Warning: Potential spoilers below for the adventure, D0: Hollow’s Last Hope, from Paizo. Although it is not being used “as written,” spoilers may certainly be in the writeup below.
[This entry is from RJ. All of the players, except for Todd, played different characters than their normal ones. As Todd noted in the last session writeup, the Ironbloom Mushrooms that everyone had hoped would be at the old Temple of Ertha were not found there. Sebbi, along with the Brighthammer brothers and Hervara set off for another Dwarven ruin in the Jagged Peaks. Rachel was playing Hervara while Robert and RJ played Olvir and Ljot Brighthammer respectively).
RJ wrote this as though Ljot and Olvir were having a discussion in the future as to how they were going to lie to some council or another about their journey to these dwarven ruins…although we only hear Ljot’s side of the conversation.
As always, my GM comments in italics and brackets.]
Yes, I know, your right…we should never have taken those humans there. I didn’t know it was off limits. How was I to know? Did you tell me? I know that the council is waiting to talk to us. No, I don’t know what we should say, maybe the truth? What? You want to go over what I am going to say? What about what you are going to say? Ow…you didn’t have to hit me on my head. You want to go at it? I got nothing but time…What? Fine, later after we have some ales I am kicking your ass!!!! Alright, I will tell you what I am going to say.
We left Askvold stead and were headed to the Jagged peaks to find some Ironbloom Mushrooms for the plague that was running thru the humans. You like that? Make us sound like heroes huh and doing the right thing and all that…Ok I will try and stay on that line. You sure you don’t want me to tell them that Hervara made you go? Ok, hero line, got it. We had to trudge thru the snow…then trudge thru the snow some more…then trudge thru the snow some more…ok, I won’t tell them we trudged that long, but it did feel like we did.
We were heading towards the mountains. Olivir knew where we were going…What? You don’t want me to say it was you that led them there? Who else is going to be leading them there if not you? Me? I have never been there I just know of the place, you actually were there. Fine, I will figure out a different way to say it, maybe we can tell them that Sebbi had a map.
[Robert was provided some information, known to Olvir, about the ruins to which the party was headed. Olvir knows where the ruins are and, I believe, had admitted to having been to them before but didn’t give the others any more information.
I find it interesting that RJ would be so quick to have the characters lie to some, presumably, powerful and important Dwarven council. I’ll have to keep that in mind and bring some authority figures into the picture soon…maybe some Scales of Justice or Swords of Truth…should be fun times…fun times…]
We discuss going thru the night to get up to the mine but decide not to; as the humans would be going at a much slower pace. We go until we reach the hills and then we set up camp. We set up tents and we all take watches. On Sebbi’s watch he wakes up the rest of us, he states that he hears something, and when we listen we all hear thump, thump…thump, thump….thump, thump. The sound is getting closer. When I look out of the tent there is another human there…I ask Sebbi “who is this guy”, he stated “he is on our side” Sebbi stated he heard voices out there but can’t make out what they were saying. Sebbi and his friend backs away from the sound, just like a lord right? They go to the other side of the camp. You and I decide to hide on opposite sides and Hervara joins me.
[A couple of sessions ago, I asked each of the players to pick a suit and then dealt them each card. This was to determine on which watch the giant spider that attacked one night would attack and if it would attack at all. Whichever player was dealt the suit they picked first would be the one on watch when the spider attacked. Todd picked Joker as his suit. I dealt him a Joker. This encounter was “payback” for his being such a smartass…since I actually dealt the Joker when he picked it.]
Two frost giants come out of the night. The lead one tells the other, “You get the dwarves and I will get the mule.” Of course Sebbi leaves his Mule out in the open, I guess he was thinking his servant was going to get it, sigh. Anyway, the lead giant picks up the mule and heads away. The other one comes right at you and says “There you are.” He swings at you but only hits a glancing blow. I and Hervara come running up to help. You look around the giant and tell the giant “There is the most tasty horse behind you”
[Not sure where the frost part came from. They were actually Cliff Giants.]
