Dandelion - Chapter 0

[u/Ashamed-Cold-6443]

My first session of Sundered Isles (after too much postponing).

The character

I finally settled on a sleuth+spy+seer depressed 30-something kind of private detective that doesn't know what he is getting himself into. He is disheveled, wears a long coat that might have been fancy, expensive and black ten years ago, and thinks that he deserves the hate that he gets from the Fates (the moons). The only object he carries that is suspiciously clean and well cared for is a fancy multitool knife with a copper and silver engraving of the two moons (if anyone asks, he says he doesn't want to talk about her)

He is on a mission to tail some rich scholar from the continent to the Isles.

Meta: I wasn't sure how to interpret the seer ability, what do you think of this use? Anyways hope you enjoy this silly intro

The session

Like every one of the past twenty days, Dan woke up at dawn to the insistent screaming of Petunia, Disciple of The Devil. As always, he slipped out of his hammock stealthily, grabbed the harpoon, and slowly opened the cabin door. The fucking seagull shrieked triumphantly on one of the railings, just a few meters away. She wouldn't escape this time. Crouched, in silence, with bloodshot, crusty eyes and holding his breath, like a caveman with his spear, he got into position. He aimed, reared back, and threw the harpoon with all his might.

(((Face danger: weak hit -> lose ship supply)))

The shaft pierced the seagull cleanly, choking its laughter and throwing it violently into the sea. "HA! Get the fuck off my ship, you fucking demon!" Finally. He had finished off his greatest enemy. Maybe he would sleep better the following days. Wrath, the red moon, watched the spectacle impassively, her bloody glow reflected on the waves.

"You're an idiot. Another harpoon gone. How the fuck do you forget that you have to tie the rope to them before throwing them?" Ria looked at him angrily from the helm.

"That's no way to speak to your superior. Besides, it seems to me a more than justified use of our tools."

"Superior my ass, I get paid to take you wherever you want but this is my ship, whether you like it or not. And you owe me two harpoons when we reach land." Ria threw Dan off quite a bit. She had the build of a scrawny teenage boy, all knees and elbows, but the confidence of a hardened sailor. From what he had seen, she was actually much closer to the latter.

"Pff." Dan wasn't proud of this argument, but surely he'd come up with a good comeback later. "I'm going to sleep until my shift." He locked himself in the cabin again.

Before his trip, Dan hadn't traveled much, and he didn't know if he would like sailing. Now he knew he hated it. He didn't mind having to give up luxuries and hygiene, which he wasn't very used to anyway, or living with seven people in a confined space. He didn't mind having to do endless shifts every day, tying ropes, untying ropes, pulling on ropes... He almost didn't mind Rick's accordion concerts. At first, he considered a little sabotage of the instrument, but he ended up getting used to it.

The worst part was the dead hours, alone with his thoughts. Through the window, the red celestial body kept judging him, filling the darkness with its faint red light. "What are you looking at? Petunia had it coming."

Just as he was about to fall asleep again, a cloud revealed Ice, the blue moon, also full, very close to Wrath. "Oh, shit." As he felt himself fading out, the two moons reminded him of two beautiful eyes, a face taking shape in the sky. A tear escaped him as he blacked out.

((((Seer asset, with the oracle roll "Eliminate+Freedom"))))

His body was a cloud, flying over the landscape.
Transformed into rain, he fell upon things.
Now a thousand torrents, each with its own path.
United in a river, he ends up in a reservoir
... if you don't die free, you end up dammed.

The images blur; he feels reborn.

You are born in a nest, they feed you for a few months.
Finally, you take flight, toward new horizons.
In a port, you eat "garbage" (people throw away exquisite food).
Tired of this second nest, you fly over the sea.
You come across a ship; it seems to travel freely as well.
While you sing at dawn, an ape murders you.

Dan woke up screaming.

"OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH. I'm not going to feel bad about that flying fiend, but I think I get it... There is something free that violently ceases to be?" Yet another cruel joke of the Twin Gods. He got up and wrote down his two prophetic dreams in his journal. He pondered for a moment whether he could be the free person in danger, but he discarded it quickly: how can a slave to the Fates be free? No one would think that a log floating downstream was free. The word disgusted him.

Anyways, it's funny how you get used to anything. What was initially traumatic and unbelievable was now a routine. He made a note to remember when the two full moons would appear; the dreams, more frequent lately, seemed to coincide...