Adventures in a Doomed World: Session 15

Explosions rip through a horde of goblins.

I'm playing a mashup of Scarlet Heroes and Basic Fantasy RPG with a few supplements to turn it into a solo fantasy hexcrawl in the world of Eilobar, a doomed land entering its end times. I'm using the Level 0 Character Tumbler, Hexcrawl Aventures and also 47 Critical Hit Tables to Spice Up Your Game. The characters started as level 0 peasants and have since levelled up to become heroes.

Introduction

The party is on its way to liberate the village of Laford from the goblin tribe that overran it. Having survived an ambush in the woods by hobgoblins, they are ready to continue their journey.

The Adventure

It's going to take them another day to reach the next hex, so they make camp and settle in for a night in the woods. Waking up refreshed, they head southwest through the dense forest, which leads them up into hills covered with trees. Here they come upon what seems to be a mine. They're really close to Laford now so it must belong to the village.

Does the mine show signs of activity from a distance? (50/50)

Yes. The mine looks to be occupied, with pack animals and minecarts outside it. Helia volunteers to scout it out stealthily and attempt to find out if the locals still have control of it, or if it has been taken over by the goblins.

She moves through the trees towards the mine.

Check: Simple (DC 9)

9 +1 Dex bonus +1 Halfling Stealth = 11

Success!

Is it occupied by locals or goblins? (50/50)

Locals, but some piece of equipment of theirs has failed. It's a hastily constructed wooden barricade that the miners had built in front of the entrance to stop the goblins getting in. Helia can see them frantically hammering bits of wooden carts, doors and wheelbarrows together.

She goes back and tells the others, and then they approach the mine, waving and greeting the miners. They explain they are here to help, and ask if the miners are expecting an attack by the goblins.

Are they? (Likely)

Yes but "an error in an assumption some NPC is making".

The miners explain that the first time the goblins attacked the mine, the miners gave them such a beating that they retreated back to the village, and since then their attacks have been a little halfhearted, only sending smaller groups out to harrass the barricades and look for other ways in. None the less, the miners need to get the barricade back up before the next attack, which they expect today.

Let's roll up the foreman of the mine. It's a male halfling called Gardo. He hails from the south, being bronze-skinned, with a bullneck and bulky frame. He seems hot-headed. Gardo asks for the party's help in cutting down a nearby tree, then cutting it into logs that they can stack up at the entrance and nail boards to, to hold them together.

The heroes agree to help. They're going to each make a strength check of average DC (11) to see if they can finish the barricade before the goblin attack starts. If half of them succeed we'll say they manage to do it in time.

Stilda: 8 +1 Str bonus = 9 (Failure)

Cyna: 16 +1 Str bonus = 17 (Success)

Bryne: 10 +1 Str bonus = 11 (Success)

Helia: 13 +1 Str bonus = 14 (Success)

They cut down the tree with an axe provided by the miners, cut it into smaller logs and remove the branches. Then they tie ropes to the logs and drag them to the entrance, lifting them together and placing them on top of each other. Finally they nail them together and get inside the mine with the locals.

Soon after, a gang of goblins comes into view and charges at the barricade.

Does the barricade keep them out? (Almost certain)

Yes. They quickly realise they're not going to be able to break it down, and the miners pelt them with stones from behind it until they run away, bruised and shaken. (400XP awarded to the party).

Helia levels up! As a thief she adds 0.5 to her attack bonus (I guess this means it has no effect until she levels up a second time and reaches +2, otherwise it's no different to adding a whole point). She gains 2HP, making her new maximum 6. I'm reading the Scarlet Heroes rules on character advancement and I realise I was supposed to give Helia a special "Thief Archetype" trait which she'll use for all thieving activities like sneaking, picking locks etc, and this trait can go above the maximum of 3 points, allowing her to keep improving as a thief for the whole campaign. It makes sense as otherwise she could end up a level 10 thief but being no better at lockpicking than she was at level 2.

With this in mind I'm rearranging her traits:

Adventuring Thief (4)

Halfling Stealth (1)

and after a couple of nice one shot kills with her bow (including Mothric), I'm giving her a point in Sharpshooter, which she can use to add to her attack bonus when using a ranged weapon.

The party explain to Gardo that they want to lead the miners in taking Laford back from the goblins. Gardo is enthusiastic about this but wants reassurance that they won't just abandon them to the wilds afterward, and will help them secure the area around the settlement as well as help them rebuild. Stilda agrees.

How many miners are alive and able to fight? (3D12+5)

20.

Gardo says there are only 20 of them who haven't been killed or wounded, but they'll fight with whatever tools they have available to them. Stilda suggests the party travels to the outskirts of the hamlet and then send Helia a bit closer to scout out the defences and get an idea of how many goblins they could be dealing with. She asks where they came from, and he says they have a cave lair in a swamp to the north. She vows to clear out the lair after freeing Laford.

That night, the party leaves for Laford. In the woods near the mine they encounter a group of seven phaerim, elf-like fey creatures with pixie-like wings, but three feet tall. 

Reaction: Unfavourable.

Stilda tries to approach and greet the strange folk hoping they could help against the goblins, but they either can't understand her or have no interest in helping, and quickly fly off into the trees. When they can see the lights of Laford, the party remains in place in the trees and Helia stealthily makes her way towards the settlement.

Are there any goblins patrolling outside the hamlet? (50/50)

Yes. 2D4 (6).

Check: Stilda attempts to hide in the bushes as they approach. (Simple, DC 9)

15 +1 Dex bonus +4 Adventuring Thief = 20.

Success!

She waits for the small group to pass by and then continues on her way, climbing a small hill and crouching in the undergrowth atop it. She sees a kind of makeshift wooden guard post, elevated a couple of feet off the ground outside the hamlet. A goblin with a shortbow is keeping watch there. There are torches burning in the single street that makes up Laford, with goblins walking to and fro carrying supplies, going in and out of the 18 buildings there.

Helia watches for a while and sees a raggedly dressed man and woman leave one of the cottages carrying what looks like sacks full of trash. A goblin walks behind them with a spear, marching them to the river where they empty the sacks, then back to the cottage again. She estimates there are around 50 to 60 goblins in the hamlet. It's time to go back.

Does she see the patrolling goblins on the way back? (Unlikely)

No, but... one has fallen behind for some reason and walks on its own. Helia decides to take the initiative and take it out while she has the chance. It'll be one less to deal with.

Check: Heliasneaks up behind the goblin straggler. (Simple, DC 9)

14 +1 Dex bonus +4 Adventuring Thief = 19.

Success!

She gets behind it with her shortsword out.

12 +1 Attack Bonus, +1 Dex bonus, +4 Sneak attack, +6 Goblin AC = 24

Hit!

Stilda rams her shortsword into the goblin's back. Its entire nervous system goes into shock. Unable to scream, it dies seconds later and she drags it into some bushes. She takes 10 silver pieces from it, and 10XP. She meets up with the party and tells them what she saw, and they head back to the mine.

The next morning they begin planning with Gardo. The goblins outnumber the miners two to one, but now that the heroes have joined they'll have more of a chance against them if they're clever. Marching out of the forest and attacking Laford head on would be foolish, so Stilda wants to come up with a way to cause a distraction on one side of the settlement, lure a lot of the goblins over there, and then have everyone attack from the other side so they can fight them on the main street, ensuring they won't be surrounded out in the open.

Gardo says there's an old wooden shack a few hundred yards south from the outskirts. Someone could bring lamp oil and set it on fire, then the rest of the group could come out of the trees from the east and attack. Helia volunteers to shoot the goblin she saw in the guard post first, allowing the would-be arsonist to move around the edge of the settlement from the east to the south.

Does Gardo volunteer to start the fire? (Likely)

Yes.

