The interesting thing about Swords Without Master is that the Rogues can control how quickly the game ends by adding items to the three Motif Cards. To keep it a little more random, I'll use Miso to determine how many, if any, phrases I can add at a time. Miso will also be used to determine what influences a Tone may have as I create more scene cards.
Sebastian wants to add “Blood colored petals coalesce into a kneeling man,” and “A crystalline rose blossoms in his palm,” to the Motif Card.
Option A: Add both.
Option B: Choose one.
Option A - 1, Option B - 3
1st Motif Card
- Blood colored petals coalesce into a kneeling man.
Option A: Feral - A Perilous Phase on the streets of the Court of Gaols.
Option B: Insightful - A Discovery Phase in a ward within the Court of Gaols.
Option A - 1, Option B - 5
When this is a Feral Tone,
Option A: and a Perilous Phase,
Option B: and a Discovery Phase,
Option A - 6, Option B - 1
When this is an Insightful Tone,
Option A: and a Discovery Phase,
Option B: and a Rogues Phase,
Option A - 1, Option B - 5
Blood petals emerge from a pool of liberty blue. Sebastian rises from his kneeling position beside a waist high lamp emanating a pale lavender. The room was once part of a hospital ward, lined with rotting beds topped by torn sheets. The entire area has swinging walls of iron to segregate patients from one another.
Moonlight peeks through tattered curtains, showing brief glimpses of empty dark buildings across the way. The sound of desperate wails fill the street below. In the distance, a feral howl cuts the air, temporarily silencing the fearful souls outside.
Overplayer picks up the dice and passes them to Sebastian.
Sebastian rolls for Tone: Feral - 4, Insightful - 5.
Sebastian is ready for the Hunt. The feral beast haunting the Court of Gaols must be stopped. Every moment it roams the streets, the fewer people will survive the night. The whispers carried by the wind would drive anyone mad, even other Hunters.
The closer a person’s mind comes to the Old Ones, the more bestial they become. It was a fine line to walk, knowing and not. Seeing too deeply behind the veil leaves a raving lunatic bent on destruction. Ignoring the haunting whispers, fighting against them, can just as surely lead to a transformation. The Old Ones will fuel their prey’s strength, twisting them into ravening beasts. To be a Hunter was to hear the silent voices and still have the strength to fight back.
Sebastian picks up the dice and hands them to the Overplayer.
Who had the creature been before its transformation?
Hunters walk the line between sanity and madness. Josef was such a Hunter. Within his Dream, he conquered several beasts with pistol and spring blade. But every Hunter may know failure.
Josef had returned to his Workshop to find it burning. The messengers had been banished, their stone basins cracked and destroyed. A sinister bell chimed in the distance, heralding an invasion. The bell chimed again, and Josef saw a figure move within the burning building.
It was human, bleeding with a dull ruddy glow. The invaders hand swept to one side, a long wooden handle extended a heavy serrated blade. The bells chimed again. Another red figure stepped from the burning wreckage. This one bore an immense axe.
One phantom, he could have dealt with. Two? Josef reached into a pocket and produced a small tarry sphere. He swallowed it and felt the primal surge of its contained ferocity run through him. Jose’s sword leapt into his hand as he charged.
But afterward… amidst the burning rubble and vanishing corpses of the two phantoms, a single monstrosity remained. It drew labored breath, clothing ripped and torn and skin marred by several wounds. The deep cuts began to seal as it looked upon the burning Workshop one last time.
A wolf’s head turned skyward and unleashed an anguished howl at the large moon.
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