Post by jasper on Apr 10, 2013 0:37:28 GMT -5
PART ONE
So it’s been awhile since I’ve played LAW. Back in Jan/12 my main computer died so until I got the money to fix it a couple months later all my notes and the spreadsheet with my adventuring party was inaccessible. By then though I was doing other stuff and had a move though I’ve been working back up to finally doing on of the published adventures I bought. I’ve re-read the rules and my old posts and I think I’m ready for the plunge! I’ve read the campaign guide in Fire in the Streets as well and it looks like I’ve short changed my characters on skills. It seems in addition to the 4 starting skill/spells you get a race skill and an origin skill. I had already made all my part human so a couple of them just grabbed languages as their free social skill (though with their low IQs they won’t succeed much). The other two (including the mage) grabbed Literacy in the “common” tongue. As for the area of origin I liked the River States the best and since I’ve always had in the back of my head that the party grew up near or around each other that’s where they’re all from. For the free area skill two took Swimming (putting one up to 2 though he wears Chain so it won’t help much), another took Leadership and the mage took Merchant. All in all some handy stuff but not too unbalancing.
Let’s reacquaint ourselves with the party.
Ragnar! 12 13(9) 8 4 Sword 2 Climbing 1 Swimming(o) 2 Chain Large Shield Magic Broadsword (+2 DMG) Dagger Feathered Hat Javelinsx2 Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 8
Onean 11 14(12) 8 6 Bow 2 Stealth 1 Stalker 1 Elvish 1 Swimming(o) 1 Leather Longbow Short Sword Small Shield Feathered hat Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 7
Siphus 11 11(9) 11 4 Spear 2 Tracker 1 Survival 1 Medic 1 Literacy: Common Leadership(o) 1 Leather Small Shield Spear Short Sword Javelinsx2 Feathered hat Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 0
Anis 11 9(7) 13 3 Sorcerer’s Tongue, Literacy: Sorcerer’s Tongue, Literacy: Common, Merchant (o) Spell: Heal Wounds Spell: Magic Fist Spell: Mage Sight Leather Armour Staff 12 FAT Spellbook: Fire, Drop Weapon Feathered hat Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 6 (she just bought up the capacity of her staff to 13).
They also have a number of party items, including a dose of Elvish Greensalve, a silver talisman, a few maps, some gems, some paperwork in common (which they can now read and it turns out to be a list of slaves and prices), a couple keys, a book in Elvish, a glowing blue gem, a stone flask with two doses of Drang, a sealed metal box, a blue metallic torch and a bunch of money. The reason they keep so much stuff is that Onean likes gems, Siphus wants keepsakes and Anis likes the books and parchments. Ragnar! doesn’t care so much for it though but Siphus pointed out that when they’re rich and famous they’ll want it all for their trophy room.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
So after a long hiatus the party finds itself at Thunder Keep. After a quick discussion the party decides to go to the general trader. They needs medic kits for Siphus and would like to spend some of their hard earned cash from their previous adventures. Jozz the goblin merchant seems nice. The party buys stuff including new boots for Ragnar! (so he can stomp on the bones of his enemies after he has struck them down) and a whole pile of other stuff. Read a history scroll (wow, Literacy is useful already). Anis made all her merchant rolls too so they saved some money. Also get some information about an escaped cultist and an alternate path up the mountain. Return to the courtyard after sticking the new feathers into our already feathered hats. Decide to check out the merchant stalls and booths next.
Hmm, just noticed that on page 9 of my copy of RoC under “Characters” it says “a mage starts with his staff, with a fatigue capacity equal to his ST…”. The most recent rules says staves are capped by IQ not strength. Maybe it’s fixed in the new prints.
Anyway back to the merchant stalls where the party buys some jerky and a fancy arrow (the money from their previous adventures is burning a hole in their collective pockets). Also hire a hireling and buy him a canvas weather cloak (the party has their leather ones so they’re fine). Siphus is worried that they’re going a bit overboard with spending money so they then find an official and discuss the Ochre Mask. Head to the healer’s place next just to check it out. Get a stimulant each from her. Nice! I’m assuming this happens only the first time you visit her. Next talk to some guards in a tavern and get some valuable advice. Go to the inn next, not because we need sleep but again, just to check it out. Get some more info, eat lunch and buy some healing potion. Pass on the wolf skin cloak. Actually, Onean wants it so she buys it with her personal money. Again Anis makes all her merchant rolls.
Finally decide to leave the keep and head up to Cygnosa. The weather is crap but at least the whole party is more comfortable in their cloaks. At the cliff face decide to climb up. Make it part way up then make camp for the night. Next morning the party finds they cannot continue and almost fall off the mountain. And things were going so well! Return back down the mountain. Only missed the climbing roll by one and failed the Leadership roll as well. Ah well. Back down the party heals up (almost using up a medic kit and most of the healing stuff I just got) and then takes the obvious path, keeping an eye out for bandits.
So, a quick aside: What is defined as an encounter? According to the RoC rules each encounter takes a quarter day while outside and 4 encounters are a quarter day locally. This is important as also the mage gets 1 fatigue back per encounter. I’m assuming each encounter is a numbered section in the book and its associated paragraphs. Run into some stupid bandits. Siphus says to pay them off, it’ll be cheaper in the long run. Hmm, run into another bandit demanding a toll. It’s unlikely he’s alone and Siphus assumes the treasure in Cygnosa will be worth it. Pay again. Next is a rock troll at a bridge. He wants a toll also. Barter with him. Anis offers him a 60 silver piece gem instead. Beat his IQ roll 10 to 9. Close. Continue on upwards and get attacked by some goblins.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and shoots at a goblin but misses. Boo, hiss.
Turn 1: Roll initiative and lose. Goblins rush in. There’s a lot of terrain so while 3 go straight in another goes around a bush. On the party turn send in the hireling at the goblin trying the flank the party. Osstedd skills for damage and hits! She rolls a 6 and a 5. That’s 11 damage after the sword skill and armour cancel each other out. The first goblin is down. Good boy Osstedd, he deserves a belly rub! Ragnar! rushes into the thick of things and swings at the nearest goblin, using his bonus to hit. He rolls a 10 and hits then rolls 10 damage, almost dropping a goblin too. The goblin counterattacks but misses. Onean fires at a different goblin as she doesn’t want to hit Ragnar! in the back. She goes for extra damage and wounds for 6 damage. Siphus follows up and tries to spear the goblin that just got shot, going for extra damage but misses by 2. That’ll show him for trying to show off. The goblin counterattacks but misses. Anis just stays out of the way.
Turn 2: Two of the goblins have already used their actions but the third runs around a rock almost engaging Onean. On the party turn the speedy Lupin runs around the tree and comes up on the goblins from the flank. He attacks the heavily wounded goblin but misses. It counters but misses. Ragnar! takes a careful swing and drops it. Siphus attacks the other wounded goblin, skilling to hit this time and drops it to 1. It counterattacks and hits Siphus for 4. Ouch. Onean shoots at the charging goblin and wounds it. Anis moves a bit to get a better angle.
Turn 3: The goblin finally gets to Onean and swings and hits for a huge 7 points. That hurt. The other goblin counterattacked last turn so recovers from that. On the party turn Osstedd moves up a bit and swings at the wounded goblin and finishes it. Onean steps to the side a couple hexes while Ragnar! turns around to charge the goblin on her. With Siphus following up Ragnar! skills just to hit and drops it.
Battle won! Fail both medic rolls and Anis drains her staff healing and goes well into her own health as well. Gotta save those heal pots for later. I have a question about sleep so I’ll post it on the boards.
Until I get an answer I’m assuming can make camp and take some rest. I lost half a day falling off the mountain and travelled another half day so I’ve gone 24 hours now. I’ll rest for a quarter and assume my staff recharges as well.
After my break the party continues north up the ridge. Run into a goblin camp; ah, it seems I can camp here lol. Anyway, I agree to kill the rival goblins so I camp for free. Travel north up the ridge and get ambushed by goblins!
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll easily. Note: I’ve been letting Siphus use his leadership before most of the other party member’s skill rolls. I figure a part of leadership is keeping the party organized and focused so it makes sense even for rolls like Stalker. Anyway, Onean shoots at a goblin archer, skilling to hit. She rolls a 6 to hit and a 4 for damage doing 6 points. First blood!
Turn 1: Roll initiative. Win 6 to 1. Onean shoots at the wounded goblin again, using her skill bonus to hit. Good thing too as she rolled a 14. For damage she rolls a 5 doing 7 points dropping the goblin. First kill! Ragnar! charges towards the archers while Siphus and Osstedd charge the fighters. With his Lupine legs Osstedd reaches one and swings, using his bonus for damage. He misses by one. The goblin counterattacks and hits rolling a 10, giving 6 damage. Ouch. Anis moves to get better line of sight. Both goblin archers shoot at Ragnar! and hit. One rolls a 6 and gets 1 point of damage through. The last fighter flanks Osstedd and attacks but misses.
Turn 2: Ragnar! moves up between the two archers and swings carefully at one but rolls a 13 and misses by one. Onean fires at the other archer and hits for 5 damage. Meanwhile Osstedd swings and misses again and takes 4 damage on the counterattack. Ouch! Siphus catches up to the fight and attacks the other goblin, hoping at least to take its attention away from Osstedd. He hits for 1 point after armour. The goblin counters for 5 points. Ouch again! Anis moves up behind Osstedd ready to heal him next turn. Both goblin archers engaged by Ragnar! drop their bows and draw cutlasses.
