LogIronsworn: The Would-Be King-Jason-4

Game log for the 2021/10/10 session of Ironsworn: The Would-Be King, as taken by Jason

The trip to Henge Tor will be a formidable journey. The group wakes to a clear, sunny morning, but this far north, this late in the season, they know the night will be chilly. Not far from Irondale, Brunhilde's stepped away from them to look at some foliage when, without warning, an arrow strikes her in the thigh. It's fletched with crow feathers, a trademark of the Black Vanguard. Kanno replies with the ravager arrow he made just for this sort of occasion, and it goes right through the neck of the first Vanguard and into the next guy's face, dropping them both. Lio advances, Aeddon drops for cover, and Kato goes running to warn Irondale. He sees one of the Vanguard paralleling him and tries to put on a burst of speed, but finds he can't outrun an arrow. He takes cover behind a stump, which is fine for now, but there's no clear way out.

Brunhilde slings a stone at the foe, hitting a weak spot on his cap and laying him out in his tracks. Aeddon decides to try to bail Kato out of his jam, and goes running at him, varying his gait and course to try to make himself a harder target. Kato puts his hat on top of his staff to try to distract the archer at the same time. The distraction works, and he's slow to respond to Aeddon's advance. Unfortunately, being distracted is far from being harmless. Aeddon gets feathered and knocked onto his ass. Kato countercharges and swings his staff into the foe's face on the run, knocking out most of his teeth and his wits directly out of his head. That was the last one. There's no sign of horses and they aren't carrying a lot. They're surprisingly small, too.

Aeddon takes the time to bandage up Kato and Brunhilde. Then they return to town, and Kato explains to the elders about the Black Vanguard. They've never heard of them around these parts, and they're more than a little suspicious. Kato elaborates, explaining all about our quest to defeat the Witch King. The villagers aren't real interested in signing on to that fight, and Amara shouts out that it's all Brunhilde's fault. In the end, they tell the party to leave in peace, but never to come back.

They depart again, and this time they put Brunhilde in charge of hiding their trail. She turns out to to be good at it, and doesn't slow them down at all. Aeddon finds a ravine that goes the way they want to go, and using it gives them both a clearer path and makes them very hard to spot. They make great progress earlier, decent progress in the afternoon, and then make camp in the later afternoon. In the morning, there's a light dusting of snow on the ground. There's periodic sleet or snow, which doesn't make for a fun hike. They see varou sign but skirt wide around it. They stop briefly for Kanno to hunt, with Brunhilde advising him on which tracks to follow. Unfortunately, the local cave lions are hunting Kanno. He's looking down while they're sneaking up above, and before he knows it, one is attempting to eat his head and claw out his lungs.

Brunhilde cuts loose with her sling and doinks the lion with a couple stones. That gets its attention. With it distracted, Kanno wriggles loose. It comes back at him, exchanging a nasty claw slice to Kanno's gut for a knife slash to its flank. Brunhilde hits the cat square in the nose with a stone, which causes it to run off to lick its wounds, and helps Kanno get back to camp.

Aeddon immediately goes to work on the wreck of the archer, which keeps him from bleeding out. The group immediately makes camp. Then the rain starts. The wind picks up and blows the rain in. This place sucks.

In the morning, Kato says his prayers, but the Green Man doesn't seem interested. Aeddon takes the lead again and they have an uneventful morning's journey. The rain stops, which is nice. In the distance, they see a couple columns of smoke, suggesting human settlement. At the end of the afternoon, Lio goes hunting, and has considerably more success than little Kanno did. He returns with four rabbits on his spear. The gang makes camp again. Under the moonlight, Aeddon enchants Lio's elder cave lion skin. It's hella magical now.

In the morning, back on the road, they make very good progress, and again in the afternoon. They see Ash Keep at the foot of the tor as the light fades. Lio approaches the Keep and arranges our sojourn. They're very happy to help. Ash Keep is a small keep made of a dark grey basalt, hence the name. Aeddon talks to the locals and discovers that one of the keep's towers has a faulty foundation. The broken stone fill needs to be removed and replaced. Of course, it needs to continue supporting the weight of the keep. They'd really like to get the tower repaired because one of the their seers has had a vision of the Black Vanguard attacking. They don't even know who the Black Vanguard are right now, but they'd be happier if the tower was repaired before whoever they are arrive. Aeddon swears to help them.

In the morning, everyone goes to work. Lio starts logging. Brunhilde tries to help by pointing out good wood to Lio, but he notices in time that she actually was pointing him toward a bigass knot in the wood. Kato starts clearing rock but he picks the wrong rock and there are some ominous noises. Kanno, who always thinks of himself as being a quick fellow, goes to work under the tower, helping clear. He screws up, and gets clobbered by a rockfall, which also traps him. Aeddon advises Kato on how to free him, and with the help, Kato's able to rearrange the rocks. One of Kanno's legs looks broken now. Aeddon splints it up, bandages all the wounds, etc. Kato starts singing a holy song to cheer the workers up, but a women comes over and starts beating him with her cane, shouting that this place belongs to the stone god and the Green Man is not welcome there. Brunhilde switches gears to try to chop more wood, but she puts it in a useless spot. Aeddon and Kanno go back to work, Aeddon advising on what to move, Kanno moving, and they have some modest success. Overall they've done useful work, the foundation is better than it was, but it's not going to hold up long term. Adley, the local headwoman, is very impressed that Kanno got his leg crushed and just went back to work.

The next day, the group goes up to Henge Tor to visit the seers. Lio warns everyone to tread lightly. As they approach, the same woman who beat Kato yesterday cackles at him, asking where his Green Man is. He ignores her and presses on. At the caldera, by the standing stones, they find cloaked figures. Aeddon says that they come seeking help, and one of the cloaked figures tells them to approach. Brunhilde brings forth the Eye of Tarash-Kar and sets it on the altar. The crone recognizes it immediately and asks how they got it. A different seer just nudges her and points at Lio. A different seer steps forward, or maybe appears, says this is what the Black Vanguard seek, and this is why they will come. The seers say the eye belongs to the Firstborn, as it ever has, and it is they who can hide it from the Witch-King. Brunhilde asks if there's a way to contact the Firstborn, to arrange things. One of the seers puts a stone marker on the altar and says that if they prevent the First Folk from killing them long enough to present it, it will buy them an audience. Aeddon asks how long they have untl the Vanguard attack. The seers scatter stones and say it will be three days, and they will come in force. After a prolonged argument, they decide to have it both ways. Aeddon, Lio, and Kanno will stay to defend Ash Keep. Brunhilde and Kato will take the Eye of Tarash-Kar to the giants.

During the time before the Black Vanguard arrive, Kanno makes arrows of fine quality, and pushes himself to make an arrow that will both Seek and Ravage the Unfeeling he shoots it at.