The Analogue Dolphin

Hello everyone, this is the first post of The Analogue Dolphin, AleF2050's newest mini blog on my personal Solo RPG Actual Plays. I don't have a proper introduction written around yet, but I would like to start with the first chapter of my ongoing Ironsworn campaign that I've been playing in solo as my first approach into the world of solitaire roleplaying. I've been writing these for several weeks until now, as the process can be incredibly satisfying but tough enough to abide by.

If you want to reach me out for feedback, be sure to check my Mastodon profile: https://livellosegreto.it/@AleF2050

I hope you will have fun reading it!

WARNING: This campaign contains elevated level of violence and may not be suitable for every reader.

Premise

This solo RPG campaign diary will be using Ironsworn as the primary source rulebook, accompanied with several picks from the Root RPG manual for the setting and character inspiration. This will be the first time i'll be dwelling into solo roleplaying, in which grants me to write a story based on established ruleset.

After some careful consideration, i chose Ironsworn as many solo roleplayers recommended the intuitive flexibility of its ruleset, however, as i don't feel the obligation to delve into Ironsworn's default setting, which is too dark for this campaign's taste, i wanted to base this campaign off one of my artistically favorite board games, Root, in which few years ago had got its own role playing game based on the PbtA (Powered by The Apocalypse) engine, which Ironsworn also derivates from! I always wanted to dive deep into its world due to its charming anthropomorphic animal fantasy driven setting, but also being inspired by high fantasy works such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

In this adventure, we will be using Root RPG's Woodlands setting as the starting base, while for our main character we'll be referencing one of the vagabond characters from one of the quickstart's 'playbooks', which are character sheets. We'll be basing our main character on Umberto the Raider, found in the Bertram's Cove Quickstart, who is a kind of resolved fighter who seeks glory in the battlefield and dreams of meeting the legendary pirate Captain Sparrowhawk. His ambition drives into his mind and ventures into the Woodland to find company and seek its whereabouts.

Consider that this campaign will loosely base on the world of Root with a sized amount of twists that are not accurate to the original setting's themes. Root RPG's tones are serious enough and is about wars and diplomacy in the woods, although the use of a tame art style acknowledged how the setting was also friendly enough for younger players to approach, while Ironsworn's original setting consists of exploring unknown lands in times of dark. I've based half of the written truths from the Root setting, with the rest adding a premise for a possible twist that might come around the campaign.

I've also gathered some community written fan lore around Reddit and other places to use as setting supplement and will also be using a map drawn by Yarkin17 from Reddit as the default (for now) map to guide myself into the world of the campaign, instead of using Ironsworn's Ironlands. Later on i might redraw the map personally on Wonderdraft to fit properly with the campaign, in a way i could easily update the map as the campaign moves on.

While writing this campaign, i will be aiming to write on my own as i will be using AI only as an automatic improvisation tool. My opinion on AI is strongly negative when it comes to substitute my writing and, if i would happen to not like what i'm using, i'll be using generating tables i find around the internet to help me come up with ideas through wordful inspiration.

After all, i damn love using tables than AI.

Most of the fiction relative details such as NPCs, locations, events and so on are generated to help me save time thinking through manually, either through tables, online generators that aren't used by LLMs and so on. This to ensure that i'm doing things in the most natural way possible. Mechanic specific events will be dictated through text quotations as proof of roleplaying. Roll of dices will be mostly done through physical dices for accuracy. Digital dices are fine, but they're just random seeded numbers.

I guess that's all for now, so let's enjoy the ride now!

Prologue: Umberto the Raider

Source: Original, with image by Kyle Ferrin from the Root RPG

Umberto, as the voices of the Woodland Alliance say, is an average adult mouse of a certain muscular quality. His hot blooded aspiration for combat fueled his mind when he was raised peacefully by a family of mice who lived inside a barn of a rural farm located in the southwestern region of The Plains. His will to fight does not come neither from anger, nor desire, but to become useful and an advantage among people. Umberto's fur is lime like the yellowish grass of his birthplace, his ears are imperfectly round as circles, and his smooth teeth gives him a formidable representation of him. He strays off from being one of those ordinary mouse people, or at least what the Marquisate say, those pesky rats.

Source: Blake Pullen, Artstation

He was raised by his mother, a fisher woman who frequently traveled from the Southern Plains of the Continent to the Eastern Coast to catch fish. One day, while Umberto was accompanied by her, she was eaten alive by a giant sea creature who originated from the depths of the Sea. By the very moment she was about to be eaten, Umberto saw the terrifying teeth covered with blood stains of the victims who fell into his doom. From that day, it traumatized him, but the courage he had gained from his training grew a strong will of fight which served him as inspiration for one day he would come to fight his most feared enemy. Shorty after her mother was buried somewhere in a graveyard, he left the farm and sought after a group of marauding bandits.