Turn 3: Ragnar! grits his teeth and does a might overhand swing and connects with the unwounded goblin! He rolls 6 for 10 damage and drops it! Actually I’m wrong, it would have equipped a shield too so it have 1 ST left. Ah well. Onean shoots at the other archer and hits for 4 (stupid shield) leaving the other one with 1 ST as well. Oh yeah, the goblin counterattacks Ragnar! and hits but his armour stops the blow. I’ll do the other goblin now as well: it hits for one point. Meanwhile on the other side of the ridge Anis fails her IQ roll to heal Osstedd. Siphus attacks for one point and gets missed by the counter. Osstedd misses yet again but at least gets missed by his opponent’s counterstrike.
Turn 4: Rangar takes a careful swing and drops an archer. Onean figures he can handle the last one so runs towards the other fray. Anis uses her staff and heals Osstedd fully. Osstedd swings again, using his bonus to hit and finally connects with a 9. He does a solid 8 damage. His goblin counterattacks for 4 damage. Good thing he got healed. Siphus attacks and gets 2 points through. His opponent misses. Back to Ragnar! his last opponent swings and hits and rolls an 11 for 4 damage. Ragnar! counters and hits, dropping him.
Turn 5: Ragnar! countered so he’s done. Meanwhile Siphus pokes at his goblin again hitting for 4 points. The counter misses. Osstedd nicks his goblin for 1 point and again the counter misses. Onean doesn’t fire into the fight so switches to her short sword and shield. Anis fails a heal roll again.
Turn 6: Ragnar! starts running. Siphus attacks and misses and is missed in return. Osstedd drives his goblin into the ground. Onean rushes in and finishes off the last goblin.
Quite the fight. I would have lost my hireling if not for Anis. I also like the ridge encounter, it allows for use of the Avert spell, too bad I don’t have it. Collect xp and loot while Siphus makes some medic rolls and Anis heals Siphus. Head west on a trail. Time to kill more goblins.
Get attacked (of course).
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and fires at a goblin. She hits for 5 points.
Turn 1: Lose initiative. Two goblins move to get lines of fire while one goblin fires back at Onean and misses. Onean returns fire and hits for 3. The rest of the party run up. Oh yeah, two more goblins run in.
Turn 2: One goblin charges and attacks Osstedd but misses. Osstedd counters for 6 damage. The other attacks Ragnar! and misses as does his counter. Two of the archers continue moving to flank the fight. ( I don’t let my archer fire through friendly squares so I won’t let the goblins either) while the last archer has way too much stuff in front now so also moves. Two more goblin fighters arrive. Siphus moves up and attacks the wounded fighter and drops him. Anis moves up behind the party while Onean runs off to the side to face an archer.
Turn 3: The archer fires at Onean but rolls a 1 for damage so it’s stopped by the leather armour. The other two archers fire, one at Osstedd and the other at Siphus. Both hit, Osstedd taking 3 damage and Siphus taking one. The last engaged fighter swings at Ragnar! but his blow is stopped by the shield. Ragnar! counters, hitting for 8 damage. The next wave of fighters moves up, one of them engaging Siphus but rolls a 17 and misses. Siphus counters and also rolls a 17! Onean fires back at her opponent but misses as she was skilling for damage. Osstedd moves up to engage the last fighter and attacks, nicking his goblin whose counter misses. Anis throws a 1 ST magic fist at the wounded archer but misses with a 15.
Turn 4: More carnage ensues. Onean is shot for 1 damage, Ragnar! hit for 3, Siphus takes 3 (including a nick from an arrow). Ragnar! drops his, Osttedd and his hack away at each other (Osstedd hitting for 9 while his counters for 4), Siphus nicks his for 1 while Anis misses again with a magic fist (can’t roll below a 14…) Onean fires at hers and misses.
Turn 5: Onean is shot for 2 points. Anis is shot but her armour stops the blow. Siphus is shot at by an archer but missed while his fighter opponent does 3. Siphus’ counter hits for a solid 6. Onean fires and hits finally for 7 points. Anis throws a magic fist and hits for 1 point dropping an archer to 1. Osstedd attacks and drops his. Ragnar! finishes off the last goblin fighter.
Turn 6: All archers switch to cutlasses as they’ll soon be engaged. Ragnar! attacks one and hits for 9 points but takes 4 damage on the counter (yes, I rolled an 11 for damage). Anis throws another magic fist and drops the one she hit last round doing another point after the goblin’s freshly equipped shield. Onean fires again at hers and drops it. Siphus and Osstedd swarm the last one which Ragnar! just hit and finish it.
Wow, both Ragnar! and Osstedd have 10 damage on them, Onean has 3, Siphus has 7 while Anish has depleted her staff and has used 5 fatigue.
Aftermath: Get XP (yaay). Question: Do I give hirelings XP? I think yes for fights but not for plotwords. Siphus uses up the last medic kit but only rolls successfully once. Get a plotword which should make things easier. Make an IQ roll and get a spellbook and a pan flute along with another plotword. Sweet!
I’m hoping to rest up again at the goblin camp so Anis does some light healing then I return there. The goblins are quite happy that the rival tribe is gone. I party and decide to rest up and spend some xp so that takes a few days. Onean buys survival from the goblins, Ragnar! buys up his ST, and Anis buys Goblin. When else am I going to get the opportunity to learn Goblin? Also by this time Anis will have been able to heal everyone and her staff should be recharged.
So the party is doing all right. Over half their rations are gone along with some other consumables. On the other hand I have a safe place to camp and cleared out some spots to make future travel easier. I’m thinking of going back down the trail and clearing out some of those bandits while I still have Osstedd in my employ as well. I head back south to the bridge and attack that rock troll.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and fires at the troll, going for extra damage. The troll’s armour stops it. As the troll has 6 points of armour I’m pretty using all skill bonuses this fight for extra damage.
Turn 1: The troll wins initiative and lumbers forward. The party spreads out a bit and waits for it while Onean shoots again getting 2 points through and Anis magic fists rolling 10 damage to get another 2 points through. Awesome. Ragnar! equips the virility potion.
Turn 2: The troll continues forward, slowly regenerating. Ragnar! drinks the virility potion. Onean fires again getting 4 points through with a damage roll of 6. Anis hits as well but does no damage.
Turn 3: The troll continues forward. It’s almost there. Onean hits but does no damage. Anis throws another magic fist but misses. Siphus moves in and swings. He’s being brave and risking the counterattack so Ragnar! can smash it. He gets a couple points through and the troll’s counterswing misses. Osstedd moves in and misses as does Ragnar!.
Turn 4: Onean shoots for a couple damage and Anis hits and rolls 11 getting 3 points through. Not bad. Siphus attacks first again and misses but at least troll misses as well. Osstedd misses but Ragnar! hits! He rolls 9 on two dice getting 7 damage through.
Turn 5: Due to its slow regeneration the troll is still at 12 health. Onean fires for three damage, using her magic rune arrow. Anis holds off, saving her strength. Siphus pokes with his spear for a point and gets barely missed in return. Osstedd and Ragnar! both miss.
Turn 6: Onean hits for a couple points then Siphus hits for 3. The troll finally connects but rolls 6 for damage. Siphus can take that after his armour absorbs most of the blow. Osstedd finally hits, dropping the troll. Victory!
Get xp, rest and loot up, taking the huge mace as well as Siphus want to put it in the display case he has envisioned in his future castle. The troll had less money than I thought it would. Roll to see if I get my rune arrow back undamaged: 1-3 yes, 4-6 no, I roll a 3 and cut it out of the troll. Leave the orc heads. Burn the troll’s body. Enter the troll cave. Get attacked by a large wolf.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and hits the wolf for 9 damage.
Turn 1: Win initiative. Onean shoots again for 7 damage. The fighters move up and the wolf charges Ragnar! who is in the front. It rolls a 15 and misses. Ragnar! counters with a 15 as well though.
Turn 2: Siphus moves in and pokes the wolf and drops it. Things with low armour and much easier to drop.
Get xp and make IQ roll and find a stash of silver; I’ll assume my gem is there as well. Take the southern tunnel. Umm, crap, another troll that’s just as big as the first one. At least it’s not wearing chain.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll again. Good job. She fires for extra damage and hits, doing 10 points. That’s 9 after the hide as I’ll assume the troll can’t get its shield quite yet.
Turn 1: The troll wins initiative and moves forward. Onean fires again nicking the troll. Siphus charges in and misses, using the same tactics as before, drawing the counterstrike. The troll misses. Osstedd moves in and misses as well. Finally Ragnar! attacks and hits for 6 points.
Turn 2: Onean shoots for 4. Siphus attacks and misses. The troll rolls a 16 and misses. Siphus is feeling good about this. Osstedd swings and slices the troll for 3. Finally Ragnar! smashes for 11, dropping the troll. No one got hurt!
Get XP, loot and burn the troll. Make the IQ roll again (doing really well on those compared to my other adventures). Siphus insists on taking the other mace as well. If the party ever has to flee they’ll be dropped. Anyway, find a secret door and take some black manacles. Anis doesn’t have Reveal Magic so they’re done here. Head back and take the eastern tunnel. Encounter some goblin miners and decide to talk to them in case they’re from the friendly tribe. Turns out they just want to work and they aren’t from “our” tribe. We continue east deeper into the mountain. Don’t want to fight them just yet. Go deeper. Holy crap, run into Snacas. Screw talking, we attack.
