Printable guide sheet: The Year That Came Apart

Read this to your players to start

Pennythorn Coombe is a little valley you can walk from end to end in twenty minutes, and right now it has four seasons at once. Three kind people have tied three keeping-cords on three trees, for three good reasons. The year has nowhere to go, so it is piling up at the bottom of the valley as frost, nine paces higher every day.

Scenes (all session lengths — scene’s tag shows the shortest length it appears in)

1. Scene 1: Four Seasons Before Lunch from Quick Quest on

   You come over the top of the hill, and everybody stops. Something is wrong with this valley. At the top, the apple trees are white with blossom, like spring. In the middle, the hay stands tall and gold, like summer. Lower down, the beech wood glows copper, like autumn. And at the bottom, everything is white with frost. The wind smells of snow. A woman with a red-and-cream cord leans on the gate. "Right," says Grissel Hoy. "You’ve seen it. Come down, and I’ll tell you the silly part."

   Goal: Find out what is wrong with the valley, and why the frost at the bottom keeps climbing.

   • Let Grissel talk No roll

     It works: Grissel makes keeping-cords. "Tie one on a branch at sunrise," she says, "and that day stays put until you cut it at sunset. One cord, one day." She sighs. "Nobody ever leaves one tied. Somebody has left three."

     It doesn’t: If nobody asks, Grissel tells them anyway. She has waited two weeks for somebody to listen.

   • Count the cords Clever, DN 8

     It works: You spot three bright cords on three low branches: one on the old apple tree in the orchard, one on the thorn tree in the hay field, one on the big beech by the wood. Nothing at all is tied at the White End, down by the frozen pond.

     It doesn’t: It is too far to see. Grissel points them out, one by one: three trees, three bright cords, and nothing at all tied at the White End.

   • Ask about the white end No roll

     It works: Grissel holds up a stick with twenty-nine notches, one for every morning. "On the first morning the frost stopped at the reed line at the pond. Today it is on the thistle bank, two hundred paces short of the meadow gate. It climbs nine paces a day, and it never goes back."

     It doesn’t: If the numbers are too many, count the notches out loud together: twenty-nine mornings, nine paces every day, and never once backwards.

   Ask your players

   Ask the quietest player: Grissel gives you a little card with a rhyme on it. Will you read it out for everyone? Hand over the Keeping-Cord Rhyme now. Its third line is the whole answer, and a table that spots it has earned it: knowing why the frost is there does not say which cord to cut.

   Ask the table: Spring, summer, autumn and winter, all at once. Which part of the valley would you most like to visit?

   Play Grissel warm, blunt and not mysterious at all. She is hiding nothing. She could have cut the three cords herself, but they are not hers to cut. Two facts must leave this scene with the heroes: three cords are tied in this valley, and the frost at the bottom is climbing. If a child hunts for a baddie, there is none: three kind people each tied one cord, and none of them told the others. Short on time? At the Quick Quest length, Grissel also tells them who tied each cord and why before they leave the gate.

2. Scene 2: The Blossom That Will Not Fall from Short Session on

   Bzzzz. You hear the orchard before you see it. Ninety-nine apple trees stand bare. The hundredth is the Coombe Pippin. It is the oldest apple tree in the valley, and it is covered in white blossom. Every bee in the valley is buzzing round it. A red-and-cream cord is tied on its lowest branch. Up a ladder, in among the flowers, an old woman holds a little knife. "Thirty-seven days," says Wenna Croll, without turning round. "I know. You may as well come up."

   Goal: Find out why Wenna tied her cord, and what cutting it would cost.

   • Ask Wenna No roll

     It works: Wenna tied it. The Coombe Pippin is very old and hollow inside, and this is its last blossom ever. On the bench below sit forty cuttings, little twigs wrapped in cloth. "Three more days, and they will be ready to grow," she says. "Forty baby trees from the oldest apple tree in the valley. Or none."

     It doesn’t: If nobody asks, Wenna climbs down and tells them anyway. She has nothing to hide.

   • Help with the cuttings Kind, DN 8

     It works: You hold the ladder, wrap the twigs and pass them down. By teatime, every cutting Wenna will ever need is safe in a basket. "Now my cord only holds a tree I love," she says. "I can let that go." Wenna is ready to cut.

