Pursuing the Exiled Prince - Game Thread

[Tibbius]

Cal Arath, prince of the Northlands, has been exiled by the usurpers who murdered his father and stole his throne. You, the loyal remnants of his courtiers, know only that he is rumored to have crossed the Tregoth River southward near the ruins of Jakor's Folly. Your goal is to find him and aid him in gathering an army to reclaim his throne.

You have tracked Cal Arath by rumors told by travelers, so far as the ruins of Jakor's Folly, the ancient keep named for the northern king who thought it would bring good revenue by enforcing a tax on the tricky river ford a mile away across the hills. Caravans instead avoided the ford, diverting to the bridges at Ogon and Weshor. For centuries the keep has been falling into disrepair.

It is mid-morning. You could search the keep for clues or useful items. You could hunt for food. Or you could try to find the ford and cross the river. What else could you do? What do you do?


We will use this thread for in-character narrative and dialog and for out-of-character discussion. Please italicize and right-justify OoC comments - like this.


Toughness 6, Fate 4
Fighting - hand to hand combat
Foraging - tracking, shooting.
Equipment : leather armor, long bow, twenty arrows, hunting knife. Three haunches of deer meat in a bag. Water skin with three days water. Water skin of whiskey three swigs.Three coins of the lowest denomination.

Zand is a loyal servant whose job is to keep the lord's law in his forests. He is able to track all kinds of animals and is well versed in bow and knife.


Toughness 3 / Fate 7
Rhyming: Telling Stories. Carousing: Charming, Cooking & Eating
Clothing: Fur cloak, Boots, Leather Garments.
Goal: To seek atonement for her crimes through service to her prince.

Cara Dell had always been a reclusive courtier, hiding behind her cloak and status. She came to Call Arath claiming to have been attacked along the way, wearing only her finery and bearing nothing else on her person. Her charm, stories and cooking skill secured her place at the table, though she would rarely show off her gifts.


Toughness 4 Fate 6

Magic-scrying
Riddling-reading runes, solving puzzles
Equipment- a silver scrying bowl, a new spellbook, IDK what else a wizard would have.

Aveus was the apprentice of Court Wizard Ventus the Grand until the coup, where his master was slain. He is intelligent, but inexperienced in the mystical arts.

Rules. A mashup of Barbarian Prince (https://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/ds_barbarianprince.html) with my own adaptations (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?608886-Rules-for-Solo-Game-of-Barbarian-Prince) of Ray Otus' light-running indie game There and Back Again (http://www.rayotus.com/jsg2/pnp/pnp-taba.pdf).

Map.

https://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/barbarianprince/barbarianprince_onepiecemap.jpg

[gryffydd65]

Zand looked at the ruined keep. My lady, we need to know if our lord has come this way. I believe it we search the keep we might find old coals from a fire or other objects that might help us .

[Tibbius]

What have your travels been like since you left the castle where the prince should reign? How did you depart?

[gryffydd65]

Once news reached the forest where Zand worked to protect his master's land. Zand vowed to search for his prince. It was a struggle moving from one place to another as rumors blew in like leaves on the wind. Zand gathered information sometimes leading the right way while most were like dead branches. He did meet a mysterious woman who worked in the castle although his path never crossed hers before. They have decided together to move towards the keep of Jakor's Folly.

[Wuff]

Cara pulls her cloak about herself against the cold, beading her eyes slightly at the bleak surroundings. The ruining keep looked like a poor choice to stay too long, but it would suffice to warm her for a little while, at least while they searched for things to take with them.

The journey had been harsh on her so far. Cara was not one who was used to the long marching and exposure to the elements. Her decision to accompany the forester this far had been driven by a strange desperation inside her, a creeping dread, a realisation that despite all her efforts to date, she'd done little to atone for what she'd done so long ago. Recently, the secret she held had been rising to haunt her.

I agree, it would be unwise for us to just move on. Although I'm sure a good pace should be kept, a good rummage around might help us find things for our quest. The lady rubs her hands together, blowing softly and hotly on each for a few moments.

We have a whole day ahead of us, and anything that might get us across this river would be very useful. Do you imagine there to be any riches in here? Some coin might help us on our way. Though... I imagine many others would have had the same idea.

Cara shrugs further into her cloak before advancing. There's only one way to find out!

[Tibbius]

searching Jakor's Folly [1d6] = 3[1d6] = 4 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=197380&macid=0) ... you spend most of the rest of the day searching among the tumble-down walls and towers of the ancient keep. When the lowering sun sends long cold shadows and golden rays across the inner bailey, you turn to each other, shaking your heads. You've turned many stones, but they're only a fraction of what's in the place, and you're not sure any of them have been well-chosen. You have a couple more hours before it's time to seriously consider sheltering from the temperature drop that comes with an early fall evening.

Will you continue to search in a more focused manner, or hunt for food, or do something else?

[gryffydd65]

ooc: I think we should do a focused look and then prepare for making camp.

[Tibbius]

ooc: I think we should do a focused look and then prepare for making camp.

Describe where you'll focus. Assume the keep has all the standard areas that you would expect in an early medieval fortress.

[Wuff]

Time seems to be slipping away from us, and I'm tiring of just tipping rocks... Maybe we have missed something. The woman rubs both of her arms slowly before closing her eyes tight shut.

I'm going to give one of the towers one last look over... Then we can set up camp perhaps? Cara spins on her heel, then points directly at the most structurally sound tower.

That one. I'm going to check out that one, there's something about it.


ooc: Cara feels like there's something around here, and she's willing to burn up her luck and trust her gut to find out what it is. She'll spend up to 2 Fate points towards finding out what that is, obviously unconsciously.

[Tibbius]

first search: [1d6] = 4 [1d6] = 5 [1d6] = 1 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=197449&macid=15262) ... you haven't really investigated this tower before. The entry gapes wide and shadowy. Going forward, you pass under an archway barely high enough for you to pass. People might have been shorter centuries ago. At the inner end of the archway, the walls open upward to the sky. The roof has long since collapsed and its remnant rafters and slates, along with the ruins of what once were the floors between this level and the roof, are piled in a heap about as high as your neck and about twenty feet across. Broken beams stick out of the heap at awkward angles. Around the heap the ground is paved with square grey stone tiles, each of them two or three feet wide. They must be quite heavy. At the edge of the heap nearest you, you can see a verdigrised bronze ring lying on one of the tiles. It is about the size of your hand. It appears to be fastened to the tile by an equally tarnished bronze hasp. Most of the tile is covered by the heap.

What do you do?

[Tibbius]

I'm a little worried - posting seems to have dropped off pretty quickly. Are we still interested?

[gryffydd65]

Sorry not getting my message through email instantly like I wanted. Will write later.

[gryffydd65]

first search: [1d6] = 4 [1d6] = 5 [1d6] = 1 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=197449&macid=15262) ... you haven't really investigated this tower before. The entry gapes wide and shadowy. Going forward, you pass under an archway barely high enough for you to pass. People might have been shorter centuries ago. At the inner end of the archway, the walls open upward to the sky. The roof has long since collapsed and its remnant rafters and slates, along with the ruins of what once were the floors between this level and the roof, are piled in a heap about as high as your neck and about twenty feet across. Broken beams stick out of the heap at awkward angles. Around the heap the ground is paved with square grey stone tiles, each of them two or three feet wide. They must be quite heavy. At the edge of the heap nearest you, you can see a verdigrised bronze ring lying on one of the tiles. It is about the size of your hand. It appears to be fastened to the tile by an equally tarnished bronze hasp. Most of the tile is covered by the heap.

What do you do? Zand starts to clear the rubble away until from the tile with the bronze ring.

[Tibbius]

Zand starts to clear the rubble away until from the tile with the bronze ring.
It takes a while, and by the time they finish the sky above the ruined tower is purple with sunset. But Cara and Zand get the rubble off the ringed stone tile. They probably could heave it open if they worked together.

This would be a Test of Strength for which Zand has [1d6][1d6]. I'll give you another [1d6] to roll if Cara assists with the initial heave. Failure means Zand or Cara takes 1 wound. A Blunder means you each take a wound.
You can spend Fate for additional dice.

[gryffydd65]

I will spend the fate point.

[Tibbius]

I will spend the fate point.


Ok, we're just waiting to see if Cara helps (roll 4x[1d6]) or not (roll 3x[1d6]).

--> Actually, please note you can wait to spend Fate until you see what the initial roll is. So if you get all 1s, you can spend Fate to roll another and try to avoid the blunder, or if you get a success in your initial roll you can save the point of Fate.

[gryffydd65]

can you put up the dice rollersite again.

[Tibbius]

can you put up the dice rollersite again.


unseenservant.com

[Wuff]

Cara looks over herself, going as far as to ineffectually flex a muscle before looking sceptically at Zand. After a second, however, she moves into position and grasps the best she can.


Apologies for the late/short post, I had a similar issue with email.

[gryffydd65]

in order to speed the game. I am asking for someone else to roll for me. I have to reapply to the dice site as I lost my password .

[Tibbius]

Zand and Cara heave away [1d6] = 2[1d6] = 3[1d6] = 4 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=197810&macid=0) ... with a lot of straining and grunting (more like moaning by the finely cloaked lady), you exert your utmost and have essentially no effect. Zand and Cara spend 1 Fate [1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=197811&macid=0) Taking a deep breath, Zand really puts his back into it and hauls the stone slab upward by about an inch. Then the bronze ring slips from his aching fingers, and the slab slams back down with an echoing thump.

A moment after the echoes die, the ground trembles a little.

Overhead the clear sky has faded from purple to night blue, and stars are visible. It's getting chilly. Soon the moon should get high enough to shed some light into the ruined tower. You can see the pale white light and crisp shadows that it casts into the bailey outside the doorway.

As you stand back from the slab, rolling your shoulders and flexing your hands, hoping for no permanent injuries from your efforts, the slab suddenly flips over and a massive dark figure bursts up from the hole that's revealed.


Unfortunately, one of you does take a wound from a strained muscle.

Zand recognizes the figure from hunters' tales: a troll. It has two small stubby horns at its temples, shaggy fur all over, bowed legs, long thick muscled arms, and gleaming green eyes. You stand barely three yards away, easily within its reach, staggered by its stench of urine and sweat, and it is poised to snatch you up and eat you. Do you run, fight, or try to communicate?


If you had minions I would make you roll to see whether they flee in terror. If the legends are right, the troll has Toughness 10 and Fighting (brawling), so Zand would be at a disadvantage if it grabbed him but at an advantage if he kept it at the end of a sword.

[gryffydd65]

Zand will take the wound. I saw talk or run.

[Tibbius]

Zand will take the wound. I saw talk or run.

Toughness -1 = 5; Fate +1 = 4 (spent one, gain one for volunteering to take a wound).
You don't have time to discuss your options. Each of you must decide for yourself what to do. PM me accordingly.

[Tibbius]

As the troll raises its massive arm behind its shoulder, poised to snatch at them, and as Cara takes a breath to say something to the creature, Zand spins and ducks and tries to hoist Cara onto his shoulder and run. Zand's feat of strength to save Cara [1d6] = 3[1d6] = 4 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=197937&macid=0). His foot slips on the stone tile and he staggers, almost falling to his knees. As he regains his balance, the troll's heavy paw slams into his back, knocking him flat on his face and hurling Cara tumbling from his clumsy carry.

Either of you could spend any amount of Fate to gain additional dice; any success (5 or 6) would result in a positive outcome. Otherwise, you each take one wound.

[Wuff]

Cara lets out a panicked wail as she is so unceremoniously hoisted over a shoulder, and then subsequently dumped on the floor like a hunter's haul with a far less lady-like grunt. At the last minute, she manages to catch herself in a bout of extraordinary luck, pulling herself back up to a standing position with the forester's arm, then pulling him hard behind her.

Zand, you clumsy lout!

She yells, her words slightly muddled by the fast movement, the spinning in her head and the rush of adrenaline flowing through her.


Spent a fate point, landed a 5 on the roller. (http://www.unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=197953&macid=0)

[gryffydd65]

[roll0] [roll1]
Sorry Miss, lets get out of here Zand says in a hurry. Trying to look back as they go.

[Tibbius]

You scramble several feet through the low arched passage under the thick wall of the tower, out into the grassy bailey. Behind you, a furious deep-throat howling and growling. The troll batters its clawed hands against the stone blocks of the tower wall. It is too big to fit its bulk into the passage barely large enough for men to pass centuries before. How did it get into the tower to begin? A mystery you can ponder at leisure, since it seems to be trapped in there. How did it survive its time beneath the slab? Another mystery.

You could get further away, camp here, or somehow get rid of the troll and continue exploring the tower in the dark. What are some other ideas?

It looks like Zand spent 2 Fate points, leaving 2.
Zand Toughness 5, Fate 2.
Cara Toughness 3, Fate 6.
By the way, I added a map to the first post.

[gryffydd65]

I am thinking of shooting arrows at it. If Cara could distract it.

[Tibbius]

Thought is deed ...
Noting the troll continued to batter at the wall around the passage, Zand took his bow off his back and strung it as the beast raged. Nocking an arrow, he drew back to his ear and let fly the dozen feet through the thickness of the tower wall. It was a shot in the dark, but a point-blank shot at a body that covered the whole open end of the passage.

Zand's arrow at the troll [1d6] = 6[1d6] = 1[1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198168&macid=0)

Zand and Cara heard a sudden howl of pain and a cessation of the beating of claws against stone. Abrupt motion at the end of the passage and sounds of leathery paws scraping on stone as the troll scrambled away. They could no longer see where it was.

[gryffydd65]

"My lady, that should teach the beast a lesson. Come it is getting late and no sign of our prince. We need to eat and get some rest." Zand said to the fair Cara.

[Wuff]

Cara visibly sputters for a moment, both hands curled up into fists at her sides.


We're going to go into the home of that thing, wake it up from its slumber and then we're going to run away after shooting and angering it? Her eyebrow arches almost comically, though it's clear that her face holds nothing but concern.

After a moment, her posture gives way, and she slumps slightly.


You're right, actually... I don't want to be hunting this thing at night. We should prepare for the coming night." Her tone is notably more hushed now, wary at what might be listening in.

Do you have enough in you to hunt and forage for food, or is it too late, do you think? I'm willing to cook something up for us.

[Tibbius]

Zand knows that night hunting isn't the best - it's dangerous not only because of other predators moving about, but also because it's easy to put a foot wrong and suffer an injury.

You'd roll at a disadvantage (1d6) with a Blunder causing a wound.
Considering predators, that troll has become really quiet. Almost might be as if it is sneaking around.

[gryffydd65]

Zand pulls a haunch of deer and slices off enough meat for four people. "Cook enough for the two of us and for tomorrow. Who knows when our next meal will be."

[Tibbius]

After scouting around in the darkness, Cara finds a good big pile of rotting timber on the floor of another of the ruined towers that casts its moonshadow over the bailey. It doesn't take a lot to get a smoky fire started with that.

Wuff, can you describe how Cara improvises a cooking frame to hold the deer haunch? Or how does she cook it otherwise?
As Cara tries to figure out how to roast the meat without charring it, she smells a memorable stench. Sweat and urine. Having smelled it only a half hour earlier, it's easy to recognize. Troll.

[Tibbius]

Cara and Zand finish eating. The odor of troll waxes and wanes as the breeze shifts. Zand thinks he can hear stealthy but heavy breathing in the shadows of the passage that leads into the ruined tower where your cooking fire casts its dim and flickering reddish light. (Not the same tower where you found the troll, a different one on the other side of the bailey). The light of the moon is almost as strong as the light of your fire, but it doesn't shine into that passage.

[gryffydd65]

Zand stokes the fire keeping a charred piece of timber ready . He Hope's his whiskey is strong enough to catch something on fire. As the early morning starts to Crest. He puts out the fire and nudges Cara awake. They quickly and quietly grab their equipment and leave the ruins.

[Tibbius]

You know the Prince went generally south. Do you try to cross the Tregoth river and pick up his trail at the far side of the ford?

[gryffydd65]

How fast is the river running? Zand will look for a spot he thinks is safe to cross.

[Tibbius]

At the spot you find, the river is wide, slow, and shallow between the hilly north bank and the flat meadows of the south bank. You and Cara splash easily across the half mile ford. Your feet and legs dry fairly quickly in the morning sun as you move into the meadows headed south. Toward noon, rain begins and you start to get wet again.

Directly ahead (south) is a thick forest. To the left are hills. To the right, open meadows. You know that somewhere basically southward is the town of Cumry, where the Prince might go in an effort to recruit followers with whatever gems he managed to take from the palace. Which way do you go?

[gryffydd65]

Zand has always seen the woods as home and Cara does her best to argue for the meadow, he knows that they will not be spotted from a distance in the woods. " Come Cara, I will keep you safe. The woods are full of dangers but we are much safer than being run down from horsemen. "

[Tibbius]

You travel uneventfully under the thick canopy of the trees, glad for their shelter from the rain that drips down through the leaves. Late in the afternoon you emerge at the southern edge of the forest. The rain has dwindled to nothing and broad sunbeams pierce the swift-moving gray-white clouds.

You have time for Cara to forage and make camp and for Zand to hunt, or you could press onward. To the left is a swamp, ahead (south) are hills, and to the right is a half-mile stretch of open ground before another forest.

You probably are only a few days behind Cal Arath, and if he stopped to rest in Cumry and remains there you might be able to meet with him tomorrow or the next day.

[gryffydd65]

Cara forages and makes camp as Zand hunts. "We will travel to the next woods. Our prince is ahead of us. I can feel it. "

[Tibbius]

Zand tracks [1d6] = 3[1d6] = 4[1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198780&macid=0)
Zand forages [1d6] = 1[1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198781&macid=0)
Shadows in the forest grow thick and deep, and the bars of sunlight falling from the west get lost among the brambles and the trunks of trees. In the gloom and in the thick blankets of fallen leaves from prior years, Zand has no luck finding tracks of game to shoot. By the time he desists from seeking prey and turns to foraging, it is too dark to find anything edible.

Cara forages [1d6] = 5 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198782&macid=0)

Amazingly, during the time that Zand spends in the forest, Cara manages to scrounge together some edible stalks of wild celery, truffles, and several handfuls of wild climbing pea pods. This, combined with another haunch of deer from Zand's bag, makes dinner.

You settle in for the night, wrapped in cloaks beside the red-glowing embers of a fire that seems tiny under the many distant white fires in the deep purple sky. The clouds have rolled away and the air is cool - but warmer under the forest eave than it was in the ruined keep last night.

. . .

Morning comes. The dew lies on your cloaks and the fire is out. Somewhere in the starry hours both of you drifted to dreams.

You head toward the wood to the west, choosing to follow the edge of it along the feet of the hills that stand directly to the south. The ground is rocky, rough, and undulating, breached by many small streams that run down from the hills into the woods. At least you will not lack for water - you pause to fill your skins. It is sweaty going under the mid-day sun of the Barley Moon.

Mid afternoon passes and the hills still are at your left hand, the forest to your right. Do you continue along the verge, do you turn into the forest to hunt and camp, or do you turn toward the hills to hunt and camp?

The sky remains cloudless, the lowering sun still hot on your faces.

[gryffydd65]

Zand steers Cara back toward the forest. "I still believe it is safer in the woods and your ability to find food is really helpful. "

[Tibbius]

The shadowed forest is significantly cooler than the open broken ground at the feet of the hills.

The woods smell green and lush. Streams and pools are frequent, with stands of skunk cabbage. You split up to accomplish your separate tasks - Cara to make camp and forage for fruits and vegetables, Zand to track and hunt.

Zand tracking [1d6] = 5[1d6] = 4[1d6] = 5 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198844&macid=15410) Two successes = Zand gets two chances to shoot at game.
Zand shooting [1d6] = 2[1d6] = 1[1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198845&macid=15411)
Zand shooting [1d6] = 5[1d6] = 6[1d6] = 2 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198847&macid=15411)
Cara foraging [1d6] = 1 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=198846&macid=15412) A mishap.

The afternoon progresses into evening as Zand looks for tracks of midsize game like deer. He finds and follows one set of hoofprints along wet ground near a small stream; finds a herd of three; looses an arrow. He misses and the herd scatter, galloping and bounding away before he can nock a second arrow. Worse yet, he's lost the arrow he loosed.

Back near the camp, Cara has no luck finding wood dry enough for a fire. As she digs at a fallen tree in search of tinder, she disturbs a nest of wasps! They swarm around her, stinging viciously. -1 wound; Toughness 2. She runs desperately, stumbling and splashing through pools and puddles as the wasps pursue. By the time they have left her alone, she is utterly lost in the woods.

Zand finds another track and follows for a while, halting as he finds a stag and doe drinking from a pool. His aim this time is accurate, the arrow sinks to the feathers into the stag's shoulder. The deer staggers and falls to its knees, then onto its side.

Hefting the carcass on his shoulders, using his unstrung bow as a staff, Zand strides proudly back toward the campsite.

When he gets there, he does not find Cara.

[gryffydd65]

Zand starts to slowly track Cara's footprints. But he knows that as the sun sets the harder it will be. He gives up once it is impossible to see more than a foot in front of his eyes and makes his way back to camp. He hopes he can find the trail in the morning.

[Tibbius]

Zand starts to slowly track Cara's footprints. But he knows that as the sun sets the harder it will be. He gives up once it is impossible to see more than a foot in front of his eyes and makes his way back to camp. He hopes he can find the trail in the morning.


rain? [1d6] = 6 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=199225&macid=15263)
During the night, it starts to rain.

clear? [1d6] = 5 [1d6] = 6 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=199226&macid=15264)
By morning, the rain has stopped. But everything including Zand and Cara gets wet.

Cara exposure [1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=199227&macid=15412)
Cara could suffer another wound from exposure to the cold and wet. She spends 4 Fate to roll more dice. She has no luck. Toughness 1, Fate 3.

Please roll 2d6 for Zand's foraging trait to survive the wet cold night unscathed.

[gryffydd65]

[roll0]
[roll1] Zand wakes up shivering from the cold. He Hope's Cara has left some kind of physical trail since the footprints would be washed away.

[Tibbius]

Zand has the tracking skill so usually he would roll 3d6. The rain means that the tracks would be harder to follow, let's say he rolls only 2d6 in this situation.
Cara tries to find her way back to camp, hoping that Zand will be there or even coming to find her.

Cara foraging [1d6] = 5 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=199232&macid=15412)
Somehow, against the odds, Zand finds a track of broken branches and humus scuffed by running steps. As he follows the fitful track, he sights Cara coming toward him!

Since Cara's roll succeeded, we didn't need to roll for Zand after all.

[Tibbius]

Cara's hair is matted and stringy; she is soaked to the skin, and shivering. Nevertheless she is determinedly cheerful. She asks Zand to get a fire going so that they can cook the deer and warm up after the cold and rainy night.

[gryffydd65]

And makes the fire larger than he normally would so that the heat will help dry Cara faster. He fastens together a spit for the deer meat.

[Tibbius]

As she dries, Cara hugs her knees to her chest and begins to tell a story.

Cara telling a story to Take Courage [1d6] = 5,[1d6] = 6,[1d6] = 6 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=199291&macid=0)

Once there was a king who had three princess daughters. He was a needy man and always seeking approval from those around him. One day he made a contest between his daughters to find out who loved him more.
The eldest said, "I love you as much as my golden crown." He smiled. The middle daughter said, "I love you more than my silver shoes." He clapped his hands. The youngest said, "I love you like salt." He frowned.
"Salt is a common thing!" the king said angrily. "If you love common things so much, then you will live a common life. Get out!" He sent away his youngest daughter.
With no income and no food, the youngest daughter was reduced to working in the salt fields just out of sight from the castle. Every day in the hot sun she scraped the salt from the fields. Every night she drank bitter water and ate food flavored by the salt sweat from her face.
Eventually, the daughter got tired of this life and grew to hate salt as much as she now hated her father. Being a princess, she did something about it. She organized a strike. The workers left the salt fields behind them and moved to a different part of the country.
Without salt, the king's soldiers grew sickly and angry, and there was a coup. The king lost his head. The princess (no longer a princess) set up a new life as a farmer's wife, and used salt sparingly.

Cara regains 2 Toughness. Toughness 3, Fate 3. Zand may regain 2 Toughness or 1 Fate.

[gryffydd65]

Zand will regain the two toughness. If there is enough light we w I'll all move or wise rest again until morning.

[Tibbius]

It's mid-morning by the time Cara finishes her story and gets dry. The fire goes out.

You can follow the edge of the forest southwest around the end of the hills; or you can go southeast straight across the hills.

You can have three more haunches of deer if you take the time to butcher it. That is a big bulging sack of food you carry.

[gryffydd65]

Zand decides to cut the deer up and bag it. Although the weight will slow them down as the make their way around the hills on the southwest.

[Tibbius]

As you head southwest along the feet of the hills the land slopes gradually upward. Ahead of you the hills become mountains, bare rock gleaming in the morning sun above forested slopes. Perhaps there is a pass between the hills and the mountains. You could search for a pass. Otherwise, you could turn southeast across the hills, or continue southwest into the mountains, or turn back north into the forest. You believe your Prince is headed south.

rain? [1d6] = 5 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=199440&macid=15263)

Toward the middle of the day it begins to rain again. Cara shudders and grumbles, wrapping her pretty green cloak around her. Her leather garments smell like damp leather. It has been a long time now since she's had a perfumed bath. The same goes for Zand.

[gryffydd65]

Zand curses as the rain falls.He ways his options and decides to go south east across the hills. Maybe they will get lucky and find a cave or hunter's lodge.

[Tibbius]

By midafternoon the rain has stopped, but the slopes of the hills are muddy and slick in the wide open spaces between the distant scattered stands of trees. It is tough going to follow the tracks left by wild goats and sheep, which seem to lead in no direction. Zand is pretty sure you are headed generally southeast, and becomes more certain as the sky clears and the lowering sun comes out.

Walking along the side of a hill too steep to go over, you hear the sound of a man singing a mournful traveling song.

I've been around the world in the pouring rain
Feeling out of place, really feeling strange
Take me to a place where they know my name
'Cause I ain't met nobody that looks the same
You don't see the man, but you hear his voice from around the side of the hill ahead of you.

What do you do?

[gryffydd65]

If Cara recognizes the song she will sing along. If she doesn't she will call out to the man. "Hello what a delightful song you must teach it to me. My manservant and I are lost." Zand will keep his knife ready.

[Tibbius]

Cara's beautiful voice carries along the hillside, mimicking the unseen singer's doleful melody. As he goes on to the next verse she forgets the words and simply ululates the tune. You come around the hillside and find a man wearing colorful green and yellow clothing with a feathered hat. He is loosening the straps of packs borne by a fidgeting mule. Behind him is an opening in the hillside - a cave, framed by vines and bushes.

"Hello!" he says. "A beautiful voice you have, dear. I plan to stop here for the night. Will you be continuing onward, or will you share this shelter?" He nods to Zand. "Well met."

[gryffydd65]

"Well met in deed minstrel. Will you break fast with us? All I have to share is venison . We seek news from your travels." Zand says as he puts the knife away and lets the sack fall to the ground.

Cara sits down and unpacks the little bit of food she managed to find. "Tell us about yourself kind sir." Cara says with a smile.

[Tibbius]

The traveling man introduces himself as Honore, a merchant of Angleae who is on the road from Cumry to Ogon. He mentions that when he left Cumry, just a couple of days south and east from here, there was a bit of gossip about a half-naked northerner with a big sword who walked into the town proclaiming himself a prince. Most people thought he was crazy and few took notice or did anything about it. Last that Honore knew of the matter, the so-called prince had gotten a room at the Paddling Duck inn and was looking for employment.

"And what is your news from the north?" asks Honore. That is an indirect way of asking why Zand and Cara are in the southern highlands.

[gryffydd65]

"Our prince Cal Arath, of the Northlands, has been exiled by the usurpers who murdered his father and stole his throne. We are all that is left of his household. We are looking for our prince so we can join him and help him gather an army so he can win his crown again. " Cara says as Zand nods. " Thank you for the news. We might find him soon."

[Tibbius]

Honore seems both impressed and a little bit amused. "The lords of the highlands are not likely to welcome an exiled flatland prince," he says. "Good luck to you! Are you in a hurry to continue to Cumry, or will you stay the evening and eat with me?"

There is time to make some distance further across the hills before sunset, and with Honore's guidance you have a decent chance of finding Cumry in the open moor south and above the hills. Do you continue or camp at the cave?

[gryffydd65]

We camp here and share our food. Zand sleeps closest to the man keeping Cara safe.

[Tibbius]

It rains again that evening. Water drips onto rock and dirt at the entrance of the cave, at first making it hard to sleep then becoming a comforting background noise that makes sleep deeper than usual. The pack mule drowses just inside the cave, its warm animal smell adding comfort.

Around daybreak the weather clears. In the shadow of the hill outside the cave it is cool, the bright green grass is damp and the dirt muddy. The merchant begins to load his mule. "I'm headed west," he says. "There is a little track marked by white rocks, going around this side of the hill and onward to Cumry. My path lies the other way - there is my next marker at the top of that hill."

Do you follow the path southeast to Cumry, or go east, or head south, or go west with the merchant?

[gryffydd65]

"Till we meet again. May the wind always be at your back. " Cara calls out. Zand waves and then rearranges his pack.

" Come the town of Cumry can't be far. Maybe more luck will shine upon us. " Zand says leading the way.

[Tibbius]

You travel day-long without much happening. The earth and grass gradually dry in the sunshine, staying damp on the shadowed northern faces of the hills. Eventually, late in the afternoon, the ground begins to level out; you have reached a green and gray moorland of shrubs and grasses and soft damp soil that descends very gently from your present position toward the south and east. To the southeast, plumes of white smoke mark the horizon. Cumry? It looks like another day's walking to get that far, so it probably is time to make camp.

As you settle in to eat your dinner, clouds roll up from the southwest and a light rain starts falling. You're exposed on flat ground, no real cover to be found. What do you do?

[gryffydd65]

"Well Cara, it's going to be a wet night, we need to huddle together to keep warm. No fire tonight, maybe we can get a hot meal when we get to the town." Zand says trying to keep their spirits up.

[Tibbius]

Cara exposure [1d6] = 1 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=200392&macid=15412)
Zand exposure [1d6] = 1[1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=200393&macid=0)
clear? [1d6] = 1 [1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=200394&macid=15264)

Despite your best efforts to huddle for warmth, the rain soaks and chills you to the bone and you awaken shivering and coughing in a cold pre-dawn under a lowering grey-black sky.

-1 Toughness: Zand Toughness 5; Cara Toughness 2
The air is thick with rain, visibility short and directions hard to judge without the guidance of the sun. Do you put the hills to your back to head roughly southeast, continue kind of east along the feet of the hills, or do something else?

[gryffydd65]

We head out to the south east, looking for the plumes of smoke that we had seen yesterday. " Come Cara , we are almost there. Let's hope our luck changes. " Zand says as he heads out .

[Tibbius]

It is a chilly morning and you shiver in the light breeze. The rain dwindles as you walk generally away from the hills. As the air clears, visibility improves. You see first that you are off-course and need to veer left to reach the smoke plumes, which again stand against the sky. A few minutes later, you see a group of small figures a mile or more in the distance, well to the right of the smoke plumes. You count a dozen of them, one significantly larger than the others. They may be armed.

Do you approach, hide, or ignore the others and continue to Cumry?

[gryffydd65]

Zand waits a few minutes trying to determine if they are in horseback and if he can see any sun glinting off exposed armor or weapons. "Well Cara, I have a feeling we may have a need for your gift of gab. Let us proceed towards the group, if they are friendly our luck is good and if they are not, well we could never hope to sneak by nor do we want to be tracked liked dogs. So head held high and when we are close enough sing a lullaby that might help with their manners."

Cara looked at Zand "I have sung many a little one to sleep, let's see if I can tame the wild beast if I have too."

[Tibbius]

The distant figures are walking, like you, but they are headed off to your right away from Cumry and away from you. They have their backs to you and show no interest in turning around. It would take some running and yelling to get their attention; it probably would not be hard to leave them behind you. It is a cloudy morning and there is no bright sunlight to glint on metal, even if they were wearing or carrying metal.

[gryffydd65]

We continue on just watching them as we continue to the town. "Well we were lucky, if that is our prince, we should be able to track them easy enough and if it wasn't then maybe we got lucky trouble hasn't found us." Zand says looking toward the town.

[Tibbius]

You arrive at the outskirts of Cumry late in the afternoon, when the sky has cleared and the warm sun casts long shadows to your left side and ahead. First there are little huts with gardens around them, people working the gardens, and a dirt road going along among the huts. Then there are stones paving the road; then reeking gutters along the sides, and then fifty yards later the first real town buildings.

The buildings of Cumry are two and three stories high, wooden structures with the upper stories overhanging at all sides so that the alleys between the buildings are nearly covered and the gutters along the main street run right under the overhangs. Sporadically along the gutters there are piles and puddles of waste dumped or fallen from the upper stories. However, last night's rain washed most of that away, so the smell is not too strong.

The main street ends at a central square surrounded by shops and inns. You easily identify the Paddling Duck, above the door there is a board cut in the silhouette of a swimming fowl and painted bright yellow.

As you stand at the edge of the square, watching the people moving about between the open shopfronts, a puff of multicolored smoke arises from next to the big well at the center of the square. As the smoke swirls upward and dissipates, you recognize a young man wearing scholarly robes. It is Clever Aveus, the apprentice to old Ventus the court wizard. Ventus was beheaded by the usurpers, but Aveus must have escaped!

What do you do?

[Tibbius]

By the way - Zand and Cara both get 1 XP each for surviving the troll, and another 1 XP for surviving the night when Cara got lost. 2/5 toward your first advancements!

[UselessBlob]

Aveus the Clever waves the smoke away from his face and coughs. "Well, that was less pleasant than I thought it would be. Note to self, teleportation spells smell like a goat struck by lightning. Now where the blazes am I?" he asks nobody in particular. He takes out a heavy book and pages through it, muttering something about maximum distances and a bad ham sandwich.

[gryffydd65]

Cara rushes over to the familiar face. Zand watches horrified as Cara gives Aveus the Clever a hug. "Oh Aveus, a familiar face, how did you get hear? Have you seen the prince, tell us about your trip." She realizes that Zand wasn't standing next to her. "Zand, come over here, it's Aveus the Clever. Surely you have seen his performance. "
Zand slowly walks over still unsure of himself as a town always made him uncomfortable. "Hello I am Zand, hunter and sheriff of the prince's forests."

[UselessBlob]

Aveus was taken aback by the sudden human contact. The woman who was hugging him looked vaguely familiar, possibly a bard that was at the court when the coup happened. He didn't have any recollection of her companion, but if he really was a ranger then that made perfect sense. Wizards would never go outside unless they absolutely had to.

With flushed cheeks he extricates himself from her grasp and responds. "Um, I've been hiding in the dungeons this past... week? There aren't any windows there, I have no idea how long it's been. Anyway, I scried for the Prince's location, but rat's blood and bread mold don't make for the best ritual. I only know that he either is in this area now, or was until very recently. What do you know of his whereabouts?"

[gryffydd65]

Cara starts the tale involving the troll, being lost in the woods and finding the merchant. "So anyways we see a group of men walking away from here and one of the men is taller than the rest. I can't recall just how tall our prince is, can you?" Cara asks the wizard.
Zand shakes his head. "I've only really dealt with him when he was on horse back. "

[UselessBlob]

Aveus rubs his barely-there beard in contemplation.

