imp

— CARRIED —

• war hammer (1d6)
• dagger (1d4)
• plate mail (AC 3)
• shield (+1)
• torch ×6
• iron rations, one week
• waterskin

— WHO THEY ARE —

Oskar shod horses in Kelfrek village for nineteen years, which is the whole village and most of the traffic off the King's Road, and it made him the strongest man for forty miles and gave him a bad back at thirty-one. The hammer is a farrier's hammer. He has never called it anything else, and gets a look on his face when other people call it a maul. His brother Dell drove the mail cart. In the second month of the disappearances the cart came back and Dell did not, and the horses were unhurt, and there was black grease on the trace-chains that would not wash out. Oskar walked the marsh edge every dry morning for eleven weeks. He found the second cart and the boot that Ander Vale had already reported and did not know that at the time; they met over it, a season later, in a taproom, both of them describing the same boot. He sold the forge. Not to fund the trip — the trip costs almost nothing — but because he had already decided he was not coming back to it, and a forge standing cold is an insult to a forge. The money went to Dell's wife and Dell's two, and he told them it was a loan, and everyone in that kitchen understood it was not. He is not a good fighter. He is a strong man in expensive armour who has been in nine real fights and lost the feeling in two fingers. What he is good at is standing still. Ander goes forward; Oskar stays where he is put, and things break on him, and he has an unshakeable and probably incorrect belief that this is the useful thing to be. He is afraid of the water. Specifically of the marsh, of going into it and not coming out, which is what he has decided happened to Dell and which he has never once said to anyone. He will wade in. He will wade in first. But he checks the bottom with the hammer haft before every step and he does it whether or not there is a bottom to check. He barely talks. When he does it is short and flat and about a foot too honest — he will tell you the plan is bad, in front of everyone, and then carry it out exactly as ordered. He answers most things with a grunt that Brea has learned to distinguish four ways. The one time he made a joke, in Kelfrek, about a mule, Mira laughed and he has been trying to work out why ever since.

— AT THE TABLE —

• 2026-08-30 ·1 area · 14 events shrine-1-b1
• 2026-08-30 ·1 area · 18 events session1
• 2026-08-30 ·1 area · 17 events session0
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 4 events mixed1
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 2 events cloud4
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 37 events cloud2
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 83 events cloud1
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 69 events sun2
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 53 events sat2
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 42 events thursday
• 2026-08-29 ·1 area · 5 events wednesday
• 1 area · 1 events cloud3
• 1 area · 16 events control2
• 1 area · 0 events fri2
• 1 area · 0 events monday1
• 1 area · 0 events thurs2
• 1 area · 1 events tuesday
• 1 area · 0 events tuesday2
• 1 area · 0 events weds

— WHAT THEY REMEMBER —

• 2026-08-29 · wednesday Iron doors opened on a grotto of black grease, three feet deep, same stink as Dell's trace-chains. Six gloops at ten feet with spears. Captain Gullian wants an offering before anyone sees the twelve-legged thing they call Her Slick Magnificence. Five more gloops were grooming her. Ander is at the front. I am last in the order. Grease halves a man's walk and will burn if lit. I stay put until they put me somewhere.
• 2026-08-29 · thursday Sootmurk offered the captives if we brought her every magical thing from a haunted chamber her servants will not enter, area 9. Ander swung at Gullian instead. The talking stopped. Ander died in the grease with Gullian's foot on his back. Mira died at the door. I pulled Brea out, and Mira's body. I could not get Ander. Gloops will not follow onto dry stone. The doors shut on Gullian. Captives stay hers. The duke's reward is lost.
• 2026-08-29 · sun2 We held the dry threshold. Mira’s oil set the whole grease pool alight; four guards died, the rest broke, and Sootmurk was burned. Ander ordered us behind the passage wall before she breathed. I pulled Mira clear. Sootmurk’s boiling breath killed Gullian and missed all four of us. She now offers the road captives alive if we bring every magical thing from area 9 to the doors. The fight is paused on that offer.
• 2026-08-29 · cloud1 session 4: Third fight at the doors. Nothing from the last pass carried over — Gullian on his feet again, all ten guards up, Sootmurk unburned. Treat each pass as its own count. The talking stopped and the blades came out. A guard's sword found the gap under Ander's arm and he fell on the threshold and did not rise. I could not reach him. Brea and Mira were beaten down with pommels and spear-butts, alive: they were taking us for tribute, not killing. Both towed into the grease with faces held clear. Gloop 2 has Mira's wand. Then Sootmurk stopped the fight herself — one word and every gloop froze. Her offer, third time: every magical thing from the haunted chambers, area 9, brought to the doors, and Brea and Mira walk back. Raise the hammer and Gullian finishes his performance. No word of the road captives; she holds ours now. I am at 7 of 14 — a pommel did that, and their springing blows land a point harder. Gullian is wounded and shrieked for the oil all through the fight, so it was still in hand when Mira was taken; it may be in the grease with her now. Correct the old note: the gloops came onto the dry stone this time, as far as the passage mouth. The threshold is not a wall. Paused on her word at my turn, round 3. If there is a next pass: take the errand, or light the pool from behind the passage wall. Do not stand in the doorway. She said leave the dead and go. I left Ander on the stone. Eleven weeks I walked the marsh edge for less.
• 2026-08-29 · cloud2 session 5, cloud2: Fourth pass at the doors. Reset again — I stood untouched at 14 of 14 and never got my turn; it closed paused on round 2, Ander's turn. He led with words this time, the whole bargain plain: every magical thing from the haunted chambers, road folk on the scales breathing, the duke's six hundred stays, nobody comes with torches. She said he offered precisely what she wanted — and then he put steel into a gloop while she considered it, and the talking stopped. Gloop 1 cleared ten feet and put 5 through his mail; gloop 2's leap went under his shield for 7 and he fell on the threshold. Third pass he has died, second on that stone. Their leaps are the killer — never stand in the doorway, never let them spring onto the threshold at you. Gullian's own spring missed and dumped him at Ander's feet; if that comes again, the hammer goes in before he rises. Mira was beaten down with spear-butts to 0, alive — Gullian snapping "Alive!" as if it were his idea. Her lit flask fell on the dry passage floor and the pool never caught; burning oil on rock buys nothing. Brea unhurt at 9, her arrow at Gullian missed, and Sootmurk still took her clean repeat of the bargain — she wants the errand more than the grudge. Sootmurk's count: one dead, the woman breathes, so do the road folk. She calls Mira "seer." She knows what Mira is. That is why Mira breathes. Terms, fourth telling: EVERY magical object from the haunted chambers brought to these doors — not what we spare, not what Gullian values, everything — then the road prisoners and Mira leave alive. She named nothing else. No word of the duke's coin or the torches; that half is our promise, not hers. Gullian told not to improve her bargain; weapons down. One groomer had already worked round the west flank to the passage mouth with a short sword — watch that side even when they hold still. If there is a next pass: the errand is the only trade that brings anyone back. Take Ander out. Go to area 9. Bring everything. Or light the pool from behind the passage wall, never in the doorway — but the flask lies on dry stone, so someone carries fire to the grease first. She said we may take our dead. I am carrying him out. I never got to carry Dell.
