Start 00:06:52
GM: This is a wild and dangerous land filled with forbidding forests and savage monsters along the lonely roads that bind civilization together can be found warehouses, fortified inns where travelers may rest behind stout walls and have a hot meal before venturing forth once more into the unknown. The House of three Squires is such a wayhouse.
Its proprietor, Ronwald, holds a commission from Greve Jermod the Lame to operate the wayhouse and care for travelers. Situated on a lonely stretch of the Post Road, the house is a day’s travel to the nearest town of Asktoft. The evening is cold and blustery when you arrive at the stockade that surrounds the House of Three Squires, and you have built up a powerful thirst for one of the famed three-squires sour beers. The stockade gate stands open and unattended, occasionally slamming home with a lonely thud when the wind catches it just right. It does not take you long to realize that something is very wrong. Not only is the place open to the elements and undefended, it seems deserted and you find a pool of congealed blood. It’s cold and blustery when you arrive at the gate of the stockade. It is night out, but with a full moon, so there is dim light. Ominously, the gate stands open and unattended, occasionally slamming home with a lonely thud when the wind catches it just right. There’s no attendant at the gate and no telltale curl of smoke from the cook fire up at the house. All is quiet, save for the sound of wind screaming through the trees. You’re in dim light and it is the start of turn one.
## Turn 1 00:08:21
Shane: Wow, this place is pretty gnarly. Even the wind is screaming.
GM: It’s bad out there, dude. Yeah.
Shane: Right. So I’m playing Bream Bogbutter. He’s a halfling guide. And my raiment is this baggy green sweater. And I’m carrying a ten-foot pole.
He’s a guide from the marshlands just north of Stortmarke.
So I would like to enter the stockade gate. And I believe if I look to my right, the first building should have a door.
GM: That’s right. So you enter into the courtyard. It is quiet and desolate. There’s a well in the center. And on top of the well is a wooden board.
To the left of where you enter is a three-walled shrine.
Beyond that is a tavern with a sign for the three squires hanging outside of it.
In front of it, you can see trestle tables that are right in front of the tavern and are now empty. There are buildings across the courtyard. And, to the right is another building. You can see there are three doors. The building across from you has two standard doors and then also a large carriage door.
Shane: “All right,” Bream whispers to himself, “what’s behind door number one?” And he walks over to that first door to his right.
GM: You enter into the workshop. The stench of death emanates from here. When you open the door of this workshop, a cloud of black flies buzz from within. On the floor is a pool of dried blood and the body of a wiry, middle-aged man who is curled up into a ball, his arms are clutching a terrible puncture wound in his gut, and it’s crawling over with maggots spilling out in between his fingers. The dead man’s face is locked in a rictus of pain. A farrier’s hammer lays to his side, perhaps dropped when he was wounded.
Shane: Okay, so, putting my hand over my nose and mouth, and I walk within about a ten-foot distance to that body, and I am gonna try to flip it over with my ten-foot pole to have a good look at what might be on this person.
GM: You flip it over.
Looking around this place, the workshop has a bunch of smith’s tools, charcoal nails, bits of iron, there’s an anvil.
On this man’s body, he’s not clutching any of that equipment, per se, but he does have a shiny gold ring on his right hand.
Shane: So he whispers to himself, “I don’t know if you know this, but we halflings have a reputation with rings.”
And I walk over to the body, and I’m going to slip that ring off his finger.
GM: All right. Great. You got it. It’s a ring. It’s worn hands one, and it is worth 3D.
Shane: Wow. I didn’t even have to tell riddles for it. I think I’ve learned my lesson from prior halflings, and I’m going to put that ring in my pocket.
GM: Yeah, sure. It’ll fit in the pocket space.
Shane: Okay. I think I’ve seen what I need to see. And I would like to exit this room and then walk down to door number three.
GM: You head over into the kitchen.
There’s a confused array of muddy tracks leading through the kitchen, into a rickety stairwell that leads down further into a dark basement. A wooden mask with a terrifying visage hangs from the lintel above the door.
Shane: Well, well, well. I’m gonna take my ten-foot pole and put it in through the eye hole of the mask and just kind of lift it off the mantle and ride it down to myself.
GM: Great. You got it. It is a worn head slot item.
Shane: All right. I’m going to put it on my face. I’m not trying to be creepy or nothing. It just happens to be the slot to put it.
So next I’m going to go back out to the courtyard. And I’m going to walk over to the well.
GM: Okay. You go over to the well. So on top of the well, there’s a wooden cover that obscures the opening. The well itself has a winch and a rope. That’s attached to it. And it’s kind of going past the wooden cover.
Shane: Okay. So I’m going to remove the wooden cover.
GM: Ok. You do that, and you see the mouth of the well is about four feet wide. There’s a rope and bucket all tied up here that can be raised and lowered.
Shane: I’m going to hook the bucket up to that rope, lower it down, and see if I can draw up a bucket of fresh, cool, clear spring water.
GM: You do. It’s incredibly fresh and cool and clear.
Shane: Perfect. Then I’m going to detach the rope from the bucket, and I’m going to take the rope off of the winch.
GM: Yeah, you unravel that and untie it there. So you have a bucket at the top of the well and an extra rope.
Shane: Okay. So where are we going to put this rope? Oh, it’s dark, right?
GM: It is nighttime, and the full moon is out. So you’re in dim light.
