Black Moss — the MURK line, dead

Session Zero — a genuinely random character

Same method as Cloughifen's log: species, type, array, and name rolled cold, no reroll on a weak or lopsided result.

GRIT and MURK came out tied at 6 — the same shape as Cloughifen's sheet, by coincidence of the dice, not by design. With no type-primary stat in the tie (WATCHER's primary is WIT, which wasn't tied), the axis was resolved with a flat coin-flip roll rather than picked: MURK. Same axis Cloughifen ran. Same route follows. What happens on it does not.

The Character — Black Moss, Level 1

Xaexs WATCHER — four-armed, murk-sighted, built to see trouble coming rather than to survive it once it arrives.

• Species (Xaexs): floors 4 / 2 / 3. Trait Murk Sight — perceive MURK-active entities before they manifest. Four arms: two weapons held ready at once. Natural attack Murk pulse (dmg 2, MURK) — always available, no slot cost. Hivemind: yes.
• Type (WATCHER): +2 WIT → 4. Skill First Look — always act first in the opening round of combat, regardless of WIT order.
• Array: +3 MURK → 6, +2 GRIT → 6, +1 WIT → 5.
• ¢hits: ¢80 → Hexikid shard (dmg 3, GRIT, Piercing) ¢25 → ¢55 left.
• Items: snough torch · field dressing · (one slot free).
• Wounds: 0 · Murk Clock: 0 · XP: 0
• Wound thresholds (half starting, rounding up): GRIT ≤3 · WIT ≤3 · MURK ≤3.

Route chosen: the MURK line — Drowned Carr (A3) → the flooded channel → collapse the node at the Millstone Chamber.

A1 — Dunford Arms · Murk 1

Marta briefs Black Moss for free — the same warnings she gave Coker and Cloughifen. Black Moss buys the Hexikid shard, banks ¢55, and goes.

A2 — Open Fell · Murk 2 — the fork

Read the ground (2d6 + WIT 5 vs Default 8): R1 = 6 → 11. TOLL — she gets the axes of all three routes, nothing more. No cost either way; this read never charges one.

She takes the low line: the Drowned Carr.

A3 — Drowned Carr · Murk 4

Entering Murk 4+ — Clock 0 → 1. Reckoning (breaks ≤1): R2 = 7. Holds. Clock = 1.

Cross the flow (2d6 + MURK 6 vs Hard 11): R3 = 4 → 10. FOKED — the flow turns her. Lose 1 MURK (6 → 5). Clock 1 → 2.

Not the clean read Cloughifen got. The current takes something on the way in, and it isn't done taking yet.

B — Dunford Mill Complex · Murk 3 (baseline)

Entering Hex B — Clock 2 → 3. Reckoning (breaks ≤3): R4 = 5. Holds. Clock = 3.

Dyapnid disposition (2d6 + 3): R5 = 7 → 10 — Territorial. Not a factor; her route never goes near the Main Mill.

The FOKED carr crossing means no shortcut — Black Moss surfaces at the Mill Pond zone, not the chamber.

Zone: Mill Pond

Scratcher read (2d6 + WIT 5 vs Default 8): R6 = 9 → 14. CLEAN — the scratcher is watching a large, rooted, murk-active mass under the millstone floor. Confirms what Brent's team already died learning.

Retrieve the DPDC transmitter (2d6 + GRIT 6 vs Default 8): R7 = 10 → 16. CLEAN. Down the wall, transmitter in hand, back up — the last ping the DPDC ever got from this team, and Black Moss is the one who reaches it.

Flooded channel descent (2d6 + MURK 5 vs Hard 11): R8 = 8 → 13. TOLL — down, but the murk presses. Lose 1 MURK (5 → 4). She surfaces at the chamber edge, not close to the node.

Zone: Millstone Chamber · Murk 5 — Boss

Entering Murk 5 — Clock 3 → 4. Reckoning (breaks ≤4): R9 = 10. Holds. Clock = 4.

Murk Event (d6): D1 = 1 — Murkfall. Visibility collapses to close range; every WIT-based read is one Cut tier harder for as long as she's in the hex. Not the MURK-cost event Cloughifen drew — but it means she goes into this fight half-blind on top of everything else.

GRIT 6, WIT 5, MURK 4. Clock already at 4 before the briar has struck once. She is not standing where she wanted to be, and the node is a full round of thornwork away.

