DwD Studios
Playtest: Maidens of Moordoth (some spoilers)
Sat, 12/15/2012 - 8:55pm | 
mikeawmids
I recently ran a playtest of the introductory adventure and here are my notes.... hopefully, I can finish the adventure in the near future. Really fun system! :D
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MAIDENS OF MOORDOTH
Section One / Encounter One: The Haunting
“As you eat your dinner in this small inn a sudden feeling of sorrow grips you. A silence falls on the room as the wispy images of six maidens (their bodies appearing to drip of toxic corruption) manifest in the air above the table of Elwin, one of the village elders.
The women speak in unison: “The hills stir, Moordoth, and soon you will feel the wrath of its denizens!”
Elwin leaps back in terror as the maidens fade away.”
Elwin the Elder offers the party a reward of two hundred gold pieces, if they put the ghostly maidens to their eternal rest before they deliver on their ominous threat…. Simon Bright immediately accepts the quest, Reuben Rumhammer soon follows suit, as he is keen to explore the old barrows for ancient treasures buried with the hill’s occupants. Keyes Grandeur and the wizard Zacharus press for more money. Elder Elwin cannot be convinced to raise the reward, but does promise free drinks at the tavern upon the completion of their quest – Keyes is happy with this outcome, Zacharus less so.
Section Two / Encounter One: An Unfortunate Victim
The heroes leave Moordoth the next morning and head for the barrow hill, a journey of at least two days through wild, uncultivated land. Grey clouds roll in and it soon begins to rain. Thunder can be heard in the distance and the party quicken their pace, hoping to find somewhere to shelter before they are caught in the storm. Turning a bend in the road, the party come across a group of four foul smelling beggars dressed in filthy rags crouched over something in the road. It is a body – and the loathsome wretches appear to be gorging themselves upon the corpse! As soon as these cannibal ghouls spot the party, they attack ferociously!
Keyes Grandeur rolls under his Leader skill and chooses to grant his allies a bonus Initiative dice in the first round of combat. Zacharus calls down lightning upon the cluster of ghouls (offensive strike), but the bolts of eldritch energy fail to strike even one of the gore-streaked fiends. Keyes charges forward (+10) and swings his two-handed great sword at the closest ghoul (which fails its DEX check to dodge) – severing it in half at the waist! Reuben takes a step forward and levels his crossbow, shooting at a ghoul – which rolls 001 on its Resistance check, quickly shuffling out of danger as the crossbolt whistles past. I ruled that reloading a crossbow counts as an action, but a bow can be fired multiple times without penalty. Two ghouls surround Keyes, the other two sprint towards the rest of the party, who are still some way down the road. One of the ghoul rakes Keyes’ chainmail vest, but fails to penetrate his DR (5), I ruled that if the ghouls did not get through the armor, their Death’s Touch ability had no effect, as it would not have broken the skin. Keyes feels something grasping his ankle – the upper half of the ghoul he cut in twain is trying to bite him! Simon Bright deflects a ghoul’s attack with his shield then counterattacks. Keyes stamps on the skull of the ghoul clawing at his trousers, which burst apart beneath his boot with a satisfying squelch. Reuben switches from his crossbow to his trusty axe in preparation for the next combat round. The ghoul still bothering Keyes rolls a CRITICAL FAILURE (99) on its attack roll – creating an opening for Keyes to make an immediate attack at no penalty. Keyes rolls bang on his Melee skill (54) and runs the ghoul through its scrawny chest! Simon continues to batter away at his smelly foe, but fails to land a solid blow.
Round Two! Having defeated the two ghouls surrounding him, Keyes wanders back to help his fellows. He comes up behind the ghoul bothering Reuben and chops its leering head off, which bounces off into the long grass beside the trail. Reuben turns to help Simon and buries his axe in the side of the final ghoul’s head.
VICTORY!
As Reuben has taken a level in the Scholar skill, I had him make a roll. As he succeeded, I told him that he had encountered similar creatures before while looting a dusty tomb and that anyone slain by them will rise as a ghoul themselves. The party gingerly gather up all of the bloody body party and burn them with the corpse of their victim. Simon disapproves of looting the unfortunate traveler’s corpse, but the others talk him round on the grounds that they try to find his next of kin upon their return to Moordoth and return the dead man’s belongings to his family. They plunder;
• A belt with a silver buckle worth twenty gold
• A wedding ring worth fifty gold
• An ornate long sword (which he never had a chance to draw before the ghouls were upon him) worth one hundred gold
Section Two / Encounter Two: The Dead May Rise
Later that same day, the party spots a wagon lying on its side across the road. Foodstuffs are strewn across the ground, as well as several dead bodies. The party approach warily. They deduce that these unfortunate folk were on route to the market in Moordoth when they were waylaid by the same group of ghouls that the party destroyed that morning. Having already established that those slain by the ghouls soon rise again to feast on the flesh of the living, the party break up the wagon and set about kindling another fire in which to burn the bodies.
Since the wagon tracks follow the same route that the PC’s are taking, Simon presses them into following them to see if there are any more members of the family in need of their help. After all, there may be other groups of ghouls roaming the countryside! A couple of hours later, the tracks turn off the road and lead towards a lonely farmhouse and a couple of overgrown fields. The house is in a state of disarray and there are signs of recent violence. The heroes hear a noise from upstairs and cautiously investigate…. Suddenly, a door flies open and a ghoulish housewife runs screaming at the party – who are surprised. Keyes was leading the party and Zacharus was trailing along at the back, I rolled randomly to see which side she attacked from – at it was the rear! She sinks her teeth into the wizard’s neck and inflicts 8 points of damage (BP 25 down to 17) and Zacharus is paralyzed. Keyes can’t do much of anything as the fight is taking place in a narrow passage and he is at the wrong end of the line. Reuben fires a crossbow (risky in the close confines of the house) and punches a hole through an interior wall. Simon Bright caves in the ghoul’s skull with his mace and she collapses, twisted limbs twitching. Continuing their search, the party find one survivor, the farmer’s teenage daughter, who hid from the ghouls while her mother (whose head Simon has just smashed open) held them off long enough for her to get away. She is distraught to learn of her family’s gristly fate and the group soon realizes they have no choice but to take her with them. They learn that her name is Erin. After fortifying the farmhouse and burning the dead ghoul, the party spend the night there before forging on the next morning. Simon casts Heal on Zacharus to bring the wizard back up to full health.
Section Two / Encounter Three: The Stampede
Setting off the next morning, the rain has stopped but the sky is still grey and cheerless. Simon tries to cheer Erin up, while the others keep an eye open for more wandering monsters. Before noon, they hear a continuous rumbling noise that steadily grows closer. A herd of over one hundred wild horses come stampeding over a nearby hill, bearing down upon the group! The heroes dive for cover! Reuben and Zacharus get out of harms way with moments to spare. Erin freezes up with fear and Simon must scramble back out to pull her to safety, as a result he is himself caught in the stampede and takes 12 damage (BP 32 > 20). Keyes rolls a CRITCAL SUCCESS (000), not only does he avoid taking any damage, he manages to vault up onto the back of a passing horse and bring it under control!
As the party pick themselves up and Erin gushes over Simon for saving her life, the cause of the stampede makes itself known – a lone goblin lumbering along in the wake of the horses, hoping to catch one for its dinner. Spotting the heroes, the goblin decides that manflesh is on the menu!
Despite his wounds, Simon draws his weapons and moves to stand between Erin and the ravenous goblin. The goblin tries to lunge around him at the young girl, but Simon brings his mace around and knocks the goblin clean off his feet. The creature does not get back up – Simon does not know his own strength! Erin is suitably impressed with his heroics. Grumpy old Zacharus tells them to get a room. Simon casts Heal on himself but only recovers 4 BP (20 > 24). Simon, Reuben and Zacharus all try to catch themselves a mount as Keyes has managed to do, but none of them have any levels in Scout and they are stuck walking as Keyes trots on ahead, feeling pretty smug.
