Ironsworn: Wolf and Cat, Log 6

    This is the 6th log of my Ironsworn solitaire campaign about Oddi Ice-Chosen. Character background and start of the narrative can be found at: Wolf and Cat, Log 1. 

Session length varies wildly. Some are multi-hour sessions in open evenings, others are 20-minute diversions over a lunch-break. 

Cast of Characters:

• Oddi Ice-Chosen, my main PC. Abducted by a Firstborn sorceress as a child, only recently returning to the world of men, motivated by a terrible prophetic vision. Wears an enchanted wolf-skin. Storyweaver and occassional spellcaster.
  
• Sammutisel: Oddi's pet Cave Lion. 150 pounds, 4-inch fangs. 
• Kasju Frystgrotta: The Firstborn (elf) sorceress that abducted Oddi and taught him magic.
• Emelyn Firetop: Blacksmith. Survivor of the destruction of Oddi's hometown. 
• Grassa Bitterloss: Oddi's mother.
• Tern: Emelyn's younger brother. Currently missing.
• Feris Left-Tusk: Leader of the Broken who torched the village.
  

Log 6 (Date: 7/30/2021.)

Memo to self: Don't forget my wolf-pelt is charged, so +1 on Edge.


Oddi Ice-Chosen and his Cave Lion Companion Sammutisel head into the Loneliwood as that's where Grassa Bitterloss last saw Tern (brother of Emelyn Firetop). Grassa said that Tern had run off, and she tried to follow and fetch him to safety, but there was a bear that attacked them. Grassa wounded the bear, but couldn't defeat it, and was badly hurt herself, so she withdrew to Sword Hope for healing. Now it falls on Oddi to find and save the boy. He starts stalking through the Loneliwood, looking for signs of a struggle or passage.

Gather Information - Tracking and Searching - Weak Hit - New danger, and +1 moment

He finds a trail, and blood. Not just Grassa's, either. There's signs that some of the other people from Forgotten Despair tried to flee into the Loneliwood to escape The Shatterwood Broken, but at least some of them were pursued, and killed or captured. The lucky ones are probably the dead. Broken do not treat captives humanely. There are also 2 Broken corpses in the woods as well. All the bodies have been disturbed by scavengers.

The new danger could just mean there's still Broken about, but it's been two days so that seems unlikely. Maybe there's something special about the bear?

Ask the Oracle "What is the Bear's special ability?"  - The bear has "Vocalization". It just growling or roaring is kind of obvious. That's just normal for a bear, right. What if it's voice is like a man's, which it uses to lure in human prey? It may have once been human! Oddi has never heard Tern's voice before, so I don't realize this is even an option. Perhaps the bear calls out that it's caught under a log, and attempts to lures me in.

Face Danger - Wits: Do I fall for the Lure? - Strong Hit - +1 Momentum, I'm not falling for it.

Oddi realizes that there's something unnatural afoot. He senses magic, not unlike his own Binding Rituals. Stronger, older, but not entirely unfamiliar. He signals for Sammutisel to sneak around while Oddi himself moves toward the sound as a distraction.  "Are you Tern? I'm friends with Emelyn. Do you need help?"

An Ash Bear is a Formidable Foe. My previous Dangerous fight was plenty challenging, this could wreck me if I roll poorly.

Enter the Fray with Cave Lion Companion - Edge - Miss!

The bear is too clever for Sammutisel to creep up on. As my Cave Lion goes in for the strike, the Bear hurls the log in my direction and brings its arm around to smash Sammutisel.  (I didn't roll a 1, so my Pelt is still in effect, and more importantly Sammutisel doesn't necessarily take the hit. I was doing that wrong in the other fight. Companions aren't quite as squishy as I feared.)

The log flies at me. I was prepared to fight a bear, even a talking bear, but one that uses fallen trees as weapons is unexpected.

Endure Harm - Weak Hit - Health goes to 3.

Getting back to my feet, I see the bear and my cat dancing about and trading missed blows, neither yet sure enough of the other to risk trying to pin the other.It's attention mostly on Sammutisel, I risk a wild lunge with my axe.

Clash - Iron - Strong Hit,  +1 harm (3 total), regain the Inititiative

The blade slices through shaggy fur and hide. Now we've got it between us.

I circle about, trying to keep my axe on one side of the bear, and my cat on the other. We hunt as a team.

Secure an Advantage - Wits - Weak, +1 momentum

I feint, and Sammutisel strikes. I see a glint of something at the creature's chest, but we're moving to fast to tell what it is. Maybe my mother left a dagger buried in its ribs.

Strike with Cave Lion - Strong Hit - +1 Harm (3 total), +2 Momentum

My cat leaps across the bears back, and our claws come away covered in crimson. The bear chases after him, providing an opening for my own strike.

Strike - Miss, burn Momentum for a weak hit - 2 Harm, lose initiative.

