Iron & Gold
Lost in the Borderlands is based on the module Borderlands of Adventure, by J (who I presume is Walter J. Jones Jr., the copyright holder) and published by New Realms Publishing as NRP 31001.
It was written for Labyrinth Lord and I have converted to Iron & Gold by Precis Intermedia Games. It follows a few other adventures with these characters.
Lost in the Borderlands
Previous Chapter 1. Berserkers —::— Next Chapter 3. By The Bridge
2. By The Marsh[1]
The grass here was as tall as Felewin, and he and Uthrilir took turns breaking trail. As Uthrilir gave way to Felewin, he said, “It sort of forks here, but neither of these is a path.”
“True,” said Felewin. “I think we’re backtracking the trail the men created, but they walked lightly and the rain has flattened other grass. It might be a fork or it might be an accident.”
The dwarf nodded. Ninefingers said, “I do not think we want to go to wherever the men hailed from.”
Hrelgi said, “You remember that tree with the crooked limb at top? I can still see it.”
“Breaking trail is always slow,” said Felewin. “North or east?”
“The Tower is south, they said,” said Ninefingers.
“East it is,” said Felewin. “Because north is definitely wrong.”
They rested a moment. It was not yet noon though the sun was high, and they continued.
The buzzing of insects got louder as they sweated their way through the grass. The trees got sparser and scrubbier. Felewin finally said, “You smell it? We’re nearing water…maybe a marsh or a fen.”
Uthrilir was in the lead. He said, “Smells like a lot of water. What’s the difference between a fen and a marsh?”
“Fen’s usually drier. You can ride a horse carefully through a fen, but not a marsh.”
“This is probably a marsh, then,” said Uthrilir. He let the others forward to see.
Mostly murky water was clumped with reeds only as tall as Ninefingers. The view stretched almost to the horizon.
“That is not a way to the—” started Hrelgi. “What’s that?”
“What?” asked Uthrilir. He wrung sweat from his hair and then took a swallow from the wineskin.
“There’s something glinting in the water there. See?”
“Nope,” said Felewin.
“You have terrible vision,” said Hrelgi. “Ninefingers, you see it, right?”
“Nope.” Ninefingers shifted his pack on his back.
“Yes, you do. You just don’t want to get in the water.”
“I’m small. That’s deep water to me.”
Hrelgi hrumphed and dropped her pack on the ground and waded into the water, even as Felewin shouted, “Don’t!”
She waded out until the murky water was about the middle of her thighs. “At least it’s not so hot and sticky if you have some water on you.” She bent over the water, hand shading her eyes as she searched.
Felewin said, “Hrelgi!”
Uthrilir said, “Let her. I can use another minute to rest.” Felewin turned to him and said, “Yes, but it is not meet she should—”
“Ulp,” said Hrelgi and Ninefingers yelled.
A giant toad was there with Hrelgi’s legs protruding from its mouth.[2] Uthrilir[3] swore and rushed into the water, drawing his mace and swinging. He hit the flank of the toad but didn’t get it to open its mouth. Ninefingers,[4] faster on his feet than Felewin, was already there, and he managed to hit the toad as well, only to be swallowed whole by another toad. Felewin[5] finally arrived in the water and, because Uthrilir was on one toad, smote the other, the one with Ninefingers. Hrelgi[6] didn’t have light or a way to reach her grimoire, but they heard her casting a spell.[7]
The first toad leapt farther into the marsh; Uthrilir swore. The toad with Ninefingers[8] jumped over everyone’s heads for drier ground. Felewin said, “Can you swim?”
Uthrilir said, “No!”
“Trade!” Felewin couldn’t really swim either, but he could usually stay afloat, and he was taller than the dwarf — he[9] managed to catch up with the toad because it was laden with Hrelgi’s weight and he hit it in the leg.
Uthrilir, on the other hand, got[10] to where the toad had been but did not manage to hit it.
Inside her toad, Hrelgi[11] decided she was not going to be able to see to cast a spell, and drew her knife even as the teeth cut into her thighs.[12]
Ninefingers had made the same decision, but he was entirely inside his toad, and between trying to keep from being swallowed, the slime, and the toad’s tongue stuck to his armor, he lost his dagger. His sword was outside, in the water somewhere.[13]
He was strong for a goblin, but he didn’t think he was strong enough to pry the thing’s mouth open. While he had a tinderbox, there was no way he could start a fire inside the toad.
What he had was a bag of gold coins he had taken from the tent he had slept in. The bag was heavy and contained a couple of cut gems. The gems were hard enough and he hoped sharp enough to cut the inside of the toad’s mouth.
First he had to get one.[14] He got his fist around a big stone: it wasn’t worth a lot but it was large and cut.
Outside[15] in the marsh, the toad with Hrelgi almost leapt, but Hrelgi was heavy and the toad was sorely wounded; Felewin[16] found the soft spot under the foreleg of one front leg and killed it.
On the shore, Uthrilir[17] struck and managed to break one of the toad’s legs. Inside it, Ninefingers had managed to grasp one of the gems with the edge of a facet exposed, and cut deeply, cutting off the toad’s tongue.
As black blood filled the mouth and threatened to drown him, he thought, That wasn’t a bright move. He had visions of sinking to the bottom of the marsh, drowned inside the thing’s mouth.
I told my uncle I wanted a safer life. Instead I have this.
The mouth cracked open, letting in sunlight and sweet air.
