Printable guide sheet: The Walking of the Light

Read this to your players to start

Five shiny plates, five empty posts, and one hour of sun left. Work out which plate goes on which post before the light gets too low, and find out what is standing in its way.

Scenes (all session lengths — scene’s tag shows the shortest length it appears in)

1. Scene 1: Five Posts and No Names from Quick Quest on

   The Temple District smells of hot stone and festival bread. Tonight is the Walking of the Light! Five stone posts stand along the street, and all of them are empty. Beside them is a cart of five shiny plates. There is a moon, a little round coin, a green leaf, a big drop and a thin star. Old Nema, the Keeper of Hours, holds the cart handle. "They came back so shiny," she says. "And I can’t remember which one goes where." The sun is four hands above the rooftops.

   Goal: Find out what the Walking of the Light is, and how much time you have.

   • Ask Nema how it works No roll

     It works: At sunset, light comes through the round window of the Hall of Hours. It hits the plate on the first post, up on the wall, called the parapet. Each plate bounces it to the next, all the way to the founders’ lamp in the Court. One right order. Any other order, and the light lands in somebody’s washing.

     It doesn’t: Nema is too flustered to explain it twice. But a baker nearby says it for her, with his hands: in at the window, post to post, and onto the lamp.

   • Look closely at the plates Clever, DN 10

     It works: Every plate is a different shape and weight. So every post must have a seat made for just one of them. There is one right answer, and it is hiding somewhere in this district.

     It doesn’t: The plates are so shiny you see spots! But Nema mutters, "Each post fits one plate. Only one." There is one right answer, somewhere.

   • Count the sun No roll

     It works: Hold your hand out flat at arm’s length. Four hands from the sun to the rooftops. The light must reach the Court before the sun drops behind the Sea Gate. Half the street is counting with you.

     It doesn’t: The sun is too bright to look at. A girl shows you the trick: hold your hand out flat, and count hands down to the roofs. Four hands left.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Nema forgot something important, in front of everybody. How could you help her not feel silly? Anything gentle counts: a joke, a promise to help, "I forget things too." Remember who was kind to her for the end.

   Start the sun clock out loud here and say it again at every scene: four hands, three, two, one. It is a drum, not a threat. The heroes must leave with one thing: five plates, five posts, one right order, and somebody in this district still knows it. Nema is not silly and must never sound it. She has walked the light from memory for sixty years and has just found, in front of everybody, that the memory has gone. Play her embarrassed and very busy.

2. Scene 2: The Silverers’ Yard from Short Session on

   Sabra’s yard is hot and noisy. Clang, clang, clang! The polishing wheel is still spinning. Sabra wipes her hands on her apron. "Five plates in, five plates out, and every one shinier than before," she says proudly. "Names? There were no names on them. We know them by their marks." She points with her chin at a slate on the wall. It is covered in chalk.

   Goal: Learn the plates themselves, and anything the yard noticed about them.

   • Read the work slate No roll

     It works: Give the players the handout. Each plate gets a line: its shape, and what it is like. One line says a word was chalked on a plate’s back and rubbed off by mistake.

     It doesn’t: If the chalk is too hard to read, Sabra reads it out, very fast, tapping each line with a polishing rag.

   • Ask Sabra about the chalk Kind, DN 8

     It works: She remembers it perfectly. A short word, on the back of the crescent, the Moon. "Ash," she says. "It was ash. I’m sure of ash." So the Moon goes on the ash post.

     It doesn’t: Sabra is too busy to stop. But her helper whispers it: "There was a word on the back of the crescent. Ash. She polished it off by mistake."

   • Ask about the six sisters No roll

     It works: Sabra shrugs. "The yard has copied that onto its slates since my granny’s day. But there have only ever been five plates." Remember it: it matters in the Hour Garden.

     It doesn’t: Nobody here knows what it means. Sabra shrugs and goes back to polishing. Keep it in mind for later.

   Ask your players

   Ask each player in turn: Which plate is your hero’s favourite, and why?

