[A short encounter on the way to Barrowmaze. Includes a ruling relating to potion creation.]
[Also? SPOILERS! This series will spoil what’s in Barrowmaze, so take that into consideration before reading.]
PCs (The Revengers)
Daphne – female human Blade-Sister (5th level Bladedancer)
Boris the Fighter – male human Exemplar (5th level Fighter)
Adam – male human Magician (4th level Mage)
NPCs
Dergos – male human guide, still sold on the glory of adventuring, hired by Boris
‘Len – professional torchbearer, full name is Morgullen, but he never uses it, hired by Boris
Vorgand – female human porter, a university student earning coin, hired by Daphne
Verya [pronounced Vir-uh] – female human Woman-at-Arms (1st level Fighter) , hired for 1/3 share of any treasure
Moonday, July 21st, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
While several members of the Revengers chose to take some time off to rest and enjoy their wealth [read: the players could not make the game], Daphne, Boris, and Adam wanted to continue their quest to rescue the mongrel men leaders. Daphne tacked a piece of parchment to the front door of Turgen’s Trade Goods, requesting comfrey be set aside for her purchase in the evening [the shop was not yet open for business for the day]. Daphne suggested to the other two adventurers that an additional fighter-type would be wise. Boris and Adam agreed, so the trio went over to the Mercenary Guild to see if anyone was available.
The usual morning crowd of hopefuls was loitering around the building, along with Dergos, ‘Len and, Vorgand, who were ready to head out with the Revengers. Boris talked with Guildmaster Osen and hired Verya, a woman-at-arms with chainmail, a halberd, and extensive burn scars. Due to her skill level [she’s actually a classed character, not a 0th level NPC], the Revengers agreed to her pay being a one-third share of any treasure taken, rather than a flat fee. [The players were iffy on this until I clarified it would not affect their XP for the session, then they were immediately onboard.]
With party bolstered, the adventurers headed south, Dergos leading them through the moors. Along the way, the group spotted a small group of three trolls approaching them. Daphne perked up at this as she needed troll blood for brewing healing potions. After a quick discussion [while the trolls rapidly approached the party], the group decided that THREE trolls might be more than they could handle and attempted to evade. Unfortunately, they had waited too long and the trolls caught up with the group during the chase.
Daphne cast Bless on the adventurers, who formed up a fighting ling with the porter, guide, torchbearer, and mage behind the line. Boris and Verya threw military-grade oil [read: Molotov cocktails] at the trolls, concentrating on the lead troll. Adam repeatedly cast Magic Missile at it [doing fire damage due to his Elementalism proficiency]. Daphne ordered Vorgand to hand out the military-grade oil in her pack to anyone who could use it on the trolls and Boris and Verya made use of it. When the trolls were within melee range, Boris and Verya advanced on the trolls to attack.
The lead troll went down to Boris’ initial swing [plus all the fire damage from the oil and Adam’s fiery Magic Missiles]. Boris and Verya concentrated their attacks on the next troll while the trolls concentrated their [mostly ineffectual] attacks on Boris [Verya was attacking at range with her halberd, making Boris the only valid target, but his high AC and my low rolls to hit meant they did not hit as often as expected]. Daphne cast Spiritual Weapon and sent forth the Saber of Inanna to attack the trolls.
The liberal use of burning oil and big damage from Boris’ axe [along with the damage done by Verya and Daphne] knocked down the trolls. All three trolls were heavily burnt, but regenerating. Daphne quickly stepped forward, emptying her waterskin of water to capture troll blood in it from the regenerating trolls. Boris and Verya periodically attacked the trolls to keep them down. After a very tense period [about 30 minutes], Daphne collected a total of three waterskins worth of troll blood [she borrowed Adam and Boris' waterskins], enough to make an attempt at brewing her first Potion of Healing.
Once Daphne was done harvesting all the troll blood she could carry, Boris and Verya dragged the troll bodies into a pile and poured three flasks of common oil from Daphne’s equipment onto the pile and ignited it. The fire damage from this pyre finally killed the trolls [although it took a while for the last one to stop moving]. Verya took the opportunity to take a troll claw as a memento.
