Your story
Every character you make has a youth behind them. When the run begins, fate tells it: a short story in four paragraphs, one sentence for each chapter of a life. You choose nothing in it, and you cannot undo it. It is told after every choice you made in character creation, and it may change what you start with.
When it is told
The story is shown once, as the run begins. Right after you start the run from the summary of
character creation, it opens over the first turn, before you can move. There is
nothing to choose on it. Enter (or Esc) goes on into the run, and the arrow keys scroll it on a
small window.
Afterwards it is page 9 of the info pages, “Story”: open any info page
and press 9. A character with no story reads “Your story is not written.” there. That is the
start of a scenario played as its own character, or a character saved before stories were told. A
run you continue never shows the story again, and the death screen does not repeat it.
The chapters, in order:
| Chapter | What it tells |
|---|---|
| Parents | who raised you, and how they lived |
| Birth | how you came into the world (your birth sign says when) |
| Childhood | what kind of child you were |
| Youth | a trade, a teacher, a levy |
| The trial | what it cost you, and what you kept |
| Fortune | what was given you |
| Leaving | why you left |
| The companion | how the beast at your side came to be yours: told only to one who begins with a companion or a familiar |
| The road | how you came to where the run begins: the Ascmearc’s own chapter |
Each sentence fits the character it is told of. A line may ask for any of these:
- a race, a class, or a gender;
- a birth animal or element, or a lucky day;
- your starting alignment;
- the talents and skills you start with;
- your age, or the beast at your side;
- what the story has already said (a foundling’s leaving is not a quarrel with their parents).
A whole chapter may be for some characters only. The companion is told to a ranger and a witch, who each begin with a beast. Everyone else skips it, and their story is no shorter for it.
What a story gives
A sentence may give or take:
- Stat points. One or two points of a stat a sentence; the score and its potential move together. A score never falls below 1.
- Gold. A purse; when gold is taken, never below none.
- An item, as the starting kit gives one, worn or wielded if a slot is free. A magic item from a story is already identified (you grew up with it), and a scroll from it is known.
- A skill: a start in a skill, or more of one you have.
- Marks in a weapon skill, never a rank.
- A nudge to your starting alignment.
- A talent, for life, whatever it would ask of you (the flux sentence gives Hardy). It is never one you hold already: a sentence that would give one is not told to you. If your class’s table names that talent later, it gives you a talent pick in its place at that level. The Talents page marks it “(story)”.
- A flaw: one of the birth signs’ flaws, for life, in the same way. It is marked “(story, flaw)”.
Nothing limits what a story gives or takes in all. A kind story may give a lot, a grim one may take a lot, and nothing protects you from either. The game tells you the story in words only; your scores, your pack, and your skills show what it did.
The heritage talents are not paid twice. With Family wealth, your parents are always the old money the talent gave you, and the story gives no more gold for it. With Father’s sword, the story tells of the blade you carry, and gives no other heirloom.
How rare
Each chapter is drawn in two steps. First comes how rare its sentence is (its kind). Then a sentence of that kind that fits you is drawn, by the weights below. If none fits, a sentence of the next commoner kind is drawn; every chapter has a plain common sentence that fits anyone. The kinds:
- Common: the plain sentences, the small turns, the griefs with something kept.
- Uncommon: a gift, perhaps at a price.
- Rare: a thing people tell; always good news.
- Fateful: once in a life.
The odds of each kind, for every chapter as it is drawn, and what a sentence of each kind is worth. The expected counts are for a story in the Ascmearc, whose road is the eighth chapter.
| Kind | Per chapter | At least one in a story of 8 | Expected in a story of 8 | Worth | May take |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 84.5% | — | 6.76 | −4 to +2 | yes |
| Uncommon | 12% | 64% | 0.96 | +1 to +3 | yes |
| Rare | 3% | 21.6% | 0.24 | +3 to +5 | no |
| Fateful | 0.5% | 3.9% | 0.04 | +5 to +8 | no |
What a sentence gives is weighed in points. A sentence’s worth, what it gives less what it takes, must lie in its kind’s range above. Nothing adds up a whole story’s points; they only keep each sentence true to its kind.
| Effect | Points |
|---|---|
| a point of a stat, given or taken | 2 |
| a skill started or raised, whatever the dice | 1 |
| marks in a weapon skill, whatever the count | 1 |
| gold: for every 25 coins of what it gives (or takes) on average, rounded up | 1 |
| a plain item | 1 |
| an item that may be magic | 2 |
| a magic item (magic or rare) | 3 |
| a rare magic item | 5 |
| a nudge to the alignment | 0 |
Only a character you make is told a story. A run that is resumed keeps the story it had.
