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.
9 - An Encounter While Waiting
Spy Power (NPC Positive)
Ninefingers[65] spotted the orc first, and only barely. He whistled a bit of birdsong, which was a code with Felewin that meant “Trouble, be inobvious.”
Felewin, who barely could manage to be subtle faced with the unexpected, broke into Uthrilir’s discussion of missionary work among the centaurs, to go sit next to Ninefingers.
“Problem?” Felewin murmured, trying to look enraptured.
“Orc watching us. Now he’s slipped away. Expect trouble.”
Uthrilir broke off. “Is there a problem?”
“Maybe,” said Felewin. “We’ll talk about it once you’ve finished your story.”
“You’ve rather ruined the flow,” said Uthrilir.
“Thank goodness,” teased Hrelgi.
“I said you could ignore this because you’ve heard it.” For a few words, his voice was like the grinding of millstones, and that made Hrelgi smile.
“But I love being offered the choice,” she said.
“Pardon me,” said Felewin, “but what Ninefingers saw was an orc.”
“Too big to be a goblin or hobgoblin; too small to be an ogre or troll. Not a man, dwarf, elf, halfling or centaur,” confirmed Ninefingers.
“Kobold?” asked Hrelgi.
Ninefingers said, “No, we’ve met kobolds. Definitely not kobolds.”
Felewin asked, “We can’t leave the area because this is where Kagandis will return. So what can we do against a party of a dozen orcs?”
“Hide?” asked Hrelgi.
“If we didn’t have him,” said Ninefingers, indicating Felewin, “maybe. He’s rubbish at hiding.”
Felewin chose to ignore Ninefingers. “I don’t know your skills really. Hrelgi, maybe you can put items in trees we can pull down on top of the orcs? Uthrilir, can you create, I don’t know, a circle of blessing for us, so long as we fight in it.”
“You have very odd ideas,” said Uthrilir. “Gather together and I’ll ask blessing for us.[66]” He gathered them together and said to Felewin, “You’re hurt!”
“It’s a scratch.”
“If we fight orcs, it could be the difference for us. Just a moment.” He prayed and then laid hands on Felewin’s leg. Felewin felt better, and the nagging pain went away.
“It’s healed,” he told the dwarf. “My thanks.”
“That’s the past. Let’s see what the lady grants us for the immediate future.” He pulled everyone together and prayed for a moment. “Now we’ll see if that helps. I think it did, but you don’t know until the chisel hits the stone.”
Felewin looked about the small clearing. “I didn’t pick this with defense in mind, but it’s not awful. There’s at least one side that’s safe.”
There wasn’t enough light to attract cockatrices; one side was against a rock about twice the height of a man, and that looked unclimbable. The area was dotted with petrified trees (as was the whole Ironwood) but living spruces were pushing up, some tall enough that their trunks were as thick as Felewin was; some weedy saplings of something like maples were trying to make way in the clearing. The edge of the clearing was dotted with bushes, but beyond that it was mostly ferns. The orc that Ninefingers saw had been by the boulder.
“I’m the only one with a bow,” said Felewin. “Hrelgi, can you put me up on the boulder? I’ll have a clear shot there.”
“You’ll be a clear shot, there,” pointed out Ninefingers. “There’s a reason castle walls have crenelations.”
“True,” admitted Felewin. “But I can loose an arrow from the back of a horse; I’m sure this isn’t much worse. Or… Hrelgi, could you put me and one of the petrified logs up? That would give me cover?”
“A log on a boulder isn’t going to look suspicious?” asked Ninefingers.
“They already know we’re here,” said Felewin. “They are headed here this moment.”
“I would be the logical one to go to the top of the boulder,” pointed out Helgi.
“Okay, fly on up.”
“I cannot make myself fly,” she admitted. “You could lift me?”
An arrow bounced off Felewin’s armour. “Or I could lift you.”[67] She said three words and Felewin was up and on the top of the boulder. He quickly squatted so he might have some effective cover. The boulder had a slight dip, and he moved to that.
The orcs hadn’t quite got there yet: the archer had loosed the arrow well but early.[68]
Ninefingers said, “Backs against the boulder! Hrelgi, next, move a log here, give us cover!” He drew his sword.
The orcs arrived, and grinned. They spent a moment arranging themselves to charge.
Uthrilir hefted his mace and prayed.[69]
Hrelgi said the secret name of the log and commanded it to lay before her. It skidded over between the party and the orcs, tearing up earth and stones as it moved.
Felewin loosed a shot at the orc fitting a new arrow to his bow, and hit him in the thigh.[70]
The orcs charged, but the fact that Uthrilir had made them tougher for this first exchange saved them; the divine gift stopped all weapons from hurting them (though both Uthrilir and Hrelgi were hit by weapons).[71]
Neither Uthrilir or Ninefingers could get through an orc’s defenses, but Hrelgi spoke her words of power, and a stone unearthed by the movement of the log flew towards her, hitting an orc from behind.[72]
The orcs redoubled their efforts but did worse, this time. Felewin managed to lodge another arrow in the scout, and Ninefingers scored first blood against one of his foes. Uthrilir’s blows landed on scale armour, and Hrelgi’s next shot rock did not hurt her opponent but did knock him down.[73]
Hrelgi scowled and turned her opponent’s armour to lava. He fell to the ground screaming.
