Adventures in a Doomed World: Session 6

 

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. Starting with level 0 characters I'm attempting to keep them alive long enough to level up from -100 to 1 XP and become actual heroes.

Introduction

Last time we left the surviving villagers still lost in the Maze of Mothric, enduring their funnel adventure/character tumbler. If the handful of survivors can make it out, they'll gain an experience point and become level 1 Scarlet Heroes.

The Adventure

Celomir the hunter, Dill (his dog), Bryne (hermit) and Ames (beggar) have teamed up. They can see the stairway leading up and out of the maze, so they head for it. Celomir notices a crystal set in the wall at chest height. Fearing a magical trap, he examines it. It seems to be a magic missile trap which will blast anyone approaching it. Neither the hunter, beggar or hermit have any idea how to disable it, and since they can't see the other open doors to the room with the stairs, they decide to draw straws to see who should go first and try to dodge the trap.

Ames the beggar draws the short straw. "I don't mind, I've had a good life." he says, striding towards the crustal and diving past it. By some miracle he beats the save vs spell of the trap (rolled 18 vs 17) and survives! The blast of energy flies past him and smashes some bricks out of the wall. The others follow him past the spent trap and out of the maze.

Meanwhile Stilda is backtracking along the corridor to Terry's cell in order to avoid the pit the tracker died in, and Geoffrey is getting ever closer to the central staircase. As he turns a corner he hears the whirring of some diabolical mechanism and, remembering the scythe that almost got him, dives forward just in time to dodge a jet of green acid that sprays out of a pipe and melts the surface of the brickwork on the opposite wall. With no more traps between him and the stairs, Geoffrey rushes up out of the maze, followed a while later by Stilda the barber.

The paths each villager took through the maze. Red splats are deaths, X's are traps that were disarmed or went off without hitting anyone.

Our six survivors have graduated to become Scarlet Heroes! The trip back to their village, Keyham, is uneventful and they rest and recuperate at the inn (now missing its innkeeper Anthond after he was turned to mush by thunderstones).

They decide that they need to finish what the previous group of heroes started: venture into the Tunnels and put an end to Mothric's reign of terror.

The classes in Scarlet heroes are fighter, thief, cleric and magic user (which I'll call wizard). Celomir has proved himself a skilled thief, so he volunteers to lead the quest - he has the highest charisma. He is joined by Stilda. In her leather apron and armed with barber's scissors she will make a good fighter, while Geoffrey declares he's ready to become a fully fledged wizard.

While converting them to Scarlet Heroes characters I've allowed them to shuffle their stats to make their highest one their primary stat for their class. The other survivros will remain in the village until they are called upon to replace a slain hero.

Stilda, female human fighter. Previously a barber.

Strength: 17 (+2)

Dexterity: 9

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 5 (-2)

Wisdom: 5 (-2)

Charisma: 5 (-2)

Hit Points: 8

Weapon: Scissors (as dagger)

Fray Die: 1D8

Armour Class: 7 (Leather apron)

Traits: Heal (1), Climb (1), Athletics (3)

Celomir, male elf thief. Previously a hunter.

Strength: 15 (+1)

Dexterity: 16 (+2)

Constitution: 15 (+1)

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 12

Charisma: 16 (+2)

Hit Points: 4

Weapon: Shortbow

Fray Die: 1D6

Armour Class: 9 (Hunter's garb/no armour)

Traits: Hunting (3), Hide (1), Search (1), Open Lock (1)

Special ability: Sneak attack (+4 attack bonus, x3 damage)

Geoffrey, male human wizard. Previous a wizard's apprentice.

Strength: 8 (-1)

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 14 (+1)

Intelligence: 17 (+2)

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 9

Hit Points: 4

Weapon: None

Fray Die: 1D4

Armour Class: 9 (Robe/no armour)

Traits: Identify(2), Spellcraft (1), Search (1), Languages (1)

In Scarlet Heroes each player character has a fray die which they get to roll every round that they're in combat and in melee range of enemies. This damage represents miscellaneous slashes and thrusts at the enemies around them, so even if they miss their attack that round they might roll a three on their fray die and do one damage to the first three enemies surrounding them, and none to the fourth one. The fray die only works on enemies with hit dice equal or less than the player's level. A wizard's fray die is only a D4 but it's special - the level restriction doesn't apply and the range is up to 60 feet away. This makes first level wizards actually useful in combat once they've used up their only spell.

