Flute for my enemy - Ironsworn adventure part 1

Turtle was a village elder in a village of Summerhome. One day, his son Beaver left for adventure but never returned.

A year later a baby was left in front his grandfather’s house with a note that it is Beaver’s offspring. The baby was strange, with big eyes and skin of the color of dried leaves. Her mother must have been an elf. The baby girl was named Otter.

As kid grew, she also started behaving strangely….She often danced alone under the moon, and spent its days whispering to the crows sitting on top of a few willow tries that grew next to the spring.

Otter was also natural with bow and arrow – true to her elven ancestry.

Bonds:

1.       Otter’s grandfather Turtle

2.       Willow trees

3.       Summerhome village

Assets:

1.       Dancer

2.       Archer

3.       Augur

A leader falls

As Turtle grew older, more and more people thought that he should no longer be the village elder. This place should naturally be taken by his son, but as he was not there, other families started pretending to the position.

Otter made an iron vow that she will find her father and come back with him to the village, so that Beaver could take the elder position (background vow, extreme).

Gather information

Other tries to learn whereabouts of her father from family stories. It seems that Beaver wanted to enter the Mouth of the Dead cave – which supposedly contains entrance into the afterlife. Seems that he wanted to bring someone back from dead, but who, and why?

Vow

Otter swears the iron vow that she will seek clues about her father in the Mouth of the Dead.

Secure advantage

Otter searches her father’s remaining possessions to find something that might help in her quest. All she finds is a wood pallet with flute finger positions of some song written on it.

 

Turtle explains Otter that Beaver played a flute.  The only way for Otter to find Beaver is to find his flute first. But Beaver did not want to be found, so he made an iron vow that he will give his flute to his arch-enemy. No one in the village knows if he managed to fulfill that vow or who could this arch-enemy be.

Undertake a Journey

First part of travel to Mouth of the Dead was uneventful.

Resupply 

Otter stopped to resupply by hunting with her bow. She took a moment to aim at a deer, but then noticed that the animal is standing by some strange rock. Otter missed the dear but went to examine the rock ornate with strange runes. Rock was actually a vessel containing elven supplies. It seems that elves keep hidden supply outposts in the forests for their travelers.

Reach your destination

 

Otter stands in front of Mouth of the Dead cave, ready to enter.

End of part 1.

PART 2
As she entered the cave Otter found herself surrounded by swarm of rats.
(few combat moves later) She found squeaking of hundred of rats around her feet annoying so she endured some stress, but managed to push a big rock at the swarm and scatter them.

Moving on, she reached a very steep descent blocking her way. It is lucky she dad her rope with her (equipment test).

Few cave halls later, Otter has seen the daylight again - there is a second exit from the cave. Is she reaching halls of afterlife?

Near the cave mouth, Otter noticed another elven resupply cache. Being low on supplies, she decided to check it out. But when she opened the cache, the swarm of terrible bugs crawled out of it. She felt so disgusted that she will never try to open elven supply storage again. (miss om re-supply, something is lost, so I let that asset go. Easy come, easy gone).
Exiting the cage, Otter noticed wast forest spreading in the lands before her.Well, this is definitely not an afterlife.
Let see what can we find under the trees.

END OF PART 2. 

Traveling through the forest, Otter’s path was blocked by a huge wolf. She moved carefully towards it, not wanting to fight the beautiful animal.

Wolf was not there for fight or food. What does it need?

(Rebel against power. What power? Coordinate Language) Otter’s mind filled with images of animals forced against their will to work against the community of elves – sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly by small trickeries, misdirection, lies or petty thieving.

Otter swore an Iron Vow that she will free forest animals from this tyrannical service (dangerous).

Otter finally reached elven community and was accepted, but how will she recognize her mother?

Ask crows! Double – a twist! (Depart Balance)

Otter’s mother lived in this community as nature priest. But elven community never approved her relationship with human, so after having her, they left the community together.

Since that moment, elven community lost its stability point. They have no nature priest at the moment, and nature is playing tricks on them.

(Decided against vow here, as it would get too intervened, rather putting it as a milestone on find parents quest – Once Otter’s mother returns, stability will return too).

Otter tried to forge the bond with her mother’s community. But, there is an issue in the village. Some elven kids disappeared, lured by a strange music from a cave north of the community If Otter could bring the kids back…

Otter enters the cave, and deep inside it finds a bandit leader commanding both kids and forest animals with the music from a flute? Is this Otter’s father flute?

Otter enters the fray attacking bandit leader. He reacts by playing a song, hoping to enchant her. But Otter resists, humming in her head the song she learned from father’s writing. Then she ends the fight – Bandit leader is dead.

Was he the one to command the animals? (Fulfill the vow – Miss!)

Otter takes the flute from the body. It is not her father’s handmade instrument, just the common one you can buy on village fairs.

Anyway she uses the instrument to play her father’s tune to the elven children in a cave, freeing them from spell. Bond with village marked.

As she exited the cave, wolf appears again. It tells her that the Bandit leader was just one of several minions, serving one mysterious leader, figure shrouded in darkness…..  Free forest animals vow is now formidable….

 END OF PART 3. 

After dealing with Bandit Leader, Otter visited Haunted Barrow to kill Necromancer, and then entered Maddening Ziggurat to pay a visit to local Chaos Priest. But inside the Ziggurat she found out that her fame was there before her. Priest surrender at the first sight of her (doubles on strong hit - Avoid Wound. Successful Compel) 

This allowed Otter to fulfill her vow to forest animals. They are now free.

Chaos Priest told her about the strange person who gave him a flute and showed him how to play it. He knows very little about him, except that he is rich and important person in a town lying on the other side of the Northern Mountains.

Otter left the Ziggurat with 0 Spirit (it was truly Maddening) but pressing on. As she walked back towards the elven community, she saw Priest riding full speed North, to warn his boss about Otter's arrival. Stupid fool, he will probably regret he was born once his boss finishes with him.

Otter will do some Sojourn to recover and then move North herself.

But probably not in June. It was fun ride with Ironsworn, but I feel a little tired of solo RPG-ing. What I need now are some heavy euro boardgames to burn by brain in a different way for a while.