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The entrance to Marel's Holy Site.
Image — Dean Spencer

"Previously..." and Campaign/Arc Summary
The Stone Crack'd 11 - The Stone Healed

Clearing the Channel
Entering the Old Temple
A Return to the Bloody River
One Week Later
One Year Later

Doug's Commentary
Mechanical and Story Notes
Credits

Previously, on The Bloody Hands REBIRTH: The Stone Crack'd

Upon arriving at the chasm that houses the Marel family holy site, Arden and his team get into a fight with invaders not realizing the invaders were not human. Right at the edge of victory a second type of invader showed up — flying monstrosities who shoot bone shards from ruptures in their skin — and the team takes heavy damage. Luckily, groups of allies that Arden has been gathering were en route and able to help. Arden was forced to rest a night to heal up wounds, and Natalia was injured. The next morning, he finds the start of an army looking for a leader. Tamora Marel dubs him Stormcrow.

About The Bloody Hands Rebirth: The Stone Crack'd

The once great Khelia Empire has crumbled due to a long war between mages. Now, after five generations, the world is starting to rebuild. Arden Ulet leads his team - beast-master Jalmar Dax; Probationary Guardian and explosives expert Natalia Wilson; and the Scholar Izzia Kor - on an expedition across The Shallows, a vast plains long abandoned by the Arcane Order. Their goal is to find a magic site of potential once great power to help Arden to understand the lost ways of magic that the Arcane Order are working to stamp. Along the way, they encounter places of great power, ruined villages, long-term feuds, and other strange things.

Content Warning: Mostly fantasy violence with occasional dives into harder horror [including body horror and cannibalism]. Mild and infrequent substance use, often with a fantasy twist. This is a world where a lot of people suffered and died for many years even as it tries to rebuild itself.

This post is in the standard Doug Alone post style. See Anatomy of a Post for more details. The Image Oracles described in the post (gamemaster phases and mechanic notes, especially) are from the Guardians of the Shadow Realm one-sheet. They can be seen on the Tricube Image Oracles page.

Attribution for the tools and materials used—including the splash art—can be found in the Credits below along with some details.

The Stone Crack'd 11 — The Stone Healed

Setting the Scene. Clearing the Channel

The forward team pushes through the channel to get to the entrance to the holy site.

Will keep this pretty simple. The team needs a way into the chasm. They will use the ruins of the bridge where Cameron Tane's wagons were stalled at. They will make their way back north via boat. Archers will follow them on both sides to help keep enemy interference down.

There will be five segments. Will pull a card for each. A (Bad) answer of Yes = Easy combat. YES! = Standard combat. Essentially everything else means no combat to fight.

With each, I'll pull a card to see how much effort is needed per that fight.

[c78] NO!
[c5] Yes & 7 Effort
[c19] Yes & 4 Effort
[c47] Yes & 6 Effort
[c113] No

Heh, that's more fights than I thought, but now to make this fun.

Clearing the Channel

Cameron Tane — the old man that Arden had saved from combat the day before — ended up having a solution. "A bridge, about a mile and a half that way," pointing south, "I had some wagons get stuck because the bridge is falling into the water below. Then we heard the noises and most of my crew fled. Not Billy, though," and at this name, the old man seemed sad, "Billy stuck with me, and look where that got him. Throat slit and floating down there with their dirty dead. Bring his body back to me, I'll tend to it."

And thus Arden had hatched a plan. Make their way to this bridge. Natalia would make sure it finished collapsing in such a way they had a ramp down into the chasm. There, they could use a boat to come back north. All the while, the Jorn and Oster and Marel archers would keep overwatch from up above.

The morning was spent trying to turn the lumber taken from one of Marel's supply wagons into a reasonable boat. Unfortunately, it would be nearly impossible considering the circumstances and time restraint. They had to make due with just a few planks of wood used something like paddle boards. Each could only support one person at a time and even then they would have to balance carefully to not fall in. They can stay "dry" — if it wasn't already raining — but chances are that it will barely hold in a fight. They needed to go in light. Jalmar and Arden both stripped off their cloak and armor and have only their weapons and leather leggings on. Natalia worked down to just her under shirt and pants with her arms exposed. Lidia removed her armor and tore her undershirt into strips. Some she bound around her chest as sort of a makeshift bikini. Others she wove around the hilt of her sword so it was bound to her wrist even if she dropped it. [1]

With that prep, they made their way as fast as they could to the bridge. Natalia studied it for a bit and had to give some thought about the best way to bring it down. She finally worked out the math and a minute later tossed an explosive orb across the channel with ruptured the bridge with a loud roar and brought it down. The steady rain would help to drown out some of the noise, but no doubt the invaders are aware. [2]

