Hexplore24 — Day 20
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HEX K09
OVERCAST (-2 to next roll)
SKY: SILVER FOLDS
DAWN HAZARD: 5 — Again, it is becoming comical, I hope our inevitable encounter with them pays off.
As dawn breaks, Malla looks out across the snowy landscape and sees clearly off into the distance. No snow is falling. Despite the silver folds of brooding overcast sky, she feels as happy as if it is summer weather. They can travel again!
Though, this also means certain choices must be made regarding Mahbe & his group of travelers. What is to become of them? Malla, Blain & Aima have discussed the impossibility of parting with a tent or another mule because they have to prepare for the rescued witches to be in poor condition.
This also begs the question of what condition Mahbe’s group is in, or what they would like to happen. So, Malla gathers Belus, Satis, Aima, Blain, and then asks Mahbe if they can have a meeting.
FC: Mahbe brings a 2nd person to the meeting? Extreme yes.
This either means Mahbe is the 2nd and brings the real leader of the party, or he is the leader and brings the full group.
FC: Is Mahbe the 2nd? No. So, full group it is.
Let’s define the members of the group, using a mixture of OSE tables for the classes and Mythic tables for personalities and appearances.
- Mahbe, he/him, Magic user, leader, loyal social, world weary.
- Afah, she/her, Assassin, anxious, believing, mystery, stylish.
- Rahn, she/her, Paladin, rash, friendly, scar, scholarly.
- Angor, he/him, Illusionist, wild, responsible, cool, regal.
- Yuhtar, he/him, Barbarian, deceitful, cautious, familiar, lean.
- Thaba, he/him, Gnome, selfless, friendly, tall for a gnome.
Okay, about to have a very hard type of scene to write: 11 characters, 5 who are brand new. I’m happy for the challenge because I have time today, but I’d skip this or simplify this if I didn’t want to try and dive in, or didn’t have the time.
Soon, Mahbe and his five companions emerge, blinking at the morning light and scanning the snowy views.
For the Beaconites, this is the first good look in the light they’ve had of the travelers.
Mahbe is about to speak when Malla holds up a hand, “Apologies — before we begin, do you see those shapes?” she asks, pointing towards the watchers, again visible on the far bank of the river. Mahbe squints...
FC: Mahbe sees shapes? Extreme yes.
FC: Mahbe knows what/who they are? Yes.
Char Background EM: “Exile Activism”
Identity: “Intellectual Wilderness”
I want more — So, I’ll bring in 1 page adventure crafter to flesh out this backstory.
“The Afah?” Mahbe asks. “Those watchers — they are called Afah?” Malla clarifies. “Yes,” Mahbe replies, “That is what they call themselves”
“They have been watching us for several days now,” Malla explains.
Mahbe reaction — 8 — Uncertain
“Do you know why?” Mahbe asks.
“No, we are hoping you might tell us more about them?” Malla asks.
Reactions: 6, uncertain — Low; I’ll roll for... Rahn to take over this convo.
Mahbe looks at a woman standing by him. “Rahn, would you explain?”
Rahn, a woman in her mid-30s, a scar on her face, steps forward and smiles warmly. “Of course,” she says. “Where are you all from?” she asks, “I’d hate to go over stuff you do know.”
“We’re from very far away,” Blain replies. “Assume we know nothing, for at least the past, oh, hundred years,” Rahn looks surprised. “Oh, ok, well...”
Location: Spacious clear.
TP1: Help, Religion, Choice
“The Afah lived in the forests of the opening – but King Eonse began his divine quest of removing the devils of the lands. The Afah, being devil worshippers, were made to convert – only many resisted.”
TP2: Scapegoat, Observer, Unknown, Injustice and action “open wound”
“These radicals were blamed for the misfortunes of the Open Wound War, and a desire to remove them grew.”
TP3: Obligation, Betrayal, Confrontation, Shady, Organization
“But the Afah charmed and corrupted the royal magistrates, keeping local power and growing in political force. King Eonse was of course distracted still by the Open Wound War.
TP4: Competition, Public, Emergency
“This led to attacks as the Afah tried to take over territory as their own. No town in The Opening was safe.
TP5: Obligation, Cryptic, Family, Disappearance, Desperate
“The King sent his own son to crush the rebellion – but the Afah used their devil magic, took the Lording, and bound him. Knowing they could not resist the king’s full wrath, they vanished with the Lording.”
TP6: Humiliation, Crime, Travel, Escape, Remote
TP7: Obligation, Law, Vulnerability, Progress, Conclusion
“Now, of course, we know they settled out here, but for years no one knew what became of them. It was quite the embarrassment for the king and caused many scandals.”
“But,” Satis asks, “They are, not humans, right?”
Rahn is confused, “Of course not.” She looks at the group of Beaconites. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?”
