My Life As A Neurodivergent Writer

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog! I wanted to kind of switch things up today and talk about what it’s like being a neurodivergent writer while also balancing my home life in case it may help anyone else. I know there’s a lot of creative neurodivergent people out there trying to figure out how to balance their creativity with their work and who may also be a little shy about putting their work out there for the world to see. I went through those same struggles at the start and I still go through those same struggles each time I create something new that I intend to be published. Maybe hearing how someone else gets through the process each time will be helpful to someone. I hope!

 

I live a pretty normal life. I have a husband who is a devilishly handsome professional cartographer. He is under contract with NASA right now, which is pretty cool. I have a son who is six years old in kindergarten. He is non-speaking, autistic, a total sensory-seeker, and the brightest light of my life. And I’m a stay-at-home mother who writes novels and tabletop role-playing games, and I happen to have ADHD.

Like my son, I have some pretty intense sensory needs. However, unlike my son, I am NOT a sensory seeker, so our sensory needs tend to clash. It’s something that I, as the mother, just have to deal with because it’s definitely no one’s fault that my son and I’s moods are so sensory-dependent.

 

Getting through our sensory needs and providing him with all the cuddles and tight squeezes he needs is just a part of my day now. It’s thanks to him that I even realized why I had so much anxiety all of these years: I wasn’t taking care of my own sensory needs. I know how to do that now and it’s made my focus and attention way better. Not perfect, and my attention is still pretty bad, but I’m able to live with it now.

 

I always like to say my son saved me, because it’s true. I was a typical edgy, nerdy, depressed teenager who had way too much of what I thought was logic to find purpose in my existence. I wasn’t taking very good care of myself as a young adult, either. I did write a ton of first drafts of novels as a young adult, some of them very good, some of them very bad, but for the most part my younger years were a blur of depression and defeatism.

 

In my mid-twenties I had my son, and my whole view on my purpose in life changed. Now, that’s not a PSA to go have babies to improve your life, because kids are TRICKY! They are difficult, tireless, and loud. But they can also be fun, observant, and interesting…eventually. It takes a few years for them to get from helpless and needy to adventurous and independent. 

 

I’m kind of blabbering on, but basically the point is that when I learned my son was autistic, I learned things about me as well. I learned about sensory needs, about offering reassurance rather than barking orders at kids, and I learned that I was built for parenting my own son, that I had it in me to be his best mom possible, even when it gets hard.

 

Being a good mom is a point of pride for me, because I never thought I had it in me. I was too unfocused, too motivated to become the next Anne Rice or Stephen King. But becoming my son’s mom made me a fun person, a loving person, and a positive person. And I thank him every day for that because it really saved my life for my perspective to change so much.

 

All right, enough of the sweet sappy yapping. My next point is that this perspective change affected everything, including how I view writing. Before, I was making hit-or-miss first drafts because I was only writing for myself. Now when I write, I try to think about how my writing will affect others. Will this make someone happy? Inspire them? Will this story evoke an emotional response?

 

That has improved my writing ten-fold, and has led me down the path to writing TTRPGs (tabletop role-playing games). I want people to find enjoyment from my writing and bring peace and happiness and maybe even something interesting into their lives if only for a little while.

 

I go through a list of hobbies throughout the year. Being ADHD, I tend to hyperfixate on particular hobbies and passions for a while before moving onto the next one. This is how I learned how to make jewelry, sew handmade dolls, and create resin products. But the one part of my life that has always stuck with me is writing in some form. I’ve always known, since I could read, that I wanted to write.

 

Here’s where that gets tricky: Writing requires a LOT of focus and concentration and patience. As someone who has ADHD, I tend to lack in those areas. Like I mentioned earlier, I tend to hyperfixate on one or two things at a time, and while that usually involves writing and writing becomes fun and easy and second-nature to me, there are times when my brain is just not having it and it becomes a struggle.

 

So how do I get past the struggle?

 

Most days, and this is exactly how it sounds: I fight my brain. That sounds a little dramatic, but after forcing myself past the wall of executive dysfunction I try to write at least a thousand words a day. After that one-thousand words, if I still feel like giving up and doing something else to occupy my time and imagination, I do, but usually just the act of writing with purpose gets me going.

 

Another method I’ve used that’s been recommended to me is to set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and just do what you need to do during that time, and by the time the timer goes off your brain is already in that mode of work that you’ll usually just keep going.

 

Some days, though, are just harder than others with executive dysfunction. I take those days as my break days (being a stay-at-home mom I work on my writing 7 days a week while my son is at school or asleep) and just play a video game during the time I would be writing. I try not to let myself feel guilty about it, because if I do let myself feel guilty, this resting period won’t work.

 

Another thing that helps me write is to keep a cup of coffee or bottle of water and snacks on my desk next to my laptop as I work.

 

I tend to work most of the morning while my son’s at school, and by the time my son’s home from school my mind is wiped out. Spending time with my son recharges me a bit, and sleeping later that night recharges me a lot, and I start work at around the same time every single morning, about 6 am. Staying consistent with my routine really helps my brain to function because my brain will know what comes next and it’ll be ready for it. For example, I’ve done this routine of getting ready for the day so many times that when it comes time to write I’m just ready, not overthinking it, I just get it done. If I hesitate and don’t follow my routine, I tend to overthink what I’m about to write and that just triggers executive dysfunction.

 

A piece of writing advice: It’s better to try to just edit what exists than to try to write it perfectly the first time around. No first draft is going to be perfect without you stressing yourself out to the moon and back.

Writing with ADHD is definitely possible. Don’t let days of inactivity discourage you. Try to experience those days as guilt-free as you possibly can because rest will just recharge you, while stress will drain you. Note that I am NOT a doctor, I am just speaking as someone who has lived with and experienced ADHD.

 

Overcoming jitters when publishing your work is not easy. I’ve published over twenty games and I still feel nervous each and every time it comes to publishing them. Sending out something you’ve created into the world is always scary. The fear of judgement is both real and legitimate. But let me tell you something as someone who’s gotten both good and bad reviews for games that I’ve been so passionate about making: It’s absolutely worth it!

 

Sure, you’ll get some people who don’t understand your work, who may even bash your work. But it’s the people who connect with your project that will make it all worthwhile. And you can be sure at least one other person in this big, wide world will have the same interests as you when it comes to gaming and reading and writing, and THAT is the person you’re making your project for. Because that person who has the same interests as you will find that same happiness in your game or writing or project that you do. You’ll have made someone happy with something you created, even if only for a little while. And that’s always worth it.

 

Writing anything is not a career for money. It’s a career for bringing something joyful or inspiring or interesting to other people. This world craves creativity and originality. People crave something they can connect to or find happiness in. If you’ve ever wanted to publish something you wrote, whether it’s a novel or a tabletop game, you should know it’s not an easy journey, but it’s a journey that’s worth something more than money.

