MSG: Okay, well, I guess I'll say, "Thank you very much, Mister ..."
GM Elle: He holds out a hand for a handshake and says, "Smeet. Albemur Smeet." Then he looks past you and sees Quackenscrump and Zedeja waiting, and he says if you're looking for rooms at any point, Smeet House is the friendliest and most esteemed boarding house in town.
MSG: I'll thank him and I guess give him a couple of coppers for his time.
GM Elle: He accepts them graciously and turns back into the house.
MSG: Time to go across the street go Graminger's place, then.
Ariel: Let's stay at Smeet house if we decide sometime that we want to be in town for a while.
Sasha: We're not going to do that. Too many monsters out there to kill.
Akane: Zedeja points out that a monster was just in here this morning.
Ariel: Wait, I didn't mean I was saying that. Fidu isn't even there.
Sasha: Doesn't matter. Sir Q would probably have said something like, "Why are people wasting time hanging around in boarding houses when there are monsters out there that need killing?
Akane: Yes, same response from Zedeja no matter who begins the subject.
GM Elle: When you get across the street to the Graminger house, you notice the knock isn't answered quite so promptly. Instead, you hear muffled voices inside Dolora is close enough to make an Awareness check to see if she can make anything out, but the other two characters are too far back.
MSG: 17. I remain very unaware.
GM Elle: A few moments later, then, the door is answered by Imvir from last night. He scowls at you suspiciously and asks what you're doing here.
MSG: Well this is awkward. I guess I'll say I made a wager with Glinssa at the inn yesterday and I'm here to see if she can pay up. I roll a 17 on my Bluffing check, though, and my skill is only 14.
GM Elle: He scowls even more suspiciously and says, "Wait here." Then he pushes the door to and you hear footsteps going into the house.
MSG: If it looks like he's just giving it a push so that it will close the rest of the way on its own, I'll put the toe of one boot forward to keep it from latching, and then ease it a smidge more open to see if I can hear anything.
GM Elle: Awareness?
MSG: Dragon!
GM Elle: You hear the footsteps go around a corner and then Imvir's voice along with the mallard, Quasimir. Imvir says, "Hey, boss, that dwarf and her pack from last night are here asking after Glinssa. Says she owes them money, but I'm not buying it." Then Quasimund says, "Hgh-Hgmm."
MSG: Hey, that was a pretty good duck sound.
GM Elle: You hear the mallard say quietly, "Go get her and send her to the door -- but wake up Vlort and Tetsda too. Might be another chance for us to test their mettle like Leanara said." Imvir acknowledges that, and then, even more quietly, says, "Glory to Sathmog." Then you hear the sound of boots going up stairs somewhere inside.
MSG: I'll pull the door back to where it's just open a crack, so it's not as obvious it was open enough for me to hear anything.
GM Elle: You hear more muffled voices, probably from the second story. Then after a bit, more footsteps on the stairs, as well as a muted knocking sound and still more second-story conversations. The door opens, revealing Glinssa in nothing but a long tunic, with her hair a total mess and her eyes squinting against the daylight. She says, "Agh, what are you coming round here for?"
MSG: I'll say I just thought we might finish up our business from the night before.
GM Elle: She says, "Our what?" Then she blinks a little and her eyes widen and she throws a quick, nervous glance over her shoulder. "It's too early," she says loudly. "I'm not even dressed."
Sasha: I'm looking to see if I can catch any sign of that tattoo on her forearm. But even this 8 I rolled isn't under my Spot Hidden.
Akane: It's a 12 for Zedeja, against her skill of 14.
GM Elle: You definitely see the tattoo.
MSG: I'm not bothering to look -- I don't want her to catch me at it and get any more nervous. So I'll respond to her with, "All right. I just didn't want you to forget about it. We'll probably be in town at least until tomorrow morning, so you know where to find me to discuss wage-rs." I put just a little emphasis on that first syllable and wink to make sure she understands I'm giving her cover by saying "wagers" and not "wages."
GM Elle: She's pretty hung over and distracted by the sound of more boots on the stairs behind her. Make a Performance check to see if you get that across.
MSG: Damn it. That's a Demon.
GM Elle: Roll a die. Odd, she really thinks you're talking about wagers. Even, she's still clueless, but someone else listening catches what your real meaning is.
MSG: Whew, 5.
GM Elle: She just gives you a baffled look and shuts the door quickly. Awareness check.
MSG: Fail.
GM Elle: You hear voices inside, one of them hers, one of them the mallard's. But you can't tell what they're saying.
Sasha: Sir Q says, "Well, looks like that was a bust."
Akane: No, Zedeja indicates that she saw the cult tattoo on Glinssa's arm.
MSG: And I caught two different names -- Leanara and Sathmog. The "glory to Sathmog" part sounded almost religious. Can I make a Myths and Legends roll to see if I know who, what, or where that is?
GM Elle: Sure.
MSG: 7 succeeds.
Sasha: I'm rolling too, but I got nothing.
Akane: The mage fails as well. But I think this name is familiar. We've heard it other times.
GM Elle: Yeah, several different people have mentioned Sathmog. The three adventurers you first came into town with, the goblin you rescued from those cultists, and those weirdly transformed guys standing guard at the portal in the Temple of the Purple Flame.
MSG: I think that's coming back to me now.
Ariel: I remember those guys. They were creepy.
GM Elle: But since this is the first time anyone bothered to do a Myths and Legends check on it, Dolora's success yields some additional information about Sathmog being an ancient demon who has tried numerous times to break into our world. You think you've heard of some historical connection between him and the Misty Vale. A powerful priestly servant of Sathmog was banished here after being deposed from 200 years of tyranny in the demon's name: Azrahel Koth.
MSG: I'm going to assume I'm equally as certain of this as I am of identifying that ogre.
GM Elle: Well, you know it's knowledge arising from legends nearly a thousand years ago, so while you think you've remembered it well based on what you heard or read, the accuracy of information that old is always questionable.
MSG: Got it. Well, I guess I'll share that with everyone on our way back to the Three Stags. Unless there's somewhere else we want to go?
Sasha: Quackers suggests maybe there's a sage of some sort in town who could tell us more about this stuff ... Sathmog and Azrawho Koth and the Dragon Emperor statue ...
Akane: No paying for saging until we have asked ordinary folk to enlighten us! Good information is equally good if it is free, and free information is equally free even if it is bad. With saging, it is cheaper to refine knowledge than acquire it with breadth.
Hettie: I think I followed that, but Dilfriida certainly wouldn't have if she were present to hear it. Heading out early has definitely paid off, Claire.
Claire: I agree ... your certainty is infectious.
Ariel: Haha!
Sasha: What? Oh, right, the troll scratches.
Akane: Where are we on our map? Is it closer to continue clockwise to the inn, or return as we came?
GM Elle: In terms of distance, clockwise. But you haven't explored this western quarter of town, so you can't be certain there's a direct connection.
MSG: I'll just ask someone which way is the closer way to get back. And maybe ask if there's any interesting scuttlebutt going around town these days too.
GM Elle: Go ahead and make a Charisma check.
MSG: Damn. 18. Dolora's Charisma is good, but not that good.
GM Elle: Whoever you stop points gruffly to the north and says the stairs that direction lead up to the Three Stags, but he's busy and hasn't the time to entertain strangers with idle gossip.
MSG: I'll thank him, but I'm glowering while I do it.
GM Elle: So are the three of you doing anything besides heading back to the inn?
Sasha: I'm going to ask people if they heard about the troll and if they know whether there might be other trolls around that need killing.
GM Elle: You can make a Charisma check too.
Sasha: 11. Easy peasy.
GM Elle: Somebody you talk to tells you they don't know about trolls, but they heard about a different monster that might need killing.
Sasha: Awesome! I ask what it is.
GM Elle: The person says, "A monstrous beast has crawled down from the mountains and attacked Blind Hildi’s farm southeast of Outskirt. There are whispers about a cave full of torn-out eyes, but also great treasures and powerful weapons from ill-fated adventurers who met their fate in the Dead Eyes Cave."
Sasha: Wait, what? That sounds really familiar.
