First session of Lone Wolf multiplayer game – part 2

*ahahahahahahah* Oh, sorry. I was reading from the Lone Wolf introductory adventure. Let me quote:

and many of them are sure to remember the fox as an interesting and unusual encounter.

If you read the first part, you will remember that the player Beastmaster wanted the fox to come along as an animal sidekick. Then he wanted to throw the fox into the group of Giaks that were the merchant’s attackers. Hopefully to stun them, surprise them, cause some damage. Beastmaster is lucky there are no animal activists in Magnamund (that I know of).

To recap, there were 5 players, Blender, Catatonia, Beastmaster, Torturer and Archer.

So they knew about the Giaks attacking the merchant’s wagon. To prompt them to continue forth, I read from the script again, a 2 sentence description. The 1st sentence was about a dark shadow flitting towards the North West, a Giak. The moment I finished this, Archer said he nocked an arrow to let loose at it. The 2nd sentence was that the Giak didn’t notice them and vanished from sight. Then I told Archer that he’s too late.

I decided to give him back his arrow when he looked crestfallen into the distance at an imaginary tree stump where his arrow should have been.

Then they went North West towards the Giaks. As instructed in the script, I asked them to roll a Test. So a brief aside here. A Test means the GM assigns a difficulty level, and the player(s) roll a d10 and add any relevant bonuses. If the result is equal or higher, then they pass the Test.

4 of them failed the surprise Test. It was a difficulty level 3. It wasn’t supposed to be hard. Since it’s not stated anywhere in the book what I should do if part of the party fails, I just took it as the whole party failed.

And they crashed into the clearing, face to face with the Giaks. Archer immediately said he nocked an arrow to let it loose. I said they were face to face with the Giaks, ruling a close combat if it came to battle. Which it did, because during that short exchange, Beastmaster said he took up his spear and plunged it towards the nearest Giak. I consulted the book. There was no way I could try any other option. Yup, Attack option it is.

Awww, their first battle… It’s suggested to have an equal number of Giaks to the number of players. I had 3 highly skilled characters and 2 who didn’t roll that well. But I could have launched a dozen at them, and they’d still win. Each Giak died with a single stroke with nary a nick on their Kai robe.

So Archer, Beastmaster and Torturer felled 3 Giaks with 1 stroke each. Blender took out another Giak with minimal damage to himself, also with 1 stroke. And Catatonia… decided to ransack the wagon. In the middle of the battle. There was no script that could’ve saved me then. Well, it’s a legitimate decision, even if it’s not catered for in the rules. The last Giak was then killed by Archer.

“Can I take back my arrow?” asked Archer.
“What?”
“I shot an arrow at that Giak. Can I get it back?”

There are no rules on retrieving arrows. They’re cheap. And you don’t use them that often. 12 arrows should last at least a couple of adventures. But no, Archer would not have that. So I made up a simple Test, difficulty 3. He failed.

“The arrow snapped while you’re pulling it out.” I said.
Archer mumbled something that I probably cannot write here.

*muahahahaha* *cough* I’m sorry. I was reading the book again.

The players should now search the caravan

Oh, you don’t need to prompt them on that. They ransacked the caravan. No wagon was left unturned. The Giaks and fallen guards (the merchant’s) were thoroughly searched. They looked for weapons (arrows in particular, by Archer not surprisingly), food, money, anything.

I told them the goods were silks, satins, bangles, and bracelets. There were also iron chains and metal bracelets. The iron chains provoked a few minutes of role playing that I cannot write about again.

“Ooh, iron chains. I wonder what he sells them for.”
“I wonder what kind of business this merchant is really in.”

I wonder what kind of trouble I’m already in.

It was due to some confusion on my part, and some satisfaction on hindsight, that I told them there weren’t anything they could use. It’s time to return the goods to the merchant.

Which was confusing. Logically, the players should return the goods to the merchant. But the script said they returned to the Kai Monastery. What, just leave the goods there in the clearing, tell the merchant it’s ok and let him recover it himself? My players thought so too.

But they’re back at the Monastery. Having reported to Kai Master Stormsong about their progress, they were free to roam and explore the Monastery. The players thought that was fast. I told them I still had about half the adventure left. So they explored. Oh the author of the introductory adventure is so going to be shocked.

Torturer then proceeded to bring out a folder. In it, he had a complete drawing of the Kai Monastery, a map if you will, of the various rooms of their stone-walled training facility. Torturer then said the baths were a bad idea. No security (I can’t remember the exact reason. I blanked out after he opened his folder and showed the map of the Monastery).

Torturer went to the kitchens to threaten the chefs to cook him meals. And prepare extra for carrying on journeys. I told him he could ask the chefs nicely. “Where’s the fun in that?” And these were supposed to be Kai monks.

Beastmaster wanted to go check out Kai Master Stormsong’s room and see if there were cool stuff. He didn’t find it on the map. I breathed a sigh of relief. Archer went to the Armoury to check for weapons (and extra arrows. You know, just in case). Ooohhh, the stables were beside the Armoury.

“Nice horsey.” said Archer. And then a whole slew of raucous role playing started from there. The stable boy was involved. And there was speculation that the stable boy had tons of bling bling. And I really cannot write any more. It will have to stay as a close friend kind of secret. I’ll have to get to know you better before I tell you, and even then, only when I meet you face to face. Writing it down might bring on a whole mess of complications that I’m not prepared to handle right now. Oh shizer!

Yeah, free to explore the Kai Monastery, ay?

Up next, the Pavlovian Circle. Oh, the author so never saw that one coming…