Aside from his family issue, Umberto had many fixations of encountering the legendary Captain Sparrowhawk, a rebel pirate of the Woodland Alliance who fought against the Marquisate, after hearing many stories surrounding him and his company. He believes that one day he could mark a sign on the communities of the Woodlands and to become a hero among the crowd.

Chapter 1: The Eastern Woodlands

As the first step of the campaign, we will be using Root RPG's clearing creation process found in Chapter 9 to introduce the clearing in which Umberto will end up. This allows us to come up with a new and fresh series of sub locations set around a specific region of the Woodland. According to the Root RPG manual, it is preferred that the vagabonds are sided with the Denizens, who are the faction of the commonfolk who aren't part of either specific faction.

I decided to let the Marquise de Cat, the Woodland Alliance and the Riverfolk Company to star in this region of the Woodlands, so for now i want the Eyries to have a larger role somewhere in the story later. For the Riverfolk, they will have a supporting role in this location, but their setup is kind of confusing for me so i've decided to break a rule to draw my own river stream.

With the setup done, this part of the Woodlands turned out to be less than expected. This will be a visual 'truth' for this part of the campaign. Explaining the complete process would be too much, but i'll guarantee that spending few hours generating clearings and stuff was worth.

16 a.E., 14th October

The Woodland Alliance successfully averted the major threat of the Marquisate while also keeping the remainders of the Eyrie Dynasty off from their gauge, although aggressive activity in this area has been become tame in most of the clearings.

The Marquisate is still around in the northern fraction of the Eastern Woodlands and a small part of the southern fraction, while an Alliance base has been established right into Cragwallow Slope, where one of the Marquisate's keeps resided, and is now under siege as the remaining Marquise soldiers run with a frightening disbelief of their expectations of conquest. Meanwhile, few underground activities of the Alliance are ongoing in the clearings of Blackrock and Fallowstone, awaiting to strike before the Marquisate's reinforcements.

While the two factions are dueling between rows of the forest, commercial activity is running low. The otters of the Riverfolk Company, having previously served both the Marquisate and the Woodland Alliance in tranquility, are making a desperate run for profit in the clearing of Grasslake as they are running low on clients in these surroundings.

That, is the Woodlands' current situation, until now...

Umberto is boarding on a small wooden caravan, traveling around the forest path. It is a cloudy lit morning, as a slight breeze keeps a calm and seemingly peaceful moment of relief. Umberto knows that this moment wouldn't last for long when suddenly he hears a voice coming from the caravan's conductor: “It's been days, but we're almost there. We'll be shortly arriving at Cragswallow Slope.”. Umberto awakens from his night travel sleep as his eyes open up in front of his long time marauder companions sitting in the same seats of good fashioned red cushions.

His companions, much as astute as Umberto, accompanied him since his earliest days back in the times when his mother was still alive, helping him acquire combat strength from their trainings and having affronted shady vagabond affairs around the Woodlands and around The Plain. The first one is Sir Parr'ey, a temperamental grey furred hare, sitting one chair away from Umberto's, and the second one is Joseff, a middle aged round looking beaver of slow personality, who instead sits away from the same row as the yellow furred mice and the rabbit. Just like Umberto, they also wake up from their rest and Joseff lets out a yawn that lasts long about 5 seconds, much to annoy Parr'ey, disrupting his hush ears. “Would ya cut off?”, exclaimed the grey furred rabbit from his rough awakening. The conductor of the caravan, a roughly 30 year old mouse, drags the caravan's arms with a notable strength of resistance, as if even for 10 hours wouldn't last him his physique.

Umberto's companions, Parr'ey and Joseff have both ranks of Dangerous.

Umberto raises away from his seat. “Good Friday to you all.”, as he saluted Joseff and Sir Parr'ey just like he would do almost every day in good company. “Morning.”, replied back the two. Umberto looked outside the fine windows of the caravan and sees an entrance just hundreds meters upon the path, meaning that his arrival to Cragswallow Slope is just on sight.

Umberto, Joseff and Sir Parr'ey were on the way on investigating the recent disappearance of Skipper Reaghley, of the Riverfolk Company, a friend who had assisted the marauders shipping necessary equipment and goods for their survival through an established friendly pact. Reasons about the disappearance were unclear until recently they got hands on a rumor delivered by an errant corvid, implying that Reaghley might have been kidnapped by a traitor of the Woodland Alliance, an organization of rebels from the Woodlands founded to fight for independence in the woods. According to the rumors, Reaghley could be inside the Marquisate keep, held in an unknown location. In other words, Umberto learns that the keep is still under siege from the Woodland Alliance after winning a fierce battle against the Marquisate and is now under fire.

