Previous: Issue 1, Part I
(Content Warning: Pain, Violence, Parasitic Infection)
I climb the thorny vines, hand over hand, my lithe muscles straining and my bare chested form soaked in the downpouring rain. My jet black hair falls back from my face, whipping in the wind that rises and gusts. It howls through the trees now, picking up speed and intensity to match the fury of the confused Forest Spirit of Thornhill. It is difficult to maintain my grip on the vines as they pierce the rough cloth I have wrapped around my hands and into the flesh beneath. Blood runs in small rivulets down my forearms but I do my best to ignore the pain. The rocks of the steep cliff beneath the ropey vines are slippery in the rain and wind shear.
This calls for a Face Danger Move, almost certainly. The first thing I want to do is see if my Waterborn Asset will be of any use to me here, in the rain. I set the chances at 50/50 and rolled a 25, so no, unfortunately, Koavarr does not have enough experience with this wooded terrain to qualify. Slippery rocks, he might be used to on wave tossed beaches but here in this situation, it's altogether different. Now, I'll Face Danger with Iron for strength and endurance.
Action: 6+3iron
Challenge: 7, 6
Strong Hit. Take +1 Momentum, I'm up to 5 now.
I grit my teeth and plant my feet firmly. Eventually, the pain in my hands turns to numbness and my ascent quickens. I gain the lip of the cliff and heave myself over. A moment in the mud, to collect myself, to remember to breathe easily. The key to so much body and mind control is breath control. Half a life spent beneath the waves has taught me that, at least. The moment is over. I stand.
Even through the wind with its flying debris and the driving rain, I can make out the barn. I can see the side of it has been torn apart. As I move to approach, I see the massive barn door lying in the central courtyard, near the cooking pit I passed earlier. I see the huddled forms of frightened villagers. The adults had formed a barrier of bodies around the children. But I know the Primordial will tear through them like so much meat. Only one stands apart from the others, dressed in rainslick leathers and matted furs. She holds her hands aloft in a gesture of peace and she is speaking, yelling to be heard above the noisesome weather, to the Primordial. Hers was the rough voice I had heard.
So who is this? Let's find out. Her name is Keelan, though we won't know that yet. She's a Leader. So I'm thinking Overseer's daughter. She's Clever. Interesting. So she must have some idea of what she's doing here. I hope. She's Infamous. Hmm. I think she was supposed to step up and receive training to become the settlement's new leader when her father passed away but instead, she ran away and lived apart from the tribe for some time. This did not endear her to the locals. When her father did pass away, she returned and got caught up in fending off one threat after another or dealing with one intrigue or another within the village. She became the defacto leader after all. But she's still not well liked or well trusted. Finally, she's Attractive.
The Primordial seems to be confused and it thrashes around, slamming the ground forcefully with tendril entwined branches. The woman and I catch sight of one another at about the same time. She gives me a curt nod but spares me no more attention. I wait for her to once again draw the Spirit's attention. She holds a necklace of bones, capped with a skull, aloft and yells over the storm, "By my father's bones, and by my right as Overseer of this place, Great Spirit, I call on you to Honor your agreement with my ancestors! Dispel this evil and quell your rage!"
I'm going to attempt to sneak around this thing, so I can surprise siphon it. Hopefully, if I catch it off guard, it'll give me a few precious extra seconds to complete it and not get ripped in half or tossed off a cliff again. This is Secure an Advantage.
Action: 6+1 shadow
Challenge: 2, 4
Strong Hit, take +2 Momentum. I could have chosen to act again with a +1 on a strong hit but I have a feeling I'm going to need that momentum to end this. I'm at 7.
I begin to move in a wide circle around toward the back of the Spirit. Luckily, it does not catch sight of me and I now have a full run of its back.
Going to Enter the Fray again. Normally, I don't think you would do this, but it feels appropriate to me. Since I'm sneak attacking, I roll shadow.
Action: 3+1 shadow
Challenge: 5, 1
Weak Hit, I take Initiative. I could've chosen more momentum (strong hits grant both) but I just did that with my sneak so that feels like overkill. Might bite me in the ass but I want to take this thing down.
I sprint directly at the spirit, knowing this is my last shot. Everything depends on this. I must recover her. And I will save them. I have sworn it on my salt and on my iron.
One great bound takes me onto the treant's back. I quickly lock my limbs into place around its branches, raise my hand to gather the necessary energies, and plunge it down into the slimy barkskin beneath me.
Time for our Invoke/Strike.
Action: 5+1 wits
Challenge: 9, 9
Miss. I lose Initiative, pay the price.
Pay the Price: Rolled 12. Hahaha. You are separated from something or someone. AGAIN.
As my hand touches the inner wood, the Forest Spirit becomes aware of me. It roars and rears up, tendrils lashing about. Without warning, a lightning bolt slams down into the Spirit, about where my hand is, and I am thrown, completely stunned by the blast into the mud several yards away.