The bear is fast, and ferocious. As soon as my axe bites it, it lashes out at me. I backpedal quickly enough to avoid being ripped open by claws, but it locks eyes on me and storms forward. It shakes the earth with an unnatural bellow that begins as growl and ends as a curse.

Face Danger - Heart - Miss!

Endure Stress - Heart - Weak Hit - I suffer 3 stress, but press on.

The words it curses me with are old and powerful, but poorly shaped. If Kasju was here, she'd be offering a cold critique of the beast's delivery.

It rushes me then, all jaws and paws and ferocity.

Clash - Iron - Weak Hit - Inflict 2 harm, but then pay the price

It's too fast and large for me to get entirely out of the way, but at least get my axeblade in the way to make sure the pain is mutual. My axe fouls its attempt to bite my face off, and wounds it grievously in the process, but both paws rake me and my chest feels afire.

Endure Harm - Miss!  I've filled the bears progress bar, but I'm also Wounded.  If i can land a Strong hit, I can finish this.

As it is pressed so close to me for a moment, I grope for whatever that shiny object was buried in the fur of its chest.

Secure Advantage - Wits - Weak Hit - +1 Momentum

Not sure exactly what I've grasped, I pull hard as I try to slip out from under the rampaging beasts blows.

Face Danger - Edge - Miss!   -  I can't really afford to take more Harm, so I roll on the "Pay The Price" Oracle. A 79: "A Surprising Development Complicates Your Quest". Oh, boy!

The clasp on his hexen-collar comes loose for a moment, and the bear transforms briefly back in to a small red-haired boy I can only conclude is Tern! His frail blood-soaked hand darts to the clasp, and the mighty paw of a bear closes it.

Emelyn's brother is werebear! She said he was always sickly, troubled, quiet and withdrawn, somewhat foolish, spent time in the Loneliwood. This region has always been the realm of Firstborn and stranger creatures. Perhaps Tern struck a deal with some eldritch entity. No wonder Grassa's story was so scattered and confused, such a transformation right in front of her would have been terrifying. Had Tern killed those Broken whose bodies I'd passed? I and the boy I came here to rescue were just about to murder each-other!

Seeing a small boy for a moment, Sammutisel rushes back into the fray, but I order him off. This is no longer a fight I want to win. I can't bring Tern's dead body back to Emelyn, his blood on my hands. The only sensible option is flee before one of us slays the other.

Face Danger - Edge - Weak Hit -  You succeed but face a cost. I choose -1 supply.

I turn and run, a trail of blood dripping behind me. Tern the Bear chases after me, and sinks his teeth deep... into my satchel. I pop the buckle free, and leave my bag for him to ravage. All my food and medicine, my map of the route to the Frozen Cave of Zhan, everything I own but the clothes on my back, my axe and knife, my cat and my life, are left behind to be devoured by the ursanthrope Tern.

Sammutisel follows me, though I have to call him repeatedly in the first half-mile. He really wanted to go back and solve the problem the violent way.

By the time we make it to Sword Hope, I'm feeling weak and bleary from blood-loss. Covered head to tow in blood, I stumble into the house of the healer where Grassa and Emelyn are recovering. Both gasp in horror at the sight of me, but I manage to tell them "Tern is alive and safe" before I collapse.

Sojourn - Heart +1 for Bond to Emelyn and Grassa -  COMPLICATION!  A matched miss!

Bloodied and exhausted as I am, I sleep for most of a day. Grassa and Emelyn are by my side, and try to ask me what happened, where Tern is, etc. I don't remember answering them, but in my fog I mumble something about werebears and evil magic. The local healer becomes alarmed. They think that I may have brought the evil, that I may be an agent of calamity, not the being who is trying to fix things. The healer refuses to treat my wounds any further, and kicks me out of the town of Sword Hope.

I'm fit enough to walk, but Emelyn and Grassa are going with me anyway. I'm a bit nervous about this: Emelyn and I are both limping, and Grassa's arm is in a sling. As we hobble out of town, we see that the men who rode off with Mygrun still haven't returned, and the cowards left behind in Sword Hope are building a wall around their community.

The four of us (Emelyn, Grassa, Sammutisel and myself) make camp on the beach of Bitter Lake, at the edge of the Loneliwood. The first order of business is getting some food. I fish the way that Kasju Frystgrotta taught me, though it terrifies my mother to see me walking in to the water that once nearly took my life. That was the spring following the worst winter in memory. Today the water is still quite cold, but it does not threaten to seal me in a tomb of ice. In fact, the brisk submersion wakes me up and makes me feel alive.

Resupply - Wits - Strong Hit +2 Supply.