“This is our chance to save him, but it beats me that it had to be that damn Marquisate keep of all places! I wonder why...”, talked a sighing Joseff as he places his hand on his forehead. “Umberto, you are the one in command”, as Sir Parr'ey points to Umberto explaining a brief of their objective, “don't act reckless for this time. Even if i'd have to say that fires are very bad news, we must do it for our trustee. We will put our trust in you until you come back with him or nothing. If you fail, our alliance will be done for”. Umberto nods affirmatively to Joseff and Parr'ey, understanding his duty. Umberto was born to fight and aware enough about dangerous situations, but his fear of flames infesting a whole building sounded like a terrible idea for him. Despite this, he acknowledges his worries as a determined glow of courage fills his mind. “It will be done, i promise!”.

In this case, it's time to Swear an Iron Wov. This wov, as it involves helping a riverfolk employee inside a keep in danger, has a rank of Dangerous.

I roll a +heart. Action die: 5 + 2 = 7 Challenge die: 4 and 4!

The action die turns an astonishing 5, but we already get our first challenge dice match of 4 = 4, so we achieve an exceptional Strong hit with a match! Umberto gains +2 momentum out from the Strong hit from swearing a wov.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forest_fire_in_Oregon.jpg

As the caravan begins to slow down and steadies nearby to the entrance of Cragswallow Slope, Umberto and company steps out from the caravan to gaze through upon the first sight of the clearing. Just as expected, the keep located on the far corner of the clearing is covered by flames. The mouse denizens, who normally could have wandered around the streets and visiting their beloved parents and friends, are currently residing inside their homes fearful of the conflict ongoing, while others lay dead and unconscious around trails of blood. “This is so unpleasant”, said Joseff in a astonished mood, “i bet you wouldn't burn one of your round ears here!”.

Source: https://garystockbridge617.getarchive.net/amp/media/loutherbourg-coalbrookdale-by-night-262d8d

Suddenly, Umberto sees a wandering shadow running behind houses darkened by the aggressive light of the blazing fire of the burning keep. As it jumps around like a jaguar hopping between the high fields, he tries to sharpen his sight. “Something is in the way.”, heeded notice to his companions turning their heads around the clearing, looking for the strange figure. Several cats appear beneath the gates of the burning keep, thrusting into battle against a flurry of rebels of the Woodland Alliance, mostly mice, but with a little bit of foxes and rabbits. In that same moment, the same shadow appears again from another house covered in silhouette before stabbing two Marquises into a striking fierce blow before the cats lay out a bloody scream of pain before falling down. It was unexpected for Umberto to see that the strange stealthy figure was no one but the covert information dealing crow that his companions have stroke a deal with. The Marquise soldiers cower in surprise as they begin to evaluate the crow's dexterity recklessly before deciding to retreating in the woods. Behind the outskirts of the clearing, a mysterious figure stands beneath the trees, a dark orange fox with an eye patch, observing the situation like a standing statue as he lays his eyes watching the bothersome scenario before shortly walking away.

Sir Parr'ey was surprised to see the corvid who came from the shadow. “So you refrained from hiding yourself from the dark just to steal the show, aren't ya?”. The stealthy crow, who came right from the trunks of the clearing, doesn't seem suspicious than a mere, greedy thief, but as a member of the sly Corvid Conspiracy, the duty was to provide information while being in covert from the powerful factions. There was an additional reason for why she came here. “While i was in t'way to find out why 'at old otter was dragged in ta' fire, i wasn't aware tha' Marquisate got a sneaky unit. Hear my plea. I need him alive and i owe ya to help me.”, said the corvid before letting out a closing and brief cry. The companions remain in brief silence before Joseff asks: “What? With that fire dump there?”, expressed preoccupation towards the corvid.

Her name is Viorele, a determined scoundrel. She carries a purple tunic with a weird yellow star looking pattern decorating it and a long, mildly blood stained dagger. “I'm not a fool. I know what i will be doing”, as she clarifies that she, too, is determined to risk her life to reminisce her corvid companions' death. “I'm no haunting rebellious anymore. I won't be living for long afta' i've lost my friends. You paid the debt to me, but i saw in ya a brave heart t' overthrow such tyranny, which's same enemy as mine. Do me a favor t' avenge what i've lost, should you?”

Umberto tries to Forge a Bond for Viorele's cause...

I throw dice + heart. Action die: 4 + 2 = 6. Challenge die: 2 and 5.

Strong hit! Umberto marks a bond with Viorele and chooses to increase momentum by +2.

Joseff and Sir Parr'ey, at first, wanted to refuse her plea because of their concerning of Viorele's suspicious involvement with your affairs, but Umberto breaks their silence: “Why leave a miserable lady alone? As long as she will help us find Reaghley, we will all get a good drink of rum!”, he said excitedly.

Umberto also gains 3 experience out from making a new companion!

Having wasted enough talk time in the middle of the siege... “Off the talks, we must go now.”, said Joseff.

Umberto proceeds to step forth and to Gather Information around the situation in Cragswallow Slope.

I throw a dice + wits + 1 as his community collaborates. Action die: 3 + 1 + 1 = 5. Challenge die: 1 and 3.

Umberto is clear enough, and with the help of his companions, he scores a Strong hit! He gets +2 momentum.

Looking around, Umberto finds a small public academy and a bakery that are still intact and safe for the time being. Few remaining mouse denizens in safety are trying to survive as more Woodland Alliance rebels run towards the remaining Marquisate soldiers with their blades and arches in position. Some mouse people are left unconscious in the walls of their homes, and as Joseff suspects, “These mice died of hunger... what's going on here?”. As for the keep, the gate is destroyed, leaving a great entrance exposed to further attacks in front of a large staircase. The keep is built with curated stone, but examining with brief knowledge of war weaponry, there's some broken walls in some outer edges of the entrance side. The blazing fire that lies behind the gates is still blowing like a giant torch as it devours banners and carpentry into mortal orange.

Sir Parr'ey notices an old weasel walking away from the door of the public academy. “Someone help us...”, he cried as he struggles to hold on his frail, walking legs until he falls off to the yellow grass ground. “By the almighty birds...”, said the fairly shocked Joseff as he observes the old weasel in critical conditions. “We need t' help him!”, as Viorele heads immediately to bring him assistance. Umberto and the others holds with their hands on the wounded torso as they begin to pull him up along slowly. “I'm suffering a lot...”, the old weasel lamented as he feels the wounds gripping him into weighing pain.

For the most of the time, vagabonds aren't usually good or simply don't care aiding helpless people in the midst of a conflict, but Umberto remembers that, after his mother's death, he wasn't just a person who let out the glory of fight in his veins, but a person willingly to protect others too. Umberto, nostalgic about the flowing memories of his childhood, felt a pity sorrow, thinking the old times he had spent at his old house from The Plains. Shortly after coming to an agreement with himself, he builds up some serious busy mood to distract away from his thoughts.

“Damn it! Helping this old hunch right in the middle of the battlefield...” as Sir Parr'ey struggled finding possible medication or first aid band to mend his wounds. All they could do is bring the poor being back into where he had came from, the academy, so they walk back into the entrance of the academy through the broken door. Parr'ey chooses Joseff to guard the outdoor, “You better watch where those furry felines come from. I'll stick with Umberto for a while.”. “Oh, thank god i won't have to weigh too much.”, replied Joseff, “muscles are too poor for me.”. For Joseff, when it comes to guarding, double checking and similar tasks, he enjoys doing nothing out of fresh air, but as a vagabond, there can be no rest for all day. Viorele silently sides with Parr'ey as she follows him along with Umberto...

Source: https://brewminate.com/libraries-in-the-medieval-and-renaissance-periods/

The academy's interiors are partially intact: the exterior didn't face significant damage, apart from certain cracks in the walls, while the study room shows signs of damage around its wooden shelves, the creaky wooden floor left with broken planks and shattered windows. After Umberto, Viorele and Sir Parr'ey manage to find a place to lay the old weasel to rest, he slowly regains consciousness and opens his eyes in front of the marauders and the corvid. He lays a slow gaze upon Umberto and turns his head out of sheer disorientation. “Huh... “, as he looks at the three in a sober state. Viorele speaks up to the old weasel, “You shouldn't be around in a zone of war. We're here t' keep ya safe.”, as she's trying to reason with the denizen to not go outside. “Y-You're crazy! Look what those rough war pests did to me! I need to run away from this mess, and you strangers put me back here! What do you want from me?!” asked the weasel to the strangers he finds in front of himself. Sir Parr'ey replies: “It's too dangerous. We've just arrived here to keep you safe from falling you in a certain death. You should stay here while we take care of it”. The old weasel agitates with hesitation as a sense of insecurity scours in him, and shouts: “B-But what if these Alliance g-goonies find out that you're holding me hostage? Who are you all?”.

The old weasel is intimidated as he believes Umberto and his companions are taking him hostage. Umberto try to convince him that he's not his enemy through more indirect means and try to ask for informations about the situation, so he tries to Gather Information.

I throw dices for wits, plus one for party presence. Action die: 6 + 1 + 1 = 8 Challenge dices: 5 and 0.

Strong hit. Umberto also gets +2 momentum.

Umberto introduces himself as a group of 'sort-of friendly' marauders and that they're not here to take hostage, but to find out details on the whereabouts of their Riverfolk Company ally Skipper Reaghley. In this room, previous trophies describing historical achievements and luxury framed pictures, placed around shelves, such as academic grade awards for his expertise on the history of The Great Continent, to the discovery of previously hidden archaeological sites with the help of admired explorers who were conducted near to Moleyridge, one of the most resourceful mountains over the range of the Underground Duchy. Judging from these particular objects of interest, The old weasel is a historian of an estimate fame of Cragswallow Slope. Hendricus, that's his name. “Reaghley... you're here for a call of rescue. Now i understand.”, he thinks. “What happened prior before the Marquisate keep's fire?”, as Umberto asks Hendricus.

