Legend Crypt delving

[Hopeless]

Last time the PCs effected the rescue of captured villagers at the hands of Nomadic Raiders led by a former villager who ended up losing a leg and rolling down a rather steep hill.

They returned to the scene about a day or so later to discover someone had attacked shortly after they had left and investigating a staircase leading underground discovered not only the presence of as courier of the Lightbringer Cult investigating the area for different reasons but also two of the raiders' having been slain and left mummified by something.

That session ended with them venturing inside the crypt's upper level and discovering a mural depicting a war fought over four centuries ago and a circular chamber with had a pit in its centre with an epitaph dedicated to someone's family and the walls engraved with the names of those slain in the war.

This session opened with one player allowing the door they had come through to shut behind them with a slam loud enough that it woke up the spider swarm hidden in roosts in the ceiling who swiftly began their climb down towards the PCs.

The woodsman made his knowledge checks and identified the spider swarm as "Mummy Spider's" on account that they webbed up their victims and drained them dry and the raiders' apparently slain by the "Queen" or its "Consorts".

The fled the chamber via the door the nobleman had opened and had been about to investigate inside, this noble discovered that the room held four undead creatures who were turning from zombies into skeletons and a short fight later resulted in the woodsman's axe being broken when he accidentally threw it into the stone headstone above a staircase leading down to the lower level of the crypt and the noble managed to slip over and end up staring up the courier's skirt.

To recap the party consisted of;

PC
Civilised nobleman
Civilised noblewoman
Barbarian Woodsman
Barbarian Blacksmith

NPC
Lightbringer Courier: Originally present at the village delivering a cargo of healing potions, she evaded capture only to detect something odd going on out in the wilds using her equipment managed to track down the source of the disturbance and was trying to pick a lock when the PCs turned up.
Evidence from the rescued captives suggested she had been the actual target of the raid as everyone taken captive had been at the Lightbringer Shrine when the Raiders' attacked.

The Woodsman eventually picked up one of the weapons used by their undead attackers (ruled there had been one axe and two swords, there had been three but the wielder broke his on a nearby pillar fighting the Blacksmith), the Blacksmith identified the weapons as having been made at a rival village named Tarmsen who were supposedly ruled by a sect of priests who worshipped their leader who behaved as if he was a god to his own people.

They ventured downstairs and found another engraved dias which told the story behind the crypt revealing an ancient war brought two heroes together but whilst they bother prospered following the war one turned against the other resulting in a war where one was slain and the other rebuilt his town and when he died was interred in this crypt dedicated to his memory and the deeds that made him famous.

Yes they didn't have a clue either but eventually tried one corridor leading away from here and ran into a trio of zombies that when slain released a cloud of spores that only effected the nobleman since the others stuck to ranged weapons.

Once the cloud receded they investigated within and discovered another party had delved inside the crypt a few months ago which the Blacksmith linked to the four undead they met upstairs, they tried the other corridors leading away from the engraved dias but one was flooded and after meeting an oversized frog that seemed to blow itself up causing the water level to rise rapidly they sought higher ground and down another corridor found a fountain which turned out to be blessed as the nobleman drank from the water and found himself feeling better from the exposure from the plague ridden zombies.

The spider spawn had reached the top of the staircase leading upstairs when they decided to try and return upstairs so they tried the corridor and gingerly passed the remains of the slain plague ridden zombies.

The room beyond it held a pool that had been cursed effecting all bar the blacksmith and it took the woodsman to realise what was causing the unnatural fear before they could prevail against it, at the other end of this room was a portcullis and with the help of the Blacksmith, the Woodsman and the Nobleman they managed to life it and pass into the room beyond.

This room had apparently suffered from some kind of earthquake because the ceiling had fallen revealing a large enough hole for the party to exit using a rope and grapple.

They chose to investigate the rest of the crypt and found the next room to open on a large chamber with a bridge spanning a seemingly bottomless pit and across the otherside are two statues of villagers armed with a shield and spear.

Both the Nobleman eventually figured out the trap whilst his sister (Noblewoman) discovered a secret door behind them leading to the corridor that led to the fountain and the dias at the foot of the staircase leading back upstairs.

The nobleman managed to disable one portion of the trap allowing him to cross enough of the bridge to be able to jump the rest without setting off the statues that were obviously designed to rush whoever was on the bridge.

Unable to disable the statues he instead set them off as they were much slower returning to their starting position allowing the others to cross over whilst they did so.

Once past this obstruction they entered the next chamber and found themselves in the crypt itself discovering a woman lying unconscious next to the main coffin and as they approached they're challenged by a figure in full armour who they end up battling.

The nobleman managed to block the attacker's greatsword as the Blacksmith snuck behind him and dealt him a massive blow to the back of his head but it was only when he turned to face the blacksmith that the woodsman managed to finish off their attacker by decapatitating him revealing he was also undead.

With the aid of the spirit of Kassen they sealed away the undead warrior's body by returning the dagger they had found on one of the raiders' upstairs and drop kicked his head into the bottomless pit and in return for their aid he gave them some gifts and after discovering the corpse of another member of the Tarmsen party they returned outside via the rope and grapple.

So their prize consisted of;

Full suit of Chainmail which has been enchanted to acts as 6AP and 1 less encumberance and a total armour penalty of -6,
Enchanted Greatsword with Bladesharp 1 on it,
Small pouch enchanted so it can hold up to 50lbs even though it looks only big enough to hold 5lbs at most,
4 Steel Ingots,
Kite Shield enchanted to provide 1AP of extra protection,
Crystal blue gemstone that might be enchanted,
Tarmsen Sorceror Grimoire,
Tarmsen Sorceror Staff,
A set of Orichalcum Vambracers,
quite a bit of money and a scrollcase holding a scroll bearing a message from the village indicating the raid they had pursued was set up before the Tarmsen party set out for the crypt and that the villager they met was merely an agent of the real villain not that they noticed that part!

The spirit revealed that he and the undead warrior had worn amulets holding parts of a key to a great treasure they had found beneath a place named Stonehenge and that should they learn more about that place to remember what he had told them.

The PCs then complained that he hadn't revealed what the crystal blue gemstone does but the spirit disappeared!

They returned to the village to report and whilst the blacksmith returned to his smithy to repair the nobleman's shield as the replacement went to the woodsman allowing the nobleman access to the chainmail, the greatsword was claimed by the Blacksmith along with the steel ingots which didn't escape notice and the noblewoman ended up with the gem whilst the woodsman acquired the pouch.

The nobles returned to their rented rooms at the country tavern outside of the village and would have enjoyed the evening repast but someone set fire to an exhibit a visitor was presenting to the captive audience and the nobleman put the fire out with a jug of wine much to the anger of the visitor as someone murders one of those present leaving a dagger in his back.

Both are called in by the sheriff revealing that some think the nobleman's sister was the intended victim and then reveals the nobleman's father is waiting for him.

Apparently there's no lord for the area they're visiting and his father is fitting him up for the job!

However his father tells him he has to discover who has stolen the murder weapon and then retrieve some long lost artefacts froma nearby forest as this would help set him up as the new prospective candidate for lord of this area (he hasn't mentioned its just a Baronetcy but it is a start!) the nobleman keeps on at his grudge on his older brother claiming he has done all the work for no reward.

Which is where the potential of becoming lord of this area was mentioned, he is then sent off to recruit his new friends as one of them would be very useful in solving the murder so the nobleman sets off...

 

[Hopeless]

As the nobleman sets out for the village both the Woodsman and the Blacksmith receive a message to visit the Country Tavern on a matter of mutual advantage.

The blacksmith decides to focus on his work whilst the Woodsman decides to leave immediately which is why the Nobleman finds he's gone by the time he arrives!

He heads onto the Blacksmith and ends up waiting until he's free to talk meanwhile the Woodsman meets the nobleman's father who explains someone tried to pin the murder on the Nobleman's sister who is apparently a terrible cook but not one for sticking knives in people's backs especially as the weapon is question was apparently very unusual.

He asks for the Woodsman to interview the witnesses with the sheriff and to look at the room where the weapon was stolen from which he agrees to.

