Ironsworn Ravenloft Solo thing

After our conversation with Leif Lipseige, whining accountant, we set off up the stairs, following Leif’s general directions, and I hit the dice to Delve the depths.

That’s a nice result. My Find an opportunity indicates I encounter someone who might support me. I give this a bit of a ponder (and check through the Oracle of the Ravenloft module) and think I’ve come up with something. (The Compel is explained a few lines down. Hang tight…)

We exit the stairwell at the next flight of stairs, head down a short hallway and through a door of delicately etched metal embossing.

Dust fills your lungs. The musty smell of death and decay swirls around you. Before you, a long table of polished oak lies beneath a blanket of dust. The rotting table cloth lies tattered beneath china plates and stained silverware. In the center of the table, a large, tiered cake leans heavily to one side. The once white frosting has turned green with age. Cobwebs drape like dusty lace down every side. A single doll figure of a well-dressed woman adorns the crest of the cake. A window in the south wall is draped with heavy curtains.

The room’s a bit of a mess, but what catches my eye is the movement on the far side of the table as someone gasps and hurries towards the doors to the north.

“Stop!” I call out. “We’re not here to hurt you.” (That’s a guess, but I don’t imagine I’m in a hurry to pulverize anyone whose first impulse is to gasp and run.

“Gertruda?” Ireena says, squinting in the gloom. “Is that you?”

It is. The daughter of the weeping “Mad Mary”, from back in the village. A quick check of the Oracle indicates Gertruda is largely oblivious to any danger to herself - she came here because she saw a castle in the distance and knew only good things of castles, thanks to years of fairy stories and tales of heroic princes falling in love with simple village girls. She’s been sheltered by her mother all of her life, and is innocent and naive to the point of being a danger to herself and others.

I’m less than charmed by the idiot girl, but I try to at least make an effort to be civil.

“Gertruda,” I say, “you’ve put a terrible fright and sadness into your mother. You need to go back home to the village. Now.”

I try for that compel (see roll, above), but only manage a weak hit, which means she wants some in return from me. In short, she’s got enough sense to realize she might not have done the safest or smartest thing, and she sees a big armored freewarden in front of her.

“You have to take me home,” she says, sniffling. “You have to protect me.”

She’s not right, strictly speaking.

But she’s not wrong, either. Dammit.

So, yes, fine, but we need to check out the room the accountant told us about. One more Delve the Depths move…

And, well, that’s pretty good, again. I choose to find some useful item - the thing the accountant told us about. According to the module/oracle, it’s the holy symbol of the Kolyana family, lying on a table in the study nearby.

A blazing hearth fire fills this room with rolling waves of red and amber light. The walls are lined with ancient books and tomes, their leather covers well oiled and preserved through careful use. All is in order here. The stone floor is hidden beneath a luxurious rug of a deep-patterned weave. A large, low table sits in the center of the room, waxed and polished to a mirrored finish. Even the poker next to the blazing fireplace is polished. Large, overstuffed divans and couches stand in order about the room. Two luxurious chairs face the hearth.

Also, because the holy symbol of the Burgomaster is here, I’ve decide the ***spirit *** of the Burgomaster is here as well, having found its way here after trodding the road from the graveyard, but he’s not looking at the holy symbol, he’s looking at the picture on the wall.

A huge painting hangs over the mantlepiece in a heavy, gilded frame. The rolling light of the fire illuminates the carefully rendered painting. It is an exact likeness of the Burgomaster’s daughter, Ireena Kolyana. Though the painting is obviously centuries old, the likeness is unmistakable.

Another bit of the Delve “opportunity” move means I get to immediately make a followup move with a bonus, and get momentum on a hit.

So I reflect on the spirit of the Burgomaster being present, and the picture that looks just like Ireena, and decide this freaks Ireena out: she doubts everything, and I need to talk her down by testing our Bond.

Well, lovely. That’s two more momentum and I’m counting this as progress on putting the Burgomaster’s spirit to rest - he sees Ireena has a loyal friend and ally. That’s hopefully enough progress, so let’ss see if I can’t wrap up that quest right here:

Sweet.

The burgomaster sees his daughter, sees how distraught she is, and sees her comforted by a friend. His soul finds peace, knowing his children are not alone in this dark world.

I’m keeping the “opportunity” this affords me simple: I’m going to use the XP I get from finishing this quest to pick up an a new aspect of one of my assets, or a new asset, right now, instead of waiting until I have some downtime - given what’s going on right now, I’m going to Ismark as a “Kindred” asset, for the same reasons as I had for finishing the Vow and putting the Burgomaster’s spirit to rest.

And now, thanks to Gertruda, it’s time to get the hell out of here. I’m going to Escape the Depths, using my Wits to retrace my steps.

Okay, weak hit, because my dice kinda hate me. Fine. I’m going with “a denizen plots their revenge” and make plans for some kind of retribution sent out after me as soon as the dice offer any kind of opening for shenanigans while I’m back in the village.

