“We can’t just leave him here,” Njora protests. Embarassed, I have to agree, and send her to find a watchman to report the attack, while I look for a boat captain.
Q: Does Njora find a guard? YES Q: Do I find a boat captain? YES Q: Does Njora get into trouble? NO -Diplomacy pass by 1, automatic Good reaction-
I find a man working beside his boat, mending damaged nets, and complaining about his lazy son who should not have left them out for the storm to savage.
“Hey friend, I can see that your nets are in pretty bad shape, and you’re unlikely to get any fishing done before the storm returns. How about if I hire you to transport a friend and I over to the sea cave, and then to pick us back up tomorrow morning, or as soon thereafter as the weather permits. I offer ten skell.” I pull the coins from the purse inside my heavy pack, having learned not to wear it on my belt in this town.
He quickly agrees to the price, but look around curiously. “And where is your friend?”
I look back then to the fisherman and shrug, “She will be around shortly. I’ll go fetch her.”
I return to where the corpse is, and see that a town guard and a couple of laborers are taking the Saurian away.
Q: Do they question me? YES -Diplomacy fails by 4, so reaction roll-Poor-
“You the one that killed him?” The guard looks at me in disgust. I nod and explain that I had no choice. “Why didn’t you call for help?” I look around at the docks, largely deserted. The guard leans over the body, “Robbed him too. We don’t favor cutpurses and murderers.”
-Public Speaking Pass 3, vs Willpower fail 3-
“He is my protector,” Njora interjects, “And this…foreign assassin, tried to murder us while we were serving the Winter Flame. We had no choice but to defend ourselves, and you know that in fair combat, the victor has rights to claim his foe’s weapons and wealth. This villain attacked from behind with a poisoned blade. He barely deserves the funeral pyre, but out of respect for his peoples, I fetched you, rather than leaving him for the crows.”
Chastised, the guard mumbles an apology and has the laborers carry the corpse away. I inform Njora that I found a boat, and lead her to it.
-Immersion-Sense-Memory from 5 years ago-
Scene #9:
Njora and I climb aboard the small boat. It reminds me of the one my father uses for fishing and laying traps on the seabed. “Just like old times,” I mutter. Njora smiles, “I was thinking the same thing.”
-Boating fail by 1, son passes by 1-
The boat captain and his son row us out across the bay towards newly exposed sea cave. He struggles against the current, as the strange weather has made the sea choppy, even as the sky has paused for breath, but the boy, careless as he may be about nets, helps his father keep the boat on course.
-Encounter-Tomb Crawlers- (They pass stealth by 3 to 1, I fail perception, but Njora passes by 4)
As we row into the cave, Njora lights up a lantern and I leap from the boat onto the cave floor. Suddenly, Njora warns, “What are those?”
I strain my eyes in the dark to see what Njora spotted. Readying my spear and slipping my shield down into position, I can see several rather large beetles clambering towards us, each about the size of a cat. “Stay behind me,” I warn as Njora holds the lamp high, one of the Saurian’s throwing knives in hand.
As they come in range, I hurl my spear, striking one, and causing a chunk of its shell to break off, as though I had thrown at an old clay pot!
Then the first two are on me, but I easily sidestep their desperate attacks. I draw my axe, but don’t connect as I swing hard at them. I have to deflect an attack with my shield, but the second bug bites my leg. If feel a sharp pain but it doesn’t seem too deep.
Then I start bashing the things apart, the broken one first, then the second as two more of the things join the fight. I get bit a second time, but it doesn’t get through my boot. I deflect several bites with my shield, but quickly get the fight under control. Njora tries to help, but she doesn’t know how to fight and though she strikes one of the things twice, her blade isn’t heavy enough to break it apart. She desperately tries to help though, and ends up slipping to the ground at one point. But by then, there is only one enemy left and I destroy it before it can take advantage of her misfortune.
Exhausted from the fight, I slump against the cave wall while Njora checks out the injury to my leg, carefully bandaging the wound. “My turn,” she jokes, looking up at me with a smile on her face. “You are a very good protector, it would seem.” She winks at me. I chuckle and confess that I was a bit worried when I saw there were several foes. “We’ll have to be on our toes it seems.”
She holds her lamp high, and peers into the gloom, “There is some sort of structure ahead,” she whispers excitedly. I warn her to wait while I catch my breath.
-Curiosity-Pass 1- Q: Does she tell me? NO
Reluctantly, she sits by my side, waiting while I rest. I can tell she is very eager to explore, but I don’t want her to wander off. So I ask her to tell me about her childhood. “I don’t want to talk about that right now.” She shakes her head with a smile. “I want to see what’s ahead!”
I sigh, and wait. After a time, I get up, and retrieve my spear and her the dagger she had thrown, and we walk towards the structure ahead.
-Immersion-I see some thing horrifying and I want it!-huh? 8 of Swords…hmmm
Scene #10:
After the fight, we walk towards the ancient structures, great statues of giant men with strange, squat proportions loom over ramp leading up into a flagstone passage beyond.
On the ramp are the bones of a squat, armored human. His mail shirt rusted and his leather boots dry and cracked. A sword is stuck in his chest, with a skull shaped pommel and a horn-shaped hilt. I grab hold of the blade, and with one foot on the corpse, pull it free, admiring the ancient, forgotten blade.
Q: Does the corpse rise? EXCEPTIONAL YES Q: Is the blade usable? YES
As I lift up the blade to examine it, the corpse rises to its feet, lifting up an ancient, rusted axe. I block repeated blows and hack at the monstrosity with the blade. Then realize, I am better with my axe, so I drop the sword, unbelt my axe and cleave the fiend’s skull in half.
Looking around for more danger, I catch my breath, and then pick up the sword once more. “Let’s take this with us when we leave,” I suggest. Njora then runs back and brings our supply backs to store here at the edge of the slope, farther from where the boat let us into the cave, lest some high tide damage our provisions.
Q: Has she seen dwarven coins before? YES
Beyond where the corpse lay, there is a wide hallway with great urns along either wall. Peaking inside, I notice most are empty or have stagnant water inside. But in one, there is something that glitters. I tip it over and dump the contents on the ground. Coins! Some square copper ones, some smaller copper ones that seem to hook together, some square silver coins, and a coin that seems to be crystal infused gold, with the crystal being star shaped. “What is this?” I show Njora.
Q: Has she seen dwarven coins before? YES
“A zirthul? They are very valuable, but more so, it is said that they are imbued with magic, and often serve as keys to ancient arcane locks. From a time when magic flowed freely in the world for man had not yet squandered that gift.” She admires in a hushed tone, an eager fascination in her eyes. I hand it to her to keep.
As she admires it, she glances up, “Hey, another tablet!” I follow her gaze and yes, behind another urn sits a slate tablet like the one we found outside.
Q: Does she recognize it as the final passage? NO
I pick it up, blow off the dust, and hand it to her. She admires it, tracing her finger in the runes and then tucking it into our supply bag next to the other one. “It contains about the same length of text as the first one. There should be four more…but at least we know that this must be where the first one was taken from.”
I nod, “Hope the others are here. And there aren’t any more guardians.”
Posts From a Long Winded Gamer 