[TSoY] Princess Hralroolimi's Betrayal

[Jason Morningstar]

I ran my TSoY Bunnies and Burrows hack as a one-shot last night and it rocked the house.  We started from scratch - I had a little map and a situation - escort princess Hralroolimi (Cloud Daughter) to an arranged marriage amid rumors of war with the expansionist, overpopulated Somerton warren.  I told the five players to make up rabbits that could go on this mission and to point keys at each other.  We had two ex-lovers, a pair of brothers, and several rivalries in the group before they were done.

The characters were Hraethnayo (Jumps the World), a scout; Calla, matriarch and chaperone with a wicked stack of mystical Secrets; Thistle, an Owsla buck prone to fits of rage who was in love with the princess; Mud Scut, a trembling seer and coward; and Vandan Cat Slayer, a high-status braggart sent as diplomat.  Hraethnayo and Mud Scut were brothers.  Vandan and Calla had once been lovers.  Thistle and Vandan hated each other.  Hraethnayo admired Thistle. Fantastic - my job was practically done. 

They had to get to a distant warren called Duns Tew, where a bridegroom awaited the snobbish but smokin' hot princess.  First they had to cross an iron road and a river, which they did with the help of a pair of turtles.  They entered a vast marsh and were attacked by an owl!  They beat it off with a little help from Calla's "Cunning Whiskers" magic, and later met a ragged little rabbit named Honeycomb, a hlessi outcast from Somerton.  He was sweet and kind, and after seeing Princess Cloud Daughter, he offered them all some delicious marsh raspberries.  They were drugged, and he made off with the princess!  Everyone agreed this would be fun.  The scout Hraethnayo had a spectacular success in tracking him down, and Thistle, a little territorial over Cloud Daughter and furious, nearly killed Honeycomb.  Calla persuaded him to cool it, and Honeycomb guided them through the marsh to Aston Down, a warren mid-way between Heyford, their home, and Duns Tew, the destination they would never reach. 

Blackpaw, Owsla commander of Aston Down, reluctantly welcomed them, and presented them to Inlékyt-rah (Chief Nearly Midnight).  Inlékyt was bemused by the seer Mud-Scut, who had a seizure and saw visions of Aston Down overrun with hostile rabbits.  "Death is on the wind!" he cried.  Meanwhile Thistle and the princess missed the meeting and got busy, rabbit style (several successes on a "Mate" roll!)  The princess, who was sort of a bad apple, persuaded Thistle that instead of trying to cement alliances among the small warrens (and marry her to some foreign prince), they should go straight to Somerton and persuade them to annex Heyford peacefully.  Mike, playing Thistle as a love-struck self-righteous turncoat, was in heaven.

Calla, the princess' chaperone, confronted Thistle about their mating (successful "Smell" roll on her part).  Thistle tried to convince her to join him in betrayal, selling out Aston Down.  She refused and they argued.  An Aston Down doe overhead, there was a chase, and Thistle caught her, initiating a fantastic conflict over her life - Thistle felt she knew too much and had to die to preserve his plan, and Calla disagreed.  Pain was Brought Down.  Calla lost and the doe died, sealing everyone's fate.  They had to leave Aston Down at once, with the Owsla hot on their tales.

There was another lovely conflict between Vandan and Thistle, which resulted in Thistle being driven off.  He ran to join the oncoming Somerton assault troops that were at the edge of the marsh, heading for Aston Down.  The rest of the group ran from the menacing Aston Down Owsla, who were determined to catch and punish them for killing the doe.  They hit a stone wall, a man and some dogs were coming, and they were trapped!  It was great.  They ran toward the marsh, with Hraethnayo leading the Aston Down Owsla straight into the dogs, where they were slaughtered.  Thistle informed the leader of the Somerton troops, an evil bruiser named Wintertop, that Aston Down was completely undefended, and Wintertop dispatched him and two of his lieutenants to slay the Heyford party and retrieve the princess.  Amid the distant screams of the does and kittens of Aston Dwon being murdered, there was a huge, final battle between Thistle and his Somerton thugs and the rest of the PCs, with Thistle and Hraethnayo Bringing Down the Pain in a tense, brutal fight.  Thistle finally killed his rival (who burned off the Key of Fraternity for Thistle to power his Vigor pool!), but as he did, he realized Hraethnayo would have the last laugh - he'd been cleverly leading him toward the dogs, and as he died, he had the satisfaction of watching Thistle getting ripped apart (they both passed 6 Harm in the same round).

The mission was an utter disaster and we all had a wonderful time.  Every conflict meant something.  I think the ease with which we created an engaging and colorful one-shot stems from both our familiarity with TSoY and the power that Keys and Secrets put in players hands - as GM I really didn't have to do more than introduce characters with motivations of their own, and roll with player input.