Turn 0: Onean fires at the Snaca archer wounding it badly.
Turn 1: The snacas win initiative. Their archer shoots back at Onean nicking her for 2. Their fighters move up. Anis throws a 2 ST magic fist at the archer and finishes it off. Don’t want to deal with enemy firepower. The fighters move up and Onean misses her shot.
Turn 2: Both the snacas go for Osstedd as he’s farther ahead. One misses but the other hits but does no damage. Osstedd counters but misses. Ragnar! moves up and swings, skilling to hit. He rolls a 17. Siphus does the same and nicks one for 1. Anis throws another magic fist and hits but rolls too low for damage. Onean moves up for a firing angle.
Turn 3: One snaca attacks Osstedd but misses. He counters for 2. The other snaca attacks Ragnar! but is stopped by his armour. Ragnar! counters and drops it. Siphus moves up and wounds the last one for 5 but is hit with its counterattack and takes 6 points! Ouch. Finally Onean shoots but misses.
Turn 4: Osstedd attacks and finishes the last snaca. Another win.
Get xp, rest and loot. Head east. I kind of want to leave and clear out those bandits but screw it. Get to a big columned room with a snaca wizard and gargoyle. Fight!
Turn 1: (yes, Onean failed her stalker roll). We win initiative at least. Anis disbelieves the gargoyle. Oh well, it’s real. The rest of the party moves up, including Onean who wants to get a clear shot at the wizard who’s hiding behind a column. The snaca summon another gargoyle while the other one charges in and tries to take down Osstedd. Osstedd snarls and counterattacks, wanting the extra damage. He also skills for damage. He misses by one. Oh well, they go down in a pile.
Turn 2: Anis moves up and disbelieves the new gargoyle. She loses the roll. Onean runs up past the fight. Osstedd reacted so he’s done. Siphus moves up and skills for damage and attacks the gargoyle on Osstedd. He hits, rolling 5 damage. Ragnar! does the same but rolls 9 damage. The snaca summons a real gargoyle this time (I know the tactics say he makes an illusion but I think summoning a real one makes sense. The illusion charges Onean who defends the takedown attempt. The gargoyle fighting Osstedd does 11 damage to him. Ouch.
Turn 3: Anis moves up and tries to disbelieve the new gargoyle. Of course, this one is real so it fails. Ragnar! skills to hit and does, dealing a couple points. Siphus skills for damage as they need to kill it quick before it kills Osstedd. He hits and rolls 3, leaving it with 1 health. Crap. Osstedd grapples and tries to escape. He fails. On the gargoyle’s turn Osstedd rolls an 11 but the gargoyle beats him with a 16 and does another 11 points. Double crap. The illusion attacks Onean again who avoids it. The summoned one flies over to Siphus and tries to take him down but he defends. The snaca wizards summon fire around itself.
Turn 4: Anis misses the wounded gargoyle with a magic fist as does Ragnar!.
Hmm, I’m looking at the takedown rules and I really don’t like them. All the attacker has to do is enter the defender’s space. If the defender doesn’t react the takedown is automatically successful?? There’s no “to hit” roll? It seems overpowered when the defender uses up their action to defend and you just keep trying over and over again to take them down until successful and they can’t fight back. It’s broken, no doubt. There must be a to hit roll so the defender isn’t constantly out of actions automatically.
So back to the action, Onean runs around a gargoyle finally getting line of sight on the snaca (I’m giving her back her action since the gargoyle missed last turn). The Snaca wizard summons fire in Onean’s hex dealing a couple points of damage. The gargoyle illusion flies back towards him and tries to take her down but misses. The original one tries to takedown Ragnar! who counterattacks doing 10 damage with the extra damage die. Whew! One down. The summoned gargoyle moves into Siphus’ hex to take him down but rolls a 13 and misses.
Turn 5: Anis needs better spells to deal with this. She gives some Drang (from the Sorceror’s Manor) to Osstedd, healing him 8 points. Ragnar! moves up and swings at the summoned gargoyle and hits, dealing 4 points. Siphus back up a hex and attacks it as well but misses. Onean can’t fire a bow while being attacked by a gargoyle so she runs closes to the snaca while keeping a pillar between them. The illusion tries to take her down again but misses. The summoned gargoyle tries to take down Siphus but misses. The snaca wizard hides behind the pillar as it knows Onean is close.
Turn 6: Onean switches weapons, drawing a short sword. Ragnar! does another 4 points to the summoned gargoyle as does Siphus. Anis gives Osstedd some Mashu healing him a few more points, bringing him up to 1 health. He groans and stands up while re-equipping himself. The summoned gargoyle attacks Siphus who is finally forced to defend but gets taken down. The illusion does the same to Onean. Hmm, not looking good.
Turn 7: Osstedd swings at the summoned gargoyle, skilling to hit but he misses. Anis casts heal wounds on Osstedd for 6. He feels much better. Ragnar! attacks the gargoyle but misses. Siphus tries to escape but fails. Same with Onean. The gargoyle tries to break Siphus but he wins the ST check doing 2 fatigue damage (choking it?). Meanwhile Onean’s gargoyle win the ST check with an 18!! Crap. Only rolls 3 for damage though.
Turn 8: Anis readies some more healing stuff. Osstedd nicks the gargoyle on Siphus. Ragnar! hits it exactly (that vitality potion finally paid off). He does 2 points though, rolling crap. Siphus tries to escape but fails. The gargoyle beats him for 10 points. That hurt. Back over to Onean, who’s feeling very alone, she tries to escape but fails. Her gargoyle does 6 damage, dropping her.
Turn 9: Osstedd kills the summoned gargoyle (finally!). Siphus stands up and reequips. Ragnar! moves forward, bellowing a challenge. Anis readies a spellbook, leaving the healing potion on the ground for Siphus. The snaca summons another illusion of a gargoyle. The first illusion charges Ragnar! and misses. His counterattack does 10 points.
Turn 10: Upon seeing yet another gargoyle Anis knows it can’t be real and tries to unknot the forces around it by disbelieving it. She fails. Siphus takes the last dose of Mashu. Osstedd moves up and attacks a gargoyle, hitting it for five. The gargoyle lunges at Ragnar! again who drops it with a solid blow. The other gargoyle flies at Osstedd (who is half a hex closer) and tries to take him down but misses. Osstedd counterattacks dealing 11 damage.
Turn 11: Anis holds off on summoning a wolf out of the book. Siphus moves up. Both Osstedd and Ragnar! counterattacked so it’s on to the gargoyle who attacks Osstedd again and hits. Osstedd counter attacks dealing 7 damage but is taken down. The wizard moves out from behind the pillar.
Turn 12: Seeing the wizard, Siphus throws his spear at him but misses by one. Ragnar! hits the last gargoyle illusion and it poofs. Osstedd stands up and grabs his weapons. The snaca wizard throws a 3 hex fire on all the fighters doing 2 points to each of them. He hasn’t missed a spell yet. Anis moves up.
Turn 13: Ragnar! charges forward. The vitality potion actually gives him one more MA. He attacks and hits for 6 points, dropping the snaca wizard.
WHEW! That was a tough fight. Not sure if I’m playing the takedown rules as written but they don’t make sense to me otherwise. Get xp, rest and loot. Make IQ roll again and find a powerstone. Heal Onean. Use the last dose of Drang on her but she fails her ST roll so there’s no effect. Use the last of the greensalve so at least she’s conscious. Most of the party is wounded, Ragnar! has 2 damage, Onean still has 9, Siphus has 9 and Osstedd has 7. Anis is unwounded but her staff is depleted and she’s used 7 fatigue. Oh yeah, completely out of healing. Could try heading out west but the first snaca room will have regenerated. Might have one more fight in the party. Then I could pay off the bandits on the way down and make it back to Thunder Keep and reequip. Sounds like a plan. Head back west and fight some more snaca.
Not going into detail on this fight. The party won, Ragnar! was the only one to take damage which was pretty convenient. Continue west, making my IQ roll versus the miners again so I avoid a fight. Get back to the goblin camp and rest up.
Next day Anis heals people, depleting both her staff and the powerstone. Still lots of wounds left. I still have food left so the party stays another couple days to spend xp again and heal fully. Siphus buys his DX up while Anis learns summon wolf from the book at the cheaper xp cost. Onean buys her IQ up to 9.
So time to clear out those bandits down below. Head south along the ridge. Don’t think I’ve been here before actually. Check out a cave. Woah, giant bats. Get a plotword. Take the north tunnel. Hmm, a dining room. Hope there’s food because I’m out. Search the room and take stuff. Continue north and encounter some orcs. Note: The orc fighters don’t have the armour penalty noted on their DX though the archer does.
Turn 0: Onean fires at the orc archer. At least something different to fire at! Does a single point.
Turn 1: Win initiative. Onean misses. Anis summons a wolf. The others charge forward. Their archer nicks Anis for a point. Their fighters move up and gang up on Osstedd. The first one misses and takes 10 damage from a devastating counterstrike. The other misses as well.