At first the going was easy. Half a mile without any interference. As they got closer, though, the tide shifted. A large group of the aquatic invaders — the strange eldritch people Arden glimpsed swimming in The Bloody River — erupted all around them. Lidia laughed about the fish men and using her makeshift strap swung the sword around. She missed the first couple but a third lunged up to grab found his arms forcibly removed from the sheer power of her movements. One of the others made a grab for Lidia but Jalmar's arrow dropped it. Arden — trying not to think of the implication that the lightning bolt sigils have grown further up his arm, nearly to his elbow now — took time to think and pulled forth a lightning bolt down from the sky to strike in the middle of several of the figures trying to flank them to the left. For the ones on the right, Natalia sent a shockwave through the water and crushed them against the side. A loud cry from overhead as the people witnessing the fight cheer on the four heroes. [3]

Now, they pushing forward, leaving the dead floating behind them. The second wave is more of the flying devils. Jalmar refuses to give them time to unleash more of their bone-shard arrows and, albeit awkwardly, lets fly two arrows that both find their target. Natalia, remembering her gaffe yesterday, again builds up a ball of fire but this time times it to strike a flying demon before it can react. The last one is knocked down by a torrent of wind brought forth from Arden. The demon's body twists and snaps and falls. [4]

The final burst to try and stop the heroes happens a few minutes later. More aquatic invaders come up from underneath to pull the crew off their poor floats. Lidia lifts her sword up in the air and brings it down with force. The whiplash of the water snaps the neck of the creature directly below her. Jalmar tosses his bow aside and brings his axe to cut the arms off the creature approaching him. Natalia places both her hands under her raft and channels heat into the water sending out jets of superheated steam to wreck two more. As Arden pulls out his sword, he feels teeth bite into his ankle and pull him off his raft. He falls into the water. [5]

Jalmar shouts Arden's name and dives after the two remaining. The one stops to turn and finds Jalmar's axe embedded in its skull. Lidia, kicking down with powerful leg thrusts gets close to the one with Arden but finds herself unable to maneuver as the creature spins around and kicks her in the face with clawed feet. Arden takes advantage of this to twist and to stab deep into the creature's chest. Killing the last of the invaders who has not fled back inside the temple. [6]

Returning to the board and pulling himself back up as Jalmar retrieves his bow, they complete their trip to the front steps of the old temple. Now that the channel is secure and with the group on the ground providing cover, long ropes start dropping as other fighters and archers are able to descend without fear of sneak attack. [7]

Arden and his group do not have time to wait for the ground forces to regather, so they press on into the temple.

Setting the Scene. Entering the Old Temple

The group find the way into the temple is surprisingly unguarded.

Map by myself.
Image icons by Lorc of game-icons.net (cc-by)

That ended up being rough going:

Arden: 2 Resolve, 2 Karma
Jalmar: 3 Resolve, 4 Karma
Natalia: 2 Resolve, 2 Karma
Lidia: 2 Resolve, 1 Karma

Though they did not have time to regather their equipment, I will remove the "one shift" penalty since they are also not having to try and fight on badly made wide-plank rafts.

The above map was generated using Shadowdark's dice drop method though a couple of liberties were taken. The one group of NPCs became injured invaders (too injured to fight) while the other became prisoners. The "boss monster" is sort of split between two fights: one near the flame made up of many injured and weakened invaders and the other being a single enemy. The plan is to make the one Standard and 6 effort while the other is Easy and 10 effort (um, invert that).

Traps and such we'll figure out if they get to it.

As the main team clears space, the back-up will help to come in behind them and hold it. Essentially, we have a version of Death Armor turned back on. Fallen folks will be pulled out to get care via Tamora unless it goes really poorly. There is just too much support on the ground at this point.

Entering the Old Temple

"What we are looking for is a flame. A red so dark it looks black," Arden explains. "It is likely deadly for you to get near it and touch it, so that's my job. Got it?"

Jalmar, Natalia, and Lidia nod.

"At this point, use the bracelet. We'll coordinate with Izzia up top."

Arden then stops and tries to feel the correct path. They are in a water-ruined front room of the old temple. Old furniture and dressings have long decayed, leaving only fungus-wrapped stone with roots and vines pushing through cracks. The smell is strange. The invaders have warped this place. Their reality and this one clashing. Eating away at the structure like acid. In his head, Arden sees the group go off in two different directions. One to the right. One to the left. The one to the left ends up finding the flame faster, so he sends this image to the group and lets Jalmar take lead. [8]

The first thing they spot in the next room are a dozen invaders, aquatic and flying together. Half are dead. The other half were too injured and abandoned by their people. Arden stares down at them, thinking of Billy. Thinking of hundreds of others killed, often without remorse, by these creatures. In his heart, he is driven always too mercy. "What to do, old man?"