 

I hope this has helped someone. If it has, then I’ve succeeded in what I set out to do today, and that’s always a good feeling. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please feel free to leave a comment or message me at sarahrblount@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

 

Colossus Part VI (Ironsworn: Starforged Rules) The Final Chapter

 

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog. The final chapter of Iris, Sora, and Parrot is here! This is the final Part to their story that I journaled using Ironsworn: Starforged’s rules. I hope you have enjoyed their adventures and that it has inspired you to journal your own games! To start the adventure at the beginning, click here to find Part I.

 

Colossus Part VI

Iris, Sora, and Parrot reach the facility in a few hours and hide behind some cover and wait for signals from the other Scouts. All is quiet. They suddenly hear bird calls nearby. Other Scouts have arrived and found cover. There are three guards blocking each of the four entries into the facility. Each entry has a team of Scouts ready to throw a smoke grenade at the guards.

Iris sounds the signal to attack, and they all throw their smoke grenades. Parrot, Iris, and Sora take down the three guards in front of the east entry and go inside. They enter a chapel with no less than a dozen surprised Blessed Martyrs sitting in pews. Iris throws a smoke grenade and the room explodes in fog. Using hand-to-hand combat, Iris and Parrot fight off the cultists. The cultists charge at them recklessly, without fear.

Iris can’t see very well and is tackled by a cultist over a pew. More cultists seem to fill up the room, though Iris can’t tell where they are coming from through the smoke. Parrot pulls out his handgun and starts shooting, and Sora tackles the cultist on top of Iris. Pretty soon the room is full of over a dozen dead cultists. Parrot helps Iris to her feet. They can hear the other Scouts fighting cultists in the distance. They move on.

They find the labs and dozens of animals in small cages, most in various states of mutation or death. Parrot suggests they kill them out of mercy. Regretfully, he and Iris do. They find some research papers and stuff them in their satchels for Lotus. They can hear gunfire and yelling from other parts of the facility. It sounds like the Scouts are winning.

As they enter the living quarters, a sudden gunshot rings their ears and Sora falls over, blood pouring from his shoulder. Iris screams and fires her bow in the direction the gunshot came from.

Crowley appears cloaked in smoke rising from the barrel of his gun. Iris’s arrow hits his leg but he pulls it out easily and breaks it in half with his hand.

“Aww,” he says. “Did I kill your cat?”

Iris screams in rage again and fires another arrow. This one hits him in his missing eye. He grunts as he pulls the bloody arrow out. Parrot fires his gun and Iris fires her bow. They both hit him, but he seems unbothered. He fires his gun at them, forcing them to separate and duck behind fallen tables.

Iris draws her knife, her hands shaking with fury. Crowley tries to fire again but his gun jams. Iris runs up to him with her knife and stabs him in the chest over and over. Blood seeps from his stab wounds, but he’s still fighting.

Parrot joins the fray and stabs Crowley with his dagger. Crowley is unbothered and tells Iris the reason he didn’t try to kill Iris when he killed Sparrow was because she wasn’t worth it. He shoves the Scouts off of him with amazing strength. Iris finds her feet before Parrot does an stabs Crowley so deep that when she goes to pull the knife out the blade breaks off from the hilt. Parrot, injured, tosses Iris his dagger. She catches it.

Crowley hits Iris in the face, shattering her cheekbone. She tastes blood. But she leaps onto the front of Crowley, tackling him, just as she’s seen Sora do to countless enemies before. She raises the dagger high above her head and plunges it into Crowley’s good eye, piercing his brain and killing him.

She checks on Sora, but Sora has died. She cradles the big cat in her arms and mourns as Parrot holds her from behind. She cries and screams until the signal comes from the other Scouts that it’s time to blow up the facility. Parrot helps Iris to her feet and she says goodbye to Sora.

They leave the facility and meet up with the other Scouts on a ridge overlooking the facility. The facility explodes while the Scouts watch from a safe distance. The Blessed Martyrs and Crowley are no more. The Scouts all go their separate ways, as is their nature. Iris and Parrot return to Quiet City and take an airship to Crystal Heights and Lotus Headquarters so they can deliver the research papers they found in the facility and report the mission as completed.

Afterwards, Iris and Parrot spend time together in Parrot’s apartment. Parrot tells Iris he loves her and she tells him it back. They share a passionate night together. In the morning they visit the Scout cemetery and Iris solemnly lays the hilt of the knife Sparrow gave her on his grave. Memories of Sparrow and Sora flood her mind. Parrot holds her hand. Iris vows to let go of the past and look forward to her future. Parrot and Iris leave to go on their next mission.

The End.

Actual Play Of Mighty Marvelous Part I

 

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog! Today I decided to write down some of the Actual Play I made when I was play-testing Mighty Marvelous. I had so much fun playing Mighty Marvelous. I love superheroes so much and getting to create my own superhero who interacts with other superheroes and villains of my own creation was just awesome!

Mighty Marvelous uses my MMUGS engine, which allows you to play a game while writing a cohesive narrative. Everyone’s writing style is different, and when I play solo I tend to write in a stream of consciousness without much detail but with plenty of action. I don’t write with paragraph breaks and sometimes I get so into my writing that I create run-on sentences, but for this Actual Play I’ve edited the story a bit, just enough so it should be easily readable.

This Actual Play is basically the first chapter of my hero, Glamour Girl’s adventures. Glamour Girl is featured on the front cover of Mighty Marvelous, illustrated by the talented Miguelangel Bastidas.

If you’re interested in playing Mighty Marvelous yourself, you can purchase it on itchio here or on drivethrurpg here. You are free to publish any stories you create using the MMUGS system, although I would love to hear about it! You can email me at sarahrblount@gmail.com or just comment here on the blog.

Without further ado, here is Part I of Mighty Marvelous: The Adventures Of Glamour Girl!

 

Part I

Glamour Girl (Wilma Watlee) is a superhero who protects the city of Lukeville from crime and devastation. She can fly, has super strength, is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and can shoot blasts of energy using her hands. She has a strict no-kill rule, but villains are always trying to push her past her limits, especially her main foe, Gadget. She acquired her powers when she was an orphaned child and was experimented on using alien DNA. She escaped the laboratory and the scientists shortly after, and arrived in Lukeville as a teenager with dreams of becoming a theater actress.

For now, when she’s not protecting the city, she sings at local clubs and bars for extra cash. She’s eyeing a lead part in a play, A Waste Of Crow, premiering in January of next year. As of right not, she’s just waking up due to her alarm going off on her phone. A villain is attacking the city.

She puts on her fabulous Glamour Girl costume and flies out of her apartment window, careful that no one sees her leaving. The event is taking place at the uptown bank. On her way, she sees an elderly woman having trouble walking into the street to cross. Glamour Girl takes a minute to help the elderly woman cross the road. Citizens on the sidewalk clap and cheer for her, and the woman thanks her with a hard candy.

