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« on: January 11, 2012, 06:37:54 PM »
Surrounded by a horde of rats intent on dragging one of them away for lunch, the party fights back:
Bug lashes out with his rapier at one of the rats closing on him [Hack & Slash=11, 4 damage] and skewers it through the eye socket before it can climb up onto him.
Brunhilda Grabs a torch from her pack, lights it, and hurls it towards the shattered barrel of liquor, where it explodes into flame, sealing off that end of the corridor from more rats arriving.
Brinton step towards Uri waving his staff, prepared to assist him in fending off the rats [Defend=6/7, Hold 1], as Mrs Fell steps in to make sure nothing comes at him from behind [Aid, 10+].
Uri presses the two half-stars tattooed on his hands together and a glowing blue disk of serrated steel forms between them, which whizzes out at the rat biting down on him [Cast: Magic Missile=11, 7 Damage] and shears it in half.
Brunhilda grips Orkblut again and brings it around on a rat closing with her [Hack & Slash=7, 6 Damage] and cleaves off its hindquarters just as it sinks its teeth into her boot [2 Damage, 1P]
Mrs Fell sees that the rats are retreating and smashes down with her hammer at the tail of one as it tries to escape into a tunnel [Hack & Slash=7, 4 Damage, no counter-attack because it was fleeing]
With the rats fled back into the tunnels in search of easier pickings, Brunhilda turns her attention to Uri's injured leg and wraps it tightly in a clean bandage from her pack [Heals 4 Damage], much to his relief.
Unsure of exactly where to go next, Brinton takes up a couple of the dead, burning rats, and makes a formal offering of them to Mogrim, appealing to him to reveal the secret of where the children are hidden. [Divine Guidance= Petition: Offering; Domain: Knowledge and Hidden Things] A small wooden knot forms on the sealed stone door, indicating their next course.
The party forms before the door, as Bug examines the lever and determines that a carefully placed wedge can keep the counterweights inside the wall from falling and closing the door behind them [Tricks of the Trade=11] and does so without incident. As the rest of the party prepares for what may lay beyond, Mrs Fell throws her weight into the lever [Bend Bars=10] and the door swings smoothly up into the chamber beyond, and the soft crying suddenly explodes into terrified sobbing.
The party confronts a bizarre sight: a large octagonal chamber with marble murals all along its walls. The artwork depicts the history of Silverhome, from the discovery of the first nugget of silver, to the establishing of the village, through many prosperous years until the silver ran thin, then ran out altogether, culminating in a depiction of the last, tiny gem extracted from the mine before it is closed and sealed, the unlucky foreman on duty at the time interred in its depths, his spirit charged with guarding the place.
Broad polished granite steps lead up to a wide funerary-looking Dwarven throne and a small group of nasty little green humanoids wearing patchwork leather and skins look on, makeshift spears gripped in big-knuckled hands. Sprawled on the floor in front of the throne is a Dwarven skeleton dressed in still-immaculate scale mail, clearly the body that once sat in the throne, now cast aside on the ground.
The throne-ridden patriarch of the goblins, slumped and staring, drools as a simple iron crown that once sat atop the Dwarf lists almost comically around his brow.
An ancient goblin with a rat-skin hood and a bone rattle seems to be consulting with a talking bird skull on a string: it babbles at him in the gutteral language of goblinkind as he points it first at the mesmerized goblin clan leader, then back at two hollow-eyed children in a cage made of apple tree limbs and birch ties, a thing so flimsy it holds them only because they are both clearly ill: running greenish sores cover their faces and hands, and they are obviously terrified.
{PROBLEM: As with other discussions we've had on the Forum, establishing exactly who goes when without just following simple turn-taking was a bit of a challenge. In this case, given the 'starting line' type situation, just asking everyone what they were doing, THEN resolving all their actions in sequence, while allowing people who had already declared to modify as other declared, worked really well. Some more proscriptive advice on this would be good, I think, because Initiative plays such a MAJOR role in every iteration of D&D...}
Brunhilda shouts a Dwarven war cry and charges the guards, bringing Orkblut around at them in a wicked arc as soon as she is within reach [Hack & Slash=8, 7 Damage], burying it firmly in the body of one of them, his ribs collapsing and his smashed heart exploding in a shower of gore. One of the others manages to jam a spear into her side, drawing blood [Counter=4 damage].
{PROBLEM: It's very easy to forget that any time a PC takes damage from a high-level enemy they need to save, presumably including when they 7-9 on Hack & slash, right? Looking back I realize there should have been a lot more Saving Throws, I tended to only do them when it was one of my Moves that caused the damage or effect, and in hindsight I am pretty sure that's not right...}
Uri once again summons the blue steel disc between his hands [Cast: Magic Missile=10, 4 damage] and hurls it at the top of the cage, shearing it off and causing the whole thing to tumble open, freeing the kids.
