Fish house rentals red lake mn
Garlan Crane, Heir to Red Lake + AC
2023.05.30 22:28 D042 Garlan Crane, Heir to Red Lake + AC
Discord Username: D042
Character Name and House: Garlan Crane
Age: 23
Appearance: Here
Gift: Leadership
Skills: Swords, Tactican (e), Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishing x3
Starting Title(s): Heir to Red Lake, Ser
Starting Location: KL
Family Tree: https://www.familyecho.com/?p=FGWG3&c=4i52wiwt4k&f=655015851654171969
Alternate Characters: Lucamore Stark
Timeline:
Character Name and House: Erren of Westbrook
Age: 24
Appearance: Here
Gift: Guardian
Skills: Polearms, Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishingx3
Starting Title(s): Ser
Starting Location: KL
Timeline:
submitted by D042 to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]
Character Name and House: Garlan Crane
Age: 23
Appearance: Here
Gift: Leadership
Skills: Swords, Tactican (e), Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishing x3
Starting Title(s): Heir to Red Lake, Ser
Starting Location: KL
Family Tree: https://www.familyecho.com/?p=FGWG3&c=4i52wiwt4k&f=655015851654171969
Alternate Characters: Lucamore Stark
Timeline:
- 184 AC: Born
- 198 AC: Leaves to squire
- 202 AC: Knighted, begins to resent his father for his infidelity openly
- 206 AC: Formally betrothed to a Lady of House Royce
- 207 AC: Present
Character Name and House: Erren of Westbrook
Age: 24
Appearance: Here
Gift: Guardian
Skills: Polearms, Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishingx3
Starting Title(s): Ser
Starting Location: KL
Timeline:
- 183 AC: Born to a miller and his wife
- 185 AC: His mother dies of fever, his father tries desperately to continue raising him
- 189 AC: Working as a tavern boy to help his father, a drunken patron slashes a deep scar into his face to punish Eren for 'looking at him funny'
- 194 AC: His father is killed by a bandit
- 198 AC: In desperation, he tries to rob you Garlan Crane, the two fight fiercely, but the lordling is so impressed by him that he petitions his Knight to take the common boy on as a second squire. Reluctantly he is accepted.
- 204 AC: Knighted
- 207 AC: Present
2023.05.30 22:24 -WhyDoh- Lake of the Woods (MN, US) recommendations
Hey all, i'd like to make the pilgrimage to Lake of the Woods (Minnesota) for some ice fishing this next winter. I'm looking for some recommendations on good shack rentals and if there's are any date ranges we should target and/or avoid.
Thanks in advance!
submitted by -WhyDoh- to IceFishing [link] [comments]
Thanks in advance!
2023.05.30 22:08 SandraSandraSandra A Voyage - The Sage of Flower-Hill 3
Djamä Sonurupākä-Pēzjeceni stands, looking out over the labour before him. A series of four paddies are being built off of Dogwood-Point. Two of them dig earth from the point to make the paddy, the other two enclose rectangles of the lake with mounds of earth. To his rear, NāpäkoduThonu works on four paddies of their own.
The clans cooperated on the project, building the outer-walls together in the early-days of summer where the lake’s level gets low enough for it to be doable. Now they’re expanding their paddies in one of the biggest projects Konuthomu has ever known.
Sonurupākä’s main role is to direct. And he wears his resplendent cape of feathers to indicate such—even if he also wears the simple quarter-dome hat of a farmer. He sends the young men carrying baskets of earth to the eastern medial causeway. When needed, he steps in and offers aid. But in this moment, he puffs gently on his pipe. Enjoying the heady rush of fresh-air and warm smoke.
Someone calls him over, there’s a section of clay in one of the inner-paddies being excavated.
Screams fill the hall. Senisedjarha, his wife, is in labour. He was rushed away by the duNothudo as they take care of her. He was left mixing ashes for glaze and hearing his love’s cries from across the field.
This is their second child. Their first, a beautiful baby girl, is bouncing on her grandmother’s knee. It’s a good omen to have such a hardy first-born. But it doesn’t ease his anxiety at the second birth.
He mixes in the rotu ash—it should form a grassy green once fired—with the wet clay and stirs it vigorously.
The baby is coming later than expected. The duNothudo assured them that it wouldn’t be a problem, that the best fruit simply take longer to grow. He was supposed to be gone on a trading mission by this point. The canoes are already prepared. But it would be a variation from the kacä to abandon his wife now.
Next he mixes the birch ash—this one forms a creamy white, tinged with yellow. It’s almost a buttery colour.
Senisedjarha is strong though. And while the pregnancy has exhausted her, especially the past moon of it—her belly even more gravid than with the first pregnancy, the stores have been full and the weather kind. She’s been able to rest, drinking broth on their bed of furs.
Now, he mixes red slip with willow ash. This one is far more slip-forward. The ash gives it its sheen and flow, the bursts of colour and shine which makes the glaze all the more vibrant.
He’s to visit the land of the Rhadämā, those strange feather-less folk. Their cargo is wine (mostly maple), jade tools, and the glazed pots his current labour allows.
Finally, he mixes oak ash with bright-red slip. The smooth, green-blue glaze which results is perfect for lining urns. Some things you want to breathe through the unglazed clay, but others you want to keep sealed. It’s a delicate balance.
He pauses, unsure of the change and caught up in his work. The screaming has stopped. He rushes back to the house.
Two rambunctious baby boys. He holds Seni’s hand while holding the first-born of the two. An auspicious sign.
It had been a painful labour, and his wife’s exhausted. Drained. But two healthy baby boys. He can’t believe their luck. Two marriages of equal prestige to bring additional clans onto their path? It’s more than he could have ever hoped.
Knee deep in water, he guides the boat out. Full of pots, the canoes sit low in the lake. Eight men for eight canoes, a sizable contingent. He’s been tasked to bring gifts and trade in hopes of establishing a more permanent relationship with the Rhadämā of Kamābarha.
The Cakäma of DjamäThamä, where his two new sons will be given names, remains three turns away. He prays he’ll be back in time.
Clambering out of the lake, he readies himself to go. Even this early in the morning, he knows the day will be hot and a gentle mist rises with the sun over the lake.
He clasps the hands of the duNothudo in turn, pledging that he will travel honest and true. Laughing at Redotsuko’s quip. He finally reaches his wife, the youngest of the duNothudo, and the one most dear to him.
As they hug, she whispers in his ear: “Return swift and safe, your family waits for you.”
Speeches and recitations and other such fanfare follow, as Sonurupākä climbs into his canoe, and sets off towards the rising sun. His eyes may be wet, but his path is clear. Duties to clan come before all else, even these first few months of his sons’ lives. The paddling becomes rhythmic. There is only one way, and that is forward. He simply hopes, and prays, it leads him back home.
It’s their third day of travel. The weather has remained clear, and bright. Their first two nights they stayed in houses of DjamäThanä. Lovely, low provincial halls—not dissimilar to the one in which Sonurupākä was born and raised. A life a world away now, even if, in factuality, merely feather and name separates that him from the him in the canoe now.
He sips a skin of crabapplecider, and grabs a mouthful of the pickle mix: bison and pawpaw and sumac and blackberry and brire. It’s sour, a little salty. The sweetness and tartness of the berries cut through the rich fat of the bison. He’s dressed in a loincloth, a farmer’s hat (a round, quarter-dome offering shade protection) and has a plain-hemp cape hanging from his shoulders, protecting his back from the sun. It’s a lovely day.
Rowing once more, he thinks about his mission. Kamābarha is not alien to the people of Konuthomu. They may have forgotten their feathers, but they’re skilled craftsmen and produce a lovely nut. Travel is frequent between the villages. And even without feathers, the people govern themselves well. They know of the wisdom of crone’s, and put the vitality of young men to service. Sure, their way of speech may be harsher, atonal in a way. But it’s not that far off from Menidān, and easy to learn. Compare the language of Rhadämā to that of the Jeli—infrequent visitors here, but known further west. Rhadämā is a poem in the wrong meter, Jeli is more similar to the barking of dogs. But what can you expect from people with neither lake nor feathers?
Voyages such as this gives one plenty of time to think. He hopes his aids back home are preparing the pottery well. They’ve expanded the workshop below the Themilanan. Three kilns, a lengthy pottery space, plenty of storage for the clay. Small-folk of DjamäThanä do most of the actual pot construction, but the glazes are kept in the Themilanan. So too is the knowledge of organizing the fire for the kiln to burn properly hot. The duNothudo should assure his Good-Brother does the firing properly. He hopes so, at least.
They practice Rhadämā over dinner, forming the words again and again. Sonurupākä insists: passable is insufficient, his accent must be perfect.
They have easy access to food, with the plentiful waterfowl and fish, but he missed the plentiful wine and pickles of home. Rhadämā wine is tasty from what he remembers though.
After eight days of travel, they approach Kamābarha.
submitted by SandraSandraSandra to DawnPowers [link] [comments]
The clans cooperated on the project, building the outer-walls together in the early-days of summer where the lake’s level gets low enough for it to be doable. Now they’re expanding their paddies in one of the biggest projects Konuthomu has ever known.
Sonurupākä’s main role is to direct. And he wears his resplendent cape of feathers to indicate such—even if he also wears the simple quarter-dome hat of a farmer. He sends the young men carrying baskets of earth to the eastern medial causeway. When needed, he steps in and offers aid. But in this moment, he puffs gently on his pipe. Enjoying the heady rush of fresh-air and warm smoke.
Someone calls him over, there’s a section of clay in one of the inner-paddies being excavated.
This is their second child. Their first, a beautiful baby girl, is bouncing on her grandmother’s knee. It’s a good omen to have such a hardy first-born. But it doesn’t ease his anxiety at the second birth.
He mixes in the rotu ash—it should form a grassy green once fired—with the wet clay and stirs it vigorously.
The baby is coming later than expected. The duNothudo assured them that it wouldn’t be a problem, that the best fruit simply take longer to grow. He was supposed to be gone on a trading mission by this point. The canoes are already prepared. But it would be a variation from the kacä to abandon his wife now.
Next he mixes the birch ash—this one forms a creamy white, tinged with yellow. It’s almost a buttery colour.
Senisedjarha is strong though. And while the pregnancy has exhausted her, especially the past moon of it—her belly even more gravid than with the first pregnancy, the stores have been full and the weather kind. She’s been able to rest, drinking broth on their bed of furs.
Now, he mixes red slip with willow ash. This one is far more slip-forward. The ash gives it its sheen and flow, the bursts of colour and shine which makes the glaze all the more vibrant.
He’s to visit the land of the Rhadämā, those strange feather-less folk. Their cargo is wine (mostly maple), jade tools, and the glazed pots his current labour allows.
Finally, he mixes oak ash with bright-red slip. The smooth, green-blue glaze which results is perfect for lining urns. Some things you want to breathe through the unglazed clay, but others you want to keep sealed. It’s a delicate balance.
He pauses, unsure of the change and caught up in his work. The screaming has stopped. He rushes back to the house.
It had been a painful labour, and his wife’s exhausted. Drained. But two healthy baby boys. He can’t believe their luck. Two marriages of equal prestige to bring additional clans onto their path? It’s more than he could have ever hoped.
The Cakäma of DjamäThamä, where his two new sons will be given names, remains three turns away. He prays he’ll be back in time.
Clambering out of the lake, he readies himself to go. Even this early in the morning, he knows the day will be hot and a gentle mist rises with the sun over the lake.
He clasps the hands of the duNothudo in turn, pledging that he will travel honest and true. Laughing at Redotsuko’s quip. He finally reaches his wife, the youngest of the duNothudo, and the one most dear to him.
As they hug, she whispers in his ear: “Return swift and safe, your family waits for you.”
Speeches and recitations and other such fanfare follow, as Sonurupākä climbs into his canoe, and sets off towards the rising sun. His eyes may be wet, but his path is clear. Duties to clan come before all else, even these first few months of his sons’ lives. The paddling becomes rhythmic. There is only one way, and that is forward. He simply hopes, and prays, it leads him back home.
He sips a skin of crabapplecider, and grabs a mouthful of the pickle mix: bison and pawpaw and sumac and blackberry and brire. It’s sour, a little salty. The sweetness and tartness of the berries cut through the rich fat of the bison. He’s dressed in a loincloth, a farmer’s hat (a round, quarter-dome offering shade protection) and has a plain-hemp cape hanging from his shoulders, protecting his back from the sun. It’s a lovely day.
Rowing once more, he thinks about his mission. Kamābarha is not alien to the people of Konuthomu. They may have forgotten their feathers, but they’re skilled craftsmen and produce a lovely nut. Travel is frequent between the villages. And even without feathers, the people govern themselves well. They know of the wisdom of crone’s, and put the vitality of young men to service. Sure, their way of speech may be harsher, atonal in a way. But it’s not that far off from Menidān, and easy to learn. Compare the language of Rhadämā to that of the Jeli—infrequent visitors here, but known further west. Rhadämā is a poem in the wrong meter, Jeli is more similar to the barking of dogs. But what can you expect from people with neither lake nor feathers?
Voyages such as this gives one plenty of time to think. He hopes his aids back home are preparing the pottery well. They’ve expanded the workshop below the Themilanan. Three kilns, a lengthy pottery space, plenty of storage for the clay. Small-folk of DjamäThanä do most of the actual pot construction, but the glazes are kept in the Themilanan. So too is the knowledge of organizing the fire for the kiln to burn properly hot. The duNothudo should assure his Good-Brother does the firing properly. He hopes so, at least.
They have easy access to food, with the plentiful waterfowl and fish, but he missed the plentiful wine and pickles of home. Rhadämā wine is tasty from what he remembers though.
2023.05.30 22:07 LeagueOfHerStone Mya Grafton, Lady Regent of Gulltown
Mya Grafton, Lady Regent of Gulltown
PC Details
Discord Username: EmpressEcho#1312Character Name and House: Mya Grafton
Age: 38
Appearance: Mya
Gift: Admiral
Skills: Shipwright, Courtly, Architect, Sailing (e)
Talent(s): Cartography, Diplomacy, Gardening
Starting Title(s): Lady Regent of Gulltown, Captain of the Azure
Starting Location: King's Landing
Family Tree: The Graftons
Alternate Characters: Roslin Tully
PC Timeline
169 AC - Mya Grafton is born to Lord Albard Grafton and his wife, Ysabel Celtigar. The third child, and a daughter besides, little is expected of her.172 AC - A younger brother is born to Albard and Ysabel, named Osric.
176 AC - A younger sister is born to Albard and Ysabel, named Henrietta.
177 AC - A young Mya gets into an accident stowing away on one of her father's ships and is rushed to the maesters. She recovers, but it leaves her with a lasting mark, although her interest in the waves isn't diminished.
179 AC - A younger sister is born to Albard and Ysabel, named Alyssa.
185 AC - A sickness takes Mya’s younger sister, Alyssa. The family enters a period of mourning.
186-187 AC - Mya’s eldest brother Godric leaves to fight in the Red War. He does not return. His bastard children are taken in by Lord Allard, being raised alongside the legitimate Graftons.
187 AC - Mya is given the choice of who she wishes to marry. She selects and subsequently marries a minor knight, Ser Jasper Lynderly, less for prestige than their shared interests outside typical marriage. Later that year she gives birth to their first child, named Olyvar.
188 AC - Mya’s elder brother Edric dies when, on a fishing accident, he falls overboard and drowns.
189 AC - Mya has two more children, twins named Eon and Arwen. They are the last children the couple will ever have.
191 AC - As Lord Allard grows older, his children begin to pick up more and more of the duties of running Gulltown. Mya takes a central role in all this, attempting to prove herself to her father.
192 AC - Mya’s younger brother Osric dies, falling from his horse during a ride. With the last of her brothers dead, Mya becomes the heir to Gulltown.
198 AC - With Lord Allard’s health failing, Mya is named Lady Regent of Gulltown to rule in his name.
205 AC - Mya’s eldest son Olyvar is granted the family’s ancestral sword and soon after joins the Kingsguard.
207 AC - Mya and the remaining Graftons make their way to King’s Landing for a feast.
AC Details
Character Name and House: Olyvar GraftonAge: 20
Appearance: Oly
Gift: Champion
Skills: Swords (M), Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Drinking, Troublemaking, Disappointing his mother
Starting Title(s): Knight of the Kingsguard, Wielder of Mother's Mercy
Starting Location: King's Landing
AC Timeline
187 AC - Olyvar Grafton is born, the first child of Mya Grafton and Jasper Lynderly189 AC - Olyvar is joined by a pair of twins born to Mya and Jasper, named Eon and Arwen
197 AC - Olyvar squires under Ser Gerold Marbrand.
205 AC - Olyvar is knighted by Ser Gerold and granted Mother's Mercy, soon thereafter joining the Kingsguard
207 AC - Olyvar's family joins him at King's Landing for a feast
2023.05.30 22:05 crispy48867 72 [M4F] #Michigan, Perry - Farm couple seeks lawn and garden girl, 18 to 40 and in decent shape. All ethnicity's considered
This is a 45 acre farm. I grew up on it, traveled the world, and came home again.
When both parents had passed, I bought out my sisters shares. I stopped all row crops in 2014 and began turning the place into a safe zone for nature.
It features a man made lake, spring fed and well stocked with fish. There are 22 acres of tillable land, some woods and rolling hills as well as several rock and flower gardens and roughly 6 or 7 acres of lawn.
In 2014, I began to plant trees and flowers in the fields in my attempt to give nature a safe place to be. We have a nesting pair of Bald Eagles, roughly 75 wild turkeys, about 30 head of white tail deer. We have more small animals than you could hope to count.
We currently have a mama turkey sitting on her 12 eggs on our lakeside patio.
The lake is well stocked with fish, large and small mouth bass, crappies, blue gills and sunfish as well as a decent supply of turtles. We have a raft and a paddle boat on the water for fun.
There are also two large aluminum pole barns, 60 x 40. In one, I built a large indoor grow with full temperature, light and humidity control and that was a marijuana rental grow from 2014 to this spring. It currently stands empty but I will put it to growing vegetables or mushrooms fairly soon. The other 60 x 40 is being built out as a machine shop.
I also have a holding pen and small building as a lock up for raising calves or pigs or goats if someone wanted to do that. It could also be fixed up for chickens.
I have a full range of farm equipment including a rototiller for the back of the tractor. If someone wanted to raise a garden for veggies to eat or for sale at the local farmers market. Such projects would be on your own time and any money raised, would be yours.
I will hire 9 workers for the mushroom growing business and 4 for the machine shop.
I would really love to find a yard and garden girl who enjoys age gap relationships or BDSM lifestyle relationships. You would answer directly to me, independently of the farm businesses. You would become my confidant, helper, assistant, and sexual muse. You would also help with planting trees or tree seeds in the fields.
I have been a dominant since birth. I married a submissive in 71 and we are still together. I became heavily involved in this lifestyle in 96. Now that I am living back on the farm again, I want my submissive or slave gal as my way of bringing my enjoyment of the lifestyle, to my farm. Limits become far more important in such a situation and you would find I am agreeable, reliable, and consistent. Limits set will be respected.
The work is easy enough, no punching a clock, just keep the lawns mowed and the flower gardens weeded. If you also wanted to work in one of the two businesses, that would in fact be a separate paying job you could easily do both.
Be in shape for outdoors work. Be 18 to about 40. Be open to lifestyle framed, living and working.
For this gal or gals, I will cover every living expense as well as some spending money, apartment, car, phone, lap top, utilities, and groceries.
Key words: DD/lg, age gap relationships, BDSM, Dominant/submissive, Owneslave
submitted by crispy48867 to AgeGapPersonals [link] [comments]
When both parents had passed, I bought out my sisters shares. I stopped all row crops in 2014 and began turning the place into a safe zone for nature.
It features a man made lake, spring fed and well stocked with fish. There are 22 acres of tillable land, some woods and rolling hills as well as several rock and flower gardens and roughly 6 or 7 acres of lawn.
In 2014, I began to plant trees and flowers in the fields in my attempt to give nature a safe place to be. We have a nesting pair of Bald Eagles, roughly 75 wild turkeys, about 30 head of white tail deer. We have more small animals than you could hope to count.
We currently have a mama turkey sitting on her 12 eggs on our lakeside patio.
The lake is well stocked with fish, large and small mouth bass, crappies, blue gills and sunfish as well as a decent supply of turtles. We have a raft and a paddle boat on the water for fun.
There are also two large aluminum pole barns, 60 x 40. In one, I built a large indoor grow with full temperature, light and humidity control and that was a marijuana rental grow from 2014 to this spring. It currently stands empty but I will put it to growing vegetables or mushrooms fairly soon. The other 60 x 40 is being built out as a machine shop.
I also have a holding pen and small building as a lock up for raising calves or pigs or goats if someone wanted to do that. It could also be fixed up for chickens.
I have a full range of farm equipment including a rototiller for the back of the tractor. If someone wanted to raise a garden for veggies to eat or for sale at the local farmers market. Such projects would be on your own time and any money raised, would be yours.
I will hire 9 workers for the mushroom growing business and 4 for the machine shop.
I would really love to find a yard and garden girl who enjoys age gap relationships or BDSM lifestyle relationships. You would answer directly to me, independently of the farm businesses. You would become my confidant, helper, assistant, and sexual muse. You would also help with planting trees or tree seeds in the fields.
I have been a dominant since birth. I married a submissive in 71 and we are still together. I became heavily involved in this lifestyle in 96. Now that I am living back on the farm again, I want my submissive or slave gal as my way of bringing my enjoyment of the lifestyle, to my farm. Limits become far more important in such a situation and you would find I am agreeable, reliable, and consistent. Limits set will be respected.
The work is easy enough, no punching a clock, just keep the lawns mowed and the flower gardens weeded. If you also wanted to work in one of the two businesses, that would in fact be a separate paying job you could easily do both.
Be in shape for outdoors work. Be 18 to about 40. Be open to lifestyle framed, living and working.
For this gal or gals, I will cover every living expense as well as some spending money, apartment, car, phone, lap top, utilities, and groceries.
Key words: DD/lg, age gap relationships, BDSM, Dominant/submissive, Owneslave
2023.05.30 20:51 artcantlose Aegon Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone
Discord Username: Art#2261
Character Name and House: Aegon Targaryen
Age: 22
Appearance: Aegon
Gift: Duelist
Skills: Swords (m), Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishing x3
Starting Title(s): Prince of Dragonstone
Starting Location: King's Landing
Family Tree: Targs
Alternate Characters: N/A
Character Name and House: Walter Brune
Age: 24
Appearance: Big
Gift: Monstrous
Skills: Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishing x3
Starting Title(s): Ser, Knight of the Kingsguard
Starting Location: King's Landing
A Prophecy Born
The life of the Black Prince remains inextricably tied to the story of the Black banner, its rise and its fall, in victory and in defeat. And to understand Aegon Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone, it is paramount that we go all the way back to when it first started, when the first of the Aegons roosted at Dragonstone and from whereupon he launched his legendary conquest of Westeros.
It was said that Daena the Dreamer, a scion of the minor Targaryen dragonlords in Old Valyria, provoked the self-exile of the small family from their ancestral homeland to the little outpost atop the volcanic island which, in time, came to be called Dragonstone. And yet, while Daena's grim dream may have set in motion a chain of events that would change the fate of the world forever, it was not until her descendant, Aegon the Dragon, wielder of old Valyrian steel and rider of the greatest dragon known to mankind, had a dream of his own. An untold threat sweeping in from the icy north with the sole objective of annihilation and a prophecy of duty and of sacrifice, of protection and of conquest. Peace through war, creation through destruction. Of ice and of fire.
House of the Dragon
If all had gone according to fate and without the meddling of petty powerbrokers and middlemen, the true line of the House of the Dragon would have never been broken, the dragons would not have been rendered extinct in some folly, and the prophecy would live on intact, passed from heir to heir, from Rhaenyra to her children, to their children, and eventually to Aegon. He would not be the 'Black Prince' as some in Westeros call him, only Aegon Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone, and eventually King of All Westeros. The House of the Dragon would continue uninterrupted like time itself... but such was not the plan of fate.
To go West, you must go East
Treachery saw the true line of the House of the Dragon exiled from their homes, forced to live in exile in the eastern continent from which their forebears had once come in exile to take refuge in the west. Some, nay, most, would call this defeat, the loss of mandate, but to the 'Blacks' (as they came to be called), it seemed almost a fulfillment of ancient prophecies and many saw it a difficult yet necessary sacrifice to make. Over time, the various heirs of Rhaenyra attempted to retake what was theirs in what came to be known as the 'Four Dances', facing defeat and destruction in each case.
And yet, in the last of these Dances, a strange thing happened. With the line of the Usurper victorious once more and Rhaenyra's line survived only by a little boy, there was talk of extinguishing the Black line right there and then, to bring an end to the conflict that had gripped the continent for almost a century. But perhaps it was a soft heart that the King Maelor was afflicted, or perhaps nothing more than pure pragmatism, but the boy was taken from the sands of Dorne, itself left a mere shell of its former glory, and warded at the Red Keep in the court of the dragons themselves. This was where the story of Aegon Targaryen began in earnest.
Growing up, the boy struck a quick friendship with Prince Daeron, then heir to the Seven Kingdoms, and the boys became inseparable. He had been told of his duty before the destruction of all his kin and he memorized his responsibilties every night, understanding the burden that he now carried. Alone and scared, he sought companionship wherever he could find it, resulting in a humble Princeling and a personality trait that persists to this day, even after all he has been blessed with in titles and honors and friendships.
However, the tragic death of Prince Daeron brought the court to a standstill, and among the most affected by this news was the Black Prince himself. Already struggling in a hostile court, the loss of a dear friend deeply impacted the Prince who found himself indulging in other passions, especially those martial in nature, as a form of meditation under the tutelage of the finest knights in the Seven Kingdom, many of them members of the illustrious Kingsguard. His friendship with Walter Brune, another ward from a Black sympathizing line, also grew during this time and the two formed an unbreakable bond.
A Prince Reborn
Like a great warhammer, as if wielded by the Warrior himself, King Maelor shocked the realm, and none more than Aegon himself, by naming him his heir and betrothing him to his young daughter Aerea in an effort to bind the Green and Black lines once and for all, to bring peace to a shattered continent. The great announcement ushered in a new era for the royal court and the realm at large. Many came down to the capital to see the King (with what business, Aegon did not know nor care) and among them were other young men such as Quentyn Baratheon and Theomore Stark, with whom the newly-made Crown Prince forged great friendships. Named Prince of Dragonstone (but not yet installed in his seat proper due to his minority), Aegon is allowed greater freedom in the Red Keep and occasionally even allowed to attend Small Council meetings. And in the year 207 AC, around the Prince's twenty-second nameday, the King made the decision to install him in his rightful seat and bestow him with the dagger Fate, harbinger of prophecy, inviting the entire realm to participate in the festivities in King's Landing to celebrate this great occasion, all the while Aegon prepares his own path towards ascension, identifying friend and foe, opportunity and threat, all in preparation for what is to come...
NPCs
Ellaria Sand, Cautious
Sarella Sand, Torturer
submitted by artcantlose to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]
Character Name and House: Aegon Targaryen
Age: 22
Appearance: Aegon
Gift: Duelist
Skills: Swords (m), Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishing x3
Starting Title(s): Prince of Dragonstone
Starting Location: King's Landing
Family Tree: Targs
Alternate Characters: N/A
Age: 24
Appearance: Big
Gift: Monstrous
Skills: Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Fishing x3
Starting Title(s): Ser, Knight of the Kingsguard
Starting Location: King's Landing
The life of the Black Prince remains inextricably tied to the story of the Black banner, its rise and its fall, in victory and in defeat. And to understand Aegon Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone, it is paramount that we go all the way back to when it first started, when the first of the Aegons roosted at Dragonstone and from whereupon he launched his legendary conquest of Westeros.
It was said that Daena the Dreamer, a scion of the minor Targaryen dragonlords in Old Valyria, provoked the self-exile of the small family from their ancestral homeland to the little outpost atop the volcanic island which, in time, came to be called Dragonstone. And yet, while Daena's grim dream may have set in motion a chain of events that would change the fate of the world forever, it was not until her descendant, Aegon the Dragon, wielder of old Valyrian steel and rider of the greatest dragon known to mankind, had a dream of his own. An untold threat sweeping in from the icy north with the sole objective of annihilation and a prophecy of duty and of sacrifice, of protection and of conquest. Peace through war, creation through destruction. Of ice and of fire.
House of the Dragon
If all had gone according to fate and without the meddling of petty powerbrokers and middlemen, the true line of the House of the Dragon would have never been broken, the dragons would not have been rendered extinct in some folly, and the prophecy would live on intact, passed from heir to heir, from Rhaenyra to her children, to their children, and eventually to Aegon. He would not be the 'Black Prince' as some in Westeros call him, only Aegon Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone, and eventually King of All Westeros. The House of the Dragon would continue uninterrupted like time itself... but such was not the plan of fate.
To go West, you must go East
Treachery saw the true line of the House of the Dragon exiled from their homes, forced to live in exile in the eastern continent from which their forebears had once come in exile to take refuge in the west. Some, nay, most, would call this defeat, the loss of mandate, but to the 'Blacks' (as they came to be called), it seemed almost a fulfillment of ancient prophecies and many saw it a difficult yet necessary sacrifice to make. Over time, the various heirs of Rhaenyra attempted to retake what was theirs in what came to be known as the 'Four Dances', facing defeat and destruction in each case.
And yet, in the last of these Dances, a strange thing happened. With the line of the Usurper victorious once more and Rhaenyra's line survived only by a little boy, there was talk of extinguishing the Black line right there and then, to bring an end to the conflict that had gripped the continent for almost a century. But perhaps it was a soft heart that the King Maelor was afflicted, or perhaps nothing more than pure pragmatism, but the boy was taken from the sands of Dorne, itself left a mere shell of its former glory, and warded at the Red Keep in the court of the dragons themselves. This was where the story of Aegon Targaryen began in earnest.
Growing up, the boy struck a quick friendship with Prince Daeron, then heir to the Seven Kingdoms, and the boys became inseparable. He had been told of his duty before the destruction of all his kin and he memorized his responsibilties every night, understanding the burden that he now carried. Alone and scared, he sought companionship wherever he could find it, resulting in a humble Princeling and a personality trait that persists to this day, even after all he has been blessed with in titles and honors and friendships.
However, the tragic death of Prince Daeron brought the court to a standstill, and among the most affected by this news was the Black Prince himself. Already struggling in a hostile court, the loss of a dear friend deeply impacted the Prince who found himself indulging in other passions, especially those martial in nature, as a form of meditation under the tutelage of the finest knights in the Seven Kingdom, many of them members of the illustrious Kingsguard. His friendship with Walter Brune, another ward from a Black sympathizing line, also grew during this time and the two formed an unbreakable bond.
A Prince Reborn
Like a great warhammer, as if wielded by the Warrior himself, King Maelor shocked the realm, and none more than Aegon himself, by naming him his heir and betrothing him to his young daughter Aerea in an effort to bind the Green and Black lines once and for all, to bring peace to a shattered continent. The great announcement ushered in a new era for the royal court and the realm at large. Many came down to the capital to see the King (with what business, Aegon did not know nor care) and among them were other young men such as Quentyn Baratheon and Theomore Stark, with whom the newly-made Crown Prince forged great friendships. Named Prince of Dragonstone (but not yet installed in his seat proper due to his minority), Aegon is allowed greater freedom in the Red Keep and occasionally even allowed to attend Small Council meetings. And in the year 207 AC, around the Prince's twenty-second nameday, the King made the decision to install him in his rightful seat and bestow him with the dagger Fate, harbinger of prophecy, inviting the entire realm to participate in the festivities in King's Landing to celebrate this great occasion, all the while Aegon prepares his own path towards ascension, identifying friend and foe, opportunity and threat, all in preparation for what is to come...
Ellaria Sand, Cautious
Sarella Sand, Torturer
2023.05.30 20:41 CIAHerpes My father always kept the shed locked. Today, I found out why (part 2)
https://www.reddit.com/nosleep/comments/13u9t3m/my_father_always_kept_the_shed_locked_today_i/Part 1:
The darkness around us was oppressive, cloying and total. Anywhere we weren’t pointing our flashlights would turn into a solid wall of black, impenetrable shadows. But we could hear something. As we walked further down the hallway, we heard soft footsteps and giggling.
Sometimes, it sounded like it came from directly behind us. At other times, it would come from the rooms all around us, the endless rooms that split off the hallway on both sides. We found some strange things in those rooms as we walked slowly, the gun raised in my hand and the bowie knife raised in my brother’s.
There were corpses in some of the rooms. Many had partially mummified in the dry, chilly air down here. Others were clearly fresher. One woman was hanging from the rafters with a note pinned to her chest. I looked back at Gil when we reached this part of the hall. We had stayed out of the rooms since the incident with the little boy, but some deep innate curiosity needed to know what was on this note. Gil nodded at me, and we walked forward side by side, scanning every corner of the room and looking behind smashed-out fish tanks and torn sofas covered in black mold for any signs that we weren’t alone in here. Once we were both satisfied, we returned to the young woman hanging in the center of the room.
She had somehow climbed up to the ceiling, opened a panel and found a sturdy enough beam or rafter to tie the rope to. Yet there was no ladder or anything remotely tall enough to reach the ceiling nearby. It was somewhat of a mystery. I explained this to Gil, who looked somewhat confused- and alarmed. He clearly hadn’t realized it until I pointed it out to him.
I turned back to the woman’s corpse, picking off the note, which had been stuck into the front of her blouse with a huge wooden splinter. Gil kept a look-out while I read, shining his light back and forth in a circle across the room, holding his ridiculously huge knife in the other hand like some sort of medieval swordsman. I saw with increasing horror that the note appeared to have been written in the woman’s own blood. Looking at her body, I saw a deep slash on her left arm, one that had clotted days ago. I looked back down at the desperate message this dying woman had left for us.
“To anyone who finds this,
“My name is Michaela Mansfield. I came in here by accident through the sewers underneath the town of Caplin. My two friends and I went exploring and got separated after a girl in our group twisted her ankle. I went forward alone to find help while my other friend stayed behind with the injured girl. After perhaps a day of being lost, my flashlight started to die, and I thought I was going to die with it. And then I saw fluorescent lights up ahead. They were flickering and looked like they might sputter out at any moment, but it was the only hope I had. I followed the lights and found myself in this hallway. When I tried to turn around and go back, the entrance to the sewers had disappeared. It was just a hallway that seemed to extend forever, the one that has haunted me for weeks now.
“Please, if you find this note, tell my parents what happened to me. Take my golden locket and return it to my mother and father as proof. I hope you have better luck getting out of here than I did.
“Goodbye, and may God forgive me for what I’m about to do.
“-Michaela.”
I looked up at Gil, with one eyebrow raised. I saw he had been reading the note over my shoulder rather than keeping a look-out. I sighed, deciding not to say anything.
“We can’t take the locket,” I said. Gil shook his head.
“We have to take the locket,” he said.
“They’re going to think we had something to do with this girl’s death if we just show up randomly with a piece of her jewelry. Actually, I think I remember when this girl and her friends went missing. It was on the news. Her parents were pleading for anyone with information to come forward. I think the cops were acting on the suspicion that it was murder or kidnapping or something. But they probably just went exploring without telling anyone and never came back.”
“We’ll wipe it down and send it anonymously through the mail with a note explaining what happened,” he said. I sighed, giving up. He was right. It was the right thing to do. But I’m sure many innocent men have gone to prison over trying to do the right thing. I pointed to the note.
“This doesn’t help us at all,” I said. He shrugged.
“Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t. It doesn’t really help us formulate a plan, but it does give us information. For example, now we know that this place probably connects to a lot more places than the shed. We might be able to get out through dozens or hundreds of exits. If it connects to a random sewer over in Caplin, then it could connect to places all over the county.”
“True,” I said, “but what if it connects to some alien world? Or to a black hole? What if it connects to some point in the void between galaxies and we get sucked out to our deaths?” He simply shrugged again, seeming apathetic to these possibilities.
“Well, in that case,” he said smugly, a half-smile forming on his lips, “our deaths would probably be a lot quicker than they would at the hands of these creatures down here.” Then he started laughing. It sounded eerie in this dark, forlorn place, where everything smelled like yeast and the floors were all wet substrates growing strange jungles of alien molds. He reached forward and took the golden locket off of the woman’s neck, placing it carefully in his pocket. We started walking out of the room together.
“Also,” I said, “the note seems to imply that the entrances are temporary. She couldn’t find her way back out after she got in here. What if they’re all like that? What if they’re like… I don’t know, lobster traps, or Venus fly traps, or something? They draw people in here, and then once they’re inside…” I stopped speaking as soon as I realized I heard someone following us.
I heard running footsteps. A high-pitched giggling started, then was cut off. We both stood there in the darkness, our flashlights pointing forward. Then the voice of that demonic little girl started up, high-pitched and somewhat inhuman-sounding. Her words all had a strange hoarseness to them, an uncanny valley sound as if she were only imitating human emotions and human speech.