As she continues towards the bank, she sees the superhero, Spectre, dealing with three thugs in hand-to-hand combat. Glamour Girl would help, but he can take care of himself.

As she is about to pass by a tall building, a window washer’s platform is hanging by just one rope. She saves the window washer and carries him down to the ground. He thanks her and she continues on.

She passes by a man on the street walking his dog who she has no idea is the villain Gadget disguised as a civilian.

Finally, she arrives at the bank to see the Illusive Magician robbing it. He has no henchmen, just floating bags of money he’s orchestrating with his wand into a giant gray van. He’s laughing maniacally until he sees Glamour Girl, then he turns serious and summons a red-eyed bird out of his hat to attack Glamour Girl. The bird flies at her face. The bird claws at her cheeks, leaving behind visible scratches she’ll have to explain later.

She throws the bird off and it flies away. She tries to punch the Illusive Magician, but he vanishes before her fist makes contact. He appears again behind her. He tries to strike her with a large sack of money but she catches it. She in turn strikes him with the money sack, knocking him almost off his feet. He catches himself on a railing before he falls and sneers at her. He casts a fireball spell at her using his wand. She gracefully dodges. She kicks him in the stomach and he goes flying down the steps to the sidewalk.

Grunting and angry, he aims his wand at her again. He casts a strange dark spell at her but she swiftly dodges it as she approaches him. He casts a ray of light from his wand that hits her in the face and blinds her temporarily. He then hits her hard over the head with a sack of money. He hits her again and she falls over.

He gets in the silver van and drives off. He gets away. She’ll have to find him later. Right now she can barely see and her head is throbbing and her face is scratched.

She returns to her apartment. For now she needs to rest and recover from that embarrassing event.

She covers her face wounds with make-up that night and heads to a bar to sing. She does an okay job, not her best work. She earned very few tips. She returns to her apartment to sleep.

The next morning she wakes knowing she has a new mission: Go into the Illusive Magician’s lair and arrest him for robbing the bank yesterday.

Glamour Girl dresses up in her costume and leaves her apartment through the alleyway, towards the lair. She arrives at his lair, an abandoned movie theater. As soon as she enters, she sees a security guard tied up. She unties him. He says the gray van had belonged to him and his partner, who is being held prisoner further in the lair. She tells the guard to wait outside and she’ll find his partner.

She delves deeper into the lair. The next area is trapped. She triggers the trap, poison gas, but escapes the area before she is affected by it. She goes through two more areas that are empty before finding the other security guard tied up. She frees him and sends him to wait outside.

In the final area is the Illusive Magician. He fires a spell at her, but she dodges. She shoots a light beam of energy at him, but he dodges, too. She runs up to punch him, but he vanishes and appears behind her wielding a crowbar. He hits her hard with it. She falls down, injured. He hits her again. When he goes to hit her a third time, she rolls out of the way. She blasts him with an energy beam, and the crowbar flies out of his hands. She tells him to give up. He ignores her.

She gets to her feet and hits him in the face. She holds back her strength so as not to break his skull. Just as she is about to hit him again, he raises his hands in surrender, nose bleeding. He is brought to the police stations and jailed while the security guards are brought to the hospital.

All of the bank’s stolen cash is recovered. The newspapers praise Glamour Girl for catching the bad guy. Glamour Girl has injuries herself, so she returns home to her apartment to rest.

That's it for Part I! I might continue adding to her story on the blog if there's enough interest. 

Don't forget I have a weekly newsletter on Substack that releases every Wednesday and my handle on Substack is @sarahsoloadventures so please subscribe so you can keep up with my articles, current projects, and all of my Actual Playthroughs!

Also: I have a Q&A with the Randomworlds Discord on April 4th at 1 pm EDT. I hope you'll be there to see me answer questions about Colossus Complete Edition!

Colossus Part V (Ironsworn: Starforged Rules)

 

Hi and welcome to my blog! Part V of Colossus with Ironsworn: Starforged rules is all written up and posted here. The adventures of Iris, Sora, and Parrot continue.

 

Colossus Part V

The first place they go is Cardinal’s garage. Cardinal agrees to both fix the motorcycle and watch Sora while Parrot and Iris do what they need to do.

Parrot and Iris go to the mayor’s mansion and climb in through the second floor. They sneak into her office. They search through her files and find a letter from the Diez Family demanding a cut of Quiet City’s profits from crimes like racketeering and prostitution or they’ll reveal the mayor’s affair. Parrot comments she certainly had a motive against the Diez Family. They search more. They find a letter from Lotus that says if she doesn’t start paying more taxes to them they’ll pull all of the Scouts out of Quiet City. That gives her a motive against Lotus, too. Finally, they find it. They find a letter from the Blessed Martyrs requesting more credits for a facility they want to build in the Sable Lands.

Parrot and Iris keep the letter, and when they leave the mansion they send the letter to Lotus Headquarters by way of a courier bot. They head to Cardinal’s garage but when they get there they find him barely alive in a pool of his own blood. Several of the house cats are dead and Sora is also severely injured. Iris and Parrot immediately start administering life-saving healing to them both. They manage to stabilize both Sora and Cardinal. Cardinal is sent to a hospital, still unconscious, and Iris stays with Sora at Cardinal’s home. Parrot stays with Cardinal at the hospital.

The next day, Parrot returns and says he spoke to Cardinal when he woke up. Cardinal was attacked by an assassin. Sora saved him. The assassin was injured badly and ran off before he could finish killing Cardinal and Sora. Iris says that no Scout is safe, not even the ones in the walled cities. Furious, they decide now is the time to interrogate the mayor.

They knock out her guards and burst into her office. She is sitting at her desk, looking mildly annoyed. She says, “So you’re the ones who broke into my home.” They tell her they know she’s working with the assassins and the cultists. They tell her to call off the assassins. She says she will. She’s already screwed anyway if Lotus knows about her activities. Parrot tells her the only way to save her position now is to pay Lotus its taxes and cooperate to take down the Blessed Martyrs.

Suddenly Kaito Crowley bursts into the office through the window. He shoots at the mayor, who ducks in time under her desk. Iris and Parrot immediately jump into the fray, Iris drawing her knife and Parrot drawing his dagger. They get in close to Crowley and stab him, but the blades barely penetrate his coat. Iris kicks the gun out of Crowley’s hand. It flies across the room. She kicks him again in the face. He bleeds from the mouth, but it was like kicking a rock wall. He rears back and punches her in the face, sending her flying backwards. Parrot manages to stab Crowley again but it does little good.

Iris stands up and realizes the back of her head is bleeding. She must have landed hard. She runs back into the fray just as Parrot is punched in the face, breaking his glasses and his nose. Crowley grabs Iris by her satchel and starts choking her with the strap. Medicine spills out of her satchel and onto the floor. Parrot jumps to his feet and tries to rescue Iris. Iris starts to fade from consciousness and she thinks of Sparrow.