This eventually reveals that one of the suspects was only suspected because she's considered a witch by the locals and by that I mean the Sheriff!

That leaves a local farmer, a bountyhunter, a tinker, the innkeeper and the Nobleman as suspects.

Using his inherent skills the Woodsman only knows is that the person who fingered the Innkeeper couldn't prove his story was true whilst he waited for the others he checks the area where the dagger was stolen and thinks someone or something got in via an opened window from the outside.

On his way to check outside again he meets the other coming from the village, but not before seeing the villager who had helped the Nomad Raider's leave the Tavern after noticing his gaze and end up talking to the Bountyhunter's band befor eheading into the forest
The Blackmith upon hearing about the suspected witch immediately goes to have word with her as he knows she is also surprisingly intelligent and learns she told the Sheriff that the farmer had been obviously drunk as a skunk and that whilst the bountyhunter has something to do with what happened the previous evening he certainly couldn't have stolen the dagger as she interviewed the serving maid who fingered them and believes the drunk farmer made the Bountyhunter decide against what he had been planning.

The Blacksmith deduces the weapon might have been a goblin's dagger and thanks to the Woodsman suspects it had been attempt to frame one of them at which point the Woodsman reminds the nobleman that he had taken the leg off of the treacherous villager who was now walking around with a wooden peg leg something quite surprising as it would have taken alot of time for him to recover from the loss.

This was where this session ended for the evening i hope it wasn't too garbled but I wanted to make sure i had a record to refer to and some advice as the combat system in Legend has come up again and I'm looking at trying to fine tune it so its less of a pain to everyone involved

 

[Hopeless]

So been having problems with the combat system figure this is probably the best place to go through it and get some advice.

Currently sticking with the d10+ strike rank rules for initative but they get to act during the round at certain points depending on how many combat actions they have along with what their initiative roll came up with.

So for example there's 3 players who roll 7, 3 and 6 and have a subequent strike rank of 11, 13 and 9 thanks to ability scores and the armour they're using.

Their initiative for that round would therefore be 18, 16 and 15 and whilst the first two have 3 combat actions the last one only has 2.

Dividing their total initative by how many actions they have rounded down indicates when their last action goes and this multiplied by 2 (prior to being rounded down) is for those with 3 combat actions the other point they get to go.

So Player 1 with a total of 18 goes first on 18, then 12 and finally 6.
Player 2 goes on 16 and then 10 and finally 5.
Player 3 only have 2 combat actions first goes on 15 and finally on 7.

Now if player 1 goes for 2 and hits forcing 2 to parry taking up their first action each, with 3 now up who tries to back up 2 against player 1 and hits forcing player 1 to evade since they're fighting player 2 and succeeds so that uses up player 1's second action.
Player 2 now returns attack forcing player 1 to parry using up their last action in the round and player 3 then tries to attack once more but fails but since player 1 has no more actions that round can't counter attack until the start of the new round.
However player 2 now has their last action and attacks manging to hit and damages player 1 so ending the first round and it goes back to the top.

Now I figure on keeping the initative as it is but was wondering if that feels okay since previously it was done that you only keep to these until all combat actions were used up and was wondering your feelings on this?

 

[Hopeless]

So currently having the players involved in finding out who stole the murder weapon and why let alone having one player reveal one of the witnesses claimed to have seen him wandering around covered in blood wielding said weapon!

So far the one player who has actually been investigating is close to discovering exactly who stole the murder weapon but that there's far more to whats going on than he or his fellow players' know!

At present am looking at seeing them head off after the most obvious culprit with only the male noble pc aware the quest for the artefacts is actually part of a quest for a new baronet.

The bad guys are aware the male noble is a rival and intend to remove him from their way but their goblin member has his own reasons for participating leading to the discovery of yet another murder scene and a mystery that I need to fine tune.

The general idea is that the lord whose crypt they investigated last time was the lord for this entire area ala Duke of Essex if you will.
His family was slain when his former friend turned against him so he left no heirs and his fiefdom was split apart with the largest falling under the sway of an elven lord who died about two centuries ago with the current quest being to highlight the fact that the area currently doesn't have a lord at least not for the area where the PCs have their village base.