“Adam’s ‘It’, but he won’t play,” she said sulkily, her voice bouncing off the walls, the rapid beat of the footsteps approaching nearer and nearer. “He says his throat hurts. So I guess I’m ‘It’! You better run!”
“God dammit,” Gil said, swinging his giant knife around from side to side as if he were going to bat a mosquito with it. His light flashed and wavered as he tried to keep a watch on all sides. But I knew she was coming from behind us. I could feel it. I kept my light shining down there, the gun raised, trying to emanate a calm I didn’t feel. Then I saw a flash of blue, zigzagging crazily past a chair leg and the snapped remains of a folding table, tiny legs pumping at a superhuman speed. She looked like little more than an approaching blur.
“Listen to me very carefully,” I said, trying to keep my gun pointed on her. “We need to cut off her head.”
“What?!” Gil said. “Why?”
“Last time, bullets didn’t work on…” I began, but then she was on us, no more than a few feet away, jumping over the discarded junk that intermittently appeared on the sides of the hallway. And then I felt myself knocked over by a tremendous force that took the air right out of my lungs.
I still had my hands crossed in front of me, one holding the gun and the other the flashlight. The skeletal face of the creature was mere inches away from my own, biting and gnashing madly. I could see small muscles in the back of her mouth working furiously. She was pushing down on my arms with all of her strength, which was far more than such a small body seemed to suggest.
The gun was pressed closely to the front of her chest. I was about to pull the trigger when I felt the weight start to lift off of me. I saw Gil behind her, wrapping his arm around her neck and pulling her back. She still gnashed and bit in a mad frenzy, small droplets of blood and saliva dripping off her mouth and into my face. She kicked her body back and forth like an enraged snake, freeing her neck from Gil’s grasp. He went to grab her, and her skeletal face opened up wide, the jaw hanging halfway down her neck.
With the speed of a cat snatching a mouse, she leapt forward, snapping her jaw around some of the fingers on Gil’s left hand. I saw his index and middle finger disappear into her mouth, and he began to scream in agony.
I was scrambling back to my feet by this point. I ran at the girl, using all of my body weight to push her. She went tumbling on the floor, her mouth flying open as she landed hard on the wood. Two mutilated fingers flew out, rolling across the floor and disappearing into a dome of black mold. I was sweating heavily now, drops of perspiration rolling down my forehead and stinging my eyes. I tried to wipe them away, thinking of what to do. My mind screamed at me to shoot, to empty my entire magazine into this little monster, but I knew in my heart that it would just be wasting bullets. Deep down, I knew what I had told Gil earlier was true- we had to cut off her head. Just like in the old myths of vampires or demons, I had a deep instinctual feeling that fire or decapitation would be the only way to deal with her, and as for fire, we had no flamethrowers.
“Gil!” I said. “Get ready!” He was holding his spurting hand tightly against his chest, still grasping the bowie knife in his right. His face was alarmingly pale and white, and I wondered if he might not just pass out right here and doom both of us. But he hadn’t dropped the knife, even while fighting the writhing monster, even while getting his fingers bitten off. He is stronger than he looks, I reassured myself.
A sense of calm and clarity overcame me then, and I saw what I needed to do. The demonic girl was getting up, growling and spitting and laughing. I ran over and stomped on her back, putting my full weight on her body to drive her back down. Then I took the pistol and shot her through the back of the kneecaps, one bullet for each.
She wailed as dark red blood poured out of her small legs, turning her head almost all the way back to try and bite me. Her hands were changing, the small fingers lengthening and darkening into sharp, black claws, and I knew our time was running out.
“Now!” I yelled, and Gil ran forward, using his right hand to swing the bowie knife. I watched it fall in a descending arc, as if in slow motion, watched it approach the spitting skeletal face that looked at us with black eyes and unfathomable hatred. It went clean through, and was so sharp that for a split second, the head stayed there, the face blank, looking like it was still attached to the body. Then it tumbled forward, dark blood spurting out of the neck and staining the white and gold molds underneath with its crimson hue.
Gil fell back against the wall, breathing fast. He dropped the bowie knife on the floor. I saw his flashlight, still on, had rolled against an ancient wheelchair that was probably new back in the 1960s. I stopped and grabbed it, shoving it in my pants belt so it would give me more light to work with. Gil still had his hand clasped to his chest. Slowly, I put my hands forward and grasped his injured hand by the wrist. He inhaled deeply, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.
“We’re going to need to wrap it in something,” I said. He nodded. I took off my shirt and started ripping long slices from the bottom, then wrapping them around his hand tightly in an attempt to slow the bleeding. When I got to the fingers, he flinched and seemed to waver on his feet. I reached a hand out in case he was about to fall over, but he managed to steady himself. “All done,” I told him as I put my shirt back on, which was missing the bottom third portion now and looked rather absurd, almost as if I was wearing a woman’s crop top.
“It feels like my hand’s on fire,” Gil said in a hoarse whisper. “We’re going to need water, too.” I was feeling the start of dehydration pangs myself.
“That girl, Michaela, her note said she was stuck in here for weeks. That must mean there’s water. Assuming her counting was correct, seeing as there’s no sun or sky to go by. If there was no water, she would have died after a few days, especially being on the move,” I said. I was hoping that we would find food as well, but it wasn’t really life or death. I knew that we could potentially go weeks without food and still live, even though it would feel extremely unpleasant and weaken us physically. I sighed, shining my flashlight at Gil.
“Ready to keep going?” I asked, and then the lights started turning back on. Most of them were still either out or flickering on and off rapidly, but enough of them were lit to see down the hall.
“Oh, thank God,” Gil said. “At least now we’re not walking through this junkyard in the fucking dark.” Up ahead, I saw something new as well. It looked like the hallway forked off. I pointed at it, and Gil’s eyes widened. “Finally, after walking for endless miles, this place does something!” As we neared it, I saw there was even a sign. One pointed left, reading, “To Veriden”. The other pointed right, reading, “To Rusty Township”.
“Hmm…” I said, “I’ve never heard of either of those places. They’re definitely not in the county.” Gil’s dark brown eyes looked past me, into the room behind us, and they widened. I reached for the pistol, turning quickly, but I found nothing but a mostly empty, half-lit room. Against the corner was a vending machine and a soda machine.
“Oh thank God!” I said, running forward, reaching in my pocket for some money. Then I remembered I had left my wallet at home. After all, I thought we were just going into the shed. Gil strode right past me.
“Don’t be an idiot,” he said, taking the butt of his bowie knife and smashing the glass of the vending machine. “You don’t need money. Who’s going to call the cops, the walking undead and demons here?” He pulled out brands I had never heard of: Overholser’s Beef Jerky, chocolate bars with caramel and peanuts called Eisenhearts, Took’s salt-water taffy and Riza’s fruit snacks. The other vending machine was no less alien, as I smashed it with the butt of the gun and found Springy’s Lemon-Lime Soda, Kanna-brand cola and Saint Kristoff’s Ginger Ale, among others. Not one of the brands was recognizable from our world.
We tore into the food with ravenous hunger, chugging bottle after bottle of soda. It all tasted similar enough to what we expected, though some of it was rather strange. The ginger ale, for example, had small silver shavings on the bottom of each bottle, their trademark gimmick, and Gil swallowed them and nearly ended up choking. I smacked his back hard, laughing.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to drink those,” I said sarcastically. We were filling up our pockets when the drumming started from down the hall. It was so sudden and loud in the otherwise perfect silence that I jumped nearly a foot, spinning around and taking out the gun. It was becoming second-nature to me by this point, and so much adrenaline was constantly pounding through my body that I was as jumpy as a cat.
The drumming grew louder and fast. It reminded me of the drums some ancient Aztecs must have used when cutting out the hearts of prisoners of war. It had a deep, primal beat to it that would be useful for stirring people up during acts of savagery and violence. It was coming from the direction labeled “Rusty Township”. I could barely hear myself think over the intensity of the drum beats. I tried to motion to Gil that I would go first since I had the gun but that he should stay right behind me, but he looked like he was just smiling and nodding and likely hadn’t understood a bit of what I was trying to communicate. Sighing, I started forward down the corridor.
I peaked my head around the next corner, where a doorway opened up into a huge gymnasium. The ceiling towered over me. I saw dirty, disheveled people standing in a semi-circle around a metal coffin that was stood up on one end against the back wall. Blood was pouring out the bottom, following a river of clotted gore that stretched across the gymnasium and curved off to the right corner. The people surrounding the metal coffin were laughing, clapping their hands and cheering, stomping their feet in time with the beats. I saw scurvy blossoms and festering sores across their faces and exposed skin. And, for the first time since we had gotten lost down here, there were windows around the edge of this massive chamber, windows showing the outside world. I ran over, looking out.
I saw a city on fire, the buildings burning and sending up thick, black plumes of smoke. It reminded me of what Berlin at the end of World War II must have looked like. Fronts of houses had collapsed inwards, the streets were cracked and filled with debris and I saw bodies hanging from lampposts up and down the street. Many of them were so old that the ropes were starting to fray. Some of the bodies had started to mummify, with thin, papery skin clinging tightly to desiccated muscles and hanging jaws.
Around the corners of houses and alleyways, I caught glimpses of strange shapes: crouching half-animal, half-human beings who carried sledgehammers and long knives, robed figures who seemed to float over the devastated and cracked ground, and children with red skin who I saw crawling up walls on all fours like geckos.
The drums stopped as suddenly as they had started. My ears were still ringing. I turned back to the semi-circle of sickly, dirty people. They had stopped their clapping and dancing and cheering, and now just stood like statues, staring at Gil and me with flat, dead eyes.
“You shouldn’t stare into the Township,” a thin woman with filthy black hair said. A strange accent crept into her words, one that I had never heard before. “Strange things live in there, and they come out when the drums stop.” She stepped forward, whispering. “We keep them away by giving a sacrifice every time the drumbeats come. The blood satisfies the ones in the city and the others in the halls. We will all have our turn in the coffin, sure enough.”
Another member of their group stepped forward and opened up the metal coffin. I saw long, thin spikes sliding out of a body, and then a pale form fell out, landing on the dirty floor with a wet smacking sound. The smell of coppery blood in the air was now overwhelming. Gil and I both gasped in unison as we saw this form on the floor was a person, a young woman in fact, almost totally drained of blood. Dozens of puncture marks were sliced into her face, neck, stomach, legs and arms. An expression of pain and horror was frozen onto her dead face, her wide, staring eyes looking up at the ceiling.
“You killed her!” Gil said, aghast, still clutching his mutilated hand close to his body in an unconscious gesture of his anxiety and fear. “Why? Why would you put someone from your own group in an iron maiden?”
“Iron maiden?” the woman with the black hair in front responded. “Aye, that’s as good a name for it as any. We call her the steel mistress in my world, in my time, and the steel mistress sees a lot of use…” She gestured out the window, her face emotionless. “You see my world, after all. It is a place that always reeks of death, and more often than not, reeks of fire too.”
“What part of the United States is this?” Gil asked, gesturing out the window. The woman frowned.
“I do not know these ‘United States’,” she said, shrugging.
“What country are you from?” he asked.
“Why, Victoriat, of course. But Victoriat only has three states. Rusty Township was the capitol, until ‘twas attacked by the Black Hand Allegiance soldiers. We’re all refugees from Rusty here,” she said sadly.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” I said to Gil under my breath. He nodded, sighing.
“Can you tell us how to get back to the stone steps? Big, circular stone steps that go around and around?” Gil asked the woman in one last attempt to get a sensical answer out of her. She nodded her grimy face.
“Aye, in the center of the Undergraves,” she said, pointing past the iron maiden and the dead body on the ground. I realized that there was a sign up on the ceiling in front of the next corridor, one pointing left and saying, “To Rusty Township center” and one pointing right and saying, “To the Undergraves”. The sign was so covered in dust and specks of black mold that it was no wonder I hadn’t seen it.
“Do you have any maps of this place?” I asked the dirty woman and her friends. They all shook their heads.
“There are no maps of the Undergraves, but the stairs be at the center. You just take a right here and follow the path straight. Ignore all forks to the right or left, just keep following it straight…” We were walking away fast now, trying to leave these lunatics behind. “But you’d be mad to go there now after the drums just stopped!” Her voice was fading rapidly as Gil and I ran forward.
“Those people were fucking nuts,” Gil said. “Killing each other just because they think the blood keeps away demons.”
“Brother,” I said through heavy breaths, “if you and I lived down here for a few months, we would be just as crazy as those people.”
As we jogged into the Undergraves, I realized the walls were turning into something organic and pulsating, like being in some huge intestine. Massive forks to the left and right appeared every few hundred feet. From them, dark shapes appeared, stepping forward. They moved shakily, blurring as they stepped to the right or left randomly, their mouths opened wide and seeming to be filled with blackness. Their eyes looked like pure black sockets, and the rest of their body was no more than a shaky silhouette of shadows. When the first few stepped forward, I didn’t know what to do.
I gingerly raised the gun, deciding better safe than sorry. They were coming at me fast, jerking randomly, their skin seeming to writhe and shiver as I stared at it. As they got within ten feet of me, a deep burning heat started to fill my body, as if I were standing in front of an oven. I started shooting, one bullet for each of their center mass, and they dissipated into smoke. I watched the black stuff curl back into the red, pulsating room they had just come out of. The sense of heat dissipated instantly, but my skin still felt warm and strange.
We were running through the Undergraves now. Miles of slick gore covering the floors, strange tissues growing across the rooms and tumor-like sacs covering the fluorescent lights, which even here flickered endlessly across the ceiling.
In many of the rooms, I saw people strung upside down from the ceiling, their ribs sliced open. Strange, hunched figures sliced the meat into strips, preparing it and drying it. One of them looked at me with its pig-like face, its bovine legs walking across the sticky floor, slowly and uncertainly at first, and then running for me. I was running low on ammunition by this point. Gil came from behind and disemboweled the creature as it raised its butcher’s knife. It had been so focused on me that it hadn’t noticed him jogging up with his blood-stained bowie knife in one hand.
“I can’t run much longer,” Gil said, panting. I nodded wearily. Neither could I. “My hand is still on fire, too. I really should have gotten medical attention, like, twelve hours ago…”
Part of me wondered if the stairs were even here, or if we had been lied to, sent into the worst part of this strange hall to become sacrifices to these abominations. We had, after all, put our lives in the hands of a band of lunatics.
But at this point, we had nowhere else to go but forwards.
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The darkness around us was oppressive, cloying and total. Anywhere we weren’t pointing our flashlights would turn into a solid wall of black, impenetrable shadows. But we could hear something. As we walked further down the hallway, we heard soft footsteps and giggling.
Sometimes, it sounded like it came from directly behind us. At other times, it would come from the rooms all around us, the endless rooms that split off the hallway on both sides. We found some strange things in those rooms as we walked slowly, the gun raised in my hand and the bowie knife raised in my brother’s.
There were corpses in some of the rooms. Many had partially mummified in the dry, chilly air down here. Others were clearly fresher. One woman was hanging from the rafters with a note pinned to her chest. I looked back at Gil when we reached this part of the hall. We had stayed out of the rooms since the incident with the little boy, but some deep innate curiosity needed to know what was on this note. Gil nodded at me, and we walked forward side by side, scanning every corner of the room and looking behind smashed-out fish tanks and torn sofas covered in black mold for any signs that we weren’t alone in here. Once we were both satisfied, we returned to the young woman hanging in the center of the room.
She had somehow climbed up to the ceiling, opened a panel and found a sturdy enough beam or rafter to tie the rope to. Yet there was no ladder or anything remotely tall enough to reach the ceiling nearby. It was somewhat of a mystery. I explained this to Gil, who looked somewhat confused- and alarmed. He clearly hadn’t realized it until I pointed it out to him.
I turned back to the woman’s corpse, picking off the note, which had been stuck into the front of her blouse with a huge wooden splinter. Gil kept a look-out while I read, shining his light back and forth in a circle across the room, holding his ridiculously huge knife in the other hand like some sort of medieval swordsman. I saw with increasing horror that the note appeared to have been written in the woman’s own blood. Looking at her body, I saw a deep slash on her left arm, one that had clotted days ago. I looked back down at the desperate message this dying woman had left for us.
“To anyone who finds this,
“My name is Michaela Mansfield. I came in here by accident through the sewers underneath the town of Caplin. My two friends and I went exploring and got separated after a girl in our group twisted her ankle. I went forward alone to find help while my other friend stayed behind with the injured girl. After perhaps a day of being lost, my flashlight started to die, and I thought I was going to die with it. And then I saw fluorescent lights up ahead. They were flickering and looked like they might sputter out at any moment, but it was the only hope I had. I followed the lights and found myself in this hallway. When I tried to turn around and go back, the entrance to the sewers had disappeared. It was just a hallway that seemed to extend forever, the one that has haunted me for weeks now.
“Please, if you find this note, tell my parents what happened to me. Take my golden locket and return it to my mother and father as proof. I hope you have better luck getting out of here than I did.
“Goodbye, and may God forgive me for what I’m about to do.
“-Michaela.”
I looked up at Gil, with one eyebrow raised. I saw he had been reading the note over my shoulder rather than keeping a look-out. I sighed, deciding not to say anything.
“We can’t take the locket,” I said. Gil shook his head.
“We have to take the locket,” he said.
“They’re going to think we had something to do with this girl’s death if we just show up randomly with a piece of her jewelry. Actually, I think I remember when this girl and her friends went missing. It was on the news. Her parents were pleading for anyone with information to come forward. I think the cops were acting on the suspicion that it was murder or kidnapping or something. But they probably just went exploring without telling anyone and never came back.”
“We’ll wipe it down and send it anonymously through the mail with a note explaining what happened,” he said. I sighed, giving up. He was right. It was the right thing to do. But I’m sure many innocent men have gone to prison over trying to do the right thing. I pointed to the note.
“This doesn’t help us at all,” I said. He shrugged.
“Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t. It doesn’t really help us formulate a plan, but it does give us information. For example, now we know that this place probably connects to a lot more places than the shed. We might be able to get out through dozens or hundreds of exits. If it connects to a random sewer over in Caplin, then it could connect to places all over the county.”
“True,” I said, “but what if it connects to some alien world? Or to a black hole? What if it connects to some point in the void between galaxies and we get sucked out to our deaths?” He simply shrugged again, seeming apathetic to these possibilities.
“Well, in that case,” he said smugly, a half-smile forming on his lips, “our deaths would probably be a lot quicker than they would at the hands of these creatures down here.” Then he started laughing. It sounded eerie in this dark, forlorn place, where everything smelled like yeast and the floors were all wet substrates growing strange jungles of alien molds. He reached forward and took the golden locket off of the woman’s neck, placing it carefully in his pocket. We started walking out of the room together.
“Also,” I said, “the note seems to imply that the entrances are temporary. She couldn’t find her way back out after she got in here. What if they’re all like that? What if they’re like… I don’t know, lobster traps, or Venus fly traps, or something? They draw people in here, and then once they’re inside…” I stopped speaking as soon as I realized I heard someone following us.
I heard running footsteps. A high-pitched giggling started, then was cut off. We both stood there in the darkness, our flashlights pointing forward. Then the voice of that demonic little girl started up, high-pitched and somewhat inhuman-sounding. Her words all had a strange hoarseness to them, an uncanny valley sound as if she were only imitating human emotions and human speech.
“Adam’s ‘It’, but he won’t play,” she said sulkily, her voice bouncing off the walls, the rapid beat of the footsteps approaching nearer and nearer. “He says his throat hurts. So I guess I’m ‘It’! You better run!”
“God dammit,” Gil said, swinging his giant knife around from side to side as if he were going to bat a mosquito with it. His light flashed and wavered as he tried to keep a watch on all sides. But I knew she was coming from behind us. I could feel it. I kept my light shining down there, the gun raised, trying to emanate a calm I didn’t feel. Then I saw a flash of blue, zigzagging crazily past a chair leg and the snapped remains of a folding table, tiny legs pumping at a superhuman speed. She looked like little more than an approaching blur.
“Listen to me very carefully,” I said, trying to keep my gun pointed on her. “We need to cut off her head.”
“What?!” Gil said. “Why?”
“Last time, bullets didn’t work on…” I began, but then she was on us, no more than a few feet away, jumping over the discarded junk that intermittently appeared on the sides of the hallway. And then I felt myself knocked over by a tremendous force that took the air right out of my lungs.
I still had my hands crossed in front of me, one holding the gun and the other the flashlight. The skeletal face of the creature was mere inches away from my own, biting and gnashing madly. I could see small muscles in the back of her mouth working furiously. She was pushing down on my arms with all of her strength, which was far more than such a small body seemed to suggest.
The gun was pressed closely to the front of her chest. I was about to pull the trigger when I felt the weight start to lift off of me. I saw Gil behind her, wrapping his arm around her neck and pulling her back. She still gnashed and bit in a mad frenzy, small droplets of blood and saliva dripping off her mouth and into my face. She kicked her body back and forth like an enraged snake, freeing her neck from Gil’s grasp. He went to grab her, and her skeletal face opened up wide, the jaw hanging halfway down her neck.
With the speed of a cat snatching a mouse, she leapt forward, snapping her jaw around some of the fingers on Gil’s left hand. I saw his index and middle finger disappear into her mouth, and he began to scream in agony.
I was scrambling back to my feet by this point. I ran at the girl, using all of my body weight to push her. She went tumbling on the floor, her mouth flying open as she landed hard on the wood. Two mutilated fingers flew out, rolling across the floor and disappearing into a dome of black mold. I was sweating heavily now, drops of perspiration rolling down my forehead and stinging my eyes. I tried to wipe them away, thinking of what to do. My mind screamed at me to shoot, to empty my entire magazine into this little monster, but I knew in my heart that it would just be wasting bullets. Deep down, I knew what I had told Gil earlier was true- we had to cut off her head. Just like in the old myths of vampires or demons, I had a deep instinctual feeling that fire or decapitation would be the only way to deal with her, and as for fire, we had no flamethrowers.
“Gil!” I said. “Get ready!” He was holding his spurting hand tightly against his chest, still grasping the bowie knife in his right. His face was alarmingly pale and white, and I wondered if he might not just pass out right here and doom both of us. But he hadn’t dropped the knife, even while fighting the writhing monster, even while getting his fingers bitten off. He is stronger than he looks, I reassured myself.
A sense of calm and clarity overcame me then, and I saw what I needed to do. The demonic girl was getting up, growling and spitting and laughing. I ran over and stomped on her back, putting my full weight on her body to drive her back down. Then I took the pistol and shot her through the back of the kneecaps, one bullet for each.
She wailed as dark red blood poured out of her small legs, turning her head almost all the way back to try and bite me. Her hands were changing, the small fingers lengthening and darkening into sharp, black claws, and I knew our time was running out.
“Now!” I yelled, and Gil ran forward, using his right hand to swing the bowie knife. I watched it fall in a descending arc, as if in slow motion, watched it approach the spitting skeletal face that looked at us with black eyes and unfathomable hatred. It went clean through, and was so sharp that for a split second, the head stayed there, the face blank, looking like it was still attached to the body. Then it tumbled forward, dark blood spurting out of the neck and staining the white and gold molds underneath with its crimson hue.
Gil fell back against the wall, breathing fast. He dropped the bowie knife on the floor. I saw his flashlight, still on, had rolled against an ancient wheelchair that was probably new back in the 1960s. I stopped and grabbed it, shoving it in my pants belt so it would give me more light to work with. Gil still had his hand clasped to his chest. Slowly, I put my hands forward and grasped his injured hand by the wrist. He inhaled deeply, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.
“We’re going to need to wrap it in something,” I said. He nodded. I took off my shirt and started ripping long slices from the bottom, then wrapping them around his hand tightly in an attempt to slow the bleeding. When I got to the fingers, he flinched and seemed to waver on his feet. I reached a hand out in case he was about to fall over, but he managed to steady himself. “All done,” I told him as I put my shirt back on, which was missing the bottom third portion now and looked rather absurd, almost as if I was wearing a woman’s crop top.
“It feels like my hand’s on fire,” Gil said in a hoarse whisper. “We’re going to need water, too.” I was feeling the start of dehydration pangs myself.
“That girl, Michaela, her note said she was stuck in here for weeks. That must mean there’s water. Assuming her counting was correct, seeing as there’s no sun or sky to go by. If there was no water, she would have died after a few days, especially being on the move,” I said. I was hoping that we would find food as well, but it wasn’t really life or death. I knew that we could potentially go weeks without food and still live, even though it would feel extremely unpleasant and weaken us physically. I sighed, shining my flashlight at Gil.
“Ready to keep going?” I asked, and then the lights started turning back on. Most of them were still either out or flickering on and off rapidly, but enough of them were lit to see down the hall.
“Oh, thank God,” Gil said. “At least now we’re not walking through this junkyard in the fucking dark.” Up ahead, I saw something new as well. It looked like the hallway forked off. I pointed at it, and Gil’s eyes widened. “Finally, after walking for endless miles, this place does something!” As we neared it, I saw there was even a sign. One pointed left, reading, “To Veriden”. The other pointed right, reading, “To Rusty Township”.
“Hmm…” I said, “I’ve never heard of either of those places. They’re definitely not in the county.” Gil’s dark brown eyes looked past me, into the room behind us, and they widened. I reached for the pistol, turning quickly, but I found nothing but a mostly empty, half-lit room. Against the corner was a vending machine and a soda machine.
“Oh thank God!” I said, running forward, reaching in my pocket for some money. Then I remembered I had left my wallet at home. After all, I thought we were just going into the shed. Gil strode right past me.
“Don’t be an idiot,” he said, taking the butt of his bowie knife and smashing the glass of the vending machine. “You don’t need money. Who’s going to call the cops, the walking undead and demons here?” He pulled out brands I had never heard of: Overholser’s Beef Jerky, chocolate bars with caramel and peanuts called Eisenhearts, Took’s salt-water taffy and Riza’s fruit snacks. The other vending machine was no less alien, as I smashed it with the butt of the gun and found Springy’s Lemon-Lime Soda, Kanna-brand cola and Saint Kristoff’s Ginger Ale, among others. Not one of the brands was recognizable from our world.
We tore into the food with ravenous hunger, chugging bottle after bottle of soda. It all tasted similar enough to what we expected, though some of it was rather strange. The ginger ale, for example, had small silver shavings on the bottom of each bottle, their trademark gimmick, and Gil swallowed them and nearly ended up choking. I smacked his back hard, laughing.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to drink those,” I said sarcastically. We were filling up our pockets when the drumming started from down the hall. It was so sudden and loud in the otherwise perfect silence that I jumped nearly a foot, spinning around and taking out the gun. It was becoming second-nature to me by this point, and so much adrenaline was constantly pounding through my body that I was as jumpy as a cat.
The drumming grew louder and fast. It reminded me of the drums some ancient Aztecs must have used when cutting out the hearts of prisoners of war. It had a deep, primal beat to it that would be useful for stirring people up during acts of savagery and violence. It was coming from the direction labeled “Rusty Township”. I could barely hear myself think over the intensity of the drum beats. I tried to motion to Gil that I would go first since I had the gun but that he should stay right behind me, but he looked like he was just smiling and nodding and likely hadn’t understood a bit of what I was trying to communicate. Sighing, I started forward down the corridor.
I peaked my head around the next corner, where a doorway opened up into a huge gymnasium. The ceiling towered over me. I saw dirty, disheveled people standing in a semi-circle around a metal coffin that was stood up on one end against the back wall. Blood was pouring out the bottom, following a river of clotted gore that stretched across the gymnasium and curved off to the right corner. The people surrounding the metal coffin were laughing, clapping their hands and cheering, stomping their feet in time with the beats. I saw scurvy blossoms and festering sores across their faces and exposed skin. And, for the first time since we had gotten lost down here, there were windows around the edge of this massive chamber, windows showing the outside world. I ran over, looking out.
I saw a city on fire, the buildings burning and sending up thick, black plumes of smoke. It reminded me of what Berlin at the end of World War II must have looked like. Fronts of houses had collapsed inwards, the streets were cracked and filled with debris and I saw bodies hanging from lampposts up and down the street. Many of them were so old that the ropes were starting to fray. Some of the bodies had started to mummify, with thin, papery skin clinging tightly to desiccated muscles and hanging jaws.
Around the corners of houses and alleyways, I caught glimpses of strange shapes: crouching half-animal, half-human beings who carried sledgehammers and long knives, robed figures who seemed to float over the devastated and cracked ground, and children with red skin who I saw crawling up walls on all fours like geckos.
The drums stopped as suddenly as they had started. My ears were still ringing. I turned back to the semi-circle of sickly, dirty people. They had stopped their clapping and dancing and cheering, and now just stood like statues, staring at Gil and me with flat, dead eyes.
“You shouldn’t stare into the Township,” a thin woman with filthy black hair said. A strange accent crept into her words, one that I had never heard before. “Strange things live in there, and they come out when the drums stop.” She stepped forward, whispering. “We keep them away by giving a sacrifice every time the drumbeats come. The blood satisfies the ones in the city and the others in the halls. We will all have our turn in the coffin, sure enough.”
Another member of their group stepped forward and opened up the metal coffin. I saw long, thin spikes sliding out of a body, and then a pale form fell out, landing on the dirty floor with a wet smacking sound. The smell of coppery blood in the air was now overwhelming. Gil and I both gasped in unison as we saw this form on the floor was a person, a young woman in fact, almost totally drained of blood. Dozens of puncture marks were sliced into her face, neck, stomach, legs and arms. An expression of pain and horror was frozen onto her dead face, her wide, staring eyes looking up at the ceiling.
“You killed her!” Gil said, aghast, still clutching his mutilated hand close to his body in an unconscious gesture of his anxiety and fear. “Why? Why would you put someone from your own group in an iron maiden?”
“Iron maiden?” the woman with the black hair in front responded. “Aye, that’s as good a name for it as any. We call her the steel mistress in my world, in my time, and the steel mistress sees a lot of use…” She gestured out the window, her face emotionless. “You see my world, after all. It is a place that always reeks of death, and more often than not, reeks of fire too.”
“What part of the United States is this?” Gil asked, gesturing out the window. The woman frowned.
“I do not know these ‘United States’,” she said, shrugging.
“What country are you from?” he asked.
“Why, Victoriat, of course. But Victoriat only has three states. Rusty Township was the capitol, until ‘twas attacked by the Black Hand Allegiance soldiers. We’re all refugees from Rusty here,” she said sadly.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” I said to Gil under my breath. He nodded, sighing.
“Can you tell us how to get back to the stone steps? Big, circular stone steps that go around and around?” Gil asked the woman in one last attempt to get a sensical answer out of her. She nodded her grimy face.
“Aye, in the center of the Undergraves,” she said, pointing past the iron maiden and the dead body on the ground. I realized that there was a sign up on the ceiling in front of the next corridor, one pointing left and saying, “To Rusty Township center” and one pointing right and saying, “To the Undergraves”. The sign was so covered in dust and specks of black mold that it was no wonder I hadn’t seen it.
“Do you have any maps of this place?” I asked the dirty woman and her friends. They all shook their heads.
“There are no maps of the Undergraves, but the stairs be at the center. You just take a right here and follow the path straight. Ignore all forks to the right or left, just keep following it straight…” We were walking away fast now, trying to leave these lunatics behind. “But you’d be mad to go there now after the drums just stopped!” Her voice was fading rapidly as Gil and I ran forward.
“Those people were fucking nuts,” Gil said. “Killing each other just because they think the blood keeps away demons.”
“Brother,” I said through heavy breaths, “if you and I lived down here for a few months, we would be just as crazy as those people.”
As we jogged into the Undergraves, I realized the walls were turning into something organic and pulsating, like being in some huge intestine. Massive forks to the left and right appeared every few hundred feet. From them, dark shapes appeared, stepping forward. They moved shakily, blurring as they stepped to the right or left randomly, their mouths opened wide and seeming to be filled with blackness. Their eyes looked like pure black sockets, and the rest of their body was no more than a shaky silhouette of shadows. When the first few stepped forward, I didn’t know what to do.
I gingerly raised the gun, deciding better safe than sorry. They were coming at me fast, jerking randomly, their skin seeming to writhe and shiver as I stared at it. As they got within ten feet of me, a deep burning heat started to fill my body, as if I were standing in front of an oven. I started shooting, one bullet for each of their center mass, and they dissipated into smoke. I watched the black stuff curl back into the red, pulsating room they had just come out of. The sense of heat dissipated instantly, but my skin still felt warm and strange.
We were running through the Undergraves now. Miles of slick gore covering the floors, strange tissues growing across the rooms and tumor-like sacs covering the fluorescent lights, which even here flickered endlessly across the ceiling.
In many of the rooms, I saw people strung upside down from the ceiling, their ribs sliced open. Strange, hunched figures sliced the meat into strips, preparing it and drying it. One of them looked at me with its pig-like face, its bovine legs walking across the sticky floor, slowly and uncertainly at first, and then running for me. I was running low on ammunition by this point. Gil came from behind and disemboweled the creature as it raised its butcher’s knife. It had been so focused on me that it hadn’t noticed him jogging up with his blood-stained bowie knife in one hand.
“I can’t run much longer,” Gil said, panting. I nodded wearily. Neither could I. “My hand is still on fire, too. I really should have gotten medical attention, like, twelve hours ago…”
Part of me wondered if the stairs were even here, or if we had been lied to, sent into the worst part of this strange hall to become sacrifices to these abominations. We had, after all, put our lives in the hands of a band of lunatics.
But at this point, we had nowhere else to go but forwards.
2023.05.30 20:28 NewYearsD A Detailed Post-Trip Report 2 Weeks in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka) 28/M/US
I spent 2 weeks traveling through Japan - Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and I'm writing this for those who are thinking about visiting. To preface, I did travel with a friend but spent a lot of time on my own. I'll cover as much as possible.
Pre-Trip
I booked a flight with American Airlines / Delta Airlines for $590 round-trip three months before departing.
I flew out of Los Angeles to Tokyo (Haneda). The trip started on February 9 and ended on February 20. I booked my accommodation before arriving in Japan. I used Hostelworld and Agoda. More about the hostels and hotels I booked are below.
COVID Screening and Visa information for US Citizens only
During the time I visited, Japan still required visitors to be fully vaccinated and have a pre-screening for arrival. First I had to do a pre-screening for American Airlines on VeriFly (please do this a day before checking in at the airport if so). Then, save yourself time and use Visit Japan Web (http://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/) and do the pre-screening requirements a couple of days before departure.
When you land in Tokyo, immediately after deplaning, swaths of airport personnel ask if you have the screener filled out and ready to go. If you don’t, they put you to the side and ask you to fill it out using the airport’s wifi. It takes time and you still have to go through customs after.
Visas for US citizens is a free, 3-month visa if I recall correctly. Bring your COVID vaccination card just in case they ask for it.
Tech/Phone
I took my iPhone 14 Pro (unlocked) and connected buying Ubigi 10gb data plan. Do this before flying to Japan. When you land, you can activate your data plan directly on your phone. I didn’t get pocket wifi as the Ubigi worked perfectly.
Download the Ubigi app. They give instructions but please follow them.
Apps that I used:
Google Maps: you can download offline maps.
Google Translate: Use this everywhere you go. You can use the camera feature and it can translate Japanese to English really great. It saved me a lot of hassle when ordering at restaurants.
Currency Converter
You might want to download a VPN if you want to use Netflix and such. Express VPN is one I’d recommend.
Money/Currency
I took my Charles Schwab debit card and a backup Chase credit card/Chase debit card. Surprisingly, a lot of stores in Japan are cash-heavy; especially small shops and restaurants. My budget for the trip was $2000 with flights included.
Hostels and hotels were around $20-35 USD. Food prices were about $7-$20 a meal. It can get really expensive if you eat at fine dining restaurants. That being said, I stuck to eating mostly at hole-in-the-wall establishments where no English was spoken. Believe me when I say that the best ramen I ever had was only $7 USD. More on what restaurants I recommend are down below. If you really want to save money, don’t buy alcohol.
A solid budget for me was $60-$80 per day without lodging expenses. Some days, I only spent $40 which was all food (I spare no expense for food), then some days I went over because I bought cool souvenirs for myself and some excursions were pricey. You can visit Japan for less but I didn’t want to money pinch myself because I was only there for 2 weeks.
Transportation
I love Japan for this reason. So here’s my take: If you are visiting Japan for exactly 14 days; get the JR Pass on Klook. You buy this a month before departing your home country. For me, Klook delivered it about a week after I bought it over Mail. You could buy either a 7, 14, or 21-day JR pass so I would recommend planning a trip that matches these exact number of days to get the most out of your money.
Now imagine you’re in Japan. It is your first day officially visiting…go to a JR Pass office at any major train station and ask them to redeem your pass. They will ask for the paper ticket that arrived in the mail to your home and they will ask for your passport. After they verify that it is you, they will give you a small ticket which will be your JR pass. DO NOT LOSE THIS! I believe they will not replace it. On how to use it, check out this video.
Now to navigate, I used a combination of Google Maps and Apple Maps to get around. Use whichever one is more comfortable for you. These 2 apps are really exceptional at mapping out the best routes and the times trains depart. Note: the JR Pass only works for JR rail lines! Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka all have their own subways and train lines with their own payment system. More on this…
So the best way to get around the city is using a Suica card. These are sold virtually at any train station. If you can't find it, ask a train station attendant and say “Suica?”. They point you in the right direction.