Every sentence
Every sentence of every chapter, with what it asks for, what it gives, and what it leaves for the chapters after it.
- A sentence’s weight is its share among the sentences of its kind that fit. A weight of 4 is told twice as often as a weight of 2.
- Tags are what the story remembers. A later sentence may ask for one (“after
orphan”) or refuse one (“never afterdeep”). - Some sentences choose words a later one uses:
{guardian}(who raised you: “your family” until a sentence says otherwise),{home}(“home”), and{trade}(“your trade”).
Dice are written as the game rolls them: 2d4 is two four-sided dice added together. A skill’s dice start the skill if you were not trained in it, or raise it if you were. Weapon marks bring you toward your next rank, never past it.
Parents
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
low_house | Common | 12 | Drow | You were born to a house of the under-dark, low in standing and lower in favour, where a child learned to listen before it learned to speak. | Listen 2d4; alignment −25 (worth +1) | deep, home: “the house” |
the_clutch | Common | 10 | Lizardfolk | You hatched from one egg of a fen-clutch of a dozen, and the elders raised you all alike, without favour, and without a name until you earned one. | Swim 1d4 (worth +1) | guardian: “the elders of the clutch”, home: “the fen” |
deep_halls | Common | 8 | Dwarf or Duergar | You were born in the deep halls, where your father cut stone and your mother counted it. | — | deep, home: “the deep halls” |
the_warren | Common | 8 | Kobold, Goblin, or Ratfolk | You were one of a litter of nine in a warren under the hill, and not the biggest. | Dexterity +1; Strength −1 (worth 0) | warren, poor, home: “the warren” |
the_burrow | Common | 6 | Halfling or Gnome | You grew up in a burrow under a hill, with a round door, a full larder, and more cousins than chairs. | — | home: “the burrow” |
woods_edge | Common | 6 | Elf or Half-elf | Your people kept to the wood’s edge; your mother hunted, and your father cured what she brought home. | 3 marks in Bows (worth +1) | hunter, home: “the wood’s edge” |
plain_folk | Common | 5 | — | Your parents were plain folk who worked, ate, slept, and did not talk about it. | — | — |
farm_folk | Common | 4 | Elf, Half-elf, Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Half-orc, Goblin, Kobold, Lizardfolk, or Ratfolk | You were born to farming folk, who had little but gave what they had. | — | poor, home: “the farm” |
two_peoples | Common | 4 | Half-orc or Half-elf | Your parents came from two peoples, and neither people let you forget it. | Presence −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | outsider |
market_stall | Common | 2 | — | Your mother kept a stall on market days, and you learned early the price of everything. | Appraise 2d4 (worth +1) | trader, guardian: “your mother”, trade: “the stall” |
miners_child | Common | 2 | Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Half-orc, Kobold, Goblin, or Duergar | Your mother worked the seams under the hill, and you grew up on the smell of lamp oil and wet stone. | Mining 2d4 (worth +1) | poor, guardian: “your mother”, trade: “the mine” |
smiths_child | Common | 2 | — | Your father was a smith, and the ring of his hammer was the first music you knew. | 3 marks in Maces and clubs (worth +1) | smith, guardian: “your father”, trade: “the forge” |
tinkers | Common | 2 | Gnome, Halfling, or Human | Your parents were tinkers who mended pots from town to town, and you could take a lock apart before you could read. | Open lock 1d4 (worth +1) | poor, trade: “the tinker’s cart” |
foundling | Common | 1 | — | You were a foundling, left at the minster door in a basket of rushes; the sisters raised you, and never let you forget it. | Heal 1d4; alignment +25 (worth +1) | orphan, guardian: “the sisters”, home: “the minster” |
nobodys_child | Common | 1 | — | Who your parents were, nobody told you, and the woman who took you in for her own reasons would not say; you stopped asking. | — | orphan, poor, guardian: “the woman who took you in” |
old_money | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with Family wealth | You were born to money, and money was born to you: the house had a name, and the name had a seat at the reeve’s table. | — | wealthy, home: “the house” |
comfortable | Uncommon | 2 | without Family wealth | Your parents were comfortable, as the town counted it: a house with two floors and a girl to do the fires. | 4d6+10 gold (worth +1) | wealthy, home: “the house” |
