We pick up with Mira as she comes across an old ruin on her journey North and stops to investigate.
I kind of want to do a mini-delve here. I’m not going to do all the set-up, and I’m going to play very fast and loose with the Delve rules. This will be a quick troublesome exploration of the ruin - I just want the prompts really.
Delve the ruin (troublesome)
Delve the Depths: Mark progress and find an opportunity
Progress: 3/10
Find an Opportunity: You get the drop on a denizen.
As Mira gets close to the ruins she pulls her backpack tight to her body and slows her breathing. The walls are stone, mostly still intact with gaps where the doors and windows used to be. It looks like this may have been a storage barn for an old settlement, but the roof is now collapsed. She looks through one of the window openings and sees a huge Bladewing sleeping on a beam caught at head height across as it fell into the building. She knows that Bladewings are dangerous if they surprise you, but they are nocturnal. If she can surprise it she should be able to drive it off without too much trouble. As long as there are no others hidden away in the ruin, they are a lot more trouble if they have numbers…
Usually a Bladewing has a rank of Dangerous, but I’m surprising this one during daytime and I only want to drive it off, so I’m going to make this a troublesome encounter.
I’m also going to resolve this as a Battle rather than entering the fray and running it blow by blow. I don’t want to get bogged down in a fight when there’s exploration to be done. My Long-Arm asset lets me fight this with Edge instead of Iron as long as I’m using my staff.
Battle (troublesome): Bladewing
Roll: 1 + Edge(2) vs 5 and 6 = Miss
The objective is lost to you.
Pay the price: -1 Spirit(4)
My objective was to drive off this bird. Looks like that’s not happening.
Footing in the ruin is treacherous and Mira kicks a stone which skitters across the floor and wakes the Bladewing before she can get close enough to strike. It makes a huge racket and flies up to the top of the walls where it looks down on her from up high, holding its wings out to the side to make itself look big and hissing angrily. She flushes bright red, embarassed at making such a novice mistake. The message from the bird is clear; unless she walks away now she’ll have to fight it, and a staff won’t be the most elegant weapon within the cluttered interior of the ruined building.
Mira drops the staff to free her hands, unhooks her sling from her belt and loads a decent sized stone. Having decided that finding this iron knife is her first test, she can’t walk away that easily. She spins up the sling and prepares to launch a missile at the Bladewing as it draws back its wings for a dive.
Looks like I’m getting bogged down in a fight after all. And now that I’ve lost the element of surprise we’ll be back up to Dangerous. That seems like a fitting consequence for botching the battle roll.
Enter the Fray (Dangerous): Bladewing
Roll: 2 + Edge(2) vs 7 and 5 = Miss
Combat begins at a disadvantage
Pay the price: The enemy closes in
Progress: 0/10
My price will be that the enemy closes and I’m no longer fighting at range. That means I’ll be fighting with Iron, my weakest stat, and I think because of the terrain I’ll be using my sling as a club so I don’t get to use my long-arm unless I can manoeuvre back out of this building.
As the stone leaves the sling and clatters off the wall, the Bladewing dives toward Mira forcing her to cover her head. She ducks and tries to fumble another stone into the sling while the Bladewing wheels and dives again.
Face Danger: Iron
Roll: 2 + 0 vs 2 and 5 = Miss
You fail or your progress is undermined
In a panic Mira makes a mess of loading the sling and the stone skitters away across the floor. The Bladewing comes in for another pass, claws outstretched and Mira instinctively throws up her arms to ward off the attack.
Clash: Iron
Roll: 2 + 0 (iron) vs 6 and 10 = Miss
Pay the price: 2 harm (+3 health remaining)
Progress: 0/10
The bird’s claws dig into flesh and as it flies away Mira feels the blood trickling down her forearm. The gash is deep, but she doesn’t have time to think about that now.
Endure Harm
Roll: 5 + 3 (health) vs 5 and 4 = Strong Hit
Embrace the pain, +1 momentum (+1)
And with that strong hit we regain the initiative.
The pain awakens some deep survival instinct in Mira. She pulls out another stone, slips it into the pouch of her sling and comes up swinging in the direction of the screeches.
Strike: Iron
Roll: 6 + 0 (iron) vs 5 and 5 = strong hit with a match
Inflict +1 harm and retain initiative
Progress: 2/10
Much needed. This is a low stakes fight, so the match will be an opportunity to gain space and bring our favoured weapon back into play.
Mira catches the Bladewing with a solid strike as she swings the sling toward it and the bird tumbles, catching itself at the last second, gaining space by flying back up to former roof level. She takes the opportunity to move out into the centre of the ruin where there’s a bit more space, hooking her sling over her belt and picking her staff back up from the floor where she dropped it. She starts to swing in wide arcs the way she was taught back in the village, making sure the staff stays in motion as she tracks her adversary through the air.
Strike: Edge
Roll: 6 + 2 (Edge) + 1 (Long-arm) vs 2 and 5 = Strong hit
Inflict +1 harm, take +1 momentum (Long-arm) (+2)
Progress: 4/10
This time Mira uses the staff to steer the Bladewing as it swoops, sending it into a beam and watching it bounce off and back up into the air. She focuses on a loose grip, and keeping on the balls of her feet as she follows the path of the hawk around the inner walls of the space.