His memory gives her strength and she breaks the strap of her satchel and elbows Crowley in the side hard. She gets away from him. Parrot and Iris both charge at Crowley with their blades drawn. Crowley fights with both of them at once, dodging blows.

Suddenly a bullet flies past Iris’s head and hits Crowley in the shoulder. Crowley jumps back out the window and flees. Iris sees that it was the mayor with Crowley’s gun who fired the shot. But who was she really aiming for? Parrot takes the gun from her. He tells the mayor she’s been marked for death, but they’ll protect her if she cooperates and tells them what she knows about the Blessed Martyrs.

The mayor tells them the Blessed Martyrs are building a facility near the Nameless Mountain. They are trying to recreate the super-serum that empowered Crowley. They need to study Scout DNA, namely Scout blood, to see how it is enhanced by miasma, one of the main ingredients in the super-serum. As they recruit and research, they are killing people to sacrifice to inter-dimensional beings that they believe are just waiting for their chance to enter the Spire. The Blessed Martyrs’ ultimate goal, however, is to destroy stability in the Spire by destroying Lotus. They believe this will create enough chaos that a rift will form, allowing the dimensional aliens access into our reality. The Scouts must die to allow Lotus to be vulnerable enough to be destroyed.

Parrot says these people sound like lunatics. They must be stopped. He writes to Lotus informing them of recent events and asking for back-up so they assault the cult’s facility near the Nameless Mountain.

Iris and Parrot rent a room at the inn and discuss their next steps. They need allies to storm the facility. Iris thinks back on all the bonds she’s made since she became a Scout. She writes to Goose, Posey, Seagull, Jasmine, Hydrangea, Lavender, Wren, Tulip, and Hummingbird. She asks them to join her in Quiet City, posthaste. It will take a while to hear back from Lotus and the Scouts.

While Sora heals, Iris spends some downtime with Parrot, practicing archery and telling stories about their childhoods. One night, after dinner at the inn, while they wait for the Scouts’ and Lotus’s responses, Parrot and Iris share a kiss.

The next day they go on their first date to the market to resupply. Parrot buys Iris a beautiful handmade necklace from a Red Rivers merchant, and Iris buys Parrot a handgun. Parrot vows to protect Iris, and Iris vows to protect Parrot.

The first Scout to show up is Goose later that day. Then all the others show up over the next few days as they make their plans. Finally, a letter from Lotus arrives giving them the thumbs-up to assault the facility, collect research papers, and burn the Blessed Martyrs to the ground. By this time Sora is healed up, as is Cardinal, and they join the group.

They leave at dawn towards the facility, all split up in different directions, in small groups so they can sneak up on the facility. Parrot, Iris, and Sora comprise one group. They are heading to the facility on foot by the east. They are armed and ready for a fight.

The terrain here is very hilly and mountainous. Sora has an easy time with it, but it slows the Scouts down. They finally find a clear path through the difficult terrain and start making better time. As they continue on, the mountainous terrain starts to give way under their feet. Parrot falls but Iris catches his hand in time and pulls him up. They find a freshwater pool in a valley and bathe and refill their canteens.

They come across another pool, this one full of miasma, blocking the road. It is safe for Parrot and Iris to swim across it, but not Sora. They go around the miasma pool, lengthening their journey.

They reach a ridge and can see the facility in the distance in a valley with the backdrop of the enormous Nameless Mountain. They are almost there.

Colossus Part IV (Ironsworn: Starforged Rules)

 

Hi and welcome to my blog! Today I have published Part IV of Colossus with Ironsworn: Starforged rules. The adventures of Iris and Sora continue. I hope you enjoy it and it inspires your own Ironsworn sessions!

 

Colossus Part IV

The trail is peaceful and Iris asks Tulip and Hummingbird how they met. They explain that they met as children when they were paired together based on extensive personality tests, per the Psychic Elf tradition.

An aggressive grizzly bear suddenly blocks their path. Patches of its fur are gone and its skin is covered in sores. It is foaming at the mouth. Iris fires an arrow at it, hitting it shallowly in the shoulder. The bear charges and Iris dodges. Tulip blasts a force field of kinetic energy at the bear, knocking it over and stunning it. The bear wobbles to its paws and charges again, but Iris is ready. She shoots it in the eye with an arrow. It falls over, dead. They continue on.

They come to a river with no bridge in sight. It takes some time before they can find a way to cross. As they get closer to the Brier, they realize they are being followed. They ready their weapons and Sora growls. Arrows suddenly fall from the sky. The Scouts all suffer shallow arrow wounds. Iris fires back with her bow and a raider falls out of cover, dead. More arrows are fired at the Scouts. Iris tries to fire another arrow, but it breaks. She fumbles with another arrow and this one breaks, too. The Scouts and Sora try to find cover. Unfortunately, there is no useful cover. Tulip and Hummingbird both unleash kinetic blasts, pushing the ambushers back while Iris carefully readies an arrow. More ambushers, mutants, approach from behind them. Iris begins to feel scared. They may not make it out of this situation.

She fires arrows at the ambushers approaching from behind while Tulip and Hummingbird unleash another kinetic blast at them. The Scouts and Sora see an opening and take it; they flee the ambush.

Finally, a few hours later, they reach the Crowley Manor. The manor is a large plantation-style home with a large gate around it. The roof is missing shingles and some of the windows are broken. It’s clear no one has lived here for a long time. The gate is open and Sora and the Scouts cautiously enter. The manor is in disarray but the library is surprisingly pristine. They find books on biology and religion. There are a desk and filing cabinets in the back of the library. The Scouts search through it and find a picture of Crowley before he was scarred with a young man who looks like a young Sparrow. They also find a list of all the Scouts, with names of deceased Scouts crossed out. It seems Crowley is trying to hunt down Scouts to kill them.

The names are in no particular order, but Sparrow is crossed out. If Crowley is killing Scouts, why didn’t he kill Iris the same night he killed Sparrow? One thing is for certain: He’s back with the Blessed Martyrs, either leading them or working for them. He’s a murderer and must be stopped.

Iris decides her next step should be to return to Arid Acropolis and see what Goose has learned about the Blessed Martyrs. The Scouts and Sora leave the manor and make the return journey to Crystal Heights. On the journey back, they make camp and use up rations. Without further incident, they reach Crystal Heights. Iris and the Psychic Elves go their separate ways, as they have to return to the Soco Jungle to assist Alisa Stark. Iris resupplies in the market and heals up at an inn. She fletches some more arrows.

The next day she looks for Parrot in Headquarters. He is still on a mission, studying an artifact. She tells him what she learned about Crowley at his manor and that she is going to Arid Acropolis to learn more about the Blessed Martyrs. Parrot expresses regret that he cannot go with her, but tells her to keep him updated. He arranges an airship ride for her and Sora in First Class to Quiet City. Iris thanks him and hugs him. He hugs her back awkwardly. Even Sora licks his hand.

Iris and Sora board the airship and head to Quiet City. On the ride to Quiet City, Iris dreams of the fallen Tower of Eden. In her dreams she sees scavengers rifling through the debris, looking for something. She wakes up and shortly after they arrive at Quiet City. She and Sora join a caravan headed for Lyric. Iris vows to protect the caravan from raiders.

Another Scout, Lavender, a Red Rivers Native, offers to help. She has a wolf companion named Howler who follows her everywhere, much like Sora does with Iris. Almost as soon as their journey to Lyric starts, a farmer loses control of a horse pulling his carriage and it runs off. Iris pursues it and finally reins it in, but this event has slowed them down.

They finally make some progress but a carriage loses a wheel. It can’t be fixed and the provisions on the carriage are moved to the other wagons, burdening the horses and slowing the caravan down.

A large wasp attacks a farmer, stinging him. Iris kills it and uses special medicine on the farmer’s wound. They find a shortcut a little while later that cuts their journey time in half.

As they enter the Sable Lands, they find evidence that a Dragon Squid has been here. They also encounter an old campsite with runes dug into the ground. Iris suspects they are from the Blessed Martyrs. A rockslide ahead forces the caravan to leave the road and go around it. They later notice footprints in the dirt and suspect an ambush up ahead. Iris and Lavender fire arrows ahead and scare the ambushers off.

They arrive at Lyric that evening. The farmers are thankful and give each Scout sixty credits. Lavender and Iris meet up with Hydrangea and the three women share a drink and tell stories. Hydrangea mentions an increase in cult activity in the Sable Lands. She says she’s received letters from Goose in Arid Acropolis to be on the lookout for it. Lavender receives a mission from Lotus by courier bot to go to Scarlet City in Red Rivers. She and Howler depart.

Hydrangea asks Iris if she and Sora will be okay traveling to Arid Acropolis alone with all the raiders and cultists about. Iris is confident she can get to the city safely.

In the morning, Iris and Sora leave Lyric and head for Arid Acropolis. When she arrives at Arid Acropolis, she is forced to find cover. A battle is taking place outside the city gates between a raider faction called Shattered Skulls and the mercenaries of Arid Acropolis. She sees Goose fighting with the mercenaries. Iris sees they need help and she enters the fray with arrows flying. She strikes several raiders, drawing enemy attention to herself. Goose notices her too and in the midst of his distraction he is stabbed by a knife. He falters but keep fighting.

Iris unleashes arrows at the oncoming raiders. She takes them down. She picks off a raider who was sneaking up behind Goose. She lets loose more arrows and takes out a significant number of raiders. The remaining raiders flee.

Iris hurries to Goose’s side. She takes out her first aid kit and tends to Goose’s stab wound. He thanks her and they leave the battlefield and enter the city. She helps him to his apartment and she asks him about the Blessed Martyrs. He tells her that the Blessed Martyrs are trying to create their own soldiers by baptizing their members in miasma. So far it’s not been working very well. He also tells her the Blessed Martyrs travel to the ruins of the Tower of Eden a lot to scavenge and baptize members in the large miasma lake there. Iris recalls her dream on the airship about the scavengers at the Tower of Eden’s ruins. Iris warns Goose that Crowley is trying to kill Scouts. He says he’s more worried about Shattered Skulls and Blessed Martyrs.

That night Iris receives an urgent message from Posey by way of a courier bot. It says a man with one eye and one ear has been spotted around Revolt, an island on the gigantic Lake Achak. Iris spends one hundred credits to resupply her stores of rations and meds in her satchel. She bids farewell to Goose, who must remain in Arid Acropolis to defend it from Shattered Skulls and Blessed Martyrs.

Then Iris and Sora leave for Port Providence, on the shore of Lake Achak. From there they’ll need to rent a boat to Zebulon on Revolt. Along the way they get directions to a shortcut by some wandering traders. As they travel along the shortcut, the weather is sunny and mild. They come across an old bridge over a large chasm. Iris crosses easily but as Sora crosses a board snaps and he almost plummets down the chasm. Iris helps pull him up. Iris loses some of her arrows in the process of helping him. They fall down the chasm from her quiver.

Finally they reach Port Providence. It is a small fishing and boating town built on the shores of Lake Achak. It is the only way to Revolt from the Sable Lands. Iris searches for a ship captain who will sail her and Sora to Zebulon. She finds a gruff-looking captain who says he will. He says he’ll do it for free because he supports the Scouts. Sora and Iris ride the boat to the Zebulon docks.

They disembark and start searching the nightclubs for Posey. A man crosses Iris’s path. He introduces himself as Seagull’s butler and says Seagull would like a word with her at the nightclub Lush, which Seagull owns. Iris and Sora follow the man to Lush’s VIP room, as patrons move of the way of the cougar. In the VIP room, Seagull and Posey are waiting for Iris. Posey hugs Iris and Sora. Seagull shakes Iris’s hand

Seagull apologizes for fetching her like that, but this is a private matter about a former Scout that should only be discussed between Scouts. Seagull says some homeless people from around the island have gone missing. He fears the worst. He brought his concern to the Diez Family but they couldn’t care less about the homeless of Revolt. He suggests the three of them (“Four” he corrects himself with a smile, petting Sora) go to Novo, a homeless colony, and ask around about the missing people. He suspects they are Jay’s, or Crowley’s, latest victims, but he wants to be certain. If it is Crowley or the Blessed Martyrs killing them, Seagull vows to pour as many credits as necessary into helping stop them.

Iris, Posey, Seagull, and Sora leave Zebulon. They start their journey towards Novo. They pass by a trader on the way, and Iris resupplies her rations and quiver. They find some fresh water near the road and refill their canteens. They get close enough to Novo they can see smoke rising from the campfires.

They arrive in Novo, a small colony of about sixteen huts and a dozen or so tents. It smells of garbage and smoke. It is an inland colony so there’s no fishing but plenty of hunting and scavenging. They start questioning the residents about those that went missing. The Scouts are shown to a tent of one of the missing men. The tent smells bad, but otherwise nothing seems out of the ordinary.

As they search, however, they find a letter with the Blessed Martyr’s sigil on it. It seems the Blessed Martyrs are trying to recruit the homeless on the island. If that’s the case, perhaps the missing homeless weren’t killed by Crowley; they were recruited. Seagull says this means the Blessed Martyrs are going to strike hard and strike soon. They need to return to Zebulon posthaste; besides, he has a party to attend.

On the way back he offers to show Iris the “other side” of Zebulon, if she would like to be his date for the party. She says yes, but what about Sora? Posey says she’ll hang out with Sora at her place during the party.

The party takes place in Seagull’s mansion in Zebulon. There are over one hundred and fifty people there, including the Diez Family, the biggest crime family in the Spire, and several notable mayors. Iris is wearing a long purple gown she borrowed from Posey and white heels. Seagull is handsome in his suit and attentive as a date. Iris meets with two Scouts, Penguin and Heather, who work for both Lotus and the Diez Family. Even some officials from Lotus are there.

Lotus is put on notice about the Blessed Martyrs and the Diez Family says they’ll kick out any cultists they see from the city. Iris and Seagull dance a few times. Iris loves to dance, especially with so good a partner.

Suddenly a courier bot cuts through the dance floor with a private message for Iris. Seagull allows her to take the message in the study, away from prying eyes and ears.

It is a voice message from Parrot, and he sounds anxious and out of breath. He says he was just attacked by an assassin in his office at Lotus Headquarters. He killed the assassin, but he’s worried more assassins are looking for Scouts. He recommends they stick together to be safe. He asks Iris to meet him at Gate Town and once there they can plan their next steps.

Suddenly a loud explosion shakes the mansion. Iris ducks under a desk as a bookshelf and a piece of the ceiling falls down. After, she hurries into the ballroom and sees the front wall has been blown up. No one appears to be dead, though some are injured and being tended to. Seagull is enraged. He says it had to have been the Blessed Martyrs who planted the bomb.

The Scouts help the injured, and afterwards meet up in Posey’s apartment. Iris tells Seagull and Posey about the assassin sent after Parrot and says Seagull must be a target for his good works with the homeless. Seagull says he’s not afraid. He’ll protect Revolt from freaks just like he’s always done. Posey agrees. Iris wants to stay and help but she and Sora must meet Parrot in Gate Town. He’s a target too, and he’s all alone.

Seagull and Posey hug Iris (and Sora, too) and wish her luck and to be careful. Seagull arranges for a boat in the port village of Exant to take her into the Red Rivers by way of Rouge Port. Iris thanks Seagull and Posey for everything. The Diez Family escorts Iris and Sora by car to Exant, where she and Sora then take a boat to Rouge Port. There she buys a motorcycle with a side car for Sora. She and Sora head out on their new motorcycle for Gate Town.

She parks at the top of a high ridge and can see the crimson rivers ahead of her. She sees a shortcut. She pulls over at an old farmstead that’s been abandoned. She decides to scavenge. As she finds canned food and medicine, a horribly mutated farmer enters the room. His skin is glowing green/ He smells of miasma. He must have fallen into a pit of it. Mindlessly, he tries to bite her. She dodges. Sora tackles the monster and rips his throat out. Iris can hear more shuffling around the house now. She grabs the canned food and meds and she and Sora run back to the motorcycle, hop on, and take off.

Eventually she and Sora make it to the first red river, which is actually River Number Two in the territory. It is red because of the dust that falls into it from the Crimson Mountains to the east. She was born around here. She briefly wonders what her parents are doing now.

She crosses the river by a wooden bridge. She eventually rides past Scarlet City with its big walls and little technology. Before Sparrow found her she used to scavenge the dumpsters in the city for food.

She hurries past River Number Three and the wastes of the Red Rivers to Gate Town. It takes some convincing to get the cyborg guards to let Sora into the town. She tells them she’s on official Scout business. Finally they let her and her cougar in. She and Sora head to the saloon.

They find Parrot there, eyes wide and wary. He smiles bigger than Iris has ever seen him smile when he sees her. He runs up to her and gives her a hug. He even pats Sora on the head. She tells him about the bomb at Seagull’s mansion. She also tells him the Blessed Martyrs are recruiting more cultists. Parrot says they should stick together for now. Iris agrees. The assassin who attacked him was from the Umbral Cloaks Assassin’s League. The Blessed Martyrs must have a pretty wealthy benefactor to hire them. Parrot suggests the Diez Family may be in on it, but Iris immediately says it’s not possible. Members of the Diez Family were harmed when Seagull’s mansion was bombed.

She suggests the Fury Town Furys. They are an old family with deep roots in the wastes. One of them is even the mayor of Quiet City. They are wealthy and mostly unassuming, but are currently in a tiff with the Diez Family as the Diez Family is trying to muscle in on Quiet City. Would the Furys join forces with the Blessed Martyrs to help them fight back against the Diez Family? Parrot says they should sneak into Quiet City’s mayor’s mansion and find out.

When Parrot sees Iris’s motorcycle, he says there’s no way he’s riding one of those, but Iris convinces him she’s a good driver. Sora sits in his side car and Parrot holds onto Iris tightly as they drive out of Gate Town into the wasteland.

They haven’t been riding long when someone flags them down from the side of the road, asking for help. The woman says she’s from the nearby village of Ravan and they are currently being raided by feral mutants. She begs them to fight off the mutants.

Iris drives to Ravan, though Parrot tells her they don’t have time for this. When they reach Ravan, buildings and fields are on fire. Mutants are chasing people through the village. Iris gets to work. She fires arrows at the mutants. She hits one, and he goes down. Sora tackles another mutant. Parrot starts evacuating villagers from the burning buildings. Iris fires at more mutants, hitting them. She climbs on top of a house that is not on fire and picks more feral mutants off with her arrows. The feral mutants can’t find where the arrows are coming from and flee. The villagers start to put out the fires. After that Iris and Parrot help them sort through the dead.

The village chief thanks them by offering to let them stay the night there for free, as well as free drinks and free meals. They accept. At dinner Parrot asks Iris why she feels the need to help everyone. She says because that’s her job as a Scout. It’s why she decided to become a Scout in the first place. Her mentor, Sparrow, never neglected to help someone who needed it. Parrot tells her it’s time she forges her own legacy instead of trying to live up to Sparrow’s legacy. Iris thinks about it and quietly agrees.

In the morning they leave Ravan and continue their journey. However, feral mutants shoot at them from the ridges, damaging the motorcycle. They park the motorcycle a few miles away. It will need to be fixed in Quiet City. It will run, for now.

They are being tracked by feral mutants so they get back on the motorcycle and hurry on. They come across an old stone that marks a boundary line, from when the Red Rivers Natives were dozens of tribes instead of one. They make camp there as night is beginning to fall.

Iris says she’ll keep watch, but Parrot insists he do it since she’s the one driving the motorcycle during the day. Before she goes to bed, she tells Parrot some old stories her parents, Red Rivers Natives, once told her about the land’s spirits. Parrot says he doesn’t believe in that stuff, just cold, hard logic and science. Sora stays up with Parrot and keeps watch for feral mutants and raiders while Iris sleeps.

Iris dreams of vengeance, but she’s not certain if it’s her own or someone else’s. In the morning they continue on. They drive across one of the Red Rivers. Iris finds it both beautiful and comforting. They cross over into the Smokeys a few hours later. The path flattens and they start to make good time. After a few hours they reach Quiet City.

