A solo Ironsworn: Starforged run

Games
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My first active game session was just too long to plop down in one go, but I think the beauty of playing solo is that I’m beholden to no one else for pacing. If I just want to play out one encounter for 20 quick minutes of play, I can do that.

I think the way Shawn has written both Ironsworn and Starforged allows the solo/co-op/GM players to make their own decisions on whether or not to model a particular conflict. For example, normally I wouldn’t bother playing out a random barroom fight with a couple of idiots. I would just say something like, “Darius walked into Barlowe’s cluttered garage, his face showing evidence of the scuffle he’d just had with a local.” From there, you can get as granular as you want. You could roll out every move and counter-move for every participant. You could lump all enemies into one progress track. One of the other options is to just use the Battle move to determine the outcome of a whole fight with just one roll by abstracting combat to the bare minimum.

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Thanks! That is more of a pain in the butt than you might imagine. InDesign takes great joy in occasionally obliterating all of my hyperlinks for no apparent reason.

And thanks for picking up this thread :)

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Oof! Way to make me feel guilty. Sorry everyone. I’ve been a bit busy with life stuff.

That said, this isn’t dead. I’m coming back to it later.

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I don’t think I’ve written about this here, but when some version of the rules were released I was waiting at the airport for a longish flight. I checked whether the Stargazer web app worked offline (it does!) and spent a few hours doing some worldbuilding on my phone while in the air. It was incredibly pleasant. I’m forcing myself to wait for the physical materials to really dive in, but I’m enjoying this thread.

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Where is this? (Sorry, it’s probably been linked above, too lazy to scroll up).

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No worries :) Stargazer

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Holy crap! How did I miss this awesome site?

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Loving this, and pushing me to get started on my own play through. Post any updates when you can!

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Any joy here? I really want to see how someone else plays this to see if I’m doing it right, heh. (Yeah, yeah, I know there’s no “right” way to do it, but…)

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I know. I’m sorry. It’s nothing serious, but I just haven’t been able to take the time to sit down, roll dice, and use the Oracle to help me “envision” my story these days.

The good news is that this illustrates one of the strengths of solo play! It’s on my schedule, so a delay doesn’t mean a party is moving on with their story and I’m missing a bunch of stuff. Whew!

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No worries! I just thought, maybe, on the off-chance it was all typed up and ready to go and you’d just forgotten to copy and paste it in here…

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All right, I’m thinking of putting my own attempt at Ironsworn up here. (This is as close as to a dedicated thread for Ironsworn that we have.) I don’t want to step on any toes, so if it’s not welcome feel free to tell me to take it elsewhere. I’ve got a few sessions done and written down, and in an effort to keep some momentum going, (that was kind of like a pun, you see, because momentum is this key game mechanic, uh, nevermind) I was thinking to just go right to the play and fill in the world and character details as they come up.

(Oh yeah, it’s OG Ironsworn, not this Starforged business.)

Inciting Incident

Someone close to you is accused of cursing a settlement, causing fields to go fallow and cattle to become sick. What is the evidence of this? Will you defend this person and uncover the true cause of the settlement’s troubles?

The harvest is poor, as usual. The herds are thin, as usual. But this year, it is worse: entire fields dying off in a night, and whole flocks are sick. But there is no rhyme or reason in the failures. Kataka, the herbalist, seems to be able to cure some of the animals and keep some fields healthy. But as the blight continues, more and more villagers place the blame on her. Why is she able to fend off the curse? Soon, the village will reach a tipping point, and people are calling for her exile–or death. When his own family’s goats are struck down, Gethin goes to her for help, only to find a crowd already at her dwelling…

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Here we go. For a character, I rolled a random name (Gethin), figured a goatherd would be an inauspicious start, and chose some assets and stats that seemed fun and at least somewhat relevant.