   This scene gives the heroes the plates’ names and two clues, but never the answer. Clue one: the Moon goes on the ash post. Clue two: "six sisters", which means nothing yet and everything in the Hour Garden. Sabra is proud, quick and not to blame: the plates came to her with no labels, and she has said so twice today already.

3. Scene 3: What the Stone Remembers from One-Sitting Session on

   The round window of the Hall of Hours is ninety-one steps up. Puff, puff, puff! But the view is worth it. The whole street lies below you in the gold light. From up here you can see the tops of the five posts. Each one has a stone collar on top. The same plate has sat in each collar for hundreds of years. So each collar has worn into the shape of its plate.

   Goal: Read the posts from above, and see where the light is really going to go.

   • Read the collars No roll

     It works: The parapet post is not a collar at all but a cradle: only the biggest plate could ever sit in it. The grey post’s collar is a small worn circle with a nick in its rim. The court post’s collar has five points. The well post is new stone, and the ash post was re-cut last spring, so those two tell you nothing.

     It doesn’t: If the children muddle them, read the collars again, slowly, one at a time. Looking is free, and nobody is in a hurry up here.

   • Count what is left over Clever, DN 10

     It works: Three collars and one chalked word place four plates. Line them up, and exactly one plate and one post are left over. Let the children say which.

     It doesn’t: It is a muddle of shapes and posts. Then Pell, Nema’s helper, puffs up the stairs and lays the plates in a row on the floor. Try again with no roll: one plate and one post are left over.

   • Look along the light Brave, DN 10

     It works: You lean out of the window with no rail and follow the light’s road, post to post. There! Between the grey post and the well post, it runs straight into a brand-new dovecote on a roof.

     It doesn’t: Whoa! It is a long way down, and you grab the window. But a cloud of doves flaps up from a roof below, right in the light’s path. A brand-new dovecote is in the way.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Something is standing in the light’s way. What do you think should happen to it? No wrong answers. Odo at the fountain, or the Hour Garden at the Epic length, can settle it.

   Two discoveries here, and the second turns the story. The collars place the Drop on the parapet, the Coin on the grey post and the Star on the court post. With Sabra’s "ash" for the Moon, that is four, and the Leaf is the only plate left for the well post. Let the children take that last step; do not say it for them. THE TWIST: Odo Tarn the stonecutter built a dovecote on his roof this spring, right in the light’s road, and nobody noticed. Say it as a fact, not a disaster. Sweep the temple cat is asleep in the grey post’s collar, if you want one more small moment: see his card. If this scene is skipped, the rhyme at the fountain gives the whole answer instead.

4. Scene 4: The Skipping Rhyme from Full Session on

   At the Bell Fountain, four children are skipping rope. The rope goes slap, slap, slap, and they sing: "Drop on the parapet, moon on the ash! Coin on the grey and the leaf on the well! Star in the court where the founders’ lamp stands! Catch it and pass it and pass it and tell!" They sing it twice more. On a roof above them stands a big man with forty doves around his feet. He is watching you listen.

   Goal: Hear the answer from the only people who never stopped singing it, and sort out what is in the light’s way.

   • Ask them to sing it again No roll

     It works: Iselle, who is seven, is delighted to be asked. She sings it slowly, twice, and waits while you write it down.

     It doesn’t: They giggle and sing it twice as fast. Never mind: they will happily sing it as many times as you like.

   • Ask what the rhyme means No roll

     It works: They have no idea. It is just the skipping rhyme. Their mums skipped to it, and their grannies too. Nobody ever thought it was about the posts.

     It doesn’t: They shrug. "It’s just a song." Ask them to sing it again, and listen for the names of the posts.

   • Talk to Odo on the roof Kind, DN 8

     It works: Odo Tarn worked it out himself a week ago and has hardly slept since. "I’ll take the dovecote down tonight," he says. "But where will my doves go? They won’t live anywhere else."

     It doesn’t: Odo looks away, embarrassed. Then a dove lands on your shoulder, and he laughs in spite of himself. "I know it’s in the way," he says. "I’ll take it down. But where will my doves go?"

   Ask your players

   Ask the quietest player: Odo’s doves need a home. What does your hero say to him?

