Transcript
Estimated duration: about 3 hours.
This game was played in French. This page is an English translation of the original transcript.
The translation preserves the real order of play, hesitations, corrections, Focuses, Bets, dice results, and out-of-fiction exchanges that contributed to running the game.
[TIME]
Not long after your initiation, Hendrik has taken you to Jonstown.
You had heard of its Library. That had not prepared you to see it: three storeys of stone, protective signs carved into the very walls, and behind the doors so many texts that, for the first time, the very idea of “reading everything” seems physically absurd.
You have been sitting beside Hendrik for less than an hour when a woman in white robes enters the room. There is blood on her sleeve. Not hers.
— I need a Grey Sage. At the House of Peace. Now.
An old scribe barely looks up.
— There are plenty here.
— Then give me the one who walks fastest.
Hendrik closes the tablet he was reading.
— Tal. Take something to write with.
A few minutes later, you approach the House of Peace.
You hear the quarrel before you see the entrance.
Two groups face one another in the street: about fifteen men and women, several armed with spears or swords. Nobody has drawn a weapon yet. Between them, on the temple threshold, a healer of Chalana Arroy stands with her hands open.
Behind her, inside, you see a young man lying on a pallet. His side is wrapped in bandages red with blood.
A grey-haired woman points at the wounded man.
— He killed my son.
A man from the other group immediately answers:
— Your son died with a weapon in his hand!
The voices rise again.
Hendrik does not raise his own. He simply waits long enough for a few people to notice he is there, then says:
— If you want us to know anything, you are going to have to start by not all talking at once.
The silence that follows is incomplete, but real.
Hendrik turns to you.
— What do you look at first, Tal?
[TAL]
I take my new identity as a young Grey Sage very seriously:
- not bring shame on Hendrik
- be worthy of Lhankor Mhy But that's posture, that's not the essential thing and it even distracts me from what our purpose is: law and truth.
And then I answer: Vengeance isn't justice, so in the name of Law these people need to leave. The wounded man isn't going to run away anyway and then we'll be able to look for Truth. Who witnessed your son's death here? Let them stay, everyone else leave.
I realize I reacted a little more peremptorily than I would have liked, maybe even overshadowing Hendrik.
I gather my Bets to find out how my little speech is going to be received.
Law argument + Truth argument + wounded-man argument - Hendrik annoyed? - tense situation full of emotion - my young age....
So I'm asking for a resolution that you can validate, frame, modify...
[TIME]
Intention: defuse the logic of vengeance, remove those who saw nothing, and create the conditions for a search for truth.
Focus — Action Zoom: Is your speech received as the legitimate intervention of a Grey Sage putting Law and Truth back at the centre, or as the presumption of a very young initiate claiming an authority he has not yet earned?
Your 3 Bets:
- Law — “Vengeance isn't justice.”
- Truth — you immediately propose a method: keep the witnesses, send the others away.
- The wounded man is immobilized and being treated in the House of Peace — there is no practical urgency to seize him in the street.
The 3 counter-Bets:
- The mother's grief and anger.
- Two armed groups are already caught in a collective confrontation.
- Your young age and lack of established authority here.
3 against 3.
And Hendrik? He does not interrupt you. But his face gives you absolutely no help in knowing what he thinks.
You are a theist: roll 3d6 and give me the raw results. Evens are Successes; each 6 can raise an odd die.
[TAL]
6 4 1 which ends up 6 4 4 after rerolling the 1: 3 successes :)
[TIME]
Yes: 3 Successes. Your 6 raises the 1 to a 4: divine support turns what might have fallen short into something that holds.
On the other side, I roll 3d6: 6, 5, 2. The 6 raises the 5 to 6. Since there is no odd die left to raise, this new 6 opens a die: 6, then another: 3. So 4 Successes.
Defeat, 3–4.
What fails is not your search for Truth. It is your authority to order these people to leave.
You have barely finished when the grey-haired woman straightens.