the_inn | Uncommon | 2 | — | Your parents kept an inn on the high road, and you grew up on the gossip of every traveller who passed through it. | Negotiation 1d4; 2d6 gold (worth +2) | trader, home: “the inn”, trade: “the inn” |
apothecarys_child | Uncommon | 1 | — | Your father kept an apothecary’s shop, all little drawers and stoppered bottles, and you learned which draughts heal and which only smell as if they should. | Alchemy 2d4 (worth +1) | herbs, trader, guardian: “your father”, trade: “the shop” |
jewellers_child | Uncommon | 1 | Elf, Half-elf, Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, or Duergar | Your father cut gems for the rich, and you learned to tell a flaw by lamplight before you could read. | Jewelcraft 2d4 (worth +1) | trader, guardian: “your father”, trade: “the bench” |
scholars_child | Uncommon | 1 | — | Your mother was a scholar of old enchantments, and you grew up among books that hummed when they were opened. | Enchanting 2d4 (worth +1) | guardian: “your mother”, trade: “her books” |
wise_woman | Rare | 1 | — | Your grandmother was the wise woman of the parish, and you grew up among her jars and bundles, learning what cures and what kills. | Heal 2d4; Herbalism 2d4; Woodcraft 2d4; Willpower +1 (worth +5) | herbs, guardian: “your grandmother” |
Birth
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
lucky_day | Common | 6 | born on a lucky day | You were born on a day the stars had marked, and the midwife, who knew such things, would take no fee. | — | marked |
quiet_birth | Common | 5 | — | You were born without sign or omen, which {guardian} counted a mercy. | — | — |
hard_winter | Common | 3 | — | You came in a hard winter, when the river froze to its bed, and you came early and small. | Toughness −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | small |
last_egg | Common | 3 | Lizardfolk | Yours was the last egg of the clutch to crack, left longest in the warm mud, and you came out the biggest of them. | Toughness +1 (worth +2) | — |
feet_first | Common | 2 | — | You came feet first, late, and bawling, and have been hard to hurt and slow to charm ever since. | Presence −1; Toughness +1 (worth 0) | — |
named_for | Common | 2 | never after orphan | You were named for a grandparent you never met, and told every year how little you resembled them. | — | — |
on_the_road | Common | 2 | never after deep | You were born on the road, in the back of a cart between one town and the next, and have never since been easy in one place. | Survival 1d4 (worth +1) | wanderer |
the_twin | Common | 1 | — | You were born one of twins. The other did not live out the week, and {guardian} never spoke of it. | Presence −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | twin |
by_the_hearth | Uncommon | 2 | Fire-born | You were born by a hearth that roared up as you came, and the midwife said the fire had known you. | Willpower +1 (worth +2) | hearth |
with_the_caul | Uncommon | 2 | never after deep | The midwife swore you were born with the caul, and would never drown; she sold it, after, to a bargeman. | Swim 2d4 (worth +1) | caul |
storm_born | Rare | 1 | — | You were born in a night of thunder, and the old folk said the storm had come for you and been cheated. | Toughness +1; Willpower +1 (worth +4) | storm |
the_comet | Fateful | 1 | never after deep | A star with a tail hung in the sky the month you were born, and people who saw it still look at you twice. | Presence +2; Willpower +1 (worth +6) | comet |
Childhood
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ordinary_child | Common | 5 | — | You were a child like any other, and nobody wrote down what you did. | — | — |
house_games | Common | 3 | Drow | You learned the house’s games young: whom to bow to, whom to watch, and whom never to turn your back on. | Bluff 2d4 (worth +1) | schemer |
long_childhood | Common | 3 | Elf | Your childhood lasted longer than most folk’s lives, and you spent a good deal of it lying in the grass, learning the names of things. | Woodcraft 2d4 (worth +1) | — |
quick_child | Common | 3 | — | You were quick, and hard to catch, and oftener up a tree than at the table. | Dexterity +1 (worth +2) | quick |
strong_child | Common | 3 | — | You were a strong child, broad for your age, and carried what the others could not. | Strength +1 (worth +2) | strong |
the_counting | Common | 3 | Dwarf, Duergar, or Gnome | You learned to count before you could walk, by the weight of the ore in your mother’s hands. | Appraise 2d4 (worth +1) | — |