Akane: This is the cave of the basilisk with poison that requires an herbalist's antidote to repair. We're equipped for it now.
Sasha: Fine. Whatever. Sir Q is taking this as a sign that we need to hit the road for Blind Hildi's farm right away. Let's go back to the inn and see if everyone else is ready to head out.
Akane: Zedeja has pessimism for the readiness of our halfling.
Hettie: Just the halfling? What about your fellow mage?
Claire: Mages have to stick together.
Akane: Also, Filvius the mage has fewer rude comments about the wisdom of Zedeja.
Hettie: I don't suppose I can argue with that, although Dilfriida certainly would.
MSG: Dolora is fine with going back to the inn, although she'd rather wait a bit before leaving and see if Glinssa shows up to be our donkey-wrangler.
GM Elle: If that's all you three are doing, then, let's get back to Dilfriida and Filvius, who've finished their rest. What's next for the two of you?
Claire: The ruined temple!
Hettie: Indeed. We'll be going over it with a fine-toothed comb for anything all the ages of other searchers and researchers might have missed.
Akane: No combs in the equipment list. Dragonbane is a game of unkemptness.
Hettie: You could go for a haircut. That's listed.
Akane: Wildness of hair is a sign of intellect. Zedeja accepts it.
GM Elle: As Filvius and Dilfriida climb the steps to the ruined temple, you find that it exudes an aura of ancient mystery and bygone glory. It appears to have been a larger compound at one time. Sections of crumbling walls surround the central building, which is somewhat more intact.
Claire: I guess we can check out the building first.
GM Elle: The inside is empty of real contents. There appears to be little other than dust and debris, inhabited here and there by a spider or two. There's a very large image in the ceiling, though. It shows some kind of crown. You can both make a Myths and Legends roll. Dilfriida gets a Boon -- I won't say why unless you make the roll.
Claire: Hurray, I roll a Demon.
Hettie: I roll a 9 and a Demon, so I'll take the 9.
GM Elle: Filvius, you're convinced that there must be some hidden message in the image, if only you could decipher some of the symbols, or puzzle out which directions the horns of the crown point. You definitely think there's knowledge to be had if you can solve the picture's riddle.
Claire: Awesome. I'll spend hours trying to figure it out, then.
Hettie: I suppose I'll go out and search around the grounds, see if there's anything of note in those ruined walls.
GM Elle: Roll Spot Hidden. You can have a Boon for the amount of time Claire's puzzling gives you if you keep waiting for her to be done.
Hettie: 18 and 13. Those both fail. I'm getting pretty frustrated and fed up. I think I'll take the pie and candy and jug of mead to the old man up the hill. Since Filvius is so hung up on the ceiling picture, I'll try not to disturb him.
GM Elle: Roll Sleight of Hand if you're actively trying to sneak the goods from wherever they're sitting. You can have a Boon for how absorbed Filvius is in the puzzle.
Hettie: Boons haven't been paying off too much for me today ... aha, but now they have, because I roll an 11 and a Dragon.
GM Elle: You easily pick up the old man's bribes, and because of the Dragon, I won't make you roll Sneaking to get out with them unnoticed.
Hettie: Fabulous. Up the hill to the hermit's hut, then.
GM Elle: When you knock, there's a bit of shuffling from inside, and then the door opens. Pretty much instantly, the prune-skinned old man gives a grimace of shock and holds his nose. He asks what in the world you're doing, coming to his door in such a state.
Hettie: Dilfriida holds out the pie and says, "Bringing you your pie."
GM Elle: He gives a coughing fit and turns his head to one side with his eyes watering.
Hettie: I'll go on, "I've also got your candies and this jug of mead."
GM Elle: He's already closing the door. "Set them down on the doorstep and I'll get them after the wind has taken the smell away."
Hettie: I'll complain that the deal was, we would bring him the goods, and he would answer three questions for us. Then I'll add, "Just who do you think you are, anyway?"
GM Elle: The door closes the rest of the way and his muffled voice reaches you, saying, "If you really want that to be one of your questions, I'll answer it when you come back after a bath!"
Akane: It's good Zedeja is not there to say, "But that could be weeks for this halfling! Possibly never!"
Hettie: I like how you stay in character even when your character isn't there, Akane. Elle, if I knock on the door again, is there any answer?"
GM Elle: He just yells for you to go away.
Hettie: I suppose Dilfriida will go and let Filvius know we won't get our questions answered until after we've had a bath.
Claire: Am I still positive there's knowledge to be had from puzzling out this painting?
GM Elle: Roll Myths and Legends again.
Claire: Aha! 4.
GM Elle: That's good enough for you to decide that the key to deciphering it isn't to be found in your current store of knowledge.
Claire: Damn. All right, then I guess I'll switch back to my original obsessive goal of getting the hermit to give us knowledge. If that takes a bath, so be it. Let's get back to the inn.
GM Elle: As soon as you enter the door, Vagnhild pinches her nose in disgust and tells you to get straight back out.
Claire: Filvius says, "Look, lady, we're paying customers who need a bath. How are we supposed to get one from outside?"
GM Elle: She tells you the bathing room is between the stables and the kitchen. "Go in through the stables. I'll meet you there."
Claire: Fine, I suppose. I'll go around through the stables.
Hettie: I'll follow her. But on the way, Dilfriida points out that Filvius was the one who was so dead-set on getting the old man to answer questions. So she's not sure it's good money management for both of us to get baths.
Claire: From the sound of things, though, if you don't get one, Vagnhild will make you sleep in the stables.
Hettie: All right, all right, I guess I can spare it.
GM Elle: The innkeeper meets you in the bathing room, which is basically like an oversized mud room with a tub at one end well away from the door. There's a curtain that can be drawn for privacy. It's six coppers for the bath, and she says another silver for her or Annabelle to wash your clothes. "Which by the way, you're not coming in my inn wearing without them being laundered."
Claire: I tell her I have someplace to be and I can't wait for my clothes to dry.
GM Elle: She shrugs and suggests she can send someone to Master Ulvar's to buy you some new ones. That will be 5 silver for the clothes and another for the service fee.
Claire: These seem like really outrageous prices to me. I'm going to haggle over them.
Ariel: But ... I think they're pretty exactly what the book says ...
Claire: Book, schmook. My Bartering roll is ... 3.
GM Elle: She says she'll come down half a silver on the service charge just so she can get out of your reeking presence quicker. And you can share the bath, considering how small Dilfriida is, so that will save you another 6 coppers.
Hettie: Whatever. Dilfriida isn't particular about modesty. Maybe even a little curious about how elves look down there.
GM Elle: Then she shows you a pump that will draw water up from the well and tells you to knock on the wall when you've got the tub half full. There's a spigot there that you can open, and she'll have the cook pour the bath tank full of hot water at your signal. She warns you not to put any body parts under the spigot while the hot water's coming out or it will scald you. Soap and towels are in a small cabinet against one wall.
Claire: All right, I don't think we need to roleplay all the way through this bath, if you want to switch back to the other characters.
Ariel: We're just waiting for you guys, I think.
Sasha: You're not even doing that. You're just napping.
Ariel: Oh gosh, that's right. I should probably get up at some point.
GM Elle: For simplicity's sake, I'm going to say Filvius finishes his bath and gets his new clothes around the same time Fidu comes down from napping and the rest of the group returns from their boarding house tour. Dilfriida has finished bathing too, but has nothing to wear because her clothes are drying.
Hettie: I'll wear a towel. Like I said, Dilfriida's not modest, and a human-sized towel should be entirely large enough to make a fully covering toga for her.
GM Elle: All right, then everyone can reconvene in the common room --
Claire: Whoa up there! Filvius is lighting out for the hermit's hut as soon as he's dried off and dressed. I'm hungry for knowledge and that guy owes me three question answers.
GM Elle: I stand corrected. Anyone else have a character-based reason not to rejoin the others?
MSG: Not I.
Ariel: Me either. Fidu's all napped up.
Sasha: I'm already there and ordering my first tankard of mead for the day.
Akane: Zedeja insists that we gather and plan.
GM Elle: All right, the everyone who's there except Dilfriida should roll Awareness.