The three heroes go to the Fool and Tankard Inn in Keyham where they say goodbye to the other survivors (Ames, Bryne and Symath). They tell Anthond's wife she is now a widow and she resolves to continue running the inn without him.

They check their meagre savings (5D12 copper pieces): 29CP. They scrounge up whatever they can from their homes and sell it. Celomir sells a sack for 8CP, Stilda a flask of oil for 15CP, and Geoffrey a flint and steel for 40CP. They now have 92CP, not even enough to buy a single dagger. Also since Geoffrey lost his spellbook in the maze he'll need to plead with his master to help him bind a new one and translate a spell to it.

Food will cost them 3CP per day each if they're buying it in Keyham but more in a larger settlement. They stock up on travel rations, buying enough for seven days.

They visit Geoffrey's master, the wizard Yorthmaf. He thinks they're mad for taking on Mothric when so many others were killed trying, but he agrees to bind a new spellbook and transcribe a minor spell for Geoffrey if they can help him first. He tells them he needs the scales of a chelonian for an alchemical experiment he's preparing, and that he recently saw one living in the swamp near the Tunnels and Maze of Mothric. If the heroes can kill it and bring him a bag full of scales, he'll help Geoffrey. He describes the chelonian as a short lizard-like humanoid that wields primitive stone weapons.

The heroes set off immediately, Celomir bringing his dog Dill, travelling through the barren wasteland outside Keyham. We're combining the BFRPG Hexcrawl rules with those of Scarlet Heroes now, which has random events. In the wasteland a huge dead tree topples over in the wind, almost crushing Geoffrey but he dives out of the way just in time.

The next day they reach the swamp and the ruined village found by their predecessors. Unfortunately they spot four bandits picking through the ruins. Celomir wastes no time, loosing an arrow at the closest one (Scarlet Heroes rules say players always have initiative unless they're specifically being ambushed). The arrow glances off his leather armour.

Stilda, Dill and Geoffrey charge the bandits. Stilda leaps at hers, stabbing him in the neck with her scissors, killing him. Enemies have hit points equal to their hit dice, so these 1HD bandits only have 1HP each - quite good for cutting through hordes of minions.

Dill misses his, but Geoffrey unleashes an arc of magical energy that whips across all three bandits, blasting them and killing them instantly.

They loot the bandits, taking 17GP. The bandits had a dagger, light mace and longsword (I rolled a D6 on the list of light weapons in BFRPG's rulebook, including nothing on a 1). Celomir takes the dagger, Geoffrey the light mace (although for him it's capped at 1D4 damage), and Stilda the sword.

Is any of their leather armour still usable? (50/50)

1 out of 4 is. Celomir takes it.

Celomir uses his Hunting trait to search for signs of the chelonian.

Success!

He finds some tracks leading east so they follow them into the next hex.

Is the chelonian here? (Likely)

No.

The ruined village continues to the east with some abandoned farms and isolated dwellings. Celomir tries to find the tracks again.

Hunting: Success!

The tracks lead southeast, to the dreaded Maze of Mothric, so they head that way.

Is the chelonian here? (Likely)

No, but -

We'll take the "but" to mean but they find its den, a small dugout underground near the maze entrance, and hide nearby, waiting for it to return.

Does it arrive today? (Likely)

Yes.

A few hours later they see the chelonian making its way back home, a rodent in its mouth. Celomir attempts to shoot it from behind a small hill (sneak attack). The arrow hits its shoulder but bounces off its tough scales. Enraged, it charges at them. It's 250 feet away though (encounter distances are the result of dice rolls), so while the others rush to meet it, Celomir looses another arrow, misses, then misses a second time. He's down to two arrows now. The others are still running towards each other. He tries again and hits it square in the chest, felling it.

Celomir uses his dagger to cut some scales from the dead creature, puts them in a bag and gives them to Geoffrey. Its stone spear is worthless, but searching its den they find 4GP and a necklace with a blue topaz set in it worth 100GP!

They head back to Keyham the way they came to avoid encountering more enemies. The next day they realise to their dismay that their bag of rations has been spoiled by sinking into the swampy ground overnight. They decide to press on home regardless (-2 penalty to hit rolls, -1 to checks).

Three days later they arrive in Keyham, hungry and exhausted. We'll sell the loot and visit Geoffrey's master next time.