Quinn of Axeford (Ironsworn Actual Play - Session 2)

Session 0

Session 1

Well, after the terrible luck with rolls last time, I'm glad that things didn't go quite so poorly with this session. Granted, there were some IronswornTM story swerves along the way, and it was not a clean success in terms of narrative, but the part where I wrote that the omniscient narrator was grateful for the successes that were there was also me speaking directly to myself.

More pleasingly, I got to make full use of the name pool by the end of this session. That was a cool idea.

Strictly RAW, I probably could've gotten away with not doing the Undertake A Journey rules since Servan was leading Quinn, but (a) I wanted a chance for things to go wrong during that, and (b) I wanted more progress milestones for the "Find and rescue..." vow, so I was fine with working in that mechanic.

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Quinn was anxious to depart immediately, but Servan insisted on checking their provisions to ensure they were well-prepared for whatever they might find. In the process, he noticed the bruise that had blossomed on the side of Quinn’s head and insisted on tending to it.

Heal: 2 + 2 Wits = 4 vs 4/9 -> Miss

"I’m fine," Quinn snapped, jerking back from the probing touch and causing a clatter as he bumped into a shelf of sundry items in the small hut.

"And that’s why you just hissed like water spilled on hot iron?" Servan replied. "Come now, boy, this’ll take just a moment."

His nerves getting the better of him, Quinn said, "I trusted you when you said you didn’t need help walking back after all that. Why can’t you trust me now when I’m saying this isn’t bad enough to delay trying to find my missing family?"

Servan’s features softened. "I do trust you. And you know Kato and Sola are like family to me, too. That’s why I want us to be as ready as we can to help them, which means not ignoring that you’ve got a knot the size of my fist behind your ear."

"It’s not just my dad and sister," Quinn said, remaining defiant. "Taylah. Mertyl. Nan. Tristan. Everyone. They’re all stuck in some hole, and you want to worry about a bump that’ll go away in a day or two at worst."

Test Your Bond: 4 + 3 Heart = 7 vs 2/5 -> Strong Hit

Spirit: 3 + 1 = 4

Momentum: 3 + 2 = 5

Servan could sympathize with the fear that was at the root of Quinn’s stubborn reaction, and he knew that now was not the time to deal with it. "Sorry, I’ve been so used to you being a young boy that I sometimes forget you’ve become a man. You’re right that this is something that can wait."

They finished the last of the preparations and departed.

Journey: Find the ruins (Troublesome)

Undertake A Journey: 2 + 2 Wits + 1 Bond = 5 vs 1/7 -> Weak Hit

Reach A Milestone: "Find the ruins" Progress: 0 + 3 = 3

Reach A Milestone: "Find and rescue..." Progress: 2 + 1 = 3

Supply: 5 – 1 = 4

Oracle 1/2 (Action/Theme): 62/42 = Overwhelm/Vengeance

Oracle 4 (Location): 86 = Hill

Early on in the trek, Servan noticed signs of recent passage; a furrow beaten into fallen leaves by many footsteps, a bit of hair caught on a rough tree trunk, thin branches broken outward at a low overhand; that gave him some confidence that they were on the right path.

The pair crested a hill, and Quinn’s stride faltered. He dropped to a knee, as if the gossamer remnants of the morning’s fog were suddenly heavy chains trying to drag him into the ground.

Servan turned on hearing the commotion and rushed to Quinn’s side. "What is it?"

"Something’s pulling me down," he said between teeth gritted from the exertion it was taking to not collapse. "It...it burns!" he added as a phantom heat flared against his back.

Quinn rolled onto his side, letting his left shoulder be pinned to the earth in order to free his right arm. Taking out the knife, he stabbed into his supply pack, cutting an opening for the burlap-wrapped figure to fall out of. Servan could only watch as it dropped to the ground, sank, and then was covered, looking for all the world as if nothing had happened.

Relieved of the weight, Quinn rose. "Damn, looks like I nicked my waterskin," he said before drinking from the hole in the leathery bladder until it was emptied enough for him to pinch it shut against further loss. Servan took out a thread and stitched the gash closed, along with patching the hole in Quinn’s pack, before they continued.

Undertake A Journey: 3 + 2 Wits = 5 vs 2/10 -> Weak Hit

Reach A Milestone: "Find the ruins" Progress: 3 + 3 = 6

Reach A Milestone: "Find and rescue..." Progress: 3 + 1 = 4

Supply: 4 – 1 = 3

After some time, Servan pointed to a switchback path descending the seaside cliffs. "That leads down to a cove with some caves where I remember seeing stonework that was similar to the ruins you described in your vision."

"Thanks Servan. I don’t think I would’ve ever noticed that without your help."

"Few would," Servan said as they carefully made their way down the path. "Valeri used to say that I could find a dry spot in a flooded valley."