— Leave? My son is dead and you're asking me to leave?
A man behind her adds, loudly enough for everyone to hear:
— Since when does a boy decide who has the right to remain beside the dead?
Someone on the other side immediately answers:
— And we're supposed to leave and let you stay here alone with him?
The tension surges at once. Nobody leaves.
Then another voice cuts through the protests:
— Me. I was there.
A man in his thirties, on the grey-haired woman's side, has spoken. He does not look at you as a Grey Sage. He looks at you as someone who asked a question he can answer.
Hendrik finally intervenes.
— Nobody leaves for now.
Then, without looking at you:
— But we have a witness.
He leaves you the floor.
[TAL]
I stay stoic about my previous failure but above all try not to give in to emotion because that would be counterproductive here. I gauge the situation and apparently nobody seems to dispute the man's intervention. I ask him “then maybe you can shed some light for us on what actually happened?”
[TIME]
The man nods once.
— My name is Darin, son of Korl. I was there.
He gestures with his chin toward the wounded man in the House of Peace.
— They had taken six of our cattle. We chased them as far as Old-Stone Ravine. There were blows. Spears. Everyone was shouting.
He pauses.
— My cousin Beren caught up with that one. They fought. Beren wounded him in the side. Then Beren fell. His spear was on the ground, far from his hand.
His jaw tightens.
— I heard Beren say: “Enough.” And the other man struck him anyway.
The grey-haired woman closes her eyes for a second.
Several people from the other group immediately begin to protest.
— He's lying! — He wasn't close enough! — Beren still had his knife!
Hendrik raises one hand. The voices subside, with difficulty.
Darin looks at you.
— That's what I saw.
Hendrik does not comment on his account. He waits.
[TAL]
I listen and my mind is boiling, trying to hold on to every detail. What's true? What's missing? That's what Lhankor Mhy taught me. It applies here. I don't address the man but Hendrik: “how far away was he? When you're far away you don't judge distances properly. It sounds like it was very chaotic. We need other witnesses. The wounded man could tell us why he finished off a man on the ground over some cattle. Maybe even the body of the... dead man could tell us something...” I shiver at my own audacity in talking about the dead man's body like that.
[TIME]
Hendrik turns his head slightly toward you.
— Why are you asking me how far away he was?
Then he looks at Darin.
Darin hesitates.
— Twenty paces. Maybe more. I was coming down toward them.
— And you heard Beren say “Enough” at that distance, in the middle of all the shouting? Hendrik asks.
Darin clenches his jaw.
— He shouted it. I heard him.
Before you can continue, a woman from the opposing group steps half a pace forward.
— I was there too. Closer than him.
She points at Darin.
— I am Enissa, daughter of Torvald. Beren was on the ground, yes. His spear had fallen, yes. But he still had his knife in his hand. He tried to strike Karest when Karest approached him.
Beren's mother turns toward her with naked hatred on her face.
— Liar.
Enissa does not answer her.
At your mention of the body, however, the mother looks directly at you.
— My son is not a tablet for you to examine.
Hendrik intervenes, very calmly:
— No. But his body may bear facts that neither your grief nor their interests can alter.
The woman does not answer at once.
The healer of Chalana Arroy, still standing on the threshold, then speaks.
— So the wounded man's name is Karest. And you will not question him now. If he survives the night, you may speak to him when I say he can speak.
Hendrik nods.
Then he turns to you.
— We now have two accounts. They agree on some things and contradict one another on others.
He waits.
[TAL]
I try to spot among the witnesses, and from what I saw of the wounded man, whether I can identify different clans so I know who would be on which side and therefore not necessarily neutral. A cattle raid that goes bad. Unfortunately that happens. If Beren is a Carl or a Carl's son the wergild will be high. If Karest killed Beren dishonourably then there's something else going on. “Had Beren and Karest met before?” That's what I ask Enissa and Beren's cousin, but anyone can hear the question and answer.
[TIME]
Looking more closely, you can at least separate one thing from the accounts: affiliations.
