Blackbarrow Chronicles, Episode 3 -The Wayside Drinkers Club

The Return of Green Magic

Green Magic is long standing theme in my games , and especially on this particular piece of terrain using ( my Hirst Arts “fieldstone ruin” which is the stock build with the addition of base with a winding staircase going into depths unknown,)   Green Magic is simply what we always called undead summoning Necromancy as kids. Common within all types of fantasy tropes, It’s a nostalgic throwback  to old school fantasy, from the works of  Fritz Leiber to 1981’s fantasy masterpiece  Heavy Metal , and of course its use in the worlds most popular RPG.

IF you have read  Episode 2, you may recall I made note to mention several  of the Castellans key men disappearing while investigating strange lights at the nearby “fellcross ruins”, These disappearances  prompted the hiring of the Iron Tower Mercenary company who will appear  in later episodes.  Following this story thread we begin at the Wayside Inn. The Village of Blackbarrow being a borderlands town is a frequent stop for travelling merchant caravans and adventuring types.  On this busy evening a group excited locals, meet some hardened travelers, while  a trouble making Jester and way  too much Ale,  leads not to a fight, but to a wager, a wager that could very well get them all killed.

STORY

Finian, member of the Cult of Orcus , plays the role of traveling Jester. He was once ingratiated  by the Castellan where he worked as a spy, he soon fell out of favor for his odd after dark behavior and was banned from the Castle,  setting himself up a at regular at the Wayside,  he still manages to be useful to his superiors as a source of information and being disruptive to any investigations into the cults presence in Blackbarrow. For reasons unknown, Finians information drops have not been picked up and he has no contact with any Cult members in over a month. Shortly after event in the last episode, he manipulates a drunken argument between some Tavern regulars and pair adventuring brothers drinking at Wayside while resupplying in town. Into a wager  of who had the courage to go Fellcross Ruins after dark and investigate these  “glowing  green lights”.  After way too much ale, 7 of them trek out through woods together for quick look around and bragging rights, Finian…just uses the outing to see if he find out whats going on at the cults base of operations  located in dungeon beneath Fell Cross.

RULES

Drunk- all characters have been heavily drinking  they must test  CON  at the beginning of each action or be Disadvantaged for the combat round (exception the Monk, who is immune to these vices and their effects) on all actions ,  successfully passing the drunk test twice in a row, removes the condition.

Olegs  Famous Tincture- Characters have 6 doses of the Wayside Bartenders infamous homebrew which confers D8 temporary Hit points  for 1 hour

Nighttime = Darkness  Rules

Range:

 Close- No Penalty

  Nearby -with Light Source (Torch, Lantern, Spell, Item) – No Penalty

  Nearby with No Light Source – Penalty

  Over There, with Light Source- Penalty

  Over There-  No Light Source- No Ranged Attack is possible

Fear-  Some Creatures in the encounter cause Fear.  Fear is WIS test or Flee at double Speed 12" you must a second Fear test to return to the encounter, failure to do so..means the Character has fled (OoA)

CLASS UPDATES

Warriors – Counterattack- If a melee attack from a creature does damage equal  to you level  you may respond with an melee attack

                    Sunder- if a warrior fails a STR or DEX check and would be dealt damage from an attack

They may sunder their shield, if they have one equipped and ignore the damage.

Bard- Bard Song- the Bard may inspire his team with heroic music during combat giving them an advantage on all stat tests.  The Bard must perform as his action that turn, the bonus only applies when the bard is performing.

Monks – Adv on WIS and DEX  tests, Reroll on OofA table, Chi Focus to gain 6 armor (once per combat, with a successful WIS test as an action) tests with advantage on certain skills

Thief- Advantage from attacking from behind with bonus dam,  tests with advantage on thieving skills and DEX tests.

CHARACTER BACKGROUNDS

Hagstrom (Strom) and Bors.  – travelling fledgling warriors from a prominent area family, these Brothers while new to adventuring are strong and well equipped.

Radley-  Young and overly self-assured apprentice of the mage Fezziwig,  Radley is the one who got into the argument with the brother that this whole misadventure going.

Touko-  Young Monk is also an associate of Fezziwig, tagging along to keep the Apprentice out of trouble 

Cade- Local musician and storyteller, not so sure about this adventuring thing, he mainly hangs out at the Wayside..

Neb-  Fledging thief and friend of Cades

Finian-  Former Court Jester,  Agent of Cult of Orcus

STATS

INTO THE WOODS:.

Drunk and bickering they head into the woods with minimal supplies and not a lot of thought,  Bors mumbles he hopes to be back at the wayside  before the tavern closes in the wee hours.  Under the almost full moon after an hour or so walking the come up on the bandit hideout of RobRoy’s gang, its appears abandoned the door smashed in, dark , smeared stains are quickly id’d as blood  and the smeared trail clearly heads in the woods toward the looming ruins, a strange green glow can be seen above the tree top but in the brushline it a set of blazing red eyes and a deep animalist growling , that get their attention as two huge dark figures lunge from the darkness at the group.

INITIATIVE

Only  3 manage to pass both their Con test for drunkenness and then make the Initiative check.

