It has been one day since setting sail from Meeros, sailing due south into the open sea. Trimostones, the elderly merchant and explorer who commissioned this trip, has still not revealed the final destination nor anything about the trade mission itself; he has just gathered a group of loyal crew and bodyguards to aid him in his enterprise.
The weather has been abnormally good, and schools of small blue dolphins leap from the sea alongside the Axenya. Axeneya herself is carved into the front of the vessel and seems to be smiling at the steady horizon. Trimostones turns to the group and says, This is a good sign! Dolphins are the sons and daughters of the goddess Axeneya and this shows she is with us. He is wracked with a severe coughing fit holding up a hand to deny help when it is offered, I suppose it is time to reveal the final destination... it's Iaxos.
There is a silence that falls on the crew and party, Iaxos is infamous in Meeros for being the home of cannibals and demons; and for being the source of a curse that haunts the royal lineage. It's a tale that most have heard at one point or another, but has fallen into obscurity with the passage of time.
The stories you have heard are partially true, Trimostones continues, The inhabitants of the island are the descendants of the rebellion against Mad King Akretes. They are savages now, but once they were civilised. For reasons important to myself and my family, I must travel to Iaxos and its temple to Sariniya, braving these savage lands. The crew may remain with the ship but you, my hired companions, will act as my escort.
This announcement causes a loud murmur around the crew, who are now spinning themselves up by telling more and more fantastic tales they once heard about the island of Iaxos. As the day turns to dusk, the mood of the voyage has fallen dramatically from its peak earlier in the day. The crew remains huddled in cliques talking quietly and shooting looks at the party and Trimostones. Trimstones seems to pay no heed to the crew's behavior, and is currently standing looking at the sunset, but you all feel like if the situation continues to sour there could be trouble.
The dance skill: an important part of rituals and celebration, using the dance skill represents your ability to move rhythmically and accurately when called to do so. A critical success can help influence the crowd, or deeply affect those who see the performance. A fumble results in a crude or offensive performance, and may cause simple injury or impact one's passions.
Mju tries to get others to join his dance to claps and movement alone, but no one seem interested. Without music and song the best he gets is a few crew members pointing and laughing at the lonely dancer on the gently swaying ship. After what seems like far longer, Mju ends his performance and moves on with his night.
Seeing Mju struggle, Kara gracefully scoops him under the arm and starts a simple but graceful dance that Mju picks up on. Seeing Kara's lithe form does illicit a response, and some of the crew begins the dance and even breaks out some flutes to bring some music into the mix.
The dusk becomes a bit of a scene as the motion of the ocean and poor quality music turns into a boisterous affair that even old Trimostones joins, stiffly shuffling along. Not all of the crew joins in, though. It seems there is a few who still have not forgotten where the ship is headed.
About half the crew gathers on the edge of the impormptu dance floor. Their leader speaks, No amount of prancing women changes the fact that our lives are now in danger because of you, old man! Why would we celebrate that!? You can see they are gripping cudgels at their sides.
Anathaym steps in between Tirimostones and the crew with her shield raised and spear in hand. "True your lives are in more danger then you relize," she says as she raises her spear. "Now be quiet and do your jobs or you'll she the other woman start prancing."
I haven't had time to review the magic rules yet, but I think this is the time to cast a calm spell on the leader. I know I roll the Folk Magic attempt, but am not sure what applies after that.
"Here my good man. We are strong, and united we can overcome any that oppose us. The guidance of Myceras follows us, and it is not yet out time to die".
It takes 5 seconds (1 round) so it can be done right now without an issue. Your roll is a success, so you spend 1 magic point and cast your spell. What spell are you using?
Crew willpower:1d100 ⇒ 38
The ruffians take a step back and start giving each other sidelong glances. They seem moved by Anathaym's words, but have not given up their aggressive stances. A few toss curses along with shouts of Your witch can't protect you all! or How far have the Scarlet Spears fallen?
Trimostones attempts to calm them further by saying, The Scarlet Spears are here to go with me onto the island, you will stay with the boat and await our return. If you wish you can anchor off shore and we can set up a signal fire when we want to return.
The crowd seems to have lost their fighting spirit, but the leader puts forth one last burst of mutinous talk, This princess, poitning to Anathaym, doesn't look like she could beat me, let alone a crazed savage! Old man, if you wish to kill yourself on a fool's errand than you should not risk your crew! How long are we to wait for you? I say we drop you off and leave you to die. There seems to be a lot of agreement with that sentiment, even as the crew takes hands off weapons. If your spear is so sharp, take off your rich girl armor and try and best me!