“My time is running short, but i'll tell what i can.” Hendricus slowly begins to shift his thoughts from gripping fear into serious testimony of events. He starts his testimony by jumping back to the events 3 days before today, when the academy was closed after the Marquisate took over. Hendricus was writing a chronicle for The Wood while he witnessed the presence of Marquisate troops fighting against the Woodland Alliance. From the first floor, he watched, in fear, the Marquise forces taking down the rebels with crossbows plunging into bodies and bloody blades slashing their limbs outside from a circular window of the academy. Having continued to observe the situation, he then noticed a mob of Woodland Alliance denizens holding someone as they moved towards the keep. When Hendricus reconstructed that fact, he confirms to know Umberto's missing person; it was none other than Skipper Reaghley, as Hendricus remembers!

“The boat rower from the Riverfolk, i knew him by his brown eyes.”, said Hendricus as he continues his testimony. It was just easy to deduct from that detail, as Viorele becomes surprised from the historian's witness, “Alliance rebels, holding him hostage? So tha' traitor is not alone...”. Umberto, perplexed by their mysterious involvement, continues: “The Alliance, why they would do a thing like that?”. “If only could a damn bald eagle know! But that's not it...”, replied Hendricus.

Returning to his reconstruction, after Hendricus was concerned about the possible assumption that Skipper Reaghley being held hostage by the Woodland Alliance, he began hearing violent budging slams coming from the entrance of the academy. Rather than choosing to blindly open the door like he would to welcome some friend, he had started feeling a premonition of trouble and anxiety coming into his mind. He believed that the ones knocking in the door would've been Marquisate soldiers if they'd try to hunt him down and raze the academy to perhaps try to eliminate evidence. Holding this worry in mind, he had started finding a hiding spot under a table with chairs in which would've covered him away from the detailed Victorian-esque chair legs... But who had come after Hendricus wasn't the Marquise but an onslaught of mobs from the Woodland Alliance who had noticed the weasel's suspect looking sight on them! A sinister and intimidating shout of a tough and creepy voice disturbs, “GET HIM! Don't let him lend the whereabouts of our enemy!”, as a rampant commander of the Alliance slammed down the door of the entrance towards the academy, and marched up to the stairs where Hendricus resided. The commander who led the mob, mostly formed by foxes and mice, was a bothersome and loud mouthed wolf called Gutfreund, who had husky like fur, sharp fangs and an injured foggy left eye.

From that moment, Hendricus' memory ends from that moment, returning into the present day, and barely remembers what happened right after he was threatened by Gutfreund while he was surrounded by his troops. He couldn't remember anything else but words said by Gutfreund, stating that they will terminate anyone from trying to spread the word about a certain 'conspiracy'. Gutfreund and the mysterious Woodland Alliance's motives of bringing Skipper Reaghley as prisoner were unclear to Hendricus. Right after that, he had saw the academy fall into destruction before his closed eyes as he was knocked out unconscious forcedfully by Gutfreund. No one came to rescue him as he was left alone while the fires caused by the torches of the rogue and corrupt Woodland Alliance devoured countless shelves of books, stored documents, pictures, ornaments, trophies and much more into the tongues of flames... from there, Hendricus lost precious material he'd not just belong to him, but to the whole academy he'd put together for his students. The last detail of Hendricus' story left Umberto with many doubts to resolve, “This is very strange.”.

As Umberto was able to figure out that Reaghley was kidnapped by a force of the Alliance led by Gutfreund, he Reaches a Milestone for the Save Skipper Reaghley quest wov. He marks two progress.

Sir Parr'ey's doubts turned him into a reckless frustration: “That's ridiculous! Criminal or not, we need him alive.”, as he narrates how the Riverfolk skipper helped them survive with his help, “The Woodland Alliance aren't our enemy... are they?”. Sometimes, even the most seemingly friendly of companions don't hide vile intents; as vagabonds and marauders who lurk into the forests of political intrigue, their survival consists of underestimating even the potential of rebels. Just like any political power would sometimes create an opposition from a disfavor, even rebels have suspects among them. Umberto knows that vagabonds aren't serving for either justice or crime. The power of trust is a precious resource, a hidden potentiality, and a shaping element that is hard to master for those who only think to rely on just bare superficial words. Trust cannot be told in words but in the inner humanity of a soul and the true intents of the heart. Umberto's response is rather peculiar: He recalls the words from his grandfather, who used to say: “If you are willing to cooperate with friendly strangers, you must make a sacrifice of trust. Talk won't do it. Sometimes, in this world of violence brought by challenge of power, survival also consists of severe betrayal of values of whom you trust or not, either some or all.”

Having spoke to Hendricus, Umberto attempts to Forge a Bond.

I throw dice for heart. Action die: 4 + 2 = 6 Challenge die: 1 and 9.

Weak hit.