the_scraps | Common | 3 | Kobold, Goblin, or Ratfolk | You learned to eat fast and sleep light, because the scraps went to whoever was awake. | Stealth 1d4 (worth +1) | — |
watchful_child | Common | 3 | — | You were a watchful, inward child, who asked why until the grown folk stopped answering. | Intelligence +1 (worth +2) | watchful |
sickly_child | Common | 2 | never after orphan | You were sickly as a child, and {guardian} sat up many a night with you; you lived, and learned to wait. | Toughness −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | sickly |
wilful_child | Common | 2 | — | You were as stubborn as a mule and twice as hard to lead. | Presence −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | — |
winning_child | Common | 2 | never after warren or orphan | You were a winning child; the neighbours spoiled you, and you let them. | Presence +1 (worth +2) | — |
the_bullied | Common | 1 | — | The bigger children had you for sport, and you learned to run before you learned to fight. | Toughness −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | bullied |
the_bully | Common | 1 | — | You were the biggest of the children, and let them know it. | Strength +1; alignment −50 (worth +2) | bully |
the_climber | Uncommon | 2 | — | You climbed everything there was to climb around {home}, and fell off most of it, and learned at last how to land. | Athletics 1d4; Tumble 2d4 (worth +2) | — |
the_tutor | Uncommon | 2 | after wealthy | {Guardian} paid a tutor to teach you letters and sums, and you learned rather more of both than the tutor did. | Intelligence +1; Decipher script 1d4 (worth +3) | lettered |
the_shepherds_stars | Rare | 1 | never after deep | An old shepherd took you up the hill on clear nights, and by the end of it you could tell the hour, the weather, and the way home from the sky alone. | Survival 2d4; Willpower +1 (worth +3) | stargazer |
wolf_in_the_yard | Rare | 1 | aged 10 or more | A winter wolf came into the yard when you were six, and you faced it with a stick until the grown folk came. The story grew; so did you. | Toughness +1; Willpower +1 (worth +4) | brave |
Youth
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
idle_youth | Common | 5 | a Aristocrat | You spent your youth as the sons and daughters of good houses do: at the hunt, at the table, and at nothing. | Handle animal 2d4 (worth +1) | idle |
light_fingers | Common | 5 | a Thief or Bard | You ran with the market children, and your fingers grew light before your conscience grew heavy. | Steal 1d4; alignment −25 (worth +1) | light_fingers |
plain_work | Common | 5 | — | You worked, as everyone worked, and nothing of it is worth the telling. | — | — |
temple_years | Common | 5 | a Priest or Paladin | You served your years at the minster: swept, sang, and sat with the dying. | Heal 2d4; alignment +25 (worth +1) | temple |
the_alehouses | Common | 5 | a Bard | You sang for your supper in every alehouse within a day’s walk, and learned that a good song can stop a fight and a bad one can start it. | Music 2d4 (worth +1) | singer |
the_cloister | Common | 5 | a Ascetic | You were given young to a house of the discipline, and spent your youth in silence, in hard work, and in learning to fall without hurting. | Concentration 2d4; Tumble 1d4 (worth +2) | cloister |
the_copyist | Common | 5 | a Wizard, Witch, or Bard; aged 14 or more | A hedge-wizard took you as a copyist; you learned your letters off his spellbooks, and a little more besides. | Decipher script 2d4; a scroll of light (worth +2) | lettered |
the_counting_house | Common | 5 | a Merchant | You kept the books for a merchant house, and learned that every ledger tells two stories. | Appraise 2d4; Negotiation 1d4 (worth +2) | lettered |
the_cunning_woman | Common | 5 | a Witch or Druid | You learned your craft from a cunning woman at the edge of the village, who was feared by day and sent for by night. | Heal 1d4; Spellcraft 1d4 (worth +2) | cunning |
the_levy | Common | 5 | a Warrior, Paladin, Berserker, or Commoner; aged 14 or more | At fourteen you stood in the levy with a borrowed spear, and found you had a taste for it. | 3 marks in Spears; Athletics 1d4 (worth +2) | soldier |
the_raids | Common | 5 | a Berserker | You rode on your first raid before your voice had broken, and came home with a horse that was not yours and a cut you were proud of. | 3 marks in the weapon skill of your highest rank (none without one); Intimidate 1d4; alignment −25 (worth +2) | soldier |
the_woods | Common | 5 | a Ranger or Druid | You spent more of your youth in the wood than out of it, and it fed you better than the house did. | Survival 2d4 (worth +1) | woodsman |