My bad! I missed you casting the spell. We'll say you do it just before combat, that is entirely my fault.
Willpower vs 39:1d100 ⇒ 5
Well, he resisted! Better than the first combat roll or something.
The leader of the would be mutiny makes a poor decision and decides to follow up his challenge to Anathaym. He picks up his club over his head and moves his buckler to cover his head and chest.
Strike Rank:1d10 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
The sailor charges Anathaym, traveling towards her at full speed.
The sailor is currently moving and will end his charge engaged with Anathaym at the begining of his next turn. In response to his charge, Anathaym has a few responses: parrying his charge, evading his charge, or counterattacking.
By using the "Brace" action, she can prepare to accept the charge and attempt to parry him without risking being knocked prone or pushed back by the attack.
Evading the charge requires the "Delay" action with the intent to use the "Evade" reactive action once the sailor attacks. Evades are normally used against huge opponents to avoid taking damage from their massive weapons. Evading will leave you prone and disengaged if successful, but uses less action points (1 versus 2).
Counterattacking is a risk. You use the "Delay" action to make an "Attack" action when the charge completes. However, both you and the one charging you cannot attempt to parry the other's blow. Only passive parries are available. Anathaym's Hoplite shield allows her to set 4 locations to passively parry, those locations must be connected and make sense (like you can't block our head and legs at the same time). Setting a passive block is a free action on your turn.
I'm sorry, let me clear you can do anything you want - above is the "typical" approach. You can do anything from run away to let him try and strike you; that is how you defend a charge.
Great advice, Thanks (going with counter attack, I think I get to attack first because I have reach.)
As the sailor charges Anathaym she widens her stance, lowering her center of gravity ash she raises her shield and at he last second raises her spear to meet his brash attack.
Anathaym attempts to trap the club between her shield and spear shaft, but the sailor twists away after landing a blow against her shield.
Next time make sure to tell me what passive blocks you set up with your shield. It's Anathaym's turn, the sailor is at short range. This is bad for that spear - but your shield has a short reach!
The edge of Anathym's shield strikes the sailor's nose and cheek, breaking his nose and causing a nasty gash.
Endurance:1d100 ⇒ 42 This guy is rolling crazy well
He remains standing, but drops his weapon gripping his face and howling in pain. He staggers around for a few seconds before gaining his composure saying, Enough! I can't take it! You win, forgive me for challenging you. Eventually that wound will heal to a scar and become yet another larger than life story from that sailor, but the wound to his pride is permanent.
Anathaym stands tall as the crew laughs at the foolish attack and cheers the Scarlet Spears. The darkness from Trimostones news has passed, and the journey continues.
The sailor is still bleeding and without medical treatment (First Aid, Healing, or magic) he risks getting a serious infection. The fight took less than 5 seconds total (the sailor howls in pain for longer), just FYI.
Mechanically, the sailor had his buckler in place to defend against the attack. However, the buckler weapon size is "Medium" sized and Anathaym's shield is "Huge" sized. Even with parrying the attack the sheer force behind the blow meant the damage was not blocked or reduced at all. He took the full 4 damage to the head, and that damage was just enough to take the area to 0 HP since he had no armor. That is how that blow ended up being so successful.
Kara will step up to the wounded sailor. "Here. Let me see that you stubborn fool. It will be infected if I don't tend to it.
First Aid: 1d100 ⇒ 59 (58%)
Dang this humidity. The stitches aren't holding".
Be brave, I must call upon the mercy of Myceras to pull you through now.
Folk Magic Heal1d100 ⇒ 84 (55%)
Hmm. Seems your brash acts aren't drawing the favor of the gods as well. Perhaps we shall have to try tomorrow to see if you have increased your standing in there eyes. If I were you I'd pray... hard.
Anathaym watches as her sister begins to minister to the wounded sailor and smiles, always quick to show mercy.
When her sister is done tending the wounds of the man she suggest to her compaions, "One of us should always be close to Master Trimostones, I don't like the mood of the crew."
Zamonthis can help with the first aid, so let me bot that. I just got a replacement who should start posting tonight (hopefully).
Zamothis watches Kara, before seeing a small mistake she makes tending the wound.
First Aid vs 79:1d100 ⇒ 32
He bends low and whispers in her ear, It's impossible to keep everything dry here, so use some of this salve to create a barrier. It will prevent infection at least even without the stitches. Just wrap it tightly with cotton.