At this point Adam was completely out of spells, Daphne was down to two spells, all of the oil was gone, and Boris was noticeably injured. Rather than push their luck, the group returned back to Helix early. With no treasure [beyond the troll blood] from the expedition, Daphne paid Verya 3 gp and offered to extend the contract to the next outing. Verya accepted.
In addition to picking up her order of comfrey from Turgen early, Daphne bought more oil to replace the military-grade oil used against the trolls. Boris and Adam also bought oil, Adam buying 7 flasks and storing 5 in Daphne’s gear for her porter to carry and hand out as needed. Adam also sent a letter to the bookshop in Ironguard Motte, requesting they locate and hold a scroll of Fireball for him to purchase [he is close to 5th level and wants to be ready].
End of Session
[We could have run the group resupplying and going back to Barrowmaze the next day, but they would have only a little over an hour of game time at that point, which would have forced the PCs to leave the dungeon early for metagame reasons, not in-game reasons. Therefore we wrapped up early and handled healing and supply purchases. The players greatly enjoyed the troll encounter and were happy with what they achieved.]
[Daphne’s player was very pleased to find the reagents she needed to start crafting potions of healing, something she’s wanted to do since reaching 5th level. When asked about how much blood she needed, we looked at what was described in the rules and discovered that it suggests “Blood of 1 troll”. Is that all the blood from one troll, you need blood from different trolls to make more than one potion or what? I decide that for the purposes of developing the formula for creating the potion, the caster needs a troll’s worth of blood and that Daphne had enough for one try at this. After success, then she will need at least a waterskin’s worth for each potion. The amounts might be low, but the players took the time and effort, so I don’t want to penalize them – in fact I want to encourage this behavior.]
The Motley Crew
Session 1: The Start
…
Session 11: TPK
The Revengers
Session 12: Rise of the Revengers
Session 13
Session 14
Session 15
Session 16
Session 17
Session 18
Session 19
Session 20
Session 21
Session 22
Session 23
Session 25
[Also? SPOILERS! This series will spoil what’s in Barrowmaze, so take that into consideration before reading.]
PCs (The Revengers)
Daphne – female human Blade-Sister (5th level Bladedancer)
Boris the Fighter – male human Exemplar (5th level Fighter)
Adam – male human Magician (4th level Mage)
NPCs
Dergos – male human guide, still sold on the glory of adventuring, hired by Boris
‘Len – professional torchbearer, full name is Morgullen, but he never uses it, hired by Boris
Vorgand – female human porter, a university student earning coin, hired by Daphne
Verya [pronounced Vir-uh] – female human Woman-at-Arms (1st level Fighter) , hired for 1/3 share of any treasure
Moonday, July 21st, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
While several members of the Revengers chose to take some time off to rest and enjoy their wealth [read: the players could not make the game], Daphne, Boris, and Adam wanted to continue their quest to rescue the mongrel men leaders. Daphne tacked a piece of parchment to the front door of Turgen’s Trade Goods, requesting comfrey be set aside for her purchase in the evening [the shop was not yet open for business for the day]. Daphne suggested to the other two adventurers that an additional fighter-type would be wise. Boris and Adam agreed, so the trio went over to the Mercenary Guild to see if anyone was available.
The usual morning crowd of hopefuls was loitering around the building, along with Dergos, ‘Len and, Vorgand, who were ready to head out with the Revengers. Boris talked with Guildmaster Osen and hired Verya, a woman-at-arms with chainmail, a halberd, and extensive burn scars. Due to her skill level [she’s actually a classed character, not a 0th level NPC], the Revengers agreed to her pay being a one-third share of any treasure taken, rather than a flat fee. [The players were iffy on this until I clarified it would not affect their XP for the session, then they were immediately onboard.]
With party bolstered, the adventurers headed south, Dergos leading them through the moors. Along the way, the group spotted a small group of three trolls approaching them. Daphne perked up at this as she needed troll blood for brewing healing potions. After a quick discussion [while the trolls rapidly approached the party], the group decided that THREE trolls might be more than they could handle and attempted to evade. Unfortunately, they had waited too long and the trolls caught up with the group during the chase.
