armond: You first.

[Brother Armond's player: Heh.

Around this point was when Armond shoved...well, I meant it to be a burning stick from the fire...into Eloise's face. But I used the word "brand" which I mostly know from Tolkien. Everyone else thought I meant brand as in a livestock brand. This was obviously much better, although it made Armond even more cruel than I thought :) 

Me: And weirdly prepared, now I think on it.]

I think this may have been when Sir Thorne intervened, or at least, tried to, saying that Brother Armond had no right to go further. Brother Armond was not impressed, saying that Church law was very clear about what he could and could not do to a witch at any given stage. He did withdraw for the moment, however.

Sir Thorne told Sister Brigid to bring him various bandages, salves, and the like, and brusquely treated Eloise with basic battlefield first aid. Eloise let him, revealing the various marks of her torture from before the journey and her initial confession.

She spoke privately with him, either then or earlier in the act, assuring him, somewhat scornfully, that she hadn't told anyone about their relationship and didn't intend to. I think this is where she asked him to take a letter from her to her father. He agreed. There was one hurdle, though.

Sir Thorne: Can you write?

Eloise: No.

Sir Thorne (laughing at the absurdity): Neither can I.

Later, perhaps on a different night, Sir Hayden came to the cage.

Sir Hayden: Eloise, are you awake child?

Eloise: Sir Hayden, I am.

Sir Hayden: How do you feel?

Eloise: Cold.

Sir Hayden: The night is breezy.

Eloise: Shall I joke about how I'll survive?

Sir Hayden: Child?

Eloise: Cold's better than heated.

Sir Hayden: There seems to be much confusion among the party as to your status.

Eloise: Not to me.

Sir Hayden: Did you do this thing?

Eloise: No.

Sir Hayden took his cloak and gave it to her.

Sir Hayden: There is much to consider.

He started to turn and walk away. His eye fell on a piece of parchment, and we saw (as audience) part of document saying that someone is to be released from prison -- but there was no name.

Sir Hayden: It's nothing, child. A scrap.

And at the gap between acts, the players were supposed to confess something about their characters, out of character, except for Eloise.

Sir Hayden's player postponed.

For Sir Thorne, I said: The usual Crusade things.

Sister Brigid: She was questioning her choice to join a convent.

Brother Armond: A much younger Brother Armond was a fine Benedictine. Then, my notes say he took his meals early, went to a tavern, got drunk, and fondled tavern wenches, perhaps even having sex with one or more of them. The next day, my notes say, "all filling out to burn a witch", which either means he was filling out the paperwork to burn a witch or that I mistyped and he was filing out to watch her burn, but it boiled down to the same thing either way.

[Brother Armond's player: As I recall, Armond's back story had been that he was a typical Medieval Benedictine: that is, living high and fat off of the money the monastery produced, not particularly pious, and generally enjoying himself. (The few details I had in my head about Armond was that he was from a family of minor Norman nobility.) That scene recalled the first time he helped burn a witch, as a member of a larger party of monks.]

Berrick: His friend's brother didn't have the option to become a squire. When Berrick did, he was a smug little punk about it, even though he was merely an okay squire. He felt guilty about that and didn't want to say anything about it.

Ham: The plague first started a downturn in Ham's fortune. He took what he could get from the houses of plague victims. He went into a bedroom, and saw a young woman, barely alive. She made eye contact with him. He took everything worth taking, and left her.

Sir Hayden: He once stood guard over a prisoner who was hanged, and he had serious doubt about the man's guilt.

Act III: Clifftop Pass. Tone: Tumultuous.

Elosie's player narrated the first part. Eloise had escaped from her cage. While we all knew that this couldn't last, for this scene, only Ham could keep up with her.

Eloise: I know I can't escape -- I want to talk. I'm guilty. If they burn me, the last thing I will do is kill you and all your family. If you free me, I guarantee your safety.

Sir Hayden's player set his scene before the escape.

Sir Hayden went to talk to Sister Brigid.