Kara takes the guidance and modifies her bandaging, she's confident the wound will be able to heal in a few weeks.
His successful check made your check "easy" so the target number was modified from 58 to 89, changing the failure to a success.
This means the folk magic roll didn't have to happen, and you would save the magic point. It takes a significant amount of time to regain magic points (It takes 1 day to regain 1 magic point).
Could I use Streetwise to try to gauge the current mood among the sailors? Also, has Trimostones showed any inclination to take guidance/input from his underlings? I would like to suggest that ship's crew be given a lot of 'scut' work to keep them occupied, till we arrive at Iaxos.
The grizzled veteran watches as Kara finishes applying the salve and nods slightly at her work before moving off.
At Anathaym's suggestion
"Nor I, though I suspect they may be cowed for a bit without big mouth over there to spur them on. We'd all best stay on our guard however."
Could I use Streetwise to try to gauge the current mood among the sailors? Also, has Trimostones showed any inclination to take guidance/input from his underlings? I would like to suggest that ship's crew be given a lot of 'scut' work to keep them occupied, till we arrive at Iaxos.
Streetwise is about finding contacts and resources - legal or not - in settlements. In many ways this ship is like a settlement, so I imagine Streetwise would be a good way to find sort of the "leader" of the crew. You can attempt it to find the right people, but then you have to work with them to figure out a good way to improve moral.
Trimostones has promised the crew does not actually have to go to the island, and can remain at sea. The plan is for the group to take a small row boat to the island from the Axenya.
Any bonuses for familarity: I'm not sure how long we've been out at sea, but on a small vessel like this I'm fairly sure that we don't have the luxury of individual cabins.
Mju spends one of the days approaching Iaxos mingling with the crew and developing a rapport with them. Even though he failed in his goal to figure out who among the crew would be able to sway the overall attitude of the rest of the crew members, he did build a relationship with a few of them breaking the ice if nothing else.
You guys have another full day in open water, and then the island is spotted the morning after. If you want to try and build support within the crew you can spend another day with the crew rolling streetwise one more time.
If there isn't any unfinished business, I can fast-forward to landfall.
Influence would definitely work, either to intimidate or convince others. It can be improved by talking to the right people or throwing a party, or whatever else.
Other skills that could work include seduce (love convinces people to do crazy things), oratory (delivering a great speech), seamanship (earning trust by working for it), or courtesy (knowing the customs on the ship). You can also ask if another skill might work in the situation, if you can explain why.
Zamothis joins Mju as he shares a drink with the crew. Trying to ease their fears about the island, the veteran gently humble/brags about his experience highlighting the performance of Anathaym against the would-be mutineer. While the information seems to make sense, irrational fear still holds the crew.
However, you do get the impression that as long as the Axenya stays of the shore the crew is satisfied with their involvement.
From here, I'm going to advance the story. From this sentence on, consider all magic points, luck points, and HP at their full value.
On the morning of the third day at sea, the look-out call that land is sighted from the crow's nest. Rushing to the bow, you can clearly see that the shadowy spire of a mountainous island behind the morning sun. With the current winds, the Axenya will be within landing distance of the island in a few hours.
As the ship nears the island the crew becomes visibly more nervous, focusing on their attention on their work to avoid their troubles. Trimostones is grim-faced too, standing with a pale face staring at his destiny. Once close, Trimostones orders the ship to circle the island and find a suitable landing site.
The legendary island of Iaxos does not have a unique appearance in the Meerish seas. The land is old and stable, with steep rocky geography that still have stable and fertile lands along the shores. Volcanic activity is virtually unknown, and vegetation grows thick with edible fruits and vegetables. Game thrives on land, and the waters are rich with fish.
One the southern side of the island is a wide crescent shaped beach with white sands and gentle surf. Trimostones calls for the skiff to be prepared, and tells the crew to anchor as close to the island as they can. The crew drops anchor about 500 meters away, and agree to waiting the groups return "in a reasonable amount of time".
Everything is ready to go, if you guys want to make any last preparations now is the time. Otherwise, you'll be rowing a boat through open ocean to make landfall. This will be a group skill check that requires a boating check from everyone - including Trimostones.
Boating is used to propel water craft powered by human effort. Intended only to represent travel over short distances and not extended travel along a river or open sea. A successful boating check means the travel is efficient and without problems, a failure means the trip is delayed or misses its intended destination. A critical means the trip goes exceedingly well, and a fumble means an inconvenience like losing an oar or taking on water - a full capsize only happens in extreme circumstance (like weather) or after multiple fumbles.