A Suica card can be refilled unlimited times and can be used for any rail lines (JR included, but not for Bullet Trains). It is used by tapping at the turnstiles to enter the rails and at any vending machine in Japan! Also at arcades! It is a total mindblower haha Also in Tokyo, some hostels or hotels have a 3-day subway pass for cheap.
Bullet Trains - You can use the Shinkansen bullet trains if you have the JR Pass. Make an important note: You can only ride the Hikari or Sakura trains with your JR Pass. The Nozomi and Mizuho are reserved seating and cost extra because they have fewer stops. If they catch you using these rail lines, they will ask you to get off the next stop or worse, fine you and report you. To see Mount Fuji from Tokyo to Kyoto/Osaka, sit on the right side of the train (right side of the direction it is going). Use Google Maps and Apple Maps to pinpoint when to look out the window.
Food
I usually ate sandwiches and pastries from 7-Eleven in the morning or whenever I needed to pack a lunch. It was a great way to save cash and the food was delicious. High-quality foods and snacks.
As I said earlier, I really spare no expense for good, big meals. I save money at 7-Eleven so I can go all out for lunch and dinner. My go-to meal was usually ramen because it was so damn good. I tried a lot of foods. I’ll try and remember which ones I ate: - Ramen - Okonomiyaki - Unagi - Katsu Curry - Taiyaki - Tempura - Japanese cheesecake - Macha ice cream - Macha waffles - Onigiri - And a lot of different ice creams, confectionary snacks - McDonald’s - please try lol they have interesting combinations
Pack List
I used a 40-liter Osprey backpack.
1 scarf
1 beanie
2 cotton t-shirts
2 thermal polyester long-sleeve shirts (Odor resistant)
2 pairs of joggers
1 pair of Nike thermal leggings
8 pairs of Nike Dri-Fit boxers (lost 1)
4 pairs of ankle socks
3 pairs of Darn Tough Merino wool blend socks (Highly recommend, Odor resistant)
1 parka
1 pair of Adidas Ultraboost shoes
1 Hershel toiletries bag
2 Forge cable combination locks
External battery pack (13000 mAh)
Bose QC-25 noise-canceling headphones
Over the course of the trip, I bought a much-needed 30L Patagonia day backpack
I don’t sweat heavily so I re-wore my shirts, the Merino wool blend socks, and joggers. I did my laundry maybe once or twice at the hostels. It was freezing at the time I went, so I usually layered up when temperatures were lower than usual.
Safety
I am a 6'1" (1.85 m) male with a light brown complexion. I felt safe most of my time there. I think it was the safest country I have ever been to. Some Japanese people are known to be racist but I didn’t experience it. So I wouldn’t worry about it.
Itinerary/Activities
Feb 9 Day 1 Tokyo Feb 10 Day 2 Tokyo Feb 11 Day 3 Tokyo (Day Trip to Odiaba/Yokohama) Feb 12 Day 4 Osaka Feb 13 Day 5 Osaka (Day Trip to Hime-ji Castle/Kobe) Feb 14 Day 6 Osaka (Day Trip to Nara) Feb 15 Day 7 Kyoto Feb 16 Day 8 Kyoto Feb 17 Day 9 Kyoto Feb 18 Day 10 Tokyo Feb 19 Day 11 Tokyo Feb 20 Day 12 Tokyo (Fly Out)
I will put a star (*) next to anything that I highly recommend! 2 stars are for more emphasis! I will list the accommodation first, then activities, and then bars/restaurants.
Tokyo - 3 Nights (Asakusa + Akihabara + Odaiba + Yokohama)
Lodging: Sakura Hostel Asakusa
Activities: *Tokyo National Museum, *Senso-ji Temple, Kaminarimon Gate, Nakamise-dori Street, *Sengaku-ji Temple, Hirose Entertainment Yard arcade, Animate Akihabara, **Mandarake Complex Akihabara, Tsukiji Outer Fish Market, TeamLabs Odaiba, Gundam Yokohama, NISMO Museum Yokohama, Nissan Headquarters Yokohama
Restaurants/Bars: Fuji Ramen Asakusa, Asakusa Unana, *Naruto Taiyaki, *Koyangi Asakusa, *Ouzakura Ramen Yokohama
Took a Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka
Osaka - 3 Nights (Kobe + Nara)
Lodging: Backstage Osaka Hostel
Activities: *Hime-ji Castle, *Kaiyukan Aquarium, Dontonbori, Shinsekai, Round 1 Stadium (arcade), *Nunobiki Waterfall Kobe, *Todai-ji Temple, *Nara Park, Kasuga Taisha Temple, Gilco Sign
Restaurants/Bars: *Wakakusa Curry Nara, *Nakatanidou Nara, *cafe CROCO Nara, Fanny Mae Bar Osaka, Rikuro’s Namba Main Branch, PC and Retro Bar Space Station, Bible Club Bar Osaka, Untitled karaoke bar next to Rock Bar Cherry Bomb lol, Takoyaki Wanaka Sennichimae Osaka, Sushi Dokoro Kuromonsuehiro Osaka, *Dotombori Ichiaki Osaka, *Hamamoto Coffee Himeji, Tairku Ramen Kobe
Took a Shinkansen bullet train from Osaka to Kyoto
Kyoto - 3 Nights (Day Trip to Uji)
Lodging: **Gojo Guesthouse
Activities: Otagi Nembutsu-ji Temple, Adashino Mayumura (closed when I arrived early), Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, *Tenryu-ji Temple, Togetsukyo Bridge, *Nishiki Market, *pocoapoco Record Store, Super Milk Record Store, *Fushimi Inari Taisha Temple Complex, *Byodo-In Temple Restaurants/Bars: *comorebi Ramen House, 茶室 tea room Uji, *Gion Duck Noodles, 自家製麺 うどん 讃式
Took a Shinkansen bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo - Saw a glimpse of Mount Fuji :’)
Tokyo - 2 Nights (Shinjuku + Shibuya + Akihabara)
Lodging: **Capsule Hotel Anshin Oyado Shinjuku Station (Males Only)
Activities: Tower Records Shinjuku, Disk Union Shinjuku, Mandarake Complex Shibuya, Nakano Broadway, Tokyo Dome for Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, *Shibuya Sky at Night, Tokyu Hands Shop
Restaurants/Bars: Ramen Kaijin, Shakey’s, McDonald’s, Ichiran Nakano
Tips, Advice, and Bonus Stuff!
submitted by NewYearsD to solotravel [link] [comments]
Pre-Trip
I booked a flight with American Airlines / Delta Airlines for $590 round-trip three months before departing.
I flew out of Los Angeles to Tokyo (Haneda). The trip started on February 9 and ended on February 20. I booked my accommodation before arriving in Japan. I used Hostelworld and Agoda. More about the hostels and hotels I booked are below.
COVID Screening and Visa information for US Citizens only
During the time I visited, Japan still required visitors to be fully vaccinated and have a pre-screening for arrival. First I had to do a pre-screening for American Airlines on VeriFly (please do this a day before checking in at the airport if so). Then, save yourself time and use Visit Japan Web (http://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/) and do the pre-screening requirements a couple of days before departure.
When you land in Tokyo, immediately after deplaning, swaths of airport personnel ask if you have the screener filled out and ready to go. If you don’t, they put you to the side and ask you to fill it out using the airport’s wifi. It takes time and you still have to go through customs after.
Visas for US citizens is a free, 3-month visa if I recall correctly. Bring your COVID vaccination card just in case they ask for it.
Tech/Phone
I took my iPhone 14 Pro (unlocked) and connected buying Ubigi 10gb data plan. Do this before flying to Japan. When you land, you can activate your data plan directly on your phone. I didn’t get pocket wifi as the Ubigi worked perfectly.
Download the Ubigi app. They give instructions but please follow them.
Apps that I used:
Google Maps: you can download offline maps.
Google Translate: Use this everywhere you go. You can use the camera feature and it can translate Japanese to English really great. It saved me a lot of hassle when ordering at restaurants.
Currency Converter
You might want to download a VPN if you want to use Netflix and such. Express VPN is one I’d recommend.
Money/Currency
I took my Charles Schwab debit card and a backup Chase credit card/Chase debit card. Surprisingly, a lot of stores in Japan are cash-heavy; especially small shops and restaurants. My budget for the trip was $2000 with flights included.
Hostels and hotels were around $20-35 USD. Food prices were about $7-$20 a meal. It can get really expensive if you eat at fine dining restaurants. That being said, I stuck to eating mostly at hole-in-the-wall establishments where no English was spoken. Believe me when I say that the best ramen I ever had was only $7 USD. More on what restaurants I recommend are down below. If you really want to save money, don’t buy alcohol.
A solid budget for me was $60-$80 per day without lodging expenses. Some days, I only spent $40 which was all food (I spare no expense for food), then some days I went over because I bought cool souvenirs for myself and some excursions were pricey. You can visit Japan for less but I didn’t want to money pinch myself because I was only there for 2 weeks.
Transportation
I love Japan for this reason. So here’s my take: If you are visiting Japan for exactly 14 days; get the JR Pass on Klook. You buy this a month before departing your home country. For me, Klook delivered it about a week after I bought it over Mail. You could buy either a 7, 14, or 21-day JR pass so I would recommend planning a trip that matches these exact number of days to get the most out of your money.
Now imagine you’re in Japan. It is your first day officially visiting…go to a JR Pass office at any major train station and ask them to redeem your pass. They will ask for the paper ticket that arrived in the mail to your home and they will ask for your passport. After they verify that it is you, they will give you a small ticket which will be your JR pass. DO NOT LOSE THIS! I believe they will not replace it. On how to use it, check out this video.
Now to navigate, I used a combination of Google Maps and Apple Maps to get around. Use whichever one is more comfortable for you. These 2 apps are really exceptional at mapping out the best routes and the times trains depart. Note: the JR Pass only works for JR rail lines! Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka all have their own subways and train lines with their own payment system. More on this…
So the best way to get around the city is using a Suica card. These are sold virtually at any train station. If you can't find it, ask a train station attendant and say “Suica?”. They point you in the right direction.
A Suica card can be refilled unlimited times and can be used for any rail lines (JR included, but not for Bullet Trains). It is used by tapping at the turnstiles to enter the rails and at any vending machine in Japan! Also at arcades! It is a total mindblower haha Also in Tokyo, some hostels or hotels have a 3-day subway pass for cheap.
Bullet Trains - You can use the Shinkansen bullet trains if you have the JR Pass. Make an important note: You can only ride the Hikari or Sakura trains with your JR Pass. The Nozomi and Mizuho are reserved seating and cost extra because they have fewer stops. If they catch you using these rail lines, they will ask you to get off the next stop or worse, fine you and report you. To see Mount Fuji from Tokyo to Kyoto/Osaka, sit on the right side of the train (right side of the direction it is going). Use Google Maps and Apple Maps to pinpoint when to look out the window.
Food
I usually ate sandwiches and pastries from 7-Eleven in the morning or whenever I needed to pack a lunch. It was a great way to save cash and the food was delicious. High-quality foods and snacks.
As I said earlier, I really spare no expense for good, big meals. I save money at 7-Eleven so I can go all out for lunch and dinner. My go-to meal was usually ramen because it was so damn good. I tried a lot of foods. I’ll try and remember which ones I ate: - Ramen - Okonomiyaki - Unagi - Katsu Curry - Taiyaki - Tempura - Japanese cheesecake - Macha ice cream - Macha waffles - Onigiri - And a lot of different ice creams, confectionary snacks - McDonald’s - please try lol they have interesting combinations
Pack List
I used a 40-liter Osprey backpack.
1 scarf
1 beanie
2 cotton t-shirts
2 thermal polyester long-sleeve shirts (Odor resistant)
2 pairs of joggers
1 pair of Nike thermal leggings
8 pairs of Nike Dri-Fit boxers (lost 1)
4 pairs of ankle socks
3 pairs of Darn Tough Merino wool blend socks (Highly recommend, Odor resistant)
1 parka
1 pair of Adidas Ultraboost shoes
1 Hershel toiletries bag
2 Forge cable combination locks
External battery pack (13000 mAh)
Bose QC-25 noise-canceling headphones
Over the course of the trip, I bought a much-needed 30L Patagonia day backpack
I don’t sweat heavily so I re-wore my shirts, the Merino wool blend socks, and joggers. I did my laundry maybe once or twice at the hostels. It was freezing at the time I went, so I usually layered up when temperatures were lower than usual.
Safety
I am a 6'1" (1.85 m) male with a light brown complexion. I felt safe most of my time there. I think it was the safest country I have ever been to. Some Japanese people are known to be racist but I didn’t experience it. So I wouldn’t worry about it.
Itinerary/Activities
Feb 9 Day 1 Tokyo Feb 10 Day 2 Tokyo Feb 11 Day 3 Tokyo (Day Trip to Odiaba/Yokohama) Feb 12 Day 4 Osaka Feb 13 Day 5 Osaka (Day Trip to Hime-ji Castle/Kobe) Feb 14 Day 6 Osaka (Day Trip to Nara) Feb 15 Day 7 Kyoto Feb 16 Day 8 Kyoto Feb 17 Day 9 Kyoto Feb 18 Day 10 Tokyo Feb 19 Day 11 Tokyo Feb 20 Day 12 Tokyo (Fly Out)
I will put a star (*) next to anything that I highly recommend! 2 stars are for more emphasis! I will list the accommodation first, then activities, and then bars/restaurants.
Tokyo - 3 Nights (Asakusa + Akihabara + Odaiba + Yokohama)
Lodging: Sakura Hostel Asakusa
Activities: *Tokyo National Museum, *Senso-ji Temple, Kaminarimon Gate, Nakamise-dori Street, *Sengaku-ji Temple, Hirose Entertainment Yard arcade, Animate Akihabara, **Mandarake Complex Akihabara, Tsukiji Outer Fish Market, TeamLabs Odaiba, Gundam Yokohama, NISMO Museum Yokohama, Nissan Headquarters Yokohama
Restaurants/Bars: Fuji Ramen Asakusa, Asakusa Unana, *Naruto Taiyaki, *Koyangi Asakusa, *Ouzakura Ramen Yokohama
Took a Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka
Osaka - 3 Nights (Kobe + Nara)
Lodging: Backstage Osaka Hostel
Activities: *Hime-ji Castle, *Kaiyukan Aquarium, Dontonbori, Shinsekai, Round 1 Stadium (arcade), *Nunobiki Waterfall Kobe, *Todai-ji Temple, *Nara Park, Kasuga Taisha Temple, Gilco Sign
Restaurants/Bars: *Wakakusa Curry Nara, *Nakatanidou Nara, *cafe CROCO Nara, Fanny Mae Bar Osaka, Rikuro’s Namba Main Branch, PC and Retro Bar Space Station, Bible Club Bar Osaka, Untitled karaoke bar next to Rock Bar Cherry Bomb lol, Takoyaki Wanaka Sennichimae Osaka, Sushi Dokoro Kuromonsuehiro Osaka, *Dotombori Ichiaki Osaka, *Hamamoto Coffee Himeji, Tairku Ramen Kobe
Took a Shinkansen bullet train from Osaka to Kyoto
Kyoto - 3 Nights (Day Trip to Uji)
Lodging: **Gojo Guesthouse
Activities: Otagi Nembutsu-ji Temple, Adashino Mayumura (closed when I arrived early), Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, *Tenryu-ji Temple, Togetsukyo Bridge, *Nishiki Market, *pocoapoco Record Store, Super Milk Record Store, *Fushimi Inari Taisha Temple Complex, *Byodo-In Temple Restaurants/Bars: *comorebi Ramen House, 茶室 tea room Uji, *Gion Duck Noodles, 自家製麺 うどん 讃式
Took a Shinkansen bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo - Saw a glimpse of Mount Fuji :’)
Tokyo - 2 Nights (Shinjuku + Shibuya + Akihabara)
Lodging: **Capsule Hotel Anshin Oyado Shinjuku Station (Males Only)
Activities: Tower Records Shinjuku, Disk Union Shinjuku, Mandarake Complex Shibuya, Nakano Broadway, Tokyo Dome for Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, *Shibuya Sky at Night, Tokyu Hands Shop
Restaurants/Bars: Ramen Kaijin, Shakey’s, McDonald’s, Ichiran Nakano
Tips, Advice, and Bonus Stuff!
- Goes without saying but please respect the local customs.
- Please learn how to say “Thank You” in Japanese! Just learning and using “Arigato” anywhere you go will make you seem like you care and respect everyone. Nothing was more embarrassing than watching an American say “thank you” to a Japanese person.
- Plan to do the major tourist attractions early in the morning. You will get nice pictures without any tourists and you’ll sometimes get the whole temple complex to yourself. The staff will also be more friendly and willing to chat with you. I usually aim to be at temples around 7:00 when they open.
- Use Google Translate for everything! You can have full conversations with friendly Japanese people when using the conversation feature on the app! Use the camera feature to translate Kanji at restaurants that do not offer an English menu.
- Get a Ubigi data plan, I bought 10GB and it had good service anywhere I went. Get more GB if you plan on staying longer.
- I ate at 7-Eleven most of the time when I was too lazy or tired to go out. The 7-Elevens here in Japan are nothing like the ones in the US. Expect to find high-quality sandwiches, Onigiri, and more Japanese snacks.
- Shop at supermarkets near the end of the day (1 hour before closing) and they usually mark down prepped meals half-off or at a discounted price! If you really on a budget, this can help you to save a ton of money and still get a taste of the local cuisine.
- If you need to buy random stuff like clothes, bags, or toiletries; go shop at any Don Quijote or Tokyu Hands department store. They have other shops too that are great to find cool stuff.
- Use Google Translate to translate English to Kanji (Japanese) and use Kanji to find restaurants that are hidden because they don’t use English words. For example, if you want to find the best ramen place, search “拉麺” and you’ll find hidden gems with 5-star reviews!
- The best souvenir I brought back myself was a Goshuincho. These are “honorable stamp/seal book” used by people visiting shrines or temples. If you want more info, google this! I highly recommend doing this!
2023.05.30 20:08 No_Pain1037 Window to the Past
It’s morning at the Ei family house. No Pain and Raiden were in the living room having their morning tea, but Nina was in their room. The walls of the room were white. They had a deep brown, standard dresser and a large bed at the top of the room. Something on top of the dresser caught her eye. It was a photo. Upon closer examination, the photo shows her father, along with 14 other people, all of them making goofy poses. One of them caught her eye: a brown haired boy, no older than 17, who looked exhausted.
No Pain: Oh, it looks like you found my old photo.
Nina jumps at their words. She turns around and looks at them, her face a light red.
Nina: I’m-I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to… be here. I just got curious.
No Pain(Chuckles): It’s quite alright. Would you like to know more about any of them? Aside from what I’ve already told you, of course.
Nina(Nods slowly): Well… (Points to the brown haired boy) this is Bread, right? You… haven’t talked about him very much. Other than he was your son before you had me and Rikain.
No Pain’s expression darkens.
Nina: Oh… my apologies.
No Pain(Shakes head): No, I think it’s time you knew…
They pause for a few minutes before exhaling.
No Pain: He passed away shortly before you were born. He had gone through… so much. His father murdered his mother, and when he tried to express his feelings to him… he threw him in a lake.
Nina covers her mouth with her hand. No Pain nods.
No Pain: I tried my best to help him heal, but…. I wasn’t the right person. I never… had a mother or father like most.
Nina slowly removes her hand from her mouth.
Nina: Thank you. I'm… going to see Rikain.
Nina speeds out of the room, going upstairs to hers. She looks around, but can’t find her purse. She runs to Rikain’s room, where he’s on his bed, playing Yo-Kai Watch 2 on his 3DS. He looks up and smiles upon her entrance.
Rikain: Hey Nina. What’s up?
Nina: I need my purse. Have you seen it? I need to go somewhere.
Rikain raises an eyebrow.
Rikain: Why? Where ya going?
Nina stays silent for a few, contemplating her words, before speaking.
Nina: I want to go back in time and help someone.
Rikain closes and sets down his DS, before giving her a look of mock confusion.
Rikain: You’ve been on my case about not changing the past, and now you’re doing it? Hypocrite much?
Nina(Shakes head): I’ve talked about not changing the past too much. My little brother needs my help. Now, where is my purse?
Rikain stays silent, his brow furrowed. Finally, he speaks.
Rikain: I think I saw it on top of the shelf in the game room. And Nina? Good luck. I’ll cover for you.
Nina smiles, remembering the times they had gone out of the house and the other had come up with an excuse for them. She runs to the game room and grabs her purse, pulling out a blue sapphire.
She was going to help him. She may not be the best, but she had to try. She couldn’t let him make the same mistake she did. She couldn’t let him reject the love of the people close to him.
The gem shines, and in a flash of blue light, she disappeared.
submitted by No_Pain1037 to Dbmlore [link] [comments]
No Pain: Oh, it looks like you found my old photo.
Nina jumps at their words. She turns around and looks at them, her face a light red.
Nina: I’m-I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to… be here. I just got curious.
No Pain(Chuckles): It’s quite alright. Would you like to know more about any of them? Aside from what I’ve already told you, of course.
Nina(Nods slowly): Well… (Points to the brown haired boy) this is Bread, right? You… haven’t talked about him very much. Other than he was your son before you had me and Rikain.
No Pain’s expression darkens.
Nina: Oh… my apologies.
No Pain(Shakes head): No, I think it’s time you knew…
They pause for a few minutes before exhaling.
No Pain: He passed away shortly before you were born. He had gone through… so much. His father murdered his mother, and when he tried to express his feelings to him… he threw him in a lake.
Nina covers her mouth with her hand. No Pain nods.
No Pain: I tried my best to help him heal, but…. I wasn’t the right person. I never… had a mother or father like most.
Nina slowly removes her hand from her mouth.
Nina: Thank you. I'm… going to see Rikain.
Nina speeds out of the room, going upstairs to hers. She looks around, but can’t find her purse. She runs to Rikain’s room, where he’s on his bed, playing Yo-Kai Watch 2 on his 3DS. He looks up and smiles upon her entrance.
Rikain: Hey Nina. What’s up?
Nina: I need my purse. Have you seen it? I need to go somewhere.
Rikain raises an eyebrow.
Rikain: Why? Where ya going?
Nina stays silent for a few, contemplating her words, before speaking.
Nina: I want to go back in time and help someone.
Rikain closes and sets down his DS, before giving her a look of mock confusion.
Rikain: You’ve been on my case about not changing the past, and now you’re doing it? Hypocrite much?
Nina(Shakes head): I’ve talked about not changing the past too much. My little brother needs my help. Now, where is my purse?
Rikain stays silent, his brow furrowed. Finally, he speaks.
Rikain: I think I saw it on top of the shelf in the game room. And Nina? Good luck. I’ll cover for you.
Nina smiles, remembering the times they had gone out of the house and the other had come up with an excuse for them. She runs to the game room and grabs her purse, pulling out a blue sapphire.
She was going to help him. She may not be the best, but she had to try. She couldn’t let him make the same mistake she did. She couldn’t let him reject the love of the people close to him.
The gem shines, and in a flash of blue light, she disappeared.
2023.05.30 20:02 Centumviri Welcome to Green Valley: 4 Bumpkin Quest Adventures
Welcome to Green Valley
Four Merry Jaunts Through in the Bumpkin Quest Campaign
It’s a big world filled with far off folks who have far off problems. In the quaint farming town of Hills Furrow that has certainly not been the case. Here life is simple, local, and paced by the seasons. There ain’t been a need for “Venturers” and their ilk since your Papaw was just a sprout. However, the winds of change are blowin, and things are about to git just a bit more exciting round these parts.Welcome to Green Valley, The down-home home of Rural Fantasy Misadventures and Grass-Roots Shenanigans. The Valley is Filled with Colorful Characters, Brimming with Odd Ball Neighbors, and has more than a few Local Yokels. Welcome to Bumpkin Quest. These adventures are intended to be a series of silly adventures that all go awry in some way or another and stir up trouble throughout a peaceful little village that has in many ways been overlooked by the troubles of the world “outside”.
CHAPTER 1: Green Tide CHAPTER 2: A Cartload of Chickens CHAPTER 3: Marvin the Magnificent CHAPTER 4: High Society
ADVENTURE MECHANICS - Target Character Level: Commoners - Level 1 - Target Party Size: Four Players - Average Adventure Playtime: 1-2 Hours - Tone: Rural Misadventures
I’ve also put these adventures into a PDF that includes our Bumpkin Quest: Campaign Guide which fills in the details of Green Valley pretty thoroughly. The quests are simple enough to be run in any setting you choose, but if you're interested in more the Guide as over a dozen Custom Maps, 70+ NPCs, Location Descriptions, 20+ Local Legends, and Scores of Adventure and Event Ideas. You can grab the PDF Free at the link above.
Hills Furrow
At the center of the Valley sits a patch of small grassy hills, through which the Slow Water meanders through. Built into these hills is the Village of Hills Furrow. Celebrated by everyone living in The Valley and boasting a whopping population of almost 150, Hills Furrow is the center of commerce and social importance. Well, at least as far as the locals are concerned. Realistically it would be less than a blip on the grand scale of things, a mere kernel of wheat in the silo of civilization, but to those who live here, there is nothing quite like living in the “city”.The Village itself, like the Valley, is predominantly Halfling, and their fancy dwellings are burrowed into the hillsides as often as possible. These dwellings have been family owned for generations only becomeing available if there are no heirs to pass them along to. Other folk live in well kept two story shingled buildings, most of which house a business on the lower floor and house the Shopkeepers and their families above their workplaces, though a few live in nearby homes. There aren’t many “rental” spaces in town, as property is usually bought up quickly by the Halfling Families, but there are long term options at either of the Inns in town.
Hills Furrow: Locations 1) The Crocked Crow (Inn and Tavern) 2) The Dancing Lamb (Inn and Tavern) 3) The Moaning Toad (Tavern) 4) Granny's Groceries (General Market) 5) Get Nailed (Hardware and Distilery) 6) Gimdurh's Hammer (Smithy) 7) Brenra's Mechanicals (Tinker) 8) Hjoldren's Home Goods (Carpenter) 9) Standard Industries (Office) 10) Fit to be Dyed (Tailor) 11) The Last Loaf (Baker) 12) The Cloudy Cleaver (Butcher) 13) Nature's Medecine (Apothecary) 14) Sheriff's Office 15) Green Valley School House 16) The Waterwheel 17) The Windmill 18) The Undercloak Estate 19) Truefoot Burrow 20) The Meadows Family Hill
The people themselves are hospitable and friendly enough, but they do not really trust outsiders. Folks from foreign places are good for trade, news, and little else. Those that come through are treated well enough as long as they don’t wear out their welcome. Locals, well, that’s a bit of a different story. The city and area doesn’t operate under a written caste system or social structure, but there is clearly a pecking order, and family heritage matters a great deal to folks in Hills Furrow. Most locals, whether they’ve gotten an education or not, can easily be classified as simple. It isn’t that they are slow of mind or unintelligent, but more that they are unconcerned with matters the outside world considers important. This sentiment has created a general, but friendly, dislike between those that consider themselves Highfalutin and those that clearly are not.
Well now that I've given you the fifty cent tour. Shall we get on to adventure?
CHAPTER 1: Green Tide
We will open our journeys in the Green Valley at Green Tide, the annual celebration of Winter’s End. This adventure is designed to give a tour of Hills Furrow and introduce them to the locals. It will begin with some chores around their house to prepare for the festival and end with a battle involving an enchanted broom. If you did not do Session Zero, this chapter may take a bit longer as we get to know everyone and their characters.ACT 1: Pre-Festival
The locals spend the week cleaning out their houses and farms. They gather old junk and unused items to be used later in the festival. They also begin preparing what food is left from winter to be used in a celebration and feasts.Things to do! - Have the Players clean up junk around the house - Have them Find something strange (Perhaps used for a later mystery?) - Have them Decorate their Broom - Have them run a Household Errand (Meet an NPC)
ACT 2: Sweeping Day
A merry festival celebrating Spring cleaning and putting the past behind them. They form a parade, with one member from each house carrying a brightly decorated broom and using it to symbolically “Sweep Away Winter”. The rest of the family marches their winter’s trash and unused goods down to the Fairgrounds. The goods are often traded, while the trash is piled in the fire pit to await burning later. The entire day is filled with fun outdoor activities. Households also symbolically bring their problems to the bonfires to burn them later.Things to do! - March in the Parade - Carry Junk to the Bonfire - Meet more of the Locals
EVENT: I Love a Parade
The parade will march North from near the Cross Roads in the South up around the hill and back again to the South where it will head for the Fairgrounds. There isn’t anything particularly challenging about this event, but it would be a wonderful place to start leaning into or building local rivalries.
EVENT: Never Seen a Broom Do That… As they come into the home stretch of the Parade one of the local’s Brooms will animate and take off. It will chase folks around the parade. The players can attempt to stop it, but the broom will flee soon after being attacked. It will fly up into the air, attack a flock of geese, and chase them off until it can’t be seen anymore. They can go and collect a fallen goose if they wish. I highly recommend giving it a motorcycle type sound as it flies around hitting folks. Maybe even going as far as giving it a rough gravel angry voice and letting it insult people.
ACT 3: Winter’s End
Winter’s End is a Combination of Groundhog’s Day and Fasnacht, this day gets a little wild. The Festival kicks off at dawn with the Great Gopher Hunt. Gophers are well known spies for The Voice of Winter and thus need to be hunted before they can tell The Voice to delay Spring. Gophers themselves are quite tasty, and are notoriously bad for crops, so this works out economically all around. Throughout the rest of the day families continue to contribute to the Bonfire Pile which often gets quite large. At dusk a large effigy of The Voice of Winter is placed on top of the pile. Once the sun has fully set they light the fire and burn the Effigy. Folk usually dress darkly during the day and brightly at night. After the burning they feast on sweets and treats that were made from goods saved up from winter storage.Things to do! - The Great Gopher Hunt - Carry Junk to the Bonfire - Meet more of the Locals - The Fairground’s Activities
EVENT: The Great Gopher Hunt The Hunt begins at dawn and takes place all over the Valley. Locals race to collect as many Gophers as possible. It is easiest to kill the Gopher, but there are some that find that distasteful. Instead they live trap the critters. It is a bit tougher to do so, but an option should your players wish. This is most easily played out as a series of appropriate Skill Checks, in which the higher they score the more gophers they obtain.
EVENT: Trash Removal They may find some locals willing to pay them to help cart junk down to the bonfire pile. Not a lot of skill involved in this, but it is a great opportunity to meet locals, and you could throw a runaway cart at them.
Fair Activities They will probably want to take part in Fairground Activities. Players love these types of challenges. Here are a few ideas you can build on. - Axe Throwin: Basic attack rolls on a Round Target. Higher scores equal Higher points. - Bow Shootin: Basic attack rolls on Moving Targets. Higher scores equal Higher points. - Pig Chasin: Catch the greased Pig! Medium DC Challenge requiring three success before three Failures. - Mud Wrastlin: Nothing says bumpkin like a good Mud Wrastlin Pit. Contested Skill Challenges. - Sausage Eating Contest: Increasingly difficult DC Challenge. Eat till you puke! Can also be Pies or Ribs or Little Fish… you know whatever someone wants to stuff dozens of in their gullet. - Tug O’War: Team Strength Challenge. Three to Five Contested Rolls with opposing teams. - Gopher BBQ Cook Off: A Hard Culinary Challenge to see who can BBQ the best Gopher! - Races: Foot and Mount Races based on Three to Five Contested Rolls. I usually include a few odd mounts like a Giant Chicken or some such nonsense.
ACT 4: Day of Ashes
The Day of Ashes is a day of rest, recovery, and reflection. Locals take the ashes from the bonfires and rub their hands in them to symbolize the end of a hard year’s work and hardships of the past. The day ends with a large family feast, typically Pork. Activities this day are light, but many folks head to the Temple for the Calling of Spring Blessings. They put on their fancies and head down to ask forgiveness for over-indulging in the festival and for worship. Well sort of…Unfortunately, a lot of folks take this as an opportunity to peacock about and practice their one-upmanship over other locals. If you’re looking for inspiration for their outfits look to older photos of the Kentucky Derby. Over the years this troubling practice has caused more than one fight to break out after the service.
*Things to do! * - Go to Temple and Meet More Locals - Pick a Local Patron!
EVENT: Temple Services
The majority of the town comes to Temple on this day. The service is usually longer, and a bit more “Where have most of you been all year?” But otherwise it is a call for the Divine Blessings to touch their crops and protect their lives. It ends with a ceremony in which the locals put their hands into the ashes from yesterday’s bonfire. Once services end they will head outside, where the trouble will begin. Two of the wealthier families will get into it with each other. Starting with a couple of veiled insults, probably before service and continuing afterward. If one of your players is from a local Rich Folk family then they can be right in the middle of it all, otherwise they will have to pick a side. This choice will determine their house Patron moving forward. Tension will increase until folks start drawing up sides, and then someone will throw a rotten tomato at one of the House Matrons. That will blow the lid off the incident and a yokel brawl will break out. For comedy purposes I recommend the instant appearance of several food carts filled with expired products, and maybe a six year old hustler selling big sticks for wacking folks with. As the locals brawl call for perception checks. Who ever rolls highest begins to hear… The Broom returning!
ENCOUNTER: Stick In The Eye
The broom returns ready to whoop some ash. It will be absolutely bent on cleaning anyone and everyone who is even the slightest bit dirty! If it successfully attacks a character they will have to make a Strength Saving throw or be knocked to the ground and swept clean by the broom. As this would be an awful omen for the year folks are terrified and will be running around screaming. Absolute mass hysteria. If the players were lucky enough to hear it coming they can avoid being surprised by the broom. Otherwise the broom will get a full round to attack before they have a chance to do anything. They’ll have to beat the broom into submission any way they can before it sweeps the whole town into chaos!
CLOSING
After defeating the broom things will settle back down again. Bumpkins are quick to return to normal when things go awry. However, they will have gotten the attention of one of the Wealthy Families in the area and be offered jobs. Which family is really, based on what will work best for them and you as the DM. For gags you might be tempted to have the Yokels pick them up, but that is a hard bit to sustain, and you may be better served keeping them on the side as a comic foil rather than up front. Completely up to you. The session should end with them being invited to meet their new patron tomorrow someplace important.CHAPTER 2: A Cartload of Chickens
After successfully defeating the Enchanted Broom, our Bumpkins have gained the attention of a possible local Patron. This individual has summoned them to a nearby farm to discuss future work. That work includes proving themselves capable and not just lucky.ACT 1: Meet the Boss
In this Act the players will meet with their new patron, one of the Family Heads, who that is entirely depends on their choices from the last game. This entire side branch is designed to flavor the background of the campaign, but if you’d rather just have them stay freelancing and independent that’s fine as well. There is also the possibility of “competing” offers should they have second thoughts for any reason. Once they arrive at the meeting spot their Patron will ask them some questions about their ambitions (Class Goals), they will then hand them off to their new “boss” who will assign them their task. They will take them to a nearby barn.NEW NPC: “Boss”
Needs a fitting name for the Family they work for...
Character wise, what we got here is a standard “Ranch Foreman” character. They’re tough, A little mean, and completely loyal to their employer. They almost certainly chew tobacco (by the handful), have a tattoo of the Ranch’s Brand, and know where all the bodies are buried. They also have a huge and obvious scar on the side of their head where a Giant Chicken pecked a hole in their skull, so they’re not as bright as they used to be, not at all truthfully. Nor are they actually the Foreman anymore, but no one has a heart to tell them. They’ve been quietly downgraded to Chicken Handler, which is something they seem to remember quite well, but the brain damage keeps them from realizing all that. They can be found wandering the Farm giving strange orders to other Hands. These Hands nod politely and then go back to what they are doing.
