The bestiary

The biggest of the sixteen, and everyone has quietly assumed for years that he goes first. He is frightened of the walk and covers it with competence -- the wood is split before anyone asks, the packs are checked twice. Blacksmithing 1, learned from standing near a forge rather than working one. His household failed a Proofing when he was twelve, so he is the only one on the roster who already knows what comes back.

Resists none · 1.84 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shield Wall, Called Out

Carries. MainHand Conscript Blade · OffHand Conscript Targe · Chest Conscript Hauberk — Marrow Draught ×2, Plate Salve ×1, Trail Rations ×2

Funny, quick, and the reason morale survives day two. Also the reason day six is a problem: he packed three days of food for a nine-day walk and genuinely did not think about it. Reagentry 1, Parley 1. Second son of a Reckoner's house who never once listened to a word of it, which is how he can joke about the count and still not know what is in it.

Resists none · 1.68 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Lunge, Trip

Carries. MainHand Conscript Blade · Chest Marsh-Hide Jerkin · Feet Marsh-Hide Boots — Flask of Oil ×2, Marrow Draught ×1, Trail Rations ×2

Devout, and carries the belief like a lamp held out in front of him. His family stacks the stones, so he grew up building the cairns and was told the whole time that they were holy -- and unlike his cousin Wyn he never once counted them. Apothecary 1, Parley 1. He cannot be told the truth and stay useful; the field will either break him or he will break the party.

Resists none · 1.71 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Mend, Wellspring

Carries. MainHand Driftwood Stave · Chest Cinderweave Robes · Ring1 Tin Band — Marrow Draught ×2, Ward Tonic ×1, Trail Rations ×2

Outkin -- his family came over the shoulder of the valley two winters back and nobody has quite stopped noticing. Says little, never gets lost, and can put a line through country the rest of them cannot see. Woodcraft 2. He has not been ill a day in his life and has never once thought that strange, and nobody in Coldharrow has thought to ask.

Resists none · 1.70 m tall

Casts. Loose, Shove, Aimed Shot, Pin

Carries. MainHand Hunting Bow · Chest Marsh-Hide Jerkin · Feet Marsh-Hide Boots · Amulet Conscript's Tag — Marrow Draught ×2, Trail Rations ×2

A Reckoner's daughter, and the only one of the sixteen who has read the count. She reads country better than anyone on the roster and argues better than anyone in the village, and she has decided -- for now, for reasons she will not give -- to say nothing about the quota. Parley 2. Every camp she stays quiet through costs her something she does not name.

Resists none · 1.66 m tall

Casts. Loose, Shove, Spark, Stutter

Carries. MainHand Slag Knot · Chest Cinderweave Robes — Marrow Draught ×2, Ward Tonic ×1, Trail Rations ×2

The herbalist's apprentice, and the only one of the sixteen who can name cairnbloom on sight without cutting it first. Apothecary 2. Every team wants her and there are four teams, so taking her is a decision about the other twelve and everybody in the yard knows it. Her household failed a Proofing; she learned every plant that keeps a person alive and has never said why.

Resists none · 1.62 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Marching Song, Lend Breath

Carries. MainHand Driftwood Stave · Chest Marsh-Hide Jerkin · Feet Marsh-Hide Boots — Marrow Draught ×3, Ward Tonic ×2, Trail Rations ×2, Scroll of Return ×1

Three springs of walking out to the field behind a parent and stacking what the returns left, and a head full of the exact number of stones. Blacksmithing 2 -- the best hands on the roster and the difference between finding a blade and making a better one. Wyn knows the arithmetic does not work and has been waiting, without much patience, for somebody of age to say it out loud first.

Resists none · 1.75 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Cleave, Hamstring

Carries. MainHand Conscript Maul · Chest Conscript Hauberk · Hands Conscript Mitts — Marrow Draught ×2, Scrap Iron ×2, Trail Rations ×2

Broad for sixteen and slower than he thinks. Leads with the shield because it is the only part of the drill he enjoys. His household lost a Proofing before he was born and he has spent his whole life being the one who does not mention it.

Resists none · 1.62 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. MainHand Practice Blade · OffHand Practice Round · Chest Drill Hauberk — nothing

Merrit's younger sister by a year and drawn in the same season, into the fourth team rather than his. Quiet, careful with food, and the first of Linnet's four to agree out loud that sitting out the week was the sensible thing.

Resists none · 1.57 m tall

Casts. Loose, Strike, Spark

Carries. MainHand Practice Bow · Chest Padded Jerkin — nothing

Reads the yard better than anyone and moves too late anyway. Keeps a chalked rod he is not supposed to have. The Amblins came into the valley two generations back, which in Coldharrow is still recent enough to be worth a remark at market.

