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.
23 — The Escape
Ambush Pain (Introduce A New NPC)[218]
They had rested for some little time, and Hrelgi was busy copying parts of Felewin’s grimoire, when there was the sound of someone unwillingly going down a chute, and then a splash from the big barrel. The barrel was turning as it always did. Ninefingers was first to it, and he threw a long lever on the bottom.
The barrel stopped and tipped so that Felewin could look inside. “It’s an elf,” he said. He reached in and grabbed the hand of the elf to pull him out.
The barrel was full of grit and water; maybe Ambrade had used it to polish smaller stones. Felewin looked inside and grimaced and pulled out the elf. “Punished by the orcs?” he asked.
“Afraid so. Sorry for the inconvenience.” He brushed himself off as best he could. “Why do you ask?”
“Corpse’s arm in the barrel.”
The elf frowned. “I swallowed some of that water.” He bent over the stream and vomited repeatedly. “Excuse me.That’s unpleasant.” He wiped his chin with a soggy sleeve and smiled weakly at everyone. “I see you’ve survived, and you’re dry, so you’ve been here a while. I take it this was the workshop of—”
“Don’t say it,” said Ninefingers.
“We think his name activates the golem,” said Felewin.
“Took a bit to stop it. Please don’t start it again,” said Uthrilir.
“Very well. I am Emond.” He bowed. He was tall and thin, as elves went, so nearly as tall as Felewin and a quarter the width.
“I am Felewin. This is Uthrilir. The goblin is Ninefingers. The dwarf is Uthrilir, and in the back is Hrelgi.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Felewin, Uthrilir, and Ninefingers.”
“I figured,” said Hrelgi, without greeting him.
“Well, ours is not really a meeting, is it?” said Emond mildly.
“You know each other?” asked Uthrilir.
“In small ways,” said Emond.
“He was my tutor,” said Hrelgi.
Felewin tried to remember the name “Emond” in the swarm of Hrelgi’s life story[219], and failed.
“And given your expertise then, I have little faith in your abilities now. I presume you’re the wizard.” He looked around, and said to Felewin, “If you wouldn’t mind pointing that lantern away from my face?”
“Sorry.” Felewin moved the lamp. “What’s your story?”
“Oh, the usual. Tired of the academic existence and decided to become an adventurer. I heard that a certain stonemason had been in this area and that he kept a store of riches that he encountered in his masonic endeavours. I made my way here by stealth and was indulging in an exploration when something happened to rile the orcs. They suddenly started searching with a great deal more effort than they had before.” He shrugged. “They found me, and their resident troll encouraged me not to run. I pled my case before the chieftain and lost. Their first thought was to put me in the prisoner pit, but then they thought it would be amusing to kill me this way. To tell the truth, I was expecting some improbably large carnivores.”
“Huh. I guess we riled the orcs,” said Ninefingers.
“Ah. Well, I guess I can forgive you, because you didn’t know I was there.”
“Oh, sure, you’ll forgive them,” muttered Hrelgi.
“They were ignorant of their effect, and you knew quite well what you were doing,” said Emond. “Every. Time.”
“Please stop,” said Felewin. “We have a more urgent problem.”
“What?” she asked.
“Where are we?” Uthrilir reminded her.
“Oh. Right.” She settled back on her heels, waiting.
“Don’t say anything,” Uthrilir said to Emond.
“Bigger problem,” Emond said. “Of course.” He looked around. “Might I use the lantern for a moment?”
“Careful,” said Hrelgi. “He might take it away because you’re irresponsible.”
Felewin handed over the lantern. “You’re a tutor?”
“Explorer, actually, but I was the only one willing to face an untrained witch child. It seemed like it might be an adventure.” Emond jogged over and checked the four corners of the room, and then back. “No doubt they’ll be back to see my gruesome remains. I assume you have tried the doors and been unable to open them, so the stream seems the only possibility.”
“We can open the doors,” said Ninefingers.
“We were just deciding which one to take.” Felewin pointed at the door they had come in. “We’ve been that way, but there’s a route we didn’t take.” He pointed at the other door. “But we haven’t been that way. Utterly unknown.”
“I vote for the unknown,” said Emond promptly.[220]
“Huh,” said Ninefingers. “Where’s the upper end of that chute you came down? I’d like to know if that’s worth crawling out. We have some rope; our wizard can propel one of us up the chute and that person can pull others up.”
“It’s a hole in a chunk of tunnel, near the warlord’s chamber. He was quite curious about dwarves; apparently they have some living here, up higher. He thought that I might have been sent by them. I wouldn’t associate with dwarves! Present company excepted,” he added.
“Beggars and choosers,” agreed Uthrilir. “Many dwarves?”
“Less than a score. Apparently one of the orc has been counting headgear. He is hampered by innumeracy. He does know some numbers, but at about twelve I gather he gets fuzzy.”
Uthrilir looked thoughtful. “Hrelgi, can you still do the trick we used to get away from the centaur gang, back in Westport?”
“You mean with the—” she started.
“You don’t have to say it.”