Whew. Okay. We retrace our steps, stopping at Lipseige long enough to let him gawk at the Holy Symbol of Barovia, but he gets more than a bit miffed I won’t leave it with him. What the blazes did he expect? He got to see it. Call it good.

We hurry down to the main floor, and make our way quickly to the chapel (eyeing the gargoyles in the main entry more than little warily), and with one long last look at Reinhardt. Need to get his body out of here, but not this time. Not yet.

And then we’re back out in the courtyard and slipping through the dark and drizzle. It’s a miserable slog back down the road, but we don’t stop until we reach the village and the church.

Back to the Village

Having re-read some of the stuff related to leaving and then reentering the Depths of a site, I have a feeling I’m going to hold some ill-will to Gertruda for making me escort her back to town, but whatever.

We get back to town an hour before dawn. I’m working my way through a long list of stuff to do. So let’s wrap up a few things, starting with delivery Gertruda to her mother.

Really? That’s great. Okay. I “realize the truth of the quest.”

I’m going with something like the Dracula movie with Keanu. Gertruda’s been tainted, but not turned - let’s say by some lesser vampire who’s been pretending to be Strahd to the besotted, idiot girl, and toying with her while slowly corrupting her.

So I can’t let that stand, obviously. I’ll take my measly one xp and Swear a Vow to fix the girl by finding who- or whatever was toying with her in the castle.

Nice. I have a clear picture of what I need to do next, and +2 momentum.

I’ll have this be a Formidable quest, since just retrieving the girl was Dangerous, and this feels like it should be a step up from that. In the meantime, the hyperprotective Mary is given instructions to keep a damned close eye on her daughter. (I’m sure nothing will go wrong there.)

Then, quite exhausted, I return to the Chapel of Barovia and make the somewhat riskier attempt to conclude my quest to “Return the Ahmeshti to the hallowed ground of Chapel of the village of Barovia.” (A sort of halfway-point quest for all the stuff that probably needs to happen with that thing.)

Nice! That’s just a troublesome quest, so 1 more XP there brings me to six total, 3 unspent after getting Ismark as a “kinsman.”

I know what I’d like to do with that XP, so after setting up both the Icon and the holy symbol of Barovia in places of honor, I return to the Icon of Ahmeshti, take out the Flail, get on my knees, and begin a sort of impromptu vigil, for all that I’m quite worn out. I’m trying to forge a bond with this, an ancestral weapon of the Freewardens.

Are. You. Kidding. Me?

Ugh.

Okay, well, this isn’t actually as annoying as it seems at first - there are three pretty easy responses here:

  1. I’ve got 10 momentum. I think I can just reset the challenge dice, if I want to.
  2. The “Forge a Bond” move says “If you make this move after you successfully Fulfill Your Vow to their benefit, you may reroll any dice.” I think returning the Icon to the chapel would count for that, since the two items are linked in some way, which means I could reroll that 10.
  3. I could just swear an iron vow to do something in alignment with the Flail’s “wishes” (call it the thing’s destiny, whatever), and take the bond as a result.

I’m actually going to go with option 3, here, because I don’t NEED a strong hit - the benefits for that do nothing for me (my spirit and momentum are maxed out right now.

/me annoyed Mermista groan.

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Well, I’m not burning momentum for a Strong hit that only gets me back some of the momentum I just spent, so I start off with a vow sworn, but not EXACTLY sure how to “Drive the Qashida out of Barovia” - since I don’t really know where they are or what they’re doing. (And I’m still getting my head around the idea they EXIST, so…)

Anyway, swearing that vow to the Flail and/or the Farwardens that have come before me let’s me spend 3 xp to pick up a new asset, Blade-bound (in this case, Flail-bound, but whatever).

I was really torn about which aspect of the Asset to take first, but while the first one is really useful, the second one is really fun and potentially horrible, so I went with that first. In short, I envision not a spirit but MANY spirits of past farwardens, whispering advice and knowledge from the mace and generally unnerving me and getting in my way.

Obviously, I need to end my vigil/vow-swearing session by trying to get answers from the Flail, specially about the Qashida.

“I’ll drive them out, but how do I find them,” I implore the whispering spirits of the farwardens that seem to surround me and fill the empty spaces of the chapel.

Again, I’m sticking with the weak hit.

“Few knew of my mission, or my intent,” says the heavy, accented voice of my friend and mentor, Reinhardt. “Someone in the town must have alerted the Robed Brotherhood - they were waiting for me in the Castle.”

So, the new danger is Qashida agents in the village.

I also need to Endure Stress from hearing the ghostly whispers of my dead farwardens. Awesome.


Oh for crying out loud.

Well, the consequences of a miss is -1 momentum, or I can burn EIGHT momentum for a weak hit that does nothing for me. No thanks. I’ll take the miss.

So that’s me coming into the village strong, with pretty much maxed out numbers, but now I’m down Spirit and Supply. I’m tired, I feel surrounded by enemies, and I have to get back to that damned castle. (On the upside, two new assets!)