After Hendricus finished telling his long testimony, he turns his head towards Umberto with mild distress. “Now that you know the story, i would have let you go, but would you rather leave an old weasel die here, wouldn't you? Your presence isn't of much gratitude here.”, spoke the weasel historian before he slowly gains courage to raise his voice towards Umberto and his companions. He tries to reach his right arm towards his back, and continues: “By since that crazy wolf destroyed everything i've worked on... the Eyries say that an old man such as me is more than just a wise librarian and a great studious.”. But as he continues to keep you glued into his discourse, a loud explosion is heard rumbling beneath the walls of the academy, causing a mild tremble around the interior of the academy. Joseff, who was keeping an eye for long, rushed behind Umberto with shock, delivering bad news: “I can't believe it... the corvids! The corvids are coming towards us!”. What Umberto wasn't aware is Viorele's silent involvement and her tenacious fakery of friendliness, which allowed her to observe the situation like a spy. In the very moment she noticed Joseff, she lets out a smirk and steadily grabs her dagger from her tunic's pocket before dashes with her feet towards Umberto, after gaining an opportunity from the talkative distraction he's been ended up into! “Huh? Look out behind you!!”, as Sir Parr'ey alerted him, but it's too late;

Face Danger. I throw dice for edge as it's a speed related action.

Action die: 1 + 2 = 3. Challenge die: 7 and 0.

Weak hit. By consequence, Umberto loses one health point and Endures Harm. I throw dice for health.

Action die: 4 + 4 = 8. Challenge die: 3 and 2.

Strong hit. He chooses to Shake it off, suffering -1 momentum for +1 health.

Viorele swings her dagger against Umberto, but he manages to notice her movements before dodging her dagger blow. He only gets a mild scratch before he turn towards her.

“Curses!”, Hendricus grabs a knife from his left pocket as he attempts to defend against Viorele's surprise attack, only to be reached by her grip and is slashed down with the same dagger. Upon contact, she cuts fur from his left arm and then holds the weasel's half body long tail, making him unable to retreat as she holds him tight. An alarmed Sir Parr'ey shouted: “She fooled us! I knew we shouldn't have trusted a shady looking bird!”. Viorele's sinister crow eyes briefly stares right in front of Hendricus' face, threatening him with an anxiety scouring on him before pointing back to Umberto and his companions. “I'd hafta to be glad for having brought me with ya', but THIS is tha bigger price you must pay for lending ya a hand. We crows hafta taste for blood debts of the denizens.”, speaks Viorele while holding her blade close to the weasel's throat, ready to cut him down. Umberto shouts with anger towards Viorele, “You insolent feathery scum!”, as he point his right arm at her. A pack of corvids march towards the study room armed with swords, daggers and crossbows, in rampant beats of footsteps crowding the air of silence and a war-like tension infiltrating in everyone's eardrums. “Take 'em prisoners, deep into the underground!”, squealed Viorele to the pack right before they proceed to capture Umberto, Sir Parr'ey, Joseff and Hendricus. Umberto attempts his last effort to strike back as he bears his own shield in front of them.

Time to Face Danger one more time, but this time we will go with endurance. Umberto intends to use the shield, so we will add an extra 1 thanks to his Shield-Bearer asset! I throw dice for iron!

Action die: 6 + 3 + 1 = 10 Challenge die: 8 and 0

Strong hit! As he already has up to 10 momentum, there's no need to add anymore.

“You cannot deceive me for so long... have it at you!”, as Umberto unleashed his shield and budged against the pack of corvid approaching against him, “Come at me, you dirty flock!”. Umberto feels fully invigorated as he begins to go in an aggressive state of mind...

We are about to Enter The Fray. This is a quite long move to do! We have the following foes in combat: – Corvid bandits who are trying to capture Umberto alive. Their rank is Troublesome as they are not a lot to handle. – Viorele, who leads the corvid bandits. Has a rank of Dangerous due to her dexterous expertise in stealth based moves.

Due to becoming ambushed, Umberto must roll for wits to determine initiative. I throw dice. Action die: 1 + 1 = 2 Challenge die: 3 and 3. Match.

Uh oh, it is not just our first miss, but also a terrible match! We must Pay the Price...

...but the strength of the corvid bandits begin to pressure Umberto as they come through from each side. They push his head under by force, making him unable to resist further.

He barely tries to counter pressure them by pulling his strength with the limbs against them, but it's like trying to push an oncoming swarm of boulders, except he is not disposed of herculean strength. Joseff and Sir Parr'ey are also under pressure by the corvids. For a second, Umberto was able to see one of the corvid bandits about to pull out a strange vertical shaped potion with yellow gold liquid, before his sight is distracted again. He becomes worried about Parr'ey getting poisoneed by something, but he tries to focus on his enemy. Another corvid bandit from behind reaches to him and steal his circular wooden shield from his back by detaching it and flies away holding it, all for Umberto to not notice it at all due to the distraction of the forceful strength of the bandits cornering him.

Wooden circular shield is removed from character sheet.