RADLEY

BORS

NEB

DIRE WOLF 1
DIRE WOLF 2

CADE

STROM

TOUKO
FINIAN

TURN 1

RADLEY  , makes CON test for being drunk PASS,  Cast Shield on himself giving him 2 armor,  Passes his INT test for his Spell Check.

BORS         makes CON test for being drunk PASS,  attacks with a “20” fails on crit table but  x 2 for 8 total on WOLF 2

NEB,   makes CON test for being drunk FAILS,  stumbling in the dark he tries to move around behind WOLF 2,  while he normally had the advantage on DEX test..its now none as he’s drunk and he fail to hide.

WOLF 1- Charges from the Darkness at Strom. 

RULE STUFF: : per The Black Hack, these are characters we are fighting here as in previous games, when fighting monsters you make you own attack roll to dodge their attack…bonus or penalties apply.

First we must determine if STROM is drunk..to see if he is disadvantaged in the attack. He passes the Test and is NOT.  The Wolf is 3HD and is get the powerful opponent  rule against him.. so and additional +2 which offsets the-2 charge penalty.  The net roll needed to dodge the charge is “7” its also dark out but since the WOLF is NEARBY (6 inches) and STROM has a Torch there is no Darkness penalty .

He rolls a “9” and avoids the WOLF charge. Good thing because while I forgot to add to the stats. I gave the Wolves Knockdown on the Charge as well…which makes you Prone or in TBH terms you suffers the Vulnerable Condition which would have been 2d6 +2  X2 Dam..OUCH.

DIRE WOLF 2 , Attacks BORS, he fails to dodge and suffers  5 Armor Damage

CADE- is he Drunk?  Passes the Test. He keeps his wits about him moves and equal distance between both combats and breaks out Lute to play his Bard Songs, the Bard Song requires a CHA test to succeed and his this level can choose a Advantage to stat tests, attacks , dodges or damage, He succeeds and Chooses Stat Tests

STROM- We have already determined STROM is not Drunk -attacks WOLF 1- misses

TOUKO- (no drunk test)  joins combat with Strom for and additional +1 to die roll to hit for 2 vs 1.  He Hits for 2 Damage

FINIAN- Drunk?  Oh yes he is, even with the Advantage =he move towards a tree , and tries to climb it, as an acrobat he get bonus damage (like the thiefs backstab) when attacking from above, he loses his advantage on these tests due his drunkness..slips and falls (rolls a 1) and is considered Vulnerable.

TURN 2

RADLEY- Drunk Test - Pass. He is no longer drunk, cast a magic missile at WOLF 1 hitting it for 3 damage. He is under the effects of the Bard Song so his Spell Check INT test is Advantage..he passes.

BORS-  Drunk Test - Pass. He is also no longer drunk  , hits the WOLF 2 with his Axe  rolling a “15”  then “7” damage, The Wolf Falls dead.

NEB- Drunk test , Fails again….stumbling he moves out of the darkness joining the others

WOLF 1  attacks STROM,  who dodges the attack rolling a 14

CADE-  Drunk Test- FAILS…he wants to change Bard Songs, but fails the single CHA test with 2

No SONG.

STROM - Drunk Test - Pass. He is no longer drunk , Attacks and hits with a light blow for 2 damage

TOUKO – attacks WOLF 1, hitting for 6 damage, the WOLF has had enough..

FINIAN- Drunk test-  Fails again stumbling around , he’s up on his feet.

TURN 3

RADLEY,  Tries to finish WOLF 1 with a magic missile, he does 3 damage but its still on its feet

He then botches his Spell Check with a big fat “2” losing his only spell slot making him pretty useless.

BORS and NEB  - move closer to the exchange

DIRE WOLF 1- tries to flee triggering a free attack from both TOUKO (miss) and STROM who hits with “16” killing the beast with  7 damage.

AT THE RUINS.

Gathering themselves from the wolf attack its short walk thought the tree line  to the base of the old fort. The wolves where obviously there following the smell of death  as the bloody trails still leading toward the crumbling ruin. A green glow pulses in the night sky , as they approach a feeling of doom seem to wash over them, " I dont know about this guys, quips Cade,  "Shuddup ya, lillywhite excuse for a coward" snaps Bors...its too late thou are shadowy figures start shambling down the broken staircase toward them.

NEB, CADE, and FINIAN are still under the effects of being DRUNK

INITIATIVE

BORS
TOUKO

NEB

GHOUL 1

GHOUL 2

GHOUL 3

CADE

STROM

RADLEY

FINIAN

TURN 1

BORS   Moves up next to his brother to engage oncoming creature Holds
TOUKO moves  focus chi armor , needs a "10" rolls a "16"  +6 Armor points

NEB     must make a drunk test "14" pass  moves to flank , tries to hide DEX test  "13" pass he's hidden

GHOUL 1  Rushes in Attacks Bors,  2 Claws and 1 Bite...Bors defends against all three!