Gardo will start the fire and come back around, hiding outside Laford and joining the main group when they attack. Bryne points out that goblins can see in the dark, so they may as well do this during the daytime to allow the miners to see the goblins easier. Stilda and Cyna offer to spend the day giving the miners some basic training, then everyone will leave at daybreak the next morning.

The training begins. The fighters tell the miners to gather up their pickaxes, axes and any other heavy tools they could use as weapons, and start sparring with them. They attempt to spend time with all twenty, but how many of them actually benefit from the training? (1D20).

10 - not bad! Later on I'll run a kind of mass brawl using really basic rules, so 10 of the miners will get an advantage against the goblins, while the rest will have 50/50 chances against them.

The next morning the twenty-four companions set off for Laford, which only takes a couple of hours. When they reach the edge of the forest they can see their old home in the distance, in the open plains with bushes and trees scattered around. Helia starts to make her way out from cover to cover, approaching the guard post bit by bit.

Check: Helia moves stealthily towards the guard post. (Average, DC 11)

13 +1 Dex bonus +4 Adventuring Thief = 18.

Success!

Now crouching in a bush, she nocks an arrow to her shortbow and looses it.

5 +1 Attack Bonus, +1 Dex bonus, +1 Sharpshooter, +4 Sneak attack, +6 Goblin AC = 18

Miss!

The arrow flies past the goblin's ear, and its head whips around to where Helia is hiding in the bush. Helia remains completely still.

Check: Will the sentry see her? (Hard, DC 13)

12 +1 Dex bonus +4 Adventuring Thief = 17

Success!

The sentry looks at the bush for a moment, then hops off the platform and starts walking towards where Helia hides. It's too alert to be sneak attacked now and will notice her as soon as she moves, so she'll have to just pop up and let off another arrow, hoping it'll kill it.

3 +1 Attack Bonus, +1 Dex bonus, +1 Sharpshooter, +6 Goblin AC = 12

Miss!

The sentry shrieks in fright, then shoots back at her but misses. Third time lucky, Helia shoots again, hitting it in the chest and putting it down (10XP). She runs over to it, picks it up and drags it into the bush she was hiding in, joining it there. She then imitates a local birdcall, signalling to Gardo that he can make his way to the old shack to the south.

Does Gardo manage to set the shack on fire? (Likely)

No.

Does he get captured, or killed? (50/50)

Killed.

Helia watches Gardo approach the same way she did, using bushes for cover to circle around the edge of Laford. When he reaches the southwest edge of the settlement he makes a run for the wooden shack. Right away Helia hears the shrieking of goblins, and a group of them run out from the main street, chasing him down. It looks like they're shouting orders at him, perhaps to drop his axe, but he shouts something back at them and they advance on him. He fights bravely, killing two of them (1D4) before one sticks a long dagger into his belly and tears it open, killing him. Helia makes her way back to the others and tells them what happened.

The men are devastated since Gardo had proved such a good leader in the weeks since the goblins invaded, and Stilda realises it would be suicide to march them into Laford now, against possibly sixty goblins. They decide to abandon the mission for today and head back to the mine.

They need to come up with a new plan. Cyna suggests evening the odds by filling bottles with lamp oil, lighting a rag inside them and throwing them at the goblins. This could work if Helia can dispose of whatever new sentry they've posted. Hopefully the goblins will assume Gardo killed the sentry, and as they weren't able to capture him they won't have learned of the plan.

They can bring ember carriers with them to light the rags, but if they're engaged in combat with the goblins they'll only get one chance. Bryne suggests having two rows of miners: the back row light the rags and hand the bottles to the front row who throw them. Then if any goblins survive and rush at them the front ones can easily defend themselves since they won't be fumbling with ember carriers and flammable oil. This way they can hold their position in the main street. Bryne says goblins are dim-witted and unlikely to try outflanking them by running around the buildings and popping up behind them.

