Delvers Guild – Arc 2, Session 5 – Interviews, Classes, and Second Round of Exhibition Fights

[December 10, 11, and 12 – Some minor business, classes, and the start of the second round of guild tryouts.]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened February 28, 2022.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows

Ozrel Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician

Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer

Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild

Unit: Z0-E – Zarek’s first golem, looks like a fox made of iron

Hernesday, December 10th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Morning

An announcement for the next round of try-out fights/exhibition fights was posted at the entrance to the guildhall.  The actual sign-up sheets were just inside and presided over by Lars, the Guild Chamberlain.  This was to keep the lists from being defaced or most other shenanigans from happening.

Vorgand spoke with Lars about the need for a Guild scribe and asked what other staff he might recommend.  This led to a discussion as to whether the Guild would be putting in a kitchen to make meals available for the guildmembers, particularly senior staff.  This had always been in Vorgand’s plans, so they started discussions on who and what they needed.

Jala also tasked her street urchins with locating Bear and Crow and reporting back.

Ricky started training Ozrel in the Research skill.

1:00 PM

Jala’s urchin network reported back in that Bear and Crow were performing day labor over in the Craftsman District.  Jala paid her informants and then shadow walked over to where Bear and Crow were working.  She observed them for a bit before approaching them and stating she wanted to speak with them about guild business.  Bear quickly finished moving the crates they were working on, making it obvious to her that Bear was underplaying his strength so the job would last longer [and they could get paid more].

Once Bear and Crow were paid, the three of them went to a nearby tavern to talk.  Over drinks, Jala worked out that Crow has a wide range of skills, including pickpocketing, lock picking, and a bit of forgery, but also Persuasion and Bureaucratics.  Bear was clearly the strongman of the two and was also talented at wrestling.  She warned them that the elves were after the Guild for “taking things they left lying around.”  She was impressed with the two of them and felt they were her kind of people.  Crow asked if the Guild did any business with the Barony of the Yellow Stone and was clearly relieved when Jala answered no.

Jala thought Crow might be a good apprentice to her style of magic and asked if he was interested in learning any.  He seemed fairly non-committal.  Jala offered a sample of magic by shadow walking him across the street and back.  He clearly did not like the experience and fully declined afterwards.

2:00

Vorgand attended a fitting appointment for her new dress uniform coat.  It fit nigh perfectly and would be available in two days after final adjustments were made.

Evening

Vorgand and Ozrel checked in on the exhibition sign-up sheets and were surprised to see them nearly full already.  Vorgand was even more surprised to see that her rival, Fisk Greenling, had signed up to fight her.

Magusday, December 11th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Daytime

Vorgand arranged the rental of the weapons practice space for the Guild’s exhibition the following day (Cromsday) and then attended lessons and practice at The Blooded.  Ricky continued teaching Ozrel how to research by researching what kinds of runes could be used to keep the elves out of the guildhall, a subject of interest to both of them.  Jala spent the day learning things [no indications as to what] at the Dusk Academy.

Zarek instead made use of the gate in the basement of the Guildhall to go over to the dungeon under Moon Manor and survey the golemworks on the lowest level.  He was looking to restore the facility and started a list of what was necessary to do that.

Evening

Ricky enchanted eight gate tokens for the Guild Founders, allowing them to access the gate without him needing to be there.  He then resumed tutoring Jala in the elven language.

Cromsday, December 12th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

In the morning, Vorgand collected the sign-up sheets from Lars and the Guild Founders set up the practice area for the exhibition bouts.  Vorgand and Ozrel discussed the order they wanted to do the bouts.  There would be 9 fights, switching between the weapons and non-weapons bouts.  Once they settled on an order [by having the applicants draw lots], Ricky drew up a listing to post at the entrance with estimated times for each fight.  The order would be:

1. Vorgand vs. Lukyan of Rylsk
2. Ozrel Runeweaver vs. Stefan the Wanderer
3. Vorgand vs. Leopard
4. Ozrel Runeweaver vs. Bear
5. Vorgand vs. Yngvar Copperarrow
6. Vorgand vs. Bork
7. Vorgand vs. Erian Eldergold
8. Ozrel Runeweaver vs. Tamara Greenshield
9. Vorgand vs. Fisk Greenling

Ricky was then set on door duty, collecting the cover fee from the spectators [and the bookies].  There was a noticeably larger crowd this time and three different bookies taking odds on the fights.  Like last time, two elves showed up to watch.  Ricky noted they showed up early this time, as opposed to casually discovering the exhibition last time.

