This is a write up of the first session of By Endurance We Conquer, a Carved from Brindlewood scenario written by Harald Eckmüller. The players were Ian (Willem), Gemma (Tove) and George (Isaac). We are aiming to complete the scenario in session two, hopefully in the next few weeks.

In the early 20th century, we are aboard a three-masted barquentine, The Fang, on an unsanctioned expedition, but now trapped in the Arctic Ice.

Enter Willem McPherson, the boatswain, hair tucked under his cap, burn scars across his arms and a worn-out naval jacket, covered in frost. He harbours a dark deed, not necessarily a regret, but something he’s yet to fully come to terms with. During a previous voyage, he pushed a troublemaking crew member over the side. He was investigated, and when the evidence pointed to him, it was Thomas Redwell who bailed him out. They’ve never spoken of it, and now Redwell is first mate on The Fang.

Tove Falkenburg is next, the expedition’s photographer; her hair is knotted and pinned, she has a constant furrowed brow and seems to be permanently hibernating in her fur-trimmed parker. The cold of the Arctic makes a change from previous expeditions, including desert climes, which was almost the death of her. Only two were left through a series of misfortunes, the water running out, when Tove bludgeoned her expedition mate to death. It’s amazing what humanity can achieve when the circumstances are dire.

Lastly is Isaac Holm, the musher, never far from his trusted lead dog, Wolfgang. His hair is windswept and wild, his skin wind-chapped, and he sports a thick wool jumper. He too has a dark past, a history of alcoholism lead to a violent encounter, and a man was killed. There were no witnesses, but why does Lars Hegelund, the icemaster, always seem to be observing, judging him?

All of these three have different reasons for following Captain Strangford on this journey. Willem admires his competence. The motto, when all else fails, call on Strangford.

Tove saw that he had none of the prejudices of other men in his position; he saw her purely for her capabilities, a rare and welcome experience in Tove’s life.

Isaac trusts Wolfgang’s instinct; the dog is devoted to Strangford, so there can be no question that he is the right man.

Some have started questioning Strangford’s approach to this voyage, the way he, some would say, bullied a frail Redwell, the first mate, into doing his chores. But on the whole, the three of them see Redwell for what he is, a weak man, out of his depth. Strangford is just doing what is necessary to make or break the man. Woe betide if Redwell, next in command, were ever to take charge.

The three sort through items in their seabag. Willem has a lock knife blade and a marlin spike, a gift from a captain on his first voyage. Also, a silver medallion, St Bernard the Navigator, he often plays with this when things are at their worst.

Tove has a silver-backed hairbrush and mirror; she finds it soothing to turn to this one item of luxury. Also, tucked in the bottom of her bag, a small sand hourglass, hidden away in the bottom of her pack, never looked at, sand from that dreadful expedition she now never talks of.

Isaac sifts through his belongings, an engagement ring, ruby-centred, from a woman he loved, though his dark secret sent him scurrying away from her, halfway around the world. Also, a pair of richly embroidered seal skin gloves, beautiful but also practical in these environments.

As The Fang lies caught in the ice, the group prepares for winter and then spring, when an attempt on their destination can be made. The days and nights are routine, the groans and cries from the ice put the strongest nerves on edge. A welcome respite is when they gather for evening meals, a few songs, some drink and the tales;

Willem, head down, talks in a whisper, telling of The Singing Icefield. Their ship was anchored in the north, and they heard the siren’s call. One of the men left his post, the second mate, vanished into the ice, just footprints, fading into the white. As soon as they noticed him gone, the singing stopped.

Isaac sucks on a pipe and talks of The Endless Stairs. He was with his old dog, Jesper, up near the Russian coast. They’d come across an Inuit, barely alive, skin flayed, clothes torn, and babbling nonsense. Even when back at the ship, warm, fed and cared for. Eventually, a few words made sense, then more; he talked of the Stairs, descending deep into the ice. Light from above turned into light from below. Many colours coalesced into a deep, dark pulsing red. A city came into view, vast, incomparable and the huge, constant thrumming of a machine, then he saw the creatures, unable to grasp their shape or nature - horrifically inhuman. At this point, the Inuit descended again into the babbling, crying nonsense.