"You and dad always make it sound like the three of you went on grand adventures. I wish Sola and I could’ve seen that."

"Old men with bellies full of beer exaggerate," Servan said facetiously, "and the alcohol makes it easy to forget about the dirt and sand that gets in everywhere when you travel. We just did what we could to keep living one more day at a time, and settling into Axeford was the best choice those two ever made about that."

"Even with...?" Quinn’s words trailed off.

Lighting a torch at the mouth of the cave, Servan nodded. "Wild roads are no place to raise children, and you and Sola were the most important things in the world for Valeri. You still are, for Kato...and me. If there’s anything to be learned from my life, boy, it’s that nothing can replace sharing time with people who matter, even when that always has to come to an end some day."

Servan pointed to a threshold, fabricated stonework set into a black archway leading deeper, salt-stained and glossy from sea mist. "Does that look right?" he asked.

Quinn examined it for a moment before nodding. "It’s hard to be certain, but I think so."

"Good, then let’s make a camp site here."

"What?" Quinn asked, surprised.

"We might not find everyone in one place, and I’d rather they have somewhere to wait until we can finish our search," Servan explained. "It wouldn’t hurt for us to make sure we’re ready to go deeper, too. Have you spent much time in caves?" Quinn shook his head. "Then I can cover some basics while we have a safe moment, to make sure you won’t need rescuing, too."

Make A Camp: 6 + 3 Supply = 9 vs 4/5 -> Strong Hit (choices: Focus, Prepare)

Momentum: 5 + 1 = 6

Undertake A Journey: 4 + 2 Wits + 1 = 7 vs 1/2 -> Strong Hit

Reach A Milestone: "Find the ruins" Progress: 6 + 3 = 9

Reach A Milestone: "Find and rescue..." Progress: 4 + 1 = 5

Reach Your Destination: 9 Progress vs 4/5 -> Strong Hit (choice: add +1)

Servan guided Quinn in setting up their camp as a potential muster point for the villagers; doing so also greatly reduced how many provisions they had to keep carrying, which he silently considered an acceptable trade-off to cut down on their chances of getting stuck in any tight passages; before going over basic safety advice for the journey ahead. Quinn offered to hold a torch for Servan to take the lead more freely, but Servan turned him down, arguing that he was better equipped to handle any potential dangers one-handed than Quinn was.

They proceeded beyond the archway, Servan muttering a prayer for protection, Quinn muttering one for good fortune. The echoes of the sea were disorienting, leaving Quinn feeling certain more than once that they had gone in a circle, but just before he was going to voice his concerns, they saw a sickly yellow glow coming through a hole further ahead. Servan motioned for Quinn to pause while he advanced first, then waved for him to follow and look through the opening.

Quinn saw the sight from his vision, realizing now that the light was some sort of bioluminescence from wispy fungal growths in the cavern’s ceiling. Grasping his iron nail talisman, he opened his mind to the scene before him.

Gather Information: 5 + 2 Wits + 1 Sighted + 1 = 9 vs 4/7 -> Strong Hit

Momentum: 6 + 2 + 1 = 9

Oracle 1/2 (Action/Theme): 98/46 = Search/Corruption

Reach A Milestone: "Find and rescue..." Progress: 5 + 1 = 6

Back in Axeford, the mystical extensions coming from the figure had been slender and, even woven together in the vicinity of their source, had appeared like fairly open webbing. Here, the tendrils were indistinguishable individually, looking more like a blanket laid over all of the bodies on the ground. "They’re tied strongly to that idol," he whispered, "but its reach isn’t extending into any other passages that I can see. That should mean that’s everyone, right?"

"Maybe," Servan whispered back. "We can do a headcount once we’re in closer."

"Once I am," Quinn replied. "There’s a lot more magic coming out of that thing than there was from the other one, and we don’t need you to get ensorcelled again. Besides, I think it makes sense if I move people out of the idol’s effect, and you help them get out. Playing to both of our strengths right now."

Servan bit back his instinctive objection and, after a moment’s thought, nodded. "Sounds fair. I’m here to back you up if anything goes sideways. Good luck, Quinn."

Quinn kept secret the solution that he actually had in mind as he crept around in search of a way into the chamber. Finding an opening that seemed promising, he drew his knife before laying down on his back and shimmying through a gap in the rocks.

Once he squeezed through, Quinn rose carefully to his feet and took in the scene ahead of him. Adults and children alike laid strewn about seemingly catatonic, wearing whatever they might have slept in. The jaundiced illumination strained his eyes, but at a scanning glance, everyone seemed to be breathing. "Maybe we made it in time," he thought, angling his body to obscure Servan’s view as he brought his left arm in front of his body and pulled back his tunic to bare his wrist. The incantation that he had seen swirling around the central idol swam through his mind’s eye, and he began to speak it in reverse as the tip of the knife pierced his exposed forearm.

Face Danger: 5 + 2 Wits = 7 vs 4/9 -> Weak Hit

Health: 3 – 1 = 2

Endure Harm: 3 + 2 Health = 5 vs 3/10 -> Weak Hit

Reach A Milestone: "Find and rescue..." Progress: 6 + 1 = 7

Withstanding the pain and refraining from reacting visibly, Quinn made his way towards the nearest villager. He turned over his left arm, letting a drop of his blood fall onto Nan’s old face, and aided by his mystical sight, he saw the tendrils of the idol recede. Taking heart in witnessing that, he sheathed the knife and rubbed the fingertips of his right hand across his left forearm before daubing more of the villagers’ foreheads. One by one, the idol’s influence seemed to recede.

Ask The Oracle: "Can Quinn paint all of the villagers with his blood as-is?" (Unlikely) = 55 -> No

Quinn tried to move as quickly as he could, but there were too many villagers for him reach all of them before the blood flow started to clot. Keeping his left arm close to his body to try hiding any stains on the tunic, he began to gently lift and drag the villagers that he had daubed towards the opening, where Servan’s extended hands waited to receive them.

Secure An Advantage: 1 + 1 Iron = 2 vs 1/6 -> Weak Hit

Momentum: 9 + 1 = 10

Reach A Milestone: "Find and rescue..." Progress: 7 + 1 = 8

Quinn managed to move them, with the rock wall nullifying any risk of Servan seeing his self-inflicted injury, but moving that much metaphorical dead weight was a slow process. As he was bringing the last villagers into position, a deep hum came from the idol, and Quinn could see its hold over the remaining dozen villagers intensify.

Quinn considered repeating the ritual to suppress its magic, but he was feeling light on his feet already from the blood loss that he had endured. Drawing the knife once more, his mind reached out again towards the idol, searching for another countermeasure.

Gather Information: 5 + 2 Wits + 1 Sighted + 1 = 9 vs 4/7 -> Strong Hit

Momentum: 10 + 2 + 1 = 10

Now that he was closer to the idol, Quinn could see that the emanations were not a singular source but rather coming from several ethereal sigils drawn all around the glassy statue. Thinking back to how he had freed Servan from being possessed by the figure earlier, he tried following the lines on the idol to find the root sigil and stabbed at it.

Face Danger: 3 + 2 Wits + 1 Sighted = 6 vs 5/7 -> Weak Hit

Burn Momentum: Strong Hit, Momentum Reset (2)

Momentum: 2 + 1 + 1 Sighted = 4

Reach A Milestone: "Find and rescue..." Progress: 8 + 1 = 9

The whole chamber, the whole world, seemed to tremble as the mystical energy withdrew from the villagers to concentrate around the idol itself. Unsure of how long he much time he had managed to gain, Quinn dragged the remaining villages two at a time towards Servan, telling himself that that they would surely forgive any injuries in return for being rescued.

Secure An Advantage: 1 + 1 Iron = 2 vs 6/8 -> Miss

Ask The Oracle: "Did Quinn save all of the named villagers?" (Likely) = 23 -> No

Ask The Oracle: "Did Quinn save Kato and Sola?" (Likely) = 57 -> Yes

Ask The Oracle: "Did Quinn save Taylah?" (Likely) = 90 -> Yes

Quinn was bringing the third pair towards the opening when a surge of malevolent energy pulsed out from the idol. He looked back at Basira, Keeara, Khinara, Kimura, and Mertyl, etching their blissfully unconscious forms into his mind before retreating with the last two he was able to extract.

Spirit: 4 – 2 = 2

Endure Stress: 1 + 3 Heart = 4 vs 1/6 -> Weak Hit

"We have to get out!" Quinn said as he crawled out of the gap, yelling to be heard over the loud rumbling coming now from the idol chamber. To his relief, he could see that the villagers who had been removed from the idol’s influence were waking up quickly and steadily, if clumsily, following the path out that Servan had described to them. Quinn and Servan each lifted one last person on their shoulders and trudged out, reuniting with the others at their makeshift camp.

Fulfill Your Vow: 9 Progress vs 1/7 -> Strong Hit

EXP: 0 + 3 Formidable = 3

Those who had gathered at the camp site seemed to have recovered fully, with no clear memories of what had happened after they fell under the sway of the figure’s curse. They took stock of their number, finding some comfort in all being present but for the five who had been left in the idol’s chamber.

There would be grieving for those left behind. Quinn would not meekly accept their losses, but that would be a matter for another time. For the moment, embracing his father and sister in the shadows of the cove, he was grateful to those who had been saved.

Session 3