Turn 2: Onean moves up. The wolf takes down the archer. Siphus attacks an orc but misses. Ragnar! attacks the same (unwounded) orc. Both orcs passed on counterattacking in an effort to gang up on Osstedd. They both attack, the unwounded one going first. He hits for 6 damage. Osstedd attacks back and does 6 damage back. The other one attack but misses.
Turn 3: Onean moves up more, flanking the orcs. Ragnar! attacks and wounds one further. Siphus misses it. The wolf loses the ST check and takes some damage. The orc escapes on his turn. Meanwhile an orc attacks Osstedd hitting for 5. Osstedd’s counter blow drops him. The other one attacks and in turn drops Osstedd.
Turn 4: The Onean fires at the archer who just escaped combat but misses. The wolf jumps on him and take him down again. Ragnar! and Siphus both miss but at least the orc does as well. The archer tries to escape the wolf but can’t.
Turn 5: The wolf and the archer fight. Hmm, is wolf bite damage considered unarmed in grappling? If so it ignores armour right? Doesn’t quite seem right. I’ll allow the armour for now. The orc takes a point. Meanwhile Onean shoots at the orc fighter and drops him. Both Ragnar! and Siphus attack the orc archer on the ground and finish him.
Get xp and rest and loot up. Luckily we find a healing potion, reinvigorating Osstedd. He’s only got one health so I’ll keep him out of future fights. He’ll equip a bow for now. Head north some more but turn around before I get to the end. Go back to the dining room and head west. It’s a batknight! Wow, he’s strong. Time to fight.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and nicks him.
Turn 1: We win initiative! Anis summon a wolf again. Onean lands another arrow. Osstedd fires and misses. The rest move up. The batknight laughs with maniacal glee and wades into battle. He attacks Siphus and hits but Siphus defends and backs away.
Turn 2: The wolf charges and tries to take down the batknight who counterattacks for 8 damage. At least he goes down. With the bonus damage dies he had a good shot at taking out the wolf in one hit but he rolled an 8 on three dice for 7 damage. Ragnar! looks down at the batknight and says “Who’s laughing now?” as he jabs for 10 damage on boxcars. Onean switches weapons while Anis and Osstedd stay back.
Turn 3: The wolf and knight tear at each other but the batknight gets the advantage and starts to choke out the wolf, leaving it with 1 health. Ragnar! isn’t impressed drops the batknight with a solid blow.
Get xp and rest. Not much to loot really. Return to the dining room and head east. Talk to another batknight and an orc and get some information but must fight right after. No stalker roll this time as we talked.
Turn 1: We win initiative. Anis summons a wolf again. Onean shoots at the orc, skilling for damage. She misses by one. Osstedd hits the batknight but does no damage with his little dinky bow. Siphus and Ragnar! move up. The batknight and orc both engage Ragnar!. The batknight swings first and hits but his blow bounces off the shield. The orc follows up but misses. Ragnar! counterattacks the orc dealing 5 damage.
Turn 2: Siphus misses the orc who ignores him. The wolf charges in and jumps in on the batknight who counterattacks hitting with an 11 (barely, with the swords magic bonus). Wow, trip 6s for damage kills the wolf. Anis summons another one. Onean and Osstedd move up to flank the fight. The orc attacks Ragnar! again, getting one point through. Ragnar! counters and nicks him back.
Turn 3: Another wolf charges in and makes its roll. Again the batknight counterattacks but misses with a 13. They go down. Onean shoots at the orc dealing a point. Osstedd fires as well and hits and rolls a 6 for damage dropping the orc exactly. Hm, think I forgot Siphus last turn. He attacks the batknight on the ground now. He misses. Ragnar! attacks as well but he hits, for 7 damage.
Turn 4: The wolf tries to gnaw on the batknight but he gets the upper hand the deals 3 damage to the wolf. Meanwhile Siphus and Ragnar! jab at him. Between them they drop him.
Wolves are pretty awesome. Anyway, get xp, rest and loot. Get another plotword as well. Back to the dining area. Time to go home, this time for sure. Go south. Back in the bat room. Didn’t notice before that I could attack the bats. I do so now. It’s never too late for carnage!
Turn 0: Onean shoots but misses.
Turn 1: Lose initiative. I roll randomly to see who the bats attack and they both attack Siphus! The first one hits. Siphus tries to defend but fails. He takes zero damage though. The other one does 5 damage though. Anis summons a wolf. Onean and Osstedd both fire at the same one. Onean fires but Osstedd hits for 4 damage. He’s getting the hang of this bow! Ragnar! moves up and attacks the wounded bat dealing 10 damage.
Turn 2: One bat continues attacking Siphus. He takes another 5 damage. He counters dealing 7 damage. The other bat turns on Ragnar! and hits for zero damage. Ragnar! counters and misses. The wolf charges in on Siphus and just bites for damage. It deals 4 points. Anis magic fists that one as well and does 3 more damage. Osstedd and Onean continue firing on the other one, Onean hitting for 6 damage.
Turn 3: The bats continue attacking. The one on Siphus fails an IQ check so I roll randomly between Siphus and the wolf to see who it attacks. It turns on the wolf that bit it. Good think for Siphus, he’s pretty hurt. It misses anyway. The other one continues attacking Ragnar! and hits for two damage. Ragnar! counter attacks and finishes it off. The wolf attacks but misses. Siphus backs away. The archers turn their fire onto the other bat. Onean misses while Osstedd’s shot is stopped by the bat’s hide.
Turn 4: The bat continues attacking the wolf. It does two damage. The wolf counters but misses. Ragnar! steps up and swings. He misses. The archers fire. Onean hits for 7. Siphus throws his spear and drops the bat. He should have done that last turn.
Get xp, rest and loot. Yaay, another healing potion. Hmm, also forgot there’s a passage east. Guess I’m not going yet. Anis heals Siphus a bunch, depleting her staff and powerstone. Go east. Talk to a dying dwarf and get a pebble from him. That was easy. Go back west then leave the cave going south.
Note: On paragraph 37 there is no entry allowing you to leave the cave by going to 40. Shouldn’t there be? I’m assuming yes. Also on paragraph 40 shouldn’t there be an option to climb down the mountain? I think this is where I would have come up if I had made my climbing roll before.
Anyway, go up the ridge and back down by the mountain troll cave. Getting hungry. Get asked for a toll again. No way this time, attack the bandit.
Turn 0: Onean fires at an archer. Hits for 4 damage.
Turn 1: Win initiative (2 to 1 haha). Onean fires at the same archer and drops him. Good jorb! Ragnar! rushes in and wounds the armoured bandit. The counterattack misses. Siphus has enough movement to engage another archer. He attacks but the archer defends and backs up. Anis summons a wolf and Osstedd fires part Ragnar! at his opponent. He misses both of them. The last enemy archer fires at Onean and hits but does no damage.
Turn 2: Onean fires back, doing 4 damage. Siphus attacks and this time the archer fails his defend roll. He deals 7 damage. Ragnar! misses as does the counter attack. The wolf tears across the battlefield going to the far archer. Osstedd fires at the armoured bandit again but misses. Their archer fires at Onean again. He misses.
Turn 3: The wolf gets to the far archer and bites, wounding him. Onean fires at him as well and drops him. Ragnar! hits for 7 damage. The counterswing misses again. Siphus misses. The last archer turns and runs, circling around Siphus who has driven him away from the exit hexes. Siphus gets a reaction strike and drops him. No escape for you!
Turn 4: Ragnar! swings again. He hits and drops the last bandit. Yay.
Get xp, rest and loot. Continue south. More bandits. Attack them. Yawn.
Turn 0: Onean fires at the trog, skilling for damage. She hits but rolls minimum damage for 4.
Turn 1: We win initiative. Onean fires at the trog again. She hits for 8 damage. Osstedd fires at it also, doing 1 point. Siphus throws his spear at it, trying to finish it off. He hits and drops it finally. Ragnar! charges the orc and skills for damage. He rolls 8 for 10 damage. Ha! The counterattack does 4 damage back. The orc laughs back. The human bandit runs forward.
Turn 2: Anis throws a 2 ST magic fist at the human bandit. She rolls no damage. Onean fires at him and hits for 8 damage. Ragnar! misses but the counter attack does 2 damage. Ragnar! isn’t laughing anymore. Siphus draws a short sword. Osstedd fires at the charging human but misses. The human bandit reaches Siphus and attacks, hitting for 6 points. This is getting close. Siphus counterattacks, hitting with the unfamiliar short sword but only doing 1 single damage.
Turn 3: Onean fires at the human, only does 1 damage again though. Osstedd draws his sword. Anis readies her staff. Ragnar! attacks the orc but misses. The counter attack is stopped by his shield (barely). The human bandit attack Siphus who fails at defending. 6 damage drops Siphus.
Both the stupid bandits are at 2 health but I can’t drop them lol.
Turn 4: Onean fires again at the same bandit, barely hitting even with her bonus. She drops the human. Anis readies a healing potion. Ragnar! drops the other bandit. That was getting close. It takes my only potion and the last of Anis’ fatigue to heal Siphus back up so he can move.
Note: The paragraph entry 47 says going south is paragraph 50. It should say 10.
Arrive back in Thunder Keep, tired, sore and famished. Time for the party (and me) to sleep. I’ll post this now and edit it later if anything doesn’t make sense.