Ninefingers missed, but through the grace of Uthrilir’s prayer, both of the orcs missed.
Uthrilir’s prayer helped protect him as well.[74]
While Felewin was reloading, an orc against Uthrilir fell, its armor turned to lava. Ninefingers managed to fend off the first but the second orc hit; he cried out in pain.
“You’d better help him, girl; I’ll be fine,” said Uthrilir.[75]
“Fine,” she said, and one of Ninefinger’s opponent was wearing lava. The other had an arrow sticking from his leg, courtesy of Felewin.
The remaining orcs tried desperately: the one fighting Ninefingers missed, and Ninefingers finally managed to hit him; the one fighting Uthrillir hit—but Uthrillir hit him too.[76]
Then the orc who had hit Uthrillir burst into lava, and the orc against Ninefingers suddenly realized he was almost alone—he broke off to rejoin the scout, who was painfully fitting an arrow to his bowstring.
Uthrillir hit the orc, and then Ninefingers made it over the log and said, “We need to leave one alive,” when he wearily bashed the orc who had been fighting him. “Just not this one.”
Felewin shot an arrow into the ground at the scout’s feet, which got his attention. The scout looked up at the three immediately in front of him.
In orc, Ninefingers said, “Tell us what we want to know, or die.”
Game Mechanics
[65] Rolls a 9 on Survival, just making it (AWR+Surv) and notices the orc scout.
[66] Uthrilir rolls a 5, which is less than he needs for healing, which he does to Felewin, who has his 1 injury level removed.
Uthrilir rolls 4 for blessing in general. Since the margin was high, I’m going to say that they all get 1d6 extra armor for the first turn: 2 extra.
[67] The arrow hits: 5 on 7-; Armour gets 2,1 so nothing gets through.
It’s 9≤ to move a person, and she rolls a 7. He’s up.
[68] And now, Reaction times
Ninefingers: 8+2=10
Felewin: 8+4=12
Uthrilir: 7+1=8
Hrelgi: 6+6=12
Orcs: 7+3=10
So: Felewin, Hrelgi, Ninefingers, Orcs, Uthrilir.
There are 6 orcs, counting the scout; the scout is the only one with archery.
[69] He’s setting up another prayer, like aiming, so the roll will be +1 next turn.
Speaking of which, Reaction times
Felewin: 8+1=9
Ninefingers: 8+2=10
Orcs: 7+1=8
Urthilir: 7+4=11
Hrelgi: 6+5=11
Hrelgi rolls 7 versus 3+5+1-1; she moves the tree.
Uthrilir prays again vs 3+5+1+1 (10) and rolls 7. Felewin gets +1 on next shot.
Ninefingers waits.
Felewin looses an arrow at the scout. Say it’s 15 meters, 1/4 of the compound bow’s 60m range, so it’s short range (no change to difficulty). His archery is 10≤ and he rolls 10. He rolls 6, so the arrow is not affected by armour. The scout now has 1 Injury level.
[70] Composure: Orc scout needs 4+5, or 9≤; rolls 10. He’s helpless for the moment.
Other orcs charge, because they don’t have ranged weapons. House rules: You can do two actions, but the second one is at +2 Diff. They charge as an automatic action, and then attack. Let’s do the defense rolls first; they all do 2 better because of the log: Ninefingers gets a defense roll of 4 (margin of 7), Uthrilir gets a 12 (oof…margin of 0), and Hrelgi gets a 3 (margin of 5).
4 8 6 6 5: attacks skills are all 10, so margin of 6 (misses Ninefingers), margin of 2 (misses Ninefingers), margins of 4 (hits Uthrilir), 4 (hits), and Hrelgi is hit. Damage is 3, 2, 1. So nothing gets through (Hrelgi has toughness 1 from the prayer that Uthrilir used).
Ninefingers rolls: 7 (margin 2) Opponent has 8, margin 2. Nothing.
Uthrilir rolls: 7 (margin 1) Opponent has 8, margin 2. Nothing.
Hrelgi rolls: 7 (margin 1) Her magic roll is 8-, so she makes hers.
[71] Reaction times Felewin is reloading.
Felewin: 10+5=15
Ninefingers: 8+5=13
Uthrilir: 7+5=12
Hrelgi: 6+3=9
Orcs: 9+6=15
Scout Composure: 4+5=9; rolls 8. Composed.
Defenders: 5,5,6: Margins 3, 2, 0.
Orcs attack, with the one vs Hrelgi at -1:
Felewin shoots and hits (margin 2) and damage is a 4, so scout now has 2 injury levels.
Hrelgi rolls a 5 (margin 3) so she hits her target again. His armor protects him but he fails composure to keep his balance.