the_workshop | Common | 5 | a Craftsperson | You were taken on at a workshop as a sweeper, stayed on as a hand, and learned the trade by watching over shoulders. | Appraise 1d4; Metalcraft 1d4 (worth +2) | apprenticed |
apprentice_smith | Common | 3 | after smith; aged 16 or more | You were bound apprentice at {trade}, seven years, and served every one of them. | Metalcraft 2d4+2 (worth +1) | apprenticed |
apprentice_stall | Common | 3 | after trader; aged 14 or more | You kept {trade} for {guardian} through your youth, and learned to haggle in three tongues and to lie in none. | Negotiation 2d4 (worth +1) | apprenticed |
long_apprenticeship | Common | 3 | Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, or Duergar; aged 80 or more | You spent longer at your apprenticeship than most folk spend alive, and came out of it unable to do anything badly. | Appraise 1d4; Knowledge 2d4 (worth +2) | apprenticed |
the_hunt | Common | 3 | after hunter | You followed your mother on the hunt as soon as you could keep up, and learned to move through the trees without a sound. | Stealth 1d4 (worth +1) | woodsman |
the_page | Common | 3 | Drow; aged 50 or more | You served the matron of your house as a page for half a lifetime, and learned that a smile in the under-dark is a knife you have not seen yet. | Spot 2d4 (worth +1) | page |
the_sisters_work | Common | 3 | after orphan | You earned your keep at {home}, scrubbing floors and carrying water for the sick, and learned more of fevers than you wished to. | Heal 1d4 (worth +1) | temple |
the_tunnels | Common | 3 | Kobold, Goblin, Ratfolk, Dwarf, or Duergar | You were set to dig as soon as you could hold a pick, and learned to feel a bad tunnel before it fell. | Detect traps 1d4 (worth +1) | tunneller |
bad_company | Common | 2 | after poor | You ran errands for the wrong people, and learned which purses were worth the trouble and which lies would hold. | Bluff 1d4; alignment −25 (worth +1) | light_fingers |
the_barges | Common | 2 | never after deep | You worked the river barges two summers, and swim better than most who were born to the water. | Swim 2d4 (worth +1) | bargeman |
the_fencing_master | Uncommon | 2 | after wealthy | {Guardian} paid for a fencing master, who swore at you in a foreign tongue and made you very hard to hit. | 4 marks in Long blades; Tumble 1d4 (worth +2) | fencer |
the_hermits_pupil | Uncommon | 2 | — | A hermit in the hills took you on for a year, for no reason he would give, and taught you to sit still, to watch, and to want little. | Concentration 2d4; Spot 2d4; alignment +25 (worth +2) | hermit |
the_dead_wizards_books | Rare | 1 | a Wizard, Witch, Priest, or Bard | You were given the run of a dead wizard’s library for a winter, and read until your candle and your eyes gave out. | Intelligence +1; Decipher script 2d4; Spellcraft 2d4 (worth +4) | lettered |
the_old_soldier | Rare | 1 | aged 16 or more | An old soldier wintered at {home} the year you were sixteen, and taught you, for the price of your listening, everything he knew. | 6 marks in the weapon skill of your highest rank (none without one); Dexterity +1; Intimidate 2d4 (worth +4) | taught |
the_master | Fateful | 1 | aged 16 or more | The finest fighter of the age lodged a season with {guardian}, saw something in you, and stayed until you had it too. | 6 marks in the weapon skill of your highest rank (none without one); Dexterity +1; Strength +1; Initiative 2d4 (worth +6) | taught |
The trial
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
quiet_years | Common | 5 | — | No great grief found you, and you count that luck, as you should. | — | — |
promise_broken | Common | 2 | — | You were promised once, and the promise was broken, and you have not made another. | Presence −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | heartsore |
the_cave_in | Common | 2 | Dwarf, Duergar, Gnome, or Kobold | The roof came down in the low workings, and you lay three days in the dark beside a friend who did not live, until they dug you out. | Strength −1; Willpower +1; Listen 1d4 (worth +1) | buried |
the_debt | Common | 2 | never after wealthy | {Guardian} died owing, and you worked the debt off a shilling at a time, and learned what every shilling was worth. | 15 gold taken (never below none); Negotiation 1d4 (worth 0) | indebted, orphan |
the_fever | Common | 2 | never after orphan | The fever came the year you were grown, and took {guardian}. You nursed the rest of the sick, and it did not take you. | Toughness −1; Willpower +1; Heal 1d4 (worth +1) | orphan |