MSG: Just missed it with an 8.
Ariel: 4!
Sasha: 12 fails for Sir Q.
Akane: Zedeja is a Dragon of Awareness, according to this die.
GM Elle: All right, then Fidu notices that Dilfriida seems to have some nasty scratches where her skin's revealed by the towel, and on top of that, Zedeja catches a faint whiff of some sort of swampy, vomity smell.
Akane: Scratches plus swamp vomit equals evidence of trollery. However, Zedeja might be too lacking in interest to think much about why a halfling would be scratched and have vomit stink.
GM Elle: Make an Intelligence roll with a bane, then.
Akane: Sigh. Both dice are easy with success.
GM Elle: Then considering you knew Filvius and Dilfriida were headed for the bakery, right where you saw the troll being hauled away, you definitely conclude there's a likelihood that the wounds and smell are from the troll.
Akane: Actually, no. Remember, the thief and the lesser mage left very early. Zedeja was forced to roust other party members from slumber.
GM Elle: True, but Dolora was up when they left, so she could have informed everyone else.
MSG: Right ... but I wasn't within easy hearing distance of them talking to Vagnhild, remember? I blew that roll to see if I heard her telling them the old man was a wizard.
GM Elle: Hang on ... all right, the notes confirm it. Sounds like nobody knew where Filvius and Dilfriida got off to this morning, so it's a pretty thin set of connections to make. Still, you rolled two successes with the bane, so pretty much any mention of them fighting the troll will remind you that troll scratches can carry disease.
Akane: Only a mention that Zedeja foolishly fails to ignore because it comes from the mouth of a thieving shortster. Troll talk must be very prominent from our halfling for the mage to attend to it.
Hettie: I do believe you're in luck, then, because Dilfriida would absolutely brag about how she and Filvius saved the town by killing that troll.
MSG: Dolora says, "What troll?"
Hettie: The one by the bakery.
MSG: That was an ogre.
Akane: Silence, bard! This argument was settled already.
MSG: Sure. Right.
Sasha: Quackers is pissed to find out it was the two of them. "What's the big idea, killing a monster without coming to get me first?"
Hettie: Dilfriida doesn't take that kind of response well. "Put a sock in it, Ducky. Or whatever you mallards wear on those webbed feet of yours in place of socks."
Akane: Zedeja announces this troll fight to be a problem. "Our lesser mage may have been scratched, and troll scratches are foul with disease."
Hettie: I say, "Hey! I got scratched why are you only worried about Filvs?"
Akane: Because our elf has healing talents also. If I do not make sure he is healthy, who will heal you from your disease?
Hettie: Maybe you're right, because from Dilfriida's perspective having to listen to Zedeja while being treated would be worse than the disease. Although someone please hand me the book so I know how bad diseases are in this game.
GM Elle: They're pretty bad.
Hettie: Egad. You get one roll a day to try to throw it off, and failure means you take a d6 of damage. So three bad days and I could be dead. And if someone tries healing me, it's really only a help if their skill is better than my Con, which is relatively high at 14.
GM Elle: They can use an herbal concoction to get a boon, though, and if they fail and push the roll, they keep the boon for that roll too.
MSG: What about healing magic?
Hettie: It's not very clear about that. Which is to say, it says nothing about it at all.
GM Elle: I would probably let you use the Treat Wound spell to cure the hit point loss, but it wouldn't cure the disease. You'd need Heal Wound or Restoration for that.
Akane: Additional reason for Zedeja to tend our sickly lesser mage.
Claire: I mean, we don't actually know that we caught anything yet though, right?
Ariel: Well, right ... if you don't count those ominous "Mm-hmm"s Elle made while she was rolling.
Sasha: Maybe she's just trying to get us to waste a bunch of money on herbal concoctions.
Akane: It's unnecessary for her to. There is so little gold in this game. In Old School Essentials and Dungeons and Dragons, gold by the hundreds! In Dragonbane, I have only 25 on my sheet.
Hettie: You have 25? My net worth has increased, on average, by less than a gold piece per session. Although I suppose that might change if my thief actually did any thieving.
MSG: That does generally help.
Claire: I feel like the actual in-game discussion is being neglected enough for me to ask if Filvius has made it to the hermit's hut yet.
Sasha: Ooh, burn.
GM Elle: We can jump to that if no one objects.
MSG: Fine by me. The sooner Filvius gets back, the sooner I can start trying to pry some of his new knowledge out of him.
Ariel: I'm good!
Sasha: Me too.
GM Elle: Sounds like consensus ... except that I just looked at the time and maybe we should save the hermit encounter to start next session with. It's a bit late.
Akane: Truthful. And now I am yawning.
Hettie: Me too.
GM Elle: All right, experience questions ... everyone participated. Dilfriida and Filvius explored the temple, and everyone but Fidu explored the boarding house street.
Ariel: Dang it, my sloth cheated me out of that one!
GM Elle: The only dangerous foe was the troll, so only Dilfriida and Filvius get a mark for that. Who wants to make a case that they overcame an obstacle without using force?
Ariel: I spent all those WP proving my Insight ability to Akane! Does that count?
GM Elle: I'll count it for the entertainment value alone.
MSG: We got some good information out of overhearing things at Glinssa's boarding house.
GM Elle: Sure, that works. And I'm satisfied everyone played to their weakness. By my count that's four marks for everyone.
MSG: Five would be better, but I'll take four.
Akane: I would take three or even two, if my rolls are good this time instead of poor.
GM Elle: Everybody do your rolling, then, and we'll pick up at the hermit's place next time.
GM Elle: You easily pick up the old man's bribes, and because of the Dragon, I won't make you roll Sneaking to get out with them unnoticed.
Hettie: Fabulous. Up the hill to the hermit's hut, then.
GM Elle: When you knock, there's a bit of shuffling from inside, and then the door opens. Pretty much instantly, the prune-skinned old man gives a grimace of shock and holds his nose. He asks what in the world you're doing, coming to his door in such a state.
Hettie: Dilfriida holds out the pie and says, "Bringing you your pie."
GM Elle: He gives a coughing fit and turns his head to one side with his eyes watering.
Hettie: I'll go on, "I've also got your candies and this jug of mead."
GM Elle: He's already closing the door. "Set them down on the doorstep and I'll get them after the wind has taken the smell away."
Hettie: I'll complain that the deal was, we would bring him the goods, and he would answer three questions for us. Then I'll add, "Just who do you think you are, anyway?"
GM Elle: The door closes the rest of the way and his muffled voice reaches you, saying, "If you really want that to be one of your questions, I'll answer it when you come back after a bath!"
Akane: It's good Zedeja is not there to say, "But that could be weeks for this halfling! Possibly never!"
Hettie: I like how you stay in character even when your character isn't there, Akane. Elle, if I knock on the door again, is there any answer?"
GM Elle: He just yells for you to go away.
Hettie: I suppose Dilfriida will go and let Filvius know we won't get our questions answered until after we've had a bath.
Claire: Am I still positive there's knowledge to be had from puzzling out this painting?
GM Elle: Roll Myths and Legends again.
Claire: Aha! 4.
GM Elle: That's good enough for you to decide that the key to deciphering it isn't to be found in your current store of knowledge.
Claire: Damn. All right, then I guess I'll switch back to my original obsessive goal of getting the hermit to give us knowledge. If that takes a bath, so be it. Let's get back to the inn.
GM Elle: As soon as you enter the door, Vagnhild pinches her nose in disgust and tells you to get straight back out.
Claire: Filvius says, "Look, lady, we're paying customers who need a bath. How are we supposed to get one from outside?"
GM Elle: She tells you the bathing room is between the stables and the kitchen. "Go in through the stables. I'll meet you there."
Claire: Fine, I suppose. I'll go around through the stables.
Hettie: I'll follow her. But on the way, Dilfriida points out that Filvius was the one who was so dead-set on getting the old man to answer questions. So she's not sure it's good money management for both of us to get baths.
Claire: From the sound of things, though, if you don't get one, Vagnhild will make you sleep in the stables.
Hettie: All right, all right, I guess I can spare it.