Gethin, the main character

Orphaned at a young age, Gethin was taken in by the people of Olgar’s Stand and raised as a goatherd. He came upon a stray hound pup among the pebbles of a stream bed and named her Pebble (he wasn’t very creative at that age); she keeps him company and helps herd the goats (Asset: Companion: Hound). He is handy with a goatherd’s staff (Asset: Combat Talent: Long Arm), and is also competent with a sling. As a child, he discovered, accidentally, the ability to leech life by way of a blood rune (Asset: Ritual: Leech). This is a secret from everyone (but Pebble). He is at home ranging in the wilds (Edge 3), and has developed a keen mind (Wits 2) and body (Iron 2) for surviving alone. However, he is ill at ease among people (Heart 1, Shadow 1).

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For Gethin’s home village, I rolled up a name (Olgar’s Stand), and set the village and its herbalist, Kataka (not my favorite name, I may re-roll and retcon), as Gethin’s starting bonds. (The third starting bond is undecided; I was thinking Gethin’s foster father, but he didn’t show up in the opening act so I decided to just leave it open instead.)

Olgar's Stand, the home village

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Olgar’s Stand small village at the boundary of the Havens and the Hinterlands. There is some fertile land, but much of the population spend their lives pasturing sheep, goats, pigs, and (to a lesser extent) cattle. The land is marginal, and herds are driven far and wide as the seasons change. A river gathers streams from the surrounding hills and flows south to the Havens. What little trade visits Olgar’s Stand travels along it.

Olgar and his band of adventurers had stolen an elven artifact from somewhere in the Hinterlands–or was it the Deep Wilds?–and were making way back to the Havens when they were surrounded and cut down at the ford in the river where the village now stands. Long, long ago. Supposedly.

The first bit of action will be swearing a vow to deal with the blight (the inciting incident). And then figuring out how to do that.

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Nice! Keep it coming!

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The Inciting Incident

The harvest is poor, as usual. The herds are thin, as usual. But this year, it is worse: entire fields dying off in a night, and whole flocks are sick. But there is no rhyme or reason in the failures. Kataka, the herbalist, seems to be able to cure some of the animals and keep some fields healthy. But as the blight continues, more and more villagers place the blame on her. Why is she able to fend off the curse? Soon, the village will reach a tipping point, and people are calling for her exile–or death. When his own family’s goats are struck down, Gethin goes to her for help, only to find a crowd already at her dwelling…

The game begins. I’m not sure how best to format this, but here’s what I have in my notes: moves in bold, the rolls of the form “X, Y vs Z + (adds) = [result]. [effects]”, where X and Y are the challenge dice (d10) and Z the action die (d6). Writing out all the effects might end become cumbersome, we’ll see. Commentary in italics.

Swear an Iron Vow. 1, 6 vs 2 + 1 (heart) + 1 (bond) = 4. Weak Hit: +1 Momentum (now 3), but Gethin has more questions than answers.

Kataka manages to calm the people, but Gethin can see that it won’t last. Pushing to the front, he vows to discover the cause of the blight. The villagers seem content to let the young goatherd shoulder the burden and leave the herbalist alone for the time being. Of course, there are doubts: “What would you know about this?” “If it’s not her fault, why is she profiting so much?” “Without your herd you’ve got nothing else to do, so have at it.”

Gethin presses Kataka for answers.

Gather Information: 1, 3 vs 2 + 2 (wits) + 1 (bond) = 5. Strong Hit: +2 momentum (now 5).

“It is unusual for a blight in these lands to poison both the animals and the land. I recall hearing about a curse, however, with effects remarkably similar to this, and, indeed, my counters seem to be somewhat effective. Perhaps my old teacher, Elstan, knows more, though last I heard, he was abducted by raiders.” (Oracle: “Depart Freedom”.)

I was really not at a loss for where to go from here, and it took a bit of head-scratching for “Depart Freedom” to mean anything to me (eventually I landed on “got captured”), but at least we’ve got somewhere to go.

The last known location of her mentor is Eaglespire (settlement name roll 36, 31). To get there, follow the river south to the forest (location roll 77) and then east to the edge of the Deep Wilds. Nothing to do now but set off.