Viorele lets out a burst of corvine laughter as she jumps to backstab Umberto, “Gotcha!”...

Umberto Faces Danger. Roll + iron.

Action die: 3 + 3 = 6 Challenge die: 6 and 1.

Strong hit. Momentum is already maxed out so no bonus.

...and as he happens to notice where she's coming from, he lends an armful blow against the pushing bandits before he twists behind the enemy and parries her blood stained dagger with his axe. “I ain't no mole!”, as he provokes the corvids. “I thought mice couldn't listen as well as moles. Could be the fact they're so small they don't hear the sound of shining blades?”, replied Viorele, playing a game of taunts against him, although, he wasn't as intimidated than a mere rat.

It's Umberto's turn. He Strikes against Viorele with his axe in response! I roll dice for iron.

Action die: 2 + 3 = 5. Challenge die: 6 and 6. Match!

He has been too careful of himself for so long, so he decide to Burn Momentum to cancel the challenge dices and automatically get a Strong hit. Because he's wearing heavy combat armor, he is Encumbered, thus his momentum resets to +1. He then inflicts 2 + 1 harm to Viorele due to wielding an axe, and retains initiative.

Umberto holds his axe with his fists as he prepares to swiftly reach his target before thrusting his arms towards her torso. The axe's blade severely damages her right arm, right where she was holding her dagger, as it protrudes to her feathers. She lets out a loud corvine exerting scream, much to cause worrisome distraction to the corvine bandits, and slips away from you. She falls down, but not completely flat on the ground, before she is about to turn up again to Umberto. Joseff praises Umberto's move: “Good shot, Umberto!”, while busy fighting back the other bandits from the other side of the room.

Sir Parr'ey, in the meantime, is holding his greatsword tight in his hands as he observes the movements of one of the 3 bandits in front of them. The bandit enemy spreads his wings into a brief flight to prepare an attack with thrusting feet as he yields a provoking squawk to Sir Parr'ey, but fails to land on his head as he performs a sophisticated mid roll away from the oncoming gripping feet of the corvid. The bandit loses a bit of balance before landing again into the floor. Now, as Sir Parr'ey and Joseff are cornered by the other 3 corvid bandits, they hold their weapons and clash out against the enemies with their blades; Sir Parr'ey swings his greatsword, while Joseff lends a handful of butcher knive stings towards the faces of the corvid bandits.

For my characters' ally attacks, i decided to use moreso the same Combat Moves, but with a slight exception: Whenever they decide to Strike or Clash, rather than rolling for character stat values, they will use their respective ranks as extra points for the roll.

As a duo, Sir Parr'ey and Joseff makes a Strike against the corvid bandits. I roll dice, plus 1 since they're a group.

Action die: 4 + 1 = 5. Challenge dice: 4 and 3.

Strong hit. The group retains initiative and inflict 2 + 1 harm to the corvid bandits!!

The corvid bandits, attracted by the attention of the two wielding blades, become slashed down and injured by the flurry of unleashed blades of the two marauder vagabonds, stabbing like lethal bird beaks as they cut one-by-one their wings. They are at least able to withhold most of them in order to leave Umberto some terrain, however, one bandit retreats wounded from his group.

Hendricus begins to suffer a great anxiety from the fight as he begins to escape, but due to the corvids blocking the path towards downstairs, he couldn't think of a better solution. He rushes to the window that leads to the outer border of the academy with risky intent, with frustrated sweating from the high tension of the situation, only to be pulled behind by a bloody wounded corvid bandit silencing him by placing a dagger to his throat. Hendricus wails out of fear of being cut off.

Umberto hears Hendricus' scream curling through his ears as Viorele's impressed expression gives a certain sense of desperation. She exclaims, “You'll forget about tha' when ya will fall into the same shadow! Beg for mercy and submit to us, for the Conspiracy's fallen!”. Umberto still keeps a high profile and remains concentrated as he responds: “Was your revenge only a mere excuse? Perhaps are you with the same bastards who kidnapped Reaghley?”. Viorele replies back with yielding rage: “My revenge is a sworn WAR!”. “Wasn't the Marquisate your sole enemy, or is it also us?”, said Umberto. Viorele grows frustrated by the moment she understands that he found out in which side she was. She begins to hesitate before Umberto swings the blade of the axe again.

Strike. Roll with iron.

Action die: 6 + 3 = 9. Challenge die: 6 and 0.

Strong hit. Umberto inflicts 2 harm (+1 for axe) to Viorele. In other words, as he managed to inflict a Strong hit and filled the entire progress bar, he proceeds to End the Fight.

I roll the challenge dices and compare my progress track, in which i have all the 10 boxes ticked completely, and IT'S A STRONG HIT, TOO! Viorele is off from combat.

Viorele, in a desperate move, fists her dagger and tries to dash away in trying to find an opportunity hit, but her reckless emotion she obtained from her disappointment prevents her to think mentally and throughout to find a best spot for a strike of dexterity. After she rolls and bumps into a shelf of books, the shelf falls down along with its books, covering her face. She lets out a loud warning to the corvid bandits, telling them to retreat from combat, but as soon she let out these words, Umberto, in a chance of luck, swings his axe's tip towards her like an axe smith, and cuts her torso through her tunic violently.

The corvid bandits, by now, are reduced to just two of them because of Joseff and Sir Parr'ey's formidable strength. Joseff fell to the floor out of exhaustion, while Sir Parr'ey, covered with sweat of battle, looks down upon one of his annihilated corvid bandits, who watches Parr'ey's thirst of battle clenched before they shut their eyes off. Hendricus, in the meantime, faces an unfortunate fate as one of the last corvid bandits lifts their blade to the old weasel's throat. “No!! Aaack!!”, as he wails while Sir Parr'ey stares into him right in the same moment Hendricus' throat was cut! “Saint Eagle!”, Parr'ey screams of sorrow as he runs immediately towards the threatening bandit to finish him off. “STAND STILL, FOUL CROW!”

Parr'ey lends a Strike blow. I throw a generic action dice.

Action die: 1. Challenge die: 9 and 2.

Unfortunate Miss.

But the bandit manages to avoid the greatsword as they flee flapping their wings. The remaining corvid bandits watches the deaths of his other bandits before spreading their wings off to the window, fleeing. “Damn it!”, exclaimed Sir Parr'ey as he watches the fleeing corvids with profound expression of grief.

From the window, the fire in the keep had already begun to cease and the flames that devoured every thing had become nothing more than grey smoke floating towards a sun setting sky. There are ruined houses, defense turrets fallen into mere wood planks, and the bakery, which was intact before, suffered devastating structural damage, due to the aggressive forces of the Woodland Alliance and the Marquisate. There's no sight of other denizens either as the famine and disorder that overwhelmed them dragged them to flee or rot into hunger, leaving Cragswallow Slope into a almost deserted city.

Sir Parr'ey quickly arrives to Hendricus, now unconscious and laid into a wall gap after suffering to a quick death from the throat cut. He pleas on him, “Hendricus! Can you hear me?!”. He shakes his frail body, but there was no response. Parr'ey kneels and faces down in desperation in silence as he stares into Hendricus' resting face covered in blood for a large sum of seconds, before getting up and walking away from him. Parr'ey's grief fills him with an anger he couldn't prove alone as he lays his eyes on Viorele. His teeth clenched like a mad dog. “Is this your war?”, asked a raging Parr'ey to Viorele. “Is this the prize you want us to pay? Why haven't you decided to kill us right away instead?”.

”... L-Lachlan Pinck.“, spoke out by Viorele. That is the name of a prodigious Woodland Alliance leader who also corresponds to what Umberto saw earlier shortly after he entered into Cragswallow Slope: dark furred, one-eyed orange fox with an eye patch. The marauders turn into shock after finding out her revelation about their objective. “I agreed t' aid him in his mischief. I pretended t' be an errant information dealer. He wanted to see anyone die from trying to stop him because he wouldn't allow ya to thwart around. He's bribing the Riverfolk Company to owe him everything, the goods, the resources, in exchange for a deal.”. Umberto listens to her carefully as he sits down in the floor while Joseff and Sir Parr'ey watch her discourse seriously, jealous of her quick betrayal. “I lied when my friends died, 't was all a diversive to trick ya. Only our headquarters had been destroyed by tha Marquisate. I was, however, lucky tha' he gave me a chance to survive, but in exchange he forced me t' cooperate with him to put the Riverfolk Company into trouble. He wants to cause a scarcity of resources towards the great powers of the Woodlands, all to create a powerful faction that would even surpass the Woodland Alliance itself...”. She said too much to explain a plan she wouldn't dare to reveal to any one else.

“Viorele, what in the baldened eagle are you talking about?”, asked a bothered Sir Parr'ey before at a loss of words. However, before Viorele finishes to speak, sounds of big weaponry are heard clanking as they surpass the auditive barriers of the academy's walls and a loud and sudden explosion of dynamite destroys the walls of the academy as debris and smoke flies all around! Viorele succumbs into smoke, while Umberto and his companions startle like scaredy cats! The intense explosion hovers them off like furniture and by consequence, they knock out unconscious.

Endure Harm. Umberto suffers -3 health due to the explosion's overwhelming force. Roll for health.

Action die: 3 + 2 = 5. Challenge dice: 3 and 1.

Strong hit. Umberto embraces the pain and take +1 momentum.

Although he did not suffer a major injury, he's been hurt badly by that explosion. Right after that, his eyes close. The last thing the marauders hear before the hiss hits is marching footsteps leading towards them.

Before we end the chapter, i'll mark progress for the Save Skipper Reaghley progress track, as Umberto found out an overwhelming truth regarding Skipper Reaghley's whereabouts. It now has 4 full progress out of 10.