Game log for 23 November 2014

The characters

Anêr, human swashbuckler
Yémos, human cleric
Mayhem, short human barbarian
Caleb, human wizard

As they walked over a hill, they heard a shrill voice scream out, "Kill them!" They looked down, and it struck them that they knew that voice. It was the voice of the woman whom Anêr crippled a few days before.

Sure enough, she was standing on her crutches, and her four friends were coming for the heroes. Two of them started charging up the hill, and two more nocked arrows. Caleb and Mayhem got ready to fire back, while Yémos cast Shield on both Mayhem and Anêr. As the two sides came to meet each other, and one missed Mayhem, while the other felled Yémos. Mayhem missed his shot, but Caleb singed one and Yémos gave one a cut on his face. Mayhem pulled out his axe.

After a few seconds, both the fighters in front had fallen to Mayhem, and he charged down the hill, Anêr after him, while Caleb fell to an arrow. One of the archers ran, while Mayhem and Anêr took down the bigger one. They nabbed the woman on crutches, who spat in their face. Thus, they bound her face as well as her limbs, and took her latest haul: 250 copper farthings, 25 silver pennies, and 9 gold pieces. Then they awoke their fallen spellcasters, stopped the bleeding of the bandits, and brought the whole lot to Ōndrûnks.

There, they sold the equipment of the bandits for 900 copper farthings, and bought some rations. The guards took the bandits, and Yémos looked for a new tent, but there was none for sale. They spent the night in Magog, smelling the apples. The next morning, they checked out the peasant hovel of Bîs, the bandit leader on crutches (which they heard from Bîs, the owner of Magog, and as gainsaid to Bîs, the big archer among the bandits), but there was no booty there, only a few crops in the garden.

They passed through Lúrās, where folks gave them dirty looks, went through a short rain shower, passed a man pushing a lumber cart on the road, tried to buy a tent in Lûtē Downs but again could not, then made it to Mīstássun. There, they went to Caravan Outfitters, a shop with incense burning in the Market Ward near the West Gate, and there bought a tent, some Minor Healing potions, and paut.

Having made it into town still early, they ate dinner at The Pantry, looking for Nabbrášus, hoping she would work as a new patron. There Arrūnús, the owner, told them that Nabbrášus hasn't been there since she met them, so after dinner, they followed Arrūnús's directions and went to her home in the Merchants Ward. On the way there, a humming man with only two teeth bumped into them, and Anêr grabbed his hand when it was near his coin purse. After some chatter, where the man said that he was not trying to rob them, they let him go. They made it to Nabbrášus's home, where an orc with a tattooed lip and a slave collar told them to come back the next day, as it was late.

That night, they went to crash on the floor of the Scarlet Harlot. Yémos was casting Watchdog on their belongings when Praidīvós came into the tavern, and asked for his demon blood. After some shouting and Yémos telling Praidīvós about their plight at Dībités Rock, Praidīvós stormed off, saying he was going for the guard. Thus, the gang went outside the gates, and Mayhem found a good spot for a camp where they spent the night.

The next day was 8 Blôs, and they went to the home of Nabbrášus the next morning, and signed a contract with her to help out for three months at her mines in the Áos Hills. She paid them the first week's pay, 25 silver pennies each, right away, and from there, they went to go train.

Notes

When all was said and done, they had 20 character points each to spend, so we talked for about an hour about how to spend them. Caleb looks like he's becoming a member of the Order of the Sun to help with his blasting skills. He needed to spend only six points: two on skills, three on spells, and one on the style's perk. Mayhem will goose up his Weather Sense and Outdoorsman, and learn Fast-Draw (Axe). Anêr is learning Weapon Master (Rapier), which will give him two more points of damage. Eric couldn't figure out what Yémos would do, and truthfully, I didn't have good suggestions. I didn't charge them training costs since it seemed mean at this power level to make them spend money to be able to spend their character points.

I'll find out what they're doing over the next few days with a few die rolls. Once they get to the mines,  they'll go down into them, which will become a more traditional dungeon game for a bit. I'm going to think of old school elements over the next few weeks. In three weeks, they'll set forth, and likely in the next session or two, they'll go into the mines. I know I want to look at intelligent swords. I don't know if I want to go the megadungeon route. Mines lend themselves well to this, but also to many small dungeons. And they have so much invested into traveling gear and skills at this point that spending too much time in a dungeon seems like a waste.

Game Log for 3 August 2014

Cast of characters:

Yémos, human male cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of magic (146 points, Eric)
Anêr, human male swashbuckler (146 points, Eric)
Mayhem, short human male barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan (146 points, Chris)
Caleb, human male wizard (125 points, Chris)

We started on the early evening of 27 Žneâns 5812, in the town of Mīstássun. Yémos asked Praidīvós where the best place was to buy a pony, and he told Yémos to walk for a couple miles outside of town to the hamlet of Šlešûmos, where its lord breeds and sells steeds.

Mayhem went to the armor smith, Alliólē, who agreed to cut the mail hauberk and coif down to Mayhem's size for 13 silver pennies and the spare links. She bade Mayhem to pick up the mail the next day.

That night at the Scarlet Harlot, they found the scorched table now better than ever, and a woman in a face mask soothsaying for a copper farthing. Anêr plunked down his farthing, and the woman whispered:

Where things are grown, a beast with a brain will try to kill thee. 

Justice must be served with irony.

The rest of the night was merrymaking, and Yémos cast Watchdog and they go to sleep.

