Continuing on with our wounded Taran, we camped a couple of days in the woods. Arashina kept us well fed while Taran rested a bit, healing some from his wounds. Pressing on, we headed to the Nunnery of Holy Sisters, known for their healing potions. We camped again a couple of nights, letting Taran recover a bit more of his vigor. Finally, on our 7th day, we came into site of the nunnery, but it was under siege by a party of Orcs. The brave Sister Masrak, seeing us, cried out that her prayers had been answered. As Sir Rostam and Taran rush to the Sister's aid, Arashina takes a step forward and readies her bow.
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| The Battle of Bonesetter, err, the Nunnery of the Holy Sisters |
Round 1 Arashina's arrow flies true, and while the leather armor the Orc wears help, he still feels the prick of the barb. Sister Masrak, wielding her mace, slams the Orc facing her, doing 8 points of damage. Despite his hurt, he hits back and deals 2 points of damage to the armored sister. The other 2 Orcs miss Sir Rostam and Masrak, while the one hit by Arashina starts moving to her at a run. Taran and Sir Rostam cannot attack this round.
Round 2 The Orc rushes up to Arashina, and Taran moves around to the side of the second Orc. Arashina gets last shot off, hitting the Orc for another point of damage. Taran somehow misses, while Masrak finishes off one of the 2 Orcs facing her. The second Orc misses Sir Rostam, and the 3rd lands a blow on Sister Masrak.
Round 3 Arashina switches to her saber and cannot attack this round. Taran misses, still weak from his earlier fights (yeah, I think technically he does not have the strength to wield that battle ax. but that is one of the rules I tend to not entirely hew to. I figure a lot of that is technique, and not just raw strength. But I will try & read up on that rule to see if it really is a rule). Sir Rostam, true to himself, misses yet again. Unfortunately, the Orc he missed did not miss him, and a point of damage got through his shield and armor. The 3rd Orc missed attacking Sister Masrak.
Round 4 Taran moves behind Orc number 3 who is still attacking Sister Masrak. Arashina swings her saber and deals 6 points of damage to Orc 4, whose leather takes a bit of the damage. Taran, having a good advantage by attacking from the rear, hits and kills the 3rd Orc, dealing 10 points of damage. Masrak hits the Orc fighting her, still not killing the snarling creature. Who in turn, though, does hit and wound her more. Finally, the Orc facing Arashina swings and misses.
Round 5 Arahina finishes off the Orc facing her, while Taran misses the final Orc. Sister Masrak does not miss, but his armor absorbs most of the blow. Somehow, finally, Sir Rostam actually hits something, and kills off the final Orc.
There was much rejoicing, and one of the sisters, being a master physiker, healed up that battle damage as our group did not actually get too hurt this time around. They also offered 5 healing potions, which Taran took, bringing him back to 11 points of strength. Resting two more days, he is back to 12 strength and they are ready to resume their journey.
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| Sister Masrak in front of the Nunnery, mace in hand |
There were some story elements in here, and I won't ruin it in case anyone else runs this game. But I have picked up some more plot words. Plot words are a way of dynamically creating different paths at the same story point. For instance, as we did not have the plot word LATE Sister Masrak was at 7 strength versus the 4 she would have been. And a good thing - she would have died if she only had 4 as she took the most damage of anyone there. Other than the 4 dead Orcs.
I am not including a lot of the story exactly, other than embellishing the battles. There is some dialog, and some interesting story points that we've uncovered. In fact, here are the plot words we have so far:
Trust, Letter, Masrak, Tale, Nun
The tale belongs to Lady Shirin, the bride to be who has learned a few things she did not know about her sister. There are some other plot lines in here, besides us trying to get to the seaboard in 21 days. And as we are at day 9, we're not making good progress. We'll no longer allow Taran to rest up and hope for the best.
And I think I am getting a bit more into the story, which does make this choose-your-own adventure a bit more appealing. And this would also be a game you could run as a regular game, though I would have an overland map! Maybe I'll make one tomorrow, though it will change as I play. I really should have taken better notes (I only noted the fights mostly, but I can recreate the journey as I can start where I was and make the same choices to get info on what we're seeing).
And for those who are celebrating Labor Day - I hope you have a wonderful day! Though I've never been in a union, it was the trades and unions that wanted to celebrate American labor and how it built this country. Per Wikipedia:
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. The three-day weekend it falls on is called Labor Day Weekend.
Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. "Labor Day" was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty states in the U.S. officially celebrated Labor Day.
For all of you who actually work and build things, thank you! I write computer code so nothing I build is real sadly. And while I enjoy that (and have for 36 years of professional, well, at least paid, software development) sometimes I wish I had picked a career where I actually did something tangible. But then again, if I did that I could not work from home and have a cat on me during the day!
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| June Bug, a stray we foster-failed at. The older boys seem to finally accept her. And the dog was raised by cats so knows how to deal with her. |
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