The Wizard, the Elf and the Snowman

[ahabicher]

My son asked when we were going to play an RPG again.

The kids' experience so far is with "Risus" for starters, then "Fate Accelerated Edition" for a bit more complexity, and we have also played "Into the Odd" and "Best Left Buried". Now that he wanted to start a new game, and the kids showed interest in a continuing campaign where they grow stronger over time, I am going to start them into "0e” with “Delving Deeper".


I am going to give each of them a sidekick from the start so they have a meatshield.


############# 1



The adventure begins in the Northern Kingdom of Walden, where various Clans live under the rule of their tribal chiefs and kings. A High King is overlord in name only.
The players are strangers to the land, adventurers from the southern, more civilized kingdom of Merc.
The party is in an Inn, on their way to leave the North Road and seek out the old ruins in this area.




Leader of the expedition is Arkbald the Magic User, who has found a map to an old underground complex where he hopes to find magical loot. He is a smart guy with INT 16 and speaks all kinds of languages, among them the language of the North. He is eager to level up, as he finds it unbecoming of a true mage to be limited to one spell per day.

His loyal sidekick is the former bandit Jay, the only Chaotic member of the troupe.



With Arkbald are Evelyn Silverstone the Elf Archer and her sidekick Bob the Elf Spearman,

As well as the Cleric Nameless with his sidekick Silent.

They meet up with the magic user Archibald Lysanderoth, Master of Deception, and his trusty sidekick, the southernland nomad “King Dragon”.



As they reach the Inn to spend the night, they meet a very strong fighter called “Snowman”, an actual living snowman, who was just created with a spell scroll cast by his young sidekick Andy.



They share the night with a group of huntsmen who keep to themselves and start out early. The now 10 strong party enjoys a good breakfast and follows in due time, going west into the snowy forest.

Suddenly they become aware of the sounds of fighting and close in to investigate. They see group of huntsmen surrounded by a mix of armored brigands and wild wood barbarians with spears, fighting for their lifes against a force more than twice as strong as they.



They decide to intervene. From the cover of some trees, Arkbald casts Sleep into the thickest gaggle of armored attackers, and manages to take out half of the attacking force and two of the defenders. Then the rest of the party wades in with bare blades and accurate shots.



King Dragon executes the last brigand with a well-placed shot to the throat and says: “King Dragon sends his regards!” Archibald Lysanderoth casts Charm Person on a random Barbarian, winning his trust. The snowman suffers a heavy wound and Bob the Elf a scratch, otherwise the huntsmen and their new allies make short work of the barbarians, who nevertheless win their morale rolls and fight to the last man.



After that, one of the huntsmen reveals his true identity: he is King Iorik the Quick of the Blue Hill Tribe - one of the lesser kings of the patchwork tribal lands in the area - and now feels indebted to his rescuers for saving his life and the life of his son, Prince Eggar. He would execute the sleeping attackers, but the party does not stand for that, and the King lets them have their wish: “You were those who overcame them, so their lifes are yours.”



The party searches and binds the captives, finds a good sum of money on them, and interrogates them. They admit that they were paid by a shady character in the same Inn where the party has stayed, albeit a day earlier. They know not why or for whom they worked, they just did it for the money.



Again the fate of the captives hangs in the balance. Most of the party would just leave them out in the wilderness, but the snowman argues passionately against such crass behaviour and demands that they must be handed over to legitimate authorities.

“But they actually LIVE in the wilderness…” Archibald Lysanderoth tries to argue, but the snowman remains unmoved: “It would be too cruel to leave them all alone out here.”

So the party leads 11 prisoners back to the North Road and has them locked up. Lysanderoth ends his spell on the random Barbarian.



The adventurers decide that the shady character must be found and brought to justice. They spend the night to rest and refuel their spells, then follow the hints gathered from Innkeep and stableboy north to the next Inn, where that stableboy informs them that the shady character is indeed here, in a room on the top floor.



The party storms in without further ado and forces open all doors to the rooms. Arkbald the mage is too feeble and throws himself against the door in vain, but everyone else - even weak Lysanderoth - manages to force open their doors. It is the snowman who happens to find the shady person and his retainer, surprising them completely. (Who expects a snowman bursting through the door?)

“I found em!” shouts the snowman “Here is the shady character and one friend of his!”