On the morning of the third day at sea Anathaym hears the shout from the crows nest. Finally, she thinks as she gathers her gear and lays it out on the deck making sure her equipment is clean and serviceable. When she is satisfied she repackaged her gear and makes ready to get into the small boat.
She climbs down into the boat with her companions wondering, can I swim that far if something happens to this boat. They begin rowing and Anathaym has trouble finding the rhythm of her companions and feels they are making little head way and says, "put your backs into it." As she redoubles her efforts.
Kara's Boating vs 18:1d100 ⇒ 43 Trimostones' Boating vs 22:1d100 ⇒ 88
The currents are deceptively strong around this isolated island, the group has a hard time fighting the surf to reach the landing zone and not get swept to the rocky shores flanking the picturesque beach. What should have taken a brisk 15 minutes starts to take long, and longer, and longer. After 40 minutes, the small skiff finally runs ashore in powdery beach - though the trip required much more effort than normal.
Time to see if the trip fatigued you. These are all easy checks, and Mju's so skilled that he is able to further increase the ease of the checks. These are made every CON minutes spent rowing, and the highest value between athletics, brawn, or endurance are used to determine the effect. Each failure means one level increase in fatigue. I'm going ahead and rolling these just because it's GM bookkeeping. Trimostones' Endurance vs. 61:1d100 ⇒ 13 Trimostones' Endurance vs. 61:1d100 ⇒ 98-> fumble
Trimostones' Endurance vs. 61:1d100 ⇒ 41 Trimostones' Endurance vs. 61:1d100 ⇒ 5-> crit!
Anathaym's Endurance vs. 80:1d100 ⇒ 7-> crit!
Anathaym's Endurance vs. 80:1d100 ⇒ 15 Anathaym's Endurance vs. 80:1d100 ⇒ 71
Kara's Athletics vs. 88:1d100 ⇒ 43 Kara's Athletics vs. 88:1d100 ⇒ 98-> fumble
Kara's Athletics vs. 88:1d100 ⇒ 43 Kara's Athletics vs. 88:1d100 ⇒ 67 Kara's Athletics vs. 88:1d100 ⇒ 23
Mju's Athletics vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 83 Mju's Athletics vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 64 Mju's Athletics vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 58
Zamothis's Endurance vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 2-> crit!
Zamothis's Endurance vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 59 Zamothis's Endurance vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 82 Zamothis's Endurance vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 84 Zamothis's Endurance vs. 100:1d100 ⇒ 80
I am ruling that Trimostones' critical success and fumble cancel each other out. Because Anathaym and Zamothis both crit, I'm going to say that they are able to reduce the effect of Kara's fumble.
If no luck point is used (to reroll the skill check), the boat will land with everyone fine except for Kara who is winded. Winded means all skill checks are one grade harder, but you completely recover by resting for 15 minutes. Securing the boat alone will take a few minutes so the extra wait won't hurt anything.
Close to the half-way point of the trip by sea, a surging wave strikes the side of the skiff and Trimostones and take mouthfuls of salt water while breathing heavily. Anathym and Zamothis are able to bear down and work together to maintain a steady rhythm to the oars as the trip continues.
As they pull the boat onto the sandy beach, Kara is still coughing up salt water though Trimostones seems to have recovered during the trip. The group pulls the skiff ashore as Trimostones describes the goal of their journey, "Although I have never seen it, there are good accounts of the formation in the Meeros palace archives. We are looking for a promontory resembling a huge fist: the fist of Gods. It has been told that the fist is located along the spine of these mountains, west of the peak, if we travel up the slopes we should be able transverse the mountains from west of here to the north and east until we spot it."
I assume you guys rest the 15 miuntes so you are all fresh before continuing, it will take the rest of the daylight to go up the slopes and then along the mountains to across the entire small island. You are free to choose another strategy to spot the fist of gods, or follow Trimostone's recommendation.
The road he has chosen is very tough. The slopes range from gentle to extremely steep, and there are thick thorny bushes and stinging nettles covering the island. If you choose his path it will require a few skill checks. 1) An endurance roll to avoid fatigue 2) A hard athletics roll, or a standard survival roll to avoid injury from the terrain. 3) A perception or insight roll - both standard difficulty.
Zamothis looks up and nods. "Aye, no sense in wasting time." The older warrior offers to help Kara to her feet, then hoists his gear and shield over his back. Once the others are ready, he sets off in the lead.
