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.
22 — The Workshop
Imitate Wounds (Ambiguous Event)
At the bottom of the slope, the passage forked again.
Ninefingers asked, “Right or left?”
Felewin said, “Right’s served us well so far, but it’s Uthrilir’s choice.”
“Right is fine.”
The right-hand tunnel snaked along for a hundred paces or more and then ended in an iron door. The door was locked, and Ninefingers said, “Give me some time.” He borrowed Felewin’s lantern for a minute and peered inside the keyhole. “Not trapped, but very good work. I don’t recognize the school.” He reached into his purse and pulled out his lock picks. “Have to make special tools for this.”[201] He started bending wire, with occasional glances into the lock.
“We are pressed for time,” Felewin reminded him.
“This is a complex lock,” Ninefingers said. He used another piece of wire as a turning tool and turned.
There was an audible click as the latch fell away, and they hurried into the room and shut the door behind them. Ninefingers made sure it was locked again, and slid the guard over the keyhole so that someone outside couldn’t look in.
They looked around the room. It was tall, as rooms went, and was roughly bisected by a stream. A small beautifully carved stone bridge crossed the stream; on rar side of the stream was a wooden chest that looked of quality construction and tools scattered across the floor, and a big barrel of some kind, still spinning. It was connected to a small paddle wheel, so the stream powered it.
“Stone cutters tools,” breathed Uthrilir. “This is it. This is his workshop.”
On their size was a manikin, about human size, made of marble.
“He left something before he died. Maybe you can get this to take your curse, Uthrilir.”
“Perhaps. If this is one of them….”
Ninefingers, ever the practical one, said, “There’s no way to get it out. It’s too big for the door. It’s meant to stay here.”
“Magic?” asked Hrelgi.
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“You think it’s a guardian?” asked Felewin.
“A terrible one if it is,” said Hrelgi. “Obviously the orcs have been here, because no stonemason would leave his tools out like that, and it didn’t go after them.”
“Maybe it’s not finished,” said Ninefingers. “Or maybe Ambrade Heardwhistle had some kind of control word—”
The manikin had started to move toward them — toward Ninefingers.
“Oh, crap,” said Ninefingers. Maybe it can’t get across the bridge, he thought as he sprinted for the bridge. That stream was too wide for him to leap…maybe Felewin could, but he couldn’t. More like a golem, he thought. Don’t golems do something besides rend you limb from limb? He had spent years with his father learning traps and guardians — it was part of a grave robber’s business — Right. Golems of stone can slow things in front of them.
It grabbed for him[202] but Ninefingers barely escaped and scrambled over the bridge.
Ij’s narrow enough to get over but I hope it’s too heavy.
Felewin attacked the golem, saying, “This is going to ruin my sword.”[203] He aimed at what he hoped was a weak spot and a chunk of marble flew off.[204]
Uthrilir[205] managed to knock another smaller chunk of marble off it, but by then it was on the bridge and there wasn’t room for everyone to attack..
Hrelgi was paging through her grimoire. “Ah. Here’s the section. Let me try deactivate it.”[206]
Ninefingers scrambled the rest of the way over the bridge and turned to face the golem. “Try faster.”
Felewin said, “But not until it’s off the bridge!” He stood at the end of the bridge, behind Uthrilir.
The golem kept moving forward and as soon as he was off the bridge, they attacked. Uthrilir hit it and knocked a chunk of stone from its leg. It was moving slower now, but it hadn’t stopped. Ninefingers was managing to keep away from it, when the room suddenly flipped upside down…but only in front of the golem.
Ninefingers plummeted up to the ceiling.[207] He landed not very gracefully but he hadn’t hurt anything…yet. The golem might turn this effect off, and he didn’t know how he was going to survive that. Over in one corner was a big barrel-like thing: it was tall, but he couldn’t tell how tall. Maybe if he reached far he could touch it and keep himself from flipping when this reversed.
Felewin hadn’t even noticed what had happened to Ninefingers; he was on the edge of the bridge, trying to find a weak spot on the golem.[208] He struck at what might be a weak spot and was rewarded by a jarring up his arm and another chip coming off. My poor sword, he thought.
Sometimes you had to use what you had instead of what was best.
There was no discernible effect.
Hrelgi vaulted over the edge of the bridge, at his edge of sight, and hit it with a stonemason’s chisel and a mallet.[209]
This had no effect.
“You’re holding it wrong,” grumbled Uthrilir.
She spared a moment to stick her tongue out at him.
The golem dropped Ninefingers and tried to catch him.[210] It failed, and Ninefingers managed to land upright, but he made a sound. “My ankle!”
Felewin[211] hit the thing but had no effect. “Try some other magic,” he said to Hrelgi.
Uthrilir[212] managed to smite it at one of the weak spots, and the golem stopped moving.
“Or don’t.” Felewin hurried over to Ninefingers. “Let me see it.”
