The Forgotten Chapter 6 – Unwelcomed Return

Previously with The Forgotten, the squad navigated the collapsing wreckage of the derelict ship, surviving another close encounter and splitting from Emkom’s team. Pressing forward, they reached the ruined containment lab—only to find it destroyed, the mission compromised. With nothing left to recover, they regrouped, decontaminated, and used their Thunderclap to obliterate the vessel.

This is the final adventure of Act I for The Forgotten. It was my first real attempt at using the Ironsworn-Starforged RPG, and it proved to be an exciting and memorable experience. Anyone who is intimately familiar with Ironsworn-Starforged might claim that I butchered the mechanics of the game. They would be right. To this day, I consider myself a poor practitioner of the rules of the game.

Despite my shortcomings as a player, I thoroughly enjoy the sparks that Ironsworn-Starforged provides my imagination with it’s prompts. Its method and structure inspire creativity and cater to the storyteller in me. While it wasn’t my first solo RPG, it was the first one I found so sustainably enjoyable that I would, and have, continued playing it indefinitely.

With the engines warmed, Column set course for Eliad Spaceport, ready to end what felt like a cursed mission.

(Move: Set Course. Action Score: 1+5=6. Challenge Dice: 6, 2. Weak hit. I will face a complication at the destination. I must envision what I encounter.)

Skimming low over the Jesart Desert, Column guided the Thunderclap across the dunes. As he crested a sheer cliff, sand pouring into the valley below, he spotted the spaceport in the distance.

Eliad sat in a low depression, surrounded by stone plateaus. A massive energy shield hung over it like a shallow dome, guarding it from orbital strikes. Three ion cannons stood at the perimeter, their adjustable shield nodes allowing them to fire without exposing the city.

But the Empire hadn’t come to take the space port, not to lay siege.

Fighter waves buzzed under the shield, hammering at the cannons. Their plan was clear—cripple the defenses without touching the dome.

Column flipped on the ship’s intercom. “No rest for the wicked. We are going to have to fight our way in.”

Pevio sprinted back onto the bridge, sliding into the fire control seat. Sift followed close, settling at the comms and sensor panel.

(Move: Enter the Fray on a Formidable encounter. Action Score: 4+3=7. Challenge Dice: 2, 10. Weak hit. I choose to start combat in control.)

Column kept the ship low behind the dunes. When they closed on the battle, he brought the Thunderclap up behind the first wave, giving Pevio a clean shot.

(Move: Strike +1 from Heavy Cannon. Action Score: 3+3+1=7. Challenge Dice: 2, 4. Strong hit! I mark progress twice, bringing me to 2. I gain momentum.)

Pevio went weapons free. Her first barrage shredded three fighters before they could react. The rest scattered.

Column banked the ship wide, tracking the next wave.

(Move: Strike. Action Score: 6+3+1=10. Challenge Dice: 8, 4. Strong hit! Progress to 4. Momentum to 9.)

Again, Pevio hit hard. Two more fighters exploded mid-run. The rest broke off their attack run and fell back.

(Move: Strike. Burn 1 momentum. Action Score: 4+3=7. Challenge Dice: 8, 5. Weak hit. Mark progress twice to 6. Now in a bad spot.)

Pevio quickly finished of another fighter as it scrambled to get away but the remnants of the first wave regrouped fast. Three fighters flanked the Thunderclap, closing fast.

The ship rocked under their fire. Shields flared but held. Column gritted his teeth, fighting to line them up for Pevio.

(Move: Clash. Action Score: 2+3=5. Challenge Dice: 10, 7. Miss. Pay the Price: d100=28. Collateral damage.)

Column yanked the ship into a tight loop. Too tight. A wing of Eliad fighters veered straight into his path. One banked into enemy fire and exploded.

Column cursed loudly, his attention drawn to the destruction of the allied ship.

“Keep your head in the fight, big guy, or there’ll be a lot more dead Eliadians than just that one,” Pevio barked.

(Move: Clash. Action Score: 6+3=9. Challenge Dice: 4, 5. Strong hit. Progress to 8. Back in control.)

Column physically shook his head, then straightened the ship and peeled around to face the fighters.

(Move: Take Decisive Action. Action Score: 8. Challenge Dice: 4, 10. Weak hit. Objective achieved, but a new peril appears. d100=44: “Victory is short-lived; a new peril or foe appears.”)

The Imperial fighters peeled off, chasing easier kills. Column spun the Thunderclap into a hard 180. Pevio took the shot.

Another three fighters fell, hulls torn open, debris raining down onto the city’s energy shield.

“That’s good shooting!” Sift shouted, fists raised.

Then the ship lurched.