     It doesn’t: It is fiddly work, and by teatime only half are wrapped. Wenna smiles anyway. "Twenty baby trees is twenty more than none." She is nearly ready to cut, and one kind word at the Ladder will do it.

   • Watch the bees Clever, DN 10

     It works: Every bee in the valley is here, because this is the last flower left. They look worn out. No other tree has seen a bee since summer, so if the cords stay tied, there will be hardly any apples next year.

     It doesn’t: A bee lands on your nose and you sneeze. Wenna laughs and explains: every bee in the valley is here, worn out, because this is the last flower left.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Can everybody buzz like a whole valley of tired bees?

   Ask the quietest player: Wenna lets you hold one cutting. Where would you plant your baby apple tree?

   Wenna tells the truth about everything. Do not play her as a suspect: all three people in this valley are kind, and all three are right. She will cut her cord the moment the heroes ask, with her own knife, but she will not tell them whether it is worth it. If the heroes help with the cuttings, tick the box on the story tracker: at the Ladder, Wenna is ready to go first.

3. Scene 3: Nobody Came to the Hay from One-Sitting Session on

   Swish. Swish. The hay field is huge, and the grass is tall and gold. It is perfect for cutting, and it has been perfect for a whole month. Only one thin strip is cut. In the middle stands an old thorn tree, the Pennythorn, with a bright cord tied round it. A tired young man swings a scythe. That is a long, curved blade for cutting hay. He is going as fast as he can, and it will never be fast enough. "Hello," says Kit Marrow, without stopping.

   Goal: Find out why the middle of the valley is stuck in summer, and whether Kit can get help instead.

   • Ask Kit No roll

     It works: "Haymaking takes twenty people and two days," Kit says. "This year every farm cut hay in the same week, so nobody could come. I tied the day so the hay would stay perfect until help came." He wipes his face. "Help has not arrived. I have not asked anybody."

     It doesn’t: If nobody asks, Kit stops for a drink of water and tells them anyway.

   • Help with the hay No roll

     It works: You cut a long, wobbly row together. It is not nearly enough, but Kit starts to whistle. It is the first help he has had all month.

     It doesn’t: Cutting hay is hard! You mostly tickle the grass. Kit laughs for the first time in a month, and that helps too.

   • Ask the next valley Brave, DN 10

     It works: You climb over the hill and knock. The farmers there finished their own hay a week ago. "Tomorrow," they say. "All of us. Why didn’t he ASK?" Help is coming for Kit.

     It doesn’t: Nobody answers the first door. At the second, a sleepy farmer says they can all come in three days. Help is still coming for Kit, just a little slower.

   Ask your players

   Ask each player in turn: Haymaking needs lots of helpers. Who would your hero bring?

   Ask the table: Why do you think Kit never asked anybody for help? Let them answer honestly. Asking for help is hard for grown-ups too.

   Kit would rather cut the whole field alone than knock on a door and ask. The adventure does not punish him for that; it is simply why his cord is still tied. Play the walk over the hill as a big, warm win: the cord is not the problem, the reason is. If help is coming, tick the box: at the Ladder, Kit is ready to cut.

4. Scene 4: The Leaves That Are Not Coming Down from Full Session on

   The beech wood glows copper and gold. It smells of dry leaves and mushrooms. But not one leaf has fallen. Not one! On the biggest tree, the Lantern Beech, a cord is tied low down. It is just the height a nine-year-old can reach. Somebody has tied a fresh knot over the old one, again and again, every morning. A girl sits on the roots in a coat much too big for her. She is not playing. She is waiting.

   Goal: Find out who tied the cord on the Lantern Beech, and why she cannot be the one to cut it.

   • Sit with her No roll

     It works: You sit on the roots and wait. After a while, she talks. Her name is Pim Ashby. "My dad took the log rafts down the river," she says. "He said he’d be home before the leaves were down. So I stopped the leaves."

     It doesn’t: If nobody sits with her, Pim tells them anyway, very quietly, to her boots.

   • Ask about the frost Clever, DN 8

     It works: She knows. She walked down to the frozen pond and counted the notches herself, and she has told nobody. "I know it’s bad," she whispers. "I just can’t cut it."

     It doesn’t: Pim pulls her coat tight and says nothing. Then she nods. She knows about the frost. She just cannot cut her cord.

