The Naming Cave
From a tavern tip
A tip bought in a tavern for 30 silver.
“A Stonepaw cub went into the Naming Cave four days ago and has not come out. Clan law forbids her kin from fetching her: the trial is hers alone. Nobody said anything about strangers.”
Possible rewards: Blooded Cutlasses
5 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
The Naming Cave
Sail to The Naming Cave (2–4 passages away)1 Find the Naming Cave and the Ursine cub trapped inside.
A dozen Ursine sit in the snow around the cave mouth. They neither speak nor go inside. An elder looks up at your ship for a long moment, then deliberately looks away.
- Go into the cave after her.Landfall: The Naming Cave→ The Cub
- [Ursine] Send crewmate in alone, as the trial demands.Crew: Ursinecrewmate goes down with only a torch and a knife, just as the cubs do. A long time passes before the torchlight reappears at the bottom, and crewmate is bleeding when it does.30 damage to the crewmate who acted+1 The Clans standing→ The Cub
- Leave it for now.The elder does not watch you leave.
The Cub
Right away2 Bring the cub out of the Naming Cave.
She lies at the bottom of the cave beside the beast she killed, her leg broken underneath her. She will earn the name Orsa if she walks out on her own feet, and no name at all if she is carried. She is fifteen and furious. "Don't touch me! I will walk." She cannot stand.
- Carry her out anyway.The clan turns its back as you carry her past, as their law requires. Back at the ship, she asks in a small voice if you have a spare bunk. That night, her mother leaves a purse of silver on your boarding ramp without knocking.+30 silver→ No Name
- Splint her leg and camp in the cave until she can walk.It takes two days and a solid share of your provisions. At dawn on the third day she limps out alone, and the waiting clan roars her new name.−3 provisions+1 The Clans standing→ Orsa
- [Surgeon] Have crewmate brace the leg so she can walk out today.Crew: Surgeoncrewmate sets the bone and binds her leg in a rigid boot of hide and wooden splints. Orsa walks out by noon to claim her name, and the clan roars it to the sky.+1 The Clans standing→ Orsa
No Name
Right away3She sits on a bunk with her leg in splints and refuses to eat. "A cub who is carried out has no name. No name, no clan, no hall. I killed that beast—it was as big as a boat! And it counts for nothing now." Down in the snow, the clan elder stands at the foot of your boarding ramp, staring fixedly away from the ship.
- Give the girl a place in your crew and let her choose her own name.She thinks it over for a day, then claims the name she would have earned. Nobody aboard knows enough clan law to tell her she cannot.New crewmate: Ursine, MarineThe questline ends here.
- Go down the ramp and hear what the elder has to say.She does not turn her head. She speaks to the snow in front of her, while you happen to stand within earshot.
Orsa
Right away4That night a feast fire blazes at the cave mouth, and your crew are welcomed around it. The clan elder approaches your rail carrying a long wrapped bundle under one arm, with Orsa limping a step behind her. "A stranger waited in the dark. Our law has no word for that, so I must make one. Stonepaw can thank your ship with clan iron, or with a daughter's service for a season. We are not a rich clan."
- Take the clan iron.The bundle holds the clan's heirloom boarding cutlasses, oiled and wrapped in hide. They have fought through nine blood-feuds and lost none.Relic: Blooded CutlassesThe questline ends here.
- Take Orsa aboard for a season.She climbs the gangway on her splinted leg carrying a knife, a blanket, and her new name, and asks where the marines sleep. The clan sends half the feast aboard after her.New crewmate: Orsa Stonepaw, Ursine, Marine+4 provisionsThe questline ends here.
- Remind the elder that your surgeon's splint saved Orsa two days in the freezing dark.The elder weighs the two days of hunger and cold you spared the cub and decides a single gift does not balance the scale. The clan brings its heirloom boarding cutlasses to your rail, and Orsa asks leave to sail a season with the ship that stood by her.Relic: Blooded CutlassesNew crewmate: Orsa Stonepaw, Ursine, MarineThe questline ends here.
What the Law Does Not Say
Right away5"The law says a cub must walk out of the cave. It does not say she cannot enter twice. If someone carried her back to the bottom tonight unseen, then at dawn I would simply be an old woman watching a cub walk out." She gazes toward the cave mouth rather than at you. "It is a steep climb on a broken leg."
- Carry her back down into the cave tonight.
- [Surgeon] Have crewmate bind her leg in a weight-bearing splint before the climb.Crew: Surgeoncrewmate works by a hooded lantern at the bottom of the cave, binding her leg in a rigid boot of hide and splints. Orsa walks out at dawn to claim her name. The clan leaves its heirloom boarding cutlasses at your rail and never asks who was down in the cave.Relic: Blooded Cutlasses+1 The Clans standingThe questline ends here.
- Refuse. She has suffered that cave once already.The elder gives a barely perceptible nod. "Then feed her well." The girl sails with your crew, and her mother leaves a second purse of silver on the ramp before you cast off.New crewmate: Ursine, Marine+30 silverThe questline ends here.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord