Rise of the Necromancers, Campaign Log 2

This is the first adventure of the Mythic Dra’mour, using the rules Mythic Chronicle ~ Stormrest. If you haven’t already checked out the first campaign log where we covered character creation you can find it Here
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Since this is the first week of the chronicle I skip over weekly actions and generate our first three potential adventures by drawing 6 cards, in sets of 2.

Each set of card represents an adventure, as follows:
2♢ Patron Adventure, Adversary: Dwarves of Kelraht
5♠ Goal: Rescue Character

J♢ Patron Adventure, Adversary: Silvertusk Raiders
8♢ Goal: Gather Information

Q♣ Crisis Adventure, Adversary: Necromancers of Huern
A♠ Goal: Negotiate

While the crisis adventure might lead to some new information about the necromancers and who is behind the raids, Dra’mour is driven to help the hopeless, so he is going to investigate the rescue character adventure first. Since it’s a patron adventure I draw 3 cards in order to determine just who our patron might be, laying them next to the adventure cards.

From these we can tell a few things about our potential patron:
8♠ Pronouns and Lineage: She/Her, Dwarf
4♣ Profession: Hunter
10♣ Motivation: Self Interest

I give her a name: Merrigold Rockhopper, and now that I know who our patron is, I’ve got some further questions that need answering: Who is being rescued? Why do they need to be rescued? Why are they important?

I can answer the first one by following the setup for the adventure, drawing two cards, which create the NPC that needs rescued:
5♣ Pronouns and Lineage: She/Her, Beastfolk
4♢ Profession: Gambler
I give her a name: Lillian Green

Next I’m going to ask some chorus questions to fill in the rest:
Does Lillian owe Merrigold money? No.  (Ok, not much of an angle to go on there)
Does Merrigold owe Lillian money? Yes. (Ah hah!)
Does Merrigold want her rescued in hopes that her debt is forgiven? No.  (Huh.)
Are they friends?  No, and Merrigold wants her rescued to cash in a bounty that is on Lillian’s head. (That took a turn!)

So here is what I know: Merrigold owed gambling debts to Lillian, Lillian was operating some shady gambling practices (which Merrigold likely fell afoul to) And so instead of paying her debts, she was going to turn Lillian in, but before she could do that Lillian was captured by the Kelrahtian Dwarves… Now Merrigold needs someone to rescue Lillian so she can collect the bounty, and recover some of what she lost.

Dra’mour, while someone who wants to help others, is of the general opinion that if Merrigold got herself into this mess, she can get herself out.  I decide to ask one more Chorus question before moving on to look at the other adventures: If I don’t help Merrigold, will her debts ruin her?

1:Yes. Well damn, a hunter’s life can be difficult, and if she was trying to make some quick money, but got suckered in by a crooked gambling scheme that would lead her to ruin… Maybe she deserves a second chance. Dra’mour accepts the request, gets ready, and heads out.
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Encounter 1
Because Dra’mour has a total myth of 8, I’m looking at a difficulty 1, which means a maximum of 6 encounters. I draw 6 cards, placing them in a row, then flip the first card in the line over to begin the first encounter. I find it’s a 9♠, which means it’s an adversary encounter.  I draw a card from the deck, placing it on the first, and find it’s a 10♠. Finally, I follow the steps for setting up an adversary encounter as follows:

1. Size by Mythic: Encounter areas differ in size based on the card drawn and how many Mythic are on the adventure.  Since the first card is a 9, and Dra’mour is the only one present, the area is 16”x16”.  I’m using specially made 4”x4” tiles, but any appropriate tiles or an erasable battlemat could be used instead, I've even used a large piece of cardboard with 4x4 areas drawn out on it in a pinch!

2. Feature: Some encounters will have a feature that changes how an encounter area is set up. Because the suits of both cards match, I have a feature present.  I look at the table and find that the feature for the 9 card is a ‘Lair’.  Lairs modify the encounter by removing any walls from being set up, and add three 3” diameter buildings/nests, which represent dwellings of some kind.  These get set up ‘D10 from Center’ which means I roll a D10, place it at center in the same orientation it was rolled, then center the terrain a number of inches from center as was rolled on the dice. It seems I haven’t learned my lesson from the last time I recorded a report and gone and made some hovels, so giant balls of yarn it is!

3. Walls: There would have been 5 walls, but no walls are placed due to the lair feature.

4. Obstacles: Barrels, crates, or piles of rubble.  Obstacles help provide cover and get in the way of movement. The area calls for 4 of them to be placed at random to give the area some tactical interest.