Undertake a Journey (troublesome) to Eaglespire. 6, 9 vs 5 + 2 (wits) + 1 (bond with origin) = 8. Weak Hit: reach waypoint (now at 3 progress), -1 supply (now 4).

The journey begins uneventfully, as he’s taken the herd through this land many times before. However, people made desperate by the blight have left the countryside bare. There’s nothing to do but press on.

Undertake a Journey again. 2, 5 vs 5 + 2 (wits) = 7. Strong Hit: reach waypoint (now at 6 progress), move with speed -1 supply (now 3), +1 momentum (now 4).

The state of the countryside keeps the desperation in Olgar’s Stand at the forefront of his mind. Gethin pushes on, as fast as he can, motivated to resolve this quickly. He’s followed the river to the forest, and now must turn east, toward the Deep Wilds.

Undertake a Journey again. 4, 8 vs 2 + 2 (wits) = 4. Miss: Pay the Price. Roll: 88 It wastes resources. -1 supply (now 2).

Gethin is lost. Well, he’s circled back to the river, but now with less food. Pebble whines.

Undertake a Journey again. 3, 9 vs 4 + 2 (wits) = 6. Weak Hit: reach waypoint (now at 9 progress), -1 supply (now 1).

Finally, Gethin finds the track eastward to Eaglespire, as supplies run low.

Reach Your Destination. 1, 8 vs 9 progress. Strong Hit: make another move now, and add +1.

Sojourn in Eaglespire. 5, 7 vs 6 + 1 (heart) + 1 (previous) = 8. Strong Hit: provision (+2 supply, now 3) and plan (+2 momentum, now 6).

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The approach to Eaglespire

Eaglespire is so named because of the tall trees hosting eagle nests at their tops. On the edge of the forest, eagles and people alike work both the woods and the fertile lands around them. Gethin arrives on a sunny mid-morning in high spirits. He barters some freshly caught hare and herbs (the makings of a delicious stew, really) for some jerky to replenish his falling stores. Not one to dive in and canvas the townspeople directly, he scouts the area and finds those likely to know the old herbalist Elstan.

Gather Information. 3, 3 vs 4 + 2 (wits) = 6. Strong Hit, Match. +2 momentum (now 8). Oracle 85, 14: Construct Duty.

“Abducted by raiders? Don’t be ridiculous. What would they want with him, anyway?” laughs Kaivan (43), the limping (67) forester. “No, he was laying out some kind of boundary in the forest with sage or thyme or something like that. Every day he’d go out and get to work, muttering about ‘duty’ and ‘curse’, until one day he didn’t come back.” He gestures deeper into the forest, and as best Gethin can figure, that’s the place to start looking.

Not too much action yet, but a lot of moves. Performing “Undertake a Journey” four times in a row seems wrong, but I’m not sure what people typically do to switch it up. I used the match on the last Gather Information move to simplify the situation because I felt like I was making a lot of moves without much progress. So now, instead of being captured, Elstan is just in the forest somewhere, “constructing” a curse barrier as is his “duty”. Where? We’ll find out next time…

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Great stuff.

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  • Gather Information. 8, 8 vs 2 + 2 (wits) + 1 (Pebble) = 5. Miss, Match.

Gethin finds himself following Pebble deeper and deeper into the woods. They easily find some sort of herbal barrier that Elstan must have been constructing. Beyond that, though, they follow ever-diminishing traces of his passage into the woods, until the cracking of branches above reveals a wyvern diving directly for them.

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I thought I should do something exciting for the match, and I wanted to try out combat, so… I have in my notes that I rolled to decide between an elder beast, harrow spider, or wyvern and got wyvern. I probably should have chosen something easier. Wyverns are “extreme”, so 2 ticks (half a progress) per harm inflicted, and 4 harm suffered.

  • Enter the fray (ambushed). 3, 3 vs 3 + 2 (wits) = 5. Strong Hit, Match. +2 momentum (now 10!), initiative.

