Chapter I: Damring Fortress, Part 2

[sulldawga]

Also, shouldn't Raizenbrayne be rolling +2D for the Harlan's Maneuver last turn? And get a +1s for order of might? Or did I miss something?

If snakes are critters, we get +2s for Order of Might.

[Keehnelf]

Yes, both good points! That's what I get for reading posts as I'm headed out the door and then assuming I've read them well. I got distracted by the Nature discussion and completely forgot the results of the previous action.

+2D for the maneuver bonus, +2s for Might.

With a starting disposition of 6, one success on those maneuver dice will be enough to finish the fight.

The snake has 4 successes on his attack, which means that Raizenbrayne will be out of the fight and one of the following: Harlan can take a significant hit point loss (2 of 3), Agrom can also be knocked out of the fight, or they both can take a single hit point loss. Who loses hit points will affect the shape of the compromise offered, so feel free to begin discussion on that now if you like.

[Starbeard]

You're right!
[1d6] = 6, [1d6] = 5
Now we're looking good. That's 3s + 2s from the Maneuver + 2s from Order of Might = 7s.

[sulldawga]

The way I read the rules, it says that when you win a Kill Conflict, you impose the Killing Is My Business rules on the GM's monsters. It also looks like we would owe the GM a mid-level compromise, since we lost about half of our disposition points. The one that seems to make the most sense here is "the snake is killed but it injures and exhausts its opponent." I think, in this case, it might make sense for Harlan to take the other two disposition hits and keep Agrom relatively fresh in case we run into more trouble, but I'm fine with the idea of splitting the damage between Harlan and Agrom. Up to Simon what he wants to do.

[Simon]

I'll go with the flow here. Whatever makes most sense narratively. Assuming we have any choice in the matter, I will say that since Agrom has a higher health than Harlan, he will have an easier time recovering from injured or sick. Good job guys!

[sulldawga]

Seems more likely that Agrom would have been injured than Harlan. From a narrative standpoint, Agrom would have jumped in to protect Raiz once he got bitten. Harlan, using his sling, would have stayed far away from the snake. So Agrom will take the other 2 points and we'll go from there.

[Keehnelf]

Sounds good--I'm in a meeting for the next 90 minutes but will post an update as soon as humanly possible once I get out.

[Keehnelf]

Oh my goodness, what a long meeting.

---

OK, my proposed compromise from the snake is the Sick conditions for Agrom and Raizenbrayne, and either Afraid or Injured for Harlan (at your discretion).

I think this is a bit fairer than Injured + Exhausted or the equivalent, but still a significant compromise.

Let me know your thoughts!

[sulldawga]

This is fine with me. I'd let Simon choose if he wants to be Afraid or Injured.

[Simon]

I'll take afraid? I think mechanically that's better...

[Keehnelf]

OK, Afraid it is.

---
12 Brightmorn 814 - Turn 6 - An Old Armory

Harlan attempts valiantly to keep the huge snake's attention while his companions close in on it from behind. Raizenbrayne, half-closing his eyes and endeavoring despite his fear to follow Agrom's instructions and simply stab the thing, initiates the first assault. As he steps within striking range, the monstrous reptile swings its head around and catches him directly in the eye and Raizenbrayne knows without a shadow of a doubt that his doom is upon him. Agrom, at that moment, repeats his admonition: "Jab! Poke!" and the creature's attention wavers for a second, allowing Raizenbrayne's animal instincts to take over as he plunges his dagger deep into the side of the creature's neck, wounding it sorely.

The snake whips around, frenzied with pain, and lashes out at Raizenbrayne, wrenching the dagger from his numb grasp and tossing him aside where he lies still, moaning and clutching at the arm of his robe that wells up with blood from a pair of punctures. Agrom takes that moment to strike as well, but the snake is forewarned by his shout to the wizard and weaves aside, leaving the warrior's sword-swing to meet with air as the creature sweeps in for a vicious strike against his leg, the teeth sinking straight through the padding of his armor and deep into the muscle. In agony, Agrom falls to one knee and his sword clatters across the flagstones of the long-abandoned chamber.

Harlan, pressed against the wall of the room with sling and candle in hand, sees the injured but frenzied snake turn in his direction and hurries to reload his sling. As the beast rises up to overshadow the halfling, the catch on his pouch of ammo slips through his fingers and the rounded stones spill out across the floor, leaving him with nothing but a small flame and a strip of leather to fight off the creature that has already felled his two companions.

The snake advances slowly, appearing to relish the thought of devouring the little halfling, and the fear of a small animal faced with its own helplessness in the presence of a great predator overtakes Harlan. The sling drops from his insensate hand and the candle-flame flutters as the candle-holder begins to shake.

The snake rears upward and backward, finally close enough to assure that its last victim will be unable to slip away, ready to make its strike, when Agrom lumbers up from behind, his recovered sword in hand, and beheads the awful creature with a sideways swipe of his blade before he is forced back to his knees by the fever which is already boiling his blood.

