Fate: Dark and Stormy report #7

At the beginning of this session, we were reminded of what a step it can be to transition from the very freeform Fate 2e to the more defined and detailed Fate 3.0. We began by taking several minutes to discuss the difference between declaring aspects and guessing aspects. Declaring involves a knowledge skill and requires no time (which distinguishes it from making assessments). Guessing aspects is a form of spending a fate point to tag an aspect you suspect to exist, known only to the GM. Declaring introduces a new aspect, guessing tags an already existing aspect. I also took this time to remind everyone that aspects are not just any feature of a person or scene. They are something that has been pre-determined by the GM or introduced during play by GM or players. They exist for the purpose of potential utilization. So, you can't just say, "I tag that guy's Black Hair aspect to get a +2 on my roll!!" Just because he has black hair doesn't mean it's an aspect.

Soon we kicked into action and Leo started us off by throwing a hammer using his thrown weapons skill and adding a +1 from Elros' defensive Overflow at the end of last session. He and the dagwir both totalled 3s - the dagwir dodged the thrown hammer.

Rwake's attempt to thrust a stab was deflected by the haft of the dagwir's mace. Elros, watching all of this, stepped in with an attack of his own. His sword went into the zombie's head and was pulled back out. Elros achieved a +4, which rolled up to the next empty box - box 9 of the dagwir's stress track.

The dagwir knight, still fighting, jabbed his mace at Elros who ducked, throwing the dagwir off balance, giving another +1 to Leo (defensive Overflow). Thoroughly frustrated by this resilient zombie, Leo launched a frenzy of small metal objects at the dagwir, which stick into him, causing him 3 shifts of damage, which rolled up to box 10.

Next, Rwake took a long-shot guess that the zombie had the aspect "scared of fire" and thrusted a torch in his face, paying a fate point to tag it. I told him that the zombie didn't have that aspect and that undead succeed on all resolve rolls. I didn't take his fate point, although, looking back, I think I should have. But, in this case, he was so far off, and this was the first attempt anyone had made at guessing an aspect - I figured, let him keep it.

Elros, creative magician that he is, decided that maybe he could confuse the dagwir by casting an illusion on his body that made him look like he was alive again. I determined the roll for the spell to succeed on the dagwir's whole body would be Good (+3). Elros rolled a -3, but used his "Educated at Prestigious Highcloud Tower" aspect to reason that, with his training, he can't fail at this kind of spell. He handed over the fate point and rerolled. This time his total was +2. He paid another fate point to invoke his "Never Good Enough" aspect, drawing on the power of his issues. The illusion was successful! But alas, the dagwir took no notice. He is undead after all. AC laughed it off though. He knew it was a stretch. But to the PCs now, their opponent looked like a fully living dagwir with non-corroded armor.

The dagwir took a sweeping mace attack at Elros who parried and used his riposte stunt, causing 1 stress to the dagwir, checking of the dagwir's last normal box. Elros rolled a +8, giving him 4 shifts - another +1 to Leo!

Next, our little Lufan friend, Leo, jumped up on the table (represented by 4 Fudge dice) as a supplemental action. From there, he proceeded to fling sharp metal objects at the dagwir's head - metal balls, small gears, clock hands - earning 3 shifts of stress. Since the dagwir's normal boxes were all checked off, this rolled up to a minor consequence (known to me to be his only consequence). I asked J to describe the consequence. J explained that the sharp objects stuck all in and around the zombie's eyes, rendering him "blinded", which became the name of his consequence. Here you can see Leo on the table (J's LEGO guy was back in action!):

At this point, I had a bit of information to give them. I had them all roll for Knowledge of Undead. Leo got a +3. I explained that Leo learned from his extensive reading that undead can only be destroyed by severing the spine. It was also decided that Rwake would have this knowledge from his +1 roll.

So, Rwake used his Vital Spot stunt to locate the weakest spot on the dagwir's spine. The tribesman was having to guess a bit because Elros' illusion was still in place, obscuring the reality of the dagwir's being. Elros thus decided to unravel the illusion as a supplemental action, then swung his sword in a attempt to slice of the dagwir's head. We took this opportunity to joke with AC that at last Elros was doing something other than stab. He finally slashed! Elros spent a fate point to tag the zombie knight's Blinded aspect, gaining a +2 - giving him a total of 5. The dagwir rolled an unfortunate +2. These 3 shifts in Elros' favor rolled up to mark of the dagwir's Taken Out box. That was it for the zombie knight, after which the adventure is named.

The zombie's head flew from the body, landing on the floor and spewing acid from the neck, as the body fell to the knees and slumped forward onto the floor, puffing up ancient dust.

On searching the body, Elros discovered the dagwir was carrying something very attractive on his belt: an ancient Mastercraft Shortsword of Shock (an item I created that gives him a few benefits when used). Now that the undead fiend was no longer a threat, the party had time to collect the gold pebbles strewn about the ground, which they did - 6 gold worth (which is a lot in our game world).