Iron & Gold
Credits
This is a solo play-through of the adventure “Ironwood Gorge” by Eric Jones, published by Ludibrium Games.
Because I am not really an old-school guy, things have been converted to (originally) Iron Gauntlets by Precis Intermedia Games and after about chapter 6, Iron & Gold, also by Precis Intermedia Games. Where necessary, I use Mythic Game Master Emulator by Tana Pigeon, published by Word Mill Games.
This is the second Ludibrium Games module I’ve used for these characters, and I enjoy them. (The first was “The Sanctuary Ruin.”)
As usual, rules misunderstandings are mine and I try to present it as (bad) fiction, with game mechanics in footnotes. The italicized subtitles after the chapter title are prompts from Mythic Game Master Emulator; I try to work the intent into the scene. I am not always successful, but it keeps me a bit more honest.
“Ironwood Gorge” is meant to be the basis for a campaign, where the Bleak Tower is a home base for adventures. I have not yet decided whether I will do that; there could be additional Bleak Tower adventures, or they'll wander away until the third adventure in the trilogy is published.
8 - Departure
Struggle Advice (PC Negative)
It was not yet noon when they set out. Kagandis had requested permission to go, and Onomaclus had granted it; she said her farewells to Lady Anwen and promised to return.
Orcs had not reappeared, though they had a distaste for sunlight and were more likely to return at night.
The wood around them was pleasant enough: today was clear, unlike the previous days, which had been overcast or with rain, and birds sang. Felewin once heard an arborhawk keening in a dive, which told him that there was enough life returned to the area that hawks could hunt here again.
Ninefingers[63] spotted the first spiders, and they avoided them; Kagandis spotted the toads, which looked like petrified tree stumps. Felewin walked into a clearing where two cockatrices where making flights past each other in a mating ritual; he spotted them late, and one attacked him[64] but instead turned his jacket to stone. There were some tense moments, but Felewin managed to leave the clearing.
“How are you?” asked Ninefingers.
“My arm tingles, but I seem to be all right.”
“It’s mating season,” said Kagandis (in goblin). “All clearings are dangerous.” Ninefingers passed ithis on.
“Good to know, if a bit late,” said Felewin. His jacket was stone now, so with Uthrilir’s help, he broke the jacket into pieces, and they moved on.
Some time later, Uthrilir asked, “Where are we going?”
“I don’t know specifically,” said Felewin. “Hermits are hermits, of course, and Odend never gave anyone directions to his home. Credit where it’s due: Burl loves to pontificate on these things, and much of this information is from him.
“Odend has to be in the Ironwood proper, because of the timing of his visits….passage from the regular forest is clear long before he shows up, but there are things that delay spring in the Ironwood by almost a month. Kagandis can tell you. Odend makes three trips each time: To order supplies, to pick up the supplies with a borrowed mule, and then to return the mule. Primus, it’s a path the mule can take. Secundus, the trips between leaving with the mule and returning it are no more than four days apart, so he’s no more than two days away. (I’m betting less.) Tertius, we have a record of failure: One of the men hurt in the massacre tried to find him (to heal something the curate couldn’t) and failed, so I know a path that doesn’t work. Quartus: We know what he orders for provisions, so we know what he probably harvests and catches. Those let us rule some places out.” He looked around. “Good place to stop for a bit. No spiders, toads, or cockatrices.” He found an actual log and sat on it before he continued.
“But most important, we have Kagandis.”
“She knows where the cleric is? Why didn’t you say so?”
“No, but she knows much more about the cleric than the folk of the Tower do, and she has seen him walking around. The sanctuary that her people live in is important to him, somehow.”
Ninefingers said, “I asked and she agreed to help us find his home.” He spoke to Kagandis, who replied, and then disappeared. “We’re in the right territory now, so she has gone to find traces.”
“Great,” said the elf sarcastically.
“Great,” said the dwarf, and he sounded like he meant it.
Game Mechanics
[63] 2d6 (6) under 4+5: success by a margin of 3; Spiders had 7 equal to 3+4 (margin of 0).
Kagandis needs 4+4 (8) and rolls 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment