🔮 The Wanderlight Chronicles – Day 1: Sheep, Gelato, and Possibly a Wizard Named Hollis

Here’s how Day 1 unfolded…

Special thanks to The Hearthlight Chronicles’ creator, Henrique de Aguiar, for allowing me to use his game like this. You can find him on Bluesky, X, or Itch. Jump straight to the journal, or read on…

Introduction

Back when I was a tween, I discovered the Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone Fighting Fantasy books. These were spawned by the Choose Your Own Adventure craze, but had more complicated systems and (epic win!) stories of genuine context. The codebreaker that shattered my mind was the debut, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. I played this game—or read this book, take your pick—about a billion times.

My edition had this cover, but it looked far worse by the time I’d finished with it.

It’s the Demon’s Souls of reading, providing a dual-layer solo experience. It's Elden Ring, but a book! Brutal, fun, and built around exploration and re-running, I must have run that book 100 times. But it also features a reduced rules system, so it gets into what makes RPGs important (the story is the kernel of the experience).

A couple of days ago, The Soloist covered 10 New Solo Games – from Lovecraftian Horror to European Fairytales. The one that caught my eye was The Hearthlight Chronicles, and considering it’s only $3, I had to buy it and play it. It’s a really long way to travel from Warlock, but it’s also what my soul needs about now. Since you’re on an author’s page, it’s worth calling out a special appeal for me: it’s more about creation than reading.

🦑 10 New Solo Games - From Lovecraftian Horror to European Fairy Tales

I’m going to write my way through this for the next 28 days. I’ll publish (but not push, because I don’t want to waterboard readers) my daily logs, and at the end of the week I’ll issue a wrap that contains links to all segments. To keep some mystery for myself going, I’m not reading ahead to future prompts, so this might get wildly unstuck 🤣 We’ll see if I write myself into a corner, hey?

Richard’s Character

Since I’m a professional liar, I thought I’d start with a low Creativity score and pump up the tyres on the other stats. Here’s me as I walk into the world of Hearthlight:

• Creativity: 1

• Curiosity: 2

• Kindness: 3

For my dice-roller, I’m using Dice 3D by Kevin Boileua, and I’m starting with the standard Wanderlight of 5. Let’s kick off our day with The Arrival.

Day 1: The Arrival

My roll for today is 4, meaning I’m answering with Curiosity.

Today’s music: Valentine by Kupla… 🎧 Listen along on SoundCloud:

Here’s today’s prompt:

“You arrive at the entrance to Hearthlight, a place of warmth and wonder. What do you notice first about it?

Curiosity: what captures your attention? Is there anyone there?”

For the outcome, I roll a 3, plus my Curiosity of 2 = 5 (partial success).

Let’s do this with all the introverted awkwardness I totally own in any conversation with a stranger.

---

The carriage wound its way through Hearthlight’s outskirts. The driver had met me up about half an hour ago, leading me to a quaint, horse-drawn ragtop. I mean, I’m sure there’s a proper name for them, but it was basically open-air comfort seating, so: ragtop. A vis-à-vis? Something like that. My Hearthlight invite was in my pocket, but he said I didn’t need it. Not here, he’d claimed, then looked at the sky before adding that it was to get me this far, but the rest was up to me. I didn’t know what that meant, but things were… hard, where I’d been, and if a carriage ride was the Big Challenge™, I guess I could handle it.

The outskirts: well, now. They made a great first impression. It felt a little like the Shire, with green rolling hills dotted with fat sheep who wouldn’t be able to outrun a snail. My phone was flat, no music in my ears, so all I got was the hum of insects counterpointing the steady clop of hooves. No engine noise, no shouting, and no BMW asshole overtaking on a blind corner. The carriage driver wasn’t saying anything either, just leaving me alone to my thoughts.

We rounded a bend and there it was: Hearthlight. Or, I guess it was Hearthlight? There wasn’t a sign saying You’ve made it, bro, just a cobbled path that wanted to grow up someday to become a Real Street leading toward the hamlet. Twin stone-and-brick pillars sagged on either side of the road, and if I squinted at them just right, I could imagine a wooden lintel above them about a hundred years ago. It might have proclaimed, Welcome to Hearthlight! And there’d have been a tiny placard underneath it: Population 87.

The baby road led between the pillars and into a square. Shops were open, but there wasn’t anyone bawling about get your fresh fish or haircuts for a dollar. There was a mix of fabric awnings, timber-shingled overhangs, and wide, welcoming umbrellas shading tables and chairs from the warm-but-not-brutal sunshine. It was all very civilised, and I could feel myself relaxing as I took it in. There was a gelato store, which vied for first place next to the quaint country pub that had wide open doors leading to an al fresco vibe setup. Phone flat, right, so I had no idea what time it was, but my stomach:

1. Reported for duty, and

2. Said it was eleven-thirty and definitely not too early for either beer or ice cream.

There were hardly any people, and those there were weren’t rushing. I saw an old dude with a cane; he was a dapper dresser, complete with a peaky blinder and tweed coat. A woman walked her dog and her child, or maybe the kid was walking them both? The child had a sort of gravitational attraction to the gelato place, but the dog was all about the butcher’s shop.

“We’re here.” The carriage driver broke my reverie, giving the kind of deep-breathed sigh that said and thank God. He eased on the brake. The horses stood in their traces, not at all put out by stopping for a spell.

“What do I owe you?”

He squinted at me as if that was like asking his age. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“How does it work?”

“You’ll work it out.” He hopped down from the coach seat and opened the carriage door. I stepped out, and he hauled out my small backpack from behind the seat and handed it over. “Here.”

“Thanks. Uh. I feel bad about not paying.”

“You’re not supposed to feel bad.”

“Okay.” I stared at him a little too long. “Doesn’t stop me feeling bad.”

He laughed at that. “You’ll fit in, then.”

As he turned to go, I said, “Wait. What’s your name?”

He considered that, not like a miser hoarding knowledge, but as if giving me his name might add to the weight I already carried. “Hollis.”

“Is that a surname or first name?”

“Yes.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Hollis, can I get you a beer? An ice cream?” I glanced at the butcher’s. “A sausage?”

He turned that over, as if someone had asked him to appraise fine art, then allowed a small sliver of a genuine smile. “Yes.”

“Which one?”

“You’ll work that out too.” He clapped me on the shoulder, and we headed off.

---

Roll result? Unexpected feels. XP gained: 1 awkward but wholesome conversation with Hollis.

Day 2 awaits!

🪙 The Hearthlight Chronicles – Day 2: Memory, Muffins, and Mourning