Home · Database · Expeditions · The Cold Beacon

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Expeditions

The Cold Beacon

A signal tower with its beacon unlit and its door swinging. The garrison of three is simply… not here. Their supper is still on the table.

Entity ID
beacon
Choices offered
3
Safest option
Light the beacon yourselves — 55% base
Riskiest option
Eat their supper and stay the night — 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 Cold Beacon: the three roads out, with base odds and both outcomes.
ChoiceOddsBase chanceOn successOn failure
Light the beacon yourselveseven55%Food +30, Renown +3, Fortune +1Renown -2, Fortune -1
Track the garrisoneven55%Iron +50, Renown +3, Fortune +1Fortune -1
Eat their supper and stay the nightrisky32%Food +50Food -30, Renown -1, Fortune -1

What the chronicle records

Light the beacon yourselves (even, 55%)

Success: The next tower answers, and a grateful serjeant arrives by noon with the missing three — lost chasing a 'ghost' that was a goat. → Food +30, Renown +3, Fortune +1

Failure: You light it during a muster drill. The column that answers is not amused, though the goat is. → Renown -2, Fortune -1

Track the garrison (even, 55%)

Success: You find all three treed by boars, two days hungry and loud with gratitude. Their captain pays the finder's fee without blinking. → Iron +50, Renown +3, Fortune +1

Failure: The trail dies at a stream. You leave a note and the nagging feeling of a story without an ending. → Fortune -1

Eat their supper and stay the night (risky, 32%)

Success: Dry beds, hot stew, and the garrison returns at dawn too embarrassed about the goat to begrudge you any of it. → Food +50

Failure: They return at midnight, weapons first. Explaining takes till morning and costs you the wine you were saving. → Food -30, Renown -1, Fortune -1

Fortune, at this scene

The Cold Beacon: the real chance of each choice once fortune is counted.
ChoiceFortune −3Fortune −1Fortune 0Fortune +1Fortune +3
Light the beacon yourselves43%51%55%59%67%
Track the garrison43%51%55%59%67%
Eat their supper and stay the night20%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 · The Hermit's Toll · Wolves on the Kill · The Walking Septon · The Abandoned Quarry · An Uninvited Feast · 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.