“Kill him, Jimmy,” says the shady character as he flees through the window.

But the snowman kills Jimmy with one mighty stab and warns everyone: “He climbs out through the window!”



Nameless the Cleric jumps through the window in the room he entered, but he falls into a thick pile of snow and struggles to free himself. Silent blasts down the stairs at top speed, like Lysanderoth. The shady guy runs to the stables, and King Dragon leads the others in the right direction from his lookout up on another window.



Silent is the first to reach the man and tackle him, then others follow and they pile on him to pin him to the ground. Archibald Lysanderoth ends the struggle by casting Charm Person on the foe.

So the man stops and confesses: His name is Kyrill, and he has been handsomely paid by the Queen Maeve of Shard Valley to attempt an assassination of the King and his son. He figured that this hunting trip would be the perfect opportunity, but he did not want to risk it himself, so he subcontracted that attack on six brigands, and they hired a gang of wilderlanders to back them up.



“Let’s get him to prison!” decides the snowman. But Archibald Lysanderoth, Master of Deception, fast-talks the others into letting him keep Kyrill the Killer as a new sidekick.



“So now to the ruins, as planned?” asks Jay.

“No..” says Arkbald the Wizard. “..Northwards.”





(GM notes: The players found handling the dice rolls easy and were happy with the strong focus on only two types of dice - d20 and d6. There were fewer questions about the mechanics than in other systems. Having the retainers/sidekicks was a real boon, as only two of the main cast, namely the snowman and Nameless the Cleric, showed real combat aptitude. The sidekicks turned out to be a good fighting unit and got a lot of hits in. Plot-wise, the group not only never reached the dungeon, but now abandoned it as a goal altogether. I am curious as to what they will do in the north.)


(Funny 1: The snowman distraught about the cruelty of leaving the poor barbarians all alone in their native woods)

(Funny 2: The sidekicks Jay, Silent, and Bob)

(Funny 3: Archibald Lysanderoth, Master of Deception, and King Dragon)

[ahabicher]

############# 2

Session 2, one player down for RL reasons.

The group travelled northwards, with Archibald Lysanderoth and King Dragon hanging back for now, but promising to follow as soon as possible.
On the way north the others found signs of destruction in the countryside and learned that there was a colossal boar plaguing the area. They proclaimed that they would overcome it, and the local tavern keeper promised to feed and house them for free if they could make good on that promise.

Nameless and Silent, Arkbald and Jay, Evelyn and Bob, and the Snowman and Andy waited for the night and slowly travelled east in the dark, until Bob noticed signs of rumbling and crashing to the southeast. It was the colossal boar, and they left their horses behind to sneak closer on foot. The boar noticed them, though, and came rushing at them. They spread out and sought cover individually. The boar became aware of the snowman because of his ice trail and sought to drag him out to trample him, but Arkbald the mage cast sleep on the boar. The beast was too mighty to be overcome by this. It was distracted by the attempt, though, and at that moment attacked from all sides by all eight adventurers, each of whom hit, and they managed to wound it so gravely that it bled out quickly, without managing to hit any of the group in its death throes.

A great victory!

The locals were very happy and came to carve up the beast and drag tons of meat back to their village. They salted and dried most of it to hold out through the winter, and gave several good rations to the group, in addition to the promised free food and lodging. They also noted down their names to tell everyone about their deed.

The next day the group travelled on and found a part of the road that looked suspiciously like an ambush site, so they decided to go around it through the wilderness. On that path they encountered poisonous tail ants, and the snowman caked them with ice to clear the way, then they all put cloth or fur on their boots and hoofs to get across the ice safely -- except for Arkbald the mage and Jay, who just stepped carefully… that proved too little, and they slipped, but their comrades picked them up and carried them over safely.

Finally the expedition came to the town of Bars, where they saw a message board telling them three interesting things: King Iorik, their friend, was beset by barbarians from the west, and recruiting for an army. Queen Maeve, his enemy, was also recruiting to attack him. And there were 1000 gold pieces offered for the head of a red-haired goblin called Fridolin Stinkebein, aka Fridolin Stinkebart, aka Ubarak Bonegnawer, who commanded a gang of dangerous bandits in the area.