There are barrels and barrels of lamp oil, and plenty of empty ale bottles and jugs they can use. They spend the rest of the day making the firebottles and then go to sleep. In the morning they've made 21 firebottles (20+1D20), and they set off again. There are 19 miners since they lost Gardo, so Helia takes two of the bottles.

They reach the treeline and Helia makes her way to the guard post again. Annoyingly, they've replaced the sentry with two.

Check: Helia moves stealthily towards the guard post. (Average, DC 11)

3 +1 Dex bonus +4 Adventuring Thief = 8.

Failure!

The two sentries spot her and start shrieking in their annoying goblin voices, one banging a frying pan hanging from the wooden structure. There is a commotion from within the buildings and goblins start running outside. Helia shoots at one of them and misses, then starts running back towards the treeline waving her arms. She's not sure what Stilda will do as they didn't plan for this, but she hears Stilda roaring "Attack!" and the heroes and miners start running across the plains to Helia.

The two goblin sentries have bows, so they start shooting at Helia, but both miss. She realises she'll have to stand her ground and wait for the others to catch up to her, so she starts shooting back. She is wounded in the fight but manages to kill both goblins. The others have caught up to her now so they get into formation at the end of the main street, just as the goblins are about to reach them.

How many goblins are there? 50-60, -5 killed by Helia and Gardo

54. That means 42 normal goblins, 5 archers and 6 warriors leading them.

This wasn't exactly how I imagined this battle, but there's not much I can do about it now thanks to Helia and Gardo both messing up the plan! The goblins approach the heroes in a huge rabble, coming down the street. The warriors and archers are spread out among them but they're not in any kind of formation. I guess we'll do a morale check if we can cut them down by half, but that will also apply to the miners if half of them die since they're just normal men.

The goblins reach shortbow range but they're still too far off for throwing the firebottles - they need to be within 50 feet for that. The two groups advance down the street towards each other, the archers shooting. Helia shoots down one goblin, then the goblin archers unleash a volley of arrows which hit three of the miners, killing them. This continues while they approach each other...

Finally they come within range. Only 14 miners remain though, and in their current formation only 6 can throw firebottles. Bryne and Helia shoot their arrows first, Bryne's taking down a goblin in the front row. Three men throw their firebottles one after another. The oil explodes into a huge mass of burning clouds, destroying over half of the goblin forces and leaving a huge mass of burning black matter in the middle of the street.

A firebottle explodes in the middle of the goblin horde.

Several of the goblins break ranks and run for their lives. Only 18 remain now. The two surviving archers shoot, killing one of the miners. They can't cross the burning mass of fallen goblins so they have to move between it and the nearest buildings in order to reach the miners and heroes.

Before they can reach them, Helia shoots the closest one, killing it, and the men throw another round of bottles which create more huge clouds of fire. When it dies down only one goblin remains standing. Bizarrely it continues advancing on them. Cyna orders the miners to stand down and walks out to meet it. Choking and wheezing, it raises its club and she impales it on her pitchfork.

A huge cheer goes up from the miners who slap each other on the back and hug. Only thirteen of the original twenty survived the battle but they seem relieved to have retaken their home from the goblins.

The heroes help them search the houses, finding a large group of surviving peasants huddled together in one of them. Some of the miners are reunited with family members, and there is much rejoicing. The heroes personally killed eight goblins in the battle, that's 80XP plus 400 for liberating Laford. Most of the goblins were too badly burned to loots anything from, but the miners find a lot of their belongings and savings stashed in one of the houses.

My Thoughts

Well, I wasn't expecting this quest to take that long, that's for sure. I was hoping we'd be able to lure half of them away with the burning shack and fight one group of them by rolling a single die for each fight between a goblin and a miner, with the highest killing the other one, meanwhile have the heroes resolve their combat in normal combat rounds, then repeat it for the group that got lured away.

Luckily I had Tabletop Simulator to help keep track of the huge crowd of goblins and calculate the area of effect for the firebottles. Very fun though!