Session 05: The beating of the Hobgoblins

Date: 2018-09-18

Players:
D'Joan - Amazon Warrior (Barbarian Template)
Boerge the Beef - Human Thug (Knight Template) - 259p
 - Sture the Stone (Guard)
 - Kent the Ball (Torchbearer)
Father Wör - Human Priest of the Lord of Light (Cleric Template)
Honest Ernst - Human Ranger (Scout Template) - 256p

This game started off where sessions #3 and #4 had ended, at their camp set up a few hundred yards away from the Caves of Chaos with the injured and poisoned D'Joan and Ernst meeting up with Boerge and his allies and Father War. Amore were nowhere to be seen. The informed each other of their respective adventures and D'Joan introduced herself to the party and was welcomed into the group with some lay on hands by Father War.

After hearing about the Hobgoblin lair from the other party members D'Joan was certain that was the one that the Hermit had wanted them to clear and the others were pretty keen on exploring that one some more aswell. Boerge in his usual style suggested they would immediately walk down the slope to enter but D'Joan convinced him to get some time to scout the area since she hadn't seen it before they took to action. Said and done, she noticed nothing new apart from what the group had already seen before. Then they sent Ernst forward to scout and then, if the coast is clear, Bird Call for them to walk around the slope to enter the old strip mine from the roadside to avoid the risk of falling or alerting groups hanging out around the other entrances on the south side.

They managed to enter the same entrance again and saw the same thin rope hanging by the ceiling across the cave as last time. They figured it must be an alarm for the Hobgoblins to alert the sleeping bear they saw a few sessions ago so the set Ernst on disarming it with a DX-based Traps and succeeded (they didn't hear any bells ringing when he did anyways and no bear came charging. They decided again to leave the bear and go for the Hobgoblin door again. On the way there, Boerge critted his Vision to spot a fishline ankle high a few yards before they reached the door. Ernst disarmed this one aswell without setting it off. When they arrived at the door it had a new sign on it: "Closet for Ranovation". D'Joan wanted to break down the door but realized that it would probably be to sturdy, even for her without any special tools available. Boerge used the door clapper instead to see if someone would open anyways. By the second try they noticed that the rope that was hanging by the ceiling started moving but nothing more happened. Now they got the idea to start sounding like they were attacked by the bear to maybe lure the Hobgoblins out. Both D'Joan and Ernst used Animal Sounds to sound like an angry bear while everyone made shouts and sounds of battle before turning quiet. A few seconds later the door slowly opened....

D'Joan was ready to pull the door open as soon as it started moving and the battle was on. Boerge charged ahead and instantly knocked the one opening the door to the ground with his patented Flail to Jaw-move. D'Joan had to move around the open door which slowed her progress down. Ernst had some trouble finding a clean target in the narrow corridor (at least they are now 2 yards wide and not 1 as they were before I realized every square on the map is 2x2 yards and not 1x1) but managed to shoot another one in the face anyways. Two crossbowmen standing further down the corridor also waited to get clean shots which happened when Boerge felled another one of their comrades and D'Joan decided to close in on them. One bolt missed and the other one hit Boerges shield. Then they turned and ran down the corridor but only one of them managed to escape, the other getting an arrow in the back. Boerge forgot to mention to D'Joan what was beyond the turn in the corridor last time they were here (2 hobgoblins behind a table with ready crossbows). They only managed to anger D'Joan though who critted her Forced Entry to not only break the table but in the same move managed to use it to bash at the two Hobgoblins behind it, knocking them out in a pile of splinters.