My First YouTube Review

 Hi everyone and welcome to my blog! I’m very excited today (as you will see from the overabundance of exclamation marks in this post) that my game Brightnight Academy was just reviewed on YouTube! It’s the first time I’ve had someone review a game of mine in-depth and I’m so happy that for the most part, it was a rather positive review!

As artists of literally any sort of art will know, your creations are super important to you, almost like children. I was very nervous to watch this review, even though the reviewer, Abraham El Jaguar of @TalkingAboutGames generously let me know days ahead of time and even asked if it would be all right if he featured a review about Brightnight Academy on his YouTube channel. That kind of professionalism is awesome and highly appreciated! I was just nervous because for the first time it really felt like: “Look world! Look at this thing that Sarah Solo made!”

Now don’t get me wrong, I always knew I was opening up myself to any kind of criticism when I first started publishing games. I’ve gotten some reviews, some positive, some mixed, on Drivethrurpg and I understand all criticisms of my games and find them all to be fair. I guess I was just nervous for the YouTube review because this would be the first time someone actually spoke about one of my games.

I was thrilled, too, and as soon as the notification popped up in my email that the review was ready I excitedly told my husband about it.

The review video, ultimately, made me feel good as a creator once I overcame my nervous jitters and watched it. It was highly positive and he recommended Brightnight Academy as a fun game. He didn’t love everything about it, and I found all of his points of criticism to be completely fair and understandable, especially about the formatting and the character sheet. As a creator, I always have room to improve and I always appreciate honesty about my work because it gives me motivation to keep doing better.

Mostly, though, it’s just so much fun to see something I created impact the world enough that someone made a review about it. It makes me feel good that I was able to provide a little joy to someone’s life, at least for a little while, from something that I created. It’s the whole reason why I write and create TTRPGs.

This review has inspired me to just work that much harder on my games, improve on what I need to, and to keep going so that more people will discover my games and be able to hopefully experience a little joy when they play them. I love creating and writing and designing, and I’m more inspired than ever to do that!

Here is the link to the video review of Brightnight Academy for anyone interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwWAtTKhSUU

Note: I just started a newsletter via Substack last week that will be released every Wednesday. You can find my Substack by my handle @sarahsoloadventures so please subscribe so you can keep up to date with all of my articles, projects, and new game releases!

Colossus Part III (Ironsworn: Starforged Rules)

 Hi and welcome back to my blog. I know it's been a while since the last update on Iris and Sora's adventures, so I wanted to continue them with Part III. I hope you enjoy and I hope this inspires your own Ironsworn and Ironsworn: Starforged games!

Colossus Part III

Goose offers Iris and Sora a room at his apartment here in the city. Iris accepts. He shows her the best place in the local market to barter and resupply. He then goes to tell the mayor of the city about Inlet and the cult while Iris and Sora settle into his apartment and await a message from Parrot. The next morning she finally receives a message from Parrot by way of a courier bot. The message says he knows of Crowley by the name of Jay, a former Scout and scientist with Lotus. Jay was Sparrow’s mentor. Jay performed experiments for Lotus, including on himself. Jay eventually went rogue and Sparrow was hired to hunt him down. Jay has not been seen since he killed Sparrow. That is all Parrot knows, but he could be persuaded to ask around Lotus if Iris does something for him first.

He asks her to meet him in Quiet City to help with something. Iris says goodbye and good luck to Goose and heads out of Arid Acropolis back to Quiet City. She and Sora make the long trek across the Sale Lands and the Smokeys without incident and find Parrot at the saloon. He sits there awkwardly with a cup of water. In his white lab coat he looks out of place among the rough-and-tumble types who hang around this saloon. He looks almost relieved when he sees Iris and Sora.

He explains a gang of raiders hijacked him on the road and stole a package he was meant to deliver to Crystal Heights. He needs the package back. The raiders make their home in an old shopping mall a few hours outside the city. He suggests they sneak in, grab the package, then the two of them can take an airship to Crystal Heights, with Sora of course. He looks at the cougar uncomfortably.

Iris agrees to help him. They leave Quiet City for the old mall. As they travel down the road, a territorial cougar almost twice Sora’s size appears. It immediately tackles Parrot to the ground. Iris stabs it, but it doesn’t let up. It swipes at her while still on top of Parrot, but Iris dodges. She stabs it again, but it doesn’t let go of Parrot. He screams as the cougar’s claws rake through his clothes into his flesh. Worried for Parrot, Iris tries kicking the cougar in the side, but it still doesn’t let go. She stabs at the cougar’s neck furiously and manages to kill the giant cat. It falls off of Parrot, dead. Parrot, bleeding at the shoulders, thanks her. She helps staunch the bleeding with her first aid kit. Parrot seems a little shaken, but they continue on down the road.

They find evidence raiders passed this way, so they know they’re going in the right direction. They can see the mall in the distance. There is plenty of cover around the mall. They notice a side door with only one guard.

Iris quickly knocks him out with a piece of rubble to the head. Another guard steps out from behind an old car. He was just relieving himself. He spots the two Scouts and Sora and reaches for his communicator. Iris shoots it out of his hand with an arrow. He screams, drawing the attention of two more raiders. Iris unleashes a volley of arrows at them. She kills one of the raiders. They do not have guns, only machetes. Before they can jump behind the old car for cover, Iris fires at them again, killing another raider. The last raider ducks behind the car. Sora leaps behind the car and rips the raider’s throat out.

The Scouts take the time to hide the bodies under the car and then enter the mall through the side door. As they navigate the mall, they must move slowly and stick to cover and to the shadows to not alert any wandering raiders. It is stressful to move so slowly.

The Scouts discover the package is in the raiders’ vault, which guarded by two raiders. Parrot uses one of the communicators he took from a defeated raider outside to raise the alarm about intruders outside the mall. The guards leave their post to investigate. The Scouts enter the vault and find the package. Parrot puts it in his backpack. They leave the mall.

They return to Quiet City safely. They go to the airship office and set a course for Crystal Heights. After some negotiating with the captain by Parrot, Sora is allowed onboard. On the airship, Parrot gets Iris and Sora into First Class and Parrot admits he may have thought negatively about her at first, with her being a new Scout. He says she has proven herself a fine Scout. He says he even feels impressed by Sora, and laughs. He tells her when they reach Lotus Headquarters they can ask around about Jay, or Crowley. Maybe if they can get some insight into his past they can see where he will be in the future.

Iris has a sudden vision, a Miracle, about a name. Alisa Stark. Something about that name seems important. Iris asks if Parrot knows anyone by that name. He says she is a biologist with Lotus. They can question her when they reach Headquarters after they deliver the package.

Parrot is intrigued by Iris’s visions. He asks her questions about them, but she says all she knows is that she has had them ever since she was bathed in miasma. Parrot says that’s fascinating and that he doesn’t have many Miracles at his own disposal. Just some low-level cognition, more like a strong “gut feeling”.