Tove speaks animatedly - enjoying the audience and being the centre of attention - telling the story of a beautiful queen and an enchanted bird that stole her jewels. As the bird flew into the sky, the jewels fell, scattering across the sky; greens, yellows, and reds reflected in them as far as the eye could see. So tantalisingly close, you could reach out and touch them, but the jewels were now cursed; none could take them back, unless certain doom would be cast upon them.

The next morning, they are called to the Captain’s cabin by De Lanvier, the ship’s surgeon. The Captain is not up, very unusual. The door is forced open. Inside, chaos, the room ransacked, bedding twisted across the floor. On the table, a map of nearby locations, one marked as abandoned igloos, has a large talon thrust into it.

Less than half an hour later, Redwell has put together a search party, and they are ready to head out onto the ice. Each has their own reasons for joining up, for some it’s duty, for others loyalty. Tove knows that these men don’t have the sense of creativity to look beyond the mundane; she must go too.

Isaac and Wolfgang stand ready, the dog pulls at its leash, it WILL find Strangford.

Willem joins the party; he’s followed Strangford before, and he’ll follow him now, wherever it may lead.

As they spot tracks, footprints and a sledge, Wolfgang breaks free and bounds across the ice to a raised bank of snow, and a dark shape on top of it. As the rest approach, they see the Captain’s coat, dry and folded, laid atop the snow as if by careful hands. Isaac brings his hand to his mouth. This is unnatural, placed here as a sign? A warning? A challenge? A cold hand clutches his insides; he fears the worst.

Redwell consults Lars and others; De Lanvier and Norlund, the scientist, also accompany them and are brought into the discussion. Redwell suggests the Supply Depot is the first location to search; others put forward the abandoned igloos. Why else were they marked in such a violent way? Redwell seems unsure, struggling with the burden of command, but is eventually convinced by the rest to head to the igloos.

Halfway to the igloos, Isaac and Wolfgang scout on ahead as the others rest. The remaining group busy themselves in the harsh conditions, until one of the men, Magnus, starts to cough and choke, falling to his knees. De Lanvier goes over, trying to calm him, looking deep into his throat. He turns to the others, “His throat is frozen; he needs to get back to the ship.” It is agreed that another crew member will help Magnus return.

The rest gather their possessions and begin to move on. Just for a moment, Tove sees a movement behind Redwell, a hulking white shadow, against the swirling snow; she shouts, but as she does, the shadow breaks up, carried away with the wind. Redwell looks both angered and scared by this.

Up ahead, the figure of Isaac is seen, waving. The group waves back, then sees him disappear into the snow. The dog, Wolfgang, barks and jumps around near the spot he was last seen. As they eventually reach the same spot, they see that a large crevasse has opened up, down below are a series of steps, carved into the ice, at one end exiting the ice and at the other descending into a dark cave. Isaac is below, his ice pole pierced into the side of the crevasse, and he is hanging on to it for dear life. He hears a dull mechanical grinding coming from the darkness.

As they pull him up, he shouts and pauses, pulling out of a niche in the ice a book, wrapped in seal skin. Back on firm ground, they open it up, and it’s mostly damaged beyond reading, but the centre pages are a series of phonetic symbols matching no known language. Lars and Willem volunteer to enter the steps at the far end and descend. Surely, the book is a sign that Strangford came this way? The writing is similar, though not identical to his.

As Lars and Willem slowly make their way down the steps, prodding and probing ahead of them, Tove has a vision of something working its way up the stairs towards them, implacable, malevolent. She turns to Redwell, imploring him to get the two Arctic explorers out of the crevasse, but he ignores her, “Calm yourself, my dear.”