The giant says “Yes my brother got him”. I am still not sure what you were trying to do to him…he was right the other giant did come around and did get the mule. Ow…don’t hit me.
[Robert attempted a Smarts Trick against one of the giants. Made perfect sense given that the giants did not seem to be the brightest creatures around (and I’m including Sally the mule and the party’s tent as part of that comparison). Olvir tried to distract the brute by telling him that there was a horse right behind it just waiting to be gobbled up. Robert’s roll wasn’t too great and my roll for the giant aced multiple times. So, to explain the results/outcome of the rolls, I just assumed the giant was too dumb to even realize that Olvir was talking about a second horse/mule and thought Olvir was talking about Sally…which the giant’s brother was already carrying away. This, narrating and/or explaining the outcomes of the game mechanics, is one of the things that I’ve been enjoying about Savage Worlds quite a bit.]
Sebbi sends his guard after the giant with his mule. The lead giant uses Sally, the mule, as a weapon and swings it at Sebbi’s guard, he just crumbles to the ground. You know that was very weird how he just crumbled like that.
[If you were a dumb giant with a mule in your hands and someone came up to you to stick pointy metal thing in you, wouldn’t you smack them with the mule? Just how much hurt would a mule smack down if a mule could smack down hurt? We just ruled a d8 + Str…and that can be a lot of hurt when the Str is a d12+3. The Bodyguard really didn’t have a chance.]
Me and Hervara reach the second giant and he takes his club and just swings in a circle. He hit me pretty hard I think I busted a rib and my knee went out from under me. That was a hard hit. You and Hervara were hit too. I took the brunt of the hit but they were stunned as well.
Sebbi decides his mule is dead and throws some magic at the second giant. I guess he was mad about his mule because he sent a huge fire streak at the giant. It hit him and he was on fire, he took a few steps and fell dead.
[I think the bolt of flames came before the Bodyguard went after the giant leaving with the mule. I remember because I made sure to have Sally make a bit of a braying noise when the flames hit the giant…gotta tug on the heartstrings of the players and all.]
You finally get your act together and shoot some rocks at the last giant, one hits the giant in the head and caves it in. By the way brother, that was a great shot and the sound his skull made when you hit him was impressive. Mom would be so proud.
Sebbi goes and checks on his mule. She is dead of course. He then goes and kicks the giant. I guess since it was dead now it was ok for him to kick it. I am still hurting and Hervara comes over and looks over my wounds. She seems distracted and she wraps my chest and knee in bandages. I feel a little better, but then she pushed my rib and I am in so much pain. Are you sure she was a healer’s apprentice? It feels like she pushed my rib in thru lungs and out again. I felt weaker after that battle and my leg was still hurt. I was slowed up a lot, trudging is the right word right now.
[We are using a House Rule that on a critical failure, the GM can offer the player a Benny to NOT spend a Benny and re-roll and accept the consequences of the critical failure as narrated by the GM. Rachel rolled Snake Eyes on her Healing check. I explained that if she accepted the Benny it would mean more than just the extra Wound that the poor roll on the Healing check would normally cause. All of the players were in favor of her taking the Benny and she did…RJ is known as the Whipping Rat around these parts. I had RJ roll on the Injury table and the result was Guts, Battered and a die loss in Vigor. We explained as Hervara had set the rib wrong and possibly a punctured lung as she was unable to heal the wounds within the Golden Hour. I haven’t told RJ just how long the loss of Vigor will last…I like to keep him guessing. :D]
We break camp and start heading up the mountain. Sebbi has to leave some of his gear. We decide to follow the giants trail since it is heading in the same direction we are going. When their trail veers to the left we continue to head up the mountains. It is slow going with me somewhat lame. We are only going about a mile and hour. We push as far as we can and stop to make camp when it gets dark again. No problems this time.
[By the way, what did you guys do with the body of Sally? Did anyone do anything or can I assume that you just left her body where it fell?]