Clan tattoos are visible on several arms and shoulders. Darin bears the same marks as Beren's mother and most of those standing near her. Enissa bears those of Karest's group; you can see the same marks on the wounded man's exposed shoulder. You do not know these marks well enough to name the two clans immediately, but you know this: neither Darin nor Enissa is a neutral witness.
Darin answers your question first:
— Yes. Of course they knew each other. Our clans cross paths. We share summer pastures, steal cattle from each other, take them back.
Enissa shakes her head.
— Not only that.
Darin's eyes snap toward her.
— Last year, Beren and Karest already fought. At Tor Ford, after a cattle dispute.
Darin cuts in:
— A dispute that had been settled.
— Settled before the elders, yes, Enissa says. Not between them.
A brief silence falls.
Beren's mother stares at Enissa.
— My son paid what he was told to pay.
Enissa does not look away.
— I didn't say otherwise.
Hendrik still does not comment. But this time you see him write a few words on his tablet.
[TAL]
I invite Enissa to tell us what, according to Karest, hadn't been settled, urging her to stand on the side of Truth rather than the Trickster.
[TIME]
Enissa looks at you for a moment.
— Don't put Eurm in my mouth, Sage.
But she does not evade the question.
— Karest didn't say the elders had judged wrongly. Beren paid what he had been ordered to pay after their first fight. For Law, it was over.
She glances at Beren's mother.
— But afterwards, Beren boasted about it. Every time he met Karest, he reminded him that he'd put him on the ground. Sometimes he called him “the man who gets paid back.”
Darin makes an irritated gesture.
— Words.
— Yes, Enissa replies. Words. And Karest remembered every one of them.
She turns back to you.
— So if you're asking me what wasn't settled: nothing before the elders. Between them, everything.
Hendrik stops writing for a second, then resumes.
[TAL]
Does Hendrik speak? Because right now I have the impression that pushed too far, Karest let his rage loose on Beren. Not that Beren deserved it, but he had prepared the ground. I look at Hendrik while thinking that, but mostly listen to him.
[TIME]
Hendrik finally looks up from his tablet.
— That's a possible story.
He looks directly at you.
— It connects the facts we have very well. That is precisely why it is dangerous.
Then he counts on his fingers.
— We know they knew each other. We know they had fought before. We know Beren taunted Karest. We have one witness who says Beren was on the ground and had said “Enough.” We have another who says he still had a knife and tried to strike.
He lowers his hand.
— That Karest killed in rage, we do not yet know.
Then, more softly:
— Do not let a satisfying explanation become a truth before you have exhausted what might still disprove it.
He glances toward the House of Peace.
— Karest may speak tomorrow. Beren's body exists today. And there were other men at the ravine.
He waits to see what you want to examine next.
[TAL]
Note: I was silent before because you said Hendrik continues, those were my inner thoughts, be careful. But let's move on. “If Karest killed in rage, the body will bear the trace of it.” I say quietly to Hendrik so the mother doesn't hear.
[TIME]
Noted.
Hendrik barely inclines his head toward you.
— Perhaps.
He keeps his own voice low as well.
— But a body bears the trace of blows. Not necessarily the reason why they were struck.
His eyes move toward Beren's mother.
— If we want to see it, we will have to ask her. And we will need to know exactly what we are looking for before we touch him.
Then he falls silent.
[TAL]
“If there are several blows it could point toward Karest having a fit of rage.” Then to the mother: “we need to see your son's body before the pyre returns him to the winds.”
[TIME]
Hendrik answers you quietly:
— Yes. It could point that way. No more than that.
Beren's mother has heard that you were speaking about her before you address her directly. When you say the word body, something closes in her face.
— You want to undress him? Turn him over? Count his wounds like those of a slaughtered animal?
This time nobody speaks for her.
Hendrik remains silent.
The woman looks at you for a long time, then says:
— If it can stop people later saying that my son drew his knife on a man who was trying to stop... then you may see him.