Pebble yelps a warning and she and Gethin both roll easily out of the way as the wyvern crashes to the ground, snapping at nothing.

  • Strike (staff/deadly weapon). 1, 10 vs 3 + 2 (iron) = 5. Weak Hit. 2 harm = 4 ticks (1 progress). Lose initiative.

Gethin takes advantage of the wyvern’s miss and connects with a big swing of his staff. However, he overextends and the wyvern recovers quickly.

  • Clash (staff/simple weapon). 2, 5 vs 3 + 3 (edge) + 1 (Long-Arm) = 7. Strong Hit. 2 harm (simple weapon + find an opening) = 4 ticks. Now at 2 progress. Gain initiative. (+1 momentum from Long-Arm, but already at 10.)

The wyvern lashes out with its tail, but Gethin easily deflects it with his staff and delivers another blow on the return swing.

  • Strike (staff/deadly weapon). 4, 10 vs 1 + 2 (iron) = 3. Burn initiative for a Strong Hit: 3 harm (Long-Arm + strong hit) = 6 ticks. Now at 3.5 progress. Retain initiative, momentum at 2.

Gethin bashes the wyvern solidly on the head. It appears stunned, but Gethin is tiring.

  • Secure an Advantage (edge). 6, 10 vs 6 + 3 = 9. Weak Hit. +1 momentum (now 3).

Gethin and Pebble scatter in opposite directions, leaving the wyvern temporarily confused. Gethin has a moment to breathe… and prepare.

  • Leech. 3, 4 vs 5 + 2 (iron) = 7. Strong Hit. Lose initiative (player choice).

I’m not quite sure how to play out Secure an Advantage. Here, I figured that a hit there gave Gethin some breathing room to prepare his Leech rune, and gave up initiative after that.

Between shaky breaths, Gethin traces the blood rune on his staff. Despite the rising panic, he finishes the rune, correctly, as the wyvern lets out a roar.

  • Face Danger (heart). 6, 7 vs 6 + 1 (heart) = 7. Weak Hit: -1 stress.

  • Endure Stress. Spirit is now 4. 5, 8 vs 6 + 4 (spirit) = 10. Strong Hit: Embrace the Darkness: +1 momentum (now 4).

The wyvern’s roar seems to physically knock Pebble back. Gethin, however, is shaken but a little and readies his sling.

  • Clash (edge/sling). Roll: 8, 9 vs 6 + 3 (edge) = 9. Weak Hit: 1 harm (sling) = 2 ticks, now at 4 progress. Pay the Price: endure harm.

  • Endure Harm (4). Health is now 1. 7, 8 vs 4 + 2 (iron) = 6. Miss. -1 momentum (now 3).

The wyvern brushes off the stone that Gethin launches at him, and bashes Gethin with its tail, knocking him to the ground. He tries to roll out of the way.

  • Face Danger (edge). 4, 8 vs 5 + 3 (edge) = 8: Weak Hit: Endure 1 harm.

  • Endure Harm (1): Health is now 0. 2, 10 vs 6 + 2 (iron) = 8: Weak Hit: press on.

Gethin avoids the worst of the wyvern’s attacks, managing to regain his feet, but is noticeably weakened. He cannot last much longer.

We’re now at zero health, and not too far along the progress track (four of ten). Time for something desparate.

  • Turn the Tide: Strike (staff/simple weapon): 1, 3 vs 4 + 3 (edge) + 1 (long-arm) + 1 (turn the tide) = 8. Strong Hit. +2 momentum (1 each from Long-Arm and Turn the Tide), now 5. 4 harm (1 simple weapon + 1 strong hit + 2 leech) = 8 ticks / 2 progress; now at 6 progress. Leech: take 4 momentum (now 9). Hold initiative.

With a final burst of determination, Gethin jabs the wyvern square in the chest with the butt of his staff. The blood rune glows, and Gethin feels the energy flowing into his muscles. Pebble barks furiously while circling just outside the reach of the beast’s tail. The wyvern seems momentarily drained. It is time to end this.