“I’m taking a nap,” I mumble to Ireena and Ismark. “Don’t let anyone stab me.” Then I but collapse in a pew while the priest, bemused, looks on.

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Well, it’s been a minute since I’ve been able to find time to play, but luckily I can read all my lovely game notes and get caught right back up.

The google doc where I’m saving everything is 96 pages at this point, which makes it exactly three times longer than the original Ravenloft I6 module. Nice.

Okay!

Brigitte sleeps for seventeen hours. Gets up, sees to her necessaries, eats, and goes back to sleep for another six hours, which puts us close to 24 hours since our merry band staggered back into down. Probably enough time for Gertruda to do something stupid, but I don’t have time to worry about that right now.

What I should be worried about is what the Qashida are up to. I realized after wrapping up last session that my failed Gather Information probably gave the Qashida (the Threat attached to one of my Vows) an opportunity to get up to shenanigans, so let’s see if they take advantage of it.

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Okay, so they’re basically working the shadows, sneaking up on me and I mark a second menace on that threat. Fiiiine.

So I’m a bit demoralized (down by 2 in spirit) and my supplies could be better. I’m back in town, which is exactly what the Sojourn move is FOR, so I’m going to do that. There’s a lot going on in this move, so buckle in.

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Okay. That first bit is pretty straightforward. Roll +heart, and I do have a bond with the village, thankyouverymuch, so I’ll be having that +1.

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Oh, cheese and crackers, seriously? Ugh.

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Fine.

I’m focusing on the stuff in the Recover section, and since I share a bond with the town, I still get to choose two things.

So, rolling heart a couple more times, both with a +1 from the bond. You’ll have to trust me on these, since I’m not going to copy-paste in two more rolls for the same move.

(This is a VERY roll-y move - if I was in a group of three players and got a strong hit here, that’s 7 or eight rolls at the table before the whole thing is wrapped up. Crazy. It’s worth noting that Starforged does this differently now - there’s just the one roll at the top, and then all the selected recovery actions are assumed to have succeeded at a similar level, basically. Much faster and cleaner, without the Mouseguard-like messiness of “oh, I screwed up all my recovery phase rolls, so now I’m worse off than I was.”)

Anyway: In Ironsworn, I still have to roll, and on my rolls I get a 9 against a 6,5 and an 8 against a 4,3 (I’m quite happy to have prioritized Heart when rolling up Brigitte) so that’s two Strong hits for Consort (+2 spirit), and Provision (+2 supply), which maxes me out. The Strong hits give me 2 additional points of both spirit and supply recovery, but that does nothing for me in this case - I’m already maxed out. It’s a good problem to have.

I envision this as a pretty chill day spent around the town. Word gets out that I and Ismark and Ireena braved the Castle and returned alive and basically unharmed, which is pretty much unheard of in living memory when it comes to outsiders who decide to mix it up with the Baron. Ismark embellishes some of the heroics a bit, and the mood in the village lightens considerably during the day, especially when Gertruda and Mary are seen at the front door of their home. It’s just a generally upbeat day of smiles and nods and a lot of hopeful faces.

Brigitte will happily take it, though she turns down any offers of free dinner and bunks down in the chapel again, reasoning that right now it’s probably the safest place in town if Strahd decides to make a move. (Hooray for a high concentration of major holy artifacts.)

So. One good day. Let’s see if we can ruin it by asking awkward questions the next day.

“What can you tell me of a cult called the Qashida, shopkeep?” She asks, not so casually, the next morning.

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That’s a natural six on my action die, plus the bonus from my bond with the village. Hot dice tonight.

On a strong hit, +2 momentum (bringing me to 10), but more importantly the path I must follow is made clear.

I’m going to ask the oracle about the next step, because I’d like to see if it gives me an interesting twist.

image The shopkeep’s eyelids lower, and he shoots a glance at the door to the street, but the only people within earshot are Ismark and Ireena. He seems to relax.

image My first roll on the “Character Goals” oracle was “roll twice”, and I followed that up with Protect a Person, and Create and Items.

“They are sworn to the Count,” whispers the man, his lips barely moving beneath a bushy mustache. “Generations, they have been his willing lapdogs, as bad as the worst Vistani.” He spits to the side.

“Why?”

“Power, why else?” The man’s face looks sour. “The baron has been alive for centuries. The knowledge he has - the secrets he knows - they want them. Rumors say there is some unholy phylactery they would assemble, if only they possessed the final puzzle pieces. They think if they can keep the baron beholden to them long enough, they will have it.

The words chill me, because I think I know what it is the old man speaks of.

And I know now I must return to the castle as soon as I can.

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In Session 32 of the Ironsworn Ravenloft solo game, I was able to attempt to conclude my 3rd attempt to delve Castle Ravenloft, face and fight Strahd himself, and finally try to conclude the Epic-level vow to “Destroy the Devil Strahd and Free Barovia”… which I’d managed over 32 sessions to eke 6 complete boxes on.

This is concluding the Delve:

And this is the fight with Strahd and trying to complete the epic-level vow, back to back.

So… there was some shouting.

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