GHOUL 2  Rushes in Attacks Strom  2 Claws and 1 Bite   2 Claws hit there mark damaging Stroms Armor with 4 Damage, Strom easily passes test CON test for paralysis

GHOUL 3 - Rushes in Attacks Touko  its Bite is successful for 4 damage on his Chi Armor. Touko easily passes test CON test for paralysis

CADE   Drunk Test "19" pass    Song  rolls "11"  , Damage Bonus

STROM -  Attacks 8 Damage to Ghoul 2

RADLEY  moves to aid 

FINIAN   Drunk Test "8" pass moves to other flank, climbs tree  DEX test 13, he climbs to top of shorter tree

TURN 2

BORS   Attacks Ghoul 1 hitting with a 17, with adavantage on damage from the Bard's Song does 7 damage to Ghoul 1

TOUKO Attacks Ghoul 3 hitting for 4 Damage

NEB  Drunk test "14" whoa Ned is no longer drunk, hidden he move into flanking postion on ghoul attacking and hit with a 10,+1 for Flank the needed "11" bonus Thief damage "7" the Ghoul is gutted and falls

GHOUL 2 Attack Strom hitting with another claw for 3, Stroms armor is damage and he feel the ghouls sting, but passes the CON test to avoid paralysis

GHOUL 3  Rips into Touko who fails to defend against any of his attacks it shreds his virtual armor and wounds 4 physical damage, with his 17 CON he passes the test easily so hes not paralyzed

CADE  Drunk Test fail, screws his bard song, tries to restart also fails!  "1"

STROM Attacks Ghoul 2 and cuts it down with 5 damage

RADLEY passes

FINIAN  Drunk test fails, Jumps from tree top to attack ghoul 3 from above, disadvantaged, rolls a 16 and a 19....either way he hits and with the bonus damage lands on the ghouls dagger first killing it..

The fight is quick and bloody minor damage is taken but before they can even regroup to approach the stairs two harrow figures appear shimmering in ghostly white in dark ratted cloth and armor, almost translucent the float down the stairs moaning swinging ghostly black weapons

INITIATIVE

Cade and Finian both again fail the drunk test all models lose Initative except for Touko

it seem the Wraiths surprised most of Touko

Touko
Wraith 1
Wraith 2
Cade
Bors
Strom
Neb
Radley
Finian

TURN 1

TOUKO  refocuses as his action to gain "6" Armor (note the Wraiths Damage ignores standard armor , not magic armor, (We consider the "Chi Armor" magic armor)

WRAITH 1- Attacks nearest Character which is Neb, who doesnt know what hit him, he fails to dodge both attacks with a 6 and 2, then fails his CON test (7 Con needs a 14)  both Claws damage his CON with is a 7 the damage is 8 and Neb killed , his life sucked out him instantly

WRAITH 2- Engages Finian he manages to dodge the first attack but not the second , he also fails his CON test and takes 3 Damage to his 10 CON

Note : Wraiths as 5 HD  Powerful Opponents (PO) are adding -4 negative modifier to Attack Rolls

CADE- must make a Drunk Test and Passes, since hes not Drunk he has to make the Fear test and passes that as well , Cade tries to play a Bard Song that will give Advantage to Stat tests! and succeeds with 17

BORS- Fear Test - Pass 11 on the nose  , lights a Torch and is within 1 " on the Wraith standing over Neb so he can Attack-  also needs a 11 to hit with PO penalty..rolls a 14,  Hitting with Torch Fire is less damage for a Warrior D6 but the Wraiths are Vulnerable meaning Damaged Rolled is at a Disadvantaged in this case we roll 3 and 5 and keep the 5 damage on the Wraith

STROM  already with a Lit Torch engages as well,  he needs to make a 5 test but with a 5 WIS is very dicey 16, but thank to Cade he gets 2 Dices and rolls  "7" and "16" so he passes. he attacks with his torch and rolls a "20" critical Undead are immune to the Critical Chart but still take double damage this results in 10 additional damage to Wraith 1

NEB  is Undead soul sucked corpse

RADLEY - must first make his WIS test for Fear  despite his strong chances of success ( needs an 8) he fails and takes off running into the woods 12"

FINIAN- Engage with Wraith 2, he doesnt want to flee as he risks  free strike from the Wraith
he has no way to damage it but attacks with his Dagger anyway and does hit it for no damage.

TURN 2

TOUKO  - moves to Nebs fallen body and recovers a torch, he lights it as his action

WRAITH 1 attacks Bors....who manages to dodge one attack but not the other he must make a CON test rolls a "13" passing, the weapon  does "2" to his Armor

WRAITH 2 attacks Finian  who with his low strength (8) and the (PO) penalty needs high rolls to dodge he fails both times and must make a CON test but Bard Song is in effect so we have Advantage on tests first Rolls a "1" thats very bad, second roll "15" he will take that but still takes 7 damage , destroying his light armor and doing 5  hit points damage,  Finian wont last long either way

CADE - still needs a drunk test FAILS.... he cant get a break,m he msut try to keep his music going has to roll twice and keep the lower 4,18..he gets that 4 , the drunk bastard and botches it, this is bad..

BORS- attacks Wraith 1 with the Torch needs an 11 with the penalty hits with a 14,  landing for 6 fire damage

STROM attacks Wraith 1 as well hitting with an 18 another 6 point of Fire damage the Wraith erupts in Flame and turns to ash in the night air

NEB  is laying Dead

RADLEY has run off, he has Olegs famous tincture with him, that could be useful but he must make a Fear Test again or be gone from the game , considered to have Fled.  he has a 13 WIS so he needs an "8" but rolls a "4" and runs off back to town....


