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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fissionessence" data-source="post: 4800029" data-attributes="member: 63357">Okay, so it's been about a week or so since I played last. I left off having just been transported by Chersin to a dungeon that has yet to be described in any way. Chersin sent Rinian here for a reason, but we don't know why. I could roll to start finding out why, but Rinian doesn't know, so I don't either. I also don't know what this dungeon looks like . . . whereas Rinian does know. I'm tempted to roll to find out, but two things are stopping me. 1) I don't have a 'random dungeon theme' table to roll on; and 2) I don't need to know. As stuff happens in this dungeon, the description and setting of the dungeon itself will probably (hopefully) become apparent.One thing I do need to know is whether the room Rinian teleported into is empty. One thing I happened to find in the past week is the Random Dungeon Generation appendix of the AD&D DMG. Table V. F. will tell me 'Chamber or Room Contents', so I roll. Monster and treasure. Nice. I get my first battle, plus hopefully get rewarded for it (assuming I don't get killed; I still don't know how this solo combat is going to work out!) Now I need a way to find out what I'm fighting. This result will begin to 'color' the dungeon itself as well. I'll assume I'm going to be fighting in a standard encounter, which means for me right now 100xp worth of monster. That's one level 1 monster, or four level 1 minions. Actually, just to put a little random in the mix, I'll roll a d20 for encounter difficulty. Encounter difficulty (1d20)1-4: Easy (level -1)5-14: Standard (level)15-18: Tough (level +1)19-20: Difficult (level +2)And here we go. Tough. Okay, so I'm looking for a level 2 monster, four level 2 minions, or five level 1 minions. Or a level 1 monster and a level 1 minion. To make monster finding easier, I'll roll a d4 to pick one of the encounter builds I just listed. 4. A level 1 monster and a level 1 minion. In the future, I'll just manually create encounters based on what makes sense (or try), but right now I don't know anything about this dungeon so I'm making it as random as possible. I have access to the Monster Manual right now (MM2 is in the mail), plus Critter Caches 2-4. In those products, I see 13 level 1 non-minion monsters. I'll roll a d20 and throw out results above 13. 6. That would be the goblin blackblade. It now dawns on me that I could be using the DDI Compendium for more monsters, compiled from every WotC source. But, I don't feel like loading that up right now. I need a minion. I see four minions from the MM, but the kobold doesn't make sense with the other goblin, so I'll roll a d3 to decide between the remaining ones. 1. Decrepit skeleton. So there's a goblin blackblade with a decrepit skeleton. My dungeon is already starting to get a feel for it. I need a room, so I'll roll on table V of the Random Dungeon Generation appendix, Chambers and Rooms Shape and Size, plus the other tables it refers me to. Square, 10'x10'. That's a small room. 2 exits. Interesting. One exit is behind Rinian, and one is to his right. I think the assumption is that these exits are closed doors. Treasure is in a chest. Since Rinian can't see what the treasure is, I'll hold off on finding out what it is until he sees it. For now, it's time to start this fight in this super cramped room.First I'll ask a fate question: Do the goblin and/or skeleton notice Rinian as he enters the room? This seems very likely, though there's the possibility they're sleeping or something. Yes. However, my roll astoundingly also resulted in a random event. Wow. This is pretty intense, and we haven't even rolled initiative yet. Way to interrupt my combat. I need to roll an event focus. NPC positive. That means I need an NPC list to roll on. Mythic isn't totally clear on this, but it seems like I should limit my list to NPCs who are actually nearby, which isn't that many in this tiny 10'x10' room. It would be pretty awkward to have to work the ship's crew into this scene, if I rolled them for the third time in a row. Let's see . . .NPCs in the tiny dungeon room1) Goblin blackblade2) Decrepit skeleton3) Chersin4) Captain Tradaro5) Sea warlord6) Teunari, Chersin's masterSome of those could still turn out pretty awkward, but depending on the results of the random event, they could also serve to define this dungeon and why Rinian was sent here. Let's roll. Goblin blackblade. Eh. Okay, time for the event action and subject. Antagonize military. Something good happens to the goblin, which has to do with 'antagonize military'. I interpret this to mean that this goblin has been antagonized by his fellow goblins for being a weakling, and he sees Rinian's appearance before him as an opportunity to show his other goblin 