“No, we’re not,” Malla says.
“Should we be worried these Afah are watching us?” Aima asks.
FC: 19, Extreme YES. Oh my...
Rahn shifts uncomfortably. A man with a regal air about him clears his throat. “Yes Angor?” Mahbe says.
“Well,” Angor begins, “Unless you know that you are friends with the Afah, I wouldn’t assume they mean you any good or kind intentions. They did wage a war and bind the Lording to be left alone.”
The Beaconites all look at each other uncomfortably.
“What are you doing out here?” Mahbe asks, “In these lands you know so little about?”
“Right now,” Blain explains, “we are rescuing others from our community who have been ransomed.”
“By the Afah?” Rahn asks.
“No, no, we don’t think so,” Blain says.
What do we know? Does Blain have a name for the kidnappers? FC: Extreme no.
Mahbe, Rahn, Angor, and the other travelers look confused. “How do you not know?” Rahn asks.
Aima clears her throat and begins, “We have a message and a location, and a price. Little more. It’s in the hills, that way,” she points.
FC: Travelers have any insight? NO
“We do not know this area well,” Mahbe says, “I do not know who might live in those hills.”
“We intend to find out, and will be continuing on today,” Malla says, taking back control of the conversation. “Which leads me to ask — what are your plans? Do you wish to travel with us a short while? How can we send you safely on your way?”
Reactions: FRIENDLY 11
Wish to join? FC: 19, Extreme YES.
Mahbe sighs, “Thank you for asking. We would stay with you a while longer, work to help you – as until spring, and the snows end, or we find equipment of our own again, I don’t think we can survive another storm on our own.”
Malla takes this in. “Okay, well we will all need to forage and hunt to keep our rations for true storms. I hope we can learn much from our time together — but we should pack and continue this conversation on the road!”
And so the caravan grew, for now, to 15, 9 Beaconites, and 6 Prannites as they called themselves.
It will take 2 watches and all travel points to ford the river and make it to Hex K10, the same hex Belus and Satis met Goster in.
AM watch hazard: 5, again! PM watch Hazard: 6, NOTHING
It feels good to travel again, and even with the snow slowing them down and making fording the river hard, spirits are high, even as fatigue from the storm and poor sleep wears on the Beaconites.
The Afah, still watching, carry a deeper threat and mystery, their danger, but not their intentions, are better known.
Once the river is crossed, Malla gives directions to set up camp, gather wood, and tend to the mules. She then pulls Satis aside and asks if she would join her for a hunt. Satis, surprised, agrees.
Malla passes WIS check — Finds game.
8 shaggy mammoths. Very dangerous.
They follow tracks, Malla mentally focused. Then, they find them: a herd of enormous, giant beasts like the elephants — but shaggy. 8 of the beasts lumber along, their trunks picking through the snow and pulling up plants.
“They are so big,” Satis marvels.
“Yes, and very dangerous,” Malla says, sizing up the situation.
“Satis, you have hunted before — did you use magic?” “Yes — but it was with a spell I am not aligned with — a sleep spell — and anyway, it wouldn’t work on beasts this large” Satis says.
“What magic are you attuned to?” Malla asks.
“A spell that lets me turn the ground or walls to mist and then back,” Satis replies, and thinking it through, she adds, “it could trap any creature within it underground — If I solidify the mist with them in it.”
Malla smiles, “That is an amazing tool… okay, let me think.”
The Shaggy Mammoths can 1-hit kill Malla & Satis, 8 of them is a lot.
“Satis, these are deadly animals, we can trap and kill one if the group breaks up, but if they try to trample us, we must hide. Is it possible for your spell to hide us beneath the earth?”
I think it’s reasonable Satis can use her skill to change more or less soil, but the structural integrity is just that of soil, it’s not magically reenforced.1
“Yes, but if they stomp or even walk over any pocket we hide in, I cannot hold it against their weight. The soil will support only what it naturally can bear.”
Malla nods, “We can avoid that, just do as I say.” And Malla pulls out her bow, wave break, and notches an arrow.
Malla is going to use her Deft ability to attempt a nigh-impossible feat — killing a mammoth with a single arrow through the eye. This, using the example in the Whitehack rule book, can be done with a standard attack roll, which is at -2 because Malla has exhaustion currently. Malla must roll 0 < d20 <= 8 but the mammoth can save against damage. Oops, She rolls a 17 and just misses.
Malla lets her arrow loose — and misses. The Mammoths see this and become alert.
Reaction 5 — hostile. But can they find Malla and Satis?
I’ll do opposed rolls, Malla and Satis’ AGI vs the Mammoth’s WIL.2
Mammoth’s WIL is a 12
Malla passes. Satis loses and is seen.
Malla passes, Satis, however, is seen.