Vorgand was heavily favored to win her fights with the odds on a clean sweep by her only tempered by the number of combatants she would have to face.  Ricky bet a gold coin on Vorgand and Ozrel to win each of their fights plus each to sweep.  Jala did the same, except she bet on Bear to win his round.

Fight 1: Vorgand vs. Lukyan of Rylsk

Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground, each holding a wooden practice sword, Vorgand’s shaped like a rapier, Lukyan’s like a shortsword.

Vorgand held back to get a feel for Lukyan’s speed and discovered he was very slow compared to her [Speed 2 versus her Speed of 3].  Once she realized this, she stretched her legs to advance on him [pushed her Run by 1”] and attacked.  Lukyan aborted to a dodge, but was not able to get his arm out of the way [Vorgand hit him anyways, in the arm].  Vorgand then followed up immediately with another strike, hitting Lukyan in the stomach, knocking the air out of him and he dropped.  He recovered almost immediately and the two combatants walked out of the fighting square to polite applause.

Fight 2: Ozrel Runeweaver vs. Stefan the Wanderer

Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground, each with empty hands.

Ozrel activated the runes tattooed on his arms [Strength and Dexterity Aids] and then waited for Stefan to approach.  Stefan obliged by stepping up to Ozrel and attacking.  Ozrel blocked the attack and followed up with a trip attack, but Stefan was able to keep his feet [Acrobatics roll].  Stefan then performed a Vicious Dragon Chop on Ozrel, his flaming fist fracturing a bone in Ozrel’s arm [hit the arm and still did 1 Body of damage].  Ozrel held back his next attack, hoping to block Stefan again, but Stefan instead moved away from Ozrel as he has greater mobility [his Run is 7” to Ozrel’s 6”].  Ozrel pursued Stefan.

Deciding his block stratagem was not going to work, Ozrel went in for the attack, launching a Branding Strike at Stefan and landing a solid blow to Stefan’s chest.  This both stunned and knocked-out Stefan, ending the fight.  After a gasping on the ground for 4-5 seconds, Stefan kipped up and shook Ozrel’s hand.  Ozrel then received some healing magic from Tamara while the crowd applauded more enthusiastically than after the first fight.

Fight 3: Vorgand vs. Leopard

Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground, Vorgand holding a wooden practice sword shaped like a rapier, Leopard holding a wooden shortsword and dagger.

Slightly faster than her opponent, Leopard pounced forward and attempted to disarm Vorgand [Leopard had a Speed of 4 to Vorgand’s 3].  Vorgand dodged the disarm, causing Leopard to miss.  Leopard held to let Vorgand react [and let the effects of the Martial Dodge end].  Vorgand attempted a Martial Strike with her rapier, but Leopard blocked the attack.  Leopard attempted a legsweep on Vorgand and nearly pulled it off.  Vorgand swung back with another strike but also missed.  Leopard repeated the legsweep and succeeded this time, but with a combination of Acrobatics and Breakfall, Vorgand kept on her feet and minimized the damage from the strike.  Vorgand performed another Martial Strike, hitting leopard squarely in the chest and stunning her.

Leopard shook off the effects of being stunned.  When Vorgand came in for another Martial Strike, Leopard aborted to a dodge, but Vorgand hit anyway, landing a solid blow to Leopard’s stomach, knocking her out.

Vorgand was impressed with Leopard and helped her to her feet when she recovered her senses.  The crowd was applauding heavily, entertained by the quick, dynamic fight.

End of Session

Guild Postings

[Good news!  I didn’t get selected for Jury Duty this week!  That means I can now try and catch up on my session postings.  My goal is to have Sessions 5, 6, and 7 (Part 1 and Part 2) posted by May 6, 2022.  If you are reading this, I clearly have the first step complete.]

[This was the first of several sessions where Vorgand or Ozrel dueled an NPC.  It gave all of us a solid rundown on the 5th Edition Hero System.  It also let me get a quick shakedown on creating NPCs, which I needed.  At the end, the players had a good idea of the capabilities for most of the NPCs, excluding the two spellcasters who I still haven’t statted out yet (shame on me as the GM), and assigned them starting ranks in the Guild.]

Delvers Guild

Guild Organizational Outline

Arc 1

Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions

Arc 2

Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post

Last Session: Arc 2, Session 4

Next Session: Arc 2, Session 6

Busy Week at the Dayjob and RL

Sorry, there is no proper blog post this week.  It was a super busy week at the dayjob and regular life, so I never got a chance to type up the session notes.

My plan is to type up and post the next three sessions over the next two week in order to catch up, but Monday, April 25, I have jury duty, so my week might get wacky, depending upon whether or not I get selected for a jury and what kind of case it is. I'll have to see how it goes.

I'll have a status update if I get selected no later than Tuesday or an actual blog post by Wednesday.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Delvers Guild – Arc 2, Session 4 – Discussions and a delivery

[December 9 concludes – After the Guild Tryouts, the Delvers discuss the candidates and the situation with the elves.  They also deliver elven objects d'art to their seller for consignment.]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened February 21, 2022.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows

Ozrel the Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician

Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates

Via Roll20

Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild

Unit: Z0-E – Zarek’s first golem, looks like a fox made of iron

Moonday, December 9th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Shortly after 2:00 PM

After Ricky and Jala discussed what Ricky had overheard the elves reporting about Vorgand and the Guild via the magic communication earrings.  Jala stated she would go back to the exhibition and warn Vorgand and the others about the elves.  Ricky said he was heading back to the guildhall to see about security there.  He then started shadow jumping back to the guildhall.

Jala shadow walked back down to the arena area and quietly passed on to Vorgand that “the elves are on to us.”  Vorgand announced to the waiting applicants that they “would hear from the guild within a week.”  The crowd started dispersing when it was obvious that there would be no more fights.  The bookies paid out and made their way out with fatter purses.  The elf observers were among the last to leave.

Ozrel walked back across the city to the guildhall with Zarek trotting beside him.  [Aegea City, like any walled medieval/Renaissance era city is compact, especially compared to modern cities, so this was at most a 30-minute walk.]   They were followed by an elf, but neither noticed.

Jala shadow walked away from the arena and over to her recently purchased house in an adjacent neighborhood.  There she met with some of her street urchin contacts and set them to observing the elven activities in the Student’s Quarter of the city.  She then prepared to meet Vorgand at the shop of Tolenka the Jeweler.  [As a result of her teleporting, she was not followed by the elves.]  Vorgand returned to her dorm room on the campus of The Blooded to bathe after the series of duels and then left to meet Jala at Tolenka’s to see the completed signet rings.  [She was followed when off the campus, but the elves had no way to follow her on the campus.]

3:00 PM

Jala and Vorgand met outside Tolenka’s shop.  Jala noticed that Vorgand was being followed and warned Vorgand.  Vorgand knew the elves were now following her, so she was going to bore them by doing her normal routine.  Vorgand says she understood and then left, heading back to the guildhall.

Vorgand entered the shop and spent a pleasant hour sitting with Tolenka and having tea and snacks and making idle talk while reviewing the completed signet rings.  Vorgand was pleased with the high-quality work and slipped on the functional steel signet ring, leaving the decorative mithril ring in its case.  Vorgand paid the remaining balance on the rings with local coin.  Once they finished their conversation, Vorgand left the shop and headed over to the guildhall, taking her time to get there.

5:00 PM

Vorgand arrived at the guildhall and checked in on the status of the repairs with Lars.  The exterior restoration was progressing and the "party area" was now cleaned and available to rent out.  Vorgand asked Lars to track down a potential scribe for the guild and Lars said he would take care of it.

Vorgand then tracked down Ricky and asked him if there seems to be more elven coins in circulation in the city.  Ricky replies that there are more elven coins in circulation now that the elves are in the city, but the additional coins are of mintings much more recent than the ones the Guild "recovered."  [Ricky's Always has an Answer Psychological Limitation kicking in.]

Vorgand then found Jala and gave her a letter for Ferragus to be delivered through Jala’s urchin network.  [My notes don't record what the note said and Vorgand's player never typed up her notes for this particular session, so I have no record of its contents.]  Once Jala had done that, the Guild Founders [as the PCs thought of themselves now] met for dinner and drinks over at The Library [a University student drinking place they all frequent].  The all-human student population that drank there would keep the elves following the group from entering [as the elves would stand out and draw lots of attention from the curious students].  

The guild took a private table and started quietly discussing what to do with the various elven treasures in their possession.  There was a good deal of discussion about using the portals to move the most easily identifiable items to the Moon for storage until things cooled off and this was agreed to.  They then had a long discussion about how they might get the objects d’art they wanted to sell now to Ferragus.  They eventually settled on hiring a cart and having Ricky and Jala load it via teleportation.

Once they had a plan of action, Ricky shadow jumped away to find a place to rent a cart in the Craftsman District.  The rest of the guild returned to the guildhall and retrieved the objects from the secure storage area in the basement.

After securing a rental cart, Ricky drove it over to a quiet street a block from the guild and out of sight from the elves observing the guildhall.  He then shadow jumped to the guildhall and explained to Jala where it was.  She used her shadow veil to peer through the shadows to locate it and then the two of them started teleporting back and forth between the cart and the pile of objects d’art to sell to Ferragus, slowly loading the cart.

Once the cart was full, Jala brought over Zarek to the cart [who noticed that Jala’s magic was done very differently than his or Ricky’s].  Ricky and Zarek then drove the cart over to the receiving courtyard behind Ferragus’ shop, avoiding the known elven observation posts.  Ferragus had them bring the cart into the back of his shop for the unloading.  Zarek and Ferragus chatted while Ferragus’ assistants unloaded the cart.  Ferragus stated payment would be made to the guild’s account once the items sold.  He was non-plussed about the elven novels but was willing to take them as everything elven was very popular right now.

Ricky and Zarek took the cart back to the renter, using a circuitous path to avoid the elves.  Ricky cast his invisibility spell upon himself and returned to the guildhall.  When he returned he observed the elves observing the guildhall.  There was a rooftop observation post and two elves in the street, but, due to the close-in construction of the Student’s Quarter, there were some gaps in their observation pattern.  Additionally, the elves were forced to be close enough in to see the guildhall that Ricky’s teleportation had the range to bypass them easily.

Zarek returned on foot, pretending to be a simple animal.  None of the students on the streets believed it as he was known to them, but the elves knew no better.  Zarek stopped and sat by the two elves watching the guildhall from the street, pretending to be waiting for a treat.  When the elves were not forthcoming with a treat, he left and trotted back to the guildhall.  Ricky heard over the earrings one of the elf sentries tentatively identify Zarek as a familiar.

Later that Night

The Delvers returned to The Library for drinks and to discuss the applicants.  They all agreed that Kettle the Pike would be assigned to Torchbearer rank [apprentice equivalent].  They also agreed that Victor Yakokovitch and Fadeyka the Saber were solid Delver candidates [see Guild Organizational Outline, below].  There was lively debate about Bellinus Dragonkiller.  Vorgand eventually grudgingly allowed he seemed to have some skills and if he really did have skills in fighting dragons, those would be needed to deal with the two Beither on Arkoi Island.  After some additional discussion on what rank to bring him in as, they settled on him being a Provisional Delver.  He would need to prove he could follow orders before the provisional part of his rank would come off.  A much shorter discussion placed Tamara Greenshield as a Torchbearer.

