Torchbearer AP (session 4)

Players:
Charlie – Lorne the Guide
Max D – Gerald the Burglar

Leaving Town Rolls:
Lorne – Resources 1 – Ob 2 – Wealth Spent 3d – Success
Gerald – Resources 0 – Ob 1 – Wealth Spend 2d – Success

Adventure Phase Rolls:
Turn 1 – Gerald – Scout 2 – Ob 3 – Success (Tapped Nature 6)
Turn 2 – Lorne – Sneak Nature 5 – Versus Giant Centipede (Nature 4) – Success
Turn 3 – Gerald – Scavenger 2 – Ob 1 – Success
Turn 4 – Gerald – Scholar (Beginner’s Luck) – Ob 1 – Success
Turn 5 – Lorne – Sneak Nature 5 – Versus Giant Centipede (Nature 4) – Failure
Turn 6 – Lorne – Laborer 2 – Ob 2 – Success

Adventure Recap:

Hjordis gave Lorne and Gerald the location of the Abandoned Armory, which she received from Svana Goldnose
Lorne and Gerald arrived at the Armory. The larger door was sealed from the outside, with a large iron bar and some paint in the shape of a rune or glyph. Another door swung in the wind, open.
Lorne and Gerald lit candles, and proceeded through the open door. They investigated a room that had a fire-pit and three bedrolls. T1 – Scout Test. Gerald successfully found a hidden satchel behind a wooden shelf. It contained a partial map of the dungeon and a leather-bound journal embossed with a blazing sun.
Partial Map (From Dyson Logos)
Lorne read the last page in the Journal, it said that:
“…we are doing the good work of the lord, giving these men the burial rights now that they were denied in their day. All is well, except the workers keep insisting that something is watching them while they work. I told them it is just the rats, but they insist it is something else. I must keep vigilant.”
Lorne and Gerald explored the next room, it was an abandoned kitchen room with six large rats. The rats scurried out of sight from the candles.
They explored the adjoining room, it was a larder with eight human skeleton. Each skeleton was broken down into a pile of bones topped with the skull. Underneath each pile there were some chalk marks. The room also contained a small bag with chalk, incense, and candles.
They explored the next room, a long hallway filled with makeshift cots and abandoned skeletons. The dead looked as if they were sick and injured, and died from their wounds.
The party explored to the right, on the inside of the large exterior door, they saw 10 skeletons that looked as if they died while trying to get out through the main door. T2-Sneak Test. The party continued down the hall.
Further down the hall, the makeshift infirmary cots ended and rows of pews began. At the end of the hall, a bust of an old man oversaw the pews from atop a plinth. Around the bust stood six torchière, one had toppled over.
Gerald decided to take a rubbing of the inscription below the bust, as it was difficult to read and filled with soot and cobwebs. First, he needed to scavenge about for some charcoal or soot to blacken his paper. T3 – Scavenger Test
Gerald, with scavenged charcoal in hand, made quick work rubbing the inscription into a blank page in the journal he just found. T4- Scholar Test
Grind Advance
The candles went out. Lorne lit his lantern. Both adventurers ate a ration.
The adventurers decided to sneak back out of the armory and report back to town with the journal, map, and etching. The made a bit too much noise however, and stumbled upon a giant centipede. T5 – Sneaking Test
Lorne and Gerald ran from the beast, busting into a room that they had not yet opened. Lorne looked about for means of barring the door, and saw a heavy wooden chest. He lugged the chest over just in time, hearing the giant centipede busting against the door in protest. T6 – Laborer Test
Catching their breathe, the two adventurers heard gibbling whispers behind them, somewhere out of sight. “…lightssss…. noissssse… breathsssss… yessss… ssssssomeone has come to vissssit…”

End of Session

Character	Belief	Goal	Instinct	Other
Gerald	–	Persona	–	Teamworker
Lorne	–	Persona	–	MVP

Torchbearer AP (session 3)

Session Three (10/13/22)

Players:
Charlie – Lorne the Halfling Guide
Aaron – Ivy the Halfling Bounder
Max D – Gerald the Halfling Burglar
Joe – Varg the Magician

Plot Summary:

The adventurers began the session in the treasure room of the goblin tower, having just rescued Olrun from the three goblin raiders. They talked to Olrun and she told them that Krakki mentioned being paid to raid her steading, and that the reward was the location of an ancient armory from where the goblins would be able to raid the valley with impunity. She told the party that Krakki must have taken off to meet with whoever hired the goblins.

The party searched the room, finding two bags of copper and a very fine rug. They decided to try to take the rug back out the tower through the main door, instead of out through the collapsed tunnel.

Test One: Ivy – Laborer Ob 2 (beginner’s luck) – Lift the rug up the ladder (grind 4)
Result: Fail

None of the group had the laborer skill, but Ivy took the lead with a beginners luck test assisted by Lorne’s Peasant skill. Unfortunately, with the failed result their efforts took too long and were too loud. The four goblin guards that had been busy with the loosed animals returned to see the halflings stealing their treasure. Gerald decided to try to distract the goblins with a riddle.

Test Two: Gerald – Riddling Nature – versus test (Grind 5)
Result: Fail

The goblins initiated a fight, and the party decided to run for it.

Conflict One: Flee conflict
Conflict Captain: Ivy
Beginning Disposition: Party 7, Goblins 6
Ending Disposition: Party 2, Goblins 0

The party managed to escape the goblins, but lost the fine rug in the process. Varg and Ivy also got exhausted from the effort of dodging the goblins attacks. The party returned to Halla’s Steading, reuniting Olrun with her mother. The party were each paid with a silver pouch.

Camp at Olrun’s Steading

Check One: Recovery Roll – Ivy – Exhausted ob 3 – Fail
Check Two: Recovery Roll – Varg – Exhausted ob 3 – Fail
Instinct One: Hunting Roll – Lorne – ob 2 – succeed (caught a coney)
Instinct Two: Scavenger Roll – Gerald – ob 1 – succeed (gathered some barley grain)
Instinct Three: Cartographer Roll – Varg – ob 2 – succeed (Map the goblin tower)

Town Phase: Arrive at Sunnås

The random town event for Sunnås was a public execution, the execution was for Krakki and two of his goblin lieutenants. The high priestess Hjordis and Svana Goldnose were on the dais, Hjordis spoke of the evil acts the goblins had committed on the road, and praised Svana for bringing them to justice. Just before the gallows dropped them to their death, Krakki shouted “you betrayed us!”

The party followed Hjordis and Svana back to the temple of Freydis, where Varg confronted Svana and accused her of hiring the goblins to raid Halla’s Steading.

Test: Varg’s Demanding Nature vs. Svana Goldnose Manipulate 5
Result: Success

Svana rolled all wyrms, so Varg’s accusations caught her flat footed. She stumbled and didn’t know what to say. Halla and Olrun came into the temple, further accusing Svana of her malfeasance and Olrun claimed that Krakki said he was in league with Svana. Hjordis had Svana arrested on suspicious of treason. Hjordis thanked Varg and the party, giving them a free place to stay and telling them to come see her in the morning after she had a chance to question Svana.

Town Rolls

Recovery – Ivy automatically recovered from exhaustion from staying in Hjordis’ guest rooms

Ask Around – Circles ob 3 – Varg tried to identify the symbols on his bracelet, the last thing he had from being an orphan. At the temple, he asked a priest who told him that the symbols were from Gorm the Boneless, wizard of Svartårn. He said that was an unholy place and that Varg should get rid of the bracelet.

Find Someone – Circles ob 3 – Lorne looked for a fighting trainer, finding a fighter in the tavern. He trained with the fighter.

Something Else – Cooking ob 3 – Gerald cooked up a paella feast with the barley and fresh rabbit, preserving four fresh rations.

Tell Tales – Merrymaking ob 5 – Ivy tried to tell the story of home, finding the mayor dallying with the sherif, but she was laughed out of the room.

End of Session

Character	Belief	Goal	Instinct	Other
Varg	Fate	Persona	Fate	MVP
Gerald	Fate	Persona	–	Teamworker
Lorne	–	Persona	Fate	–
Ivy	–	Persona	Fate	–

Torchbearer AP (sessions 1 & 2)

Session One (9/29/22)

Players:
Charlie – Lorne the Halfling Guide
Aaron – Ivy the Halfling Bounder
Max D – Gerald the Halfling Burglar

I began the group with pre-gens, and after two of the players texted me with interest in halfling characters we decided it would be fun to play an all halfling session. I assumed that this was a session zero, and we would roll new characters at the end of it, but everyone loved the pre-gens enough to keep playing their character. We are using the Middarmark setting so there are lots of norse words to maneuver around and misspell viciously.