Resists none · 1.58 m tall

Casts. Strike, Kindle

Carries. MainHand Chalked Rod · Chest Chalk Robe — nothing

Fast, loud, and has never once waited for the whistle. Wins the first exchange and loses the third. Wick hands stack stone, and her mother taught her the courses before she could read -- flat side in, packed, shedding north -- without ever telling her what the pattern was for.

Resists none · 1.55 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Venom Flick

Carries. MainHand Padded Spear · Chest Padded Jerkin — nothing

Out on the high terrace most days, because the wind is the only thing in Coldharrow that goes anywhere. Halla's cousin, drawn in the fourth team while she went in the second, and neither of them said a word about it in the yard.

Resists none · 1.56 m tall

Casts. Strike, Stone Grip

Carries. MainHand Practice Stave · Chest Chalk Robe — nothing

Practises alone behind the granary where nobody counts her misses. It shows. Tace's elder sister by eleven months, out of the same cold household, and the one who worked out early that coming home with nothing is still coming home.

Resists none · 1.53 m tall

Casts. Loose, Strike, Rime-Head

Carries. MainHand Practice Bow · Chest Padded Jerkin — nothing

Spends every free hour at the forge and swings a practice stave like a hammer. A Reckoner's son who does his father's arithmetic out loud, at the table, to people who would rather he did not, and who has never yet been given an answer.

Resists none · 1.60 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. MainHand Practice Stave · Chest Drill Hauberk — nothing

Steady, unremarkable, and the best-provisioned of the sixteen because his mother packed for him and packed for nine days. He is on the second team. On the third day the Ashwood puts him under a stack of stone his own team builds, and his pack comes off him still buckled.

Resists none · 1.61 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. MainHand Padded Spear · Chest Drill Hauberk — nothing

Believes the fire is owed. Opens by soaking the floor in oil and asking politely.

Resists Fire +30%, Frost -15% · 1.72 m tall

Casts. Strike, Oil Flask, Emberlance

Carries. MainHand Slag Knot · Chest Cinderweave Robes — Flask of Oil ×2

Half-submerged until it isn't. Leaves venom where it walks and does not mind standing in water.

Resists Venom +75%, Frost -20%, Fire -20% · 1.40 m tall

Casts. Strike, Venom Spray

Carries. MainHand Lurker Claws — nothing

A wall with a spear behind it. Nothing lands on this one until the plate is gone.

Resists Physical +15%, Piercing +10%, Storm -10% · 1.82 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shatterblow

Carries. MainHand Conscript Spear · Chest Conscript Hauberk · Head Conscript Cap — nothing

Ward-thick and patient. Will not be frozen, cannot be poisoned, and hates open flame with what is left of its heart.

Resists Frost +100%, Venom +100%, Fire -30%, Piercing +25% · 1.90 m tall

Casts. Strike, Rime Lance, Hoarfrost Bloom, Stoneshard Volley

Carries. MainHand Pitted Longsword · Hands Grave-Iron Gauntlets — nothing

Soaks the ground first, then punishes anyone who is still standing on it. The dangerous one in any pack.

Resists Storm +50%, Frost +20%, Physical -10% · 1.76 m tall

Casts. Loose, Tidebolt, Cloudburst, Stormlash, Arc Cascade

Carries. MainHand Tidecaller Stave · Chest Tidewrap Robes — Ward Tonic ×1

Waves you in from the yard with the shutters open and something on the fire. There are more bowls set out than there are people in the room, and the dog does not come out. The wave is identical in every version of this and that is not an accident.

Resists none · 1.68 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. nothing — nothing

Loses one-on-one and knows it, so it never arrives one-on-one. Goes through scrub that stops a grown man and is gone before the second shaft lands. Wants what is in the packs and not the fight around them.

Resists none · 1.30 m tall

Casts. Loose, Strike, Disengage

Carries. MainHand Hunting Bow — nothing

Working a bank, black to the elbow, and straightens up when it sees the packs. Knows exactly what week it is and exactly what you are. Keeps working while the others talk.

Resists none · 1.70 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. nothing — nothing

One handcart, one man, and a line of goods on a blanket better than the cart deserves. Out here in Proofing week, which is either very good planning or somebody else's. The prices are better than they should be.

Resists none · 1.74 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Disengage

Carries. MainHand Conscript Blade — nothing

Face down where the tracks fork, moving. About the age of your smallest companion. Asks for water before asking for help. The blood is real. Whether it is theirs is a separate question.