Ninefingers spat out toad blood and managed to roll himself onto the ground. Uthrilir was standing over him, holding the toad’s mouth open.
“Are you all right, Ninefingers?”
The goblin coughed out more blood. “Peachy.” He raised his head. The toad was dead. “Hrelgi?”
“Felewin is after her toad.” Uthrilir looked sheepish. “I can’t swim.”
Ninefingers forbore telling the dwarf that Felewin wasn’t a strong swimmer. “Help me get this tongue unstuck, and then I can try to find my dagger.”
Uthrilir tugged the tongue off the goblin’s hauberk, then poked around the blood and spit. “There’s gold in here.”
“I found it in my tent. Felewin might believe in poverty but I like to have money set aside.”
“I found some, too.” He thumped his chest. “Got it here. Another reason I didn’t want to go deeper in the water.”
Uthrilir helped him look. They found the dagger and about twenty pieces before they heard Felewin. “Hellooo! I’ve got her. We’re wading back in now.”
“Let me know if you see my sword!” Ninefingers called out. “It’s in the water somewhere!”
“You might have to use that spear you found. You dropped it on the shore,” said Uthrilir.
“I might, but I really grabbed it for the head. I’ll be that’s silver; I don’t know how to use a spear.”
“I can teach you.”
“I’d rather have my sword back.”[18]
Felewin rumbled to Hrelgi, “You go to shore. Take my pack. Mind you watch for toads! I’m going to look for his sword.”
Felewin spotted one glint, but it was just a copper coin. He saved it. The next glint was gold, the one after that was silver. He kept checking and saved each one until he had Ninefingers’ sword.
Once he had that, he waded ashore.
The others were sitting there. Ninefingers had cleaned his head and hands, but his clothes were still filthy with toad ichor.
“I found your sword,” said Felewin. “You look terrible. You okay?”
Ninefingers nodded.
“And I know you’re always concerned about money. I found you….ten gold, eleven silver, and fourteen copper coins. From different kingdoms, it looks like.”
Ninefingers waved it off. “You keep it. There was some coin in the tent I slept in.”
“There were bags of belongings in my tent,”replied Felewin. “I didn’t even think to look in them. It seemed disrespectful.”
“Given that we found a variety of coinage, I’d guess those men were also brigands of some kind.”
Felewin nodded slowly. “Then I forgive myself for killing them.”
“Glad to hear that,” said Uthrilir. “There’s got to be a bridge across that marsh, but I’ll wager it’s farther north.”
Monsters
Hobgoblins are in the rulebook.
Giant Crab
| Abilities | F3 A3 C0 R0 I0 |
|---|---|
| Skills | Athletics 4 (≤7), Brawling 4 (≤7) |
| Gimmicks | Oversized, Natural Weapon (3 inj), Natural Armor (3) |
| Arms | Longsword (2 inj), Shell (3) |
Giant Toad
| Abilities | F3 A4 C0 R0 I0 |
|---|---|
| Skills | Athletics 5 (≤8), Brawling 4 (≤7), Stealth 4 (≤7) |
| Gimmicks | Musclebound, Toughness, Natural Weapon (Teeth 1 inj) |
| Arms | Teeth (2 inj) |
Game Mechanics
[1] Mythic suggested theme: Work Hard A Path
[2] Reactions Felewin 12 Ninefingers 11 Uthrilir 13 Hrelgi 12 Toads 7+3=10
[3] Uthrilir rolls 7 Toad rolls 6 margins 3 vs 1 hit with mace (2 inj -1)
[4] Ninefingers rolls 7, margin 2 vs 0 (2 Inj -1) Toad 2 rolls 5 (margin 2 vs 0, gets Ninefingers)
[5] Felewin finally gets there, rolls 2 to hit, so succeeds margin 8 vs 6 margin 1, 3 inj -1
[6] Hrelgi, on the other hand, heals herself, and rolls 3 on the spell and 3 on R+C, making both easily.
[7] Toad2 (with Ninefingers) 12 Uthrilir 10 Felewin 9 Ninefingers 9 Hrelgi 8 Toad1 (with Hrelgi) 7
[8] Toad2 hops farther away.
[9] Felewin wades after Hrelgi and gets close enough to hit. rolls 7 for margin 2 vs margin 1, so two more damage after Toughness…oh, yeah, he has the +1 sword. Margin 3, then.
[10] Uthrilir makes it out and runs after it.
[11] Both Hrelgi and Ninefingers attempt Athletics rolls to get their knives out. Hrelgi succeeds (rolls a 6) but Ninefingers does not (rolls a 12). In fact, he loses the Seftish dagger.
[12] Hrelgi hits (Margin 2 vs Margin 1)
[13] Reactions: Ninefingers 12 Uthrilir 12 Toads 12 (7+5) Felewin 11 Hrelgi 8 Toads fail (Margin -2, a 12) when their turns come.
[14] Ninefingers rolls a 5, which is less than Fitness+2. Call it an automatic action. Ninefingers grabs the gem
[15] Felewin 12 Ninefingers 10 Uthrilir 12 Hrelgi 8 Toads 12
[16] Felewin rolls a 9 (margin 1) vs margin -2 (3 inj damage)
[17] Uthrilir hits (margin 1 vs margin -5) (2 inj damage)
[18] Mythic: Will they find the sword? Well, Felewin rolls 7 on his Tracking of 7-. So let’s say that makes it even odds to find the sword in Mythic terms, with CF 7. 45% when any value up to 75% works. So yes.