The others connected by the bracelet are surprised to hear a new voice, an old and kind voice, answer.

"They came here to destroy. They came here to maim. Still, they have no fight in them. Leave them, and let the others take them prisoner. Maybe we can learn something." [9]

Arden concedes the point and sends a mental thought to Izzia to direct some of the people outside to come and to start tying these invaders up. They will answer for their crimes, and if they agree to help the Khelian people, there might even be mercy.

Jalmar acts like he wants to protest but does not. He has aligned himself with Arden fully, now, and breaking rank will only weaken this new union.

The next obstacle is a door carved of stone and locked from within. Arden directs a thought to Natalia to blow it open. She steps forth and hits the lock in a vital spot, cracking through the frame and loosing the door. Lidia comes up and kicks the door hard enough it flies across the next room and shatters against the far wall. [10]

As Jalmar goes to enter the room, a large clawed hand scrapes the air inches from his face. One of the aquatic invaders, far too large to even pretend to be human, blocks their way. Jalmar steps back and pulls out his bow but Lidia seems to realize that the creature blocking the door will slow down the fight so she charges and throws herself like a battering ram at the beast. She knocks it fully back into the room and sends it tumbling. [11]

This helps the whole group to follow after it. Jalmar moves to the creature's right and starts firing arrows. One strikes it in the arm. Lidia, still laughing at her half-elf bowling ball trick, swings her sword heavily at the creature's legs. It gets its knees back but still stakes the tip of the sword in its shins and the sound of its bones crack. Natalia reaches her hands up and sends a shockwave into the ceiling above the creature. Chunks of the time-and-water damaged ceiling come down hard on top of the creature and bring it down to its knees, black blood pouring from its injuries. [12]

Lidia tries to take the initiative by running over to bring her sword down and finishing off the creature but it gets its uninjured arm up and strikes her in her unprotected stomach. She staggers back as her blue blood pours down her waist. Natalia, infuriated, turns her hand into a burning blade and slaps the creature with living fire. The flame burns through it and explodes out the back of its head, dropping it to the ground. [13]

Arden is on the eastern side of the room, facing a shimmering barrier. One last trick by the invaders to prevent him from getting to the black flame. He can feel there is a way to get through but despite his probing mind, is unable to find a way to dispel it. [14]

Lidia, perhaps embarrassed to be injured in the fight, walks forward and swings her sword full force to strike the barrier. Cracks crawl across it like glass and the otherworldly magic, meeting a completely different otherworldly magic, crumbles. The entire temple shakes from the force of the blow. [15]

Doing this unleashes a horde of the invaders from the other side, who charge in to fight.

Jalmar plants arrows in the first three through the door. The fourth is crushed by one of Lidia's fists. Arden pulls out his sword and takes down two more. A handful trying to run through the door are caught by large blasts of flames as Natalia sends out waves of fire. This final loss breaks their spirit. The remaining invaders turn and run back inside. [16]

Lidia laughs and kicks one of Jalmar's victims hard enough to splatters against the wall.

Arden takes a deep breath, and walks through the door.

Setting the Scene. A Return to the Bloody River

Arden has to go where the others cannot follow, only not exactly Arden.

Current counts:

Arden: 2 Resolve, 2 Karma
Jalmar: 3 Resolve, 4 Karma
Natalia: 2 Resolve, 2 Karma
Lidia: 1 Resolve, 2 Karma

I think we are probably about one roll away from finishing it though. This scene is practically a lore scene.

A Return to the Bloody River

Arden sits in front of a large brass bowl burning with a black flame. Despite his claims that is actually dark-red, the others cannot see it. In fact, the light from it seems so black that it makes their eyes water. A darkness just as blinding as any bright light.

He takes a breath and then the others witness a strange sight. A creature, pale with dark lines drawn upon it, crawls forth out of Arden. It is very much like Arden Ulet. It is also clearly one of the aquatic invaders. An otherworldly self. A bond across dimensions. This other-Arden stands and looks back at the others, then turns and walks into the black flame. The double-Arden energy shorts out the silver bracelets and makes them all swoon.

The others never other-Arden enter into the land of The Bloody River, that dark red realm where a forever flows. The birthplace of the strange aquatic invaders The Bloody Hand have aligned with. The source of the strange ichor used in The Hand's rituals. They never see the great vistas of dead plains and dead mounts. The giant red sun dying its last. They never sense the vast bone-white city that is miles below the surface of the river, where hundreds of trapped souls toil and dream of sunlight.

Nor do they see the hordes of invaders crawling out of the river and running towards other-Arden. Who stands at a swirling vortex of green light. Those that fled have brought forth a whole host of warriors who plan to smash through the flame and retake Marel's site.

In this way, only Arden is aware of his other-Self turning and pulling forth the black blade that is the ink-shadow of his own. And with it, slicing through the vortex. Cutting it in half as a great blast of energy rebounds and pours out. The invaders in the front are incinerated. Those further back are merely tossed in the air like sticks facing a tornado.

As for what happens next, not even Arden can see it.

What Jalmar, Natalia, and Lidia — those loyal companions — do see is Arden cry out as his sigils burn. Not silver this time, but black as the flame. New shapes and signs carve themselves into his skin. And they see him fall. Blood seeping from many pores. [17]

Setting the Scene. One Week Later

Arden has lost his connection to other places and has new powers he does not yet understand.

This one is very short and mostly sweet

One Week Later

Arden awakes to the smell of something burning. He opens his eyes and fights back the wave of weakness that washes over him. As his eyes focus, he realizes the source of the smell is Lidia. She has a white clay pipe clamped in her mouth and is smoking some strong and noisome tobacco in it. Arden tries to speak and finds his voice a mild croak.

Lidia jumps up and runs over to him. She leans in closely and checks him over. As he weakly smiles, she bends and kisses him on the lips and then laughs and runs outside to get the others, the ghost of her burley pipe smoke lingering behind. He notes the silver bracelets are gone. The psychic feedback burnt them out before the others could be caught up in it.

As he is sitting up, it is Tamora that enters. He sees her squinting in the light like he is hard to focus upon.

"I see you have finally come back to us, Stormcrow."

"Just Arden for now, please. How long was I out?"

"A week.'

This makes Arden cough and look around. Through the open shudder he can see the camp seems mostly empty. Perhaps they left after their new leader was knocked out for a whole week?

"Where is everyone?"

"Ah, asleep, of course. There are a few night guards. I'd have been in bed beside you if I hadn't been helping grandfather re-tune the stone."

"During the day?"

"What? It is almost midnight!"

Arden stares again outside and realizes he can see the stars like bright pinpoints of light. His eyes pierce the darkness like it is not there.

Mistaking his confusion, she walks over and sits next to him. Wraps her arms about him and pulls him back down into a resting position. She strokes his hair and tries to soothe him. "One more week for you, my patient. Though if you are awake, it might be more fun."

The next day he learns that even more soldiers have arrived, including a large group from Agthane. Some have dispersed to Uunne's Spring, Kalbarn Lake, and Hyrdale's new temple. Four holy sites won back from the forces of darkness. A new line drawing a mystical core to the Shallows. A start. As for Marel's old temple, the stone has been rebuilt from river rock and reshaped by craft folk from Jorn. Tamora and her grandfather have been blessing it. Already, the site feels less like a chasm full of murky water and now a holy spring flowing and eventually rejoining the River Lumin miles south. Spreading more good energy.

A few half-starved prisoners were found inside the temple. The invaders had been snatching people for weeks. Some no doubt being released after their soul had been replaced by one of the invader's own. Another problem for another day.

None of the captured invaders had cooperated and so they were sentenced to death. The people gathered around Arden's banner do not fault him for trying mercy. If anything, it defines the leader they are now behind.

Izzia is making plans to rejoin with Wren and to start strategizing other sites to take. Natalia and Lidia have stayed to take turns watching over Arden as he slept. Natalia has had trouble adjusting to her fame. Lidia has reveled in it. The pipe he glimpsed earlier was a gift she had gotten from one of Marel's many followers, one specializing in carving pipes out of hardened clay. Apparently she is building up quite a set.

Jalmar showed faith in the two younger women — and Tamora — by leaving them in charge of Arden as he went north to spend more time with Dylan at Oster's Gate. He said he was worried that invaders might find a way to come through but Arden does not need any visionary powers to know the older man needs to take a vacation from being a fussy uncle to the reckless Ulet family.

Over the next week, things are good. As the rainy season finally gives way and sunny days start to dominate, this will be one of many places for people to gather and feel hope.

Natalia and Lidia ask Arden's blessing to be wed. He laughs at this. He no longer feels like a Guardian telling a subordinate what to do. More like a big brother trying his best to work together. Danna performs the ceremony before heading back to Tyv. It is a lovely day with much wine and dancing and music. As Danna hugs Arden goodbye, she says it has made her miss Rishard.

Arden knows his time of rest is short. The loss of the other-Self is felt like a phantom in his soul.

"At least I still have you, old man."

"True, though it is a lot lonelier in here now. Different."

"Regretting tagging along?"

"Never, Stormcrow. Not one moment."

Setting the Scene. One Year Later

Arden has carried out a campaign for a year across the Shallows and into the Sundered Plains. Thousands follow him now, including some towns that have turned their back on the Order. Eschewing the towers for relearning their own magical ability. Still, one person dear to Arden's heart has been absent this whole time.