   • Read the ferry board Brave, DN 10

     It works: The ferry keeps a board with every raft crew chalked on it. It says: "ASHBY CREW. Raft broken, now mended. Four days behind." Pim reads it twice. Then she laughs and cries at the same time. Her dad is safe.

     It doesn’t: Halfway there, Pim stops. "What if it says something bad?" You hold her hand and go on together. The board says her dad is safe, just four days behind.

   Ask your players

   Ask the quietest player: Pim’s coat is much too big for her. Whose coat do you think it is? It is her dad’s. Let them guess, gently.

   Ask each player in turn: What could your hero say to Pim, so she feels less alone?

   The heart of the adventure: slow down here. Pim is not being naughty. She knows what her cord is costing the valley, and she is doing it anyway, as any of us might. Nobody tells her off. TAM ASHBY IS ALIVE. His raft broke, and he is four days behind the other crews. The ferry board says so every single time: never play it as a maybe. What the heroes can give Pim is the walk to the ferry, so she is not brave on her own. If they go, tick the box: at the Ladder, Pim is ready to cut.

5. Scene 5: Bonus: The White End from Epic Session on

   Your breath puffs white. The grass goes crunch under your boots. At the bottom of the valley, the pond is frozen solid. Look down through the ice, and it is still summer under there. Green weed. A swimming rope. A jam jar somebody dropped in July. The year has not stopped. It has piled up here, all at once, as frost. On the gatepost by the pond are twenty-nine notches, one for every morning.

   Goal: See what a held year does at the bottom of the valley, and bring somebody to see it too.

   • Read the gatepost Clever, DN 10

     It works: Each notch is a morning. The frost reached the gatepost on the fourth morning, the two willows on the eleventh, and the stepping-stone ford on the eighteenth. Nine paces a day, every day. The meadow gate is next.

     It doesn’t: There are too many notches to read. Count them out loud together instead: twenty-nine. Scratched beside them are the places the frost has reached: the gatepost, the two willows, the stepping-stone ford. Nine paces a day.

   • Look through the ice No roll

     It works: It is a July day under there, and it will stay one until somebody up the valley cuts a cord. Three cords are like a dam in a stream. This frost is the water spilling over the top.

     It doesn’t: If the ice is too frosty to see through, rub a little window in it with a mitten and look again.

   • Bring one of the three Kind, DN 8

     It works: Whoever you bring stands on the frost for a long, quiet time. Then they say, "I’ll go first."

     It doesn’t: They come, but they will not look at the ice. "Not yet," they say. At the Ladder, they still need one kind word.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Everybody breathe out slowly. Can you see your breath? What shape does it make?

   Ask the quietest player: There is a jam jar frozen at the bottom of the pond. What do you think is inside it?

   The quiet scene. Play it slow, cold and beautiful. Its job is one picture a seven-year-old gets at once: the year is a stream, three cords are a dam, and this frost is the water going over the top. The frost climbs nine paces a day, so it cannot arrive today: the valley has weeks, not hours. Whoever the heroes bring down here goes first at the Ladder, and once one person goes first, the other two find it easy.

6. Scene 6: On the Count of Three from Quick Quest on

   Late afternoon. You stand halfway up the Ladder, a stepped path in the middle of the valley. From here you can see all three trees at once. White blossom. Gold hay. Copper leaves. Under each tree stands a person with a little knife. Each one is waiting for somebody else to go first. Far below, the frost is nine paces closer than this morning. Three weeks of that and it is at the meadow gate. Somebody has to say something out loud.

   Goal: Get the year moving again, and decide out loud what it costs.

   • Count to three Kind, DN 8

     It works: Wenna, Kit and Pim all look at you. You count, loud and steady. Read "If you counted to three."

     It doesn’t: On three, nobody moves. Each one is still waiting for the others. Try something kind: stand beside each of them in turn, or hold their hands. The second try needs no roll.

   • Cut one cord No roll

     It works: You say a name out loud, kindly and clearly. That person nods, and cuts. Read "If you cut one cord."

     It doesn’t: If nobody can choose, Grissel asks each hero to point at one tree. Whichever tree gets the most fingers is the one. Read "If you cut one cord."

   • Take the reasons away Clever, DN 10

     It works: You make a plan for every reason: help for Kit, many hands for Wenna, the ferry board for Pim. Read "If you took the reasons away."

