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Thread: RPG Night's dark terror

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    Default RPG Night's dark terror

    After the hero dispatched the traitor dwarf and looted his treasury he chose to purchase better armor and a way out of the glaciers. A ship took him north all the way to the main continent. In the southern tip of the empire law remains weak. The lands are sparsely inhabited. Many native tribes of the region pay only lip service to the edicts of the emperor.

    The town of Yuraqini was the largest, most beautiful town you'd ever seen, though it only had a little more than a thousand people. There were lizardmen, naga, gungabides, firenewts and most importantly there were humans. Humans were a minority, but you didn't have to apologize for not having scales on your skin.

    After a few weeks of learning about things like gambling, rum and red lanterns the former riches had dwindled to a pittance. At that point it felt necessary to find a job or at least something that pays.

    For a while it seemed like you'd have to work with lumber. They kept bringing timber down the river and there was always work with building ships or houses or just cutting logs into parts. But then the redcrested lizardman appeared.

    The offer was to take an albino stegosaur to Sayaykaypi, a firenewt trade camp. Supposedly the pay would be 300 gold for safe arrival. The first leg of the trip was to occur on a barge up the river to logging community called Sukiskyn. He would be going ahead of you and meet you there. You talked him into an extra 20 gold for having to tend the dinosaur for a few days before the barge leaves.

    The week went by fast. Loading a drugged stegosaur into a barge wasn't equally quick. It took bargemaster Calala and all of his nine crew members to drag the beast aboard.

    At first the river is flanked by rolling downs on both sides, but a few miles up the river the forest closes in on the southwest bank. The river is narrower here and flows faster. Nevertheless the rowers allowed the barge to make good progress.

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    Suddenly there is a thud and the boat lurches to ahalt, momentarily throwin you off-balance.

    What do you do?

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    I can continue the journey of the hero. I'll ready my armor and weapon and go look what stopped the boat.

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    The boat is turning, pushing against something. While you're walking to the front to see what's happening, arrows start raining to the boat from the starboard side. Two of them break on your breastplate. A few more steps and you catch sight of a large chain that's been pulled across the river, blocking the ship from progressing.

    It's a bit cloudy but the light's good enough. You observe half a dozen individuals in the brushes on the shore, about 20 yards from the boat.

    -Ambush! Yells some brilliant individual.

    What do you do?

    ----

    If anyone else wants to join in the adventure I can weave another character in.

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    How big is the barge? Is there natural cover on it to avoid arrows? The enemies will eventually attempt to board the boat so I could ambush them at that point.

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    The barge is about 8 yards wide and 35 long. There's a drugged dinosaur that takes up most of the middeck and makes a sizable cover. In the aft there's a sleeping are inside what amounts to a tent. The walls could easily be pierced by arrows. The sides of the ship are wooden, about 4 inches thick. THey provide good cover to one who lies behind them, but they're less than three feet high.

    The largest piece of cover is the dinosaur but being next to the side of the ship could position you better if they try to board on that side. You see some of the rowers lie down flat. A couple are preparing to defend themselves with cudgels. One of them picks a kris-style knife from his boot.

    EDIT: What do you do?

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    I lie down flat to avoid the arrows and wait for boarders, but not exactly where the rowers are.

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    You hear splashing in the water as a number of swimmers are approaching. A couple of the rowers are hit with arrows and they groan in pain, one of them uttering a prayer to the serpent gods of light and family.

    There's a bump close to you, then a clawed lizardman hand reaches the rail next to you. A grin slips on your lips as you're ready for this.

    You roll [Today, 05:58 PM] With experience from the past adventure you've learned to swing faster and you've got a sharper axe as well. Your very first strike lops the head off the first lizard to try to rise on to the ship. Another swing at another grasping claw nearby nets you a few fingers and the next lizardman drops back into the water flailing. A couple of arrows hit your shield.

    Qith a quick count you make about ten of the raiders in the river. THe half a dozen bowmen are still firing their arrows.

    At that moment you hear a gasp next to you. For a moment you believe another rower was struck by an arrow but a scream of "Watch out! He's got a knife!" makes you realize something else is going on.

    With a quick glance to the side you notice that the rower with the knife has struck one of the others, a human, to the back. Looks to be a blow under the ribs, maybe a ruptured spleen. That'll bleed fast.

    What do you do?

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    The knife dude is obviously a traitor, I attack him but keep in mind that the lizardmen are boarding and shooting as wel.

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    You take a few steps toward the traitorous scum. He takes a look at your armored form and leaps away yelling: "Now, brothers! He's the only one that matters, up now all of you!"

    The dying man grabs at his side and looks desperately in to your eyes. Then he lifts a cudgel and whacks it over the head of another lizard raider that was aiming to rise from the water. As a reward for his bravery, he gets an arrow to the throat and falls overboard.

