GM Netherpongo's Warhammer Fantasy

Game Master Nathan Goodrich

Don't know... good thoughts in discussion about how risky it would be, and no guarantee that we would get any additional information. I think go North, but totally willing to be outvoted.

Sod it, he whispers, Lets move away

im all for ambushing him. however i am not sure how resolve works as far as recovering it. i know i can spend it to clear my condition. which will hamper for sure my combat ability. however when does it come back? unlike other games since this is a pbp its not like we have "sessions"

calph looks over at the three.

"sorry miss for being trouble. Ill try to keep me shorts on. It does comfort me that we have a person skilled in the healing arts aboard. Ill hold to that if'n I aint got nuthin else.

As fer the patrol, im all fer gettin sum pay backs m'lady. But ive been here fer a bit and well. I need a large dinner and an even larger beer."

he tries to add levity to the situation but is visibly rattled remembering the beatings from his prior failed attempts.

"i jis wanten you to be in the know. IF they catch us. they isnt friendly or gentle 'bout it"

Gripping the loaned dagger he tries to steady and steel himself. not having seen much combat he looks at the single drunken pirate. then inspiration

m'lady, i am Asur, and you are Asrai. perhaps a bow?

Resolve recovers when you act according to your Motivation rather than at the end of the session. Fortune is a per-session resource. There's still some continuing discussion, but it looks like a plurality is choosing to move away so we'll go with that.

You move to the north building, which is both dark and quiet. A heavy lock joins together a chain, which secures shut the large double doors. There are signs outside the doors that something heavy was moved across the ground, likely more than once.

Let's have everyone make an Average (+20) Dramatic Stealth test. Remember any Fatigued/Rattled Conditions you might have going. I'll be aggregating the results somehow (maybe not adding them together), so even if someone does badly, others might be able to cover for it.

Zarine motions for Calph to be quiet, and whispers back

We don't have any bows, Calph. We may be elves, but bows cost money, and that isn't something we've invested in yet. We will keep it in mind though. And we will get you something to eat as soon as we can. First to take care of our business here though.

_____

After moving to the north building, Zarine stays in the shadows, and looks for a side door or a window.

Do we have anyone that can use the pick lock skill?

Stealth (Rural-43)+20=63: 1d100 ⇒ 70

Rural stealth 35+20 But have 1 exhausted: 1d100 ⇒ 13

Ooops...

Pick Lock is an advanced skill, so it can't be attempted without an advance. I am pretty sure no one in the current party has it. Breaking the lock would be another option, but it would be quite loud. You could come back to it later.

Stealth Tests so far:
Zarine -1 SL
Axel +3 SL

Stealth 40+20=60: 1d100 ⇒ 63

Magda tries to be discreet, hoping her small size will help

Seems I picked a great moment to come back :) Sorry, loooong days plus a chest infection

I got sick this week as well: a light flu. Mostly recovered now.

The night is quiet still about the camp, and the only major sounds are those of the revelers. From here, the path to the north is clearer, as it seems to wind northward and somewhat down. It's likely that the path serves as their access to the Teufel river system.

Calph has Pick locks at two advances. Figured it might be something a shipsman would know. keys and locks dont really like salt water. Sometimes you need to improvise. *smile*

I dunnah M'lady, I have the skill but we seem to be short on the possibility of having something like lockpicks handy. Though if the lock is old or not as good as it appears on the inside. Doing it is still doable but Ill need somethin to do it with. hairpin, needle, anything long and thin would work if its sturdy enough.

Backing away from the door slowly. Looking to the others he closes his eyes and wills himself to be better than this. Wanting to be helpful and be free of his chains. Sure, while not physically tied down, his need to travel is significantly quelled here. The realization of the truth is setting in. Escape is real..

I would like to spend a resolve at this moment to remove one level of my exhaustion.

(id like both if you rule that wanting to escape and be free lends towards his motivations of traveling abroad and seeing new things.)

that -20 is really hampering and Calph desperately wants to be more helpful and now is the time to ante up and kick in.

