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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mtdesing" data-source="post: 5539655" data-attributes="member: 80043">Judah’s Journals     The old man had been watching over me for several months since my return. He’d managed to nurse my strength back some. It had been a long winter nestled in that cabin, but he kept assuring me that it was okay to rest. I had needed it. We were camped but two leagues from where I needed to go, so I rested comfortably knowing my destination was near at hand.    Then the spiders came.    He returned late in the evening with his usual catch of several rabbits and an unusual addition – a length of remarkably strong spider’s web. They were nearby, several of them, and had been encroaching closer upon the cabin. The man scratched the stubble upon his chin and gestured towards his bow, “what say? We go after em?”    I thought for a moment. Though I was not the strength of older days, that which I was I was. “No. They have come for me. I will deal with them.”    I thought for another moment. Maybe two. “And then I will go. If they’ve trailed me here, I must head east and away from the girl. I will return later in the year, after I’m sure they no longer have my trail.”    He chuckled at me, “then your purpose will be to have no purpose? Your quest will be to have no quest? I thought you were a knight.”    “Sir?”    “You have no title, but you still have a knight in you. Many people need helping. I’d think you could do something about that.” He was already clearing the table and rinsing my bowl in the wash basin. His offhanded tone masked a flame beneath. He’d been thinking this for some time. I had been waiting for my strength to fully return. Perhaps he felt I had strength enough. I had for some time.    I rose. “Thank you for your many kindnesses. I will take my leave, sir. I will be forever grateful.”    He turned back to me and his smile showed something resembling pride. “I’ve simply done a kindness. I hope you’ll do likewise for others.”    I set out into the coming evening. I could have waited until morning, but we’d said our goodbyes. East was my goal.    But first, the spiders would have to be destroyed.     In Play     There’s really no way for Judah to know exactly how many spiders there are… it would be a stretch (no matter how I slice it) for him to be able to deduce the exact number. He just knows that when he finds the web, he’s killed them all; he’s tracking them backwards to their lair. We’re going to play the hunting and slaying of the spiders (there will be 3) as a single scene- so his resolve has to last him over the three spider encounters.     He’ll have to make three tracking (intuition due to nature application) rolls to find the spiders. The first will be DR 6 to find, the second DR 8, and the last one (in its web, hidden deep in the woods) DR 10. He could potentially burn his resolve just finding the spiders, so he’ll have to bank some as he goes.      Spider One     Judah makes his tracking attempt (DR 6) and rolls 5+3=8.     Journal  I was able to pick up the trail of the first spider quickly. They had clearly been closing in on the cabin over several nights, and the signs of their passage were many. Within the hour, I’d found where the first was lurking, hidden in the brush within half a mile of the cabin.      In Play  Judah will attempt to use stealth (which he doesn’t have) to sneak up on the spider. He gets to roll 2D unmodified, and the spider rolls intuition to resist. Lucky for Judah, the spider has no intuition! He rolls 5 and the spider rolls 8. So much for stealth! The referee rolls 1D for distance, and gets 5. At 50’ away, Judah knows that the spider knows that they both know that they’re both there. How was that for clarity?     It’s sequence time.     Judah rolls 1+3=4 and the spider rolls 5+0=5. The spider wins, and gets to go first.     Round 1  The spider acts first, moving 5 units towards Judah and attacking. Normally, it would be limited to 3 units, but its speed +3 allows it to travel up to 6 units. Since it moved its speed +2 units, it takes -2 to its attack action; the spider rolls to hit with its bite and gets 6+3-2=7; Judah rolls to evade and gets 6+2=8. Judah narrowly evades the spider’s mandibles. He brings his sword down upon the arachnid, rolling 12+4=16 (his best possible result without spending resolve). To evade, the spider rolls 5+3=8. Judah hits by +8; for damage, he rolls 11+8+8=27 wounds! This is about the best he could possibly hope for; in fact, with a very bad roll to soak, Judah has just one-shotted a 25 CP creature. The spider rolls and gets 6+0=6; the spider suffers 21 wounds, and is down to 4 wounds remaining. If Judah hits again, he’ll likely finish the creature.       Round 2  If the spider had resolve, it would start spending it like mad! As it is, it has to hope it gets really lucky. It bites again, rolling 9+3=12 to hit, and Judah rolls 7+2=9 to evade; the spider hits by +3. For damage, it rolls 2 (ick!)+3+3=8, and Judah rolls 7+4=11 to soak. Judah takes no damage. He wants to laugh at the spider’s futile attempts to harm him, but he decides to swing his sword instead! He rolls 9+4=13 to hit, and the spider rolls 6+3=9 to evade. Judah hits by +4. For damage, he rolls 10+8+4=22 wounds, and the spider soaks only 8… it suffers 14 wounds, bringing it to -10 and reducing it to a smear on the forest floor.     Since the spider was one level lower than Judah, he earns 2 XP for this challenge.</blockquote>

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