Quite fed up with tavern after tavern, the adventurers sought the local temple for shelter (having a cleric and dervish with them), and got more information about the brewing war there: For ten years now Iorik and Maeve fought, with each other and with King Norn of the White Peak. Iorik and Maeve had a history of friendship, but had fallen out hard.

The group decided to make peace between them, but that it needed more info. They travelled to King Iorik first, where they were received with honors, and learned that he and Maeve had once been lovers, but she had desired her son Snake as successor, because he was elder; he desired his own son Eggar to be successor, because he was from the male line. Then King Norn spread lies to deepen the rift between them.

Armed with this knowledge they travelled east to the Shard Valley and to Queen Maeve. Reception there was more frosty and they had to give up their arms and armor to be permitted in the palace. Unacceptable for Arkbald the mage, who sought to enter the Valley in secret through the wilderness. However, he encountered numerous wild animals and decided to retreat rather than risk life and limb to fight them.

The others sought an audience with the Queen, who was antagonistic when she learned that they had spoken to Iorik first. But she confirmed the beginning of his story, up to the point of King Norn’s lies. On the contrary, she said, King Norn saved her son’s life. He warned her in time of assassins in King Iorik’s pay who tried to enter her castle and kill Snake in his sleep. The assassins were slain, and the bitter feud with Iorik started.

“Why not keep the kingdoms apart?” asked Evelyn the Elf. “Have Snake rule the Shard Valley and Eggar rule the Blue Hills after Iorik and Maeve?
“Because we desired to unify our lands to rule Bars and the market there, the Queen explained.

Then the topic of the living snowman came up: Queen Maeve desired his services. She would have him replicated and build an army of invincible snowmen to crush her enemies. “We do not know how to make such snowmen,” said the others. “Only my friend Andy knows the secret,” said the snowman. That shifted attention to the sidekick Andy, and the Queen decreed that Andy must stay with her and create a snowman army. The others were free to go.

That was a very stressful experience for the snowman, and he pleaded and offered to enter her service after the quest would be completed, but she remained adamant: She needed the army now.

Saddened, the group left to travel to the white peaks and to King Norn, when the snowman had an idea. He let himself fall apart and become a regular pile of snow. The others claimed that this was due to the distance from Andy.
Very unwelcome news for the Queen, of course: Who needs an army that falls apart as soon as it gets separated from its creator? Miffed, she let Andy go free and rebuild the snowman.

Happily reunited, the party moved off, but decided that it would be good to have something else for the Queen to make up for her disappointment, so they searched for old ruins to seek treasure.
One such ruin was located not far from the road, and the group went there. Nameless and Silent stayed outside to watch for Lysanderoth and King Dragon, the other six entered the first room. There they found some slain adventurers and three skeletons, which rattled, twitched, and rose to attack them.

The elves beat the skeletons asunder in a flurry of mighty blows, the other members of the team aided a bit. Three stone doors lead on from this first room.

End of session.

[Porphyre]

Now eagerly waiting for the write-up of the "Snowman" class !

[ahabicher]

Jan 3, 2021 7:26:55 GMT -6 Porphyre said:

Now eagerly waiting for the write-up of the "Snowman" class !

############ Snowman Build:



Just like a fighter, with the following changes:

Natural AC 5

Half Damage from missile fire

Does not need to eat or drink

Vulnerable to heat and fire (melting, exhaustion, double damage)

Vulnerable to magic weapons

Not affected by Charm Person

Instead of walking, he slides on a sheet of ice (think slugs), thus gaining the ability to lay down a sheet on ice on anything he slides across.


We rolled 3d6 in order, which is the hard way.
But the snowman has STR 17 and a whopping 8 HP (rolled 6 plus +2 according to the Delving Deeper rules).

[ahabicher]

############# 3

*Session 3 was overshadowed by some interpersonal drama that had implications on the group attendance. It still turned out to be a successful session.*


Archibald Lysanderoth and King Dragon finally came along and rejoined the party. Of the three doors there, they decided to pick the right-hand one at first, which was barred with a heavy log, and encountered a mummy. Thoroughly unprepared for such a foe, it was Evelyn the Elf who saved everyone’s bacon by casting “Protection from Evil” on herself and throwing herself right onto the enemy, hitting it ineffectually with a stick. He, unable to touch her, and she, unable to hurt him, created a stalemate, keeping it away from the others -- for a time.

The others used the time thus bought to think of something, but came up empty. At one point the snowman ventured forth to attack the mummy too, to no effect apart from suffering a wound.

In the end Evelyn, supported by Bob’s spear, prodded the mummy back into the sarcophagus and kept it down while the other lifted the sarcophagus lid from the floor and slid it back over the enemy.

At this point, the snowman decided to leave and play with his retainer, the Berserker Andy, outside in the snow.

As they retreated from the room, the mummy pushed the lid off again, so they quickly scrambled out, shut the door and barred it again.

Taking the forward door next, they encountered a room with an obvious deathtrap -- a ceiling that drops down on the room -- and a single exit on the far side. Arkbald the mage found out that by activating the trap on purpose there is a window of about 15 seconds until it recharges.

Dropping the trap and running across it before it gets pulled up again, they broke down the opposite door and found a room with a mysterious elven statue, Dwarvish runes on the wall, and a treasure chest.

At this point, a great argument broke out, Nameless and Silent felt unappreciated and stormed off. Arkbald and Jay felt that the expedition was pointless now and left as well.

The rest of the team -- the Elves, Lysanderoth, King Dragon and Kyrill the Killer -- sat down in front of the statue and sorted things out. They felt they were prepared to go on, and Evelyn the Elf deciphered the Dwarvish script. To her chagrin, it read: “Never trust an elf”.

They all agreed that the content of the message, while overblown, might very well have merit in the situation. So they decided to crack open the treasure chest from the side, and in this way successfully avoided a poison needle hidden in the lock.

50 gp richer, they searched the room for more and found a secret door behind the statue. Again, a room, this time with a statue of the ancient Mage Hugsar Nice the Wise, famous inventor of the lost spell “Lava Pit”.

And three zombies! Remembering the great success of Protection from Evil, Evelyn told Lysanderoth to use it this time, and capitalizing on the spells protection and clever maneuvering, they bundled the three zombies together with a long rope, until they fell. Then they simply sawed off the immobilized foes’ heads.


*(GM thought: Are zombies evil? They are “mindless”. But I think Yes. “Brought forward for some wicked purpose”, it says, therefore I judged that they must be affected by the spell.)*


At the feet of the statue of Hugsar Nice, there was another treasure chest, which they also cracked by force from the side, gaining the jackpot: 1000 gp and jewels worth 600 gp. Apart from that, the room held a bookshelf with a good number of scrolls, which they all packed up.

What to do? They decided not to share this money with the others in the group, except for sharing the scrolls and the gold needed for them with Arkbald. This way, the whole of the money would be invested in making the magic-users of the team more powerful.

Additionally, this hideout, protected by the trap and the statue, would make for a fine, quiet home base.

On the way out they took to the last door and found an angry guard dog, chained to the wall to protect a sack.

They left the crypt and hunted some rabbits to feed the dog with fresh meat, were nice to it and freed it from the vicious chain. On a natural 20 they made “Fluffy” Evelyn’s new best friend.

In the sack they found a number of stolen purses, rings, and assorted jewelry, with a combined worth of 450 gp. Apparently a group of robbers used this hideout, Fluffy, and the erstwhile skeletons to keep their foul gains safe.
Well, now these gains would be used for magic spell transcriptions.

Furthermore, actual gold in their actual hands, Evelyn and Lysanderoth were less thrilled about their earlier idea to give these gains to Queen Maeve to make her feel better. “She is a queen, she has enough”, declared Evelyn. She whistled for Fluffy, and together they returned down to the road and turned their horses west, towards the town, to go on to King Norn.

[ahabicher]

############# 4

*This time it went higher, not deeper. And several surprises.*
*The group finds their way back to the basics: back to the dungeon.*


After a night of sleep in Bars, they took stock of the scrolls found and picked spells to learn: Alter Self for Evelyn, Read Magic for Lysanderoth, Fog Wall for Arkbald.

But first they rode up the meandering path to Varg Keep, the snow-covered tower of King Norn. Like at the Shard Valley, they were stopped by a couple of hard men in arms. “Hand over your arms and shields and you can go and speak to the King. He awaits you already.” Unarmed they entered the small, cold keep to get to the throne room.

Surprise: King Norn was a Mage. He knew about their mission and had expected their visit.