Shane: Dim light. Okay. I might need one of these candles. I’m gonna use my tinderbox to light a candle and leave it on the rim of the well.
GM: Okay.
Shane: So I have a little bit more light in this area. And then I’m going to take my oil and also leave it here for the moment. And then I’m going to put the rope in that in those two slots that I just freed up in my backpack. So I have space to carry the rope.
GM: Okay, great.
Shane: And then I’m going to do something I’ve always wanted to do with the House of Three Squires. I’m going to go back out of the stockade gate. And Bream is a guide, right? He’s directions-wise. And he’s like, I swear somebody said, don’t take the road around the back of the building, there’s a big hole in the ground, and I’m going to go look for it.
GM: Okay. You go looking around for a big hole in the ground in the back of the buildings.
Shane: I’m gonna go out into the brush and with my ten-foot pole, I’m poking the ground in front of me as I walk around, sniff the air and see if I can find this place.
GM: Okay. Make a Scout Ob 5 test. It is person-sized, and you’re guessing at the location.
Shane: Okay. So I am going to use my Nature because I don’t have the scout skill, rather than raw beginner’s luck.
GM: And I’d say this is in sneaking.
Shane: This is within my Nature. I guess I’m sneaking around, and I happen to have the soggy trait. And I’m very dry. I haven’t slaked my thirst with any of those three-squires beer, so I’m not feeling too soggy, and I long to be soggy, so I’m going to use that against myself to earn a check. I take minus one.
GM: The wind is so dry. It’s like Arizona.
Shane: Phoenix, Middarmark. We’ll put it there on my sheet, and let’s see. It leaves me five dice.
GM: Ob 5.
Shane: All right, let’s see. 6D. That’s a fail. I don’t think I’m going to spend any rewards on this. Oh, my Fresh die! Hang on.
GM: Oh, yeah. You are fresh.
Shane: I’m just going to roll it just to see. Hang on.
GM: Yeah.
Shane: Why not? Because then I might want to spend some points on it. Yeah. If I get a six, then I definitely will.
GM: Oh wait. Yeah, you got three sixes.
Shane: Okay. So. All right. So we’re gonna we’re gonna do it this way. I’m gonna spend a Fate point on my direction-wise. We reroll one of those fails. We come with three fate points and two persona points, right?
GM: That’s right.
Shane: Cool. So gonna spend a fate point. And I’m going to go ahead and reroll one more of those. That’s a fail. Okay. All right, let me spend a fate point. Yeah, I’m gonna spend a Fate point to reroll my sixes. So. 3D because I have three sixes altogether. We got it. Yep.
GM: All right. That’s the end of turn one.
## Turn 2 00:22:48
GM: And so you are there, and you’re dragging around your ten-foot pole with your one hand. You got your candle in the other, and you set it down to look around into the back rolling hills surrounding the three squires. And you find that there is, if you use your ten-foot pole to kind of like push aside the shrubbery and overgrowth that has gone there, and it conceals a man-sized hole in the ground. And you listen down, and you can hear the sounds of yipping and yapping far below and the dripping of water on stone. And you can see that there is a cave shaft or a stone shaft that leads down into the depths below.
Shane: Oh, I did it. I think we can just call it here, Ross. I mean, I’m a winner in my book. I don’t think I need to keep playing. I’ve always wanted to find that exit from the surface before having anything to do with the underground here. Okay, cool. Well, no, no, no, I just I will continue. So, I’m going to take the ten-foot pole, and I’m going to lay it across the hole. Does it fit?
GM: The ten-foot pole is way bigger than the hole.
Shane: Awesome. So I’m going to lay down the ten-foot pole. I’m going to take my grappling hook. I’m gonna tie knots in both of these ropes. And I went into the rope to my grappling hook.
GM: Sure.
Shane: The nice thing about this ten-foot pole is it’ll. I need to retrieve the rope from down there. I can try to lick the rope. Or pull it hard enough to just break the ten-foot pole. You know, get my rope if I need to. And I’m gonna, you know, coil the rope nice with all the little knots in it, and I’m going to throw the rope down into the hole.
GM: Yeah. Okay. You do.
Shane: Right. Now I’m going to go back to the well. I’m going to go back in through the stockade gate. I’m going to leave that there.
GM: Sure. Okay. And you go back to the well.
Shane: And I’m going to pick up that bucket of water, and I’m going to go to the, I suppose it’s like the northeast. There are these three doors.
Shane: Exit to location six.
GM: Heading over to the carriage house. Yeah.
Shane: Indeed.
GM: Yeah. You cross the courtyard to get into the carriage house on the ground floor. There’s a stable with stalls for six horses and a separate area with a wide entrance that could hold a single wagon. And between them is a doorway that leads to a stairway to a second story.
Shane: I’m going to give. I walk over to the horses and give one of them a pat. Easy, easy. And I’m going to put the bucket of water up to it.
GM: All right. Great. Yeah. You go into the stables. There are stalls for six of the horses, but there are only two draught horses here. And you give them some water because they look absolutely wretched and horrible. They’re their ribs showing through the taut skin on their sides. And they lap up the water, and you see a little bit of swishing of their tails as the joy is starting to come back into their lives.
Shane: Yes, indeed. So, are the horses hitched or are they, you know, locked in here with like a gate or something?
GM: They are hitched to a post that onto the wall.
Shane: Okay. What does the hitch look like? Does it look trivial to unhitch the horses? Oh, yeah.