After a short round of looting which only bagged them a few weapons and a couple of coins they opened another door and Boerge charged in. Inside was four battle-ready Hobgoblins ready for ambush. One managed to impale his right buttcheek with a Halberd, creating a nasty wound before he and D'Joan managed to turn the fight in their favor. Neither Ernst nor Wör had any LoS on the opponents through the door and didn't feel risking running into the room. Instead two additional Hobgoblins charged in from behind. One got instantly arrowed in the face by Ernst but the other one reached them. The Fearless torchbearer Kent decided to get in the way and took a nasty wound, knocking him out cold before Ernst and Wör could finish the other one. After Wör had tended to Boerges butt and Kent's nasty wound they Searched the room. Boerge critfailed and accidentally opened and entered another door with Hobgoblins behind it, he quickly closed it while getting hit at to give his companions some time to prepare. They waited for a another few seconds without acting only to get attacked from behind, through the door from which they entered the room. With the last two Hobgoblin guards were a leader in plate which didn't pose much trouble in the end, his main-gauche was useless against Boerges flail and his Longsword unable to avoid Boerges blocking. When entering the room from which he came they encountered three Hobgoblin women huddled in a bed looking scared. They decided to leave them after checking them for loot (and finding one gold coin on one of them). In a pile of firewood they found a nice-looking wand. On the way out they took another haul from the armoury they found the last time they entered the hobgoblin lair.

XP was 3 for loot, 1 for exploration and another one for first leader kill! MVP went to D'Joan for nice combat tactics.

Actual Play: Gurps DF over Roll20

Yesterday I participated in a Gurps DF-game over Roll20 for the first time (it was actually my first time as a player playing Gurps DF aswell) and it was great fun. I ended up getting a character handed to me from the GM which was interesting and it happened to coincide pretty well with my ideas about what character I wanted to play anyways. I will try to write a proper session recap if I have time and I hope I will have time to throw my gemstone worshipping Dwarf Felicia into the fray again in the next couple of weeks.

Post-session report: Session 05

We had a short session yesterday but it was very intense in that it started at the caves which meant there was fighting pretty much from the start to the end. These are some of the things that happened:

* Some newly set traps were disarmed

* The Hobgoblins were fooled yet again, this time they didn't want company but the PC's tricked them into opening the door.

* Three consecutive fights with hobgoblins ending with a fight with the chieftain of the clan. This gung ho attitude could've spelled trouble for them but they were fine this time with only minor injuries which could be healed by the cleric.

* They found a secret entrance into the armoury and looted what was left of it.

Session 04: A trek through the Wicked Woods

Date: 2018-09-02

Attending:
Honest Ernst, Scout, 256 points
Warrior Princess D'Joan, Amazon (Barbarian template), 250 points

With the rest of the party already gone to the Caves, it was Ernst job to find out what the elf meant with his mysterious message about the man in the forest and then try to find him. Ernst is not a man used to socializing but after forcing himself to ask a few of the hunters camped outside the city about the forest man it was clear that it was a hermit living deep in the forest. Ernst tried to find someone to follow him there or at least show him the way but everyone just kept telling him he was crazy for even contemplating finding him, the Hermit was a mad and dangerous man and hated everyone apparently. At last he found a newly arrived woman who was huge and carried a spear who was willing to tag along. She had heard that he might have some information about an ancient artifact lost by her tribe centuries ago.

D'Joan made some inquiries on her own, earning the trust of a local fisherwoman and although she failed to convince her to guide them she was told to meet with Eric, a leader of one of the hunter families. He told them he didn't know the exact location of the Hermit's lair but that it was probably close to an old cabin about a days hike north used by him and his comrades before the territory was taken over by the Hermit. He marked the site of the cabin on their map and told them that if they managed to find it he would appreciate it if they brought him an old bow that he had left there when they were forced them to abandon it.

After finding out where to go they decided to head off right away. They followed the edge of the forest for a half day while the rain was pouring down. Just when they where about to head into the forest they noticed a wild boar poking around inside a shrubbery, they considered slaying it but with no pressing need for food and having heard that the Hermit doesn't like hunters or people hurting animals they opted against hunting this time and let it be. Inside the forest they were quickly confronted with the dangers of hiking in the wilderness. A big tree trunk fell on top of them but both managing a Dodge. D'Joan tried to determine the reason for the tree falling, critfailing her Naturalist-roll convinced her it was put there on purpose by someone they that knew they were heading this way. That Eric guy sure seemed conspicously nice to her, being used to scorn from humans more "civilized" than her.

A few hours later they noticed they were being followed by a curious pack of wolves. After assuring themselves they were not dealing with the dire kind of wolf or that they were not particularly hungry D'Joan stopped to let them have a sniff and rolled a 16 on her reaction roll (with +1 from animal friend) which ended the encounter in a pile of cuddling and the wolves following them for another hour or so. Ernst deftly managed to raid a bees nest of some honey using Survival before setting up camp. The heavy rains during the day had slowed them down and they decided to not press it toward the cabin. Nothing particular happened during the night and in the morning they spotted the cabin after an hours hike as expected.

From afar they could see flying creatures heading into and out of the loft of the cabin. They started sneaking forward carefully to investigate further but when they were about 20 meters from the clearing where the cabin was a mountain lion jumped out in front of them, bared teeth and growling, between them and the cabin. They considered their options for a second but with D'Joan failing to read it's motivations they readied their weapons but was careful not to provoke it and started walking slowly backwards. When the mountain lion started advancing D'Joan made an Intimidation-roll as a last chance to make it stop it's advance before taking physical action and it worked! The mountain lion stopped and for a while there was a stand-off between them at about 20 yards distance. Then suddenly the puma changed posture, moved forward and started talking to them in common amidst growls and snarls.

The mountain lion introduced himself as Puck and told them that this was his territory. He said that he was the protector of the forest and warned them of hunting in these parts of the woods. He usually dealt with threats himself but if they were friendly as they said they were then they could show it by helping him with a beast his abilities didn't affect. It had moved into a cave about half a days walk east. The mountain lion was going to show them the way. After revealing the wanted information about the Caves the hermit told them that he promised to help them if they dealt with the Kobolds living there. Apparently they had been out hunting in his parts of the forest numerous times. As soon as they set off the weather took a turn for the worse and now it was pouring down. The RP's were more than a little skeptical of the talking puma but it held it's distance until it sensed blood at about the same time as Ernst spotted an injured hunter huddled in a tree. Before passing out he told them his name was Rodrick and that he had been attacked by a horrible monster, nothing he had ever seen the likes of before and begged them to help him get back to town. He was then given an ok round of First Aid (ok in the PC's minds anyway, Ernst basically tied a bandage around the leg, effectively cutting the blood supply which stopped the bleeding). They had a little argument about what to do with him but in the end D'Joan brought him along on her back. 

After a short while more they started seeing signs of spiderweb in the surrounding trees but this time Ernst combined Overconfidence and Stubbornness got the best of him and he decided they might aswell Sneak through it to make it to the cave of the beast before nightfall. Said and done, they both failed their rolls and before they knew it three spiderlings were crawling out of a hole in the ground and were all over them, twice injecting poison into D'Joans left arm, paralyzing it (one critfailed defence roll and one missed all out attack). One of them bit into Ernst leg aswell and fell just one point of tox short of paralyzing that aswell. A paralyzed leg would've severly cut their mobility for days since they had no means of quick healing available. When they had finished off the spiders they quickly pondered crawling into the lair but were content with marking the position on the map and maybe deal with it later. After getting away from the spiders nest they bandaged each other (D'Joan getting double HP back which meant she was in positive territory again at least, it also means using the double amount of bandage) before continuing. Their hurried exit also robbed them of the chance to gather some spiderweb or extracting some poison from the now dead spiderlings. They also realized that they had left the hunter by the spiders nest but left him to his fate (he was probably partly eaten by the puma already but they were not sure).

The paralyzed arm (and Reeling status) of the Amazon aswell as the heavy rain meant they had to wait another night before they found the Cave of the Beast. Luckily they were not disturbed during the night and could make a quick plan before springing to action. The mountain lions intention was very much to stay out of the fight so they decided to approach it head on, luring it out of the cave and toward the Amazon while Ernst stood above the cave entrance shooting it in the back after it was out in the open. It wasn't hard to rouse it and after it came out they immediately realized it was an owlbear. D'Joan threw a harpoon at it from about 20 yards distance but missed and Ernst got two or three arrows in it before it had reached the Amazon in front of it, it didn't even take notice of the arrows coming from behind. It tried to slam D'Joan to the ground but missed and ran passed and had to turn around. Meanwhile D'Joan got a hit or two in but that didn't bother it either. Only now they realized that the Owlbear was Undead and arrows was pretty much useless against it. D'Joan retreated back toward the cave now, aware that one hit from the owlbear would most likely get her back to negative HP (she presently has no DR, natural or otherwise). Luckily for her, the Owlbear decided to go for the grapple, successfully grabbing D'Joan with it's front paws but then failing the takedown which most likely would've meant the end of the proud Amazon, instead losing it's grip. They still had no clue really what was effective against it and now Ernst had to shoot through D'Joan's hex to hit the owlbear, almost hitting the Amazon in the back once. Only in the 7th or 8th round D'Joan managed to get a big hit in, crippling the owlbears back foot, making it almost immobile but only after herself getting hit in the torso, failing her HT-roll and falling unconscious. The same turn Ernst finally decided to try his cutting arrows which finished the owlbear off with another big hit, cutting off one of it's front legs before it had a chance to start biting into D'Joan with it's beak.

While D'Joan came to again Ernst scouted the cave, found an Owlbear cub (it was not undead) which he killed in cold blood to skin, also finding a useable bow and a few coins but no proper hoard. Then he dragged the huge barbarian into the cave for rest and bandaging while marinating owlbear meat in honey to feast on. When the Amazon came to he told her it was already dead when he found it but that the meat was good, she was in no position to question any of it. They waited for the rest of the day in the cave, sent the mountain lion back to his master with the news of the slain beast before heading bruised but not beaten towards the Caves of Chaos to hopefully meet up with a Healer there.

XP was one each for exploration and another one for awesome non-fighting resolutions to a lot of the problems they faced in the forest. D'Joan got MVP for being the proxy to alot of those resolutions.

Quick review: Hall of Judgement

A couple of months ago I ordered my first ever PoD-book, this is my first kickstarter-backing! My copy of Hall of Judgement arrived in the mail a couple of days ago and I must say it looks pretty solid.

I've only had time to have a glance at it this far but I can tell right now that I will at least use some of the creatures in the books extensive monster directory in my current DF campaign. The adventure as such might get baked into my campaign or played as a one-shot later on, depending on where my players want to take things.

The only thing I have a little trouble with is the authors view of norse mythology baked in with the classic fantasy tropes.  For me "nordic fantasy" has always been John Bauer's Trolls (see picture below) coupled with the dire animals like the Fenris Wolf or the world encompassing Jormungandr and gods that walk among men to test or challenge them on a whim or just to pull a prank or two. So if I play it I will probably not play it as a norse mythology kinda thing but rather a barbarians in the frozen wastes kinda environment.

Post Session Report: Session 04

After a long and hot summer we finally managed to complete another session and it was a fun one. This time if was focus on the wilderness surrounding the caves with one barbarian and one scout working together to find the elusive Hermit said to live deep in the forest and his supposed knowledge about the history of the caves.

* Avoiding animals, befriending animals with exceptional reaction rolls, intimidating animals to submission and failing to stealth past animals. This session pretty much had it all when it comes to interactions with the wildlife.

* A conversation with the Hermit through his mountain lion proxy did not reveal much but helping him out might.

* A lot of questions about one of the local leaders in the hunter encampment outside the city. He sent them the right way but what are his true intentions?

* A few lessons in GURPS combat to new players, and also a few lessons for the PC's about vulnerabilities and the power of spider toxins.