Episode 62
Do the guards chase them before the portal closes?
People are suspicious of magic in general, and twisting whispering shades of the dead make this Almost Impossible, but there’s still a chance.
(Almost Impossible | 1[d10]) No, and...
Sounds like they’re running the other way once they see it... And a giant spider corpse at the top of the ladder staring at them probably didn’t help their will to follow either.
She looked behind her and saw as if through a dirty filmy substance, the guards backing away. Some fainted, others dropped weapons and leaped out the window. She heard Yormid shouting commands, the words muted and indistinguishable somehow.
She willed the doorway behind her shut. The darkness of the shadows enveloped them.
Is there light in here?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
Utter darkness, nearly palpable, consumed them.
“Eilwen,” Gethyd choked and she felt him grab her arm. “Where are we?”
Is it echoey?
(50/50 | 7[d10]) Yes
His voice echoed about them. She pulled out the sapphire pendant that hung about her neck, and it glowed a faint blue. It revealed Gethyd’s face, his eyes wide as a snow owl.
Sounds like they’re in a cavern?
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
Is it a natural cavern?
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
She released his hand and held the sapphire pendant high. The dim light of the sapphire did not carry far, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see a bit further. Behind them, she saw a wall. She walked to it and put a hand to its surface. It felt completely solid.
“I think we’re underground,” she said.
Hewn stone?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
“But not made of stone,” she whispered.
Is it wet from moisture?
(Somewhat Unlikely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
She brushed her hand against a cold wall and felt flecks of metal break under her touch. Iron. Flakes of it drifted slowly to the ground in the blue light. She pressed harder and a streak of rust clung to her skin wet to the touch.
She brought her wet finger to her nose, sniffed, and gave a tentative touch with her tongue.
Wet with water?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes
Her footsteps flaked iron under foot, iron made up the ceiling above her. She wondered what she’d find if she drilled a hole through the wall.
“Or underwater,” she muttered.
Is the air humid?
(Somewhat Likely | 1[d10]) No, and...
“Underwater?” Gethyd hissed and stared about him. “By the Heralds! How is that possible?”
Oddly, the air in the room felt dry as a bone.
She didn’t answer but turned and saw the faint light flickered off something large, tall, and metallic, perhaps two score paces away. Was it a wall on the other end or something else?
“This way,” she said, and Gethyd followed close behind, bumping into her. They drew closer to the tall shape. In the center of the room, it resolved into a tall iron obelisk that stood atop a narrow plinth. Its faceted faces bore more blocky runes.
Is the pillar also rusted?
(Somewhat Likely | 7[d10]) Yes
It seemed similar to those iron pillars she had seen on the surface of her lands, though this pillar, in this strange place, was pocked and rusted from time and age. She traced a finger across the blocky runes etched into its surface and more iron dust fell away into darkness after passing briefly by the light of the pendant.
Can she understand the runes?
I think it’s Very Likely, given that it’s part of her ability to travel through the realm of shadow, and she didn’t fail her roll (yet). If she cannot understand them then she must have some other way of traveling this road of shadow.
(Very Likely | 8[d10]) Yes
She felt something. After a heartbeat, her pendant flared star-bright for a moment, the light receded, but the flaring of understanding remained in her mind.
“I understand these runes,” she said and looked at the pillar in awe. “But who made all this?” she asked. “And how is any of this possible?”
In the brief flare of light, she had seen that beyond the pillar multiple pathways branched in pocked-iron metal that twisted away into the darkness. Some spiraled downwards out of sight, others circled upwards in rusted ramps. By each corridor, a short stubby pillar with thick runes stared back.
“I don’t know,” Gethyd said and he hugged himself, rubbing his hands on his arms. “But it’s dark and dismal here. You can get us out, right?”
(I admit that I’m channeling a bit of Robert Jordan’s setting of The Ways.)
“We’ll find out,” she said and moved her pendant near the pillar again, studying the runes.
Undertake a Journey.
I’ll say this is a troublesome journey. She’s not going far, just trying to get to where Thorganna is.
Roll + Shadow
8 = 5[d6]+3
13 = 8[d10]+5[d10]
A weak hit. Journey progress (3/10).