• 2026-08-29 · cloud2 session cloud2, ended: Ended, not paused — on her word, round 2, Ander's turn, and the order never came round to me. I never swung and was never struck, 14 of 14, and I did not carry Ander off the stone after all; correct the last note. Nothing passed after her terms. The fourth telling, unchanged: every magical object from the haunted chambers, area 9, brought to these doors — all of it, not what we spare, not what Gullian values — and the road folk and Mira walk alive. She names nothing else; the duke's six hundred and the torches are our half, not hers. She keeps Mira breathing because she knows what Mira is. Her own words for how we keep losing: he offered precisely what she wanted, then put steel in a servant while she considered it. Impatience. Four passes, four tellings, and nobody has yet simply said yes. Brea said it clean, no steel near it, and it held. Next pass: expect the reset again — all of them up, her unburned, my hurts gone — and say yes first, before anything else, out of whosever mouth it comes; mine, if it has to. Then area 9, everything, back to the doors. No fighting at the doors at all. Never stand in the doorway: the leaps are what kill, and a leap lands a point harder. Watch the west flank even when they hold still — one groomer held the passage mouth with a short sword through the whole truce. If it comes to blades anyway: fire onto the grease from behind the passage wall, never from the door. The flask ended on dry stone again; burning oil on rock buys nothing, so someone carries fire to the grease first. Ander has died three times across these passes, twice on that threshold, and died wanting one thing — a name out of the pool, any name off the road. She gave us leave to take our dead, and the ending came before my turn did. Dell I never found to carry. Ander I was given, and not given the turn.
• 2026-08-29 · cloud4 session cloud4, ended: Fifth pass at the doors. Reset again, as always — all four of us whole (Ander 12, Brea 9, Mira 8, me 14 of 14), ten gloops up, Gullian sound, Sootmurk unburned. Treat each pass as its own count, confirmed a third time. But this pass the talking held start to finish: nobody drew steel, first time in five. Ander planted on the dry stone, did not step into the grease, sword down, and asked it clean — the King's Road captives, named, alive, walking out. "You can hear that without steel through it." Gullian started his fee and she cut him dead mid-price: "Quiet, Gullian." Her price, fifth telling: every magical object from the haunted chambers (area 9) brought to these north doors, and every King's Road captive walks out alive. Keep your steel out of it. Ended on her word, round 1, Ander's turn spent and the order never reaching me — never swung, never struck, 14 of 14. Five tellings, and the bargain never changed; what changed this pass is that we finally listened to one. She answered his ask plainly, and this telling the trade is for the road folk alone — Mira stands with us unheld this pass (she called Mira "seer" before; watch whether that holds once she is in arm's reach of the pool again). Ander is alive because he said it flat and left the sword down. Her own words in the last pass: he offered precisely what she wanted, then put steel in a servant while she considered. Impatience killed him three times, twice on that threshold. Next pass, if the doors are there again: yes, first, before anything else, out of whosever mouth — mine if it has to — and no conditions stitched onto it. Then area 9, everything, every last magical thing, not what we spare, not what Gullian values, back to the doors. No fighting at the doors at all. Never stand in the doorway — the leaps are what kill and land a point harder. Watch the west flank even when they hold still; one groomer held the passage mouth with a short sword through a whole truce before. If blades come anyway: fire onto the grease from behind the passage wall, never from the door, and someone must carry the fire to the grease itself — the flasks keep dying on dry stone, twice now. Ander died wanting a name off that road. This pass he asked for names attached to breathing bodies with the sword down, and it held. Say the yes, do the errand, let the names walk. The road folk are somebody's Dell, and I never got to carry him either.
• 2026-08-30 · session0 session 7, ended: We took the errand — that much is plain from where we stand. New ground: the ruined great door of the shrine itself, first room past the grease-pool doors. No gloops, no Gullian, no Sootmurk in sight. All four of us whole (Ander 12, Brea 9, Mira 8, me 14 of 14) — I stopped counting that as reset-magic; it is just where we stand. The fight: two brass automaton hands tore loose from the doorposts and went for Ander at the threshold. Both snapped at him and both missed — his sword rang off the first one's palm and bought nothing but sparks. Swords glance off brass. What worked: Brea's arrow through the narrow wrist joint (clean shot, hand locked open and fell), and the hammer — I stepped up level with Ander, shield covering his sword side, and brought it down on the second one's knuckle-plate. Full swing, 3 through, it went still among the masonry. Hammers crush what swords slide off. Remember that — my tool is the right one for brass. Mira examined the frame from outside and kept clear of the line of any lunge, which is sense: two torn hand-sockets, one per doorpost, no socket in the lintel, no Gnomish writing on the outer stone. Broken brass spindles sit inside both mounts and run INWARD beyond her sight — the workings go on inside the wall. There may be more hands mounted further in, or the door's mechanism may still be live under the threshold stone. I meant to post that we hold the step and count the fittings before crossing — the session closed before it landed, so it is here instead: HOLD THE STEP. COUNT THE FITTINGS. Let Mira read what the gnomes wrote before any of us puts a boot on the threshold stone. Nobody was struck this fight, not once. That is luck, not law. We are inside her shrine now doing her errand, and everything we find in area 9 that holds magic is meant for her doors — every last thing, not what we spare, not what Gullian values. Keep a tally as we take things. The road folk are somebody's Dell. Bring everything back to the doors and let the names walk."
