Daggerheart: Broken Lands - 4

For this last part, we don't need Pettish. Daggerheart has a final step where each of the characters can ask each other questions, helping to form bonds and get a feel for how they interact. As we really don't know how things will flow in play, what's established here may or may not play out in the main game.

GM: Okay everyone, the last thing we need to do is establish the connections. If I can have every one's attention: Daggerheart has given your class some questions to ask the other players. If each of you could choose one of your questions to ask the others, we'll start working our way round the group and see how you answer.

Sha’Nesh: Oh, cool. Hey, Kpeshyo, tell me… Why do you grab my hand at night?

Kpeshyo: What!?

Sha’Nesh: [Grins] Are you denying you do it?

Kpeshyo: You… that’s private!

Sha’nesh: Why? I like it but you’ve never told me.

Kpeshyo: [Looking away] You’re solid. I don’t know. When we travel, you’re always deliberate. Watching with that kinda smile of yours. Taking it in, listening to people, engaging them, knowing somehow when you can trust them. And you’re usually right. I talk about your easy life, I throw the claim you’re naive in your face a lot, but the truth is I want to be able to do what you do - look at someone and know I can trust them; that my first instinct doesn’t have to be my hand going to my axe.

And then you move onto the stage and suddenly it’s all you. You dominate the room and draw all eyes to you. [Muttering] My eyes to you…

Sha’nesh: Oh…

Kpeshyo: Don’t expect me to ever actually admit it to you.

Sha’nesh: No. No, I won’t.

Nyĩt: Adorable!

Kapeshyo: Shut up, arsehole. Fine, you get my question: What promise did you make me agree to, should you die on the battlefield?

Nyĩt: Oh, that one’s easy. To deliver my stuff to my father and to not attempt to hunt down the Nůschĩk on my behalf under any circumstances.

Kapeshyo: What the hell? Why? Why not hunt down that beast? Everything you’ve told me is that it’s a danger to--

Nyĩt: Because you of all people are certain to die if you do hunt it.

Kapsehyo: What’s that supposed to mean?

Nyĩt: I don’t know, but I know it’s true anyway. But back at you: What friendly competition do we have?

Kapeshyo: Competition you’ve arbitrarily came up with, you mean? Your insistence on keeping a tally of “damsels”. Though your categorisation of that battle-scarred berserker as a damsel stretches the definition. I guess it sucks for you that I’m ahead in your fabricated competition.

Sha’nesh: [Snorts]

Kapeshyo: Right. You. You’ve told me to protect one member of our party above all others, even yourself. Who are they and why?

Sha’nesh: [Jabbing Kapeshyo in the chest] You, you martyrdom-seeking edge lord. You carry more guilt about things you couldn’t control than is reasonable.

Nyĩt: See? Fucking adorable!

Sha’nesh: Hey Nyĩt: What do I do that annoys you?

Nyĩt: You have Kapeshyo fooled, but you’re the least honest one here. You’re a good person but, every community we go to, you mould yourself to their expectations. You want to be the centre of attention but you’re afraid of friction, of standing out in the wrong way. So you sit and watch and adjust to how the people around us are behaving. And yet you have the gall to wax lyrical about the importance of being true to yourself.

Sha’nesh: [Looking taken aback] Ahh… I…

Nyĩt: [without pausing] What threat have you asked me to watch for, and why are you worried about it?

Sha’nesh: The green-eyed man. You keep pestering me about him, but I can’t remember anything other than those green eyes. Not his ancestry, build, anything. And when Otke accused me of revealing the grove to the raiders, of bringing its destruction… Otke’s eyes had the same green tinge.

Nyĩt: [Fidgets] Great, now I feel bad about my outburst.

GM: Thank everyone, that’s it for session zero. We’ll reconvene for session one.

Well, not quite the end of session zero. I had thought to just quietly insert this into the proper part of part 3 as if I’d done this correctly, but I believe there’s value in seeing that actual play, even solo, can be messy. So let’s get Nyĩt back.

Nyĩt: Hi… argh! I can’t believe we forgot my most important friend!

GM: Your animal companion.

Nyĩt: Yeah! I’m sorry Si̊nhĩ, will you ever forgive me!?

GM: Its name is Si̊nhĩ?

Nyĩt: Yeah. And it's his name.

GM: Okay. So, could you please describe Si̊nhĩ for me?

Nyĩt: We did that bit at least. Si̊nhĩ is a giant kingfisher bird, but patterned more after the kookaburra than other kingfisher species. About four feet tall with a 12 foot wingspan. Si̊nhĩ has a wicked beak that he uses to spear fish, and will swoop and grab snakes and bash them against rocks before swallowing them down! Also, I can use him as a mount.

GM: That’s a pretty powerful companion.

Nyĩt: I mean, it’s no worse than having a tiger or something like that. Plus, as a faerie, I can already fly.

GM: True. All right. And you have two experiences from training together?

Nyĩt: Yeah, we do. Si̊nhĩ is a “Distrustful Watcher”. I don’t know why, but he doesn’t seem to get along with others and he likes to find perches and glare at everyone. Si̊nhĩ is also a “Precision Hunter”. When he spots his prey he can zoop! Get right in there! Doesn’t do the hovering thing as much as perch and swoop!

GM: Interesting that it’s a distrustful watcher. I like it. Thanks for the quick drop in so we could clear that last bit up.

Nyĩt: No problem!