Orcs vs Ninefingers Margin 3, 1, defense Margin 4; one hits for 1 (nothing) and 4 (1 Injury). Ninefingers hits with 3 (margin 6) defense 7 (margin 2). Damage is 4, 5: Orc with 2 Injury levels (so at -1).
Orcs vs Uthrilir: 10, 11 so both miss. Defense was 2 (margin of 7)
Orc vs Hrelgi: 12, so he misses.
[72] Rock does 2 Injury, and it gets 5 and 6 for damage, so that orc now has 2 levels of injury.
Reaction times
Ninefingers 8+6=14
Uthrilir 7+5=12
Hrelgi 6+5=11
Felewin: 8+4=10
Orcs 9+1=10
Orc Scout 8+2=10
Ninefingers 8+3=11 9+4=13, no hit
Uthrilir rolls 7, under 8, for his prayer. He affects 4 tasks and adds 4,6,5,4 to those tasks. GM says it’s the defense tasks.
Hrelgi rolls 4 on 8≤ (margin 4) and turns his armor into lava. He takes another 4 points of damage, and is out.
Felewin fires at the scout again. 5 and needs 10- (margin 5), orc hasn’t started moving, so hits. Damage roll is 4, which misses armour. Orc fails composure, so he’s stunned for the turn.
Orcs attack; one is down. They roll 9, 10, 8, 4, 9
Vs Ninefingers Margin 0. He rolls 8 to defend (margin 1).
Vs Ninefingers:8, margin is 1, Ninefingers gets 4, margin 4. No hit.
Vs. Uthrilir 10 (misses); 9 (margin 0); He gets 6, margin of 2. No hit.
[73] Reaction times
Felewin: 8+6=14
Orcs: 7+6=13
Ninefingers: 8+2=10
Hrelgi: 6+4=10
Uthrilir: 7+1=8
Hrelgi: rolls 8, margin of 0
[74] Reaction times
Ninefingers: 9+2=11
Orcs: 8+3=11
Uthrilir: 7+3=10
Felewin: 8+1=9
Hrelgi: 6+3=9
Felewin reloads; Hrelgi turns another one’s armour into lava (6 on 8≤, and opposition is 8≤ and margin of 1). (One against Uthrilir.)
Ninefingers rolls a 4 (margin 4), Orc rolls 5 (margin 4), so no damage.
Orcs attack (there are three of them now, I think: one vs Felewin is stunned, one vs Hrelgi is gone, one vs Uthrilir is gone):
Vs. Ninefingers 4,3 8 Margin 5, 3 Margin 5 No effect; Margin 1, Margin 0: 1 hit for two injury, and the armor fails on both counts. Ninefingers is now at -1D.
Vs. Uthrilir 7, 7: margin 2 vs Margin 2, nothing
Uthrilir prays again to no effect this time (12).
Scout fails composure (10) again.
[75] (We'll try a table.)
| Reaction Times | |
|---|---|
| Felewin | 8+1=9 |
| Hrelgi | 6+2=10 |
| Ninefingers | 8+4-1=11 |
| Uthrilir | 7+1=8 |
| Orcs | 7+5=12 |
Hrelgi and Felewin are using ranged abilities, so Hrelgi manages to turn one of Ninefingers’ opponents armour into Lava, and he falls down.
Felewin fires at the other opponent for Ninefingers, rolling 5 when he needs 10, margin of 5. Orc rolls 8 to defend, margin of 1. Damage roll is 4, so it gets through. One of the orcs against Ninefingers is down, the other has 1 level of injury.
Orcs attack: there are now two of them and the scout trying to make his composure. He rolls 7, and his composure is 4+5-1 or 8, so he makes it.
Vs. Ninefingers, The surviving orc rolls 7 to hit, which is margin 2, and Ninefingers rolls a 3, so that’s margin 4 for all attacks. The orc misses.
Vs. Uthrillir: Orc rolls 7, margin of 1 (he’s injured) but Uthrillir rolls 10, so orc hits. Damages is 5,3,5, so two get through: Uthrillir is now at -1 diff.
Uthrillir rolls 5 to hit his orc (margin 2), who rolls 8 to defend (margin 1), Uthrillir rolls for damage: 4,1,4, so two get through; his orc is is at 2 Diff and has taken 3 injury levels.
| Reaction times | |
|---|---|
| Felewin | 8+3=11 |
| Hrelgi | 6+2=8 |
| Ninefingers | 8+1-1=8 |
| Uthrillir | 7+4-2=9 |
| Orcs | 8+5=12,11,or 10, depending on how hurt they are. |
Felewin reloads.
Hrelgi rolls 6 and the orc who just hurt Uthrillir goes down.
Orc tries to back up to scout. Scout trying to reload.
Uthrillir rolls 7 (Margin 0) against Ninefinger’s orc (who rolls 8, margin -) armour is 1, 2, 4 so that’s 1 more injury level, so now he has 3 (-2)
Ninefingers says, “We need one alive….” But hits his orc (6+2: margin 0), and the orc rolls 8+2, failure)
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