Section Two / Encounter Four: Ghoul in a Cage
Some time later, the party encounter a grim looking man driving a wagon in the opposite direction. On the back of his cart is a cage, inside of which a ghoul is thrashing about and gibbering incoherently. The creature is wearing a tattered dress. The party enquire as to why this particular ghoul is so fashionably attired. The man introduces himself as Mikel Irons and tells them that the ghoul in the cage was once his wife, but she was killed in an attack upon their village and he holds the elders of Moordoth responsible. He is off to confront the elders and release his undead monster wife on them. The party have yet to be paid by Elder Elwin and try to discourage Mikel from this course of action. They ask why he thinks the elders of Moordoth are responsible for the ghoul attacks. Mikel explains that before her death, his wife was the village librarian and she uncovered some dark secret that the elders of Moordoth had tried to conceal. She would never speak of this secret to her husband, but he is certain it relates to the recent ghoul activity in the area. The party want to visit this library – but alas, it and most of Mikel’s village burnt to the ground during the ghoul raid. Simon tries to convince Mikel to let him put his wife’s soul to rest. Erin speaks up regarding her own sad story. Mikel breaks down and weeps as Simon completes the ritual blessings to help his wife’s peaceful transition into the afterlife. He still intends to confront the elders of Moordoth, but agrees to wait until the heroes return from the barrow hill (and get their money of Elwin) before he kills anyone. Simon sends Erin back to Moordoth with Mikel, promising that he will see her again soon.
Part Three: The Arrival
“You approach the place known as Maiden’s Rest. An opening exists, indicating where things have clawed their way out of the hill.
The spirits of six women tied to posts atop the hill suddenly manifest. They struggle against ropes which bind them and call out “No… nooooooo…” repeatedly. They don’t respond to you, and after another flash of lightning disappear, the thunder sounding eerily like the rumbling growl of a beast.”
The party light their torches and head into the dark crypt. The floor is smeared with blood, something has been dragged this way – and recently. They hear muffled screams from deeper inside the hill…. Reaching a junction, the party turn north and soon reach a door, the wood old and rotten. The screams are coming from a chamber to the west, the party poke their heads inside and see several stone coffins. Most are open, but one is still sealed and the screaming is originating from inside. Keyes bangs on the lid with his gauntleted fist and tries to communicate with whoever is trapped within, prompting more incoherent shrieks and the sound of nails scratching frantically at the stone interior of the sarcophagus. The party decide that it’s probably not a brilliant idea to let this particular jack out of the box and move on eastward.
The heroes enter a large tomb. Several large rats scamper away as they enter, but the hungry rodents don’t go far…. They soon return in force (7) and attack!
Zacharus casts Illusion to create the image of a large wedge of cheese in the middle of the room. Five of the seven rats are taken in by the deception and rush to devour the delicious morsel. Only two (Rat 2 and Rat 4) continue to menace the party. The illusion will last 4 rounds. Reuben fires his crossbow, but the rats are small and the crypt is dark and he misses his mark. Keyes does not even bother drawing his enormous sword, he just tries to stamp the rats underfoot. One of the nasty little creatures crawls up Simon’s trouser leg and sinks its teeth into his thigh. The young man drops his weapons and reaches into his trousers, trying to grab it. The others watch in uncomprehending horror as their comrade abandons the fight in order to pleasure himself. ‘Some sort of rodent fetish, maybe?’ they wonder. Zacharus tries to cast Offensive Strike and rolls a CRITICAL FAILURE (88). The magic goes wrong and he makes himself smell strongly of cheese. The other 5 rats immediately attack him and inflict 8 damage. Reuben and Keyes both try to trample some of the rats underfoot (with no success), Simon is still trying to pull the trouser invader out of his pants, it nips his fingers, inflicting a further 2 damage.
Zacharus casts Illusion again to make an even strong cheese stink come from the other side of the room. The 5 rats immediately rush over to investigate. The rat in Simon’s trousers chooses not to bite him this round. Reuben and Keyes both manage to stamp on a rat, their fragile skeletons breaking beneath the weight of the hero’s boots.
Zacharus incinerates two rats with blasts of magical fire and Rueben stamps on a third, crushing it underfoot. He gets bitten again, but Simon finally manages to grab the rat that crawled up his trousers. The rest of the party realize that he hadn’t been masturbating after all and are deeply relieved. Keyes boots the last remaining rat across the room, it bounces off the far way and lies still. Despite his bleeding legs and damaged reputation, Simon decides to let the trouser rat go. It glares at him balefully before melting into the shadows. Simon doesn’t know it yet, but he hasn’t seen the last of trouser rat….