the_fire | Common | 2 | never after deep | The house burned one dry autumn with everything in it. You went into the ash for what could be saved, and came out with a ring that had been your grandmother’s. | 20 gold taken (never below none); an iron ring (on left hand) (worth 0) | burnt_out |
the_night_of_knives | Common | 2 | Drow | Your house fell in a night of knives, and you lived because you hid where nobody thought to look, and listened to everything. | Presence −1; Stealth 2d4; alignment −25 (worth −1) | fallen_house |
the_war | Common | 2 | after soldier | The lord’s war took you for two years and gave you back older, with a limp in wet weather and a way of waking at every sound. | 3 marks in the weapon skill of your highest rank (none without one); Presence −1; Listen 1d4 (worth 0) | veteran |
the_feud | Common | 1 | never after temple | Your family had a feud, as families do, and you have a scar across the ribs from the night it was settled. | Toughness +1; alignment −25 (worth +2) | blood |
the_flood | Common | 1 | never after deep | The river rose one spring and took the lower town, and the house you grew up in with it; you came out of the water with your life, and a fear of it you have mastered since. | 15 gold taken (never below none); Swim 1d4 (worth 0) | burnt_out |
the_hungry_year | Common | 1 | after poor | There was a hungry year when the crops failed, and you learned to find food where there was none, and to give none away. | Toughness −1; Survival 1d4; alignment −25 (worth −1) | hungry |
the_mill | Common | 1 | — | You lost two fingers of your left hand to a mill-wheel, and learned to do without them. | Dexterity −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | maimed |
lost_on_the_moor | Uncommon | 2 | — | You were lost on the moor four days in the snow, and walked out on the fifth with frostbitten hands and no fear of cold left in you. | Dexterity −1; Toughness +1; Survival 2d4 (worth +1) | frostbitten |
the_barrow | Rare | 1 | aged 14 or more | Something came out of the barrow one winter and took the sheep, and then a child. You went down after it with a lantern and a hayfork. You do not speak of what you found; but you came back, and the child did not. | Strength +1; Willpower +1 (worth +4) | barrow |
the_flux | Fateful | 1 | — | You were dying of the flux at nine, and a hedge-priest laid hands on you, and you got up the next morning. You have not been sick a day since. | the talent Hardy; Toughness +1 (worth +6) | blessed |
Fortune
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nothing_given | Common | 6 | — | Fortune never found your door; whatever you have, you got yourself. | — | — |
purse_on_the_road | Common | 2 | — | You found a purse on the road once, and kept it, and have been half ashamed and half glad of it since. | 4d6 gold; alignment −25 (worth +1) | found |
the_good_harvest | Common | 2 | after poor | One year the harvest was the best anyone remembered, and {guardian} put a few coins by for you and never touched them. | 2d6 gold (worth +1) | — |
fathers_blade_told | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with Father’s sword | The weapon you carry was your father’s, and his father’s; the name on it is older than the house. | — | heirloom |
the_dog_that_stayed | Common | 1 | never after deep | A dog followed you home one spring and stayed three years, and taught you more about patience than any person did. | Handle animal 2d4 (worth +1) | dog |
won_at_dice | Common | 1 | — | You won a purse at dice from a drover who could not count, and he never forgave you. | 3d6 gold (worth +1) | found |
strangers_ring | Uncommon | 2 | — | A stranger you pulled out of a ditch pressed a ring on you, and would not take it back, and was gone by morning. | one of a silver ring or an iron ring (on left hand, perhaps magic), identified (worth +2) | ring |
the_bequest | Uncommon | 2 | without Family wealth | An aunt you had met twice left you her savings, with a letter that said she had always thought you the only one worth anything. | 6d6+10 gold (worth +2) | bequest |
the_charm | Uncommon | 2 | — | A wise woman hung a charm about your neck when you were small, against the evil eye, and you have never taken it off. | one of a bone amulet or a jade amulet (being worn, perhaps magic), identified (worth +2) | charm |
the_pilgrims_blessing | Uncommon | 2 | after temple | A pilgrim you nursed through a fever blessed you on leaving, and you have felt it since, like a hand on your shoulder. | Willpower +1; alignment +25 (worth +2) | blessed |
the_teachers_book | Uncommon | 2 | after lettered | Your teacher gave you, on parting, a book they said was worth more than you knew; they were right. | a book; Knowledge 2d4 (worth +2) | book |
the_heirloom | Rare | 1 | without Father’s sword; aged 14 or more | In the chest under the bed, when {guardian} died, you found what no one had spoken of: a weapon older than the house, with a name cut into it. | one of a long sword, a battle axe, a war hammer, a spear, or a short bow (magic or rare), identified, preferring a weapon of a weapon skill you have a rank in (worth +3) | heirloom, orphan |
the_hermits_word | Rare | 1 | — | The hermit of the hill told you, when you were twelve, exactly how you would die; you have forgotten it, and it has made you very hard to frighten. | Willpower +2 (worth +4) | fearless |
the_hollow_tree | Fateful | 1 | — | You found a dead man’s hoard in a hollow oak: a purse, and beside it, wrapped in oilcloth, a ring that is warm in winter. | 6d6+10 gold; a gold ring (on left hand, magic or rare), identified (worth +5) | hoard |
the_named_blade | Fateful | 1 | without Father’s sword | On the night you came of age a stranger left a wrapped thing at the door and no name; inside was a weapon, and on it a word you could not read, and you have never been able to put it down for long. | one of a long sword, a rapier, a scimitar, a battle axe, a war hammer, or a quarterstaff (rare), identified, preferring a weapon of a weapon skill you have a rank in (worth +5) | named_blade |
Leaving
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain_leaving | Common | 4 | — | You left, as the young do, because staying was the one thing you could not bear. | — | — |
for_the_stories | Common | 3 | a Warrior, Berserker, Bard, Aristocrat, or Ranger | You left because the stories were all somewhere else. | — | — |
nothing_held_you | Common | 3 | after orphan | There was nothing to hold you, and nobody to say goodbye to, and so you did not. | — | — |
cast_out | Common | 2 | Drow | Your house cast you out, or you cast it out; the under-dark tells it both ways, and you have stopped caring which. | alignment +25 (worth 0) | outcast |
grown_too_big | Common | 2 | after strong | You grew too big for {home}, and {home} said so. | — | — |
sent | Common | 2 | a Priest or Paladin | You left because you were sent: the minster had need of someone who could walk, and you could walk. | alignment +25 (worth 0) | sent |
the_debt_paid | Common | 2 | after indebted | When the debt was paid you found you had nothing left to stay for, and walked out in the clothes you stood in. | — | — |
the_quarrel | Common | 2 | never after orphan | You left after a quarrel with {guardian} that neither of you has yet forgiven. | Presence −1; Willpower +1 (worth 0) | quarrel |
the_road_called | Common | 2 | after wanderer | The road you were born on called you back, as {guardian} always said it would. | Survival 1d4 (worth +1) | — |
third_child | Common | 2 | after poor; never after orphan | You were the third child of a house that could feed two, and you went so the others could stay. | 1d6 gold (worth +1) | — |
up_into_the_light | Common | 2 | after warren | The warren was crowded and the elders were hungry, and a young one who went up into the light was one mouth fewer. | — | — |
one_step_ahead | Common | 1 | starting Callous or worse | You left a step ahead of the reeve’s men, and have not written home. | alignment −25 (worth 0) | fugitive |
the_letter | Uncommon | 2 | — | A letter came, in a hand you did not know, with a little money in it and three words: Come. There’s work. | 2d6+10 gold; a travelling cloak (being worn) (worth +2) | summoned |
the_parting_gift | Uncommon | 2 | never after orphan | On the morning you left, {guardian} pressed a parcel on you and would not let you open it till you were out of sight: bread, a knife, and a few coins knotted in a stocking. | a loaf of bread; a dagger; 2d6 gold (worth +3) | parting_gift |
the_dream | Rare | 1 | — | You dreamed, three nights running, of a door under a hill, and woke the third morning knowing the way; you have not dreamed since. | Search 2d4; Intelligence +1 (worth +3) | dreamer |
The companion
Told only to one who begins with an animal companion or a familiar. There is one sentence for each beast a companion’s start may bring, and one for each beast a familiar’s start may bring (the witch’s own tales, apart from the ranger’s). A plain one covers a beast with no tale of its own: the rare black hound and panther of a witch’s start.