FINIAN,  knows he cant damage the Wraith or take another hit, if he flees he faces free strikes,
he decides to stay put slashing wildly with his dagger to no avail

Sometimes they just run away.

TURN 3

TOUKO  engages the remaining Wraith and Attacks but is one short to hit it with the Torch
since  the fight is now 2 on 1, he gets +1 from his ally and hits...for  2 damage

WRAITH 2 - Sensing Finians near death . it attacks him he dodges one attack with a 19 and fails and caught by the second...he makes his CON test failing with a 8 , he actually buys himself another round here as the 5 damage he took would bring him OoA but the damage goes to his CON and he still has 2 Left

CADE- drunk test  fails - lose turn stumbling around trying to tune his Lute

BORS  Engages Wraith 2 hits with a 15 and 6 damage

STROM  Engages Wraith 2 and rolls a another 20!   5 damage X 2 =10  .

making progress but its going to take another round..

NEB- DEAD

RADLEY- ROUTED/ FLED

FINIAN  Trys to attacks but cant damage it....

the Wraiths were tough customers as they should be...

TURN 4

TOUKO  _ hits easily with the +3 from his allies against the Wraiths poweful opponent status
he roll a 19,  but rolls a 4 on damage,  the Wraith still lives to finish finian

WRAITH 2  attacks Finian who fails to dodge both attacks this time...he makes his CON test thou with a 15, the resulting 10 damage drops him Out of Action but he may not be finished/

CADE  Drunk Test, Fails

BORS Misses this time

STROM hits and ignites the Wraith howling as its destroyed

We roll on the OUT OF ACTION table for FINIAN after the encounter rolling a "5" it turns out he was just knocked out and the "Fathead" results means he is disadvantaged for the next hour.

With 1 hp and a 2 CON we decide to send him back to town, with NEB's corpse, we debate sending
CADE back as well but the Bards Song  is too useful, he he sober enough to get it going


The remaining 4  proceed up the steps to the Glowing Light where they encounter "The Harbinger", an evil spirit  attracting Undead to the ruins for purposes yet unknown. As the Heroes enter the courtyard they see many men coming up from the stairs to the Dungeon below.

Cliffhanger

As a Narrative I am ending this one in a  cliff hanger that will be picked up in Episode 4, Needless to say no one returns from the evenings adventure but Radley and the wounded Finian

Final Thoughts: a fun game in our new narrative style of Fantasy gaming , this was the first time we ran a party with multiple encounters and the standard Black Hack combat mechanic in a Heroes vs Monsters scenario.  it was all a set up for the next chapter which will be a big dungeon crawl.

Hopefully next month, but I was seriously late getting this report posted , hopefully my schedule will lighten up!

March Tidings

Unfortunately I couldn’t get a new  the episode of Blackbarrow ready for March, but figured I would just get a monthly update in to chronicle where I am at.

Painting:  I completed a couple more Otherworld Adventurers. A bunch of new climbing spiders and some  ghosts and wraiths who are  all part of upcoming Blackbarrow games. I spent some time working on refining some techniques the lay outside my normal toolbox, while I could always paint within a tight pallet. I really spent some time just working with just black and white or in reality shades of grey on some of my older GW undead, then I started experimenting with those Reaper translucent miniatures, which when they came I out I thought were worthless, but I have changed my tune on them a lot, the first on I did I got carried away and ended up shading the whole thing but my second one Im happy with how I got the dark /light contrast to work with the negative space of the translucent plastic to cool effect, I know look forward to painting more of there, I fact I actually ordered a couple more in my last Reaper Order which is something I thought I’d never do. I also managed to prep a half dozen of so models for the paint que as well.

My study in black and white , these old LotrR Wight Kings by GW are Wraiths in the Blackbarrow game.

Dungeons got to have lots of Spiders, still have my old Shelob model if I need a bigger one, these models are GW LotR as well.

Hirst Arts: I decided my next project is finishing the Cavern section of my Dungeon board which is made up of 3 -11 x12 cavern areas and a smaller 5 x7 section which I completely remade after screwing the resin water on it a few years ago. I finally came up a decent method that’s not leaking to cap the open sides so I can get a nice straight seam where two  resin water sections meet,  You can see my new test piece in the photo and one built and primed larger section.  I bought two new Cavern Molds from  4Bot industries to add to my cavern collection which was getting a big  redundant using the same 3 molds, the Stalagmite and Wall formations  really go a long way to making it come to life,  I switched over to woodland scenics realistic water from the Envirotex Lite and man, is it way easy to work with, I think it takes longer to dry- but that a fine trade for the ease of use. Overall I plan on the knock off the Caverns before summer gets rolling , at least that’s the plan..

!st new finished vavern section with water that has a much more phosphorescent look the my early tries. 

Primed for painting , the first of three large sections, using both Hirst and 4Bot Molds

Blackbarrow Chronicles:  The next  game is prepped and ready to go, nothing fancy this time just a fun story that leads to a throw down on the old Fieldstone Ruin, which is probably my most used piece of  terrain over the years. The way it is finally set up now at the entrance to the Dungeon was  how I always envisioned back many years ago when I built it. Its satisfying  to see it come to use that way finally. The mines of moria esque staircase I am going to build leading down to it should look pretty sweet as well.  I would have  gotten the game happening last weekend but we are heading down to Florida for Spring Break with the Kids this week and there was just way to much to do…

The Jester , Bard and apprentice Conjurer talk of heading over to fellcross ruins to investigate
the mysterious lights and missing guardsmen. what could go wrong?