Sir Hayden: Sister?

Sister Brigid: Sir?

Sir Hayden: May I speak with you?

He pulled his glove off.

Sir Hayden: Why am I cursed?

Sister Brigid: What curse do you mean? I see no curse.

Sir Hayden: Do not mock me!

Sister Brigid: With your right hand you hold a sword. In your left hand, what do you hold?

Sir Hayden: In battle, it would be a shield.

Sister Brigid: Even our Savior had 12 friends to help him. Surely, there is no shame in asking your squire to help?

Sir Hayden: Am I being tested?

Sister Brigid: If you are being tested, who is testing you other than yourself? There is a strange story about our Savior and a fig tree.

Sir Hayden: But it's always been withered.

Sister Brigid: Does your other hand bear good fruit in its stead?

Sir Hayden: I'd like to think so.

I'm not sure what Sister Brigid said to that.

Sir Hayden: Have I cursed myself?

Sister Brigid: I suppose that is possible. Would it also be your place to undo your curse?

Sir Hayden: It's too late for me.

Sister Brigid: I think not... if you are in fact cursed.

[Brother Armond's player: I want to thank Stephen in general for his fine portrayal of the good sister, but especially stuff like this, which balanced Armond's more doom and gloom Gothic religiosity.]

I think Sir Thorne's scene came next. He was walking with Sir Hayden and told him to keep Berrick away from the Crusades. When Sir Hayden asked why, I had Sir Thorne reveal the reason he'd deserted. While Sir Hayden didn't precisely condone the desertion, he agreed that desecrating the dead was madness.

Sir Thorne also told him that the witch wanted to write a letter to her father, but that neither he nor she knew how to write. Did Sir Hayden?

Sir Hayden did. He agreed to talk to Eloise and have her tell him what to write.


Sister Brigid's player wanted Eloise, and perhaps Berrick, in the next scene.

Sister Brigid: It may seem strange to say but in some way I envy you.

Eloise: You want to trade places?

Sister Brigid: If that were possible, I would be tempted.

My notes say:

<pre>
1 mo -- new wife
2 mos -- new horse
</pre>

I think this means that when Sister Brigid's mother died, her father remarried after a month, and that he waited two months before getting new horses.

Sister Brigid said that if Eloise's death would end the plague, then perhaps Eloise could be happy about that. Eloise, who very much wanted to live, was not impressed.

Eloise: I should be happy my death will make people happy.

Sister Brigid: My death won't make people happy.

Eloise: Yes, it will. Go jump over the cliff. I'll be thrilled!

Brother Armond's player wanted the next scene to have Brother Armond and someone either very innocent or very guilty. This seemed to indicate either Berrick or Ham, and we went with Ham.

Ham cam across Brother Armond in the middle of self flagellation. Brother Armond explained that this was a rite.

Ham: You need help getting up?

Brother Armond explained that he'd been wrestling with the Dark Lord.

Ham: Yeah -- the Dark One, yeah.

I think the next bit went like this:

Ham: This young girl, she's guilty, right?

Brother Armond: What do you think?

Ham: I don't think so.

Brother Armond: You're so young.

Ham: I don't know. Aren't _you_ supposed to know?

Brother Armond: I _do_ know.

And Brother Armond said something that I almost caught as a literary reference.

Me: Oh, they've been reading Ovid!

Brother Armond's player: Not Ovid. Catullus.

[Brother Armond's player: Indeed, Carmen 85, probably his most famous poem and notoriously difficult to translate from Latin; I came across it during my one semester of Latin back in college, and I remembered it primarily for the use of the verb for  "to crucify":

Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

This is a nicely literal translation:

I hate and I love.
Perhaps you wonder why.
I don’t know, but I feel it, and I am crucified.

This web page [ https://briefpoems.wordpress.com/tag/catullus/ ] has a bunch of other translations, and a discussion of the problems of translating it.]

Ham: I don't know how this works, but if _you_ have doubts, you can't let an innocent die.