They moved to a few of the stubby sign posts next to passageway entrances.
“This should take us north. I think, to another Iron pillar on the surface,” she rubbed her finger over a small bump on an iron faceplate with lines and etchings in the plate that she thought might represent mountains or rivers.
She held out an unlit torch and some flint and steel from her small pack to Gethyd. “Light that,” she said.
It flared an orange glow. She put the pendant back under her tunic and lit her own torch.
Now, with better light, they continued their journey. They trudged for what seemed like hours, taking twisting turn after twisting turn. Gethyd was right. Perhaps at one point it had been awe inspiring, but now with the darkness and the still air, it felt like a tomb.
“This place,” she muttered and felt her palms go clammy. “Something about it...”
Take Stress 1 (Spirit is now 0/5)
Endure Stress
2 = 1[d6]+1
14 = 6[d10]+8[d10]
(Miss count 4/24)
Choice time. I can accept this and lose 1 momentum (bringing me to 7) and then take the Shaken debility because I’d be at 0 spirit, or I can spend my 8 momentum to turn this into a weak hit and just be at 0 spirit. Is it worth it to not get the Shaken debility?
I’ll take the Shaken debility (momentum is now 7/10)
What is the milestone like?
Clash / Tool
Still in a room or passageway made of iron?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
Any bodies?
(50/50 | 5[d10]) No, but...
The iron passageway they had followed finally opened to a broad interior cavern-like room filled with an iron colonnade that stretched into the darkness. Their foot falls gave a hollow bong as they walked.
“Who made this?” Gethyd asked.
Eilwen had no answer, and the question hung in the dry air. They couldn’t see the walls and their voices echoed distantly. Her shadows swirled after her, obediently distant, but ready to swirl to her need.
Gethyd’s torch flickered off pillars that passed by them out to the left and right, streaks of red rust created little piles of dust at the base of each pillar. She wondered if the pillars were weeping.
Their torchlight reflected off a dozen or so broken wooden carts that had once been full of tools and weapons that looked like they had been hacked apart. They glanced among the carts, and Eilwen had her bow up and out. Gethyd had his dagger out with the torch held up. But they saw and heard nothing. No sounds save their own tense breathing. They didn’t see any bodies, but they saw scratch marks in the iron floor near the carts and streaks of blood.
Are the carts old? (VL)
(Very Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
The blood looked quite old.
“See if there’s anything useful to find,” she said in a whisper that sounded too loud to her ears, and they picked among the carts.
Resupply Move
3 = 1[d6]+2
15 = 9[d10]+6[d10]
Another miss. (Miss count 5/24)
I will burn my 7 momentum to turn this into a weak hit.
She can get up to +2 supply at -1 momentum each. But after burning the momentum it resets to 2 so -2 momentum more would be 0. She’ll do it through. She needs to heal and supply is good for that.
What sort of supplies do they find?
Control / Adversities
Move / Joy
Among the supplies they found some old clothing in a half broken chest and from the ruined carts they were able to make some more torches. Some of the clothing they found had been torn and ruined but a few garments still looked in good shape.
In another cart, she found an intricate figurine carved from dark wood into the form of an animal, a horse perhaps or something very nearly like it anyway. It had little wheels on the bottom. A toy for a child...
But who would bring a child into this place? It looked like a caravan had passed through here long ago and had been attacked.
Does it look human size?
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
Fashion wise, does the clothing belong to the humans Ironlanders?
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
Has she seen this type of clothing before?
(50/50 | 2[d10]) No
“What kind of clothing is this?” Gethyd asked, pulling out a vest half covered in iron dust. “It has a strange cut.”
Yieldingly / Beautiful
He was right. She fingered it. It felt like the silken underside of some leaves she’d felt in the mountains or like the velvet coat of an otter, and it could certainly fit a human, but the fashion was unlike anything she had seen. Her hands fingered the golden thread and silver buttons inlaid with pearls on a striking green gown.
Perhaps it was ceremonial or religious?
Are there symbols on it?
(50/50 | 7[d10]) Yes
Can she understand them? I’ll say somewhat unlikely since these aren’t from Ironlanders garb.
