Episode Book

THE STORYTELLING GAME ®

Episode Book

Acknowledgements THE PRINCE VALIANT STORYTELLING GAME created by Greg Stafford with William Dunn, Lynn Willis, and Charlie Krank Artwork: Hal Foster Authors: Tobie Abad, Justin Achilli, Shannon Appelcline, Alan Bahr, Jeff Barber, Emily Care Boss, Bill Bridges, Richard Dansky, Bret Gillan, Jerry Grayson, Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb, B.J. Hensley, Will Hindmarch, Kenneth Hite, G. Christopher Klug, David Larkins, Sage LaTorra, Robin Laws, James Lowder, Paul Marzagalli, John Nephew, Chris Pramas, Dev Purkayastha, Laura Simpson, Epidiah Ravachol, Mark Rein•Hagen, Roderick Robertson, Bob Schroeder, Steve Sechi, Ethan Skemp, Lester Smith, Monica Valentinelli, John Wick, Malcom Wolter Editors: Roderick Robertson and Roberto Mandrioli Book Design: Aileen E. Miles Publishing: Alan Bahr, Stephan Wieck

Table of Contents The Lady at the Bridge 4 TOBIE ABAD War Debts 7 JUSTIN ACHILLI The Lost Library 9 SHANNON APPELCLINE The Rattling Forest 11 ALAN BAHR Bilgewater Brigands 13 JEFF BARBER The Dán of Glenshire 16 EMILY CARE BOSS The Loyal Hound 18 BILL BRIDGES The Feast of Sir Ainsel 20 RICHARD DANSKY The Blue Cloak 22 BRET GILLAN The Crimson Bull 23 JERRY D. GRAYSON Too Many Tentacles 26 ED GREENWOOD The Mare’s Lamp 29 JEFF GRUBB First Flower of Spring 31 BJ HENSLEY Quarry in the Wild 33 WILL HINDMARCH The Wild Hunt 35 KENNETH HITE SampleThe Oldest Part of the Forest 37 file CHRIS KLUG The Kraken 40 DAVID LARKINS

2 Prince Valiant Episodes

No Traveler Returns 42 SAGE LATORRA Fort Seahawk 44 ROBIN D. LAWS The Motley and the Lost 47 JAMES LOWDER The Defenestration of Prag 50 PAUL MARZAGALLI The Nails of Saint Wilbert 53 JOHN NEPHEW To Byzantium! 55 CHRIS PRAMAS A Wild Hunt 56 DEV PURKAYASTHA AND LAURA SIMPSON A Wedding in Green 58 EPIDIAH RAVACHOL A Prodigal Son — in Chains 60 MARK REIN•HAGEN The Littlest Prince 63 RODERICK ROBERTSON Marriage, but Only for the Right Reason 66 ROBERT SCHROEDER Thick as Thieves 67 STEVE SECHI The Addled Knight 70 ETHAN SKEMP Field Test 71 LESTER SMITH Treachery Is the Deepest Cut 73 MONICA VALENTINELLI Nimue’s Song 76 SampleJOHN WICK file The Tournament 78 MALCOLM WOLTER