  • Strike (staff/deadly weapon). 2, 9 vs 4 + 2 (iron). Burn 9 momentum for a Strong Hit. 3 harm = 6 ticks (now at 7.5 progress).

  • End the Fight. 2, 9 vs 7 progress: Weak Hit: marked for vengeance.

The wyvern leaps at Gethin, jaws wide apart. He slams the staff into its mouth, spoiling the attack and knocking loose a knife-sized tooth. The beast’s momentum carries it into Gethin, knocking him flat, but it has had enough and scampers through the brush before taking to the air and vanishing. Perhaps it is near death, and has left for the rumored wyvern graveyard. Perhaps, though, it has merely retired for the moment, looking to finish the fight later. Either way, Gethin carefully pockets the tooth.

Phew! Maybe next time let’s not have the level-0 noob start off by challenging an extreme enemy, yeah? I feel like Gethin did remarkably well there, and I’m not sure if I got lucky with the rolls, or if I played it smart going between strike/clash/face danger repeatedly, or if I “cheated” and left out some key part of combat: am I supposed to take more damage on weak hits? Give the baddies more opportunities to act? In any event, it was fun, and now it’s time to make camp and heal up.

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Bold move!

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If it’s not obvious already, I have no idea what I’m doing. :)

  • Heal. 3, 4 vs 6 + 2 (wits/iron): Strong Hit. +2 health (now 2).

  • Make Camp. 10, 10 vs 3 + 3 (supply) = 6. Miss.
    Pay the Price. 25: Something of value is lost or destroyed.

One in a hundred chance of double tens! I probably should have done something bigger with it, but I had a straightforward interpretation for “Something of value is lost or destroyed.”

Gethin bandages his wounds under Pebble’s watchful eye. Though severely beaten and bruised, the wyvern actually failed to draw blood, having landed hits only with its tail and body. As he sets about making camp, however, Pebble starts behaving strangely, and Gethin can’t help but feel that he is being watched. He jolts awake (wait, when did he fall asleep?) to find a strange man toying with his hard-won wyvern tooth.

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“What? Who are you?” Gethin shouts. “And that’s mine! Pebble, come.”

Pebble wakes, and growls.

“Yours? I was tracking that wyvern for days before you blundered in and knocked a tooth loose. I doubt I’ll get its tail now.”

“Yes, mine. I knocked it loose. Making it mine. And who are you?”

“Who I am is not important. What you interrupted is. If you want to get back to whatever it is you were doing, I’m going to need something from you. More than this tooth, I mean.”

Gethin is in no place to argue; this obnoxious stranger has him at a disadvantage. Perhaps, at least, he can get some information on Elstan…?

  • Compel. 5, 8 vs 6 + 1 (heart) = 7. Weak Hit.

“Very well,” the stranger agrees, “swear to me that you will complete these… errands… and I will swear to you that you will find him that you seek.”

“Errands”, indeed, Gethin thinks. At least it should be easier than finishing off that wyvern: the errands are a sack of mushrooms to be returned to Eaglespire, a lady’s slipper orchid, and a harrow spider fang. Well, I almost managed to avoid another beast, and aloud: “Very well, I swear it.”

  • Swear an Iron Vow. 2, 8 vs 2 + 1 (heart) = 3. Weak Hit. +1 momentum (now 3).

“I shall let you resume your camp,” the stranger says. “Farewell, Gethin. And by the way, my name is Elstan.” With that, he is gone.

“Of course it is,” Gethin mutters. And how did he know my name, he wonders. Not knowing what to do next, he bundles up the sack of mushrooms Elstan left for Eaglespire and settles down to camp.

Pebble snorts.

  • Reach a milestone on The Blight. 2 progress.
  • New vow: Elstan’s Errands (troublesome).

Perhaps that turned out a bit more to Gethin’s benefit than a double-10 should have. I think I was feeling the need to make some forward progress on the Blight quest. I had no idea what I was going to use the wyvern’s tooth for, but sacrificing it to a Pay the Price seemed reasonable. Also, I’ve outrun my, uh, illustrations, so I’ll have to pause here for tonight.

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No, I’m not ready to let this one go the way of all the others in this thread quite yet. I just got sidetracked by yet another Factorio run…

  • Make camp. 5, 9 vs 6 + 3 (supply) = 9. Weak Hit. +1 health (now 3).

Gethin wakes refreshed and heads back to Eaglespire. He finds Kaivan again and hands off the mushrooms.

“Ah, so you found him!” Kaivan exclaims. “And he gave you the mushrooms he owes me. I was beginning to wonder if he was going to make good on that wager.”

  • Reach a milestone on Elstan’s Errands. 3 progress.

  • Gather Information. 5, 7 vs 4 + 2 (wits) = 6. Weak Hit. +1 momentum (now 4).

Kaivan is unsurprised about the other two items. “You shouldn’t have too much trouble finding the flower; I can’t give you one because they don’t last after being picked. But it’s small, low to the ground, yellow-pink, and has a lobe that looks like, well, a slipper. Harrow spiders, though… this time of year, they’re scarce around here. You’ll have to head deeper into the forest. Good thing is, you’ll probably find a spider before a wyvern.”

Yes, well, we’ve already got that covered, don’t we? Gethin thinks. But his response is only, “Thanks.”

  • Undertake a journey into the forest (troublesome). 4, 9 vs 4 + 2 (wits) = 6: Weak Hit. Mark progress (now 3), -1 supply (now 2).

Gethin and Pebble head back to the forest, Gethin’s eyes to the ground, looking for orchids, and Pebble’s to the treetops, looking for spiders. After a day, they stop to eat, and gather.

  • Resupply. 1, 4 vs 1 + 2 (wits) = 3. Weak hit. Trade 1 momentum (now 3) for 1 supply (now 3).

  • Undertake a journey. 5, 10 vs 2 + 2 (wits) = 4. Miss.

Of course, with their eyes focused up and down, they miss something stalking them from the side.

  • Roll d4 for bear, boar, marsh rat pack, wolf: 1 = bear (formidable).

I’m not making the same mistake with the wyvern this time–sticking with a “formidable” enemy.

With a roar, an ash bear tears out of the brush, directly at the pair.

  • Enter the fray (ambushed). 6, 10 vs 3 + 2 (wits) = 5. Miss. Lose initiative.

  • Pay the price: 11: You are separated from something or someone.

Pebble, cowed by the enormous roar, takes off into the forest. The bear turns to Gethin.

  • Clash (staff/simple weapon). 5, 10 vs 1 + 3 (edge) + 1 (long-arm) = 5. Miss.

  • Endure harm (3). Health now at 0. 1, 10 vs 2 + 2 (iron) = 4. Weak Hit.

The bear swipes at Gethin, slashing him hard across the shoulder and chest. Gethin attempts to dodge the next charge of the bear.

  • Face danger (edge). 2, 7 vs 4 + 3 (edge) = 7. Weak Hit.

  • Endure stress (1). Spirit is now 3. 1, 10 vs 2 + 3 (spirit) = 5. Weak Hit.

Gethin avoids the bear, barely, but without Pebble he is afraid. He can press on, for now.

  • Clash (staff/simple weapon). 9, 9 vs 2 + 3 (edge) + 1 (long-arm) = 6. Miss.

  • Endure harm (3). Momentum now at 0. 1, 4 vs 2 + 2 (iron) = 4. Weak Hit. Press on.

The bear knocks Gethin to the ground. He is winded, and unsure what to do next. Desperately, he brings his staff between him and the bear.

  • Clash (staff/simple weapon). 7, 8 vs 5 + (3 edge) + 1 (long-arm) = 9. Strong Hit. +1 momentum (now 1) and 1 harm (1 progress). Take initiative.

Finally a successful roll! Gethin was certainly in a good deal of trouble…

A stiff tap on the snout temporarily dissuades the bear, and Gethin uses the opportunity to regain his footing.