(Somewhat Unlikely | 5[d10]) No
The golden threads came together in unfamiliar symbols along the hem.
“I don’t know.” She put a set of clothing in her pack, a gown that looked decidedly regal. And then from among another set of clean clothes, she cut up the cloth for bandages and set about cleaning out her wound.
Heal Move
2 = 1[d6]+1
14 = 9[d10]+5[d10]
Miss count (6/24)
Man, she has had a horrible string of rolls! No momentum to change anything. For the pay the price, I’ll cut myself some slack and say she loses a supply.
She felt frustrated. The bandage wouldn’t set right. It kept coming loose. Perhaps due to her shaking hands.
(Supply now 4/5).
She balled her hands into fists to clench the trembling.
“Are you okay?” Gethyd asked.
She tried to nod but instead shrugged. “This place is getting to me,” she said.
Does he try to comfort her?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
He gave a tired nod and let some more debris fall with a clatter. “Me too,” he said.
She winced from the pain of her wounds as she picked up a wooden plank. “You look tired, and I know I could use some rest. We have plenty of wood we can burn from these carts. Let’s make a camp here,” she suggested.
“Is it safe?”
She shrugged. “It might be safer than pressing on,” she said. “Help me get this fire going.”
Gotta get something up.
Make Camp move
8 = 4[d6]+4
7 = 3[d10]+4[d10]
Finally a strong hit!
She’ll take Recuperate +1 health, and Partake +1 health -1 supply (supply now 3/5, health now 3/5).
They rested, and Eilwen shared some of her remaining bread with Gethyd. The fire felt warm. She set the bandages again and rubbed a small poultice from some herbs she had found into the wound.
Gethyd didn’t want to talk, and she felt herself turning inward too, reliving the fight with the spider and her errant arrow shot that had slain Edyard. Could she have done anything different? She shook her head, frustrated and angry, but resigned. Her hands shook less, but they still trembled slightly when she looked out into the vast dark and the iron pillars that bled dark streaks of rust.
As she struggled to sleep, she imagined the pillars closing in around them, weeping their blood upon them, burying them in piles of red dust, never to see the light again.
Do the guards chase them before the portal closes?
People are suspicious of magic in general, and twisting whispering shades of the dead make this Almost Impossible, but there’s still a chance.
(Almost Impossible | 1[d10]) No, and...
Sounds like they’re running the other way once they see it... And a giant spider corpse at the top of the ladder staring at them probably didn’t help their will to follow either.
She looked behind her and saw as if through a dirty filmy substance, the guards backing away. Some fainted, others dropped weapons and leaped out the window. She heard Yormid shouting commands, the words muted and indistinguishable somehow.
She willed the doorway behind her shut. The darkness of the shadows enveloped them.
Is there light in here?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
Utter darkness, nearly palpable, consumed them.
“Eilwen,” Gethyd choked and she felt him grab her arm. “Where are we?”
Is it echoey?
(50/50 | 7[d10]) Yes
His voice echoed about them. She pulled out the sapphire pendant that hung about her neck, and it glowed a faint blue. It revealed Gethyd’s face, his eyes wide as a snow owl.
Sounds like they’re in a cavern?
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
Is it a natural cavern?
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
She released his hand and held the sapphire pendant high. The dim light of the sapphire did not carry far, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see a bit further. Behind them, she saw a wall. She walked to it and put a hand to its surface. It felt completely solid.
“I think we’re underground,” she said.
Hewn stone?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
“But not made of stone,” she whispered.
Is it wet from moisture?
(Somewhat Unlikely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
She brushed her hand against a cold wall and felt flecks of metal break under her touch. Iron. Flakes of it drifted slowly to the ground in the blue light. She pressed harder and a streak of rust clung to her skin wet to the touch.
She brought her wet finger to her nose, sniffed, and gave a tentative touch with her tongue.
Wet with water?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes
Her footsteps flaked iron under foot, iron made up the ceiling above her. She wondered what she’d find if she drilled a hole through the wall.
“Or underwater,” she muttered.
Is the air humid?
(Somewhat Likely | 1[d10]) No, and...
“Underwater?” Gethyd hissed and stared about him. “By the Heralds! How is that possible?”