So it’s been awhile since I’ve played LAW. Back in Jan/12 my main computer died so until I got the money to fix it a couple months later all my notes and the spreadsheet with my adventuring party was inaccessible. By then though I was doing other stuff and had a move though I’ve been working back up to finally doing on of the published adventures I bought. I’ve re-read the rules and my old posts and I think I’m ready for the plunge! I’ve read the campaign guide in Fire in the Streets as well and it looks like I’ve short changed my characters on skills. It seems in addition to the 4 starting skill/spells you get a race skill and an origin skill. I had already made all my part human so a couple of them just grabbed languages as their free social skill (though with their low IQs they won’t succeed much). The other two (including the mage) grabbed Literacy in the “common” tongue. As for the area of origin I liked the River States the best and since I’ve always had in the back of my head that the party grew up near or around each other that’s where they’re all from. For the free area skill two took Swimming (putting one up to 2 though he wears Chain so it won’t help much), another took Leadership and the mage took Merchant. All in all some handy stuff but not too unbalancing.
Let’s reacquaint ourselves with the party.
Ragnar! 12 13(9) 8 4 Sword 2 Climbing 1 Swimming(o) 2 Chain Large Shield Magic Broadsword (+2 DMG) Dagger Feathered Hat Javelinsx2 Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 8
Onean 11 14(12) 8 6 Bow 2 Stealth 1 Stalker 1 Elvish 1 Swimming(o) 1 Leather Longbow Short Sword Small Shield Feathered hat Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 7
Siphus 11 11(9) 11 4 Spear 2 Tracker 1 Survival 1 Medic 1 Literacy: Common Leadership(o) 1 Leather Small Shield Spear Short Sword Javelinsx2 Feathered hat Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 0
Anis 11 9(7) 13 3 Sorcerer’s Tongue, Literacy: Sorcerer’s Tongue, Literacy: Common, Merchant (o) Spell: Heal Wounds Spell: Magic Fist Spell: Mage Sight Leather Armour Staff 12 FAT Spellbook: Fire, Drop Weapon Feathered hat Fine cotton shirt and trousers Leather Rain cloak Saved XP: 6 (she just bought up the capacity of her staff to 13).
They also have a number of party items, including a dose of Elvish Greensalve, a silver talisman, a few maps, some gems, some paperwork in common (which they can now read and it turns out to be a list of slaves and prices), a couple keys, a book in Elvish, a glowing blue gem, a stone flask with two doses of Drang, a sealed metal box, a blue metallic torch and a bunch of money. The reason they keep so much stuff is that Onean likes gems, Siphus wants keepsakes and Anis likes the books and parchments. Ragnar! doesn’t care so much for it though but Siphus pointed out that when they’re rich and famous they’ll want it all for their trophy room.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
So after a long hiatus the party finds itself at Thunder Keep. After a quick discussion the party decides to go to the general trader. They needs medic kits for Siphus and would like to spend some of their hard earned cash from their previous adventures. Jozz the goblin merchant seems nice. The party buys stuff including new boots for Ragnar! (so he can stomp on the bones of his enemies after he has struck them down) and a whole pile of other stuff. Read a history scroll (wow, Literacy is useful already). Anis made all her merchant rolls too so they saved some money. Also get some information about an escaped cultist and an alternate path up the mountain. Return to the courtyard after sticking the new feathers into our already feathered hats. Decide to check out the merchant stalls and booths next.
Hmm, just noticed that on page 9 of my copy of RoC under “Characters” it says “a mage starts with his staff, with a fatigue capacity equal to his ST…”. The most recent rules says staves are capped by IQ not strength. Maybe it’s fixed in the new prints.
Anyway back to the merchant stalls where the party buys some jerky and a fancy arrow (the money from their previous adventures is burning a hole in their collective pockets). Also hire a hireling and buy him a canvas weather cloak (the party has their leather ones so they’re fine). Siphus is worried that they’re going a bit overboard with spending money so they then find an official and discuss the Ochre Mask. Head to the healer’s place next just to check it out. Get a stimulant each from her. Nice! I’m assuming this happens only the first time you visit her. Next talk to some guards in a tavern and get some valuable advice. Go to the inn next, not because we need sleep but again, just to check it out. Get some more info, eat lunch and buy some healing potion. Pass on the wolf skin cloak. Actually, Onean wants it so she buys it with her personal money. Again Anis makes all her merchant rolls.
Finally decide to leave the keep and head up to Cygnosa. The weather is crap but at least the whole party is more comfortable in their cloaks. At the cliff face decide to climb up. Make it part way up then make camp for the night. Next morning the party finds they cannot continue and almost fall off the mountain. And things were going so well! Return back down the mountain. Only missed the climbing roll by one and failed the Leadership roll as well. Ah well. Back down the party heals up (almost using up a medic kit and most of the healing stuff I just got) and then takes the obvious path, keeping an eye out for bandits.
So, a quick aside: What is defined as an encounter? According to the RoC rules each encounter takes a quarter day while outside and 4 encounters are a quarter day locally. This is important as also the mage gets 1 fatigue back per encounter. I’m assuming each encounter is a numbered section in the book and its associated paragraphs. Run into some stupid bandits. Siphus says to pay them off, it’ll be cheaper in the long run. Hmm, run into another bandit demanding a toll. It’s unlikely he’s alone and Siphus assumes the treasure in Cygnosa will be worth it. Pay again. Next is a rock troll at a bridge. He wants a toll also. Barter with him. Anis offers him a 60 silver piece gem instead. Beat his IQ roll 10 to 9. Close. Continue on upwards and get attacked by some goblins.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and shoots at a goblin but misses. Boo, hiss.
Turn 1: Roll initiative and lose. Goblins rush in. There’s a lot of terrain so while 3 go straight in another goes around a bush. On the party turn send in the hireling at the goblin trying the flank the party. Osstedd skills for damage and hits! She rolls a 6 and a 5. That’s 11 damage after the sword skill and armour cancel each other out. The first goblin is down. Good boy Osstedd, he deserves a belly rub! Ragnar! rushes into the thick of things and swings at the nearest goblin, using his bonus to hit. He rolls a 10 and hits then rolls 10 damage, almost dropping a goblin too. The goblin counterattacks but misses. Onean fires at a different goblin as she doesn’t want to hit Ragnar! in the back. She goes for extra damage and wounds for 6 damage. Siphus follows up and tries to spear the goblin that just got shot, going for extra damage but misses by 2. That’ll show him for trying to show off. The goblin counterattacks but misses. Anis just stays out of the way.
Turn 2: Two of the goblins have already used their actions but the third runs around a rock almost engaging Onean. On the party turn the speedy Lupin runs around the tree and comes up on the goblins from the flank. He attacks the heavily wounded goblin but misses. It counters but misses. Ragnar! takes a careful swing and drops it. Siphus attacks the other wounded goblin, skilling to hit this time and drops it to 1. It counterattacks and hits Siphus for 4. Ouch. Onean shoots at the charging goblin and wounds it. Anis moves a bit to get a better angle.
Turn 3: The goblin finally gets to Onean and swings and hits for a huge 7 points. That hurt. The other goblin counterattacked last turn so recovers from that. On the party turn Osstedd moves up a bit and swings at the wounded goblin and finishes it. Onean steps to the side a couple hexes while Ragnar! turns around to charge the goblin on her. With Siphus following up Ragnar! skills just to hit and drops it.
Battle won! Fail both medic rolls and Anis drains her staff healing and goes well into her own health as well. Gotta save those heal pots for later. I have a question about sleep so I’ll post it on the boards.
Until I get an answer I’m assuming can make camp and take some rest. I lost half a day falling off the mountain and travelled another half day so I’ve gone 24 hours now. I’ll rest for a quarter and assume my staff recharges as well.
After my break the party continues north up the ridge. Run into a goblin camp; ah, it seems I can camp here lol. Anyway, I agree to kill the rival goblins so I camp for free. Travel north up the ridge and get ambushed by goblins!
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll easily. Note: I’ve been letting Siphus use his leadership before most of the other party member’s skill rolls. I figure a part of leadership is keeping the party organized and focused so it makes sense even for rolls like Stalker. Anyway, Onean shoots at a goblin archer, skilling to hit. She rolls a 6 to hit and a 4 for damage doing 6 points. First blood!
Turn 1: Roll initiative. Win 6 to 1. Onean shoots at the wounded goblin again, using her skill bonus to hit. Good thing too as she rolled a 14. For damage she rolls a 5 doing 7 points dropping the goblin. First kill! Ragnar! charges towards the archers while Siphus and Osstedd charge the fighters. With his Lupine legs Osstedd reaches one and swings, using his bonus for damage. He misses by one. The goblin counterattacks and hits rolling a 10, giving 6 damage. Ouch. Anis moves to get better line of sight. Both goblin archers shoot at Ragnar! and hit. One rolls a 6 and gets 1 point of damage through. The last fighter flanks Osstedd and attacks but misses.
Turn 2: Ragnar! moves up between the two archers and swings carefully at one but rolls a 13 and misses by one. Onean fires at the other archer and hits for 5 damage. Meanwhile Osstedd swings and misses again and takes 4 damage on the counterattack. Ouch! Siphus catches up to the fight and attacks the other goblin, hoping at least to take its attention away from Osstedd. He hits for 1 point after armour. The goblin counters for 5 points. Ouch again! Anis moves up behind Osstedd ready to heal him next turn. Both goblin archers engaged by Ragnar! drop their bows and draw cutlasses.
Turn 3: Ragnar! grits his teeth and does a might overhand swing and connects with the unwounded goblin! He rolls 6 for 10 damage and drops it! Actually I’m wrong, it would have equipped a shield too so it have 1 ST left. Ah well. Onean shoots at the other archer and hits for 4 (stupid shield) leaving the other one with 1 ST as well. Oh yeah, the goblin counterattacks Ragnar! and hits but his armour stops the blow. I’ll do the other goblin now as well: it hits for one point. Meanwhile on the other side of the ridge Anis fails her IQ roll to heal Osstedd. Siphus attacks for one point and gets missed by the counter. Osstedd misses yet again but at least gets missed by his opponent’s counterstrike.
Turn 4: Rangar takes a careful swing and drops an archer. Onean figures he can handle the last one so runs towards the other fray. Anis uses her staff and heals Osstedd fully. Osstedd swings again, using his bonus to hit and finally connects with a 9. He does a solid 8 damage. His goblin counterattacks for 4 damage. Good thing he got healed. Siphus attacks and gets 2 points through. His opponent misses. Back to Ragnar! his last opponent swings and hits and rolls an 11 for 4 damage. Ragnar! counters and hits, dropping him.
Turn 5: Ragnar! countered so he’s done. Meanwhile Siphus pokes at his goblin again hitting for 4 points. The counter misses. Osstedd nicks his goblin for 1 point and again the counter misses. Onean doesn’t fire into the fight so switches to her short sword and shield. Anis fails a heal roll again.
Turn 6: Ragnar! starts running. Siphus attacks and misses and is missed in return. Osstedd drives his goblin into the ground. Onean rushes in and finishes off the last goblin.
Quite the fight. I would have lost my hireling if not for Anis. I also like the ridge encounter, it allows for use of the Avert spell, too bad I don’t have it. Collect xp and loot while Siphus makes some medic rolls and Anis heals Siphus. Head west on a trail. Time to kill more goblins.
Get attacked (of course).
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and fires at a goblin. She hits for 5 points.
Turn 1: Lose initiative. Two goblins move to get lines of fire while one goblin fires back at Onean and misses. Onean returns fire and hits for 3. The rest of the party run up. Oh yeah, two more goblins run in.
Turn 2: One goblin charges and attacks Osstedd but misses. Osstedd counters for 6 damage. The other attacks Ragnar! and misses as does his counter. Two of the archers continue moving to flank the fight. ( I don’t let my archer fire through friendly squares so I won’t let the goblins either) while the last archer has way too much stuff in front now so also moves. Two more goblin fighters arrive. Siphus moves up and attacks the wounded fighter and drops him. Anis moves up behind the party while Onean runs off to the side to face an archer.
Turn 3: The archer fires at Onean but rolls a 1 for damage so it’s stopped by the leather armour. The other two archers fire, one at Osstedd and the other at Siphus. Both hit, Osstedd taking 3 damage and Siphus taking one. The last engaged fighter swings at Ragnar! but his blow is stopped by the shield. Ragnar! counters, hitting for 8 damage. The next wave of fighters moves up, one of them engaging Siphus but rolls a 17 and misses. Siphus counters and also rolls a 17! Onean fires back at her opponent but misses as she was skilling for damage. Osstedd moves up to engage the last fighter and attacks, nicking his goblin whose counter misses. Anis throws a 1 ST magic fist at the wounded archer but misses with a 15.
Turn 4: More carnage ensues. Onean is shot for 1 damage, Ragnar! hit for 3, Siphus takes 3 (including a nick from an arrow). Ragnar! drops his, Osttedd and his hack away at each other (Osstedd hitting for 9 while his counters for 4), Siphus nicks his for 1 while Anis misses again with a magic fist (can’t roll below a 14…) Onean fires at hers and misses.
Turn 5: Onean is shot for 2 points. Anis is shot but her armour stops the blow. Siphus is shot at by an archer but missed while his fighter opponent does 3. Siphus’ counter hits for a solid 6. Onean fires and hits finally for 7 points. Anis throws a magic fist and hits for 1 point dropping an archer to 1. Osstedd attacks and drops his. Ragnar! finishes off the last goblin fighter.
Turn 6: All archers switch to cutlasses as they’ll soon be engaged. Ragnar! attacks one and hits for 9 points but takes 4 damage on the counter (yes, I rolled an 11 for damage). Anis throws another magic fist and drops the one she hit last round doing another point after the goblin’s freshly equipped shield. Onean fires again at hers and drops it. Siphus and Osstedd swarm the last one which Ragnar! just hit and finish it.
Wow, both Ragnar! and Osstedd have 10 damage on them, Onean has 3, Siphus has 7 while Anish has depleted her staff and has used 5 fatigue.
Aftermath: Get XP (yaay). Question: Do I give hirelings XP? I think yes for fights but not for plotwords. Siphus uses up the last medic kit but only rolls successfully once. Get a plotword which should make things easier. Make an IQ roll and get a spellbook and a pan flute along with another plotword. Sweet!
I’m hoping to rest up again at the goblin camp so Anis does some light healing then I return there. The goblins are quite happy that the rival tribe is gone. I party and decide to rest up and spend some xp so that takes a few days. Onean buys survival from the goblins, Ragnar! buys up his ST, and Anis buys Goblin. When else am I going to get the opportunity to learn Goblin? Also by this time Anis will have been able to heal everyone and her staff should be recharged.
So the party is doing all right. Over half their rations are gone along with some other consumables. On the other hand I have a safe place to camp and cleared out some spots to make future travel easier. I’m thinking of going back down the trail and clearing out some of those bandits while I still have Osstedd in my employ as well. I head back south to the bridge and attack that rock troll.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and fires at the troll, going for extra damage. The troll’s armour stops it. As the troll has 6 points of armour I’m pretty using all skill bonuses this fight for extra damage.
Turn 1: The troll wins initiative and lumbers forward. The party spreads out a bit and waits for it while Onean shoots again getting 2 points through and Anis magic fists rolling 10 damage to get another 2 points through. Awesome. Ragnar! equips the virility potion.
Turn 2: The troll continues forward, slowly regenerating. Ragnar! drinks the virility potion. Onean fires again getting 4 points through with a damage roll of 6. Anis hits as well but does no damage.
Turn 3: The troll continues forward. It’s almost there. Onean hits but does no damage. Anis throws another magic fist but misses. Siphus moves in and swings. He’s being brave and risking the counterattack so Ragnar! can smash it. He gets a couple points through and the troll’s counterswing misses. Osstedd moves in and misses as does Ragnar!.
Turn 4: Onean shoots for a couple damage and Anis hits and rolls 11 getting 3 points through. Not bad. Siphus attacks first again and misses but at least troll misses as well. Osstedd misses but Ragnar! hits! He rolls 9 on two dice getting 7 damage through.
Turn 5: Due to its slow regeneration the troll is still at 12 health. Onean fires for three damage, using her magic rune arrow. Anis holds off, saving her strength. Siphus pokes with his spear for a point and gets barely missed in return. Osstedd and Ragnar! both miss.
Turn 6: Onean hits for a couple points then Siphus hits for 3. The troll finally connects but rolls 6 for damage. Siphus can take that after his armour absorbs most of the blow. Osstedd finally hits, dropping the troll. Victory!
Get xp, rest and loot up, taking the huge mace as well as Siphus want to put it in the display case he has envisioned in his future castle. The troll had less money than I thought it would. Roll to see if I get my rune arrow back undamaged: 1-3 yes, 4-6 no, I roll a 3 and cut it out of the troll. Leave the orc heads. Burn the troll’s body. Enter the troll cave. Get attacked by a large wolf.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and hits the wolf for 9 damage.
Turn 1: Win initiative. Onean shoots again for 7 damage. The fighters move up and the wolf charges Ragnar! who is in the front. It rolls a 15 and misses. Ragnar! counters with a 15 as well though.
Turn 2: Siphus moves in and pokes the wolf and drops it. Things with low armour and much easier to drop.
Get xp and make IQ roll and find a stash of silver; I’ll assume my gem is there as well. Take the southern tunnel. Umm, crap, another troll that’s just as big as the first one. At least it’s not wearing chain.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll again. Good job. She fires for extra damage and hits, doing 10 points. That’s 9 after the hide as I’ll assume the troll can’t get its shield quite yet.
Turn 1: The troll wins initiative and moves forward. Onean fires again nicking the troll. Siphus charges in and misses, using the same tactics as before, drawing the counterstrike. The troll misses. Osstedd moves in and misses as well. Finally Ragnar! attacks and hits for 6 points.
Turn 2: Onean shoots for 4. Siphus attacks and misses. The troll rolls a 16 and misses. Siphus is feeling good about this. Osstedd swings and slices the troll for 3. Finally Ragnar! smashes for 11, dropping the troll. No one got hurt!
Get XP, loot and burn the troll. Make the IQ roll again (doing really well on those compared to my other adventures). Siphus insists on taking the other mace as well. If the party ever has to flee they’ll be dropped. Anyway, find a secret door and take some black manacles. Anis doesn’t have Reveal Magic so they’re done here. Head back and take the eastern tunnel. Encounter some goblin miners and decide to talk to them in case they’re from the friendly tribe. Turns out they just want to work and they aren’t from “our” tribe. We continue east deeper into the mountain. Don’t want to fight them just yet. Go deeper. Holy crap, run into Snacas. Screw talking, we attack.