Brinton sprints up the steps, dodging past the guards to try and reach the children in the cage [Defy Danger=7, Hard Bargain (Get hit by a goblin on the way by)] ignoring the sharp pain in his leg [Goblin deals 4 damage] as he stands over the kids, protecting them from any further danger from the goblins. [Defend=10, Hold 3]
Mrs. Fell grimly hefts her maul and tries to shove through the phalanx of spearmen to reach the goblin orkaster [Defy Danger=7, Ugly Choice]. She chooses to press on through them and be stabbed in the arm rather than stand the line with Brunhilda [Goblin deals 4 Damage]. Shrugging the wound off, she tries to bring her hammer down on the shaman's head [Hack and Slash=7, 4 damage] and striked him a glancing blow even as he screeches a curse at her and spits a mouthful of nasty green spit in her face [Goblin attack=Cast Inflict Disease]. Her skin starts to bubble and fester, but she manages to keep on her feet and fight on [Saving Throw=12].
{PROBLEM: I wasn't entirely clear on a soft hit Hack-N-Slash whether that means monsters just deals its listed damage, or could use non-strike attacks listed under their Moves as well; I went ahead and did it because it was interesting, but some clarification here would be helpful as well.}
Bug sights the Shaman along the top of an arrow and lets fly [Volley=10, 3 damage] and hits the orkaster's shoulder.
He nocks another arrow and sidesteps for a clear shot before sending a second arrow after the first [Volley=7, 2 damage] , this one sinking into the orkaster's eye socket as he tumbles forward and snaps the haft as he hits the granite [Lose 1 Ammo].
Brunhilda spins on the three goblins now surrounding her and lashes out with Orkblut at one of them [Hack & Slash=8, 9 damage], lopping his head off in a fountain of blood as another shoves its spear into her guts [Goblin deals 4 damage].
Now that Brunhilda has the guards' full attention, Uri moves along the far wall to the cage where the kids are, even as one of them, crying for her mother, tries to clamber up Brinton's robes and bury its face in his chest. Brinton frantically clutches at the kid to keep her from infecting him [Defy Danger=10] and manages to get a good grip on her, holding her safely in place.
Mrs Fell spins on the goblin patriarch and bring her hammer into his chest [Hack & Slash=6]. It's only a glancing blow, but the impact jars the crown and the boy suddenly rushes wild-eyed towards the crown, arms outstretched as it calls to him. [MC: Dungeon Move: Use a threat from an existing creature (Whispers of Evil)]
Brinton holds out his holy symbol and invokes the protection of Mogrim [Defend: Redirect attack to himself, Halve the effect or damage] and despite the distant whispers suggesting all sorts of blasphemous indulgence, commands the spirit in the crown to move on [Turn Undead=8, 9 damage] and the crown rusts away to dust in a coppery burst.
{PROBLEM: No soft hit complication, or hard hit bonus for Turn/Command Undead? Any particular reason it's flat from 7+?}
Meanwhile, Brunhilda, Bug, and Uri easily slay the last two terrified goblins [MC fiat, no rolls].
Uri takes up the Raven skull to identify it, whereupon it immediately asks him what sort of Wizard he's supposed to be with shoddy robes like that. “Obviously, you've got a lot to learn, kid. Stick with me and maybe we can make you respectable...”
Mrs Fell pulls a small rabbit totem from the body of the slain orkaster, even as Bug unceremoniously shoves his rapier through the chest of the just-waking goblin leader.
Brunhilda claimed the dwarven mail and carried it out with her.
They return through the tunnels to the village, where they are met outside the town by one of the search parties organized to find the missing kids. Greeted as heroes, the village takes its best cider out from storage, and a feast is held in their honor!
CAROUSE:
Bug=10 (Rumor, information, no risk)
Brinton=8 (no risk)
Uri=8 (info)
Mrs Fell=4
Brunhilda=11 (Friend, information, no risk)
Well, that was the Goblin Hole! We did not bother with post-game Bond increases because it was late. Experience ended up working out pretty well, though I would love to try the fiction-based system sometime:
Mrs Fell=6 (I dropped the ball here, and should have suggested a couple of Parley rolls for her when she was interacting with other PCs; I forget that's an option...)
Brinton=Level 2, 1 xp (Picked Chosen One move for lvl 2)
Bug= Level 2, 1 xp (Picked Venom for lvl 2)
Brunhilda= Level 2, 2 xp (Picked Heirloom for lvl 2)
Uri=9 xp
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