< Nuradan CYOA 10 - A moment of rest in Sund | Nuradan CYOA 12 - TBD >
This is part of a weekly series of choice prompts that all my Patreon supporters get to vote on. See all the poll posts on Patreon here.
The adventure so far: You are River, a Changeling Stray that got lost, beaten, and mugged as you were traveling in the North of Nuradan. You ended up in the outskirts of the remote village of Sund, and are in desperate need for shelter and supplies. You wait for the night and try to steal something, when the same brigands attack the village! You help the townsfolk repel the intruders, and now you might have a moment to rest safely. But what seemed like an unassuming mountain village appears to be part of a larger regional conflict…
Creed, Sund’s blacksmith, gets carried away. He used to be an active militant member of the Charred Ones, until he decided to retire to a quiet life of repairing pans and everyday items. You sit around the campfire, together with a few other people from town.
Sund is a small village, situated in the west of a steep, short valley. The region takes the name of Martens, but it’s not on most maps. You, in fact, had to get lost in order to get here, taking the wrong turns down the mountains. The road is not forgiving either, especially coming from the west: Whispercreek carves a deep canyon that is difficult to traverse.
Access from the east of the valley is controlled by the Disciples, a semi-religious sect that rose to power right at the end of the “good Martens era”, as it’s called by locals. Martens has always been isolated, due to its secluded nature, but.. not always to this degree.
Up until 2 or 300 years ago, Martens was still open and trading with its neighbors, exporting the good wood of the area off to the Stiltsborough province. The area was enjoying the revenue of commerce. Bridges were being built all around the valley, a main road was paved, a tunnel was carved in the east to better connect with Grimrise Hollow via land, and two watchtowers in the west.. you might have seen their ruins coming here from Whispercreek Chasm. People came and went, traders sold their wares from far away, and everyone was just better off.
“Disciples were just a fringe movement back then”, Creed tells you. They were against all the foreigners coming into the valley, and kept advocating against all the trade and commerce. In the beginning nobody was listening to them, but as more outsiders came to settle into Martens and more land was being taken away from farmers to build roads and bridges and towers.. well, people started to join.
“And then, the mountain fell”, an older man speaks from the side of the campfire.
“Yes.. Gloomstone”, Creed speaks back. “That mountain just came down on the valley. An entire mountain. We cut down too many trees. That mountain is brittle, it crumbled like gravel under its own weight during a rainy season, when water seeped where roots used to be. A quarter of the valley got swept under the landslide”.
“You will be able to see Gloomstone Shatter and Martens’ Sorrow from here when light breaks”, a young boy tells you.
“The places didn’t use to be called that”, Creed adds. “Martens’ Sorrow is the name we gave to the ravine a few years after the disaster. It broke the region, nothing was the same after that. A lot of people died, who was left here suffered”.
The Disciples blamed the tragedy on outsiders. Trade had made Martens greedy, and the export of wood was to blame for the fall of Gloomstone.
“Nay, it was the Rustlings for sure”, the older man interrupts, “they walked away and left us in the rubble”.
“Don’t start that”, Creed warns. “Rustlings are believed to be creature of the woods, but it’s just superstition and folklore. Nobody has ever seen one. Let’s not confuse our guest with your tales, old man!”
Creed goes back to the main story. Commerce in Martens was halted, and even a few wealthy families started to fund the sect, afraid to see their gains taken away by the struggling populace. The Disciples put explosives in the tunnel to the west, and under the watchtowers in the east. Access to Martens had been severely limited now, and the population got back to farming and paying tributes after almost a century of prosperity. It was brutal.
Who didn’t want to join the Disciples was ransacked, their land and wealth confiscated. They had the numbers and the fervor to pull that off.
But they couldn’t get everyone. Some people had the courage to stand up to them. They organized. It’s told that it was Pete Elderpine, a coalman out of Cendalar, that put together the first attack on the Disciples more than 200 years ago. That’s where the Charred Ones names comes from. People used to work in smoke and sooth all day that they used to came home all black. They blew up a few bridges, dividing the valley in two.
People who wanted to join the Charred Ones, distance themselves from the Disciples’s control, or wanted to open back trade, they all came to the south and west of Martens. The others grouped up in the east and north, under the influence of Disciples.
“It’s a long story, but for a while, it was constant guerrilla up here”, Creed says. For years, we kept fighting each other in small skirmishes and ambushes all around the valley. A lot of people died. Nothing changed.
“Up until a generation ago things had calmed down”, Creed continues. People were mostly free to come and go between one side and the other. Bridges and passages have been remade over the years. There seemed to be an opening, the old dissents forgotten and quieted.
“Then we learned about the brigands”, adds the older man.
“Disciples were arming them. The calm was just a facade to regain their numbers as they dwindled ours through indirect means”, Creed explains. “They came at us from the west, from the mountains. The neighboring province to the west, Riverstead.. we heard some counties fell there, they are all in disarray. People are hungry and nobody is keeping them in check. And they are coming for what little we have left”.
“Anyways, that’s about it.. it’s almost morning, and we all need to get some rest”.
“The gist of it is.. Charred Ones want to reopen Martens and get outside help to flourish again, but we are poor as a peasant and stripped for resources. Disciples have the resources to keep us here, while they grow in numbers and keep the valley closed. Nothing we can do about it at this point. Get some sleep, River. We’ll talk later”.
You yawn. You haven’t slept in two days. You are starting to get a feel for the local situation.. Now, what’s in it for you?
The plan is still to go after the brigands. The encampment is not far away. You can go down to Cendalar and see what the Charred Ones have to offer in terms of help.
This is a lost cause. Maybe you are better off leaving, and see if the Disciples have something more to offer you..
Learn more about Rustlings. Mythical nature creatures? Were did you hear about that already? Maybe it’s worth investigating, and Changelings are curious creatures..
Vote on Patreon until July 12th, 2026.
< Nuradan CYOA 10 - A moment of rest in Sund | Nuradan CYOA 12 - TBD >