Welcome to the Blightscar Marches, a Five Leagues from the Borderlands solo narrative campaign set in a grim dark world that feels like Wartales, Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon, and Warhammer Mordheim had a filthy threesome. Hard-bitten grit. Horror-tinged low fantasy.
The Blightscar Marches
Centuries ago the warlord Varak the Hollow dragged ten thousand souls into what is now the Unexplored Hollow and sacrificed them on a black altar fed by the green river. He wanted to bind the land to eternal victory. The earth cracked open instead and birthed the Blightwomb—a living, pulsing wound beneath the Marches, half plague-god, half hungry grave.
For generations the wound slept. People returned. They built settlements along the sickly-green river and its feeder streams. They told themselves the fog was only weather and the green water was only water. Now something has changed. Cultists chant louder. The river runs thicker. The land itself is waking up hungry.
Ironvein Trade Hub still rings with forges and the stink of pig iron. Mirefield Farms still tries to feed it with turnips and tough cattle that somehow thrive on sour soil. Blackthorn Manor still broods on the western ridge behind its blackthorn hedges. Grimford Market still opens once a month under watching oaks. Ashen Cloister still rings its bells at odd hours. Between them lie black-thorned hills, mist-shrouded woods, and places that suck at boots and remember blood.
Into this came six outsiders looking for iron, coin, and whatever glory a rotting frontier might still offer.
They met in the smoky Black Boar Inn three hard days north of the border. Sigrid Vale, bastard sword across her back and fire in her blood. Rose Blackthorn, long and lean with a centuries-old grudge and a fencing blade that already knew how to kill nobles. Dust, the quiet Halfling who moved like smoke and shot like he meant it. Old Grimwald, grey and cynical, come to look the Blightwomb in the eye. Then Garric Hale and Finn Vey joined after a tavern brawl—steel, blood, and a shared table sealed it.
They call themselves the Blightburners. They ride together. They split the spoils. They burn whatever needs burning.
Turn Zero – How the Blightburners Came Together Four northerners, two local hard cases, one bloody tavern fight, and a pact sealed in spilled ale. The warband is forged. The Marches wait. Read it here
Turn One – Mirefield Farms and the Roadside Fight They ride into sour fields under a sickly sky. An ogre contract. A missing hunter. Robbers at a roadside ruin. Steel, blood, a rescued woman, and a note sealed in green wax that changes everything. Read it here
Turn Two – The Ogre The lair stinks of old meat and sour earth. Sigrid goes down hard. Rose finishes the job with a final thrust under the jaw. Finn levels up in the aftermath. The Womb still hungers. Read it here
Turn Three – Cruel Deserters at the Crumbling Inn Curse of War filth holed up in a rotting wayside inn with a captive farmer. Snow on the ground. Arrows from the rafters. Sigrid’s bastard sword opens throats. The threat drops. A new friend is made. Read it here
Turns Four & Five – Onward to Ironvein and the Weight of the New Moon They leave Mirefield under a bruised sky. The Curse of War is quieter. The note still burns. They reach the trade hub, take a new contract, and turn northwest toward the mist and the Hollow. Read it here
Turn Five – Horror in the Hollow Mist, ruins, traps, flying vermin, and vile worms. Sigrid claims the Verdant Fang from a withered corpse. Grimwald goes down. Silvertree leaf keeps him breathing. They climb out bloodier and richer, contract complete, new map mark waiting north near Grimford. Read it here
Turn Six - Shrine of Whispers
The Blightburners pushed through dense forest to the shrine in Thornvein Sink and met the Whispers from Beyond head-on. Sigrid’s Battering Storm split the High Whisperer, the cultists fell under Rose and Garric’s blades, and a captive named Elara was freed and returned to Blackthorn Manor—Rose’s ancestral home by blood right.
Turns 7 & 8 – Blackthorn Returns and Haunts in the Forgotten Ruins
The manor becomes a true village. The Curse of War hideout is marked. In the dark forest ruins south of the ridge the Blightburners face grave haunts and skeletons. Garric goes down hard. Ancient writings point to a buried artifact. A cold-eyed Fey named Vaelith arrives with an offer.
Turn 9 – Let the Bodies Hit the Floor
Elara’s letter sends them south. They hit the Curse hideout first — a rotting logger cabin in the black forest. Vaelith’s first blood. The captain dies in the yard. One Forsaken runs.
Turns 10 & 11 — Ashen Cloister Road
They burned the Curse cabin and walked south. Merry Ivy joined on the road, flute in hand, red ribbon in her hair. At the Cloister they found Elara’s brother Torren, took Brother Cald’s packet for Blackthorn, and spent a day on the gate. Sigrid left the lost-item job on the table. The Curse camp is next.
Current Status
The Blightburners are at Ashen Cloister, in rooms over the stables. Torren is found. He is not home yet. Brother Cald's packet for Blackthorn is in Rose's hand, and Merry Ivy walks with them now, flute idle, red ribbon in her hair. Behind them the Curse hideout is a burned logger cabin and a dead captain. The threat is lower. The camp on the manor road is not. Sigrid means to hit it while the iron is hot and end the Curse of War on the way home. The Gnawling warren is marked and left alone. The drowned chapel is still buried. Outlaw bands are still on the roads. Until the Blightburners meet them in the open and hold the field, every victory pays less.
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Thanks for reading this far!
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