Ironsworn RPG is a TTRPG developed by Shawn Tomkin. In this actual play, we follow Jaggar Kova on his adventures in the Ironlands. If you want to catch up with the story so far, you can find Session 1 here, and if you'd like to see how we built the character, you can check out Session 0 part 1 and part 2.
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Jaggar controlled his urge to spring into action, and questioned when he had developed this propensity for rash behavior. He made a mental note to mull this over when he had a moment of peace. Instead of charging headlong into the fray, he crept as quietly as he could through the dark pine-wood and positioned himself behind the Stonetower scouts. He flexed his fingers around the hilt of his sword, and gauged the situation. The axe-wielding scout was a few steps ahead of his companion, and he could now hear the man demanding information from Tayyah. The light of the flowers glinted off the polished wood of her mask, the visage of a fierce owl stared back at the scouts from beneath her hood. The other scout stood closer to Jaggar, and he decided to strike there first.
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The first scout fell quickly, with Jaggar’s blade through the back of his neck. The dead man fell forward, knocking his companion off balance. Jaggar struck again, but the scout managed to turn and just barely catch the incoming sword on the head of his axe. They traded quick blows, and the scout managed to slash Jaggar’s forearm, leaving a shallow but painful gash. Jaggar dodged the next blow, slipping behind the scout and bringing the pommel of his sword down hard on the back of his head. The scout yelped, and fell to the ground. Jaggar was on him in an instant, driving his fist into the man’s temple. Certain the scout was now unconscious, Jaggar rose and sheathed his sword.
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“Ironlander,” the Seer’s voice was quiet, but rich and clear. “You need not have slain these men.”
“Only one of them is dead,” Jaggar replied, recalling that the Seer disdained the taking of life and wondering if his actions might garner the woman’s ire.
“Why have you come to my home?”
“I had hoped to catch you before you reached the Honorwood. But you move quickly. I come with a request from my chieftain.”
“You are the one who rescued her.” Tayyah spoke as if she was intimately familiar with the events up north. “And you have a document you wish for me to interpret.”
“Yes,” Jaggar answered, unable to hide his awe at her ability to know.
“Give it to me.”
Jaggar pulled the leatherbound journal from his satchel and passed it over to the owl-masked woman. She flipped through the pages, her expression inscrutable behind the pine wood mask. Tayyah stood for a long moment, scanning page after page until Jaggar thought she might not be able to read it after all.
“This journal. You took it from the caverns north of the place your folk call Stonetower. It belongs to a member of an ancient order calling themselves the Magisters. This book goes back many generations, to a time long before your kind sailed to these lands.”
“Who is this Magister?”
“The current one calls himself Erunu. In the language of my people this means avenger. I taste the tang of dark magics in your aura, Jaggar of Olgar’s Stand. You encountered the ritual contained within this book, yes?”
“We did. They killed many of their own warriors and even their leader.”
“I have heard of this ritual before. It is a powerful spell of disarming. The caster uses the blood of the people they wish to disarm to cast the spell. Any who enter, or are inside of, the casting rune will find their weapons melting in their hands.”
“That’s what they have planned for my people?”
“I cannot say. The capture of your chieftain suggests that it was this Erunu’s intention. The spell is far more powerful with the blood of a leader. You may have saved your people more than you know by rescuing your chieftain.”
“Is there any more you can tell me?”
“Only that you must return quickly. Your foes are already at work against you.”
Jaggar was about to say something else, but the light of the flowers dimmed and flickered out. Another bush lit up several feet away and he realized Tayyah was nowhere to be seen. Hefting the unconscious scout, he followed the trail of glowing flowers back out of the forest and returned to Olgar’s Stand.
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The village was lit by torches and oil lanterns, a radiant beacon in the darkness of the night. Jaggar walked beneath the ancient gate and called to the nearby sentries to help him with his burden. Leaving the unconscious scout with the sentries, Jaggar moved quickly to the longhouse and stepped inside.
A bright fire raged in the fireplace, casting flickering shadows against the wooden walls as Serene and a handful of her administrators carried on an earnest discussion in the center of the room. Serene looked up when Jaggar walked into the light, and held up her hand. Whoever had been speaking stopped immediately and Serene stood.
“What word, Jaggar?”
Jaggar stepped into the center of the administrative circle and moved to the foot of the dias where Serene sat. He provided Serene with a short version of the events that transpired. Her face grew ever more concerned as his story progressed. When he finished, the door to the longhouse opened again and the two sentries from the gate entered leading the scout, who was now awake and bound in iron manacles.
The administrators scatter, giving the sentries and their prisoner ample room to come before the chieftain’s dias. The female sentry forced the captive to his knees before Serene and stepped back, leveling her spear at the man’s back. The second sentry bowed to the chieftain and returned to duty.
Dice Rolls
Jaggar looks to the chieftain, and she nods, giving her assent. He turns, and addresses the captive.
“We know that Stonetower is moving against our village, and as you can see, whatever plan your Magister has concocted has not been successful. You have lost already. Now, tell us what you know.” Jaggar clenched his hand on the hilt of his sword, offering an unspoken threat.
The scout looked from Jaggar to Serene, and his eyes bulged as the sentry prodded him with her spear. A look from Serene caused the sentry to remove her spear from the prisoner’s back, and the man visibly relaxed.
“I don’t know much,” he said in a whisper. “The Magister don’t tell us nothin’.”
“Tell us what you do know then,” Jaggar said, putting iron in his voice.
“Don’t kill me, and I’ll tell you everything I know. I swear it.” The scout had gripped the iron chain connecting his manacles. “I swear it on the iron of these chains.”
“Very well,” Serene intoned, her voice firm. “We will spare you.”
“Speak now,” Jaggar said, stepping in front of the man.
“We were sent ahead to look for other ways into this village. But the main force is in the salt marsh.”
“In the salt marsh? It's barely passable even with boats,” Jaggar said.
“The Magister…well he’s got some kind of power. Me pa is one of the leaders of the militia, and told me that the Magister is a sorcerer.” The scout paused, then resumed after taking a shivering breath. “They say the Magister has forged a passage through the marsh for us.”
Gasps from the administrators surrounding the prisoner and Jaggar filled the room. Serene looked more concerned, but did not seem to be surprised given what she’d witnessed in the cave only a few days previous.
“What more do you know,” Jaggar demanded.
“That’s all, I swear!”
Jaggar looked up to Serene and nodded, indicating that he believed the man spoke true, and knew no more than he had already revealed.
“Take him away,” Serene ordered the sentry.
“Put him with the other prisoner,” Jaggar said. “Make sure they are both manacled but do not mistreat them.”
Serene looked at Jaggar with a bemused smile on her face, and quirked her eyebrow up at him when he turned to look at her. Jaggar mouthed “later” to her, and she nodded. The sentry led the scout away at the point of her spear.
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