Simon casts Heal twice (his limit for the day). He is back up to 17 BP and Zacharus is up to 20 BP. The adjacent chamber contains a load of broken pottery, the group have a cursory poke around and Reuben (rolling 000 on his Thief check) spots a secret door in the western wall. They get it open and find the room beyond contains;
• Two suits of red enameled plate armor (DR10)
Reuben is overjoyed as he realizes these suits are in pristine condition and will probably fetch up to nine hundred gold if sold to a collector. He is horrified beyond words when he sees Keyes stripping off his rusty old chainmail to see if it fits (which it does). At least he manages to convince Simon not to wear the other suit and agree to split the profit when they find a buyer. Simon puts on Keyes’ old chainmail vest.
Backtracking, the party take the east fork back at the first junction they came across and soon rach another door. Keyes moves forward to open it and a pit trap opens beneath his feet. Somehow, despite being surprised and wearing heavy, cumbersome platemail, he still manages to roll under his DEX and escape a nasty tumble down the hole. The room beyond contains nothing of worth and Keyes curses the architects for placing a trap to safeguard a completely useless room.
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This went well it sounds. I like your ruling on the critical spellcasting failure... making him smell like cheese is frickin' funny when facing rats haha. And the trouser rat? Priceless!
The next chamber along the passage appears to be some sort of trophy room. Glassy-eyed animal heads stare down at the party from their wall mountings, and one corner is dominated by the stuffed corpse of a huge bear. The party have a poke around. They are terribly surprised when the mounted animal heads begin to scream and thrash around – even more so when the huge ghoul bear hops down off its pedestal and lumbers into battle! (Used stats for horse-sized man-eater and added the special ghoul abilities).
Keyes again demonstrates his amazing acrobatic skills by avoiding the surprise attack, despite his heavy armor. Zacharus shoots a fireball at the ghoul bear but only singes it rotting hide. Reuben shoots at it, but the ghoulish carnivore avoids the shot. Keyes and Simon engage it in melee, it towers over them both but doesn’t manage to hit either hero with its devastating claw attack. Simon Bright rolls a CRITICAL SUCCESS (11) on his attack check and inflicts double damage (40) which is enough to kill the beast in a single blow! Simon’s mace seems to flare with holy light as the young cleric swings it at the unholy monster!
Continuing their exploration of this ghoul infested catacomb, the heroes enter a room over which four crystal statues stand sentinel. There ruby red eyes reflect the torchlight and Reuben (being a treasure hunter) immediately assesses their worth at twenty gold each. The dwarf does a bit of quick mental arithmetic and concludes that all 8 would net him a profit of one hundred and sixty gold pieces, which is not to be sneezed at. He isn’t tall enough to reach them himself, so he passes his crowbar up to Keyes, who sets to work. After forcing out the first of the precious stones, the other eyes lights up and the statue reaches out, grabbing Keyes wrist in an unbreakable grip! The other three statues also animate, hefting crystal spears and advancing on the opportunistic jewel thieves.
Reuben fires his crossbow at the nearest statue, but the bolt bounces harmlessly off its hard, crystal exterior. The dwarf quickly switches to his trusty axe. Simon Bright attacks another statue, inflicting 5 damage. I ruled that the DR(2) would be negated by bashing attacks, like the cleric’s mace. Being mindless constructs, the crystal statues did not try to block/dodge. Keyes tries to break free of the statues grip, but he is held tight. Since he cannot wield his huge sword with one hand, he is rather stumped. Having overheard my discussion with Simon’s player (re: bashing attacks negating DR), Zacharus opted against fireballs this combat and described his Offensive Strike as a cannonball being fired out of his long, droopy sleeve. He misses anyway, smashing a hole in the wall (into Area 10). Keyes and the crystal statue continue to fight over the ruby. The other three attack with their crystal spears. All three miss. Keyes punches the statue in its crystal face and inflicts damage on the statue and upon himself, as he hurts his own hand punching such a hard and unyielding surface. Simon deflects a jab with his shield and presses the attack.
