The Hands of Lacquermere

This is an adventure for Investigating Censor, my dark rules-light RPG wargame. The core game is set amidst a campaign by oracular warrior monks to eliminate​ a sect of human-sacrificing pirates, but this adventure concerns the secondary enemies of the Investigating Censors: the Secret Societies that plague the newly-destabilized south coast region.

This adventure is intended to provide concrete examples of all speculative content for the Investigating Censor core rulebook, which covers adventures of a much broader scale; The Hands of Lacquermere concerns a single settlement and its outlying reaches. 

It is also intended to serve as an introductory adventure, and contains all appendices needed for play.

Before we begin, I'd like to direct you to Solomon VK's recent adventure for Investigating Censor, The Cape of Four Pleasances, which blends his campaign setting, The Rest of All Possible Worlds, with Investigating Censor's world and system for laying out the key players in settlements and their retinues. It contains excellent ideas and some beautiful prose. 

The Hands of Lacquermere

The Monastery of the Inner Orchard has proven unable to deal with the Secret Society in the township of Lacquermere.

This Society, the Hands of the Trembling Filament, are arsonists par excellence. They resist monastic rule.

A foreign caravan was destroyed by the Hand, who placed subtly-burning fibers in the lacquer-laden carts of the caravan. The lacquer detonated just as the caravan was leaving Lacquermere.

The High Dreaming Citadel has dispatched Investigating Censors to root out the Hands of the Trembling Filament.

    Index

Lacquermere

The Streets

The Garden

The Lacquerwell

The Caravansary

The Regime Manor

The Outlying Reaches

-Teahouse

-Wilderness

The Hall of Hands

The Monastery

Appendix: Potential Allies

-20 Townspeople

-20 Visitors to the Caravansary

-12 Potential Allies

-6 Regional Concentrations of Desirable Retinue Members 

Appendix: Sentiment

Appendix: High Dreaming Citadel Cachet

CRB (Core Rulebook) Appendix: The Search for Allies

CRB Appendix: Corruption, Loyalty, or Resolve

CRB Appendix: Skills

CRB Appendix: The Uses of Alchemy

CRB Appendix: The Uses of Fetches and Fetishes 

CRB Appendix: Combat

Lacquermere

The town is nestled in a bower of ridges. The red-tiled houses encircle a green garden. To the south there are the variegated roofs a tall caravansary. A track made of bright hardwood has been laid on either side for drovers and their carts. Veinous smears in the earth run into the wilderness. 

There is a cliff-face monastery in the town’s northern crags. The Monks of the Inner Orchard walk the streets armed with trident bladespears, their black, green-hemmed robes gathered around them. They do not smile at Investigating Censors, but greet them with welcoming resignation. The monks have never petitioned the Citadel nor walked with its masters, and the Citadel’s intervention humiliates them.

The rocky crags that surround the town have little black holes in them. One can see a crawlspace in each hole, just large enough for a man to worm his way in with the stone pressing him on all sides. Prisoners were once jammed in these crawlspaces so that their cries could be heard throughout the town.

The High Dreaming Citadel asked the Monks of the Inner Orchard to cease this practice. Now, the holes are occupied by self-starved monks observing the town, their eyes huge in drawn heads, cheeks hollow, faces grim and livid.

The holes are reached by passages inside the rock.

The Streets

The houses are made of unpainted wood and have round portals in their faces. They are dark inside, as is the preference in this fire-prone town.

Tiger-striped kittens are draped along the tiled walls. Postal stations stand at crossroads, brown cabinets on lacquered poles.

The morning dew comes so heavy in Lacquermere that rivers slide like scaled glass down the slopes at dawn. Dew clings to the trees so thickly that rain comes from the boughs even when the sky is blue. The streets are ceilinged with low-hanging foliage, bark striped along its length. The branches are draped with snails like opalescent condensation. 

(Flute Check) Casually playing the flute while resting in a public area of Lacquermere will give a one-time +1 Sentiment increase assuming the streets are not deserted. Check vs d4. 

A Ghost Whisperer, a Silk Saturator, and a Flusoother can be noticed walking through the streets of Lacquermere. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

Ghost Whisperer

Her tragedy is written in her bloodless face and dark unwavering eyes. She has moved past it in mind, but her spirit is half torn between realms. She soothes the haunters, soothes the souls of men and of spirits who were never human, and makes them her champions. She can use Poetry to craft Fetches and Fetishes. Only a 25% chance of being affected by a spirit attendant to a Fetch or Fetish.

Location: Drafty, lightless house on the hill

Acuity: d6

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d6

Prophecy: d6

Poetry (F&F): d12

Silk Saturator (can create highly-effective but 1-use armor)

There is a use of the snails unknown to monk, Hand, or townsman. This woman supplies a distant rebellion with inconspicuous armor, their political wing (orators in swathes of silk) and their insurgents (hinterland rangers in wraps of black). Her silks are powerful armor, but brittle; one blow will almost certainly be stopped, but the ingeniously concentrated weave will be undone and fall away. She is no friend of the Hand and suspects the Inner Orchard of malfeasance. If the Investigating Censors prove at least superior to the other centers of power in honor, she may share her secret with them. If they do not, not even a Writ of Purpose will compel her.

Location: Weaving shed adjacent to a sheer face of silkrock

Acuity: d6

Alchemy: d8

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d6

Flusoother (can do some Alchemy, but also elicit lies through conversation using Impersonation instead of Acuity)

She visits the sick and hypochondriac at home. She is a good healer and a master listener. One may suspect her decoctions, but they will be looking in the wrong place. She has a masterful ability to gather accurate impressions of truth and fiction in the proclamations of those whom she tends to; she may not be able to tell you the truth of their intentions, but she can tell you where they are lying. Beware; you may be similarly transparent.

1/4 chance of Disloyalty (agent of (50/50) Hand or Monks)

Location: Wherever someone is ill; lives in a small, nondescript house in town 

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d10

Prophecy: d4

The Garden

Pears hang unpicked in the polity's central garden, a square space bounded by an unworked wooden fence. Green lanterns hang in the trees so that the pears are incandescent by night and double the lanternshine through the boughs and shadows.

A Garden Maiden is here. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

She appraises the pears with affection, pink robe flowing, flute tucked in a red silk band, her voulge in the garden shed.

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d8

Horsemanship: d8

Poetry: d6

Prowess: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

If issued a Writ of Purpose, she will prefer to accompany an IC rather than remain at the garden until needed. People dragooned by ICs fear the consequences of missing a further summons. 

A Vitriolaged Seer can occasionally be found taking little snippets from the garden. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

Vitriolaged Seer

Her pronouncements were foul to the ears of liars, and so they doused her with alchemical solvent to cut her off from the divine. Her power did not inhere to her eyes, and despite being blind she has lost no insight, though she has become more selective with whom she shares it. She shapes her abode with many plants, creating rooms and hallways by snipping them as she walks, collecting sprigs and shoots for cuisine and alchemy.

Location: Disused counting house with greenery spilling from the doors and windows; adjacent to the Garden.

Acuity: d8 (can perceive local environment similar to Revealing alchemical effect)

Alchemy: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d8

Prophecy: d8

The Lacquerwell

Mercurial lacquer pools in sanded-out stone gourds.

Every day, the people of the township troupe into the forest with baskets on their carrying poles. They return laden with snails to be crushed.

The snails are stepped on in great casks like grapes and their seep is harvested for lacquer. The snailflesh itself is extracted and fired into amber meatloaves.

The Investigating Censors are invited to gloss their scabbards and scroll cases with the mercurial lacquer. Items so treated hold a dusky glow that becomes diamond-bright when meeting firelight.

The snail harvest feeds the people, but is otherwise a ruse. The snail extract is superfluous to the lacquer, which originates in the depths of the monastery.

Lacquermere's Headman

He knows the Monks have a secret, but he remembers the days when they would put their prisoners in the hillside oubliettes, and is silent. He is grimly and brutally resigned to monastic rule, and focuses on organizing the people in their task of collecting snails each morning. He is willing to help the party against the Hand, who will assassinate him if he is seen talking at length with the ICs.

Archery: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d6

Horsemanship: d6

Poetry: d6 

Prowess: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

A Lacquerbinder can be found at work here. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

Lacquerbinder (can instill alchemical effects into Fetches and Fetishes)

The lacquer is more than physical. Its source is otherworldly and it echoes through realms as if penetrating them with radiance. Somewhere along the line it will shine through ghosts and spirits and can lace new elements into their fabric such that they reflect back to us.

He discovered this while lacquering his fetches. His lacquer had been corrupted by his brushes and tools, and he lacquered his secret Euphoria tincture into the Hanging Nocturne of a Whisperer. The voice of the spirit brought him unparalleled pleasure, and he has become its confidante and champion. Next, he guarded his cottage door with a Transfiguring Proscription that Cursed a repeat burglar before turning his flesh into gelatin; the Lacquerbinder keeps this bone-filled humanoid figure in his closet, now. 

He is losing touch with reality and is considering summoning a Banshee into the gelatin corpse after treating it with Sexually Arousing and Life Containing tinctures, and his Whisperer is egging him on.

Location: Lacquerwell while working, a cottage surrounded by lavender while at home

Alchemy: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Poetry: d6

The Caravansary

A narrow, seven-storied inn overlooks the Caravansary. There is a common room for performances at the bottom. A stone staircase makes up the tower’s backbone and leads to sleeping rooms.

There is an undisguised tension between two men in the inn. They drink but make veiled references to one another’s failures and derelictions. They are Hands who represent schismatic tendencies in the organization.

Consequences of Failure: d4 Hands are murdered by their fellows and disappear. The Weaver of Trembling Filaments gets a burst of sacrificial clarity and may make an insanity-free Prophecy check about the ICs.

(Flute Check) An argument between visitors arises at the caravansary inn; it will lead to bloody clash 

and possible burning of the caravansary without a Flute check. The player will be expected to speak his piece after finishing his air. A matched result calms the situation enough to prevent violence; Success also adds +1 Sentiment (See Appendix: Sentiment).

The caravansary inn has a continual stream of new visitors, but two long-term residents, a Threadplayer and a Cattle Raider from a western realm. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

Threadplayer (she can lull people to sleep using Flute)

She sees patterns in people's thoughts and has an inexplainable, irreplicable ability to play tunes that will lull them to sleep after a few moments' conversation, eliciting sleep cues in their memories. This is not infallible and the listeners must not already suspect her of malfeasance or be in a hurry to do something. She has been co-opted by the Monks of the Inner Orchard. She is very occasionally required to perform for guests that the Monks suspect of malfeasance; plainclothes Monks of the Inner Orchard then search them and their effects.

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d12

Gambling: d6

Impersonation: d6

Poetry: d6

Cattle Raider

A cattle rustler driven from a western empire, he can maneuver his black hobilar pony with incredible stealth, even at a canter. He and his gang served in border wars in exchange for rights to captured livestock, but he was left behind in a feint and brutally branded by a cattle baron. His men broke him from the dungeon in a daring attack, but were forced to scatter when overtaken by shrine maiden light horse archers responding to the fires in the baron’s battlements. He has made it here alone. He would be usefully dragooned by a Writ of Purpose, but will be Corrupt unless occasionally provisioned with livestock as his personal property.

Acuity: d8

Archery: d8

Gambling: d10

Horsemanship: d10

Poetry: d6

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

See the Caravansary Visitor table in Appendix: Potential Allies for more.

The Regime Manor

The Monks of the Inner Orchard greet the Investigating Censors with an undisguised tension. They make clear that this is due to their loss of face at the Citadel’s intervention. Nevertheless, they do what they can to aid the Investigating Censors against the Hand.

The Monks of the Inner Orchard host the Investigating Censors in the empty manor of a Former Regime Official. His fruit larders are empty except for leathern peels. His sitting rooms and fireplaces are like spideryards of crystalline dust.

The Outlying Reaches

Teahouse

(Resolve Situation) There is a teahouse in the wooded hills near the village. The proprietor acts as loan shark, and several villagers have disappeared over the years after failing to pay him on time. No normal horseman can fight on the steep, leafy hill around the teahouse.

Proprietor and 3d6 hangers-on.

Resolving the situation adds d4+1 Sentiment if resolved without any death and +2 Sentiment if resolved with deaths. In the latter case, townsfolk from Lacquermere will burn the teahouse and its provisions to ritually cleanse the place of blood.

There are a Courtesan of the Spiral Smoke and a Scarred Gambler here. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

Courtesan of the Spiral Smoke

A trafficker with dark green nails, off-black jade lipstick, dark curling hair, and scars across her sumptuous face. She has little thin containers made of fragrant, oiled cedar hanging around her conspicuously soft body, and their contents can be bought for gold. She will prepare them for you. She will light the pipe. Oil the razor. Put the powder on a pastel leaf. And when you are amidst it, more is offered, for much more gold.

There is ecstasy in her nails, and when she rakes them down your back you are filled with their narcotic flow. All except her left little finger. She never presses the tip into anyone she does not intend to kill.

Location: Teahouse outside Lacquermere, though she is not a hanger-on of the loan shark; he knows better than to try and co-opt her.

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d10

Archery: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d8

Gambling: d8

Horsemanship: d6

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

Scarred Gambler

His robe hangs open, hairy chest and cut face conspicuous, catching the moonlight through a window. He weathers losses with iron fortitude and takes his winnings with a smile like a snarling cat. He is sardonic but not sadistic and might make enemies with the Hands of the Trembling Filament, or the monks if he knew their true charter. He is, after all, a gambler in many things.

Location: Teahouse outside Lacquermere. The Gambler’s swordplay was witnessed once in this place, and the loan shark has since never attempted to co-opt his guest. 

Acuity: d8

Archery: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d12

Horsemanship: d6

Poetry: d6

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

Wilderness

There is an Elixirbulb Seer in a camp near Lacquermere. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

The gleaming green cup in the remotest forest bower, a place of moss made warm by the presence of the bulb. Cotton and pollen turn to gold in the air, losing none of their lightness. The sun is attracted to this place from the dim boughs, as if it has leapt down from the canopy. He seeks it for the purest insight, embodied wisdom at the confluence of many biomes. Drinking it will allow a Prophecy check at d20 with no risk of madness.

Location: Small, personal camp outside Lacquermere. The ICs will encounter him if they or their retinue gather Alchemical reagents.

Acuity: d10

Alchemy: d10

Archery: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d6

Horsemanship: d6

Impersonation: d6

Poetry: d6

Prophecy: d4

Prowess: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

There is a Woad Hermit near the bogs. From Appendix: Potential Allies:

Blue clay smeared in rings around his eyes, flecks of dirt in his thin white hair. He is shirtless, wears nothing but a tied-up brown garment and mud around his knees. He wears the woad like spectacles and sees clearly, sees past conventions, sees straight into the radioactive core of things, and so he has become an exile of containment, a psychiatric leprosy.

Location: Edge of the Lowland Bog

Acuity: d6

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Prophecy: d8

(Resolve Situation) There is a creature in the bogs that reaches from below to superheat bog sludge to the point of bursting; those caught in the blast have horrible infections set into their burns within hours. This prevents both the harvesting of the largest, juiciest snails, and also the gathering of herbs necessary for lay medicine. The ICs can benefit in the short term by providing medical aid to the people of Lacquermere using their own Alchemy, adding +1 Sentiment for conspicuously providing medical care (and likely gaining information as well) assuming an Alchemical product is spent, but slaying the Sepsizer will fix Sentiment at a minimum of 1 (preventing Night Militias) permanently in Lacquermere.

In truth, this is a creature in a cave of mulch beneath the bog, a glossy black shell with a hundred little white limbs and a pair of crystalline blue eyes beneath it. Spines rise from beneath flaring segments in its shell, slithering through the earth to superheat portions of bog when humans come near. It kills people to prevent them from removing Alchemically-charged herbs that it eats, though it could survive in a weakened state upon other fare. 

The players will be attacked with these while traversing the swamp, with Acuity checks vs d8 made to find the confluence of rotten stumps that form the chasm mouth to its cavern, and Prowess checks vs d6 to get to cover when the bog begins to boil.

When the players reach the Sepsizer, it will be defenseless against them, as it will take the creature too long to withdraw its tendrils from the muck and move into a defensive curl. It can only be communicated with using Prophecy vs d4; both the delver and the Sepsizer must succeed at their Prophecy checks to communicate.

The Hall of Hands

(Poetry Check) With the arrival of the Investigating Censors, the Hand of the Trembling Filament puts out poetry highlighting the strangeness of monastic rule, hardening the locals against the ICs. After this poetry is disseminated, Sentiment is reduced by 3. The Investigating Censors may disseminate countervailing poetry. A matched result neutralizes the Hand’s effect on Sentiment; a success further increases Sentiment by 1.

In the streets, a man may give a surreptitious signal to another within sight of an IC or retinue member. This is a signal for a Hands meeting.

Consequence of Failure: An outlying Inner Orchard shrine is arsonized, causing a forest fire. The next time the ICs make a check to find a source of recruits in the wilderness, they roll vs d12.

When Hands of the Trembling Filament discuss their meeting place, they always refer to “the old man’s house”. The house of the oldest man in the village (now deceased) stands vacant in a hollow to the east; it is boarded up and members of the Hand have bound hideous-sounding Whisperers to Hanging Nocturnes near the property to dissuade children from approaching. The doors and windows themselves, however, have Thunder Reeds (d6 at 5’) placed behind the windows and doors, so that if these are forced they will detonate on whoever comes through and warn the Hand that their security measures have been inadequate. 

Their actual meeting place is in an underground chamber fed by several blind alleys with hidden passageways, so that the conspirators don’t have to gather on the surface to enter and so that there are several avenues of escape should the underhall be invaded.

One passageway is to be used only if being tailed. There is a corner, and then a Hanging Nocturne that binds a banshee to the sudden turn. The scream is likely to kill people all the way on the nearest road.

Hands of the Trembling Filament wrap themselves in loose black bands when embarking on missions of murder. They wield short sabers acid-etched with serpents climbing houses towards people sleeping by their windows.

Their organizer is an alchemist whose skin has been cured to paper by the fumes of his decoctions. His eyes are blood red as a god-cursed baby and his fingers are inhumanly thin. Rawhide bandoliers soft with deer down hang loose from his empty frame, but are heavy with the fruit of his techniques. 