The next morning, they woke up to find there had been a shower outside that night. No sooner than they turn a corner, they looked between two buildings and saw a male orc with a weather-beaten face mugging a young man with a pointed beard. They walked up to the orc and stood around him, and he suddenly thought better of mugging the youth and turned to run. Mayhem tried to trip the orc as he fled, but the orc jumped over his foot as he ran away.

Dīpátōr, the young man, was thankful to the gang for saving him. Yémos asked Dīpátōr where he could buy a pony, and Dīpátōr, like Praidīvós told him to see Kúktos, lord of the hamlet of Šlešûmos. He also told the gang that he would gladly give them a free meal at the Pantry, the tavern of his family, where he is a cook.

Our heroes went to the hamlet of Šlešûmos, two miles south of Mīstássun. There, all the serfs were friendly, and a drunkard told the heroes to go to the manor house. There, they met Kúktos, the red-haired Dēspótēs (lesser lord) of Šlešûmos. He sold them a grey mare for 17 gold pieces and 10 silver pennies, down from his first offer of 20 gold pieces, throwing in a bit and bridle, and some old saddlebags. Kúktos told them that the pony rubs against fences and sometimes will stop while bearing a load, though a carrot can help get her to go again.

They went back to Mīstássun and ate a late lunch at the Pantry, which is also in the Market Ward, but near the South Wall of the town. There, among the trinkets on the wall, they ate a beef and wine pie, and Arrūnús, the lopped-eared father of Dīpátōr, gave the heroes a bottle of wine.

Also eating there was a rich woman with a tall neck and paling fair hair and her guard. Yémos asked Arrūnús who she is, and he told him she is Nabbrášus Zúbra, head of the Zúbrēs clan that owns the Zúbrēs Mines in the Áos Hills to the north of Rēláistis. Anêr walks up to her and introduced himself. This impressed her, especially as she knew of Anêr and his friends saving Dīpátōr from the orc mugger earlier. She said she would be happy to give a job to a strong, brave young man like Anêr.

That afternoon, they finished training, and Mayhem picked up his armor. They spent that night in the home of Praidīvós, who told them of the armor and shield of Kīrid that folks say are in a tomb in the Áos Hills. When Praidīvós was young, he went hunting for them, and went into a tomb that he thought had those artifacts. However, he and his friends were wrong, and instead of finding the armor and shield, he fled, lucky to have only lost his right hand instead of his life, unlike his friends.

The next day, they packed up their pony, still not having a name they wanted to give her, with the flour, sugar, and cinnamon that Praidīvós had bought the day before. He told them he had cast Preserve Food on the flour, and that it would last a week. They left town, and Mayhem thought rain was coming, so they moved with that in mind. However, no rain came that day until after they had made camp and a caravan of serfs had made camp next to them. Kûltōr, the leader of the serfs with wood sticks in his beard, said they were coming home to Drūkûros after helping the lord of Vēristrés Castle sow his fields. He told them that a man of the Queen's came to Vēristrés Castle and tried to throw out Kaggrétōr, rightful lord of the castle. Instead, Kaggrétōr and his men threw out the Queen's man and told him to go back to Gōkésun.

The next day was clear but chilly, and that morning, outside Ōndrûnks, a scrawny peddler named Praidīvós (no, not the same one; this is a common name) tried to sell them a little musical box that played "Old King Cole." As none of the gang had need of a musical box, they passed on it and ate lunch at Magog in Ōndrûnks.

They passed the night in Bóllā, which has no tavern or inn. Instead, they spent the night in a serf hovel, and the serf clan told them of the sightings of big spiders. The town watchman had even gone mad when he saw one bear off a pig.

The next day was uneventful, and they spent the night in the woods near the caterwaul's cave. The day after that, they walked past the goblins' cave, and outside were three men with broadswords and no armor. One, whose beard had dyes of many hues, spoke for them (the others had a black eye and a wrinkled face), and told the gang to go away.

Early that afternoon, they made it to Dībités Rock. When they rapped at the door, Aidīvós, the majordomo, told them to go away, after making sure they did not have the druid or the testicles of any fauns. When they did not, out came Aidīvós, four guards, and Praitanêr, who bade the guards to kill the heroes. (Praitanêr's face was scorched when he greeted the gang.) Things went badly from there. Aidīvós crippled Anêr's arm, and Mayhem's axe flew out of his hands when he tried to strike Aidīvós. Within seconds, Anêr and Yémos had passed out, while Caleb told Mayhem to surrender, with Praitanêr promising to sacrifice them.

Notes

Lots of reaction rolls today. The one for Nabbrášus was outstanding, while the one for Praitanêr was truly awful, -1 after his -6 reaction penalty to everyone. He's a Paranoid Loner! You have to take the good with the bad, and he was upset after the PCs didn't find the fauns, but chatted with the druid instead.

So, what do I do with them? Ideas off the top of my head:

• Follow through on Praitanêr's threat to sacrifice them, and make them make new characters. It seems both logical and unfun.
• Let them try to get out. Unlikely, and again Praitanêr might send goons to follow them. Also, Anêr's right arm might be bum; we didn't bother to roll to be sure. (Yémos did heal him right back up to full HP as soon as he could, before both dropped, of course. He took 12 HP to the arm when 6 HP crippled it, but I didn't have it lopped off since it was exactly twice the minimum and again, it seemed unfun at the time.)
• Let Praidīvós bail them out. However, he isn't a Patron, and it seems anti-climactic. Needless to say, they won't get any character points if this happens.
• Make them prisoners for a long time.

So I'm asking the few readers of this blog to post in the comments what they think should happen to these guys, and I've asked my players as well.