5. Entrance & Exit: The entrance and exit represent where you’re coming from and where you’re going.  I Roll two more ‘D10 from center’ dice, blue for the entrance, red for the exit, but just following the points I place them down at the edges of the area, though they must be at least 4” from each other.

6. Mythic: Dra’mour and his follower Orbuhl are placed no more than 1” into the room from the entrance.

7. Adversaries: Finally, I look at the number from the second card, 10, and reference the Dwarves of Kelraht bestiary table, finding that I’m facing a Scything Beetle and an Acid Beetle. Usually adversaries would be split into 3 groups and placed ‘D10 from center’ but since there are only two, I roll a dice for each of them. Now that everything is placed, it's time to begin the encounter!

Dra’mour and Orbuhl have followed a rumor that Lillian was last seen in the vicinity of some condemned houses, where a freshly dug tunnel leads deep into the ruins beneath Stormrest.  Scrambling down the path it isn’t long until the two stumble into a huge room where three large earth mounds dominate the space. Small insects can be seen crawling in and out of them, and just as they enter, two large beetles appear, one with massive pincers and the other producing fumes from a hole on its upper abdomen.  The battle begins!

Initiative: Dra’mour rolls his Finesse(Fn-) dice, being the worst of the two between Finesse(Fn-) and Cunning(Cn-) against a target number(TN) of 6. (For attributes with a - next to them, smaller dice and lower rolls are better, so he needs to roll a 6 or less in order to win the initiative.)

Success! I place our initiative counter to the left of the adversaries, to indicate Dra’mour will go first.  (This is more important when playing co-op, as players can choose between themselves in what order they will go if two or more are on either side of the adversaries initiative counter.)

Dra’mour Turn 1

Off to a good start!  Orbuhl moves into position and fires their bow at the acid beetle.  In ranged combat characters roll their modified Finesse(Fn-) dice against one another to determine the outcome.  Orbuhl received a Bonus(1) to their roll for being armed with a bow, while the beetle received a Penalty(1) to their roll for being large in size. Bonuses decrease the dice size for attributes marked with a - while penalties increase them. Normally the results of the roll would usually be compared, and then if the target rolled higher they’d have to roll the difference+1 or higher with their Resilience(Rn+) dice, but in this case Orbuhl rolled a 1, which means the beetle automatically takes trauma with no chance to resist!  Because acid beetles only have 1 fortitude, the beetle drops dead, and arrow sticking from between it’s mandibles!

Dra’mour takes a step back, assessing the situation

Adversaries Turn 1

The scything beetle clacks it’s massive pincers together, unfazed by the death of the acid beetle, and rushes forward, though not far enough to make contact with Orbuhl.

Dra’mour Turn 2

Orbuhl nocks another arrow and fires, though not managing a critical success, they get a solid hit in.  The scything beetle now needs to roll the difference of the two rolls+1 with their Resilience(Rn+) dice to avoid injury.  Since they have a D12, they need to roll an 11 or 12, or they’re going to fall just like the acid beetle did. 

The beetle only manages a 4, so take trauma, and dies while Dra’mour watches on, thankful Orbuhhl followed him to Stormrest from Crowhaven all those years ago… This encounter went quickly, but could have gone very differently had Orbuhl missed.

Post Encounter
No one took and injuries or used Myth, so we skip to Narrative. Rolling a D10, and getting a 7, no relevant information is discovered, so next we see about our fame and fortune.  For each ♢ or ♠ card that makes up an encounter, I draw a reward card, so 2, plus an additional 3 from looting the beetle lairs from the encounter feature!

This equals up to 15 reputation (Used as a kind of social currency), 9 valuables (actual currency), a vial of shatterlock (Useful for opening locks), and a squirrel toe (When crushed, it enhances the users ability to climb)

Encounter 2
Moving on, we get to the next encounter and find that it’s a 10♡, which means it’s an event encounter.  Unlike adversary encounters, event encounters don’t need you to set up a play area, and consist of one or more challenges.

This particular encounter is ‘Curious Markings’ which means Dra’mour has stumbled upon some strange runes scribed into the stone leading forward.  He needs to pass a Lore TN4 challenge in order to decipher them. The Lore challenge is derived from the Logic(Lo-) attribute, which is a D16, as Dra’mour never really considered book learning to be as important as his skills as a scout. Dra’mour rolls an 8, becoming frustrated, and looks to Orbuhl to see if they can figure it out. Orbuhl rolls a 5, and Dra’mour, sensing the impending failure, reaches out with their mind and tweaks fate ever so slightly by spending a point of Myth, turning the 5 into a 3, making it a success. Rolling a D6 Orbuhl finds that the markings contain a warning about what is ahead, and so I reveal the next two encounter areas.