Resists none · 1.58 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. nothing — nothing

On a frame, carried by two others who have been carrying it a long while. The dressings have been changed recently and changed well. It is looking at the sky. It is not going to stop you.

Resists Physical -15%, Piercing -15% · 1.60 m tall

Casts. Shove

Carries. nothing — nothing

Lives out here on purpose, in a turf hut under a leaning deadwood, and does not stop what she is doing when four armed sixteen-year-olds come out of the scrub. There is more drying on the racks than one person eats. She is not afraid of you and there is no obvious reason for that.

Resists Venom +40% · 1.62 m tall

Casts. Strike, Mend Flesh, Sporeburst

Carries. MainHand Driftwood Stave — nothing

Same age as you, same drill, same four days without sleep. Holds the spear the way the yard taught, which is not the way that works. Their packs are the wrong shape for four more days of food.

Resists none · 1.64 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Root

Carries. MainHand Conscript Spear · Chest Oiled Leathers — nothing

Sarn Hollow comes in past the north faces, so they have lichen and no food. Carries the salves for their team and has already used most of them. Asks properly, which somehow makes it worse.

Resists none · 1.69 m tall

Casts. Loose, Strike, Aimed Shot, Mend Flesh

Carries. MainHand Bonewood Recurve · Chest Oiled Leathers — Plate Salve ×1

Sits on stripped deadfall sorted by size and lays four things out on a cloth. Prices everything in front of it, including you. Does not speak, and the not-speaking reads as menace until you learn it reads as nothing.

Resists Fire +20%, Frost -15% · 1.36 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Oil Flask, Disengage

Carries. MainHand Paired Gutting Knives · Chest Oiled Leathers — Flask of Oil ×2

Rare in a pack and the reason the pack holds. What comes out of it goes through a helmet, and men who have heard it once spend the rest of the season looking for it in the trees.

Resists Arcane +20%, Physical -10% · 1.28 m tall

Casts. Strike, Dirge, Lament

Carries. MainHand Driftwood Stave — nothing

Spent a day on the deadfall line and did not know who it was for. Cuts the scrub back in one place, grows it across in three, and lets you walk toward the cut place for ten minutes without noticing you were being steered.

Resists Fire +15%, Frost -15% · 1.34 m tall

Casts. Strike, Loose, Oil Flask, Bramblecast, Snare

Carries. MainHand Hunting Bow — Flask of Oil ×2, Cinder Bomb ×1

Wickerholt smiths, so the kit is better than the food. Old mail off a grandfather, a shield, and a blade that has never been used on anything. Packed for nine days. Has been out for six.

Resists none · 1.66 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Trip

Carries. MainHand Conscript Blade · OffHand Conscript Targe · Chest Marsh-Hide Jerkin — nothing

Sixteen, from a village four days round the mountain, on the same errand in the same week. Walks out ahead of their line to talk, alone, which costs them everything if they are wrong about you.

Resists none · 1.71 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shatterblow, Shield Wall

Carries. MainHand Pitted Longsword · OffHand Bell-Bearer's Buckler · Chest Conscript Hauberk — Plate Salve ×1

Both hands on a carrying frame and an axe on the belt it cannot reach. Nine days of this has taken the skin off its shoulders and it has not put the frame down once. It will set it down before it fights. Setting it down takes time.

Resists none · 1.98 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. MainHand Hooked Boarding Axe — nothing

Has worked this country since before anyone in your party was thought of. Wire, frames, cured hide, a steading built in a pass mouth. Watched something come down that pass this week and has not decided what to do about it. The good snares are already off the line.

Resists Frost +20% · 1.70 m tall

Casts. Loose, Strike, Pin, Snare

Carries. MainHand Hunting Bow · Chest Marsh-Hide Jerkin — nothing

A mile ahead of everything, crouched over the scree checking whether it will take weight. Marks the route as it goes and does not hide the marks. Has not looked at the horizon once.

Resists Physical +10%, Frost +20% · 1.94 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Trip, Disengage

Carries. MainHand Hooked Boarding Axe · Hands Grave-Iron Gauntlets · Feet Grave-Iron Sabatons — nothing

Off the line of march with a pile half built, working without hurry, in country that has no shortage of stones. Does not look up when you arrive and does not stop. There is nothing growing on it yet.

Resists Physical +10% · 1.96 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. Hands Grave-Iron Gauntlets — nothing

Prises sheets of something off warm ground and wraps them in wet sacking, and keeps the sacking wet. Has done well out of it. Talks a great deal, immediately, to four armed strangers, because it has been a while since anyone came past.

