[IC] Underdogs [a core dnd game]

[DEFCON 1]

Mogro looks down at the poor dog and feels a touch of sadness. Mogro and his family all love animals, and he knows his sister would be heartbroken should Borsta die. When Merga tells him to do something... he opens his mouth... but nothing comes out. He's not really sure what he can do.

He takes a second and realizes that while he can't help the pup... someone back at the grell probably can. He unhooks his cape and gently wraps Borsta up in it, then lightly lifts the dog up. He hears it whimper and Mogro does his best to try and calm him by quietly whispering to it. "It's okay Borsta... you'll be okay. We will get you fixed up... just hold on." (Handle Animal check if necessary/useful)

He then walks as quickly as he can without shaking the dog too much and tries to get back to the grell. Hopefully someone there has some healing skill.

 

[doghead]

ic - Underdogs

Borsta is in no position to object to Mogro's actions. Mogro has little difficulty gathering it up and heading back towards the meadow and from there the krel.

Assaq, however, has a much more difficult job on his hands. Especially without any great length of rope. The owl-bear must weight well over 1000 lb.s. Or, in other words, at least 6 or 7 times the weight of the ranger. Lifting it is out of the question. Even under ideal circumstances, dragging it the 50 to 60 feet to the nearest tree would be a nearly impossible challenge.

As Assaq considers the problem from different perspectives, Mogro and Merga emerge from the trees. Mogro is carry a bloodied, motionless Borsta in his cloak.

Merga hurries over to Assaq. "Borsta is badly hurt, but she is still alive. You have to help her.

"Please." Merga's gaze flickers to the where Assaq keeps the wand. She gives the young ranger a pleading look.

[sblock=ooc]covaithe. Characters may drag up to 5x their maximum load, or in Assaq's case, 875 lb. (5 x 175 lb.) I always wanted to use those rules. I know, its a bit sad.

Assaq can have some rope with him, but probably not 50 feet of it. If can think of a way to do, feel free to have a try.

DEFCON. There will be several at Mongro's Fall with some Healing ability. Feel free to make up who yourself. An uncle, his other sister, whatever takes your fancy. Then there is the Krel sharman, for the mother of all healers. But he will be further away.[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

Assaq stops his fruitless attempts to drag the enormous creature, wipes his bloody hands on the grass, looks at the girl, and sees the direction of her glance. He pulls out the wand, but does not use it yet. "This is not a toy. I do this, there's a price. You'll owe me. Yes?"

[sblock=ooc]Assuming she says yes, Assaq will use one charge to stabilize the dog. (leaving 48 charges) [/sblock]

 

[DEFCON 1]

Mogro nods at Assaq's response. "I will pay it. Will you need help with owlbear? I can go back home and saddle up Champion, then we can drag beast back to grell. He is a strong horse. He should have no problems dragging this." He nods to the dead creature, then he holds out Borsta to Assaq for healing.

 

[covaithe]

Assaq nods, and uses the wand to close the worst of the dog's wounds. "Yes. Bring the horse, some rope, and an axe. Merga, round up the goats. I'll help."

[sblock=ooc]I'm thinking a travois (picture) is the way to go.

Today's random bits of trivia, courtesy of Wikipedia, both of which I discovered as the result of this game:
* blood makes up about 7% of the body weight of a human.
* The French and Spanish words for "work" come from the Latin root "tripalium"; a kind of torture device.
[/sblock]

 

[DEFCON 1]

Mogro nods, then jogs home to gather the requisite items (horse, rope, axe etc.) If a cart or sled is available to borrow, he straps that to Champion then rides back out to where Assaq and Merga are.

"Got stuff. This owlbear sure is big. We did good!"

 

[doghead]

ic - Underdogs

Mogro returns eventually with his horse, some rope, an axe, a cart, and about half a dozen members of his Fall. The killing of an owl-bear is not an everyday event. With many hands the job of preparing the owl-bear to be taken back to the Fall is soon complete.

Meanwhile, Merga and Assaq have succeeded in rounding up all but three of the goats. No thanks to Assaq's wolf companion, who seems to take perverse delight in being in the wrong place at the wrong time and scaring the goats silly. Or sillier, depending on how you think of goats.

The procession of people, horse, goats and one dead owl-bear begin the journey down the narrow winding track back to the Fall. The journey is relatively uneventful, once Assaq sends his wolf packing.

Back at the Fall, they are met by a small crowd of people, all wanting to have a look at the creature, demanding to know the story and asking if everyone is all right.

Mogro's mother stands on the doorstep. One of the doorsteps.

"I count only 14 goats, but still two boys, one girl and a dog. For that I should be thankful I suppose."

 

[DEFCON 1]

At the sound of his mother's comment, Mogro smiles at her a bit embarrassed. "It was a surprised to all of us. One minute we are in field, next minute this creature comes out of trees. It is lucky we were all armed."

He walks past her and enters the house. "I need to write down what happened and send it to father. He will be glad to hear of this I think."

 

[doghead]

ic - Underdogs.

The rest of the day passes relatively quickly. Word of the fight with the owl-bear spreads around the krel. Various people seem to find reason to drop by the Bardican fall that day. They marvel at the size of the dead beast, and congratulate Mogro, Assaq and Merga on their courage, skill, luck, survival in various degrees. As dusk approaches, enough people are still floating around, or have lingered that an impromptu mote [1] is called. Food and drink are brought up from the cellars, and the kitchen hums with activity. The heavy smell of roasting meat, the sharp tang of pickles and warm fug of boiling broth drift through the fall.

Through the coarse of the evening people come and go, by the time things begin to wind down, a good proportion of the krel has passed through the Bardican fall.

The next day things return to something more akin to normal. The days chores need to be attended to, as well as a number from the day before put aside in order to make time to help with the preparations for the mote.

The day after that, new news ripples through the krel. Hussik has returned. The stories about his return vary in their details. But there are similarities to each - he was somewhat battered and worse for wear, carried neither his familiar longbow or axe. What none of the stories going around seem to agree on is what happened to him while he was gone. Some say goblin, others bandits. There is rumour of a troll, and the un-shriven dead are spoken of by some.

A naga [2] is called. As afternoon blends into evening, there is a slow drift of people towards the cauldron, a natural rock amphitheatre located near the centre of town that serves as the meeting place for the fall. As darkness falls, a circle of torches is lit around the centre of the cauldron. The light flickers and jumps in the slight breeze. The Elders congregate in the centre of the cauldron as is their right. The rest find them selves places around the sides. Hussik is one of the last to arrive. He arrives with Urdan, which explains where Hussik has been for most of the afternoon. Urdan, the krel shaman, is born by his great bear, as has more and more often as he grown frail.

[1] a feast or party.
[2] a formal gathering of the adults to discuss matters.

 

[covaithe]

Assaq spends most of the first day attempting to avoid questions about the fight, or, failing that, deflect them to Merga, who seems quite willing to repeat her increasingly lurid and exaggerated version of the events to anyone who will listen. He sees the fight as an isolated incident, dangerous to be sure, but not unheard of. When Hussik's return becomes known, he tries to discover what happened to the old hunter, whom he respects, but he is satisfied on discovering that Hussik is/has been with the old shaman.