The leader of the Hand enters his domicile through a false door in the foyer; his main door is set with a Malediction Proscription.

The Weaver of Trembling Filaments

Acuity: d12

Alchemy: d12

Archery: d12

Fetches and Fetishes: d10

Flute: d8 

Horsemanship: d8

Impersonation: d10

Poetry: d10

Prophecy: d4

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

Three-Stage Blast Poultice (d4 Applications): Explosive effect finished by Dissolving mist that becomes Arsonizing after melting-down the local environment.

Bog Beast Necrotization Poison: Insta-rots the victim’s circulatory system. 

Details: Three-Stage Blast Poultice

Explosive: Base strength of d8. An alchemical explosion affects d4 opponents within a 10’ radius. Those not maimed or killed are knocked over. A fist-size quantity can put a 2’ radius hole through a 1’ thick stone wall. When attempting to employ this explosive (either as a thrown or slung missile, or as a static emplacement, for example inside a lock or in a trap), roll a d4 vs your Alchemy. If you lose, it explodes right next to you. 

Dissolving: Hyperacidic liquid or universal solvent, generally with exceptions, such as whatever the container is made out of. Vitriolage is a d4 attack vs Prowess and generally defaces the individual even in case of survival. If the d4 and Prowess are equal, the victim is permanently blinded (or loses the use of other sensory organs if applicable).

Arsonizing: Generally takes the form of an infernal goo.

Hand of the Trembling Filament

Acuity: d6

Alchemy: d6

Archery: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Impersonation: d8

Prowess: d8

Arson Decoction

Climbing Claws (special training in use, d10 Prowess when climbing)

(Poetry Check) The Hand of the Trembling Filament will continue piecemeal with their attacks even if their leader is eliminated, unless the monks compose a powerful eulogy for him and his ideals. The Hand will permanently lay down arms if the ICs eliminate the leader, overthrow the Monks of the Inner Orchard, and compose a moving eulogy. Otherwise they will operate as small groups of bandits and lone wolves for the foreseeable future. Check vs d6.

The Monastery

The black eaves of the temple extend from the stone itself. They are frosted with a filigree of gold that ripples like a dragon's passing at night.

The windows are latticed with sharp half-cut bamboo, and the walkways sag with every footfall; a profoundly light step is required for silent movement.

Monk of the Inner Orchard

Acuity: d6 (d8 if embedded in rock)

Alchemy: d6

Archery: d6

Horsemanship: d6

Prowess: d8

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

Monastic Champion

The Abbott’s finest pupil will pose as a wandering mercenary and will repeatedly make himself conspicuous to the Investigating Censors, not offering to work for free but instead making himself a tempting target for a Writ of Purpose. He is heavily scarred and will play the charismatic hard man, pretending to be too proud to talk to commoners. This is because if he were not scarred, and if he spoke too freely to the people of Lacquermere, they would recognize him from his youth as a promising initiate of the Inner Orchard. He is, naturally, Disloyal to the ICs.

Acuity: d10

Alchemy: d6

Archery: d10

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Flute: d8

Gambling: d8

Horsemanship: d10

Impersonation: d12

Poetry: d8

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d10

1/4 Armor

Battle Psychosis Cataplasm: Temporarily increases Prowess die size by two steps, and d10 increases to d12+2. d12 increases to d20. Usually fatal and taken in desperation; after the battle, the user must roll base Prowess vs d20 to survive. The Monastic Champion will take it immediately before launching a surprise attack on the party, if possible, ideally when assaulting the Monastery.

Abbott

This monk sought to rid the southern coast of its pirate lords even before the Poison War. The monasteries were too scattered, too lacking in common purpose to bring down the pirates as they were. He sought to imbue his monks with a supernatural blessing so that they might have a chance in their crusade against the human sacrificers. 

He and his closest companions traveled down a dry, dusty chasm in the lowland bog to a fissure lit by natural gas fires. They called upon the enemies of the dark ocean to bless them in their campaign against the pirates. Spirits that were like angles of shadow arced from the fires and prised themselves into the bodies of the Abbott’s companions.

Voices spoke through the flames. The Abbott would have miraculous treasure from human bodies inhabited by these umbralithic shadows. If he provided the bodies, he would be rich enough to outfit armies.

Mercurial lacquer bled from the Abbott’s companions. Aggrieved, he brought them one by one to the monastery.

Those impregnated with the umbraliths gradually die. As his companions perished, the Abbott sought a permanent host for the otherworldly lacquerers. Risking the use of his incipient Prophecy, he espied a forest demigod.

The Abbott

Acuity: d10

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d12

Fetches and Fetishes: d20

Flute: d8

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d10

Prophecy: d8

Prowess: d12

Coin of the Junction (See Appendix: The Uses of Alchemy. His allies will attempt to give it to him)

Substrate Disruptor: His final sanction against the umbraliths, he will deploy it in the doorway of the Monastery and then flee far away if he feels they will compel him away from his hoped-for campaign against the pirates; this is the only thing that can redeem his situation in his own eyes.

Inner Sanctum

The monks have trapped a demigod beast of the forest here. This forest father wandered in a den of false leaves with a welter of mercurial lacquer hidden below. The beast fell into the pit and monks suffering from umbralithic impregnation were cast in with it.

It is coated in bloody white shag, its light blue skin cold and slackened in places over muscle burrowed by angled shadows. It lays on a great low platform.

The umbraliths weep mercurial lacquer down the sides of the parasitized demigod. Its electric blue flesh wells with weeping ichor as supernatural infection follows in the shadows’ wake. The gloss spreads across the demigod’s platform and is pushed into casks by monks with toothless rakes.

The demigod gutters and its fifty pearlescent fangs gleam by the brazier's glow. It cannot say a thing without the permission of the collective, for an umbralith has replaced its tongue.

Before the acquisition of the demigod, the monks made the sacrifice themselves. Brothers with the shadows inside them still lay around the twenty-legged predator. Some still have the umbraliths protruding from their mouths, gauged open by pronged extrusions. Other shadows jut from their necks, flesh taut around them, beckoning exsanguination should the creature be withdrawn. 

A shadow-host monk makes a divinatory dive into the Realm of White and Gold each day, clandestinely observing the Investigating Censors through the channels of their exoastral handlers.

If the monastery discovers that the ICs have learned the truth about the lacquer, the monks will gather in the crags around the manor that night. Fountains of fire will pour from the crags onto the manor as the monks unleash a torrent of fire arrows. Those escaping from the inferno will be targeted by shooters hidden in the hills.

Those who dash into the shadows beyond the hellfire will be subjected to d4-1 d4-skill Archery attacks. Those who stand still will suffer d20 such attacks.

A wary sentry may notice the monks moving into position with their braziers emitting a downward glow, Acuity vs d8.

A collection of angled shadows creates an aetheric blank. The forest father could not perceive them through Prophecy. Those scrying on the inner sanctum roll against d20.

If the ICs go to the place where the umbraliths first emerged, an easy Fetches and Fetishes (or Prophecy) check will reveal that something existentially befouling has emerged from the fire flues. 

Attacking the Monastary: Three Stages

Stage 1: Outlying Promenades

Polearm and bow monks defend alongside allied townsmen.

There are figures on the doors; those touching it without permission will have their souls trapped and made figures on the doors. There are already many warriors, thieves, squirrels, and birds plying their trades through bas relief cities on the doors. There is no trivial way to bring trapped souls back into human form, through seriously damaging the figures on the doors will at least free their souls. Fetches & Fetishes vs d8 neutralizes this function by bracing a correct quantity of dead flesh against the door, precluding further entrapment until it is removed.

The ICs will need to find some way to breach the doors. Alchemical applications will work, as will a sufficient quantity of lacquer detonated by the doors.

3d8 Monks of the Inner Orchard, 3d4 aligned townsmen (d4 sans Prophecy)

 

Stage 2: Gathering Hall

The monks release any bretheren who have been made insane by failing scrying checks upon the Investigating Censors. The afflicted madmen are hung with searing alchemical braziers whose plates are joined by the burning off of incense to activate their effects when among the enemy. The sane monks fire from a distance.

d4 brazier madmen + however many were created attempting to scry on the ICs

3d4 Monks of the Inner Orchard

Alchemical distillate on an individual mad monk:

d4

1 Transfiguration: A mutagenic mist that turns the human body into inert fishflesh, so that portion of an attacked individual’s body will become silvery and disconnected from the rest. The individual may die instantly or very, very slowly. 10’ radius, Alacrity vs d8 to evade.

2 Arsonizing: Sprays a flaming gelatin in a disc around the monk. 10’ radius, Alacrity vs d8 to evade.

3 Suppressing: Those caught by this blast of herbal embers will be drawn into a brain-sapping mental chasm; involuntary sleep is likely. 15’ radius, Alacrity vs d10 to evade.

4 Life-Containing: Those caught in this burst of warmth-seeking steam will have their essences drawn into the cloud, which will riot with consciousness for a moment before dispersing. 10’ radius, Alacrity vs d8 to evade.

Stage 3: Demigod Flesh Hive

The forest demigod lays on a platform of pure steel with umbralith-bewormed brothers scattered around as if paralyzed by pregnancy. Monks rake lacquer into casks, their faces double-wrapped against the tear-inducing alkaline reek of newborn umbralith-lacquer.