    You advance and the assassin leaps back. But alread he's at the end of the boat. No farther to run. You keep your defensive shield up as the archers are clearly targeting you, but not a single one getting past your armor.
    -So you chose to get me while the others are now getting an easy path up? Well, you've made a mistake! Your shoelaces are untied.
    The half-naked backstabber grins expectantly.

    EDIT: What do you do?

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    Off with the fucker’s head, I’m not going to turn my back for him to stab.

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    You roll [08:47 PM]. You strike at his head. With a surprisingly swift move he ducks under your blow and tries to run past you.

    One of the rowers, a firenewt by species, steps in front of him to block his path.
    -Oh no you don't... sssss... You gonna get yoursss...

    That's enough of a distraction for the assassin and you get him in the shoulder with your backswing. He falls down, though not quite dead yet.

    Looking back at the other end of the ship you see that four of the creatures have now risen on the boat. You see them approach the ship's captain.

    The captain's a gungabide, a paleskinned and kind of thick lizardrace with a reputation for clever manouvers. He casts some kind of a spell on the attackers and three of them simply stop their attack and start conversing with the captain. The final attacker in this group seems confused by what's happening and tries to get the others back into the spirit of piracy.

    Still more of the creatures are rising onboard.

    The rogue drops his knife. You note tattoo of a metal chain in his lower back, formerly covered by a sash he was wearing.

    What do you do?

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    I sever the spine of the not quite yet dead assassin to finish the job.
    How many enemies and allies are visible at the moment?

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    Your axe strikes the backstabber's back just above the tattoo. Blood spurts out, a bloody chain. He must be dead now and if not, he's not moving anywhere with a broken spine.

    The boat had a crew of nine rowers and the captain. You killed one of the rowers and the assassin killed another. Three of the others are injured.

    On the shore you can still see the six archers that keep on trying to hit a weak spot in your armor. None have yet succeeded. Amongst them you finally see an armored individual, a leader. Surprisingly, it's a human.

    As for the raiding party, there's the four that are facing the captain. Then there's one who's being beaten with oars as he's trying to get to the ship. He seems to have a broken arm from a particularly successful oarblow. Two more are trying to get onboard at the other end of the ship. That's fourteen altogether.

    What do you do?

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    I go drop the ones trying to board who aren’t being dealt with yet.

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    You roll [Today, 12:28 AM].
    You walk back to centerboat an take a swing at a lizardman as she's rising on the boat. The first strike misses but you catch them in the ribs on the second go around. You smirk as you notice that the boarders are only armed with machetes. The lizardman drops and you kick the knife to one of the sailors.

    The next lizardman tries to hack at your leg while rolling over the railing. They strike hard plate. You plant your axe into his head. Meanwhile the sailors manage to actually beat down one of the attackers. One of them gets downed by arrows though.

    The captain orders one of the rowers to jump out of the boat, swim to the other side and try to detach the chain. Meanwhile the rest of the boarders seem to be getting over their confusion. Only one of them is still arguing with the others, claiming there's no need for violence.

    You hear the raider commander now give new orders to the archers
    -Shoot the crew! He can't sail that boat alone!

    What do you do?

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    Considering my plate armor, it doesn't seem like a good idea to try swimming. I dispatch the remaining boarders who are getting over their confusion. I shout a question to the captain if he knows a spell that would let me swim in my armor to get to the shore.

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    You advance on the foursome and behind you two of the rowers try to support you while dodging arrows.

    You roll[06:57 PM]. Two strikes and two dead lizardfolk. One of the remaining ones turns and jumps overboard from the prow. The final river pirate onboard circles around you and tosses his machete at the captain. The captain dodges.

    You throw a couple of blows and undramatically the last lizardman is sliced up. Meanwhile, to your surprise, the archers turn their arrrows at their comrade in the river.
    -Death to traitors! the raider commander yells.

    One of the rowers has managed to swim to the other shore. She pulls loose a metal pole where the chain is attached.

    You inquire the captain about possible magic that he might have.
    -I'm not a wizard. Calming people every now and then is just a trick that my kind can do naturally. If you want we can simply row the boat ashore. It's turned almost sideways because of the chain so getting ashore is trivial.

    -If you want to, I could give you a potion though. It should arouse the saurus from it's stupor and you could ride it ashore. I'm not sure we can get it back onboard though.

    -Or then we could just try to row away. Who knows how many of them are there still in the woods.

    The arrows keep flying at you but at this point the rowers are hiding behind the railing again. One arrow actually hits a weak spot in your armor though. You're at 93% health.

    What do you do?

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    I'm not going to let those bastards get away alive especially after managing to hit me. Let's row the boat ashore and kill the raiders. After the chain is removed we can always make a run for it in case too many of them emerge from the woods. I take the potion but I will only rouse the saurus if it becomes necessary.

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    The captain orders the remaining rowers to take positions at the back of the ship, behind the drugged saurus.

    The archers shoot a couple of more arrows at you each but behind the rail and your shield you're in no real danger.
    -SPEARS! Yells the raider commander as you slowly approach the shore.