We break camp again and continual to head up the mountain. We hit and old trail and follow it up until we see the ruined mine. The buildings are carved out of the mountain, I bet it was beautiful in its day. There is a waterfall on one side and a watch tower on the other. The gates are broken and laying on the ground. That were two statues on either side of the gates, they were of noble dwarves, covered with moss.
We decide to come at the mine near the waterfall. You were in the lead and head in thru the broken gates. Hervara is right behind him me and Sebbi and another guard with him. As I was getting to ready to walk in, Sebbi stops me and tells me to come back here and read something. I tell him that we are getting ready to enter and that I need to be up with my brother. He drags me back and tells me to read it real quick. Of course that’s when two wolves come out of the dark and attack you and Hervara. One goes down quickly by Olvir and I have to run in and take care of the other. Sebbi drags me out again to read the inscription on the statues. All I can make out on one is “ALL PR…” and on the other is “…rit”. I have no idea what it means, do you? I didn’t think you did.
[Sebbi is a member of the Lorekeepers and a bit of a historian so he should be checking out these kind of things. I’d be surprised if he didn’t try to figure out as much as he could about this place as they look for the Ironbloom Mushrooms. It just wouldn’t be in character if he didn’t. I sure hope that there isn’t stuff that another player character might want to keep hidden about this place.]
The chamber has a lot of debris inside. A rotten stable to left of the gate and three doors leading out of the chamber. One of the doors is a double door. We decide to go thru the far door from the gate.
We listen to the door and hear nothing. You are in the lead and goes first. There is a long corridor to the left and there is a door on the opposite wall to the right and statue that is broken to the right. You go to the door and open it. Inside more debris, a cave like room, and some white substance on the floor, I think its bat guano. You close the door and we head down the corridor.
We come to another door. We open it and there is a stone desk, debris, and there is a stench of wolves. You turn to leave and close the door when two wolves come out from behind the desk. They get the jump on you before anyone can get the door closed. We manage to get the door closed but not before you get hurt. Hervara bandages you up, a much better job on you then me, and we continue down the corridor looking for the damm mushrooms.
At the next door, it looks to be an old armory. There are no weapons but racks where the weapons would be. There is an opening to the left and you went to go look. There is a stone pillar and two more wolves come charging out. Olvir gets bitten and scratched. I come in to swing at the wolves but Olvir throws off my arm when he tries to jump back from the wolves. Yes you did…I am telling the story and this is how my story goes.
Anyway, he jostles my arm and my axe swings off and hits Sebbi’s guard in the head. He crumbles again. Sebbi seems upset again and then fries one of the wolves. Hervara stabs at the other wolf but misses.
After the spell, Sebbi seems like he is out of it. Leaning against the wall and trying to regain his balance. He can’t seem to move. Olvir swings at the other wolf and puts it down. That is when we hear this deep guttural growl “You killed my mates…”
Yes that is how I remember it brother and that is how I am going to tell it. Well, how are you going to tell the story…?
[That, of course, is where we ended for the night. The guttural and growling voice came from the darkness beyond the opening to the left. Ljot is still injured and has one Wound from the battle with the Cliff Giants. Olvir and Sebbi both have one Wound from the fight with the wolves and Sebbi is also Shaken.
This was also our first session where Siphoning came into play. Every other time that a spellcaster has rolled a one on their Spellcasting die, the character was either a Faith based practitioner or spent a Benny to reroll. On two different occasions, Todd got a one and either did not spend a Benny or didn’t have one to spend. The first time the Siphoning result was Minor Loss. It happened at the end of the fight with the giants so it really didn’t matter as Sebbi could use his powers again in the morning. The second time was the last fight against the wolves. The result was Slight Drain (I think) and so Sebbi is Shaken and doesn’t have access to his powers for 1d4 rounds when we start the next session. I sure hope that guttural and growling voice isn’t a hostile…oh wait, what am I saying…of course I hope it is a hostile…]
