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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8712297" data-attributes="member: 70468">“<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/describe-your-last-rpg-session-in-5-words.679952/post-8712285" target="_blank">Medusa — it’s what’s for dinner</a>”But not the PCs’ dinner!We started last session with the PCs’ having arrived back at their manor. They checked in on construction and learned about the last of the three threats in the hex they have to take care of if they want to clear it. Those threats: a pair of gorgons (both in the D&D and in the classical sense, a warp beast, and a stirge nest). It was late, so they retired for the evening. In the morning, they awoke to news that an elven man had arrived overnight.The man was a merchant who had been traveling to the south when he saw a fin slicing through the dirt. Not wanting to be dinner* himself, he abandoned his camp and headed for the PCs’ manor. While it’s not really a functional settlement yet, it’s been used as a meeting place for years, and it’s known that people are occupying it more permanently now. I’m not exactly sure what he expected them to do though because bulettes are nasty†.While the PCs are being apprised of the situation, they heart shouts coming from their guards. The fin had been sighted! It was about a hundred yards off from the settlement to the south. The cleric and the captain of the guard started mustering their small guard force (they only have twelve guards so far). In the meantime, the barbarian had a crazy idea. She was going to get on a horse with a ton of meat on it, and try to lead the bulette away from the settlement.While it aims for compatibility with B/X for monsters and adventures, I use 3d6 and conflict resolution in almost all other situations. You can also sacrifice things to add more dice to the roll. In this case, the barbarian was sacrificing a bunch of their supplies, so she got +2d6 on top of the +3d6 she got to ride out.The barbarian rolled Convince (INT) to see if the land shark would take the bait. Convince is used for influencing others to do what you want, particularly if you have something they want (food in this case). We went with INT because the approach was in how she executed the plan. The barbarian rolled quite well (20+ with a target of 15+ for a complete success), so her plan succeeded. The bulette was following her after she took off and cut the meat loose.After that, she got the idea to lead the bulette to the statue garden where the gorgons resided. It’s about an hour west of their manor on foot, which is not very far on horseback. The bulette is faster on land, but it prefers to stay burrowed until it attacks. Due to her prior success, it was following her. The barbarian just needed to find where she wanted to go without using a map, which is Survive (WIS).The barbarian got a 12, which is a partial success (10–14). She was going to get what she wanted (she’d make it to the statue garden), but I needed to add a complication. I decided the “robed figure” (the medusa) would be out in the garden along with the gorgon. I asked the barbarian how she was approaching the garden, and the player indicated she was staying focus on riding — meaning there wasn’t a risk she might accidentally look at the medusa.The barbarian blew through the garden, and all she heard behind her was swearing in a language she didn’t understand as the bulette succeeded at its Fortitude (CON) saving throw to avoid petrification and then lept on the poor medusa. It hit with all its attacks, and four times 3d6 does way more damage than 18hp. Even if I had rolled the medusa’s hit points, she stood no chance because I got 36 damage from the bulette.So the barbarian took care of one of the threats in their hex with a clever tactic, and the medusa is what was for dinner (well, breakfast, but I don’t think land sharks care all that much about when it’s meal time).[HR][/HR]* Homebrew setting, so my elven aren’t quite the same as traditional elves, and land sharks aren’t quite as picky about what they eat.† My homebrew system uses B/X for its bestiary with a fair degree of compatibility. The bulette is actually from OSE Advanced, so I can’t link it, but it’s nasty. 9 HD and four attacks that deal 3d6 each if it leaps on you.</blockquote>

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