Nothing to Fear

The Wing has ventured out into the Aerie's corridors.

As they moved through the waist high mist, they noticed odd shapes within. Black shadows the size of insects were writhing through it. After studying them for a moment, Tome, the Shrouded, came to the conclusion that these things were a type of spirit, tiny manifestations of fear. Whenever one grazed a Phoenix, they experienced visions of their first death.

At this point, the scenario suggested the players perform a Skill Spread. They had to aim for a value of 15 at a minimum or die instantly, consumed by their fears. Of course, the rules allow players to add 1 to their value for each Spark they are willing to spend. Sparks are a special resource used by players to activate their characters' supernatural abilities.

As a Game Master, I object to having players forced into such situations. I eased the consequences so that anyone unable to reach 15 would be given an Exposed Condition instead. This represented their character being in the grip of fear and gave them negative modifiers in a fight, putting them at a disadvantage later on. As written, this would have occurred provided a player didn't reach 20.

While they managed to shake off this fear effect, the Aerie's mortal staff was not as fortunate. First they encountered a soldier throwing around his sword wildly, seemingly fighting off unseen assailants. The Phoenixes unarmed and grabbed him but were unable to reason with the soldier through his screams of terror. After a moment he collapsed in Ram's, the Durant, arms. They found a chamber to leave him in and continued to the main gate.

At one point during their trek, Tome was reminded of a tale of a Fallen called The Harvester of Fear. It spoke of a Skavi warlord who made a bargain with The Harvester to get himself rid of a clan encroaching on his land. The Harvester gave material shape to the warlord's enemies' fears which slaughtered the clan. Unfortunately, the fears then turned on the warlord and ravaged his lands. This is most certainly who, or what, they were dealing with here.

Normally, going through a structure erected by an inhuman will would be difficult for someone who has never walked these halls before but the Wing knew exactly which path to take thanks to Tome's Astonishing Luck, a special Trait the character possesses. It turned out he remembered being in this very Aerie during his mortal days when he had to navigate his way through the twisting corridors blindfolded. While at the time he didn't encounter people lying on the floor in a catatonic state, screaming their throats out or seeing the bodies of people who tried desperately to claw their way out through solid stone, he nonetheless brought the Wing to the entrance.

As they inspected it, they noticed there was no forced entry. The gate must have simply swung open, allowing the Fallen to enter unmolested. This made sense considering this Aerie was once The Harvester's stronghold in this part of Skavia. As they pondered their next move, they heard screams coming from a lower level. Gale, the Forceful, dashed forward towards the sound. The Wing followed suit.

Gale ran down the stairs leading to the lower floors with astonishing speed. He was the first to reach a large chamber that once must have been the great hall of this palace. Within it stood a statue of an enormous ebony tree to which the Aerie's staff and local villagers were strung. An ominous figure wearing an ivory mask, wielding a sceptre and clad in a black cloak on which one could see faces writhing in agony moved around it. It weas cutting symbols into a villager while assuring him that the longer he were to scream, the longer he would live.

The rest of the Wing joined Gale shortly after he witnessed a black mass bleeding out of the villager's wounds and being sucked up into a sphere atop the tree. Although the hall was additionally guarded by a Dreadknight similar to the one they fought earlier, they wasted no time before charging in.

Armed with knowledge as to what to expect of the creature, they defeated the knight with extreme prejudice before going after The Harvester. Unfortunately, the moment its knight fell, it called out to the knight's essence, creating a psychic shockwave that plunged each Phoenix into their personal nightmares. Some were able to shake off the effect while others suffered fear-induced hallucinations

Willow, the Elemental, slung fire at the Fallen One while Ram used his inhuman strength to drive a fist into it. That temporarily disabled The Harvester and he had great difficulties landing a blow. Meanwhile, Gale shot arrows at it while running towards and onto the tree. Tome proceeded with his surgical strikes from the shadows.

The entire Wing was certain they could take this creature down until The Harvester sucked out a portion of their power. It then turned to Gale as he released a rain of arrows onto it. It reached out into the fear that gripped Gale's heart and death was nearly upon him until Ram stood in the way of the tendrils shooting out towards his Wingmate. When they pierced through him, he noticed they had no effect on him personally as his heart was pure. This moment of confusion was all that Tome needed. He jumped out of his concealment and with all his supernal might drove a spear into The Harvester. The exertion costed him dearly as his body could not withstand the might of his personal Flame, he turned to ash as the Fallen lay defeated.

Since Phoenix Dawn Command relies on playing cards as a form of resolving actions, rather than the typical dice rolling mechanics, it took some getting used to for the players last session. I was extremely happy to see how, in this second combat encounter, they worked together as a team, relying on their abilities to strengthen their Wingmates. The Elemental burned his Health so others could recover Sparks, while the Durant used a card to redirect The Harvester's attack. When the Shrouded decided to go for the killing blow, the rest of the Wing played cards that added to his result. I was worried that due to their extreme teamwork, they didn't get a sense of how powerful an opponent they were facing but I managed to land at least one blow that nearly killed a character... the look on the players' faces was truly priceless when they heard Gale would lose all but one Health Token if the attack were to connect.

Unlike during the last session where I had to use a piece of paper for the Torch, due to the template that came with the game proved to be especially resistant to pencils, I managed to find a file on the game's website that had a print out of all the Torches for the published scenarios. Our main issue was explaining the Initiative Order which the game technically lacks.

When The Harvester had its Speed reduced by 1 after getting Stunned, the players seemed confused why when their Initiative Order reset itself, it went before them. Surely, the Fallen One should have gone after them but rather than moving a character up or down on an initiative track, Phoenix Dawn Command allows each player to take an action in whatever order they decide. The only restriction is not to that each of them has to act before the cycle resets. This ensures that each player has a chance to act. Non-player characters, however, act after a number of Phoenixes equal to their Speed have acted. This caused some confusion for players who are used to every participant acting once before the entire cycle begins anew. I have to admit, keeping track of active participants is somewhat tricky but overall, the fight went well and we finally had a heroic death!

Which means Tome will get an upgrade when he is reborn for the next mission.