GM: It’s just like a small loop of rope. That’s just been laid on top of there. So it’s nothing to undo that.
Shane: Okay, we’re gonna undo it, and I’m going to let the horses run free because, if I recall correctly, there are grazing rules. So I think the horses just need to go graze.
GM: Oh. All right. Yeah. Okay. And they kind of go out into the courtyard, into the, into the, the, that area and start moving about and you know, find their own way sniffing at the ground hunting down little tufts of grass that have cropped up all around this area.
GM: All right.
Shane: Good luck. Good luck, horses. I hope you live long and live well. I am now going to exit Location six. And then I believe to my right is there’s a sign right for the House of Three Squires Tavern.
GM: Yeah, yeah, the tavern sign.
Shane: Go into that building over there and have a I’m going to sneak into the building, if that makes sense. I’m going to go very quietly with my little halfling feet, I’m going to go quietly and softly into that entrance, looking very carefully at what’s inside so that I’m not surprised.
GM: Yeah. Okay. So you go over to the tavern. The oak door to the tavern is swinging ajar on its hinges, but there’s a putrefying stench that assaults you as you approach the threshold. Trestle tables and benches take up most of this space. They’re covered with plates of rotting food, and Jack’s a spoiled drink. It is totally gross. The food is crawling with maggots. Several bodies lie in pools of congealed blood on the floor amidst all the rushes, and a bar runs along one wall with several casks atop of it, surrounded by an army of leather jacks. There’s a stairway in the back leading up to a second story.
Shane: What are leather jacks, by the way? I have no idea. What is a leather jack?
GM: That’s a great thing. I always assumed it was like, is this like a bar? like a tap that doesn’t. Why would you have a leather tap?
Shane: See, I don’t know, I don’t know. Or is it a stool? I don’t know. It’s this, you know, these burning wheel guys, man, they know, I think they study the dictionary as kids.
GM: It’s a hand-stitched drinking vessel made from hardened leather.
Shane: I want me one of those. okay. sneaking very, very carefully. I’m going to go, and I’m going to sneak up and have a look in those leather jacks and see if any of them is empty.
GM: You enter into there, and when you start like that, crawl over the dead bodies that are on the floor, and three giant rats with deformed features and hairless, weirdly colored mottled skin raise up from the pile of dead bodies, bits of flesh falling out of their mouths, and their red eyes gleam in your candlelight as they spy you and get ready to charge after you.
Shane: Okay. Can I try to avoid them as if no one were there? What if I. What if I try to sneak away and hide behind the bar or sneak and go up the stairs?
GM: Yeah, let’s give that a shot. We’re gonna do. Let’s do some opposed tests. I’ll roll first.
Shane: Yeah. If the candle is what’s making them notice me, I’ll put my hand around the candle to try to dim the brightness.
GM: Mhm. All right. Let me roll here.
Shane: Sorry. What kind of test is this?
GM: This would be an opposed scout test, but you can almost certainly use your sneaking nature.
Shane: I’m going to use my hidden depths to give you two dice. So I think I’m being a little bold. I’m out here by myself. I’m a guide, and I may have gotten myself in over my head. All right.
GM: Here, here it is with you giving me two more dice, and that gets you two checks. So you now have three total. I have three successes on this.
Shane: And I don’t have scout, and I want to use my sneaking Nature.
GM: Yeah.
Shane: So that’s going to be 6D because I gave you two checks, right?
GM: Yeah.
Shane: Yeah. And then let me see if I have any. I have the vermin ward. I’m wearing it. And I use it as a wrestled with.
GM: I was like, should you be able to activate its powers if you don’t know the theologian test? I think so because rules is written. It is saying that you learn about it with a theologian. so you do have the benefits of it.
GM: Well.
Shane: So I like to play by the rules, right?
GM: So yeah, that’s what this is all about identifying.
Shane: Yeah. If you have to identify it to use its power, that’s one thing, but I am going to use it as a supply. So I’m going to basically crash the vermin ward. And what I’m going to do is I’m going to like take it off and just kind of prop it up. So it’s like standing up, I guess, against the bar or a table leg or whatever’s near me, a person. And it’s in the hopes that they will attack it, right? So they’ll see this vermin ward. And you know, either it will make them shy and scare them away, or maybe they’ll go pick it up and gnaw on it or whatever, but I’m going to consume it as a supply for +1D.
GM: Yeah, I love it. Okay.
Shane: And then I’m also fresh, so that’s 8D. All right, let’s see.
GM: You got it. Yes. you use your you use this, this vermin ward, this mask and skid it across the floor. While hiding your candlelight. The troll rats see that and are incensed with a hatred for it and jump on top of it, gnawing at the wooden mask, giving you ample opportunity to tiptoe your way past them.
Shane: Yes. All right.
GM: So that is the end of turn two.
## Turn 3 00:34:48
Shane: Yay! All right, so candles last four turns, right? Oh. And let’s see. All right. So I’m going to go up. You said there were stairs, right?
GM: Yeah. There’s a second story here.
Shane: Okay. So I’m going to go up those stairs.
GM: You see a hallway with several open doors, all of which seem to be bedrooms. As you climb the stairs, you hear an odd whirring and clacking sound. The clacking sound comes from one of the rooms where you can see the back of a pair of kobolds crouched in the doorway, staring at something within.