When the ICs enter, the monks will charge to melee with bladed spades while the angled shadows gush lacquer down the sides of the godbeast.

d20+d8 Monks of the Inner Orchard

2d4 umbralith-bearing bretheren

2d4 umbraliths in the Godbeast

The umbraliths will add to the chaos should the monks clearly be failing in their defense. As the ICs near the godbeast, the umbraliths will inject their precious lacquer with an irascible gall. This biological tincture is black until ignited by prolonged contact with the air. Flame will blast from the umbraliths’ sphinctertips, and when an umbralith is attacked at close range it will burst and inundate its surroundings with a magma of incandescent flesh.

25% of umbraliths killed: Umbraliths begin to beat around and emit an ear-piercing piping

50% of umbraliths killed: Umbraliths begin to gout fulminating lacquer at interlopers

75% of umbraliths killed: Umbraliths detonate at the approach of enemies

The last surviving umbralith will streak for the nearest cluster of enemies, attempting to detonate in their midst.

Pyrocoli furiosis, or alkaliphilic umbralith

Angles of shadow shaped like a gyrobifastigium when compacted in a wound, but unfurling into a clawed intestine when springing towards a new host.

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d12

Archery: d8 (fulminating lacquer)

Flute: d8 (eerie piping)

Prophecy: d8

A missed ranged attack on an umbralith inhabiting the forest creature attacks the forest creature instead, target d12. A hit slays the creature.

If the godbeast survives the battle, it will be too weak to escape immediately. It will warn the ICs to not be near when it recovers, for it will not be able to resist devouring them. It will offer to engage its d20 Prophecy on behalf of the ICs at least once before they leave.

Godbeast

Acuity: d12

Fetches and Fetishes: d20

Poetry: d12 (spoken only)

Prophecy: d20

Prowess: d20

Appendix: Potential Allies

20 Townspeople

Note: The most common Townsman of Lacquermere is a picker and presser of snails with d4 in all skills sans Prophecy, which is 0. NPCs on this table have these same stats unless otherwise noted. 

People issued a Writ of Purpose have a chance of being Corrupt and/or Disloyal. A GM can make this check for an NPC right away or wait until he thinks it is relevant. Roll a d8. On a 1, roll a d6.

1-2: Corrupt

3-4: Disloyal

5-6: Both

1 Mushroomknower: Alchemy d6, Impersonation d6

2 Moondrinker: Prophecy d4

3 Wheelwright: Prowess d6

4 Bogcreeper: Acuity d6, Archery d6

5 Crier: Poetry d6, Impersonation d6

6 Midwife: Alchemy d6

7 Escrowman: Acuity d6, Poetry d6, Prowess d6

8 Groom: Flute d6, Horsemanship d6

9 Framer: Prowess d6

10 Millet Wine Drinkard: Gambling d8, Poetry d8, Prophecy d6

11 Grove Piper: Flute d8

12 Kennelkeeper: Impersonation d6

13 Keenman: Fetches and Fetishes d6

14 Rivery Fishwife: Flute d6, Gambling d6

15 Aged Lawsage: d8 Poetry

16 Militia Marshal: Archery d6, Impersonation d6, Prowess d6

17 Branchcat Shepherd: Acuity d6, Flute d6

18 Acorn Grinder: Acuity d6

19 Sprogfinder: Acuity d8

20 Frogboiler: Acuity d6

20 Visitors to the Caravansary

1 Independent Courtesan

Otherworldy Art specialization

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d10

Flute: d8

Horsemanship: d6

Impersonation: d10

Poetry: d8

Prophecy: d4

2 Agitator 

Samesoulist

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d6

3 Prophet 

Haruspicist

Acuity: d6

Alchemy: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d6

Poetry: d6

Prophecy: d6

4 Exiled Desert Tribesman 

Foreign, Disloyal if issued a Writ of Purpose

Acuity: d8

Archery: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Horsemanship: d10

Poetry: d8

Prowess: d8

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

5 Caravaneer

Acuity: d6

Archery: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d6

Horsemanship: d6

Impersonation: d6

Prowess: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

6 Deserter

From the Poison River Library Guards; he hoped to find more of a welcome in these lands. Foreign, Disloyal if issued a Writ of Purpose.

Alchemy: d6

Archery: d10

Fetches and Fetishes: d10

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d6 

Prophecy: d4

7 Manbuyer 

Simply traveling through; the Monks of the Inner Orchard aren’t slavers.

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d6

Archery: d6

Gambling: d8

Horsemanship: d6

Prowess: d8

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

8 Mendicant of the Silver Caverns

Acuity: d10 (though blind)

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Flute: d8

Poetry: d8

Prophecy: d6

9 Imperial Ethnologist 

Foreign, Disloyal if issued a Writ of Purpose

Horsemanship: d8

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d8

10 Salt Smuggler 

Posing as wandering florist.

Acuity: d8

Gambling: d8

Horsemanship: d10

Impersonation: d8

Prowess: d6

11 Shrine Maiden Initiator 

Sexual initiation of shrine maidens by itinerant medicine men is a corrupt practice in certain extreme hinterlands. The initiators claim that this places shrine maidens under the protection of certain primordial spirits.

Alchemy: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d8

Impersonation: d10

Prowess: d6

12 Wandering John

Gambling: d6

Horsemanship: d6

13 Undercover Pamphleteer 

Tenant Farmer Republicanism

Acuity: d6

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d8

14 Unemployed Bodyguard

Acuity: d8

Archery: d6

Flute: d8

Gambling: d8

Horsemanship: d6

Impersonation: d6

Poetry: d8

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

15 Lettucemonger 

d4 sans Prophecy

16 Lost Diplomat

Foreign, Disloyal if issued a Writ of Purpose

Acuity: d6

Alchemy: d6

Archery: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d6

Horsemanship: d8

Impersonation: d10

Poetry: d8

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

17 Coifshearer

Impersonation: d6

18 Penitent Pirate

25% chance of not actually being penitent, instead being Corrupt and Disloyal

Acuity: d6

Archery: d6

Gambling: d6

Impersonation: d6

Prowess: d6

19 Noblewoman Exiled from Tower of Sea Glass (actually a ceramic revenant; thin as eggshell and empty inside, skin is hard and ice cold. Entity, disloyal if issued a Writ of Purpose)

Acuity: d12

Alchemy: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d12

Flute: d12 (doesn’t actually require a flute)

Horsemanship: 0 (horse will not allow itself to be mounted by her)

Impersonation: d10

Poetry: d10

Prophecy: d10, no madness on failure, but subject inaccessible for time being

20 Master Thief

Always Corrupt

Acuity: d10

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d12

Gambling: d10

Horsemanship: d8

Impersonation: d10

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

12 Potential Allies

1 Grove Maiden

She appraises the pears with affection, pink robe flowing, flute tucked in a red silk band, her voulge in the garden shed.

Location: Central Grove

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d8

Horsemanship: d8

Poetry: d6

Prowess: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

2 Woad Hermit

Blue clay smeared in rings around his eyes, flecks of dirt in his thin white hair. He is shirtless, wears nothing but a tied-up brown garment and mud around his knees. He wears the woad like spectacles and sees clearly, sees past conventions, sees straight into the radioactive core of things, and so he has become an exile of containment, a psychiatric leprosy.

Location: Edge of the Lowland Bog

Acuity: d6

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Prophecy: d8

3 Ghost Whisperer

Her tragedy is written in her bloodless face and dark unwavering eyes. She has moved past it in mind, but her spirit is half torn between realms. She soothes the haunters, soothes the souls of men and of spirits who were never human, and makes them her champions. She can use Poetry to craft Fetches and Fetishes. Only a 25% chance of being affected by a spirit attendant to a Fetch or Fetish.

Location: Drafty, lightless house on the hill

Acuity: d6

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d6

Prophecy: d6

Poetry (F&F): d12

4 Courtesan of the Spiral Smoke

A trafficker with dark green nails, off-black dark jade lipstick, dark curling hair, and scars across her sumptuous face. She has little thin containers made of fragrant, oiled cedar hanging around her conspicuously soft body, and their contents can be bought for gold. She will prepare them for you. She will light the pipe. Oil the razor. Put the powder on a pastel leaf. And when you are amidst it, more is offered, for much more gold.

There is ecstasy in her nails, and when she rakes them down your back you are filled with their narcotic flow. All except her left little finger. She never presses the tip into anyone she does not intend to kill.

Location: Teahouse outside Lacquermere, though she is not a hanger-on of the loan shark; he knows better than to try and co-opt her.

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d10

Archery: d6

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d8

Gambling: d8

Horsemanship: d6

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

5 Scarred Gambler

His robe hangs open, hairy chest and cut face conspicuous, catching the moonlight through a window. He weathers losses with iron fortitude and takes his winnings with a smile like a snarling cat. He is sardonic but not sadistic and might make enemies with the Hands of the Trembling Filament, or the monks if he knew their true charter. He is, after all, a gambler in many things.

Location: Teahouse outside Lacquermere. The Gambler’s swordplay was witnessed once in this place, and the loan shark has since never attempted to co-opt his guest. 

