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1/7/2019

The Shrine of Shakyamuni

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a Dungeon World shrine by Will Patterson, Keeper of the Child's Dream

An entry in the Discern Realities Shrine Contest.


Out of the corner of your eye you notice the texture on a nearby wall shimmer and move, like oil upon the tide. But when you focus your attention on the wall, all appears normal aside from the sounds of a babbling brook. If you pass through the wall you will find a boat just large enough for you and your companions. Once boarded, the boat moves of its own accord, flowing gently down the stream towards a landing where a small white obelisk sits among soft grasses. A glowing script on the obelisk invites you to sleep and promises great wisdom, but the text will if you glance away. Lying before the Shrine you see numerous creatures in peaceful slumber, of species and races mostly unknown to you.

Life is but a dream
When you fall asleep before the Shrine of Shakyamuni, roll 2d6 and add the number of times you have visited the Black Gates. On a 7+, describe your brief time within the world of dreams before you are visited by Shakyamuni. Choose 1 and upon awakening you remember nothing of Shakyamuni’s visage:
  • Gain the Dream Signs move from The Oneironaut Compendium Class (reprinted below)
  • You may always negotiate with Death from a position of strength
  • You and your party may awaken in any known location within the waking world
On a 10+, choose 2 and you vividly recall that Shakyamuni’s visage was your own.
On a 6-, Shakyamuni will offer you a bargain. Take it and awaken before the Shrine. Refuse and remain lost in the world of dreams forever, your sleeping body never to awaken.

The Journal of the First Yogi
The pristine pages of this journal describe your every visit to the world of dreams. Each morning new pages are added, written by your own hand. The bearer of this item cannot be deceived by any worldly illusion, and may add the following question to the Discern Realities list: What does this adversary most fear?

Dreamcraft
Level 5 Cleric Spell
You enter the dreams of a sleeping creature known to you. You may speak with the target and you may change any details of the dream. If you craft a nightmare with yourself as the object of your target’s horror, you may reroll your lowest die on any future CHA moves against the target.

The Oneironaut Compendium Class

This compendium class was first published in Codex - The Discern Realities Annual.

When you have spent a year in meditation with the yogis of the Shakyamuni mountain clan, you may take the following move when you level up:

Dream Signs
When you witness something that would be impossible on Earth, such as magic, you may roll +WIS.
  • On a 10+, hold 2 Lucid.
  • On a 7-9, hold 1 Lucid.

You may never hold more than 3 Lucid at one time.  Lose all Lucid and revert to your original form whenever you fall asleep.

At any time, spend 1 Lucid to:
  • Change an established detail in a scene.
  • Change something about yourself.
  • Summon a simple object or weapon.

You may then select the following as class moves:

Awakened
The waking world bends to your whims.  At any time you may spend 2 Lucid to attempt something impossible in the fiction.  Roll Defy Danger+WIS to find out what happens.

Limitless
You have learned to use intention as a weapon.  At any time you may spend 1 Lucid to Volley with WIS.  Your damage die increases to d10 and you may choose to have either the forceful or the messy tag.  If you would choose to reduce your ammo by one, instead spend 1 additional Lucid.

Only a Guest
You have realized that even the most fearsome foe is still just a creation of your subconscious.  At any time, you may spend 1 Lucid to change an established detail of a hostile creature.

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8/6/2018

Of Grease and Gears

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Picture
a steampunk city starter for Dungeon World
by Will Patterson, Keeper of the Child's Dream

Archival. The city of grease and gears. Sanctuary of the Mechans, but open to all. It was founded centuries ago by the bard Jixter Reverb, the first to awaken. It stands as a monument to progress, beckoning Mechans as they attain sentience. King Jixter's reign was marked by peace and prosperity until a week ago, when Jixter murdered Archmage Redwell in cold blood before hundreds of witnesses. Jixter refuses to speak, and you have been hired by Archival’s mage guild to uncover the King's motives...

Questions:
- Growing up on its oil-stained streets, you bore witness to the lie behind Archival's prosperity.  What is your most distressing memory?
- Rumors of the White are as ubiquitous as they are inconsistent. Why does it want Archival for its own?
- (For a magic user) You narrowly escaped capture at the hands of hooded assailants. Aside from a patch branded with a bleeding eye, what did they leave behind?
- As you approached Archival by airship, you could feel the heat from the fires burning in the eastern district. What stories did the dockworkers tell of the east?
- Over the years, you have lost more coin at The Baker's Daughter than you'd care to admit.  What palace intrigues are your fellow regulars gossiping about recently? Whoever answers this question is the Regular for purposes of The Baker’s Daughter custom move.


Impressions:
- A scrap of newspaper describing the abductions of several prominent human magic users.
- Graffiti depicting a bleeding red eye.
- Rumors of Mechans going missing and returning home with significant memory issues.
- A man's voice, pleading for help down a darkened alley.
- Fires in the east, lighting up the night sky.
- A constable's carriage, speeding through the streets, heedless of pedestrians.
- An oil-slicked river, separating east Archival from the west.
- A half-dozen well-equipped corpses, frozen solid.
- A beggar ranting about an invasion of imposter Mechans.
- The guards at the palace gates seem unconcerned by Redwell’s death.
- A bizarre spider-like contraption waddling down the boulevard like the town drunk. Inside you hear two voices arguing loudly.
- A shadow cast by a huge creature flying above, too high to identify.
- Footprints made of ice that refuse to melt, even in the noonday sun.
- In your pockets you find business cards reading: “Johannes Trithemius - translations, solutions, divinations - The Baker’s Daughter Room 3b.”
- A glimpse of an unusual, diminutive Mechan who was clearly studying you. It disappears without a trace.
- An enormous bronze mechanical bear walking down a boulevard. People move out of its way and you would swear it winks at you as you pass.
- Letters of frost reading “Pachua rises!” and “The One Reigns!”

