Last weekend, in Clans and Codex Burning Wheel game, the dwarf Clansman Durke (played by me) and Noble Dwarf Boendil (played by Ross) were desperate for funding to continue their journey to the Dwarven Capital. Funds were depleted from a series of misadventures. So they got all set to act as scab miners in a closed “for safety reasons” copper mine…
The catch was that we had … no equipment to act as miners. The guild has strict controls over who has mining equipment.
So after scavenging broken mining equipment from the mine’s garbage pit, and pleading duel of wits with a local cafe owner to borrow his mending tools to repair the broken equipment (Feint was used for a lucky win), and a tense series of rolls to repair the equipment (and a die of fate to see if the tools were expended, happily they were not), we were all set to pull out Durke’s epic Excavation skill. Excavation is the Dwarven “super digging” skill, open ended and magical.
I was sitting with 3 dice in the skill, and forked in Tunnel-Wise. I spent a Deeds. I needed a deep mine shaft… difficulty 8! Durke then turned to Boendil to ask for some help. Boendil was a noble dwarf, and most of his skills were martial. Ross looked up hopefully and said, “I could use Sing to lift your spirits!”
Wil, our GM, was about to call this for bullshit, but when we started arguing using “source material”, a dark gleam entered his eyes. He was about to use our “Source Material” against us. In order to get the benefit of the die… we had to sing!
It was an extra die. We needed this to work. And I have no shame.
And so… we sang. And it’s captured on Youtube forever. (I’m on the right)
We lost with a measly 4 successes, and no sixes to re-roll. Consequences will be revealed next game. Burning Wheel is a cruel mistress.