Has Ord and the cities around it followed Arden? (Even) → [c51] YES!

Has Narys and its old temples followed Arden? (Even) → [c56] No

Basinghall? (Even) → [c79] Yes

Has Josef and his family joined? (Good) → [c8] Yes

So, some known places like Fellig and Oakwood and the Ord folk have joined the cause. Basinghall and its goat-people neighbors have joined up. Not Narys. Too much old money, though I imagine a resistance is building there.

A young woman uses her magic to weave stone-skin over her arm.

Arcane Order Guardian Kate Corazon
Image © by Dean Spencer

One Year Later

Kate stands in her night clothes and pulls her thin shirt back to expose her left breast. Over it, a strange and complex sigil glows with a faint silver light upon her skin. It makes her feel warm to stroke across it with her finger tips. It makes her feel even warmer knowing it was a gift from Arden. Though with this warmth comes miles of heartbreak. The chance the two of them had has no doubt long since passed.

Cassandra said a scroll with instructions to apply the sigil were sent to her. Cassandra Ulet. Arden and Josef's younger sister. Until the letter, Kate has been sure neither of the brothers had understood how powerful Cassandra had become behind the scenes. How much she had been helping to lead the direction of Hub. Of course, leave it to a seer like Arden to know the truth. Including, perhaps, the truth that Kate had been Cassandra's watch-dog. First tasked with exposing Arden's reckless behavior. Later with helping it.

Now if only the damned fool had figured out how Kate had felt being torn between two Ulet siblings, it might have made her life different.

Kate had been near death with the letter arrived. Cassandra asked her if she wanted to go through it. What choice did she have? Death? Now, three weeks later, Kate can spend several hours out of bed. She does not feel whole, but she is improving.

Unfortunately, this means that she is well enough to face all the bad news head on. Matthew Calderon has been re-admitted into the higher echelons of the Order and a lot of Guardians and Mages are starting to follow behind him. Arden is technically to blame, though Kate knows they just wanted any excuse. Fellig and Oakwood recently turned off their resonant towers. When she first met Arden, he was helping the Ord folk to move into the Veil. Now he is helping the people to cast the Veil aside. The Ord Folk are rebirthing old magic at a steady pace. Leonardo Miller was reappointed Guardian by Calderon and sent to deal with it. He did not return. Dead? Joined with Arden? Who knows?

The other stories about Arden, many told to her by Cassandra, are just as strange. Joining with the goat people to take large areas of the Angor mountains. Being crowned a Lord in Agthane. People using the word "saint" and "stormcrow" to describe his march back and forth across the Shallows and past the Arch. Battles fought and nearly always won. People now fleeing Hub to join the cause. A new War with Arden on a side that no one quite understands. Calderon says he has given way to darkness. The talk among the taverns is that Arden is preparing to wage war against the Order. Still, many stories exist of people being fed, rebuilding. Coming out of the five generations into a new, brighter sixth. All behind the banner of a man who is said to be able to wield storms like a sword.

Even staunch Order loyalist Josef has gone south. Supposedly to be with their mom at the Ulet Lighthouse, but everyone knows he is back with his brother. Cassandra has managed to turn this into a sign of her own loyalty, the Ulet who stayed, but Kate thinks Cassandra is biding her time until she can return to her family.

Kate's thoughts are interrupted as she senses someone coming through the window behind her and turns, her other sigils flaring up and forming a rocky growth on her skin. Flint claws protruding. Only...

"Arden?!"

"Hello, Kate."

She is staring at the Stormcrow himself. No longer in Guardian uniform. Now in a black-and-green cloak of his own design. He looks much older than the last time she saw him. It has only been a bit over a year but his eyes tell the story of decades.

She is slightly confused when the next words he says are, "Yes, old man, this is that Kate. I know. Now shut up."

"Um, what..."

"Did the sigil work?," he asks, pointing to her chest. She just now realizes that her left hand is still holding back the night shirt, exposing herself, even as the right has turned into a weapon. A weapon she dispels as she lets the shirt close.

"It did. You made a new sigil for me?" She could do without the voice crack or the hopeful, lovesick sound of the question.

"Ah, no. Jonias did. My cousin. Though Izzia helped. It was an ordeal. Would you believe I had to win a chess match against a very old and very cranky dragon?"

She stares at him. More madness. Another wild story about the man she has loved for nearly three years though has always pushed away. Her poor heart, not yet fully healed, is doing its best to give way. Still, some of those mad stories have a darker tone.

"Take off your cloak and your shirt."

"Umm, Kate?"

"Do it, or I call for guards right now."

He looks at her, unsure what is happening. "There are a lot of scars, Kate."

"That is the sexiest thing any man or woman has ever said to me but still, do it or I call them right now." If the stories about Arden are true, it would take more than a few guards to push him away, but she hopes some of the stories are lies.

He starts to undress in front of her, not quite understanding. She walks forward to see him in the dim candlelight. Some of the rumors were that he had new sigils and Calderon has stoked fears that his are those of The Hand. Getting closer, she sees that the stories were half true. He does have new sigils. A lot of new sigils. More than most Senior Guardians could withstand and stand upright. And while many are deeply different than those of the Arcane Order, they are not of The Hand. These are new. Which is to say, they feel very, very old.

Arden was right, though. There are scars etched deeply into his skin. Many of the sigils have fused with them. So many battles. So many stories written on his very flesh.

She reaches out and lays her fingers on those lines. The hard muscles from months of always fighting. The cuts and the healing. As she realizes what she has done, she lets out a breath very nearly a sob. Three damned foolish years.

He reaches down and pulls up her nightshirt and the two fall into a kiss much longer and harder and with more feeling than either have experienced before.

Broken when they hear the sound of a giggle behind them. Kate pulls back, worried that her heart won't make it, and sees a strange sight. A very curvy blonde woman is hanging upside down from the window. The fact this woman has very long, pointed years adds to the strangeness. As does the fact that she is holding herself up with just a couple of fingers of her left hand like it takes little effort.

"Hey, Lidia, you are worse than the old man. I am fine. Can you give us some privacy?"

With a laugh, the blonde woman swings out and drops into space. Over four stories of it.

"Is she going to be ok?"

"Two weeks ago, Lidia arm wrestled a mountain giant. And won. The giant proposed. She said no."

"Arden, why in all the hells are you here?"

"Because I love you."

Now Kate sobs for real. Imagine if she had taken his invitation to stay back in Fellig? Or any of the times since? What if they had just been a couple and done normal stuff. Before her heart started to fail. Before he went off into the wild and became a legend.

"Come with us, Kate. For real this time. It won't be easy. It would will, in fact, be quite hard, but I have spent so many days thinking of how to get back to you and there are so many things that are hard to explain but I have loved you for years and that I had to take the chance, that I had to mmphh..."

Kate has pulled him down and once again they are kissing. Then, with self-control, she pushes him away. "I need to get dressed and pack some things. Also, I need to write a letter of resignation."

The next morning, Cassandra walks into Kate's bedroom to see how the healing is going. Only instead of her most loyal servant, she finds a note in Kate's unused bed. It reads, "Thank you Cass. I am going out. You likely know why. I love you and hope to see you again some day."

Underneath, Kate has drawn a lightning bolt and a lighthouse.

Cassandra tsks and then smiles broadly.

She goes to instruct her staff to pack. The Ulet Lighthouse surely needs better management.

DOUG'S COMMENTARY

January 26, 2025

Played on January 26, 2025...though the map was made on January 25.

The vibe was a bit weird to start with this one. Real world energies creeping through, mostly. As much as I love gauntlets and quick riffs in my solo play, a series of battles is my least favorite content. I probably should have set up more varied tasks as they made their way through the channel, especially once the oracle got mad at the original boat idea. Trying to get myself back into a happier headspace is the reason I swung stuff to the more energetic and positive and personal once they got to the black flame. Which is fine. It's my game, it's ok if just ends with some light fun. Especially in this series. There has been a tradition with The Bloody Hands endings to swing a bit sappy. Originally it was just a nod to the series' start as a police-procedural-thriller set in an odd mythical — and post-apocalyptic — Victorian England analog. A lot of those shows throw in a gag or family moment to soften the fact you have been watching a murder mystery. This series had the same vibe. People tended to come together at the end, unless those two people were Arden and Kate.

Kate showed up in the second session. Initially a Crafty Something that Somethings but Somethings (I forget and I could look it up but since she is now shifted to a Brawny type fighter who is more blunt with her tactics, it wouldn't mean much). She was pitched in my head as a kind of anti-Arden. Working for someone to keep tabs on him. By the end of that session, she had actually warmed up to him quite a lot and got brought back in the background of episodes three and four as a person running damage control to protect Arden as Matthew Calderon was trying to pin the blame of recent Order failures on Arden's back.

Calderon made a much better anti-Arden. Another Crafty Seer but one who was stronger than Arden. Only Arden is Arden and punches up with gleeful abandon.