Stealth/agi 40: 1d100 + 20 ⇒ (19) + 20 = 39

Calph is untrained in stealth, however his agility is pretty decent. then -10 for one level exhaustion or -0 if i can clear both

those dice are weird. what did i do wrong? OH! Nvm.. The parenthetical is the actual dice roll. neat..still failed but neat none the less. lol

Uh, all I have is a pair of tweezers... would that work? I don't mind if you break it in half if necessary.

That's if we want to attempt this. I'm also cool with moving on and trying to break the skull someplace where we aren't as likely to be overheard.

The following spoiler isn't really private, it's just spoilered to avoid cluttering up the rest of the post.

Since Calph has advances in Pick Lock, he can try to jimmy this lock as things stand. The lock itself has a difficulty of -10 and he'll take an additional -20 penalty from lacking any lockpicks, however, for a total of -30. The penalty for lacking formal lockpicks will be only -10 if you McGuyver up something reasonable first.

As the night wears on, you suddenly hear a shout coming from the desecrated chapel of Morr. The words are indistinct from this distance, but someone has been alarmed.

I'd say they found our little efforts... s%!~.

If the lock is not open by that point, Zarine motions for them to give up and head out to destroy the skull.

Are you just going to the outskirts of the village to destroy the skull? What is the plan for that?

Yeah, just far enough off that we hopefully won't be heard/seen as we are attempting to smash it through the cloth.

Aaaand now back. Thanks everyone for their patience

As you will, M'lady.

I will certainly spend that resolve (twice) to remove my conditions. I would vote that we try the lock another time. Aside from the alarm being raised we just dont have the tools. While calph is trained. Its not very high and a critical failure would surely happen at the penalties we are looking at. lets come back to it

Following after the others closing his eyes and willing his body forward. Gritting his teeth he focuses with all his might and feels better. This feeling of almost being freed reassures him and gives him strength.

"this lock seems beyond just tweezers and hairpins im afraid. We should see to that thin and be rid of it as quick as we can. The door isnt going anywhere."

He blinks as they head off. his mouth twisted as if deep in thought. His mental gymnastics given shape as he asks his next question.

"m'lady, Ima not schooled in such thin's. Whatif'n it dun work? Ive always been tole that magic stuffs was pretty hard ta break."

The group retreats into the wildlands surrounding the pirate village as commotion continues to grow inside the settlement. You can see the light from many torches being lit. To the north, by the sound of the river you can tell that the shoreline is not far off, likely after a steep incline. To the east of you is the path leading north out of the village, and you can tell from here that the path descends sharply after leaving the settlement. The settlement is to the south, while the island continues on into the shadowy night to the west of you.

Zarine takes a deep breath and hefts the skull above her head before bringing it down with a crash on a large rock. The skull immediately gives way & shatters into dozens of bone fragments. For a single heartbeat, the entire island goes unnaturally quiet, and you cannot even hear your own breathing.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! the shattered remains of the skull lets forth a high-pitched scream that tears through the night. The sound continues reverberating across the island.

At this moment, you might be able to hear each other over the skull's wailing if you were shouting. The velvet muffled the sound of the skull breaking somewhat, but not its death shriek. What do you do?

Awful week at work, sorry. I had no idea how to participate

What is that scream? A song for the damned?

The quiet halfling put her hands on her ears, hoping to block the horrible sound

Stand back!, he says before whacking at it with his staff, over and over again.

Axel's desperate blows shatter a few skull fragments but do nothing to diminish the skull's horrible cry.

Zarine isn't sure what to do either, but she knows they should get farther away from the village to avoid getting killed. She tries to circle back around to the boat so they have a way to escape, and also to see if the boundary has been dispersed yet.

Illogically however, she still holds onto the cloth with the pieces of bone inside, unwilling to give them up until she knows whether they have accomplished anything at all, so the sound follows her.

The most direct way to get back to your boat (without circling around the village to the south) would take you across the path leading north out of the settlement. You could go that way, but that stretch wouldn't offer much cover.

