Path: Chapter Four

Here's the GM's Goals I gave everyone for the session

1. Infiltrate Itawarete Ira Hu, the Temple of the Wheel of Fire
2. Find the elf
3. Scare/defeat the Roden
4. Get the Wheel of Fire

Fulfilling any of these goals nets a Persona Point in addition to whatever they get for Beliefs. I list them for dark hilarity's sake. You'll see what I mean.

Eva's Beliefs
1. My life is more important than the Wheel of Fire because my father must be stopped.
2. I will not sail before my father is stopped.
3. I brought Augustes here, I will get him out.

Eva's Instincts
1. Whenever I enter a new area I search for hiding spots.
2. When surprised I draw my sword.
3. Always assume the worst about elves

Augustes's Beliefs
1. Another elf is around, cool! It must be my lucky day. I'll find him.
2. I'm going to find whatever this Wheel is in this God-forsaken well
3. I will save the town, even though I'm worthless.

Augustes's Instincts
1. I refuse to speak to new people.
2. If someone scares me I do what they ask.
3. Whenever I fail a Steel test I use Soothing Platitudes (which, at the moment, is untrained)

- Eva and Augustes size up the cavern. There's blue fluorescent mushrooms everywhere, dimly lighting up the cavern, which is roughly hewn. Eva starts to look around for places to hide and fails. As she was looking around Augustes chucked a rock idly and hit a nearby unseen Roden inbetween the eyes, knocking him out cold. This alerts his nearby compatriots to their presence. 

-The pair attempt to knock out the remaining two roden before the alarm can be sounded, but they don't move fast enough to stop the roden from shrieking out an alarm call.

-Eva and Augustes try and get away, but are backed into a corner briefly by the roden. They manage to bowl past the roden who are cornering them and make their escape. With their newfound freedom, the dynamic duo decide they're gonna escape... right into the temple, where the roden are thickest. No, I did not advise this. I refrained from facepalming, but you better believe I held back.

-Now that they're in the temple and being chased from all sides, Eva and Augustes have to try and make a break for it again. Eva gets away, but Augustes is captured and cowed. After running for a minute, Eva curses, turns around, and runs back after Augustes to save him, her own hide be damned. Unfortunately she sees...

- Augustes, captured and having failed a Steel test, begins to plead for his life with his untrained Soothing Platitudes and fails. When told that he must help capture his elvish friend Augustes breaks down in tears, offering to help capture the other elf that he's heard rumors of. He offers everything he owns, his own freedom and eternal slavery even, but he won't betray Eva. He gets an axe to the gut for his troubles....

-...yeah... that's a B9 to the stomach...Traumatic Wound...Augustes's intestines are all over the floor... Eva fails her Steel test and passes out from sheer despair. 

-Both wake up inside the temple. Augustes's stomach has been bound up and he's on the mend. Standing above them is the elf everyone's been talking about.

- He explains to them that he was trying to stop Golau from getting the Wheel of Fire but failed. Golau is, even now, heading to the center of the earth to put out the Eternal Flame, the source of all life and goodness in the world. He asks for the dynamic duo's help in getting there. Eva begrudgingly accepts, but Augustes refuses: he's only worth something with Golau and so he won't fight her.

-Eva challenges Augustes to a Duel of Wits, Augustes accepts.

Augustes: I am worthless and must go back to Golau. Let me be.

Eva: Slavery isn't good enough for you, so you better help me stop Golau.

I didn't record all the stuff for the Duel of Wits (I'll start to next time!), but Eva TROUNCED Augustes (he does have a Traumatic Wound and isn't trained in any social skills whatsoever...), and he agrees to help the unnamed elf and Eva.

Overall that was the most disastrous session of Burning Wheel I've ever seen dice-wise. Even when the players did roll well their decisions were horrific and led to more pain and death for them. But it led to a really good story!