Adventures in the Green: Biggz Troop – Session 21

[Examining the loot at the end of Yule Day, then a busy night of visitations.]

[This game uses Adventures in the Green, a RPG based on the original rules for the world’s most popular roleplaying game. These rules are under development with Draft C available here. Game sessions happen an average of once a month. This session happened June 12, 2021.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC (Chartered Adventuring Company):

Biggz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – gender neutral goblin Family Priest (6th level Cleric)

Porkins – male human Conjuror (6th level Magic-User)

Tiny – male minotaur Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Tor Wind – male human Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Mannin Darkshield – male dwarf Robber (4th level Thief)

Kunigunde Gruber – NPC female goblin Footpad/Petitioner (3rd level Thief/2nd level Cleric)

Hirelings:

Larn the Linkboy – male human hireling linkboy

Isidoros of Delphis – male Tolk hireling translator [specifically, German to Mü]

Deniska – female human hireling bodyguard [for Larn]

Ivan – male human hireling bodyguard [for Larn]

Bernagi – male human hireling bodyguard [for Isidoros]

Hardkira – male human hireling bodyguard [for Isidoros]

Sunday, December 25, 523rd year of the Empire

Before Sunset

Porkins took sips of the various potions the adventurers took from the last batch of gnoles they defeated. [So in OD&D, Magic-Users were assumed to be able to identify potions by taste and a small sip was all that was necessary. This continues in Adventures in the Green.] Porkins identified them as:

Diminution
Clairvoyance
Invulnerability
Healing
Polymorph Self

Porkins next investigated the magic swords. He carefully used his cloak to avoid touching the swords directly while examining them. One of the swords had its name inscribed on the hilt crosspiece: Whisperminder. The second sword had a picto-glyph at the base of the blade. The glyph was a demon head being hit by a sword, making this sword Demonthumper, a holy blade of some renown Porkins once read about. The third sword had no obvious marks on it but detected as magic, leaving Porkins at a loss to identify it.

Porkins next touched the blades to get an idea of what their alignments might be. He knew by reputation that Demonthumper would be a Lawful blade, so he did not need to touch it. When he touched Whisperminder, he took damage, meaning the sword was either Lawful or Chaotic. When he touched the third sword, he was again damaged but then the sword started talking in Italian! Of the group there, only Deniska the hireling guard spoke Italian. After listening to the sword go on for a bit, she told Porkins its name was Tempesta Oscura. Porkins made note of the sword’s name and put it into the loot sack.

Porkins told Tiny he should be able to pick up Demonthumper and use it. Tiny picked it up and felt the sword’s emotions rapidly play out, settling upon sullen acceptance of its new user.

The Potion of Invulnerability was assigned to Tor by party agreement.

At this point Porkins divested himself of his gear and allowed Tiny and Tor to use the silver cord and three-foot chain and horseshoes [bent closed like manacles by Tiny] to tie him up. Tor scattered a handful of silver coins down Porkins’ shirt, which started itching immediately. Biggz and Kunigunde returned from their trip to town at this point. Biggz checked the restraints to verify they were good.

When the moon rose, Porkins transformed into a wererat and started struggling to get free.

First Watch

Tor and Kunigunde were on first watch [although most of the party was still awake], keeping an eye out for danger and to keep Porkins escaping as a wererat. Despite the full moon, they missed the arrival of a pack of gargoyles on wing. Two of the gargoyles attacked Tor and two attacked Kunigunde. The two attacking Tor failed to land a telling blow on him, but one of the gargoyles on Kunigunde hit her under the armpit with its claws and drew major amounts of blood [it rolled a critical hit for maximum damage].

Kunigunde immediately used her Staff of Healing upon herself, repairing most of the damage. She then disengaged from the gargoyles attacking her while calling out for the rest of the adventurers. Tor readied his shield and bellowed a challenge at the gargoyles. They obliged Tor by flying in to surround him. Tor hit one of the gargoyles with Ologbane that bit deep, but it allowed all four of the gargoyles to claw at him to terrible effect [all four hit and I rolled near maximum damage for the four attacks].

