Siege Perilous – The Tale of Sir Athwain of the White Tower (Spring – Episode 1)

Siege Perilous is a solo tarot-based Arthurian RPG written by Alan Bahr . My introduction to Dungeons & Dragons was via Arthurian and Greek Myth and Michael Moorcock’s fiction. So a good Arthurian game is my jam (and I’ve played a bunch of them – I really love Prince Valiant, and have played a lot of Pendragon too).

For these adventures I am playing Sir Athwain of the White Tower. A young knight in the spring of his life. His knightly parentage was a talented orator, quick of wit and tongue (+2 Nimbleness). He found joy and excitement in his knightly training (+1 Prowess). And his weakness is a fearsome foe, for he fears death above all else (Valor +0).

I’ll probably write up more of his background later, but I wanted to jump into the game play proper.

Our adventure starts on the rocky coast of Britain, a scene of destruction and devastation. A fortress was razed here recently, the ruins half fallen into the sea, smoke and debris still clinging to the ruins. Another questing knight is also here, not with me but also looking over the ruins.

As with any beginning knight, I must take on a quest to be away from my liege Arthur’s table. My first quest is The Hermit / The Quest of Mordred. I must go into seclusion to gain insight. I seek something I don’t even know myself, but feel that it must draw me away from other knights and people. (In game terms, I must triumph at a Find Guidance while on a Face Card at least 6 cards away from this starting location).

Before I set off, however, I search for Glory within the ruins. (I get a partial success, meaning that I must engage in a contest). Since I (as the player) am not sure if the danger is something in the ruins, or that I’m challenging the other knight, I do the “Seek Guidance” action to see if the other knight is my friend – I get a “yes, but” result, so the contest is not against the other knight, but they will challenge me indirectly. In this case, I decide that we find ourselves competing for something in the ruins.

So I need to know a little more about this knight – Dame Evelyne is a clumsy knight with her very loyal steed Axecutter (who is almost equally clumsy). She quests for a magical goblet and is scouring the ruins for a clue or lead. We both spot something that will help us on our quests, and engage in a contest to acquire the MacGuffin – climbing down through the ruins to the shore where a golden trinket is being thrown about by the waves. I achieve a triumphant success at this feat of speed, giving me +1 Glory (my first glory!) and I decide the trinket will give me a +1 bonus on the Find Guidance check at the end of my quest.

I depart the ruins, seeking my way across Britain alone. But when drawing to see where my travels take me, I draw the Queen of Swords, meaning that my travels are interrupted. Both Dame Evelyne and I are called upon by our liege, Arthur, to aid in a pitched battle (Strength 16).

The Battle of Three Banners erupted in the mist-shrouded valley of Caer Gwyn, where King Arthur sought to reclaim a sacred relic—the Silver Bough—said to grant wisdom beyond mortal reckoning. But he was not the only one with eyes on its prize.

On one side, Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, clad in gleaming mail, advanced with the banner of Camelot unfurling above them. The great knight Sir Gawain, bearing his enchanted sword Galatine, led the vanguard.

Opposing them was the Red Hand of the Picts, a ferocious warband determined to keep the relic from Saxon or Briton hands. Their painted warriors, led by the battle-hardened chieftain Bryn Bloodtide, moved like shadows among the ancient standing stones, striking swift and vanishing into the fog.

But the chaos intensified with the arrival of a third force—the Iron Host of the Saxons, led by Lord Wulfgar the Black-Tooth, a cunning warlord who sought not wisdom but dominion. His forces, armored in thick chain and bristling with spears, crashed into both Briton and Pict alike, turning the battle into a storm of steel.

The battle is a multi-day affair and at noon on the third day we find ourselves nearly alone on the battlefield. The host of Saxons and the Picts broken and fleeing the Knights of the Round Table. (I gain 16 Glory from this battle).

But that Queen of Swords draw that triggered the great battle also allows my character to begin a chivalrous romance. Since this is my first play through, I jump on the opportunity – the idea of a solitary hermit knight travelling the realm both to seek some deeper meaning, but also to gain the favor of another fair knight feels right and potentially quite tragic. So the romance with Dame Evelyne begins. I draw a Wands card, meaning that this is a “romance of wands”. There are nine elements to each romance, and this one requires gaining some enchantment skills, something my knight knows nothing about, but which may well flavor the goals of his hermit-quest.

And I once again attempt to Travel Britain. But the way is dark, and I cannot find my way through the desolate lands to the north. I turn to Dame Evelyne and beseech her aid (I spend 4 Glory to make the Beseech Aid challenge – and get a partial success / despair). She knows a route, but it is very dangerous – no normal person could make the passage, and even a knight must make a Feat of Valor to cross.

This grants me a way to move to the new territory (if I pass the Feat of Valor), but if I had triumphed at the task instead of a partial success, I would also have checked off one of the nine circles in the Romance of Wands.

Saying a prayer and my good byes to Dame Evelyne, I undertake the dangerous passage to the north (and triumph at the Feat of Valor, allowing me through and giving me +1 Glory).

But it is late, and we shall explore this new region the next time I play.