Cold Lantern Crossing
A 10–15 minute solo or shared-reading adventure. Your choices shape this side story; the main comic’s canon stays intact.
The crossing
The empty lantern
At the edge of Blackwater, a girl cups an unlit lantern in both hands. “It was my mother’s,” she says. “I can remember her face. I cannot remember what anyone called her.” Across the water, soldiers are counting people by the numbers stitched onto their coats.
Party cards
Urak
WarriorProtect the crossing without treating its people as obstacles.
Nera
HexweaverRead the ash; admit what the magic cannot yet explain.
Vek
RogueSpot tampered seals and the detail everyone dismisses.
Rill
ShamanListen to the river’s memory before disturbing it.
Tabletop host edition · encounter & answers
Use the same four stops with your own tabletop rules. Ask each player to portray a different party member. Read the scene, discuss the alternatives, and let the group choose. No combat statistics or particular game system are required.
- At the bank, ask what memory each character fears losing.
- At the ferry, require a concrete plan for transporting the stranger. Good plans should succeed without a roll.
- At the post, allow persuasion, investigation, or a quiet approach. Every route can reveal the ledger; a failed roll creates a delay rather than destroying the clue.
- The shrine answer is “names.” Accept an equivalent explanation. The encounter ends when the stolen identities are restored.
Scene script
The empty lantern
At the edge of Blackwater, a girl cups an unlit lantern in both hands. “It was my mother’s,” she says. “I can remember her face. I cannot remember what anyone called her.” Across the water, soldiers are counting people by the numbers stitched onto their coats.
Kneel beside her and ask what she remembers. She remembers flour on a sleeve, a laugh in the rain, and a name spoken every night. You promise to bring back more than a number.
Watch the soldiers first; someone is directing this. The soldiers never look at the faces they count. Their ledger has empty spaces where names should be. You take a careful note.
The cobalt ribbon
A ferryman has tied a cobalt ribbon around his wrist. He will carry you across, but an injured stranger is waiting beside the boat. “Two passengers,” the ferryman says. “Or one passenger and all that iron you are carrying.”
Leave the heavy supplies and make room. The stranger takes your hand without asking which banner you follow. Halfway across, they whisper: “The lanterns do not eat flame. They eat what makes us ours.”
Build a small supply float before crossing. The ferryman helps with the knots. You lose precious minutes, but cross together. The stranger says: “The lanterns do not eat flame. They eat what makes us ours.”
A seal opened twice
At the watch post, two orders bear the same seal. One says protect the crossing. The other says empty it. Tiny rivets show that both were opened after the wax cooled. A sentry is trying very hard not to look frightened.
Show the sentry the evidence and ask for help. “My sister lives downriver,” the sentry says. Their spear lowers. They give you a ledger: numbers on the left, stolen names pressed into the paper on the right.
Keep the evidence hidden and quietly pass the post. You slip beneath the walkway while the sentry searches the road. In a discarded ledger, you find numbers on the left and stolen names pressed into the paper on the right.
Optional complication: a patrol arrives during the crossing. Let players distract, negotiate, hide, or help; avoid forcing combat as the only solution.