Daphne cast Bless on the adventurers, who formed up a fighting ling with the porter, guide, torchbearer, and mage behind the line. Boris and Verya threw military-grade oil [read: Molotov cocktails] at the trolls, concentrating on the lead troll. Adam repeatedly cast Magic Missile at it [doing fire damage due to his Elementalism proficiency]. Daphne ordered Vorgand to hand out the military-grade oil in her pack to anyone who could use it on the trolls and Boris and Verya made use of it. When the trolls were within melee range, Boris and Verya advanced on the trolls to attack.
The lead troll went down to Boris’ initial swing [plus all the fire damage from the oil and Adam’s fiery Magic Missiles]. Boris and Verya concentrated their attacks on the next troll while the trolls concentrated their [mostly ineffectual] attacks on Boris [Verya was attacking at range with her halberd, making Boris the only valid target, but his high AC and my low rolls to hit meant they did not hit as often as expected]. Daphne cast Spiritual Weapon and sent forth the Saber of Inanna to attack the trolls.
The liberal use of burning oil and big damage from Boris’ axe [along with the damage done by Verya and Daphne] knocked down the trolls. All three trolls were heavily burnt, but regenerating. Daphne quickly stepped forward, emptying her waterskin of water to capture troll blood in it from the regenerating trolls. Boris and Verya periodically attacked the trolls to keep them down. After a very tense period [about 30 minutes], Daphne collected a total of three waterskins worth of troll blood [she borrowed Adam and Boris' waterskins], enough to make an attempt at brewing her first Potion of Healing.
Once Daphne was done harvesting all the troll blood she could carry, Boris and Verya dragged the troll bodies into a pile and poured three flasks of common oil from Daphne’s equipment onto the pile and ignited it. The fire damage from this pyre finally killed the trolls [although it took a while for the last one to stop moving]. Verya took the opportunity to take a troll claw as a memento.
At this point Adam was completely out of spells, Daphne was down to two spells, all of the oil was gone, and Boris was noticeably injured. Rather than push their luck, the group returned back to Helix early. With no treasure [beyond the troll blood] from the expedition, Daphne paid Verya 3 gp and offered to extend the contract to the next outing. Verya accepted.
In addition to picking up her order of comfrey from Turgen early, Daphne bought more oil to replace the military-grade oil used against the trolls. Boris and Adam also bought oil, Adam buying 7 flasks and storing 5 in Daphne’s gear for her porter to carry and hand out as needed. Adam also sent a letter to the bookshop in Ironguard Motte, requesting they locate and hold a scroll of Fireball for him to purchase [he is close to 5th level and wants to be ready].
End of Session
[We could have run the group resupplying and going back to Barrowmaze the next day, but they would have only a little over an hour of game time at that point, which would have forced the PCs to leave the dungeon early for metagame reasons, not in-game reasons. Therefore we wrapped up early and handled healing and supply purchases. The players greatly enjoyed the troll encounter and were happy with what they achieved.]
[Daphne’s player was very pleased to find the reagents she needed to start crafting potions of healing, something she’s wanted to do since reaching 5th level. When asked about how much blood she needed, we looked at what was described in the rules and discovered that it suggests “Blood of 1 troll”. Is that all the blood from one troll, you need blood from different trolls to make more than one potion or what? I decide that for the purposes of developing the formula for creating the potion, the caster needs a troll’s worth of blood and that Daphne had enough for one try at this. After success, then she will need at least a waterskin’s worth for each potion. The amounts might be low, but the players took the time and effort, so I don’t want to penalize them – in fact I want to encourage this behavior.]
[Also, I found an error in my links for back episodes, which
I’m in the process of correcting. By the
time this goes live, that should be fixed. Thank you to Rafael Beltrame for bringing it to my attention.]
The Motley Crew
Session 1: The Start
…
Session 11: TPK
The Revengers
Session 12: Rise of the Revengers
Session 13
Session 14
Session 15
Session 16
Session 17
Session 18
Session 19
Session 20
Session 21
Session 22
Session 23
Session 25
No comments:
Post a Comment