Tomb of the Serpent Kings Play Report 02
Continued from here. The first party fell victim to...
The Tomb of the Serpent Kings!
The (New) Party
GoodEye, a treasure-hunting Barber-Surgeon with body-modifications.
Talon, an Outrider with respect for weapons and his destrier, Buckwheat.
Iwan, an elegant Half-Witch with a Raven companion with whom he conspires.
Vex, Iwan's younger brother, a Half-Witch fleeing something or someone.
Session 2
A raven flew into the town of Blackcrossing, followed by a pair of cryptic brothers. It was a temperate morning, and farmers were selling crops on a grassy knoll in the middle of town, affectionately dubbed 'The Green'. As the older brother with a chiseled face and wispy hair followed his Raven, the younger brother got distracted on the way.
He made a detour for a Barber-Surgeon taking clients on The Green. His ears were covered in flaps, though he seemed to hear well enough when the younger brother greeted him. The Barber-Surgeon introduced himself as GoodEye, and reluctantly yielded to the younger brother's request to chop his long-flowing locks in order to obscure his identity. After some discussion of price, he began chopping.
Across The Green rode a stout man atop a heavy destrider. He was well armed and clearly looking for something. As he scanned the green, he locked eyes with a man and a Raven. The older brother started whispering to the Raven, and before long it took flight towards the stout man. He instinctually swatted at it before he heard it speak:
"Permission to land on your horse?"
The man was awestruck and started thinking he might be hallucinating, when the older brother joined them. He introduced himself as Iwan, and his Raven as Talon. The rider's eyes widened, and stated this must be some omen since his name was also Talon. The older brother agreed. Wanting to introduce them, he told the Raven to go find his younger brother Vex.
Referee notes here: As much as I enjoyed starting right at the dungeon last time, I felt like there were a few good reasons to start at the town for the second party.
- Give the players a quick breather and allow them to roleplay with a bit less urgency.
- Illustrate that their actions have consequences for the world (as we will see shortly).
- Being familiar with the town helps establish it as something they can return to during their dungeon crawl, with treasure and to heal wounds.
As GoodEye was repeating dungeon rumors to Vex, his surgically enhanced ears picked up something on the edge of The Green. Screams. Cries. Bones Rattling. a beat later, there was chaos. Throngs of people had created a stampede as they tried to evacuate The Green to the south. In the chaos, GoodEye spotted the source of the terror: Two slithering skeletons with the lower bodies of great snakes. He didn't need surgically enhanced vision to see the blood stains on their claw-like hands. He left Vex and followed the crowd.
Enter Consequences.
Iwan reached Vex just in time to witness stragglers gored near the carrot stand. Iwan pulled out a length of rope and handed it to Vex. As if practiced, they ran to tangle the skeletons in the rope. They pulled tight and whatever unholy force animating the skeletons pressed against the rope as they clumsily tried to free themselves.
Meanwhile, Talon the Outrider galloped over to another remaining farmer and pulled her atop his huge destrier, Buckwheat. He quickly searched The Green for other survivors, and seeing it empty, rode on to take the woman to safety at the Green Dragon Inn nearby.
On the other end of The Green, GoodEye had the good fortune to run into a member of the Marchguard, bound by oath to protect the realm at its borders. He stumbled along with a half-harnessed breastplate as GoodEye urged him towards the monsters. Finally, he unsteadily pulled out a longsword and marched across the Green.
The brothers kept the rope taut, binding the skeletons in place as they struggled. Suddenly they dove inward with a pair of matching cold-iron daggers, severing the sinew holding one of the creatures together. They jumped apart to keep the bind in place. Finally, the Marchguard appeared and smote the remaining skeleton, saving the day.
The rope trick was a ruling on the fly, and I thought it was a creative way to deal with the threat that wasn't just attacking. The following is how I ruled it during play:
- Both PCs ran around both skeletons and wrapped them up for movement and action.
- Since the Skeletons were wrapped up, attacks against them were enhanced (1d12)
- The Skeletons had to make a STR save to break free, on their turn.
- I let both PCs attack on their next turn while maintaining the rope.
Here is how I think I would run it after some reflection:
- I'd let the skeletons make a DEX save to avoid being caught in the trap in the first place, since the risk of combat damage is the same for either party, but the risk of having damage be enhanced against the skeletons was greater.
- It would take both players' actions to maintain the rope, so they wouldn't also be able to attack.
- The skeletons turn would depend on the fiction. If they had a bladed weapon it would just take their action to cut it. They could forgo breaking out and instead pull one of the brothers towards them, loosening the binding / putting them in danger, or, they could try to break out which would be a strength save. (This feels a little close to a check, I'm not totally sure how to handle ongoing effects.)
Additionally I want to note that GoodEye's instinct to find help in a town was clever, especially since the player saw two characters get one-hit-killed by skeletons last session. I used the Die of Fate (1d6) to determine if he found a guard on his turn.
GoodEye, Gann the Marchguard, and Talon retired to the Green Dragon Inn, to let the evacuated citizens know that all was safe. After appraising his speed and skill, GoodEye asked Talon to join him in a quest. As it turned out, GoodEye was looking for Marius, a local shepherd who was said to have uncovered the dungeon in the first place. Together they found Marius at the Inn, and though he wouldn't guide them, he provided them with a map to get there in the barrow hills. The talking Raven flew unannounced into the inn, and memorized the map.
A half-day trek later, GoodEye and Talon found themselves face-to-face with the cryptic brothers at the entrance of the tomb. With no better way to move forward, they decided to work together and split the spoils.
Judging by player feedback, everyone felt more comfortable with their characters this time. The dynamics were developed at the table after just establishing their motivations and initial relationships.
In the first few rooms, they found recently rotting remains, and a sprung hammer trap. GoodEye and Talon were able to reset the hammer trap, and re-trigger it safely. They found two more corpses beyond the hammer trap, a bit more recognizably human. The journey to the dungeon had taken the better part of the morning, so they all sat down to eat some of the rations they found and divided up the belongings of the departed adventurers.
Starting in the town ultimately became a tradeoff between delve-time and roleplay-time, but this seems like a fine outcome because we all had a lot of fun. Next week the players will delve deeper into...
The Tomb of the Serpent Kings!