[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
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
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