Adepticon:  Well it finally happened,  I didn’t  make it to Adepticon.  Even thou I wasn’t playing in anything again this year, the girls and I were going to make the trip just to check out the sights, do some socializing and check out the vendor hall.  I was still planning going as of Thursday, but it got shot down Friday night with the realization of all that had to be done this last weekend before we head out of town.   So if I talked to you and said I was showing up – apologies  .   First Adepticon I’ve missed since 2006!,  I’m sure I'll make it next year, think I might even play some Frost grave..

eBay:  made a cool $400 on ebay selling off older GW lord of the rings models , that where still unbuilt or in some cases still boxed going on 10 years….nice to see a return of that cash at even a small profit, I'm hoping I do as well or  better  for the painted stuff when that goes up later this year. I really exceeded my expectations with my GW Empire Army  when I sold that 2 summers ago but I guess it just depends where the market is at

Welp that’s it for March. Ill be back after Spring Break with some Blackbarrow Chronicles.

The Blackbarrow Chronicles, Episode 2 -The Gauntlet Part 2

 The Blackbarrow Chronicles Episode 2 The Gauntlet – Part 2- The Game

The Blackbarrow Chronicles is an ongoing series  of report on fantasy games played on my Village of Blackbarrow Table, which has been a decade long project  that’s finally come fully realized as its own little 28mm old school fantasy microverse in my basement.

Picking right up where we left off, on Sunday we rolled the dice and played “The Gauntlet” out.

I wont rehash  the preview much here, so please read that, for the Scenario setup and background.

I’ll start with the teams and there statistics and a quick shot the Bandits who were missing from the preview, I will go over various rules as we re- hash how this all played out.

Initiative –

Initiative was rolled with several key players failing,  those passed were ordered by their Dexterity stat ties were broke by the amount their roll passed by. The Sheriff and his men act in unison at their specified points , if forced into combat they are added to the bottom of the order based on their Dexterity stat.

Reynard

Riff

Scorpa

Hugo

Gwayne and Wynn

Henfrey -driving the Ox Cart

Thrum

Black Mott

Treeble

Rob Roy

Zilchus

 RULES STUFF

Weapons

Crossbows-  may shoot only once a turn as your attack action, may be reloaded  as your move action

Ignore 2 Armor Points on Hit, damage is per class.

Reach Weapons ,  Halberds , Spears, etc. may attack “nearby figures” not in base contact, figures with reach weapons cannot be charged.

Aiming-  sacrifice move action for a single ranged attack at +2 to hit

Racial Traits- 

Half Giant-  1d12/1d10  , Knockdown, Slow

Knockdown- STR test on charge when engaged with smaller based figures or be knocked down.

Knocked down figures take normal damage, and are the Prone (Vulnerable)

Slow-  Disadvantaged on DEX tests,

Bandit Gang, L-R  Scopra, Riff, Rob Roy, Treeble, Black Mott (front)

DEPLOYMENT 

The bandits are deployed throughout  the town waiting to strike, the Merchants guild gathers and leaves from its side entrance

Hiding in the Shadows literally.

Merchants Guild Team Start

Rob Roy and Treeble plan on  sneaking up from the rear

Sheriff is looking on waiting to screw this whole thing up.

The Castellan and some of his troops eagerly look on.

TURN 1

Reynard-   Moves 4 inches under porch, casts Shield upon himself, rolling  an "18" for Intelligence Test, keep the spell in his memory. And giving him an additional 6 armor points

Riff- inches forward to edge of shadows

Scorpa- Inches forward to edge of shadows

Hugo- Moves 6 inches

Gwanye and Wynn - - Moves 6 inches

Ox Cart- - Moves 6 inches

Thrum- Run about 8 inches to middle of road guarding rears of the group.

Black Mott- Bandits attack!!! Mott the Assassin striking from concealment in Bushes at the Inn,  fires a poison crossbow bolt at Hugo from the merchants guild leading the team,  his high dexterity stat gives him an easy base to hit of “5” plus this counts as sneak attack, (surprise attack -2)  he chooses not to aim which sacrifice his move action so he can reload, he doesn’t really need to hitting  Hugo on a “3” or better. He rolls a “15” hitting him for 9 points of damage (Assassin Sneak Attack Damage 2d6 + level , in this case 2) The crossbow bolt ignoring 2 Armor points it eats up 2 of his 4 points getting through for 7 damage, Hugo now must make a poison save or take another D6 damage….his CON is a “9” he needs a 12 and rolls a “12” the poison didn’t take but he has a sucking chest wound.  Black Mott Reloads as his move action.

Black Mott, Assassin  Hidden set up at game start.

Treeble-  Easily the dumbest of the Bandits decides to take a Crossbow shot at Thrum standing in the middle of the road, the 9 foot tall 500 pound behemoth is an easy target  Treebles base is a “8” he choose to Aim -2, Range is about 10 inches so no penalty, and being on 40mm base as a large target give him an extra -1 , he needs a “5” and Rolls a “12” Treeble is a D8 with the Crossbow  but it’s a “3” tearing off some of the Barbarian shoulder Armor  (AP 6  drops down to 3)

Firing arrows at the Thrum maybe not the best idea in retrospect should have taken out the easy men at arms.

Rob Roy- alerting Thrum to their presence Rob Roy follows suit with a flurry of Arrows as a Ranger he can shoot three times but cannot Aim , he fires three quick arrows, the first two barely missing but the third hitting home, as Ranger Rob Roy get a D10 against the usual suspects (Giantkin, Goblins, etc)  he rolls another “3” removing the remains of Thrums light armor.

Zilchus- quickly moves to as near to the wounded Hugo is, Zilchus is easily “nearby” and casts Cure Light Wounds on him giving him back 4 Hp..Zilchus passes his WIS check to retain the spell with a  “15”

Usage Die checks for Bandit Quivers- all pass on the D10.

The Sheriff and his Men  now take 1 of their 2 turns here the other being at the top of turn 4.

The three guardsmen move out in the road to stop Thrum from advancing on Rob Roy and Treeble

“hold it there bigun, we aren’t starting a brawl in the streets here today, besides you are not even wounded!",

Guard Intervening, bottom of Turn 1

The Sheriff and Scower move and block Gwayne and Wynn from advancing, stopping them in their tracks hoping to delay them back from the rest.

Caravan on the move, the Sheriff steps in.

End Turn

 TURN 2

Reynard- moves about 3 inches trying to stay near the rear corner of the moving wagon,  He can easily see Black Mott in the bushed ahead and lets loose some magic missiles  which hit home blowing through mott’s leather armor and wounding him for 5 damage (9 total)  Reynard  rolls a “13’ on his INT check to retain the spell

Riff and Scorpa  choose to DELAY their actions

DELAY : you may pass on your initial turn choosing to go later in the order but you must pass a DEX test to activate..otherwise your turn is lost.

Hugo- Energized by Zilchus’s Healing spell he follows the Guildmasters orders to march ahead carrying his chest..he moves another 6 inches.

Gwayne and Wynn choose to also DELAY thanks to the Sheriff they can get around the Ox Cart and need to wait for it to move.

Henfrey in the Ox Cart moves 6 inches.

Gwayne and Wynn  now try to move but  Wynn FAILS his DEX test so they are stuck, thanks to the damn Sheriff!..

Delayed, and no purposely.

Scorpa decide to activate and easily passes his DEX test with a “12” , he rolls a 15 on his attack hitting with the poisoned Crossbow Bolt on poor Henfrey, the wagon counting as soft cover didn’t help him Henfrey  whiloses his Armor gets knocked down to 5 hp, he does make the poison save also rolling a “12” or he be in worse trouble.  Scorpa Reloads

 Riff – decides to activate passes his DEX test easy with a 17….HE Runs to the next alley over cut off the Merchants.. (Move 12 inches)

sticking all these old building of mine together works and small alley ridden section of the village here the bandits and strike when ready and avoid being seen.

Thrum is quite annoyed at his situation with the Guard, I think about having him he barrels them over with non lethal or improvised damage as per the “the black hack”  but don’t want a 5 on 1, so I have him run around them which has room but not the range, so he uses a throwing axe, Thrums low DEX make it a challenge but the dice comes up high with a “19” and Treeble takes a big 10 damage, He did have much armor to begin with.., Thrum can Throw a second Axe and he does  at Rob Roy but Rob Roy easily dodges it, (I miss with a “2”)

Black Mott- Now is only 4 inches from the wounded Hugo walking down the street and melee attack would be easy but could get him attacked by at least 3 Merchants before he goes again, he decides to move up 6 inches but some market table and fire the Crossbow again and this time he Hit Hugo with a “20”!  This isn’t a sneak attack but its double damage and I roll on the crit chart, the low roll does nothing extra but the double damage on the d6 rolls of “5” makes its 10 damage, blowing past his armor leaving Hugo with 1 Hp  but of course he now has to save versus poison , failing this time taking another 4 damage putting him OUT OF ACTION.

Black Mott probably should have waited till he could have shot, then moved. taking out Hugo with the chest was key but he paid dearly for it.

 Treeble- Returns fire on Thrum who is looming pretty close to him, its disadvantaged shot, being within 6 inches but he still manages to hit the Barbarian with the bonuses…Thrum  takes 8 damage and that just gets him mad…Treeble had to Aim so he is stuck there. And cant reload to next turn.

Rob Roy, -Not an idiot, Rob Roy isn’t going to stay there to engage in melee with Thrum, once the reason Rob Roy has been caught is his handy CLOAK OF INVISIBILTY, which operates with a D4 Usage Die every 24 hours (meaning as long as he doesn’t roll a 1 or 2 on the D4 after a use, he can keep using it)

Rob Roy goes invisible and scoots away from Treeble 6 inches..

the clear marker is showing the Invisibility Cloak is in effect, If that had burned out after one use which was a 50% chance I think we would have had a different ending.

 Zilchus runs to the fallen Hugo to safe guard the chest taking over carry it himself

(I put a treasure chest marker on the board) the move is too far for him to do anything else unfortunately.

Zilchus saved his own team, getting that smaller chest in Cart and hopping on board!

Usage Die, Mott pass, Rob Roy’s Cloak pass, Scorpa Pass, Treeble Fail, drops to D8.

End Turn

TURN 3

Reynard-  Reynard doesn’t need to move far to get eyes on  Black Mott, he does and lets the Assassin have another round of Magic Missiles in the face.. the resulting 9 damage is enough to put Black Mott down and we have our first bandit go OUT OF ACTION.  Unfortunately for Reynard he flubs the INT Test with a “2”  so he loses his last 1^st level spell slot,  he can only cast his level two memorized spell at this point Web…until he can rest for 8 hours (see page 13 of TBH for an explanation on Spellcasting)

Fun with Photo editing tools variations on my favorite filter with some home made spell effects.  Reynard throwing out the Magic Missiles that take the Assassin out. 

Riff – DELAYS

Scorpa-  Shoots Crossbow at Zilchus whose  standing over the fallen Hugo and his Chest,  lining him with an aimed shot  to offset the fact he will be disadvantage for the close range, base to hit is “8” this is a Sneak attack as Zilchus has his back to him so he only needs a 6 he decides to aim to drop it to a 4. We roll 2 D20, we get a “12” and a  “1” FUMBLE!,  the result is weapon dropped, Scorpa fumbles his crossbow in the excitement and has no move action to pick it up

Riff , tries act , Fails his DEX test....losing turn...oof.

Vintage Citadel AD&D thief waiting to move on the cart, one the few figures I use regularly that I have had since the 1980's!

Gwanye and Wynn, move 6 inches

The Ox Cart moves  6 inches

Thrum-, cant charge Treeble because of the terrain but easily gets to him within 6 and unleashes his fury, his base hit in melee is only a “3+” and we rolls 19,18 and 2!  The resulting 19 damage puts Treeble very much OUT OF ACTION.  Thrum probably would have thrown him in the River, except for the fact this guy is worth a bounty…

This was so brutal, poor dummy didnt stand a chance

Rob Roy, Invisible moves 12 inches closer to the chests..

Zilchus, is now standing directly behind the cart . He use his action to pick up the smaller chest that Hugo was carrying and put it the cart , for his movement he  gets in the cart from Henfrey allowing them to fight from the cart.

Longview of Zilchus and Henfrey in the Cart, Henfrey gets killed right after.

Usage die,  Scorpa  Fails,  D8..

TURN 4

The Sheriff and his men get to make their big move,

Sheriff and Scower are a couple inches away from Gwayne and Wynn

They decide to just beat them senseless and take the chest to “protect” it..

The Sheriff is a 5^th level warrior with 5 attacks even the D6 no lethal damage, he pummels Gwanye OoA after three hits

Scower gets 3 misses but lands a critical on Wyn which leaves OoA and Bleeding.

Rob Roy invisible waiting to steal the chest.

Reynard DELAYS

Riff attacks Henfrey in the Cart as.. rolls a 4  Miss

Scorpa Does the same the Cart has two chests with it taking it over would be huge , for Scorpa coming up behind this is a sneak attack, he rolls with Advantage we keep a 16, he rolls 8 damage Henfrey only had 5 he also fails the poison save  OoA, Zilchus is the lone Merchant standing..

Scorpa and Riff trying to take the cart.

Renyard Acts..passes his DEX test to do so with a 14,  He goes ahead and “Webs” the whole area around the Sherriff, Scower and the Chest hoping to tie them up..

Rob Roy- who is right there becomes visible steps up and grabs the chest, he has to save versus the “webs” and does easily with a 17, he grabs a check but it’s a large one so his move with the chest is reduced to half.

 Zilchus pulls the cart away from  Scorpa and Finn , 6 Inches… and cast Protection from Evil which is going to seriously help him here making giving the advantage against any incoming harm from an evil source for 1 hour

No Usage Dies to check

Turn End

TURN 5

Reynard

He’s not sure what to do, Rob Roy has a  Chest-  but IF  he can stop Scorpa and Riff going after the Cart Two chests will most likely escape, He pulls out his Sleep Scroll and casts it on Scorpa and Riff

We rolls 3D6 (1 per level) for Max HD it effects we get 6 which enough for both, they get  WIS test to save Scorpa fails and falls asleep for 3 turns,  Riff Passes on the nose with a 10…..

Riff continues chasing the cart its getting close to the bridge and if he cant start hurting Zilchus now he wont be able to stop him alone,  he attacks no disadvantaged, and misses  a (4)

Thrum

Decides to charge the guards and get through, non lethal damage, he could charge all three of them  and use his  size difference to knock them down…he cant charge the Halberd guy, but he can the other two.  He moves into base contact as a charge,  and attacks both hitting easily due to the size difference they have to make a STR test or be knocked down, Prone figures are Vulnerable and any damage caused is at an advantage for the attacker…and the knockdown itself is its own damage roll… Guard with the Club fails..he’s knockeddown talking 10 damage right off the bat, then on the Vulnerable Damage  from the attack, I roll a 12 and 1, we take the 12 which becomes a 14 with the charge..and the GUARD IS OoA, the other Guard with the Sword, makes his STR test stays standing and takes 10 damage with the +2 leaving him at 12 hp and no Armor.