   The heart of the adventure: the district never forgot the order. Its children have been singing it over a skipping rope all along, and nobody thought to ask them. Give the table a moment with that. The rhyme is the whole answer, so a table that reaches this scene has finished puzzling. Odo is not an obstacle to beat. He has already decided to give up his doves’ home for the district; the real question is whether the heroes let him. Remember if the heroes heard the rhyme and if they talked kindly with Odo: both help at the end.

5. Scene 5: Bonus: The Sixth Sister from Epic Session on

   The Hour Garden is quiet and warm. Fig trees, raked gravel, and gardeners who never hurry. On the south wall hangs a big green oval of dull metal. The gardeners call it the Fig-Warmer. Under it, a tortoise as big as a footstool is fast asleep. Rub a thumb across the metal, and there is silver underneath. Round the rim, in the same old marks as the other plates, is a name.

   Goal: Find out what the gardeners have been warming their fig tree with, and whether it can go home.

   • Clean a patch of it Clever, DN 10

     It works: It is the sixth sister! Long ago, in a cold winter, it was borrowed to keep the frost off the old fig tree. Nobody ever gave it back, because nobody missed it.

     It doesn’t: The green will not rub off. But the gardeners sigh and tell you anyway: it is the sixth plate, borrowed long ago for the fig tree.

   • Ask the gardeners No roll

     It works: They will give it back, sadly, at once. They would like everyone to know they are not thieves. It was lent, and every gardener since has meant to return it.

     It doesn’t: They get flustered and all talk at once. Wait a moment, and the oldest one says, "Take it. It was only ever borrowed."

   • Move Hundred first No roll

     It works: It takes two pairs of hands and no hurry at all. Hundred opens one eye, very slowly, and sighs. He is not pleased. But he is moved.

     It doesn’t: If anyone hurries, Hundred pulls into his shell and will not budge. Slow down and try again. He only goes at his own speed.

   Ask your players

   Ask each player in turn: Hundred has slept here for eighty years. How would your hero wake him up gently?

   Play this scene only at the Epic length. The sixth plate is the clever answer to the dovecote: hung on the garden’s corner, it bends the light round Odo’s roof, and the doves keep their home. It also lights the Hour Garden for the first time in eighty years. A table that skips this is not punished: Odo takes his dovecote down, and the light still walks. And yes, the fig tree will be fine. Somebody always asks.

6. Scene 6: The Walking of the Light from Quick Quest on

   One hand of sun. The whole district is packed along the street and up on the roofs. Nobody says a word. The plates are up on their posts. The founders’ lamp waits in the Court, not yet lit. Nema stands at the bottom of the Hall steps, holding the long hour-staff. Beside her, her young helper Pell bounces on his toes. Nema looks at you. Somebody has to start, and she is not sure it should be her.

   Goal: Walk the light, and decide who gets to walk it.

   • Call the plates for Nema No roll

     It works: Drop! Moon! Coin! Leaf! Star! Your voices ring out one by one, and Nema walks the light just as she has for sixty years. Read "If you called the plates."

     It doesn’t: If the heroes muddle the order, somebody calls a wrong name, and the light wobbles onto a washing line. The socks glow gold! Everybody laughs, the plate is turned, and the light hops on. Read "If you called the plates."

   • Ask the children to sing Brave, DN 10

     It works: The rhyme starts at the fountain and runs down the street ahead of the light. By the third post, hundreds of people are singing. Read "If the children sang."

     It doesn’t: Your voice comes out as a squeak. But Iselle grabs your hand and sings it loud for you, and the whole street joins in. Read "If the children sang."

   • Give Pell the staff Kind, DN 10

     It works: Nema looks at the staff for a long time. Then she puts it in Pell’s hands, and smiles. Read "If Pell walked the light."

     It doesn’t: Nema holds on tight. "Not yet," she whispers. The heroes get one more try: a kind word, a hand to hold. A kind try the second time needs no roll.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Who should walk the light tonight: Nema, Pell, or everybody together? Why? No wrong answer. Whatever they choose, the lamp gets lit.

