Ironsworn RPG, Session 7

Start from the beginning

Previous Session

“No. That’s…yes, a terrible idea. I get it, but no. We have enough. We have to have enough. And we’re getting more. What does Kiah’s journal say to do from here?” Kori asked. Niah and Kori had arrived at a larger boulder in the swamp, a short walk east of the circle. Nia looked down on her notes and said, “It’s just the starting point. If I’m right in this code at all, we walk 121 paces east and 42 paces south to a specific tree. Then, 9 more paces east to her hiding space.”
“Nia, there’s a lot of trees here.”
“Right. And Kiah was a bit taller than me, so we have to guess her pace. And I’m not sure on the code in the first place. Which is why -”
Kori interrupted her, “No. We’ll find it. It’s right. We’ll both take our best guess for pacing, and see where we end up.”

Kori’s shortened pace put him slightly ahead as they walked. By the time they stopped counting, they were near separate trees, with a few in between them. They counted the final nine paces, and then began to inspect their areas, and the space between them. Kori saw it first: tucked amidst a growth of grasses was a boxy object wrapped in a hide darkened by a waterproofing process.

Inside the box was more notes. The handwriting matched that in Kiah’s journal. Some documented the grim details of how to perform the dark ritual, and the mysterious pale stranger she learned it from. Others documented private conversations with Abram: their idea to disagree publicly and loudly on political matters, contingency plans in case they were discovered, and details of the meetings where Abram and Kiah decided the futures of everyone within the circle. It seemed like Kiah was the only one who knew all of the things necessary to perform the ritual, and she used that as her leverage to maintain her position.

Kori saw a few pages journaling her journey east to a mystic in the swamp, before the circle moved here. She knew the ritual, but it wasn’t working. She sought this mystic, while attempting to disguise the ritual itself and its costs. Ultimately, the mystic could not help her, but on her way back she stumbled across the ancient ruins, and her new knowledge of mysticism gave her the idea to try it here.
They continued trading papers and sharing what they read before Nia spoke up, “This is mostly just confirming things we already knew, or suspected.”
“No, this is still good. More proof establishes the pattern. And these pages about the mystic in the swamp are actually useful to me. That’s why I left the havens. It’s finally a lead from someone who’s actually been there, and not just rumors.”
“If you get out of this alive.”
“Now we know not only was Kiah the only one with the stomach to perform the ritual, she was most likely still the only person who knew how to do it. They’re done.”
“You still don’t get it. It’s not a trial to decide whether to continue murdering people or not. It’s a trial to decide whether to punish you for putting a stop to it”

Kori gave a resigned sigh, “…and how exactly would bringing a bonewalker to the trial help?” “It’s about…” Nia began, “going through what our community went through brought us together. Then the curse took us and we got closer. But the people behind everything were more worried about getting caught than paying any respect to the dead. During the trial, they may talk about sacrifices, but they weren’t. It was murder.”
“Then I guess we are going to need some rope.”

They left the swamp, and walked briskly through the fields back towards Daveza. They would need to move quickly to get to the ruins and back before dark. They arrived at Nia’s home. The door had been broken down, and hastily propped back into place. Kori set it aside and they gathered ropes and emergency supplies. They began the trek to the ruins. Kori could not help but feel unprepared.

They felt the eyes of the circle on their backs as they went south. It wasn’t long before the ruins grew on the horizon. “We have heard of this place, but we have never been.”
“It was beautiful, once.” Kori allowed himself to feel the itch in the back of his head, the gift of sight. The rot under the temple scratched at him, and he had to shake himself from it.  Nia gave him an odd look, so he spoke “Well, this was your idea. What next?”
“I asked if it was possible. You’re the expert. How do we get below anyway?”

“With luck, we won’t have to.” Kori cautiously moved the the area that partially caved in. He hadn’t gotten a good look when he was below, so he didn’t know how sound the rest of it might be. There were faint noises of shuffling below.  He started tying a noose in a rope, and anchored it around a nearby pillar remnant that felt sturdy.  Kori then tied another rope to the balance point of an extra torch, and gave it to Nia.  “Don’t get too close to that hole. The light and heat should attract them, and maybe I can snare something.

Nia lit the torch, and tossed it into the darkness, slowing it’s decent with her rope. Kori threw his snare in too, then closed his eyes and opened his mind.

Nia said, “The rope got lighter, I think the torch burned thro-”
“Quiet. Almost…”  Suddenly, Kori yanked the near side of the rope, and felt something pulling back. He quickly switched to the other half with the pillar as leverage, and leaned into it as he walked away from the pillar. He tugged, and Nia joined. Soon, flesh and bones scraped against the ceiling of the underground area, and then found their way above the ground. First a skeletal hand, the decayed flesh stripped off. Arm and head came next, with the glow of the creatures eyes barely visible in the sunlight. It let out a horrible creak, skittering and clattering teeth augmenting a throat that should not make sound.

Kori yelled “Run!” as Nia screamed. The bonewalker began scrambling, hands scratching the ground. Kori gave one more tug, then wrapped the rest of the rope around the pillar, and started tying a quick knot.
The bonewalker was able to get a knee on solid ground, and then crawled towards Kori.

Kori barely finished before it reached him, he ducked behind the pillar and ran to join Nia. They both held their breath, as it used the pillar to pull itself up, then turned towards them and began walking. Kori had his knife ready, though he wasn’t sure what good it would do. It crept forward, but everything held. It’s wrist remained tethered to the pillar. The bonewalker stretched it’s other arm towards them, a primal look in it’s dead eyes. Kori went to gather the other rope. Nia just stared the whole time. When he returned, she whispered “It’s Lago, Avella’s father.”

Blue text is my thoughts or meta commentary

Red text is backfilled, added after the fact some time in the future, and was not present when originally written