FC: Tree nearby? Yes
Malla and Satis both try to remain invisible, but the Mammoths, seeing Satis, turn and charge towards the two women.
Malla pushes Satis towards a nearby tree — "Get us under there now!"
Satis places her hands on the ground by the tree, and it turns to a thick mist. She and Malla climb into the mass of roots, 5' down, and Satis lets most of the mist solidify into earth, leaving a small pocket of air around them.
Above the earth shakes as the massive beasts stomp around, looking for the women. Then, they feel the roots shake as a mammoth tries to topple the tree.
WH Auction for this. Malla's INT of 16 vs. Challenge of 18. Malla's d6 roll is a 4.3
Satis is scared. "What if the tree falls?" she asks. Malla replies, "Hold on," and carefully listens.
Malla raises to 2. Mammoth oracle is a 6, a 1-bid4
“Vaporize the ground there — now!” Malla says, and Satis extends the spell, light flooding in as earth becomes transparent.
Malla's roll must be 2 < d20 <= 18. She rolls 18! A Critical Success.5
Then, in a chaos of sound, the charging mammoth falls into the misty hole Satis just opened. "Close it!!"
Malla shouts, Satis closes it, and the mammoth is trapped. It begins to trumpet, trying to dig itself free, straining against the dense soil.
Morale +1 for crazy magic. Roll an 8+1=9 so other mammoths scramble.6
They can hear mammoths panicking and then the rumble of departing mammoths, leaving only the sole straining one.
Malla has Satis reset its dirt trap when it nearly pulls free. Then they both climb back to the surface, and confront the giant beast. Malla is content it has tired itself out.
"We will return in the morning to kill it," she says.7
Satis is at 4/10 hp due to all the magic she cast.
Malla passes story check.
Around the campfire, Malla impresses the group with her recounting of the hunt, and Satis, who is extremely fatigued, gets a round of applause when she excuses herself for bed early.
Hazards overnight: 3 & 5
Satis passes Sleep check.
Belus and Malla don’t.
Blain does.
Satis sleeps soundly, as does Blain.
Malla is restless, wondering if she had been too brash and risked too much on that hunt.8
Belus dreams of the Afah watching them, the new context only enhancing his fears. A confrontation is only a matter of time.
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Magic in Whitehack is a negotiation, and spells can be used in creative ways. Here I’m coming up with a new use for this spell on the spot. What isn’t noted is that the spell costs hp when Satis casts it — here about 2 hp per casting.↩
Whitehack has a few handy resolution mechanics. Opposed rolls are great for contests like this where one character is trying to hide and another trying to find them.↩
Another very handy Whitehack resolution mechanic is the auction. I’ve created a modified version of this tool that works for me as a solo player, which I’ll make a post about soon. What’s nice about auctions is they allow you to resolve complex things, like Malla and Satis trying to outsmart a herd of angry mammoths by trapping them with magic while the mammoths attempt to topple the tree they are hiding beneath, without trying to fit it into the more traditional mechanics like combat or opposed rolls. This “cinematic” quality makes it a very handy tool to reach for when a story takes you to an interesting and unexpected situation.↩
If you are unfamiliar with how Auctions work, all you need to know is that Malla and the Mammoth have determined who gets to roll first (Malla). Meaning if she passes that roll she wins and if she fails that roll the Mammoth wins by default. I will role play the setup, then make the roll that determines the outcome of the auction.↩
This roll concludes the auction. Typically the range of numbers you need to roll between is much more narrow than this, but that’s how this particular auction worked out. I’m sure I’ll use it again, and typically it is a more tense experience. You could say this is a weakness of the solo version of the auction, but also, are Mammoths known for being especially strategic? A GM might have chosen for the Mammoth to make a 1-bid because it makes sense.↩
Morale rolls, creature’s morale breaks if you roll above their morale number. Here the Mammoths have a listed morale of 9. Because the magic they’ve just seen would be unnerving I decide to add a +1 to the roll. Lucky I did, because that +1 is the deciding difference that makes the other Mammoths decide to peace out.↩
Buried 5’ deep the Mammoth is still very dangerous. But, with Satis paying the magical price to re-bury it after it has already struggled at length, it should remain trapped overnight. In the morning they can return with more people and (hopefully) find an exhausted Mammoth that is much safer to kill.↩
When Malla missed her shot and Satis was spotted by the Mammoths I got worried that I’d just killed two of my favorite PCs. You see me ask the fate check if there is a tree nearby. Had that come up a “no” I’m not sure what they would’ve done to survive the stampede. Malla has shown great leadership, but she is also young, and I think she and I both learned a lesson about humility and danger. So, knowing she isn’t sleeping well, I add this as characterization into the story. I know Satis will be less likely to blindly follow Malla now.↩