Adventures in a Doomed World: Session 28

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 Adventures and some homebrew rules. The characters started as level 0 peasants and have since levelled up to become heroes.

Introduction

The party are getting closer to the town of Seethorpe now, but they're low on supplies, one bedroll short and two of them are about to come down with a nasty disease.

The Adventure

After travelling through the hills for the rest of the day the heroes make camp. Stilda congratulates Bando on his performance in the fight against the rats and says he could make a fine warrior one day. They settle down to sleep, but Ellyn wakes up in the early morning, shivering. She gets up, staggers away from the remains of the fire and vomits furiously into the undergrowth.

Waking up and seeing this, Stilda realises what's happened. She must have caught vermin fever from the rat bite yesterday. Everyone knows giant rats are carriers of the disease. When the sun comes up she goes foraging for the right herbs to cure it.

Stilda makes a check (Difficulty 12)

14 -2 Int +2 Heal = 14. Success! 8 XP.

Stilda arrives back holding a handful of herbs. Meanwhile Ellyn has lost 1 consitution. Has her body managed to break the fever?

Ellyn makes a saving throw (Difficulty 10: 9 + the rat's HD)

14 +0 level bonus +1 Con = 15. Success!

"I think... I think I'm feeling a bit better actually." Ellyn says, sitting up.

"I got bitten too though, didn't I?" Cyna says. "Do you think I've got the same thing?"

Stilda makes a check (Difficulty 10)

9 -2 Int +2 Heal = 9. Failure!

"Probably not, if you're feeling alright at the moment." Stilda says. "I'll keep these herbs anyway, just in case."

They continue on through the hills for half the day but they can see a mountain range ahead of them. "That'll take days to get past!" Stilda says. "Let's go southwest and see if we can go around them." She looks behind her and Cyna is leaning forward on Wyn, her horse. She slowly dismounts and staggers about a bit, then chunders onto the ground, the foraged food splattering all over the hillside.

Cyna makes a saving throw (Difficulty 10)

5 +3 level bonus +1 Con = 9. Failure! She loses a point of constitution.

"Alright, don't worry I've still got the herbs." Stilda says. They build a small fire and she mashes up the herbs between two rocks, then mixes the paste with water boiled over the fire to make a healing tea.

Stilda makes a check (Difficulty 10)

16 -2 Int +2 Heal = 16. Success! 7 XP.

She gives the tea to Cyna who drinks it all down. Unfortunately they're going to have to wait a couple of hours for it to take effect, and as the sun crawls across the sky Bryne suggests building the fire back up again and camping here for the night. They roast the last bits of meat from the hare that Bryne was able to kill the other day, then settle down to sleep. Stilda gives her bedroll to Ellyn to help her recover, although she won't be able to recover her lost constitution point until she's able to rest properly in a bed.

In the middle of the night Bando wakes the others up. A pack of thirteen wolves is approaching the camp! They're quite close already, having crept up on them in the darkness. There's no time for any tactics. The fight begins.

Bryne immediately casts Magic Missile at the closest one, blasting its head and killing it instantly. Then the wolves reach the heroes. Two of them bite Stilda for 3 damage. One bites Bando in the stomach, tearing his flesh (critical hit, triple damage for 3 HP's worth!).

Stilda swings her longsword but loses her balance and falls over (fumble). Bando hacks at a wolf and wounds it, then Ellyn runs up to it and cracks its head with her iron carpet beater, killing it. Bryne retreats and slings a stone at one of them, cutting its face. She points at another and shoots a green bolt of magic at it which burns a hole into its head, killing it. Cyna wades into the middle of the battle, stabbing and killing two wolves with her pitchfork.

The wolves leap at the heroes. One goes for Bando's wounded abdomen, disembowelling him with its teeth. He screams and drops dead. The others have no time to react to his death now, they have to fight for their lives.

The fight continues, long and bloody. Ellyn is surrounded and bitten so Stilda rushes over to her, slaying a wolf. Cyna kills another, then Bryne lines up a perfect shot on another one, hitting it in the eye with a stone and killing it (critical hit, max damage). She blasts and kills another with a magical bolt.

There are only three wolves left now but they hold their nerve. Cyna kills one, but then Ellyn drops her carpet beater on the ground (fumble). The wolves fight back but can't hit anyone, then Stilda hacks into one with her sword and gashes the other's flank. Cyna approaches and jams her pitchfork into it, putting it down.

They receive 975 XP and Ellyn reaches level 1, becoming a Scarlet Hero! She doesn't have very good attributes but her highest is Intelligence, so it makes sense for her to become a wizard. A spell forms in her mind... let's use the random spell table from Maze Rats to create it.

Shapeshifting Bone

The caster targets the enemy's skeleton, magically warping it out of shape over time until the spell either wears off or shards of bone burst out of their body, killing them. The enemy will immediately receive a -1 attack penalty and take 1 damage for 1D4 rounds.

I completely forgot about Lady Eudocia in that fight. Let's ask the oracle if she:

1-2: Survived unscathed

3-4: Was wounded

5-6: Died

2. She survived.

Poor old Bando. It seems men don't last long in Eilobar. The others collect his cutlass, giving it to Ellyn, then tie his body to one of the horses. Stilda bandages her wounds and those of Ellyn and Cyna but they won't get enough sleep tonight to heal any more, leaving each of them still wounded. They settle down again and try to get a couple more hours' sleep before continuing their long journey in the morning.