Surprise: Then the snowman formed a snowball and threw it at the king. Norn won initiative and cast “Hold Person”, but the snowman shook off the effect. Splat!
The guards descended upon the team, everyone surrendered and was imprisoned in a cold dark solitary cell, 3 feet by 6 feet, with a bucket.

Norn was actually supportive of the mission, so he fetched Evelyn the Elf for a solo meet and let her talk. He explained his reasoning: His kingdom depended on food imports from the lowlands. The market under control of the other kings would be a threat. But this permanent enmity was also trouble, so he was open for ideas.

Evelyn was interested in his religion and he told her of the seven gods. She asked where they were to be found, and he said, up on top of these very mountain peaks. But he has been there and did not see them, so he figures they do not show themselves.

She quizzed him about the assassination attempt on Snake, but he cut her short. “We do not debat that.” He gave her a room for the night, kept the rest of the party in the dungeon, and let them all go come sunrise.

There was anger at the snowman and two members of the team debated violence. That distressed the snowman and he let himself dissolve again. Andy scooped up his remains and carried them in a sack.

On the way back to Iorik: Random encounter, 8 cavemen. It was a slaughter. Surprise: The cavemen failed every single attack roll - twice. The party fared better. 6 attackers fell to paint the snow red. 2 survived the onslaught and fled for their lives, wounded.

Iorik was already setting combat troops in motion to fight the hill barbarians from the west. He congratulated the party for their mission so far and agreed to do what he could to help them. Evelyn asked about the gods again, and he confirmed that they lived on top of the White Peaks. If Norn had not seen them that might be because he was not a righteous man.

The group decided to ask the gods, and climbed up the White Peaks; Norn helped them by providing guides and porters.
The mountaintop was a very bleak and cold affair. No gods visible, of course. The group meditated, and Nameless the Cleric rolled 2d6. Support by the mages gave him +4 and he reached 12: 1 Question.

Question: “How can the dispute among the Kings end?”
Answer: “The Kings must agree to a solution.”
Long faces. “The gods are useless!”

Back in the valley they cooked up the idea to get the rulers together for a conference, and maybe to form a permanent council of 5 in Bars. (3 Kingdoms, 2 Citizens of Bars)

Travelling to Queen Maeve they found her in plate mail on horseback, inspecting her almost-complete invasion army. “Ah! Back from the White Peaks?”
“We spoke to the gods”, they said. “You must come to a meeting with the other kings, in seven days.”
“What? Is that the will of the gods?”
“YES.” they declared at once, with conviction.
“Hm… fine. If history tells us anything then that no king can thrive in opposition to the gods.”
“Each King must come alone…”
“Out of the question. I will come with 20 warriors. Tell Iorik and Norn to bring 20 also.”
Even tricked, Queen Maeve remained in control.

The team decided to check back with the gods again. This time, they got a 13: Two questions!

“How can we clear the succession to the throne?”
“In all things, equilibrium is stability.”
“How can we make sure Bars remains free forever?”
“Nothing is Eternal.”
Again, long faces: “The gods are still useless.”

After this second expedition to the White Peaks, time was running short, so they quickly informed Norn and Iorik. Even though already at war with the western barbarians, Iorik agreed to come.

At the actual conference, the three monarchs spoke among themselves. The party had not actually found any solution, just facilitated a talk, the dice spoke:
Maeve and Norn rolled high successes, Iorik rolled a narrow save.

So King Norn and Queen Maeve found out after all that they had more in common than they thought. They forged an alliance: Not the lowlander alliance Norn had feared, but one between Shard Valley and White Peaks. King Iorik of the Blue Hills drew the short end of the straw, although at least Queen Maeve saw no more reason to invade his land.

Now the party had enough of frustrating politics and even more frustrating answers from gods.

“What about that dungeon we wanted to go to back in the beginning?”
“Oh yes! To the dungeon!”
So it is back to square 1. Back to the dungeon.