  • Strike (staff/simple weapon). 3, 5 vs 4 + (3 edge) + 1 (long-arm) = 8. Strong Hit. +1 momentum (long-arm, now 2) and +2 harm (strong hit, now 3 progress).

A solid bash on the head has the bear on the back foot (hind feet?). Gethin takes the opportunity to make his rune.

  • Leech. 3, 9 vs 2 + 2 (iron) = 4. Weak Hit. Gain debility, lose initiative.

Gethin feels the staff’s thirst draining him. One way or the other, it won’t be thirsty long, he thinks. Meanwhile, the bear charges, again.

  • Clash (staff/simple weapon). 3, 4 vs 2 + 3 (edge) + 1 (long-arm) = 6. Strong Hit. +1 momentum (long-arm, now 3) and +2 harm (strong hit, now 5 progress). Take initiative.

The bear is unable to overcome the extra reach provided by Gethin’s staff and takes a sharp blow to the forelimb. Gethin feels the staff’s burning desire for blood, and winds up for a massive strike.

  • Strike (staff/deadly weapon). 5, 8 vs 2 + 2 (iron) = 4. Leech: reroll action die for a 4 + 2 = 6. Weak hit. 4 harm (leech +2, now 9 progress, +4 health (now 4)). Lose initiative, lose debility.

A mighty overhead blow rocks the bear, but its momentum carries it inside the reach of Gethin’s staff. Gethin’s slashed chest knits itself back together.

  • Face danger (dodge). 4, 10 vs 2 + 3 (edge) = 5. Weak hit.

  • Endure harm (1). Health 3. 2, 7 vs 6 + 3 (health) = 9. Strong hit. Take initiative. Embrace the pain: +1 momentum (now 4).

The bear snaps at Gethin but only manages to drag its teeth over the back of his hand as he bats it in the face. The bear rears back and Gethin prepares a final blow.

  • End the fight. 5, 5 vs 9 progress. Strong hit, match (gain bear pelt).

And with a solid blow to the skull, the bear is down. While the bear had the upper hand (or paw) early in the fight, Gethin managed to turn it around with the blood rune. He’s not thrilled about increasingly relying on something he doesn’t understand, but he’s also not thrilled about repeatedly encountering wyverns and bears.

It was a fairly clean kill, so while he waits for Pebble to turn up he skins the bear, figuring the pelt might come in handy. Sure enough, Pebble comes sheepishly back to the scene.

  • Resupply. 4, 5 vs 4 + 2 (wits) = 6. Strong hit. +2 supply (now 5).

With the pelt removed, Gethin figures he might as well see what meat he can take, too, and finds there is quite a bit.

  • Make camp. 4, 9 vs 2 + 5 (supply) = 7. Weak hit.

Exhausted from the fight, Gethin makes camp and recuperates. Before too long, though, he must continue on.

  • Undertake a journey. 2, 9 vs 4 + 2 (wits) = 6. Waypoint, -1 supply (now 4).

The pair continue into the forest. It becomes thicker.

  • Gather information. 3, 6 vs 5 + 2 (wits) + 1 (hound) = 8. Strong hit. +2 momentum (now 6).

Ha! Gethin finds a flower that must be the lady’s slipper. What’s more, Pebble finds a second, and following that a third. A strange flower, that spreads in a line. Well, he takes one and makes a note of the location (as best he can).

  • Reach a milestone on Elstan’s Errands. Mark 3 progress (now 6).

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The fight felt a little same-y, but I tried to switch it up with some Face Danger moves, especially as Gethin was reduced to zero health and momentum early in the fight (yikes!). This game seems to me to be mostly “roll a bunch of Weak Hits, then a Miss to get into trouble and a Strong Hit to get back out”, heh.

As a side note, I was walking through the woods near my house one day (IRL) when I came across a woman who pointed out a Lady’s Slipper Orchid on the forest floor and told me they grow in a straight line. I couldn’t find another one anywhere nearby, but it inspired the objective above.