Zacharus fires another magical cannonball across the room, utterly failing to hit anything except the opposite wall. Simon delivers a powerful blow that shatters a statue’s head into a thousand tiny fragments, but the headless body continues to menace him, the ceric narrowly dodges a blind jab of the sentinel’s spear. Keyes finally manages to pull away from the statue trying to snatch the ruby out of his other hand. One of the statues impales Zacharus on its spear! The wizards robes provide zero DR and he is reduced from 20 BP to 6 in a single blow! Across the room, Keyes tucks the ruby into his pocket and draws his monstrous great sword from the scabbard across his back. He hits it hard enough to fill the room with jagged splinters of crystal. One down, only three more to go! Despite his grievous wounds, Zacharus manages to cast Offensive Strike again (001 on his Spellcaster check, a success even with a -60 penalty), destroying one half of the statues body and halving its BP!
Zacharus raises his other sleeve and fires off another magic cannonball into the statues chest – utterly obliterating it. The wizard is thrown across the room the broken off end of the crystal spear still sticking out of his shoulder. Keyes and Reuben gang up on one of the remaining two statues and Simon finishes off the other. (They had an easier time than they should have done during this combat, as I cocked up the Leader’s Inspire ability and gave EVERYONE (including the Leader) +5 attack/damage, instead of only any adjacent allies).
The party (particularly Zacharus) have taken a beating, but Simon has used up all his Healing for the day. Peeking through the hole that Zacharus inadvertently blasted in the wall, they seem sort manner of shadowy altar room beyond. Leaving the wizard where he is for the time being (to carefully pick through the broken crystal for the seven valuable rubies), Keyes, Simon and Reuben clamber through the gap and explore. The room beyond is a lot like an underground chapel. A door behind the altar leads into a curious room decorated with stars. A book lies open on a shelf, but it is full of arcane gibberish that only Zacharus might have understood. There are also 4 bottle containing various potions, it is beyond the skill of the party to identify the contents, so they throw the lot into a bag and head back to show the wounded wizard the sinister tome. Zacharus rolls under his Spellcaster skill and identifies the ritual in the book. When the stars align, the occupants of the tomb are automatically reanimated as hungry ghouls and unleashed upon the unsuspecting countryside. Translating the arcane language takes a while, so the party move into the chapel and barricade the door before trying to get some sleep on the hard, wooden pews. Everyone recovers 2 BP overnight and in the morning, Simon heals Zacharus up to 19 BP.
Unblocking the door west, the party move deeper into the barrow hill. They’ve established why the hills are crawling with undead maniacs, but they still don’t know who orchestrated the ritual or why. As they continue along the dank passage, the air grows increasingly foul. They final room of the dungeon is occupied by 5 ghouls who are hungrily devouring the entrails of a very much deceased cow that they must have dragged into their lair.
Zacharus switches back to bog-standard fireballs for this fight, but his accuracy with them is little improved and he only succeeds in toasting the ghoul’s beef dinner. Keyes Grandeur holds his ground and waits for the ghouls to come to him, now that the GM knows his Leader abilities only affect adjacent allies. Reuben fires his crossbow – and misses. Again. It’s a marvel that he even bothers with it anymore. The ghouls surge across the treasure-strewn floor. One rolls a CRITICAL SUCCESS against Reuben, who takes significant damage and is immediately paralyzed! Another ghoul rakes its claws across the red enameled breastplate of Keyes’ new armor, but cannot penetrate the warrior’s new metal shell. Simon Bright holds off his own adversary. None of the ghouls can get at Zacharus yet, though now Reuben is down, there is a gap in the defense…. Simon caves in a ghoul’s head with his mace and moves to assist his dwarven friend. Zacharus blows a second ghoul apart with a blast of flame!
The wizard weakens another ghoul and Keyes finishes it off. Reuben recovers and picks himself up off the floor, he is still a little disorientated and his next attack is little clumsy. A ghoul tries to claw at the dwarf’s face, but Keyes intercepts the blow, which fails to beat his DR. The heroic warrior then lashes out with his great sword and hacks the fiend asunder. Bits of gore go everywhere! Simon clubs the last ghoul around the face.
VICTORY!
