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An expedition travels through marked inland jungle territory.
Part III · The Eight Acts

Chapter XIII

Act VI — The Jungle Remembers

The Clann intervene, erase the battlefield, and test the party.

GM·Campaign·All chapters

Running This Act

GM Goal
Shift the campaign away from the harbour's legal and diplomatic environment into terrain governed by weather, memory, local knowledge, old violence, and Clann judgment.
What Must Surface
Albion committed atrocities inland and the true Source lies beyond normal colonial maps and authority.
Keep Pressure Moving
Albion survivors, Clann trust, evidence preservation, weather, the soldier's journal, graves, local signs, and the party's conduct.
Active Clocks
  • The Clann Withdraw Trust — maps, soldiers brought inland, disturbed graves, or treating the Source as property advance it.
  • Albion Delegation Loses Control — identifying the cut-off command makes deniability a contested fact.
  • Source Disequilibrium — disturbing the burial site advances it.
Likely Faction Moves
  • Albion survivors retreat inland and may carry evidence, a scholar, a map, a witness, or a fragment with them.
  • Clann field teams shadow and test the party, and perform the Erasure that removes the battlefield and the route behind them.
  • Delegations press for maps or names that could lead a fleet to the Source.
  • Valdegracian authority sends soldiers inland to reassert jurisdiction.
Move On When
The Clann permit, compel, or shadow the party toward the Source, or the party reaches the same route at greater cost because Clann trust has been lost.
Update campaign worksheets→View campaign pressure map→
GM at the Table
  • Every cut, abandoned cottage, and dry wash has a human history. The jungle is never empty wilderness.
  • Place subtle signs where a single character will see them and let recognition be the reward.
  • The kill zone should feel brutally competent without being won by attrition.
  • Clann trust changes through conduct across the act, not through one test.
  • A hidden document matters less than the promise of honesty broken by hiding it.

Required truths, not required scenes. When a player choice removes a default assumption, use When the Expected Route Breaks

Preparing the next session? Open the Seven-Line Session Prep guide

The wet season erases tracks. The Clann decide which histories deserve the same mercy.

The March Inland

The characters leave the harbor’s legal world and enter a landscape controlled by weather, local knowledge, old paths, and people who have survived by refusing to be mapped. Use heat, insects, rain, broken signals, and uncertain distance. Do not turn the jungle into empty wilderness. Every cut, abandoned cottage, and dry wash has a human history.

Subtle Signs

Recognition begins with details outsiders dismiss: seam, knot, mark, rhythm, and reaction.

  • A palm frond laid upside down where no wind placed it.
  • A birdcall repeated twice short and once long.
  • Footprints deliberately erased but only on one side of the trail.
  • A strip of cloth tied too high for a traveler and too low for a survey mark.
  • An Éirighdún coin scratched with a triskele, placed where only one character will see it.

    • The Albion Kill Zone

    Seven cut-off Albion soldiers prepare a disciplined ambush from dense foliage and a slight rise. Their goal is capture, not honorable battle. They open with coordinated fire, advance under cover, and attempt to separate scholars or shard-bearers from the rest. The scene should feel brutally competent without requiring the party to win by attrition.