"Hmm... he's taller than me, I know that, but I never had a reason to know exactly how much taller. A hand, maybe a hand and a half. Wait, why didn't you get a better look? It wouldn't be that hard to tell whether or not they are our consistently shirtless prince. Oh well, what's done is done. Let us investigate the inn."

[Tibbius]

Entering the inn and making inquiries, you find the folk in there are fairly friendly even in spite of your foreign flatland accents. One of the toothless drunkards sitting near the door calls out to you in his slurred voice: "Hey! Are you with that big burly shirtless fellow?"

[gryffydd65]

Cara curtsey at the man. "Why yes I believe it maybe, do you know which way he might of went?"
Zand keeps an eye out for you never know if trouble will find you.

[UselessBlob]

Aveus quietly fidgets behind them, afraid that one of those "bar fight" things might break out at any moment. As a second son of minor nobility, Aveus never had any reason to enter such an establishment, and as a wizard's apprentice he spent all of his time at the castle or the laboratory. This is the furthest from either that he has been in years.

[Tibbius]

The old man laughed. An odor of sour whiskey rolled from his mouth, augmenting the similar reek from his skin. "He's off with Jenkins Black," he said. "On a job I reckon. Best be careful or the watch'll have him, quick as a knife."

[gryffydd65]

"Who's this Mr.Black? We need to find him and our prince. Please kind sir, help a lass out." Cara says trying to charm the man.

Zand starts to get nervous when the knife part is mentioned. He unconsciously slids his hand near his own knife.

[Tibbius]

Cara being charming [1d6] = 6[1d6] = 1[1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=200886&macid=0)
The old man looks warily at Cara. But her charming voice and mannerisms affect him. With a toothless grimace, he says "I reckon can't do much harm for a couple more foreigners to visit Black. He might be glad to have the three of you, anyway. Here's how you get to his place -" and he gives simple directions to a "warehouse by the river."

What do you do?

[UselessBlob]

Aveus butts in with a "Great, thank you, let's go!" and drags both Cara and Zand outside. Once at a sufficient distance, he quietly but harshly berates Zand for making a threatening move. "What were you doing you fool? Everyone knows those kinds of people are itching for a fight! You could have gotten someone stabbed!"

[Tibbius]

You have directions to a warehouse by a river, where the prince is supposed to be preparing for something shady. What do you do?

[gryffydd65]

"You handle the mystics, Cara will handle people and I will handle protection. I will go to this Black, he needs laborers and you two will not cut it. I need you two to help get food etc. See if you can trade this deer meat." Zand says as he hands the pouch over ti Cara.

[Tibbius]

Zand: The warehouse by the river is not hard to find. It has its own dock with a couple of well-built rafts tied up to that. Three burly rough-looking men lounge outside. No sign of the prince.

Cara and Aveus: Left to devise a plan of action at the paddling duck, the two unknowns eye each other. What will they reveal to each other? What will they conceal? Courtiers and wizards both are known for secrets ... and what will they make of this strange new town in the highlands, so much more civilized than the castles and hamlets of the forested flatland North?

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand approaches the three men. "Excuse me, I am looking for work and was told that I could get an honest days pay for a hard days work."

Cara Cara looks at Aveus, "I hope we find the prince soon, I was not cut out for all this traipsing around the countryside. Maybe you could put on a show and we could share a hot bath and a room. " she says looking at man and smiling.

[UselessBlob]

Though it stung Aveus' wizardly pride to be reduced to a mere carnival showman, he had to admit that that was most of what his present abilities amounted to. He lacked the intuitive control over the fundamental essence of the world that master wizards possessed, so he needed to use rituals to properly channel magic for anything big. Putting on a show would probably be the most useful thing he could... wait, did she just say "share a hot bath?" Aveus opened his mouth to ask what whether she meant "share at the same time" before realizing that it was a stupid question that would make him look like a lecher. Instead he responded to Cara with "Ahah, yes, quite. Let us go to the market and find someone willing to buy a... sack full of uncooked dear meat."

[Tibbius]

Zand The tough looking trio swiftly look over your person and equipment. One, whose head and face are covered by close-shaved stubble, grunts. "Where'd y'hear about the job?" he asks suspiciously.

Aveus and Cara It is easy to find the market in the main square right outside the inn. There is a butcher shop a few buildings over from the Paddling Duck. The butcher is a muscular young man with an eager face. He greets you cheerfully and looks closely at the meat that you pull from the sack. He quotes you a price that seems fair: some coins, plus an evening's meat for each of you and Zand. You can gain 1 Wealth each (including Zand) if you accept the deal.

[gryffydd65]

Zand " Some drunk at the Paddling Duck told me that my mate was working for Mr. Black. So here I am. Are you hiring or is Mr. Black? " Zand says looking at each of them.


Cara Cara looks at Aveus "We would be honored to accept. Is there any where you would recommend for dinner and a hot bath?"

[Tibbius]

Zand The stubbly fellow scowls and his face wrinkles strangely around a scar that runs from chin to ear. The other two thugs lounge calmly with their butts on boxes and their backs to the planks of the closed warehouse door. "Who's Black?" asks the scarred man. "Wait. What's your friend like?"

Be imaginative in describing the prince.

Aveus and Cara The jovial butcher chuckles. "The Paddling Duck is clean and cheap," he says. "Those coins will easy buy you each a room and a bath. They'll cook the meat for you, too."

[UselessBlob]

"The Paddling Duck, eh? We know where that is, thank you." Aveus looked down at the coin in his hand and then back to the butcher. "You wouldn't happen to have any bacon, would you? It's been ages since I've had real bacon."

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand looked at the man. "My prince is taller than most men, stronger than most men and handsome as the sun. Have you seen him? He is looking for good men to help him regain the throne. "

Cara Cara smiled as Aveus mentioned bacon. "Come on let's get going, aren't you looking forward to a hot bath."

[Tibbius]

"The Paddling Duck, eh? We know where that is, thank you." Aveus looked down at the coin in his hand and then back to the butcher. "You wouldn't happen to have any bacon, would you? It's been ages since I've had real bacon."

This would be a "very cheap" purchase, so rollv 3d6 and if any come up 5 or 6 you can spend 1 Wealth to gain a meal of bacon for you and Cara and Zand. If you want to roll additional dice, then you would end up spending additional points of Wealth, 1 per extra die.

[UselessBlob]

((I thought he said we would get an evening's worth of meat. Or does bacon cost extra? If it does, here you go.))

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

"Oh," says the butcher, "you want bacon instead of the fresh cuts? No problem!" He takes back the fresher meat and gets you a few slabs of bacon.

[UselessBlob]

"That looks perfect!" Aveus says as the butcher wraps up the bacon in parchment. Aveus takes the packaged meat and turns to Cara. "Well, that's all we needed to do. I guess we can go see about this bath you're so excited about."

[Tibbius]

Zand One of the still-seated hard men chuckles. "The big half-naked pretty one? Yeah, he's here. You want to help out, huh. C'mon in." He stands up in a smooth way that is incongruous with his battered appearance, and opens a small door cut into the big plank wagon door of the warehouse.

Do you enter?

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand entered the building hoping if he is not back soon his friends will come looking.

[Tibbius]

Zand Inside the building, the light was dim from a few high windows near the roof fifteen feet above. A few men sat on boxes in a semicircle facing the door, passing a big pottery jug around and taking swigs from it. The air reeked of alcohol. A couple more jugs were scattered in shards on the dirt floor amid darkened patches where there had been puddles of booze.

One of the men had a black beard and curly black hair. He wore dark gray or black tunic and trousers and boots, and sat next to the prince.

The prince was taller than any other in the room, even seated, and was as impressively muscled as Zand remembered. His naked chest and biceps bulged. He sat in his kilt with his knees manspread, hands resting on those knees. His long brown hair hung around his shoulders. His sandaled feet were planted on the dirt. The hilt of Bonebiter, his ancestral great sword, peeked over his thick shoulder.

"Zand!" rumbled the prince. "Well met!" He took the jug in his big hand and gulped a mouthful, then held it out toward Zand. "This is my faithful forester," he said to the black-curled man beside him. "Zand," he said, "this man is Jenkins Black. He has a job that you can help me with." He belched, waiting for Zand to take the jug.

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand took a knee, "My lord, what ever you need just ask, I have come south with Cara and Aveus is with us as well. I believe at the Paddling Duck. "

[Tibbius]

Jenkins Black chuckled. "He looks like he's good with a knife," he said contentedly. "You trust him; that's good. Let's go over the plan again, lads. Drink well and listen up!"

He concisely unfolds a plan to rob a mansion further up the river. The group will arrive at sunset, take the four guards prisoner and tie them up ("no need to kill 'em," says Black, "they know what's best!"), threaten the merchant owner of the mansion to obtain the location of the strongbox, tie up the merchant, and bring the box down to a large rowboat that will meet them at the mansion's dock. They all will ride in the boat downriver to the warehouse dock, where Black and the three men sitting outside will meet them to unload the box.

Cal Arath and Zand will help the four other men now sitting on boxes when they capture the guards and interrogate the merchant. "Don't be too rough," says Black. "We can get away with theft, and some hard play, but murdering one of the gentry - that's a long stretch. He probably knows that, too. Ask him whether he's covered for losses, that might soften him up."

Zand and the prince don't know what that last bit means.

[Tibbius]

Does Zand assent to the plan? What do Cara and Aveus do?

[gryffydd65]

Cara Cara follows Aveus to the Paddling Duck. She gives the food to the inn keeper. She then requests a bath and when she is done with the bath, she invites Aveus to use her water. "See I told you we could share a bath."

Zand Zand follows his prince, hoping this plan works. If it goes wrong in any way he will sacrifice himself to protect the prince.

[UselessBlob]

Aveus juggles balls of heatless fire while waiting for Cara to finish her bath. He isn't great at juggling, but the ball's aren't actually being moved with his hands, so they wouldn't fall even if he walked away.

"Good grief, I really am a circus performer, aren't I?" he asked out loud. Master taught him the useless party tricks both to give him something harmless to practice with, and to entertain the simpleminded nobles the prince had a habit of attracting to his court. The only proper magic Aveus had learned before Ventus took a little off the top was scrying. He was lucky that the teleportation spell had actually brought him to the right spot, instead of in a lake or ten feet underground.

When Cara emerges from the bath and tells Aveus to use the water, he obliges, albeit with some hesitation. The inn likely charges for extra hot water, so it makes financial sense. What brings him pause is the woman's readiness to share bathwater with a man. Nobility would never do something so unseemly, at least not openly, though Aveus is sure his brother is the sort of pervert to enjoy such a thing. Who exactly was Cara?

[Tibbius]

Cara and Aveus finished cleaning up and returned to the common room, where they got the server's attention and their bacon with peppery cabbage and beet-sugared beans. Flagons of ale to wash it down - "or wine for the lady?" asked the server.

The Paddling Duck was a busy inn, frequented by the type of folk who washed at least weekly and smelled of a hard day's work in shops and streets, not fields or stables. The drink flowed easy, the food was hearty, and the conversation was loud and cheerful. Indeed it was difficult for Cara and Aveus to make out what each other was saying. Naturally each was curious what had happened to the other since the fateful Usurpation Day.

Zand found himself sitting with the prince and drinking cheap hard liquor from a pottery jug as the beams of light from the high warehouse windows crept across the floor and up the wall.

"It was an interesting road from the palace," Cal Arath said to him. "Hungry most of the time, glad for the lessons you taught me when I was younger. My horse died near Jakor's Folly, she fell in pursuit of a deer. Chasing down deer with a big old sword is not the easiest way to hunt. I wish I'd found a bow before I ran. Anyway, I searched the ruin for treasure, fought some ghosts at the well in the center court, then forded the river and came south. In the hills just north of town I had a bad encounter with a halfling, believe that? Got this from him." He patted an oddly ancient-looking dagger with a clipped hilt hooked onto his belt. "But Bonebiter served me well," he added. "Not so much this town... I'm out of funds, you see, and there's not much work for a prince here. We'll probably have to flee the area after this job, hoping we get some good loot from the merchant."

He turned to Zand. "How did you get here? Did anyone else come with you?"

[gryffydd65]

Cara Cara told Aveus about their travels to here and especially the troll. " Maybe I should part ways? This life is rough and we still have not find the prince. Maybe Zand has had better luck."

Zand Zand looks at the prince. "I came down with Cara and we just ran into Aveus. We had bad luck with a troll at the ruins. Meet a nice merchant who told us about the Paddling Duck and you. "

[Tibbius]

Zand Time passed until the light from the high windows touched the roof fifteen feet above. "Time!" said Jenkins Black. "Follow Urfan." He gestured to a short muscular man with long greasy blond hair and protruding goatee. The man wore a long knife or short stabbing sword in a sheath at his belt. He had a disreputable expression.

Urfan led Cal Arath, Zand, and the other three ruffians along deserted streets to and beyond the last buildings at the north edge of town. The gravel road or path was only twelve feet wide and lined with closely-spaced cedars twenty feet tall, which loomed ominously in the twilight. After a dozen minutes they reached a stone arch at the right side of the road. A guard sat on a small bench beneath an oil lamp that hung from the sidepost of the arch. He looked up when they approached.

"Urfan," he said easily.

"Tommic," responded the greasy blond. He reached into a pouch that hung from his belt opposite the sword, and counted out a half dozen silver coins, which he passed to the guard.

Tommic the guard tucked the coins into his boot, then turned his back to the group and held his hands behind his waist. One of the other thugs unwrapped a couple feet of rope from a coil round his waist, cut it off with a wavy-edged dagger, and tied Tommic's hands at the wrists.

"For your safety," that one said, and slashed Tommic across the arm with the dagger. It made a gash from which blood poured. Tommic cried out and spun around.

"Now they'll believe you fought us," Urfan said calmly. He stepped forward and yanked the guard's sword from its sheath, then handed the blade to Zand.

They walked through the gate as Tommic cursed them.

The paved stone path led from the gate straight through a garden of twisty waist-high bushes in bright fall foliage to a broad patio paved in an intricate geometric pattern. Across the patio stood a stone mansion of three stories, broad as a warehouse, lamplight gleaming from several windows on the first floor. Another guard stood on the porch of the mansion. He shouted in surprise as the group stalked out of the gloom-covered garden.

"Knock this one down," muttered Urfan to Zand as they ran up onto the porch.

"What's with Tommic?" the guard asked quietly as the group surrounded him, Zand taking a place behind him. "Heard him shout."

"Had to cut him," Urfan responded. "Pay you later." He nodded to Zand.


What does Zand do?

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand takes the pummel of his dagger and aimed his swing for the man's temple. He tries to catch the guy as he falls.

[Tibbius]

Zand tracking, shooting, or hand-to-hand combat [1d6] = 4[1d6] = 5[1d6] = 1 (http://www.unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=202990&macid=15410)
Zand struck the guard expertly on the side of the head and the man fell limply; the forester eased him down to the polished tile floor of the porch.

"C'mon!" Urfan urged. They could hear running footsteps in the house. Urfan yanked open the door and motioned the other five men to enter.

Cal Arath unhesitatingly hauled out his sword and stepped inside.

what does Zand do?

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand takes the prince's back , dagger held in a defensive position to guard them both.

[Tibbius]

Inside the hall two men come running toward the door with drawn swords. When they see Cal Arath and Zand. They halt and take wary postures blocking the passage. Cal Arath sweeps his sword from wall to wall, brushing the plain cream colored tapestries that hang between the steady burning almost smokeless candles in their ornate brackets.

Then Urfan steps in through the door and the two wary men become deferential. He advances past the prince and the forester and delivers a few silver coins to each guard. One of the other ruffians enters with the rope and binds their hands. It all happens quickly.

"Guard!" a middle aged man calls with a haughty tone. "What is going on?"

"House breakers, master!" one of the guards responds. "We're over done by them!" Urfan gives the man a nasty look.

Turning to Cal Arath and Zand, he says, "Get in there and find out where he keeps the box. We'll stay out here. Quick now!" He gestures toward a door way where the man's voice came from.

Cal Arath looks anxiously to Zand as the two of you enter the richly furnished dining room, where the paunchy ponytailed master of the house sits before a silver plate with a crisp white linen napkin tucked into his collar. He looks at them expectantly.

"Well my good men," he sneers sarcastically, "what do you want? Who sent you?"

what does Zand do?

[Tibbius]

Back at the Paddling Duck Cara and Aveus have bathed and supped and are trying to get comfortable in a common area filled with dozens of cheerfully drunken shopworkers and crafters. Nobody's paying you much attention, maybe a few glances at Cara's beauty and at Aveus' fine court clothing and his somewhat over-precise gestures as he talks.

Do you wonder what's going on with Zand and the prince? Do you try to do anything to find out? Or do you just sit tight and wait?

[gryffydd65]

Cara Cara approaches the subject about Zand and the prince. "Well supper has passed where do you think they are? If they don't come back soon should we go to see this Mr. Black fellow?"

Zand Zand brandished his dagger. "We just want the money, if we got this far, you know your men have been taken care of by the rest of the men."

[UselessBlob]

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Neither of us are particularly fit, so we'd likely just be a nuisance to Mr. Black. Besides, if the prince really is there, he'll make short work of anything. The man could carry an oak on his back if he wanted! How about we put on a show for some coin; my magic and your... er, what can you do?"

[Tibbius]

Zand The paunchy man flips his hand dismissively. "I have other protection," he says calmly. "If you know what's best you'll leave here empty-handed. I can easily identify you, you're quite ... distinctive ... in appearance."

[gryffydd65]

"Are you left handed or right? It doesn't really matter I guess. If you have no hands or a tongue how will you tell someone. " Zand says pulling his dagger out.

[Tibbius]

In the mansion The prince rests the edge of his big twohander sword against the side of the merchant's neck.

The merchant leans sideways in his chair, but Cal Arath's blade sticks to him.

"Start with the fingers of his left hand," says the prince. "He needs his tongue to tell us where it is."

[Tibbius]

In the Paddling Duck A booze-breathed buxom broad approaches Cara and Aveus. Leaning over Cara in an uncomfortably close way, she says to Aveus: "You a ... wizard? Like the robes. Des you do ... tricks? I do tricks!"

[gryffydd65]

Cara Cara looks at the woman "We have no money for tricks but our show will be starting soon and if you can bring a crowd, we can split the profits three ways. "

Zand Zand moves to grab the man's left hand.

[Tibbius]

In the mansion The merchant snatches his hand away and keeps moving it quickly around so that Zand can't get a grip. The prince scoffs and wiggles his sword so that a trickle of blood begins to ooze down the merchant's neck. The merchant cries out a little shriek. "Stop! Please! The box. I'll show you the box!"

Cal Arath takes a half step back, lifting his blade from the merchant's neck. A line of blood remains to show where it rested. "Get up," he says calmly.

The merchant shakily shoves himself out of his chair, nearly falling against the finely-set table. He staggers around the table toward a doorway opposite the one you came in.

Within a few minutes, you are looking at a hefty iron-plated box with several locks. It sits in a small closet that opens on the merchant's bedroom, where his wife or concubine crouches wrapped in silken blankets on the bed, staring wide-eyed and open mouthed at Zand and the prince.

Urfan and the other ruffians have stayed out of sight.

What do you do?

In the Paddling Duck "Su...ure," slurs the woman. "M'a Dala. Who you?"

[UselessBlob]

Aveus was dumbfounded by the sheer nerve of this strange drunken harlot. To come before a wizard and ask if he could do "tricks" would be like asking a dragon if he had any spare change. The answer is "Yes." accompanied with excessive amounts of fire. Before he could set her mouth alight, though, Cara answered her with what Aveus was beginning to suspect was characteristic obliviousness. Now Aveus was forced to be reasonable, which grated at his nerves.

"Aveus the Clever." said Aveus through gritted teeth.

[Tibbius]

The Paddling Duck "Ooh you have a nick-name! They call me Dala Bosoms..." she wiggled her shoulders and jiggled. "Really, you want me to hype your show?" The woman abruptly seemed less drunk and more alert. The slurring of her speech had markedly diminished.

[gryffydd65]

Cara Cara smiled at the woman as her speech improved. " I shall sing and maybe a musician will decide to help out, you may dance . Aveus can do his part and maybe he can make you part of his show and make you disappear. "

Zand Zand sheathed his dagger and went to pick up the box. He stopped and looked at his prince. "Maybe we should take our cut before handing it over. No honor among thieves. "

[Tibbius]

The Paddling Duck Dala Bosoms smiled slyly. "I'll get to it, then," she said.

The buxom harlot began to move through the room, pausing at each table to say a few animated words with gestures toward Cara and Aveus.

The Mansion "Good point," said the prince, "but then we'll need to get out." He looked toward the wide window of the bedroom, which was on the second level of the mansion. "Get in the bed," he said to the merchant. Going to the window, he slashed down the silken curtains with a stroke of his sword and peered out the opening. "There's a roof below," he said, "an easy drop, maybe four feet down. You go ahead and I'll pass you the chest. Then I'll follow."

"Help!" cried the merchant.

[gryffydd65]

Cara Cara stands up and starts to sing just loud enough for the closest tables to hear. An old tavern song about a drunken lad and the bear in the den. As she gets to the second verse, she points to the hairiest man at the table and exclaimed there's his son now.

Zand Zand climbs out the window, hanging from his arms and jumps down to the ground. He looks around and then whistles to the prince.

[Tibbius]

The mansion - outside Cal Arath hands the heavy strongbox down to Zand. It is a weighty, jingly armful. A moment later the big man thumps down to the roof, swings himself over the edge, and drops to the ground. "Pass down the box!" he calls up.

[UselessBlob]

Aveus panics, being unprepared to start so suddenly. Rather frantically, he conjures up a rudimentary pair of bear ears on the hairy man's head, hoping beyond hope that he finds it funny rather than insulting.

[gryffydd65]

The mansion - outside Cal Arath hands the heavy strongbox down to Zand. It is a weighty, jingly armful. A moment later the big man thumps down to the roof, swings himself over the edge, and drops to the ground. "Pass down the box!" he calls up.

[Who is Cal Arath talking to?]

[Tibbius]

[Who is Cal Arath talking to?]


I thought Zand was still on the roof ... we'll move the action onward though, it was a pointless pause.

The two men abscond from the mansion with the strongbox, not sure which way to go.

"It's that way back to the town," says the prince as they hasten away from the mansion with the heavy strongbox carried on his muscular shoulder. "I think you said that Cara was with you, and Aveus. I can't go into town, it's too likely I will be recognized. But I can keep the box safe outside of town - in a cave I know in the hills. It's near the stream that you'll cross on the way to the town. I'll go upstream when we get to the little bridge. Once you get Cara and Aveus, you should meet me at the cave tomorrow morning - or even later tonight."

After a few minutes, they reach the stream. From back in the direction of the mansion, they hear confused shouting.


What does Zand do?

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand makes his way to the Paddling Duck and waits in corner not even getting Cara or Aveus attention. He will wait for one of them to go to the out house or to their room.

[Tibbius]

As Zand arrives, Cara is belting out a song while Aveus sits next to her fumbling with his hands. Just as Zand takes his seat in a corner far from his companions, he hears a roar of laughter. Looking up, he sees that a big burly bearded man has leaped to his feet and is clutching his head with both hands. Closer look shows that the man is fumbling with a pair of big bear ears that have sprouted from his curly hair.

"Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me!" bellows the man.

Aveus needs to make a Magic roll to successfully vanish the ears. This is a one-shot roll.

[UselessBlob]

Aveus quickly realizes that that was a stupid move and tries to undo the ears, which would be a lot easier if the man would just hold still for a second.

Magic roll
[roll0]

[Tibbius]

The ears vanish from the burly man's head, which is a good thing, because it seemed like he was starting to cry. His table mates mostly are laughing at him, though one lays a hand on his arm and offers him a drink. People in the establishment begin to fling silver pennies toward Cara and Aveus.

Gain 1 Wealth ...
... do any of you have a trait or skill that would enable you to notice someone sneaky?

[UselessBlob]

Looking through everyone's sheets, not really. Scrying would be closest, but that would require active use of it, which hasn't been warranted.

[Tibbius]

ok - just roll 1d6 for each character please

[UselessBlob]

Sure thing.

[roll0]

[gryffydd65]

Cara [roll0]
Zand [roll1]

[Tibbius]

As she takes a deep breath before launching into her next song, Cara notices a rough-looking man with a stubbly face and a bald head. He has just stepped furtively through the door of the tavern and makes his way to a seat facing the door. He appears to be scanning the room.

[gryffydd65]

Cara Cara scans the crowd trying to find out what the other guy is looking for.

ZandZand sees that Cara is looking around. He try's to get a serving girl so he can tell her to talk to Cara.

[Tibbius]

does the bald guy notice Zand? yn: [2d6=2, 6] (https://orokos.com/roll/821090#)
does Zand notice the bald guy? yyn [3d6=2, 1, 1] (https://orokos.com/roll/821091#)

Following Cara's gaze, Zand sees a familiar face - the stubbly bald guy from the warehouse. He has his profile turned to Zand, who is seated further into the corner of the room. His attention is fixed on the door, apparently he hasn't considered that Zand might have gotten here first (presuming he's looking for Zand). But he is positioned so that Zand can't get up or leave without being noticed.

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand waits for a serving girl to get close and then asks her to cause a seen so he can move away from his hiding spot and meet her around the back.

[Tibbius]

"A scene!" shrieks the serving girl ... right in Zand's face. "A scene?! What ... do you think I'm an actress?"

Everyone in the place turns and looks, including the bald stubbly guy. He doesn't otherwise move, just smiles directly at Zand. He's missing a tooth. The smile becomes a savage sneer. He swings his legs around and leans back with his elbows on the table, very casual. I'm right here, says the bald man's posture. Can you get past me?

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand looks back at the guy and hopes Cara will see who he is looking at.

[Tibbius]

does Cara notice the bald man? (https://orokos.com/roll/822191): 1d6t5 0

Cara laughs at the waitress' antics, and elbows Aveus, pointing toward Zand. "He really pissed her off," she says.

[gryffydd65]

Zand try's to calm the woman down and with the last of his money orders a glass of wine.

[Tibbius]

As the waitress shakes her head and walks away, the bald stubble-faced man rises from his bench and swaggers over to Zand's table. Although he's not more than average height, he manages to loom over the forester.

"Mr. Black will want to see you," he says. "How about you get yourself up and come with me. Now."

From the stage, Cara watches with concern. The bald man's menacing posture is blatant from across the room. She urgently grabs Aveus' elbow: "Zand is in trouble. I think that job he was on went bad."

Aveus glances over. "Should I ... hmm. A sudden urgency of the bowels perhaps."

Cara turns a puzzled gaze upon the erstwhile apprentice court wizard. "What?"