This series has a canon so soft it makes Doctor Who — a major inspiration for its vibe and some of its story beats — look hard baked. A good example of that is the timeline. I think even at the start of The Stone Crack'd I tried working it out as just months since the first incident in Yarlkin. Over the course of this arc, though, it didn't really make sense. Natalia has new sigils she has grown powerful in using. That takes months of attuning. She has also passed early Guardian training to be at the cusp of being made a Junior Guardian. That likely would take months before she even got the sigils. I decided to say screw it and just say it has been three or so years with several adventures between Kate and Arden in-between, so much so that the story of The Late Returners was a repeat for them. There had been multiple incidents of the two of them failing to communicate. We know Kate was pushing to keep it professional but also quick to accept his invitations. The funny thing is that Kate had largely not shown up because oracles kept saying no.

Natalia Wilson got introduced partially because there was a gap in the squad and I thought Kate made sense but the dice didn't like it. I made a new character from dice rolls. Originally Natalia had a side story that she was trying to find her family lore, some ancient mage-king crown. That has never resurfaced but maybe it can show up. While I had fun imagining a possible love story between Arden and Kate, with Natalia it was...I don't know what the word would be. A squish? She had deep feelings for Arden but not romantic. More like she kept seeing him and Jalmar as older brothers she wanted to adopt her. At that time, Jalmar was a bit more of a wild-man (and a literal wild-kin, the world's take on elves before elves and goblins got removed around REBIRTH) and a bit sillier. He later got more mentally melded, by me, into the old version of him plus Prenty who was the cranky older uncle type.

The person that intended for a minute to be Kate's true master was going to be Arden's mom. In fact, it was Arden's mom until I started writing that final scene and Cassandra got created whole cloth. I just liked the idea of taking Josef Ulet's stern rules-following and Arden Ulet's rules-breaking and mashing them up. A younger sister who has quickly climbed the ranks by combining both. Someone who might have first slightly spited Arden "The Black Sheep" Ulet but quickly changed her mind while keeping tabs on him. Some of her assigning Kate to the role of watch dog would very much have been her trying to give her brother and her loyal follower a chance to talk. Which they never really did, even after spending a week together at the end of The Late Returners.

The Ulet Lighthouse was introduced at the end of Sink or Swim. There was an OG part 7 that was going into involve a kind of proto-Stone Crack'd where Arden and Jalmar travel through the wasteland that became The Shallows and made their way to the Ulet research center where the resonant towers were first created before shifting to Hub to improve and implement them. At that time, the world was much more apocalyptic. Burned out cities. Zombies. Dark beasts. It was coming up with some early ideas for that story that made me realize that it and Bleak + Pearl were too similar and so B+P got more strange while The Bloody Hands got REBIRTH. Had it happened then, I had plans to bring in other characters from B+P as part of that crew. So Jonias Ulet has been waiting in the wings for a long time. Almost 6 months of real time as of finishing this up.

By the way, before the scenes with Tamora, I already had the idea of a scene where a world weary Arden shows up and just admits his feelings to Kate. It played out similar as it does here but there are differences. For one, it was planned as a kind of start to the next arc. Now, it is a year later and essentially the next two to three arcs worth of content have already happened off screen. Tamora and Arden have had a life together for at least part of it which makes me want to ask: Do Arden and Tamora have a child together? Let's just put it to the oracles? (Even) → [c28] YES! Wow, that's emphatic. Twins? I like twins. Twins who maybe have aspects of Arden's powers now that his sigils have been more woven into his very soul after the backlash.

This will add some potential complications to future arcs but I like the challenge.

A slightly minor change is that I am dropping all the of the "Arden has to spend Resolve to use his weather magic" stuff. In fact, that sigil is growing to be his dominate one. Hence the Stormcrow name. One major change for The Bloody Hands is that Arden has lost his other-Self. This means the chief mechanic of The Stone Crack'd will be done with. He is no longer able to fling himself into the vision realms, even if he still has seer powers. I did it for a couple of a reasons. Mainly it is just that I have now quite deeply explored that mechanic. Kalbarn-Karn, Hydale, Uune, etc. We have seen vision-walk Arden multiple times. I want him to now focus on being a character who works as a team, not one who leaps into wells by himself. A promise to Jalmar, if you will. Other-Arden is still out there, still fighting on the other side. Eventually they might meet again.

A couple of bits got cut at the end as unnecessary despite being still true (minus the whole "twins" thing that showed up just now in the aftermath of the scene). Arden's eyes are now dark green and have stars floating in them. His vision powers, and night vision, are ingrained rather than the byproduct of sigils. His storm sigil, the three lightning bolts, have now grown all the way down his left arm and encircle his heart in the icon of a storm. Natalia and Lidia have adopted Cal — the resurrection of Kalbarn-Karn. Funnily enough, despite it being really obvious that Lidia and Natalia were love-at-first sight types, I tried to keep their relationship vague for half a minute. Then went, "nah." They now fully do cute couple things like getting into fights with mountain giants.