Plot Summary:

We began the campaign at a huldufolk (halfling) moot, celebrating the disablot (spring solstice). Three huldufolk villages had gathered for the occasion, since each of the three characters had a different hometown. Each town selected a representative to carry an offering to the neighboring city of Sunnås, in tribute to Freydis, so that the lady of sowing and reaping would bless the fields for a bountiful planting season.

Lorne loaded the party onto a small halfling skiff, and began the onerous task of poling his way up a tributary of the Dreik River. Before long, they saw an abandoned skiff – filled with barrels and tied up to the side of the river. As they neared the vessel, they heard screaming in the woods and saw a merchant and his two guards running from assailants. Five goatmen chased the humans out of the wood, with vicious spears and snarling teeth.

The party considered setting off with the skiff, but quickly changed course and helped the merchant flee the goatmen. A flee conflict ensued, with Lorne making the skiff ready to set off, and the others haranguing the goatmen with loosed arrows and sling bullets. The party rolled well, and won the conglict with a minor compromise – some of the skiff cargo was lost in the haste. The merchant rewarded the party for their efforts – 1d silver each.

Next, the party looked for a safe place to camp. Lorne failed in this, the soggy character found a narrow sodden beach where it was impossible to start a fire.

End of Session:
MVP – Gerald the Burglar
Workhorse – Lorne the Guide

Session Two (10/6/22)

Players:
Charlie – Lorne the Halfling Guide
Aaron – Ivy the Halfling Bounder
Max D – Gerald the Halfling Burglar
Joe – Varg the Magician

We had one more player join, I asked him if he was willing to play a magic user and gave him a list of options: Theurg, Magician, Sorcerer, or Shaman. Despite the joy of having an all-halfling party, I decided against giving him a Halfling option (although I recently re-watched Willow so I seriously considered allowing Halflings to be sorcerers). He chose the Magician.

Camp Phase:
During camp, Gerald scavenged around the camp for bait and Lorne used his check to go fishing.

Town Phase:
The group made their way up river with no further complications, arriving in the busy crossroads of Noke. Lorne asked a dock worker to keep his skiff safe for him, and Ivy asked around after her missing friend who was last seen with a group of dwarves. On trying to leave town, both character failed their resources rolls – Lorne was told that the docks couldn’t guarantee the safety of the skiff since he couldn’t afford the price of the warehouse and Ivy’s circles was reduced by one, since she couldn’t pay her bar tab after listening for rumors.

Rumors:

The town of Skogenby is full of stuck-up puritans, but the barrows are full of gold and will make a man rich enough to live comfortable.
On the road south of Sunnas, there was a rockslide that could’ve been the work of dwarves trying to excavate something.

Adventure Phase:
The party met Varg at the north exit of town, he offered his humble assistance as a magician for the road to Sunnås. The huldufolk accepted his company, warily. After a half-day journey, the party saw a signal fire shoot up from a steading beside the road. They discussed whether or not to help, and approach cautiously. From cover, they saw two helgeit depart from the steading – one with a kidnapped woman. They also saw two more helgeit in the livestock pen, leading a herd of animals roped together chaotically.

The party was too late to stop the assault, but approached the steading after hearing a woman’s cries of lament. They found a teenager slain (Bjorr), a father badly bludgeoned (Valbjorn), and a mother in morning (Halla). Ivy demanded Halla tell them what happened, and in the exchange Halla speculated that she believed the raiders came from the tower up the road, and further that the tax collected had been haranguing them for months. Halla swore she had coin buried and available to them, if the adventurers would only rescue her daughter (Olrun).

The party took off for the tower, seeking to rescue the girl. As they approached the tower stealthily, they saw Krakki and his retinue ride off from the tower. The party investigated the situation, seeing two guards in the ramparts and two guards in the animal pen. The magician used Aetheric Appendage to open the gate to the pen, and the animals seized upon the opportunity to flee. The guards followed, trying to herd them up – shouting for help from the ramparts.

The ramparts and guards chased the fleeing animals into the woods, terrified of Krakki’s wrath should they fail to recapture the stock. In the chaos, the party entered the tower and took stock of their surroundings. They heard the voices of three guards down below, and attempted to manipulate them into coming up the ladder to help recapture the animals. Unfortuntely, halflings can’t do a good job emulating the voice of a goblin – and the attempt raised the goblin’s suspicion. The goblins below grabbed Olrun and barricaded themselves in the treasure room.

Gerald and Ivy followed them with weapons drawn, barging in after the goblins and heartily slaying the three guards.

End of Session:
MVP – Gerald the Burglar
Workhorse – Ivy the Bounder

Area Map: