GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Chris Moore, Mark Miller, David Gallo, and Max Külshammer.
System: Torchbearer
Module: Under the House of the Three Squires
After tricking the Kobolds to go past in 15 Kobolds tricked, our intrepid heroes made there way deeper into the Kobold den.
Prologue
After a month of not gaming, and without the actual play report up, it was a bit of a stretch to remember what happened last time. Thrallson did his best to recall what he could.
Breaking up congress on air!
Turn by Turn
Turn 21 – The adventurers tried to quietly climb out of the chimney without being overheard by the warband in the room to their north. [Scout vs. Nature. Success]. As they crept out they heard shouts from the other room, Kobolds bickering with each other, wondering where they had gone.
Turn 22 – Lizard Funk the Kobold just wanted to get away from them. He was pretty sure that they would kill him at their earliest convenience given what they had done to the other kobolds. They insisted that he come with and he threatened to scream and call the war band back if they attacked him. [Manipulator vs. Nature. Fail. Twist: Lizard Funk agreed but stole Thrallson’s tinderbox when they traveled together].
Turn 23 – After traveling through the treasure room, eating, and then walking up the steep steps, the adventurers found a host of Kobolds in some mockery of court. Having caught them off guard, and seeing that there was an injured man among them, they charged in to chase them off. Some brutal blows were exchanged between the torturer (who had been whipping a kobold strapped to the table but now turned on Cleg) as well as a nasty wound that Thrallson suffered as a hidden dagger was stuck in his leg. [Drive off Conflict. Won with a major compromise. Thrallson injured]. Lizard Funk ran off during the fight. Afterwards the found the man Joerg, his foot cut off, dying in the corner.
Turn 24 – The kobold’s driven off, Cleg freed the one that was tied to the table, and in an act of incredible generosity, used is pristine apron to make a clean surface for Miles to operate on. Miles bound the wound so the man wouldn’t die. [Healer Ob 3. Success]. Joerg was saved, as he passed out from the pain he uttered a few words “My daughter Elsa… save her.”
Everyone is Hungry and Thirsty. Miles is Exhausted.
Thoughts on this Game
I should have had Lizard Funk say the captives were in a different direction as he wanted to get out of the caves before he was killed. Wasn’t thinking straight.
Having a war band chase you is rough. My rule was that they could spend 2 turns in any area before the war band caught up unless they specifically tried to put some distance between them (which would give them more turns) or stopped (camp would be automatically interrupted, any kind of other long stops would put them one turn closer. I was thinking along the lines of Psi Run’s mechanics for being found and captured.
We only did four turns in part because of a lot of discussion about which way to go at any given turn. I think I may make Torchbearer too punitive simply because several problems end up taking several rolls (and thus resources) to resolve. It could also have been because of the aforementioned war band on their heels, but I thought that would prompt them to move faster.
The court scene is such a gorgeous one that I couldn’t help but keep it in “stasis” until the adventurers came upon it. Like, logically speaking, it probably should have happened well before they got there (as they had been in for a LONG time), but I loved it so much I decided to have it happening when they arrived. And much fun was had with that one.
I forgot to give them +1s on all actions (+2 when the numbers got down) due to a difference in Order of Might, but I’ve forgotten penalties to them so many times, I don’t think that was a tragedy.
Since they are pushing towards the end, I’ve been looking for ways to bring Uttan back, but so far haven’t found good twists that would justify her showing up.
Cleg giving up his apron to save a man’s life was a thing of beauty. Huzzah for dwarves!