Shane: Mhm. Mhm. I would skip that room for now. What kind of peer in and see if I can make out what’s going on?
GM: Yeah. You look around in there, and you see that there is an elderly woman sitting at a spinning wheel, turning wool into yarn. That’s what the clacking sound is, is making. And there’s these two kobolds who are sitting cross-legged just a couple feet away from her. And they’re just like, absolutely mesmerized by that. And you can see one of them has this clawed finger pointed out and just kind of like circling in the air, tracing the path that the wheel has taken, being like, whoa, this is so awesome. And the woman who is doing this weaving or spinning, spinning this thread, is chatting to the kobolds. And you see her eyes are closed the entire time, and she keeps asking the kobolds different things like, oh, oh, Rickard go get me some. Go fetch me a glass of water here. I’m getting very thirsty.
Shane: Oh, man. If only I had packed food and water. Three. I only have garlic around my neck. The lady is hungry. Okay. I have an idea. This might be kind of weird. It just occurred to me. I’m improving here. But I’m going to take my baggy green sweater and kind of pull the collar so it’s over my head a little bit. So I look like an old baba.
GM: Mhm, mhm.
Shane: And, I’m going to bend my back so I look like a bit of a hunchback, you know?
GM: Yeah. Oh, I’m getting the picture.
Shane: So I look kind of elderly and creaky, and I’m gonna in my best granny voice, I say, oh, is that you? Is that you, Elsa? And I’m going to walk into the room and make my way over to the spinning wheel. And I’m going to say, why don’t you give me a turn?
GM: Yeah. Okay, you do that, and you completely shock the kobolds who have been staring at this thing. They get up and try to run past you and down the stairs.
Shane: I let them go.
GM: They scamper out. The old woman, then still spinning the wool, says, oh! Oh, no. Elsa. Left a little while ago. I’m Unni. Who are you, dearie?
Shane: Unni, my name is Bream. Bream Bogbutter. You must be hungry. Here. All I have is this garlic. Take it.
GM: Oh, okay. Raw garlic. I don’t really think I can eat this.
Shane: Okay, well, maybe I can turn it into something for you. I’m going to close the door behind me, and I want to make camp.
## Camp Phase 00:39:05
GM: Yeah. So I’m not going to say it’s a safe camp because there are still monsters downstairs. But I’m going to say that this is an unsafe camp.
Shane: Okay.
GM: And we’re going to be squatting in town. So do you light a fire or keep a dark camp?
Shane: I’m going to need a fire because I want to cook.
GM: So then I’m going to roll, and you can’t set a watch. So then I’m going to roll 3D minus two.
Shane: Don’t be a catastrophe.
GM: These are always so harsh. Oh, well it’s not bad.
Shane: That’s not bad.
GM: You find one of the three other rooms that are up on the second floor, and you spy it out, and you’re like, this is good. This is on the corner. I’ll be able to hear people coming up the stairs and give them a little time to react before I get surprised or attacked or anything like that. None of that happens, thankfully. But on the downside, you do find that this is the garbage room. So this is just like an area that has been piled up with all sorts of nasty, gross, rotting food and has this filth and dirt and debris and garbage that has been in here. So while you’re here, you can’t alleviate hungry, thirsty, but you don’t have that. So that’s good. And you get a +1D to scavenger test because of all the piles of debris.
Shane: Let me ask you this. We’re in Unni’s room right?
GM: Next to it. Yeah.
GM: Yeah, yeah. Like I’m saying, up on the second floor, there’s four rooms, there’s Unni’s room, and there’s three others. And the one room has the desk and then the other two are basically described as more or less empty. So I’m saying one of those mostly empty rooms is actually this garbage room.
Shane: Okay. That’s fine. I thought I was camping in Unni’s room, but that’s okay. If not, I can still cook a meal and bring it to her after.
GM: Yeah.
Shane: Right. And yeah, I was going to say it would make sense if her room was full of detritus because she has been unattended probably for several days. But yeah, no, that makes sense. Not the worst possible result, and I’ll take it. All right, so I’m camping and I’ve got this little instinct to always keep up my mapping. So I don’t, I don’t want to map every location I’ve been to. I just want to map basically from here to the I want, okay, so I want this location, the well, the kitchen and the path to the hole in the ground.
GM: Yeah, yeah. That’s Cartographer Ob 2: personally surveyed, small area.
Shane: Well, I happen to have the cartographer skill. So there’s no getting out of this with my nature.
GM: But you’re still fresh.
Shane: So fresh. So three dice. All right, let’s do it. Got it.
GM: Yeah. You got a map.
Shane: Excellent.
GM: You still have three checks to go through.
Shane: Excellent. Now check number one. I’m going to cook a meal for granny. So I’m going to use my garlic. Trying to make a garlic soup.
GM: See what we are doing here. Forage for one. Okay.
0GM: Yeah. Make a cook Obstacle three.
Shane: Test cook three. Oh, I happen to have cook as well, so.
GM: Yeah, because that’s forage for one.
Shane: Yeah. Okay, so I’m about to bring out the hidden depths of this garlic. I’m going to use my hidden depths trait. And I’m fresh. So that’s four dice, right?
GM: Yeah, you got it.
Shane: So. Okay just a quick check here. I’m using the garlic to cook normally. Garlic gives +1D if you use it as like an ingredient, but I’m using it to actually make the meal because I don’t have any rations, so I don’t get the plus one D.
