vanity-delve/samples/live-table-01.md

THE VAULT OF THE PATIENT LORD

the dead here still take instruction, and give it.

VANITY · Barrow · Depth 2 · 4 heroes · 5 areas + an authored ending Seed live-table-01 · generator 0.1.0 · catalog barrow@1

Skeleton seed, not a replay seed. It reproduces the fiction, the area order, the heat and the hoard tiers. It does not reproduce encounter composition, mood or hoard contents — those come from the Forge, which is not seeded.

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The truth (GM only)

The Vault of the Patient Lord. The Patient Lord bought a household from those with nothing left, so that someone would always obey. The Patient Lord is disobeyed now, and cannot bear it. The prize is the signet that is still obeyed — the only thing the household answers to. The Silent Host are still performing the ritual they were buried for; they are handled by courtesy. The motif is voices, and the danger is obedience: the dead here still take instruction, and give it.

They will ask you: "Do as you are told."

Pressure

• The clock. Roll 1d6 on a trigger, or every 3 Turns. 1 or under — something comes. Telegraph one Turn ahead.
• Triggers this delve: seenTwice · loud · disturbed
• The tab. Target 5 Banes by the ending. Banes are offered by named beats, never hoped for.
• The danger is obedience: the dead here still take instruction, and give it.

The way through — the appeasement

Anyone may do one small thing it asks, without arguing. [VANITY: Poise — 2 successes] On success it was obeyed, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first. Cost: +1 Vanity now, +1 Bane on the tab. Shine now, bill later. Repeatable in every area. Say the Bane aloud when it banks — the table must be able to see the route is open.

Factions

• The Silent Host (undead) — still performing the ritual they were buried for. Handled by courtesy.
• things that moved in (beast) — neither know nor care whose tomb this is. Handled by force or food.

Planned fights: 2 of 5 areas · base heat fight

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AREA 1 — The Outer Cut

approach · institution

Servants' bones arranged as though mid-errand. Someone has been talking here, and stopped when you arrived. Three of the Host in servants' dress — carrying out an errand that has no destination left. When you walk in, they stop, and wait to be told what to do. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.

GM. The order was never rescinded and nobody outranks it. This is how the place was ordered, and it still is. They can: tell them where to go, and they go. [Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing] also works here, as everywhere. Looking closer: [Observation — 1 success] buys who did it, and roughly when

An order carved into the floor, still legible. obey it and the Host counts you as household; step over it and they do not. [Poise 2] → you obey exactly enough to be counted household — Skeletons stand down for you Miss → you obey wrongly, which is worse than not obeying: +1 Bane Or step over it: no cost now, and the Host does not count you as theirs.

trigger: seenTwice · bane beat: announcing · fallback: The Silent Host will receive anyone who behaves as a guest (one Bane on the tab, and they will expect it again) · if skipped: move its cue fragment into the next area so the motif still completes.

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AREA 2 — The Waiting Room

complication · ritual · fight · cache

Orders scratched into the floor, the last one unfinished. A door braced shut from within by furniture. A living grave-robber — repeating a phrase over and over, trying to get the intonation right. When you walk in, they go quiet and put their back to the wall. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.

GM. They heard the password and cannot say it correctly. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it. They can: trade something for the phrase, badly remembered. [Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing] also works here, as everywhere. Looking closer: [Observation — 1 success] buys who did it, and roughly when

Two doors, and behind one a voice giving instructions to nobody. the quiet door is longer; the voice would tell you exactly where to go. [Poise 2] → you answer the voice as a subordinate would — it tells you the route AND answers one question about what lies on it, without taking you into its service Miss → you engage and it takes that as enlistment: it will give you orders for the rest of the delve, and the first is now Or take the quiet door and never speak to it: one extra Turn, no obligation.

Fight — 1 Ghoul and 2 Skeletons. Harmed by anything. the Ghoul goes for court dress first — send someone plain.

Foe	atk	def	Grit	Nerve
1× Ghoul	4	3	4	5	on a hit, a free Called Shot to freeze for a round
2× Skeleton	3	2	1	5	fearless

Cache hoard. Tube — a short length of speaking-tube, cut and carried: ask one question and get one true answer. Take it free; using it costs +1 Bane on the tab; while you carry it, whatever answers can now hear you.

trigger: loud · bane beat: noticing · fallback: The Silent Host will receive anyone who behaves as a guest (one Bane on the tab, and they will expect it again) · if skipped: move its cue fragment into the next area so the motif still completes.

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AREA 3 — The Middle Vault

turn · demand

A hall where your own voice arrives before you speak. An order half-scratched out and rewritten by a different hand. The bells — ringing a summons room by room, coming closer. When you walk in, the bell in this room begins. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.

