Mark Progress – Blade Vow => That Which Feasts – Feed on the fragments of its former master, dream new dreams, the blade remembers its name, 2.25 Progress

Oracles: Was Pella badly injured from the mountain’s churn and reassembly? 50/50 – No (thank the old gods!); The Wolfen? 50/50 – No 

Mark Progress: Find Pella and make sure she is safe – Finally safe, for now, 9 Progress

Roll: Fulfill Your Vow, Find Pella and make sure she is safe (9 Progress) – Strong Hit, 1 XP (Phew!)

Roll: Forge a Bond, Teegan – Weak Hit => Reroll (I’ve been tasked to their benefit more than once now) – Strong Hit

Roll: Forge a Bond, Kesla ‘the Blue Braids’ and the Vashka pack – Weak Hit => Reroll (We hunted the green sun together) – Strong Hit

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“Are you ready?”

I knew it was time to go, but I’d needed a moment longer. Much had happened here and I wanted to remember all of it. To remember how it had ended, what we had achieved. 

With the heart uprooted, the fracture in the sky had mended, and with it, the aurora had been consumed. But the floods and tendrils remained, though with a slower dance and softer glow than before. The thickets endured as well. In fact, new trees had grown from where the broken bodies of the desolate chorus had finally fallen to earth. They were stilled though, just the sways and rustles from the winds now that their song had been silenced.

Kesla, the blue braids, and her pack, the Vashka, had already left, most limping on three legs while they carried their fallen and disappeared to the north under the liberated waxing moon, deeper into the valley and deeper into the Wilds.

We had fallen as well, many fallen, and even more injured. Many that were not able to hike back out of this valley to reach home. We needed healers and we needed supply, and someone needed to go get them. To tell Autumnrush what had transpired and bring back aid and strong arms and sturdy beasts to carry the wounded out. And so we would make the trip. The kinblades and I were of less use here anyways. Stories could soothe the pain, but those words were better spent convincing healers to come save lives. And the blades, the blades were growing restless. They were not yet satisfied, not ready for the hunt to end. 

I hadn’t seen or felt any sign of the masked, that rival hunting troupe, since our tense parley in the ruins. Hopefully they’d realized that, since I’d kept my promise to slay the green sun, that meant I would likely keep my other promises as well. My vows of retribution if they ever again threatened my kin. Good. Let them add that truth to the collective memories of their masks. It meant our comrades would be safe here until we returned, Talan and Mira would make sure of it, shattered and twisted arm or not.

“Yes, I’m ready.” 

I took one final lingering look through the gates of the empty tower and turned back to Pella. A tired smile reflecting off mossy eyes. “If we race the tides, I think we can reach the pass before morning.”

“And then Autumnrush by mid-day, right?” she winked.

“If only.” I chuckled as I shouldered my pack and, patting the ebony and bone to remind myself they were at my side, stepped forward. Onward to bring aid to our kin and follow the tug of the next thread. Onward to That Which Feasts’ next dream.

---

Wow! So that final chapter fight was truly exhilarating to play out. I don’t know if I’ve ever rolled so well or maybe, more accurately, rolled so well when it really mattered. And yet still, in spite of all of those strong hits, when the warpfire had settled, I had zero health or spirit and was right on the precipice of a negative momentum loop, acquiring cascading debilities as I spiraled towards death or desolation. I needed those good rolls, and Hob and her friends and allies needed to be at both their most capable and most lucky to have any chance of victory. All of them, Hob, Pella, That Which Feasts, Lightdrinker, Mira, Mokhel, the Blue Braids and her pack, Talan, Teeghan, and all those that fell without us yet knowing their names, were at their best, taking their faiths and connections and comradery as bolster and banner to face and slay the avatar of a god and save the Ironlands. 

I don’t know what exactly would have happened if we’d rolled poorly and lost that fight, but I do know that I had decided going into this last climax that, if we failed to fulfill the vow to stop the aurora AND if Hob managed to survive it all to tell another story, that next story would take place in a very different Ironlands. Whether it would be about recovering from cataclysm and coming to terms with the losses of a tragic new world or a fantasy apocalypse tale of heroism in the face of doom as Hob’s world crumbled around her, it would likely have been an Ironlands where many of our current bonds were no longer living

So the stakes were indeed high, and knowing how high they were resulted in me being more invested in the outcome. I sweated the rolls, breathed heavy on the misses, and whooped at the strong hits. It felt good to do good though, to roll well, to feel like a badass for a bit when the alternative was likely going to be the deaths of many characters I’ve grown quite attached to. I’m glad Hob is a hero. I’m glad she’s brave and resourceful and unyielding and honest and open and passionate. And I’m glad that her companions, whether iron or flesh or fur, are no less capable. There’s no sidekicks in this tale, just heroes, their paths converging and branching as they pursue their own truths and vows, the shared goals of both purpose and camaraderie occasionally weaving together for a time before falling again out of alignment.