- A rotund street musician with an enormous top hat. “Name’s HAT. Catch me tonight at The Baker’s Daughter!”
- Three stone-sober dwarves overseeing a construction site crewed by Mechans.
- Rumors of a hospital to the east that has been experimenting on Mechans. Patients allegedly return without joy in their gears.
- A newspaper with the headline: "Jixter in chains, Babbage takes reins."
- A train station where the upper torso of a Mechan behemoth, like a huge, mechanical centaur, emerges from an engine. It looks at you for a moment before returning to the task of loading its cars.

Locations:


The Baker's Daughter, a tavern frequented by palace officials that hides a dark secret.
When you spend some time swapping tales with the regulars at The Baker's Daughter, the Regular rolls +CHA (see Questions above). On a 7+, ask the GM two questions from the list below. On a 7-9, one of the answers may be a lie.
- Who is reprogramming Mechans?
- Where is the White's lair?
- Who is really in control at the Palace?
- Where is the secret entrance to King Jixter's study?
- Who is Kol?

- What caused the fires in the east?
On a 6-, the GM may answer however they wish, and your inquiries draw unwelcome attention.


Archival’s Mage Guild, reinforced as if preparing itself for war

A burnt out hospital in the east, housing the lair of Pachua, the White, deep below.

The Palace, loyal to Jixter's treasurer Mordecai Babbage

The Silverheart Bridge, the main thoroughfare connecting East and West, blockaded by the Palace Guard

Factions:

The White’s Thralls:  Servants of Pachua, an ancient white dragon. Instinct: to obtain an army.

Cult of Dead Steel: Industrialists that miss the days of free Mechan labor.
Instinct: to refurbish Mechans into mindless servants.

Cult of the Gyre: Madmen in service to a long buried evil. Cultists carry a bleeding eye insignia. Instinct: to transform magic users into powerful fiends.

The Palace: Jixter's treasurer, Mordecai Babbage, rules in Jixter's stead.  Instinct: to deny the unthinkable.

The Mages Guild: The party's employers. The local chapter is led by Lady Dallyance the Bold. Instinct: to protect magic users from abduction and uncover the truth about Jixter.

PictureIs this Kol? Is it Pachua? Someone else?
Adversaries:

Pachua & Kol 
Inseparable, intelligent, devious, flying, mounted [Pachua is immune to the party’s feeble attempts]
16 HP (Kol), 1 armor

Upon entering the frozen lair beneath the burnt out hospital, you will find Kol sitting upon a throne of ice on a pillar 30 feet in the air. A manacle on Kol’s left hand is chained to a choker around the neck of a beautiful figure, who sits forlornly at the edge of the pillar. Kol will demand that the party stop and return to the surface, else Kol will push the figure off the edge. If the party approaches, Kol will follow through on this promise. The figure will transform into a white dragon during the fall, and Kol will leap onto its back. Any party member who attempts to interrupt the fall will be their first target. Pachua's armored hide is almost impenetrable, but it will withdraw from Archival in grief if its partner falls.


Instinct: to capture a party member and withdraw

- Pachua's ice breath (b[2d10]+2, area, near, slow, freezing)
- Kol leaps from Pachua to perform the Pendulum, a deadly maneuver allowing Kol to strike a target below and then regain their seat on Pachua’s neck (1d10, beneath Pachua, pierce 2)
- Javelin (1d6, near, far, pierce 1, ammo 3)

- Clutch a foolish PC in Pachua’s claws

Kol's Crew
Horde, intelligent 
6HP, 1 armor

Kol's Crew patrols eastern Archival in service to Pachua. Deadly archers stand watch above the lair entrance.


Instinct: to rain death from above

- Cruel bow (1d6, near, far, pierce 1, debilitating (DM’s choice))
- Cruel blade (1d6, close, messy)
- Call for reinforcements

Palace Guard
Group, fanatical to the Cult of the Gyre
7HP, armor 2

Led by Captain James Jarvis Strong, the guard is currently stationed at the Silverheart Bridge and will rebuff the party’s attempts to travel to the east without Mordecai Babbage’s personal authorization. Corpses carry the bleeding eye badge. 


Instinct: To kidnap magic users

- Swords (1d8+2, close)
- Bolos (near, far, immobilizing)
- Counterspell

- Raise anti-magic field
- Put civilians in immediate danger

Picture
Reprogramed Mechans
Mimic, obedient to the Cult of Dead Steel
6HP, 3 armor


Instinct: To infiltrate the upper echelons of Mechan society

- Improvised weaponry (1d10, close, near)
- Ambush from a crowd
- Imitate former self

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  • Home
  • Blog
    • Blog Table of Contents
  • Podcasts
    • The Gauntlet Podcast
    • Fear of a Black Dragon
    • The Darkened Threshold
    • Trophy Podcast
    • Discern Realities
    • +1 Forward >
      • Belonging Outside Belonging Series
      • Forged in the Dark Series
      • Firebrands Series
    • The Farrier's Bellows
    • Pocket-Sized Play
    • We Hunt the Keepers!
    • Comic Strip AP
    • Podcast Indexes >
      • Gauntlet Podcast Index
      • Fear of a Black Dragon Index
      • +1 Forward Index
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      • Trophy Podcast Index
      • The Farrier's Bellows Index
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      • We Hunt the Keepers! Index
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