Things To Do! - Meet Their Patron - Discuss Their Future - Meet Their New “Boss”
ACT 2: Chicken Dance
Boss will lead them into the odd looking barn. This building is filled with Giant Chickens. These two-three foot fouls have extremely exaggerated features, spiky looking beaks with sharp tooth like edges, big darting eyes, bumpy cracked skin, long gnarled talons, and dirty mottled feathers. They’re more beast than bird. But, they’re good for eatin! These creatures should have a stat block similar to an Axe Beak. When the players enter into the Barn the Chickens will go nuts, obviously deeply bothered by the intrusion. Boss will throw in some deer haunches and the birds will tear them apart in a feeding frenzy. They will then put on a Chicken Suit and begin a flapping dance. (Google Magnificent Riflebird) It should be absolutely captivating and the chickens will become mesmerized, watching every move. Boss will then load two dozen chickens onto a large wagon and lock it. They will have the players push the wagon out while he keeps the Chickens calm. Once outside they’ll hang heavy tarps on the sides of the wagon, and remove the suit. He will then explain to them that they need to keep the tarps on the wagon, and keep the birds well fed, or the chickens will get restless and become violent. When they do need to interact with them someone will have to wear the suit and dance to keep them calm. The bigger the person in the suit the better. Boss will then give them a Map of Green Valley and instruct them to drop off two chickens at each of the outer settlements. They have two days to get this done.Things To Do! - Head into the barn - Witness The Dance of The Chicken - Push the Wagon out - Get the Costume and Delivery Instructions
ACT 3: Bumpy Roads
They will be off to deliver the Chickens to various locations. There is no specific order to this delivery, they just need to pick a route and go. If they’re short on time they can take the country roads that lead between the outer settlements, but these aren’t as well kept as the main roads are. Whatever road they take and wherever they decide to stop for the night there are problems they will encounter along the way. You can make them random or pick the ones that best suit your players. Most of these should at some point require someone putting on the suit and dancing for the chickens to keep them calm. I would also increase the difficulty of each event. If they fail a dance the Chickens will become restless and start attacking the cart until they are calmed down. Too many failures and the wagon’s cage will break and the remaining chickens escape. They will then have to be rounded up and the cage repaired.Things to Do - Decide the delivery route - Deliver the chickens - Keep the Chickens calm
Possible Road Events 1) Rough roads cause problems 2) Yokels attempt to see what’s in the cart 3) Bad Weather swamps the road or scares the chickens 4) Pack of Coyotes causes trouble. 5) Chicken Rustlers! Protect the Flock! 6) Wagon breaks and needs repair 7) Cows in the road, someone’s herd is out. 8) Broken Bridge, not gone, just broken
ACT 4: Final Delivery
They’re now closing in on the final delivery. Something needs to happen here to cause them to put the suit on. Or maybe they never took it off! I love that idea, that one of your players just loves the suit and wants to be a chicken… lol… Anyway I’m a fan of having them need to get out of the suit for some reason, maybe a bathroom break, or they stand on a fire ant hill, or a snake slithers up their leg. You know something silly and fun. BUT the zipper is stuck! So they’ll have to try and unstick it and fast! Whatever happens they’re going to get shot at by some hunters looking for a big score who have mistaken the flailing caused by the stuck zipper to be the chicken attacking. After dealing with the Hunters they can go ahead and make the final drop. And head home.Things to Do! - Head for the final delivery - Get shot at! - Deliver the last chickens
ENCOUNTER: That’s a BIG Chicken!
Having two hunters in the field is more than enough to cause a problem for the players. The hunters will almost certainly surprise the players, but you can allow them a perception check, if they succeed they’ll see the hunters just before the muskets go off. It would be OK to down the Chicken Player here if the hunters successfully hit it. They’ll have healer’s kits on hand because, well, this seems to happen to them a lot out here. After the initial attack the players can decide to attack back or try and talk the hunters down. A basic Bandit or Scout stat block should do will for the hunters. If you’re looking for a bit more mayhem, if the hunters miss the players you could have them hit the cage, and you know, bust it open. This may be especially tempting if they
POSSIBLE ENCOUNTER: Big Ol' Frog
So there is a giant frog hiding in the mud down in the creek. If a player takes cover behind the banks there is a good chance that the frog will attempt to nab the player as a snack. If it is successful in grabbing a player with its tongue it will immediately head down river, and they'll have to chase it to get their friend back.
CLOSE
When they return, Boss will reward them. How much will depend on how successful they were delivering the birds. If they did a descent job, they will be paid two day’s wages each. If they were completely successful they can have a bonus. However, if the wagon is in bad shape they might have some money deducted. After they’re paid out, they will be dismissed, and told to expect a new assignment next week.CHAPTER 3: Marvin the Magnificent
After successfully delivering chickens Boss is going to trust them with a more important task. Their employer has requested an item to be created by Marvin the Magnificent. This is a farming community so having enchanted Farming Equipment is extremely desirable. Marvin has done a lot of basic enchantments over the years, but this new one, an The Stone Skipper, a plough whose blade goes ethereal while in contact with stones too large to push away, has really put him to the test. He needs some help with the final enchantments. The players will have to travel to the Ethereal Plane and hit the Blade of the plow with large rocks. But there’s a problem, they’re going to have mischievous Ethereal Sprites attempting to stop them! If they’re successful, which they should be, they get to take the plough for a test drive, and deal with the strange side effects of the enchantment. Angry goats that blink in and out of existence.ACT 1: To the Tower
They’ll be summoned out to the Ranch where they’ll meet with Boss again. Once there they will notice a large pile of bent and dinged up plows. Boss will explain to them that a recent land acquisition has become problematic. The Fields are filled with large stones just under the topsoil and they’ve damaged a lot of Plow Blades. The Smithing costs are getting out of hand and so their Patron is looking for an alternate solution to the problem. He is sending them to help Marvin the Magnificent, who has taken the job, but run into some complications and needs some help. They may ask about Marvin. Or perhaps the fields that were purchased, so be ready to answer these types of questions. Once they’re done here they can head to Marvin’s Tower, which is just north of town.Things to Do! - Meet Boss again - Ask some Informational Questions - Head for the Tower
NPC: Marvin the Magnificent
ACT 2: Marvin the Magnificent
As they approach the tower they should see an explosion at the peak of the structure. It should look similar to a fireworks mishap. When it clears there will be no visible damage to the tower, But Marvin will plummet to the earth just off to the side of them, landing in a small pond. He will then come charging out of the pond, laughing hysterically, and riding on a large turtle. Once he gets a few feet away from the pond the turtle will disappear and he will tumble to the ground right in front of the players. He will leap up quickly and turn toward the players. “Behold Travelers, You stand in the presence of Marvin the Magnificent! And everything you have witness was mostly intended!” He will then strike a cool pose with his wand pointed to the sky! “Now why do you approach my tower!?”Once Marvin finds out they’ve been sent about the plow he will become more nervous looking. “I see, well follow me. We have work to do.” He will then start walking toward the tower… his boots squishing out water. This should give them a little time to ask a few questions. Marvin will be a little subversive about what they need to do. He will attempt to frame it very mysteriously, saying things like “All will be revealed soon.” and “Save your questions! All Answers await us… in the future!” If they ask him about what they witnessed outside, he will tell them he was working on a mount summoning spell designed for lakes and rivers.
Things to Do! - Head toward the Tower - Meet Marvin - Ask Questions
ACT 3: The Cabinet of Mysteries
The inside of the Wizard’s Tower will be far more mundane than they likely expect. At least on the first floor. It will have a sitting room, dining room, and kitchen, as well as a few odds and ends about. Nothing special at all. The second floor, are Marvin’s personal quarters and some room for study, but it is the third floor, where Marvin will lead them, and it will be more of what one would expect in a Wizard’s tower. There will be books shelves, arcane equipment, and storage for components. In the middle of the room will be a tall cabinet.:
Marvin will explain to them that the Cabinet is a transportation device, and that he will need them to enter into it with a plow that he has recently enchanted. They will be taken to the Ethereal Plane, and once there they’ll need to take the plow outside and begin hitting it with large field stones. There is a large pile of stones just on the north edge of the tower. They’ll have to do this quickly, before the “others” show up. Who are the others? Hard to say, but there are things that live in the Ethereal Plane that don’t like intruders. The idea is to imbue the Plow with Ethereal Powers so it can pass through large stones while plowing fields. Once they return with the Enchanted Plow, Marvin will have them load it on a cart, pulled by a very smart Donkey, and send them on their way.
Skill Challenge: Enchant the Plow This skill challenge will require five successes before they’re incapacitated by the others. However they decide to do it, they’ll have to successfully hit the plow with five large stones. Failures will result in strange indiscernible entities attacking them. They do minimal damage but could knock people out if there are enough failures.
Things to Do! - Move Through Marvin’s Tower - Enter the Cabinet - Enchant the Plow
ACT 4: Blinking Goats
Upon returning to Boss with the Plow they will be happily greet and paid. Their Patron will be there and will be very pleased with their success. He will ask them to demonstrate the plow’s abilities. Once they get set up out in the field and begin plowing something weird will happen. Every time they hit a stone and the plow’s power activates an Ethereal Goat will manifest and kick or ram the plow, and then disappear. It will feel very similar to what they encountered in the Ethereal Plane. They’ll have to find a way to deal with the manifestations.ENCOUNTER: Ethereal Goats These goats should function very similarly to Blink Dogs, but I would trim the HP and AC a little to put them in line with the party’s. They will be intent on breaking the Plow not the party, although they will attack the party if they can’t get to the Plow.
Things to Do! - Deliver the Plow - Drive the Plow - Defeat the Ethereal Goats
CLOSE
Once defeated the Boss will come over to yell at them, but the Patron will find the entire thing amusing and more importantly, another impressive demonstration of the player’s skills. He will invite them to the “House” for an important party next week.Chapter 4: High Society
They've definitely been noticed now and have impressed with their ability, unconventional as it may be. They are invited to their patron's home, but not as guests. Though, they might think they were actually invited as guests! They have been brought in to help work the event held out at the Party Field. They will have to gather party supplies, help put up the tent, and then serve the actual guests. During the evening’s entertainment a hypnotist “The Great Dr Hypnotika” will mesmerize the crowd and attempt to rob them all. Hopefully the players don’t fall victim to her schemes. And if they do oh well, they’ll be entertained all the same.ACT 1: Special Delivery
The players arrive at the Patron’s very nice property. They will be greeted by a properly dressed servant with a clipboard, the Party Planner. The Planner will be rigid and direct. They will immediately begin tasking them about. If they mention that they were invited to the party the servant will laugh “You didn’t think you were a guest? Oh dear, how embarrassing. You’re the help! It is still a great honor to be tasked to help at the Party, but you’re not guests. Now as for your current task. Head into town and gather these supplies. Bring them to the field by noon.” After the instructions are given the servant will go back to their tasks and expect the players to do the same. They will have three stops; The Crocked Crow for Food and Beer, Get Nailed for the Tent and Spirits, and Shalana Proud-Breed’s Tailor Shop to pick up the Dry Cleaning. Feel free to make any and all of these go sideways! Its a good place to toss in some shenanigans as well! They should also be introduced to Dr Hypnotika and her associates.Things To do! - Go to their Patron’s Home - Meet the Party Planner and Dr Hypnotika - Run their Errands
NPC: Dr Hypnotika
Dr Hypnotika and her group will perform for the party. Hypnotica is a Tiefling Mezmerist and illusionist. She has an obnoxiously high charisma and some pretty serious skills to back up her claims. However, she uses those skills to beguile her guests, robbing them blind while they are under her spells. She wears a fine robe with a bedazzled headwrap. She has dark upward spiraling horns, light purple skin, and matching eyes. She wears a monocle and walks with a ceremonially carved staff depicting the "Struggles of the Universe". She is extremely persuasive and even more deceptive. Even if someone were to grow suspicious she can easily talk her way out of trouble.
NPCs: Clapper and Bob Hypnotika brings with her two assistants. Clapper the suit wearing Kenku who will perform wondrous displays of mimicry and slight of hand, and her strongman Bob the Kobold. Bob wears a leopard print strongman's outfit and is amazingly swole, particularly for a kobold, and capable of lifting upwards of 400lbs. Bob doesn't do much else other than get hit with things. in the act.
ACT 2: Put up the Tent
After they finish running their errands they will be tasked with putting up a large party tent. This Act is an ongoing Skill Challenge and should have a constantly distracted feel to it. First they have to unpack the tent. Then they have to realize some pieces are missing, they’ll have to form a solution to that problem. After that wind should cause some problems as the tent is at least being pulled up. This is a great moment for some wondrous tom-foolery.Things To do! - Unpack the tent - Deal with missing parts - Secure the tent during the wind gusts
ACT 3: Put These On
After they finish putting up the tent they’ll be sent to the Servant’s Quarters to bathe and change. They’ll get a little time to explore and snoop if they wish. Afterward they’ll be tasked with helping in the kitchen, but unfortunately the cooks are going to have been playing a drinking game all afternoon and are no longer fully capable of doing their jobs. This would make a great moment for some sort of mini-game where the players have to determine whether or not the cooks are doing the right things. Once the dinner has been completed they will have to serve the guests. This is a good place to insert gossip and help them meet a few other folks.Things To do! - Get changed for the party - Deal with the drunk cooks - Serve the guests drinks and food
ACT 4: An Evening to Remember
At some point in the evening things are going to start sliding downhill. Some of the locals will have become extremely inebriated and will need to be encouraged to leave, or just moved off to the side as they’ve already passed out, before the show begins. Once the show begins the locals will become fixated on the goings on. “The Great Dr Hypnotika” will have put an additive in the drinks for the that will make everyone more susceptible to her powers of persuasion. Once the show starts she will have them all doing silly things, those who drank have disadvantage on saves against her powers. She will end the show asking the guests to display their most valuable treasure, a with a hypnotic pattern and then send her assistants out to collect those treasures. The players will have to “do something” about the thieves.Things To do! - Deal with Drunks - Watch the Show - Stop the Criminals
ENCOUNTER: Hypnotika's Gang This encounter doesn't have to be a fight. If Hypnotika is caught she may claim it was all part of the act and simple return the valuables with a "no harm, no foul" type attitude. This will be he go to in an attempt to avoid a fight, but if the character persist in some kind of retribution or punishment the situation will devolve into a combat. Hypnotica herself is an Illusionist Wizard but is low on spells after the show. Clapper is a low level rogue and Bob a Barbarian, and should play out as such. Even with Skills they are combat adverse and will be looking for an opportunity to flee rather than fight. They do have a getaway wagon out front that they'll be headed for if things go south.
CLOSING
We’re assuming the Bumpkins at least attempted to stop the robbery. This will draw a lot of attention to them. Their Patron will be well pleased with them, and let them know they will be getting much more important jobs in the future. The guests will also take note and will begin treating them all a bit better. They’re all essentially Folk Heroes at this point for secondary backgrounds. Their Patron should reward them with something very nice as the party kicks back in. They will need to finish out the nights work of course.Quest-line Closing
Congratulations! Your Players have completed their first Quest-line! Hopefully it was a delightful experience. But now that they've finished what comes next? Well, here are some ideas.*Reward Them! * They've been doing some rather Adventurous things lately, and therefore should now have a Class Level under their belt, so the real D&D world now opens to them! Maybe it is time for some real adventuring gear. No more sticks, stones, and burlap sack armor.
Folk Heroes? There's a good chance that the Valley is Speaking the News about them and their exploits while drinking in the taverns. They may have even earned the actual Folk Hero Feat! Maybe someone would be interested in giving them a task!
Simply Go Exploring! There are a lot of places in Green Valley that we only dipped our toes into. You could have them head down to Stinkmarsh, or maybe climb up the cliffs of Longridge. The world (Well, the Valley) is wholly open to them.
Explore Local Legends There are lots of local legends they can look into! Hopefully they search out something that isn't too far over their heads!
Continue Working for their Patron It would be an easy DM go to simply to have them continue working for their current Patron. They've probably been impressive enough fo a family to be interested in keeping them on.
Establish Themselves as Adventurers! Maybe they want to set up a Adventurers for Hire business? This "Heroes Guild" approach is really appealing to a lot of players and absolutely plays into Bumpkin Quest. Just remember, this is a place of low key problems that locals make really big deals out of. So the idea of slaying dragons shouldn't really be on the table... that is until an actual dragon shows up! Which one day absolutely should.
2023.05.30 18:48 Way_Moby The Lore of King Deshret: A Prose Summary
For some time now, I've been obsessed with the lore of King Deshret, Nabu Malikata, and Rukkhadevata. After pouring over artifact descriptions, I thought it might be a good idea to compile all of that lore into a prose summary (with citations!) so that folks can come to appreciate the richness of all the desert's story. And so, I present you with "The Lore of King Deshret: A Prose Summary"!
Note that I've tried to privilege artifact, material, etc. descriptions over others sources, as their flavor text seems to be the most "objective." Also, in certain places I have stitched together the lore with some of my own assumptions, but I tried to keep these to a minimum so that this wouldn't just become a headcanon-fest. Either way, let me know if you have any thoughts and/or suggestions for things that I should add.
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In the Beginning
Long ago, the region now known as the Great Red Sand was a verdant land under the dominion of Apep, the Dendro dragon. But during the war against the Second Who Came, when dragons like Nibelung and Apep used the power of the Abyss to fight the Heavenly Principles, it is said that the Primordial One "sent down the divine nails to mend the land" (Amethyst Crown). One of these pillars was dropped on what would become Sumeru (Shadow of the Sand King; What Shape Does the Self Hold). And while this action prevented Apep from absorbing a critical mass of forbidden knowledge (What Shape Does the Self Hold), its ecological impact was immense: "The grass turned into sand" (The Realm of Beginnins), "burying tree and meadow" (Shadow of the Sand King). Apep's once-lush realm was reduced to nothing but a vast, blistering desert. After this catastrophe, "the new masters of Teyvat … stepped into [the] land" (The Realm of Beginnings); these were the humans, and those who lived in the desert organized themselves into various tribes (The Sunken Years).
It was around this time that the one known as King Deshret rose to power and "shaped the land, creating oases and flowing springs" (The Sunken Years). Of Deshret's origins, not much is known. According to legends, he was "a son of the sky," and "whenever he looked up to the sky and recalled the boundless paradise high above, and the merciless reign of thousands of years past, [he] could not help but lower his noble head and sigh helplessly" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar). Deshret—who was also known as "Amun" (What Shape Does the Self Hold), "Al-Ahmar" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar), and the "Scarlet King" (Secret of the Scorching Desert)—was often epithetized as "the king of warriors, gardeners, and intellectuals" (Candace, Companion Dialogue) and it is said that "his people chose to cover their eyes as they dared not look upon him" because his visage "was beyond that of the sun" (Rich Red Brocade). It is unclear what Deshret looked like, but because the statues and effigies that dot the desert landscape are said to have been erected in his image (Primal Obelisk, Mausoleum of King Deshret, East; The Temple Where Sand Flows Like Tears), it is possible that he was an avian-headed humanoid. On murals, he was often depicted simply as a great ten-pointed star inlaid with a technicolor iris; this was the legendary "Eye of Deshret" (An Introduction to Indoor Archaeology).
Prior to his ascendancy, Deshret first approached Apep, the defeated Dendro dragon, and sought her permission to establish a kingdom in what used to be her realm. Although Apep "did not think much" of Deshret, she agreed to his proposal under one condition: "That after his death, all the knowledge he came to accumulate would belong to [her]" (What Shape Does the Self Hold ) Deshret agreed to this proposal and set about building his kingdom, which he sought to make "a paradise for all living beings and a place where wisdom gathered." (Viewpoint: The Barren Land Where Sand Dances).
And as Deshret's kingdom grew, so too did his power: The legends claim that at the apex of his kingdom, Deshret "had no enemies, for all who paid him no homage would be destroyed by [his] servants … and thus be rendered down to naught but a handful of sand" (Delving Deeper: Sekhem Hall ). In fact, so powerful was Deshret's kingdom that Celestia itself eventually offered him a gnosis—the metaphysical index of true power that transmuted its wielder into an archon—but Deshret is said to have "reject[ed] the gift granted by the divine throne" (Wilting Feast).
Deshret and Nabu Malikata: A Fateful Pairing
At some point, Deshret came across "a spirit created at the beginning [who was] the shimmering light that flows from the eyes of the creator" (Amethyst Crown; Scroll of Streaming Song, Vol. I). This magnificent being was Nabu Malikata, better known as the Goddess of Flowers. A benevolent deity and the mother of the Jinn, it I said that:
Because of this most unjust punishment, the Goddess of Flowers secretly harbored a burning desire to "transcend the absurd shackles that governed this world" by subverting the power of Celestia (Wilting Feast). But Nabu Malikata was not driven simply by revenge. Indeed, she loved humanity and simply wanted them to seize their destiny and realize the "truth": that "these so-called gods [have] been superfluous to [humans] since the beginning?" (Wilting Feast).
King Deshret "reveled in [Nabu Malikata's] immense charm and grace" (Oasis Garden's Truth) and proposed an alliance. And so "the Mistress of Flowers and Oases joined hands with the Lord of Deserts and built Ay-Khanoum, the "City of Amphitheaters," which meant the "City of the Moon Maiden" in the mysterious language of the Jinn (Oasis Garden's Mourning). During this time, it is said that Jinn "lived in a carefree palace, singing with nightingales and talking with roses. It was a beautiful time ... and even the tasteless spring water was intoxicating" (The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle).
The Golden Age of the Oathbound Friends
Sometime later, Nabu Malikata heard rumors of a most wise deity, "the owner of yesterday and the master of tomorrow morning" who went by the name "Rukkhadevata." After meeting one another, the Goddess of Flowers and Rukkhadevata bonded over their love of wisdom and developed a friendship—a friendship that eventually grew to include King Deshret (Scroll of Streaming Song, Vol. I).
Around the time that this friendship was blossoming, the centuries-long era of violence now known as the "Archon War" began, wherein myriad gods battled one another for a chance to receive a gnosis. Given his immense power, Deshret could have easily disposed of both Nabu Malikata and Rukkhadevata, thereby consolidating control over all of Sumeru. But instead, he did the unthinkable: He offered his throne to the goddesses and proposed that the three of them rule over Sumeru together (Amethyst Crown). Nabu Malikata and Rukkhadevata agreed to this offer, and thus did the three become "oathbound friends" (Honeyed Final Feast).
The trio of god-kings consequently divided the responsibilities of ruling amongst themselves: "the banquet belonged to the mistress of flowers and moonlit nights, authority was in the hands of the desert king, and life was the domain of the keeper of plants" (Honeyed Final Feast). Under this tripartite system, "peace and ease reigned," and there was no "division or misfortune" (Honeyed Final Feast). Thus did Sumeru thrive (Scroll of Streaming Song, Vol. III).
Nabu Malikata's Sacrifice
Given their shared disdain for Celestia and their desire to see "humanity … become the king of kings," Deshret often urged the Goddess of Flowers to join him in his rebellion against the Heavenly Principles. At first, Nabu Malikata refused, believing that Deshret's goal was akin to "chain[ing] the winds" (Wilting Feast). Deshret, however, continued to insist, and so Nabu Malikata used her heaven-given powers to show her friend that his future would be "ruinous and bleak" were he to continue down the path he was taking (Wilting Feast). But still, "the king refused to yield an inch" (Wilting Feast).
Never before had the Goddess of Flowers met such a resolve, and soon, in Deshret's "words and aspirations," she "saw the possibility to transcend the absurd shackles that governed this world" (Wilting Feast). And so Nabu Malikata "capitulated to her friend's folly" (Wilting Feast), telling him:
King Deshret thence sought out the primeval celestial nail that had long ago turned Sumeru to sand, and—with the assistance of the Jinn—he used its power to create an elaborate cenotaph to commemorate the Goddess of Flowers (Defender of the Enchanting Dream; A Moment Congealed). This memorial—an "ever-youthful dreamland" of "undisturbed water" and "perpetual dusk"—was held in stasis so that it would "not be seized by autumn's arms," nor would the "circles of time" be able to "subject its newborn spring-joy to the curse of years" (Viewpoint: The Paradise of Eternal Peace). And to ensure that nothing bad would happen to his fallen friend's memorial, Deshret granted the mighty Ferigees governance over the oasis (Defender of the Enchanting Dream). In addition to protecting the tomb, the legends say that Ferigees also "used her powers to keep the springs ever-flowing, and so she spread greenery across the desert like stars in the sky, providing sanctuary to folk who had lost their homes" (Defender of the Enchanting Dream). Because of this, Goddess of Flowers's memorial came to be known simply as the "Eternal Oasis" (A Moment Congealed).
Despite the love that Rukkhadevata had for the Goddess of Flowers, it is said that the latter's ideals "broke [the former's] heart" (Dune-Entombed Fecundity: Part III) In fact, Nabu Malikata's death was so impactful that Rukkhadevata decided to "cut ties with the sea of sand," choosing to instead create for herself a forest kingdom from whence she could "take up the path of defending life" (Feast of Boundless Joy). After leaving the desert, Rukkhadevata severed relations with King Deshret (Vibrant Pinion), but while the two were no longer "inseparable friends" (Dreaming Steelbloom), it seems that their past prevented them from ever truly being enemies (Secret of the Scorching Desert).
Deshret and the Vassal States
Following Rukkhadevata's departure from the desert, Deshret was left to rule by himself. But though he had just lost two of his closest friends, his power was still immense: "In [this] era … [Deshret's] power descended upon every inch of the land like the scorching sun. … No one was neglected, nor was anyone discontented. That was a forgotten golden era" (Olden Days of Scorching Might). It is likely that much of Deshret's power was due to his newfound alliance with the Jinn: Soon after the death of their creator, they had turned to the king and promised to serve him if he swore "to find [their] eternal companion" (The Temple Where Sand Flows Like Tears). Deshret agreed and thus the Jinn "became his servants, engaging in noble deeds of creation and exploration," and to house the Jinn, Deshret created myriad magic bottles of silver, stamped with his mark, in which these spirits could live in repose (The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle).
Deshret also made a pact with his human subjects at this time: "Those who possessed hearts of iron and were untainted by the allure of corruption," he proclaimed, "could serve as a vassal-king and guide the people, like a shepherd tending to a flock" (The First Days of the City of Kings). Soon after this proclamation was made, a lowly shepherd named Ormazd met and fell in love with the Jinn Liloupar, the sister of Ferigees. With her help, Ormazd managed to unite the scattered tribes of the desert (Legacy of the Desert High-Born), and thus Ormazd was crowned as Deshret's "vassal king" (The First Days of the City of Kings). Ormazd made the city of Gurabad his capital, and according to the legends:
The Search for Forbidden Knowledge
Why, a reader might ask, did Deshret defer to mortals the authority that he himself had long wielded? It seems that at this time, Deshret secluded himself, "us[ing] a hundred years and a hundred years further to build a huge maze for his kingdom, before trapping himself deep within it in search of [the] forbidden knowledge" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar) that Nabu Malikata had sacrificed herself for him to get.
The "taboo knowledge" that Deshret sought in particular was information about how he could "create a dream paradise" (Primal Construct: Prospector) that was "free of worry, schemes, and slavery" (Remnant Glow of Scorching Might). To attain this end, Deshret surveyed the world around him, identifying elements that he felt needed to be eliminated. These things he enumerated as such:
But while Deshret seems to have been outwardly motivated to seek Abyssal knowledge so as to enact his "Golden Slumber" and help thus "humanity become the lord of lords and the god of gods" (Honeyed Final Feast), he may very well have had another motive: to revive his lost love, Nabu Malikata. In the Lay of Al-Ahmar, it is said that the Crocodile King, the "commander of commanders," recommended that the king "forget the delusions of the Void" and instead seek "only resurrection and life eternal"—a recommendation, we are told, to which the king ultimately assented (The Lay of Al-Ahmar). While one could write this off as a dramatic distortion of what actually happened, it might very well be a highly poetic recollection of what actually happened: After all, we know that Deshret, while hard at work seeking forbidden knowledge, admitted to himself:
The Fall of King Deshret
It was while "gaz[ing] upon the wisdom of the depths, and inclin[ing] his ear to honeyed whispers" (Dreaming Steelbloom) that Deshret came across forbidden knowledge from "the very bottom of the Abyss" that was beyond comprehension (Where the Boat of Consciousness Lies). This knowledge was utterly devastating, and it swiftly toppled Deshret's mighty kingdom. Thanks to the record of Kasala, one of Deshret's priests who lived through this calamity, we have a vivid description of this horrific event:
While Rukkhadevata's temples had managed to slow the spread of forbidden knowledge, they had not managed to fully eradicate the threat. Rukkhadevata and King Deshret thus joined forces and together fought against the forbidden knowledge. This battle was perhaps the most strenuous the two had ever waged: Rukkhadevata is said to have "exhausted her strength" in the fight, resulting in her "form [becoming] that of a small child," and King Deshret, realizing that the forbidden knowledge he had brought into the world could not be eliminated without a great loss, "chose to sacrifice himself" in order to save the day (Secret of the Scorching Desert). It is unclear what exactly this sacrifice entailed, but it is likely that Deshret used the power of his consciousness to blast the forbidden knowledge into oblivion (Secret of the Scorching Desert); at this time, Deshret also seems to have activated his Golden Slumber project by teaching his people the following incantation, which, when spoken in earnest, merged their "minds … into one" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar):
Post-Mortem
Per the mythos of the desert folks, after Deshret sacrificed himself, his physical body "gradually decayed on his throne while worms feasted on it" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar). Interestingly, this could be a fanciful retelling of a historical event: According to the dragon Apep, after Deshret's kingdom collapse, she "swallowed him whole" to attain the knowledge he had accumulated, per the agreement that they had struck thousands of years prior. Unfortunately, Deshret's body had been poisoned by forbidden knowledge, which resulted in Apep losing her mind (What Shape Does the Self Hold).
Having lost their second master, the Jinn were heartbroken, and according to myth, they constructed the massive doorway that led into Deshret's mausoleum to memorialize the king (The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle). In the mausoleum itself was placed a false sarcophagus—a "golden husk"—to mark the structure as the ceremonial resting place of Deshret. Additionally, there are whispers that, to this day, Deshret's "intelligence lies elsewhere" (Delving Deeper: The Mausoleum of King Deshret), but it is unclear what this phrase means…
Decimated by the effects of forbidden knowledge and now bereft of a god-king, the inhabitants of Deshret's kingdom splintered into various desert states and began to war against one another for supremacy:
submitted by Way_Moby to Genshin_Lore [link] [comments]
Note that I've tried to privilege artifact, material, etc. descriptions over others sources, as their flavor text seems to be the most "objective." Also, in certain places I have stitched together the lore with some of my own assumptions, but I tried to keep these to a minimum so that this wouldn't just become a headcanon-fest. Either way, let me know if you have any thoughts and/or suggestions for things that I should add.
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In the Beginning
Long ago, the region now known as the Great Red Sand was a verdant land under the dominion of Apep, the Dendro dragon. But during the war against the Second Who Came, when dragons like Nibelung and Apep used the power of the Abyss to fight the Heavenly Principles, it is said that the Primordial One "sent down the divine nails to mend the land" (Amethyst Crown). One of these pillars was dropped on what would become Sumeru (Shadow of the Sand King; What Shape Does the Self Hold). And while this action prevented Apep from absorbing a critical mass of forbidden knowledge (What Shape Does the Self Hold), its ecological impact was immense: "The grass turned into sand" (The Realm of Beginnins), "burying tree and meadow" (Shadow of the Sand King). Apep's once-lush realm was reduced to nothing but a vast, blistering desert. After this catastrophe, "the new masters of Teyvat … stepped into [the] land" (The Realm of Beginnings); these were the humans, and those who lived in the desert organized themselves into various tribes (The Sunken Years).
It was around this time that the one known as King Deshret rose to power and "shaped the land, creating oases and flowing springs" (The Sunken Years). Of Deshret's origins, not much is known. According to legends, he was "a son of the sky," and "whenever he looked up to the sky and recalled the boundless paradise high above, and the merciless reign of thousands of years past, [he] could not help but lower his noble head and sigh helplessly" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar). Deshret—who was also known as "Amun" (What Shape Does the Self Hold), "Al-Ahmar" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar), and the "Scarlet King" (Secret of the Scorching Desert)—was often epithetized as "the king of warriors, gardeners, and intellectuals" (Candace, Companion Dialogue) and it is said that "his people chose to cover their eyes as they dared not look upon him" because his visage "was beyond that of the sun" (Rich Red Brocade). It is unclear what Deshret looked like, but because the statues and effigies that dot the desert landscape are said to have been erected in his image (Primal Obelisk, Mausoleum of King Deshret, East; The Temple Where Sand Flows Like Tears), it is possible that he was an avian-headed humanoid. On murals, he was often depicted simply as a great ten-pointed star inlaid with a technicolor iris; this was the legendary "Eye of Deshret" (An Introduction to Indoor Archaeology).
Prior to his ascendancy, Deshret first approached Apep, the defeated Dendro dragon, and sought her permission to establish a kingdom in what used to be her realm. Although Apep "did not think much" of Deshret, she agreed to his proposal under one condition: "That after his death, all the knowledge he came to accumulate would belong to [her]" (What Shape Does the Self Hold ) Deshret agreed to this proposal and set about building his kingdom, which he sought to make "a paradise for all living beings and a place where wisdom gathered." (Viewpoint: The Barren Land Where Sand Dances).
And as Deshret's kingdom grew, so too did his power: The legends claim that at the apex of his kingdom, Deshret "had no enemies, for all who paid him no homage would be destroyed by [his] servants … and thus be rendered down to naught but a handful of sand" (Delving Deeper: Sekhem Hall ). In fact, so powerful was Deshret's kingdom that Celestia itself eventually offered him a gnosis—the metaphysical index of true power that transmuted its wielder into an archon—but Deshret is said to have "reject[ed] the gift granted by the divine throne" (Wilting Feast).
Deshret and Nabu Malikata: A Fateful Pairing
At some point, Deshret came across "a spirit created at the beginning [who was] the shimmering light that flows from the eyes of the creator" (Amethyst Crown; Scroll of Streaming Song, Vol. I). This magnificent being was Nabu Malikata, better known as the Goddess of Flowers. A benevolent deity and the mother of the Jinn, it I said that:
… the Lord of Flowers was the Lord of Joy and Happiness. Freshwater sprang from her sleeves, and thus was the oasis of blossoming flowers born in the desert. Flowers and grasses followed in her footsteps, and gleaming moonlight cleared the way for her. In the bitter days when the sky turned its back on the ground, the Lord of Flowers extended her mercy to each and every one of the mortals, letting them regain their happiness and egos, allowing leisure and luxury to resume.But the Goddess of Flowers was not just a friendly sprite or a gregarious dryad. In truth, she was a member of that noble race known as the Seelies. Long ago, after the Primordial One had fashioned Teyvat for humans (Before Sun and Moon), Nabu Malikata had danced in heaven with the sisters of the moon (Tulaytullah’s Remembrance). But after the war with the Second, she and her kin "suffered the torment of exile" and were stripped of their "connection to heaven" and to their "powers of enlightenment" (Amethyst Crown ).
She bestowed dreams upon the exiled, the manic, and the foolish. In those dreams, they were presented with their dearest delights. Burdened by the brutality of reality, they were fascinated by the charm of the Lord of Flowers and captivated by her beauty and care. … Apart from wisdom and power, she also brought mercy and joy to her people."
—Oasis Garden's Reminiscence; Oasis Garden's Kindness; Oasis Garden's Truth
Because of this most unjust punishment, the Goddess of Flowers secretly harbored a burning desire to "transcend the absurd shackles that governed this world" by subverting the power of Celestia (Wilting Feast). But Nabu Malikata was not driven simply by revenge. Indeed, she loved humanity and simply wanted them to seize their destiny and realize the "truth": that "these so-called gods [have] been superfluous to [humans] since the beginning?" (Wilting Feast).
King Deshret "reveled in [Nabu Malikata's] immense charm and grace" (Oasis Garden's Truth) and proposed an alliance. And so "the Mistress of Flowers and Oases joined hands with the Lord of Deserts and built Ay-Khanoum, the "City of Amphitheaters," which meant the "City of the Moon Maiden" in the mysterious language of the Jinn (Oasis Garden's Mourning). During this time, it is said that Jinn "lived in a carefree palace, singing with nightingales and talking with roses. It was a beautiful time ... and even the tasteless spring water was intoxicating" (The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle).
The Golden Age of the Oathbound Friends
Sometime later, Nabu Malikata heard rumors of a most wise deity, "the owner of yesterday and the master of tomorrow morning" who went by the name "Rukkhadevata." After meeting one another, the Goddess of Flowers and Rukkhadevata bonded over their love of wisdom and developed a friendship—a friendship that eventually grew to include King Deshret (Scroll of Streaming Song, Vol. I).
Around the time that this friendship was blossoming, the centuries-long era of violence now known as the "Archon War" began, wherein myriad gods battled one another for a chance to receive a gnosis. Given his immense power, Deshret could have easily disposed of both Nabu Malikata and Rukkhadevata, thereby consolidating control over all of Sumeru. But instead, he did the unthinkable: He offered his throne to the goddesses and proposed that the three of them rule over Sumeru together (Amethyst Crown). Nabu Malikata and Rukkhadevata agreed to this offer, and thus did the three become "oathbound friends" (Honeyed Final Feast).
The trio of god-kings consequently divided the responsibilities of ruling amongst themselves: "the banquet belonged to the mistress of flowers and moonlit nights, authority was in the hands of the desert king, and life was the domain of the keeper of plants" (Honeyed Final Feast). Under this tripartite system, "peace and ease reigned," and there was no "division or misfortune" (Honeyed Final Feast). Thus did Sumeru thrive (Scroll of Streaming Song, Vol. III).
Nabu Malikata's Sacrifice
Given their shared disdain for Celestia and their desire to see "humanity … become the king of kings," Deshret often urged the Goddess of Flowers to join him in his rebellion against the Heavenly Principles. At first, Nabu Malikata refused, believing that Deshret's goal was akin to "chain[ing] the winds" (Wilting Feast). Deshret, however, continued to insist, and so Nabu Malikata used her heaven-given powers to show her friend that his future would be "ruinous and bleak" were he to continue down the path he was taking (Wilting Feast). But still, "the king refused to yield an inch" (Wilting Feast).
