Ironsworn: Tale of the Skulde

Thorlin has finally found his way to a small settlement called Northfield.  The population here is only 8 and the youngest is 22.  This community was once much larger, but has been ravaged by plague, famine and attacks.  They have secured themselves and those who remain behind have been constantly training to fend off any other attacks. Tholin has fallen into a deep despair and may not recover from his trials of the past several weeks.  In game terms, he is currently corrupted and has a thirst for blood.  He has come to find this community has had interactions with the masked people and this is how Thorlin comes to learn they are elves.  The Elves have been attacking this settlement due to the people capturing Elder Beasts for food.  But the people have a plan to lure the Elves into a trap and end their attacks for good. They plan to capture an Elder Beast and when the Elves come to rescue it they will attack and kill each Elf.  They have never be...

Our captors begin to take us (Asbjorn) to the South with 2 guards, the driver and a Dream Master.  The cart is pulled by an Elder Bear who’s flak is marked with a rune.  We lose track of time.  Several weeks?  Two Months?  We just don’t know.  We look for possible ways to escape, but the is just no options for us here. We adventures come to a grove of trees and a field of flowers.  It’s amazingly beautiful and for a moment it does not feel as if we’re in the Ironlands anymore.  As we move through the forest the trees begin to thicken and very little light makes it to us.  Suddenly the Elder Bear rears up and we hear the thunk of arrows hitting armor and our actors, one by one are eliminated.  The bear is freed and out cage is opened.  I try to step out, but I’ve never recovered from my injuries and being locked in the cage for so long I don’t even have the energy to free myself. I’m a carried along with Asbjorn to a glade in which w...

 We begin our trip toward Ravenfalls (Formidable Journey) and the first leg goes very smoothly.  We are able to heal up and this in turn lifts our spirits.  The road is very quiet and as this road is used often during the mining season, it is well kept. We begin to see runes on the trees and rocks as we continue our journey.  We recall these runes can be used to communicate, so we begin to destroy them as we move even taking some time to search off road if we’ve gone a time without seeing them.  Unknown to us, this has warned the Dream Masters of our approach and some good information as to our location and speed of travel. During camp one night we are surprised by a Broken who comes charging into our camp.  He’s scared and not making much sense.  What we are able to gather is something is being done to his people in his settlement.  We decide to venture out to find it and see what information we can gather. We move through the hills and come to a...

Before heading to the South to start my search for Issara’s tomb, I must first warn the surrounding circles of Redhaven and Lost Rock of the danger.  I speak to Overseer Eos in Redhaven and she has been aware of the events of the past month.  She will maintain communication with Overseer Oline to secure the area. She is not keen on finding more Skulde as the suspicion of the people is still strong in the communities.  She does tell me of a man who entered town a few days ago speaking of a looming danger. She was at first going to dismiss him, but with the recent events, decided to hold onto him for questioning.  She has allowed me to meet this man. His name is Torvald from the Ragged Coast.  He tells us the circle of Sidan where his is from has begun working with an evil presence in the area.  The Warden, Finnr, has been working with this evil and they have overthrown the Overseer there.  I resisted their authority, but was driven out of town.  I’...

 With the Dream Masters knowing where we are and knowing that the archways in the Halls of Deep Corruption can transport people/creatures, Asbjorn and I decide to venture back there to find a way to close the portals.   The halls are a mess and it is clear the taking of the book resulted in the quick retreat of the cultist.  The search of the rubble we find a rune stone which may have the ability to close down the portals. The hourglass rooms are heavily damaged with debris on the floor and it’s clear something significant took place here.  Asbjorn is certain that the rune stone we found will lock these gates from being used. The first door is closed easily, but the second bursts to life and a Wight appears before the group.  In game mechanics I scored a Weak Hit on Locate Your Objective so there is resistance to closing the second gate. We are very fortunate that the battle goes well early on and here is why I love this game so much.  With the Theater of t...