[Though, lightning strikes, at least the visible part, come from the ground up.]
I hear the woman yelling into the wind but I can't make out what she says. My vision is fuzzy.
I think it's appropriate here to lose a Health, dropping me to 1, and Endure Harm.
Action: 5+3 iron
Challenge: 6, 3
Strong Hit. I'm going to choose to embrace the pain and take +1 momentum. Puts me at 8. Better be worth it.
I look at my arm, raising my hand weakly before my eyes. I can smell burned flesh. My hand and arm are a mess, covered in a strange spiral pattern with numerous branches, not unlike the branches of a tree. I clench my fist and the pain brings me some small amount of clarity. I can still feel the magical siphon gathered at my palm, gently pulling at the strands of magic all around us. Again, I stand. Standing makes me want to black out but I cling to consciousness. As I look up, I see the Forest Spirit angrily bearing down on me. Okay, here's for third chances.
I'm going to attempt to Turn the Tide. It's a once per fight move but we really are all out of all or nothings. This thing hits me, it's going to hurt a lot. This allows me to steal the initiative and make a move (not a progress move) with +1 and +1 momentum on a hit. If I fail, dire consequences and pay the price.
Siphon
Action: 4+1 wits
Challenge: 3, 1
Strong Hit! Momentum increases to 9! 3 Harm so 3 Progress! Retain Initiative! +4 Essence (I realized I was doing essence wrong from earlier...its no big. I add the value of the Action Die here to my Essence track on my Invoke card up to a max of 6. Later, I leak essence.)
then I roll to Secure an Advantage as per Invoke, trying to get that necklace back
Action: 2+2heart+4essence
Challenge: 8, 1
Weak Hit. -1 Essence, +1 Momentum. Capturing the energies is harrowing, Endure Stress (2)
Endure Stress
Action: 4+2heart
Challenge: 4, 1
Strong Hit. -1 Momentum to get +1 Stress, shake it off. Puts me at 9 Momentum and 1 Stress now.
Ah, now see here. We're going to backtrack on that a little. I have to try to end this fight. My Siphon got a Strong Hit, which qualifies me to take the End the Fight Move. But, looking at it, I see for the first time playing that it ignores Momentum. So I'm going to go back and retcon. We're now saying I used the Momentum to cancel that 8 on the Secure an Advantage portion of Siphon and turn it into a Strong Hit. Thus, I won't Endure Stress. I'll choose to embrace the darkness, gaining +1 momentum.
This puts my stats at Momentum 3, Stress 2 now and we ignore that whole Endure Stress Move from a second ago.
I roll inside its guard and come up directly next to its trunk, submerged up to my knees in muddy water. The Great Forest Spirit roars its rage at me, so I shove my ruined hand into its gaping maw and down its throat. I trigger the release of the siphon and it yanks us together. I slam into the Spirit's rotted bark face first, up to my shoulder in its wide open mouth. The magic pulls with a singular force and the howling of the creature attached to the Spirit is heard for the first time, mixed with the raging storm.
The inky tendrils shrivel and begin to recede along the branches. I grit my teeth in determination as I struggle to contain the magics surging within. My sclera of my eyes blackens over completely. The tendrils thrash violently one final time and then disappear inside the main trunk.
End the Fight
Action: 6+6progress
Challenge: doesn't matter, 9, 1
Strong Hit! Foe is no longer in the fight!
YUS!
I feel the energies surging into me as they are being drained from the Forest Spirit completely. I feel two things against my hand so I reach inside with the other hand as the Primordial tenses one final time. I grab the familiar bone necklace ornament with the Pearl ensconced inside with my burned hand and with my strong hand I grab something else. The Pearl comes free easily but I have to give one mighty heave before the other loosens. I yank it free. A massive, writhing Thing the size of my forearm comes loose. It is covered in a black shelled carapace but it has a soft, purple, bloated, fleshy underside. It looks like a giant thorn.
Several things happen at once. The magic settles in me, leaving my conscious control. I sit down heavily in the mudpuddle. The Forest Spirit, no longer thrashing, has gone dreadfully still. There is a creak and a moan and it begins to topple to one side. The woman from before, with the bones, rushes beneath it and catches it, stopping it from falling all the way over. I hear her call for others to assist her. I am vaguely aware that the tree must not fall all the way over. A large, barrel shouldered man...I recognize him...he was guarding the children...appears by my side. He gently lifts the Thorn Horror from my hand, places it upon a nearby stone, and proceeds to thoroughly demolish it with a warhammer.
I watch in interest as they right the forest spirit and rest it among the trees at the edge of the clearing.
Defeating the Thorn Horror counts as a Milestone, I should think, so I'll mark 2 progress on my vow. I don't think I'm ready to fulfill my vow just yet. What I should have done is created a list of things that counted as milestones to mark progress. I think this way works a little better, though, because you never can tell what narrative twists are coming. So this way, you can just mark progress as you see fit and then make the roll when you feel ready and if you get a weak hit or a miss, you can play to find out what happens from there that you missed.
The storm dies down to a sweet little drizzle. The wind calms to a swaying breeze. Slowly, I see the lights of torches gutter to life throughout the clearing. Before long, the woman with the bones is kneeling before me.
"Are you able to stand?" she asks. Her eyes are hard...no...fierce. Her straight hair is auburn, shorn on one side and short on the other, and it hangs over one side of her face. There is something wild about her. She holds her arm out to mine. I grasp it. She lifts me out of the sucking mud. I can't take my eyes from her as she helps me limp toward the barn. Torn up though it may be, it was the only structure left standing in the village.
"It's rude to stare, stranger." She helps me ease into a sitting position on a bale of hay. "I suppose I must let it slide because you have saved my village?"
"That would be nice." I said, trying for jocular and wincing.
She presses her mouth into a straight line, disapproving. "Mm, well, not today. Manners are important, I'm told. Mayhap when you have saved my village three or four more times." I chuckle. She doesn't. "What is your name, stranger, and what in this world or the next would convince you to go toe to toe with a Firstborn?"
Koavarr: "I was passing by...(wince, readjust)...on my evening constitutional when I heard the sounds...of distress."
Bone Lady: "Mmhmm."
"A man could do no less than lend a hand. After all, we have only each other in these harsh lands." I spread my hands innocently.
"By the old gods," she mutters as she takes in my hands. She calls for someone to bring water and supplies. She turns back to me, reaches out and flicks my necklace. I haven't yet replaced the Pearl so only a single coin rests there. It bounces against my chest with a heavy thump. "Ironsworn." The supplies arrive and she begins cleaning and bandaging my obvious wounds.
I endure the torturous process without passing out, thankfully. The barrel chested man eventually makes his way over. "Everything good, Keelan?" He grips my shoulder as if we were old friends and smiles broadly through his massive, bushy gray-brown beard. His head is shaved completely bald and marked with an intricate knotwork tattoo that makes its way from temple to temple. He'd be extremely intimidating if he weren't being so friendly.
This is Aeddon. He was a Vagrant until this community took him in. I rolled that he wants to refute a falsehood as his character goal, so I think that means he's very loyal to Keelan, maybe her personally appointed bodyguard. He wants the community to see that she's a worthy leader and so he supports her. Since Loyal is an automatic trait we can derive from that (and there's nothing in the rulebook that says you have to roll any of these, let alone a specific number, I just like the rule of 3), we're going to roll up two more traits. He's Cheery and Confident. Sounds about right.
She spares him the quickest of glances and then concentrates on my ruined hand. "Everything is fine, Aeddon."
I jerk my hand away and clutch the Pearl to my chest. She holds up her hands in that placating gesture I saw her use on the Spirit earlier. "Peace, Ironsworn. I will not steal from the man who has aided me and mine."
I nod. I struggle with the necklace but eventually get it over my head with one hand. "Would you be so kind?" I ask.
She stares at me a moment, the reluctantly takes the necklace and ornament and strings it. She places the necklace back over my head and I once again feel the familiar weight, and burden, of the pearl on my chest. "Thank you." I say.
She nods, curtly. "Now, let's look at that hand."
I lift it toward her. She looks at me with that intense gaze. "You still haven't told me your name, Ironsworn." she says, seriously.
"Technically," I smile, "you haven't told me yours either. Manners, remember?" The big man beside me guffaws.
She casts another sidelong glance at Aeddon, again with pressed lips. "I am called Keelan and I am the Overseer of Thornhill. Welcome to our home, we greet you warmly. May you find respite beneath our roofs." She says this last part of one form of the traditional greeting sarcastically, gesturing to the ruined village behind her. "For the service you have rendered us, we are grateful. However, how shall we know who to scribe into legend if we do not know your name, stranger?"
"I am called Koavarr. I am from Mahopawa. I accept your generosity with an open heart."
I think at this point, I would probably roll to Forge a Bond with these people. But there are many unanswered questions and I think we should explore that trust more. Plus, it's better to try to Forge after you fulfill a bond in their service. Not tryna powergame or anything. I'd choose to wait regardless. But this way is a nice bonus if all goes well.
"Well, Koavarr, this is going to hurt." She stretches out my hand and there is darkness.
I awaken who knows how long later, lying on a cot in a tent. There are bloody bandages discarded nearby. Aeddon sits in a chair in the opposite corner of the tent, reading from a small, leatherbound book. I think, with a start, that there's no time to be lying around. We must find out who put that Thorn in the Spirit and stop them before they do more harm. I try to say as much. My mouth is too dry. Darkness envelops me again.
I try to Sojourn. I forgot to record my initial roll but it was a Weak Hit, so I got to choose one action. I chose recuperate and then rolled
Action: 4+2heart
Challenge: 7, 8
for a Miss, which wipes out any benefit I would have gained. I got greedy.
Next: Issue 1, Part III
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