Zedwick Must Die (5/9/2026)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Karen Twelves, Dale Horstman, Matthew Klein
System: The Shadow of Yesterday

Preparing for finale

I woke of this morning with a fire burning in my brain. I knew I needed to not just tell the party about Zandara’s Tome of Transformations (the tome which held many of Sorcerer Zedwick’s magics) but create it. I wanted it to be something they could hold in their hand. Specifically, because I know Karen loves puzzle games, I wanted it to be a choose your own adventure book with pages to flip to based on the decisions made and the outcome of rolls. Get yee to the InDesign!

I made a nine-page book (3×3, that was important) from perforated cards (these things have been an incredible boon for making props) that I stapled together and had ready just in time for the game. Here’s the first two pages. Everything after that is a spoiler.

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Aboard the Raven’s Ghosts

After recapping last session I picked back up where we left off.

Sorcerer Zedwick surrounded by two servants draped in dark cloaks. As you approach his concentration turns from the spell to you as the shadows concentrate around him. Your shadows writhe and in the center a small flame flickers. His shadow menaces the entire prow, the entire silhouette burning. He makes you an offer. “Join me, and I can reunite you with your tribe Aonghüs and lift your fathers Curse. Join me and I can teach you the sorcerer’s arts. Join me, and we can reach the last Ember of Sky Fire together…Haka, join me and we can bathe the world in flames.”

He held out his hand to beckon them closer and his hands’ flaming shadow moved toward Haka. The elf had the chance to end the illusion, but not like this. Zedwick wanted to destroy the world in all the wrong ways!

Haka picked up a lantern (a hot, menacing lantern) and tossed it at the mast to create a great conflagration to signal the Sea Serpent’s fire… and missed the the mast entirely. The lantern crashed on the top deck below, a small fire, flickering behind the railings. Surely not enough to send the signal.

Tamarin, never before this close to Zedwick when her shadow was enchanted used the Divination Know Capabilities to learn that his Vigor and Instinct pools were both 10, that he drew power from his burning shadow, and that the shadow itself, was vulnerable to Moon Metal! She nodded to Aphrita’s Moon Metal spear that Aonghüs held and whispered to him “attack the shadows!”

As the flaming shadow extended to Haka and Aonghüs’ own shadow began to menace him, the Khale warrior bulled Aphrita’s moon metal bolo, spun it vigorously, dodged to the right of his shadow hurled it at the burning hand. In this reality, the stones clattered to the deck floor and the shadow rescinded. In another realm, the grey realm, the moon metal wrapped around the arm of the unbridled flame as it tried to break free.

Haka. took the opportunity. Though the lantern fire was small, and would burn out soon (the hard wood was not easily burned) they had a pocket full of rare herbs, at least some of them very flammable. As Haka was running aftward to bolster the flames they saw two things. A flash of light from starboard, and then another, a pulsing signal from the Sea Serpent that Haka alone could parse as “Ready to fire?” They also saw the Zaru conscripts come up from the gun deck and heard the naval officers shout out “Commander Priya is dead. Kill them all!” A great skirmish broke out between the Zaru who were malnourished and afraid, but who saw the possibility of freedom and would fight with all they had against the naval officers, who were armed spears and privledge.

Haka tossed the herbs onto the fire and it erupted in a giant conflagration, large enough to send the signal to the Sea Serpent…and the Doomed Bloodbark! [Dale rolled a +4 (Great) result for Haka’s Herb Lore to create a big fire so I passed him a note like we were in 7th grade “Does the Doomed Bloodbark see the fire?” With Yes and No checkboxes…Dale checked yes, but nobody else knew].

Aonghüs was exposed after throwing the bolo and he was tackled by his shadow, which knocked him to the ground and started stealing the life force from him as it began to burn brighter.

Tamarin was also assailed her her shadow, but rather than grapple with it she used her transformation magic “I tap into my shadows on arrogance” and beyond the expectation of any present she broke her shadow free from Zedwick’s spell. The Sorcerer stood in shock for a moment, and then offered Tamarin his knowledge once more. “Nah, I can read that book for myself once I kill you.”

Haka return toe the prow and as they ran towards the sorcerer, they used the secret of the fading illusion to enter the world of grey and see what was truly happening. Before them was Sorcerer Zedwick tethered to an impossibly bridge fire by a strand of shadow flame. The Unbridled Flame’s left arm, was tangled in moon metal, the bolo transformed to silvery barbed wire in this place holding it fast. Beside Haka was Tamarin, her ratkin form visible within the orange outline of the werebeast she had transformed into. Magic was all about.

The flame turned to Haka and told the elf he would enter the world and burn it all. Once the sorcerer died, his binding would be undone and he’d have a way into the world of man!

“I don’t have moon metal, I’ve just got a pocket of herbs and knowledge of anatomy. I run up and kick it in the balls.” Does unbridled flame have a vulnerable groin? I’m not sure, but I put it to the dice and WHAM, the blow knocked it back and staggered Zedwick in the process. The shadow that pinned Aonghüs flickered for a moment as Zedwick’s concentration was shaken.

Fire!

Aonghüs took advantage of the moment and reversed the grappled to got on top if his shadow. When he looked up he saw the flashes from the Serpent. This time they were not lanterns, they were Gunnery Sergeant Vedri firing the canons. ALL THE CANONS. The heavy shot blasted the Raven’s Ghost and began ripping it into flinders. Tamarin and Aonghüs held onto the railings and the rigging and were safe for the moment and Haka was not in a realm where physical harm could reach them. Zedwick however, was impaled by a foot long bamboo splinter just below his clavicle. He gasped and staggered back from the impact. It was not quote this, but also not not this.

Tamarin, free of her shadow, now had a new foe between her and the sorcerer. A shadow lieutenant who raised his sword and it was suddenly bathed in flame. “I’ve never known why the Sorcerer obsessed over you so. You’re a tiny thing, not worthy of his attention.” He swung the blade and nearly missed her. She tried to claw at his throat but the flames kept her at bay. When the ship was struck however, the yard arm came crashing down, just over Tamarin’s head…and right into the jealous lieutenant who was was thrown into the dark waters below.

Zedwick reached out towards Tamarin and hurled a ball of shadow fire at her. In the grey, Haka could see the Unbridled Flame lunge towards her and tackled to knock the attack off balance. Tamarin was burned, but it was a glancing blow and Zedwick scowled with frustration that his powerful ally, whose had never faltered before, was now slipping away from him.

Haka grabbed the moon metal barbs, which burned them as well, and pulled with all their might to separate the Unbrided Flame from the sorcerer, thinning the bond between them.

Aid arrives

In the realm of the real, Aonghüs heard a familiar voice yell “Boarding!” and felt a crash as the Doomed Bloodbark came along the port side the Raven’s Ghost and their friends began to leapt onto the deck, fighting the Ammeni officers and aiding the desperate Zaru.

Aonghüs cut his shadow with Aphrata’s Moon Metal spear and broke free of this grapple. Then he turned, exposing his back to his shadow, raised his spear and plunged it into Zedwicks burning shade! The moon metal tip pinned it to the deck and Zedwick staggered back. In the grey, Haka could see the thread between them was reduced to a thin strand!

Behind him Aonghüs her Merna struggle, she had run to the prow and intercepted his shadow before it stabbed him in the back. She was struggling to keep him at bay. “Why are you so big Aonghüs?” Merna grunted as she wrested with his shadow self.

There was another crash as Bowdyn, no partial crystalline landed on the deck and began tossing Ammeni officers into the water below.

Tamarin saw the Sorcerer falter, his magic momentarily disarmed and no more obstacles in her way. On all fours she did her signature charge and leaped into the air for a killing blow.

At the same moment, Haka, grabbed hold of Aphrita’s spear, a lance of moon metal in this place. Though it burned his hands to touch it, he pulled it free (with Aonghüs letting go, as though his ancestors were guiding the spear) and he severed the connection between Zedwick and the Unbridled Flame.