    BEATWHAT HAPPENSPLAYER OPPORTUNITY
    Opening VolleyCarbines fire from prepared cover.Recognize the kill zone, create smoke, break line of sight, or protect a vulnerable target.
    CompressionTwo soldiers advance with pistols and sabres while the sergeant controls fire.Reach the sergeant, flank through bad ground, or force the squad to split.
    Clann Intervention or CrossfireIf trust remains, arrows and silent fire strike the sergeant and weakest positions; the Clann wait, target both sides, or recover only the captive scholar.Coordinate, withdraw, capture a survivor, protect the wounded, or realize that no rescue is guaranteed.
    ErasureThe Clann strip insignia, sink weapons, and remove cartridges.Argue for preserving evidence or accept that the route matters more than the case.
    The BargainA Clann elder or field leader demands secrecy and judgment.Earn access through conduct rather than a single test.
    Opening Volley
    WHAT HAPPENS
    Carbines fire from prepared cover.
    PLAYER OPPORTUNITY
    Recognize the kill zone, create smoke, break line of sight, or protect a vulnerable target.
    Compression
    WHAT HAPPENS
    Two soldiers advance with pistols and sabres while the sergeant controls fire.
    PLAYER OPPORTUNITY
    Reach the sergeant, flank through bad ground, or force the squad to split.
    Clann Intervention or Crossfire
    WHAT HAPPENS
    If trust remains, arrows and silent fire strike the sergeant and weakest positions; the Clann wait, target both sides, or recover only the captive scholar.
    PLAYER OPPORTUNITY
    Coordinate, withdraw, capture a survivor, protect the wounded, or realize that no rescue is guaranteed.
    Erasure
    WHAT HAPPENS
    The Clann strip insignia, sink weapons, and remove cartridges.
    PLAYER OPPORTUNITY
    Argue for preserving evidence or accept that the route matters more than the case.
    The Bargain
    WHAT HAPPENS
    A Clann elder or field leader demands secrecy and judgment.
    PLAYER OPPORTUNITY
    Earn access through conduct rather than a single test.

    The Dead Soldier’s Journal

    A rain-swollen leather journal documents orders to clear a Tarlaxian encampment, a hidden compound beneath an old cottage, buyers inspecting captives, and a retreat inland after the coastal battle. The soldier refused some orders but remained inside the machine that carried them out. The journal is proof, confession, and incomplete absolution.

    Handout Excerpt

    “If I make it back, this book goes to someone who will use it. If I do not, I hope whoever finds this reads enough to know.”

    All five dated entries are printed in full. Open the full Soldier’s Journal

    The Clann Test

    CHARACTER CONDUCTTRUST CHANGE
    Protect captives or wounded enemies before securing evidence.Increase trust.
    Accept that the Source location cannot become a negotiation asset.Increase trust.
    Demand maps, ownership, or military escort.Decrease trust.
    Hide a document from the Clann while promising complete honesty.Decrease trust if discovered; the lie matters more than the paper.
    Treat burial objects and bodies as people’s dead rather than clues.Increase trust.
    Offer to destroy copies and prove it.Increase trust significantly.
    Protect captives or wounded enemies before securing evidence.
    TRUST CHANGE
    Increase trust.
    Accept that the Source location cannot become a negotiation asset.
    TRUST CHANGE
    Increase trust.
    Demand maps, ownership, or military escort.
    TRUST CHANGE
    Decrease trust.
    Hide a document from the Clann while promising complete honesty.
    TRUST CHANGE
    Decrease trust if discovered; the lie matters more than the paper.
    Treat burial objects and bodies as people’s dead rather than clues.
    TRUST CHANGE
    Increase trust.
    Offer to destroy copies and prove it.
    TRUST CHANGE
    Increase trust significantly.
    ✦
    Previous · Ch XIIAct V — Wolf in the Clouds
    Next · Ch XIVAct VII — The Breathing Source
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    For the Game Master's eyes

    Tales of Mar de Oro · Game Master's Guide · Johnny Crown · 7202 Post Sundering

    Restricted · For the Game Master

    Mar de Oro Game Master Area

    This is the Game Master side of Tales of Mar de Oro: campaign chapters, session preparation tools, and running guidance for the Golden Sea. It is open to anyone, but it is written for the person behind the screen.

    Campaign spoiler warning: the material past this point includes faction secrets, hidden truths, and the sequence of events behind the campaign. Reading it as a player will hollow out surprises the setting depends on.

    Spoiler-free GM resources you can open without entering: Mar de Oro GM Tables and new Game Master onboarding.

    Return to player material

    7202 Post Sundering · Johnny Crown