Lidia and Tamora both smokes a pipe as kind of a signature of their character. Tamora smokes exotic herbs in hers. Lidia smokes thick burley tobaccos. She is an extremely womanly character it just seemed fun to picture her with a workman's pipe and strong tobacco. Sort of like the way she is very "girly" and snuggly but also punts bad guys gleefully. I love her. I love them all, really. Her pipe became meerschaum, by the way, because I pictured the Marel's as a Turkish family — at least the Khelian analog — and I love meerschaum pipes.

MECHANICAL AND STORY NOTES

How good of a boat can they make? (Even) → [c46] NO! Oh, never mind on that idea, then. The team will have to go in lighter and a bit awkwardly. Fights will go back up to Standard+ difficulty.
Standard Crafty. Has to spend one Karma versus her Sapper to get it. Down to 3 Karma. Rain = [c64] 6. Not as bad as yesterday but quite a decent amount still.
Lidia spends one Karma versus her Fighter to get one hit (down to 2 Karma). Jalmar gets one hit. Arden spends one Karma (down to 3) versus his strategic planning to get three hits. Natalia gets two. This clears the first wave.
Jalmar gets two successes. Natalia gets one. Arden gets one with another Karma spent. No good way for Lidia to join this fight.
Lidia has to spend another Karma vs Fighter to get one (down to 1). Jalmar gets one vs Brawny. Natalia gets two successes. Arden gets none and takes 1 Resolve damage (down to 2).
Jalmar gets 1. Lidia takes a point of resolve (down to 2). Arden has to spend another Karma (down to 2) to finish off the one holding him.
Can Jalmar retrieve his bow? (Even) → [c99] Yes.
Standard Crafty. He gets one success.
Hyrdale's response is [c4] ᛟ (Othala): Birthright/Home. Inheritance, spiritual heritage, fundamental rights, source of safety, the most important thing. In this case, the most important thing is for Arden to not become a ruthless killer. The ancient saints have been pulled to him for always finding a correct path.
Standard Crafty. She gets one success. Lidia's actions are just flourish and do not need a roll.
Not precisely a combat move, she ups the challenge to Hard Brawny against her Quirk of being uncautious. She lands the hit and banks the Karma. She is back up to 2.
Jalmar gets 1 success versus Standard Agile. Lidia gets 1 success versus Standard Brawny. Natalia gets 2 successes versus standard Crafty. Arden is pre-occupied.
Lidia gets no successes and takes one Resolve (down to 1). Natalia gets two successes and finishes it.
(3+1)D6 to determine what is needed to get past. Standard Brawny + Crafty. Arden misses.
Lidia gets one success. Might as well make it dramatic.
Jalmar gets 3 successes. Lidia gets 1. Natalia gets three. Arden gets 2. Morale is not in this game but it feels like seeing 80% of your number cut down immediately might shake you up.
Hard Crafty for Arden to resist the feedback. No success. He is essentially going down to 0 Resolve and will be out for a while.

CREDITS

The absolute core of The Bloody Hands REBIRTH: The Stone Crack'd remains Richard Woolcock's Tricube Tales one-sheet: Guardians of the Shadow Frontier. The in-game terms "Khelia," "Guardians," and "Arcane Order" are all derived from the initial one-sheet. Most have changed greatly since their introduction and several related phrases are creations by myself.

The Bloody Hands, as a whole, is a series of exploration with one of the things explored being various solo framework. It started using Tricubes Solo (also by Richard Woolcock), switched to Mythic (by Tana Pigeon), and at this stage is using Gamemaster Apprentice Decks (by Nathan Rockwood). Elements from both previous solo frameworks remain in the series.

Other sources used include:

Zach Best's Universal NPC Emulator.
Cesar Capacle's Random Realities
Kevin Crawford's {Worlds | Ashes} Without Number as well as Scarlet Heroes
Matt (& Erin) Davis's Great Book of Random Tables, Book of Random Tables: Dungeon, and Great Book of Random Tables: Quests [with potentially some others, but especially those three]
Madeline Hale's Table Fables 1 and Table Fables 2
Ben Milton's Knave
Raging Swan Press: Various tools from the GM Miscellany series.

ART CREDIT AND EXPLANATION

While the Marel temple was kind of just a flavorful stand-in, the picture of Kate was a happy find. Around the time I was trying to find someone to represent Izzia, I started looking for Kate. The person with the red hair, glaring eyes, and stone skin was perfect. I've had a lot of fun working out Arden's weather magic and Natalia's boomer mage side. Having another mage who specializes in turning parts of herself into rock so she can hit harder is a fun twist that came out of finding the art.

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The Bloody Hands REBIRTH: The Stone Crack'd 11 - The Stone Heal'd [FINALE] [Tricube Tales] [Gamemaster Apprentice Deck]