Hadley's Beast, part 2
Fiendish Stomping Ground
“Hadley’s Beast” is the first of what I hope to be a series of adventures for the Ironsworn RPG. I have also endeavored to make these adventures compatible, with minimal to no alterations, with the new Ironsworn: Starforged expansion, Sundered Isles. You can get your copy of the adventure on my itch.io store for free (PWYW).
The next morning, Vidar woke early and went down to the common room to break his fast before joining Alys and Soren for the trek into the grove. He still struggled to accept the young woman’s revelation about Danr being her mother. He’d known the woman for years, since he was barely into manhood, and had spent nearly two decades under her tutelage, and she’d never mentioned having a daughter.
Alistair was a known entity solely because he had delivered furs to Springfields once close to ten years earlier, and Vidar had stumbled upon a clandestine meeting between his mentor and her lover. Alys was near his age, so he knew that Danr would have carried her years before he became her apprentice, but it still struck him as strange that she never referred to her. Not that Danr had ever struck him as a mothering sort. She was a hard woman, in mind, body, and heart. She brooked no disobedience, and expected his best. He’d always thought it was her way of making sure he was ready to face the darkness they hunted, but now, perhaps, it was just how she was.
He thanked Alban for the breakfast and left the Wheat and Rye. Outside, the sun was just beginning to break over the eastern horizon, creating a misty orange glow on the village. It was easy to see how this village could be described as idyllic, witnessing the beauty of the sunrise and the way the newborn rays caught on the mist rising from the River Serene. Beautiful, save for the dark undercurrent of terror that radiated from the very soil, as if the land were poisoned by the people’s fear of the beast.
A hound the size and color of a wolf bounded up to him excitedly. The big dog stopped barely a foot in front of Vidal and looked up at him with a noble glare. Vidal matched the hound’s gaze, taking the measure of the noble beast just as it seemed to do to him. The hound looked away first with a huff, shaking its bearded head and turning its back on the man.
“Seems like Hundir finds you acceptable company,” Alys said with a small smile.
“He is a noble hound,” Vidar replied. “Do you know his pedigree?”
“I found him as a pup by the river on the outskirts. As he grew to this massive size, I assumed he was a wolfhound.”
“He seems exceptionally intelligent for a simple hound. I see a knowing in his eyes that I’ve never witnessed in a dog before.”
Alys scratched the hound’s head when he came to stand beside her. As she scratched, he leaned into her and closed his eyes. “He is an exceptional boy, my Hundir.”
Vidar tensed, spotting a figure shrouded in a dark cloak approaching from the bridge. The figure, which turned out to be a boy barely into his teens, stopped a respectable distance away from the menacing fiend-hunter and pulled off his hood.
“You must be Vidar?”
“And you are Soren? Rather young, aren’t you?”
“Ealdorman Emelyn asked me to guide you to where Alistair was found.” To his credit, the boy ignored Vidar’s quip about his age. Soren turned his attention to Alys and bowed his head. “I am sorry for your loss, Alys.”
“Thank you, Soren,” she replied, her eyes locked on the top of Hundir’s head.
“Alys asked to come along,” Vidar told the boy. “Lead the way.”
Soren turned on his heel without a word and led them across the bridge and past the ealdorman’s lodge. They followed the dirt path that led to the graveyard, until Soren turned left and tracked along the iron perimeter fence and into the forest. Hundir, who had been keeping pace with Alys, sprinted ahead. He quickly overtook Soren, and the sound of the big hound barrelling through the undergrowth echoed all around.
“Hundir’s got something!” Alys shouted as the sound of the dog’s braying carried back to them. She took off at a run, and Vidar followed.
The hound’s trail was easy to follow through the thick foliage, and the three humans quickly caught up to him. He was snuffling around a perfectly round circle patch of dirt. Vidar stepped closer and crouched, examining the leaf litter and remains of undergrowth at the edge of the circle. His fingers came away with a thin coat of ash.
“Something burned here,” he said out loud.
“Come to think of it, one of the trappers came into the Wheat and Rye last night saying they smelled smoke as they were coming back from checking their traps,” Soren said, scratching his stubbly chin.
“Never seen anything burn a perfect circle before,” Alys said, reaching down to scratch Hundir between the ears.
“Nor have I,” Vidar agreed, then looked more closely at the patch of dirt. The soil was loamy, and on further inspection revealed four wide-set hooved tracks. “Looks like a deer ran through here at some point.”
“Could be,” Soren replied, crouching beside Vidar and examining the tracks. “Never seen a deer this size though.”
“Mountain elk?” Vidar suggested.
“Never seen a mountain elk this far south before.” Soren leaned closer, putting his fingers into the tracks. “Deep, too. Heavy, so that would fit an elk. But look here. The rounded end of these hooves are much too close together, and the hooves themselves are narrower than an elk’s should be.”
“Have you ever seen anything like it, then?” Vidar asked, leaning on the hunter’s expertise in animal tracks.
“I have, yes. Though much smaller and not nearly so heavy as these. Wild goat.”
“A goat made these prints?” Alys exclaimed. “They are huge!”
“It might be something else,” Soren suggested, though he didn’t seem confident about that. “The tips of the hooves do look a bit odd. Kind of curved and…sharp.”
“Could be distortion from the weight?” Vidar suggested.
“Possibly.”
“I’m going to look around. There might be more tracks.”
Soren remained crouched by the burnt patch, examining the hoof marks, while Vidar methodically examined the surroundings. After several minutes and two slow rotations around the patch, Vidar had spotted nothing that might suggest the creature had traveled away from the burnt circle. Hundir, who also searched around the burnt spot, began to bark. Alys immediately moved to him, then called over the other men.
“Hundir’s found more tracks!”
Vidar and Soren hurried over. Both men patted the hound’s broad back in praise as they crouched to look at the new tracks. The men looked at one another and nodded, silently agreeing that the tracks belonged to the goat.
“Do you think Hundir could track the creature?” Vidar asked Alys.
“If there’s a scent to be found, yes.” Alys leaned down and cupped the hound’s big head in her hands. “Can you track this creature, Hundir?”
Vidar’s sense that something was special about the dog only grew as it looked back at Alys with an intelligence that could not be explained. The hound seemed to nod, an oddly human gesture, before licking the woman’s hand. Alys smiled and stood up, giving the hound room to work.
Gather Information: 11 (+4 wits, +1 slayer) vs 9 | 2 = strong hit (+2 Momentum)
Momentum = +3/10Hadley’s Beast Clue Table: 6, tracks
Hadley’s Beast Track Table: 2, hooves
Ask the Oracle: Are there other kinds of marks besides the tracks? 50/50 = 76, yes
Ask the Oracle: Is it burnt? 50/50 = 93, yes
Ask the Oracle: Did anyone report smelling smoke? Likely (26+) = 100, yes
Ask the Oracle: Are deer common near Hadley’s Grove? Likely (26+) = 77Solve the Murder of Alistair (Dangerous): +2/10 progress
Great write up. I can't wait for the next part.
These Ironsworn write ups always leave me hungry for more, great work again!