Zarine also finds as she gathers up the skull shards that the screaming sound is coming from them.

Zarine circles around to the South, staying well away from the village, trying to see if there are still magical flows around the island.

I think I had the skull contained with the cloth, so hoping most of the shards are still inside the cloth. Is the cloth muting the sound at all, or is this a sound that doesn't seem like it can be mitigated in any way?

It's helping some, but the scream is very loud. Stealth will be basically impossible while it keeps screaming. I'll say it's gone on for twenty seconds or so by now & hasn't quieted at all.

wrought with fear and surprise Calph looks at the skulls remains and as it continues to wail he shakes his fist as he becomes just angry and frustrated at it.

Thas it.. I dun had it with you!

not knowing what else to do he rushes up to Zarine's position. then backhands the bag as if snapping someone out of hysterics. As sharp quick slap 'across the face' of the pouch.

while he does this he is not intending to knock the pouch from Zarines death grip. Just hard enough grab some attention as if snapping a living being back from an episode. I assume this can be done since Axel was just clubbing it with a stick.

"Be quiet! I dunna know who ye are but canna you see theres goodly people here? By the mercies of Shaylla, Ladrielle, and the elven circle SHUT THE *#&^%! UP! People are sleepin! Hell yellin like that might wake the dead from that moor! Have ye some respect!"

now, Calph is not a cleric. nor trained in channeling. He IS however religious and understands that calling upon the gods is not something you do in jest. However, at this moment like a frustrated parent telling their petulant child that 'Jesus should take you!'. He has no other recourse but to rely on the unseen.

Zarine runs away from the village as fast as she can, while still staying away from any open area. She takes the skull shards with her, trying to reach the barrier to see if it is still there, and if so, if taking the skull across the barrier does anything.

Also, seriously, what is happening with the magic? Zarine should be able to see it and maybe tell something about what happened to the magic that was surrounding the skull at least, even if she can't tell for sure about the barrier from here.

Good question

After the skull is smashed, the overpowering aura of Dhar and Shyish surrounding the skull begins to diminish rapidly.

Heading along with Zarine he stops short and turns a slight bit to look over his shoulder.

"S$!%e. M'lady, ima go round quickly and get the rest of the prisoners. We should leave this cursed place. Stick to the plan. Perhaps if'in we can git that thing away from the island we be better off. Ill meet ya's at the boat. lets get outta here while we can"

Looking off into the woods where they were left hoping that they have yet to be discovered he sprints off in that direction.

stealth (agi) 45: 1d100 ⇒ 34

ugh.. i have yet to succeed at a dice roll. lol

He's right... AND I know what they are gonna do! They're gonna blame that village and head there! Which means we need to set up a pisser of an ambush OR evacuate them!

We'll make this happen before Calph decides to change direction, so you will all be together still. Incidentally, Calph's Stealth test would have been successful. The target is to roll under your skill number.

Before you have managed to move around the settlement very far, the skull's shriek suddenly dies out. Perhaps its magics were finally expended?

In any case, your ringing ears soon note the presence of pursuers. A few pirates with torches lit are upon you! Their numbers are small but more follow behind.

We're entering a pursuit. Roll an Easy (+40) Perception test first to see if you notice the pirates before they get too close. If you fail that test, you will take a -2 SL penalty on the first Athletics test as you fail to react quickly enough.

Then roll a Challenging (+0) Athletics test to escape the pirates, unless you want to allow them to catch up for some reason. Take a -10 on the test if you don't have light or Night Vision. The pirates have Movement 4, so adjust your rolls by -10 if you are slower than 4 and +10 if you are faster. By default you'll roll separately from each other, so one person could fall behind. You can choose to go slower if you want to keep the group together. To hurry things along, I'll roll the pirate Athletics test for multiple rounds. Your starting distance is 4. Pursuit rules are on page 166.