The ankle looked fine, but Felewin had seen other injuries that looked fine. “Rest there for a moment. Uthrilir, would you look at it?” He looked at the golem. “So much for not letting them know we’ve been here.”
“Bring your lantern over here,” said Hrelgi. “I want to see what else there is by this chest.”
While Uthrilir looked at Ninefinger’s ankle[213], Felewin first checked the dead orc — he had a sword and an axe; Felewin took the sword. Then Felewin went over to look at the chest. Hrelgi had already opened it.
From across the room, Ninefingers said, “It could have been trapped! I’ll be there in a minute!”
“You rest it for a moment,” Uthrilir said. “The lady gives her blessing, but there’s no sense in being a fool.”
“We’ll let you look at it, I promise,” said Felewin.
The chest was finely crafted and elegantly engraved.
“Magical?” Felewin asked her.
“Hmmm.” She looked at it with a distant look in her eyes.[214] “The chest isn’t magical, but something in it is magical.”
“Your department. I’ll hold the light.”
Hrelgi began emptying the chest of tools. Rasps, files, pumice stones, chamois, all went on the floor behind her. Eventually the crate was empty.
“None of that stuff is magical,” she said.
“So there’s a hidden compartment in the crate?”
“I guess.”
Felewin pushed the chest away from the wall[215] to give them access to all four sides of it. “Huh.”
“Give the light back,” said Hrelgi.
“In a moment. These names carved into the wall…Odend, Umathes, and Mord the Magnificent. Umathes is the name of the Margrave.”
Ninefingers walked over, gingerly until he discovered he could put weight on his ankle. “Let me look.”
Uthrilir said, “We’ve met Odend. Where do you suppose Mord is?”
“No idea,” said Felewin.[216]
“The magic!” said Hrelgi.
There was a soft click and a satisfied sigh from Ninefingers. “Still got it. Secret compartment.”[217] He pulled out three scrolls, rolled up but not sealed, and opened one. “Spells,” he said.
“Spells? Let me see.” Hrelgi looked at them. “Oooh. None of these are effects that I know, but this one we had back in the city; it creates a floating platform so you can carry things.” She set it down. “This one has something to do with movement or teleportation.”
“Probably teleportation; be useful to a stonecutter who made big manikins,” said Ninefingers.
Hrelgi nodded. “I don’t know this one at all. We should definitely keep it.”
“We’ll keep them all, Hrelgi. Rest, and then we decide if we go out the door we came in, or the other door.”
Game Mechanics
[201] Let’s say all this preparation is -1 DIFF. It’s a Complex lock (Difficulty 4, now difficulty 3 because of the prep work.)
Ninefingers rolls a 6 on his 9≥ finesse, which just makes it.
[202] Golem gets margin of 2, Ninefingers gets a margin of 2, advantage goes to defender.
[203] He hits very well and despite the golem’s stony nature does 2 wound levels. Note that the adventure says that the golem takes damage like normal if the weapon is +2 or better.
As I mention later, I’m replacing that requirement with Difficulty 1.
[204] Uthrilir rolls a 2, and gets 1 damage level.
[205] Uthrilir rolls a 2, and gets 1 damage level.
[206] The caster’s creativity was 5, so that’s the difficulty for her fabrica sphaera attempt. Hrelgi rolls a 7 for margin of 2, which is less than 5….
[207] Does he make an Athletics roll to try and prevent some of that injury? Let’s say success cuts it from 3 to 1, triumph (or 2) to 0, and calamity makes it 4. He rolls an 8. So he takes 1 damage level, and his armour stops that (rolls a 1).
[208] He rolls a 7 to hit, which makes difficulty 1. Of the three possible damage it could do, it does 1 (rolls a 3,4,2). But the thing is down more.
[209] She doesn’t hit it in a combat sense — she has only Fitness 3 and she rolled a 7 — but it makes sense that she could get close. She just doesn’t know how to use a stone mason’s tools.
[210] Golem rolls 11 to catch, so he fails; Ninefingers rolls 7 to use his Athletics to land and not hurt himself much, but his armour doesn’t help (6).
[211] Felewin rolls a 4, which hits, but does no damage (1,1,3).
[212] Not necessary: Uthrilir rolls a 4 to hit, and damage is (6,6,4). The thing is stopped, for now.
[213] I keep forgetting that the base difficulty for divinity is 4, less 2 for his holy symbol. He effectively has 7≥, not 9≥.
Fortunately, he rolled a 5, and a 2, which brings Ninefingers back to full health.
[214] She rolls a 7 on Fabrica Sphaera. She makes the R+C roll with an 8 because it’s at -2 difficulty.
[215] Well, he rolls a 3 on Awareness. Any average guy would see the carvings based on the stat alone.
[216] I can’t remember if I mentioned Mord in the Sanctuary Ruin or not. But Felewin rolls a 10 on Reasoning, which is far beyond remembering something.
No comments:
Post a Comment