As Harlan begins to recover his wits, he looks down at the snake's lifeless body and recognizes the specific breed as one whose meat can be prepared as an especially exotic and gourmet dish when fresh, though the thought is driven half out of his head again as he sees the pained and sallow faces of his two obviously-poisoned companions.

Somewhere in the melee, the torch Raizenbrayne had been carrying fell to the ground and has been permanently extinguished.

Agrom and Raizenbrayne have earned the Sick condition to represent the snake's poisoned bite, and Harlan is now Afraid. The snake can be prepared (as loot, no Test or skill check required) as a Pack 1 item that can be used either as a single ration (standard rules) or as a Skill supply for +1D on a single Cooking Test. It will become rancid at the end of the next Camp Phase. Let me know if someone wants to carve it up and take it, and where they're stowing it so I can update the appropriate sheet.

What's next?
---

Party Status:
Raizenbrayne, Afraid and Sick, with Dagger in Hand (Dim Light) (1 Check)
Agrom, Sick with Sword in Hand (Dim Light) (1 Check)
Harlan, Afraid with Candle and Sling in Hand (3 Turns remain) (3 Checks)

[Simon]

With shaking hands and a dry mouth, Harlan backs against the wall and slides down to the ground, eyes wide with shock, face covered in snake blood. W-w-well b-b-boys I guess that's...that's a wrap. Still sitting down he casts his eyes across the room, his face blank, as if he had forgotten what exactly they were here for and why he wasn't back home, enjoying a pipe and a pint. Untill of course his eyes fall on the glittering trinkets spilling out of the door on the left hand wall. His eyes come sharply back into focus and he forces himself to stand, still shaking and breathing unevenly and proceeds to flinchingly approach Agrom and Raize, stepping gingerly past the still-twitching body of the giant snake.

If we think we can secure this room, maybe a camp is in order? Not sure what the crows have in store for us, but we've got checks to burn and conditions to clear up. Sicks a pretty scary one too.

[Keehnelf]

This room has three obvious exits, in addition to being open to the sky:

1. The door with the slot that leads south.

2. The door that may or may not be able to be closed based on the presence of trinkets and the bar on it.

3. The hole in the exterior east wall that leads out to the courtyard after a sharp drop.

Just as a reminder for any discussions about securing the chamber.

[sulldawga]

Agrom

We need to go. But first, I want to get something from those crows to show for what we've sacrificed here. Let's see what they're hiding in there.

What time of day is it? If we searched the crow room and then left, how far away from the keep could we get?

[Keehnelf]

It's early afternoon in early spring. If you didn't spend more than an hour scrounging through the junk in the crow room for actual treasure, and didn't run into any further delays, you would be able to make it all the way back to town by dark.

[sulldawga]

It's early afternoon in early spring. If you didn't spend more than an hour scrounging through the junk in the crow room for actual treasure, and didn't run into any further delays, you would be able to make it all the way back to town by dark.

I propose we do just this.

[Keehnelf]

Straight back to town with no camp phase at all? Interesting gambit, Agrom.

[Starbeard]

Raizenbrayne staggers forward half on his knees, still trying to focus amid the forcible palpitations brought on by the snake's venom. Pulling his satchel laboriously around to his front, he absently digs through it until he gains enough presence of mind to remember that he hasn't got any torches. 'Have we another torch?'

He sits back on his haunches against the nearby wall and finally feels the undulating waves of numbness throughout his body slacken, replaced by a steady nausea. Rolling his clammy tongue about in his throat and being slightly repulsed by the sensation, he listens to Agrom's proposed plan of action, no longer caring what happens so long as it doesn't involve getting sick all over himself.

In the rules for Time it says that the camp phase lasts for one night, but the town phase lasts at least a week (under 'Lifestyle', it says that recovering from exhausted, injured and sick is a matter of a few weeks). My understanding of this is that if we make camp and do pass our recovery tests, we can be healed and ready to go on the morrow, but in town the same test would mean weeks of recovery time. Not sure if that makes a difference on what we want to do.

[Keehnelf]

The option is also always available to "sweat it out" to remove the condition, though that's pretty extreme at this point

[sulldawga]

I honestly don't see anything in the Conditions chapter about time spent recovering from Sickness. It simply says that you either pass the check or you don't.

In the Town chapter, it says "If you need to recover from the exhausted, injured or sick conditions, you’ll have to stay in town for more than just a night." But it doesn't say how much longer. It also says "When you enter town you get to decide how you want to live and how long you want to stay."

The Time chapter says "[the Town phase] typically lasts at least a week", which means it's not a requirement to stay a whole week. If we go to town, heal up, buy some more food, and head back out, it can be just a couple of days.

I just think it's silly that you can be done with Sickness in one night in Camp phase but it takes weeks in Town phase. Town phase usually takes a long time because you're doing all the stuff you normally do between adventures, but we wouldn't be doing any of that.