Turn 0: Onean fires at the Snaca archer wounding it badly.
Turn 1: The snacas win initiative. Their archer shoots back at Onean nicking her for 2. Their fighters move up. Anis throws a 2 ST magic fist at the archer and finishes it off. Don’t want to deal with enemy firepower. The fighters move up and Onean misses her shot.
Turn 2: Both the snacas go for Osstedd as he’s farther ahead. One misses but the other hits but does no damage. Osstedd counters but misses. Ragnar! moves up and swings, skilling to hit. He rolls a 17. Siphus does the same and nicks one for 1. Anis throws another magic fist and hits but rolls too low for damage. Onean moves up for a firing angle.
Turn 3: One snaca attacks Osstedd but misses. He counters for 2. The other snaca attacks Ragnar! but is stopped by his armour. Ragnar! counters and drops it. Siphus moves up and wounds the last one for 5 but is hit with its counterattack and takes 6 points! Ouch. Finally Onean shoots but misses.
Turn 4: Osstedd attacks and finishes the last snaca. Another win.
Get xp, rest and loot. Head east. I kind of want to leave and clear out those bandits but screw it. Get to a big columned room with a snaca wizard and gargoyle. Fight!
Turn 1: (yes, Onean failed her stalker roll). We win initiative at least. Anis disbelieves the gargoyle. Oh well, it’s real. The rest of the party moves up, including Onean who wants to get a clear shot at the wizard who’s hiding behind a column. The snaca summon another gargoyle while the other one charges in and tries to take down Osstedd. Osstedd snarls and counterattacks, wanting the extra damage. He also skills for damage. He misses by one. Oh well, they go down in a pile.
Turn 2: Anis moves up and disbelieves the new gargoyle. She loses the roll. Onean runs up past the fight. Osstedd reacted so he’s done. Siphus moves up and skills for damage and attacks the gargoyle on Osstedd. He hits, rolling 5 damage. Ragnar! does the same but rolls 9 damage. The snaca summons a real gargoyle this time (I know the tactics say he makes an illusion but I think summoning a real one makes sense. The illusion charges Onean who defends the takedown attempt. The gargoyle fighting Osstedd does 11 damage to him. Ouch.
Turn 3: Anis moves up and tries to disbelieve the new gargoyle. Of course, this one is real so it fails. Ragnar! skills to hit and does, dealing a couple points. Siphus skills for damage as they need to kill it quick before it kills Osstedd. He hits and rolls 3, leaving it with 1 health. Crap. Osstedd grapples and tries to escape. He fails. On the gargoyle’s turn Osstedd rolls an 11 but the gargoyle beats him with a 16 and does another 11 points. Double crap. The illusion attacks Onean again who avoids it. The summoned one flies over to Siphus and tries to take him down but he defends. The snaca wizards summon fire around itself.
Turn 4: Anis misses the wounded gargoyle with a magic fist as does Ragnar!.
Hmm, I’m looking at the takedown rules and I really don’t like them. All the attacker has to do is enter the defender’s space. If the defender doesn’t react the takedown is automatically successful?? There’s no “to hit” roll? It seems overpowered when the defender uses up their action to defend and you just keep trying over and over again to take them down until successful and they can’t fight back. It’s broken, no doubt. There must be a to hit roll so the defender isn’t constantly out of actions automatically.
So back to the action, Onean runs around a gargoyle finally getting line of sight on the snaca (I’m giving her back her action since the gargoyle missed last turn). The Snaca wizard summons fire in Onean’s hex dealing a couple points of damage. The gargoyle illusion flies back towards him and tries to take her down but misses. The original one tries to takedown Ragnar! who counterattacks doing 10 damage with the extra damage die. Whew! One down. The summoned gargoyle moves into Siphus’ hex to take him down but rolls a 13 and misses.
Turn 5: Anis needs better spells to deal with this. She gives some Drang (from the Sorceror’s Manor) to Osstedd, healing him 8 points. Ragnar! moves up and swings at the summoned gargoyle and hits, dealing 4 points. Siphus back up a hex and attacks it as well but misses. Onean can’t fire a bow while being attacked by a gargoyle so she runs closes to the snaca while keeping a pillar between them. The illusion tries to take her down again but misses. The summoned gargoyle tries to take down Siphus but misses. The snaca wizard hides behind the pillar as it knows Onean is close.
Turn 6: Onean switches weapons, drawing a short sword. Ragnar! does another 4 points to the summoned gargoyle as does Siphus. Anis gives Osstedd some Mashu healing him a few more points, bringing him up to 1 health. He groans and stands up while re-equipping himself. The summoned gargoyle attacks Siphus who is finally forced to defend but gets taken down. The illusion does the same to Onean. Hmm, not looking good.
Turn 7: Osstedd swings at the summoned gargoyle, skilling to hit but he misses. Anis casts heal wounds on Osstedd for 6. He feels much better. Ragnar! attacks the gargoyle but misses. Siphus tries to escape but fails. Same with Onean. The gargoyle tries to break Siphus but he wins the ST check doing 2 fatigue damage (choking it?). Meanwhile Onean’s gargoyle win the ST check with an 18!! Crap. Only rolls 3 for damage though.
Turn 8: Anis readies some more healing stuff. Osstedd nicks the gargoyle on Siphus. Ragnar! hits it exactly (that vitality potion finally paid off). He does 2 points though, rolling crap. Siphus tries to escape but fails. The gargoyle beats him for 10 points. That hurt. Back over to Onean, who’s feeling very alone, she tries to escape but fails. Her gargoyle does 6 damage, dropping her.
Turn 9: Osstedd kills the summoned gargoyle (finally!). Siphus stands up and reequips. Ragnar! moves forward, bellowing a challenge. Anis readies a spellbook, leaving the healing potion on the ground for Siphus. The snaca summons another illusion of a gargoyle. The first illusion charges Ragnar! and misses. His counterattack does 10 points.
Turn 10: Upon seeing yet another gargoyle Anis knows it can’t be real and tries to unknot the forces around it by disbelieving it. She fails. Siphus takes the last dose of Mashu. Osstedd moves up and attacks a gargoyle, hitting it for five. The gargoyle lunges at Ragnar! again who drops it with a solid blow. The other gargoyle flies at Osstedd (who is half a hex closer) and tries to take him down but misses. Osstedd counterattacks dealing 11 damage.
Turn 11: Anis holds off on summoning a wolf out of the book. Siphus moves up. Both Osstedd and Ragnar! counterattacked so it’s on to the gargoyle who attacks Osstedd again and hits. Osstedd counter attacks dealing 7 damage but is taken down. The wizard moves out from behind the pillar.
Turn 12: Seeing the wizard, Siphus throws his spear at him but misses by one. Ragnar! hits the last gargoyle illusion and it poofs. Osstedd stands up and grabs his weapons. The snaca wizard throws a 3 hex fire on all the fighters doing 2 points to each of them. He hasn’t missed a spell yet. Anis moves up.
Turn 13: Ragnar! charges forward. The vitality potion actually gives him one more MA. He attacks and hits for 6 points, dropping the snaca wizard.
WHEW! That was a tough fight. Not sure if I’m playing the takedown rules as written but they don’t make sense to me otherwise. Get xp, rest and loot. Make IQ roll again and find a powerstone. Heal Onean. Use the last dose of Drang on her but she fails her ST roll so there’s no effect. Use the last of the greensalve so at least she’s conscious. Most of the party is wounded, Ragnar! has 2 damage, Onean still has 9, Siphus has 9 and Osstedd has 7. Anis is unwounded but her staff is depleted and she’s used 7 fatigue. Oh yeah, completely out of healing. Could try heading out west but the first snaca room will have regenerated. Might have one more fight in the party. Then I could pay off the bandits on the way down and make it back to Thunder Keep and reequip. Sounds like a plan. Head back west and fight some more snaca.
Not going into detail on this fight. The party won, Ragnar! was the only one to take damage which was pretty convenient. Continue west, making my IQ roll versus the miners again so I avoid a fight. Get back to the goblin camp and rest up.
Next day Anis heals people, depleting both her staff and the powerstone. Still lots of wounds left. I still have food left so the party stays another couple days to spend xp again and heal fully. Siphus buys his DX up while Anis learns summon wolf from the book at the cheaper xp cost. Onean buys her IQ up to 9.
So time to clear out those bandits down below. Head south along the ridge. Don’t think I’ve been here before actually. Check out a cave. Woah, giant bats. Get a plotword. Take the north tunnel. Hmm, a dining room. Hope there’s food because I’m out. Search the room and take stuff. Continue north and encounter some orcs. Note: The orc fighters don’t have the armour penalty noted on their DX though the archer does.
Turn 0: Onean fires at the orc archer. At least something different to fire at! Does a single point.
Turn 1: Win initiative. Onean misses. Anis summons a wolf. The others charge forward. Their archer nicks Anis for a point. Their fighters move up and gang up on Osstedd. The first one misses and takes 10 damage from a devastating counterstrike. The other misses as well.