Acuity: d8

Archery: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d12

Horsemanship: d6

Poetry: d6

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

6 Elixerbulb Seeker

The gleaming green cup in the remotest forest bower, a place of moss made warm by the presence of the bulb. Cotton and pollen turn to gold in the air, losing none of their lightness. The sun is attracted to this place from the dim boughs, as if it has leapt down from the canopy. He seeks it for the purest insight, embodied wisdom at the confluence of many biomes. Drinking it will allow a Prophecy check at d20 with no risk of madness.

Location: Small, personal camp outside Lacquermere. The ICs will encounter him if they or their retinue gather Alchemical reagents.

Acuity: d10

Alchemy: d10

Archery: d6

Flute: d6

Gambling: d6

Horsemanship: d6

Impersonation: d6

Poetry: d6

Prophecy: d4

Prowess: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d6

7 Vitriolaged Seer

Her pronouncements were foul to the ears of liars, and so they doused her with alchemical solvent to cut her off from the divine. Her power did not inhere to her eyes, and despite being blind she has lost no insight, though she has become more selective with whom she shares it. She shapes her abode with many plants, creating rooms and hallways by snipping them as she walks, collecting sprigs and shoots for cuisine and alchemy.

Location: Disused counting house with greenery spilling from the doors and windows; adjacent to the Central Grove

Acuity: d8 (can perceive local environment similar to Revealing alchemical effect)

Alchemy: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d8

Prophecy: d8

8 Silk Saturator (can create highly-effective but 1-use armor)

There is a use of the snails unknown to monk, Hand, or townsman. This woman supplies a distant rebellion with inconspicuous armor, their political wing (orators in swathes of silk) and their insurgents (hinterland rangers in wraps of black). Her silks are powerful armor, but brittle; one blow will almost certainly be stopped, but the ingeniously concentrated weave will be undone and fall away. She is no friend of the Hand and suspects the Inner Orchard of malfeasance. If the Investigating Censors prove at least superior to the other centers of power in honor, she may share her secret with them. If they do not, not even a Writ of Purpose will compel her.

Location: Weaving shed adjacent to a sheer face of silkrock

Acuity: d6

Alchemy: d8

Impersonation: d8

Poetry: d6

9 Lacquerbinder (can instil alchemical effects into Fetches and Fetishes)

The lacquer is more than physical. Its source is otherwordly and it echoes through realms as if penetrating them with radiance. Somewhere along the line it will shine through ghosts and spirits and can lace new elements into their fabric such that they reflect back to us.

He discovered this while lacquering his fetches. His lacquer had been corrupted by his brushes and tools, and he lacquered his secret Euphoria tincture into the Hanging Nocturne of a Whisperer. The voice of the spirit brought him unparalleled pleasure, and he has become its confidante and champion. Next, he guarded his cottage door with a Transfiguring Proscription that Cursed a repeat burglar before turning his flesh into gelatin; the Lacquerbinder keeps this bone-filled humanoid figure in his closet, now. 

He is losing touch with reality and is considering summoning a Banshee into the gelatin corpse after treating it with Sexually Arousing and Life Containing tinctures, and his Whisperer is egging him on.

Location: Lacquerwell while working, a cottage surrounded by lavender when at home

Alchemy: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Poetry: d6

10 Threadplayer (she can lull people to sleep using Flute)

She sees patterns in people's thoughts and has an inexplainable, irreplicable ability to play tunes that will lull them to sleep after a few moments' conversation, eliciting sleep cues in their memories. This is not infallible and the listeners must not already suspect her of malfeasance or be in a hurry to do something. She has been co-opted by the Monks of the Inner Orchard. She is very occasionally required to perform for guests that the Monks suspect of malfeasance; plainclothes Monks of the Inner Orchard then search them and their effects.

Location: Caravansary Inn

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d12

Gambling: d6

Impersonation: d6

Poetry: d6

11 Flusoother (can do some Alchemy, but also elicit lies through conversation using Impersonation instead of Acuity)

She visits the sick and hypochondriac at home. She is a good healer and a master listener. One may suspect her decoctions, but they will be looking in the wrong place. She has a masterful ability to gather accurate impressions of truth and fiction in the proclamations of those whom she tends to; she may not be able to tell you the truth of their intentions, but she can tell you where they are lying. Beware; you may be similarly transparent.

1/4 chance of Disloyalty (agent of (50/50) Hand or Monks)

Location: Wherever someone is ill; lives in a small, nondescript house in town 

Acuity: d8

Alchemy: d8

Fetches and Fetishes: d6

Flute: d6

Impersonation: d10

Prophecy: d4

12 Cattle Raider

A cattle rustler driven from a western empire, he can maneuver his black hobilar pony with incredible stealth, even at a canter. He and his gang served in border wars in exchange for rights to captured livestock, but he was left behind in a feint and brutally branded by a cattle baron. His men broke him from the dungeon in a daring attack, but were forced to scatter when overtaken by shrine maiden light horse archers responding to the fires in the baron’s battlements. He has made it here alone. He would be usefully dragooned by a Writ of Purpose, but will be Corrupt unless occasionally provisioned with livestock as his personal property.

Location: Caravansary

Acuity: d8

Archery: d8

Gambling: d10

Horsemanship: d10

Poetry: d6

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

Investigating Censors can "catch and release" NPCs, issuing and rescinding Writs of Purpose to cycle needed NPCs through their band. However, NPCs who feel unduly trapped or abused can head off on a journey away from the operational zone, and if they cannot be found to be served a Writ of Purpose, they cannot be outlawed for dereliction or refusal. 

6 Regional Concentrations of Desirable Retinue Members 

Acuity vs d8 to find near Lacquermere:

d6

1 A Camp: 3d6 hunters (d6 Acuity, d6 Archery)

2 A Mine: 3d6 miners (d6 Prowess, d6 Gambling)

3 A Lodge: 3d6 lumberjacks (d8 Prowess)

4 A Pavilion: 3d6 troubadours (d6 Flute, d6 Impersonation)

5 A Fort: 3d6 filibusters or sympathetic rebels (d6 Archery, d6 Prowess)

6 A Caravan: 3d6 caravan guards (d6 Horsemanship, d6 Prowess)

Appendix: Sentiment

Local Hostility Causes

The Sentiment of the people of Lacquermere begins at 6.

Repeatedly harvesting a population of its able-bodied members will arouse resentment.

Repeatedly recruiting from the same Regional Concentration: -1 Sentiment

Recruiting multiple townsfolk of Lacquermere after a conspicuous and avoidable decimation of the retinue: -2 Sentiment

Treating the Monks of the Inner Orchard with conspicuous disrespect: -2 Sentiment

Failing any Alchemical Interrogation or performing it on an innocent: -2 Sentiment

Ending the Activities of the Tea House Loan Shark: +2 Sentiment

Rooting out the Hand of the Trembling Filament: +2 Sentiment

Ending the Bog Beast: +4 Sentiment

Local Hostility Effects

Sentiment begins at 6. If it goes below 6, the ICs suffer the following effects:

5: Code of Silence: Practically all locals refuse to speak to the IC and his retinue. 

4: Hail of Rocks: d4 retinue members chosen by the GM have rocks cast at them by locals who then rush away into crowds, markets, rookeries, or the wilderness as is appropriate. Each targeted retinue member has a 1/20 chance of being killed.

3: People stay camped out in the wilderness rather than come near the ICs.

2: The Monks cease cooperation with the party against the Hand.

1: NPCs from the Potential Allies table begin cooperating with the Hand and/or the Monks.

0 or below: Locals aid the Hand in getting effective attacks or arsonizations on the ICs.

Appendix: High Dreaming Citadel Cachet

When you defeat certain enemies, you gain Cachet with the High Dreaming Citadel.

Destroying the bog beast: 2 Cachet

Rooting out the Hand of the Trembling Filament: 3 Cachet

Ripping the unnatural heart out of the Monastery of the Inner Orchard: 6 Cachet

Cachet can be spent to request support from the High Dreaming Citadel. The requestor writes a missive using Poetry. Cachet is only spent if the request is accepted. 

For a full list of what the HDC can provide, see Appendix H: Cachet and Skill Investment in Investigating Censor. 

Here are four example Cachet rewards available to the Investigating Censors at Lacquermere: 

Sachet of Guardian Boluses: Herbal wads kept in the cheek by sentries. They combine Hypervigilance and Revealing Effects, so that the sentry has a bonus to Alacrity and can see the outline of things even in the darkness, and should a battle begin, the sentry will enter Battle Psychosis. Cachet Cost: 2. Poetry vs d4. The HDC will provide as many Boluses as the Poet went over victory.

Seconded Nomad Team: Cachet Cost: 2. Poetry vs d6

Deployment of a High Dreaming Citadel Special Advisor: Cachet Cost: 2. Poetry vs d6

Oracular Delve: Costs a large amount of Cachet because the executing monk risks insanity. Cachet Cost: 4. Poetry vs d10

When you gain Cachet, each IC gains an equal number of Skill Investments. This allows them to increase die sizes of any characters in their retinues, to include the IC. One Skill Investment increases a die size by 1, e.g. from d6 to d8. Die sizes cannot normally go higher than d12.

Guardian Bolus effects

Hypervigilance: +1 when using Alacrity to notice a surprise attack before it happens. Can kickstart a subject from cardiac arrest, or lead to heart attack in sensitive recipients. Extended use will tend to lead to paranoia.

Revealing: The vapors of this trace out invisible things and give glint to solid objects they pass over, so that shimmering clearly reveals the outlines of all things in sight.

Battle Psychosis: Temporarily increases Prowess die size by two steps, and d10 increases to d12+2. d12 increases to d20. Usually fatal and taken in desperation; after the battle, the user must roll base Prowess vs d20 to survive.

Special Advisor

Poetess-oracle nuns of the Lowland Path. Having them write and disseminate poetry in a region can bend sentiment towards the monastic community; they can also improve sentiment by acting as lawspeakers. 

Acuity: d8

Archery: d8

Horsemanship: d8

Poetry: d12

Prophecy: d6

Prowess: d6

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

High Dreaming Citadel Nomad Team

Four templar terminators deployed to fight for the Investigating Censors:

The Unraveller

He cut the lightning bonds of a storm hag when her cloudbank came near enough a mountaintop for boarding; a number of beasts she had kept alive through leashes of electricity immediately died, some at the climax of futile battles against them.

Later, he killed his seven sons in an hag-instantiated fit of madness. He took the vows of a monk, then killed seven awful beasts in repentance. Now that he has killed the seven, he is philosophical about his chances of slaying an eighth.

His lance is tipped with the living beak of the Sapphire Egret and it springs open with a scream when he plunges it into flesh.

Acuity: d10

Alchemy: d6

Archery: d12

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Horsemanship: d12 

Poetry: d8

Prophecy: d4

Prowess: d12

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d12

1/4 Armor

The Burier of Reagents

He was the reformer of a curse-blessed swamp whose poisonous produce was a boon to assassins and date rapists. He is armored in fortification cedar cut from the last groves of sepsiswood in the swamp before they died, and wields a black, living-serpent greatbow that he must dismount to fire. He is armed with a greatsword so heavy he must kick it from the ground after an attack

Acuity: d12

Alchemy: d10

Archery: d12

Fetches and Fetishes: d8

Flute: d8

Horsemanship: d8

Poetry: d6

Prowess: d12

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d8

1/2 Armor

The Medusa Seducer

Known for his torrid love affair with an entity in the Gardens of Hanging. They have sworn a mutual oath; she will destroy no men, and he will never go beneath the surface of the earth. They visit each other once every several years. So far, this pact has not elicited concern from the Realm of White and Gold. He was later propositioned by the onyx scalesphinx but slew it instead.

He is armed with the Chisel, a dirk that turns entities to stone. This has a 50% chance of happening if he loses and is killed.

Acuity: d10

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d10

Fetches and Fetishes: d12

Flute: d8

Horsemanship: d10

Impersonation: d10

Poetry: d10

Prophecy: d6

Prowess: d12

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d10

The One who Debones Kings

Led a secret unconventional warfare campaign against a king in the iceberg steppes. At one point, he was captured and then fought his way out of the Prison of the Thousand-Mount Nexus, taking the warden hostage and riding him down a five-story fall. He later led whalers and sealers against the king’s ice trenches and placed a particularly sensitive Permanent One on the throne.

He has the ability to map local interiors with his hum, including detecting hidden spaces, an ability taught to him by a prisonsage of the Nexus. 

Acuity: d12

Alchemy: d8

Archery: d10

Fetches and Fetishes: d10

Flute: d8

Gambling: d10

Horsemanship: d10

Impersonation: d10

Poetry: d10

Prophecy: d6

Prowess: d10

Horse Archery (Derived Stat): d10

CRB Appendix: The Search for Allies

If the Investigating Censors look specifically for allies who are likely to become dedicated to their cause, they can search out a few categories of individuals who are powerful, but only rarely co-opted by regional centers of gravity.

Seek Allies: Takes a day in the target location. Roll Acuity vs d12.

On a success, roll a d20. The result will determine who you discover.

Common allies have a 1/8 chance of being Disloyal and/or Corrupt. Uncommon ones have a 1/12 chance of each.

To check for corruption: People issued a Writ of Purpose have a chance of being Corrupt and/or Disloyal. A GM can make this check for an NPC right away or wait until he thinks it is relevant. Roll a d8. On a 1, roll a d6.

1-2: Corrupt

3-4: Disloyal

5-6: Both

Loyal allies will not resent being issued a Writ of Purpose, but will not stay with the retinue for an extended period without one.

CRB Appendix: Corruption, Loyalty, or Resolve

Most characters have a 1/4 chance of being Disloyal and a 1/4 chance of being Corrupt. The GM secretly rolls and records the result. The GM doesn’t have to do this immediately and can wait until he wants to know whether a character is Corrupt or Disloyal. 

Corruption

Corrupt characters may steal from locals, commit violence, attempt to extort sexual favors, or even sell Retinue artifacts on the black market. Corrupt officials can generally be dealt with as the IC sees fit, but corrupt retinue members will cost the IC legitimacy and harden resistance where the IC is unwelcome.

Corruption cannot be mechanically ascertained by any means except Prophecy. 

Loyalty

Disloyal characters are not bound to follow the dictates of the one they serve. The exact way this manifests is up to the GM. A Disloyal character may be amenable to betraying their supervisor to the IC; they may be a spy; they may simply be ready to run at the first sign of danger.

Disloyal retinue members may appear to follow the IC’s orders, but might stop at any time. Disloyal retinue members can act as they please.

Loyalty cannot be mechanically ascertained by any means except Prophecy.

Loyal retinue members will follow their IC’s orders while the retinue is Resolved.

Paid hirelings who have not received Writs of Purpose are always Disloyal.

Resolve

Pain of outlawry is a terrifying prospect in these lands; relocating to a distant community is a dangerous and potentially impoverishing affair. Most people issued a Writ of Purpose will attempt to do as the IC orders, but they can still be pushed to their breaking point.

Resolve is the collective measurement of the ICs’ retinue’s willingness to follow. Retinue members talk to each other continuously. Because of this, Resolve among Loyal Retinue members is determined collectively.

A retinue’s level of Resolve begins at 4. It is capped at 12 and bottoms out at -12. 

The GM may freely add or subtract Resolve based on in game events:

Example Causes of Increases in Resolve

Flute session (rolled vs d4): +1 (max once per week when relaxing together)

IC fights in melee: +1

Feast: +2 (max biweekly)

IC personally defeats leader of enemy force in melee: +3

Retinue given significant monetary reward (or is allowed to plunder): +3

Prostitution organized (max biweekly): +3

Visiting sacred temple for purposes of veneration (once per temple): +3

Winning challenging-but-not-pyrrhic victory: +3

Celebration of victories by the general public: +4

Example Causes of Decreases in Resolve

IC behaves beneath his station: -1

Retinue away from farms/families for an extended period: -2

IC known for engaging in corruption and/or malfeasance: -3

Defeated in battle, retreated with significant losses: -3

Retinue members are starving: -4

IC orders people into fruitlessly suicidal actions: -4

IC arbitrarily murders underling: -5

While Resolve is negative, all retinue characters are treated as Disloyal.

Inherently Disloyal characters are never subject to Resolve. The GM can have them leave or betray the ICs at any time, as is narratively and/or dramatically appropriate. 

CRB Appendix: Skills

    Skill Shortlist

Acuity

Alchemy

Archery

Fetches and Fetishes

Flute

Gambling

Horsemanship

Impersonation

Poetry

Prophecy

Prowess

Horse Archery (Derived Stat)

Skills are rolled when directed, or when the GM perceives a challenge where there is a chance of failure, and the outcome is important. The GM can set a target difficulty die to roll against, but most such checks should be against d4.

Acuity: Alertness, attention to detail, and accuracy of intuition. Used to spot things (traps, ambushes, hidden compartments, gaps in an enemy’s line), ascertain the level of honesty in a statement, sniff out fakes, and execute other perception-based checks.

Alchemy: See Appendix J: The Uses of Alchemy.

Archery: Roll for any challenge involving archery, except Horse Archery, which is listed below.

Fetches and Fetishes: Detecting spirits, soothing and sedating them, calling them to your aid. NPCs are especially likely to use this to set diabolical traps for you; your characters will use F&F to detect and disarm or bypass these traps. See Appendix K: The Uses of Fetches and Fetishes.

Flute: Monks in general are famed flutists, and Monks of the Lowland Path have their own ephemeral style, more likely to impart chills than a desire to dance. Flute-playing can arrest brewing tensions and conflicts within your retinue or other NPCs; when you begin playing your flute during a dispute which you are removed from, people will assume you are calling attention to yourself for a subsequent speech. You can also use it to increase the disposition of people who hear you play in an appropriate setting. All such checks are Flute vs Alacrity.

Gambling: Gambling is a relentless social force. Despite the chaos and impoverishment associated with it, gamblers and their organizers can be useful as informants (and swordsmen) 

Horsemanship: Roll for any challenge involving horses, except Horse Archery, which is covered at the end of this section.

Impersonation: Roll for any challenge involving seeming to be someone you’re not or feigning an emotional or psychological state.

Capped at d8 if you lack credible accouterments (say, claiming to be a famous bard but are in ragged clothes)

Capped at d6 if you appear contradictory (claiming to be a scullion but are dressed as a rich courtesan)

Poetry: Monks of the Lowland Path practice poetry. A powerful poem spoken by an IC and heard by a local bard, minstrel, or soothsayer can affect the sentiments of a regional population. 

Pirates disseminate folk stories repurposed with piratical and Cult of Protection themes. Countering these requires superior Poetry. 

In such a case, roll IC Poetry vs Pirate Leader/FRO Poetry vs a target die depending on local receptiveness to this kind of messaging, e.g. d4 for an undecided but receptive poplace.

Poetry is also used for lawgiving (knowing the ancestral poems which illustrate civilizationally-agreed-upon standards of conduct) and for writing important messages to the High Dreaming Citadel or other centers of gravity.

Prophecy: This is the coin of the realm for doctrinal legitimacy, though there is a chance of losing touch with reality when you commune beyond it; noise and signal may become indistinguishable. Failing a Prophecy check drives a character into a state of permanent debilitating psychosis. However, if you succeed, you automatically gain a die size in Prophecy. Prophecy is how people predict the projected course of events from the moment of divination, and how they scry on people and places. It always begins at 0 until an individual has a catalytic experience that brings it to d4. NPCs may use Prophecy behind the scenes to scry and predict events, but must roll and face the danger like any other character.

Prowess: Used for close combat and raw physical tasks, including physical stealth. When launching a surprise attack, the attacker cannot be Cut Down on that roll.

Derived Stat: Horse Archery: Can never be higher than your horsemanship or your archery, whichever is lower. Monks of the Lowland Path are distinguished by being horse archers, as are Former Regime Officials, who ruled large tracts of land as well as being pirates.

Unless otherwise noted, NPCs have a d4 in all skills, except for Prophecy, which is always 0 until an individual has a catalytic experience that brings it to d4.

Supernatural monsters and heroes who have been blessed by divinities can have skills at d20.

CRB Appendix: The Uses of Alchemy

1. Healing: Sealing wounds and treating disease.

When you apply this solution to one who has been severely injured, roll Alchemy again. If you fail or match the target number, the subject loses a level of Prowess as their body heals in on itself. If reduced to 0 Prowess, the subject is a hobbling wreck who can barely speak.

If further reduced somehow, the subject’s circulatory system fuses in on itself in places and he dies.

2. Poisoning: Subjects who ingest this substance roll Prowess vs d12 or perish (how it happens depends on the poison). Subjects subcutaneously subjected to this substance (blade, needle) roll Prowess vs d6 or perish. Only the latter form of poisoning can be treated (by an antidote tailored to the poison).

3. Hypervigilance: +1 when using Alacrity to notice a surprise attack before it happens. Can kickstart a subject from cardiac arrest, or lead to heart attack in sensitive recipients. Extended use will tend to lead to paranoia.

4. Sexual Arousal: High function, guaranteed. Satisfaction not actually achievable until it wears off.

5. Suppressing: Causes the subject to fall into a corpse-like sleep. Extended use (to keep someone out for longer than 6 hours) induces a Prowess vs d4 check per additional 6 hours. Failure means heart failure.

6. Bodily Stasis: You will stay alive. The variations on what will happen to your body (and your mind) are nearly endless. You will be very, very lucky if you regard the byproducts as desirable. In particular, using this for those who have suffered fatal physical trauma will induce a state worse than death.

7. Euphoria: No more, no less, with all that comes with it. There is also an herb that amplifies all sensations, an antianesthetic. Administered before meals, sex, and torture.

8. Transfiguration: What it can transform into what depends on the intent of the alchemist, and will necessitate the gathering of specific ingredients. Generally, objects resulting from deep geological processes (gold, diamonds, coal, crude oil) are not replicable with lay alchemy; the best outcome one can hope for in this respect is petrification.

9. Dissolving: Hyperacidic liquid or universal solvent, generally with exceptions, such as whatever the container is made out of. Vitriolage is a d4 attack vs Prowess and generally defaces the individual even in case of survival. If the d4 and Prowess are equal, the victim is permanently blinded (or loses the use of other sensory organs if applicable).

10. Explosive: Base strength of d8. An alchemical explosion affects d4 opponents within a 10’ radius. Those not maimed or killed are knocked over. A fist-size quantity can put a 2’ radius hole through a 1’ thick stone wall. When attempting to employ this explosive (either as a thrown or slung missile, or as a static emplacement, for example inside a lock or in a trap), roll a d4 vs your Alchemy. If you lose, it explodes right next to you. 

11. Arsonizing: Generally takes the form of an infernal goo.

12. Revealing: The vapors of this trace out invisible things and give glint to solid objects they pass over, so that shimmering clearly reveals the outlines of all things in sight.

13. Entheogen: There are many types; some act as a solvent for psychological rigidity, others recompose the subject’s perception (or body) to apprehend elements of this cosmos (or others), and some make the subject a beacon for the entities to reach through the aether (specific entities, or any entity).

14. Solidifying: The tincture takes a semi-rigid or perfectly rigid shape when removed from its container or combined with another substance, allowing for the quick creation of single-substance objects. Oftentimes (but not always) these objects begin to degrade (anywhere from a few hours to a few days after their creation). Rope and weapons are common.

15. Suppression of Fertility: More or less what it says on the reagent bottle. Depending on the make, may last a little longer than intended, or vice versa.

16. Interrogation: See the Interrogation subheading below.

17. Temporary Scarab Sand Immune System: Suppresses retrovirus while active, eliminates other viral infections.

18. Battle Psychosis: Temporarily increases Prowess die size by two steps, and d10 increases to d12+2. d12 increases to d20. Usually fatal and taken in desperation; after the battle, the user must roll base Prowess vs d20 to survive.

19. Psychostabilization: Suppresses mania, may reduce (or increase) depression, stabilizes certain forms of schizophrenia. Some warriors take it before battle, some gamblers keep it for when they get a winning streak, others acquire it as a practical matter due to their humours.

20. Life-Containing: Becomes capable of hosting sapience, abiogenetically or by fettering an entity, depending on the type.

Working Alchemy

Must be in an area that has sufficient reagents, either a developed city or a lush wilderness. Must have time to acquire what you need.

Roll your Alchemy vs d12

Failure: Roll d20 on the above; that is what you have produced.

Natural 1: Roll on the above and immediately suffer the effect.

Hit your skill exactly: You create the base effect you are looking for. Roll d20 on the above table and add second effect (radically heightened effect if same) - yes, you can create sapient explosive this way. The conditions that lead to these combinations are highly contingent and generally cannot be intentionally replicated.

NPCs can attempt to produce these substances behind the scenes, and then apply them in play. 

Master alchemists with ancient secrets can extend the effect of these tinctures almost indefinitely, so that solvent will cut its way to the center of the earth, bodily stasis will last for centuries no matter how the body is deformed, and healing will turn a man into a divinity and then into a cancer. 

Coin of the Junction: An alchemical substance that can only be produced if someone dies of starvation with a prerequisite poultice under his tongue. Evil authorities have forced its production in the past, but nowadays it’s created as a self-sacrifice by monks who are ready to transcend this sphere. One such death produces a single dose. This substance has a 2/3 chance of bringing an individual back from being killed if used immediately after combat. Forms of death that inflict massive brain disruption such as falling off a cliff into rocks or having one’s head split in two are not eligible for spiritual reintegration and will produce horrible results if the corpse is given a Coin.

Alchemical Interrogation

Interrogator rolls Alchemy vs victim Acuity.

If the interrogator rolls a natural 1, the victim suffers:

d4

1. Agrypnia excitata with subsequent dementia and death

2. Permanent, maximum-strength psychosis

3. Permanent catatonic dissociation

4. Death from endless epileptic seizure

On a success:

Hands of the Trembling Filament reveal the secrets of their meeting places and leader

Monks of the Inner Orchard reveal the Secret of the Lacquer

Using Interrogation on somebody who turns out to not have been an enemy raises Local Hostility (see Appendix O: Local Hostility). Most people don’t WANT to rebel against the monks because the retribution is so harsh, but if Investigating Censors repeatedly visit this potentially brutal and transformative alchemical interrogation on their family members, people will attack rather than live with their shame and rage. This is why an IC should generally perform a thorough investigation before alchemically Interrogating somebody.

CRB Appendix: The Uses of Fetches and Fetishes 

Five Examples

Hanging Nocturne

A set of wind chimes that attract ghosts and spirits to come and hazard passersby. The emplacer rolls F&F vs the following difficulties, depending on what kind of entity he or she wishes to summon:

-Whisperer: d4

-Poltergeist: d6

-Specter (follows those present, levying d8 attacks on them. It cannot leave earshot of the Nocturne): d8 

-Banshee (d8 attack on all within earshot when it appears): d10 

A failed F&F check creates a soundless ethereal wail which will immediately draw the desired entity.

Thunder Reed

The creator of the thunder reed places a single hollow reed upright in the earth, surrounded by sticks of incense or burning herbs, and plays it a flute song. Sonic energy is supersaturated in the reed so that a mighty thunderclap will be released when it is broken.

The reed is first prepared with F&F vs d4. A failed check galls the winds of music and the flutist cannot attempt to create another thunder reed until the next daybreak. 

After the reed is prepared, the creator stands by the reed and makes his or her Flute check.

The difficulty of the Flute check will reflect the desired effect. 

-Distraction: d4 Flute check

-Stunning, 10’ radius: d6 Flute check

-Rupturing Organs, causing a d6 attack in a 5’ radius: d8 Flute check

-Liquefying Flesh, causing a d8 attack in a 10’ radius: d10 Flute check

-Disintegrating Matter, causing d10 attack in a 15’ radius: d12 Flute check

After the Flute check, the reed can then be removed, albeit in a very brittle state. It will dry with time and become more and more subject to activation from minor disruptions.

A failed Flute check will immediately break the reed, unleashing the intended effect on the flutist.

Second Skin

This is a section of fresh skin, animal or otherwise, that raises the hackles of the emplacer whenever somebody comes within 15’ of it. It lasts until it has undergone significant rot.

Emplacing is F&F vs d6. Failure makes the emplacers skin crawl continuously, imparting a -d4 to all checks until the next sunrise.

Vitaegen Aspergil

This brazier randomizes the effect of Alchemical substances applied within its range, which is about a 30’ radius if outdoors or across several small rooms if indoors. It lasts until its herbs burn out, though it may smolder for days.

Emplacing is F&F vs d6; failure wastes the herbal poultice, which may require a few hours to regather assuming the emplacer is in an appropriate environment. 

Substrate Disruptor

A music box that, when triggered, can arrest the progress of any supernatural entity (ie one that is not entirely biological) touched by its sound. When the music box activates, the entity rolls its Prophecy vs the emplacer’s F&F; if it is defeated, it cannot continue until the sound comes to an end.

Proscription

A piece of paper with a ritually-formulaic message that warns against disturbing it. These words anchor its power; they do not need to be read by a victim for the Proscription to be activated. Should the paper be ripped or freed from its moorings, a shadow will fall over the fate of the trespasser. It can only be removed by receiving a blessing at a shrine or temple.

The emplacer rolls F&F vs d4 to affix the Proscription, and then Poetry to create an effect. The difficulty die will reflect the effect desired. 

-Jinx: -1 to all Skill rolls. d4 Poetry check

-Hex: -d4 to all Skill rolls. d6 Poetry check

-Curse: GM chooses whenever the victim would roll on a table of outcomes. May be comorbid with the shakes, paranoia, amnesia, and impotence. d8 Poetry check

-Malediction: Immediate massive heart attack, bystander can attempt Alchemy check vs d8 or the victim dies. d10 Poetry check

A failed F&F check imparts maximum-strength dyslexia until the next sunset, precluding further attempts to establish a Proscription.

A failed Poetry check results in the emplacer immediately suffering the Proscription.

CRB Appendix: Combat

Combat plays out on a grid of 5’ squares. Starting locations for characters are based on their diegetic locations when hostilities commence. 

Progression of Combat

------------------------------------------

Initiative

Round A

Shooting (Initiative winner opens fire, Initiative loser returns fire)

Movement (Initiative winner nonfirers move)

Melee (Fighters in melee range are assigned to Fights, player who moved assigning)

Round B

Shooting (Initiative winner fires, Initiative loser returns fire)

Movement (Initiative loser nonfirers move)

Melee (Fighters in melee range are assigned to Fights, player who moved assigning)

Round A

Round B

Round A 

Round B

[...]

End of Combat

------------------------------------------

Initiative

Initiative is rolled at the commencement of hostilities. Each side picks a character to roll Acuity against the other.

If the Results are equal, two other characters roll Acuity vs Acuity.

Cycle until one side has Initiative.

Phases

Shooting

Movement

Melee

Shooting

Side with Initiative shoots first.

Targets must be assigned before die resolution.

Each shooter rolls Archery vs target Acuity.

Beyond 60', the shooter rolls twice and takes the lower result.

Defeated fighter is Cut Down.

After the side with Initiative fires, the side that lost Initiative may return fire.

This game uses the corner-to-corner rule of shooting; if there is a line from the corner of one character's square to an open corner of the target, then the target can be hit.

Allies, enemies, neutrals, and objects all block shots.

Firing at targets who are adjacent to allies has a 50/50 chance of hitting a friendly target regardless of success or failure. GM assigns numbers and rolls to see who's struck. 

Movement

Characters who shoot cannot move.

In the first round the side that won Initiative moves. In the second round, the side that won Initiative still shoots first, but only the losing side moves. This cycles until combat is over.

Infantry move 6 spaces, diagonals count as 1.5, can max at 6.5

Severely wounded, sick, or heavy-burdened characters move 3 spaces, max 3.5

Disengaging from Melee: Roll a Melee round with enemies you are engaged with. You cannot inflict casualties, but can run if you win.

(Foot chases after a battle are resolved with Prowess vs Prowess.)

Melee

Adjacent opponents are paired off. Once all have been paired, extra fighters who are adjacent to enemies can be stacked on enemies.

Each discrete group of fighters, whether paired or stacked, is in a Fight.

Fight: All fighters roll Prowess.

Outmatched fighters are Cut Down, or Thrown Down if the winner is unarmed.

If results are matched, the fighters clash; blood may flow, but no one is Cut Down.

        Stacking multiple fighters on an enemy

If just one of your fighters wins, the enemy is Cut Down before having a chance to do anything.

However, if some of your fighters match results with the enemy and others are defeated, the defeated fighters are Cut Down.

If all are defeated, all are Cut Down.

A Sword Saint (d12) is in melee with Pirates A, B, and C (d6).

Three example result spreads:

1. Sword Saint rolls 8, all pirates are Cut Down, victory being impossible.

2. Sword Saint rolls 6, Pirate A rolls 6, Pirate B rolls 5, Pirate C rolls 4. Pirate A clashes with Sword Saint, Pirates B and C are Cut Down.

3. Sword Saint rolls 2, Pirate A rolls 6, Pirate B rolls 5, Pirate C rolls 1. Sword Saint is Cut Down before having a chance to Cut Down Pirate C.

Diegetically, combat results execute simultaneously.

Soldier 1 has been assigned to fight Pirate 1, but is also adjacent to Pirate 2 who is fighting Soldier 2 in another space.

Soldier 1's combat resolves first. He Cuts Down Pirate 1.

He does not affect the combat between Soldier 2 and Pirate 2.

The side that Moved determines assignments if there are options available. In this image, the Pirates Moved; PA could have been assigned to Soldier 2 or Sword Saint.

Equipment

Armor has Deflection. An armored character who is defeated has a chance of having the incoming attack negated. 1/4 deflection means a 25% chance of avoiding being Cut Down on a defeat.

Horses: Riders move 12 spaces, diagonal count as 1.5, can max at 12.5. First movement can be into any square, next movement must continue or 45 degrees from that heading unless you make a Horsemanship check vs d6 to suddenly move at a greater angle. Failed checks take up 1 space of movement, natural 1s throw the rider.

A horseman who moves at least 6 squares in a straight line and ends adjacent to an enemy can reroll his subsequent melee Prowess.

Horse archers can fire and move, but not defeat an enemy in melee if they fired.

Throwing fire-pots uses Prowess vs target die. Within 10': vs d4. 15': vs d6. 20': vs d8. 25': vs d10. 30': vs d12

Skilled slinging can increase ranges by 10’ at each step.

Partial Lamellar: Common infantry armor with 1/4 deflection

Glaive and Shortsword or Bow and Shortsword: Common infantry weapon profiles

Two-handed falchion: Common weapon for headsman's attendants

Healing

A character who has prepared panacea can move to a character who has just been cut down and attempt to seal their wounds using a second Alchemy check.

From Appendix I: Skills: “When you apply this solution to one who has been severely injured, roll Alchemy again. If you fail or match the target number, the subject loses a level of Prowess as their body heals in on itself. If reduced to 0 Prowess, the subject is a hobbling wreck who can barely speak. If further reduced somehow, the subject’s circulatory system fuses in on itself in places and he dies.”

One dose of panacea can be prepared per character per week; it is generally not available for purchase, and spoils after a week.

Optional Rule: being cut down in battle is almost invariably fatal given the level of development in this region. However, at the GM's discretion, a character who has been cut down in battle can linger on until the wound proves fatal of infection, shock, or blood loss, with a 0 to all skills in the meanwhile.

Escape, Surrender, and Morale

A character who runs out of shooting range is regarded as having escaped, though can be pursued after the battle using:

Prowess vs Prowess (if a foot chase)

Horsemanship vs Horsemanship (if horseman vs horseman)

Alacrity vs Alacrity (if a horseman is pursuing a footman; only if a runner has been able to hide; if the horseman pursues the footman in the open, the footman will be caught)

Surrenders occur at GM discretion.

If a system for surrender is desired, here are two.

Pride: Make a morale check whenever the enemy is leaderless and has lost 50% strength or is outnumbered 3 to 1. Each enemy rolls Prowess vs d4. Failure means the enemy attempts to escape, matched results means the enemy surrenders, and success means the enemy fights on. 

Psychological Warfare: Or when a morale check is made, roll a single round of speculative combat. It does not actually occur, but it represents the odds affecting the morale of the losers, who run or surrender if Cut Down.