    The commander is a large lizard dressed in chainmail and waving a scimitar. His underlings are 4 lizards, a human and a dwarf, all dressed in leather armor. They've prepared for your landing by making a halfcircle, all pointing their 2yard long spears at you. Their leader is behind the line in the middle.

    You're standing at the barge's front, about three yards from the tips of their spears.

    What do you do?

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    The oars should work as spears too, are they long enough to neutralize the reach advantage the lizard party has?

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    The oars are a little over 3 yards in length. You can wield one and outdistance the raiders, though they are clumsy and unbalanced as well as dull.

    What do you do?

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    I tell the rowers to pick up the oars and start harassing the spear formation using their superior range to create some chaos so that I can close in on them without getting hit by spears.

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    Three of the least injured rowers and the captain come to your side wielding oars and try to slap the bandits on either side.

    You jump ashore and close in straight through the middle of the opposition line.
    You roll [10:53AM]. First blow hits a spearman from overhead shattering a clavicle and ribs. Your second blow misses the second spearman in the middle.

    The bandit leader advances and tries to swing at you with a scimitar he wields two-handed. The strike is significantly more skilled than those of the other bandits but you still block the blow with your shield. The spearman takes a step back to gain distance with you and tries to thrust under your shield but they hit a legplate.

    The other spearmen are too much harassed by the rowers to get a decent strike in. One of them actually throws their spear at the captain, like a javelin. The spear grazes the captain's left hand causing a minor wound.

    You strike at the bandit leader twice, hitting his right arm in the wrist, a weaker blow than you would have liked but you hear a bone crack. Their counterattack hits your left leg and draws a wound. You're at 76% health.

    The spearman next to you misses their blow. One of the rowers manages to give a good whack to the head of one of the spearmen and they fall down frothing at the mouth.

    At this point three of the four remaining spearmen drop their weapons and start running away into the woods. The bandit leader yells at them:
    -Come back! You can't escape the chain!

    What do you do?

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    The bandit leader is obviously the biggest threat. I'd like to know more about "the chain", so I attack with the aim to disable him, but if possibility allows I won't shy away from a killing blow. His right wrist is already disabled so disabling the other arm or a leg could put them out of business without outright killing them.

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    You continue to press the attack.
    You roll [ 04:02 PM]. He parries one of your swings, beating your axe upward. You block his counterblow with your shield and hit him in his left thigh under the hem of his chainmail hauberk. Unfortunately a battleaxe isn't really a precision weapon. His femoral artery is gushing and you reckon he'll be unconcious in a few seconds and dead soon after.

    The rowers manage to beat the final spearman en masse. He's beaten up and lying ground but he looks like he might actually live.

    What do you do?

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    I tell the some of the rowers to keep lookout while I search the bandits for anything useful or interesting. I start questioning the living spearman about "the chain" to find out if this is just simple banditry or if there's something more behind it.

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    The captain agrees with you and assigns two watchers while he proceeds to give first aid to the injured rowers.

    You tie down the captive before doing some looting.
    The first significant thing you find is that every one of the attackers had a tattoo of a chain on their body.
    As for actual loot, you find: armor: 3 three sets of leather armor and 1 chain armor.
    3 bows, 8 large knives, 3 spears, a woodsman's axe and a huge scimitar.
    1 kris knife that looks special, it's been inscribed with red glowing runes.
    About 100 arrows.
    Plenty of food, heavy cloaks and some camping gear.

    What seems somewhat interesting is that there's plenty of scars of lashings on most of the attackers but nothing that looks like it was originally caused by combat. The bows they used seem to be hunting bows and quite worn.

    As you approach the lizardman prisoner, he breaks relatively easily.
    -I'm Miqu. That's my name. I'm a poacher. The Chain is a group of bandits that have kept my village as prisoners for years. They come in every few months and take what they want. Sometimes they grab people.


    What do you do?

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    Sounds like this bandit gang is something worth investigating.. maybe someone would pay to help get rid of them. However, we have another job to finish and should continue on to our destination to deliver the saurus first.

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    The prisoner finds himself press-ganged into a new rower.

    The ship leaves the beach and continues it's path up-river, slower than previously but the pace remains reasonable.

    You rest for the rest of the day and the next night and you're back to feeling a 100% by next morning.

    The morning comes with beautiful sunshine and the travel continues peacefully.

    The captain comes to join you with breakfast.
    -We will reach your stop in a while. There will be a pier and a cabin. Lumber is stored there by one called Mish. She's a shrewd lady in employ of one of the big traders. She can guide you to Sukiskyn. We will leave fast. With fewer rowers we have less time to waste. You can keep the potion to arouse the saurus, it was meant for you anyway.

    -We gungabides are known to be soulless and heartless, or so they say. But I appreciate what you did there with the bandits. We would have been all killed without you. Least I could do is give you a chance to avoid that fate at some point. Take this. It's a potion of healing. Hope it does good to you.

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