Never before had the Goddess of Flowers met such a resolve, and soon, in Deshret's "words and aspirations," she "saw the possibility to transcend the absurd shackles that governed this world" (Wilting Feast). And so Nabu Malikata "capitulated to her friend's folly" (Wilting Feast), telling him:
I shall keep your secrets on account of the feelings my heart holds for you and the Lord of Wisdom. I shall fashion you a bridge to allow you to slake your deepest wants. But you must fear not the crystalline sapphire nail... I will deliver you unto higher knowledge. But as I have warned, you are fated to lose much in this exchange... Nevertheless, hide my lesson in your heart. Remember the punishment that once was inflicted on the fallen envoys of heaven. Know this: If there is to be hope in this world, it will be found kindling within mortals most ordinary.Deshret and Nabu Malikata consequently performed an arcane ritual, wherein the latter "[used] her body as a conduit," allowing the former to access "all there was to know about the skies and the abyss" (Secret-Keeper's Magic Bottle ). The ritual's "dazzling radiance" consumed the Goddess of Flower's body and caused "sandstorms [to wreck] revelrous havoc across" Sumeru, "folding the skies with yellow sand, swallowing all in calamity" (Secret-Keeper's Magic Bottle).
—Secret-Keeper's Magic Bottle
King Deshret thence sought out the primeval celestial nail that had long ago turned Sumeru to sand, and—with the assistance of the Jinn—he used its power to create an elaborate cenotaph to commemorate the Goddess of Flowers (Defender of the Enchanting Dream; A Moment Congealed). This memorial—an "ever-youthful dreamland" of "undisturbed water" and "perpetual dusk"—was held in stasis so that it would "not be seized by autumn's arms," nor would the "circles of time" be able to "subject its newborn spring-joy to the curse of years" (Viewpoint: The Paradise of Eternal Peace). And to ensure that nothing bad would happen to his fallen friend's memorial, Deshret granted the mighty Ferigees governance over the oasis (Defender of the Enchanting Dream). In addition to protecting the tomb, the legends say that Ferigees also "used her powers to keep the springs ever-flowing, and so she spread greenery across the desert like stars in the sky, providing sanctuary to folk who had lost their homes" (Defender of the Enchanting Dream). Because of this, Goddess of Flowers's memorial came to be known simply as the "Eternal Oasis" (A Moment Congealed).
Despite the love that Rukkhadevata had for the Goddess of Flowers, it is said that the latter's ideals "broke [the former's] heart" (Dune-Entombed Fecundity: Part III) In fact, Nabu Malikata's death was so impactful that Rukkhadevata decided to "cut ties with the sea of sand," choosing to instead create for herself a forest kingdom from whence she could "take up the path of defending life" (Feast of Boundless Joy). After leaving the desert, Rukkhadevata severed relations with King Deshret (Vibrant Pinion), but while the two were no longer "inseparable friends" (Dreaming Steelbloom), it seems that their past prevented them from ever truly being enemies (Secret of the Scorching Desert).
Deshret and the Vassal States
Following Rukkhadevata's departure from the desert, Deshret was left to rule by himself. But though he had just lost two of his closest friends, his power was still immense: "In [this] era … [Deshret's] power descended upon every inch of the land like the scorching sun. … No one was neglected, nor was anyone discontented. That was a forgotten golden era" (Olden Days of Scorching Might). It is likely that much of Deshret's power was due to his newfound alliance with the Jinn: Soon after the death of their creator, they had turned to the king and promised to serve him if he swore "to find [their] eternal companion" (The Temple Where Sand Flows Like Tears). Deshret agreed and thus the Jinn "became his servants, engaging in noble deeds of creation and exploration," and to house the Jinn, Deshret created myriad magic bottles of silver, stamped with his mark, in which these spirits could live in repose (The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle).
Deshret also made a pact with his human subjects at this time: "Those who possessed hearts of iron and were untainted by the allure of corruption," he proclaimed, "could serve as a vassal-king and guide the people, like a shepherd tending to a flock" (The First Days of the City of Kings). Soon after this proclamation was made, a lowly shepherd named Ormazd met and fell in love with the Jinn Liloupar, the sister of Ferigees. With her help, Ormazd managed to unite the scattered tribes of the desert (Legacy of the Desert High-Born), and thus Ormazd was crowned as Deshret's "vassal king" (The First Days of the City of Kings). Ormazd made the city of Gurabad his capital, and according to the legends:
When Gurabad rose, the kingdoms of man joined many oases into one [and the people of the desert] obeyed the will of Ormazd alone. Ormazd took the Lord of the Desert as his lord-patron, constructing palaces and temples to facilitate his worship. Slaves were taken from the tribes, servitude was demanded from states, and sacrifices were required of the cities... The city thrived, and nobles and slaves alike lived in its shade.Unfortunately, Ormazd devolved into a petty tyrant, much to Liloupar's chagrin. She eventually concocted an elaborate revenge plan that resulted in Gurabad and its inhabitants being swallowed up by the earth (Memories of Gurabad). During this "eternal collapse," "sandstorms and demons ran riot. Nightingales sang till their voice grew raspy and their blood dried up. Roses withered and turned into tangles of thorns. Poets died of maltreatment, lovers were displaced, prosperity vanished" (The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle). In time, Deshret learned of Liloupar's actions, and, in a fury, he had her soul split into seven parts (Primal Obelisk, Safhe Shatranj).
—Legacy of the Desert High-Born
The Search for Forbidden Knowledge
Why, a reader might ask, did Deshret defer to mortals the authority that he himself had long wielded? It seems that at this time, Deshret secluded himself, "us[ing] a hundred years and a hundred years further to build a huge maze for his kingdom, before trapping himself deep within it in search of [the] forbidden knowledge" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar) that Nabu Malikata had sacrificed herself for him to get.
The "taboo knowledge" that Deshret sought in particular was information about how he could "create a dream paradise" (Primal Construct: Prospector) that was "free of worry, schemes, and slavery" (Remnant Glow of Scorching Might). To attain this end, Deshret surveyed the world around him, identifying elements that he felt needed to be eliminated. These things he enumerated as such:
The cycle of seven must be removed, because the secret narrative will be blocked.Fear and grief must be torn down, and so the barrier between life and death must be removed.After extirpating world established by the Heavenly Principles, Deshret sought to "meld all thoughts into one, and let all calculations be unified" (Honeyed Final Feast). This goal was "elegant and precise" (Staff of the Scarlet Sands), but only because it represented nothing less than pure soteriological release from existence itself; in time, Deshret's objective came to be known as the "Golden Slumber" (Dreaming Steelbloom).
Remove the sun, the moons, and weight, for there should be no barriers between time and space.
Remove the original principles of rules, verdicts, and grace, so that she will no longer be afraid of the punishment that is laid on her kin.
Remove birds, beasts, fish, dragons, humans, and seven monk-kings, so that none shall steal wisdom. …
"None shall have to drink salt water in the King's realm, for everything in the new world shall be good."
—Staff of the Scarlet Sands
But while Deshret seems to have been outwardly motivated to seek Abyssal knowledge so as to enact his "Golden Slumber" and help thus "humanity become the lord of lords and the god of gods" (Honeyed Final Feast), he may very well have had another motive: to revive his lost love, Nabu Malikata. In the Lay of Al-Ahmar, it is said that the Crocodile King, the "commander of commanders," recommended that the king "forget the delusions of the Void" and instead seek "only resurrection and life eternal"—a recommendation, we are told, to which the king ultimately assented (The Lay of Al-Ahmar). While one could write this off as a dramatic distortion of what actually happened, it might very well be a highly poetic recollection of what actually happened: After all, we know that Deshret, while hard at work seeking forbidden knowledge, admitted to himself:
I understand now. This is what I have always wanted. That which I have always longed to find once more has never been a paradise for the many.This admission heavily suggests that what Deshret yearned for more than anything was a way to turn back time, resurrect his old friend from the dead, and live in the happiness of the past; in other words, he sought nothing more than to subvert "the law of universe that 'all who exist must one day perish'" (Sword of Descension).
All the parodies of the teachings and the seven wise monks, or that so-called pure world free of all sorrows, none of those things matter anymore ...
I can see the three of us debating in our paradise once more. We are so close.
—Staff of the Scarlet Sands
The Fall of King Deshret
It was while "gaz[ing] upon the wisdom of the depths, and inclin[ing] his ear to honeyed whispers" (Dreaming Steelbloom) that Deshret came across forbidden knowledge from "the very bottom of the Abyss" that was beyond comprehension (Where the Boat of Consciousness Lies). This knowledge was utterly devastating, and it swiftly toppled Deshret's mighty kingdom. Thanks to the record of Kasala, one of Deshret's priests who lived through this calamity, we have a vivid description of this horrific event:
A disaster caught us unaware: It was knowledge that did not belong to this world. [King Deshret] brought this forbidden knowledge into our world and it quickly spread like a plague. People’s minds were filled with crazed whispers; dark gray scales spread across their bodies; even the land was stripped of its vigor. Only a desperate, deathly silence remained.This was Deshret's darkest hour. But then, when all hope seemed lost, help arrived from east: It was Greater Lord Rukkhadevata of the forests! It seems that while she had cut ties with Deshret long ago due to a difference in opinion, she never ceased to care for him. When she arrived in the desert, the situation was dire, with the poison of forbidden knowledge threatening to swallow the kingdom whole. Rukkhadevata acted quickly: She summoned the desert priests and had them build seven great temples, into which she infused the "divine power of life" (Secret of the Scorching Desert). The energy that radiated from these temples slowed the advance of the forbidden knowledge's destruction, and during this reprieve, Rukkhadevata and King Deshret gathered up the desert kingdom's survivors and had them seek refuge in the city of Akhtamun, which in time became known as "Aaru Village" (Candace, Companion Dialogue; Secret of the Scorching Desert). But the battle was not over yet.
—Secret of the Scorching Desert
While Rukkhadevata's temples had managed to slow the spread of forbidden knowledge, they had not managed to fully eradicate the threat. Rukkhadevata and King Deshret thus joined forces and together fought against the forbidden knowledge. This battle was perhaps the most strenuous the two had ever waged: Rukkhadevata is said to have "exhausted her strength" in the fight, resulting in her "form [becoming] that of a small child," and King Deshret, realizing that the forbidden knowledge he had brought into the world could not be eliminated without a great loss, "chose to sacrifice himself" in order to save the day (Secret of the Scorching Desert). It is unclear what exactly this sacrifice entailed, but it is likely that Deshret used the power of his consciousness to blast the forbidden knowledge into oblivion (Secret of the Scorching Desert); at this time, Deshret also seems to have activated his Golden Slumber project by teaching his people the following incantation, which, when spoken in earnest, merged their "minds … into one" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar):
O stars high above the wastelandDeshret's sacrifice paid off, and the forbidden knowledge was eradicated. But it is also said that in the aftermath:
O nightingales weary from the day
It's time to take off the crown of roses
Cleanse yourself with wine made from grape
—Dreams Beneath the Searing Sand
... the desert quaked, and the walls of [Deshret's] royal city collapsed. One thousand and one pillars trembled before the gale, and the bulls and griffins that once stood proudly atop them, gazing down at the lifeless dunes, now reluctantly fell into its gilded embrace. Countless people, sage or fool, hero or coward—all of them vanished within the sandstorm that night.And thus was Deshret's kingdom "built and destroyed by his own hand" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar).
—The Lay of Al-Ahmar
Post-Mortem
Per the mythos of the desert folks, after Deshret sacrificed himself, his physical body "gradually decayed on his throne while worms feasted on it" (The Lay of Al-Ahmar). Interestingly, this could be a fanciful retelling of a historical event: According to the dragon Apep, after Deshret's kingdom collapse, she "swallowed him whole" to attain the knowledge he had accumulated, per the agreement that they had struck thousands of years prior. Unfortunately, Deshret's body had been poisoned by forbidden knowledge, which resulted in Apep losing her mind (What Shape Does the Self Hold).
Having lost their second master, the Jinn were heartbroken, and according to myth, they constructed the massive doorway that led into Deshret's mausoleum to memorialize the king (The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle). In the mausoleum itself was placed a false sarcophagus—a "golden husk"—to mark the structure as the ceremonial resting place of Deshret. Additionally, there are whispers that, to this day, Deshret's "intelligence lies elsewhere" (Delving Deeper: The Mausoleum of King Deshret), but it is unclear what this phrase means…
Decimated by the effects of forbidden knowledge and now bereft of a god-king, the inhabitants of Deshret's kingdom splintered into various desert states and began to war against one another for supremacy:
Many tiny tyrants would marshal refugees fleeing the cataclysm, and they would build temples, palaces, and high walls where once stood ancient ruins. The ruined cities would be devastated each after the next, and despots of all stripes boasting of power and wealth for a time would rise and fall all too quickly.Seven of these kingdoms sprung up around the temples that Rukkhadevata and the desert priests had erected years prior (Secret of the Scorching Desert; note that these temples would later be misattributed to Shah Ramshahr, per Primal Obelisk, Mausoleum of King Deshret, East, Underground). The names of only a few of these cities are known—i.e., Tulaytullah, Saleh, Ay-Khanoum (Primal Obelisk, Mausoleum of King Deshret, East, Underground)—but in the end, the "ears of decay" would ground them all "into sand" (Key of Khaj-Nisut). Those few who were left eventually became known as the "Eremites."
—Lamp of the Lost
2023.05.30 18:41 M_Tootles The Recursive Homecomings Of Petyr & Theon Part 8: Bovine Eyes & Eyes With Stys; Sylas Sourmouth & Silas Marner; Theon's Uncle & Petyr's Hermit; "Petyr Pan" & "Wendamyr Darling" (Spoilers Extended)
This post is part of a series looking at the massive amount of 'rhyming' (and occasionally rhyming) recursivity I believe exists between (a) the homecoming of Petyr Baelish to the Fingers and (b) the homecoming of Theon Greyjoy to Pyke.
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
NOTE: In what follows, all uncited quotes are from ASOS Sansa VI, which describes Petyr's homecoming to his "Drearfort" tower of the 'Smallest Finger', or ACOK Theon I, which describes Theon's homecoming to "drear" Pyke.
As in past posts, I sometimes use "→" as shorthand for "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
This post picks up straight-away from where Part 7 left off. You can read Part 7 [HERE].
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE].
As Theon approaches Lordsport, he thinks of a few faces he thinks he might find waiting for him, including one Sylas Sourmouth:
When Theon makes landfall at Lordsport, none of the "smallfolk going about their small business" know him, nor does he know them:
Note that Petyr doesn't know (and isn't known by) "the child… with a sty on one eye". This conflates and reworks (a) Theon being unrecognized by the "gaunt" — i.e. decidedly un-pig-like (see: "sty" as in pigsty) — children of castle Pyke, whose eyes are flawed in their own way—
One more point of immediate interest to the hypothesis being explored here: "Marner" means sailomariner. If Petyr is in part a riff on Silas Marner, this could be yet another suggestion that he's Hoare-ish and thus ironborn.
That all 'rhymes' with the Aeron we meet during Theon's homecoming in ACOK. To wit…
Aeron's thin physique, uncut hair and "untrimmed beard" make him look like a stereotypical hermit, but where Petyr's hermit was given a "skin of wine", Aeron carries a "waterskin":
That Aeron is a priest is also consistent with his prefiguring Petyr's hermit, in that being a 'proper' hermit is a religious calling. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit)
Aeron echews the comforts of a castle, refusing Theon's offer to "stay the night and share our meat and mead":
Where the hermit was a wino, Aeron's a former drunk—
Where the hermit "had not washed in… years", Aeron is called "Damphair", as if he's just bathed—
Naturally.
One of the first things we see Theon do is 'grope' the captain's daughter. A lot.
So where Theon gropes the captain's daughter for a "cup of wine", Petyr, "for half a cup", would have been willing to say, as the wino hermit did, that he'd be "a great man"… which is not coincidentally what Theon in effect tells his just-groped captain's daughter (for free) when he implies that he's going to be a king:
Note that it makes sense that Qalen should prefigure Petyr's hermit, as the name "Qalen" recalls [Hermetic Qabala].
Meanwhile, the rest of Helya's answer prefigures Petyr having "a hermit's cave… but no hermit", as the line "Wendamyr keeps the ravens now" invites us to think this untitled Wendamyr fellow might not be a maester, but rather a 'mere' raven-keeper (a la Chett and later Sam at the Wall or Pate in Oldtown), which would mean there's a maester's tower, but no maester.
Yes, the appendix clears this up, but in the narrative itself it's as if there's now only some rando dude named Wendamyr who isn't a maester but who "keeps the ravens" so Balon doesn't lose access to rapid communication, even if (we might infer) he doesn't want those pesky maesters around now that he's brought back the Old Way.
Moreover, given that that passage comes but one page before Theon is pointedly unrecognized by the people of Pyke castle, I suspect GRRM deliberately recycled the word "mine" into the odd way Petyr talks about his smallfolk just before he shows Sansa the hermit's cave:
Note the 'perfect' pairing of their breaths: sour wine and bad cheese.
To be sure, Lysa voices these complaints in the Drearfort during Petyr's homecoming chapter, the morning after she weds Petyr, whose breath, she says, "is always fresh", thus creating another strong thread of connection between ACOK Theon I and ASOS Sansa VI. But there's something else going on here.
It's worth noting that after getting caught up in Peter's world and enjoying herself for some time, Wendy remembers who she really is and decides to return home, bringing her brothers with her.
On a totally different note: Does the foregoing suggest that Wendamyr might somehow 'belong' to Petyr?
submitted by M_Tootles to asoiaf [link] [comments]
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE].
Smallfolk Who Do Not Know Them
What about the rest of what we read about Petyr's sight-seeing field trip with Sansa? What about that fact that most of Petyr's smallfolk do not "know him"? And what about that hermit? I submit that all of this—Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years, so you can imagine how he smelled, but supposedly he had the gift of prophecy. He groped me a bit and said I would be a great man, and for that my father gave him a skin of wine." Petyr snorted. "I would have told him the same thing for half a cup."—is a masterful kaleidoscopic reworking of several aspects of Theon's homecoming chapter. I'll explain.
As Theon approaches Lordsport, he thinks of a few faces he thinks he might find waiting for him, including one Sylas Sourmouth:
As the Myraham made her way landward, Theon paced the deck restlessly, scanning the shore. … [S]urely his father would have sent someone to meet him. Sylas Sourmouth the steward, Lord Botley, perhaps even Dagmer Cleftjaw. …We'll see shortly that Sylas is a dead, smelly wino, just like Littlefinger's hermit.
When Theon makes landfall at Lordsport, none of the "smallfolk going about their small business" know him, nor does he know them:
[Theon] saw no familiar faces…When he later enters Pyke castle, Theon again knows no one and no one 'seems to know him', so to speak, save the "old crone" who keeps the castle for Balon:
[The captain:] "I've brought your heir back to you."
The Lordsport men gazed on Theon with blank, bovine eyes, and he realized that they did not know who he was. It made him angry. He… strode down the gangplank. "Innkeeper," he barked, "I require a horse."
"As you say, m'lord," the man responded, without so much as a bow. … "Where would you be riding, m'lord?"
… The fool still did not know him. He should have worn his good doublet, with the kraken embroidered on the breast.
The gates stood open to him, the rusted iron portcullis drawn up. The guards atop the battlements watched with strangers' eyes as Theon Greyjoy came home at last.So clearly the smallfolk of Pyke "did not know" Theon, whereas he is at least recognized by Helya, the "old crone" with a position in Balon's castle. It's easy to imagine "Prince" Theon bitching:
A pair of gaunt children and some thralls stared at him with dull eyes, but there was no sign of his lord father, nor anyone else he recalled from boyhood. A bleak and bitter homecoming, he thought. …
A bentback old crone in a shapeless grey dress approached him warily. "M'lord, I am sent to show you to chambers."
"By whose bidding?"
"Your lord father, m'lord."
Theon pulled off his gloves. "So you do know who I am. …" … "And who are you?"
"Helya, who keeps this castle for your lord father."
"Mine own smallfolk, yet only the old crone who keeps Pyke for my father seems to know me!"That entirely true statement would, of course, neatly prefigure what's said about Petyr and his "own smallfolk" during his sight-seeing 'field trip' with Sansa:
"Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him.Note the recursive use of the term "know" there:
- Theon: "They did not know who he was"; "The fool still did not know him"; "So you do know who I am" → Petyr: "Only the oldest seemed to know him"
Recognition & Barnyard Eyes
Meanwhile, Theon being recognized by Helya — an (a) old crone and (b) Balon's castle-keeper — seems to be reworked when Petyr makes his landfall at the Drearfort, when he is verbatim "recognized" by all save the youngest of his castle household:Servants emerged from the tower to meet them; a thin old woman and a fat middle-aged one, two ancient white-haired men, and a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye. When they recognized Lord Petyr they knelt on the rocks. "My household," he said. "I don't know the child."GRRM's odd choice here to write, "When they recognized" him…" rather than e.g. "When they saw Lord Petyr…" or "When they realized it was Lord Petyr…" makes sense if we 'know' that GRRM is writing a 'rhyming' 'song': Theon was at least recognized by Helya, and this nods to that, even as the warm greeting and mutual recognition Petyr receives from and shares with his household is otherwise the yin to Theon's yang.
Note that Petyr doesn't know (and isn't known by) "the child… with a sty on one eye". This conflates and reworks (a) Theon being unrecognized by the "gaunt" — i.e. decidedly un-pig-like (see: "sty" as in pigsty) — children of castle Pyke, whose eyes are flawed in their own way—
A pair of gaunt children… stared at him with dull eyes…—and (b) the "blank, bovine eyes" of the Lordsport men who "did not know who [Theon] was":
The Lordsport men gazed on Theon with blank, bovine eyes, and he realized that they did not know who he was.This seems intentional: Eye styes can be spelled "sty" in the singular, as GRRM does here, but "stye" is preferred to differentiate from "sty" meaning a pig pen. The choice to spell it "sty" gives the girl who doesn't know Petyr a livestock-evoking eye and thus recursively riffs on Theon's homecoming, in which the men who "did not know who he was" had cattle-evoking eyes. The 'rhyme' is patent.
Sylas Sourmouth & Petyr's Hermit
Getting back to Theon's homecoming and its prefiguration of Sansa's 'field trip' with Petyr… Having been recognized by Helya, Theon asks her about Sylas Sourmouth, who he'd remembered when sailing into Lordsport:"Sylas was steward here. They called him Sourmouth." Even now, Theon could recall the winey stench of the old man's breath.So Sylas was a foul-smelling wino who is "dead these five years". He thus prefigures Petyr's dead, foul-smelling wino-hermit, who "had not washed in forty years". But he's not the only character in ACOK Theon I who seems to have inspired the story of Petyr's hermit.
"Dead these five years, m'lord."
"Sylas" Marner
The name "Sylas" shores up the fact that there's a connection between Theon and Petyr, if "only" via the 'rhyme' between Sylas and Petyr's hermit, as it's surely a reference to [Silas Marner by George Eliot], the plot of which massively resonates with Petyr's story.- Silas is accused of embezzling funds. (See Littlefinger.)
- The evidence against him is a knife. (See Littlefinger.)
- Silas loses his fiancee to a rival. (See Littlefinger.)
- Silas goes to live in the middle of nowhere and loses all faith in God. (See Littlefinger.)
- Silas hoards and loves gold he earns from weaving. (See Littlefinger hoarding/loving gold and weaving his webs of lies. See also the "woven leathers" on the Myraham, which 'rhymes' so comprehensively with the Merling King. This also jibes with elpadrinonegro's conviction that the Vale story is riffing on Midsummer Night's Dream, with its weaver.)
- Silas adopts a daughter sired by a highborn man and found on a snowy night, her mother dead in the snow. He names her after his deceased mother. (See Littlefinger, and AGOT's first chapter.)
- The daughter "grows up to be the pride of the village" (as Sansa is set to be the pride of the Vale?).
One more point of immediate interest to the hypothesis being explored here: "Marner" means sailomariner. If Petyr is in part a riff on Silas Marner, this could be yet another suggestion that he's Hoare-ish and thus ironborn.
Aeron & Petyr's Hermit
Sylas has something in common with the one person who does 'greet' Theon when he lands at Lordsport: Aeron, who we're quickly told twice is "sour", just like Sylas Sourmouth, the stinky dead wino who we already 'rhymed' with Petyr's hermit:He is as mad as he is sour. Theon had liked what he remembered of the old Aeron Greyjoy.Indeed, it's clear that the "sour" Aeron of ACOK Theon I & II and Sylas Sourmouth are mashed up and rejiggered into Petyr's hermit story (repeated here for reference):
Mallister… was a more amiable riding companion than this sour old priest that his uncle Aeron had turned into.
There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years, so you can imagine how he smelled, but supposedly he had the gift of prophecy. He groped me a bit and said I would be a great man, and for that my father gave him a skin of wine." Petyr snorted. "I would have told him the same thing for half a cup."Consider that Petyr's hermit was a drunk who "had not washed in… years", who "supposedly… had the gift of prophecy", who received a "skin of wine" for telling Petyr's father Petyr "would be a great man", and who died some unknown number of years ago.
That all 'rhymes' with the Aeron we meet during Theon's homecoming in ACOK. To wit…
Aeron's thin physique, uncut hair and "untrimmed beard" make him look like a stereotypical hermit, but where Petyr's hermit was given a "skin of wine", Aeron carries a "waterskin":
Tall and thin, …the priest was garbed in mottled robes of green and grey and blue…. A waterskin hung under his arm on a leather strap, and ropes of dried seaweed were braided through his waist-long black hair and untrimmed beard.The seaweed braided in his beard evokes the beach, where dwell… hermit crabs, who likewise pick up and make use of beach detritus.
That Aeron is a priest is also consistent with his prefiguring Petyr's hermit, in that being a 'proper' hermit is a religious calling. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit)
Aeron echews the comforts of a castle, refusing Theon's offer to "stay the night and share our meat and mead":
"Bring you, I was told. You are brought. Now I return to our god's business." Aeron Greyjoy turned his horse and rode slowly out beneath the muddy spikes of the portcullis.This prefigures Petyr's hermit being a cave-dweller,
Where the hermit was a wino, Aeron's a former drunk—
The priest's manner was chilly, most unlike the man Theon remembered. Aeron Greyjoy had been… fond of… ale….—who is now "drunk on seawater and sanctity":
"Aeron is drunk on seawater and sanctity. He lives only for his god—" - Theon (ACOK Theon II)That phrase neatly prefigures the juxtaposition of the seawater-shooting blowhole with the boulder chiseled with the sign of the Seven, which we see just before the show-and-tell around Petyr's hermit.
Where the hermit "had not washed in… years", Aeron is called "Damphair", as if he's just bathed—
As the man approached, the smallfolk bent the knee, and Theon heard the innkeeper murmur, "Damphair."—and he greets Theon by giving him a bath:
"Bow your head." Lifting the skin, his uncle pulled the cork and directed a thin stream of seawater down upon Theon's head. It drenched his hair and ran over his forehead into his eyes. Sheets washed down his cheeks, and a finger crept under his cloak and doublet and down his back, a cold rivulet along his spine.We're also told twice that Aeron was "washed" in the ocean. The first time foregrounds "memory" and letter-writing, which prefigures Littlefinger the letter-writer recounting his childhood memory of the hermit to Sansa:
A memory prodded at Theon. In one of his rare curt letters, Lord Balon had written of his youngest brother going down in a storm, and turning holy when he washed up safe on shore. "Uncle Aeron?" he said doubtfullyThe second time paints Aeron as a dry drunk again, even as Aeron tells Theon that the man Theon knew as Aeron "drowned", implying he died some years ago, as the hermit did:
"And what of you, Uncle?" Theon asked. "You were no priest when I was taken from Pyke. I remember how you would sing the old reaving songs standing on the table with a horn of ale in hand."Finally, where the prophet "supposedly… had the gift of prophecy" and used it to tell Petyr's father that Petyr "would be a great man", Aeron offers a prophetic interpretation of the red comet:
"Young I was, and vain," Aeron Greyjoy said, "but the sea washed my follies and my vanities away. That man drowned, nephew. His lungs filled with seawater, and the fish ate the scales off his eyes. When I rose again, I saw clearly."
[Theon, to Aeron:] "They say the red comet is a herald of a new age. A messenger from the gods."Everything we subsequently read about Aeron only reinforces the 'rhyme': In AFFC it's spelled out that he was a drunk, he calls himself "the prophet", and we learn that he was molested by Euron, thus 'rhyming' with Petyr being "groped… a bit" by the hermit. Then, in The Forsaken, he has an apocalyptic vision of the future while tripping on special wine.
"A sign it is," the priest agreed, "but from our god, not theirs. A burning brand it is, such as our people carried of old. It is the flame the Drowned God brought from the sea, and it proclaims a rising tide. It is time to hoist our sails and go forth into the world with fire and sword, as he did."
Groping, Bragging, Snorting
But what about when GRRM wrote ASOS Sansa VI? Were there already things in Theon's ACOK homecoming prefiguring Petyr's quip about getting "groped" by the hermit?"He groped me a bit and said I would be a great man, and for that my father gave him a skin of wine." Petyr snorted. "I would have told him the same thing for half a cup."Or for that matter prefiguring Petyr snorting and/or his quip about "doing the same thing for half a cup" and/or the hermit saying he "would be a great man"?
Naturally.
One of the first things we see Theon do is 'grope' the captain's daughter. A lot.
Theon agreed, squeezing her breast…And how does Theon get her to let him grope her? With the same thing with which Petyr's father paid the hermit: wine!
Theon's finger circled one heavy teat, spiraling in toward the fat brown nipple.
"As I have," he said, rolling her nipple idly between his fingers.
The captain's daughter… had come to his bed willingly enough all the same. A cup of wine, a few whispers, and there she was.(I guess Theon couldn't find a girl who'd let him do it "for half a cup.")
So where Theon gropes the captain's daughter for a "cup of wine", Petyr, "for half a cup", would have been willing to say, as the wino hermit did, that he'd be "a great man"… which is not coincidentally what Theon in effect tells his just-groped captain's daughter (for free) when he implies that he's going to be a king:
"As many times as I've fucked you, you're likely with child. It's not every man who has the honor of raising a king's bastard."Theon still more unmistakably prefigures Petyr's hermit (saying Petyr would be "a great man") when, during his ride back to Pyke from Lordsport with "Esgred" a.k.a. Asha in ACOK Theon II, he says he will be verbatim "a great man":
[Asha:] "A grievous thing when a great man grows old."What is he doing when he says this? Making even more like Petyr's hermit by 'groping' her, too:
[Theon:] "Lord Balon is but the father of a great man."
When they were well beyond Lordsport, Theon put a hand on her breast. Esgred reached up and plucked it away.In reply to Theon's groping and flirting and declarations of greatness, Asha… "snorted", just like Petyr when he talks about the hermit:
[Theon] slid his hand back up to where it had been. Her breasts were small, but he liked the firmness of them.
"I like a woman with a good tight grip."Thus it's hardly a stretch to imagine that this—
She [Asha] snorted. "I'd not have thought it, by that wench on the waterfront."
"He groped me a bit and said I would be a great man, and for that my father gave him a skin of wine." Petyr snorted. "I would have told him the same thing for half a cup."—was written as a recursive, kaleidoscopic riff on Theon's homecoming.
Qalen, Wendamyr, & Petyr's Hermit
There remains one detail regarding Petyr's hermit that is as yet unmoored/un-'rhymed':There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit.The hermit having a cave "on his land" but the cave having "no hermit" is a 'rhyming' rejiggering of what Helya says after Theon (having heard that Sylas Sourmouth is dead) asks her about a Maester Qalen:
"And what of Maester Qalen, where is he?""He sleeps in the sea" is clearly a euphemism for being dead. The words "he sleeps in the sea" thus prefigure Petyr talking about a dead hermit who once lived "on his land". (sea → land)
"He sleeps in the sea. Wendamyr keeps the ravens now."
Note that it makes sense that Qalen should prefigure Petyr's hermit, as the name "Qalen" recalls [Hermetic Qabala].
Meanwhile, the rest of Helya's answer prefigures Petyr having "a hermit's cave… but no hermit", as the line "Wendamyr keeps the ravens now" invites us to think this untitled Wendamyr fellow might not be a maester, but rather a 'mere' raven-keeper (a la Chett and later Sam at the Wall or Pate in Oldtown), which would mean there's a maester's tower, but no maester.
Yes, the appendix clears this up, but in the narrative itself it's as if there's now only some rando dude named Wendamyr who isn't a maester but who "keeps the ravens" so Balon doesn't lose access to rapid communication, even if (we might infer) he doesn't want those pesky maesters around now that he's brought back the Old Way.
The Abandoned Mine
That said, there is another piece of the puzzle. About two pages before Helya tells Theon about Sylas and Qalen and Wendamyr, he sees the abandoned workings of a mine during his ride to Pyke:They kept a steady plodding pace, past a shepherd's croft and the abandoned workings of a mine.An abandoned mine pretty clearly prefigures Petyr's hermit's cave with no hermit.
Moreover, given that that passage comes but one page before Theon is pointedly unrecognized by the people of Pyke castle, I suspect GRRM deliberately recycled the word "mine" into the odd way Petyr talks about his smallfolk just before he shows Sansa the hermit's cave:
"Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit.(The "abandoned workings of a mine" formulation, meanwhile, foregrounds the work done at a mine, such as chiseling through rock, and thus prefigures the place on Petyr's lands where the Andals "had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder" before abandoning it to become the desolate place it 'now' is.)
Slyas Sourmouth & Jon Arryn
Just one more thing regarding Theon's exchange with Helya, in which we read that Sylas and Qalen are dead, while someone called Wendamyr "keeps the ravens now":"Sylas was steward here. They called him Sourmouth." Even now, Theon could recall the winey stench of the old man's breath.Petyr's smelly wino-hermit aside, what does Sylas the Steward — a verbatim "old man" with terrible "breath" who died five years ago — evoke if not Lysa's complaints about the "stinking" and "foul breath" of Jon Arryn, who was, she thought when she wed him, "such an old man, how long could he live", and whose breath smelled like "bad cheese" (of the sort a "Sour" steward might serve)?
"Dead these five years, m'lord."
"And what of Maester Qalen, where is he?"
"He sleeps in the sea. Wendamyr keeps the ravens now."
Note the 'perfect' pairing of their breaths: sour wine and bad cheese.
To be sure, Lysa voices these complaints in the Drearfort during Petyr's homecoming chapter, the morning after she weds Petyr, whose breath, she says, "is always fresh", thus creating another strong thread of connection between ACOK Theon I and ASOS Sansa VI. But there's something else going on here.
Petyr Pan & Wendamyr Darling
Noting that we're told about Sylas and his breath just before we're told about Qalen and Wendamyr, surely we might say something like this:- Where Pyke's former keeper of the cheese, the wine-breathed "old man" Sylas the Steward, is 'out' and where Wendamyr is 'in' as raven-keeper at Pyke… the cheese-breathed "old man" Jon Arryn is 'out' and the fresh-breathed Petyr is 'in' at the Eyrie.
- much younger Petyr & Wendamyr have replaced the old men Sylas/Qalen and Jon Arryn.
- Petyr & Wendamyr ≈ Peter and Wendy
- Peter Pan and Wendy Darling → Petyr & Wendamyr
It's worth noting that after getting caught up in Peter's world and enjoying herself for some time, Wendy remembers who she really is and decides to return home, bringing her brothers with her.
On a totally different note: Does the foregoing suggest that Wendamyr might somehow 'belong' to Petyr?
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 9: "Cargos, Slatterns & Butchery" with Helya & Grisel.
2023.05.30 18:34 TheZaxman William "Billy" Baratheon, Hand of the King, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands
PCDiscord Username: Zaxman
Character Name and House: William “Billy” Baratheon
Age: 45
Appearance: Sporting a thick mustache of charcoal black hair, the edges of his hair have begun to gray out. Tall and still a thick wall of muscle William has not begun to deteriorate yet.
Gift: Leadership
Skills: Blunt Weapons, Cautious, Tactician E, Beleaguer
Talent(s): Fishing x 3
Starting Title(s): Hand of the King, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands
Starting Location: Kingslanding
Alternate Characters: Leo Reyne
AC
Character Name and House: Quentyn Baratheon
Age: 20
Appearance: Much like his father in his youth Quentyn has long thick charcoal black hair, the man has grown just an inch taller than his father at exactly six feet tall. With each passing year the young Baratheon Lord fills into his form.
Gift: Champion
Skills: Blunt Weapons, Berserker, Defender
Talent(s): Drinking, Fishing x 2
Starting Title(s): Acting Lord of the Stormlands
Starting Location: Kings Landing
Billy’s Timeline
162 AC - Born in Storms End, most of his young life is uneventful. The boy had a mainly martial education.
170 AC - a young William is sent on a tour of the Stormlands, spending a single year in many keeps he passes through. Learning under Lords Swann, Caron, Selmy, Connington, Estermont, and Dondarrion.