Strike: Edge
Roll: 2 + 2 (Edge) + 1 (Long-arm) vs 7 and 1 = Weak hit
Inflict 1 harm, lose initiative, take +1 momentum (Long-arm) (+3)
Progress: 6/10
The Bladewing passes behind a chunk of fallen masonry but doesn’t reappear where Mira expects. She hears the screech and has to spin on her toes to bring her staff around, catching the bird across the wing. She scores a hit, but loses her momentum as she struggles to regain her balance. As the Bladewing sees an opening and swoops for her head, she puts everything into a desperate double-handed swing.
Turn the Tide
Strike: Edge
Roll: 4 + 2 (Edge) + 1 (Long-arm) + 1 (Turn the Tide) vs 3 and 8 = Weak hit
Inflict 1 harm, +1 momentum (Long-arm) (+4), +1 momentum (Turn the Tide) (+5), Lose initiative.
Progress: 8/10
Again, she clips the Bladewing, but the force in her swing sends it reeling. However, now Mira is completely off-balance. She pivots and dashes toward the chunk of masonry, intending to vault onto it where the Bladewing will be in range even up in the old rafters.
Face Danger: Edge
Roll: 5 + 2 (Edge) vs 2 and 7 = Weak hit
You succeed but face a new danger, -1 momentum (+4)
She makes it up onto the rock, but the footing here is treacherous and one wrong step will send her tumbling onto the rocky and uneven floor of the ruin. Mira hefts her staff and swings awkwardly at the hawk as it realises that it is no longer safe and dives to attack.
Clash: Edge
Roll: 3 + 2 (Edge) + 1 (Long-arm) vs 6 and 10 = Miss
Pay the price: It wastes resources
Mira overbalances as she tries to avoid the talons and the stones from her unfastened belt-pouch spill out onto the ground along with various tiny leatherworking supplies. It will take a long search to recover those from the rubble-strewn floor, and she won’t get the chance if she can’t end the fight with this bird.
She is suddenly struck by the obvious move, which somehow she has missed up until now. When you want to catch a bird you don’t use a stick, you use a blanket. She lets her backpack fall from her shoulders and pulls loose her sleeping roll, unfurling it and shaking it loose with one hand. As the Bladewing begins its next approach she puts everything she has into throwing the bedroll toward it, trying to envelop the bird.
Face Danger: Wits
Roll: 5 + 3 (Wits) vs 8 and 1 = Weak Hit
You succeed but sacrifice resources, -1 supply (4)
The bird is caught in the blanket and tumbles to the ground. Mira jumps down from her rock and tries to pin it down before it can get itself loose. The Bladewing’s vicious beak and talons are tearing huge chunks out of the material, and she’ll be lucky if it’s salvageable for bandages after this.
Face Danger: Edge
Roll: 5 + 2 (Edge) vs 6 and 9 = Weak Hit
You succeed but are dispirited or afraid (suffer 1 stress) (+3 spirit remaining)
She gets her knees over the bird but can’t help despair over losing the sleeping roll on her very first day. Night in the Ironlands are cold, and this move could have very serious consequences. Mira pushes aside the thoughts and tries to focus on the task at hand.
Where is my strong hit!? One of the more brutal Ironsworn rules is the need to roll a strong hit before you can try to End the Fight. This is where an early loss of momentum can really set you back, as you’re completely at the whims of the dice. Suffer moves count toward the strong hit requirement, so I’ll endure stress and hope that this time my +3 will be enough.
Endure Stress: Spirit
Roll: 2 + 3 (spirit) vs 6 and 3 = Weak Hit
Press on.
Mira didn’t want it to come to this, but if the Bladewing escapes now it will be within striking distance of her face. She needs to kill it, and to do that she’ll need to take some risks. Mira stands, keeping one foot on what remains of the bedroll and raises the butt end of her staff ready to strike down at the writhing shape beginning to poke out of the huge gashes rent into the the thick wool.
Clash: Edge
Roll: 4 + 2 (Edge) + 1 (Long-arm) vs 5 and 5 = Strong Hit with a match.
Inflict 1 harm, +1 momentum (Long-arm)
Progress: 10/10
End the Fight
Roll: 10 progress vs 3 and 6 = Strong hit
This foe is no longer in the fight.
A couple of swift blows and the Bladewing lies still. She takes a deep sobbing breath and struggles to retain control as her emotions well up and threaten to spill over. After a couple of minutes she kneels and starts looking for the dropped leatherworking supplies. Any village will be able to trade her a woollen blanket, but awls and needles will be much harder to find. By chance most of the contents spilled at the base of the rock where she was standing and didn’t bounce too far.
That recovery of leatherworking tools will be my opportunity from the strong hit with a match on that final clash.
Without thinking Mira utters a small prayer of thanks to the Iron spirits. She decides that the Ironlands are teaching her their first lesson: that this land is hard, and to survive it you have to be prepared to do hard things. She picks up the tattered remains of her bedroll and tucks them away in her backpack, pulls herself to her feet and takes stock, analysing the area and looking for likely places to start a search for this iron knife.