Game log for 16 July 2017: Don't feed the trolls

Dramatis personae

Xórin, fox-man
Kim, thief
Mayhem, barbarian
Ash, squire
Caleb, wizard
Villûdē, guide (NPC)
Kôštē, cleric (NPC)

Quid occurrit

Caleb heard some rustling, so woke everyone. Well, other than Mayhem, who was still out from the fight with the bandits. Xórin took a sniff, and didn’t know what it was, although whatever it was, it didn’t smell well. Neither Kim nor Xórin could duck out of the way.

And the troll shambled into sight.

Xórin, who was near it, took a shot, but missed. The troll moved towards Xórin, grumbling, “Stupid wife wants a fox fur.” Caleb cast a Fireball while Kim and Ash readied their shots.

Xórin dropped his bow and took out his swords, just in time to get out of the troll's claw. Kim and Ash aimed, and Caleb missed with his Fireball.

Now Xórin got out his other sword, just in time to Parry the claw of the troll. The other claw struck home, however, maiming him. Ash took a shot at the head of the troll and missed, while Kim kept aiming. Caleb cast another Fireball.

Xórin stepped back and steeled himself for the troll's next strike. It came fast, and felled the fox-man. Ash pulled out his sword and whacked the troll in its leg while Kim took a shot that the troll dodged. Caleb lobbed his Fireball and it struck true, burning the troll.

The troll turned its heed next to Ash, missing with a wild claw swipe. It swiped away Ash's blow while Kim reloaded and Caleb cast another Fireball.

The troll, seeing as it was near the pesky fire-throwing wizard, chose to take him out, but missed with his claw. Kim's next shot missed its neck, but Ash beat on its leg. Caleb, worried about the troll two yards away, lobbed his Fireball and stepped back after burning it.

Oh, did that piss it off! It took a step towards Caleb and clawed him, almost taking him down. It would have, too, had its other claw hit. Kim loaded an arrow while Ash crippled the troll's leg, taking it to the ground. Caleb fell from his wounds.

The troll tried to take down Ash but missed. Kim's arrow struck it in the neck, which at last took it down, so Ash and Kim dragged it to the campfire to make it burn before it could heal its wounds. Kóštē came away from the horses and healed Caleb. The next morning, she did the same to Mayhem and Xórin.

That evening, they made it back to the town of Mīštássun. There, they paid for healing and for their guide, and handed over the box to the elf at the Scarlet Harlot. There, they heard the hubbub that someone or something had turned Kólubbos, a seller of healing salves, into stone.

When they got to the Pantry, Dīpátōr, the son of the owner, took Caleb aside and asked him if he knew anything about making a golem woman. Caleb gave him some, ah, older brother tips. It was awkward.

Xórin got his lion hide tanned, and will wear it as a cloak.

They spent the next week training and listening for hearsay. Only Ash got more than the town gossip, as Dénnos, a sage, told him of his fighter brother Ōnpátōr who was haunting his dreams. Dénnos thought that his brother was now less than living but also not quite dead, and wanted some way to put his soul out of woe. He knew little more than that and that there was something about a pond in the swamp in the middle of a grove of white elms with golden leaves, and big black birds that flew in a flock so big it could blot out the sun.

The gang asked Villûdē the guide, and she knew about the pond. As their money was good, she took up the heroes' bid to go with them once again. As Xórin felt they needed more lore about this pond and as Caleb needed charm spells, they chose to first take a trip to the west to ask a wizardress for help: Qadūšāt, the mightiest wizard in the dale.

Res aliae

The PCs got five character points when they got to town, and there was much chatter about how to spend them. Amazingly, nobody spent them on Carousing, which was odd in light of how bad I rolled for them doing that.

The kid and the golem was an earlier use of Weirdness Magnet that I rolled and forgot to spring on the gang.

The choice to see the wizard came from me telling Caleb that he couldn't find anyone in town who knew any Charm spells (he doesn't have any Savoir-Faire (Magical) or guild rank), and her tower being one of the things I marked on the players' map.