For these next two encounter characters get a Bonus(1) to initiative, and to any challenges in event encounters: after all, forewarned is forearmed.

Post Encounter
Dra’mour tries to regain Myth, with no success, and no narrative is found.

Encounter 3
Event: Patrol.  A beetle and their handler turn the corner, though the handler isn’t paying attention to where they’re going and they drop their pack, spilling some items out that roll into the shadows. Dra’mour and Orbuhl are nearly caught in the open and dive for cover, knowing at least where they can hide because of the information Orbuhl deciphered from the runes. Both need to pass a TN6 Stealth challenge, so they roll their Finesse(Fn-) dice with a Bonus(1) (because of the runes.)

They both succeed, and the patrol wanders off, none the wiser to their presense. I pull two reward cards, and Dra’mour finds another squirrel toe, along with gaining 2 reputation, as they have quite the story of avoiding detection to share. Post encounter Dra’mour rolls to regain Myth, needing a 6 or higher with their Resilience(Rn+) dice, but rolls a 4, so no luck. I roll a 1 for Narrative, and find a piece of information that helps further the crisis. I ask a Chorus question: Is it a map, showing the necromancers using dwarven tunnels? 2. No, but there is a map that shows that the necromancers are dangerously close to accidentally breaching into some dwarven tunnels. (Interesting, and this may explain why the dwarves are active here, potentially planning a counter attack…)

At this point, since we’ve cleared 2+1(difficulty) encounters we start drawing cards to see if the goal of the adventure (Lillian) will be in the next encounter.  I draw a 2 (I need a J-Jk) so she isn’t there, but will at least be in the last encounter if she isn’t in the one after this.

Encounter 4

Dra’mour and Orbuhl wait until they’re sure the patrol has moved on and turn the corner into another part of the ruins.  Before them is a much smaller room than the one they first found, along with a mysterious locked door. A member of the dwarven frenzied chitters quietly to itself while a scything beetle wanders the room. Dra’mour spots the dwarf just before it spots him and the fight is on!

Dra’mour rolls initiative with a Bonus(1) because while he didn’t know there would be enemies here for certain, the warnings from the runes kept him on his guard.  He rolls a 3, easily going before his adversaries.

Dra’mour Turn 1

Orbuhl lets an arrow fly, striking the chittering dwarf squarely, and they utterly fail to resist the injury.

Next Dra’mour, having the space to charge (More than his first mobility number in inches away from his opponent) moves in and engages in melee.  Both characters have a chance to wound one another, but Dra’mour has the edge, getting a Bonus(1) for the charge, while the dwarf gets a Penalty(1) for being Wounded, (having half or more trauma compared to their Fortitude(Ft))

The dwarf loses the melee, but manages to avoid taking trauma, getting pushed back instead, but also clipping into the wall on their way back, which causes them to become staggered.

Adversaries Turn 1
The frenzied dwarf spends one action recovering from their stagger, and the other engaging Dra’mour.  The scything beetle rounds the corner, and so I roll randomly for who it will go towards.  Looks like Orbuhl is about to have their hands full!

Dra’mour Turn 2

Dra’mour and the dwarf fight a round of melee combat, but end up in a deadlock! They split apart, and then Dra’mour follows up by re-engaging, which means the frenzied dwarf won’t be able to recover from being staggered this time!

Meanwhile Orbuhl, wanting nothing to do with that beetle, moves closer to Dra’mour and then takes a shot, piercing the beetle’s shell, and killing it!

Adversaries Turn 2

The frenzied starts off by taking a break test, but they pass despite being both wounded and staggered (They don’t call them the frenzied for nothing). Despite being staggered and wounded, they attack Dra'mour with a terrible force.

A critical hit! Or it would be… Dra’mour senses the blade about to pierce his chest and spends a point of Myth, changing the angle of the dwarve’s blade and slashing in with his own!

The frenzied manages to stave off death, rolling a 2 with their greatly reduced Resilience(Rn+), but they still end up getting pushed into a wall, knocking them prone!  Unfortunately for Dra’mour they have 1 action left, and they use it to stand back up.