Oddly, the air in the room felt dry as a bone.
She didn’t answer but turned and saw the faint light flickered off something large, tall, and metallic, perhaps two score paces away. Was it a wall on the other end or something else?
“This way,” she said, and Gethyd followed close behind, bumping into her. They drew closer to the tall shape. In the center of the room, it resolved into a tall iron obelisk that stood atop a narrow plinth. Its faceted faces bore more blocky runes.
Is the pillar also rusted?
(Somewhat Likely | 7[d10]) Yes
It seemed similar to those iron pillars she had seen on the surface of her lands, though this pillar, in this strange place, was pocked and rusted from time and age. She traced a finger across the blocky runes etched into its surface and more iron dust fell away into darkness after passing briefly by the light of the pendant.
Can she understand the runes?
I think it’s Very Likely, given that it’s part of her ability to travel through the realm of shadow, and she didn’t fail her roll (yet). If she cannot understand them then she must have some other way of traveling this road of shadow.
(Very Likely | 8[d10]) Yes
She felt something. After a heartbeat, her pendant flared star-bright for a moment, the light receded, but the flaring of understanding remained in her mind.
“I understand these runes,” she said and looked at the pillar in awe. “But who made all this?” she asked. “And how is any of this possible?”
In the brief flare of light, she had seen that beyond the pillar multiple pathways branched in pocked-iron metal that twisted away into the darkness. Some spiraled downwards out of sight, others circled upwards in rusted ramps. By each corridor, a short stubby pillar with thick runes stared back.
“I don’t know,” Gethyd said and he hugged himself, rubbing his hands on his arms. “But it’s dark and dismal here. You can get us out, right?”
(I admit that I’m channeling a bit of Robert Jordan’s setting of The Ways.)
“We’ll find out,” she said and moved her pendant near the pillar again, studying the runes.
Undertake a Journey.
I’ll say this is a troublesome journey. She’s not going far, just trying to get to where Thorganna is.
Roll + Shadow
8 = 5[d6]+3
13 = 8[d10]+5[d10]
A weak hit. Journey progress (3/10).
They moved to a few of the stubby sign posts next to passageway entrances.
“This should take us north. I think, to another Iron pillar on the surface,” she rubbed her finger over a small bump on an iron faceplate with lines and etchings in the plate that she thought might represent mountains or rivers.
She held out an unlit torch and some flint and steel from her small pack to Gethyd. “Light that,” she said.
It flared an orange glow. She put the pendant back under her tunic and lit her own torch.
Now, with better light, they continued their journey. They trudged for what seemed like hours, taking twisting turn after twisting turn. Gethyd was right. Perhaps at one point it had been awe inspiring, but now with the darkness and the still air, it felt like a tomb.
“This place,” she muttered and felt her palms go clammy. “Something about it...”
Take Stress 1 (Spirit is now 0/5)
Endure Stress
2 = 1[d6]+1
14 = 6[d10]+8[d10]
(Miss count 4/24)
Choice time. I can accept this and lose 1 momentum (bringing me to 7) and then take the Shaken debility because I’d be at 0 spirit, or I can spend my 8 momentum to turn this into a weak hit and just be at 0 spirit. Is it worth it to not get the Shaken debility?
I’ll take the Shaken debility (momentum is now 7/10)
What is the milestone like?
Clash / Tool
Still in a room or passageway made of iron?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
Any bodies?
(50/50 | 5[d10]) No, but...
The iron passageway they had followed finally opened to a broad interior cavern-like room filled with an iron colonnade that stretched into the darkness. Their foot falls gave a hollow bong as they walked.
“Who made this?” Gethyd asked.
Eilwen had no answer, and the question hung in the dry air. They couldn’t see the walls and their voices echoed distantly. Her shadows swirled after her, obediently distant, but ready to swirl to her need.
Gethyd’s torch flickered off pillars that passed by them out to the left and right, streaks of red rust created little piles of dust at the base of each pillar. She wondered if the pillars were weeping.
