The Bloody Hands [Tricube Solo] Episode 6: Sink or Swim, Part 2

Arden hears Natalia gasp and can imagine what is going through her mind. Even serving the Order on missions with Arden, she has largely gone from Veil to Veil, rarely lingering outside. Sometimes seeing the worst. She has discussed the Outside only as rubble and collapse though Arden knows this belief will fade in time. How could the diaspora of the Old Empire survive if everything was forever wiped out as fast as we could build it? How could the researchers at Hub have lived long enough during those Five Generations to make the towers? To start the Veil? 

No, there are places in the Outside that have held on. Some have thrived. Basinghall is one of those places. 

Franco steers the boat through the outer gate and inside they see the town proper, the aftermath of the passing storm evident as water drips from gutters and against stones. Lights on are. Houses have been rebuilt. A few shouts can be heard here or there from various buildings but they are happy shouts. At least not panicked.

Arden looks back and forth, expecting a group of strangers to get some attention but there are very few people out on the streets and most of those fade by without saying much. People going from light to light, just like Natalia. Only the walls are much smaller, here. He is a bit surprised to see no guards aiming crossbows at them, coming out to find out who they are. Either those guards are better hidden than most chose to be or something is getting people's attention. 

Arden leads his team up stone steps into a street proper. He tells Franco to keep watch on the boat. Oke, Jalmar's turtle-croc swims lazily in the water. Playing like a river otter but also guarding the boat. [1] Arden tries to look both serious but also absolutely nothing like a threat. Basinghall is outside Order territory and this is technically an ambassador meeting. 

"I will try talking to the mayor," Arden begins, discussing plans, "You two can work with Franco to find..."

What he was going to say next is interrupted by the shout of a young girl who suddenly appears before them on a street. Behind her, an older man wearing hunting gear is trying his best to keep up. The girl is not fleeing, though. She is clearly chasing a small orange cat who is scurrying from her in a game. "Rust Bucket," the little girl shouts, "come back!" while the man behind just says the name "Jules!" 

The cat, seeing the trio coming up the street (one of his having Ruk, a raven hawk, on his shoulders) skips to the side and beings a furious climb and hop up trash and works towards the rough as the little girl shouts even shriller and some folks begin peering through the windows. 

Natalia dashes forward and grabs a drain pipe and swings herself up to the edge of a roof before hoisting herself over it. She can be heard making gentle cooing sounds. Arden holds Jalmar back. Lets the Guardian in Potential follow her natural urge to help a person in need, even when the danger is minor. He will have to talk to her about being careful with other people's property, though. That roof looked like it was prone to collapse as she ran across it. 

A few seconds later Natalia slides down and lands a bit awkwardly on her feet, bringing only a few shingles down beside her. The cat, Rust Bucket, is her arms and she goes down on one knee to show the girl she means no threat as she hands the cat back over. [2]

The man introduces himself as Raymond Quintesia. He is a hunter hired by town of Basinghall to split his time between gathering food outside of the main wall and to also serve as guard when not hunting. Tonight was a rare night off so he was taking his daughter, Jules, and their cat out to enjoy the quiet. Rust Bucket had gotten out of his daughter's hands and ran off into the night and Jules was afraid he'd be lost and get out past the wall where Daddy says they must not go.

"He is a very silly cat," Jules says, holding the young tom close.

"If you do not mind me asking," Arden says, to Raymond, "Where are the people? I see no guards. Three strangers are walking the street and you are the first people we meet." 

"Ah, about that," the older man returns, "You may have showed up at a bit of a rough time." 

There is a crowd at the Poisoned Prisoner. [3] A tavern of old brick showing new construction to toughen it up and make it more secure. Inside, a gathering of townsfolk and outsiders are sitting around listening to a short, sweaty man speak.

"The Order clearly does not wish to help us. I was there when Guillarme fell. You know who was not there..." a dramatic pause for effect as the man looks around the room, "the Order!" People nearby, the ones more closely dressed like the speaker, try to lead a cheer though the crowd is taken time to warm up. [4]

"This so called Veil? It cannot destroy darkness! How can light or darkness be destroyed. No. This is Order lies. It can be merely moved. And every time one of their so called Veils goes up. Every time one of those little bubbles swells, it pushes the darkness back against the rest of us!"

"THE DARKNESS IS NOT LIKE WATER!" Shouts Arden from the back of the room, where he and the others have entered while all eyes are on the speaker. "You do not shove it aside and make waves. It is a living, breathing thing and it can be starved. Trust me, I know."

People turn and there are some gasps. Arden is in his Guardian uniform, the mystic sigils that power the Guardians clearly marked on his arms and neck. Not glowing. Not active, but there. The Guardians and their Retainers are living weapons against Darkness. Even this deep into the Frontier, the Order carries some weight. It is just not know what kind of weight it might be. 

The man up front pales and shakes and sweats more and after a glance of some those standing closest to him, and some prodding for these silent partners, points to Arden, "Ah, look what we have. A lapdog of the Order. Sent to silence me because I am too close to the truth. WE..." a hand gesture trying to lay a blame at the feet of everyone present even though many were brought here by the offer of free drinks, "are too close to the truth."

"You are not close to the truth and I am sorry to say that I did not know you," Arden making it clear he means only the speaker, "even existed until this minute but I am willing to talk and discuss if you wish." This only seemingly angers the man and some others at the front of the room. "We are here to find out why one of our ships did not land and begin work that was promised."

"Exactly! You said you would bring one of your so called towers to Basinghall but the people here are too smart to fall for your tricks so you scuttled your own ship rather than let them see how febrile your promises are! A madman's dream."

"Over a dozen of our people are presumed dead while you sit here and slander them. The promised equipment is still there and I am looking for folks who can bring it into Basinghall where it can be kept safe until it is installed. That and time to find out what happened to our people! The Order will pay those who help. I will pay those who help." 

"WHAT ABOUT GUILLARME'S PEOPLE!!" shouts another person up front, near the main speaker. 

This does seem to catch the Basinghall crowd's attention. More are nodding now. 

"I heard about Guillarme. How it was torn apart. I do not know if we could have gotten there in time. I wish I..." 

"Well, where were you, then? Convenient you show up now!" Another voice, one of the folks at the front of the room. 

"He saved so many people...Guardian Ulet. He was trying to stop people from attacking refugees...they were being blamed... he saved..." This is Natalia, speaking up for the first time, not paying attention to some of the gasps that go around the room at her explanation. [5]

Arden turns to her and smiles. "We. We saved dozens of people. It is what we do. Do not worry about the Order, worry about the three of us in front of you, now. Trust me when I say there is a... foe... that was there out west. That is nearby. And that might have been in Guillarme. That is what I am here, for, to stop them from spreading." [6]

The crowd starts dispersing and some of the men who work riverboats come up to talk to Arden and his crew about possibly making a run in the morning to the get the equipment. The man who was speaking out against the Order is in a huddle with some others and Arden can tell it might mean trouble.

"His name is Ormand Jenz. Six months ago he and those came up with a caravan of supplies and refugees and begged to be let in. Bribed some folks with money and rare trinkets," Raymond explains. "Bought this place out his people helped rebuild it. Runs it as a place where the Gillies can have a place to themselves but it slowly is picking up some traffic. He can be dangerous. He clearly blames folks like you for what happened out East and is afraid it will happen again."

"Duly noted," Arden replies after securing a couple of boats to join Franco. "However, we cannot divert for long to handle this. We need to find those missing people. Senior Retainer Jalmar will need to track where they were taken. Raymond, can you help?"

The hunter agrees to help and the two men head out. Natalia and Arden will stay at Raymond's place and watch Jules for the night. Jules and Rust Bucket, who has taken a liking to the pair of them.

Franco drops Jalmar and Raymond off at the wreck of the Vainglorious Shard and the two go stealthily deeper into the woods. Neither talk but fall back on ancient gestures that have long been used by hunters since before The Five Generations. Both men have eyes long trained by hours in the night and function well enough without a lantern or torch to possibly give themselves away. 

Overhead, Ruk the raven-hawk and Kif the monkey-dog keep an over watch. Ruk in the skies and Kif leaping effortlessly from tree to tree. 

The silence is only broken by Jalmar when he returns to the bridge. "How in Dark Hells do we cross this?" 

Raymond has spent some time telling Jalmar about the ravines and gorges in this region. Some old mappers referred to this as the cracked land. The sundered place. Some believe that it was the result of some ancient magic war, possibly between the gods, that shattered the soil. Others believe it is more natural. Due to the rain and rivers of the region. Raymond believes it is somewhere in between. He is more concerned about the danger. 

"Some are big and deadly to fall down. Some are small and catch you off guard. All hunters around here know to walk carefully and map out the damnable cracks as best they can."

To answer the more immediate question Raymond goes up and starts exploring the rickety rope bridge before he begins laughing. He pulls out a knife and makes some deep slices along the rope. Jalmar is confused until he can see metal glinting in the moonlight.

"The bastards had us fooled."

The so-called rickety bridge is a sham. The rope is wound around metal cord and the sagging wood is actually quite strong and stained to look old and cracked.

They carry on past that and make their way to what was one of many of Lord Basing's many fruit orchard. Long gone to wild and seed.

Not far beyond they find a primitive village made of tree limbs, animal skins, and rocks. A ramshackle place clearly made by those who move about rather than settle down. As the sun is rising, only a few folks are spotted, and Jalmar sees men in black armor essentially herding them around. Whoever these people are, they are not in control of their own destiny. The ones not in the armor are somewhere on the way to becoming Wildkin. Shorter. Almost goatlike. [7]

Before the light exposes them, Jalmar quickly heads down to the broken tents and tries to find any evidence that the missing Order personnel are there. He looks back towards Raymond and shakes his head. Shrugs? There are very few people here at all. [8]

Raymond points at a couple of these semi-Wildkin being led up a path by the men in black armor. The two follow. After passing through another wild orchard they come to the top of a massive cliff, the earth giving away on the other side and falling away to the west. Arden gasps at what else they see.

"We are going to need Arden for this." 

On the edge of that cliff, a cracked stone structure juts out and the people they have been following have gone inside. Strange statues of misshapen creatures are cracked and broken along the steps, or perhaps misshapen creatures have been turned to stone. And there, in front, a strange twisted humanoid in blood red robes stands watch. 

The morning sun comes up over the town and folks begin to enter into the streets again. The rain still pools on some of the cobblestones. The smell of last night's storm still feeling fresh. Natalia and Jules walk along and the Guardian in Potential nods at people. Their mood is cold, almost confrontational, but she does not let it break her stride. A few days ago she might have taken the same stance against an Outsider. She better understands some of the things that Arden was trying to tell her about life Outside, now. Why the Order is needed even in places it cannot yet reach. And not merely just to expand the Veil and the New Empire. [9]

Holding the young girl's hand, Natalia notices how Basinghall is actually holding up. The walls are dirty and cracked, but they remain. The roofs are warped, but the people stay dry. She would not like being in a place like this along the Frontier, but she appreciates that this is humanity surviving after generations of being under fire. Hub and Khalid City, especially Khalid City, act that they are islands of civilization in a sea of chaos. They ignore the strength and beauty outside those fragile "bubbles" that make such arrogance possible.

She does not have long to deal with these thoughts, though, because Natalia has a plan. Her drive and interest in becoming a Guardian has grown but with that she needs to get back to basics. Natalia Wilson. Guardian in Potential. Not even ranked Junior Retainer yet but she is a person good at blowing things up. She will serve the Order. She will uphold the standards of the Guardians. But she will do it her way. 

So she heads back to the Poisoned Prisoner where Ormand Jenz decried the entire Order last night. Maybe some friendly Guardian outreach is needed. She wants to see if she can buy a few barrels of their roughest rotgut. That should make a decent enough explosion assuming one is needed.

No one answers at the door. She knocks again and waits. Still no answer. 

"Wait here, Love," she says to Jules as she heads around a small alley a few feet down and goes around back to see if there are living quarters back there. Behind the Poisoned Prisoner there is a small courtyard stacked up with boxes and barrels. A lot of boxes and barrels. A lot of locked doors with heavy locks clearly visible. A lot of shuttered windows. A sense that something might be wrong flits through her mind but she pushes it down. "Now, now, these are people not monsters." 

A few small apartments are visible around the hidden square. Jenz has turned the old tavern into a haven for his people. Or perhaps, based on Raymond was saying the night before, Jenz's people have turned their haven into a tavern with Jenz set up to be something of a face. As outsiders, it makes sense they would take security a bit more seriously.

Her curiosity gets the better of her and she starts poking around the barrels, trying to figure what sort of things might stored here when she feels a knife against her back. Hands up, she slightly turns her head and catches, from the corner of her eye, the face of the man who was screaming about Guillarme the night before. 

"I knew you Order dogs were not done trying to destroy us." [10]

MECHANICAL NOTES

1. Early on there was time taken to name Jalmar's three beasts and since then it has generally just been kept as "monkey dog," "raven hawk," and "turtle croc." However, we'll go for Kif, Ruk, and Oke respectively. All simple names that can be barked in a hurry when Jalmar needs.
2. 3 of clubs. A scene about a task. Queen of Diamonds. Good for Natalia's plot about trying to become a guardian. 3 of Hearts. A Standard Agile Task. Natalia passes (with one Karma spent). This scene is partially her getting to grips that people can live outside of the Veil and that her hard line distinction between the two is not actually useful. 
3. Name from 3,5 (Fantasy Twist) --> Person in chains + 4,4 (Horror Twist) --> Poison
4. Scene: Joker into Ace for major twist with new person and a roll on the twist table. New person is going to be Ormand Janz (lazy, inept), a refugee from Guillarme, currently running the rebuilt Poisoned Prisoner. The twist is that he is paying people to try and form a mercenary group and opposed the Order, who he believes is trying to destroy towns that are not joining the New Empire. Actual scene is King of Clubs --> Bad for solving the mystery since it is turning the tide against Arden and 8 of Spades for an easy crafty challenge (with maybe a flavor of conflict). How many are agreeing? Another Ace --> 2 (negative). Their refugee status will resonate. However, the number is only 2 of Diamonds, so not very many are fully on board.
5. "What was Arden doing before this?" Complex oracle 6, 6 --> Vengeance and 3, 2 --> Deception.
6. Arden got a success on the challenge but just a regular one so they have bought some time but not a complete victory.
7. Rolled twice on the rural settlement table and its people and got "Nomadic" and "Oppressed."
8. This scene is about relationships (8 of Hearts) and requires a Hard Agile (4 of Diamonds) roll. I went with the relationship being with how Raymond and Jalmar work together. Jalmar made the roll with some to spare so is quite able to get past the bridge and approach the village. I asked "Are the people there?" and got another Joker into "New Location" and then a 2 of Clubs so not in the least. The New location is "Ancient Temple" and "Ravine/Cliff". 
9. A little bit awkward but the nature of the playthrough up to now means that scenes have popped off quite quickly. I wanted to give at least one nod to some side stories since that is a mark of this series. So, around the time that Jalmar and Raymond are seeing the The Hand in person, dawn is breaking back at Basinghall and the other members of the team are getting to work on the main mission. "How are people reacting to the Guardians the next morning?" 5 of Spades. Not super great but maybe not quite hostile. Some degree of conflict is brewing, though. 
10. Her side task was 2 of Hearts --> Easy Agile. She missed. So not only does fail to get the barrels but has been somewhat exposed. A valuable lesson about trusting folks who openly claim to be hostile against you, perhaps.

DOUG'S NOTES

It is an odd aspect of this series in which the main bad guys have basically never shown up. Oracle checks, "are the bloody hands here in person" have tended to be "no". "No, And!" even. There was one spotted towards the end of Episode One (another strange cloaked figure who seemed to be tending an ancient shrine) and Arden witnessed *some thing* at the end of Episode Four but that was "wax figures" of the victims coming forth to take the place of the people pulled into that strange river. The general explanation is that the Veil disrupts and destroys whatever The Blood Hands are. More than it impacts the various people and creatures and monstrosities of the dark. 

The general story is that these otherworlders have been on this world for a long time perhaps lived somewhat peacefully (or were perhaps tied up in old fairy tales, etc) but with Hub's Veil technology, they are striking back. Maybe they are doing it to protect themselves. Maybe they like feeding on people. I don't yet know. 

But maybe we are getting close to finding out.

Guillarme was 100% just an adlib. I had the idea of a town that had been recently destroyed as a point of contention (either pressure to follow the Order or used against the Order). In this case, the double negative shifts felt like it should be more that people feel the Order betrayed Guillarme but maybe there is something else at play there, something that needs to be explored.

As for the ravines and the "sundered cracks" bit I had gotten two large ravine type rolls in a short time so it seems kind of significant. 

The final bit is part of two side scenes that ended up growing bigger. I compressed Natalia's just a bit so that we could make it more dramatic. Cliff hangers are cool, right? ;) 

CREDITS and RESOURCES

The game used is Tricube Tales: "Guardians of the Shadow Frontier" and Tricubes Solo. There is very little additional content used but in principle two additional resources are

• Random Realities by Cezar Capacle
• Rory's Story Cubes

The art comes from the base game, from Pixabay, and is generated from Chat GPT4o/Dall-E. Additional edits and tweaks are made by myself.