Dra’mour Turn 3

Orbuhl runs around the corner while nocking an arrow, and letting it fly at the dwarf.  They just manage to clip them, and send them sprawling to the ground. Dra’mour strides in confidently, sure that he’ll be able to finish the prone, wounded, staggered dwarf off, but amazingly he gets fought off, breaking apart from his flailing opponent.

Adversaries Turn 3

The hardest dwarf anyone has ever met staggers to their feet and hurls curses in a terrible shrieking, chittering language at Dra’mour and Orbuhl while they look on in wonder.

Dra’mour Turn 4

Orbuhl lets another arrow fly, intent on ending this, though they only clip the frenzied dwarf again, staggering them. Dra’mour lunges forward once again, and finally lands a blow the dwarf simply cannot survive. (They would have had to roll a 9 or higher to avoid trauma, and only had a D4 Rn+ available to them at that point, so take trauma automatically.) It is then Dra’mour and Orbuhl realize the blood that spurts from the dwarf is not red, but a terrible, viscous purple… Whatever led to the collapse of the dwarven city of Kelraht, it irreparably changed those that survived the cataclysm…

Post Encounter
Dra’mour restores a point of Myth from rolling a 7 vs TN6. No narrative is discovered. Dra’mour could try to unlock the strange door, but he doesn’t want to risk it, wanting to press forward and find Lillian as soon as possible. Getting ready to move into the next encounter, I draw a card to see if Lillian will be there and get an Ace!  Success!

Encounter 5

Dra’mour moves softly down the hallway, then freezes, hearing muffled cries coming from the next room. He turns the corner and sees a bound beastfolk, seemingly about to be fed to a scything beetle! To his right he hear the gentle click of a crossbow being readied. Time to fight!

Dra’mour rolls a 12 for initiative, so will be going second.  

Adversaries Turn 1

Before Dra’mour can react the quarreler(a crossbow armed dwarf) lets off a bolt at him, striking him firmly and causing a point of trauma. The dwarf then scuries toward the relative cover of the piles of crates and other goods.

The Scything beetle charges Orbuhl, and while the beetle’s charge and scything maw gives it an advantage, Orbuhl manages to shake off the combat, just ending up staggered.  

Dra’mour Turn 1

Dra’mour rounds on the beetle, and while they’re evenly matched, the beetle almost certainly would have wounded him had Dra’mour not had the insight to spend a point of Myth and twist fate, resulting in only a knock back instead. Orbuhl, sensing this could end badly if he tries to fight off the beetle with just a bow, draws a one handed weapon.

Adversaries Turn 2

The Quarreler takes another shot at Dra’mour, and despite the cover from the other set of barrels, still manages to hit him (Cover provides an additional D12 to characters that are targeted by a ranged attack if it is between them and the shooter. The dwarf connects, and Dra’mour fails his Rn+ roll.  He spends another point of Myth, so he suceeds instead, but still ends up prone as the bolt grazes him and sends him sprawling to the floor, prone.

Orbuhl fights against the beetle, desperate to fend off it’s attacks, but ends up sliced down the leg - things are not looking good right now!

Dra’mour Turn 2

Dra’mour stands and engages with the beetle, Orbuhl disengages and moves into cover from the Quarreler.

Adversaries Turn 3

The quarreler doesn’t have a good line of sight to Orbhul, and won’t fire into combat, so moves in order to get a shot in

Despite the cover, Orbuhl is struck, and fails their Rn+ roll.  Dra’mour, using the last of the Myth available to him ensures that rather than taking trauma, Orbuhl only becomes staggered, the arrow lodging fimly in their armor rather than their flesh!

At this moment the scything beetle whips around and slashes Dra’mour, causing a serious injury, which he can no longer deflect with the power of Myth!

Dra’mour Turn 3
Dra’mour disengages, trying to flee, but not having enough movement to make it out.  Orbuhl recovers from being staggered, and stays behind with his friend.

It’s at this point I remember Lillian, still bound. She tries to struggle free of her bindings, but fails, only ensuring she exhausts herself in the process… Things are looking very grim indeed.

Adversaries Turn 4

The quarreler misses their shot against Dra'mour, but the beetle has scented blood, and moves in for more, landing another critical success and rendering Dra'mour unconcious!

Dra’mour Turn 4
With Dra’mour unconcious Orbuhl hastily unsheathes their light weapon and hurls it at the beetle in a desperate attempt to kill it.

Finally something goes right! With the difference+1 being 17, there is no way for the beetle to roll that on their Resilience(Rn+) of D16, and so the knife protrudes from the beetle’s eye as it shudders and dies! Orbuhl moves next to Dra’mour and prepares to drag him away to safety.

