Vengeance of the Downtrodden (Inactive)

Game Master DM Mooshybooshy, "the Foolish"

Lead the way Smoog.

Hegh and Shieldbearer begin heading in the direction that Smoog indicates, escorting the stump-hag with a careful eye.

Smoog quickly dismantles his makeshift truth-machine.
"It has been a pleasure mining your memory and hijacking your hippocampus.
I am sure one of my fellow Kobolds is going to enjoy 'entertaining' you next," he says to Agatha with a wry grin.
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I envision Smoog's elevated intellect as being partly due to a photographic or eidetic memory so he can reference his internal map for guidance...
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"These Time Temples seem particularly isolated and desolate;
ideal characteristics for a secluded hideout or clandestine base camp.
Not having to contend with a necromancer will make it easier to occupy if we should be inclined to use it for shelter.
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If I recall correctly from the mosaic map on the 3rd level of this structure, there is another Time Temple on our way southeast to Erdogan; if that is indeed where we will go next?
It is somewhat near a population center with agrarian enterprises.
We might need to 'borrow' from these 'generous' neighbors to feed All-Path properly.
Estr is not all that far away as well and might provide even more diverse resources.
If we are all done here, might I suggest we head southeast?
Does anyone know how to cover our tracks so we won't be followed?"

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I am assuming all dwarves except Agatha are dead now?
Either succumbed to the grievous wounds we inflicted during battle or helped on by Grick or Fssst. :)

Thunk keeps himself entertained by smacking rocks with his club out over the water

All the dwarves are dead now but Agatha. She looks at Smoog meekly.

"I answered your questions honestly, kobold. If you are to kill me..." she takes a deep breath. "Make it quick, please." With that, she stares off into space from her seated position on the ground. Silence briefly falls over the group, only broken by the sound of Thunk's club making contact with a rock baseball. Meanwhile, Tanard is stretching her wings experimentally, lifting her upper body off the ground and flapping them to test her strength. Blood stains her muzzle from the food Sees fed her earlier.

Shouldering her pack, Sees extends an arm to Tanard. She fights the urge to pick her up, telling herself it wouldn't do to coddle the whelp.

As she waits for the legless dragon to climb to her shoulder, she surveys the group's work. Refuse and unused supplies sit in a relatively neat pile with the dead Dwarves pushed back to back in the center, the whole lot ready for Fssst's flames.

There wasn't any gold, likely because the apes were substance abusers, and there hadn't been any food because dwarves seem to eat rocks. Sees-Death, for all her worldly knowledge, was not properly acquainted with the properties Dwarven hardtack. That being said, she had managed to pack a few extra bags of adventuring gear. She couldn't carry them, but she offered them to anyone in the group who wanted some extra supplies.

She had already made quite a stock of cloth and leather, now rolled up and strapped to her pack, and she wouldn't have any means of knowing that Agatha's robes were anything but travel-worn cloth, so she turned her nose up to the offer. "I have all that I need from these slimey apes, and I'm sure Fssst has a sufficient offering, this one's remains should go to Grick."

Satisfied, she makes her way to the middle of the leaving cluster of Kobolds.

You noticed some saddlebags on the Aqir that fled the scene. They probably contained the dwarf party's rations.

Thunk grabs a couple rations and wanders over to Tanard.

Red 'Nard want ride with Red Thunk?

Tanard's eyes gleam in hunger at the open rations that Thunk holds out. She had been wrapped around Sees' arm, snake-like, but using her coiled muscles like a spring she leaps off and lands on Thunk's shoulder. Her wings flap to assist her jump, but she doesn't truly fly over. Immediately she opens her sharp-toothed maw expectantly, and you feel the hunger that remains inside this young dragon press upon your mind.

The baby dragon makes "Ah, ah" sounds. The kobolds are gathered together on the time temple's island in the middle of a river with a relatively gentle current. If memory serves it's about 3 PM, meaning you have at least 7 hours of good light remaining before night falls. There's no sign of any of your living foes remaining except the silent hag, Agatha, bound and re-gagged by Shieldbearer.

What do you do?

Thunk tosses them up so Tanard can snap them out of the air.

Nard going to be good at thump!

Already the baby can push its power on us. Amazing. This one will be a force to be feared. Truly feared.

The baby dragon strikes at the ration with the speed of a fully grown viper, snatching it out of the air before it has even reached the height of its parabolic arc. The skies above continue to remain gray and choked with volcanic ash from the eruption, but you can hear thunder gathering in the invisible clouds above the ash layer.

Smoog starts trudging toward the southeast looking for a reasonable place to cross the river.
Having heard no other preferred destination he sets off in the direction of the next closest Time Temple.
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Recalling all he ever heard or read about Dragons and the Kobold clans that serve them, he starts putting together a list...

"There is Gorlaug of course and our Moontower clan,
and All-Eater with Thunk's Stonebreakers were our closest relatives.
There is the Snowspire Clan up north serving Rancarth the Wicked
and also the ..."
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Spout Lore about Dragons and Kobold Clans: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5) + 3 = 10
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"If any other clans still exist, we might should warn them of the danger the Paladin still poses to them."

There exists a far-off subterranean city of scalykind ruled over by a black dragon, a cousin to Gorlaug the Corruptor named Zelna, to the west. There are many tunnels that lead to the city of Mankar, but the most direct overland route would take approximately 15 rations of traveling each.

You find a spot where the divide between dry lands is smallest and the water looks reasonably fordable without risk.

During the first part of the trip, Smoog walks beside Thunk and watches the baby dragon silently for a while.
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Tanard coils about and slithers from shoulder to shoulder, snapping at insects that strays too close, and inquisitively investigating the environment immediately surrounding Thunk.
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Everything seems new to her yet Smoog gets the distinct feeling that Tanard has been here already for a very long time.
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Smoog is also struck by the mathematically staggering odds and implications of this dragon hatching now, here; on the road; with no home; no support; no defenses; no parents.
Only eight lowly Kobolds trying to keep this infant safe.
She is the last of her kind or perhaps the first of her kind.
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"It seems miraculous or perhaps destiny revealed that the two of you found each other, Thunk.
What do you make of all this?"

Grick trudges along close to Thunk, watching with obvious pleasure the little dragon eat.

"Good, good scion of the mighty Gorlaug, eat and grow so you too can take vengeance against the god slayers." He points at the bound prisoner, "we offer you the life of the nasty dwarf, associate of the god slayers. Do you wish to feast upon her flesh while I bind her spirit to serve the mighty Tanard forever?"

You want an evil campaign, time to be really evil ;)

Not being fully grown yet, the infant dragon hasn't yet made the association that something as big as a dwarf could be potential food. The young dragon cocks her head and narrows her eyes, demonstrating obvious intelligence as she tries to understand your words. You can tell that talking to the dragon in Draconic is really causing the words to sink in to the dragon's rapidly-expanding brain.

Strange, that one of so little import such as I, should be the last of my tribe and left to care for the spawn of the All-Eater. None of the high priests would have even allowed me to get within 1,000 yards of the infant. This is amazing.

Thunk proud.

Sees did not like how Tanard moved from Kobold to Kobold. Her absence left a void in Sees that filled quickly with dark thoughts. She understood the whelp needed to lay claim to the others, but with every passing hour the dirge feared that Tanard would find a better steward among their other, heartier comrades.

"A gnomish woman was brought before Gorlaug once, they called her a chirurgeon. Her party had been stopped at the inner cloister and she surrendered her companions and her services to Gorlaug in exchange for her life. She was sent to the inquisition chamber to work out her service. She was very good at keeping things alive. Removing limbs, organs... she could keep them alive and begging for their end for far longer than any of our own inquisitors. Her bag's contents were not unlike my mending kit... It may be worth learning a new skill if we can keep some fresh rations on hand..."

... The young dragon cocks her head and narrows her eyes, demonstrating obvious intelligence as she tries to understand your words. You can tell that talking to the dragon in Draconic is really causing the words to sink in to the dragon's rapidly-expanding brain.

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Where we go now? Thunk asks

Let's go to the time temple. Smoog needs some time in a high tech area to build his devices, and we can probably find some more cool stuff. It would be nice to have a base of sorts.

According to Smoog's photographic memory, the nearest Temple of Time to your current location is downriver to the southeast, about 4 rations' travel. Let's set up some Perilous Journey rolls! Keep in mind, a baby dragon is an infinitely rare prize - if any interested third parties discover you are in possession of one, well...

Quartermaster: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 4) + 2 = 10
Sees' maternal instincts override her usual cranky disposition, making the trek possible on their relatively meager supplies.

Also, there's still the matter of the dwarf prisoner - kobolds have spoken about their intentions with her, but no actions have been taken in regard to her yet. What are your plans? She'll take rations from you if you want to bring her along without starving her.

Agatha is at the mercy of Fssst and/or Grick. If they decide she is already dead we can just 'timeline' that into the narrative whenever that happened?
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Smoog heads in the general direction that his headmap leads him, skirting around fens and sinkholes that cross their path.
Trailblazer: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 6) + 1 = 13

*ahem* Where have all my kobolds gone? We need a scout for the perilous journey! Do I need to open recruitment, you think? Play by post games have natural player attrition that happens over time.

oh I forgot we needed a scout. My fault. Was just being dumb muscle

2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 Scout

Still here, but I'm a terrible scout.

As they travel, Sees-Death takes time out during short rests and camp to try and capture live game. Nothing large, mice and rabbits and the like, captured live for Tanard to play at hunting, hone her skills, and slake her bloodlust.

If they camp, she sets the acorn to muffle the site so they can properly unwind, converse, and carouse, celebrating their victories and the hatching of the whelp.

Thunk takes the lead as the scout, it is not the best of choices, since he really just goes straight ahead and stops to smash any bug he can possibly find, shouting

THUMP!

I haven't seen Fssst or Grick post in a little while, but they made their intentions pretty clear. Anyone who chooses to butcher Agatha's dead body can salvage 3 rations' worth of fresh (but old) dwarf meat. It's tough and gamey, but Tanard will devour it without complaint. Grick may also have the old hag's skull, which takes about a half day to fully clean and hollow out.

Hegh gets the kobolds across the river and back to the riverbank easily with his frost breath, and the kobolds make their way southeast, to the nearest Time Temple. Smoog uses his instruments to discover a well-hidden path that shaves a full day off of their journey by helping them to circumvent a dangerous-looking cliff. In addition to Sees-Death's excellent control of the party's ration supply, you need mark off only 2 rations each for this journey.

Midday on the third day of uneventful traveling, you come upon an injured half-orcish man, lying in the road. You immediately treat him with mistrust, but nevertheless approach him enough for his full-blooded orc bandit friends to emerge from their hiding places and attack! When they emerge from either side of the road, you're traveling through rocky badlands. The terrain resembles Utah's Monument Valley. The only cover the terrain provides is in the form of two huge sandstone boulders, on either side of the road. Because of your wise mistrust you aren't caught flat-footed, and the battle is joined nearly instantly.

The orcs have black tattoos around their eyes that make their eyes look sunken deep in their skulls, and they are bearing ropes, whips, chains, and clubs - the tools of slavers. There's 5 orcs in total, plus the half-orc collaborator who rises from where he was pretending to be injured in the middle of the road. 3 of the orcs brandish clubs and knives, two of them have long Mancatchers.

Two of them are bum-rushing Sees-Death, one of them is squaring off against Thunk and the two mancatcher orcs are flanking around to snag one of you! What do you do?

Where is Tanard currently? In terms of active party members we have Thunk, Smoog, Sees, Hegh ... and possibly Fssst and Grick? Is that right?

Yes. Pork has indicated that he could be back at any time but for now he's MIA. Same with Flung. So for now it's primarily the 4 of you + Grick and Fssst whenever they jump in.

Tanard rides with Sees-Death unless otherwise noted - she was the first kobold the dragon saw, and has imprinted on her to a degree. All the kobolds in the party are "family," but Sees is "momma."

As the Orcs ambush the party, Hegh and Shieldbearer take up a defensive posture around Tanard Sees.

Defend Sees: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 1) + 2 = 8

As the Orcs close, Hegh watches to see if he can identify a battle leader among them.

2d6 + 3 ⇒ (6, 6) + 3 = 15 Come at me bro

You come get thump by Thunk! Not try thump Red 'Nard!

Whelp, I believe I just agrro'd all of them!

since I critical succeeded there I am gonna make an attack too, which you can ignore if you want

1d8 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + (4) + 2 = 12 for 1d10 + 1d4 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + (3) + 1 + 1 = 14 SMASH activate

Thunk swings his club into the knee of the orc that squares off against him and it shatters.

