Revenge of the Countess of Fire Chapter Six

These are the notes from my Burning Wheel game Revenge of the Countess of Fire. I figured that now that we're at a certain point I'll put up the play report. Check out the tag "Revenge of the Countess of Fire" for more posts!

There's plenty of blood on the dark walls of the dungeon, and the stench is horrifying. The Hungry One first hears soft cries and screams of many people in the cells that are in the next room. There are a ton of maimed prisoners The Hungry One finds in one of the cages Hope, the last member of the family who had imprisoned him. The Hungry One tries to kill her, but Claire intervenes and challenges him to a Duel of Wits.

Claire: You can't kill  Hope for something she did in the past
The Hungry One: Yes I can, and I will.

The Hungry One loses, but gets a compromise. The player pretty much reneged on this, however. The original compromise was that Hope would stand trial for her "crimes", but Kincaid took her aside and told her to get the hell out of town. He gives her some money and to find the Grinslow guards to help break the other prisoners out. She accepted, and ran away.

As Kincaid, The Hungry One, and Claire progress through the next room, they hear horrific screams and the pounding of an anvil. In the next room they find a large , spiked, and spinning metal wheel with Jarl on it. Jarl's pain makes electricity, which makes the wheel turn faster. Kincaid and The Hungry One both dart for Jarl, both wanting to kill him. They both set him on fire, not even bothering to get him off the wheel. Marion, The Countess of Fire, comes out and puts the fire out.  She asks why they're here, stating that she's here to complete her revenge. She tells Kincaid that he had killed her father, The Eaten One, fifty years ago. The Countess of Fire informs Kincaid she wants the stone that he has. Kincaid asks The One in the Deep for help in  keeping the stone from the Countess, and find The One in the Deep is silent.

The Countess reveals that she now has Jarl's lightning powers, and uses them to electrocute Kincaid and The Hungry One in an attempt to get the stone from her. Claire calls upon God and takes the lightning on herself and almost dies in the process. Kincaid tries to bargain for Claire's life, offering The Countess the Stone in exchange.

The One in the Deep agrees to this.

Kincaid tells The Countess that she owes him one for granting such a huge favor to her. She replies that she'll be at The Well, and she wants them to have front row seats. "Yes, I will destroy all the Evil in the world, and all it took-was the life of... my son..." Kincaid replies that it's her son that's the hero, not her. She glares at him.

Returning to the surface Kincaid commands the Grinslow guards to pick up the bodies and wishes the nobility would just get the hell out of time. He sings the Song of Soothing to Claire, narrowly reviving her. The guards who go down to get the bodies run into the Countess of Fire, and she slaughters them all.

Claire, after falling back asleep, receives a vision. A boy comes to her, telling her to get up and come with him. He takes her to a deep well in a mountain, telling her this is where the Countess of Fire's father was killed fifty years ago. The boy tells her he was present when the Countess wavered in her resolve for revenge. She loved him, but in her time of need he wasn't there for her. Because of his role in her damnation he is fated to throw himself into this well every day until she is killed. Claire asks if there is any other way. The boy informs her that he was sent from God to tell her this, and Claire acknowledges that her faith won't waver in the matter. The boy explains that The Countess's plan won't work, and will only release The One in the Deep.

The Countess of Fire needs to die.