The airship eventually docks in Crystal Heights. They visit Lotus Headquarters and Parrot delivers the package. Then they ask around about Alisa Stark. They learn she is doing field work at Soco. Iris thanks Parrot for all of the information he’s given her. She says that she and Sora must go to Soco now. Parrot says he can go with her. Alisa might be more willing to open up to a fellow scientist, after all. Iris thanks him.

Iris, Parrot, and Sora set off for Soco. As they follow a river, tentacles reach out and grab Parrot. Iris cuts them with her knife, but they lose some meds in the process as the tentacles splash water on Iris’s satchel. They escape whatever was in the water.

They reach an abandoned train car on an old train track and realize they can follow the track most of the way to Soco. As they cross the track, Parrot sets off a tripwire and an alarm is raised. Two feral mutants approach them from behind cover. Iris unleashes a volley of arrows at them. She hits each one several times but they still run forward. Parrot readies his dagger and Sora swipes at one with his claws. Parrot stabs one of the mutants and kills him before he gets too close to Iris, and Iris fires an arrow at the other mutant, killing him. They leave the bodies behind and remain vigilant for more tripwires.

As they follow the tracks, they find a dead scavenger. He appears as if he was killed by some kind of beast. They continue on, wary. Finally they see Soco in the distance. It is a walled town on the outskirts of the Soco Jungle.

They tell the guards they are Scouts and are allowed entrance into the town. They ask around for Alisa and discover she went into the Soco Jungle to research some new organism that was recently discovered. Two Scouts, Hummingbird and Tulip, went with her. She is set up in a camp in the jungle. The camp is called Camp Sliver and about five dozen scientists work and live there.

Parrot, Iris, and Sora cross over from Soco into the Soco Jungle. They come across a stream with a log across it. Iris, Sora, and Parrot carefully cross it. Just as they reach the other side, Parrot stumbles over into some thorny plants. He is not wearing the right shoes for traversing jungle terrain. Iris helps him pull the thorns out of his coat. They come across a rickety bridge over a chasm. Some boards in the bridge are missing. Parrot refuses to cross it and suggests they look for a way around.

After some time searching, they find a new path. As they continue on, Parrot seems stressed by the humidity, the bugs, and his ill-advised shoes. Iris tries to cheer him up by telling him jokes. It takes quite a few, but finally she manages to make Parrot laugh.

Suddenly two raiders with a vicious dog appear and hold them at machete-point. They demand all of the Scouts’ medicine and credits. Iris draws her knife before they can react and threatens them. A raider grabs Parrot and puts the machete to his throat. Parrot tells Iris to just give them the credits and medicine. She says she’ll give them medicine, but not credits. She keeps her knife out threateningly. The raiders exchange a glance and say “Deal”. They release Parrot and Iris gives them medicine. The raiders and their dog then run away into the treeline.

Parrot asks why she wouldn’t give them her credits and she says it sounded like they needed the meds more. They continue on and come to a beautiful clearing with wildflowers and butterflies. A butterfly lands on Sora’s nose and he sneezes. Iris laughs.

Suddenly a familiar face appears in the clearing: the Scout, Tulip. She is a Psychic Elf, bonded to her lover, Hummingbird. They do not travel far from one another. Tulip tells them to follow her to Camp Sliver.

It is almost nightfall by the time they reach the camp. Alisa Stark and Hummingbird are waiting for them next to a giant fire pit roasting a pig. Alisa tells them she was expecting them thanks to Hummingbird and Tulip’s visions. She asks Parrot and Iris to sit down with her at a picnic table.

Alisa says she is Kaito Crowley’s younger sister. They grew up in a Blessed Martyr’s commune, but were saved by Scouts when they were ten and twelve years old. They were raised by scientists and eventually became scientists themselves, though Kaito also became a Scout called Jay. He was working on a super serum that was meant to be administered to new Scouts eventually, but injected some into himself to test it. The serum drove him mad and he started talking about the teachings of the Blessed Martyrs more and more. He disappeared, tearing out his tracking signal somehow and going rogue. He’s been killing random scavengers and raiders ever since, sacrificing them to his inter-dimensional gods.

Alisa knows all of this because she still receives letters from her brother, though there’s no way to trace where they are coming from. They are carried by messenger ravens. Kaito uses Miracles to commune with animals, especially birds. Alisa tells the Scouts that he had an apartment in Crystal Heights that Lotus has likely already picked through, but he also had a house in South Spire not far from the Briar. Lotus doesn’t know about it and it might hold more answers.

Iris thanks Alisa, but Alisa holds up a hand to stop her. She says now Iris must do something for her. The organism she’s researching is a poisonous toad who excretes a venomous slime that may have healing capabilities. She needs the toad delivered alive to Crystal Heights. She gives them the toad in a glass container with holes as well as some food for it. Tulip and Hummingbird will travel with the Scouts. The toad could be the answers to miraculous medications. It must reach Lotus Headquarters alive.

Iris vows to protect it and deliver it. The four Scouts and Sora leave in the morning and start their journey. Shortly into their journey, a gigantic black jungle cat blocks their path. The Scouts quickly kill it, but Iris’s knife breaks. The blade cracks in half. Sparrow had given her that knife. She decides to keep it in the hopes it can be re-forged.

They come across a climbable tree and Iris climbs to the top and gets a good vantage point on the land. They are going in the right direction. She climbs back down. They come across smoke shortly after. They follow the smoke to a camp. The camp and the trees around it are on fire. People are running to a nearby river with buckets to try to put the fire out. Iris grabs a bucket and tries to help. Tulip and Hummingbird also try to help. Parrot starts evacuating people from huts and tents and trying to help save experiments. Eventually they put the fires out but the camp is in shambles. Iris wants to help but Parrot reminds her they have a current mission. They must move on.

They finally reach Soco and resupply. Parrot writes that they are on their way to Lotus. They spend the night in Soco and continue on their journey in the morning. On the way they come across a caravan with all of the farmers slaughtered. It looks like the work of raiders or feral mutants. They spend some time moving the bodies off of the road. They suspect this is a trap and take the long way around for several miles to avoid any ambushes. The long way around turns out to have plenty of flatland and easily-crossable terrain. They are making good time.

They come across a bunker. Inside is a cache of pre-war supplies like medicine and ammunition. Shortly after, they reach Crystal Heights.

They deliver the toad to Headquarters. Parrot receives a mission that requires him to stay at Headquarters for the time being. He seems hesitant to leave Iris and asks Tulip and Hummingbird to accompany Iris and Sora to Crowley’s residence near the Brier and to keep her safe. They say they will. Parrot says a stiff goodbye to Iris. He seems like he’s going in for an awkward hug, but settles for a handshake instead. Iris shakes his hand and they go separate ways.

Before heading out of Crystal Heights, Iris takes her knife to a blacksmith and has it repaired. Then she, Sora, Tulip, and Hummingbird head out into South Spire.