A Monk, a Wizard, and a Swordmage Walk into a Fallcrest; a 4e Story Now game

[hawkeyefan]

Vorn watches as the kids get ready to depart. He considers what to say to them… some wisdom he can impart to help them walk the straight and narrow. Some of them are awfully young… as young as he was when he lost his family. Younger, even.

He remembers his own lost days… not knowing where his next meal was coming from, wondering where he’d sleep. Asking no one why the world… the gods… could be so cruel. He was lucky… he’d been found by Brother Halfpenny. The kind old monk had taken young Vorn in, provided for him. Guided him. Saved him.

He thought about all this as the would be bandits gathered and stared at him. All the lessons Brother Halfpenny taught him. All the wisdom he had shared. All the precious time the monk had spent with him. Vorn looked down at their dirty, expectant faces.

These kids were not as lucky as he had been. They did not have Brother Halfpenny to take them in and show them the way.

They had him.

“If you go back to banditry, I’ll kill you,” he said flatly. “Don’t make me do that.”

Before any could respond, he nodded once and then tossed another purse to Nyx. Then he turned and walked away.

Perhaps if he’d had more time with them, he could have been as thoughtful or as delicate as Brother Halfpenny. But that wasn’t to be. All he had was the purse and this moment to help them.

So he made the most of it.

 

[Manbearcat]

XP/LOOT

* 1200/3 = 400 xp apiece.

* Starn gains 1 Alchemical Formula of level 8 or lower (takes Sovereign Glue formula).

* Amongst the ancient fortification's ruins, Starn finds an engineering schematic detailing just the sort of Living Construct Alchemical Shooter that he has been pondering. Now he just needs to locate and/or purchase the widgets, anchors, and alchemical components to project and build out a Ranged 10 Recharge 5/6 Attack for Rooter.

---

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
1/8 Successes/0 Failures/2 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted:

* Mark provisions x 2 for all party members @AbdulAlhazred @Grendel_Khan @hawkeyefan .

After multiple interventions on the road to their ultimate destination, the heroes wake with relatively full hearts and fed bellies.

Their current day is going to take them up the overgrown trail that they've already half-charted, onward to the precipice of The Nameless Wood (very much uncharted). The bottom of the sun's corona tickles the horizon as it drifts slowly vertically. The camp is broken down.

Hat Eater seems pleased with himself and his morning of apples as the big, beefy horse trots along with Nimozaran on his back...the old Wizard who seems to talk to himself in a tongue that should defy a mortal's mind and mouth surmounting its oddities. He switches in and out of common and this alien tongue in what appears to be a back-and-forth with the big horse. Hat Eater snorts, nickers, and neighs now and again, seemingly in response...but who knows really?

That is, until those near take notice that Nimozaran has taken to scrawling strange symbols and diagrams not just on the frozen topsoil or rockface...but on his very flesh. The strange wizard pulls up both of his sleeves, revealing his "artwork" and begins to trace his markings as he seems to castigate Hat Eater in this impossible language.

The skin-marks glow. They shift. They writhe... (2)

Hat Eater has seemingly had enough. He rears and bucks, threatening to throw Nimozaran to the ground in what could be a crippling fall. (1)

---

2 x obstacles here (the bolded) that need to be dealt with in the numerical order above. If you fail at (1), stay right there as I need to change the situation adversely and mete out consequence. If you succeed, then proceed to 2).

What do you do? MEDIUM DC (1), HARD DC (2).

 

[Grendel_Khan]

LIEF moves to the horse, stepping fast but light, and speaks in Primordial. "Please! Please. Get a hold of yourself. This moronic old thing can't hurt you. You can hurt him, anytime you want. Have some self-respect. He fears you, not the other way around, wouldn't you agree?"

He grabs Hat Eater's mane with one hand—not rough, but firm—and strokes his neck with the other. Lief shoots a look at Starn. "Can you get your man under control, or should we drop him off somewhere?"

-----------------------------
Intent: Calm Hat Eater enough that he doesn't throw Nimo.

Primary: Nature, r(9)+8 = 17 vs. Medium DC (17). Success.
-----------------------------


STARN instinctively understands that the magical situation is potentially catastrophic and needs to be stabilized immediately lest some sort of malignant and irreversible transformation take place. He tosses the horse's lead to Lief, and pulls out his Dispelling Tome, flipping it to the section which describes the Dispel Magic power and uses it to disrupt whatever is going on.

-----------------------------
Intent: Disrupt the magic being done to or by Nimozaran.

Primary: Use Dispel Magic power, consuming a Daily slot, granting one success vs. Medium DC for the SC. Arcana w/+2 for Dispelling Tome, r(11)+17+2 = 29 vs. Hard DC (25). Success.
-----------------------------

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THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
4/8 Successes/0 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana

 

[Manbearcat]

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
4/8 Successes/0 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana

* Note: extra success at Medium DC granted for Dispel Magic Daily deployment which locks into the fictional positioning of the situation.

The sun is still a few hours from dusk when the intrepid heroes and their stalwart, hat-eating steed arrive under the unsettling boughs of The Nameless Wood. Several paces in and the torchbearer's torch quenches suddenly from a cold, southerly gale that traverses the track northward through the forest. Disturbingly, the foliage is untouched by this whistling wind. The boughs above seem to press against each other like a collection of faithful clasping hands in intimate communion around a near-death loved one. Though, instead of sending a loved one to the bosom of a god in the afterlife, this flora seems hell-bent on preventing any and all light from penetrating the folds of its domain...

and so it does...the darkness is nearly complete despite the hour.

<SMASH CUT TO VORN'S INTERNALIZATIONS> Vorn needs to be present. A Ranger must lead the way in such occasions...must guide their charges through the terrestrial morass intent on barring the way, delivering hopelessness or physical injury.

But Vorn can't help but be distracted by his final exchange with those child-bandits. Why does his mind suddenly wander back to this perpetually? Is this simply a mundane haunted mind driven to distraction...or is this a real haunting...something else attempting to subvert his attention, acumen, focus, when Vorn, and his charges, most desperately needs it?

---

MEDIUM DC @hawkeyefan . Is this mundane or a true haunting from the forest? How does Vorn surmount it?

 

[hawkeyefan]

Vorn realizes that the feelings he's having are not some malevolent outside influence... they're simply manifestations of his own shame and doubt. He imagines what would have happened if Brother Halfpenny had simply left him with a threat and some coin. He'd never have made it.

This gnaws at him. He thinks about recent days... how easily he's taken life. When necessary, yes, but still... killing has become easy to him. Should he not do more than simply kill the wicked? Is that all Brother Halfpenny imagined for him?

It's not, he realizes. And that's the problem.

He wants to do more for these kids. Make sure that they stay on the right path. And maybe even accomplish more than that. Maybe they can be a force for good in the world. He feels like he's failing both his mentor and these kids if all he does is threaten them to stay straight.

He realizes he needs to do something more. And he resolves that he will. He'll figure out what, and when he returns to Fallcrest, he will seek out Nyx and the others... and he will do more for them.

______

Intent: Examine his own thoughts and feelings about the child bandits and his own past, and determine what is causing this unease.

Primary: Insight vs. Medium DC 17- r(16) + 7 = 23. SUCCESS.
______

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
5/8 Successes/0 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana, Insight

 

[Manbearcat]

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
5/8 Successes/0 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana, Insight

The canopy of the forest relents, allowing the heroes (Hat Eater included!) to bask in the fading rays of a duskward-headed sun.

The snaking, frigid wind bites at the guttering torch-flame no more.

Light and warmth, flagging though they might be...inward and outward, prevails.

However, when the sun dips below the horizon in full, the real shape of cold and dark sets in a few hours into their trek through the trackless wilderness of The Nameless Wood. The crunch of Hat Eater's ample hooves on fallen pine needles sounds terrifically loud. Raw nerves make the vanguard flame feel like a betrayer of position rather than a deliverer from the dark.

Hat Eater again snorts and chuffs...but this time not in odd conversation with his tormented rider. His movements are staggered...labored...

...but not to fatigue or malaise.

He stamps and kicks and strains his great legs. The light spills downward as Nimozaran appraises. "I do believe we are under attack?"

Vines constrict the feet of Hat Eater as several diminutive plant-humanoid...creature...things stare out from within the pine's bosoms around you. One such creature, seemingly a swarm of animated twigs with thorns-a-drip-with-venom, cascades slowly toward your position.

---

What do you do? Do you attempt parley with these plant-people/creatures? This will eat up the HARD DC in a nested parley that will be high level Complexity 1 (Level 12, DCs 14/20, 4 successes before 3 failures, 1 SS)? Macro failure in that conflict will yield a very difficult combat where you'll be severely outnumbered.

Do you make a run for it (HARD DC GROUP CHECK INCLUDING HAT EATER +16; 2/4 MUST SUCCEED)?

Do you sieze the advantage without their numbers reinforced (MEDIUM COMBAT EATING UP A MEDIUM DC)?

Something else?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Starn looks over at Vorn and then to Lief, both of whom indicate "let's get the heck out of here!" and Starn himself could not agree more! He quickly makes a couple of arcane passes and suddenly the area of woods and undergrowth from which the strange fey creatures seem to be issuing fills with billowing clouds of a vile stinking green gas.

As soon as this happens, the strange creatures begin to stagger in various directions, coughing, or wilting as befits their nature. "Quick! Lets get out of here, that will only hold them off for a short time."

Hat Eater snorts and tears free of the vines which were tangling his hooves, and leaps ahead, with Starn hard-pressed to keep hold of his lead and almost being yanked from his feet. Vorn and Lief move with equal alacrity, slicing stray creepers with their blades as the group manages to flee on down the path.

Starn expends a level 5 Daily power, Stinking Cloud, gaining an auto-success and overcoming the obstacle.

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
6/8 Successes/0 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana, Insight

 

[Manbearcat]

<To the players...obviously>
Alright, we're at nightfall, fellas. However, we're still in The Nameless Wood. You guys need to make camp. This is not for an Extended Rest recharge, just a test outside of this Journey conflict framework to avoid privation (get some sleep and consume provisions etc); so DCs, successes/failures, secondary skills, exhausts, etc of the current conflict framework do not apply.

Its going to be dangerous making camp here in The Nameless Wood. It'll be a Nature HARD DC (24- of level). Someone can Aid it (DC 10 +1/2 level = 14) for +2 on success or -1 on failure. Or you guys can all pitch in and Group Move it vs a stepped down MEDIUM DC (16 - level) w/ 2/3 PCs needing success. Success and you guys have made camp and avoided privation. Failure and you make camp, but something goes bump-in-the-night. Someone on watch (your pick) makes Perception vs DC 16. Success and you rouse the group and you're good to go. Failure and everyone takes -2 initiative.

Alternatively:

* You can push on for another 6 hours and make camp outside of the forest well into the night. Group Endurance MEDIUM DC (16), throttled back to EASY DC (12) for the three of you. 2/3 succeed and you've left The Nameless Wood behind you and you're fine. Fail and you've left The Nameless Wood behind you, but everyone gets hit with:

Journey Privation
Stage 0: The target recovers from the disease.
Stage 1: While affected by stage 1, the target takes a -1 penalty to defenses and skill checks.
Stage 2: While affected by stage 2, the target takes a -2 penalty to defenses and skill checks.
Stage 3: The target is slowed
Check: At the end of each extended rest, the target makes an Endurance check.
Lower than Easy DC: The stage of the disease increases by one.
Easy DC: No Change
Moderate DC: The stage of the disease decreases by one.

---

Player consensus is push on, and camp out of the haunted forest. Group Endurance MEDIUM DC (16), throttled back to EASY DC (12) due to 3 x PCs. 2/3 succeed and you've left The Nameless Wood behind you and you're fine.

* Lief r(4)+6 = 10. TRIGGERS LUCKY CHARM NECK DAILY; r(4) = 14 total. Success x 1.

* Starn r(2)+7 = 9. TRIGGERS LUCKY CHARM NECK DAILY; r(5) = 14 total. Success x 2.

PCs push on and succeed.

Vignette per @AbdulAlhazred
As dark falls the four travellers increase their pace and press forward without a word. Nobody wishes to spend the night in this place! Later, Vorn, who is normally in the lead, drops back a bit to investigate some suspicious noises. Starn and Lief continue forward with Hat Eater. Seconds later a crash roar, as a great chestnut tree, its trunk a meter in diameter, comes crashing down into the road! Luckily the horse leaps forward at the first creak of wood. Starn is yanked out of the way, and Lief sent sprawling. The tree trunk, large enough to crush them all, lies inches from Lief's head and Nimozaran barely avoids being hit by a large branch.

Seconds later Vorn leaps atop the trunk, scanning the area for enemies, but only a few strange hoots are heard.

---

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
6/8 Successes/0 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana, Insight

Happy to be out of the haunted forest, a cold camp in the thorny bush between The Nameless Wood and the Ruins of Fastormel is a welcome respite. The morning brings the customary cold, dry blue of these lands with a clear sky and a gentle breeze.

* Mark provisions for the 3 x PCs and Nimozaran.

The camp is broken down, Starn leads Hat Eater through the brush with his teacher upon the mighty horse, Lief details and scouts as the rearguard while the ranger trailblazes ahead.

Late morning, Vorn realizes what happens when the perilous wilds are untraversed for nearly a century. Maps and reconnoitering fail to account for the evolved dynamics of a place. The tall grass of these wilds entail worse than thorny briars and cover for predators. There is a rare invasive magical flora that overwhelms this area if the beasts that consume it aren't present or there isn't a planned burn every year; Fulgarbloom.

The predatorial flowers are golden stalks which spawn huge, lightning-imbued blooms when prey draws near. A huge colony of them arc lightning all across a massive patch, felling human-sized prey with ease. The Fulgarbloom petals then "lap up" the goo left behind by their handiwork.

Grizzly stuff.

Vorn, many meters ahead of his allies who are safely behind him, finds himself on the very boundary of such a patch...he can see the blooms rising up everywhere in front of him like prairie dogs. One such bloom sprouts_right_next to him.

---

What do you do? MEDIUM DC.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Vorn looks down at the blooming stalk next to him, and realizes the danger he's in. One wrong move could set off the entire patch. He's at the edge, but that doesn't mean he's safe.

He holds up a hand and clenches his fist, indicating to Starn and Lief that they should halt. He then slowly and gently lifts one foot, and steps back as carefully as he can. It usually takes a good jostle trigger Fulgarbloom, but not always.

Once he's at a safe distance, he motions Starn and Lief over to him. He explains the situation, and let's them know he'll scout out a path. "The last thing we need is Hat Eater tossing Nimozaran into a patch of this stuff." He sets off to plot a safe course.

It doesn't take long for him to find the edges of the Fulgarbloom patch. The stuff is deadliest at its center, where several blooms gather, rather than at its fringe, where the blooms are more solitary. He moves cautiously, noticing when the blooms react, and slowly maps out the edge of the patch, planting an arrow in the ground every few yards at a safe distance.

He then heads back to the gather the group so they can press on together.

_____

Intent: To move carefully away from the Fulgarbloom without triggering its lightning.

Secondary: Stealth r(18) + 15 = 33 vs Easy DC 12. SUCCESS.

Intent: To find a safe path through the area that won't risk triggering the Fulgarbloom.

Primary: Perception r(10) + 12 + 2 = 24 vs Medium DC 17. SUCCESS.
_____

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
7/8 Successes/0 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/1 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana, Insight, Perception

 

[Manbearcat]

THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN: Complexity 3 SC, Level 9 (DCs 12/17/25)
Goal: Journey to ruined Fastormel.
7/8 Successes/0 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/2 Secondary Skills Available/1 Advantages Available/Primary Skills Exhausted: Nature, Arcana, Insight, Perception

For the next several hours as the group slowly ascends an endless escarpment of long grass toward their destination, the legs and backs of our trekkers inevitably begin barking from the tremendous hike. Sore bodies often send minds turning inward and such is the case here.

At the rearguard, Lief sees his totemic ally unburdened by mundane, corporeal biology. The spirit stag just moves...ever forward...unchanging in disposition. Perhaps...too unchanging?

The intent of the journey away from Fallcrest and The Septarch's Tower was to alleviate Nimozaran's magical fugue...affliction...whatever. Curiously, however, his "episodes" have grown increasingly frequent as the group has set out from Fallcrest and grown nearer to The Ruins of Fastormel.

He sits atop Hat Eater, as ever, subtly shifting...words escaping from a seemingly addled mind, emerging upon lips in a tongue indecipherable.

The stag watches. It fixates. It knows something a mortal mind cannot grasp? A secret? The future?

A prismatic portal, barely discernible, opens next to the totemic ally. A wind blows...something is coming through. Lief has seen this before back in the days of his clan when shaman called forth aid from "The Land Beyond"...The Spirit Realm in the nomenclature of Nentir Vale's other tribes (cityfolk and nomadic alike); the domain of primal spirits...and Great Elders.

What comes through here is a threat to Nimozaran no doubt...or at least what possesses him...but perhaps there is no difference when all is said and done?

---

What do you do Lief? MEDIUM DC.