The town is a bit taken aback by the arrival of so many Broken.  Thorlin is insistent that the Broken be given refuge in out town as so many of them are pure blooded Skulde.  Not only is this his Iron Vow but if the Issara text is right, these Broken can resist the Dream Walker and could be used in fighting against it. This is the closest settlement to where the book was taken and it will only be a matter of time before the Nightspawn attacks here.  Asbjorn reports the current plan of the Dream Masters is to use the Ironlander’s essence as so few of them are Skulde.   The town, while still suspicious of the Broken don’t have the time to focus their energy on them. Plans are made to get ready for the Nightspawn.  In Game Mechanics the Nightspawn’s Menace track was already at a 6 and I was marking off one segment each turn to show the passing of time and the Nightspawn getting closer to the circle. When the Nightspawn arrives the circle is prepaired to deal with t...

We’ve had a chance to review the book I’ve taken from the ruins.  The book appears to have been written by Issara who was trying to stop the coming of the Dream Walker.  The book describes the rituals used to take the essence of people and it transfers it to the Dream Walker.  The creature is unable to feed on people in our world and needs followers to preform this ritual to feed him. Once in our world he’s able to feed off those who are sleeping. She was able to stop the cultists with the Spear of Issara which was enchanted, but the book does not describe if there was anything special about the spear which allowed it to help defeat them.  The book also describes a group of people called the Skulls (Skulde?) who were immune to the control of the Dream Walker and how Issara gathered these people as a fighting force against this evil. Her tomb is in the Barrier Islands and is located on a “dry mountain island”. Thorlin will be closing up some lose ends here in the area...

 So I realized I didn’t cover Throlin’s talents 1. Infiltrator: When moving into enemy held territory I get +1.  I see Thorlin being this strong wrestler, but is fleet of foot and has some ability to sneak around. 2. Banner Sworn: I gave him this due to his Skulde background and his strong feelings towards it. 3. Brawler: Thorlin has typically engaged in hand-to-hand combat and I felt this gave him that aspect. After brining our people back to Stoneford, I meet with the Overseer (Oline) and we discuss what has happened.  Both myself and some of the hostages heard the Broken speak of the Dreamwalker but we have no context to what this creature may be.  However, if the Broken are killing our people towards this end we must learn more about this. Second, the runes I saw on the arch in the hills were similar to a number of runes I saw back in the Broken settlement.  It’s decided I should go find this arch and see what I can learn. I take time to heal in Stoneford as...

 Thorlin the Origin: I first came up with his name playing another game.  He is a direct descendant of Thorin Oakenshild.  His family greatly respected the sacrifice and raised their son, Thorlin, to be as strong and respectful as Thorin.  I’ve used this name for many of my adventures and I like the name so much I named my dog after him. In our story Thorlin is a strong and just man, trained in hand-to-hand combat.  He is not one of the wardens, but he is typically used to get the job done right.  He is not a very social man but he believes strongly in his home.  He is a pure Skulde and is proud of his people.  He, and his family believe in maintaing the pure bloodline and will only allow he and his sister to marry another pure blood.   Thorlin believes there is power in their bloodline and this is why the Skulde were able to push the others off their land and force them to flee to the Ironlands.  He has sworn to his family to gather the...

 In creating my Ironsworn world, I prefer to begin by building the world and then building my character around the world. THE OLD WORLD: In the old world there was a group of people known as the Skulde who were a more aggressive part of the population and one faction had begun attacking those that opposed them, including other Skulde.  Over time the aggressive Skulde were able to gain a significant amount of power and began driving the rest of the population off the land.  In the end many retreated from the land but still consider all Skulde to be evil and violent. IRON: Star-Forged black iron is the most prized and iron is found in quantities in the Veiled Mountains.  However it’s difficult to mine and get out due to the tough terrain and the Horrors which reside in these mines.  Old mines have been found but many Horrors exist here and our people will not work in these mines.  Very little is gathered each year and what is gathered is taken to the city of ...