Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Fantasy Trip, 2nd Outing

The characters are Runt Gubbler, the intelligent Goblin Mage with a ST 6, Crut the half-Elf rogue with acrobatics who has his own theme song, Threndir the Elven Archer who seems to have a hard time hitting anything, and Cheeli the Dwarf Tank who has an even harder time hitting anything despite the +5 DX enchanted hammer he has, thanks to Runt.

Our last game took most of the session working up the characters, but they did manage to get to where the missing dogs were (along with one hunting bobcat like animal with a mohawk. Hey, I used LEGO animals for the dogs and the cat just showed up :) ).  They decided to return to Hamor with the dogs, so Threndir, who has the animal skill, managed to befriend most of the dogs. As they were semi or fully trained hunting dogs, they tended to follow the lead well enough. The large cat, not so much but they did notice it stalking them as they marched back to the village.

Once there, young Jon was enthusiastic about Old Blue returning home, and they all got paid their 2 silvers plus the meal and a night at the Badger's Lodge (yay, the Inn now has a name!). The inn keep, who also has a name but I don't have those notes handy, just had regular food: the ambrosia mushroom was finished the other day, and that party had left the previous morning. A good night's sleep and they had various breakfasts, from a plate of bacon bigger than the Dwarf's head to the bowl of porridge for the Elf. With their new-found wealth, the went to the small trading store nearby (Hamor is slowly getting larger, I'll have to make some maps!) Looking up the prices of armor it turns out the adventurer's did not get paid as much as they thought things may be worth. They did stock up on travelling food: the goblin store keep even had a loaf of Dwarven bread - he and Cheeli bartered quite a bit as Cheedi is the town's smith. Had no taste and almost broke a tooth - he was getting closer to true Dwarf bread (which can also be used as a weapon. Why yes, I do enjoy Terry Pratchart)

Threndir noticed the hunting cat hanging out in the woods, watching the township. Taking some bacon, he went to make friends with the large feline. The big cat ate the bacon, and Threndir sat down only to get his thighs kneaded with some very large and sharp claws. Returning to the group, they managed to find their way back to the guard's watch post in the clearing, despite Cheeli's most definite memory of turning the other way at that fork in the path. No one noticed the big cat following along.

Entering the 2 story and slowly collapsing building, they spread out, Cheeli searching the kitchen area, Runt hanging back at the door, and Threndir and Crut looking up the staircase. They only noticed the giant spider when it jumped and attacked Crut!

A short battle waged, Run watching as he had not recovered all the mana for his staff and so did not have much in the way of power reserves. Crut stabbed the beast several times, and Threndir managed to put a few arrows into it. Crut did get bit, but made his roll against poison. They finally kill the eight legged monster. After some discussion about figuring out how to get the poison from the spider to Threndir's arrows, they decided it may not be worth the risk of an accidental scrape from a poisoned arrow.  The did find a chest with spiders engraved on the outside. Managing to get it open they found several flat rocks with spiders engraved on them. The chest was too big to carry readily, but a bag worked for carrying the rocks (Dwarves are great at being tanks and carrying everything!)

They also found a trap door. Crut tried to check for a trapped trap door but failed, Thinking it safe, he then proceeded to open the door only to spring the large arrow trap! Fortunately with his acrobatics roll he managed to make that save, otherwise it probably would have killed him (3D6, and he only has ST 10). With a large arrow stuck in the wall, they descend the 3 hexes worth of steps to the dungeon. They did noticed that there were a lot of eyes painted everywhere.

Below, there were 2 Goblins in what appeared to be a sitting room of sorts, with Goblin size chairs and a table. One Goblin had a sling, the other a horse bow. Cheeli of course charged, letting the Goblin get a final shot in. The others spread out a bit in the small room and the fight was on. Cheeli it turns out tends to kill Goblins with a single blow, he may want to call his hammer Goblin Squasher although as Runt the Goblin Mage is the one who enchanted the weapon, perhaps not. The other Goblin slings a rock at Cheeli but it bounces off his armor. The group turns on the poor Keen, who in his fear has managed to now require a fresh pair of pants. With much threatening, they find that there is a trap in the middle of the next passageway, and that the master will not be happy. And that there are more Goblins further in. Having Keen lead, the troupe make there way to the next chamber which appears to be a Goblin barrack, with several Goblins ready to attack, and three Goblins managing to still sleep.

This next battle proved how dangerous combat can be: Runt managed to cast a lightening spell that frizzled one Goblin's hair but did not kill him. Getting hit in the head with a rock from a sling almost took poor Runt out, so he cast staff to snake and hid back in the passageway. Meanwhile, Crut also got stabbed a few times and decided that perhaps a withdrawal was a better choice. Cheeli was nigh invulnerable between his plate armor and toughness. But he also has a very difficult time actually hitting anything despite the hammer giving him a boost. And one attack, with a dagger that normally should not be able to hurt him, actually rolled a 4 for double damage, so 2 hits got through.

The staff turned snake kept biting at the remaining Goblin while Cheeli kept swinging away. After a messy battle, they regrouped, badly injured. However, a true random roll on the random treasure tables found 6 healing potions. There was discussion prior to this about going back to Hamor to rest up. I did mention that wherever the Goblins were coming from, as the place was actually pretty well furnished, there could be as many or more next time around, this time more prepared for a group of adventurers. So, while two kept guard and the magic users rested half an hour, and potions were drunk, they were somewhat restored and ready for the next round.Which will be the next session.

Some really fun points: Crut apparently has a theme song, and that acrobatic skill was very handy: the 1st trap had a 3d arrow which would likely kill him had he not dodged. Runt has been acting pretty true to character, hanging back and doing the minimal amount necessary to survive. They have managed to find a few gold pieces as well as the timely healing potions, and now realize that combat is dangerous. We also discussed experience points a bit and I don't give them out mid-session: had they left after this combat, I would have given it to them but the dungeon would be restocked with more difficult foes. But I will be giving out some extra to some of the characters as they are playing well in character. Probably enough to let them add another attribute, but they first have to survive!

And this is where all those Goblins in the Bones Kickstarter would have been handy, but I used the tokens from Tollekin's set I think and it was good enough.

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