'friends' how good a fighter he can be. Thus, he considers Rinian's appearance a positive random event. This also pretty much means that the goblin will immediately attack. Let's roll initiative.Rinian gets 13. Goblin blackblade gets 9. Decrepit skeleton gets 14. I'm a little confused about why this goblin and skeleton were in the same room together, and whether or not they're on the same side . . . but I think I'll just take it for what it's worth and assume Rinian will have to fight them both (maybe it's a goblin skeleton). Thus, the skeleton pulls out its short sword and attacks Rinian. Critical miss. Nice. Next is Rinian. Oh, at the start of the encounter, as a xax, I'm supposed to roll to pick a racial power. Fade away, the gnome power. That's intense, and perhaps perfect. We'll also assume he started in the Phase of the Moon, as it's his favorite phase as we talked about in one of the earlier sessions. This means his AC is 2 higher (15) in this tiny room with two foes. With his minor action, Rinian conjures his crescent blades—one as a dagger and the other as a parrying dagger, increasing his AC another point (16). With his sorcerer powers not being very good options here, he'll just swing his dagger at the skeleton who just attacked him. Critical miss. Nice.And then the goblin. All of its sneaky powers pretty much as useless as Rinian's sorcerer powers in these close quarters, the goblin blackblade just attacks with its short sword, hoping it can take the strange boy's head to his comrades. 8. Well that was a pretty action-packed round.The skeleton attacks again. 9. Rinian attacks the skeleton. 20. Finally a hit, and the minion skeleton crumbles! That's Rinian's first 25 experience points!The goblin snarls at the loss of his minion (hehe) and swings again. 8 again. Rinian attacks. 21. 7 damage. The goblin is down to 18. It attacks back. Critical miss. Okay . . . Rinian attacks. Critical miss. I'm not making this up. The goblin attacks back, desparate for victory. 8 AGAIN. Rinian gives it another shot. 13. Miss. Oh, and I just realized that since the skeleton's gone, Rinian's AC goes down 1 (15). Not that it's mattered. The skeleton attacks. 21! A hit. 6 damage, reducing Rinian to 18. They're tied! But, Rinian triggers his racial power for this encounter and fades away.  Having suddenly lost sight of his opponent, the goblin uses its minor action to try to perceive Rinian, with a 13. I'm not exactly sure how this should work, but Rinian's Dexterity is a 10, so I'd put the DC at 10, but penalize the goblin -5 for trying to find an invisible target. So, the goblin becomes utterly confused, possibly imagining that his foe disappeared as quickly as he arrived. (And a reasonable assumption that would be, so perhaps the unintelligent goblin doesn't quite make it that far.)On his turn, Rinian tries to open the door behind him with a minor action. Fate question: Is the door unlocked? 50/50. Yes. The goblin sees one of the room's doors inexplicably open. I need to go back to my Random Dungeon Generation tables now. Some rolls determine that the other side of the door is a 20'x20' room with a passage on the same wall as the door Rinian just opened. I won't roll to find out more about the passage yet, as Rinian can't see down it. The room is empty. Rinian will use his move action to go 6 squares into the room, just 2 squares from the back wall. With a straight shot at the goblin, and invisible, Rinian fires his blazing starfall at the goblin with combat advantage. 23 vs. Reflex. 10 radiant damage, reducing the goblin to 8; it's bloodied. If it leaves the burst area of blazing starfall (basically the tiny room), it will take 3 fire damage. I'll ask the fate table if the goblin is willing to risk its life as a final attempt to save face (yes), or try to escape (no). 50/50. Yes. The goblin charges, taking 3 damage (5). Critical hit (25). 8 damage, putting Rinian at 10—he's now bloodied and moves into the Phase of the Stars (AC now 14). Rinian uses storm walk to shift 1 square back and attack. 14 vs. Fortitude hits the goblin for 15 damage. The goblin's dead. In the heat of the moment, Rinian doesn't even consider not killing the foul creature. He's seen death in his time on board the Star Bearing, and having to fight for his life did not instill him with pity for the goblin.While I think checking the treasure seems like an automatic addendum to a D&D combat, I think that cinematically it would be a separate scene. Thus, the combat scene ends and I propose a new one: "Having been teleported to a mysterious dungeon and defeating a skeleton and goblin, Rinian opens the treasure chest to claim its contents." Oh, and the chaos definitely went up there. Chaos: ++ Let's roll to see if the proposed scene is altered. 4. That means we get an interrupt scene and I need to roll an event focus. PC positive. Great! As there's only one PC, that means Rinian. Action + Subject: Return [of] nature. And this is the hard part. Does Rinian's human nature return? I don't think that would be positive. I just went back and looked over my list of threads trying to find inspiration. This is kind of a stretch in terms of interpretation and non-random decision making, but what if: this dungeon is unnaturally cold, having something to do with (such as being underneath) the blizzard island and the sea warlord's place of slumber. With the nearby anchor destroyed—in the form of the skeleton—this area of the dungeon returns to its natural state: not quite so cold. This is a pretty radical jump, and it implies a lot about the dungeon. However, it's also somewhat firmly based on the context set so far. I'll ask the fate table if this is the case, giving it 50/50. The high chaos score actually improves the chance of a yes answer. And . . . No. Okay, so let's try this again.Does the skeleton's now-freed spirit (nature) return to thank and guide Rinian? 50/50 again. No. In retrospect, I don't think I should have rolled that one, as it wasn't nearly as much of a stretch as my first try. It seems somewhat logical, and doesn't imply or decide much else about the setting. I'm going to go with it despite my question turning up no. So, the skeleton's spirit comes to thank Rinian. Is it a goblin? Likely. Yes. Let's roll a personality from Instant Game. Reasonable. So, Rinian gets to learn some things about this dungeon from the goblin spirit. Does the goblin know anything about the sea warlord? 50/50. Exceptional yes. Does he know his name? Likely. Exceptional no. Perhaps that means the sea warlord has no name, or that it's so ancient that none know it. Did he serve the sea warlord? That is, do all these [hypothetical dungeon-dwelling] goblins serve him? Likely. Yes. Does he know the source of the warlord's power? 50/50. Yes. Oops, I forgot Rinian already knew the source as well: it's the constellation. Is this dungeon underneath the blizzard island? 50/50. No. Hm, well at least now I know for sure. I can't think of any more yes/no questions to ask the spirit. I can think of plenty non-yes/no questions, but as I wouldn't know how to answer them, I'll just assume that the spirit is ready to move on. Rinian thanks the goblin, who floats away to the afterlife.Now, for the treasure. That scene reduced our chaos to Chaos: +. Now I'll propose the same scene as before. "Having been teleported to a mysterious dungeon and defeating a skeleton and goblin, Rinian opens the treasure chest to claim its contents." And let's see if the scene is altered. 6. Another interrupt! Roll for focus: PC negative. Aw man, that means Rinian again. Action + subject: Travel [of] joy. Somehow, someone's travel of joy is negative for Rinian. The first logical thing I come up with is that someone sensed the treasure's guardians are no longer guarding it, so they travel joyously to retrieve it. This leaves Rinian in a position to either defend or abandon his find. Oh, that conversation with the goblin spirit should have been a short rest, so I'll spend some healing surges and move back into the Phase of the Moon. Two surges spent brings him up to 22 hit points.Now . . . there's more than one way I could deal with this situation, but I think I'll roll an encounter level, using the table I generated above. Standard level (level 1). Is this creature coming to claim the treasure a goblin? Likely. No. So, I'll roll to find out if this is one level 1 creature, or four level 1 minions. (1d2) One creature. I'll roll for a random sentient level 1 creature. (It should be sentient because it's purposefully coming to seek the treasure.) Halfling slinger. Somehow this halfling is aware of the treasure. Perhaps he is an adventurer wandering this dungeon, and he finds an empty room with a treasure chest. The halfling slinger has a +9 Stealth, so I'll assume he uses it. 21. This is well above Rinian's passive Perception of 9, so I doubt the xax boy notices the halfling sneaking into the other room. However, this is supposed to be a scene with the halfling, not an "all the sudden the treasure is gone" twist, so Rinian will have to catch the halfling.Rinian, having finished his conversation with the goblin spirit, casually walks to the smaller room to collect his treasure. He is shocked to find a halfling looting from the chest Rinian had already assumed would be his to plunder. I may as well roll a gender for this halfling (without the fate table, for minimal bias). Male. -- "Hey, I just killed a goblin and a skeleton for that treasure!" exclaims Rinian. -- Familiar with adventurer etiquette, Rinian knows that treasure should be his. And . . . it's my bed time again. I'll pick up here next time! * * * * *~ fissionessence</blockquote>

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