An explosion rocked them hard. The Thunderclap spun, shields flaring as they scraped the city’s dome. Lights dimmed. Panels sparked.

“Where did that come from?” Pevio yelled, clawing back into her seat.

“We’ve got something behind us, torpedoes in the air! Evade!” Sift called out, his voice cracking.

Dread settled over the cabin.

(Move: Clash, I will kick off another Formidable encounter while I’m in a bad spot. Action Score: 6+3=9. Challenge Dice: 3, 7 for a Strong Hit! I am back in control and progress increases to 2.)

Behind the Thunderclap, an Imperial attack craft loomed. Sleek, angular, with twin forward-sweeping wings, it looked like a shattered spearhead. It closed fast.

“On my word, fire a torpedo directly into the city’s shields,” Column said, voice taut.

Pevio nodded. “Too easy.”

Column dove toward the shimmering barrier, the dome swelling in their view. “Now!” he barked.

“Torpedoes out!” Pevio shouted.

He pulled hard. The torpedo hit the shield and exploded. Energy rebounded upward in a blinding surge.

The Imperial ship couldn’t dodge. It took the full blast.

(Move: Strike, using my Strafing Run feature to add a +1 bonus and gain momentum on a hit. Action Score: 2+3+1=6. Challenge Dice: 7, 2 for Weak Hit. I will burn my momentum to turn that into a Strong Hit, bringing progress to 4.)

The craft recovered fast, but not fast enough. Column looped back around, giving Pevio a clean angle for the heavy cannons which pounded the target’s shields.

(Move: Strike with Strafing Run. Action Score: 6+3+1=10. Challenge Dice: 9, 5. Strong Hit! Up to 6 progress and 4 momentum.)

“Keep up the pressure!” Column said, staying on its tail.

Pevio let loose. Blasts hammered the Fury class ship’s shields, driving it down.

(Move: Strike again. Action Score: 4+3+1=8. Challenge Dice: 3, 2. Strong Hit. Up to 8 progress.)

The ship shuddered under the hits. Its shields flickered. Its movement grew erratic.

(Move: Strike. Action Score: 1+3+1=5. Challenge Dice: 10, 4. Weak Hit. Up to 9 progress and 5 momentum. I am now in a bad spot.)

A new wing of fighters screamed in from above, answering a call the troopers never heard. They opened fire without hesitation.

Column cursed and peeled away.

(Move: Clash. Action Score: 2+3=5. Challenge Dice: 1, 7. Weak Hit. Progress to 10. Pay the Price: d100=53. “A friend, companion, or ally is in harm’s way.” Pevio’s Health drops to 3.)

He swung the Thunderclap around to face them. “You’ve got a clean shot!”

Pevio fired. Two fighters went up in flames. The others scattered.

Then the Fury struck. The ship bucked hard. Pevio slammed into her console with a sharp crack.

She howled, cursing nonstop.

“You OK?” Sift called.

“Lick a Hutt!”

(Move: Clash again. Action Score: 3+3=6. Challenge Dice: 2, 8. Weak Hit. Pay the Price: d100=34. “Something I value is lost or destroyed.”)

Pevio checked her panel. “We lost torpedo fire control. Hyperdrive’s coughing too.”

“No worries,” Column said, calm. “We ain’t runnin’ from this fight.”

(Move: Clash. Action Score: 1+3=4. Challenge Dice: 9, 9. Miss with a match. Pay the Price: d100=88. “You are stressed.” Column’s Spirit drops to 3.)

The Thunderclap spiraled, dodging fire. The Fury and its escorts hammered them. Shields groaned.

Column felt it then, an unnatural calm. Cold, distant.

Not peace. Detachment.

He saw everything. Every twitch. Every movement. He flew by instinct, sharp and clinical. But the price was clear. He felt nothing.

(Move: React Under Fire. Action Score: 3+3=6. Challenge Dice: 6, 8. Miss. Thunderclap takes damage. Hull Integrity drops to 4.)

The cockpit shook. Sparks burst from panels. A warning klaxon screamed.

(Move: React Under Fire. Action Score: 6+3=9. Challenge Dice: 10, 3. Weak Hit. Suffer move: lose 1 Supply. Now at 4.)

Column climbed hard above the city. Pevio reset her focus, her arm limp and throbbing.

Sweat slid down her brow and over her horns. The torpedo launcher was fried. No aim. No control.

She input a zero-thrust firing sequence. Slammed her fist on the launch.

The torpedo ejected, hung in the air, then fell.

Pevio turned her cannons on it. Fired.

The detonation tore through the sky, catching one fighter dead-on. The rest scattered.

Column pulled free of the crossfire.

