Pursuing the Exiled Prince - Game Thread

[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
Zand forages [1d6] = 1[1d6] = 3

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

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 Two successes = Zand gets two chances to shoot at game.
Zand shooting [1d6] = 2[1d6] = 1[1d6] = 3
Zand shooting [1d6] = 5[1d6] = 6[1d6] = 2
Cara foraging [1d6] = 1 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

During the night, it starts to rain.

clear? [1d6] = 5 [1d6] = 6

By morning, the rain has stopped. But everything including Zand and Cara gets wet.

Cara exposure [1d6] = 3

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]

(1d6)[3]
(1d6)[6] 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

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

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

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."