The Guards arent push overs, I dont think Thrum could have taken out all three of them and then had fight the Sheriff, it was best to stand down, I like the flexibility of Lethal or non lethal damage at any point.

 Rob Roy, Turns Invisible with the chest and starts dragging it away 3 inches at a time

Zilchus, attacks Riff but misses with a “7” he then moves the cart ahead another 6 inches. This give Riff a free strike for leaving combat, but Riff disadvantaged from the Spell also misses..

The Sheriff -Standing in the Web, tries to break free and does easily with STR test

And moves towards his men fighting Thrum.

Scower- isn’t even close thou and is stuck in the web

Reynards Casting of Web, if only its tied up the Sheriff or Rob Roy.

Guard with Sword attacks Thrum missing with a 2

Guard with Halberd attacks Thurm hits with a 14, doing only 3 damage..

USAGE DIE, Rob Roys Cloak D4 fails..so Rob Roy cannot turn invisible again after this.

Turn End.

TURN 6

Reynard- Nothing he can do about Rob Roy, since he cant see him, he Delays hoping there is something he can do..

Rob Roy escaping with what turns out to be a decoy chest , we dont know that at this time thou..

Riff- realizes he cant stop Zilchus even with a Critical….he Flees in order not to get caught.

Reynard tries to act to get close to sleeping Scorpa to try to capture both for the bounty

But fails his DEX Test..oof..

(OoA figures down are captured or killed depending if the game ends  they are within 6 inches of only an rival faction

Thrum seeing the battle is over and Sheriff about to engage stands down,

We don’t see many CHA tests so I have him make one to see if he can end this battle with Sheriff peacefully or be forced keep fighting and face arrest himself …Thrum needs a “9” rolls an ‘11” - ..success!

Thrum  hasnt killed any guards yet and the cart is across the Bridge time to Stand Down.

Zilchus -Reaches the Bridge, it will actually take another turn to get completely within the Safe Zone but the Bandits are down or have retreated

He's made with two chests all by himself.

Combat Ends.

We Roll a D3 to see which chest contained the Castellans Gold.

1- Hugo’s Chest

2 -The Ox Cart Chest

3- Gwayne and Wynns Chest (which Rob Roy Stole_

I roll a “2”  soi Zilchus has prevailed a delivered as promised but at what cost,

The Castellan is pleased.

 

Victory for the Merchants, kind of they have two team members to replace.

OUT OF ACTION ROLLS

Merchants

Hugo, has to pass poison save to even make the OoA check roll, fails DEAD

Henfrey- Same  Fails  DEAD

Gwayne rolls  “4” Cracked Bones- OK

Wynn- Rolls “5”  Fat Head- OK

(these are temporary effects more suited toi multiple battle scenario)

Bandits

Treeble – Rolls 1, DEAD

Black Mott, Rolls 6- KO’d – OK

Scorpa _  OoA due to Sleep Spell OK

Both Assassins Black Mott and Scorpa are Captured- to the Castle Dungeon

EXPERIENCE 

Team  Experience

Surviving the Battle, +1 

Not being knocked out of Action +1

Getting the Gold to Castle or Stealing it +3

Individual Experience

Each enemy put Out of Action +1

Stole a chest (bandits only) +1

Team Bonus Goal  +2 xp

Merchants – Rob Roy

Bandits- Steal all 3 Chests

Gold  500 Gp to winning team (Split Merchants/ Mercenaries)

Gold 100 to losing team (Bandits)

Bounty’s paid on Bandits   - Treeble, Black Mott, Scorpa  150 gp (Mercenaries)

Merchants with Mercenaries

Zilchus  XP  +5 

Gwayne +4

Wynn +4

Thrum +7 XP

Reynard  +7 Xp

Bandits (Lowlander gang)

Rob Roy + 3 XP

Black Mott  + 2 XP

Scorpa +2 Xp

Riff  +2 Xp

Sheriff's men (combat only) 

Sheriff and Scower + 2xp

Guards + 1xp

Final Thoughts

Well this was a fun one, trying to figure the Sheriff and his men in was a challenge as I didnt want full 1 vs 1 vs 1 , it didnt make sense to have the streets totally empty and its alos a pain to weave a bunch of civilians into a skirmish like this, so we were happy with how it worked out.

Obviously Thrum and Reynard did all the work and mission ended up more a "guard duty" mission for them than a actual mission for the Merchants Guild considering they got slaughtered pretty bad but still won.

The Black Hack (TBH) basics seem to work pretty well here as combat mechanic, I am definitely flying in ALOT of my favorite house rules from various miniatures games to make this work and TBH is very rules light when it comes to this sort of thing and in a miniatures game its the opposite.

There a couple of wonky thing I am going to have to dial back as the Characters get more powerful

the 1 attack per level thing is going to get stupid fast , it was already borderline with the Sheriff with 5 attacks!, Ill probably cap it a three (one every two levels up to level 6 for warrior types. we will see how it goes

Moving ahead- Episode 4 a bunch of rookies from at the Wayside Inn, get goaded into going to explore whats going on at the Fellcross Ruins, Strange Lights, Missing Guardsmen, etc..

its heroes vs monsters scenario, Episode 5, will be first good old fashioned Dungeon Crawl

so keep on dropping by!