While the ghoul cow moos at them in an unsettling fashion, the party go about the business of looting the tomb. Reuben applies his Thief skills to picking the locks on several treasure chests, containing a total of 600 gold pieces. The rest of the party begin to understand why Reuben prefers looting tombs to honest work, it pays ever so much better! As the party are filling their pockets with gold, the spectral maidens that they first saw in Moordoth - then again outside the barrow – materialize before them. The heroes learn that the elders of Moordoth poisoned them, then sacrificed them to a terrible dragon in order to kill the treacherous lizard and prevent it from destroying the town. The ghosts will not rest easy until the truth has been revealed. Simon Bright swears to confront Elder Elwin and help bring peace to the troubled specters. The rest of the party don’t care, just so long as they get paid.
AFTERMATH
The party return to Moordoth, which takes another couple of days. Their return journey is untroubled. Mikel Irons and Erin have taken lodgings in the Inn. The heroes invite them to join them when they confront the town elders. Simon reveals Elder Elwin’s deplorable actions in front of the whole town. Elwin confesses to his crime, but insists it was done in the best interests of the town, the lesser of two evils. The townsfolk decide that Elwin must step down from his position, but need not leave the village where he has lived all his ling life. Simon convinces Mikel Irons that vengeance on this pitiable old man will not bring his wife back to life. Mikel adopts Erin and Simon returns with them to Erin’s family’s farm and helps the two of them rebuild and start afresh. Erin invites Simon to her bed, but the virtuous young man declines, as his own childhood sweetheart (one of Simon’s descriptors) is waiting for him back in his own village. Meanwhile, Keyes is enjoying the free drinks he was promised, while Zacharus pores over the spell book plundered from the barrow hill and Reuben tries to contact a buyer for the other tat that they managed to bring back from their adventure.
It sounds like you had fun with my story, I'm so happy to have seen that it brought people enjoyment! You did well with it overall. I'd play in a game you GM'd :-)
Yep, I've been writing an adventure called 'Trouble Brewing' and that will probably be what I inflict upon them next. It's been ages since I ran something I'd knocked together myself, but this system really got the old creative juices flowing. :D
Character Advancement
Simon Bright
Survival: 1
Ability: 1
Skill: 1
Discovery: 1 (dragons exist, but they can be killed and not just by mighty warriors)
Roleplaying: 2 (Virtuous Youth & Childhood Sweetheart)
Innovation: 1 (calming down Mikel Irons)
Notoriety: 1 (revealing the truth to the people of Moordoth)
Personal: 0
Victory: 1
Success: 1 (the standalone adventure was completed)
Total: 10DP
Simon takes a second level in Cleric and boosts various skills with the remaining 4 DP. He takes another Cleric power: Aid.
Reuben Rumhammer
Survival: 1
Ability: 1
Skill: 1
Discovery: 1 (people killed by ghouls rise as ghouls themselves)
Roleplaying: 1 (Treasure Hunter)
Innovation: 0
Notoriety: 1 (revealing the truth to the people of Moordoth)
Personal: 0
Victory: 1
Success: 1 (the standalone adventure was completed)
Total: 8DP
Reuben takes a level in Thief and Warrior (3DP each) and boosts his Strength and Logic.
Keyes Grandeur
Survival: 1
Ability: 1
Skill: 1
Discovery: 1 (platemail armor is a lot less cumbersome than it looks)
Roleplaying: 1 (Self Destructive Drunk)
Innovation: 0
Notoriety: 1 (revealing the truth to the people of Moordoth)
Personal: 0
Victory: 1
Success: 1 (the standalone adventure was completed)
Total: 8DP
Keyes takes levels in Warrior and Scout and boosts Strength and Dexterity.
Zacharus
Survival: 1
Ability: 1
Skill: 1
Discovery: 1 (pretty farmer’s daughters are easily impressed by blockheaded young clerics)
Roleplaying: 1 (Sour Tempered Old Man)
Innovation: 1 (Illusion spell to distract rats with magic cheese)
Notoriety: 1 (revealing the truth to the people of Moordoth)
Personal: 0
Victory: 1
Success: 1 (the standalone adventure was completed)
Total: 9DP
Zacharus takes level 2 Spellcaster and level 1 Enchanter. He learns two new spells: Charm and Summon.
Quick question on awarding DP in the Victory category: Is it supposed to be 1DP for each fight the character is in, or is it just one point for the whole session?
