The scene: The settlement of Springtide, a small village near the southern coast of the Havens. Close enough to the sea that the river occasionally floods when the tide is particularly high. We enter a hut near the centre where a young woman is packing a sturdy leather backpack with equipment and supplies for a long journey. She is slight and dark haired. Her clothes are practical and well made but clearly also well-worn. She wears a thick, dark grey woollen robe with a hood that is currently hanging down her back. She looks nervous but determined.
Mira stuffs the last of her supplies into her backpack. The whispers are now impossible to ignore. She doesn’t know exactly where she needs to go, but she knows that it lies North.
Her Mentor Zhan knocks and pokes his head around the door. When he sees that she’s almost ready to leave he pushes the door the rest of the way open and walks toward her. He picks up the backpack and gives it a fond but expert inspection before holding it out to her with a twinkle in his eye.
“It’s a nice piece of work. Very nice. In fact, I have something for you.” He reaches into a pocket, pulls out a piece of worked metal and holds it out to her. Mira recognises the object as a leather stamp. On the narrow end is a stylised letter ‘M’ incorporating village landmarks - she recognises the familiar silhouette of a stand of trees where celebrations are held, and the winding course of the nearby river.
Mira holds her hand to her mouth as the implications of this gift become apparent, and Zhan smiles. “Yes, this backpack is your master’s piece - may it serve you well. I’d normally have made you wait a couple more months, tested you on a few more of the techniques, but we don’t have time and I know you can do them. I wanted you to have this before you left.” He reaches out a hand to her shoulder. “You are about to begin anew - to forge yourself anew. I wanted your maker’s mark to be a little piece of home that you carry with you.”
Mira throws her arms around Zahn and squeezes him as tightly as she can. “I’ll keep up the practice.” she says. “I know” he replies. “Your new profession won’t make you many friends, but your craft will always find you food and shelter wherever you end up. Everyone needs things repaired.”
Mira nods solemnly. She’s travelled between settlements within the circle, but never alone and always with an end in sight. This is a bittersweet moment as she graduates her apprenticeship at the same moment that she sets aside the skills she has learned. She takes a few minutes to thank Zahn for everything he has done, but as she starts to apologise he cuts her off. “I don’t understand it, but I can see that this is something you have to do. No sense regretting things you can’t change, no one has time for that. Be the best you can be, that’s all anyone can ask.”
She bids Zahn farewell, hoists her pack onto her back and walks out of her hut. As she approaches the northern edge of the village she sees a figure waiting a short distance away. The figure doesn’t make any move to approach her, but as she walks past she sees him nod and hold up a hand in silent salute. The last words she and her brother, Kova, had spoken to each other had not been kind. There was nothing more to say. But they were still family, and she is glad he’s here to see her off. She nods in return, a tear starting to trace its way down her cheek, and she returns his salute. One mystic to another she supposes. That still doesn’t sit right.
Then she hardens her resolve, faces North and takes a deliberate first step across the boundaries of the village, pulled like a fish on a line. She wraps her fist tightly around the coin on her necklace and whispers “I swear on Iron that I will attend you and learn what you want from me”.
Swear an Iron Vow (troublesome): Attend the iron pillar north of Mira’s home village and find out what it wants.
Roll: 2 + Heart(1) vs 7 and 8 = Miss
Envision what stands in the way of starting your quest.
-2 Momentum (0) Progress: 0/10
Action/Theme: Summon / Mysticism.As is tradition we start a new playthrough with a miss on the initial ‘Swear an Iron Vow’ roll.
I rolled randomly for Mira’s brother and got a profession of ‘Mystic’, which I have interpreted to mean that he is the village healer and spiritual leader. He serves the spirits of the old world, and it made sense to me that this would be a source of friction as Mira sets off on her own pilgrimage to serve the spirits of the the Ironlands.
This is only a troublesome vow so I don’t want to go too crazy with the consequence for the miss. The action/theme oracles rolled up ‘Summon Mysticism’. Maybe Mira’s brother summons a little harmless interference from his own spirits to lead her astray at the start of her journey. So I’ll also retcon a little supressed smirk onto his face which Mira notices before he quickly hides it. She’ll find out why very soon.
Mira sets a comfortable pace but can’t shake a nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right. She’s been walking for half an hour when she smells salt on the air and hears the crashing of waves. She realises that she has been walking South toward the coast instead of North into the Havens. There is a moment of pure confusion as she tries to reconcile her feeling with her reality, when suddenly it’s like a veil is lifted from her mind. There’s an echo of mocking laughter and her sense of direction returns with an unpleasant lurch. Her brother’s doing. He always did like to have the last word.
Shouting some very old-world curses at the departing spirit she turns around and begins trudging north. She won’t give Kova the satisfaction of walking back past the village, but it’s a long way round and in total this little detour will cost her a couple of hours travel time.
Undertake a Journey (Troublesome): The iron pillar north of Springtide
Roll: 4 + Wits(3) vs 2 and 6 = Strong Hit
Mark Progress, reach a waypoint
Progress: 3/10
Descriptor/Location: Savage / Ruin
he obvious result for ‘savage ruins’ is raiders or bandits, but I don’t want to introduce them so close to this village and this early in the journey. I’ll ask the theme oracle for a little help.
Theme: Quest
OK, so maybe there’s something here to explore.
Making slow progress, Mira eventually sees a ruin that she knows through stories from hunters and gatherers in the village. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she walks toward it. One of the hunters lost a good iron knife in there once as he hid from wolves and she wants to see if she can find it - good iron is hard to come by, and seeing as she is joining the Iron priesthood… a bit of her feels like maybe this is an omen.