Endurance vs 66:1d100 ⇒ 38 Survival vs 77:1d100 ⇒ 72 Perception vs 76:1d100 ⇒ 31
You cannot roll professional skill untrained, so you have to roll a hard athletics (hard reduces the value by 1/3 so Mju rolls versus 50). I'll use your original roll, just trying to clarify the rules.
The sun is bearing down on the group, but the ruffiage and moist soil keeps the worst of it away. Climbing the slopes even the humidity drops, making the weather very pleasant despite the difficult time. After a few hours pass the group is now near the top of the low dormant volcanic slopes, and have a much easier trail along the top of the mountains for the rest of the journey.
As the move something is nagging at the back of Anathaym's mind, and she expresses the concern with Zamothis. Zamothis takes her warning seriously and keeps an eye on the vegetation around them. It's not long before he spots a hunched man moving nearly on all fours watching them from the trees. As soon as they lock eyes the man hoots and runs back down the slopes.
More wary than ever, the group continues searching for Trimostones' unique rocky outcrop.
I'm still hear and playing, but left for a business trip without my book or character sheet. I'll just roll the dice, but not sure of Kara's scores. I'll be back on Friday... and promise to be a more efficient player.
Traveling near the summit was quite pleasant, a salty breeze kept things cool but not cold and the views were stunning of the surrounding island. The clear day lets you see almost a complete 360 of the island at any moment, and birds sing as the fly up and down the slopes.
The climb to this point was extremely rough; leaving Anathaym, Mju, and Kara winded. The barbs and nettles causing some minor wounds to their legs as they fought through the underbrush. But the current path is so clear and relatively flat that it doesn't affect their travel at all. Trimostones and Zamothis laugh at the youths in the party struggling on a climb they easily overcame, though once any sort of civilization was spotted the group carried on quietly. It is clear that they are being watched.
As the sun dropped into a late afternoon light Trimostones suddenly starts sweating more and more profusely. We must find camp! My old bones are too wary from this trip to keep going.
It is not long by the time the path once again widens and flattens out into a clearing large enough to support a lean-to and a fire, and allow for the camp for the night. By the time this final half mile is traveled Trimostones is panting and being nearly carried by Zamothis.
This is clearly strange as Zamothis is unaffected by the travel to that point and the others could recover in a few minutes of rest. Trimostones looks and is acting like he needs a full night of rest to continue anywhere!
Trimostones pulls his sandals from his feet and reveal massive bleeding blisters and sores, the skin on his legs also showing legions from wear and tear - wounds that normally would only be caused by forced marches over days and not from the distance you traveled so far.
I don't know what happened, Trimostones says between gulping breathes, Suddenly I have lost all my strength.
These wounds are not easily treated so far out in the wilderness and would require medical attention to heal. He will no longer be much use this trip, and will likely be a burden from here on. It is up to you, his guards, to keep him safe and bring him along as well as taking care of the camp tonight.
Mechanics from the day:
Anathaym, Mju, and Kara were winded but have recovered 15 minutes after camp was set up. Everyone is at their peak in camp.
Anathaym, Mju, and Kara also have some soreness and small cuts from the prickly vegetation in the area.
Anathaym location:1d4 ⇒ 2 Anathaym damage:1d3 ⇒ 1 1 damage to her right leg.
Kara location:1d4 ⇒ 4 Kara damage:1d3 ⇒ 3 3 damage to her right leg.
Mju location:1d4 ⇒ 4 Mju damage:1d3 ⇒ 3 3 damage to his right leg.
Everyone but Mju has at one point spotted someone watching from the distance at various points in the day. Make srue you plan your campsite well to avoid nasty surprises.
So what does everyone do in camp? You have rations, but you are running low on water and need to good the salted meats and dried vegetables. You also need firewood to keep the fire going, and establish a watch. You're free to act how you want.
"Then rest, old friend," Zamothis says to Trimostones. "while we will set up camp." He glances over the merchant worriedly, then at the deplorable state of the others' legs and shakes his head. He removes the lid from his waterskin and takes a slight sip. He would have to go out in search of water before much else was done.
At last he moves off slightly as he searches their immediate surroundings to make sure they were currently alone before at last resting his gaze on his pupil. There was much more to being a soldier or champion than simple fighting skill, and he was curious to see how well his protégé had taken his lessons on survival and defense. There was no greater teacher than a real life situation such as this, in Zamothis' view.
Perception vs 76 :1d100 ⇒ 99
"Well Anathaym? What make you of our situation? How would you proceed?"