TROUBLE BREWING
Since this was the start of the campaign proper, the heroes have relocated to the border town of Tenkar, on the eastern edge of the Kingdom proper. Their little group has gained some small degree of notoriety after vanquishing the ghoulish Maidens of Moordoth. The town constable, Dardun Brunswick (a somewhat dour dwarven fellow) approaches the party and asks them to look into a recent increase in violent crime amongst Tenkar’s normally peaceful citizenry. Yes, the town is famous for its bustling taverns and foaming ale, but drunken bloodshed in the streets was practically unheard of – until now anyway….
Keyes and Zacharus hit the taverns on the loose pretense of gathering intel. In reality, they plan to continue drinking and gambling to excess, while Simon and Reuben get on with the actual work. Inadvertently, they discover that most of the violent activity in Tenkar kicks off in ‘The Stinking Elf’, which has recently been reopened by a new owner and given a new name, after the previous owner suddenly sold up and left town. The new owner is a mean tempered half-orc, but despite his surliness, his ale is the cheapest in Tenkar, which draws a certain class of people to his establishment like flies to a fresh turd. Keyes and Zacharus decide that this sounds like their kind pf place and they set off at once, collecting Simon and Reuben on route.
‘The Stinking Elf’ is a crowded, noisy tavern that stinks of sweaty men and spilled ale. Simon wastes no time and turns on his Detect Aura power. As expected, the leering half-orc behind the bar is oozing with evil. Surprisingly, so are the tankards of ale he is serving up to his customers. Simon warns the others not to drink the accursed stuff – but Keyes is already on his second tankard. Simon tells him he is drinking liquid evil, Keyes responds that he’d drink fermented horse piss if it had half the kick this stuff does.
Keyes makes a WIL based Resistance check against the effects of the foul brew he’s just imbibed (-20). He only just rolls under his score and manages to resist the urge to punch Simon in the face, that sanctimonious little s**t. Simon asks Reuben to keep an eye on Keyes and stop him drinking any more. The cleric and the wizard approach the bar.
The barman proves to be gruff and uncommunicative. Zacharus tries to sweeten his disposition by casting Charm. The half orc rolls a CRITICAL SUCCESS (11) on his WIL save and immediately realizes what the wizard is up to. He reaches over and grabs Zacharus by the scruff of his neck, hauling the old man off his slippered feet.
Into rounds we go! Simon Bright takes issue with the half-orc’s rough treatment of his elderly friend and throws an empty flagon at his misshapen head. It misses the evil bartender and knocks several bottles off the shelf behind him. Seeing that a brawl has kicked off, Keyes Grandeur takes a swing at the guy standing next to him – which happens to be Reuben! Fortunately, the punch passes over the short fellow’s head – hitting the man standing next to him instead, knocking him out cold! Zacharus uses Offensive Strike to breathe fire in the half-orcs face, but only manages to produce a uninspiring burp. The half-orc head butts Zacharus, inflicting 6 damage and a nose bleed. One of the drunken brawlers elbows Reuben in the side of the end and another hits Keyes with a chair. Simon punches some guy in the face and – after a short coughing fit - Zacharus finally manages to cough up a gout of flame, which engulfs the half-orcs head and inflicts 13 damage! The half orc throws Zacharus across the room and retreats through the back door, his head still ablaze with magical fire! The party make quick work of the amateur fighters and set off after the nefarious bartender!
Are the players making use of treating wounds right after a fight to get 5BP back?
Loving the detail in your write-ups.
For Trouble Brewing, did the characters kill people in the tavern or just knock them out?
Please post more when you can. These are really fun to read.
They've not been healing - they've been relying totally on the cleric to cast Heal. When I read that rule, I assumed it meant 'received medical treatment', rather than 'applied bandages and soldiered on'.
They non-lethally subdued the other brawlers in the bar fight.
I'm trying to write up 'Trouble Brewing' as an adventure to post here for other people to read/run. :D
Score!
Thanks mikeawmids!
I'm enjoying these as well an plan on copy/paste into a document for armchair reading.
If a character can be treated they'll regain 5BP after an encounter. The characters are adventurous-types and are accustomed to field-treating battle damage. :-)
Characters heal naturally 2BP/day.
I've typed it up and submitted it via the website. Hope you like it. :D
Submitted for publication? Or to the website? I looked in BareBones Books but didn't see it.
The Decahedron link, wrong place maybe?
mikeawmids, I sent you a msg from your provided email, fyi.