Pirate Round #1 Athletics 37: 1d100 ⇒ 98
Pirate Round #2 Athletics 37: 1d100 ⇒ 41
Pirate Round #3 Athletics 37: 1d100 ⇒ 88
Pirate Round #4 Athletics 37: 1d100 ⇒ 6
Pirate Round #5 Athletics 37: 1d100 ⇒ 90
Pirate Round #6 Athletics 37: 1d100 ⇒ 2

As a reminder, the whole plan when you came here was to destroy whatever was barring the undead from coming to the island so that they could enact their revenge themselves. If you have accomplished that task, help should be coming.

Easy perception +40 (82): 1d100 ⇒ 83 LOL!
Athletics, Move 3;-10 (30): 1d100 ⇒ 47 SL -1

Magda fails to see the upcoming threat, and as soon as she is alerted, she tries to outrun the longer-legged pirates, not an easy task

That Athletics test wasn't good but let's go through how that round went for Magda. Turns out that it wasn't that bad.

Magda has 40 Athletics but is slower than the pirates for a total Athletics skill of 30. She rolled 47 and so had -1 SL on the roll, with another -2 SL because she (barely) missed her Perception test for a result of -3 SL this turn. Fortunately for her, the pirates did worse. The pirates got -6 SL this turn with their roll of 98 so on turn #1 of the pursuit, Magda won the Opposed Test by +3 SL.

The starting distance was 4 so after one turn of the pursuit, Magda improved her distance from the pursuers out to a distance of 7. Because the distance is less than 10 (at which point she would have escaped) and greater than zero (at which point the pirates would have caught up), the pursuit continues.

So Magda can keep rolling her Pursuit tests. She won't be penalized by the missed Perception test anymore, though.

I’ll advised as it may be to stick together, he figures his Lady needs protection and that she is his ONLY means of his only long term, so stays close.

We're entering a pursuit. Roll an Easy (+40) Perception test first to see if you notice the pirates before they get too close. If you fail that test, you will take a -2 SL penalty on the first Athletics test as you fail to react quickly enough.

Then roll a Challenging (+0) Athletics test to escape the pirates, unless you want to allow them to catch up for some reason. Take a -10 on the test if you don't have light or Night Vision. The pirates have Movement 4, so adjust your rolls by -10 if you are slower than 4 and +10 if you are faster. By default you'll roll separately from each other, so one person could fall behind. You can choose to go slower if you want to keep the group together. To hurry things along, I'll roll the pirate Athletics test for multiple rounds. Your starting distance is 4. Pursuit rules are on page 166.

Perception 30 +40: 1d100 ⇒ 59

Athletics 30 - 10: 1d100 ⇒ 92

Not a crit fail but daaaamn, -7 SL

So Axel's distance after round #1 would be 3 and Magda's would be 7. Anytime you are ready, you can roll for the following rounds. For my purposes, I mostly need the number of rounds until someone gets caught. Or if you all escape.

Given I am less nimble than an elf and I’m sticking with the elf unless she ditches me…

Athletics 30 - 10: 1d100 ⇒ 32
Athletics 30 - 10: 1d100 ⇒ 14
Athletics 30 - 10: 1d100 ⇒ 98

Sooooo… 2 decent rolls and one s@@!

And here’s some more just in case.

Athletics 30 - 10: 1d100 ⇒ 49
Athletics 30 - 10: 1d100 ⇒ 83
Athletics 30 - 10: 1d100 ⇒ 1

Athletics -10 (30): 1d100 ⇒ 13 SL 2

Athletics -10 (30): 1d100 ⇒ 100 Broke two legs, maybe three

Athletics -10 (30): 1d100 ⇒ 3 SL 2, running on her hands

Athletics -10 (30): 1d100 ⇒ 96 Broke both arms too ^^

Axel round #2: started at distance 3 and got -1 SL while the pirates got -1 SL, so his distance stays at 3.
Axel round #3: started at distance 3 and got +1 SL while the pirates got -5 SL, so his distance extends to 9.
Axel round #4: started at distance 9 and got -7 SL while the pirates got +3 SL. The distance would reduce to zero and Axel would be caught.
Sidenote: if Axel spent a Fortune to improve his round #3 result by 1SL, he would reach distance 10 and get out of the pursuit. You likely want to wait on that to see how the others do first, but if you have a Fortune left, that is an option.

