We are starting in media res again, so here are the background rolls that get to us to our start. Undertake a Journey w/ Wits(1, 7, 4+3).  Weak Hit, so we are down to +4 Supply.  We are at 5 progress, halfway home to Crow’s Perch.  We’ll skip the resupply in this moment and skip right Make Camp w/ Supply (8, 2, 5+4), Strong Hit.  We’ll take Recuperate, Relax, and Prepare to raise Health to +3, Spirit to +5, and get a +1 Forward on the next journey.

Having never spent much time on the river, Branwhyn had only a cursory understanding of boats.  So they reached the east bank by ungracefully beaching the barge. He and Corinna didn’t speak the entire day, moving from river travel to march after only taking a few supplies from their beached vessel.  Branwhyn kept the pace fast, he didn’t want to talk and needed time to think. Every step brought them closer to Crow’s Perch and for the life of him, he still didn’t know if returning the Changeling of twelve winters to her home was a good thing.

Continue reading “08 – Perils of Travel” →

We took one more Sojourn after last game, just to be fresh for the road. We also have a bond in the community now, so that makes this all a little easier. Sojourn w/ Heart & Bond (2, 1, 3+2+1). Strong Hit, due to our bond we get to choose an extra option, for a total of three. Consort will bring our Spirit back to full. Provision will do the same for Supply. Finally, we’ll Provide Aid and see if we pick up another Vow on the way out. Settlement Trouble Oracle says: 82 – Trade Route Blocked.

The early morning sunlight was diffused by the fog that rolled off the river and created a world of soft grays interspersed by the dark silhouettes of trees. The chill air was invigorating and it was good to be on the road again. Their stay in Greybrook had been pleasant, aside from destroying a wraith, but unfulfilled vows drove Branwhyn to restlessness. It was time to move on. He pulled his cloak of bear’s fur closer around his shoulders and looked down at his traveling companion. Corinna, smiled up at him, her mismatched green and golden brown eyes twinkling. Mimicking him, she pulled the deerskin cloak tighter, though took a moment to rub her cheek against the mantle of badger fur.

Continue reading “07 – Apostle of the Broken” →

We had time before the þing so we will Sojourn again while waiting, (1, 7, 6+2).  Strong hit again, perhaps I’ll be ready if this goes to a fight after all.  With the sword no longer in his immediate possession and in the company of Knut’s family, I think Consort becomes appropriate and we’ll Recuperate again as well, gaining +2 to both Health and Spirit.  Up to +5 and +4 respectively.

At the moment, there was no fire in Greybrook’s longhouse.  The cold light of morning filtered in from openings in the roof above where smoke would normally escape.  Perhaps the chill was intended to keep complaints and testimony short. Most of the Ironhold was present, a loose half circle formed facing the Thane and her husband.  Auburn haired and auburn eyed, the Thane of Greybrook had the look of a fighter about her and was just a little board setting and listening to petty disputes. Her husband Erling seemed more interested but rarely did more than ask questions.  A number of disputes came and went, over farming rites, a trade where one party felt cheated, and a wandering cow that was either stolen or was sent to destroy a garden depending on who was telling the tale.

Continue reading “06 – Greybrook’s þing” →

I noticed in the rulebook that traveling between regions should always be considered Formidable.  I messed that one up on the way here but we’ll do it right on the way back. Accordingly, this chapter will probably all be Journey home.  We’ll see how the rolls go. Undertake a Journey. (8, 2, 1+3) Weak Hit. Progress 1, Total 1. -1 Supply taking us down to +1 Supply.  We’ll need to hunt to Resupply, (5, 8, 4+3).  Weak Hit. I’ll take the +2 Supply for the -2 Momentum Hit.  Supply is up to +3, Momentum is down to +3. We’ve got lots of healing to do as well, so we will also Make Camp (10, 2, 3+3), Weak Hit.  We will take the Relax option to restore a point of Spirit.  Spirit is now +2.

The swamps of the Flooded Lands were unfamiliar terrain, though calling terrain at all was generous.  The Flooded Lands had more to do with slow moving or fetid water than anything resembling earth or land.  It was trackless and they would have benefited much from a shallow bottomed and narrow boat of some kind.  Without one they were often left to wade through shin to knee deep water with a spear or staff finding firm ground before you, lest they plunge into a single hole in the massive bog.  The swamp dampened their spirits as much as their bodies and so they spoke but little.

Continue reading “05 – Restless Spirits” →

I like starting en media res, but we’ll cover the rolls that happened off screen here.  Branwhyn certainly needed to patch himself up. Because he is healing himself it runs of Iron, Heal w/ Iron (9, 4, 5+1).  Weak Hit. I need the healing, so we will lose 2 supply to gain 2 health.  Supply 1 and Health 4. I had some debate in my mind about how I was going to track the Crone and looked through moves and assets for inspiration.  Tracking is a Gather Info roll which makes sense and this seems like a good time to use Augury for the Vow of Returning Corinna to Raven’s Perch.  (1, 3, 2+3). Strong Hit, no need to reroll. That is +2 Momentum for the Rite and another +1 for Mystic.  5 Momentum.
Note: My writing is always ahead of my editing, especially so in this case, and so this is one of the instances that the rules have changed.  Augury, the Heal move, and several other assets throughout this chapter no longer work the same way any more.

The Unkindness of Ravens swarmed around him, pulling and dragging him to his feat and then hurling him forward through the swamp.  They flew ahead and behind, to either side and kept him in the center of their flock. Their piecing calls drove him forward and in the rustle of feather and wings he saw the Crone in her layer, her stolen skin flayed and hanging from her body.  She stoked the fire beneath a great cauldron, heating the foul concoction within: a meal to regain her strength. A small human skull, a child’s, bobbed in the heating broth.

Continue reading “04 – Lady of the Swamp” →

The lapwing floated on the air current, far north of its swampy home to the south. It wanted to return, to wing over and head south, but it was hunted. It’s instincts told it in no uncertain terms that danger lay behind. Then there was also the scar beneath its left eye, unevenly stitched such, intention and cruelly forced to heal in a painful way. The scar and stitches burned always, but less when it did what the Other wanted. The Other in its mind, that looked through its eyes. The Other had it sweeping in broad arcs from east to west and back again, searching, always searching for the man it had seen. The man that carried the wolf.

So it flew, past tree and crag, over mountain and moor, past forest and plain. When the pain beneath its eye flared the lapwing would turn and pain would diminish. Finally it saw him, the man that the Other sought, and even the danger it felt behind it diminished. It could rest, at least for a while. . .

Continue reading “03 – Mournful Cairn” →

“Your wounds are healing well.” Eysllt observed, her strong fingers firmly poking and prodding around the edges of the healing wounds. “They shouldn’t leave much of a scar, less of one if you’d been better at the stitching.”

“I have never claimed to be a healer and I was stitching myself back up.” Branwhyn replied before pulling the rough spun wool tunic back over his head. “Besides, did you ever think that I might want the scars?”

“No.” The fiery haired herbalist grimaced in pain as she tried to rise, using the nearby table for support. Her legs buckled under her and she crumbled to the floor with a cry of pain. Her raven haired guest was quickly kneeling at her side, strong hands taking hold of arm and pressing against her shoulder blade to help her rise. “Don’t touch me.”

Continue reading “02 – The Curse” →