     It doesn’t: The plan takes longer than you hoped. It is three more days, and the frost climbs twenty-seven more paces. Then it works. Read "If you took the reasons away."

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Three people are each waiting for somebody else to go first. Have you ever felt like that?

   Ask the quietest player: Who do you think should go first, and why? There is no wrong answer. Anyone whose box is ticked on the story tracker is ready, and says yes.

   Three real endings and no wrong one: never tell the table it chose badly. Counting to three needs no roll if two of the three are ready (Wenna’s cuttings are done, help is coming for Kit, or Pim has read the ferry board: see the story tracker). Taking the reasons away needs no roll if all three are ready. The frost climbs nine paces a day, so it cannot arrive today: it is three weeks from the meadow gate. Short on time? At the Quick Quest length the heroes heard all three reasons from Grissel at the gate, so the twist is already theirs: let them choose straight away, and play taking the reasons away as three busy days told in a few sentences. When it is over, read the ending that happened, then the homecoming. Pim’s dad comes home in every ending.

   How it ends

   Read the ending that happened, then the homecoming.

   If you counted to three. "One. Two. THREE!" Three knives flash together. Whoosh! The blossom blows off the apple tree like snow. The hay bows down. Every leaf in the wood lets go at once, and the whole valley turns gold. Down at the bottom, the frost begins to melt. Wenna, Kit and Pim stand in the falling leaves, laughing.

   If you cut one cord. You say a name out loud. It is a hard thing to say. They look at you for a long moment. Then they nod, and cut. Snip. The year starts to move again, slowly, like a stiff old clock. The frost stops climbing. By supper, the other two have untied their cords as well.

   If you took the reasons away. Nobody has to cut anything. Twenty neighbours come over the hill for the hay. Wenna’s baby trees stand in a row. Pim waits by the river, holding your hand. One by one, the cords slip off by themselves, a day apart. The frost climbs for three more days. Then it stops, and starts to go back down.

   Homecoming

   Every ending: the rain comes. That night it rains for the first time in five weeks. Slowly, the frost creeps back down the valley. Four days later, a raft comes up the river. A man on it is waving. It is Pim’s dad, late but safe. Grissel ties a little cord round each of your wrists. "Always talk to each other," she says.

Player handout — show this to your table

The Keeping-Cord Rhyme

A soft old card, given to every child in the valley on the day they learn to braid a cord. "One cord, one day, and cut it at dusk. / Two cords, two days, and the stream runs slow. / Three cords tied, and the year can’t go, / so it heaps at the bottom, and it heaps as snow." Underneath, in small writing: "My grandma’s rhyme. Nobody has needed the third line in a hundred years, because we all talk to each other. G. Hoy."

Monster stat blocks

Rewards

• The valley back to one season at a time, and the first rain in five weeks.
• Whatever the cords were keeping: forty baby apple trees, a barn full of hay, and Pim at the river when her dad comes home. Most tables save two of the three. A table that listened saves all three.
• A keeping-cord each, braided by Grissel Hoy in the valley’s red and cream. Tie it round your wrist. It means: always talk to each other.
• A real-world bonus, if you like: plant an apple pip in a pot together, and see what grows.

Tips for running this one

• Nobody in this valley is wrong, and that is the adventure. Three kind people each did one small, sensible thing, and none of them told the other two. The heroes’ job is not to find someone to blame. It is to decide what comes undone, and to say it out loud.
• Every beat carries its own way of making a cut cost nothing: neighbours for Kit’s hay, many hands for Wenna’s cuttings, the ferry board for Pim. None of them is hidden, and the story tracker keeps count. A table that collects all three can end this with nobody losing anything.
• Tam Ashby is alive. He is four days behind the other crews with a broken raft, and the ferry board says so. That is not a GM option: it is what is true in this adventure. Never leave it hanging, and never play it as a maybe.
• The frost is the clock, and it moves nine paces a day. At the start of each scene, say what it has already swallowed: the reeds, the gatepost, the two willows, the ford, the thistle bank. It cannot arrive today. The valley has weeks, and the heroes are the help it is getting.
• Short on time? The Quick Quest is the top gate and the Ladder. Grissel tells the whole story at the gate: three cords, three trees, three reasons. Then the adventure is the count of three.
• Playing with 5- and 6-year-olds? Take 3 off every DN and skip the roll for anything kind. For 9- and 10-year-olds, add 2.