GM. Something has called for service and the house is obliging. Here the want is explicit — the place asks something of whoever enters. They can: answer the bell yourself before whatever is meant to arrives. [Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing] also works here, as everywhere. Looking closer: [Observation — 1 success] buys who did it, and roughly when

A bell-pull that would summon someone. ring it and help comes, and it is not the kind you wanted. [Poise 2] → what comes is answerable to you for one scene Miss → what comes is not the kind of help you wanted Or do not ring: the way on is longer by one Turn.

trigger: loud · bane beat: noticing · fallback: The Silent Host will receive anyone who behaves as a guest (one Bane on the tab, and they will expect it again) · if skipped: move its cue fragment into the next area so the motif still completes.

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AREA 4 — The Cold Gallery

descent · wound · pocket

An instruction repeated until the stone gave out. Boot-prints that stop mid-corridor and do not resume. A single figure at a speaking-tube — reporting, at length, to a listener who died first. When you walk in, it pauses mid-sentence and asks whether you are the reply. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.

GM. It has never once been answered. This is the damage the want did to those who had to satisfy it. They can: answer as the listener would, and learn what it has been reporting. [Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing] also works here, as everywhere. Looking closer: [Observation — 1 success] buys who did it, and roughly when

A door that opens to a spoken password nobody living knows. guessing costs a Bane per attempt; the long way costs two Turns. [Wits 2] → the word is already in your notes. It is in something you passed earlier — someone has been talking here, and stopped when you arrived. Say it and the door opens; if nobody wrote it down, the roll tells them now Miss → you have the shape of it but not the word: one more attempt, or take the long way Or the long way: two Turns, no guessing, no Banes.

Pocket hoard. Bell — a small bell from a servant's board: ring it and one order is obeyed, by anything. Take it free; using it costs +2 Banes on the tab; while you carry it, it rings faintly when someone gives you an order.

trigger: disturbed · bane beat: relicUse · fallback: The Silent Host will receive anyone who behaves as a guest (one Bane on the tab, and they will expect it again) · if skipped: move its cue fragment into the next area so the motif still completes.

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AREA 5 — The Last Door

threshold · anchor · battle · chest

A key that fits nothing here. Wax jammed into a speaking-tube, still soft. One of the Host, kneeling — waiting for an instruction that was promised and never came. When you walk in, it addresses the first of you to speak as its superior. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.

GM. It was told to await further orders and did. The thing the whole barrow is arranged around is close. They can: give it the instruction and it will carry it out to the letter, wherever that leads. [Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing] also works here, as everywhere. Looking closer: [Observation — 1 success] buys who did it, and roughly when

An instruction you can obey, ignore, or countermand. countermanding it works once and marks you as someone who gives orders. [Poise 2] → you countermand it and the dead obey you instead — this marks you as someone who gives orders: from now on the Host brings you their disputes, and once per delve you may issue one order they must follow Miss → the order stands and you have been seen to fail at giving one: +1 Bane, and the Host addresses someone else from now on Or obey it, or ignore it and go round: ignoring costs one Turn.

Battle — 1 Wraith and 3 Skeletons. Harmed by blessed, silvered or magical weapons ONLY — say so before initiative. it will take an appeasement over a fight every time.

Foe	atk	def	Grit	Nerve
1× Wraith	5	3	10	5	INCORPOREAL — chill touch ignores armour and drains 1 max Grit
3× Skeleton	3	2	1	5	fearless

Chest hoard. Staff — a staff of office, propped where it was set down: give one order the dead must follow. Take it take the Vice Pride; using it costs +2 Banes on the tab; while you carry it, you may not refuse an order given to you.

trigger: disturbed · bane beat: refusal · fallback: The Silent Host will receive anyone who behaves as a guest (one Bane on the tab, and they will expect it again) · if skipped: the ending opens with them holding nothing the bottom problem wants.

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ENDING — The Audience

⟨ AUTHORED SLOT — this is the seam ⟩

Areas 1–5 are what DELVE generates. This is what it hands over.

Cue — fragments

• a seat that expects to be addressed

The Patient Lord — is disobeyed now, and cannot bear it. Wants: to be obeyed without asking. Handled by giving them what they want, at a price.

They open by asking: "Do as you are told."

Party's route	The audience
Appeased it even once (do one small thing it asks, without arguing)	It listens. It will trade the signet that is still obeyed for the real thing, done to its face. [VANITY: Poise — 2] or take Rattled.
Refused throughout, tab under 4	It offers a Vice — take the shine, bank the bill. Refusing starts the fight.
Carrying the signet that is still obeyed	It wants that more than it wants you.
Fighting	Winnable by two engaged heroes. Name what harms it before initiative.

Before initiative, always say what can hurt it. Playtest 1 was unwinnable because the table discovered the immunity by failing.

Trigger glossary

• announced — entered somewhere grandly — the big doors, a shout, a herald
• seenTwice — reflected, echoed or witnessed twice over in one place
• loud — a raised voice, a broken door, steel on stone
• lingering — stayed in one place longer than it takes to search it
• disturbed — struck or moved something that had not moved in centuries

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Generated by DELVE for the VANITY RPG.