“Sure,” she said. “I don’t forget stuff like that.” She shot a glance at Emond, who seemed not to notice.
“The door we came in,” said Uthrilir. “We should take that other passage, and we should do it now, before they decide to ask Emond more questions.”
“Really?” asked Felewin. “I would think you’d want to join the other dwarves—”
“Rescue them,” said Uthrilir. “And we will if we can.” He stood. “Emond can have anything else on the orc. Let’s go.”
“How do you know they’re going to come and question Emond?” asked Hrelgi.
“They let him keep his armour,” said Uthrilir.
“I rather thought it was because my armour wouldn’t fit any of them,” said Emond.
This time Ninefingers[221] opened the door faster and there wasn’t anyone there. Noises drifted down from above, but no one seemed to be approaching yet. They quickly and quietly moved down the corridor until it opened into a larger chamber, maybe ten of Felewin’s paces wide, and deeper still. At the far end the stream continued, around four boulders. The chamber looked like it went a little further than the stream, but not much.
“Shutter the light,” whispered Ninefingers. Felewin did so.
The group stood in the dark as Ninefingers and Uthrilir looked on.
“Uthrilir,” whispered Ninefingers. “Are those rocks? I don’t think they are.”[222]
“Maybe Eltadyr. They are cursed animals of old. If it is them, beware: they can grab you or me and pull them in to bite. Felewin and the elves are probably too tall but I am not sure.”
“Will the light attract them?”
“I do not know; the heroes in the sagas carried torches.”
Ninefingers sighed. “Open the light.”
Then Ninefingers screamed.[223]
“It has him!” Uthrilir said.[224]
Felewin opened the lantern and started forward, but he didn’t know what he was looking at. Finally he saw something wiggling by the nearest boulder.
Ninefingers’ legs. The goblin’s arms were pinned inside the boulder—the eltadyr.
With his sword drawn, Felewin charged.[225] He was careful not to go to the mouth for fear that he would hit Ninefingers, but chopped down with great force on the beast’s side, hitting it in the vulnerable spot by one blind milky eye. The beast swung the rear half of its body — its tail — and[226] hit Felewin hard, knocking him down.
Hrelgi said, “I can’t see the spell book!” She handed Emond her knife. “Go be useful.”
Uthrilir moved forward more cautiously, keeping an eye on the other three boulders.
Emond ran forward and used the same spot as Felewin,[227] driving the knife in,[228] then twisting it and pushing. The light danced crazily around as Felewin got up. Emond kept pushing; the eye burst and the knife blade sank into something deeper. The beast was cold-blooded, and its flesh was as cool as the surrounding air.
The eltadyr stopped moving.
Uthrilir moved forward cautiously, keeping an eye on the other boulders. “Pry his mouth open. We’ll have to go past these to get through the chamber.”
“I vote we try the other direction now,” said Hrelgi.
“We’ve made too much noise,” said Felewin. “It’s forward or orcs.” One of the remaining eltadyr dragged itself toward him and its tongue flicked out, hitting Felewin and pulling him down. It wasn’t quite strong enough to drag him; its tongue came free. Felewin grunted. The lantern around his neck danced wildly.
The three remaining boulders were moving now. Uthrilir pried at the mouth of the dead one, getting it open so that Ninefingers could get free. Emond made a sound of disgust as he pulled his hand and knife free, but he decided to stay between Uthrilir and the nearest eltadyr.
Another tongue shot forward[229] and hit Emond. It managed to drag him some distance; he was smaller than Felewin. He brought his knife down on the thing’s tongue[230] and severed it, but that didn’t seem to inconvenience the beast much.
Ninefingers was careful to dash behind the farthest eltadyr. From there he wiped monster drool from his eyes.
Felewin didn’t want to waste time on getting up and being knocked down; he chose scuttle toward the thing on all fours. The monster[231] missed him on the next shot.
Uthrilir tried to get into a better position, one where he was less likely to be attacked by the eltadyr, and struck at one eye.[232] It was at eye level for him, and he saw the heat sensing pits under the eye. “Hrelgi! Turn something into lava! They’ll look at that!”
“I can’t see the book!”
“Then remember it!”
“Easy for you to say,” Hrelgi muttered. “Okay. I know how to turn orc armour into lava. So I have to change two particles…”
She[233] said an incantation. A section of wall opposite her began to glow, and drip. “Hah!”
The eltadyr twisted on the rock, and their tongues shot out. There was a sizzling sound as the three tongues hit the lava[234].
Emond took the opportunity to stab his Eltadyr in the eye.[235]
Felewin had finally reached his, and[236] rammed his short sword into the thing’s head.
It was too stupid to die. It lumbered forward, yanking his sword from his grasp.
Emond moved forward with his eltadyr and twisted the knife,[237] trying to make this one’s eye pop. He managed to push his knife in until he was wrist-deep in the thing’s eye socket.
“Letting it go. It’ll stay warm,” said Hrelgi.[238]
The wall slowly faded in colour but they knew from their experience in the tunnel above that it would be warm for some time.
Felewin moved forward and caught up with his sword. He pressed down and drew the sword out[239] as the monster died.
That left only the one that Uthrilir was chasing. Uthrilir[240] missed, and the thing’s tail[241] hit him solidly and knocked him across the water to the far side.
Felewin walked over to it and[242] missed its eye by just a bit.
Ninefingers said, “Die, you illegitimate!” and stabbed it in the eye.
“Shhh!” Felewin said, and they all listened.[243] The sounds seemed to get closer. “We move,” said Felewin.
“Where’s Uthrilir?” asked Hrelgi.
“I’m over here,” said Uthrilir. “The cave opens up here.”
Felewin looked over. “We don’t have to cross the stream.”
“No, but I do,” said Uthrilir. “I can’t leap across it, and it moves too fast for me to want to wade through it.”
“I can help,” Hrelgi said. “I can impel you.”
“Maybe Felewin can lift me instead?” Uthrilir asked.
Felewin laughed and said, “I’ll try, but I am going to ache tomorrow from that eltadyr hit.”
“Me too,” said Uthrilir.
They found a narrow place where a tall strong man such as Felewin might reach him and lift him over.
When the man reached to grab him, Uthrilir said a brief prayer, and Felewin felt better. “Thank you. But it is Ninefingers who really needs the Lady’s help.”
“Each as I can reach him,” said Uthrilir.[244] However, both he and Ninefingers failed to get the Lady’s blessing, and Uthrilir said nothing more about it, but the dwarf was troubled.
“We press on, because we have no choice,” said Felewin.
Uthrilir only nodded.
A short distance on, the tunnel forked. To the right was the sound of running water, but forward there was the sound of a waterfall.
Uthrilir swore in the dwarven tongue.
Game Mechanics
[217] Difficulty 2 to find, but Ninefingers was guided by the knowledge that there was something to find, and he rolled a 6 on his 9≥.
[218] Huh. In one sense, this is the best time to introduce a new NPC, but I have no idea who it will be. Survivor of an adventuring party, I guess. Okay: I’ll take the Orclin Holy Man from Iron & Gold character templates, and give him a name.
[219] Automatic task, difficulty Challenging (4). He fails.
[220] Odd - unknown; even - known. Rolled a 6. Known.
[221] Ninefingers rolled 8 on 9≥
[222] We’re calling it an automatic task with a difficulty of 4, and Ninefingers makes that. Uthrilir doesn’t.
[223] It rolls a 4, and Ninefingers is surprised. The teeth do 2 Inj; Ninefingers’ armor stops 1 Inj (4,2).
[224] Uthrilir now sees Ninefingers flying through the air.
[225] The Nematoad barely move out of water, so their armor is what protects them: Natural armour 2. They’re all difficulty -2 to hit. Felewin rolls a 7, for a margin of 5. All three of his Inj go through, so the beast is down three health levels.
[226] Rolls a 5 on (9-2), so it hits (5, 2, 3) Felewin’s high Fitness means that 1 Fat is stopped, but the other two get through.
[227] Difficulty 0 (because it’s a called shot) instead of -2, he rolls a 7 on 9≥. He avoids the armor but isn’t strong enough to do more than 1 Inj. Still, that’s another health level down.
[228] Lots of people who can’t act or whose actions are not worth describing (Hrelgi curses the darkness, Felewin gets up). Emond gets a 4 and drives the knife in again. No armor applies because he’s picked a spot he knows will work.
[229] Hits with a roll of 5.
[230] He rolls a 6; the tongue isn’t armored, so one health level of damage.
[231] Rolls 11 to hit.
[232] Difficulty 0 and he rolls a 7 on 10≥; because it’s a called shot, armor doesn’t apply. Three health levels.
[233] Let’s call it a Challenging task. Her Fabrica Materia skill is 5, so that’s 8≥ versus difficulty 4 to remember. She rolls a 4 on Materia+Reasoning to remember so she makes it. Straight F. Materia roll to cast it; she rolls a 7 on the actual spell casting.
[234] All three take one health level. Lava is hot, but it’s just their tongues.
[235] He rolls a 6, so does another health level.
[236] Rolls a 7 on 10≥ difficulty 0.
[237] Emond rolled a 4, which is darn good, and margin of 5. More health level.
[238] She rolls a 6 on her Reasoning+Composure roll (7≥) at difficulty -2.
[239] He rolls a 4 to kill the thing. That’s a Triumph, so he gets his sword back.
[240] Uthrilir rolls an 11.
[241] A 3 is plenty to hit him. His byrnie and natural fitness protects him from 1 of the 3 Fatigue damage.
[242] Felewin rolls an 11. Since it’s difficulty 0, he misses.
[243] Mythic: CF 8, do the orcs hear? 85% or less is a yes; roll 79%.
[244] Except Uthrilir rolls 9 for himself and 10 for Ninefingers, so they have to continue with their wounds. Because Uthrilir’s are only Fatigue, they’ll go down in a week; Ninefingers will take half a week.
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