And though it was just a make believe world using make believe rules to tell a make believe story, I feel a bit better about things knowing that, even if it was in just some fantasy solo RPG actual play blog, some folks made good and brave and truthful choices to stop a very bad thing from happening through a combination of skill, luck, and friendship.

So what next? I’ll probably take a short break (maybe play a video game for the first time in a while) and then combine and polish Hob’s tale into a book (those early chapters when I was just dipping my toes into things will likely need some work). Until then, as able, I’m playing a psychedelic/weird fantasy Starforged campaign AP podcast. I want to come back to Hob soon though. To see where her thread now leads. To see what other memories That Which Feasts and Lightdrinker have to dream. To see where these new adventures will take Hob and Pella, and find out if their paths remain entwined.

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Basira ‘Hob’ of Sota’s Gate

Bonds (3.75/10 Progress)

That Which Feasts, Bastien the Watcher, Mortar the Vagrant (alluded to but has not yet showed up in the story), Elstan the Sailor, Brokefall, Perella ‘Pella’ the Brash, The Crew of the Piercing Swan, Mira the Sustainer, Cera of Longbridge, Verena of Longbridge, The Ashen Curls, Lightdrinker, Lio the Guide, Nisas of Tidemark, Teegan the Sustainer, Kesla ‘the Blue Braids’ and the Vashka pack

Vows 

• Find the owner of the blood-stained blade (2.25/10)
• Bring justice to the cliff horn ambushers near Stoneharbor (completed)
• Discover the fate of Brokefall’s foraging party and destroy a harrow brood (completed)
• Save Mira and Mohkel from the elder bonewalker (completed)
• Escort Mira’s expedition to the Desolate Beacon and back to Autumnrush (completed)
• Resupply the Sustainer Camp (completed)
• Humiliate Reese the Freewarden (completed)
• Keep Lio alive so that he may uphold the truce (completed)
• Regain Cera’s Trust (completed)
• Find the hunter and learn her motive (completed)
• Uproot the vines and destroy the heart of the blossoming aurora (completed)
• Find Pella and make sure she is safe (completed)

Timeline (Early summer)

• Day 1 – Leave Sota’s Gate, arrive to Stoneharbor, defeat tides mystic
• Day 2 – Kanno leaves, rest
• Day 3 – Rest
• Day 4 – Drink with Elstan and Kalidas
• Day 5 – Meet Mira and join w/ the Piercing Swan, sail through night to reach Brokefall
• Day 6 – Brokefall troubles, slay harrow brood, Pella holds hand
• Day 7 – Sail to Desolate Beacon, sleep in ship
• Day 8 – All hell breaks loose, Desolate Beacon and trials beneath, sea battle against Haf, Spotter’s Ridge
• Day 9 – Rest and repair at Spotter’s Ridge
• Day 10 – The Broken Isles, weather the storm, sail through night back to coast
• Day 11 – Camp to warm up and then sojourn in GailHope
• Day 12 – Autumnrush!!
• Day 12-17 Rest at Sustainer Camp, meet with Teegan, meet with Brynn, meet with Cera
• Day 18 – Leave Sustainer camp and reside on Cera’s grounds, humiliate Reese, make an enemy of Reese’s companion, become bannersworn to Cera
• Day 19 – Meet Cadigan, get confronted by Cera about it, argue with Cera, escape ambush, make peace with Verena, approach Lio
• Day 20 – Retrieve blade and get Cadigan’s appraisal, break the curse and defeat the hunter, rescue Artiga and Kuron
• Day 21 – Visit and hike with Pella, check in on Artiga and Kuron, answer the Ashen Curls’ summons and re-enter the twilight forest to confront the hunter
• Day 22-23 – Recover at Mouth’s Watch
• Day 24-30 – Recover on Cera’s Grounds, Pella tells me she is leaving, Elstan and Nisas give me Lio’s gift, learn of Cera’s purpose
• Day 31 – The Budding Pyre Blossoms, stride through Sayer’s camp
• Day 32 – Enter the forest, slay Reese and his companion after being ambushed by them, hike through night and day, camp in hidden clearing
• Day 33 – Hike through night and day, reach pass to Wilds, meet wolfen, survive masked ambush, experience wearing the mask, camp at lake
• Day 34 – Reach the flooded valley, fight the Shadow Blossom, discover the birthing barrow
• Day 35 – Reach the heart of the city, find Pella and the Sustainers, plan and prepare
• Day 36 – Negotiate with the masked, destroy the new green sun, Feast
• Day 37 – Leave for Autumnrush

Stats

Assets (28 XP accrued, 24 XP spent)