3 The Lady at the Bridge

Tobie Abad PISODE TYPE: Attack. Bala is consumed with fear and fights for her Begin With: As you travel a less familiar life. She is not a warrior, however, and surrenders if the E path out of the forest, you come upon an old odds are clearly against her. However, the assistance rickety bridge where a barefoot woman stands with a staff from Baram certainly gives her an edge in the fight. If in hand. She has no one attending her, and carries herself the Adventurer seem to have succeeded in calming her with the demeanor of a barbarian. Her hair is knotted tightly down, Baram uses his powers to make it look to Bala behind her head, and an ill-fitting padded vest sits atop her like the Adventurers plan to murder her when she is clothed body. When she sees you, she pounds one end of the not looking. This incites her into aggression once more staff upon the bridge and calls out towards you, demanding and, given the chance, she will kill her captors if she can. you challenge her. Personality: Bala is exhausted, desperate and determined. Name: Bala. She sought freedom from the expectations of tradition by Accompanied By: Baram the Amused (though she does living in the woods but does not understand why not a single not know it). day passes without some new encounter coming to her door. Also take: None. Special Effect: One use of Escape Bonds, since Baram is Numbers: One warrior woman defending her home, one not going to let a captive Bala ruin the fun today will bring. mischievous faerie residing under the bridge. One use of Confuse Character. Situation: Disowned by parents who couldn’t train her to act in more womanly ways, Bala has taken it upon herself to Scenes survive in the forest. In the last two months, she has learned to use the staff adequately, and lives in the old watch house alongside this forgotten bridge. The arrival of the group has 1. Introduction pressed her into activity as she “defends her home” from these Bala’s appearance catches the Adventurers off-guard. She intruders. looks comely despite her stance and aggressive demeanor. What none of them realize is that a faerie trickster named She demands the Adventurers surrender their weapons and Baram has been living beneath the bridge, enjoying the will not agree to any other terms. She is paranoid, fearful of experiences of his latest plaything — Bala. He has lured others treachery, and suspects the Adventurers of having been sent to this place, amused with every encounter Bala finds herself by that mysterious man she has seen watching her from the forced to deal with. In this case, that encounter happens to woods (Baram). If anyone insists on keeping their weapons, be the players. He will not confront the group, and flees if or attempts to approach her, she strikes at them with the discovered. Destroying or banishing him, however, releases intention of knocking the person out. Bala from his influence and allows her to reclaim her life. Short Term Goal: Bala seeks to protect her home. The 2. Combat group is seen as intruders by her because of the nightmares Baram has whispered into her dreams. Baram seeks to see how Bala is not a skilled fighter (though she is far more skilled far Bala will go to protect her home from people who have than most non-combatants) and counts “lucky breaks” as signs murdered her in her recent dreams. that she is in the right and that a higher power guides her. Long Term Goal: Bala just wants to be left alone. Baram Opponents lose their balance. Wood breaks. Branches catch. will flee and find a new source of amusement in some other She is unawares of Baram’s influence on the battle. town or distant hamlet. Eventually, she will be defeated. She never pleads for Planned Activity: Baram has been feeding Bala dreams of forgiveness and tries to break free when she can. violence. In these dreams, Baram has inserted the likenesses of the group as her assailants. If Bala is restrained, Baram allows 3. Getting to Know Bala her to Escape Bonds. This manifests as knots coming undone, While imprisoned, Bala is conversational, however. She or a hold upon her slipping when the Adventurer grappling shares her tale of having long been trapped in a life she did not her finds himself tripped by a nearby root. want. How her parents insisted she act a certain way and see During any combat, Baram can affect the coin tosses and life in a certain manner. It was only after her parents disowned allow BalaSample to gain two coins in a single toss, which manifest her that she began to find a life meantfile for her. She speaks as strange “coincidences” that happen on the bridge, e.g. the of the shift in her life with much happiness, and despises the Adventurer slips, or a weapon gets stuck, or a wooden plank players, believing them to have been sent by her parents. suddenly breaks under a Adventurer’s weight.

4 PRINCE VALIANT EPISODES THE LADY AT THE BRIDGE

4. The Sudden Rain While they interrogate or speak with Bala, the weather suddenly shifts. Lightning flashes and rain pours down and the shack Bala owns offers the best shelter from the storm. The players are free to choose to move on, leaving her behind. If they leave her behind, it would be a good time to use Escape Bonds and have her silently break free. If they do not leave, however, then the next scene unfolds with Bala breaking free only once the Adventurers are too occupied to pay attention to her. And that is when she strikes.

5. Another Party A group of bandits chance upon the shelter as they travel through the pouring rain. To amuse himself, Baram has used his glamour on the bandits. To the players and Bala, the bandits appear as the Adventurers! The bandits respond with violence, surprised to find the shack occupied, and desperate to silence any witnesses. They have just come from a recent heist and are hoping to hide out in the shelter from both the rain and the law. They attack mercilessly. Baram gets so excited by the battle, however, that he steps out of the shadows and starts watching the fight in full view. His Glamour still protects him, however, and any attempts to notice him require a Presence throw. On the first attempt, Baram has four coins. But each successive attempt reduces his coins by one as he tries to get closer for a better view each time. When asked about “the man in the woods”, she does not remember what she meant. She occasionally slips and mentions “the man” when not paying attention. She talks 6. Broken Mirrors about him watching her. Or observing her. Or walking up to As the fight against the bandits unfolds and Bala joins the see him staring at her from afar. But any direct attempt to talk fray, the Adventurers might be confused, seeing Bala helping about him fails, as Bala simply does not consciously remember them one moment, then attacking them the next. Bala is anything. starting to think the faces in her nightmare are these bandits, When asked about her attacking them, she mentions her and not the Adventurers, but she is having trouble telling parents first, then her dreams second. She talks about having them apart. nightmares that keep her from sleeping well at night. If pushed Adventurers fighting the bandits can lose track of who is to shareSample more, she refuses, but can be convinced to do so with whom as well. Each time an Adventurerfile attacks any opponent the good use of Presence. other than Bala or the bandit matching their own face, flip a

5 THE LADY AT THE BRIDGE PRINCE VALIANT EPISODES

coin. Tails means they accidentally attack one of their friends. blame them. She does not consider them friends, but she does Players coming up with smart tactics like singing a song only not blame them for the events that have unfolded. She simply they know, or speaking a language the bandits do not know asks them to leave. should be rewarded accordingly. Baram notices, however, any smart tactics like that used too often. Once it has been done at least twice, Baram uses Characters his Glamour to mess things up. The moment a tactic is done a third time, the player now must flip a coin: tails means the Bala player is uncertain if his target is the correct one. If the player chooses to attack anyway, then the player flips a coin. If the Fame: 700 second coin is again tails, he attacks the original by mistake Brawn: 4 (as Baram has used his Glamour to switch the target and his Presence: 2 double’s place). Skills: Arms 3, Brawling 2, Crafting 2, Dexterity 2, Healing 1, This makes it more likely for the Adventurers to notice Hunting 3. Baram’s interference. If this leads to them engaging or Traits: Melancholic and Foul-Tongued. addressing Baram, then the next scene begins. Possessions: Staff (+1 in combat, can use Dexterity to trip or confuse opponent; see the Dexterity skill description), 7. Adieu a few copper pennies, and a few makeshift remnants of clothes. The moment any Adventurer decides to try confronting Baram and throws successfully against his Glamour, Baram Combat Total: 8 with staff. looks shocked to finally be the focus of attention. He ends up making a tiny sound, like a dying whistle, then tries to back Bandits (all are identical) away. Fame: 700 If none of the Adventurers confronts Baram for his actions, Brawn: 5 Bala does so. She slams her foot down in front of Baram and Presence: 1 demands an explanation for his actions. He blunders and Skills: Agility 2, Arms 2, Brawling 2. gasps, and fails to give any reasonable excuse as he stutters: “I was just bored…” If the players seem to be looking for a Possessions: Light armor (+1 in combat), short swords (+1 chance to punish someone, Baram can be your poster boy for in combat), various loot (a few coins and stolen jewelry). punishment. Baram can give a bit of a fight, but in the overall Combat Total: 9 with short swords. scheme of things, he is more of a trickster than a warrior. In the end, Baram flees. He vanishes into a burst of leaves Baram and fireflies. Fame: 2,000 Bala stares at the Adventurers, wondering what happens Brawn: 2 next. She looks at them and admits her actions were meant Presence: 1 to defend herself. She did not realize they were just victims of Skills: Courtesie 3, Oratory 2, Poetry/Song 2, Riding 3. the fae. She has no desire to return to her family, and has no dreams of finding love. She has learned to call the shack her Possessions: Fancy yet ineffectual highly decorated sword (+0 home and plans to create a whole new life for herself there. in combat), beautiful riding horse, fancy wine and silver goblet. The players might feel conflicted about this, uncertain if she will be fine and possibly even feeling somewhat responsible Combat Total: 2. given the fight they had. In the end, however, Bala does not Sample file