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
familiar_bat | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with cave bat as your familiar | A bat hung in the rafters above your bed and came down to your hand when you whispered. | — | — |
familiar_cat | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with cat as your familiar | A cat came to your door one winter and would not be put out; it sat and watched you at your work, and you came to understand each other. | — | — |
familiar_cave_lizard | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with cave lizard as your familiar | A cave lizard lay on your hearth-stone through a whole winter, and when the thaw came it did not go, and you did not ask it to. | — | — |
familiar_hare | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with hare as your familiar | A hare sat in your path one dusk and did not run, and the next dusk, and the next, until it came in. | — | — |
familiar_large_spider | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with large spider as your familiar | A spider spun in the corner of {home} until its web hung with dew like a chain of beads, and one night it let you stroke it, and you knew it for yours. | — | — |
familiar_polecat | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with polecat as your familiar | A polecat crept in at your window on a hard night, and in the morning would not go; it has kept your bed and your secrets since. | — | — |
familiar_rat | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with giant rat as your familiar | A rat came out of the thatch of {home} when you were ill and sat on your pillow till you mended; you have not had the heart to be rid of it. | — | — |
familiar_raven | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with raven as your familiar | A raven with a broken wing mended on your sill and never flew far again; it knows your voice from the dark. | — | — |
familiar_toad | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with toad as your familiar | A toad lived under the step of {home}, and you fed it crumbs and then better things, and it took to following you. | — | — |
plain_companion | Common | 1 | — | A beast of the wild had taken to you, and came when you left. | — | — |
the_badger | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with badger at your side | A badger dug under the wall of {home} and stayed, and in time it was yours, as much as a badger is anyone’s. | — | — |
the_bat | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with cave bat at your side | A bat that roosted over your bed came to your whistle, and now comes to your hand. | — | — |
the_beetle | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with cave beetle at your side | A beetle of the deep roads, armoured like a shield, took to following your lantern, and then to following you. | — | — |
the_black_hound | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with black hound at your side | A great black dog came out of the fog one night and sat at your door, and the old folk crossed themselves; it is still there. | — | — |
the_boar | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with boar at your side | You raised a boar from a piglet the sounder had abandoned, and it grew into something the dogs give room to. | — | — |
the_great_boar | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with great boar at your side | The boar that killed two hounds and a huntsman let you walk up to it, nobody knows why, and has let nobody else near since. | — | — |
the_hound | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with hound at your side | A hound followed you home one winter and would not be sent back, and it has not left your heel since. | — | — |
the_lizard | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with cave lizard at your side | A cave lizard warmed itself on your hearth-stone so often that it forgot it was wild. | — | — |
the_lynx | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with lynx at your side | A lynx kitten, found mewling under a dead mother, learned to hunt at your side and never learned to leave. | — | — |
the_panther | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with panther at your side | A black cat the length of a man came down from the hills in a hard winter and chose your hearth over every other; it moves without a sound. | — | — |
the_polecat | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with polecat at your side | A polecat you took from a trapper’s sack rides your shoulder and kills what moves in the straw. | — | — |
the_rat | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with giant rat at your side | A rat too clever for the traps took your bread for a year, then your side, and keeps both. | — | — |
the_spider | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with large spider at your side | A spider the size of a dog hatched in the dark corner you slept in, and grew up thinking you its kin. | — | — |
the_wolf | Common, always told when it fits | 1 | with wolf at your side | A wolf cub, the last of a litter the hunters took, grew up at your fire, and the village never quite forgave you for it. | — | — |
The road
The Ascmearc’s own chapter: how you came over the pass.
| Line | Kind | Weight | When | Text | Effects | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
the_last_cart | Common | 4 | — | You came over the Grægweall with the last cart before the snow, and paid for the ride with work. | — | — |
alone_on_foot | Common | 3 | — | You came over the pass alone and on foot, with the snow a day behind you. | Survival 1d4 (worth +1) | — |
lost_to_the_snow | Common | 2 | — | The snow caught you on the high road and took your pack; you came down the far side of Beorggeat with what you stood in and a new respect for weather. | 10 gold taken (never below none); Toughness +1 (worth +1) | — |
the_drovers | Common | 2 | — | You came up the drove road with the black cattle and the men who drove them, who paid you in dried beef and in songs you should not repeat. | 2 strips of dried meat (worth +1) | — |
the_pedlar | Common | 2 | — | You walked up with a pedlar who talked the whole way and sold you a knife at the top for twice its worth. ‘Yer’ll want that, where yer goin’,’ he said, and he was right. | a dagger; 5 gold taken (never below none) (worth 0) | — |
the_fire_that_should_not_burn | Uncommon | 2 | — | At the top of the pass an old woman sat by a fire that should not have burned in that wind, and told you the ash march would make you or unmake you. She gave you bread for the road. | 2 wafers of waybread; Willpower +1 (worth +3) | foretold |
fyrbeorg_lit | Rare | 1 | Fire-born | Fyrbeorg lit the whole sky the night you crossed, and you walked down into the march by its light, and have felt since that it was looking for you. | Toughness +1; Willpower +1 (worth +4) | fire_marked |
See also: Horoscope, Starting kit, and Talents.