My notes say:

<pre>
Who is better -- you or her?
Who is worse?
Whose <illegible -- looks like "bonance"> is worse?
Mine.
</pre>

[Brother Armond's player: Probably "penance" there.]

I think "Mine" was Brother Armond's line, and the questions were mostly, perhaps wholly, Ham's.

Brother Armond: Clearly she must burn.

Ham: Clearly -- clearly -- We've been talking here for twenty minutes. I think you're trying to talk yourself into something.

Ham, I think, mentioned his desire to be a better man.

Brother Armond: If you wish to be better, I will speak to the abbot of Lindisfarne.

Ham: Can I ask you something?

Brother Armond: Yes.

Ham: When plague happens, God permits it to happen. So, at the end of the day, can God keep us safe?

Brother Armond: The monastery at Lindisfarne was never touched by plague. You would have time to confront yourself --

Ham's eyes widened.

Brother Armond: -- and find peace, perhaps.

Ham: I don't know, Brother. I have been walking with you for some time, and I don't think monks know peace.

Brother Armond: You would be a lay brother.

[Brother Armond's player: I was consciously trying to find a bribe for Ham here.]

Next, Berrick went to speak to Eloise.

Berrick: Witch.

Eloise: Squire. You want some venison? I've still got some left.

Berrick: Before you were a witch, did you have a family?

Eloise: I still have a family. How long have you been a squire?

Berrick: Did you know I had a sister? _Had_.

Eloise: It happened to my mother. Not everyone gets a hero.

Berrick: I was there when my sister died and nobody accused me of being a witch.

Eloise: Lucky you.

Berrick: But you say you confessed.

Eloise showed him her bare arms, and what had been done to them.

Eloise: You would have, too.

Berrick (I think): The _Church_ does that?

It might have been a statement from Eloise, though, and not a question from Berrick.

Eloise: You'd better get away. You'll be in a lot of trouble if folks see you talking to me.

Berrick: Yeah, I'm in enough trouble already.

Eloise: Thanks for talking to me.

For Ham's scene, the guide was in Sir Hayden's tent, trying to get the key to Eloise's cage.

Sir Hayden: Ham?

Ham: I heard a secret about you. I heard you're as big a coward as I am.

Sir Hayden: Who says that?

Ham: Everyone! Everyone laughs at you! What is that sword good for -- opening letters?

Sir Hayden: What are you doing here?

Ham: What are _you_ doing here? What have you done for this?

Sir Hayden: You're drunk. Go sleep it off!

Ham: All right. When I wake up, you'll still be a fraud.

While we knew Ham could not free Eloise and have her truly escape, the character was doing his level best to save her so that she wouldn't curse his family. Or maybe because he thought she was innocent. Or maybe he was not doing his very best. The ambiguity actually made for a stronger scene.

Act IV: Lindisfarne. Mood: Decisive

Berrick's player read the instructions. Each player was to add a detail about Lindisfarne.

Berrick noticed the birds.

Brother Armond noticed: Only one thing -- the scorch carved into the earth. Charred marks on rough stone.

Looking up, he saw a tamer version of the devil he had painted in the opening vignette.

Sister Brigit: A skull picked clean by crows.

Sir Thorne: A tavern. I'll get drunk there afterwards.

Sir Hayden: The player requested help. Jeff suggested: A gnarled tree that looks like his hand.

Eloise: All the graves.

Ham: Freshly made ones. Lindisfarne is not so free of plague as Brother Armond indicated.

Berrick had the first scene. The player decided that the squire needed to talk to Sir Hayden one more time.

Berrick: I've given a lot of though to your advice about council and wisdom, and I've spoken to a lot of people and if I may, sir, I wonder -- do you think we're doing the right thing?

Sir Hayden: I've seen many deaths, son, and you know -- sometimes the wisdom of the crowd is greater than any one person's.

Berrick: Brother Armond would say that Satan --

Sir Hayden: Brother Armond is a fool. And he's insane! To be blunt.

Berrick: As you say, sir. Do you think this is the way it will end?

Sir Hayden: We shall see.

Sir Hayden went to the cart with the cage and offered to take the letter Eloise wanted to send.

Sir Hayden: What should I write?

Eloise: That I love him. That I'm sorry. That he should remarry and start a new family and maybe move to a new village -- and that he was good to me and to my mother. Is that what it's supposed to be, isn't it? I'm sorry -- I've never written one of these before.

Sir Hayden: For what do you apologize?

Eloise: For dying before him.

Sir Hayden held the letter so that it went through the bars of the cage.

Sir Hayden: Here -- I want to say you touched the letter.

Eloise touched it. And, Sir Hayden slipped her the key to the cage.

BUT, as we all knew, this scenario was on rails. Eloise could not escape. Her fate depended on the odd sort of voting the players would do.

Sir Thorne paid a visit to Eloise.

Sir Thorne: You're going to burn tomorrow. So, the question is, do you want to be drunk or sober?

Eloise: Super drunk!

Sir Thorne gave her booze, and the cousins shared a family bonding moment.

Someone, I think Eloise's player, commented on the contrast between the knights. Sir Hayden made a chivalrous, but doomed, attempt to help Eloise escape. After all, where was she going to go? Lindisfarne was an island, and the causeway was either raised or guarded or both. Sir Thorne told her bluntly that she would die, but offered to help blunt the pain.

Sister Brigid went to Berrick.

Sister Brigid: How do you feel about what we are going to do?

Berrick: Burning a girl younger than we are? Not good.

My notes say "Woods" and then:

<pre>
?both correct
no certainty
no incorrect
time for doing? cleaning?

worse when all choices are bad
</pre>

I think Sister Brigid mentioned the woman taken in adultery, saying, "The crowd correct to kill that woman -- but she was pardoned."

If so, it was Berrick who said, "She was pardoned -- but by whom?"

Sister Brigid (I think): Not to overstate my authority --

I think she said something about "Confession by a man -- not the son of God". And I think it was she who asked:

Is there anyone that cannot be pardoned?
Does it require direct intervention of the divine?

Berrick (I think): If you're right, why wasn't she pardoned?

And I think Sister Brigid brought up the difference in "Who condemns her and who pardons her".

The subject of Eloise's confession came up, along with the subject of her torture.

Sister Brigid: If I was simply tickled by my bros, I would tell everything -- silly as it may be, if I were tortured, what would I _not_ say?

Later, Ham went to Sister Brigit. He wanted to confess something. She noted that one generally confessed to a priest, which she was not.

Ham: The closest we have to a priest seems a little --

Sister Brigid: Well studied?

Ham: Yeah, maybe he's a bit well studied for my understanding.

Sister Brigid agreed to listen, though she was very clear about what she was and was not authorized to do as a nun.

Ham: I've stolen from people -- sick people, dead people, the people with the plague -- a dying girl, Sister, how am I supposed to believe in a god when that girl is dead and I'm not?

Sister Brigid: I've asked the very same question.

She waxed philosophical, and my notes say:

<pre>
?under the land question?
Our Lord's enemy?
Our Lord's permission?
Or very sin?
</pre>

Ham: But my sin didn't hurt me.

Sister Brigid: Were you tormented by the decision you made? Would it have been easier to have died?

Ham: I'm confused. I don't understand how I was able to get away with it for so long.

Sister Brigid: It sounds as if you were not able to get away with it. You practiced on your soul, not your body. You have come to a place where perhaps you don't need it any more.

I think "it" was the guilt.

Brother Armond decided that it was time to talk to the witch. The clouds rolled in. The winds picked up. It was cold, with no moon. The night had reds and blacks, the only light that coming from the torches.

[Brother Armond's player: It was around here I developed one of my insights into this game: that the narrative framing allowed you to push beyond just setting up the characters, but to allow you to use setting details to comment and tune the action. When I played Witch again at Dreamation 2017, our witch frequently added in spooky or supernatural details (as well as taking the "you know all their secrets" literally, which worked surprisingly well.)]