At this point the other adventurers had their weapons ready and joined the fray. Biggz missed with their sling while Mannin stepped back for a better angle with his sling, but missed as well. Tor pulled out his Potion of Invulnerability and drank it [+2 to AC and Saving Throws]. Tiny, Ivan, and Deniska moved to attack the gargoyles while Biggz stepped closer to the fight so she could heal Tor. Tor and Tiny both hit with their magic swords, injuring the gargoyles. Ivan hit with his longsword, but it bounced off the stony hide of the gargoyle while Deniska missed entirely. Three of the gargoyles attacked Tor, one missed, one shattered his shield, and one hit. The last gargoyle attacked Tiny and hit with its sharp claws.

Mannin and Kunigunde both landed sling bullets on the gargoyles, but they bounced off the stony hides to no effect. Biggz cast a healing spell on Tor, reinvigorating him. Tor pulled out his last Potion of Healing and drank it to minimal effect [he only got back 2 hit points]. Only two of the gargoyles attacked Tor this round, but the Potion of Invulnerability kept their claws at bay. The gargoyle fighting Tiny missed the minotaur, barely. The last gargoyle turned and attacked Biggz, nicking Biggz' ear [minimal damage rolled]. Tor and Tiny both hit a separate gargoyle, wounding but not killing them.

Biggz used their magic sling to whip a shot into the heavily damaged gargoyle Tor had been fighting and killed it. Deniska disengaged from the fight, running to the loot sack. She tossed aside her sword and rummaging through the loot sack, looking for something. Tor dropped the splinters of his shield and readied his second shield from his back. On their attacks, Tor missed and Tiny dropped his sword [result of a fumble]. Luckily for them, the gargoyles attacking them also missed. Biggz was not so lucky and was clawed by the gargoyle attacking them.

Biggz was unable to strike the gargoyle attacking them. At the loot sack, Deniska pulled out Tempesta Oscura and spoke to it in Italian. Tiny retrieved Demonthumper from the ground and then struck with it. Tor hit the same gargoyle. That gargoyle returned the favor to Tor while the second gargoyle missed and the third fell into the fire after his wings got entangled from the close in flying [he fumbled and as he could not drop his claws, he fell instead].

Biggz slung a bullet at the gargoyle in the fire and hit. Two of the remaining gargoyles decided that the adventurers were very dangerous and it was time to leave. They disengaged and flew away into the night sky. The gargoyle in the fire did not share their opinion and continued fighting. That gargoyle was hit by Tiny, but no other blows were landed by either side.

Biggz hit the gargoyle again, quickly followed by Tiny and Tor. Deniska made the killing blow with Tempesta Oscura. Deniska claimed the sword as hers and no one disagreed.

After the fight, it was discovered that Porkins the wererat had worked one of his arms free from his bindings. Tiny stepped over and knocked Porkins unconscious. The bindings were re-applied and the camp settled back down for the night.

Third Watch

Tiny and Deniska were on watch in the early hours of the morning before sunrise and noticed Porkins the wererat having a whispered conversation with someone in the woods. Tiny went to investigate and found two other wererats hiding in some bushes near the camp. He drew Demonthumper and pointed the glowing sword at the two wererats. They took the hint and left.

End of Session

Behind the Green

[I’m breaking this set of session notes back into two parts. There is a natural break point here and a lot of combat to come, which would make this a huge wall of text if I combined them. I could condense down the fights, but some significant things happen during them that I want to highlight, such as Deniska going for one of the magic swords when the gargoyles prove to be immune to non-magic weapons.]

[Tor's use of the Potion of Invulnerability probably kept him alive during the fight with the gargoyles. He would miss having it later.]

[I should point out that Demonthumper will not stay with Tiny for long. While Tiny's high Strength more than compensates for his low Intelligence to keep the sword from dominating him entirely, the sword's Egoism is high enough that it will eventually abandon him for a preferred wielder. Tiny's player is aware of this and agrees Tiny is the wrong person to have a Holy Avenger.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC

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