(Move: Take Decisive Action. Action Score: 10. Challenge Dice: 1, 9. Weak Hit. d100=47. “You are marked for vengeance.”)

The chaos sent one enemy fighter into the Fury’s side. The explosion tore its wing off. The crippled ship spun, then dropped—straight into Eliad’s shield.

It hit like a meteor. The field rippled. The hull shattered.

Just before the wreck disintegrated, a pod ejected. It fled fast, vanishing over the horizon.

Column watched it go, unease twisting in his gut. He knew what it meant.

This wasn’t over.

(Having made it back to Eliad, I will mark progress on my mission to save the squad of troopers, bringing me up to 10 progress. Move: Fulfill Your Vow. Action Score: 10. Challenge Dice: 5, 8. Strong Hit! I mark progress on my legacy track and gain some XP!)

The remaining Imperial fighters broke off, retreating rather than risking total destruction. Column and his team had broken the main thrust of the assault. As the remnants scattered, he set a course for the landing bay, transmitted their codes, and switched on autopilot.

“Let’s get you looked at,” he said, turning to Pevio.

Her skin had gone pale. Sweat beaded across her face. She held her injured arm close.
“I’d prefer you didn’t look at me right now,” she muttered. “Not exactly at my best.”

Column ignored her and reached for the first aid kit. Pevio had already popped it open with her good hand; half the contents had spilled across the deck. Column rummaged through, pulling out a brace and a kolto injector.

(Move: Heal. Action Score: 5+1=6. Challenge Dice: 9, 4. Weak Hit. I gain +3 health but lose 2 momentum, bringing me to 0. I’ll bend the rules slightly to give both Column and Pevio +1 Health, restoring them to full.)

“Okay, hold still,” he said.

Pevio talked him through the brace. As he lined up the injector, she snatched it and jabbed it into his shoulder.

“You need it as bad as me,” she muttered. Column gave her a look, surprised, maybe confused, but said nothing.

(I spend 2 XP to unlock the second feature of my Companion Sidekick asset. Column and Pevio’s bond has grown under fire.)

Column turned to Sift, who was breathing hard but still on his feet.

“You good?”

Sift nodded quickly. “Yeah. Thanks to you two.”

(Move: Make a Connection. Action Score: 5+2=7. Challenge Dice: 3, 2. Strong Hit! Sift is now a Dangerous rank connection. Role: Tech Specialist. He provides +1 and +1 momentum when aiding on related moves.)

Following landing instructions, Column brought the Thunderclap down in a private hangar at the edge of the security force’s landing zone. As they stepped off the gangplank, they glanced at each other, amused. No armor. No weapons. Not even boots. The ship was barely holding together, low on ammo, and short one torpedo launcher.

“An entire Imperial army’s coming down on this planet,” Emkom mused. “And the only troopers here don’t have a blaster between ’em.”

“You three refit. I need to see if any of my contacts are still alive.”

Column nodded.

“Shopping spree!” Pevio said, raising her good arm.

“More like tactically acquiring,” Sift replied, grinning.

(Move: Sojourn. Action Score: 3+2=5. Challenge Dice: 2, 4. Strong Hit!)

Author Notes: Ending such a grueling series of adventures with a strong hit in a sojourn move was tremendously satisfying. On a strong hit, this location serves as a safe refuge. You and your allies may each choose two recover moves: Heal, Hearten, Repair, or Resupply. Instead of rolling, assume an automatic strong hit for each. An individual move may be taken more than once.

Since this is a solo campaign, I’ll count each of the troopers as allies.

Column is mentally drained from the last mission. With his spirit reduced to 3, I’d like to think he takes some time to walk among the hangars filled with refugees and displaced civilians. He sits with a family and shares a ration pack he took from the ship. Watching children play an improvised sports game with unbroken hope in their eyes, he remembers why he’s doing all of this. The moment renews his sense of purpose, each mission he completes helps give these people a better chance at living free from oppression. He takes the Hearten action and recovers his lost spirit.

Sift has an idea. Although there are no known Republic war supplies left on the planet, Eliad is notoriously aggressive when it comes to hunting down pirates and confiscating their gear. Sift leads the team to the starport’s security center. After identifying themselves, possibly with the aid of a forged authorization, he negotiates access to the confiscated weapon and armor stores. He takes the Resupply action, restoring the party’s supply to 5 and outfitting them with high-end gear pulled from the seized pirate and bounty hunter equipment.

After canvassing the nearby refugees, Pevio finds someone with experience working on Republic ships. She takes the Repair action and gets the ship fixed up.

The team has recovered. They are well armed and ready for whatever the galaxy throws at them next.