[ahabicher]

############# 5

*Horses underground*
*Skeleton kidnapping*
*Rot grub tango*

Finally the group goes to the dungeon that is supposed to hold fantastic magical loot. Arkbald had thought it was a long forgotten place, but they find a whole gang of bandits camping around the entrance. They greet the adventurers and invite them to a hot drink. Then they explain that they rule this area, and that adventurers come here quite often. Their deal: They let everyone in, but upon leaving, adventurers have to pay one third of treasure they find.
The bandits pride themselves on being fair and truthful, and they offer to look after the party’s horses for free for two days. After that they will be presumed dead and their horses belong to the bandits.
The party says No. The group decides to take the horses with them into the dungeon. The bandits warn them that dungeons are no place for horses, but they do not stop them.
The bandits are right: it is difficult, because they have to get the horses down a long set of stairs. Tough going, but they do it. Downstairs they go along the right wall and find a beautiful room with comfortable furniture. But Arkbald decides to push on. Of the three doors here, he chooses the one on the right, and they find a long winding corridor, where they have to go one by one because of the horses.
In the next room they find four skeletons.
A quick battle ensues, where it takes two combat rounds until everyone even gets into the room, gets the horses out of the way and joins in. Nameless tries to turn the Undead, but without success. In the kerfuffle, the Snowman snatches a skeleton’s femur out from under it, forcing it to hop on one leg. King Dragon accidentally shoots the snowman, Kyrill pierces skulls with arrows, Fluffy the dog trips up a skeleton, Nameless pulverises a skeleton head, Jay and Lysanderoth get wounded, Silent smashes one of the undead to bits - and finally Evelyn and Bob the Elf overpower the last skeleton and force it apart alive to store the struggling bones in different sacks and backpacks. Evelyn intends to keep it.
Nameless also searches the room for treasure and finds 60 gold pieces. Angry that nobody else searches for anything, the cleric declares that he will keep this loot for himself.

The Snowman is bored: “This takes much too long! I want fighting, not talking!” he shouts, and races off, out of the dungeon. Andy races after him.

Two doors lead out, one stone door and one wooden door. Arkbald decides to keep going along the right wall, but it turns out this stone door is closed by magic. They cannot overcome it, but find a note written in magic script: “Take the statue’s hand”.

Behind the wooden door they find an alchemist’s workroom with old materials and potions. One exit: a door on the left. They leave the horses in the skeleton room and Nameless searches the room finding a pit trap in front of the exit. Kyrill checks for traps in the door lock and tries to open it, but he cannot pick the lock. So Jay hacks the door apart with his axe.

Wandering monster: Rot grubs come out of cracks in the wall and frighten the horses.
The group races to aid their panicking mounts, they see the horrible worms and start trampling. They are busy squashing worms under their boots until one of the beasts snakes up Lysanderoth’s boot. Kyrill the Killer fails to dislodge it, King Dragon fails too, and all three of them fall to the ground in a jumble of arms and legs. It is Silent the Dervish who expertly judges distances, quickly wedges the tip of his blade under the climbing worm and flicks it off, cutting it in twain.

**

Now the group does no longer dare to leave the horses alone. But they cannot take them with them, because the horses can’t get past a pit trap directly in front of a doorway.
So Evelyn and Bob decide to get the horses back out. They leave the looted bones with the others and just get the horses out to find a place for them in the woods.

The bandits once again offer to look after the animals, but the Elves do not trust them. They lead the horses away and go around the site in big circle, getting the horses to the area behind the hill with the entrance.

**

The others are shocked to find a skeleton waiting for them -- behind the door Jay broke down. But it does not go close, it stays a full flagstone away from the door.
Kyrill the Killer prepares an arrow to shoot it, but it hides somewhere to the left, in a room that looks like a comfortable study full of books and an old easy chair.

Lysanderoth sends King Dragon and Kyrill in to overcome the skeleton. They step across the pit trap into the doorway without problem. But as Kyrill steps out of the door the ground gives way and he falls into another pit trap! “Nooo!” shouts Lysanderoth. With a successful save, Kyrill manages to drop his weapons and hold on to the rim.

King Dragon goes into the infight with the skeleton. Silent tries to help him, but they fail to overcome the opponent. Lysanderoth goes to help Kyrill out of the pit trap.

In the next round, King Dragon and Silent keep the skeleton busy, but Kyrill the Killer snatches up his daggers, circles around the combat and attacks the skeleton from behind. He scores a crit - the skeleton falls apart.
“Thanks, you saved my life!” Kyrill tells Lysanderoth.

Nameless quickly inspects the books. “These are religious texts … forbidden tomes of Chaos!” He starts to read.
The others welcome the chance for a short respite.

End of session.