   Ask the quietest player: Nema asks your hero, "Do you ever forget things?" What does your hero say?

   Three real endings, and no wrong one: in every one, the lamp is lit. The choice is about whose evening this is. Calling the plates needs no roll; if the heroes get the order wrong, the light only wobbles before it hops on. Asking the children needs no roll if the heroes heard the rhyme at the fountain. Giving Pell the staff: roll with +2 if the heroes helped Nema feel better at the start or talked kindly with Odo (+2 once, however many are true). Short on time? Every length gets the twist: if the heroes do not know the order yet, the skipping children start their rhyme while everyone waits, so read it to the table. When the light reaches the grey post, it hits Odo’s dovecote; Odo is already up on his roof and lifts it away the moment anyone asks. If the heroes arrive after sunset, the light comes in low and red and running children carry the last two plates: never take the ceremony away. When it is over, read the ending that happened, then the homecoming.

   How it ends

   Read the ending that happened, then the homecoming.

   If you called the plates. Your voices ring down the street, one plate at a time. The light jumps from post to post like a golden ball. It lands on the founders’ lamp, and whoosh, the lamp is lit! Nema squeezes your hand. Nobody else will ever know that anything was wrong. That is your secret now.

   If the children sang. The skipping rhyme runs down the street ahead of the light. Grown-ups who skipped to it long ago join in. The light leaps from post to post, right in time. Whoosh! The lamp is lit. Nema laughs and laughs. "The whole district knew it," she says. "All along."

   If Pell walked the light. Pell’s hands shake on the staff. Then the light comes through the round window. He walks it post by post, just as Nema taught him. The lamp is lit. For the first time in sixty years, Nema watches from the crowd. "Oh," she whispers. "So that is what it looks like."

   Homecoming

   Every ending: home through the Temple District. Warm festival bread goes round in the dusk. Nema writes the rhyme on a card and pins it by the round window. Now nobody ever has to remember it alone again. Then she gives each of you a small brass hour-token. "It opens the Hall’s side door," she says. "Any time. Come and watch the sunset with me."

Player handout — show this to your table

The Silverers’ Work Slate

Chalk on a slate by the polishing wheel. "FIVE PLATES IN, ALL POLISHED. DROP: biggest. Bronze back, made to sit in a cradle. MOON: crescent, light as a lid. A word chalked on her back, rubbed off by mistake. COIN: small, round, a nick out of the rim. LEAF: oval, green all round the edge. Left her green. It suits her. STAR: five points, the oldest, thin as a biscuit. Handle her like an egg." At the bottom, in older, faded chalk: "six sisters, and the sixth is lent out."

Monster stat blocks

Rewards

• The Walking of the Light, walked, and the founders’ lamp lit at the very same minute as every year for four hundred years.
• The rhyme, written down at last on a card by the round window, so nobody ever has to remember it alone.
• If the sixth sister went back up: the Hour Garden lit for the first time in eighty years, Odo’s doves still on their roof, and a welcome in the garden any evening.
• A small brass hour-token each. It opens the side door of the Hall of Hours, any hour of any day.
• A real-world bonus, if you like: watch a sunset together, and count how many hands the sun is above the rooftops.

Tips for running this one

• The sun is a drum, not a trap. Say where it is at the start of every scene: four hands above the rooftops, three, two, one. But never let the clock take the ceremony away. Arriving late only means the light comes in lower and redder.
• There are two full routes to the plate order on purpose: the worn collars up at the Hall, and the children’s rhyme at the fountain. The slate gives part of a third. If the table finds one route, that is enough. Never make them find the other.
• Nobody here is to blame and nobody is hiding anything. Nema forgot. That is all that happened. If a child is unkind to her about it, have another grown-up on the street gently change the subject instead of scolding.
• Short on time? The Quick Quest is the empty posts and the Walking itself, and it still has the twist: see the climax’s DM notes.
• Playing with 5- and 6-year-olds? Take 3 off every DN and skip the roll for anything kind. For 9- and 10-year-olds, add 2.
• Every roll here says what happens when it works and when it doesn’t. A failed roll never stops the story; it only changes what happens next.