Friday, July 19, 2013

Flying Solo Part One: New Kid in Town

Below you'll find an example of my solitaire system (mentioned here) at work. The entire affair took me about 45 minutes from start to finish, and all in all I am pleased with the outcome. I'm still new to play reports,  so forgive me as I try to find my stride. All in all, I'm satisfied with the system, a few things need tweaking, as the process sits somewhere between game and writing prompt. I'll work on that later.





Dilven Kate, a sellsword and no account first level fighting man, arrives in the port town of Corrina after fleeing his home village due to a disagreement with the blacksmith over the blacksmith's wife. Sitting astride his trusty mule, "cow", Kate passes through the main gate to find 3 thugs ringing in a young man carrying a stack of parcels.

To even the odds, Kate dismounts and charges into combat. The thugs take insult to this, and respond in kind

(Combat begins, surprise is failed and since Kate has the high initiative, he goes first. Using Dwarf stats for armed thugs, as I want the setting to be more humanocentric.) 

The heat of combat carries Dilven safely through the first round, but his enthusiasm gets the best of him, and he fails to land any blows of his own. The second round, he sees a bit more luck. Felling one of the thugs, he narrowly dodges  a lethal blow, only to take a blade across his ribs.

Combat continues,  the two thugs fending off Dilven's blows until Dilven and one of the remaining thugs manage to land blows. The thug goes down, but Dilven is deeply wounded (1 HP remaining).  Dilven goes in for an attack, misses, and at this point the town guard arrive, Dilven and his foe are knocked unconscious, and when Dilven returns to the world, he's locked in a cell.

While Kate gathers his thoughts, the sound of booted feet catch his attention. An ebony skinned woman in leather armor stands outside his cell, her eyes the bright green of someone affected by a violent magical assault at some point. The woman introduces herself by coldly demanding to know just what Dilven thought he was doing, tearing up her city in the middle of the day.

Offended, Kate goes on a rant, explaining himself. With a lucky roll under his Charisma, he manages to improve Guard Captain Challino's attitude, and rather than leave him to rot in his cell,the captain of the guard has him released into her custody. Kate is offered a choice, stay in jail, or help the guard. He wisely chooses to help.

The mission, as Challino explains it, is to lure out one Galdkal Mikinillo, a cutpurse and racket man in Old Town that has, to date, avoided the long arm of the law. to remain in Challino's good graces, Dilven need only lure Minillo out where the guard can nab him. Eager to save his skin, Kate sets out for Old Town, to a cheap dive that serves as a known lair for Minillo.

At the front, Dilven is turned away by a mountain of a man. The brute doesn't seem offended by Dilven's attempts to enter, but warns him away in a good natured, businesslike manner.  A shrug, and Kate makes for the rear entrance.

In the hustle and bustle of the kitchen, Dilven manages to bluff his way through relatively unnoticed, taking a platter of food and heading into the tavern proper in search of his target. Mikinillo is found, but unfortunately for Kate, his con-job fails. A brawl breaks out, and after clonking Mikinillo with the platter Kate heads through a window. Unfortunately for Kate, the guard are swarming the hideout, and Mikinillo manages to elude justice yet again.

Challino, less than amused, sentences Dilven to a month in the jail.





4 comments:

  1. It's tough being the new guy in town. Thanks for dropping by! I look forward to posting more of his (mis)adventures

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  2. I'm not normally a fan of actual play reports, but you held my attention with this one. Looking forward to further installments of Dilven's Dilemmas.

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  3. Interesting, I look forward to hearing more of the adventures.

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