Arriving at Woodbury the day before the midweek market, the characters, the Komtess, her maid Bayana and her ward Ulfina spend the night in the White Arrow inn. The day before a market the inn would usually be full of traders from outlaying towns and villages who descend on the village to sell their wares but the unseasonably bad weather has prevented many from coming, so plenty of room at the inn.
ROLL D12 ON SHIFTING WEATHER TABLE = 1, much hotter.
The morning of the market day, the weather has improved, the rain has eased for now and the temperature has returned to near normal for August in Woodbury.
The party meet up in the bar of the White Arrow. both Maliah Gregornevens the inns owner, and the housekeeper are there to serve a small but sustaining breakfast.
With the loss of Banjur, loyal soldier to the Komtess and now Arnjin her champion, Ulfina presses the Komtess to abandon their quest. The young Komtess Arna replies that it is her destiny to claim the scroll of the Fire Demon and return to Writa, defeat the rebels, reclaim her lands and avenge the death of her parents. If Ulfina wishes to turn back, she, Arna, will go on alone.
Much to the dismay of Ulfina, Bayana, maid to the young Komtess and the four characters concur that they have all come too far to give up now. It is decided that the characters will try to hire a boat to take the party further up river towards the ruined city. The characters also agree to buy whatever equipment and supplies are needed to ensure that the whole party can reach their final goal.
The four characters leave the White Arrow and make their way to the lakeside in search of transport. All agree that once they reach the ruined city and find the scroll, their part in this affair is done and they will take their reward and leave the Komtess to her fate. Non want any part in a rebellion in a land they know nothing about.
QUESTION - is there a boat they can hire to take them further on their journey?
Roll d8 = 1 NO (+1 intervention point, Now 3 Intervention Points)
The party have no luck getting anyone to take them further upriver. They find Tibori who tells them that no one will sail towards the lough of doom, the spirits of the long dead have risen, no one is going to risk their lives sailing near those waters.
With no option but to continue the quest on foot, the four characters head back into the village to buy supplies and equipment from the market and shops. The market has only traders from the village and even at this early hour the locals are out in numbers buying goods.
The four characters are each busy purchasing items useful for the next part of their quest. Pedlar Glanz is somewhat angry that he is having to use what little money he has left to buy goods for a rich Komtess, but the other three remind him that he will more than compensated for his effort when they conclude their quest.
At the market a young thief attempts to snatch something from one of the characters.
I roll d4 to see which character is the victim.
1 = Pedlar, 2 = Wren, 3 = Canaid, 4 = Nydia.
Roll = 2, so Wren is the intended victim.
The four characters meet up in the centre of the market. Wren is carrying a pack of food. She has not noticed a young lad dressed in tatty clothing watching her. The young lad darts out and snatched the bag of food from Wren.
Wren shouts for the young lad to stop but he continues to run, heading out of Woodbury and into the coppice. The characters give chase.
At this point I use the chase rules as given in Low Fantasy Gaming.
Rolling 6d10 + 60 for the starting distance between Decimus the young thief and the four characters, 1 get 100' (40'+60').
I roll 3d6 to see how many turns the chase will last and get 5.
TURN 1 - Wren leads the chasing characters, she and Decimus make opposed Con rolls. Wren easily wins and closes the gap between them by 18'.
The young thief attempts to thwart the characters by tipping over a cart full of apples which roll down the street. Each of the four characters pass their Luck checks, the spilt apples do not slow them down.
TURN 2 - Nydia leads the chase this turn and also wins the opposed Con roll against Decimus. This narrows the gap between them by a further 24', now they are just 58' behind the young thief.
Decimus looks behind him and sees the party are quickly catching him, he suddenly picks up the pace and heads out of the village towards the woods, extending his lead by 15'.
TURN 3 - Canaid now leads the party and although she rolls a brilliant 3, Decimus rolls 1 so wins the Con check. He puts a further 18' between himself and the part. A lead of 89'.
As they all run into the woods, they managed to spook a small herd of deer who panic and run between Decimus and the characters, slowing the chasing party who lose a further 28' of the thief.
TURN 4 - With only two turns left and 117' between the thief and the party, it will take some sort of amazing luck for the party to catch the young thief now.
Pedlar and Decimus make opposed con rolls which Pedlar wins, the characters have gained 21' on the thief.
On the chase event I get 'Hidey Hole'. (This works in nicely with the sinkhole fantastic location mentioned in the session set up (post 11)).
The characters are gaining on the young thief again and chase him into a circle of ancient standing stones when he suddenly disappears.
The chase is over.
Puzzled by the sudden disappearance of the young thief yet realising he cannot have just vanished into thin air, the four characters decide to search the area inside the standing stones.
I make a Perception Check for each character.
Wren easily makes her roll, Canaid, Nydia and Pedlar fail theirs. Pedlar makes a Luck check which he passes, he is now down to 8 Luck.
As they look around, Pedlar almost falls down a hole in the ground, only Wren shouting out a warning to him stops Pedlar from doing so.
Nydia and Canaid decide to examine the standing stones which are covered in moss. Removing some of the moss from one of the stones reveals some old runes carved into them. Nether Canaid nor Nydia can read or understand them but Nydia, with her Arcane Lore skill, can recognise them as being of Fey origin, the meaning of the symbols is long-lost.
Pedlar notices that there is a short drop of two or three feet to some old steps covered in earth, leaves and twigs. He drops down. The steps lead into ancient darkness.
The characters did buy some items at the market, so I get each character to make a Int check to see if they bought candles or lamps. Only Nydia Fernwise passes.
I roll 1d6 to see what she bought, 1,2 = candles, 3,4 Bullseye Lantern and oil, 5,6 Lamp and oil. She rolls a 6 so has a lamp with oil. (I decided they would have something to light the lamp with.)
The party descend the stairs, finding themselves in a small chamber probably little more than 12' square. In one corner is a bed with a very colourful rug.
From under the bed they hear a low moan. Pedlar, Canaid and Wren, weapons in hand, surround the bed. Pedlar commands whoever is under the bed to come out.
The young thief Decimus drags himself out, clutching the food bag.
Nydia is standing looking at the far wall. She says there is something not quite right about it.
She makes a check against Int, rolling a 3, a great success.
"This is no wall, it is some an illusion. I can see past it, there is a door here. No handle, just a lock, Pedlar, see if you can open it".
Pedlar goes over and feels the lock, he thinks it possible to pick the lock. He has Locks and Traps Skill.
QUESTION - is the lock magical? roll d8 = 2 No (but)
The lock is not magical so it can be picked but it is badly rusted, making it tough to open. -2 on his skill roll.
To open the lock, Pedlar must roll 15 or less on d20, he rolls 10, success.
QUESTION - does the door open? roll d8 = 1 No.
The door has not been opened for a long time and seems rusted shut.
The characters make a combined Strength check. If at least two of them pass, they force the door open. Both Pedlar and Wren do. The door creeks as it opens, revealing a narrow 5 to 6 foot wide corridor.
Wren leads the way, dagger in one hand, lamp in the other, Canaid is behind her, followed by Nydia. Decimus had a glass jar with a lid with holes in it, inside are some lettuce leaves and a dozen or so beetles. He taps the jar and the beetles glow lightly. Pedlar makes the young thief follow Nydia, Pedlar himself takes up the rear guard.
The corridor is short, only about 25 feet long before it turns sharply to the left. In the corner are some bones, skulls, possibly human but it is hard to tell. Wren looks over the bones and finds a 1 ft, deep red and grey feather. She notices tiny black writing along the shaft which she cannot read. She passes it back to Canaid and Nydia but they too cannot decipher the writing. It is written in a long-lost language.
No more than 10 feet ahead of them is another door.
QUESTON - does the door open? d8 = 6 yes (roll on table 2),
roll d8 on table 2 = 3 surprisingly.
The door looks like it too has not been opened in centuries but as Wren pushes it, it slowly opens. Wren steps through the door into a room about 15' square. There are two round pillars in the middle of the room and from behind which step out 2 skeletal warriors.
Wren is the first to react, she is less than 5 feet from one of the skeletons, finding herself within striking distance, she crashes in to it and strikes with her dagger, rolling 12 with +1 Attack Bonus, she does 4 damage and the skeleton crumbles into a pile of bones.
Both Canaid and Nydia move toward the second skeleton. Canaid strikes with her sword and rolls a 3, she misses, hitting the round pillar instead. Nydia rolls 16, she hits the skeleton causing 4 damage and the second skeleton is no more.
A second door at the far end of the small room bars the way forward.
QUESTON - does the door open? d8 = 5 yes (and).
Wren gives the second door a good shove, it opens and then falls off its rusty
hinges on to the floor, the noise it makes echoing around the room and corridor.
Wren steps over the door into another dark passage no more than 5 feet wide.
Wrens lamp lights the corridor ahead, the corridor runs straight for about 12 feet then a 90° left hand bend. As Wren reaches the bend she sees two more skeletons moving towards her.
"Damn, more of those skeletons, the noise made by the falling door must have alerted them" Wren still has her dagger in her hand.
Canaid tells Wren to budge over to the right hand wall, that will give enough room for her to take up a position next to Wren with her sword, let the skeletons come to them. There are only two skeletons ambling towards the party, "one each", Canaid smiles "let them try and get past us Wren, we are ready for the walking bones".