The goblin had been part of a band who were hunting down members of a druidic cult and all bar the goblin was slain in a fierce battle with the druid who held one part of the four items being quested for.
He intends to secure that item for his liege who arranged for the goblin's dagger to be used by another underling (the treacherous villager mentioned above) to murder either of the two nobles but had to flee after slaying another villager who discovered him before he could strike.
The goblin's party have been led to believe the male noble's group stole his dagger and tried to incriminate them so he could claim the Baronetcy... well thats what I'm thinking of planning but have to consider where they might go next!

 

[Hopeless]

Okay I wanted to see what you think of the following;

He's the first of a rival group I'm designing to serve as a potential nemesis for my PC's but I want to make sure if there's something I should either add or alter.

The campaign is low magic so no common magic is available and other than some enchanted items the only widely available items will be mainly potions but I am looking at scrolls but thats another question entirely!

Character’s Name: Carl Flintlock
Culture/Profession: Barbarian Mercenary
Characteristics:
Strength: 13, Constitution: 14, Size: 17, Intelligence: 9, Power: 12, Dexterity: 16, Charisma: 8
Attributes:
Combat Actions: 3, Damage Modifier: +d2, Improvement Modifier: +0, Armour Penalty: -6, Movement: 8m
Strike Rank: 13-6= 7
Magic Points: 12
Hit Points: Leg: 7 (4), Abdomen: 8 (4), Chest 9 (4), Arm 6 (4), Head 7 (4)
Common Skills:
Athletics 49, Brawn 35, Culture/Own 53, Dance 31, Drive 43, Evade 47, Evaluate 34, First Aid 30, Influence 40, Insight 31, Lore/Regional 48, Perception 26, Resilience 49, Ride 43, Sing 32, Sleight 31, Stealth 30, Swim 32, Unarmed 39
Combat Skills: (Melee/Ranged in case of Dagger)
Melee 29, Ranged 32
Bow 82, Dagger 59/62, 2H Sword 69
Advanced Skills:
Craft/Trap making 40, Language/Native 79, Lore/Tactics 38, Survival 51, Track 48
Equipment:
Explorer’s Outfit, Backpack (holding Rope, Tinderbox, Whetstone, 3 potion bottles* and a small sack containing a small Carnelian gemstone (worth 50 silver), 13 silver, 3 copper and 8 tin coins), Scale Armour, Great Sword, Dagger, Long Bow and a Quiver with 20 arrows.
Notes:
Scale armour and Great Sword are of superior workmanship both bear the hallmarks of the village of Tarmsen.
Carries 3 potions, 2 are Heal 1 the other is Blade sharp1
Brief Background: Bounty hunter who hails from the rival village of Tarmsen and has been sent to secure the raiments as part of a quest to establish Tarmsen as the capital of the new Barony that will include the PCs own village.
He has been led to believe Lord James (male nobleman) has tried to incriminate them when a dagger belonging to his goblin henchman was used to murder another visitor to the Country Tavern where he was waiting to learn where exactly he had to search for the raiments.
The intention is to set him up as a nemesis for the party to deal with during the quest to secure the Barony which Lord James has found he’s been unwittingly been added as a candidate by his father.

 

[Dan True]

Seems nice. One problem though: He is a single person and int 9.

Soh, he is not strong enough to face the party alone, but too stupid to play tricks with them and/or let them hack through minions. I don't know your party, but my players would finish him very quickly and then he's no nemesis really.

Otherwise, seems nice. I enjoy your reviews here.

- Dan

 

[Hopeless]

He's the leader of an opposing group, will post the other members as soon as I get them typed up.

So far its a group of four with a goblin, a elf and a human sorceror or priest depending on when i get to that character.

