Players:
Lee as Thalion (Wizard) - he who whispers with the dead
Peter as Wesley (Cleric) - worshiper of the deity of the Downtrodden and Forgotten
Adrienne as Randalph (Fighter) - large-fisted but small-brained
Johnzo - DM


Story:

• Our intrepid heroes make their way to the wreck of the indigo-hulled ship.
  
• Wesley successfully parleys with the bizarre octopus-folk crawling over its hull.
  
• Loot (case of gold spoons) and secrets (a dead captain curses the Senator-Captain who defeated him) are found.
  
• Senator-Captain Balvinus and companions are rescued, but only at the cost of octopoid life.
  
• Balvinus promises great rewards if his prisoners and his treasure (no longer aboard) are returned to him.
  
• The trail of the missing items leads into the mouth of some deep caves (and past a crazed halfling).
  
• The adventurers find the loot and prisoners, but interrupt preparations for The Great Migration.
  
• The Decatarch (octopus priest) and Thalion are slain. Thalion agrees to finish the ritual in exchange for his resurrection.
  
• The prisoners (pirates and Imperials alike) are freed, but Thalion has lured more octopi to their location.
  
• A great battle ensues. Wesley and some of the prisoners escape. Randalph falls in Thalion's crossfire.
  
• Randalph returns to life and flees. Thalion stays and is accepted into the octopus fold.
  
• Enough lives have been taken and The Great Migration is a success. Thalion and the entire octopus-folk nation ascend to a plane of rapture.
  
• Wesley, Randalph and the Saved carouse their way back to town, where the Senator-Captain waits.
  
• His former-prisoners seize him and his companions - and prepare to throw their own execution-feast.
  
• Wesley skillfully preaches temperance and fellowship. A peace is reached.
  
• Thalion and the Decatarch merge personalities. He lives out the rest of his life in ecstasy.

Things I loved:

• Communication with the octopus folk
  
• Wesley's fearless yet utterly inept mace-planting
  
• The threat of the tide
  
• The relationships between all the characters
  
• Thalion's treachery (which, given the backstory, was really extremely altruistic)
  
• The greyness of everyone's motives. It was easy to sympathize with all of the parties involved - the villagers, the pirates, the Imperials and most especially the octopus-folk.

Things I would have liked to explore more:

• The Halfling dude. Why was he still hanging out there? What made him crazy?
  
• Randalph's relationship with the alchemist. I think we could have had something wonderful.
  
• The upstairs of the dungeon. We found the ritual room and the birthing chamber. Where did the main corridor lead?
  
• Why did the octopus-folk horde metal? What did they do with it all?

System:
Pretty cool. Certainly a lot faster and easier than D&D.

I had a blast playing with everyone. Great story!

Thanks so much for writing this up, Adrienne, and I'm glad you had fun. I had a lot of fun too!

The Decatarch (octopus priest) and Thalion are slain. Thalion agrees to finish the ritual in exchange for his resurrection.

I was kind of rooting for the Great Migration, and when you killed the Decatarch, that outcome was pretty much dead and I was moving on from it. But when Thalion had to make a bargain to come back to life -- that was a golden opportunity for me, a wonderful thing that the right die roll + the Dungeon World rules just happened to provoke. I really love this game.

The relationships between all the characters

There's an alternate rule that allows characters to mark XP when they do a move in accordance with their Bonds, and I think I want to use that so the relationships are even more front-and-center.

The greyness of everyone's motives...

Those are the kind of adventures I like to run, where everyone is sympathetic, so that's really great to hear!

The Halfling dude. Why was he still hanging out there? What made him crazy?

Talley's an NPC who speaks both Common and Octofolk. I put him in the module as a translator. By the time we got to him, the party had established good communication with the octofolk so he was downplayed as just a crazy guy.

The Decatarch's stinging tentacles can either inspire fervent devotion or can deliver killing venom. Talley got a dose of the former. :)

Randalph's relationship with the alchemist. I think we could have had something wonderful.

Yes! I actually had some stuff in mind for her at the end, but after Wesley owned on his Parley roll, that settled everything and I forgot to come back to her.

I wasn't sure what to do when Randy sexually harrassed her -- but then I looked down at the moves sheet and saw Defy Danger... I really dig the Defy Danger move, it's so versatile!

The upstairs of the dungeon. We found the ritual room and the birthing chamber. Where did the main corridor lead?

Upstairs was a powerful magical ritual area that the Decaturge used to summon the huge storm.

> Why did the octopus-folk horde metal? What did they do with it all?

The octo-folk, being an underwater race, can't make metal tools by themselves, so I gave them an impulse to loot and hoard worked metal. They left the golden spoons for you guys because they don't eat soup or tea and have no use for spoons.

I think I need to put some followup to their metal-hoarding instinct into the caves.

Thanks again for the writeup, Adrienne, and thanks to everyone for helping me playtest my module!

Excellent GM
Fun players
A wonderful evening

Thank you all!

--Peter