It looked at him with frustrated determination and said “I will find another way into your world” as Haka receded from the grey, into the world of grief.

Tamarin landed on Zedwick and tore through his trachea like Patrick Swayze and Marshall R. Teague in a lakeside brawl to the death.

Sorcerer Zedwick was no more.

Reunion

Her foe defeated and the battle winding down, Tamarin ran on all fours and flung herself through the air. Someone yelled Bowdyn and the giant turned just as she landed on and gripped him with all her might. As she hugged him, her spell of transformation ended and she was a ratkin once more, a small wet runt at that. With his non-crystaline hand he patted her gently on the back. “I wasn’t sure if I would see you again Tamarin. I made the wrong choice when I stayed on the Bloodbark. I should have come with you.” In his low voice he reassured her that he was okay as he cried.

In the background, the lone disciple picked up the ruined body of Zedwick and rushed him away. Cador the assassin, who had procured a dinghy in the commotion offered them a ride away from the fracas.

Aftermath

The next morning the captains met. Our heroes has proposed that Blackmane give the Stone of Stars over to the Khale in exchange for becoming a Khale privateer ship, with permission to dock in any port and gain information from the Khale military. Captain Newlyn was reasonably pleased with this deal. He should arrest pirates, but with a bit of semantic gymnastics, he could say they were no longer pirates once the deal was made. Captain Blackmane was not so sanguine. When it came time to hand over the treasure, she gave him papers instead. A drawing of the Ammeni ship position with a promise to send updates as she received them.

Aonghüs shook his head. This was not the captain he wanted to serve under. He did not need her to make him whole. Much as he loved many on the Bloodbark, he could not serve under someone who had so little integrity. He renounced the tribe of the Bloodbark [buying off the Key] and boarded the Sea Serpen to sail on other shores. [He also bought off the key of the lost child….he’s now without any keys!]

[We made a die roll for each side to see how happy they were with the deal, offering a bonus die for every advantage they would gain from it, both parties had two bonus dice, but the Fudge dice fudged us again and Blackmane could not abide giving over such a treasure.]

Epiloge

A week later in the port of Korath, a hunchback goblin entered the inn they were staying in. “You Haka? Captain Newlyn sends his regards. The Sea Serpent cannot take you to Qek, but he’s given you my ship. I guess it’s your ship now. I’m Dorst. Want to come with me?”

Dorst lead our heroes to the dock and told them “my ship, I guess you ship now, has sailed into every port of harbor know to Khale, no place she hasn’t been. A trusty ship, just in need of a bit of work.” He bowed and ushered them to cast their eyes on a single mast sloop at dock. “May I present you the Wave breaker. No finer ship you’ll find in the Sea of Teeth.” The single mast sloop’s deck was barely above the water level, every part of it patched and the patches patched again. It looked like a single wave might swallow it, but it was theirs.

“Captain Haka, I’m first mate Dorst, or whatever you’d like me to be, at your service!”

As Haka turned Aonghüs and Tamarin saluted as well, ready to board at the captain’s pleasure. Behind them Merna, Elsha, Deslin, and of course Bowdyn stood as well. How were they going to get that giant on the ship without it sinking?!?

In the Quiet Moments alone

Tamarin, though terrified of Zandara’s Tome eventually cracked it open and began to decipher the text. With great effort (all her reason bonus dice) and aid from Haka, she was able to read it, without being changed by the book itself. Within, she found all but one of the spells it could offer!

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Thoughts on the Game

For being a fantasy game based on fudge dice written in 2004 this game rocks. The setting has so much lore to mine, the secrets and keys are compelling has hell, the recovery mechanic points the characters towards revealing parts of themselves, and the story we told was as good as any we would have with another game. If I wasn’t so enamored with Spell and Blade, I’d be angling to play it more. This campaign was a delight, and if we every want to pick it up again, I’d be excited to see the continued adventures of Tamarin the Sorcerer Slayer, Keyless Aonghüs, and Captain Haka!