GM: Yeah, I’m saying if you’re just using this right off the bat, then it counts as the forage and not the supplies.
Shane: Okay, cool. I like that interpretation. I agree with it wholeheartedly. All right. So yeah three successes. I did it. Wow. Bream’s on a roll.
GM: Lucked out on that roll. Yeah, you cook up some really delicious deep garlic flavored broth. And it, especially on this cold, windy night, it really hits the spot.
Shane: Yes, indeed. I can’t wait to take this to Granny. She’ll be so proud of my cooking. All right. And let’s see. I’ve got two more checks. Right? Yeah. So I didn’t anticipate having this many checks, going into my first camp. I thought I would have maybe two checks. But I don’t want to like go through the book looking for things I could do, so I’m gonna have to improvise here. I think the. First thing I want to do, you said I’m in a rubbish room, right?
Yeah. That’s right.
Shane: I’m gonna look for anything I can eat. I’m gonna scavenge for fresh rations. Looking around in the heaps and whatnot. Actually, instead of fresh rations. I’m sorry. Sorry. I take that back. He’s looking for a cup, remember? He wanted that leather jack downstairs.
GM: Oh, yeah.
Shane: He’s just looking for a cup that he can fill with water.
GM: You can get a leather jack.
Shane: For a bottle? Like it’ll hold like two drafts or something like that.
GM: And you just get two cups.
Shane: Yeah.
GM: Apparently, there’s a whole army of them.
Shane: One halfling, two cups. Let’s do it. Sorry.
GM: Okay, you got them.
Shane: Oh, cool. They’re just there.
GM: Yeah, there’s so many of them.
Shane: Awesome. All right, so I’ll carry two cups. Okay. So that’s not a test. So then let’s figure out what we’re going to do. Well, I left my rope on that hole in the ground, so I wonder if I can, during this camp phase. Kind of go to Granny and borrow some of that yarn that she’s spinning and maybe try to make my own rope.
GM: How do you approach her with that? How do you pitch that?
Shane: Oh it’s simple. I bring her a bowl of my hearty garlic stew.
GM: I say she stops spinning and smells the soup. And it’s like, oh, oh, this is really good. And blows on the surface and takes some sips of it. Oh yes. Quite nice.
Shane: Yeah. Well, I say garlic isn’t good if you haven’t eaten in a while, but it’s all I got. Granny. Hey, I’ll trade you for some of that yarn.
GM: So she thinks that you’re just. Okay, so. Yeah, but you have identified yourself as a halfling. And he says, well, this is quite nice. Who are you again? You’re some sort of burglar.
Shane: MM. I prefer explorer, but if you want to put it that way. Yeah, I suppose you could say I’m a burglar.
GM: Are you one of the guests here?
Shane: Well, I’m actually a guide. I bring people to and from the House of the Three Squires. I was hoping to bring a whole tour party.
GM: What do you need with my yarn? I’m making a sweater.
Shane: Well, I’ve already got a sweater.
GM: For cold nights like this.
Shane: Oh, I see the sweater is for you. MM. Well, I need the yarn for rope. Rumor has it that while you’re up here spinning yarn all the patrons and all the workers of your inn have been attacked by little creatures from the dark caverns below.
GM: He’ll take care of that.
Shane: Oh, no. No, no. These are much bigger than rats. And there’s a lot of them. In fact, I think I heard the sounds of people down deep in the earth. You’re in trouble, granny. You’re lucky they didn’t take you, too.
GM: All right, let’s make opposed. It’ll be my nature versus your persuader. You have persuader.
Shane: No.
GM: Okay. Are you riddling?
Shane: Well, I didn’t exactly approach it in a riddling way. But maybe I’m merry making, you know, I’m trying to bring her some stew and share in the good times. Give her a little stew. She gives me a little yarn. Trying to make the lady happy. I just want a little something in return.
GM: That sounds fun. Let’s do that.
Shane: Right.
GM: I got one success.
Shane: Okay. All right. We have a strategy for that, but we’ll see if it let’s see if we can get around to it. All right. So nature 5. So. All right. I got three successes.
GM: Okay. So that’s the second camp check out of three. And she hands over the ball of yarn.
Shane: Nice second check. Thanks, Granny. Enjoy the stew. And then I’m going to take it back to my garbage-infested room, and I’m going to make some rope out of it.
GM: Let’s do. Clothing a Weaver Ob 1.
Shane: I happen to have the Weaver skill. Probably from all that fishing I’m supposed to be doing.
GM: Yeah, sure. And you’re still fresh?
Shane: Yeah. Still fresh. That’s three dice. All right, let’s see. Now I’m using the yarn. Does that count as supplies? No, no, no, you know what I’ll do? I’ll melt some candle wax to help reinforce. Oh, yeah.
GM: So I would say cross off one candle, and that’ll count as supplies.
Shane: Yeah. There we go. All right. That’s gonna be 4D. And you can do with this. Got it.
GM: Yeah. Yeah. You’re you’re you’re on a hot streak. All right. Yeah, that’s the third check of camp. So that’s going to end your camp phase. But you now have a new spool of rope.
Shane: Excellent. A great camp, all things considered. All right, well, Granny’s been fed, and I say, I think I just walk into a room and I say, sit tight for a while. I’m going to try to save everybody.
GM: Yeah, yeah.
## Turn 1 00:53:10
Shane: And I’m gonna go check out that room with the desk in it.