Now, I'd specified earlier that Sir Thorne had arranged for Eloise's cage to be guarded, possibly even by him, and he'd certainly intended to make sure Brother Armond couldn't torment her. But, I realized that this simply wasn't relevant.

_Witch_ is not merely a freeform game. It is very much a psychological game, a psychomachia, an intense character and situation study. Whether it makes literal sense is less important than what it shows about the characters.

And that means that the framework must allow players to reveal their characters as they choose. Sure, X-carding and other safety procedures are valid. But, "Hey, I already said I'm making sure your character doesn't get the scene you want" is out of place.

If Eloise's player had had an issue here, we'd all of backed her, including Brother Armond's player. If I'd had a comfort issue, I think I would have excused myself until the scene ended.

[Brother Armond's player: Yes. I think I knew it wasn't relevant because I knew that Armond wasn't going to torture Eloise; but probably I could have done more work at making sure the table was all right with stuff.]

The tradeoff of the tight frame is that your scene is YOUR scene, and you only get four chances to shine in the spotlight. This was a scene that needed to happen, and I think it was probably the most riveting.

Brother Armond grabbed Eloise's arm and tied it to the cage bars with leather.

Eloise: Want to start party early?

And Brother Armond stepped into the cage.

Eloise screamed.

Brother Armond: No one will come.

And again, he proceeded to demand that she confess.

Brother Armond: Are you guilty?

Eloise: Yes! Will that make you go the f*ck away?

Brother Armond was not satisfied and asked again.

Eloise: No!

He was still not satisfied. I think this was probably the most chilling moment, realizing that _nothing_ Eloise said would suffice. He would accept neither yes or no as an answer. He could bear neither.

My notes get confusing here:

<pre>
1 wks
Yeah I think I know where this is coming from

Nightsbane
</pre>

[Brother Armond's player: Brother Armond brought Eloise nightsbane, because as an illuminator he of course knew all sorts of herbs and minerals and how poisonous they could be. He was offering her release from the torment of being burned alive, which IIRC he described in pretty explicit terms.

I of course knew that this wouldn't work; I think this was part of my attempt to create a shared intimacy between the characters while remaining true to his characterization. To wit, Armond couldn't find a way out of the trap for himself: the only thing that kept him going was his rigid adherence to Church law (an attempt to find an exterior certainty to replace or cover up his interior doubt); but he could give Eloise a painless death, fulfilling his duty but with compassion. Well, "compassion" :)

Me: Especially as being burned might save her soul, but suicide would damn it.

Hm, we may have meant "nightshade" rather than "nightbane".]

Brother Armond: Will you not confess to me?

Eloise: I am done with confession!

Brother Armond: Then you will hear mine!

I think he showed her the marks of his own self flagellation and knelt to tell his story.

If I read my notes correctly, a child had gone missing ten years ago. A woman who said that the child would be found by water was burned as a witch. Her story was a lie of Satan's. Surely, it had to be, right?

Two days later, the child's body was found in old well, one near the  monastery. This was nowhere near the woman's home.

Had the woman been Innocent? Guilty? Brother Armond could still hear her screams.

[Brother Armond's player: Basically. The last time Armond had been part of a witch burning was the first time he had been given "command" over it, that is as the main representative of the Church. Of course this meant that he was also the witch's torturer. The witch in question had been accused because a child had vanished from the village she lived near (and of course she was a wise woman, living alone and in the woods, etc.) The night before she was to burn, she asked to see Armond, even though as her torturer he thought he would be the last person she would want to see. He supposed she wished to confess and be shriven; but instead, she only told him that the child would be found near water. The next day the burned her.

And a week later they found the child, dead, drowned inside an old well that was miles from the "witch's" cottage.

This was where Armond fell into permanent doubt. How could she have killed the child if she died so far from her hut? But then how had she known about where the child would be found? If she was innocent, then, did she have a vision? But who sent it--God or Satan?

The truth was that Armond would never know if he burned an innocent woman--there was simply no way to determine the truth. And that is what destroyed him, caused him to become a Cistercian, to try and live strictly by the rules since he did not know what he believed any more.]

Brother Armond: It is what the screams in hell will sound like when I die. I cannot bear it!

Eloise: I do not care what you cannot bear!

And witchcraft or no, her next words might have been a curse.

Eloise: You will never forget me!

Brother Armond: Forgive me!

Eloise (vehemently): No.

Brother Armond: Forgive me!

Eloise: I think you need to go.

Brother Armond (I think): I am no saint!

Eloise: I am no monk.

[Brother Armond's player: I think I added here, "And before the cock crows you will betray me thrice" which is why Armond only begged for her forgiveness twice :-)]

We now had Eloise's introduction scene. She was 19, living with her mother and father. My notes hunt that she might have been illegitimate, and perhaps a musician. Or perhaps one or more musicians would look at her. She thought that the blacksmith's apprentice liked her. She was a normal girl, with normal friends and family, before the plague.

And we came to the Absolution Scene. Each of us in turn would decide whether or not to read what had been written. Reading one's section as written was a vote to burn Eloise. This said nothing about her guilt or innocent, only about whether action to burn her was taken.

Anyone could deviate from their text at any time -- except for Eloise. Eloise's player would read last, and, if everyone before her read their section without deviating, then when it was her turn, she could not deviate. She had to read her section from start to finish.

Sister Brigid dressed Eloise, and the player read the section, start to finish, without deviation. All sections ended "though it means her death".

Brother Armond, where this section usually starts, gave Eloise the last rites, and the player read the section start to finish, without deviation.

Next, it was my turn to choose for Sir Thorne. The text had him binding Eloise to the stake. Instead, I said he stood back, dropping rope and shackles. He would not take part in the execution, but neither did he plan to stop it.

So, Sir Hayden needed to take over for Sir Thorne. But, he refused. The two knights were off script. The two clergy members were on script.

Ham said that Eloise was indeed a witch.

Ham: She confessed to me.

He was siding with Sister Brigid and Brother Armond, even though the player wasn't reading the text.

Berrick sided with Sir Hayden and Sir Thorne, saying it was wrong to burn Eloise. So, the vote was an even split, three against three.

Jeff: But not a democratic three against three.

After all, he noted, all the people with swords and actual fighting skills were on the same side.

This is where Sister Brigid's presence made the most difference. As you'll recall, she's not generally a PC, and without her, there are five people voting, an odd number, which means there shouldn't be a tie.

So, we moved to roleplay. Ham revealed what Eloise had said to him.

My notes say that Berrick said: "Ham -- you would take all the powers of the Devil", but I don't know how that sentence ended.

Sir Thorne said that in Eloise's position, one would say anything to avoid being burned.

Ham: I believe her.

And, there was an intense confrontation between Brother Armond and Sir Thorne, which was wonderful, full of drama, and I don't remember it now, 15 months later, except that Brother Armond asked whether Sir Thorne was prepared to cut down all of the monks -- just how many deaths was Eloise's life worth? -- and accused him of being a nihilist, taking the easy way out, walking away when things became hard.

I've no idea what I said, but Sir Thorne held his own. And it was clear that neither man would budge.

And, to us, it was clear that we'd been doing this for five minutes and had begun to go around in circles. We agreed we needed someone else to break the deadlock.

Sir Hayden (to Sir Thorne): You don't need this blood on your hands.

And he stabbed Brother Armond, who fell, dead.

This really was the perfect way to break the stalemate, very much a certain twist in a certain sf show some folks may have seen.

So, the two knights and the squire took Eloise away from Lindisfarne.

Eloise's player had been told a) to decide whether or not Eloise was guilty and b) to use any and every tool she had to fight to live. She now revealed that Eloise was, in truth -- Innocent!

Ironically, I had come to believe that she was guilty, although Sir Thorne was convinced that she was not.

We now moved to the future / legacy. As Eloise had not been burned AND was innocent, we were told to narrate a "generally positive epilogue" for our characters.

Ham: He was at peace with himself. He had a job at the monastery at Lindisfarne, serving as a huntsman.

While away from Lindisfarne, he got word that people were bringing another woman to burn there. He made a mental note just to stay away a few extra days.

Berrick: He became a knight.

Berrick's player: Where can we go?

Brother Armond's player: France.

And that is where he, the two knights, and Eloise went. And, on the journey to France, according to my notes, Berrick "finds the truth of all things".

Brother Armond: He was buried on Lindisfarne, with a beatific smile on his face. There was a Legend of the Martyr of Lindisfarne, although, if I read my notes aright, Brother Armond was never even on short list for canonization.

There was, however, a shrine on Lindisfarne. And even today, there is an unfinished Bible with a remarkable illumination Satan rising over the waters of the deep. It is one of the most remarkable items in a sub-gallery of a museum. Specialists know it, but no one knows who the artist was.

Sister Brigit: She left the cloister and returned to her noble family. She made a pilgrimage to Lindisfarne to cut fruit from the tree that blooms. (I'm not sure if it blooms where the stake that Eloise was to have been burned at was.)

Sir Thorne: After I confirmed with the players that Eloise would married Berrick, I said that, many years later, Sir Thorne came to the shrine at Lindisfarne, where he prayed, made his confession, and became a monk.

I'm not sure what Sir Hayden's epilogue was. My notes indicate he might have fought for the French, but they're particularly confusing here, so I'm not sure.

Eloise: She married Berrick. They had three children. Two were sons, one becoming a knight in his turn, and the other a defense lawyer. The third child was a daughter. She became a witch.

Extras from the emails:

Sister Brigid's player: Thanks for the write up. It was cool to remember this game. I had usually played Brother Armond, so it was nice to get the extra character and play Brigid.

About Brother Armond's scene with Ham:

Brother Armond's player: This whole scene turned out to be one of my favorite of the evening, and that was a bit odd: I knew that I wanted to have three confession scenes with the witch, so one of my scenes had to not involve her. I mostly wanted to get in the self-flagellating (literal and metaphoric) nature of Armond here, but dancing around the problem of Evil and temptation with Ham was delightful. Also I was shocked that this actually worked and Ham voted with Armond at the end.

Me: Armond and Eloise were opposite numbers in this run. Each knew what everyone else's weak spots were, and we didn't worry about how -- magic, divine revelation, human psychology? Who cares? They knew.

About Brother Armond's suggestion Ham become a lay brother:

Brother Armond's player: I was consciously trying to find a bribe for Ham here; as noted above, I didn't think it worked.

Me: Especially given that the player established Et in Arcadia, ego -- plague had indeed come to Lindisfarne.

About Brother Armond's final scene with Eloise:

Brother Armond's player: There's another issue with this scene that I have discussed at some length with Lisa, mostly about how I frame scenes like this: to wit, scenes where I really want the two characters to share intimacy, but as part of the scene there must be a moment of confrontation at the beginning. In retrospect, I should have grabbed Danielle and explained that to her: that Armond was going to come on strong, but what I really wanted was for him to reveal his vulnerability to her and see what would happen when they were both vulnerable to each other. (There was a similar issue in a session of Lisa's run of Dracula Dossier between my character and Dracula that I had wanted to crackle a bit more.)

Me: (Yah, miscommunication there.)

Brother Armond's player: In the end, this scene worked well, and maybe the fact that there was a subtle role reversal, with Armond begging the witch for his freedom was the better way to go. The problem of communicating a desire for intimacy and vulnerability while remaining true to a character's need to appear to push it away is one I still ponder. To be fair, I suspect it's a pretty challenging thing to do even for actors working from a script :-)

Me: I think it worked fine.

About Brother Armond's vote:

Brother Armond's player: I quite honestly did not know how I was going to vote right to the very end. At the moment of decision, I realized that Armond had to burn her because otherwise everything he had done for the last ten years would be revealed as a hollow lie (of course, it was a hollow lie, but he wasn't capable of dealing with that.)

Me: Nod. That's how I played Hayden when Matt Weber facilitated a game. Trial by Ordeal, banned by the Church, = grab burning item and wait 3 days. Community comes to a decision and decides if burn healed normally. This happened to my Hayden, and if he questioned Eloise's guilt, he'd have to question his own innocence and whether the Trial by Ordeal was a horrid thing. Not as introspective as your Armond, he remained smugly steadfast.

About the standoff between Brother Armond and Sir Thorne:

Brother Armond's player: Yup, this was fun and made me realize that we had missed some opportunities along the way for Armond and Thorne to have developed their relationship. I am pretty sure that in this moment both Thorne and Armond basically acknowledged that neither of them believed in anything but had decided--perhaps almost arbitrarily--to stand on opposite sides of the issue. (Certainly there was a path for Armond to decide that if he could not evade doubt than he could at least not murder someone...)

Me: That last was Thorne's original decision.

Earlier in the email, I'd written about Sir Thorne: I had figured he'd neither help nor hinder, even at the last, and was surprised to find he had allies.

We all noticed that the more people read their section through to the end, essentially voting to burn Eloise, the more pressure one feels to do likewise. That said, I'd honestly expected Sir Hayden to pick up from where I'd gone off script, and the player assured me that, even if Sir Thorne had done his part, Sir Hayden would have gone off script.

About the secret that Sir Thorne knew about Brother Armond:

Me: Actually, I think that was perfect.

Both men broke in their past over what was likely one straw too many.

Armond's was so tiny, so human, and it shamed him and made him more determined to be a good priest, I think.

Thorne's was almost absurd -- after all he did in the Crusades, he gives a shit about dead bones? And it didn't shame him that he deserted.

I think Armond was right and wrong about Thorne. Deserting wasn't the easy way out, but doing only that and nothing more, nothing to fight the evil he acknowledged, arguable that was, and if so, the ending mirrors that.

And honestly, at this point, neither of us knew the two men would clash so dramatically.

About the confrontation between Brother Armond and Sir Thorne:

Brother Armond's player: I think right to the end I thought Armond might get out of this alive, but obviously the perfect answer was him dying.

Me: Nod. Thorne would have been fine dying but... he couldn't just lay down and die. It wasn't in him.

And where Armond was right about him, I think, is that he just couldn't go from "this is wrong and I will have no part of it" to the hard job of actually cutting Armond down. Hayden really was the better man.

Brother Armond's player: And that was, all in all, the most memorable night of gaming I have had...well, ever. Seriously, this was the best and I cannot thank everyone enough for helping make this game just beautiful; especially Danielle, and especially as well Jeff who facilitated smoothly and unobtrusively. It took me a while to walk off the darkness of Brother Armond, I can tell you.

There were a couple of things I did that night that I've thought about a lot since, the most important of which was how I managed to dumb-luck into a place where I was replicating the exterior conflict of the game (Is the witch innocent?) as Armond's interior conflict, and turned his interior conflict (How can we be sure of anything?) into his exterior conflict with the witch: it is why he drove so hard for her to confess to him, to him personally, so that he could finally resolve some tiny part of his existential doubt. I'm not sure exactly how I managed to do that, but it merits further study, as well as the issues I talked about in communicating a desire for intimacy behind a more confrontational framing.

Thanks again to Lisa for doing this writeup! Fifteen months later this remains a game I think about quite a bit. It was a real pleasure to game with all of you.

Jeff: To be fair you guys did all the heavy lifting here. Witch is generally a good game, but you folks made it so much more.

As facilitator I get the benefit of everyone bringing their A game, without the emotional hangover, but this session and few others have inspired me to play Witch more genuinely.

Thank you all for that.

Me: You're very welcome. We may do the lifting, but you clear the ground and provide support.