Her voice hardens.
— But I will be there. You will cut nothing. Take nothing. And when you are finished, you will tell me what you know — not what you imagine.
She is already turning away.
— He is at my sister's house. Come.
Hendrik puts away his tablet and motions for you to follow.
[TAL]
I listen to Hendrik intone the ritual words that accompany the souls of the dead into the Underworld before they can later join Orlanth's realm. And we examine the body with deference and care without necessarily needing to undress him: I think we can count the deep wounds without doing that. It's the first time I've seen a dead person this close and I try to keep my composure but I'm deeply disturbed. Death! Not a hunted animal's death but a man's. The great secret Humakt brought into the world.
[TIME]
Hendrik does not recite loudly. His voice stays low, almost even. The words you know as those that accompany the dead are not meant to console the living; they simply mark that Beren has left this side of the world.
When he has finished, Hendrik asks the mother's permission with a look. She nods.
You do not undress him. His tunic has already been opened and cut around the wounds when people tried to save him. It is enough to lift the cloth where necessary.
Up close, Death is nothing abstract. Beren's skin has a dull pallor you have never seen on a living person. His mouth remains slightly open. There is still dried earth in his hair.
You find few things, but they are clear.
On the left forearm: a long but shallow cut, clearly taken during the fight.
On one knee and the side of the hip: scrapes and ground-in dirt, consistent with a fall.
And above all: a single deep wound, beneath the ribs on the right side. A narrow, violent penetration that is almost certainly what killed him. Its path enters the body at a downward angle.
Hendrik looks for a long time without touching anything further.
— One, he finally says.
Then, after a silence:
— This does not look like someone struck again and again.
He indicates the angle of the wound without putting a finger on it.
— But Beren was lower than his opponent when this blow entered. Fallen, kneeling, bent forward... the body does not tell us which.
Beren's mother remains behind you, perfectly still.
Hendrik looks at you.
— What does that change, Tal?
[TAL]
“Maybe he had asked Karest for mercy? Or Karest struck him when Beren wasn't a threat anymore?”
[TIME]
Hendrik slowly shakes his head.
— Perhaps one. Perhaps the other. Or neither.
He points to the wound again.
— The body tells us only this: when the killing blow was struck, Beren was lower than Karest. That agrees with Darin, who says he was on the ground. It does not contradict Enissa, who says he still had a knife and was striking.
He carefully lowers the cloth again.
— We have reduced the uncertainty. We have not removed it.
Beren's mother says from behind you:
— Darin heard him ask for it to stop.
Hendrik turns toward her.
— Yes. And Enissa says he was still attacking.
Then he looks at you.
— The body cannot choose between them for us.
[TAL]
“yes but it still discredits Enissa's testimony quite a lot. I think we should go talk to her.” And deep down I'm starting to get into the game. I only see the puzzle now, which suits me because that way I forget the sight of Beren's body. So we leave the mother and sister I suppose unless Hendrik has something else to do before we go.
[TIME]
Hendrik shakes his head slightly.
— No. It does not discredit Enissa very much. Her account said Beren was on the ground, but still dangerous. The body confirms the first part and does not decide the second.
He gives Beren one last look.
— But yes. We need to speak to her again.
Before leaving, Hendrik thanks the mother and her sister. He repeats exactly what you observed: one mortal wound, delivered while Beren was lower than Karest. Nothing more.
The mother listens without answering. When Hendrik is finished, she herself replaces the cloth over her son.
Then the two of you walk back toward the House of Peace.
As you move away, the sister's house disappears behind you. The street resumes its ordinary sounds.
When you reach the temple again, the two groups are still there, but less tightly packed than before. Some people have sat down against the walls. Darin is speaking quietly with two relatives.
Enissa stands alone a few paces from the threshold, arms crossed.
She sees you return.
— Well?
[TAL]
“you confirm that you saw Beren attack Karest. Can you tell us or show us how it happened?” I say, almost trying to flatter her so she understands that thanks to her we'll know what happened. My objective is to detect in her account or reconstruction an inconsistency contradicted by what we know after seeing Beren's body.
