LogIronsworn: The Would-Be King-Jason-6

Game log for the 2021/11/07 session of Ironsworn: The Would-Be King, as taken by Jason

Aeddon and Lio have retreated into the tower diagonally across the Great Hall from the breach, and Aeddon can see his compatriot bleeding more than a little. It will take time to patch Lio up, so Aeddon needs to make a stop to give him time to work. Accordingly, he tries to get the militia coordinated to attack the Black Vanguard from multiple directions at once. The militia on the gallery level are shooting or throwing objects down into the Great Hall, and the invaders are trying to go up the three open stairs to get to grips with them. That means the Vangaurd are in smaller groups now, attacking in multiple places. The attackers have gotten the main door to the keep open, but since the defenders still control the parapet over that gate, and anyone trying to enter that way faces extreme risk.

Kanno, atop said battlements, has lost so much blood that he's temporarily put down his bow and started exhorting the archers to fire faster and kill every single black-clad bastard they see. One youth has gotten so enthusiastic that he's throwing arrows even though he doesn't have a bow. Two masons have started carting merlons from the north wall over and dropping them on the attackers, crushing them in their tracks and creating obstacles for anyone trying to get through.

Aeddon grabs Lio and renders aid, so Lio's feeling much better now. Adley's men in north tower seem to be holding their own. In the southwest, the defenders are struggling the most, so Lio heads that way to get back into it. Aeddon tries to direct traffic and let the defenders get occasional breathers while everyone who can fight, fights. That helps the militia but they're still losing this fight, since they just don't have the training or equipment to fight warriors at close quarters.

Lio steps into the stairwell, prepared to receive the enemy's charge, and is not disappointed, and hears someone telling someone else to throw his spear if he has to, they have more. When the foe arrives, he's got skills; he buries an axe in Lio's shield and refuses to let go, making it impossible for the ironclad warrior to move it. The next attacker begins working to stab around the shield. Lio uses his spear to dislodge the axeman from his shield, knocking him back into his friend, and then skewers him.

Kanno tries to order about half the people near him to keep low but stay watchful while the other half go to fire down into the attackers headed for the breach. As he's giving those orders, an arrow flies through a loophole and kills the master mason. It's such a shocking and vivid death that the locals are shocked and scatter, leaving Kanno alone. He pulls the arrow out of poor Karl (the mason)'s head, nocks it, and pokes his head up to look for the shooter. He sees a black-clad archer with a quiver full of unusual black-and-red feathered arrows, and gives one back. It flies true, and the enemy specialist falls dead, sending the rest for cover.

Aeddon's been rotating people through the fighting, but the enemy is about to break through into the gallery and/or the third floor above. He tries to raise and drop the portcullis to crush some of the foe, but the spikes under one side hold, and the portcullis tips, so it's wedged in place.

Lio exchanges blows with the foe, but being ironclad, he gives more than he takes. The foe realize they're not able to advance - the dead are so thick in this stairway that they can't even advance effectively anymore. He's closed off the southwest tower to them, but they won't forget who it was who did it.

They're making their way up the southeast tower, though, and it's not clear that anyone's in place to stop them from overrunning the fourth floor as well. Aeddon calls for Lio to relocate and let the defenders hold the southwest, coming over on the gallery level just as a giant foe with a war hammer steps onto the landing and prepares to crush one of the defenders. He rushes over to block the hammer blow with his shield. He makes it in time, but the blow shivers his arm like a shock to the funny bone. Aeddon runs over to pull that poor defender out of the way, leaving Lio clear to fight, and just barely makes it in time. Aeddon comes within a hair's breadth of getting caught up in the fray himself.

As the hammer-wielding champion lifts his hammer for his next blow, Lio rams his shield into his opponent's knee, staggering him, and then stabs him with his spear. The enormous foe falls forward onto Lio instead of backward, knocking him down, allowing the enemy to rush past him.

Meanwhile, in the land of the giants, Torlin Stonefather leads Brunhilde and Kato to meet Kragath Ironbreaker. They can feel eyes upon them, and when they ask, Torlin assures them that his people are all around. Kato tells Torlin stories about the lowlands, and lets Torlin talk about his life in the highlands. Most of the giant's stories are about sheep. Somewhere along the way, another giant falls in behind them, though at a distance. They pass a standing stone and then arrive at a cave, from whence light shines. This, Torlin says, is the above of Kragath. He cautions them that Kragath will brook no foolishness and accept no untruth.

As they enter, they see a giant woman and child using a mill to grind something. They cross a platform, take a ladder down (which is awkward due to the spacing of the rungs), and arrive in larger open space. A booming voice says, "The way up will be even more amusing." The same voice asks what brings the outlanders to this space. Kato introduces themselves, and when asked, clarifies that they are not a mated pair. Their interlocutor sits on a vast pile of bear furs, which are stacked on top of a natural formation to create a sort of throne-like seat for him. Other giants are there, tending the fire or otherwise working, but Kragath is the biggest of them all. He has an enormous war club next to him, and a very large helmet nearby. His hair is mostly white. Surely this is Kragath Ironbreaker.

Kato starts his speech, referring to him as "Lord Ironbreaker", and immediately draws laughter. The shaman assures Kato that flattery will get them killed. Since they bear the Eye, Kragath will let them call him by his name. Kato explains that a wise woman told them to convey the Eye to the First Folk, and they're here to ask the giants to take it and protect it. The giants have never heard of the Witch King. Kato tells them about recent events in lowland history, and the giants are gonna need some time to discuss that amongst themselves. The humans can't make out the words, but they feel the infrasound in their chests.

When they finish, Kragath regards them both again, and tells them the Eye was put where it was for a purpose: to protect Tulin's Deep from the newcomers. It protected that Deep for centuries. That timeframe implies that the newcomers are what human call the Broken. If the Witch King wants items of power, Kragath says, then they've thwarted him, but if he wants places of power, they have made his task easier. Brunhilde points out that the Witch King had the capacity to kill Tarash-Kar, and so he could have taken the place for his own regardless. That stirs up the giants a bit, but Kragath tells the other giants that the humans have not brought this trouble to the giants' lands. Kato and Brunhilde sense that the giants do not all agree on what to do now. Kragath elaborates that his own eldest son thinks this is a human problem, and the humans should be sent back where they came from, with the Eye. His youngest son thinks the Eye is the giants' responsibility, because they made it. Brunhilde tells them straight-out that there's no chance for the humans to protect it. The Black Vanguard will overwhelm them, unless perhaps it has power they could use to defend it. Kato asks what the Eye does, and they say it gives the gift of Sight. It is not affected by light, or darkness, or distance, or time. Kato suggests that they should use the Eye to verify his story. Kragath is amenable, and he hands it to his youngest son.

The lad holds it up in front of himself, looks at it, and begins to chant. The Eye changes color, to an oily red and black color. (That matches the description Brunhilde first heard of it.) When the chanting ends, the son agrees that the Witch King is a dangerous fellow, but human, and like all humans, he will die, his life but a flicker. Kato and Brunhilde point out that the Witch King might not be so short-lived if he gathers all the magic of the continent to himself. Kragath Ironbreaker, who has reclaimed the Eye and is rolling it around his fingers, says that they brought it into the world, and it is there responsibility to keep it safe. They will keep it beyond the sight of "the witch." There will be a price. He takes a rune-carved rock off his necklace (for him, it's just a small charm) and tosses it to Kato. He charges him to take the rock to the Witch, not the King, and tells them to go. Audience ended.

Back at Ash Keep, with Lio on his ass, Aeddon has a split second to take action and keep the enemy bottled up. He rallies the last defenders in the gallery, and they leap over the Black Vanguard champion (and Lio), pour into the stairway in their wrath, and drive the attackers back down the stairs. The other bands having already stalled in their advances, and the men on the battlements having stalled the arrival of their reinforcements, the Witch King's men flee the castle. The defenders cheer. The bodies strewn about the Keep show the price the Witch King's men paid for their failed assault.

Brunhilde and Kato head back to Ash Keep, out of the highlands. Brunhilde finds that her advice on how to get back is not useful and feels bad about it, but Kato manages to get them through anyhow. They return to Ash Keep to find it surrounded by the Black Vanguard.

Aeddon gets to work healing people. After being triaged, Adley has a council of war with Lio and Kanno. They break out the good mead to lubricate the conversation. Adley wonders if their successful defence has been enough, and Kanno immediately suggests that the foe will try something more rather than return to the Witch King with tidings of their own inadequacy. The enemy settle into a siege. Aeddon tries to cast the auguries, but the ravens are too busy feasting to volunteer any opinions. Adley also makes a bit of a pass at Lio, who declines.

In the council, they discuss the possibility of sending for aid, but the only aid close enough to possibly help is a group of bandits off to the south. They'd likely want the keep itself as payment, which Kanno points out would give the bandits control of Henge Tor as well. Adley summons the Stone Seer to ask how they'd feel about bandits being in control of the keep. The Seers wouldn't care. Kanno points out that it's the people coming to see the Seers who would notice. Lio suggests maybe they could come out and parley, making it clear to the Vanguard that their prize is gone, and they have nothing to gain here but death. Kanno suggests taking the offensive, raiding the enemy lines after dark. Adley says she can't ask her men to do that, but her second-in-command, Garrick. Adley suggests that any parley should be done soon, but any attack should happen after a night or two, to lull the besiegers.

Lio, Adley, Kanno, and Garrick get a white flag and go out to parley. Kanno has opened a vein and then painted his face with blood and ash. The blindfolded emissary of the Witch King meets them again, as before. He's riding a gaunt black horse. The emissary asks if they're ready to surrender. Lio points out that they've slain his champions and many others, and all for nothing, since the defenders of the Keep do not possess the Eye. The Emissary asks why the defenders fight like demons if they do not defend the Eye, and Kanno says, "Because I want you to die." They exchange a few more threats, and then the Emissary expresses disbelief. He says that blood carries the truth, and asks who will give blood for the truth. Kanno's already opened a vein today and flicks blood at him. This leads to a further exchange of insults before Kanno simply gives the Emissary a handful of blood. The Emissary calls it "insufficient and weak," to which Kanno says, "there are those who would disagree, but they can't tell the tale." Lio steps up and offers to drown them all in blood if they continue this fight. The Emissary declares that their position is clear, and both sides pull back.

Aeddon tries sending a message to Kato and Brunhilde via raven. They're walking through some woods when Tamara finds them and calls out for Kato. It warns them that the Keep is besieged, and he tells it that they were successful. It then asks them for a message to give to Aeddon, and they send, "Successful, hiding, where meet?" Aeddon re-convenes the council and suggests it's time for a raid on the siege line.