They also decided that the exhibition had been a solid method for evaluating the combat capabilities of the applicants and they should extend it to the rest of the applicants, not just the ones Vorgand wanted to duel.  This time they would do a set of signup sheets and allow the applicants to work out who they wanted to test against, Ozrel for unarmed combat or Vorgand for armed combat.  The signup sheets would be posted at the guildhall with another exhibition scheduled for Magusday, December 11.  Jala would also track down Crow and Bear to chat/interview them as their set of skills was more nebulous and seemed to be in her area of expertise.

End of Session

Guild Postings

[I might edit the text of this later in the week as I don’t have the notes the players took with me, but I wanted to try and get this up on the day I’m targeting for release.  Work at the Dayjob is easing a bit, so I have some additional time during the week to write.]

[There was a real life lively debate on letting Bellinus into the guild and at what level that lasted at least 20 minutes.  As the GM, I was quite pleased with myself for creating this NPC.]

Delvers Guild

Guild Organizational Outline

Arc 1

Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions

Arc 2

Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post

Last Session: Arc 2, Session 3

Next Session: Arc 2, Session 5

Delvers Guild – Arc 2, Session 3 – Tryouts continue and a revelation

[December 9 – Continuing Guild Tryouts, Vorgand’s next two duels and an impromptu fight between Vorgand and Ozrel.]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened February 14, 2022.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows

Ozrel the Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician

Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates

Via Roll20

Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild

Unit: Z0-E – Zarek’s first golem, looks like a fox made of iron

Victor Yakokovitch – applicant to the Delvers Guild

Bellinus Dragonkiller – applicant to the Delvers Guild

Tamara Greenshield – applicant to the Delvers Guild

Moonday, December 9th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

2:00 PM

The first two of Vorgand’s duels with guild applicants were complete and the crowd of onlookers were in a good mood, looking forward to the next duel.  Vorgand’s next opponent was Victor Yakokovitch, a duelist of some repute in Aegea City.  Victor had observed Vorgand’s first two duels and gained some insight into her fighting style.  [He made his Analyze Style roll by more than half and so has +2 effective Overall Combat levels against Vorgand in this fight with her.]  During this time two elves showed up to the exhibition to watch the fights.

Before the duel started, Victor asked if Vorgand had her +1 for the Royal Winter Ball.  This perked up the ears of Bellinus, Vorgand’s fourth opponent and Victor’s fellow applicant to the guild.  Bellinus challenged Victor – whichever of the two defeated Vorgand would be her date to the ball.  Vorgand was not okay with this but Victor agreed before she said anything.  Vorgand was annoyed and very motivated to beat both, soundly.

Fight 3: Victor versus Vorgand

Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground, each holding a wooden practice sword shaped like a rapier.

Vorgand, having a slight edge on Victor, decided to hold and let Victor make the first move.  Victor performed a charge, but Vorgand timed her interruption well [she made the DEX roll-off to interrupt his action] and struck Victor a glancing blow in the chest [she rolled low damage and his defenses soaked it].  Victor in turn landed a light blow to Vorgand’s stomach [he rolled OK damage] before finishing his charge behind her.  Vorgand turned and stepped to Victor to attack, but Victor interrupted with a successful parry, stopping her attack.  [Parry is an Abort, Block maneuver and he rolled successfully against her OCV.]  Victor followed his parry with a precision strike at Vorgand that she attempted to dodge, but he still landed the blow to her chest.

Vorgand, realizing that if she kept trading blows with Victor she might lose, changed tactics.  She attempted to use her rapier to flip Victor like she had Kettle, but he parried again.  Victor put everything behind another precision strike [he pushed his Strength for more damage], but the strike landed on Vorgand’s thigh to little effect.  Vorgand took advantage of the situation and successfully flipped Victor out of the ring, winning the fight while panting slightly.

The crowd applauded as the quick back and forth had been entertaining, if brief.  Vorgand went back to her sword stand and rested her hand on her magic sword, needing the enhanced recovery it provided to clear her head.  If Victor had landed another solid blow, she quite likely would have been knocked unconscious.

As Bellinus approached the arena space, Vorgand, who was just rubbed the wrong way by his attitude, called out, “How about we make this interesting and use steel?”  This caught everyone’s attention.  Bellinus’ response was, “If it will get me into the guild, I’m for it.”  The crowd approved of his response.  Bellinus called for his servant to bring him his shield.  It was a metal shield with the arms of the old Dragonkiller family on it.

While equipping his shield, Bellinus loudly addressing the crowd.  “Ladies and Gentlemen!  Now it’s time to see how a Dragonkiller does things!”  A voice in the crowd yelled back, “There are no dragons anymore, so you aren’t really a dragonslayer, are you?”

“No, no, my friend!” Bellinus called back.  “Not one but two dragons are now reported ravishing the countryside on Arkoi Island, even as we speak!  My family’s skills are needed once again!”

Vorgand responded, “Those aren’t dragons – my sword told me so,” while sharpening her sword with her magical whetstone [grants a temporary +1 OCV].  While most of the onlookers made no particular note of that statement as the banter continued, one of the two elves in the audience looked closer at the sword Vorgand was sharpening as a result.

Bellinus, responding to Vorgand’s statement asked, “Did you fight them?”

“Yes.”  This caused a murmur amongst the crowd.

“Then I must concede to your experience,” Bellinus replied, "but I'm excited this guild is ready to take on dragons!"  The crowd roared.

As the two combatants stepped into the arena, one of the elves used his magic earring to report in Vorgand’s sword, identifying it accurately as a Late Imperial sword, possibly a named sword as well.  Ricky, wearing the mithril magic earring, overheard this report.  The elf also reported that Vorgand was wearing an actual elven sash, not one of the low-quality human imitations.

Separately, Zarek cast Detect Magic on Bellinus.  Bellinus’ shield has magic in it, but nothing else he was wearing detected as magic.  Zarek quietly reported this to Vorgand.  He then noticed one of the elves casting the same spell.  Ricky heard the elf report over the magic earrings that Vorgand’s sword, staff, and ring all detected as elven magic.

Fight 4: Bellinus versus Vorgand

Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground, Vorgand holding her magic rapier, Bellinus a longsword and shield.

Vorgand wanted to defeat Bellinus as fast as possible and quickly closed the distance between the two, striking Bellinus in the head and stunning him.  Bellinus had a moment to shake off the effect before Vorgand put everything into another strike [she pushed her strength].  Bellinus had his wits about him and so Vorgand’s hit landed on his right arm.  Bellinus was able to land a return blow, hitting Vorgand in the arm and drawing blood, but leaving his defenses open [he did a Sacrifice Strike which did more damage but lowered his DCV].  Vorgand took advantage of this, striking with all her might…on Bellinus’ arm again.  Bellinus attempted to repeat his success but missed Vorgand completely.

Vorgand, leery of another lucky hit from Bellinus, went a little more defensive in her next attack, successfully hitting Bellinus in the stomach, running him through with her rapier.  Bellinus dropped to the ground unconscious but not dead [she did 44 STUN and 11 BODY before his defenses].  This prompted Tamara Greenshield, a guild candidate and healer, to quickly step forward and cast her healing spell.  It covered him in rose vines and gradually healed him to full health, taking a little over 30 seconds to do so.

While Tamara was healing Bellinus, Vorgand used the power of her sword to heal her own wounds.  The elves noticed this and reported it in.

Once Vorgand was finished healing herself, she stepped over to Victor and asked if he would like to be her date to the Royal Winter Ball.  He smiled and said he would be honored to do so.

Ozrel, wanting to get in on the dueling action, asked Vorgand if she would be willing to fight him.  Vorgand, feeling confident and fully healed, agreed.  Ozrel went over to the two bookies, who were paying out the winnings from the series of duels, and told them there would be one more exhibition fight between himself and Vorgand.  The bookies were interested and immediately announced they were taking bets on the unscheduled bout, Ozrel Runeweaver versus Vorgand the Undefeated!