However, as the Skeletons get within striking distance, Wren fumbles with her lantern and allows the Skeleton attacking her to strike first. it rolls 16 for its attack, well above Wren's AC of 13 and cause 4 hits on her.
Wren attempts to strike back but only rolls 7 for her attack and fails to hit her opponent.
Canaid though is ready for her assailant, rolling 18, she strikes true with her sword, smashes her "walking bones" to the ground.
Wren, having been hit, is slow to react again but before the skeleton can strike her, Canaid gets a blow on the creature, she smites a second one to the ground.
Wren knows another blow from the skeleton could have finished her and she gives the bard hugs the bard, "I think you saved me then, I just couldn't get myself together".
"You are welcome", the bard smiles back at the ranger, "come on, there maybe more of these things, hand me the torch, I will lead the way for a while"
They follow the path for only a few more yards then enter a chamber which is about 40 feet long by 12 feet wide at its narrowest part. The end of the chamber is a sort of club shape with three curved areas, there are two round pillars at that end. Awaiting the characters are 4 more skeletons, they stand two wide, two ranks deep, the front rank armed with swords, the rear rank armed with spears.
Nydia turns to Decimus and hands him her dagger, "if you want to get out of here alive you may need this, remember, they are your enemy, we just want our food back".
Decimus takes the dagger but he looks frightened, hanging back from any combat.
Wren and Carnaid advance towards the skeletons as they advance towards the characters, Nydia is just behind them. Pedlar sees there is an opportunity to sneak behind the skeletons, almost clinging to the wall, he seeks silently and undetected past everyone and the skeletons.
Wren is the first to strike with her long sword. rolling 16 on d20, she strikes the first skeleton and it goes down.
Canaid strikes next, but she hits only the spear of the skeleton behind, blocking her strike.
The lead skeleton attacks Canaid, but she deflects the blow.
Pedlar is behind the skeletons, as he is undetected he gets a free blow on one of the rear ranked skeletons. He thumps down with his dagger and his blow destroys the spear wielding skeleton near to Canaid.
There are only two skeletons left in the fight. Wren attacks the one near her which has a spear, it blocks her attack, in reply it fails to land a hit on the ranger.
Canaid lands a strong blow on the spear-wielding skeleton attacking her and knocks it out of the action.
Pedlar sits back, "Come on Wren, you can take this one out", he shouts.
Wren rolls 19 and smacks her longsword onto the torso of the skeleton, she cuts into two, the last skeleton is no more.
Decimus spots something on the ground glistening, "Gold!" he exclaims and darts forward. He is indeed correct, scattered on the floor are about 200 gold pieces and in addition there is a great sword buried in a stone.
Pedlar taps Decimus on the head, "whatever you find boy, its split 5 ways, you understand", he barks at the young thief.
Nydia turns to Decimus, "and I will have my dagger back, you seemed reluctant to use it".
Darius hands Nydia her dagger back and sets to work collecting the gold on the floor, secretly pocketing a few to make sure he gets a good share of the loot.
Canaid and Wren inspect the sword in the stone. They both try to remove it but fail, Canaid is the one who notices a hole in the top of the swords hilt, and that the sword is the same colour with the same writing on it as the feather they found. Taking the feather she pushed it into the whole on top of the sword. Once fully inserted, she tries to remove it again and to her surprise it comes out. She holds in her hands a great sword the like of which neither she nor the others have ever seen.
Wren taps her on the shoulder, "I think you have yourself a fine sword there Cann, for there is only you who could wield such a sword".
Canaid tries to remove the feather from the hilt but it is stuck fast, "yes, shame there is a feather stuck in though, still beggars cannot be choosers."
The party share out the gold. It turns out there were 189 pieces, so each take 38 except Canaid who takes only 37, no one noticed Decimus had pocketed 15 extra for himself.
The characters with Decimus in toe, head back to Woodbury.
QUESTION - does anything happen to the group on the way back? Roll 1d8 = 1 No (+1 intervention point).
Decimus, having nothing much else to do and not wishing to go back to his hidey hole knowing that there were undead there, tags along with Pedlar, who seems happy to have the young lad to talk to.
They make their way back to the White Arrow tavern. When they get there they find only Ulfina still there, she tells them Arna and her maid have gone, headed for the ruined city, she is beside herself at the thought of what may happen to the Komtess.
Canaid, Nydia, Wren, Pedlat with Darius in tow, pack up their things and with Ulfina they set out to find the young Komtess and her maid.
Adventure On!
Reviewed by Wild Duck Models
on
August 30, 2022
Rating:
No comments: