The Upper Valley. Map by Amanda P.

Introduction

As many people are likely aware at this point, a playtest document for Cairn 2nd edition has recently been released. What you may not know is that Yochai Gal, the creator of Cairn, has started running a West Marches game on Discord as a means of playtesting the new 2e rules. Many of them were playtested prior to this, of course, but West Marches style provides an opportunity to get feedback from a lot of different types of players. West Marches, for those of you who don't know, is a type of Open Table where the people who play in any given session might change, but the world they explore in is persistent (There are actually lots of additional rules associated with West Marches, but the previous sentence is the commonality among all the variations at this point).

It's a really great way to avoid the scheduling problems that come with a dedicated group (If you invite enough people, or someone cancels, chances are someone in your roster of players will be able to show up). The whole idea is that players are supposed to come up with a plan before the session starts, the Warden makes sure that area is sufficiently prepared, and everyone in the group tries to make sure their task is accomplished and they make it back to a safe haven before the session is over.

I'm the Editor of Cairn 2e, so naturally I was very interested in helping with this playtesting effort. The fact that Cairn is my favorite system has nothing to do with my interest, Gentle Reader, and I am shocked you would imply otherwise.

Anyway, what follows is the play report for the first session of our West Marches game, which takes place in a mysterious valley that was once settled by an ancient people more advanced than the present inhabitants. The map at the top of this post shows the settled, known portion of this area: The Upper Valley.

There are two main Factions that we are aware of in this setting: the Tideborn and the Southern Valley Coalition. The former are a religious sect that worships a god by the name of Rivulus, a deity that predates the present settlement of the area and is said to be the personification of the river that splits the valley from North to South. Meanwhile, the latter Faction is the Southern Valley Coalition, which are in control of a great Relic called The Wheel which powers many wonders in the main settlement of Waterfall City. There is tension between these two groups, as The Wheel draws power from a great waterfall known as God's Spill that Waterfall City draws its name from, and this is considered an affront to the Tideborn and their god.

From what I understand, the entire Setting was made specifically for the West Marches using the upcoming Setting Generation rules from Cairn 2e. I walked through the use of an alpha version of the Setting rules in my first posts on this very blog, and they were great fun even in that early form.

Spoiler Alert: Yochai has written these locations up in a form that is publishable, which means they may end up in some sort of physical form at some point. No promises or anything, I just mention it because if you're the player in a Cairn campaign you may want to duck out now in case your Warden ever wants to use them.

Player Characters:

• Harrow (Derek/Me) - Fieldwarden Background

• Madrigal (Chris P. Wolf) - Fungal Forager Background

• Aster (Zedeck Siew) - Beast Handler Background

• Oriv Kaedmon (Baker) - Foundling Background

Play Report

Sunday July 30th, 9am ET (22nd of Flood, Year 7728)

(Each session of the West Marches starts with an Omen roll. You only have to do it the one time in a normal game, but Yochai wants the added chaos that results from starting the session with it).

(Omen Result #4 "The night sky grows dimmer each evening, as if stars are disappearing one by one. Rumors of hellish creatures capturing farmers and pulling them into The Roots are spreading like wildfire. Village elders believe the two are connected.")

Despite the odd celestial happenings that had been on display in the night sky as of late, people still needed to eat and shit jobs weren't just going to get themselves done. Four Relic-seekers, hoping to avoid the risks of the Lower Valley, accepted a job from a local religious sect to retrieve an object of significance from a shrine they were forced to abandon.

Their new patron, Otter of the Tideborn, was tight-lipped as to the importance of the metal bowl they were meant to retrieve. He only revealed that it was left behind when they abandoned the shrine due to an oversight. Not much caring for the details initially, the group left Waterfall City, forded The Scar (the river that splits the valley North to South), and took the Star Trail through White Tower Grove. The blindingly white tower which gave the grove its name proved too much of a distraction for one of the members, Harrow the former Fieldwarden, and the party decided to pause to investigate the abandoned site.

Upon investigation, the group found crude handholds carved into the mortar of the stones. Oriv, a Foundling, borrowed a Sharpened Trowel from Madrigal and dug at some of the looser bits of mortar and was surprised to find that a viscous green substance leaked out. It felt unpleasant on the skin, and he quickly wiped it off. The top of the tower had been crudely sheared off somehow, and not finding any other entrance the party elected to climb inside. Madrigal, the Fungal Forager, managed to both climb up and into the tower through a combination of a Control Plants Spellbook (used by Oriv), two Ropes tied together, and a pair of Thick Gloves.

Madrigal observed that the vines that had been magically formed into a rope ladder seemed to be slowly burning where they were in contact with the inside of the tower, but that the Rope that had been secured around the tower and lowered inside was not. The group surmised that the unknown substance in the tower was harmful to living things, while dead things were not. Aster the Beast Handler, despite his advanced age, opted to climb up the tower and hand Madrigal a very big (and dead!) stick.

Madrigal discovered the bottom of the tower is filled with a "snot-like acid" and had a body of some kind submerged within it. He poked it with a stick to confirm that the body below was completely bone. This, plus an earlier observation that the vines from the plant spell were slowly burning while the dead plant matter of the rope was fine, helped confirm the party's theory that the substance was only a threat to living substances.

The efforts of the party, combined with the initial journey to the tower, proved exhausting for most of the group (one Fatigue was accrued). Harrow, who had stood around with his bow looking for threats, was the only one who seemed oddly invigorated by the natural surroundings.

Oriv solved the challenge of the tower by chipping away at the mortar and removing a couple of bricks, which slowly drained the snot acid away and in the process revealed a skeleton with perfectly preserved possessions. Madrigal collected a pail of the snot acid before it all drained away.

Items were shoved through the hole afterward and divvied up among the party: Harrow claimed the Chainmail (giving his Brigandine to Oriv), Aster took the Fancy Clothes (Petty, for the curious) the man (?) was wearing and a length of Silk Rope (that had been severed cleanly! Murder!), and a coin purse that was split amongst the group (82 GP total).

Zedeck was kind enough to provide a picture of the notes that he wrote/drew, which are much prettier than the hastily banged out ones that I took in Google Docs.

A full Watch (8 hours) had passed before the party traveled out of the White Tower Grove and up the cliffside along the Star Trail, encountering a dead snake-like creature along the way. Aster was able to clarify (Snake Beast Handler) that it was actually a Gilly Worm and not a snake. He informed the party that the worms were of a hive mind and typically aquatic. Aster claimed the body of the Gilly Worm as a sort of belt (proving, once again, that players will collect the strangest things even in a game with slot-based inventory).

The party reached the top of the cliffs and could see the treeline of the Stone Forest, but dwindling daylight convinced them that it would be unwise to push further and risk being stranded at the woods at night. Their second Watch ended at the camp on the cliffside of Star Trail, having backtracked in order to find a more defensible position to make camp. The party set up a watch rotation (Harrow, Madrigal, Oriv). The latter two hear a strange chittering sound coming from the North in the direction of the Stone Forest. It stops after a couple of minutes.

In the morning, the party ventured into the Stone Forest from a path to the Southwest. They discovered a pond in the center of the forest, with "snake-trails" heading from the pond and down trails to the Southeast and North. Aster decided to place his recently acquired snake belt into the pond to see if there was a reaction. Madrigal and Aster adopted a sort of wait and see attitude, but Harrow and Oriv prepared to flee (possibly while shooting arrows in the case of Harrow).

A very angry writhing mass of Gilly Worms, acting in concert with one another, emerged from the water. Aster, on advice from Oriv, tossed his Warming Stone into the pond, boiling the creatures instantly (19 on a Critical Damage save means no more scary monster swarm).

The party briefly discussed abandoning their mission to become Worm Merchants (hundreds of worms + 10 GP a corpse = profit), but the logistics of somehow getting them down to Waterfall City ultimately caused them to abandon the plan and decide to act like proper Relic-seekers. They did, however, salt several of the worms in order to preserve them for later sale (even the most mundane item is situationally useful).

The group took the Eastern path from the pond in order to try and head North to their ultimate destination of Bottleneck Cave, but found the path blocked by a large boulder. They took a path to the Southeast and came to a small glade where a large troll (Think Hilda not Gygax) sat looking at a shiny object and giggled to itself. The party attempted to sneak past, but Oriv stepped on a twig and alerted the troll (pesky DEX saves!). The rest of the party realized that they could escape, but that Oriv was too close to the troll to safely flee.

Aster tossed one the Gilly Worms to the troll, hoping to distract it with food, but this proved unsuccessful. After considering several additional options (combat didn't really come up due to the fact that it was a giant creature seemingly made of stone), including using Harrow's Repellent, it was suggested that Madrigal toss his pail of "snot acid" onto the creature. Madrigal hurled the acid, pail and all, into the creature's face. The goo slowly slid down the creature's face in body, bleaching every surface it touched a bright white that matched the tower found in White Tower Grove. This fascinated the troll, and the party fled before determining if this transmutation would ultimately be fatal.

Upon circling around and seeing the boulder that had previously blocked their path from the other side, the party was surprised to see it was, in fact, a sleeping troll much larger than the one just encountered. The party came to a narrow path that was lined with trees covered with strange, white, tear-shaped sap. The natural path terminated in stone stairs that led up to a cave where a faint flickering light could be seen. The name Bottleneck Cave now made a lot more sense.

They entered to find a large statue with unnaturally bulbous features holding two bowls in outstretched hands. This seemed to be a statue of a god no longer actively worshiped, possibly Rivulus himself? The flickering light turned out to be a Will-o-Wisp, trapped in an iron cage placed at the foot of the statue. Wisps were known for thriving on suffering, and the party experimented (Oriv purposefully stubbed his toe on the cage) to see what effect small amounts of anguish had on the creature, which seemed to grow brighter with such acts.

The left bowl was iron (and the one they were told to grab), filled with what appeared to be ash. The right bowl was wooden and had a small white feather placed within. The party claimed the iron bowl as directed, but Aster was intrigued by the wooden bowl and decided to pick it up despite the misgivings of some of the other members.

When removed, the wisp suddenly became incredibly bright, as if the act had somehow caused great suffering. The party realized that the god itself was seemingly caused anguish by the removal of the wooden bowl, and Aster decided to replace the object and offer apologies to the statue.

Returning the bowl dimmed the light of the wisp, and the apology/offering of prayer seemed to weaken it further. Intrigued, the rest of the party bowed to the statue as well, causing the wisp to grow dimmer still. Finally, Oriv reached into the cage with his dagger and popped the wisp like a soap bubble.

Aster left his collection of Gilly Worms at the foot of the statue as an offering, and the party returned the iron bowl to Otter of the Tideborn.

Upon prodding their benefactor, they learned that the statue they found was, indeed, of the god Rivulus that the Tideborn themselves worship, but that they were forced to abandon the shrine at Bottleneck Cave when a sorcerer claimed the area for his own, using the suffering of the god as a means of "feeding" his collection of wisps. Further inquiries were politely rebuffed, and the party was forced to content themselves with the 300 GP that was reward for completing the job (plus a bonus from the sale of the salted Gilly Worms).

I suspect that we missed some stuff here, but we were running short on session time. Perhaps a return trip will be in order. Art by Zedeck Siew.

Further Mysteries

• Why was Rivulus so sad given that he supposedly still has active worshipers in the Tideborn?

• What was the mysterious snot acid goo that filled the bottom of the tower in White Tower Grove?

• Who murdered the explorer found at the bottom of the tower? Maybe we can revisit the tower after someone has the means to speak with the dead.

Reflection

As I hope this play report emphasized, this was a really fun session and a great test drive of the Cairn 2e rules. To give you a little peek behind the curtain, this is how everything was structured: Decide on a mission for the session (either one found on the job board, or a self-selected one), purchase things that might be relevant to the mission (we skipped this. More below), roll Omen (which potentially acts as another job), and then actually start the session.

Pretty much everything can be done prior to the actual session time on Discord (or however you communicate with your players between sessions), though we decided to roll the Omen during actual session time because it is fun. We forgot to do shopping before the session began, and when the topic came up I pushed for not doing and jumping straight into things (luckily, everyone humored me). There is a meme about waiting for a game all week only for the session to be dominated by shopping that applies here, but honestly a big reason is that I think of Cairn as a Roguelike, and part of the fun for me is watching how everyone solves problems with the tools they have on hand.

The new Backgrounds provided a lot of characterization and an assortment of unique and mundane items. It was fun to see everyone get into the spirit of creative applications of said items. One of the most valuable items was just a simple bag of Salt, because it allowed us to preserve (and shrink) the Gilly Worms and made for a great second pay day. A lot of people were leveraging their Backgrounds in order to obtain additional information about things as well, and the more specific Backgrounds of 2e really lent themselves to that.

While we didn't get into any of the new Dungeon Exploration rules, the Wilderness Travel rules got their tires kicked a little bit. There were multiple potential routes to Bottleneck Cave, but I asked everyone to take the route that would let us stop at the white tower and everyone was kind enough to agree. Yochai scattered a lot of known points of interest around the map that have flavor text like "no one has ever found a way inside" or "practically impenetrable" and I can't take such things as anything but a challenge.

The Stone Forest was created using Cairn 2e's Forestcrawl rules, which are designed to create forested areas that don't quite fit the scale of either Dungeon Exploration or Wilderness Exploration, a mostly unexplored design space that Anne over at DIY & Dragons talks about here. We actually explored only a fraction of it, and I'm hoping I can find an excuse to get a party back up into that portion of the map in future sessions.

That's it for session 1! We've already played session 2, so expect another session report sometime soon. If you happen to give the 2e playtest rules a test drive, please feel free to head over to the Cairn Discord and tell us all about it!