Sees was pretty stoked to try to carve meat off Agatha and keep her alive, so it was probably her that carved her up. She had no idea sewing needles were too thick to perform surgery. She'll have to talk to Fssst later about forging some fine silver needles.

At the sight of the poorly executed ambush, the dirge sighs. "These are the sorts of infidels you'll be crushing in your wake. You can only toss around mice for so long. For now, we can take care of them for you. Isn't that right, Captain Hegh?" She speaks loudly, as if the orcs weren't quite there.
Arcane Arts (Hegh: +2d4 Damage, +2 When aided): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + 2 = 10
Her words cause her hands to itch as the menacing aura or arcane energy envelops Hegh.

Keeping her position central to the party, she can be sure the orcs have plenty of others to forestall them. Although, she keeps an eye on the loops of the mancatchers.

At the sound of breaking bones, Sees calls out to the surrounding Orcs, hoping the understand undercommon. "Oh, you've gotten Tanard's Executioner angry. It would truly be a shame if he and the Bloodguard had to ruin you all similarly! Your fealty would be such a small price to pay for your lives." The dragon on her shoulder must be getting to her head.

Cormac McCarthy has made an appearance!

Are we making up titles now?

Yes, Bloodmother!

Hegh calls upon Gorlaug's blood running through his veins.

Form of the Dragon: 2d6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (4, 2) + 3 - 1 = 8

Ice set to 2, taking 1d6 ignoring armor to overcome dragon desire

Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

As Hegh watches the orcs focus on Thunk, he realizes he can choose his target with care. He yells in common: Half-orc, you will be the first sacrifice!

Hegh draws his sword, sprouts wings, and leaps over any intervening orcs onto the half-orc, sword plunging towards his neckline.

Hack & Slash: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 6) + 3 = 11

Damage (Sees AA + Exterminatus): 1d8 + 2d4 + 2d4 ⇒ (2) + (1, 3) + (2, 4) = 12

Thunk, you get a bonus +2 damage after a 10+ on your come at me bro move, right? Such a great move.

Sees blinks, dumbfounded, as her honorguard leaves her side. Without a second thought, Gourlaug's Wrath is in her hand. Reflexively, she aims for the first of the charging duo, not wanting to deafen her entire audience.
Metal Hurlant: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 5) + 1 = 7 additional target, GM's choice
Damage: 1d10 ⇒ 10
The roaring bass blast at full power, and her arts raking through the air like purple talons of lightning wrapped around Hegh's sword, each dealing heretofore unheard of damage, causes Sees-Death to flinch.

My move assumed that all the orcs turned their attention away from Sees when Thunk critted. If that isn't the case, Hegh wouldn't abandon Sees in the face of onrushing orcs.

its the other way around, I take +2 damage from them

The way its written on the SRD and your profile says that you add +2 damage against them ongoing (every subsequent attack).

As I understand it, the tradeoff is that they focus on you, dealing tons of damage, but you deal a little more than usual, and you protect your allies. You also have to be attacking them en-mass, splitting your damage, unless you want to take a boat-load of damage from the enemies you don't engage each time you attack.

It's hard to wrap your head around if you're used to D&D where every roll is traditionally treated as a single swing, but this is hack & slash, you're trading blows back and forth, and the roll shows who gets the upper hand. It's the same with Volly, a single roll isn't a single arrow, but it can reduce your ammo by a noticeable amount if you choose to go "all out" to hit your target.

Sorry, I'm in a conference all day. on a short break so...
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Using the only gadget that still functions as a weapon, Smoog sprays a tight beam of steam at an orc with a mancatcher hoping to do him in before he gets in range.
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Steam beam: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 2) + 3 = 10
Damage: 1d8 + 2d4 ⇒ (1) + (1, 1) = 3

The way its written on the SRD and your profile says that you add +2 damage against them ongoing (every subsequent attack).

Take +2 damage against them. Implies I take +2 damage, not I give +2 damage

That's the system's standard semantic for "you get something extra" (Eg: Take +1 forward to Parley with them) Your action gains an additional tag, in this case +2 damage, specifically against those targets. The same question was asked here on the Dungeonworld Reddit.

makes no sense but if mooshy wants to give me extra damage...ill take it

I could definitely see how you'd interpret it that way, Thunk. But no, you actually get +2 to THEM, not +2 taken to YOU.

"The red one's got spunk! He's going to be worth a great prize when we capture him!" one of the brute orcs, the one that was originally squaring off against Thunk, wielding a nasty club with a sharp rock thrust into one end of it, points at the red-scaled barbarian. He's wearing a necklace made out of some kind of shark teeth, and that's the only distinguishing feature. He, along with the two other brutes with melee implements, surround the barbarian. So eager is he to capture the tiny red kobold that he shoves one of his companions at him! The other one had been engaging Sees but backs off to focus on Thunk.

Thunk knows an opportunity in combat when he sees one. Whirling around with his club, he slams the heavy dragonbone with a backhanded swing at the orc's knee. He hears a sharp crack as the tough orc kneecap shatters under the force of your swing, and the orc tumbles over on his side, screaming in pain.

The leader wastes no time in flanking the barbarian and dives forward with his meaty arms outstretched, trying to get the kobold in a full nelson headlock! The one remaining standing orc licks his knife, ready for you to respond to the leader's attack so he can gut you! What do you do Thunk?

Nearby, the tinker kobold Smoog levels his steam-gun at the leftmost Mancatcher orc. With pinpoint accuracy he blasts the orc, aiming right inside the screaming greenskin's mouth! Knowing how legendary orc toughness of the skin can be, the cunning kobold fires at the mouth's interior, where the body's defenses are weaker.

The blast disorients his attacker but he keeps charging forward! Defy danger to avoid his blind charge as he swings his Mancatcher around like a pike, Smoog!

The right side has a problem as well. The other orc Mancatcher has his eyes on Sees-Death, and he's noticed Tanard.

"Boys!" he shouts. "Jackpot! These kobolds have got a baby dragon with 'em! Keep 'em busy, I'll go get the others!" and with that, the right most Mancatcher orc turns and flees East, into a rocky, hilly area where visibility is only for a few dozen yards at a time.

Hegh heedlessly sprouts his dragon wings once again. Since his dunking in the frozen river, his scales had tightened up and they painfully stretch apart as he sprouts wings once more - but the pain is worth it. Due to Thunk's distraction, the Dragon Mage is able to take to the skies unmolested, and he divebombs the half-orc baiter with a vicious slash to the throat. The half-orc staggers back, bleeding heavily from a wound in the side of his neck - he had dodged some of your attack, meaning he avoided decapitation, but he can only use one hand now.

Tapping into his orcish heritage, the half-orc goes into a blood frenzy, and throws his own blood from his bloody hand into your eyes, attempting to blind you! What do you do, Hegh?

2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1, 4) + 2 + 1 = 8 dex and on the move

Thunk quickly scrambles through the legs of the one trying to get him in a headlock

Then he brings his club up into his tenders

1d8 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + (6) + 2 = 11 for 1d10 + 1d4 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (4) + (2) + 1 + 1 + 2 = 10

Smoog rolls away from the grappling pole and swings around to the far side of the battle keeping the enemy in front of him...
Defy Danger Dex: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 6) + 2 = 12
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He then activates a device he has been putting together but has never been tested...
Psychic Modulation Necklace: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 1) + 3 = 9
Focusing on a group of orcs gathered close together,
he projects his voice into the thoughts of the target creatures affecting their brain waves and commanding them to sleep.
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On a 7-9 these also happen...
• The device needs more power, spend a charge.
• The device has a weird, unwanted side effect.
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It has the “Close-ify” tag which means it hits a target and then jumps to all possible targets within Close range of that target and so on until no one is within Close range.
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Psychic Modulation Necklace
(looks like a weirding module choker from Dune or a special forces throat mic)

Damn, damn, damn! If that one's going to get more, that leaves us two choices: chase him down and kill him, then sneak up on these "others", or hope we can kill these in time to set up an ambush for them. The decision depends almost entirely on how many "others" there are... It would make sense for there to be at least enough to have two shifts waiting in the ambush, meaning-
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
Arcane Arts(Thunk, Hegh: +2d4 Damage): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 4) + 2 = 12