Magda round #2: started at distance 3 and got +2 SL while the pirates got -1 SL. That would extend her distance to 10 and allow her to exit the pursuit.

If we get Calph's results before Zarine comes back I'll roll for her as well.

Spending a fortune then, that comes out of fate, right?

Fortune is the cheaper resource. Fate is spent to avoid things like death and massive attacks. Again, you can wait to spend it until you see how Calph & Zarine do.

ok. so lets hope this works. also, since we are doing this "before calph heads off" i assume i wont be getting my stealth till after i escape if at all.

Athletics 45 + 10 movement: 1d100 ⇒ 89

oof..

Athletics 45 + 10 movement: 1d100 ⇒ 38

Athletics 45 + 10 movement: 1d100 ⇒ 31

Athletics 45 + 10 movement: 1d100 ⇒ 87

Athletics 45 + 10 movement: 1d100 ⇒ 99

Athletics 45 + 10 movement: 1d100 ⇒ 77

(side note.. i either need to sacrifice to the dice daemon for this web page or i need to up my skills asap)

forgot my perception roll

perception 44 +40 (easy): 1d100 ⇒ 99

are you kidding... seriously?? ugh.,

obviously distracted by all the commotion of the screaming and concentrating on the others. watching in terror as poor Magda manages to barely scrape away..

clearly dice daemon does not like me

Perception (55 +40 = 95): 1d100 ⇒ 36

Athletics (40 +10 speed 5 = 50): 1d100 ⇒ 50

I can roll more as needed, but Zarine isn't going to abandon her charges by attempting to outrun them if the others are falling behind. She has taken responsibility for the group, and she will take that seriously, so if Magda honestly breaks her leg, Zarine will stop and make a stand between her and the pursuers and try to kill them before they can kill Magda... maybe she dies, but this character has a big hero complex, so she'll try to save them all. And the same for anyone else. The first person to fall behind, Zarine will stop and defend them.

Also, once Zarine sees the pursuit, she will tell everyone.

Actually, Zarine 'escapes' on the first round of the pursuit. The pirates rolled that bad. I was going to allow anyone who escaped to come back & help out if other party members got caught, so we don't need to assume that Zarine (or others) abandoned anyone as they got away, even though the others escaped on later rounds. I'll assume that no one wants to pick a fight with the pirates so let's move forward.

As you flee from the pirates toward the west, the night's stillness is shattered by the howling of a chorus of anguished voices. The night sky grows even darker for a moment before ghosts come charging toward and then past you as they fall upon the pursuing pirates.

I forget if anyone told Calph about this. He might be freaking out right now.

Two ghosts float up to you, and you recognize Klara von Holgau and Shade. They seem somewhat brighter than during your last meeting. "Well done," Klara commends you. "The miasma surrounding the island has weakened and its sorcerous hold on us fades. The dead and drowned will exact our utmost satisfaction on these murderers. You have our utmost gratitude. As agreed, all others living on the island will die this night."

Klara looks meaningfully at Calph, but makes no move to menace him.

I have compassion for what you endured, but that is not what we agreed. We agreed that you would be able to have vengeance on your murderers, not that you would kill innocents. Only the killers die. Anyone else must be spared.

I don’t remember anything about all the living at all.

Klara looks at you curiously. "Are there those that must be spared?"

Yes. This man, Calph, must be spared, and the two people that were kidnapped and trapped with him. We rescued them earlier.

Calph mentioned he was going to round them up earlier, but don't think he was able, but if we can describe them, or tell them where they are, hopefully that will be enough. We didn't find any additional ones though, so not sure we can save any others, but I will try.

In addition, any that are locked in and unable to move freely are probably innocents. I want to talk to anyone like that before you kill them, to see if they must be spared.