178 AC - Years of education in warfare and knightly manners later the boy became man and rose to knighthood. Knighted after fighting with Lord Dondarrion to repel a Dornish incursion.
180 AC - William is caught in bed with Mellissa Mertyns, an older woman who had hoped to take advantage of the younger Lord to rise in status. William's father has him married off as a result. She gives birth to a healthy boy of Black hair and blue eyes less than a year later named Eustace.
185 AC - William is married to Ravella Morrigen, despite the man's existing bastard the two hit it off well. They have a happy early marriage.
186 AC - The Lord of Storm’s End rode to war in Aemond I’s invasion of Dorne, winning a few victories in the Boneway. Then meeting the now ascended Maelor II at the bottom of Princes Pass, he pledges his undying loyalty to his new King. His first trueborn son is born while he is at war, a rowdy baby boy named Quentyn.
187 AC - Named Maelor’s Marshal he enacted the Burning of the Greenblood. Which has its intended effect and Baelor is drawn into pitched battle. William manages to corner and slay the Would-Be-King in single combat. At the War's conclusion Maelor awarded him the office of Hand of the King, for his service and honest advice in the war.
195 AC - William is sent to back House Blackwood against the Brackens who rally forces for a large attack. William rallies Crownlander forces before meeting with Lady Tully, assisting her in bringing a swift resolution to the conflict, in favor of House Blackwood.
207 AC - Years spent as Hand William is not the warrior he once was,a tiring older man whose mind has not faltered, not yet.
Quentyn’s Timeline
186 AC - Born while his father is away at war Quentyn had a happy childhood.
187 AC - Though he barely remembers it he leaves Storms End and his family moves into a new apartment in the Red Keep.
193 AC - Quentyn begins his martial training young, alongside his cousin and bastard brother. Quickly he takes to a hammer and shield much like his father, often relying on his strength to overpower opponents.
198 AC - Quentyn is sent to squire for Lord Caron in the Marches, learning the rest of his knightly education from the Lord of the Marches.
202 AC - Quentyn slays many Dornish raiders when repelling a Vulture Kings attack, he is Knight by Lord Caron on the remains of the battlefield.
207 AC - After a few years ruling the Stormlands in his father's name Quentyn marches for King’s Landing for the appointment feast.
NPCs
Ryon Baratheon - Tactician
Ser Gary Grandison - Swords
submitted by TheZaxman to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]
Character Name and House: William “Billy” Baratheon
Age: 45
Appearance: Sporting a thick mustache of charcoal black hair, the edges of his hair have begun to gray out. Tall and still a thick wall of muscle William has not begun to deteriorate yet.
Gift: Leadership
Skills: Blunt Weapons, Cautious, Tactician E, Beleaguer
Talent(s): Fishing x 3
Starting Title(s): Hand of the King, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands
Starting Location: Kingslanding
Alternate Characters: Leo Reyne
AC
Character Name and House: Quentyn Baratheon
Age: 20
Appearance: Much like his father in his youth Quentyn has long thick charcoal black hair, the man has grown just an inch taller than his father at exactly six feet tall. With each passing year the young Baratheon Lord fills into his form.
Gift: Champion
Skills: Blunt Weapons, Berserker, Defender
Talent(s): Drinking, Fishing x 2
Starting Title(s): Acting Lord of the Stormlands
Starting Location: Kings Landing
Billy’s Timeline
162 AC - Born in Storms End, most of his young life is uneventful. The boy had a mainly martial education.
170 AC - a young William is sent on a tour of the Stormlands, spending a single year in many keeps he passes through. Learning under Lords Swann, Caron, Selmy, Connington, Estermont, and Dondarrion.
178 AC - Years of education in warfare and knightly manners later the boy became man and rose to knighthood. Knighted after fighting with Lord Dondarrion to repel a Dornish incursion.
180 AC - William is caught in bed with Mellissa Mertyns, an older woman who had hoped to take advantage of the younger Lord to rise in status. William's father has him married off as a result. She gives birth to a healthy boy of Black hair and blue eyes less than a year later named Eustace.
185 AC - William is married to Ravella Morrigen, despite the man's existing bastard the two hit it off well. They have a happy early marriage.
186 AC - The Lord of Storm’s End rode to war in Aemond I’s invasion of Dorne, winning a few victories in the Boneway. Then meeting the now ascended Maelor II at the bottom of Princes Pass, he pledges his undying loyalty to his new King. His first trueborn son is born while he is at war, a rowdy baby boy named Quentyn.
187 AC - Named Maelor’s Marshal he enacted the Burning of the Greenblood. Which has its intended effect and Baelor is drawn into pitched battle. William manages to corner and slay the Would-Be-King in single combat. At the War's conclusion Maelor awarded him the office of Hand of the King, for his service and honest advice in the war.
195 AC - William is sent to back House Blackwood against the Brackens who rally forces for a large attack. William rallies Crownlander forces before meeting with Lady Tully, assisting her in bringing a swift resolution to the conflict, in favor of House Blackwood.
207 AC - Years spent as Hand William is not the warrior he once was,a tiring older man whose mind has not faltered, not yet.
Quentyn’s Timeline
186 AC - Born while his father is away at war Quentyn had a happy childhood.
187 AC - Though he barely remembers it he leaves Storms End and his family moves into a new apartment in the Red Keep.
193 AC - Quentyn begins his martial training young, alongside his cousin and bastard brother. Quickly he takes to a hammer and shield much like his father, often relying on his strength to overpower opponents.
198 AC - Quentyn is sent to squire for Lord Caron in the Marches, learning the rest of his knightly education from the Lord of the Marches.
202 AC - Quentyn slays many Dornish raiders when repelling a Vulture Kings attack, he is Knight by Lord Caron on the remains of the battlefield.
207 AC - After a few years ruling the Stormlands in his father's name Quentyn marches for King’s Landing for the appointment feast.
NPCs
Ryon Baratheon - Tactician
Ser Gary Grandison - Swords
2023.05.30 18:32 JustDanielJuice Loras Flowers, the Black Crane, Bastard of Red Lake (+AC)
PC
Character Name and House: Loras Flowers (Crane)
Age: 19
Appearance: Despite being born of a union between Andal and Valyrian, Loras’ appearance hardly reflects the mixed parentage. His hair is made up of the jet black semi-curls of his father, and his face largely resembles him as well. His eyes are the deep cerulean common among Cranes. Physically, Loras is tall, with broad shoulders and an athletic frame, which can be accredited to his days horse riding and training. His skin is tanned due to hours spent in Red Lake, though his face is prone to burning.
Gift: Duelist
Skills: Swords (M), Knightly, Riding
Talent(s): Fishing, Being Handsome, Attention Seeking
Starting Title(s): Ser, Bastard of Red Lake, the Black Crane, Wielder of Epitaph
Starting Location: Red Lake
Family Tree: https://www.familyecho.com/?p=FGWG3&c=4i52wiwt4k&f=655015851654171969
Alternate Characters: Lyonel Reyne
AC
Character Name and House: Brandon Flowers of House Crane
Age: 19
Appearance: His eyes are purple and his hair is white. Pretty handsome too if you ask me
Gift: Agility
Skills: Swords, Shields
Talent(s): harp playin and poem writin
Starting Title(s): The White Crane
Starting Location: Red Lake
Family Tree: same as above
Say My Name, With Your Sunlight Veins - Birth
They came into the world together, not even a minute apart from each other. One bore the cerulean eyes of his father, dark pools of moonlit sapphire. The other’s burned the lavish purple of their mother. The color of royalty, of privilege. The color that heralded dragons.
They knew the warmth of their mother for so brief a moment. She was there, breathing in that instant, crying tears of relief and of anguish all the while. In the next, she was gone.
Then there were no hands to cradle them. No whispers to coddle them. No lips to kiss them asleep. Only the ambivalent touch of a maester, and the hollow replacement of a wet nurse.
They cried, although they did not know their own sadness. They laughed, although they did not yet know humor. And for those silent months where a city held its breath, they learned to breathe. One puff in, one puff out, in perfect unison.
One Step Away From Crying - Months After Birth
When the war was finally over, the King’s City knew laughter again. It also recalled despair. Sons returned to their mothers, husbands to their wives, brothers embraced their sisters. But for every heartfelt reunion there were twice as many funerals.
Not every life was lost on the battlefield.
When Arthur Crane arrived at the capitol, he stormed the halls of the Red Keep searching for his lady love. He was all too late. She was gone, meeting the seven Gods in their Kingdom. All she had left were the twins, and a message upon her lips that left the Reachman cold and stiff.
He did not stay long enough for the parades. He didn’t care for a soldier’s honors. He didn’t want for medals, or titles, or ceremonies. The only thing he yearned for was lost to him. Forever. He remained to meet with the new King. He said the words, he was dismissed. He gathered his two sons, the boys Viserra had left to him. And he was gone, down the roseroad. Back to face his fate, his family, and his failures.
Running Through the Cold Air, Searching for Our Meaning - Young Childhood
They made it to Red Lake, the boys born of a love forbidden. The castle was not so large as the one they’d come from, though to a toddler it made no difference. It was there they met their brothers and sister. Garlan, the eldest, who always regarded them with kindness, even if there was a certain distance to it. John, the second oldest, who didn’t seem to take much note of them at all. Braxton, the middle child, who found his greatest entertainment in the teasing of them. Steffon, who took a quiet interest in them. And Margaery, who was the closest to them in age, and never found a liking for them.
More important than any of their siblings, however, was the Lady of Red Lake, (NAME) of House (NAME). Of all the people impacted by the arrival of Loras and Brandon Flowers, the one most affected proved to be the one least deterred. (NAME), the proud mother of the Crane brood, felt the shame rise in her as she learned of her husband’s infidelity. Yet still, she was wiser than many and kinder than most. She knew better than to make children suffer for the mistakes of their father. She raised them among her own, treated them as Cranes of true birth, rather than Flowers of ill-blooming. And she managed to make a family out of them. They grew as close as any band of brothers ought to. And Arthur did what he could. Arranging for wardships with the nearby Lords that had sons of similar age. Slowly the pieces began to fit into place. Pieces that formed into lifelong friendships.
“You guys aren’t very good at this game.” Braxton complained aloud. Brandon muttered apologies, waving his hands about. Loras frowned deeply.
“You’re not very good at this game.” He countered in response. Braxton slow-clapped his reply.
“Very clever, little brother.”
Loras rolled his eyes.
He was right, the Crane. The twins weren’t very good at rats and cats. Loras didn’t understand why the rats couldn’t just fight back. Brandon didn’t much like the running away after he had been found. Their vices made for a very dysfunctional trio of game partners.
“Could I play with you guys?” A voice rang out from behind them. The three brothers wheeled their heads around, settling their eyes upon a young boy. He had sandy blond hair and eyes of pale gray. He was short.
“Who are you?” Brandon asked with a tilted head.
“Yeah, who are you?” Loras asked with pronounced suspicion.
“I’m Ethan. Ethan Shermer.” The boy spoke calmly.
“Shermer of Smithyton?” Braxton chimed in, “You’re Lord Cody’s son?”
“He’s my uncle, actually. But yeah.” Ethan replied. Braxton merely shrugged.
“Alright. You can play with us.” Loras decided. “But there’s a condition.” The boy from Smithyton nodded.
“What is it?” Ethan asked.
“You have to play the rat.” Loras said. Ethan smiled.
“I always do.”
You’ve Got Mirth and I’ve Got Snow Hands - Childhood, Early Adolescence
Loras and Brandon continued to grow over the years. Their friendship with Ethan turned into a true bond between them, and before long the three were made pages, cupbearers and squires. They served Lord Arthur himself, whenever he could be roused long enough to attend a tournament for their sake. Most of their training took place in Red Lake itself, against the quintains and training dummies strewn across the yard.
At a squire’s tourney the three boys are made four when they come across Addam Shermer, the fourth son of Cody of Smithyton. Addam is an idiot, but a loveable one. After some reluctance from the Lord of Crane, Addam is admitted into the growing number of wards in the custody of Red Lake.
It is not but a year later that the same quadrio is unhorsed in consecutive tilts by one Leo Hutcheson, the self professed Heir to the Suncage. He is a few years their senior, but their altercation sparks a conversation, which leads to a friendship. Leo is allowed by his father to visit Red Lake over extended periods of time.
In the next year, one Triston Bridges arrives at Red Lake after being removed as a ward from Holy Hall. He is slow to open up, but finds a connection in his innate ability to help others.
Jace Graceford enters a self imposed exile after being condemned by his father, the Lord of Holy Hall. With nowhere left to turn he arrives at the gates of Red Lake with nothing but the clothes on his back and the sword on his hip. He is wroth with any strangers, unapproachable at the best of times and outright petrifying at the worst of them. Triston Bridges vouches for him however, the two sharing a kind of connection that allowed them both to be vulnerable. Given time, Jace comes around to the Boys of Red Lake, and becomes a fierce protector of his friends, though he is still adversarial to most others.
The behemoth of a “boy” grunted as his axe slammed into the shield of his opponent.
Loras Flowers’ teeth rattled at the impact. Jace Graceford was a beast by any metric. Taller, stronger, and more vicious at arms than any of the other Boys. The bastard marveled at his power, and cursed the fact that he’d drawn him as his sparring partner.
The axe slammed down again and again. Loras checked with his shield. His forearm flared hot with pain from the effort. He brought his sword low to earn him some ground. Jace swatted that attempt with his own shield, then laid down the assault.
He made Loras yield, though it had not come without work. The bastard had been disarmed twice, first his sword, then his shield that he’d tried to use in its place. His knuckles were bloody from that poor decision, but he took Jace’s outstretched hand all the same. After the fighting they were brothers. No matter what.
They watched the rest of the Boys spar after their match was over. Addam bested Brandon. Steffon defeated Ethan. Then it was time for Triston and Leo. Bridges was no match for Hutcheson, not really, but no one ever got better fighting someone they knew they could beat. It went as it always did, Leo’s extra size, experience, and finesse worked circles around the slighter built Triston. Instead of yielding, the redhead kept on coming, even after he’d been smacked in the chest and head. Loras remembered a time where that would have set Jace off, sent him into a frenzy that only Triston could pull him out of. Now they all had that kind of bond.
When it was over, Leo’s hand stretched downward, and up came Triston.
After the fighting they were brothers. No matter what.
Chin Held Shut, So My Heart Can Talk Louder - Teenage Years, Present
It was all so sudden when it came crashing down. (NAME) had been expecting, her and Arthur had finally seemed to learn love for the sake of themselves, and not expectations. This child was meant to be the last. The one that carried them all into the future. None of them could have known how it would end.
She died in the delivery room. Just like their other mother had. And she left them a brother, who Arthur named Aemond despite his grief.
It was all so quiet afterwards. Red Lake forgot how to smile in the months following her death. Garlan couldn’t take it, his mother’s death only seemed to drive him further away from their Lord father. John finally stood still long enough to be spoken to. He seemed to regret all the years he’d spent shirking his mother’s affections. Braxton cried, and vowed to never go a day without praying for their lost matriarch. He kept his promise.
It took years, but they healed. It wasn’t obvious when, but at some point they felt joy again. They laughed, cried, won, lost. Life continued, no matter how hard it was, and new resolves were born in the aftermath.
Loras and Brandon swore an oath to each other, with all their companions at their side as witnesses. They would earn a name for themselves, as the Oldflowers’ had done, as the Vikarys had. Just as their mother had wished for them.
NPCs:
Jace Graceford, Heir to Holy Hall - Axes (o)
Triston Bridges, Scion of Red Crossing - Medic)
submitted by JustDanielJuice to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]
Character Name and House: Loras Flowers (Crane)
Age: 19
Appearance: Despite being born of a union between Andal and Valyrian, Loras’ appearance hardly reflects the mixed parentage. His hair is made up of the jet black semi-curls of his father, and his face largely resembles him as well. His eyes are the deep cerulean common among Cranes. Physically, Loras is tall, with broad shoulders and an athletic frame, which can be accredited to his days horse riding and training. His skin is tanned due to hours spent in Red Lake, though his face is prone to burning.
Gift: Duelist
Skills: Swords (M), Knightly, Riding
Talent(s): Fishing, Being Handsome, Attention Seeking
Starting Title(s): Ser, Bastard of Red Lake, the Black Crane, Wielder of Epitaph
Starting Location: Red Lake
Family Tree: https://www.familyecho.com/?p=FGWG3&c=4i52wiwt4k&f=655015851654171969
Alternate Characters: Lyonel Reyne
AC
Character Name and House: Brandon Flowers of House Crane
Age: 19
Appearance: His eyes are purple and his hair is white. Pretty handsome too if you ask me
Gift: Agility
Skills: Swords, Shields
Talent(s): harp playin and poem writin
Starting Title(s): The White Crane
Starting Location: Red Lake
Family Tree: same as above
Say My Name, With Your Sunlight Veins - Birth
They came into the world together, not even a minute apart from each other. One bore the cerulean eyes of his father, dark pools of moonlit sapphire. The other’s burned the lavish purple of their mother. The color of royalty, of privilege. The color that heralded dragons.
They knew the warmth of their mother for so brief a moment. She was there, breathing in that instant, crying tears of relief and of anguish all the while. In the next, she was gone.
Then there were no hands to cradle them. No whispers to coddle them. No lips to kiss them asleep. Only the ambivalent touch of a maester, and the hollow replacement of a wet nurse.
They cried, although they did not know their own sadness. They laughed, although they did not yet know humor. And for those silent months where a city held its breath, they learned to breathe. One puff in, one puff out, in perfect unison.
One Step Away From Crying - Months After Birth
When the war was finally over, the King’s City knew laughter again. It also recalled despair. Sons returned to their mothers, husbands to their wives, brothers embraced their sisters. But for every heartfelt reunion there were twice as many funerals.
Not every life was lost on the battlefield.
When Arthur Crane arrived at the capitol, he stormed the halls of the Red Keep searching for his lady love. He was all too late. She was gone, meeting the seven Gods in their Kingdom. All she had left were the twins, and a message upon her lips that left the Reachman cold and stiff.
He did not stay long enough for the parades. He didn’t care for a soldier’s honors. He didn’t want for medals, or titles, or ceremonies. The only thing he yearned for was lost to him. Forever. He remained to meet with the new King. He said the words, he was dismissed. He gathered his two sons, the boys Viserra had left to him. And he was gone, down the roseroad. Back to face his fate, his family, and his failures.
Running Through the Cold Air, Searching for Our Meaning - Young Childhood
They made it to Red Lake, the boys born of a love forbidden. The castle was not so large as the one they’d come from, though to a toddler it made no difference. It was there they met their brothers and sister. Garlan, the eldest, who always regarded them with kindness, even if there was a certain distance to it. John, the second oldest, who didn’t seem to take much note of them at all. Braxton, the middle child, who found his greatest entertainment in the teasing of them. Steffon, who took a quiet interest in them. And Margaery, who was the closest to them in age, and never found a liking for them.
More important than any of their siblings, however, was the Lady of Red Lake, (NAME) of House (NAME). Of all the people impacted by the arrival of Loras and Brandon Flowers, the one most affected proved to be the one least deterred. (NAME), the proud mother of the Crane brood, felt the shame rise in her as she learned of her husband’s infidelity. Yet still, she was wiser than many and kinder than most. She knew better than to make children suffer for the mistakes of their father. She raised them among her own, treated them as Cranes of true birth, rather than Flowers of ill-blooming. And she managed to make a family out of them. They grew as close as any band of brothers ought to. And Arthur did what he could. Arranging for wardships with the nearby Lords that had sons of similar age. Slowly the pieces began to fit into place. Pieces that formed into lifelong friendships.
“You guys aren’t very good at this game.” Braxton complained aloud. Brandon muttered apologies, waving his hands about. Loras frowned deeply.
“You’re not very good at this game.” He countered in response. Braxton slow-clapped his reply.
“Very clever, little brother.”
Loras rolled his eyes.
He was right, the Crane. The twins weren’t very good at rats and cats. Loras didn’t understand why the rats couldn’t just fight back. Brandon didn’t much like the running away after he had been found. Their vices made for a very dysfunctional trio of game partners.
“Could I play with you guys?” A voice rang out from behind them. The three brothers wheeled their heads around, settling their eyes upon a young boy. He had sandy blond hair and eyes of pale gray. He was short.
“Who are you?” Brandon asked with a tilted head.
“Yeah, who are you?” Loras asked with pronounced suspicion.
“I’m Ethan. Ethan Shermer.” The boy spoke calmly.
“Shermer of Smithyton?” Braxton chimed in, “You’re Lord Cody’s son?”
“He’s my uncle, actually. But yeah.” Ethan replied. Braxton merely shrugged.
“Alright. You can play with us.” Loras decided. “But there’s a condition.” The boy from Smithyton nodded.
“What is it?” Ethan asked.
“You have to play the rat.” Loras said. Ethan smiled.
“I always do.”
You’ve Got Mirth and I’ve Got Snow Hands - Childhood, Early Adolescence
Loras and Brandon continued to grow over the years. Their friendship with Ethan turned into a true bond between them, and before long the three were made pages, cupbearers and squires. They served Lord Arthur himself, whenever he could be roused long enough to attend a tournament for their sake. Most of their training took place in Red Lake itself, against the quintains and training dummies strewn across the yard.
At a squire’s tourney the three boys are made four when they come across Addam Shermer, the fourth son of Cody of Smithyton. Addam is an idiot, but a loveable one. After some reluctance from the Lord of Crane, Addam is admitted into the growing number of wards in the custody of Red Lake.
It is not but a year later that the same quadrio is unhorsed in consecutive tilts by one Leo Hutcheson, the self professed Heir to the Suncage. He is a few years their senior, but their altercation sparks a conversation, which leads to a friendship. Leo is allowed by his father to visit Red Lake over extended periods of time.
In the next year, one Triston Bridges arrives at Red Lake after being removed as a ward from Holy Hall. He is slow to open up, but finds a connection in his innate ability to help others.
Jace Graceford enters a self imposed exile after being condemned by his father, the Lord of Holy Hall. With nowhere left to turn he arrives at the gates of Red Lake with nothing but the clothes on his back and the sword on his hip. He is wroth with any strangers, unapproachable at the best of times and outright petrifying at the worst of them. Triston Bridges vouches for him however, the two sharing a kind of connection that allowed them both to be vulnerable. Given time, Jace comes around to the Boys of Red Lake, and becomes a fierce protector of his friends, though he is still adversarial to most others.
The behemoth of a “boy” grunted as his axe slammed into the shield of his opponent.
Loras Flowers’ teeth rattled at the impact. Jace Graceford was a beast by any metric. Taller, stronger, and more vicious at arms than any of the other Boys. The bastard marveled at his power, and cursed the fact that he’d drawn him as his sparring partner.
The axe slammed down again and again. Loras checked with his shield. His forearm flared hot with pain from the effort. He brought his sword low to earn him some ground. Jace swatted that attempt with his own shield, then laid down the assault.
He made Loras yield, though it had not come without work. The bastard had been disarmed twice, first his sword, then his shield that he’d tried to use in its place. His knuckles were bloody from that poor decision, but he took Jace’s outstretched hand all the same. After the fighting they were brothers. No matter what.
They watched the rest of the Boys spar after their match was over. Addam bested Brandon. Steffon defeated Ethan. Then it was time for Triston and Leo. Bridges was no match for Hutcheson, not really, but no one ever got better fighting someone they knew they could beat. It went as it always did, Leo’s extra size, experience, and finesse worked circles around the slighter built Triston. Instead of yielding, the redhead kept on coming, even after he’d been smacked in the chest and head. Loras remembered a time where that would have set Jace off, sent him into a frenzy that only Triston could pull him out of. Now they all had that kind of bond.
When it was over, Leo’s hand stretched downward, and up came Triston.
After the fighting they were brothers. No matter what.
Chin Held Shut, So My Heart Can Talk Louder - Teenage Years, Present
It was all so sudden when it came crashing down. (NAME) had been expecting, her and Arthur had finally seemed to learn love for the sake of themselves, and not expectations. This child was meant to be the last. The one that carried them all into the future. None of them could have known how it would end.
She died in the delivery room. Just like their other mother had. And she left them a brother, who Arthur named Aemond despite his grief.
It was all so quiet afterwards. Red Lake forgot how to smile in the months following her death. Garlan couldn’t take it, his mother’s death only seemed to drive him further away from their Lord father. John finally stood still long enough to be spoken to. He seemed to regret all the years he’d spent shirking his mother’s affections. Braxton cried, and vowed to never go a day without praying for their lost matriarch. He kept his promise.
It took years, but they healed. It wasn’t obvious when, but at some point they felt joy again. They laughed, cried, won, lost. Life continued, no matter how hard it was, and new resolves were born in the aftermath.
Loras and Brandon swore an oath to each other, with all their companions at their side as witnesses. They would earn a name for themselves, as the Oldflowers’ had done, as the Vikarys had. Just as their mother had wished for them.
NPCs:
Jace Graceford, Heir to Holy Hall - Axes (o)
Triston Bridges, Scion of Red Crossing - Medic)
2023.05.30 18:23 Dracoono New Co-Headlining tour announced!!
 | Presale code is SOCALLEDLIFE submitted by Dracoono to Threedaysgrace [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 18:13 Chicken_Supreme01 Lord Otto Hightower, Beacon of the South and Lord of the Hightower (AC Included)
Discord Username: Chacken#0001
Character Name and House: Otto Hightower
Age: 28
Appearance: Light blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, Otto keeps his face shaven and his mood stoic. As the Master of Laws for his King, he must always appear to be in control.
Gift: Whisperer
Skills: Cautious (e), Deceiver, Subterfuge, Swords
Talent(s): Fishing x2, Dancing
Starting Title(s): Beacon of the South, Defender of Oldtown, Defender of the Citadel, Lord of Oldtown, Lord of the Hightower, Lord of the Port, Voice of Oldtown, Master of Laws
Starting Location: Red Keep
Family Tree: Hightower
AC
Character Name and House: Hobert Flowers
Age: 18
Appearance: Bastard
Gift: Champion
Skills: Swords, Knightly, Footwork
Talent(s): Fishing, Dancing x2
Starting Title(s): Bastard of Oldtown
Starting Location: Kings Landing
Timeline
Orbert Hightower - Cousin to Otto Hightower: Espionage
Uthor Hightower - Cousin to Otto Hightower: Underhanded
submitted by Chicken_Supreme01 to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]
Character Name and House: Otto Hightower
Age: 28
Appearance: Light blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, Otto keeps his face shaven and his mood stoic. As the Master of Laws for his King, he must always appear to be in control.
Gift: Whisperer
Skills: Cautious (e), Deceiver, Subterfuge, Swords
Talent(s): Fishing x2, Dancing
Starting Title(s): Beacon of the South, Defender of Oldtown, Defender of the Citadel, Lord of Oldtown, Lord of the Hightower, Lord of the Port, Voice of Oldtown, Master of Laws
Starting Location: Red Keep
Family Tree: Hightower
AC
Character Name and House: Hobert Flowers
Age: 18
Appearance: Bastard
Gift: Champion
Skills: Swords, Knightly, Footwork
Talent(s): Fishing, Dancing x2
Starting Title(s): Bastard of Oldtown
Starting Location: Kings Landing
Timeline
- 180 AC: Otto Hightower is born to Lord Abelar Hightower and his second wife, Clarice Bulwer.
- 188 AC: Otto Hightower is sent to King's Landing to ward under King Aemond I, he first meets his future wife, Donyse Celtigar.
- 190 AC: Otto quickly picks up on the lifestyle of backroom dealings and scheming that takes place within the Capital, quickly crafting his own base of power.
- 192-198 AC: Otto Hightower squires under Ser Lucerys Velaryon, gaining a proficiency in swordsmanship.
- 198 AC: Otto Hightower marries Donyse Celtigar, within the year they welcome their first son, Paxter Hightower.
- 203 AC: Otto Hightower, through being a constant presence within the Capital over the past decade, and familial ties with the King, is granted a seat on the Small Council as the Master of Laws.
- 205 AC: Horas Hightower dies in an accident at sea along with Lord Abelar Hightower, with Horas being survived only by a bastard son and daughter, Otto Hightower returns to Oldtown to become it's newest Lord.
- 208 AC: Continuing to occupy his seat on the King's Small Council, Lord Otto Hightower now prepares for the coming festivities as the whole continent floods into King's Landing.
- 185 AC: Hobert Flowers is born to Horas Hightower and an unknown mother.
- 193 AC: Despite being so young, Hobert quickly reveals innate talent in the dueling yard
- 203 AC: Hobert joins Otto Hightower in King's Landing as a sworn sword, along with his twin cousins Uther and Uthor Hightower. Wanting to prove his use, he joins the ranks of the Goldcloaks, often feeding information straight from the streets to the ears of the Master of Laws
- 205 AC: Through his dedicated and honorable service, Hobert is promoted to Captain of the Iron Gate.
- 208 AC: Struggling to keep the masses in order, Hobert is working together with the rest of the Captains to keep the peace as everyone gathers in King's Landing for the upcoming celebrations.
Orbert Hightower - Cousin to Otto Hightower: Espionage
Uthor Hightower - Cousin to Otto Hightower: Underhanded
2023.05.30 17:59 Mortyga Ryam Redwyne, Lord of the Arbor
Discord Username: Mathus
Character Name and House: Ryam Redwyne
Age: 23
Appearance: Ryam
Gift: Duelist
Skills: Polearms (M), Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Dancing, Hunting, Swimming
Starting Title(s): Lord of the Arbor
Starting Location: The Feast
Family Tree: Redwyne Echo
Alternate Characters:
Auxiliary Character:
Character Name and House: Samantha Redwyne
Age: 21
Appearance: Scarlet Sam
Gift: Thrifty
Skills: Sailing (E), Archery
Talent(s): Hawking, Cyvasse, Painting
Starting Title(s): None
Starting Location: The Feast
As the future heir to House Redwyne, Ryam's upbringing was marked by rigorous training and education. He was tutored in the arts of diplomacy, statecraft, and the naval traditions that had made House Redwyne renowned. Despite struggling with his letters, counting numbers came easier to the young lad, but like his namesake predecessor, it was in the practice yard that Ryam truly flourished.
In 191 AC, Ryam was sent to serve Lord Osgrey as his page. Not long after arriving at Coldmoat, news reached him that his grandsire was dead and that his father ruled as Lord.
For the next nine years, Ryam remained at Coldmoat, becoming a squire at 9, and occasionally visiting his home and other courts for feasts and tourneys. Blessed with natural agility and a keen mind, he quickly proved himself a formidable swordsman, and an able horseman, too, winning a squire’s tourney in Lannisport in 198 AC, for which he was given a Dornish sand steed - taken during the Red War - as prize. For years after, young Ryam would correspond with Theodora Lannister by raven letter.
Those squire days were easy, and Ryam spent many a day exploring the lands of the Chequy Lion, swimming in Leafy Lake and hunting in Wat's Wood with his master's men. As he got older, he partook in drink and festivities, frequently visiting the villages of Dosk and Brandybottom, sometimes in the company of Alayne Osgrey, heir to Coldmoat.
Having proven his valor, Ryam earned his spurs upon coming of age, returning to the Arbor a man knighted and - unbeknownst to him at the time - father to a naturalborn son by Alayne. Not five years later, he’d be lord.
The minstrels of Ryamsport still sing about the rumored love between Osgrey and Redwyne, but some trill another tune, that it was the sea that won Ryam’s heart first.
Displaying an innate talent for sailing, and swimming like a fish in the sea, some whispered that he’d been fathered by the Merling King himself. The young man took to rigging a sail or commanding a crew as easily as he did walking or talking during one of his many outings around his father’s islands. Indeed, when news reached his lord father of how Ryam had navigated the treacherous rocks off the coast of the Bastard’s Cradle, the man was reportedly delighted, but not before admonishing the lad for his tomfoolery.
In 203 AC, tragedy struck House Redwyne when Lord Robert passed unexpectedly. Winter rarely touched the Arbor, but this time, northern winds brought snow to the island, and Robert succumbed not soon after to a chill, though some attribute his death to his estrangement to his daughter Talla, who had eloped with Jorgen Lowther two moons prior. The loss deeply affected young Redwyne, however, but the responsibility of ruling the Arbor and her people now fell upon him, leaving no time for grief.
Under Ryam's leadership, House Redwyne persevered through the winter, and as spring embraces the realm, he looks beyond his island with renewed determination. Sea Wolves of the Iron Islands harry the Mander once more, but weak and desperate after fleeing their plague-ravaged rocks, they are a nuisance to be crushed in the realisation of Ryam’s true goals. With peace restored to the House of the Dragon, he seeks to expand trade with ports closed off by the wars. By sword and sail, word and wine, he will prove Redwyne’s worth.
Like her older sister Talla, Samantha displayed a fiery spirit already in the crib, a temper which would only increase as she got older, which paired with her vibrant red hair earned her the nickname “Scarlet Sam”. During her early years, Samantha enjoyed a carefree childhood on the Arbor, and would often explore the estate, endlessly wandering through the gardens and vineyards, immersing herself in the sights and scents of her opulent home. It was during these explorations that she developed a deep appreciation for the natural world and a keen eye for beauty.
As Samantha grew older, she developed a passion for art, spending hours sketching and painting the landscapes and seascapes that surrounded her home. Her artistic talent blossomed, and she found solace and expression in capturing the essence of the world around her on canvas. Music was another fascination of hers, with the Arbor’s many balls, festivals, and celebrations beckoning the finest minstrels and troupes to the island like moths to a flame. She would often be found listening to the harp or septa’s choir, singing along with the hymns.
Because of her willfulness, or perhaps in spite of it, Sam drew girls and boys alike to her, making friends like a baker did bread every morning, and a few enemies, too. These friends became her confidantes, accompanying her on expeditions to secret hideouts in the vineyards or embarking on imaginative quests through the halls of ruined holdfasts.
Growing into her teenage years, Samantha’s escapades intensified, having developed a love for archery and horsemanship alike, terrorising the countryside with her bold displays. More than once did her father’s men bring her back to Ryamsport after spending great effort catching up to her, but no matter how many times her father threatened to send her to the Motherhouse in Oldtown, Samantha always managed to talk her way out of punishment.
Indeed, her father went so far as to send Samantha to her uncle in King’s Landing, but the girl flourished there, befriending the bastards of Driftmark, Daena and Aelinor Waters. Often going on escapades, sneaking away with wines stolen from her uncle’s cellar, Scarlet Sam showed no intention of changing her ways, though the city, more than once, taught her something of the dangers of a woman in the world.
Still, she remains fiery to this day, though the embers have smouldered over the years. Now, Samantha Redwyne is a woman of remarkable courtesy and wit, and having tasted the ripe fruits of her home, she yearns to sample the rest of the world. To travel by ship and steed, with the wind in her hair, is all she dreams about. But Westeros is large, a mercurial leviathan to the Arbor, and fraught with surprises ill and well, sure to surprise this daughter of Summer.
Uncle of Lord Ryam Redwyne, Ser Rickard serves in King's Landing as the Royal Shipwright.
Skill: Shipwright
Ser Robar 'Xhobar' Redwyne
The son of Rickard Redwyne and Talaya Qo, a princess of the Summer Islands, Ser Robar serves in the City Watch of King's Landing as captain of the River Gate.
Skill: Defender
submitted by Mortyga to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]
Character Name and House: Ryam Redwyne
Age: 23
Appearance: Ryam
Gift: Duelist
Skills: Polearms (M), Knightly, Defender
Talent(s): Dancing, Hunting, Swimming
Starting Title(s): Lord of the Arbor
Starting Location: The Feast
Family Tree: Redwyne Echo
Alternate Characters:
Character Name and House: Samantha Redwyne
Age: 21
Appearance: Scarlet Sam
Gift: Thrifty
Skills: Sailing (E), Archery
Talent(s): Hawking, Cyvasse, Painting
Starting Title(s): None
Starting Location: The Feast
Ryam Redwyne
Ryam Redwyne was born in the year 184 AC to Ser Robert Redwyne, heir to the Arbor, and his wife, the Lady Denyse Hightower, together with his twin sister, Emma. From a young age, Ryam was exposed to the high culture of the Arbor, cultivated by the Redwynes since time immemorial. He danced at the opulent balls of Ryamsport, partook in the grape-treading festivals in the fertile fields outside Vinetown, and learned how to ride in the rolling hills and sunny valleys of the island’s interior.As the future heir to House Redwyne, Ryam's upbringing was marked by rigorous training and education. He was tutored in the arts of diplomacy, statecraft, and the naval traditions that had made House Redwyne renowned. Despite struggling with his letters, counting numbers came easier to the young lad, but like his namesake predecessor, it was in the practice yard that Ryam truly flourished.
In 191 AC, Ryam was sent to serve Lord Osgrey as his page. Not long after arriving at Coldmoat, news reached him that his grandsire was dead and that his father ruled as Lord.
