Ironsworn: Wolf and Cat, Log 11

   This is the 11th 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 occasional ritual spellcaster.
  
• Sammutisel: Oddi's pet Cave Lion. 150 pounds, 4-inch fangs. 
• Kasju Frystgrotta: The Firstborn sorceress that abducted Oddi and taught him magic.
• Grassa Bitterloss: Oddi's mother. Recently reunited after 12 years.
  
• Emelyn Firetop: Blacksmith. Survivor of the destruction of Oddi's hometown. 
• Tern: Emelyn's younger brother. Werebear.
• Myrgun Bitterblad: Oddi's sister. Currently missing in the Shatterwood.
• Rygar Bitterblad: Oddi and Myrgun's recently deceased father. Grassa's ex-husband.

Session Log 11:  8/6/2021

Reminder: My ritual pelt is no longer charged, because I rolled a "1" on an Edge test.

It is several minutes before Sammutisel has had enough scritches behind the ears to allow our expedition to continue forward. Oddi presses through thick brambles, trying to find his way back to the trail they had been on before.

Secure an Advantage - Iron - Weak Hit +1momentum

The Gloom glowers overhead, but is no longer strong enough to start trouble anew just yet. Before long, Oddi's dogged determination has pressed through the thickets to get him beyond the Gloom's hunting grounds.

Delve the Depths: Wits - Miss!

Danger - 9 from Theme - Imminent Collapse or Destruction    Feature - Dense Thicket

Unfortunately, Oddi is pushing his way through the brambles with a fair amount of speed, perhaps paying less attention to his surroundings than he should. What he doesn't notice until it's too late is that ground slopes downward into a ravine, but the brambles grow taller there. It appears level and even until you press forward too far, and your weight or momentum carries you plunging down into thickets above your head! As he starts sinking, Oddi struggles to grasp thorny branches and stop his sudden descent.

Face Danger - Iron - Miss.   Pay the Price - It is Harmful.   Endure Harm - Miss: 1 Harm, -1 Momentum

Oddi sinks from view, thornbushes rising above his head. He grabs at the tangled mass of branches trying to slow himself, but mostly they just tear up his hands. He continues to sink into the darkness. He calls out to his faithful Cave Lion Sammutisel. The great cat is quite clever, and good at following instruction. If I can work my rope free from my pack and manage to throw it upwards for the cat to bite. If that's not possible, maybe he can dig and tear out the mat of brambles at the top of the hidden slope. If we work it from both ends, we may be able to cut a path to the surface.

Secure an Advantage - Edge - Miss - Pay the Price: Now Sammutisel is also sinking in the thorns, and takes 1 Harm as well.

The cat misunderstood his calls, and leapt forward to try to find or drag him to safety. Instead, it comes crashing down into the spiked plants of the gully as well, and Oddi finds himself driven deeper by the weight of his Cave Lion. Sammutisel thrashes for a bit, then gives up and starts to whimper.

It must not have been a ravine, but a chasm. Not a slope, but a cliff. They're 20 feet down, with barely any light reaching them. Oddi reaches for his axe, but it's tangled in the branches and bodies, and he can't get it clear. Then he remembers the throwing knives Emelyn gave him. They are small blades, but easily reached. It will take time and bloody patience, but if he's careful he may still cut his way free eventually.  As he works, he tells Sammutisel stories of the Firstborn like Kasju, and how once they covered the continent with cities and civilization before the time of the Masks. In those days, the Firstborn treecrafters grew walls and fences of stuff not unlike this bramble. The cat probably can't understand half of what he's saying, but the sound of Oddi's voice, and occasional mention of Kasju, may serve to calm them both.

Secure an Advantage with Storyweaver - Weak Hit  is +2 momentum

Face Danger - Edge - Strong Hit

He works slowly, cutting tangling branches loose and clearing a path while he talks and sings and calms his feline friend. Oddi runs through the Tale of the Dawn Splitter, the Lay of the Ruined Mallet, the Ballad of the High Boundary, The Snake Who Ate The Moon, and even the Grave Tale of the Masked Birth. All these songs and stories are complete before they reach the opposite slope and eventual freedom from the cages grown around them. The emerge on a small hill, bloodied and tired, with the sun setting on the horizon. In the twilight they can't tell if the downslope on the other side of the hill is equally perilous, and so decide to spend the night here on this hill.

Make Camp - Supply - Weak Hit  - Recuperate: +1 health

Unwilling to risk a fire while in enemy territory, and surrounded by 20 foot deep flammable thickets, man and cat curl up together for warmth. While they slumber and recuperate, Feris Left-Tusk and the [Shatterwood Broken] consolidate their strength.

Advance A Threat - 38 - Danger escalates. Mark Menace. They are at 4 of 10 Menace, and I have not yet scored a single progress on my linked "Vengeance on the Broken Pack" vow. This is not good.

Oddi dreams of sinking beneath an ocean of thorns, then arising as a tower on a hill. It's a theme reminiscent of the sigil of the pack of Broken he currently hunts. Oddi awakes before dawn, and the moon is out, so he clears a bit of brush from the top of the hill to create the smallest space necessary to dance his ritual vestment of his wolf-pelt.

Ritual: Bind - Wits - MISS! I rolled a 5 for my action die, but unfortunately, both of the Challenge Dice came up 10's.  So thats a Complication, and my pelt is not re-charged.

Reveal a danger - 79 You confront a harrowing situation or sensation.

Mark Your Failure  - 5 times in one short but painful session.

For next session: Given the dream metaphor, the Complication, and the Menace, I think it may be time for another vision. I'm not sure I want to do another Gloom encounter, but maybe he could have a vision of Feris Left-Tusk and/or Myrgun Bitterblad. Maybe Myrgun is in danger, or in danger of corruption. We'll see.