The Final Encounter — Collapse the node

The briar is a Boss (GRIT 7): it acts every round, lashes for Physical 3, and entangles. Full lethality, as written — it does not soften because the build looks capable on paper.

Round 1 — snough torch, free round. The lit torch wards the briar; it does not strike. Black Moss spends the round driving through the thornwork to the node, arriving as the torch smothers.

Round 2.

Thorn lash (briar 2d6+7 vs Black Moss 2d6+GRIT6): briar R10 = 8 → 15; Black Moss R11 = 5 → 11. Beaten by 4 — the lash connects. GRIT 6 → 5, entangled.

Collapse the node (2d6+MURK4 vs Severe 14): R12 = 4 → 8. RUIN. Clock 4 → 5. Reckoning (breaks ≤5): R13 = 8. Holds.

Round 3.

Thorn lash: briar R14 = 3 → 10; Black Moss R15 = 11 → 16. Beaten clean — no damage this round.

Collapse the node: R16 = 9 → 13. FOKED. Clock 5 → 6. Reckoning (breaks ≤6): R17 = 5 → BREAKS.

Predation (d6): D2 = 2 — the murk rewrites you. Lose 1 permanently from her highest stat. GRIT 5 → 4 — permanent. Clock resets to 0.

Round 4.

Thorn lash: briar R18 = 6 → 13; Black Moss R19 = 6 → 10. Connects. GRIT 4 → 3 — Wound threshold reached (−1 to every roll from here).

Collapse the node (now at −1): R20 = 6 → 9. RUIN. Clock 0 → 1. Reckoning (breaks ≤1): R21 = 4. Holds.

Round 5.

Thorn lash: briar R22 = 7 → 14; Black Moss R23 = 5 → 7 (GRIT3 −1 wound). Connects. GRIT 3 → 2, still entangled.

Collapse the node: R24 = 7 → 10. RUIN. Clock 1 → 2. Reckoning (breaks ≤2): R25 = 7. Holds.

Round 6.

Thorn lash: briar R26 = 7 → 14; Black Moss R27 = 7 → 8. Connects. GRIT 2 → 1.

Collapse the node: R28 = 5 → 8. RUIN. Clock 2 → 3. Reckoning (breaks ≤3): R29 = 3 → BREAKS.

Predation (d6): D3 = 5 — the murk takes. Loses a point straight off MURK. MURK 4 → 3 — Wound threshold reached. Clock resets to 0.

Round 7.

Thorn lash (Black Moss now at −2, two wounds stacked): briar R30 = 8 → 15; Black Moss R31 = 8 → 7. Beaten by 8. GRIT 1 → 0.

The briar does not let go of what it takes. GRIT 0: no permanent-consequence roll offered here — the thorns close over her the way they closed over Brent, and the amber light keeps burning. Six failed attempts at the node, two Predation draws, and the seventh lash finishes what the first six started.

Black Moss dies in the Millstone Chamber, never having beaten the Cut.

Outcome — Contract Failed, No One Retrieved

Nobody comes back to the Dunford Arms. Marta's scratcher watches the mill road for a full murkneet before it gives up and flies. The DPDC gets nothing — not a report, not the transmitter Black Moss pulled out of the pond and never got to hand off, not even a body.

The node is still amber. The briar is still rooted. Keeva is still at the foot of the stair, however much longer she can hold that. Darcas is still three feet from the node, past struggling. Black Moss's last transmission — hivemind-connected, the emotional bleed unfiltered because there was no time to suppress it — reaches whoever else was listening on her channel, and then nothing. That is the whole report.

The next DPDC team to survey Dunford Mill will have four names on the manifest instead of one, and still no idea what killed any of them, because nobody who went past the choke point in the tunnel — or in her case, past the pond — came back out to say.

Final Tally

Predation draws this run: 2 — the murk rewrites you (permanent GRIT loss, round 3) and the murk takes (MURK loss, round 6). Both hit exactly where it hurt.

Headline: this is the log the other two need. Coker walks out untouched on GRIT; Cloughifen walks out untouched on MURK with a lucky double-six; Black Moss rolls the same axis as Cloughifen, on a build that looks just as capable on paper, and the Clock breaks twice and the briar grinds her down to nothing over seven rounds. Nothing was rigged either way — that's the actual pitch for Foked: the system doesn't know or care which log you're reading when it rolls. Bosses act every round, full lethality, no soft floor under a bad run. Read all three together and that's the whole shape of what the game does.

Companion logs: Coker — the GRIT line · Cloughifen — the MURK line, clean.