Magic to loose the bald man's bowels (https://orokos.com/roll/824716): 2d6t5! 2 [2d6t5=6, 6]

Abruptly the bald man's attention flinches away from Zand to something inward. With a sudden groan he clutches his abdomen and shies away from the table, hastily waddling toward the door. He yanks it open wordlessly and half-sprints, half-stumbles out into the night.

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand seeing an opening gets up and walks toward the pair. "Come on, we need to move fast. " He heads to the door hoping they follow.

[Tibbius]

As Aveus and Cara follow Zand out the door, they hear a loud female voice: "Hey! Where's my share?!" Glancing back, Zand sees a very chesty dark-haired woman of moderate height, who is hastening toward them from the service bar.


Aveus scrounged up most of the coins when the crowd was throwing money. What does he do?

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand ushers the two outside. "Quick Aveus, give me some coins to give to the lass."

[Tibbius]

"No, I'll do it, you'll just confuse her," Aveus fussed. Pausing in the doorway, he dispensed a few coins to Dala Bosoms with a haughty smile. "Thank you for your aid, dear ... lady," he said. "We'll be going now."

Hastening away from the Paddling Duck across the night-time square, he hissed to Zand "What the hell did you bring us out in the wet for? There was a nice fire in there, decent wine, and a friendly crowd! What sort of trouble did you get us into?"


rain? [1d6] = 6 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=206997&macid=15263) yes

"Where are we going?" Cara asked plaintively. She wrapped her fancy green cloak more tightly around her shoulders. It already was beginning to get damp.

[Tibbius]

I'm going to take some time off from the forums. I expect to be back around August 1.

[gryffydd65]

Okay see you then

[Tibbius]

Back on line

[gryffydd65]

Zand Zand looked at the man. Disbelief in his eyes. "I work for the prince. Stay if you must, both of you but you have been seen with me and are considered my friend. "

[Tibbius]

"Fine!" huffed the junior wizard. "All good wishes to his Highness. Where is he?"

Cara interjected, "I too would like to know where we are going. And why?"

[gryffydd65]

Zand "We are meeting him down river. He has come onto some money and we need to leave now." Zand heads to the stream and heads upstream following the directions the prince gave him. He purposely told the others the wrong direction since it is night time and they should not notice.

[Tibbius]

It's slow and muddy walking in the dark and stinging droplets of the rain. Clouds cover the stars. The moon shows as a glowing orange patch of clouds that gives not a shadow's worth of light.

You follow the gradually rising path along the muddy bank of the stream until even clueless Aveus and Cara notice: "Hey, are you going the right way?" asks the courtly woman. "It seems like we've been climbing upward a little."

[gryffydd65]

"This is the right way. Just keep quiet, we don't want to get caught. " he kept on walking not caring if the others kept up.

[Tibbius]

After a while you begin to wonder whether you've missed the cave.

"Did his Mightiness say how far to go to meet him?" Aveus asks. You can't see his face but you can hear the sneer. The wizard has a feline attitude toward dampness.

"My feet are cold and wet," Cara complains. "I know this is no worse than when we were traveling here, but somehow it seems worse because we had the opportunity of a nice bed." Her voice sounds like she's pleading with you for something.

[gryffydd65]

Zand "You can leave any time you want, no one is putting a knife to your throat. He told me about where it is. It's hard to find in the dark and you to complaining about it , doesn't help. " Zand said hoping they would behave.

[Tibbius]

It's pretty dark now and it's pretty wet as well, and the prince's directions as you remember them seem both vague and inaccurate to the land you're traversing. You should have passed the big old bare-branched tree by now, it was supposed to be overhanging the trail so that you'd have to go off around it, just twenty minutes from town. You've been walking nearly twice that long. It can't be this much slower just because it's raining - can it?

At least Aveus and Cara are quiet now.

[gryffydd65]

The trio continued up stream. Zand was starting to get worried. "Look for shelter of any sort, we need to get out of the rain. "

[Tibbius]

Cara survival [1d6] = 1, Aveus survival [1d6] = 3 (http://unseenservant.com/default.asp?do=showone&id=208014&macid=0)

The two castle-dwellers do their best to look around but even in the darkness and now-heavy rain it's obvious they have no clue where to find shelter. It's up to Zand to guide the party into some place dry.


If you can't find dry and warm, you'll need to make an exposure roll (I'll roll for Aveus and Cara):
On any night you sleep in desert, mountains, rain, or snow, roll against Foraging or wilderness survival. Any success means you're fine. Failure means you lose one Toughness. A Blunder loses two Toughness. You can die from exposure. You gain an advantage if you have a tent.

[gryffydd65]

Zand looks around for shelter or even smoke to follow.
[roll0]

He hopes his luck changes.

[Tibbius]

Zand looks around for shelter or even smoke to follow.
[roll0]

He hopes his luck changes.


It might. He has Foraging, so he gets to roll 2d6 for these kind of tests. Does that help? [roll0]

If that doesn't work out, here are exposure rolls for [roll1] and [roll2].

Zand found shelter. Describe it.

[gryffydd65]

A shallow cut cave with low over hang poked through the rain. Zand motioned the group to it. " Huddle together for heat unless you know some spell to keep us warm."

[Tibbius]

Aveus chuckled. "Let's break some branches from that dead bush nearby, some of those look thick enough for a fire, do you think? I have a spell that should light even wet wood to a good blaze."

[roll0]

Within a dozen minutes a smoky but warming fire burns beneath the overhang, with rain occasionally sizzling and spitting on the glowing red branches. You begin to feel better. Eventually you doze.

The night passes restlessly. Before dawn the rain stops. The sunrise is warm over the ashes of the fire. Looking around, you see verdant bushes and grasses across the stream, a rocky slope above you. There is no sign of any other traveler here.

[gryffydd65]

Zand thinks back to the directions wondering if he took the wrong branch of the stream . "We need to figure out where we went wrong. The prince is expecting us to find him."

[Tibbius]

Cara pouts and rubs her eyes. Aveus yawns.

"We left town so fast, we didn't bring any food with us," the wizard grumbles.

[Tibbius]

I don't think I've asked yet - how do you feel about these rules?

[gryffydd65]

I like that weather elements play into it. The rules are fine.

Zand looks around. "I will try and spear some fish for us. See if you two can find fruit."

[Tibbius]

Zand using an arrow to spear fish (https://orokos.com/roll/837519): 2#1d6 1 6
Cara foraging for berries (https://orokos.com/roll/837520): 1d6 3
Aveus summoning breakfast (https://orokos.com/roll/837521): 2#1d6 4 2


As Zand used his worst-fletched arrow to spear fish from the stream, Cara wandered around unsuccessfully looking for berries and Aveus crouched scratching mystical sigils into the dirt with the tip of a small knife. After a while, Zand came back to the embers of the fire with three decent sized fish, Cara returned empty handed, and Aveus woefully settled onto his buttocks.

"I couldn't find any," Cara complained.

"It seems the spirits are not kind to our stomachs," Aveus grumbled.

"Thank you for spearing the fish!" said Cara.

You roasted the fish in the embers, then broke fast.

The sun rose as you ate and after a while your stomachs were content and your lips were greasy.

"I'll try to summon an image of the prince," said Aveus.

Aveus scrying the prince (https://orokos.com/roll/837524): 2#1d6 1 6

He walked down to the stream and cast sand into the water. Instead of sinking, it swirled to form an evanescent grainy image of a man walking, burdened by a heavy chest, along a muddy road.

"The prince is headed somewhere," said Aveus, "without us."

[gryffydd65]

"We need to finish up and find him. Let's stay near the water and continue following it. We need it for the food and water and for Aveus's gift." Zand says as he looks at the others.

[Tibbius]

"Which way should we go?" Cara asks plaintively. Her beauty is not diminished by her disheveled appearance.

[gryffydd65]

"We follow the river away from the town and hope to see a muddy road. Either that or you can give up and go back to the inn." Zand says looking at both of them.

[Tibbius]

"Eh," said Aveus, "are you sure he wants us to find him?" He shrugged. "No offense but I'd just as soon return to town ... well, maybe not Cawther, you and the prince seem to have made us unwelcome there ... but some town ... and start up my own wizard practice."

Cara smiled at the wizard. "I'm more of a town girl myself," she said. "Though I do think we owe the prince our company - if he'll have us."

[gryffydd65]

"We are free to go where we want. I owe my life to the prince, you two have your own stories. I can't ask you to stay but I will respect your decision. " Zand says to the others as he gathers his meager equipment.

[Tibbius]

"I'll travel with you until we find Cal Arath or another town," says Aveus solemnly.

"Also I will travel with the two of you!" Cara says brightly. "I know nobody else in these parts with whom I'd rather share my company."

[Tibbius]

I'm going to call a break here. PM if you're ever interested in picking back up.

[gryffydd65]

Ok sorry. Got in a car accident and haven't gotten back into the game.

[Tibbius]

Oh my gosh! I'm really sorry that you had an accident. I'm guessing you were not just ok from that ... is your recovery going alright?