Saturday 26 July 2014

2 Thaumont 1000AC - Midwood to Rechyndyr

The morning dawned clear and cloudless with only a slight chill in the air as Broneslav left Midwood and turned his feet northwards. The day should see him easily reach Rechyndyr before nightfall which meant the prospect of a good meal and some entertainment before bed. He relished the prospect. Midwood, as its name implied was a small village in a clearing in the woods. The woods here were not as dense as the woods to the north-west where the Callarii Elves claimed their homes. They were easily cleared as the fields around Midwood showed but still provided plenty of timber for charcoal and construction. Broneslav followed the road through the shade of the trees.

About mid-morning he saw a creature ahead. He could not easily make it out in the dappled shade of the trees, so he strung his bow and sneaked forward. The creature did not move as he approached. Once he got a clear view of it, he realised it was a horse. It was still wearing its tack and was tied to a tree. Investigating further Broneslav spotted a shoe print in the mud near the horse, then a trail of them leading into the forest. Cautiously he followed the trail. The rain of the previous day ensured that the forest floor was muddy and that the trail was easy to follow. He could also be certain that the trail was fresh because the shoe prints were not clear and had not been washed away by the rain. A short while later Broneslav came upon a rather smelly and dirty woman grubbing in the dirt near the base of a tree. She did not appear to be a threat, so Broneslav returned his arrow to its quiver and stopped a short distance from her as was polite. He coughed.

Notes: I rolled a random encounter with a riding horse. Asking myself why it was there, I rolled the adventure encounter The Dubious Hermit and added a hermit of some description to the encounter. I then rolled her class and race (Level 3 Human Traladaran Cleric) and her attitude towards Broneslav. This was neutral but willing to parlay. Broneslav is not the type to hit first and ask questions later, so he approached the hermit peacefully. The hermit responded well. Dicing for what she was doing I got a result of looking for something. I decided to make it a plant that could be used for medicinal purposes. I don't know why she is looking for it yet, or what she plans to do with it. I'll probably bring that back in at a later date if it seems right.

"Hello," the woman said looking up smiling. Although dirty, she was quite well-dressed and had crows' feet at the corners of her eyes indicating that she smiled a lot. Her brown eyes twinkled.
"I've been digging for Pennyroot. I think I have enough now too."
She stashed the roots in a pouch on her belt.
"Which way are you heading?"
"Northwards," replied Broneslav and introduced himself.
"I'm Marta. I'm heading to New Chossum. Perhaps we could travel together. My horse is just over by the road."
Broneslav agreed to travel with her so they set off back on the road together. The rest of the journey was uneventful and Marta left on the side road to New Chossum shortly before midday. Broneslav reached Rechyndyr in the early evening and settled in for a relaxing night.

Broneslav's Journey Day 2
NPC: Marta (Human Cleric, L3, Herbalist 2, other traits undecided yet.12 hit points. Attack Bonus +2, Fray die 1d6. Staff (1d6) and leather armour (AC 7)).

4 comments:

  1. A nifty tale, thus far. You may have decided to do things differently for your game, but as an NPC, Marta actually doesn't have 12 HP- she just has the 3 hit dice a monster would have, and no fray die. Broneslav is a hero, and so he's quite remarkable compared to other characters, even those with class levels.

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    1. Thanks for looking at my humble efforts. You make a good point and one that I forgot when writing this up. I got carried away developing her as a character! So, I am now left with a number of questions. Why is she a Dubious Hermit? What is so dubious about her? Will she ever reappear? I originally diced a lot of this up and came up with a little story that might develop later. I also have an idea for how to link this encounter to the modules I wish to run, especially B6 The Veiled Society.

      Thinking about it, another option would be to run through the little story that I diced up and make it have nothing to do with Broneslav. Marta becomes the hero for one episode and it becomes part of the living history of this part of Mystara. I have always loved campaigns where the world away from the PCs is alive and things happen with or without the PCs, but can be affected by the PCs' actions.

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  2. I am just starting Scarlet Heroes campaign of my own, so researching for it I found your blog, and now I am wandering how come I did not started following you earlier.
    Great stuff so far.
    If you can, please join us on G+ community Line Wolf Roleplaying here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116965157741523529510

    Solo RPG community needs every good man :)

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    1. Thank you, Aleksandar. I'm slowly writing up the first episode for Marta's story, so I hope you enjoy that too. I've joined the G+ community and look forward to following what goes on there.

      Running a solo RPG is an interesting thing. I find that I am more GM than PC. I used to try running them as the character but came to a realisation with this latest attempt that approaching the game as if I were the GM works better and is more satisfying for me. I should write a post on solo gaming that deals with this in more detail.

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