Last time, the siblings recovered from injuries and investigated a ruined fort which is the base of a group of tattooed bandits called the Black Knife. They killed some stuff and found a large stash of coins, but ran into an obstacle that sent them backtracking somewhat. We rejoin them as they approach the most intact tower remaining.
Housekeeping
Last time, I was supposed to have Bastian work on a plot point for his plot of recovering a relic for his church, but I completely forgot. In penance, I will do it this time and forgo a new roll on the What’s At Stake Table. Carys is currently ‘on duty’ so I won’t roll for that either. I can roll for whether our enemy, Mireya Anvilark shows up. I do, and she doesn’t. (Not a very pesky enemy so far).
Still in the Ruins: April 3
As stated, the siblings are approaching a tower of the ruined fort. It appeared to be a standard lair way back when they first noticed it, so I check if it is indeed that. It is. The roll for mishap reveals a standard encounter. No surprises yet, that is probably good. I roll up a single peril 2 enemy of the primary type. The primary type is the human bandits, so I guess it is a guy on guard. For some variety, I am going to use the strong but slow template and give him a big weapon.
ST 14, DX 10, IQ 10, HT 10, HP 14, Per 11, Will 10, FP 10, Speed 5, Move 5, DR 2, Two Handed Flail 10, Damage 2d+4 cr.
There is no door on the tower and as the siblings approach a big, leather clad bandit appears in the opening and yells at them. I say he is 20 yds away. Carys moves 3 yds closer, Bastian aims his crossbow, and the bandit moves forward 5 yds. Carys moves 3 yds closer, Bastian aims some more, and the bandit moves forward 5 yds.
Carys holds her blade ready to attack as soon as the bandit is in reach (wait maneuver). Bastian fires his crossbow (with +5 for his aiming and -4 for range). He hits, but the bandit dodges out of the way. The bandit steps closer warily observing Carys (evaluate).
Carys steps in and stabs at the bandit, who retreats and dodges. Bastian starts reloading his crossbow. The bandit steps forward and swings at Carys, she retreats and blocks (at +1 for the retreat and -2 for the flail) and succeeds.
Carys steps in and lunges suddenly, hoping to take the bandit by surprise (deceptive attack -4), but the bandit still manages to retreats and dodge out of the way. Bastian continues loading. The bandit steps back into reach and catches Carys in the chest with a lucky swing (critical hit normal damage). He rolls 10 damage, which is reduced to 8 by her mail shirt. The pain is intense, but Carys grits her teeth and stays focused (a major wound, but she passes her stun roll and stays up).
Carys steps back to gather herself, holding her shield up (all out defense block). Bastian keeps loading. The bandit steps follows Carys, but swings wide of her body, missing.
Carys thrusts at the bandit and forces him to retreats and dodge. She steps back putting some space between them. Bastian finishes loading the crossbow. The bandit is to far to hit, so he moves closer, watching her intently (evaluate).
Carys steps in and stabs for the bandit’s heart, but again he backs off, avoiding her blow (retreat and dodge). Bastian aims at the bandit. The bandit steps forward and swings over Carys’ head this time.
Carys stabs at the bandit, who retreats and dodges. Carys again puts more space between them. Bastian fires his crossbow on target, but the bandit manages to twist out of the way of that too. The bandit has little choice but to step back into range and prepare to attack Carys. Surely the bandit’s dodge luck will soon run out, right?
The fighting dance continues: Carys thrusting at the bandit, who retreats momentarily, only to strike back, hitting Carys’ shield as she retreats. Bastian feels like he needs to help so he readies his shield and mace.
Tired of the bandit’s surprisingly nimble moves, Carys tries to get him to bite on a feint, but he doesn’t even flinch (Carys failed her roll with a 16, goodness). Bastian moves halfway to them. The bandit attacks and hits Carys’ shield again, forcing her back (retreat and block). This time, the bandit steps back out of her reach.
Carys steps closer with her shield held high (all out defense block). Bastian moves next to her. The bandit steps in and attacks Carys, who blocks with her ready shield.
Carys waits for Bastian to attack. Bastian steps forward and attacks, forcing the bandit to retreat and dodge. Carys now steps in and stabs, but the bandit still moves out of the way. The bandit attacks Carys, who steps back and blocks.
Very frustrated, Carys steps in and feints again and this time the bandit clearly reacts, setting up her next strike (she succeeded by 5 and the bandit failed). Good. Bastian steps forward and attacks, but the bandit retreats and dodges. The bandit attacks Bastian, who is in reach, but misses.
Carys steps forward and thrusts her blade right where the bandit least expects and finally connects (the bandit tries to retreat and dodge, but with the penalty from the feint, finally fails). She rolls maximum damage (7 imp) and ends up doing 10 damage to the bandit. Clearly, a major wound, and the bandit is knocked down and stunned. Hoping to press the advantage, Bastian steps up and hits the bandit, who fails to dodge while stunned and prone. The mace does another 5 damage to the bandit. The bandit stays conscious, but is still stunned.
Carys aims for the vitals, and hits for 12 more damage. Bastian manages to miss. The bandit stays conscious, but is still stunned.
Carys aims for the vitals, and hits for 9 more damage. Bastian hits for 4 more. The bandit finally loses consciousness. A brutal ending.
Man, that fight went on and on! Carys ends with 6 HP and 8 FP, and Bastian has 11 HP and 7 FP. Bastian needs to try healing on Carys and succeeds so she has 10 HP now, but Bastian has only 5 FP.
The opportunity is a lore point, how about Carys uses Armoury to examine the bandit’s equipment and see if she can learn something? She fails. Oh well, it was a long shot anyway.
Bastian helps to heal his sister’s wound and her pain and swelling go down significantly. She still hurts, but feels better. Both of them are getting tired. They spend about 10 minutes looking over the bandit’s gear and equipment, but nothing tells them where the bandits or their supplies are from.
This session is off to a rough start as I manage to roll another dead end. It looks like we have no choice but to brave the garden obstacle from session 4. It is a deep trench which once held water, but is now dry and they have to jump across.
When the siblings reach the tower, they are disappointed to find it empty. They take the stairs to the top, but there is no one there and no path to another part of the fort. They decide they will return to the garden area and try to proceed from there.
Carys was nervous last time for her acrophobia, but controls it this time and makes the leap. Bastian, on the other hand, does not, and falls, taking 3 crushing damage. He is pretty mad at looking like a clumsy idiot, but not hurt too badly I guess.
The opportunity is a large hoard of treasure! (I rolled a 3). Crazy. Remember that the dungeon is Peril 3 for treasure calculations, so I end up with 6 treasure elements, one special, two coins, and three miscellaneous. The special is a medium shield with 1 decorative and 1 supernatural embellishments. There are also 600 foreign silver coins and 60 domestic silver coins. There is a pound of oil worth about 60 sp, a 4 lb item worth 600 sp, and a 10 pound useful item worth 150 sp.
On the other side of the trench is what appears to be an overgrown shrine of some kind. Inside they find a statue of a warrior holding a real poleaxe and shield. The poleaxe appears normal, but the shield is inlaid with symbols and seems magical. At the base of the statue is a bottle of oil, a block of incense and a offering box full of silver coins.
They happily take the items, leaving the somewhat heavy poleaxe.
By the way, in session 4, I miscalculated the weight of coins because I don’t read things carefully sometimes. This loot only weighs 8 lbs or so (coins are 250 a pound). Now also seems to be a good time for Bastian to try to learn something about his relic.
As the siblings are emptying the coin box, Bastian notices a symbol on it that reminds him of something. He makes a religious ritual roll (success)! He remembers the symbol from an offering ritual to Calopher, the disappeared god. The ritual involved oil and incense and was associated with Calopher’s daughter, Colmyria, who is Bastian’s patron deity. (You can read about a loose cosmology here). The ritual was supposed to be done at a set of holy sites across the land and each one was supposed to have a map to the others. Excitedly, Bastian starts to look.
Sure enough, there is a carving on the the back of the statue’s pedestal. Bastian passes his cartography roll and successfully copies down the somewhat symbolic map. He tells Carys that these other lost holy sites would be the most likely places someone would take the lost relic.
A promising lead and a plot point. Bastian is up to two! The garden leads to a choice of two ways, a stairway down and an area full of traps and so forth.
On the other side of the garden is a small out building with a stairway leading downward. past that, the area appears even more overgrown and difficult to navigate. They take the stair down, perhaps there is a large underground area?
As the siblings start down the stairs, it turns out that things are not what they seem! The stairs are actually the lair of trivial opponents and they ambush us! The trivial encounter is a single Peril one bandit.
ST 9, DX 10, IQ 9, HT 9, HP 9, Per 10, Will 9, FP 9, Speed 4.75, Move 4, DR 1, Dagger 9, Damage 1d-3 imp. This guy is pretty helpless, maybe the ambush will give him a chance.
The siblings stand at the bottom of the stairs and suddenly, a shadow ducks out from under the staircase and lunges at them. Both the siblings are mentally stunned, but recover in their first round. The bandit attacks Bastian and hits his torso, but the dagger cannot penetrate the scale armor.
Carys readies her sword and buckler and steps to reach 2. Bastian drops his crossbow and steps to reach 1 and readies his mace. The bandit follows and stabs again, but can only hit torso.
Carys swings at the bandit, who retreats and dodges. Bastian also attacks and hits the bandit’s left leg, crippling it with 5 damage. The bandit falls but is not stunned. The bandit stabs at Bastian’s foot, but misses.
Carys thrusts at the bandit on the ground, hitting for 8 damage and Bastian swings and misses. The bandit loses consciousness. No problem.
Unfortunately, I have to cut this session a little short this week since I have been so busy recently. What exactly is in this underground area? Will Carys ever get a plot point? How many more bandits can they kill one at a time? Find out next time in Session 6!
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