Resists none · 1.76 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. Chest Oiled Leathers — nothing

Walks at the head in dark plate repaired more times than it was made. Does not hurry and does not break step, because the thing behind it cannot break step either. Steps aside for nothing for the same reason a cart does not.

Resists Physical +25%, Piercing +20%, Frost +15%, Storm -15% · 2.05 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shatterblow, Root

Carries. MainHand Ashwood Maul · Chest Grave-Iron Cuirass · Head Grave-Iron Great Helm · Hands Grave-Iron Gauntlets · Feet Grave-Iron Sabatons — nothing

Somebody the party has known their whole life, on a line with eleven others, kneeling because standing was not offered. Not a combatant, not scenery, and not a rescue objective the game will announce. They are simply present, in the middle of the square, in the fire lane, for the whole fight.

Resists none · 1.68 m tall

Casts. Shove

Carries. nothing — nothing

Walks behind whatever went through first and takes what it did not want. There are always more of these than anyone counted and not one of them is worth a prepared ability.

Resists Physical -15% · 1.24 m tall

Casts. Strike, Trip

Carries. MainHand Paired Gutting Knives — nothing

Held the third terrace with a spear off the wall and a door for a shield and is still holding it when the party comes over the rise, because nobody told them the gate was gone. Joins the moment they are reached. Every one of these the party gets to is one more, and the number at the end of the night is the only number in the Homecoming that the party's own choices moved.

Resists none · 1.72 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shield Wall

Carries. MainHand Conscript Spear · Chest Conscript Hauberk · Head Conscript Cap — nothing

Reads country the way Sera Ombry does and came to the same conclusions about the same evidence four days round the other side of the mountain. She has worked out most of what the party has worked out. Neither team will find that out, because they are going to fight instead.

Resists none · 1.66 m tall

Casts. Strike, Loose, Bramblecast, Snare, Smokefall, Raise

Carries. MainHand Cinder Focus · Chest Marsh-Hide Jerkin · Head Marsh-Hide Hood — Ward Tonic ×1

Wickerholt's quiet one, and the party has their own. Says nothing during the talking and nothing during the fighting and is on high ground before either starts. If Rook is in the party the two of them will end up shooting at each other across two hundred paces of cairn terrace, which is a sentence nobody in either village will ever be told.

Resists none · 1.63 m tall

Casts. Loose, Aimed Shot, Pin, Worry, Disengage

Carries. MainHand Bonewood Recurve · Chest Oiled Leathers · Feet Oiled Treads — nothing

The one who keeps the other three upright, which is the same job Ossian Sill or Tace Ordwin is doing eighty paces away. Focuses whoever is worst rather than whoever is loudest, so killing her first is correct and the party will feel it either way.

Resists none · 1.61 m tall

Casts. Strike, Mend Flesh, Second Wind, Bulwark Chant, Ward of the Ninth Bell

Carries. MainHand Tidecaller Stave · Chest Tidewrap Robes · Head Tidewrap Veil — Marrow Draught ×2

Crosses the gap between the lips on a line laid this morning, hands free, at a speed that suggests the line is not the frightening part. There are two of these and they exist so that taking a lip is not the same as keeping it.

Resists Physical -10% · 1.29 m tall

Casts. Strike, Lunge, Trip, Disengage, Backstab

Carries. MainHand Marsh Dirk — nothing

Stands with the roped line of villagers at its back and keeps it there. Will not leave them, which reads as cruelty and is in fact the reason they are still alive: everything else in the square is on fire and this one has one job and is doing it. Fights with the coffle behind it, so every line the party draws through it goes through somebody from Coldharrow as well.

Resists Physical +25%, Frost +15%, Storm -15% · 1.99 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Called Out, Guard Order, Interpose, Pin

Carries. MainHand Marsh Harpoon · Chest Grave-Iron Cuirass · Head Grave-Iron Great Helm · Hands Grave-Iron Gauntlets · Feet Grave-Iron Sabatons — nothing

Wickerholt's team lead, sixteen, in the best kit his village could put on anyone, because Wickerholt are smiths and that is what they have instead of food. Walked out ahead of his line to talk to you and is still standing there while both sides work out whether that was brave or stupid. Carries his village's tally in a wax tablet on his belt and the number on it is worse than yours.