(Technically, per the rules I can't resupply because when I hit 0 supply I should have gained the Unprepared Debility, and the only way to get rid of that is to Sojourn at a town. So I would now have to Undertake a Journey at Health +0, Supply +0, Spirit +1, Wounded and Unprepared, so as to envision a new Town, then successfully Sojourn. That's probably a death spiral. When I chose -1 Supply in the last round with Tern, I didn't realize Unprepared would auto-trigger. When I chose to interpret the complication as they kick me out of Sword Hope, I didn't realize I was Unprepared and thus couldn't Resupply and thus couldn't Make Camp. I only discovered all of this when I opened up the fancy Roll20 character sheet to turn off my Wounded, and noticed that the Unprepared condition directly below it had turned-on automatically.  Rather than roll back several paragraphs, I'm just going to rule the Complication kicked me out of town but waived the Unprepared. Maybe mom packed a sandwich or some healing herbs or something. I think I can cut myself some slack here, since the whole situation was caused when I voluntarily added a level-3 Formidable foe to my only level-1 Troublesome vow. This will be the hardest-earned 1 XP ever.)

Heal - Iron, because I'm the target - Weak Hit -  Clear wounded, take +2 Health, then -1 Supply.

Make Camp - Despite a Supply of only 1, I manage to roll a Strong Hit. I choose Recuperate and Relax. +1 Health, +1 Spirit.

Now, the hard part: Explaining the Tern situation to Emelyn Firetop. I'm going to lean in to my Storyweaver to make it work. I tell her tales of mischievous Changelings, of the Keth-rites of the Varou, and of Firstborn sorcerers who delight in teaching mankind truths so powerful that it breaks us.

I tell her of Proud Hoarfrost, a great white bear who once was a King in the Time Before. He was so full of pride in his Kingdom, that he insisted even the Gods must bow in his court should they deign to walk the earth. Zhan the Twisted heard this on the autumn wind, and headed there immediately, expressly for the purpose of refusing to bend.  Hoarfrost became offended, and they began to wrestle. The match went on for months, and winter set in. Hoarfrost broke Zhan's bones and twisted his limbs in knots, but Zhan refused to show the king respect or acknowledge death. His rage uncontrolled, Proud Hoarfrost bit the God he'd Twisted, and as he tasted the godling's blood, he was transformed forever into a massive white bear. The knots he had tied had bound the seasons in their place, and that's how the Shattered Wastes became the Kingdom of eternal winter. Trying to break free of the knots he'd tied, Proud Hoarfrost plucked the second moon from the sky, and shattered it upon the Winter, but all it broke was his own kingdom.

The tale is entertaining. Neither Emelyn nor Grassa have heard of Proud Hoarfrost before. So Oddi shares more facts. Proud Hoarfrost is real.  In the Frozen Cave of Zhan were Oddi lived these 2 years and 10, there is a passage to the Shattered Wastes.  The cave where I lived 10 years and 2 was the hidden route that Zhan would use to infiltrate Hoarfrost's realm.  Proud Hoarfrost hunted those caverns for a hundred hundred years, trying to find Zhan to get his vengeance, but Kasju Frystgrotta drove Proud Hoarfrost out of that cave, and took it for herself. I've seen it, Kasju took me to retrace Zhan's steps. Beneath the perpetual snow in the great northern wastes there are ancient cities and long-dead forests. Upon first seeing these old ruins, they had immediately reminded Oddi of the Shatterwood hear near Bitter Lake. Perhaps this visual similarity is meaningful. Perhaps Zhan the Twisted is involved in what happened to Tern as well. The Ice Chose Oddi, perhaps the Bear chose Tern.  To know for certain, we will have to head into the Loneliwood, and try to talk with your brother. This situation is most likely not Tern's fault, but he may not want to give it up, either. We will need to keep an eye open for signs of Firstborn or Gods working their magic on your brother. That sort of power isn't given lightly, nor is it easy to surrender once you have it. They may have strings and hooks in him.

Secure an Advantage w/ Story Weaver: Opportunity: A Strong Matched Hit! - Well, my crazy story is clearly true then. Neat!

The story greatly impresses both women. Mother is proud of her son. Emelyn is happy to have someone so knowledgeable and brave working to save her brother.

Emelyn is also that much more smitten with Oddi. Serious feelings are brewing, and it's obvious to everyone. Grassa turns in early, to give "you kids" some time alone. They take their conversation to where the edge of the beach meets the edge of the woods, and talk all night while throwing knives and axes at an old stump.  Eventually, while handing off a throwing blade, their hands touch and they share a moment.

Compel - Heart - Weak Hit - +1 momentum, possible exchange of favors

Oddi and Emelyn acknowledge the feelings developing between them, but Emelyn wants to be in a relationship with Oddi, not just a hook-up. Oddi explains that Kasju still owns him for two days, because of him leaving before the contract was up. Two days that could come without warning, and may not be consecutive or consensual. He can't promise monogamy, given the control Kasju could exert on him. For now, that's a non-starter. They end their game of knives and axes, and go to sleep on opposite sides of the campfire.

Advance a Threat - 91 - All this time spent healing and talking means that Feris Left-Tusk has had a chance to enact his evil plans a bit. His Menace goes from 1 to 3. Yikes!

Next Session: They're partly healed, so at first light the characters will probably all head into the Loneliwood in search of Tern. We're pretty close to completion of this Vow.