And at that moment Lillian manages to struggle free from her bindings! Though because she is exhausted she only has one action per turn, and can’t make a run for it.

Adversaries Turn 5

With the beetle’s death the quarreler fails their break test, so becomes Shaken, though it isn’t enough for them to flee. They spot Lillian, now free and ready to escape and decides they cannot let their captive get away alive, letting loose a bolt at her!

Lillian manages to avoid the bolt, and scurries a little ways away from the dwarf

Dra’mour Turn 5 & Adversaries Turn 6
Orbuhl shouts at Lillian to hurry, afraid to stay, but wanting to complete their mission.  Nothing notable happens these two turns, other than Lillian moving toward the entrance while Orbuhl pulls out their bow and fires at the quarreler, which misses. The quarreler fires at Lillian, and similarly misses.

Dra’mour Turn 6

Orbuhl, wounded, and with their friend gravely injured, takes one last shot at the dwarf, though nothing of note comes of it.  Lillian, moving as quickly as she can, stumbles toward freedom.

Adversaries Turn 7

Lillian is on the verge of escape, so the quarreler takes one last shot at her, but misses! The sound of it's terrible clicking can be heard throught the ruins, and Orbuhl assumes it can only be cursing its luck.

Dra’mour Turn 7
With Lillian just at the edge of escaping the area, Orbuhl grabs Dra’mour and drags him into the safety that is the dark winding tunnels behind them. The sound of the dwarve's curses chase them as they retreat, but nothing follows them out of the tunnel and into the streets of Stormrest above.

Post Encounter
Recovery: When a character goes unconscious during an encounter you roll Resilience(Rn+) against a target number based on the type of character they are. Dra’mour is a Mythic so needs to roll a 4 or higher.  Since he’s wounded he rolls a D6 rather than a D8, and rolls a 1! Not great, this means he’s looking at a serious injury. I roll 2D6, adding them together and discover he has a shattered ankle, which permanently reduces his second Mobility number by 1 inch. Since we fled the encounter the adventure is over, and I move on to the Post Adventure section.

Post Adventure
Scavenge
Normally characters would be able to scavenge valuables upon the successful or partially successful completion of an adventure, but since Dra’mour and Orbuhl had to flee, they don’t have the time to scavenge.

Gain Myth
Despite Dra'mour going unconcious and needing to flee, this adventure was a success, so he adds 1 myth to his total.

Rewards

Dra'mour returns to Merrigold with Lillian, who is about to be less free than she had hoped, but still grateful not to have ended up as some beetle's dinner. Merrigold scrounges together a reward, and thanks Dra'mour and Orbuhl for their help.

The difficulty of the adventure was 1, so I multiply that by the reward card multiplier for the 'rescue character' goal, and end up with 3 cards.  I also multiply the patron valuables multiplier(5) by the difficulty and end up with a total of 12 valuables, 6 reputation and a double faced coin(allows a character to create a false duplicate of themselves.)

Gaining Allies
After a successful patron adventure Mythic can try to recruit their patrons as allies, who are able to help them with certain tasks. Dra’mour is still wounded, so I decide to spend 20 Reputation and get a Bonus(1) to his socializing roll to try and gain Merrigold as an ally. I roll a 10, and neded a 4 or less, so while Merrigold thanks Dra’mour for his help, she isn’t looking to make friends.

End of Week Narrative
In the end of week narrative you take some time to describe your character's actions and ask some chorus questions to round out the adventure. Dra'mour takes the map, showing how the dwarves are aware of the necromancer's tunnels and gets it to the city guard. Question: Are they able to do anything with this information? 4. No, and they even blow him off, threatening to arrest him for wasting their time. Seems the guards only care for what goes on within the walls of the city, and couldn't give a damn about anything beyond it. Typical. Seems like Dra'mour will have to find help elsewhere, or handle it all himself.
 

Finally, Dra’mour and Orbuhl recover from their wounds over the course of the rest of the week and are ready to pick up another adventure. 

~
That was a real nail biter! I was honestly tempted to tip the scales at the end there for the sake of this report, but I figured it’d be better to show the honest mechanics, and I think it paid off for a much more exciting story! I’m really looking forward to see what the next adventure might bring for Dra’mour and Orbuhl… Maybe I’ll get lucky and I can get that ankle fixed before the next adventure...

In any case, if you enjoyed what you saw, and are considering picking up Mythic Chronile I'm running a sale through the end of November, so act fast!

Until next time!
~Tristan Stasiulis

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