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Expeditions

The Hermit's Toll

A one-log bridge over a gorge, and a hermit who has decided it is his. The toll is strange: he wants a story he has not heard.

Entity ID
hermit
Choices offered
3
Safest option
Offer supplies instead — 85% base
Riskiest option
Cross anyway — 32% base
Can end the run early
No
Energy to mount a ranging
25 (three scenes per run)

Every choice, and exactly what it pays

The odds words are contracts, not atmosphere: safe is 85%, even is 55%, risky is 32%, and every one of those numbers is fixed and tested. Fortune then bends the roll by +4% per point, clamped at ±3 points, so a good early call buys slack later and two disasters make the rest of the road meaner. Nothing here is ever certain: the check is clamped to the 5%–95% band whatever your fortune.

The Hermit's Toll: the three roads out, with base odds and both outcomes.
ChoiceOddsBase chanceOn successOn failure
Tell your best true storyeven55%Food +70, Wood +40, Fortune +1Food -20
Offer supplies insteadsafe85%Food -15, Renown +1, Fortune +1Food -15, Fortune -1
Cross anywayrisky32%Renown +1, Fortune -1Renown -2, Fortune -2

What the chronicle records

Tell your best true story (even, 55%)

Success: He laughs at the part you're least proud of, and shows you a cache 'for guests' — dried fish and good rope. → Food +70, Wood +40, Fortune +1

Failure: 'Heard it.' You detour a half day, composing better stories the whole way down. → Food -20

Offer supplies instead (safe, 85%)

Success: He takes bread and salt, mutters a blessing that may be a curse said kindly, and stands aside. → Food -15, Renown +1, Fortune +1

Failure: He wants the STORY, not the bread. Half a day, the long way. → Food -15, Fortune -1

Cross anyway (risky, 32%)

Success: He's one old man and it's one log. He salutes your nerve, oddly cheerful about it. → Renown +1, Fortune -1

Failure: He knows exactly which end of the log wobbles. You land in the shallows with the taste of moss and humility. → Renown -2, Fortune -2

Fortune, at this scene

The Hermit's Toll: the real chance of each choice once fortune is counted.
ChoiceFortune −3Fortune −1Fortune 0Fortune +1Fortune +3
Tell your best true story43%51%55%59%67%
Offer supplies instead73%81%85%89%95%
Cross anyway20%28%32%36%44%

A ranging draws three scenes from the sixteen, deterministically from its seed, so this encounter can appear at any of the three stops. Guide: Mysteries of the Realm. Index: all 16 encounters · the whole database.

Other encounters: The Flooded Ford · A Watchfire Where None Should Be · The Barrow Door Stands Open · A Caravan in the Ditch · Wolves on the Kill · The Walking Septon · The Abandoned Quarry · An Uninvited Feast · The Cold Beacon · The Smugglers' Cache · A Singer with a Broken Lute · The Feral Orchard · The Mist That Doesn't Lift · The Toll That Isn't · The Night Something Fell

Every figure above is generated from the shipped game code — the same constants and formulas the running game uses — and regenerated whenever the balance changes. Nothing on this page is hand-typed.

Iron Realms is an original work of fantasy strategy. “Iron Realms” is a working project name, not necessarily the game’s final title. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any other game or franchise. The game's own lore, names, and artwork are original or used under CC0/CC-BY/OFL licences (see the in-game Credits). The community section also hosts unofficial fan tributes — quizzes and diversions made for fun, not part of the game — which reference other fictional worlds under their own labels; those are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to their respective rights holders. Pre-alpha, and built in public. Nothing is for sale. No purchases are available, no payment is accepted, and no money is taken. Any prices named anywhere on this site describe the intended model only, and the game will not accept payment until it is out of pre-alpha. Iron Realms is an early build under active development: features, balance, prices and the game's holdings and systems are conceptual, and may change, move or disappear between visits. Progress may be reset while the realm is being built. Treat anything you read here as a work in progress rather than a promise.