GM: Yeah. You go over to that room because you saw that there was one of them. One of the rooms had a desk in it. And it is a heavy, ornately carved wooden desk.
Shane: Yeah. And I’m gonna open the drawers of the desk and see if I find anything.
GM: You do? There is a worn brass key.
Shane: Where can I put it? Oh, yeah, I can put it in my.
GM: Can you put the ring on your hand and then put this in your pocket?
Shane: Oh, no. If I put the ring on my hand, who knows what’ll happen. I might turn invisible and be beset by Nazgul. I know what happened to Smeagol. You’re not gonna trick me, Ross.
GM: Damn. You didn’t fall for it.
Shane: But you know what? I appreciate a GM hint when I get one. You know what I will. I’m gonna wear the gold ring.
GM: Okay, cool. And it’s wearing a dead man’s ring. No big deal.
Shane: No big deal. He doesn’t need it anymore. Maybe I’ll return it to someone from his family when I leave.
GM: Yeah.
Shane: I have no intention to sell it. I don’t need money. Who needs money? Resources? Zero. Come on. All right. And I forgot to mark my grappling hook off my sheet, too, so I will put. I’ll put that there. All right. Well, I do a little Tetris, everybody. Just updating my sheet here.
GM: Yeah.
Shane: All right. So with all that done, I am going to go into the kitchen.
GM: All right. Because you have that mapped, right?
Shane: Yeah. I don’t have to face those troll rats. I’ve got it mapped. So I’m just going to fast travel to the kitchen.
GM: Yeah. All right. You do.
GM: Oh yeah. That’s right. And this is the room where you found the wooden mask. And then there’s a set of stairs leading into the basement.
Shane: I’m just gonna walk down the stairs.
GM: You do, because that trap only triggers on the weight of more than one person.
Shane: Yeah, that is one of those elite speedrunner hacks. I mean, that is golden.
GM: So I was like, damn, you got me, man.
Shane: Good. I actually didn’t even realize that I read right over it. I didn’t even think about it.
GM: Yeah. Same. Yeah, you slide down there.
Shane: Yeah. So I slide down the stairs and then, what do I see?
GM: Yeah. You enter into the basement below the kitchen. It’s a chilling, dank chamber. It reeks of sour vinegar, rancid beer, and a distinctly unpleasant animal odor. There are racks of beer bottles, barrels. Most of them are caved in now, but. And they line the walls. There’s a viscous, tacky substance pooled on the floor, and there’s a multitude of hooks which would be perhaps used for aging meat hanging from the rafters, but they’re now all empty. The rest of the chamber is full of brewing equipment and sacks of grain, sacks of grain. On the far side, a heavy wooden door has been chopped down from the other side. Its splintered remains lie on the floor, and a salted ham, which has been gnawed to the bone lies beside it. Beyond the doorway, as appears, is what appears to be a natural limestone cave, and in one corner near the door is a hand pump and spigot surrounded by several wooden buckets.
Shane: Now Somebody really likes him. I’m gonna go to. I’m going to go along the walls and push on the walls and see if there’s a if there’s any give on any of the bricks.
GM: What I’m just putting up on the reading. Could you say that again?
Shane: I’m gonna sidle along the walls sneaking very carefully. And I’m going to be just pushing on the bricks because, you know, in Bream’s head, these creatures came from down below. And he thinks maybe, you know, maybe they came through like a secret passage somewhere. Yeah, yeah. Over by the hand pump.
GM: Over by the hand pump. The bricks and the mortar in between has been decaying and crumbling, and the bricks are kind of loose there.
Shane: Mhm. I’m going to take a few bricks out and lay them to the side if I can.
GM: Take one out, and it takes a little bit of effort to pop it out. And you can see once it’s out, there’s, you know, a cavity on the other side, and you can see with your candle there, just the faint outline of some sort of cave formation in there.
Shane: All right. I’m going to pull enough bricks out, kind of like in the perfect shape of a halfling.
GM: All right. Make an Ob 2 laborer test.
Shane: Okay, cool. Well, surprise, surprise, I don’t have laborer. So I’m going to use my nature. This should be outside my nature, right?
GM: Yeah, this isn’t really sneaking. You are still fresh.
Shane: Okay. You know what? Yeah. I’ll go ahead and roll. Oh, barely.
GM: Oh, you did two successes. Okay, great.
GM: So since you passed, there’s no tax. And because it’s always margin of failure that you get taxed at. And so that’s the end of turn one.
## Turn 2 01:00:06
GM: And you open up an entryway just big enough for your small halfling self to, to be able to squeeze through into there and get into room twelve.
Shane: Mhm. I’m not going to go in just yet. I’ll open up the space.
GM: Okay. Yeah. You see, the inside is a natural spring. There’s a thick lead pipe running from the hand pump and spigot right next to you, and it draws water out from an icy natural spring. Here, the water is moving and bubbling and fresh.
Shane: So don’t ask me how I know this, but I’m going to turn around and go back into the basement cellar, and I’m going to walk directly opposite to the wall on the other side. And I’m going to push on some bricks there.
GM: Okay. And when you do, you go past all of the brewing equipment and sacks of grain that are there and scurrying out from behind the sacks of grain are three troll rats.
Shane: Oh, no, I triggered the troll rats. Oh, troll rats.
GM: Around.
Shane: You. Oh, no. I disturb the troll rats. I didn’t mean to do that. I forgot about that. Okay. What do we do with troll rats? I think we drive them off. So here’s what I do. I have my quiver and my arrows at my side. I pull my bow out, and I slowly draw an arrow as they approach me. And I’m going to, you know, basically threaten them. So Bream is going to shout a few times, you know, go away, get back, back, back from where you came.
GM: We are going to go into a drive off conflict. Here’s something. And as someone who’s been so involved in the game for so long and with elbow to elbow with the creators, drive off has fighter and health for the disposition, but fighter and will for the skills. That just doesn’t quite jive.
Shane: Well, if you think about it. Right.
GM: What are your thoughts?
Shane: No, I mean, driving off is a test of wills, man. It’s like who is going to stand their ground?
GM: Shouldn’t disposition be fighter and will.
Shane: Well, that’s a good question.
GM: I don’t know why the mix.
Shane: Well, look, probably only Thor knows that one.
GM: There you go. I’ll ask him next time I have a chance. Anyway, so I have a disposition of three plus. Zero. I have a disposition of three. Each one of them has a single hit point.
Shane: Fighter added to health. Right? Okay. Yeah. Well, there’s a lovely thing about disposition rules in that they can’t be taxed. So I’m going to use my Nature, outside of my Nature.
GM: Right. Because there’s no way to fail.
Shane: Yeah. Because you can’t fail. So if only I had a level three trait or something. I could use some dice. I still have soggy, but I’m gonna I’m gonna save that for if I’m in like a dire situation.
GM: You’re still fresh.
Shane: Yeah, may as well. So I got 7D. All right, come on. Six successes. Wow. Oh my gosh, I never roll this. I got a really good run of luck. I’m gonna knock on wood now, though.
GM: Yeah. So you have disposition ten going into this?
Shane: Yeah. Ten.
GM: Yeah. Amazing. All right. I’m going to declare my weapon as sharp bite, which gives a bonus to feint.
Shane: Okay. I am going.
GM: And you have an order of might benefit against these creatures.
Shane: Yes, indeed. I’m going to use my bow and arrows to scare them off.
GM: All right.
Shane: Cool. I forgot to be honest. I forgot what the bow does. Isn’t it like plus 2D to maneuver, and you can turn attack versus attack to a versus test.
GM: Yes. But that special ability, you can only do once per conflict.
Shane: Okay. That’s thanks for the reminder. That’s good.
GM: That was the big bow change from the first edition to second, where previous bows could just do that all the time and just be invincible.
Shane: Yeah, yeah.
GM: Okay. So if you’re using the bow, I have set my cards down in front of me. You will just trust me on that. And what are your three actions?
Shane: Well, we’ll reveal one at a time. Yeah.
GM: Yeah, we’ll reveal one at a time.
Shane: So I have maneuver against your attack.
GM: Okay. So you start with maneuver, and I start with attack. They are versus.
Shane: Yep. So I get plus I get plus 2D for the bow, right? Just double-checking that.
GM: Yes, yes, you do, in addition to all your other stuff. And then I say. Okay, I have rolled.
Shane: 6D.
GM: You stop me cold, so you get a margin of success. Three plus your order of might. So success five.
Shane: Yep. So five. So I can do all the actions. So I’m going to impede you for -1D to your next roll. I’m going to gain position for +2D to my next roll. And I’m also going to disarm them of their little chompers.
GM: Oh no my beans.
Shane: Not sure what that looks like in the fiction, but they, they’re hesitant to give me a sharp bite.
GM: Was going to be a surprise. So I’m saying it’s like you’re losing these arrows and causing the troll rats to scurry about and like shooting it right in front of them and stopping their like their moves. So like.
Shane: They.
GM: Kind of like they’re trying to like flank you, and you’re stopping that cold.
Shane: Nice. Awesome. All right. Action two. Maneuver.
GM: Maneuver versus maneuver. So these are independent. So I am going to get one success.
Shane: Yeah.
GM: And I will impede you.
Shane: Okay. So I have +2D for my game position. That’s ten. And then this one for fresh. So that’s eleven dice right? It’s solo player rolling eleven dice without having tapped my nature.
GM: So you can’t. Sorry. I’m already disarmed.
Shane: All right, so I’m. I know, right. So I will impede you again, and I will gain position again.
GM: All right. Last one. You said attack. I said feint.
Shane: Wow. Okay, there we go. There we have it. Let’s see how we do. So I’m impeded, however. I’m gonna roll. Let’s see. My Nature is 6D, minus one. So that’s five, plus two for my gain position. Plus Fresh. So that’s 8D. Yep.
GM: Yep. And you wipe them out.
Shane: Sick!
GM: While they were scurrying about, distracted and herded by your bow. You shoot them in the back, pinning them to the ground, easily defeated. That is the end of turn two. So you’re still fresh. Victory with no compromise.
## Turn 3 01:09:31
GM: So your arrow pins their tail, and then they break it off and go scurrying into the darkness, terrified of your might. And that you, that actually burns out a candle because that’s the fourth turn overall.
Shane: Oh, that’s right. Thank you for the reminder. So I will light another candle off of my sputtering one.
GM: Yeah.
Shane: And, I’m going to gather my arrows and then hold one up and like, Give it a good, blow, you know?
GM: Yeah, yeah.
Shane: Trying to look cool. Really no actual use for that. And put it all in my quiver. And I’m going to go back to what I was trying to do before I was beset by troll rats. And I’m going to go push on that wall on the other side.
GM: To find the secret panel.
Shane: Yay. Okay, so I’m gonna pull wood.
GM: Painted to look like stone. And you open it up and find a secret cache.
Shane: Secret cache. Nice. Oh.
GM: You open it up and. Yeah, yeah. You see, the walls here are bare, save for a rack that holds a sword, crossbow, battered shield, helmet, and quiver full of quarrels. Crossbow is a good weapon, man, I tell you. In the center of the room is a small, unadorned chest.
Shane: I’m gonna go to the chest and use the brass key.
GM: All right? It opens it right up inside a pouch of Pack 1 gold coins and Pack 7 of silver coins.
Shane: Oh, silver coins.
GM: 7D.
Shane: I wasn’t prepared for that. Yeah, I think that’s correct. I forgot, I mean, I read this a week ago.
GM: Oh, okay.
Shane: But yeah. Okay, so gold coins and silver coins. So now, remind me in order to score the treasure, what do I have to do? I have to get the treasure out of the dungeon.
GM: Yeah, get it out of here.
Shane: Okay, man, that might be kind of tough to carry that much silver. It’s a lot of silver. I will pocket the gold coins just to get credit for those. I’ll put the gold coins in my pocket because I’ve already used the brass key.
GM: Sure.
Shane: Okay. Definitely doing some Resident Evil menuing right now. No lie. And I’ll take pack two of that silver.
GM: Okay. So that’s 2D from that.
Shane: Yeah. And put that in my backpack. Okay. Mhm. Man, I should have taken the jeweler skill for this. That would definitely come in handy. Let’s see. I’m running into an inventory problem.
Shane: Yeah. So it’s like, I want either the sword or the crossbow. You know what? Because I’m going to need my hammer and spikes, too. Maybe I just don’t need the oil. I’m gonna put down the oil. Move my tinderbox to my backpack. And then put the board on my belt.
GM: Okay. All right.
Shane: And. I’ve got these two precious cups that I scavenged, and I’m torn as to whether I should, uh. Leave them here or what? Because I’m gonna need them later. This is really challenging. This is harder than I thought, guys. When you’re in the chat or when you’re listening to this, you can point out like all the little flaws and hiccups, or you can point out like the better decision that would have been made. But when you’re playing, you know, your brain just, yeah, your brain just sort of grows wings and flies out of the window. So that’s where I am right now as I’m looking at this at these two cups sitting in my inventory. Can I carry the crossbow with one hand?
GM: I believe I can carry it in one hand, but you need two to wield it. Yeah.
Shane: Okay. So what I’ll do is I’ll kind of like, go back and forth a little bit. So I’ll put the cups in the spring water room. So they’re just near the water. So, you know, I can maybe fill them up if I need to, but then I’m just going to carry the crossbow in my hand. So there you have it. Yeah. Inventory managed. The only thing I left, I think I left, was how much like back 5D of silver there.
GM: Yeah. There’s still, there’s still pack five of silver there.
Shane: In the chest, obviously too. Okay. All right. Cool. Now I’ve done what I came to do. I’m going to go back up into the kitchen. Where I rejoin my map. And I’m going to fast travel to the hole in the ground.
GM: Yeah. You do.
Shane: All right.
GM: I am looking up something real fast. That just occurred to me. This would be for your benefit, if it’s true. All right. Crossbow is Ob 4 to purchase, so that counts as treasure.
Shane: Nice to change. yeah. That’s awesome. Okay, so add that to the tally for sure.
GM: Yeah.
Shane: All right. This is kind of the part of the adventure I’ve been dreading because it can kind of go any which way. And I’m not.
Shane: With all the monsters.
Shane: Yeah, with the real, the real monsters. So, um.
GM: But I kind of like when you, when you’re like sword or crossbow. I’m like, don’t take either. You don’t, you don’t fight.
Shane: Yeah, I know, right. Just sneak around and entertain them. Like juggle or play a flute or something. but we’ll see how it goes. Yeah. I’m ready. So I go to the hole in the ground and you know, I got my rope and my hole set up there with the grappling hook and everything and.
GM: Shimmering down there. Huh?
Shane: Yep. I’m going to take off my backpack. and I’m debating whether I should leave it here or lower it down with me. I’m going to take the rope out of my backpack and wrap it around my torso.
GM: And then okay, sure.
Shane: Yeah. And then I’m going to put the backpack on the ground. And in the backpack I’m gonna put because I took the rope out, I’m going to put the gold coins in there. Yeah. And then in my pocket, I’m going to put that last candle.
GM: Yeah, that makes sense.
Shane: Okay, cool. yeah. Okay. And then, and then I’m going to. Go down the hole. Let’s do it.
GM: All right. It’s a narrow squeeze. Is it a narrow squeeze for you? It doesn’t say anything about halfling size. It is a narrow squeeze, so make a Dungeoneer obstacle three test, but I’ll give you +1D for gear for that rope. That’s all set up.
Shane: Okay. And the grappling hook? The grappling hook as well. Grappling hook counts as plus one D for this I believe. If you want to look that up feel free.
GM: Right. But can you have multiple gear on a test?
Shane: That’s also a good question. And a while since I’ve had more than one type of gear that would work for a test.
GM: I think your setup has it all there. So that gives you plus one.