 

[Hopeless]

Materials available:

Bronze- pretty much most metal armour and weapons are made from this
Iron- Has this been discussed anywhere?
Steel- Was thinking of making this a lost art that the dwarves being the only people who can smelt this.
Orichalcum- Working around a gold and bronze alloy known for its usefulness with enchantments but very, very rare working at bringing in a tale of an ancient city made from the stuff that was lost during the cataclysm so far I haven't clued the PCs in that its the same city that was mentioned in the previous adventure.
Mithril- Silver and Copper alloy and only known to the elves ala a mention about special armour in the book and i figured this would be easier for them to create than having it be a silver and steel alloy.
Adamantine- Been suggested its an alloy which includes meteoric iron but am now seriously considering it being another name for steel and having the dwarves more focused with Iron since as mentioned above Bronze is the everyday available metal.

What do you think?

 

[strega]

Arms and equipment has information on various non-bronze materials under Alternate Armour Materials.

Coral, Dwarfen Cinder, Elfen Silk, Gold, Monster Hide, Steel ,Wondrous Metal

There should be enough there to help you.

 

[Hopeless]

The second member of Flintlock's band

Character’s Name: Nu
Culture/Profession: Goblin Primitive Spy
Characteristics:
Strength: 10, Constitution:10, Size: 9, Intelligence: 10, Power: 9, Dexterity: 15, Charisma: 12
Attributes:
Combat Actions: 3, Damage Modifier: -d2, Improvement Modifier: +0, Armour Penalty: -3 ,
Movement: 8m
Strike Rank: 13-3= 10
Magic Points: 9
Hit Points: Leg: 4 (3), Abdomen: 5 (3), Chest 6 (3), Arm 3 (3), Head 4 (1)
Common Skills:
Athletics 45, Culture/Own 50, Evade 50, Insight 34, Lore/Regional 60, Perception 59, Persistence 48, Resilience 35, Sleight 32, Stealth 55
Combat Skills: (Melee/Ranged in case of Dagger)
Melee 25, Ranged 30
Blowgun 45, Dagger 55/60, 1H Spear & Shield 55
Advanced Skills:
Culture/Human 30, Disguise 37, Language/Goblin 72, Language/English 42, Survival 49, Track 25
Equipment:
Explorer’s Outfit, Black hooded Cloak, Hard Leather Coat and Greaves, Ring (Protection 1), 2 Daggers, Blowgun, Short Spear, Target Shield, small pouch (holding 6 copper pieces), Darts x12, 4 vials.

Notes:
The Dagger being held is enchanted with Blade sharp 1 and is a prized heirloom of Nu’s
The 4 vials consist of a one use smoke grenade resembling the Boon of Lasting Night, the other 2 hold enough for 4 applications and he uses them on his darts and whilst 1 functions like Befuddle the other resembles Fire arrow. The last vial holds Sleep Poison enough for 12 applications.

Brief Background:
A spy for the goblin nation he was recruited for Flintlock’s band following the defeat of his own band about ten years ago, he hopes to avenge the defeat of his own band ten years ago at the hands of a druid and his demon summoning that he knows defends its slain master’s grave and the Spirit Staff that’s one of the raiments his band are now hunting for.
Feels obligated to Flintlock for helping him after he was left alone with no means of returning to his people without some token of success on his part.
He cares nothing about the quest for the Barony, he would prefer to recover his stolen dagger and have his vengeance on the druid’s demon and survive than die for a meaningless cause however his sense of obligation is all that keeps him loyal to Flintlock.

 

[Hopeless]

Arms and equipment has information on various non-bronze materials under Alternate Armour Materials.
Coral, Dwarfen Cinder, Elfen Silk, Gold, Monster Hide, Steel ,Wondrous Metal
There should be enough there to help you.

Elfen Silk is where i got the idea for Mithril being an alloy of silver and copper.

Dwarven Cinder seems a bit much to designate as Iron but who knows?

Orichalcum is an alloy of gold and bronze so functions as normal but is reputedly great for enchanting,

Steel as Adamantine would make this much simpler but then that would mean the PC Blacksmith has 4 ingots of the stuff!

Well lets see how they do the next session!

 

[SSWarlock]

The closest "real world" description I've heard for mithril is that as a naturally occurring form of the intermetallic yttrium silver. All in fun of course but here's a link.
http://greenbooks.theonering.net/guest/files/103003_02.html