While the bookies took bets on the new fight, the elves received orders to tail Vorgand.  Other elves were told to start investigating the Delvers Guild as the guildmaster had several elven items in her possession and might be who they were seeking.  Ricky overheard all of this and started getting nervous.

Bonus Fight: Ozrel versus Vorgand

Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground, Vorgand once again holding the wooden practice rapier, Ozrel holding no weapons at all.

Vorgand had the edge but waited to see what Ozrel would do.  Ozrel activated the runes tattooed on his arms, boosting his strength and dexterity.  Vorgand decided to attack now and stretched her legs to reach him [pushed her movement].  Ozrel attempted to block the incoming attack but failed, allowing Vorgand to flip him and drop Ozrel on his shoulder.  Now quicker than Vorgand, Ozrel attempted to kip-up but his sore shoulder precluded that [he failed his Breakfall roll to get up as a 0-phase action] and he had to scramble to his feet the normal way [took a ½-action to stand up].  He then performed a legsweep on Vorgand, dropping her to the ground.  Vorgand rolled with it and was up in a flash [she made her Breakfall roll].  She essayed a martial strike at Ozrel but missed.  Ozrel responded with a Branding Strike, but Vorgand wanted none of that and dodged [aborted to a Martial Dodge, putting all her levels in DCV] and Ozrel missed by a mile.

After the initial blur of actions, Ozrel paused to respond to Vorgand [and to let her dodge finish].  Vorgand attempted another strike, which Ozrel successfully blocked.  Ozrel followed up with a counterstrike that Vorgand dodged.  Ozrel then attempted another legsweep but missed this time.  Vorgand responded with a successful strike to Ozrel’s thigh.

Ozrel paused again, trusting his reflexes.  Vorgand put all her skill behind another attack, attempting to take out Ozrel [she put all her levels in OCV on her best attack] but Ozrel blocked the attack successfully.  Ozrel performed a counterstrike and hit Vorgand but in the legs, which hurt but kept her from being stunned.  Ozrel paused again to let Vorgand strike first so she could not avoid his counterstrike, but this time his luck ran out.  Vorgand hit him hard in the stomach.  Stunned, Ozrel shook his head and attempted to catch his breath, his magic runes depowering [he lost his saved action as a result of being stunned and being stunned dropped his powers that were constant but not persistent].

Having the edge on Ozrel again, Vorgand specifically targeted his face [called shot, but with Ozrel still stunned penalties were halved].  Vorgand landed a solid blow, spinning Ozrel around and to the ground, unconscious.

The crowd applauded.  Tamara stepped forward again to revive Ozrel and make certain none of his injuries were permanent [they weren’t as neither combatant took any body].

During the fight between Vorgand and Ozrel, Ricky got Jala’s attention and beckoned her over to him at the door.  Jala used her shadow walk to step into a shadow near her, take a couple steps in the shadow plane, and then step back out through a shadow near Ricky.  One of the elves noticed this and looked around to see where Jala reappeared, but never looked right behind him [he rolled terrible on his Perception roll].

Ricky whispered to Jala, “They’re on to us,” indicating the elves.  Jala and Ricky stepped away from the arena area just as the fight ended, Jala taking Ricky’s hand and shadow walking the two of them away to a rooftop where they could talk without fear of being overheard by the elves.

End of Session

Guild Postings

[The players were pleased by this series of duels and the elves showing up.  Bellinus is based on Jack Black and is annoying enough for the players to dislike, but useful enough that they are still likely to recruit him for the guild despite this.  This is exactly the balance I was going for and I think I nailed it.]

[The next several sessions are the PCs doing things in town to prepare for the Royal Winter Ball and actually recruit members into the guild.  This is the first gaming group I’ve ever played with that took the time and effort to seriously form a guild.  I’m pretty stoked about it.]

Delvers Guild

Guild Organizational Outline

Arc 1

Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions

Arc 2

Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post

Next Session: Arc 2, Session 2

Next Session: Arc 2, Session 4