[TIME]
Enissa frowns slightly at the word “attack.”
— I said he tried to strike Karest.
But your tone soothes her more than it puts her on guard.
She looks around, then points to an open space near the wall.
— Here, if you like.
Your intention is clear: you are not merely looking for another account, but for a reconstruction precise enough to compare with what you saw on Beren's body.
Focus — Action Zoom: Can you get Enissa to commit to a precise and verifiable description of the scene, enough that any inconsistency with the material facts would become visible?
Your 3 Bets:
- Truth — you are seeking details that can be compared with facts.
- The examination of Beren's body — you now know the relative position suggested by the wound and the fact that there was only one mortal blow.
- Your approach values her testimony — you give her a reason to show precisely what she saw rather than close herself off.
The 3 counter-Bets:
- Enissa belongs to Karest's side — her testimony directly implicates her own people.
- She now knows you have examined the body — she may feel that she is being tested.
- The scene remains public, under the eyes of both groups — every detail she gives can be used against her or Karest.
3 against 3.
The roll will not decide what really happened. It will say whether you succeed in obtaining a reconstruction clear enough to test her account.
Roll 3d6 and give me the raw results.
[TAL]
4,5,1
[TIME]
Your 4, 5, 1 give 1 Success.
On the other side: 3, 5, 3 — no Successes.
Victory, 1–0.
Enissa agrees to reconstruct the scene.
She positions herself near the wall and points to the ground in front of her.
— Beren was there. Not lying down. On one knee, I think. Or half-risen.
She bends one leg slightly to show the height.
— Karest was in front of him. He was already bleeding from the side. Beren had lost his spear. But the knife was still in his right hand.
She suddenly raises her hand, imaginary blade pointing upward.
— He struck like this. At Karest.
Then she steps back and makes a short, vertical downward motion.
— Karest avoided the blow and struck once. Only once.
Hendrik intervenes:
— With what?
— His spear.
— Where were you?
Enissa points to a spot off to the side, about eight or ten paces from the place she has just indicated.
Despite yourself, you compare this reconstruction with what you saw on Beren's body: a single deep wound beneath the ribs on the right, with a downward path.
Enissa's reconstruction does not contradict it.
But it makes one thing very clear: for Beren to strike at Karest with his knife from that low position, Karest had to be very close to him.
Hendrik looks at you without commenting.
[TAL]
I thank her and ask Master Hendrik if we can talk alone about the matter. After of course I see that he doesn't have any more questions for Enissa.
[TIME]
You thank Enissa. Hendrik, however, is not quite finished.
— One more thing. When Beren was on one knee, did you hear what he was saying?
Enissa thinks before answering.
— I heard shouting. Him, Karest, others behind them. But not his words. I didn't hear “Enough.”
— Are you saying he did not say it?
— No. I'm saying I did not hear it.
Hendrik nods.
— Thank you.
This time he asks no more questions.
When you ask whether you can speak alone, he motions for you to follow a few paces away, to the corner of the House of Peace. You remain visible to everyone, but out of range of an ordinary conversation.
— I'm listening, Tal.
[TAL]
“This really looks like a raid that went wrong to me, doesn't it? These things happen and our laws are there to regulate compensation from one clan to another with wergild. I don't see any mystery or great stakes here. Do you think divination is necessary to see more clearly?”
[TIME]
Hendrik remains silent for a moment.
— A raid gone wrong, yes. That is the simplest explanation.
He looks toward the two groups.
— And perhaps the right one.
Then he adds:
— But wergild does not answer every question. It repairs between clans. It does not necessarily tell us whether Karest killed a man who was still fighting, a man who was stopping the fight, or an enemy he hated enough that he no longer saw the difference.
He shakes his head slightly.
— I would not yet ask the gods to decide what living men may still teach us. We have Enissa. Darin. Other witnesses, perhaps. And Karest, if he survives the night.
A pause.
— Divination can shed light. It should not become a way of abandoning the investigation.
Then, with a trace of irony:
— Lhankor Mhy gave us questions before he gave us answers.
[TAL]
“Enissa's testimony seems sincere to me. ‘Enough’ can mean so many things too given that the two of them seemed to hate each other. In any case it was a fair fight: Beren could have killed Karest. I don't see what divine justice we're still looking for: the truth? The truth, but what truth? And what for? Aren't we the guardians of the laws? I just can't see how this matter would amount to murder.”
[TIME]
Hendrik listens all the way through without interrupting.
— Then do not call it murder.
He lets a moment pass.
— Nobody is asking us to manufacture a crime. And we are not the judges of all the Orlanthi. Elders, chiefs, and clans have their laws and compensations. Our duty here is narrower: to say honestly what can be established, and what cannot.
He looks toward Enissa, then Darin.
— You may be right: Beren and Karest were still fighting, Beren could have killed Karest, and Karest killed him in the fight. If that is what the facts support, that is what we will say.
Then he fixes his eyes on you.
— But if we write “fair fight” simply because that explanation seems sufficient to us, we make the same mistake as if we wrote “murder” to satisfy his mother.
A slight silence.
— The Truth that matters to us is not some grand truth. It may only be: we do not know whether Beren had stopped fighting. And sometimes, Tal, that is all a Grey Sage can say without lying.
He adds, almost sharply:
— Law does not need us to make the world neater than it is.
[TAL]
My eyes widen: “oo I get it. We owe it to the clan to say only what is established. thank you for the lesson Master.” And indeed, this field lesson from Hendrik is a huge relief, because my understanding of truth was too absolute and it was putting a lot of pressure on me actually. Note: I write in my portrait: “seek and report only established facts”
[TIME]
Hendrik looks at you for a moment, then nods.
— Yes. And when the facts are not established, report that as well: we do not know.
He lets his gaze return to the two groups before the House of Peace.
— It is often harder to say. And sometimes more useful.
Then he picks up his tablet again.
— Now we need to decide what we can tell these people today — and what will have to wait for Karest, if he can speak tomorrow.
[TAL]
“We could tell them that at this stage nothing allows us to say there was a breach of our laws during the fight between Beren and Karest. That all Beren's friends and kin should prepare for the funeral, and that we'll keep seeking the truth tomorrow?” I'm trying to fit into the new mental mould Hendrik has shown me.
[TAL]
I walk toward the group and get their attention, which isn't difficult because my status as a Grey Sage is respected and expected. “I, Talimar, and Master Hendrik have come to inform you of the progress of our investigation. Our inquiries do confirm the fight between Beren and Karest, which resulted in Beren's death, but at this stage, (.. pause to mark at this stage), nothing allows us to state that there was a breach of our laws during the fight. Even so, being as committed to our laws as we are to truth, we will continue the investigation tomorrow, particularly if Karest survives and agrees to speak. I invite you all to begin Beren's funeral so that he may be welcomed as well as possible on the other side.”
[TIME]
The silence you leave around “at this stage” carries.
Nobody interrupts you.
Darin finally repeats, more quietly:
— At this stage.
It is not approval, but he heard the nuance.
On Karest's side, a man begins:
— So you acknowledge that...
Hendrik stops him with a simple gesture.
— We acknowledge exactly what Talimar has just said. Nothing more.
Enissa lowers her head slightly toward you. Darin looks toward the street leading to the house where Beren lies.
— We'll take care of him, he finally says.
The two groups do not reconcile. But the confrontation stops being a single tense mass: Beren's kin begin gathering among themselves, some already leaving the street. Karest's people remain near the House of Peace without trying to stop them.
The healer on the threshold waits until the voices have quieted, then says:
— If he can speak tomorrow, I will have you notified.
Hendrik nods.
When you have walked a few paces away, he simply says to you:
— This time, you said exactly what we know.