GM Elle: The innkeeper meets you in the bathing room, which is basically like an oversized mud room with a tub at one end well away from the door. There's a curtain that can be drawn for privacy. It's six coppers for the bath, and she says another silver for her or Annabelle to wash your clothes. "Which by the way, you're not coming in my inn wearing without them being laundered."
Claire: I tell her I have someplace to be and I can't wait for my clothes to dry.
GM Elle: She shrugs and suggests she can send someone to Master Ulvar's to buy you some new ones. That will be 5 silver for the clothes and another for the service fee.
Claire: These seem like really outrageous prices to me. I'm going to haggle over them.
Ariel: But ... I think they're pretty exactly what the book says ...
Claire: Book, schmook. My Bartering roll is ... 3.
GM Elle: She says she'll come down half a silver on the service charge just so she can get out of your reeking presence quicker. And you can share the bath, considering how small Dilfriida is, so that will save you another 6 coppers.
Hettie: Whatever. Dilfriida isn't particular about modesty. Maybe even a little curious about how elves look down there.
GM Elle: Then she shows you a pump that will draw water up from the well and tells you to knock on the wall when you've got the tub half full. There's a spigot there that you can open, and she'll have the cook pour the bath tank full of hot water at your signal. She warns you not to put any body parts under the spigot while the hot water's coming out or it will scald you. Soap and towels are in a small cabinet against one wall.
Claire: All right, I don't think we need to roleplay all the way through this bath, if you want to switch back to the other characters.
Ariel: We're just waiting for you guys, I think.
Sasha: You're not even doing that. You're just napping.
Ariel: Oh gosh, that's right. I should probably get up at some point.
GM Elle: For simplicity's sake, I'm going to say Filvius finishes his bath and gets his new clothes around the same time Fidu comes down from napping and the rest of the group returns from their boarding house tour. Dilfriida has finished bathing too, but has nothing to wear because her clothes are drying.
Hettie: I'll wear a towel. Like I said, Dilfriida's not modest, and a human-sized towel should be entirely large enough to make a fully covering toga for her.
GM Elle: All right, then everyone can reconvene in the common room --
Claire: Whoa up there! Filvius is lighting out for the hermit's hut as soon as he's dried off and dressed. I'm hungry for knowledge and that guy owes me three question answers.
GM Elle: I stand corrected. Anyone else have a character-based reason not to rejoin the others?
MSG: Not I.
Ariel: Me either. Fidu's all napped up.
Sasha: I'm already there and ordering my first tankard of mead for the day.
Akane: Zedeja insists that we gather and plan.
GM Elle: All right, the everyone who's there except Dilfriida should roll Awareness.
MSG: Just missed it with an 8.
Ariel: 4!
Sasha: 12 fails for Sir Q.
Akane: Zedeja is a Dragon of Awareness, according to this die.
GM Elle: All right, then Fidu notices that Dilfriida seems to have some nasty scratches where her skin's revealed by the towel, and on top of that, Zedeja catches a faint whiff of some sort of swampy, vomity smell.
Akane: Scratches plus swamp vomit equals evidence of trollery. However, Zedeja might be too lacking in interest to think much about why a halfling would be scratched and have vomit stink.
GM Elle: Make an Intelligence roll with a bane, then.
Akane: Sigh. Both dice are easy with success.
GM Elle: Then considering you knew Filvius and Dilfriida were headed for the bakery, right where you saw the troll being hauled away, you definitely conclude there's a likelihood that the wounds and smell are from the troll.
Akane: Actually, no. Remember, the thief and the lesser mage left very early. Zedeja was forced to roust other party members from slumber.
GM Elle: True, but Dolora was up when they left, so she could have informed everyone else.
MSG: Right ... but I wasn't within easy hearing distance of them talking to Vagnhild, remember? I blew that roll to see if I heard her telling them the old man was a wizard.
GM Elle: Hang on ... all right, the notes confirm it. Sounds like nobody knew where Filvius and Dilfriida got off to this morning, so it's a pretty thin set of connections to make. Still, you rolled two successes with the bane, so pretty much any mention of them fighting the troll will remind you that troll scratches can carry disease.