For the next nine years, Ryam remained at Coldmoat, becoming a squire at 9, and occasionally visiting his home and other courts for feasts and tourneys. Blessed with natural agility and a keen mind, he quickly proved himself a formidable swordsman, and an able horseman, too, winning a squire’s tourney in Lannisport in 198 AC, for which he was given a Dornish sand steed - taken during the Red War - as prize. For years after, young Ryam would correspond with Theodora Lannister by raven letter.
Those squire days were easy, and Ryam spent many a day exploring the lands of the Chequy Lion, swimming in Leafy Lake and hunting in Wat's Wood with his master's men. As he got older, he partook in drink and festivities, frequently visiting the villages of Dosk and Brandybottom, sometimes in the company of Alayne Osgrey, heir to Coldmoat.
Having proven his valor, Ryam earned his spurs upon coming of age, returning to the Arbor a man knighted and - unbeknownst to him at the time - father to a naturalborn son by Alayne. Not five years later, he’d be lord.
The minstrels of Ryamsport still sing about the rumored love between Osgrey and Redwyne, but some trill another tune, that it was the sea that won Ryam’s heart first.
Displaying an innate talent for sailing, and swimming like a fish in the sea, some whispered that he’d been fathered by the Merling King himself. The young man took to rigging a sail or commanding a crew as easily as he did walking or talking during one of his many outings around his father’s islands. Indeed, when news reached his lord father of how Ryam had navigated the treacherous rocks off the coast of the Bastard’s Cradle, the man was reportedly delighted, but not before admonishing the lad for his tomfoolery.
In 203 AC, tragedy struck House Redwyne when Lord Robert passed unexpectedly. Winter rarely touched the Arbor, but this time, northern winds brought snow to the island, and Robert succumbed not soon after to a chill, though some attribute his death to his estrangement to his daughter Talla, who had eloped with Jorgen Lowther two moons prior. The loss deeply affected young Redwyne, however, but the responsibility of ruling the Arbor and her people now fell upon him, leaving no time for grief.
Under Ryam's leadership, House Redwyne persevered through the winter, and as spring embraces the realm, he looks beyond his island with renewed determination. Sea Wolves of the Iron Islands harry the Mander once more, but weak and desperate after fleeing their plague-ravaged rocks, they are a nuisance to be crushed in the realisation of Ryam’s true goals. With peace restored to the House of the Dragon, he seeks to expand trade with ports closed off by the wars. By sword and sail, word and wine, he will prove Redwyne’s worth.
Samantha Redwyne
Samantha Redwyne, was born in the year 186 AC, the fourth child of Lord Robert Redwyne and Lady Denyse Redwyne. Her birth brought much needed joy and respite to the Arbor, for both father and grandsire had departed with the Redwyne Fleet three moons prior to fight in Maelor’s Red War. as her fiery spirit and vibrant personality quickly made her a beloved member of the family.Like her older sister Talla, Samantha displayed a fiery spirit already in the crib, a temper which would only increase as she got older, which paired with her vibrant red hair earned her the nickname “Scarlet Sam”. During her early years, Samantha enjoyed a carefree childhood on the Arbor, and would often explore the estate, endlessly wandering through the gardens and vineyards, immersing herself in the sights and scents of her opulent home. It was during these explorations that she developed a deep appreciation for the natural world and a keen eye for beauty.
As Samantha grew older, she developed a passion for art, spending hours sketching and painting the landscapes and seascapes that surrounded her home. Her artistic talent blossomed, and she found solace and expression in capturing the essence of the world around her on canvas. Music was another fascination of hers, with the Arbor’s many balls, festivals, and celebrations beckoning the finest minstrels and troupes to the island like moths to a flame. She would often be found listening to the harp or septa’s choir, singing along with the hymns.
Because of her willfulness, or perhaps in spite of it, Sam drew girls and boys alike to her, making friends like a baker did bread every morning, and a few enemies, too. These friends became her confidantes, accompanying her on expeditions to secret hideouts in the vineyards or embarking on imaginative quests through the halls of ruined holdfasts.
Growing into her teenage years, Samantha’s escapades intensified, having developed a love for archery and horsemanship alike, terrorising the countryside with her bold displays. More than once did her father’s men bring her back to Ryamsport after spending great effort catching up to her, but no matter how many times her father threatened to send her to the Motherhouse in Oldtown, Samantha always managed to talk her way out of punishment.
Indeed, her father went so far as to send Samantha to her uncle in King’s Landing, but the girl flourished there, befriending the bastards of Driftmark, Daena and Aelinor Waters. Often going on escapades, sneaking away with wines stolen from her uncle’s cellar, Scarlet Sam showed no intention of changing her ways, though the city, more than once, taught her something of the dangers of a woman in the world.
Still, she remains fiery to this day, though the embers have smouldered over the years. Now, Samantha Redwyne is a woman of remarkable courtesy and wit, and having tasted the ripe fruits of her home, she yearns to sample the rest of the world. To travel by ship and steed, with the wind in her hair, is all she dreams about. But Westeros is large, a mercurial leviathan to the Arbor, and fraught with surprises ill and well, sure to surprise this daughter of Summer.
Timeline
- 184 AC: Ryam and Emma Redwyne are born
- 186 AC: Samantha Redwyne is born on the Isle of Pigs while her parents are visiting Lord Farrow in his hall.
- 191 AC: Ryam is sent to ward with the Osgreys of Coldmoat as their page. Two moons later, his grandsire, Lord Bertrand Redwyne, dies. His father, Robert, succeeds him as lord.
- 193 AC: Ryam becomes a squire
- 198 AC: Ryam wins a squire's tourney held in Lannisport
- 200 AC: Before the court of Coldmoat, Ryam is knighted, and returns to the Arbor. Later that year, Samantha is sent to King's Landing to stay with her uncle Rickard and his children.
- 203 AC: His father, Lord Robert Redwyne, passes in the winter. Ryam becomes lord.
Family Tree
House Redwyne family echoNPCs
Ser Rickard RedwyneUncle of Lord Ryam Redwyne, Ser Rickard serves in King's Landing as the Royal Shipwright.
Skill: Shipwright
Ser Robar 'Xhobar' Redwyne
The son of Rickard Redwyne and Talaya Qo, a princess of the Summer Islands, Ser Robar serves in the City Watch of King's Landing as captain of the River Gate.
Skill: Defender
2023.05.30 17:29 Gunnertop Chevelle Tour!
 | submitted by Gunnertop to Chevelle [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 17:11 AdventureMaterials The Third Son - Pt 2 - A D&D-Themed Ironsworn Actual Play
This is part two of my Ironsworn campaign experiment meant to emulator an “Old School” D&D like experience–a party of vulnerable allies, location-based adventures, and strange monsters lurking just on the outskirts of human civilization.
In the last episode, the party gained a quest to figure out why the fishing has dried up for the town of Longhill, and they have followed what clues they could find into the woods east of town.
The Party: Sir Gethin Oyvind E-1 H-2 I-3 S-1 W-2 Health: 5, Spirit: 5, Supply: 5, Momentum: 8/2. Assets: Commander (strength 4), Ironclad (light armor), Empowered (Knight Errant). Equipment: chain armor, sword, shield, crossbow, horse Vows: Become worthy of the Oyvind family name (epic): 0.0, bring back the fishing (dangerous): 2.0
Bonds:
Cautious after their near-encounter with the strange crab-mosquito, the party moves forward with as much stealth as five people, a horse, and a donkey can muster.
Delve the Depths (Shadow): [Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]. [Mark Progress: Haunted Forest :9 boxes]. What do they find? Clearing (complex/refuge).
They eventually find a game trail and make faster progress. It winds through the wood until emerging in a large clearing that holds a walled camp. The walls are made of ~8 foot high poles and enclose an area about 80 feet across. A light gate stands open on one side.
Because I had no encounter, I’m going to rule that this is unoccupied. Since my supply is full, I won’t need to resupply but I may make camp.
Gethin sends Somhaile and Inguna in to investigate. They creep up to the walls, peer carefully around the open gate, and eventually disappear inside. A few moments later, they come back out waving and reporting that the camp appears to have been abandoned.
Are there supplies inside still (50%)? No, and…
The interior is entirely bare. Few signs of the prior occupants remain. Still, it’s a defensible spot and Gethin orders the party to set up camp for the night.
Make Camp: [Strong Hit: 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 vs 7 1]. +1m (now 9) and +1 next move.
The night passes easily, and the party sleeps well knowing that they have walls around them. Even the watches are uneventful. They rise early and break camp just after sunup.
[Progress Roll: Haunted Forest :Strong Hit = 9 vs 7 7]. +1 to next move (now +2).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :4 boxes]
The road passes beyond the forest and emerges onto the shore of a small lake.
Is the smell of death worse here (75%)? Yes, but…
The smell of death worsens as they leave the woods, but they still cannot see any sign of what may be causing it. There are no fish decomposing on the lake’s shoreline, and they see nothing floating atop the water. Still, they are confident that they are growing closer to their goal.
With nowhere to go but further upriver, Gethin dispatches the two scouts to see what they can find.
Gather Information: [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 2 = 9 vs 9 2]. +1m (now 1). What do they find? Blighted/Thicket.
It is very late before they come back. When they do, they look wary of what they have to report. A thicket ahead, near the great eastern forest–but the trees there are dead, and not by fire. The grass, too, is yellowed and crunches underfoot. They dared not go further by themselves, for they heard strange sounds within.
That sounds promisingly sinister, so they head toward it, although they make camp when they are still a fair ways off, and they take care to keep their watches carefully.
Because we have already traveled through a dungeon and scored a hit on our gather info, I’m going to rule that this is probably the thing we seek. To figure out what kind of dungeon it is, I’m going to roll from three options and I’ll randomly assign a theme:
The next day they rise, but they take their time approaching the thicket. Even from far off they can feel a sense of wrongness about it. Even so, glory (and hopefully payment!) lay on the other side, so they push forward.
Discover a Site: Corrupted Cavern (Formidable).
They enter the thicket, fighting the horse and donkey all the way. Inguna finds a hint of a trail in the dead grass and leads them up a gentle rise to a low hillock. Just to the north lies the river; it would have been hidden behind a canopy in better days, but the bare tree limbs hide little. The circle of death extends equidistantly in all directions; even a few trees on the far side of the river are chalky gray instead of brown.
At the peak of the hillock stands a low wall of pale gray stone that is all that remains of the foundation of some building now long gone.
A dark pit, ringed by a strange red moss, gapes open in the earth like a sucking wound. A faint wet sound can be heard from within. “Underwater river,” Bjarn posits. All the rest pretend to believe him as they stake the animals and prepare to descend into the earth.
What do they find within? Something Unusual – Fortified/Hideaway.
The pit descends as a narrow chute through almost twenty feet of earth until it emerges into a cavern of unworked stone. Gethin lifts his torch and paces the chamber while the rest of the party follows him down. By the time the last of them arrive, he has mapped the room. It is featureless and without exits except for a single door of iron set into the northern wall.
“This strange curse is no work of nature, red in tooth and claw,” Gethin observes. “Some man had a hand in this. And that man might still be here. Be ready.” The party draws their weapons.
[Delve the Depths (Wits): Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :1 boxes]
Feature: Subterranean Waterway (Treacherous/Exit)
Danger: Lose way or are delayed
The door opens with a rusty groan, revealing a claustrophobic tunnel that sinks deeper into the stone. Gethin leads with his shield high as the others follow behind with torches and weapons. The fires cast long shadows that move strangely against the warped walls.
The faint water sounds become louder as they progress. Eventually, their tunnel opens into a large cavern that is split in half by a wide and swift river. The water is roaring here, for at the far end of the cavern the water gathers and throws up spray as it drains in a violent whirlpool.
“Where do you think it goes?” Inguna asks. None of them want to find out.
Unfortunately, there is no bridge and the span is too far to jump. They cast lots for who will have to swim across, and it falls on [d5=] Inguna. “Guess you’ll get the chance to find out,” Somhaile jokes. Inguna doesn’t laugh as they tie a rope around his waist.
Face Danger (iron) to swim across: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 3 2]. +1m but I’m already at 10 (I should burn it!).
He swims across but is swept quite a ways down stream before he reaches the far bank. They throw him a torch and wait as he secures the rope to a stone outcropping on his side. The rest of the party passes by safely, though they are cold and shivering when they emerge and begin to dress again.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :2 boxes]
Feature: Cramped Caves (Secret/Entry)
The tunnel beyond the river leads to a series of cramped chambers. In one, a faint breeze stirs the air. They investigate and eventually find a chimney that might lead up into the world above, although the climb upward would be nearly impossible.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :3 boxes]
Feature: Twisting Passages (Unstable/Valuables)
Eventually, they progress out of the caves and into a maze of twisting passages. Time seems to stall as they track and backtrack their way through the tunnels. All grow weary and–truth be told–frightened when they realize that they have been underground for far longer than they had expected, and that the way out may not be trivial.
It is Somhaile who spots them first, with her keen thief’s eyes–a smattering of reflective discs down a side corridor. They investigate and realize that they are silver coins, shining in the torchlight. Someone has definitely been here. Somhaile pockets the coins as they pass, though the others want to leave them behind to track their return. “Leave your own silver, then,” she retorts.
Inguna drops a few coppers before he realizes that no one else is doing so. Feeling foolish, he stops.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :4 boxes]
[Reveal a Danger: Denizen controls dark magic]
Feature: Vast Chamber (Fortified/Boundary)
The passage emerges into another chamber, on that stretches out so far in all directions that their torchlight is swallowed by the darkness.
Face Danger (Wits) to detect the foe: [Miss: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 7 8].
Unwilling to become lost in the darkness, they decide to hug the walls and circle the cavern in a counterclockwise direction. Eventually, the come around again to the tunnel where they started. With nothing left to do, they leave the safety of the wall behind and step out into the great open chamber. Soon the wall is lost behind them. Their torchlight flickers feebly in the darkness, revealing a dim circle of dun beige stone floor and nothing but void beyond.
Eventually, something materializes out of the darkness–a squat, perfectly square structure of worked stone, possibly twenty paces to a side and 10′ high. [Description: Assault/Desolation] Scenes of battle and destruction appear to be engraved upon its surface, but even in the still air underground the ancient carvings have been worn smooth by countless aeons.
In one wall stands a door. With no where else to go, they open it.
Here’s where the Face Danger miss comes into play. Let’s decide what kind of monster we’re facing.
Monstrosity: giant-sized – fish (I’m going to interpret as eel) – spikes/spines – keen senses
A robed figure stands within, hunched over a darkly stained altar. As the party enters, the figure turns and begins to howl. Foul green mist pours of its open mouth, billowing across the narrow room toward the party. None want to test it, so they fall back into the large chamber, slamming the door behind them.
Just then, a whistling sound fills the air. They look up just in time to see a shadow, almost iridescent in its blackness, falling from the ceiling. The thing strikes the ground just within the light of their torches. It is a silver-scaled thing with a mouth full of razor-pointed teeth; its head it huge, easily large enough to bite through a man’s torso if it can get hold of him. Suddenly it begins to move, wiggling forward like a snake with an explosive burst of speed.
Enter the Fray against Eel-Monster and Wizard (Formidable): [Weak Hit: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 6 4]. Keep initiative.
Strike (I’m going to rule I can use my warband here): [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 1 10].
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :2 boxes]
The band falls together into a group as the beast comes at them. Spears out, they manage to turn it aside just as it sends its snapping maw against Gethin’s shield. In a moment, it slithers out of sight around the building and disappears into the darkness.
They can hear it moving, just beyond the circle of torchlight. The band presses their backs together, peering futilely into the darkness.
Suddenly, it snaps forward out of the dark. Its body is long–they can see it now–dozens of feet long, and as thick around as a man. Heavy spines like sharpened quarterstaffs drag behind it, flaring from the sides of its body.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 4 + 0 = 9 vs 7 4]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :5 boxes]
The party scrambles aside at the last second and the beast cannot stop its momentum as it sails through their midst. They stick it several times at it passes, cutting long scores in its scaly hide.
Strike: [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 3 6]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :7 boxes]
They follow it this time, gaining confidence. Several more hits land home. Suddenly, the door behind them smashes open and a whip of silver-green fire lashes out at them–the wizard has arrived.
Clash: [Weak Hit: 2 + 4 + 0 = 6 vs 10 1]. Can’t use momentum, so one of my men goes down.
Who is hurt? Bjarn.
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :9 boxes]
Sola, Gethin, and Inguna stay focused on the eel while Bjarn and Somhaile turn their attentions on the newly arrived wizard. The eel lashes out again, but not in time–Sola and Gethin form an effective wall while Inguna runs it through the neck with his spear. The thing writhes violently for a few moments, but it has been stuck well. It dies.
Just as the party turns, the wizard’s whip catches Bjarn across the chest. He goes down in a heap, like a puppet with the strings cut.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 1 3]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :10 boxes]
[Progress Roll: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :Strong Hit = 10 vs 3 6]
The wizard’s victory is short-lived. Somhaile manages to sneak behind the robed figure and plant her dagger in the center of its back. It collapses with a groan and lies still.
After that fight, I’m going to say we completed one of the major steps on our quest. Surely this wizard and big eel were related to Longhill’s troubles.
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :6 boxes]
Was Bjarn killed (75%)? No!
They go to Bjarn and find that he still lives, though his breathing is shallow and his eyes will not open. They need to get him rest, but none of them would be mad enough to rest in that cavern. Gethin and Somhaile investigate the building while Inguna and Sola try to prepare Bjarn to be moved.
What’s inside the building? Transform-Wound / Avenge-Time.
The chamber is spartan in its decoration. The altar stands alone near one wall; near the other lies the top of a staircase that leads deeper into the earth. Gethin averts his eyes from the altar and even Somhaile turns away; neither know what poor creature contributed to the mass of tortured flesh upon the bare stone, but both are glad that they killed the robed figure outside.
This doesn’t seem like a good place to rest, so Bjarn is going to have to stay out of commission for a while. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the stairs as an opportunity to change the domain of this dungeon–instead of a Corrupted Cavern, we are now moving into a Corrupted Underkeep. Otherwise, progress remains the same.
[Delve the Depths (Shadow): Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :5 boxes]
Feature: Hall or Chamber (Fragile/Exit)
The party moves more slowly now, and with as much quiet as they can muster given Bjarn’s condition. Somhaile moves a few dozen paces ahead of the others, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The stairs descend into a large, worked hall. Colonnades progress up the sides of the hall and lead toward an imposing set of bronze doors, but when the party draws near they realize that the right hand doors is ajar; there is enough room to pass through without disturbing it.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :6 boxes]
Feature: Foundry or Workshop (Foreboding/Breach)
The door leads into a maze of 10′ wide corridors of worked stone. They choose a direction at random and move that way, passing several locked doors before coming at least to an open chamber. Light and heat emanate from within, but the room is empty. Inside, a forge’s embers lay dying. Strange tools of iron line the walls, devices of torture and war, twisted armor or weapons designed for bodies clearly inhuman.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :7 boxes]
Feature: Stairs into the Depths (Mystical/Threshold)
Finally, they come to the end of the mazelike corridors. Another chamber stands there, and against the far end looms the maw of some devilish beast. It takes a heartbeat before they realize it is carven stone, and that within that maw stands a staircase that descends even deeper into the earth.
None of them want to follow it, but what choice do they have now?
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :8 boxes]
Danger: Ancient Mechanism or Trap
Feature: Carved Passages (Active/Entry)
They descend further into the earth. The stairs spiral down, deeper and deeper, seemingly forever. Finally, they level out and open into a tunnel of perfectly smooth stone. They take cautious steps forward.
Face Danger (Wits) to avoid the trap: [Miss: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 8 8]
That could be bad! I’ll use momentum.
[Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 10 vs 8 8]. Reset to 2m. +1m (now 3).
Suddenly, Somhaile reaches out and grabs Gethin’s armor and jerks him backwards off his feet. The clatters to the ground with a resounding echo. In a second he’s up, ready to berate her for making so much noise, but she puts her hand over his mouth. With a finger she points at the ground. A low wire, no thicker than a hair, runs at ankle height across the tunnel.
After a moment he removes her hand. Thank you he mouths at her. She reaches forward and pulls the coin purse off his belt and ties it to her own. He decides that argument can wait for later.
[Delve the Depths: Take both: Mark progress and Find an Opportunity.]
[Find an Opportunity: You are alerted to a potential threat.] +1 to next move and +1m on hit.
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :9 boxes]
Feature: Shrine or Temple (Marked/History)
Monstrosity: person-sized – beast – tentacles – crusheconstrictor
The tunnel eventually leads to a small complex of carven chambers, all leading toward one center chamber. There, the ground slopes forward like an amphitheater toward a terrible shrine. That strange red mold grows everywhere here, red enough that it seems to glow with its own inner light. Water seeps in from countless tiny cracks on the walls, flowing down the pulsating mold and eventually draining through a small hole set before the altar.
A half dozen figures are here, worshipping at the altar on bended knee. The sound of their inhuman ululating covers the sounds of the party’s approach [thanks Find an Opportunity!]. The adventurers ready their weapons and prepare to throw.
Battle: [Weak Hit: 2 + 3 + 1 = 6 vs 4 9].
Who pays the price? Sola. -1 strength to warband (now 2).
The party’s ambush catches the cultists off guard and two of them are cut down immediately. The others turn, though, and the wailing becomes a scream of anger. They throw back their hoods, revealing faces that had once been human but are not mixed inseparable with that horrific red mold. Tentacles sprout from the fingers and backs as they run, spreading out from beneath dark fabric robes.
The party fights valiantly, holding the strange things off with fire and steel, and eventually the last of them lies dead. It is then that Gethin notices Sola, kneeling at the side of one of the defeated cultists. He goes to her, reaches out a hand, but that’s when he sees it–one of the cultist’s long tentacles has found a weak spot in her armor and has punched through her side.
Can he get the tentacle out without killing her? [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 vs 4 10]. -1 Supply (now 4).
The mold fears the fire, even in death, and he thrusts his torch into the wound on her side. She screams and tries to wrench away, but Inguna grabs her by the arms and holds her tight as Gethin thrusts the burning brand right into her flesh. She shudders, bites her own tongue until blood pours from her mouth, and falls still. He keeps the torch on her as her skin blisters and blackens.
Finally, he tosses the torch aside and digs in his pack for a small glass vial. He tips it into her mouth and holds back her head. The potion works quickly. The burnt flesh begins to pinken and scab. Her pale face flushes with color. Gethin sinks to his knees beside her.
Finally, he looks around. “I think we’ve done it,” he says.
Have they done it?
Reach destination: [Progress Roll: Corrupted Underkeep :Strong Hit = 9 vs 4 7]. Success! +1m (now 4).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :8 boxes]
There is no where deeper to go. The put the torch to everything they can find. The mold on the walls catches and the fire races up toward the ceiling of the cave, filling the chamber with acrid smoke. The party then takes hammers to the altar and throws the shattered stones to the four corners of the chamber, so that even its foul presence will no longer infect the water seeping through the walls and down the drain.
Finally, they retrace their steps and, after many long hours, emerge once more onto the surface.
That's it for this session! And as a reminder: You can find links to every one of my solo session game reports on my Campaign Logs page on my blog.
submitted by AdventureMaterials to Solo_Roleplaying [link] [comments]
In the last episode, the party gained a quest to figure out why the fishing has dried up for the town of Longhill, and they have followed what clues they could find into the woods east of town.
The Party: Sir Gethin Oyvind E-1 H-2 I-3 S-1 W-2 Health: 5, Spirit: 5, Supply: 5, Momentum: 8/2. Assets: Commander (strength 4), Ironclad (light armor), Empowered (Knight Errant). Equipment: chain armor, sword, shield, crossbow, horse Vows: Become worthy of the Oyvind family name (epic): 0.0, bring back the fishing (dangerous): 2.0
Bonds:
- Baggi the Carpenter.
- Frej the Mercenary.
- Tessa the Wheel-maker.
- Sola the Cruel (fighter). Workcrew overseer.
- Inguna the Naive (fightescout). A trapper.
- Bjarn the Jealous (fighter). A falconer.
- Somhaile the Tactless (thief/scout). A thief.
Cautious after their near-encounter with the strange crab-mosquito, the party moves forward with as much stealth as five people, a horse, and a donkey can muster.
Delve the Depths (Shadow): [Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]. [Mark Progress: Haunted Forest :9 boxes]. What do they find? Clearing (complex/refuge).
They eventually find a game trail and make faster progress. It winds through the wood until emerging in a large clearing that holds a walled camp. The walls are made of ~8 foot high poles and enclose an area about 80 feet across. A light gate stands open on one side.
Because I had no encounter, I’m going to rule that this is unoccupied. Since my supply is full, I won’t need to resupply but I may make camp.
Gethin sends Somhaile and Inguna in to investigate. They creep up to the walls, peer carefully around the open gate, and eventually disappear inside. A few moments later, they come back out waving and reporting that the camp appears to have been abandoned.
Are there supplies inside still (50%)? No, and…
The interior is entirely bare. Few signs of the prior occupants remain. Still, it’s a defensible spot and Gethin orders the party to set up camp for the night.
Make Camp: [Strong Hit: 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 vs 7 1]. +1m (now 9) and +1 next move.
The night passes easily, and the party sleeps well knowing that they have walls around them. Even the watches are uneventful. They rise early and break camp just after sunup.
[Progress Roll: Haunted Forest :Strong Hit = 9 vs 7 7]. +1 to next move (now +2).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :4 boxes]
The road passes beyond the forest and emerges onto the shore of a small lake.
Is the smell of death worse here (75%)? Yes, but…
The smell of death worsens as they leave the woods, but they still cannot see any sign of what may be causing it. There are no fish decomposing on the lake’s shoreline, and they see nothing floating atop the water. Still, they are confident that they are growing closer to their goal.
With nowhere to go but further upriver, Gethin dispatches the two scouts to see what they can find.
Gather Information: [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 2 = 9 vs 9 2]. +1m (now 1). What do they find? Blighted/Thicket.
It is very late before they come back. When they do, they look wary of what they have to report. A thicket ahead, near the great eastern forest–but the trees there are dead, and not by fire. The grass, too, is yellowed and crunches underfoot. They dared not go further by themselves, for they heard strange sounds within.
That sounds promisingly sinister, so they head toward it, although they make camp when they are still a fair ways off, and they take care to keep their watches carefully.
Because we have already traveled through a dungeon and scored a hit on our gather info, I’m going to rule that this is probably the thing we seek. To figure out what kind of dungeon it is, I’m going to roll from three options and I’ll randomly assign a theme:
- Barrow
- Cavern
- Sea Cavern (river, in this case)
The next day they rise, but they take their time approaching the thicket. Even from far off they can feel a sense of wrongness about it. Even so, glory (and hopefully payment!) lay on the other side, so they push forward.
Discover a Site: Corrupted Cavern (Formidable).
They enter the thicket, fighting the horse and donkey all the way. Inguna finds a hint of a trail in the dead grass and leads them up a gentle rise to a low hillock. Just to the north lies the river; it would have been hidden behind a canopy in better days, but the bare tree limbs hide little. The circle of death extends equidistantly in all directions; even a few trees on the far side of the river are chalky gray instead of brown.
At the peak of the hillock stands a low wall of pale gray stone that is all that remains of the foundation of some building now long gone.
A dark pit, ringed by a strange red moss, gapes open in the earth like a sucking wound. A faint wet sound can be heard from within. “Underwater river,” Bjarn posits. All the rest pretend to believe him as they stake the animals and prepare to descend into the earth.
What do they find within? Something Unusual – Fortified/Hideaway.
The pit descends as a narrow chute through almost twenty feet of earth until it emerges into a cavern of unworked stone. Gethin lifts his torch and paces the chamber while the rest of the party follows him down. By the time the last of them arrive, he has mapped the room. It is featureless and without exits except for a single door of iron set into the northern wall.
“This strange curse is no work of nature, red in tooth and claw,” Gethin observes. “Some man had a hand in this. And that man might still be here. Be ready.” The party draws their weapons.
[Delve the Depths (Wits): Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :1 boxes]
Feature: Subterranean Waterway (Treacherous/Exit)
Danger: Lose way or are delayed
The door opens with a rusty groan, revealing a claustrophobic tunnel that sinks deeper into the stone. Gethin leads with his shield high as the others follow behind with torches and weapons. The fires cast long shadows that move strangely against the warped walls.
The faint water sounds become louder as they progress. Eventually, their tunnel opens into a large cavern that is split in half by a wide and swift river. The water is roaring here, for at the far end of the cavern the water gathers and throws up spray as it drains in a violent whirlpool.
“Where do you think it goes?” Inguna asks. None of them want to find out.
Unfortunately, there is no bridge and the span is too far to jump. They cast lots for who will have to swim across, and it falls on [d5=] Inguna. “Guess you’ll get the chance to find out,” Somhaile jokes. Inguna doesn’t laugh as they tie a rope around his waist.
Face Danger (iron) to swim across: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 3 2]. +1m but I’m already at 10 (I should burn it!).
He swims across but is swept quite a ways down stream before he reaches the far bank. They throw him a torch and wait as he secures the rope to a stone outcropping on his side. The rest of the party passes by safely, though they are cold and shivering when they emerge and begin to dress again.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :2 boxes]
Feature: Cramped Caves (Secret/Entry)
The tunnel beyond the river leads to a series of cramped chambers. In one, a faint breeze stirs the air. They investigate and eventually find a chimney that might lead up into the world above, although the climb upward would be nearly impossible.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :3 boxes]
Feature: Twisting Passages (Unstable/Valuables)
Eventually, they progress out of the caves and into a maze of twisting passages. Time seems to stall as they track and backtrack their way through the tunnels. All grow weary and–truth be told–frightened when they realize that they have been underground for far longer than they had expected, and that the way out may not be trivial.
It is Somhaile who spots them first, with her keen thief’s eyes–a smattering of reflective discs down a side corridor. They investigate and realize that they are silver coins, shining in the torchlight. Someone has definitely been here. Somhaile pockets the coins as they pass, though the others want to leave them behind to track their return. “Leave your own silver, then,” she retorts.
Inguna drops a few coppers before he realizes that no one else is doing so. Feeling foolish, he stops.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :4 boxes]
[Reveal a Danger: Denizen controls dark magic]
Feature: Vast Chamber (Fortified/Boundary)
The passage emerges into another chamber, on that stretches out so far in all directions that their torchlight is swallowed by the darkness.
Face Danger (Wits) to detect the foe: [Miss: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 7 8].
Unwilling to become lost in the darkness, they decide to hug the walls and circle the cavern in a counterclockwise direction. Eventually, the come around again to the tunnel where they started. With nothing left to do, they leave the safety of the wall behind and step out into the great open chamber. Soon the wall is lost behind them. Their torchlight flickers feebly in the darkness, revealing a dim circle of dun beige stone floor and nothing but void beyond.
Eventually, something materializes out of the darkness–a squat, perfectly square structure of worked stone, possibly twenty paces to a side and 10′ high. [Description: Assault/Desolation] Scenes of battle and destruction appear to be engraved upon its surface, but even in the still air underground the ancient carvings have been worn smooth by countless aeons.
In one wall stands a door. With no where else to go, they open it.
Here’s where the Face Danger miss comes into play. Let’s decide what kind of monster we’re facing.
Monstrosity: giant-sized – fish (I’m going to interpret as eel) – spikes/spines – keen senses
A robed figure stands within, hunched over a darkly stained altar. As the party enters, the figure turns and begins to howl. Foul green mist pours of its open mouth, billowing across the narrow room toward the party. None want to test it, so they fall back into the large chamber, slamming the door behind them.
Just then, a whistling sound fills the air. They look up just in time to see a shadow, almost iridescent in its blackness, falling from the ceiling. The thing strikes the ground just within the light of their torches. It is a silver-scaled thing with a mouth full of razor-pointed teeth; its head it huge, easily large enough to bite through a man’s torso if it can get hold of him. Suddenly it begins to move, wiggling forward like a snake with an explosive burst of speed.
Enter the Fray against Eel-Monster and Wizard (Formidable): [Weak Hit: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 6 4]. Keep initiative.
Strike (I’m going to rule I can use my warband here): [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 1 10].
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :2 boxes]
The band falls together into a group as the beast comes at them. Spears out, they manage to turn it aside just as it sends its snapping maw against Gethin’s shield. In a moment, it slithers out of sight around the building and disappears into the darkness.
They can hear it moving, just beyond the circle of torchlight. The band presses their backs together, peering futilely into the darkness.
Suddenly, it snaps forward out of the dark. Its body is long–they can see it now–dozens of feet long, and as thick around as a man. Heavy spines like sharpened quarterstaffs drag behind it, flaring from the sides of its body.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 4 + 0 = 9 vs 7 4]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :5 boxes]
The party scrambles aside at the last second and the beast cannot stop its momentum as it sails through their midst. They stick it several times at it passes, cutting long scores in its scaly hide.
Strike: [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 3 6]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :7 boxes]
They follow it this time, gaining confidence. Several more hits land home. Suddenly, the door behind them smashes open and a whip of silver-green fire lashes out at them–the wizard has arrived.
Clash: [Weak Hit: 2 + 4 + 0 = 6 vs 10 1]. Can’t use momentum, so one of my men goes down.
Who is hurt? Bjarn.
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :9 boxes]
Sola, Gethin, and Inguna stay focused on the eel while Bjarn and Somhaile turn their attentions on the newly arrived wizard. The eel lashes out again, but not in time–Sola and Gethin form an effective wall while Inguna runs it through the neck with his spear. The thing writhes violently for a few moments, but it has been stuck well. It dies.
Just as the party turns, the wizard’s whip catches Bjarn across the chest. He goes down in a heap, like a puppet with the strings cut.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 1 3]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :10 boxes]
[Progress Roll: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :Strong Hit = 10 vs 3 6]
The wizard’s victory is short-lived. Somhaile manages to sneak behind the robed figure and plant her dagger in the center of its back. It collapses with a groan and lies still.
After that fight, I’m going to say we completed one of the major steps on our quest. Surely this wizard and big eel were related to Longhill’s troubles.
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :6 boxes]
Was Bjarn killed (75%)? No!
They go to Bjarn and find that he still lives, though his breathing is shallow and his eyes will not open. They need to get him rest, but none of them would be mad enough to rest in that cavern. Gethin and Somhaile investigate the building while Inguna and Sola try to prepare Bjarn to be moved.
What’s inside the building? Transform-Wound / Avenge-Time.
The chamber is spartan in its decoration. The altar stands alone near one wall; near the other lies the top of a staircase that leads deeper into the earth. Gethin averts his eyes from the altar and even Somhaile turns away; neither know what poor creature contributed to the mass of tortured flesh upon the bare stone, but both are glad that they killed the robed figure outside.
This doesn’t seem like a good place to rest, so Bjarn is going to have to stay out of commission for a while. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the stairs as an opportunity to change the domain of this dungeon–instead of a Corrupted Cavern, we are now moving into a Corrupted Underkeep. Otherwise, progress remains the same.
[Delve the Depths (Shadow): Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :5 boxes]
Feature: Hall or Chamber (Fragile/Exit)
The party moves more slowly now, and with as much quiet as they can muster given Bjarn’s condition. Somhaile moves a few dozen paces ahead of the others, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The stairs descend into a large, worked hall. Colonnades progress up the sides of the hall and lead toward an imposing set of bronze doors, but when the party draws near they realize that the right hand doors is ajar; there is enough room to pass through without disturbing it.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :6 boxes]
Feature: Foundry or Workshop (Foreboding/Breach)
The door leads into a maze of 10′ wide corridors of worked stone. They choose a direction at random and move that way, passing several locked doors before coming at least to an open chamber. Light and heat emanate from within, but the room is empty. Inside, a forge’s embers lay dying. Strange tools of iron line the walls, devices of torture and war, twisted armor or weapons designed for bodies clearly inhuman.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :7 boxes]
Feature: Stairs into the Depths (Mystical/Threshold)
Finally, they come to the end of the mazelike corridors. Another chamber stands there, and against the far end looms the maw of some devilish beast. It takes a heartbeat before they realize it is carven stone, and that within that maw stands a staircase that descends even deeper into the earth.
None of them want to follow it, but what choice do they have now?
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :8 boxes]
Danger: Ancient Mechanism or Trap
Feature: Carved Passages (Active/Entry)
They descend further into the earth. The stairs spiral down, deeper and deeper, seemingly forever. Finally, they level out and open into a tunnel of perfectly smooth stone. They take cautious steps forward.
Face Danger (Wits) to avoid the trap: [Miss: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 8 8]
That could be bad! I’ll use momentum.
[Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 10 vs 8 8]. Reset to 2m. +1m (now 3).
Suddenly, Somhaile reaches out and grabs Gethin’s armor and jerks him backwards off his feet. The clatters to the ground with a resounding echo. In a second he’s up, ready to berate her for making so much noise, but she puts her hand over his mouth. With a finger she points at the ground. A low wire, no thicker than a hair, runs at ankle height across the tunnel.
After a moment he removes her hand. Thank you he mouths at her. She reaches forward and pulls the coin purse off his belt and ties it to her own. He decides that argument can wait for later.
[Delve the Depths: Take both: Mark progress and Find an Opportunity.]
[Find an Opportunity: You are alerted to a potential threat.] +1 to next move and +1m on hit.
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :9 boxes]
Feature: Shrine or Temple (Marked/History)
Monstrosity: person-sized – beast – tentacles – crusheconstrictor
The tunnel eventually leads to a small complex of carven chambers, all leading toward one center chamber. There, the ground slopes forward like an amphitheater toward a terrible shrine. That strange red mold grows everywhere here, red enough that it seems to glow with its own inner light. Water seeps in from countless tiny cracks on the walls, flowing down the pulsating mold and eventually draining through a small hole set before the altar.
A half dozen figures are here, worshipping at the altar on bended knee. The sound of their inhuman ululating covers the sounds of the party’s approach [thanks Find an Opportunity!]. The adventurers ready their weapons and prepare to throw.
Battle: [Weak Hit: 2 + 3 + 1 = 6 vs 4 9].
Who pays the price? Sola. -1 strength to warband (now 2).
The party’s ambush catches the cultists off guard and two of them are cut down immediately. The others turn, though, and the wailing becomes a scream of anger. They throw back their hoods, revealing faces that had once been human but are not mixed inseparable with that horrific red mold. Tentacles sprout from the fingers and backs as they run, spreading out from beneath dark fabric robes.
The party fights valiantly, holding the strange things off with fire and steel, and eventually the last of them lies dead. It is then that Gethin notices Sola, kneeling at the side of one of the defeated cultists. He goes to her, reaches out a hand, but that’s when he sees it–one of the cultist’s long tentacles has found a weak spot in her armor and has punched through her side.
Can he get the tentacle out without killing her? [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 vs 4 10]. -1 Supply (now 4).
The mold fears the fire, even in death, and he thrusts his torch into the wound on her side. She screams and tries to wrench away, but Inguna grabs her by the arms and holds her tight as Gethin thrusts the burning brand right into her flesh. She shudders, bites her own tongue until blood pours from her mouth, and falls still. He keeps the torch on her as her skin blisters and blackens.
Finally, he tosses the torch aside and digs in his pack for a small glass vial. He tips it into her mouth and holds back her head. The potion works quickly. The burnt flesh begins to pinken and scab. Her pale face flushes with color. Gethin sinks to his knees beside her.
Finally, he looks around. “I think we’ve done it,” he says.
Have they done it?
Reach destination: [Progress Roll: Corrupted Underkeep :Strong Hit = 9 vs 4 7]. Success! +1m (now 4).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :8 boxes]
There is no where deeper to go. The put the torch to everything they can find. The mold on the walls catches and the fire races up toward the ceiling of the cave, filling the chamber with acrid smoke. The party then takes hammers to the altar and throws the shattered stones to the four corners of the chamber, so that even its foul presence will no longer infect the water seeping through the walls and down the drain.
Finally, they retrace their steps and, after many long hours, emerge once more onto the surface.
That's it for this session! And as a reminder: You can find links to every one of my solo session game reports on my Campaign Logs page on my blog.
2023.05.30 17:10 AdventureMaterials The Third Son - Pt 2 - A D&D Themed Ironsworn Actual Play
This is part two of my Ironsworn campaign experiment meant to emulator an “Old School” D&D like experience–a party of vulnerable allies, location-based adventures, and strange monsters lurking just on the outskirts of human civilization.
In the last episode, the party gained a quest to figure out why the fishing has dried up for the town of Longhill, and they have followed what clues they could find into the woods east of town.
The Party: Sir Gethin Oyvind E-1 H-2 I-3 S-1 W-2 Health: 5, Spirit: 5, Supply: 5, Momentum: 8/2. Assets: Commander (strength 4), Ironclad (light armor), Empowered (Knight Errant). Equipment: chain armor, sword, shield, crossbow, horse Vows: Become worthy of the Oyvind family name (epic): 0.0, bring back the fishing (dangerous): 2.0
Bonds:
Cautious after their near-encounter with the strange crab-mosquito, the party moves forward with as much stealth as five people, a horse, and a donkey can muster.
Delve the Depths (Shadow): [Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]. [Mark Progress: Haunted Forest :9 boxes]. What do they find? Clearing (complex/refuge).
They eventually find a game trail and make faster progress. It winds through the wood until emerging in a large clearing that holds a walled camp. The walls are made of ~8 foot high poles and enclose an area about 80 feet across. A light gate stands open on one side.
Because I had no encounter, I’m going to rule that this is unoccupied. Since my supply is full, I won’t need to resupply but I may make camp.
Gethin sends Somhaile and Inguna in to investigate. They creep up to the walls, peer carefully around the open gate, and eventually disappear inside. A few moments later, they come back out waving and reporting that the camp appears to have been abandoned.
Are there supplies inside still (50%)? No, and…
The interior is entirely bare. Few signs of the prior occupants remain. Still, it’s a defensible spot and Gethin orders the party to set up camp for the night.
Make Camp: [Strong Hit: 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 vs 7 1]. +1m (now 9) and +1 next move.
The night passes easily, and the party sleeps well knowing that they have walls around them. Even the watches are uneventful. They rise early and break camp just after sunup.
[Progress Roll: Haunted Forest :Strong Hit = 9 vs 7 7]. +1 to next move (now +2).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :4 boxes]
The road passes beyond the forest and emerges onto the shore of a small lake.
Is the smell of death worse here (75%)? Yes, but…
The smell of death worsens as they leave the woods, but they still cannot see any sign of what may be causing it. There are no fish decomposing on the lake’s shoreline, and they see nothing floating atop the water. Still, they are confident that they are growing closer to their goal.
With nowhere to go but further upriver, Gethin dispatches the two scouts to see what they can find.
Gather Information: [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 2 = 9 vs 9 2]. +1m (now 1). What do they find? Blighted/Thicket.
It is very late before they come back. When they do, they look wary of what they have to report. A thicket ahead, near the great eastern forest–but the trees there are dead, and not by fire. The grass, too, is yellowed and crunches underfoot. They dared not go further by themselves, for they heard strange sounds within.
That sounds promisingly sinister, so they head toward it, although they make camp when they are still a fair ways off, and they take care to keep their watches carefully.
Because we have already traveled through a dungeon and scored a hit on our gather info, I’m going to rule that this is probably the thing we seek. To figure out what kind of dungeon it is, I’m going to roll from three options and I’ll randomly assign a theme:
The next day they rise, but they take their time approaching the thicket. Even from far off they can feel a sense of wrongness about it. Even so, glory (and hopefully payment!) lay on the other side, so they push forward.
Discover a Site: Corrupted Cavern (Formidable).
They enter the thicket, fighting the horse and donkey all the way. Inguna finds a hint of a trail in the dead grass and leads them up a gentle rise to a low hillock. Just to the north lies the river; it would have been hidden behind a canopy in better days, but the bare tree limbs hide little. The circle of death extends equidistantly in all directions; even a few trees on the far side of the river are chalky gray instead of brown.
At the peak of the hillock stands a low wall of pale gray stone that is all that remains of the foundation of some building now long gone.
A dark pit, ringed by a strange red moss, gapes open in the earth like a sucking wound. A faint wet sound can be heard from within. “Underwater river,” Bjarn posits. All the rest pretend to believe him as they stake the animals and prepare to descend into the earth.
What do they find within? Something Unusual – Fortified/Hideaway.
The pit descends as a narrow chute through almost twenty feet of earth until it emerges into a cavern of unworked stone. Gethin lifts his torch and paces the chamber while the rest of the party follows him down. By the time the last of them arrive, he has mapped the room. It is featureless and without exits except for a single door of iron set into the northern wall.
“This strange curse is no work of nature, red in tooth and claw,” Gethin observes. “Some man had a hand in this. And that man might still be here. Be ready.” The party draws their weapons.
[Delve the Depths (Wits): Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :1 boxes]
Feature: Subterranean Waterway (Treacherous/Exit)
Danger: Lose way or are delayed
The door opens with a rusty groan, revealing a claustrophobic tunnel that sinks deeper into the stone. Gethin leads with his shield high as the others follow behind with torches and weapons. The fires cast long shadows that move strangely against the warped walls.
The faint water sounds become louder as they progress. Eventually, their tunnel opens into a large cavern that is split in half by a wide and swift river. The water is roaring here, for at the far end of the cavern the water gathers and throws up spray as it drains in a violent whirlpool.
“Where do you think it goes?” Inguna asks. None of them want to find out.
Unfortunately, there is no bridge and the span is too far to jump. They cast lots for who will have to swim across, and it falls on [d5=] Inguna. “Guess you’ll get the chance to find out,” Somhaile jokes. Inguna doesn’t laugh as they tie a rope around his waist.
Face Danger (iron) to swim across: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 3 2]. +1m but I’m already at 10 (I should burn it!).
He swims across but is swept quite a ways down stream before he reaches the far bank. They throw him a torch and wait as he secures the rope to a stone outcropping on his side. The rest of the party passes by safely, though they are cold and shivering when they emerge and begin to dress again.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :2 boxes]
Feature: Cramped Caves (Secret/Entry)
The tunnel beyond the river leads to a series of cramped chambers. In one, a faint breeze stirs the air. They investigate and eventually find a chimney that might lead up into the world above, although the climb upward would be nearly impossible.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :3 boxes]
Feature: Twisting Passages (Unstable/Valuables)
Eventually, they progress out of the caves and into a maze of twisting passages. Time seems to stall as they track and backtrack their way through the tunnels. All grow weary and–truth be told–frightened when they realize that they have been underground for far longer than they had expected, and that the way out may not be trivial.
It is Somhaile who spots them first, with her keen thief’s eyes–a smattering of reflective discs down a side corridor. They investigate and realize that they are silver coins, shining in the torchlight. Someone has definitely been here. Somhaile pockets the coins as they pass, though the others want to leave them behind to track their return. “Leave your own silver, then,” she retorts.
Inguna drops a few coppers before he realizes that no one else is doing so. Feeling foolish, he stops.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :4 boxes]
[Reveal a Danger: Denizen controls dark magic]
Feature: Vast Chamber (Fortified/Boundary)
The passage emerges into another chamber, on that stretches out so far in all directions that their torchlight is swallowed by the darkness.
Face Danger (Wits) to detect the foe: [Miss: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 7 8].
Unwilling to become lost in the darkness, they decide to hug the walls and circle the cavern in a counterclockwise direction. Eventually, the come around again to the tunnel where they started. With nothing left to do, they leave the safety of the wall behind and step out into the great open chamber. Soon the wall is lost behind them. Their torchlight flickers feebly in the darkness, revealing a dim circle of dun beige stone floor and nothing but void beyond.
Eventually, something materializes out of the darkness–a squat, perfectly square structure of worked stone, possibly twenty paces to a side and 10′ high. [Description: Assault/Desolation] Scenes of battle and destruction appear to be engraved upon its surface, but even in the still air underground the ancient carvings have been worn smooth by countless aeons.
In one wall stands a door. With no where else to go, they open it.
Here’s where the Face Danger miss comes into play. Let’s decide what kind of monster we’re facing.
Monstrosity: giant-sized – fish (I’m going to interpret as eel) – spikes/spines – keen senses
A robed figure stands within, hunched over a darkly stained altar. As the party enters, the figure turns and begins to howl. Foul green mist pours of its open mouth, billowing across the narrow room toward the party. None want to test it, so they fall back into the large chamber, slamming the door behind them.
Just then, a whistling sound fills the air. They look up just in time to see a shadow, almost iridescent in its blackness, falling from the ceiling. The thing strikes the ground just within the light of their torches. It is a silver-scaled thing with a mouth full of razor-pointed teeth; its head it huge, easily large enough to bite through a man’s torso if it can get hold of him. Suddenly it begins to move, wiggling forward like a snake with an explosive burst of speed.
Enter the Fray against Eel-Monster and Wizard (Formidable): [Weak Hit: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 6 4]. Keep initiative.
Strike (I’m going to rule I can use my warband here): [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 1 10].
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :2 boxes]
The band falls together into a group as the beast comes at them. Spears out, they manage to turn it aside just as it sends its snapping maw against Gethin’s shield. In a moment, it slithers out of sight around the building and disappears into the darkness.
They can hear it moving, just beyond the circle of torchlight. The band presses their backs together, peering futilely into the darkness.
Suddenly, it snaps forward out of the dark. Its body is long–they can see it now–dozens of feet long, and as thick around as a man. Heavy spines like sharpened quarterstaffs drag behind it, flaring from the sides of its body.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 4 + 0 = 9 vs 7 4]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :5 boxes]
The party scrambles aside at the last second and the beast cannot stop its momentum as it sails through their midst. They stick it several times at it passes, cutting long scores in its scaly hide.
Strike: [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 3 6]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :7 boxes]
They follow it this time, gaining confidence. Several more hits land home. Suddenly, the door behind them smashes open and a whip of silver-green fire lashes out at them–the wizard has arrived.
Clash: [Weak Hit: 2 + 4 + 0 = 6 vs 10 1]. Can’t use momentum, so one of my men goes down.
Who is hurt? Bjarn.
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :9 boxes]
Sola, Gethin, and Inguna stay focused on the eel while Bjarn and Somhaile turn their attentions on the newly arrived wizard. The eel lashes out again, but not in time–Sola and Gethin form an effective wall while Inguna runs it through the neck with his spear. The thing writhes violently for a few moments, but it has been stuck well. It dies.
Just as the party turns, the wizard’s whip catches Bjarn across the chest. He goes down in a heap, like a puppet with the strings cut.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 1 3]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :10 boxes]
[Progress Roll: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :Strong Hit = 10 vs 3 6]
The wizard’s victory is short-lived. Somhaile manages to sneak behind the robed figure and plant her dagger in the center of its back. It collapses with a groan and lies still.
After that fight, I’m going to say we completed one of the major steps on our quest. Surely this wizard and big eel were related to Longhill’s troubles.
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :6 boxes]
Was Bjarn killed (75%)? No!
They go to Bjarn and find that he still lives, though his breathing is shallow and his eyes will not open. They need to get him rest, but none of them would be mad enough to rest in that cavern. Gethin and Somhaile investigate the building while Inguna and Sola try to prepare Bjarn to be moved.
What’s inside the building? Transform-Wound / Avenge-Time.
The chamber is spartan in its decoration. The altar stands alone near one wall; near the other lies the top of a staircase that leads deeper into the earth. Gethin averts his eyes from the altar and even Somhaile turns away; neither know what poor creature contributed to the mass of tortured flesh upon the bare stone, but both are glad that they killed the robed figure outside.
This doesn’t seem like a good place to rest, so Bjarn is going to have to stay out of commission for a while. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the stairs as an opportunity to change the domain of this dungeon–instead of a Corrupted Cavern, we are now moving into a Corrupted Underkeep. Otherwise, progress remains the same.
[Delve the Depths (Shadow): Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :5 boxes]
Feature: Hall or Chamber (Fragile/Exit)
The party moves more slowly now, and with as much quiet as they can muster given Bjarn’s condition. Somhaile moves a few dozen paces ahead of the others, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The stairs descend into a large, worked hall. Colonnades progress up the sides of the hall and lead toward an imposing set of bronze doors, but when the party draws near they realize that the right hand doors is ajar; there is enough room to pass through without disturbing it.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :6 boxes]
Feature: Foundry or Workshop (Foreboding/Breach)
The door leads into a maze of 10′ wide corridors of worked stone. They choose a direction at random and move that way, passing several locked doors before coming at least to an open chamber. Light and heat emanate from within, but the room is empty. Inside, a forge’s embers lay dying. Strange tools of iron line the walls, devices of torture and war, twisted armor or weapons designed for bodies clearly inhuman.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :7 boxes]
Feature: Stairs into the Depths (Mystical/Threshold)
Finally, they come to the end of the mazelike corridors. Another chamber stands there, and against the far end looms the maw of some devilish beast. It takes a heartbeat before they realize it is carven stone, and that within that maw stands a staircase that descends even deeper into the earth.
None of them want to follow it, but what choice do they have now?
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :8 boxes]
Danger: Ancient Mechanism or Trap
Feature: Carved Passages (Active/Entry)
They descend further into the earth. The stairs spiral down, deeper and deeper, seemingly forever. Finally, they level out and open into a tunnel of perfectly smooth stone. They take cautious steps forward.
Face Danger (Wits) to avoid the trap: [Miss: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 8 8]
That could be bad! I’ll use momentum.
[Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 10 vs 8 8]. Reset to 2m. +1m (now 3).
Suddenly, Somhaile reaches out and grabs Gethin’s armor and jerks him backwards off his feet. The clatters to the ground with a resounding echo. In a second he’s up, ready to berate her for making so much noise, but she puts her hand over his mouth. With a finger she points at the ground. A low wire, no thicker than a hair, runs at ankle height across the tunnel.
After a moment he removes her hand. Thank you he mouths at her. She reaches forward and pulls the coin purse off his belt and ties it to her own. He decides that argument can wait for later.
[Delve the Depths: Take both: Mark progress and Find an Opportunity.]
[Find an Opportunity: You are alerted to a potential threat.] +1 to next move and +1m on hit.
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :9 boxes]
Feature: Shrine or Temple (Marked/History)
Monstrosity: person-sized – beast – tentacles – crusheconstrictor
The tunnel eventually leads to a small complex of carven chambers, all leading toward one center chamber. There, the ground slopes forward like an amphitheater toward a terrible shrine. That strange red mold grows everywhere here, red enough that it seems to glow with its own inner light. Water seeps in from countless tiny cracks on the walls, flowing down the pulsating mold and eventually draining through a small hole set before the altar.
A half dozen figures are here, worshipping at the altar on bended knee. The sound of their inhuman ululating covers the sounds of the party’s approach [thanks Find an Opportunity!]. The adventurers ready their weapons and prepare to throw.
Battle: [Weak Hit: 2 + 3 + 1 = 6 vs 4 9].
Who pays the price? Sola. -1 strength to warband (now 2).
The party’s ambush catches the cultists off guard and two of them are cut down immediately. The others turn, though, and the wailing becomes a scream of anger. They throw back their hoods, revealing faces that had once been human but are not mixed inseparable with that horrific red mold. Tentacles sprout from the fingers and backs as they run, spreading out from beneath dark fabric robes.
The party fights valiantly, holding the strange things off with fire and steel, and eventually the last of them lies dead. It is then that Gethin notices Sola, kneeling at the side of one of the defeated cultists. He goes to her, reaches out a hand, but that’s when he sees it–one of the cultist’s long tentacles has found a weak spot in her armor and has punched through her side.
Can he get the tentacle out without killing her? [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 vs 4 10]. -1 Supply (now 4).
The mold fears the fire, even in death, and he thrusts his torch into the wound on her side. She screams and tries to wrench away, but Inguna grabs her by the arms and holds her tight as Gethin thrusts the burning brand right into her flesh. She shudders, bites her own tongue until blood pours from her mouth, and falls still. He keeps the torch on her as her skin blisters and blackens.
Finally, he tosses the torch aside and digs in his pack for a small glass vial. He tips it into her mouth and holds back her head. The potion works quickly. The burnt flesh begins to pinken and scab. Her pale face flushes with color. Gethin sinks to his knees beside her.
Finally, he looks around. “I think we’ve done it,” he says.
Have they done it?
Reach destination: [Progress Roll: Corrupted Underkeep :Strong Hit = 9 vs 4 7]. Success! +1m (now 4).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :8 boxes]
There is no where deeper to go. The put the torch to everything they can find. The mold on the walls catches and the fire races up toward the ceiling of the cave, filling the chamber with acrid smoke. The party then takes hammers to the altar and throws the shattered stones to the four corners of the chamber, so that even its foul presence will no longer infect the water seeping through the walls and down the drain.
Finally, they retrace their steps and, after many long hours, emerge once more onto the surface.
That's it for this session! And as a reminder: You can find links to every one of my solo session game reports on my Campaign Logs page on my blog.
submitted by AdventureMaterials to Ironsworn [link] [comments]
In the last episode, the party gained a quest to figure out why the fishing has dried up for the town of Longhill, and they have followed what clues they could find into the woods east of town.
The Party: Sir Gethin Oyvind E-1 H-2 I-3 S-1 W-2 Health: 5, Spirit: 5, Supply: 5, Momentum: 8/2. Assets: Commander (strength 4), Ironclad (light armor), Empowered (Knight Errant). Equipment: chain armor, sword, shield, crossbow, horse Vows: Become worthy of the Oyvind family name (epic): 0.0, bring back the fishing (dangerous): 2.0
Bonds:
- Baggi the Carpenter.
- Frej the Mercenary.
- Tessa the Wheel-maker.
- Sola the Cruel (fighter). Workcrew overseer.
- Inguna the Naive (fightescout). A trapper.
- Bjarn the Jealous (fighter). A falconer.
- Somhaile the Tactless (thief/scout). A thief.
Cautious after their near-encounter with the strange crab-mosquito, the party moves forward with as much stealth as five people, a horse, and a donkey can muster.
Delve the Depths (Shadow): [Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]. [Mark Progress: Haunted Forest :9 boxes]. What do they find? Clearing (complex/refuge).
They eventually find a game trail and make faster progress. It winds through the wood until emerging in a large clearing that holds a walled camp. The walls are made of ~8 foot high poles and enclose an area about 80 feet across. A light gate stands open on one side.
Because I had no encounter, I’m going to rule that this is unoccupied. Since my supply is full, I won’t need to resupply but I may make camp.
Gethin sends Somhaile and Inguna in to investigate. They creep up to the walls, peer carefully around the open gate, and eventually disappear inside. A few moments later, they come back out waving and reporting that the camp appears to have been abandoned.
Are there supplies inside still (50%)? No, and…
The interior is entirely bare. Few signs of the prior occupants remain. Still, it’s a defensible spot and Gethin orders the party to set up camp for the night.
Make Camp: [Strong Hit: 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 vs 7 1]. +1m (now 9) and +1 next move.
The night passes easily, and the party sleeps well knowing that they have walls around them. Even the watches are uneventful. They rise early and break camp just after sunup.
[Progress Roll: Haunted Forest :Strong Hit = 9 vs 7 7]. +1 to next move (now +2).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :4 boxes]
The road passes beyond the forest and emerges onto the shore of a small lake.
Is the smell of death worse here (75%)? Yes, but…
The smell of death worsens as they leave the woods, but they still cannot see any sign of what may be causing it. There are no fish decomposing on the lake’s shoreline, and they see nothing floating atop the water. Still, they are confident that they are growing closer to their goal.
With nowhere to go but further upriver, Gethin dispatches the two scouts to see what they can find.
Gather Information: [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 2 = 9 vs 9 2]. +1m (now 1). What do they find? Blighted/Thicket.
It is very late before they come back. When they do, they look wary of what they have to report. A thicket ahead, near the great eastern forest–but the trees there are dead, and not by fire. The grass, too, is yellowed and crunches underfoot. They dared not go further by themselves, for they heard strange sounds within.
That sounds promisingly sinister, so they head toward it, although they make camp when they are still a fair ways off, and they take care to keep their watches carefully.
Because we have already traveled through a dungeon and scored a hit on our gather info, I’m going to rule that this is probably the thing we seek. To figure out what kind of dungeon it is, I’m going to roll from three options and I’ll randomly assign a theme:
- Barrow
- Cavern
- Sea Cavern (river, in this case)
The next day they rise, but they take their time approaching the thicket. Even from far off they can feel a sense of wrongness about it. Even so, glory (and hopefully payment!) lay on the other side, so they push forward.
Discover a Site: Corrupted Cavern (Formidable).
They enter the thicket, fighting the horse and donkey all the way. Inguna finds a hint of a trail in the dead grass and leads them up a gentle rise to a low hillock. Just to the north lies the river; it would have been hidden behind a canopy in better days, but the bare tree limbs hide little. The circle of death extends equidistantly in all directions; even a few trees on the far side of the river are chalky gray instead of brown.
At the peak of the hillock stands a low wall of pale gray stone that is all that remains of the foundation of some building now long gone.
A dark pit, ringed by a strange red moss, gapes open in the earth like a sucking wound. A faint wet sound can be heard from within. “Underwater river,” Bjarn posits. All the rest pretend to believe him as they stake the animals and prepare to descend into the earth.
What do they find within? Something Unusual – Fortified/Hideaway.
The pit descends as a narrow chute through almost twenty feet of earth until it emerges into a cavern of unworked stone. Gethin lifts his torch and paces the chamber while the rest of the party follows him down. By the time the last of them arrive, he has mapped the room. It is featureless and without exits except for a single door of iron set into the northern wall.
“This strange curse is no work of nature, red in tooth and claw,” Gethin observes. “Some man had a hand in this. And that man might still be here. Be ready.” The party draws their weapons.
[Delve the Depths (Wits): Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :1 boxes]
Feature: Subterranean Waterway (Treacherous/Exit)
Danger: Lose way or are delayed
The door opens with a rusty groan, revealing a claustrophobic tunnel that sinks deeper into the stone. Gethin leads with his shield high as the others follow behind with torches and weapons. The fires cast long shadows that move strangely against the warped walls.
The faint water sounds become louder as they progress. Eventually, their tunnel opens into a large cavern that is split in half by a wide and swift river. The water is roaring here, for at the far end of the cavern the water gathers and throws up spray as it drains in a violent whirlpool.
“Where do you think it goes?” Inguna asks. None of them want to find out.
Unfortunately, there is no bridge and the span is too far to jump. They cast lots for who will have to swim across, and it falls on [d5=] Inguna. “Guess you’ll get the chance to find out,” Somhaile jokes. Inguna doesn’t laugh as they tie a rope around his waist.
Face Danger (iron) to swim across: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 3 2]. +1m but I’m already at 10 (I should burn it!).
He swims across but is swept quite a ways down stream before he reaches the far bank. They throw him a torch and wait as he secures the rope to a stone outcropping on his side. The rest of the party passes by safely, though they are cold and shivering when they emerge and begin to dress again.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :2 boxes]
Feature: Cramped Caves (Secret/Entry)
The tunnel beyond the river leads to a series of cramped chambers. In one, a faint breeze stirs the air. They investigate and eventually find a chimney that might lead up into the world above, although the climb upward would be nearly impossible.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :3 boxes]
Feature: Twisting Passages (Unstable/Valuables)
Eventually, they progress out of the caves and into a maze of twisting passages. Time seems to stall as they track and backtrack their way through the tunnels. All grow weary and–truth be told–frightened when they realize that they have been underground for far longer than they had expected, and that the way out may not be trivial.
It is Somhaile who spots them first, with her keen thief’s eyes–a smattering of reflective discs down a side corridor. They investigate and realize that they are silver coins, shining in the torchlight. Someone has definitely been here. Somhaile pockets the coins as they pass, though the others want to leave them behind to track their return. “Leave your own silver, then,” she retorts.
Inguna drops a few coppers before he realizes that no one else is doing so. Feeling foolish, he stops.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :4 boxes]
[Reveal a Danger: Denizen controls dark magic]
Feature: Vast Chamber (Fortified/Boundary)
The passage emerges into another chamber, on that stretches out so far in all directions that their torchlight is swallowed by the darkness.
Face Danger (Wits) to detect the foe: [Miss: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 7 8].
Unwilling to become lost in the darkness, they decide to hug the walls and circle the cavern in a counterclockwise direction. Eventually, the come around again to the tunnel where they started. With nothing left to do, they leave the safety of the wall behind and step out into the great open chamber. Soon the wall is lost behind them. Their torchlight flickers feebly in the darkness, revealing a dim circle of dun beige stone floor and nothing but void beyond.
Eventually, something materializes out of the darkness–a squat, perfectly square structure of worked stone, possibly twenty paces to a side and 10′ high. [Description: Assault/Desolation] Scenes of battle and destruction appear to be engraved upon its surface, but even in the still air underground the ancient carvings have been worn smooth by countless aeons.
In one wall stands a door. With no where else to go, they open it.
Here’s where the Face Danger miss comes into play. Let’s decide what kind of monster we’re facing.
Monstrosity: giant-sized – fish (I’m going to interpret as eel) – spikes/spines – keen senses
A robed figure stands within, hunched over a darkly stained altar. As the party enters, the figure turns and begins to howl. Foul green mist pours of its open mouth, billowing across the narrow room toward the party. None want to test it, so they fall back into the large chamber, slamming the door behind them.
Just then, a whistling sound fills the air. They look up just in time to see a shadow, almost iridescent in its blackness, falling from the ceiling. The thing strikes the ground just within the light of their torches. It is a silver-scaled thing with a mouth full of razor-pointed teeth; its head it huge, easily large enough to bite through a man’s torso if it can get hold of him. Suddenly it begins to move, wiggling forward like a snake with an explosive burst of speed.
Enter the Fray against Eel-Monster and Wizard (Formidable): [Weak Hit: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 6 4]. Keep initiative.
Strike (I’m going to rule I can use my warband here): [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 1 10].
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :2 boxes]
The band falls together into a group as the beast comes at them. Spears out, they manage to turn it aside just as it sends its snapping maw against Gethin’s shield. In a moment, it slithers out of sight around the building and disappears into the darkness.
They can hear it moving, just beyond the circle of torchlight. The band presses their backs together, peering futilely into the darkness.
Suddenly, it snaps forward out of the dark. Its body is long–they can see it now–dozens of feet long, and as thick around as a man. Heavy spines like sharpened quarterstaffs drag behind it, flaring from the sides of its body.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 4 + 0 = 9 vs 7 4]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :5 boxes]
The party scrambles aside at the last second and the beast cannot stop its momentum as it sails through their midst. They stick it several times at it passes, cutting long scores in its scaly hide.
Strike: [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 3 6]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :7 boxes]
They follow it this time, gaining confidence. Several more hits land home. Suddenly, the door behind them smashes open and a whip of silver-green fire lashes out at them–the wizard has arrived.
Clash: [Weak Hit: 2 + 4 + 0 = 6 vs 10 1]. Can’t use momentum, so one of my men goes down.
Who is hurt? Bjarn.
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :9 boxes]
Sola, Gethin, and Inguna stay focused on the eel while Bjarn and Somhaile turn their attentions on the newly arrived wizard. The eel lashes out again, but not in time–Sola and Gethin form an effective wall while Inguna runs it through the neck with his spear. The thing writhes violently for a few moments, but it has been stuck well. It dies.
Just as the party turns, the wizard’s whip catches Bjarn across the chest. He goes down in a heap, like a puppet with the strings cut.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 1 3]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :10 boxes]
[Progress Roll: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :Strong Hit = 10 vs 3 6]
The wizard’s victory is short-lived. Somhaile manages to sneak behind the robed figure and plant her dagger in the center of its back. It collapses with a groan and lies still.
After that fight, I’m going to say we completed one of the major steps on our quest. Surely this wizard and big eel were related to Longhill’s troubles.
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :6 boxes]
Was Bjarn killed (75%)? No!
They go to Bjarn and find that he still lives, though his breathing is shallow and his eyes will not open. They need to get him rest, but none of them would be mad enough to rest in that cavern. Gethin and Somhaile investigate the building while Inguna and Sola try to prepare Bjarn to be moved.
What’s inside the building? Transform-Wound / Avenge-Time.
The chamber is spartan in its decoration. The altar stands alone near one wall; near the other lies the top of a staircase that leads deeper into the earth. Gethin averts his eyes from the altar and even Somhaile turns away; neither know what poor creature contributed to the mass of tortured flesh upon the bare stone, but both are glad that they killed the robed figure outside.
This doesn’t seem like a good place to rest, so Bjarn is going to have to stay out of commission for a while. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the stairs as an opportunity to change the domain of this dungeon–instead of a Corrupted Cavern, we are now moving into a Corrupted Underkeep. Otherwise, progress remains the same.
[Delve the Depths (Shadow): Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :5 boxes]
Feature: Hall or Chamber (Fragile/Exit)
The party moves more slowly now, and with as much quiet as they can muster given Bjarn’s condition. Somhaile moves a few dozen paces ahead of the others, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The stairs descend into a large, worked hall. Colonnades progress up the sides of the hall and lead toward an imposing set of bronze doors, but when the party draws near they realize that the right hand doors is ajar; there is enough room to pass through without disturbing it.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :6 boxes]
Feature: Foundry or Workshop (Foreboding/Breach)
The door leads into a maze of 10′ wide corridors of worked stone. They choose a direction at random and move that way, passing several locked doors before coming at least to an open chamber. Light and heat emanate from within, but the room is empty. Inside, a forge’s embers lay dying. Strange tools of iron line the walls, devices of torture and war, twisted armor or weapons designed for bodies clearly inhuman.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :7 boxes]
Feature: Stairs into the Depths (Mystical/Threshold)
Finally, they come to the end of the mazelike corridors. Another chamber stands there, and against the far end looms the maw of some devilish beast. It takes a heartbeat before they realize it is carven stone, and that within that maw stands a staircase that descends even deeper into the earth.
None of them want to follow it, but what choice do they have now?
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :8 boxes]
Danger: Ancient Mechanism or Trap
Feature: Carved Passages (Active/Entry)
They descend further into the earth. The stairs spiral down, deeper and deeper, seemingly forever. Finally, they level out and open into a tunnel of perfectly smooth stone. They take cautious steps forward.
Face Danger (Wits) to avoid the trap: [Miss: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 8 8]
That could be bad! I’ll use momentum.
[Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 10 vs 8 8]. Reset to 2m. +1m (now 3).
Suddenly, Somhaile reaches out and grabs Gethin’s armor and jerks him backwards off his feet. The clatters to the ground with a resounding echo. In a second he’s up, ready to berate her for making so much noise, but she puts her hand over his mouth. With a finger she points at the ground. A low wire, no thicker than a hair, runs at ankle height across the tunnel.
After a moment he removes her hand. Thank you he mouths at her. She reaches forward and pulls the coin purse off his belt and ties it to her own. He decides that argument can wait for later.
[Delve the Depths: Take both: Mark progress and Find an Opportunity.]
[Find an Opportunity: You are alerted to a potential threat.] +1 to next move and +1m on hit.
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :9 boxes]
Feature: Shrine or Temple (Marked/History)
Monstrosity: person-sized – beast – tentacles – crusheconstrictor
The tunnel eventually leads to a small complex of carven chambers, all leading toward one center chamber. There, the ground slopes forward like an amphitheater toward a terrible shrine. That strange red mold grows everywhere here, red enough that it seems to glow with its own inner light. Water seeps in from countless tiny cracks on the walls, flowing down the pulsating mold and eventually draining through a small hole set before the altar.
A half dozen figures are here, worshipping at the altar on bended knee. The sound of their inhuman ululating covers the sounds of the party’s approach [thanks Find an Opportunity!]. The adventurers ready their weapons and prepare to throw.
Battle: [Weak Hit: 2 + 3 + 1 = 6 vs 4 9].
Who pays the price? Sola. -1 strength to warband (now 2).
The party’s ambush catches the cultists off guard and two of them are cut down immediately. The others turn, though, and the wailing becomes a scream of anger. They throw back their hoods, revealing faces that had once been human but are not mixed inseparable with that horrific red mold. Tentacles sprout from the fingers and backs as they run, spreading out from beneath dark fabric robes.
The party fights valiantly, holding the strange things off with fire and steel, and eventually the last of them lies dead. It is then that Gethin notices Sola, kneeling at the side of one of the defeated cultists. He goes to her, reaches out a hand, but that’s when he sees it–one of the cultist’s long tentacles has found a weak spot in her armor and has punched through her side.
Can he get the tentacle out without killing her? [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 vs 4 10]. -1 Supply (now 4).
The mold fears the fire, even in death, and he thrusts his torch into the wound on her side. She screams and tries to wrench away, but Inguna grabs her by the arms and holds her tight as Gethin thrusts the burning brand right into her flesh. She shudders, bites her own tongue until blood pours from her mouth, and falls still. He keeps the torch on her as her skin blisters and blackens.
Finally, he tosses the torch aside and digs in his pack for a small glass vial. He tips it into her mouth and holds back her head. The potion works quickly. The burnt flesh begins to pinken and scab. Her pale face flushes with color. Gethin sinks to his knees beside her.
Finally, he looks around. “I think we’ve done it,” he says.
Have they done it?
Reach destination: [Progress Roll: Corrupted Underkeep :Strong Hit = 9 vs 4 7]. Success! +1m (now 4).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :8 boxes]
There is no where deeper to go. The put the torch to everything they can find. The mold on the walls catches and the fire races up toward the ceiling of the cave, filling the chamber with acrid smoke. The party then takes hammers to the altar and throws the shattered stones to the four corners of the chamber, so that even its foul presence will no longer infect the water seeping through the walls and down the drain.
Finally, they retrace their steps and, after many long hours, emerge once more onto the surface.
That's it for this session! And as a reminder: You can find links to every one of my solo session game reports on my Campaign Logs page on my blog.
2023.05.30 16:58 Grundlemiah Lund is creaming his jeans for this one.
 | submitted by Grundlemiah to chubbybehemoth [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 16:22 GhostOfCalville New Tour Dates
 | They won’t be playing furnace or burn it down anymore. This is a fun lineup if you ask me. 100% there. TDG has a fan presale going on now but tickets are on sale this Friday 6/2. submitted by GhostOfCalville to Loatheband [link] [comments] |