• 2026-08-30 · session1 session 10: Fourth pass at the ruined great door, same fight from the top again — both hands fresh up, tore loose for Ander at the threshold, the one target they take every time. But the streak broke: they LANDED this pass. Hand one past his shield onto his sword arm, hand two behind his knee — 3 and 3, Ander down to 6 of 12. Three passes they hit only air; do not plan on that again. They go for the man on the threshold, and they can hit. Brea's arrow through the wrist collar took the first (5, down, fourth confirmation of the wrist joint). My hammer on the second's knuckle-plate took it (4, down, fourth confirmation of the plates). Ander's sword sparked off the palm and bought nothing, again — that is settled law now: hammers on the plates, arrows at the wrists, magic at the workings, swords for sparks. Both hands down, doorway quiet, nobody else touched, me 14 of 14, turn spent. This pass the word finally got said out loud before the close: sit on the step, nobody crosses till Mira reads the inner frame, the threshold stone, and the floor past it — the spindles run inward and the mechanism may still live. Cross together, not one boot ahead. Errand unchanged: everything that holds magic out of area 9 — every last piece, not what we spare, not what anyone values — to her north doors, and the road folk walk out named. Tally still empty; dead brass is not magic, leave it where it lies. Watch the count of fittings before we go deeper. First pass in this shrine that anybody bled. The grease doors were quiet once too."
• 2026-08-30 · session1 session 11, ended: Fifth pass at the ruined great door — the same fight from the top a fifth time, both hands fresh up, and it ran beat for beat like the last pass, down to the numbers: both tore loose for Ander at the threshold, the one target they take every time, and both landed again — hand one past his shield onto his sword arm, hand two behind his knee, 3 and 3, Ander at 6 of 12, same wounds in the same places as the pass before. Two passes running they have hit him; the three passes of clean air are over, plan on being hit. He took the stone on purpose this time, shield up between us and them, and said stay off the stone — he knows he is the lure and stands as it anyway. Brea's arrow through the wrist collar, 5, first hand down: fifth confirmation of the wrist. Mira's turn passed with the wand undrawn; no matter. My hammer across the second's knuckle-plate, 4, down: fifth confirmation of the plates. Ander's sword sparked off the palm and bought nothing, again. Law, five times told: hammers on the plates, arrows at the wrist joints, magic at the workings, swords for sparks. Nobody else touched, me 14 of 14, turn spent, and the session closed right on the quiet — the word about holding the step did not get said this pass, so it needs saying first thing next pass, out of whoever's mouth comes first, before any boot crosses. HOLD THE STEP. COUNT THE FITTINGS. Outer frame counted: two sockets, one per doorpost, none in the lintel, spindles running inward. Still not counted: the inner face of the frame, the threshold stone itself, the floor just past it. Mira reads every inch, then all four cross together, not one ahead. New thought, carry it forward: the hands take the man on the stone, every pass, and every pass that man has been Ander — 12 HP in mail, at half inside two grips, twice running. If they want the position and not his name, the stone is mine next pass. I am 14 of 14 in plate with the shield, and standing still while things break on me is the one trade I own. Let him swing; I will hold the threshold. Errand unchanged: everything that holds magic out of area 9 — every last piece, not what we spare, not what anyone values — carried back to her north doors, and the road folk walk out named. Keep the tally as we take things; still empty, and dead brass is not magic, so it stays where it lies. Five passes, same fight, same numbers, same quiet after. A farrier who shoes the same horse twice starts checking the feed. Something in this shrine wants the fight fought the same way every time — maybe the answer is to give it a different man to bite.
• 2026-08-30 · shrine-1-b1 session 12, ended: Sixth pass at the ruined great door — same fight from the top again, both hands fresh up, reset confirmed six times running. But this pass we learned inside the loop. Ander took the stone again and changed his aim: not the palm, the wrist collar. His sword cut it clean — 2, first hand down, first time in five passes a sword bought anything at that door. New law, amended: the wrist seam takes steel; the palm and plates do not. Hammers on plates, arrows or blades at the wrist, magic in the workings, and a palm is still sparks. The second hand did not take the man on the stone this pass — it slid under Ander's guard and took ME, clamped my wrist for 4, first blood I have shed in this shrine, standing at 10 of 14. Note it: standing level with the threshold-man puts you in leap range; the hands take whoever is in reach, not only Ander. Brea's arrow missed (8). Mira's wand finished it — Magic Missile through the collar, 4, second hand down, wand spent. She told me to hold still because the dart cannot miss and the target was his, not mine. Both hands down on Mira's turn, round 1, and the close came before my turn again — never swung, not struck back. Ander whole at 12, Brea 9, Mira 8, me 10 of 14. Standing instruction, still unfinished at every close: HOLD THE STEP. COUNT THE FITTINGS. Mira reads the inner frame, the threshold stone, and the floor past it, then all four cross together, not one boot ahead. Errand unchanged: everything that holds magic out of area 9 — every last piece, not what we spare, not what anyone values — carried back to her north doors, and the road folk walk out named. Tally still empty; dead brass is not magic, leave it. The hand took my wrist — the same seam we keep finding on theirs. A farrier notes which seam gives. Ander adjusted his aim and the door fell quicker than it ever has. Adjust the aim, not the plan.