Akane: Only a mention that Zedeja foolishly fails to ignore because it comes from the mouth of a thieving shortster. Troll talk must be very prominent from our halfling for the mage to attend to it.
Hettie: I do believe you're in luck, then, because Dilfriida would absolutely brag about how she and Filvius saved the town by killing that troll.
MSG: Dolora says, "What troll?"
Hettie: The one by the bakery.
MSG: That was an ogre.
Akane: Silence, bard! This argument was settled already.
MSG: Sure. Right.
Sasha: Quackers is pissed to find out it was the two of them. "What's the big idea, killing a monster without coming to get me first?"
Hettie: Dilfriida doesn't take that kind of response well. "Put a sock in it, Ducky. Or whatever you mallards wear on those webbed feet of yours in place of socks."
Akane: Zedeja announces this troll fight to be a problem. "Our lesser mage may have been scratched, and troll scratches are foul with disease."
Hettie: I say, "Hey! I got scratched why are you only worried about Filvs?"
Akane: Because our elf has healing talents also. If I do not make sure he is healthy, who will heal you from your disease?
Hettie: Maybe you're right, because from Dilfriida's perspective having to listen to Zedeja while being treated would be worse than the disease. Although someone please hand me the book so I know how bad diseases are in this game.
GM Elle: They're pretty bad.
Hettie: Egad. You get one roll a day to try to throw it off, and failure means you take a d6 of damage. So three bad days and I could be dead. And if someone tries healing me, it's really only a help if their skill is better than my Con, which is relatively high at 14.
GM Elle: They can use an herbal concoction to get a boon, though, and if they fail and push the roll, they keep the boon for that roll too.
MSG: What about healing magic?
Hettie: It's not very clear about that. Which is to say, it says nothing about it at all.
GM Elle: I would probably let you use the Treat Wound spell to cure the hit point loss, but it wouldn't cure the disease. You'd need Heal Wound or Restoration for that.
Akane: Additional reason for Zedeja to tend our sickly lesser mage.
Claire: I mean, we don't actually know that we caught anything yet though, right?
Ariel: Well, right ... if you don't count those ominous "Mm-hmm"s Elle made while she was rolling.
Sasha: Maybe she's just trying to get us to waste a bunch of money on herbal concoctions.
Akane: It's unnecessary for her to. There is so little gold in this game. In Old School Essentials and Dungeons and Dragons, gold by the hundreds! In Dragonbane, I have only 25 on my sheet.
Hettie: You have 25? My net worth has increased, on average, by less than a gold piece per session. Although I suppose that might change if my thief actually did any thieving.
MSG: That does generally help.
Claire: I feel like the actual in-game discussion is being neglected enough for me to ask if Filvius has made it to the hermit's hut yet.
Sasha: Ooh, burn.
GM Elle: We can jump to that if no one objects.
MSG: Fine by me. The sooner Filvius gets back, the sooner I can start trying to pry some of his new knowledge out of him.
Ariel: I'm good!
Sasha: Me too.
GM Elle: Sounds like consensus ... except that I just looked at the time and maybe we should save the hermit encounter to start next session with. It's a bit late.
Akane: Truthful. And now I am yawning.
Hettie: Me too.
GM Elle: All right, experience questions ... everyone participated. Dilfriida and Filvius explored the temple, and everyone but Fidu explored the boarding house street.
Ariel: Dang it, my sloth cheated me out of that one!
GM Elle: The only dangerous foe was the troll, so only Dilfriida and Filvius get a mark for that. Who wants to make a case that they overcame an obstacle without using force?
Ariel: I spent all those WP proving my Insight ability to Akane! Does that count?
GM Elle: I'll count it for the entertainment value alone.
MSG: We got some good information out of overhearing things at Glinssa's boarding house.
GM Elle: Sure, that works. And I'm satisfied everyone played to their weakness. By my count that's four marks for everyone.
MSG: Five would be better, but I'll take four.
Akane: I would take three or even two, if my rolls are good this time instead of poor.
GM Elle: Everybody do your rolling, then, and we'll pick up at the hermit's place next time.
we're speeding along now! already to part 14 next session!
No comments:
Post a Comment