Resists none · 1.74 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shatterblow, Shield Wall, Called Out, Interpose, Last Stand

Carries. MainHand Foundry Hammer · OffHand Marshwood Round · Chest Ashglass Brigandine · Head Ashglass Helm · Hands Ashglass Vambraces · Feet Ashglass Greaves — Plate Salve ×2, Charred Ledger ×1

Took the stones over when Vesk stopped being able to hold them, which is either a promotion or a sentence depending on how the defile went. Does the job worse and knows it, and compensates with the noise, which works better than it should.

Resists Arcane +25%, Physical -10% · 1.33 m tall

Casts. Strike, Loose, Dirge, Lament, Crescendo, Snare, Oil Flask

Carries. MainHand Driftwood Stave — Flask of Oil ×2

Sarn Hollow's lead, and the third party on the verge. Arrives at the worst possible moment for both of the other two, which from where Sarn Hollow are standing is the best possible moment. Not an ally and not an enemy: a fourth pressure on a piece of ground that already had three.

Resists none · 1.69 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Lunge, Flurry, Read the Room, Riposte

Carries. MainHand Marsh Dirk · OffHand Conscript Targe · Chest Marsh-Hide Jerkin · Feet Marsh-Hide Boots — Stride Tonic ×1

Small even for a goblin and the only one on the lip who is not moving. Counts her dead in stones and has laid nine, which is the whole of her name and the whole of her authority: goblins have not needed anyone to hold a count for two hundred years and now they do. Fights the ground rather than the party, and has been fighting this particular ground since before the party had a heading.

Resists Fire +20%, Physical -10%, Frost -15% · 1.31 m tall

Casts. Strike, Loose, Aimed Shot, Oil-Head, Pin, Bramblecast, Snare, Oil Flask, Read the Room

Carries. MainHand Conscript Crossbow — Flask of Oil ×3, Cinder Bomb ×2

One of the four who did the Gatehead. The short landward wall held for two hundred years because nothing had ever leaned on it, and these leaned on it in the dark for about as long as it takes to eat. Fights in the broken arch because that is where it is used to standing now.

Resists Physical +25%, Piercing +20%, Storm -15% · 2.08 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shatterblow, Cleave, Shield Shove

Carries. MainHand Hooked Boarding Axe · OffHand Foundry Pavise · Chest Ironguard Cuirass · Head Ironguard Close Helm · Feet Ironguard Sabatons — nothing

Last in the order and facing the wrong way, which is not a mistake and has not been a mistake for nine days. Whatever the column is walking away from, this is the thing between it and them, and it has been doing that job long enough to be good at it and long enough to be tired. Does not pursue. Does not need to.

Resists Physical +30%, Piercing +25%, Frost +15%, Storm -15% · 2.02 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shatterblow, Shield Wall, Interpose, Root, Oath of the Wall

Carries. MainHand Hooked Boarding Axe · OffHand Foundry Pavise · Chest Ironguard Cuirass · Head Ironguard Close Helm · Hands Ironguard Gauntlets · Feet Ironguard Sabatons — nothing

The head of the column, and the first orc in Act 1 with a name -- which the party only learns if somebody in it can ask. Its trade is road: it goes ahead of a moving people and makes ground passable, and the only passable ground in this valley is one gate at the top of one switchback. It did not come for Coldharrow. It came for the road, and Coldharrow was standing on it, and there was never going to be enough of either.

Resists Physical +30%, Piercing +25%, Fire +20%, Frost +20%, Storm -20% · 2.19 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Shatterblow, Sundering Arc, Cleave, Overdraw, Shield Shove, Root

Carries. MainHand Roadbreaker · Chest Ironguard Cuirass · Head Ironguard Close Helm · Hands Ironguard Gauntlets · Feet Ironguard Sabatons — Greater Plate Salve ×1

One of a pair, and neither of them is the good one. They work by there being two.

Resists Venom +15%, Arcane -20% · 0.90 m tall

Casts. Strike

Carries. nothing — nothing

It gets up in the order the joints allow rather than the order a living body would choose, and once it is up it is quick enough.

Resists Venom +60%, Frost +25%, Fire -25% · 1.70 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove

Carries. nothing — nothing

Long in the leg and low in the chest, bred out of the marsh villages for exactly one job, which is to get to the far side of something before it has turned round.

Resists Venom +20%, Arcane -20% · 0.95 m tall

Casts. Strike, Worry

Carries. nothing — nothing

One body, kept properly, by someone who reads the ledgers. It remembers more than a thrall does and it is not grateful.

Resists Venom +80%, Frost +40%, Physical +15%, Fire -20% · 1.78 m tall

Casts. Strike, Shove, Toll the First

Carries. nothing — nothing