Bursting out of the darkness is a mechanical, spherical device, approximately the width of the crevasse. It moves up the stairs, carving and cutting through a series of blades. Behind it, the stairs are reformed, sharp, angular and clean. Lars and Willem turn and run. The group above shouts encouragement. Willem and Lars almost get in each other’s way in their haste to escape, but make it to the safety of the ice above. The device stops at the top, then pivots and descends again, clanking, cutting and rolling down the stairs. Lars and Willem lie on their backs in the snow, breathing hard. The others rush to their side.

At this point in the escape, Willem rolled a complication, I decided he could escape the mechanical monster, but that in his haste, he’d knock Lars back into its path. The player decided that he’d rather fail the roll and face certain death or dismemberment than let a crew member come to harm. To further avoid his fate, he invoked the Burdens of the Icebound Dream, bumping up a partial success to a full success and recounting in turn how Captain Strangford gained fame and notoriety for discovering a possible path through the Northwest Passage, promising to return and validate it once and for all.

The group regained their composure, deciding that they lacked the equipment to deal with the mechanised menace below and marking the location for future investigation, they went on to the igloos.

Isaac and Wolfgang, scouting ahead again, encounter a rhythmic thudding beneath the ice. Wolfgang sniffed at the ground, growling. They press on, further worry etched on their faces.

Arriving amongst the deserted set of Igloos, the group spends time searching the area. Tookoolito shows the party that the charms to ward off evil all point towards the centre of the camp. Searching through the dead fire and detritus, they come across a scorched tin of Pemmican. Opening it up, they find it packed with human teeth, some with gold fillings, others filed into points.

Tookoolito declares this place evil, that the Isigaruk haunts it and that they must leave. Redwell grabs his rifle, saying that they will stay the night. Tookoolito refuses, saying she will head to the supply depot and wait for them. It is night and snowing hard, with harsh winds, but even so, Tove, Isaac and Willem agree to accompany Tookoolito. Redwell raises his rifle, shouting at the group to remain. They eventually agree, but there are dark looks and harsh words. Redwell sits back down at the fire they have got going. He stares into it, seemingly unaware of his surroundings.

Willem approaches De Lanvier, discussing the state of mind of Redwell. The doctor concludes that Redwell is on the verge of mental collapse and a danger to them all. Whilst De Lanvier agrees that this cannot go on, he does not condone any violence, but will write up that, in his medical opinion, Redwell is unfit to lead.

Willem approaches Redwell from behind, clouting him on the back of the head with a club. Redwell lurches forward, the gun fires, and De Laniver clutches his stomach, collapsing onto the ice.

Everyone rushes over to De Lanvier, and he points to his medical bag, then promptly passes out. Tove searches through his medical bag for bandages and drugs. She finds a drawing of the crew of The Fang, with Captain Strangford’s face scratched out. On the back of the drawing is a handwritten note, “Dr Elias Norlund”. Tove pockets the drawing, finds some bandages, iodine, a needle and thread and hands it to Isaac.

Isaac does the best he can with his limited medical expertise to stitch up De Lanvier and bandage the wound. He finds Norlund standing over him, complaining that the doctor had not properly sanitised the patient, that he’s likely signed his death certificate by the way he handled things. Lars breaks up the beginning of an argument by asking what they should do with Redwell and whether they’ve done the right thing or not. Willem explains that the doctor said that Redwell was a step away from madness, but of course, no one can confirm that is what the doctor said.

It is agreed, though, with Redwell unconscious and tied up, the next in command is Willem. Willem decides that they should head to the supply depot tonight. The wind roars, snow stings their faces, but no one wants to stay in this godforsaken place a moment longer, and Tookoolito proclaims that punishment will come to them from the Isigaruk if they stay.

An excellent first session, within four hours we explored two locations, performed one Burden of the Icebound Dream and uncovered four clues. I gave the group the option of anwering the question, What happened to Captain Strangford? and potentially resolving the mystery, but they were keen to take it to a second session.