Their torchlight reflected off a dozen or so broken wooden carts that had once been full of tools and weapons that looked like they had been hacked apart. They glanced among the carts, and Eilwen had her bow up and out. Gethyd had his dagger out with the torch held up. But they saw and heard nothing. No sounds save their own tense breathing. They didn’t see any bodies, but they saw scratch marks in the iron floor near the carts and streaks of blood.
Are the carts old? (VL)
(Very Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
The blood looked quite old.
“See if there’s anything useful to find,” she said in a whisper that sounded too loud to her ears, and they picked among the carts.
Resupply Move
3 = 1[d6]+2
15 = 9[d10]+6[d10]
Another miss. (Miss count 5/24)
I will burn my 7 momentum to turn this into a weak hit.
She can get up to +2 supply at -1 momentum each. But after burning the momentum it resets to 2 so -2 momentum more would be 0. She’ll do it through. She needs to heal and supply is good for that.
What sort of supplies do they find?
Control / Adversities
Move / Joy
Among the supplies they found some old clothing in a half broken chest and from the ruined carts they were able to make some more torches. Some of the clothing they found had been torn and ruined but a few garments still looked in good shape.
In another cart, she found an intricate figurine carved from dark wood into the form of an animal, a horse perhaps or something very nearly like it anyway. It had little wheels on the bottom. A toy for a child...
But who would bring a child into this place? It looked like a caravan had passed through here long ago and had been attacked.
Does it look human size?
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
Fashion wise, does the clothing belong to the humans Ironlanders?
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
Has she seen this type of clothing before?
(50/50 | 2[d10]) No
“What kind of clothing is this?” Gethyd asked, pulling out a vest half covered in iron dust. “It has a strange cut.”
Yieldingly / Beautiful
He was right. She fingered it. It felt like the silken underside of some leaves she’d felt in the mountains or like the velvet coat of an otter, and it could certainly fit a human, but the fashion was unlike anything she had seen. Her hands fingered the golden thread and silver buttons inlaid with pearls on a striking green gown.
Perhaps it was ceremonial or religious?
Are there symbols on it?
(50/50 | 7[d10]) Yes
Can she understand them? I’ll say somewhat unlikely since these aren’t from Ironlanders garb.
(Somewhat Unlikely | 5[d10]) No
The golden threads came together in unfamiliar symbols along the hem.
“I don’t know.” She put a set of clothing in her pack, a gown that looked decidedly regal. And then from among another set of clean clothes, she cut up the cloth for bandages and set about cleaning out her wound.
Heal Move
2 = 1[d6]+1
14 = 9[d10]+5[d10]
Miss count (6/24)
Man, she has had a horrible string of rolls! No momentum to change anything. For the pay the price, I’ll cut myself some slack and say she loses a supply.
She felt frustrated. The bandage wouldn’t set right. It kept coming loose. Perhaps due to her shaking hands.
(Supply now 4/5).
She balled her hands into fists to clench the trembling.
“Are you okay?” Gethyd asked.
She tried to nod but instead shrugged. “This place is getting to me,” she said.
Does he try to comfort her?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
He gave a tired nod and let some more debris fall with a clatter. “Me too,” he said.
She winced from the pain of her wounds as she picked up a wooden plank. “You look tired, and I know I could use some rest. We have plenty of wood we can burn from these carts. Let’s make a camp here,” she suggested.
“Is it safe?”
She shrugged. “It might be safer than pressing on,” she said. “Help me get this fire going.”
Gotta get something up.
Make Camp move
8 = 4[d6]+4
7 = 3[d10]+4[d10]
Finally a strong hit!
She’ll take Recuperate +1 health, and Partake +1 health -1 supply (supply now 3/5, health now 3/5).
They rested, and Eilwen shared some of her remaining bread with Gethyd. The fire felt warm. She set the bandages again and rubbed a small poultice from some herbs she had found into the wound.
Gethyd didn’t want to talk, and she felt herself turning inward too, reliving the fight with the spider and her errant arrow shot that had slain Edyard. Could she have done anything different? She shook her head, frustrated and angry, but resigned. Her hands shook less, but they still trembled slightly when she looked out into the vast dark and the iron pillars that bled dark streaks of rust.
As she struggled to sleep, she imagined the pillars closing in around them, weeping their blood upon them, burying them in piles of red dust, never to see the light again.
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