Turn 2: Onean moves up. The wolf takes down the archer. Siphus attacks an orc but misses. Ragnar! attacks the same (unwounded) orc. Both orcs passed on counterattacking in an effort to gang up on Osstedd. They both attack, the unwounded one going first. He hits for 6 damage. Osstedd attacks back and does 6 damage back. The other one attack but misses.
Turn 3: Onean moves up more, flanking the orcs. Ragnar! attacks and wounds one further. Siphus misses it. The wolf loses the ST check and takes some damage. The orc escapes on his turn. Meanwhile an orc attacks Osstedd hitting for 5. Osstedd’s counter blow drops him. The other one attacks and in turn drops Osstedd.
Turn 4: The Onean fires at the archer who just escaped combat but misses. The wolf jumps on him and take him down again. Ragnar! and Siphus both miss but at least the orc does as well. The archer tries to escape the wolf but can’t.
Turn 5: The wolf and the archer fight. Hmm, is wolf bite damage considered unarmed in grappling? If so it ignores armour right? Doesn’t quite seem right. I’ll allow the armour for now. The orc takes a point. Meanwhile Onean shoots at the orc fighter and drops him. Both Ragnar! and Siphus attack the orc archer on the ground and finish him.
Get xp and rest and loot up. Luckily we find a healing potion, reinvigorating Osstedd. He’s only got one health so I’ll keep him out of future fights. He’ll equip a bow for now. Head north some more but turn around before I get to the end. Go back to the dining room and head west. It’s a batknight! Wow, he’s strong. Time to fight.
Turn 0: Onean makes her stalker roll and nicks him.
Turn 1: We win initiative! Anis summon a wolf again. Onean lands another arrow. Osstedd fires and misses. The rest move up. The batknight laughs with maniacal glee and wades into battle. He attacks Siphus and hits but Siphus defends and backs away.
Turn 2: The wolf charges and tries to take down the batknight who counterattacks for 8 damage. At least he goes down. With the bonus damage dies he had a good shot at taking out the wolf in one hit but he rolled an 8 on three dice for 7 damage. Ragnar! looks down at the batknight and says “Who’s laughing now?” as he jabs for 10 damage on boxcars. Onean switches weapons while Anis and Osstedd stay back.
Turn 3: The wolf and knight tear at each other but the batknight gets the advantage and starts to choke out the wolf, leaving it with 1 health. Ragnar! isn’t impressed drops the batknight with a solid blow.
Get xp and rest. Not much to loot really. Return to the dining room and head east. Talk to another batknight and an orc and get some information but must fight right after. No stalker roll this time as we talked.
Turn 1: We win initiative. Anis summons a wolf again. Onean shoots at the orc, skilling for damage. She misses by one. Osstedd hits the batknight but does no damage with his little dinky bow. Siphus and Ragnar! move up. The batknight and orc both engage Ragnar!. The batknight swings first and hits but his blow bounces off the shield. The orc follows up but misses. Ragnar! counterattacks the orc dealing 5 damage.
Turn 2: Siphus misses the orc who ignores him. The wolf charges in and jumps in on the batknight who counterattacks hitting with an 11 (barely, with the swords magic bonus). Wow, trip 6s for damage kills the wolf. Anis summons another one. Onean and Osstedd move up to flank the fight. The orc attacks Ragnar! again, getting one point through. Ragnar! counters and nicks him back.
Turn 3: Another wolf charges in and makes its roll. Again the batknight counterattacks but misses with a 13. They go down. Onean shoots at the orc dealing a point. Osstedd fires as well and hits and rolls a 6 for damage dropping the orc exactly. Hm, think I forgot Siphus last turn. He attacks the batknight on the ground now. He misses. Ragnar! attacks as well but he hits, for 7 damage.
Turn 4: The wolf tries to gnaw on the batknight but he gets the upper hand the deals 3 damage to the wolf. Meanwhile Siphus and Ragnar! jab at him. Between them they drop him.
Wolves are pretty awesome. Anyway, get xp, rest and loot. Get another plotword as well. Back to the dining area. Time to go home, this time for sure. Go south. Back in the bat room. Didn’t notice before that I could attack the bats. I do so now. It’s never too late for carnage!
Turn 0: Onean shoots but misses.
Turn 1: Lose initiative. I roll randomly to see who the bats attack and they both attack Siphus! The first one hits. Siphus tries to defend but fails. He takes zero damage though. The other one does 5 damage though. Anis summons a wolf. Onean and Osstedd both fire at the same one. Onean fires but Osstedd hits for 4 damage. He’s getting the hang of this bow! Ragnar! moves up and attacks the wounded bat dealing 10 damage.
Turn 2: One bat continues attacking Siphus. He takes another 5 damage. He counters dealing 7 damage. The other bat turns on Ragnar! and hits for zero damage. Ragnar! counters and misses. The wolf charges in on Siphus and just bites for damage. It deals 4 points. Anis magic fists that one as well and does 3 more damage. Osstedd and Onean continue firing on the other one, Onean hitting for 6 damage.
Turn 3: The bats continue attacking. The one on Siphus fails an IQ check so I roll randomly between Siphus and the wolf to see who it attacks. It turns on the wolf that bit it. Good think for Siphus, he’s pretty hurt. It misses anyway. The other one continues attacking Ragnar! and hits for two damage. Ragnar! counter attacks and finishes it off. The wolf attacks but misses. Siphus backs away. The archers turn their fire onto the other bat. Onean misses while Osstedd’s shot is stopped by the bat’s hide.
Turn 4: The bat continues attacking the wolf. It does two damage. The wolf counters but misses. Ragnar! steps up and swings. He misses. The archers fire. Onean hits for 7. Siphus throws his spear and drops the bat. He should have done that last turn.
Get xp, rest and loot. Yaay, another healing potion. Hmm, also forgot there’s a passage east. Guess I’m not going yet. Anis heals Siphus a bunch, depleting her staff and powerstone. Go east. Talk to a dying dwarf and get a pebble from him. That was easy. Go back west then leave the cave going south.
Note: On paragraph 37 there is no entry allowing you to leave the cave by going to 40. Shouldn’t there be? I’m assuming yes. Also on paragraph 40 shouldn’t there be an option to climb down the mountain? I think this is where I would have come up if I had made my climbing roll before.
Anyway, go up the ridge and back down by the mountain troll cave. Getting hungry. Get asked for a toll again. No way this time, attack the bandit.
Turn 0: Onean fires at an archer. Hits for 4 damage.
Turn 1: Win initiative (2 to 1 haha). Onean fires at the same archer and drops him. Good jorb! Ragnar! rushes in and wounds the armoured bandit. The counterattack misses. Siphus has enough movement to engage another archer. He attacks but the archer defends and backs up. Anis summons a wolf and Osstedd fires part Ragnar! at his opponent. He misses both of them. The last enemy archer fires at Onean and hits but does no damage.
Turn 2: Onean fires back, doing 4 damage. Siphus attacks and this time the archer fails his defend roll. He deals 7 damage. Ragnar! misses as does the counter attack. The wolf tears across the battlefield going to the far archer. Osstedd fires at the armoured bandit again but misses. Their archer fires at Onean again. He misses.
Turn 3: The wolf gets to the far archer and bites, wounding him. Onean fires at him as well and drops him. Ragnar! hits for 7 damage. The counterswing misses again. Siphus misses. The last archer turns and runs, circling around Siphus who has driven him away from the exit hexes. Siphus gets a reaction strike and drops him. No escape for you!
Turn 4: Ragnar! swings again. He hits and drops the last bandit. Yay.
Get xp, rest and loot. Continue south. More bandits. Attack them. Yawn.
Turn 0: Onean fires at the trog, skilling for damage. She hits but rolls minimum damage for 4.
Turn 1: We win initiative. Onean fires at the trog again. She hits for 8 damage. Osstedd fires at it also, doing 1 point. Siphus throws his spear at it, trying to finish it off. He hits and drops it finally. Ragnar! charges the orc and skills for damage. He rolls 8 for 10 damage. Ha! The counterattack does 4 damage back. The orc laughs back. The human bandit runs forward.
Turn 2: Anis throws a 2 ST magic fist at the human bandit. She rolls no damage. Onean fires at him and hits for 8 damage. Ragnar! misses but the counter attack does 2 damage. Ragnar! isn’t laughing anymore. Siphus draws a short sword. Osstedd fires at the charging human but misses. The human bandit reaches Siphus and attacks, hitting for 6 points. This is getting close. Siphus counterattacks, hitting with the unfamiliar short sword but only doing 1 single damage.
Turn 3: Onean fires at the human, only does 1 damage again though. Osstedd draws his sword. Anis readies her staff. Ragnar! attacks the orc but misses. The counter attack is stopped by his shield (barely). The human bandit attack Siphus who fails at defending. 6 damage drops Siphus.
Both the stupid bandits are at 2 health but I can’t drop them lol.
Turn 4: Onean fires again at the same bandit, barely hitting even with her bonus. She drops the human. Anis readies a healing potion. Ragnar! drops the other bandit. That was getting close. It takes my only potion and the last of Anis’ fatigue to heal Siphus back up so he can move.
Note: The paragraph entry 47 says going south is paragraph 50. It should say 10.
Arrive back in Thunder Keep, tired, sore and famished. Time for the party (and me) to sleep. I’ll post this now and edit it later if anything doesn’t make sense.
