Swords of Zarthul

[fairytalejedi]

Whilst working on the Dragonlance adaptation, I got the gang together for some sword & sorcery adventure in another setting.

This is a Lieber-esque game centered around the powerful city-state of Zarthul, where our heroes first meet each other under unusual circumstances.

Leonidas, aka Leo the Lucky, is a self-described "gentleman of opportunity" who in fact tends to have terrible luck. In his latest criminal venture, he was betrayed to the authorities by an underworld associate and wound up in prison.

Leonidas (Leo the Lucky)
Bx1, Ax4, Mx3
Advantage: Shrewd
Disadvantage: Cursed
Powers: Charisma 1 pt, Disarm 2 pts, Footwork 1 pt (EC1), Keen Hearing 1 pt
Skills: Athletics x4 (Climbing), Deception x3 (Lying), Escapology x4 (Manacles), Performing Arts x4 (Juggling), Security x3 (Picking Locks), Stealth x4 (Shadowing), Streetwise x3 (Gambling)
Equipment: 1-handed sword (x4 hit, x3 dmg), thieves tools, mirror, middle-class clothes, boots, belt & belt-pouch

Halgred Boldaxe is a northern barbarian who joined Zarthul's army as a mercenary, but military discipline wasn't his cup of tea. He got into an argument and punched his unit captain, that's how he wound up behind bars.

Halgred Boldaxe
Bx4, Ax3, Mx1
Advantage: Blaze of Glory
Disadvantage: Overconfidence
Powers: Armor Familiarity 1 pt, Mind Shield 1 pt (x3 mental defense), Reckless Might 1 pt (EC1), Skillful 1 pt, 2-Handed Axe Technique (+1 hit) 1 pt
Skills: Athletics x3 (Running), Craftsmanship x3 (Weapon Smithing), Outdoor x2 (Survival, Tracking), Riding x3 (Galloping)
Equipment: 2-handed axe (x4 hit, x7 dmg), barbarian clothes, belt, boots, water skin, runic holy symbol (carved antler pendant, 3 Dinari)

Nimari is an Amazon princess who was once considered a likely candidate to become their next queen. But due to the machinations of her ambitious sister, Salome, Nimari was exiled from Amazon society, and ended up in Zarthul as a sword-for-hire. One day a male warrior decided to prove himself by starting a fight with an Amazon. Nimari killed him, and was arrested for her trouble.

Nimari
Bx3, Ax3, Mx2
Advantage: Fearless
Disadvantage: Outcast
Powers: Armor Familiarity 1 pt, Rank 1 pt, Paired Weapon Fighting 1 pt (EC1), Unarmed Technique (+1 hit) 1 pt, Pankration 1 pt:
· Punch (x4 hit, x3 stun dmg)
· Kick (x4-10 hit, x4 stun dmg, EC1)
· Uppercut (x4-15 hit, x5 stun dmg, EC2)
· Spinning Backfist (x4 hit, x3 stun dmg, Radius 1, EC1)
Skills: Athletics x4 (Acrobatics), Military x2 (Command), Physician x2 (First Aid), Riding x3 (Galloping)
Equipment: 1-handed sword (x3 hit, x5 dmg), leather armor (10 soak), Amazon clothes, boots, golden arm ring (5 Dinari)

That's where things stand as our adventure begins...

Swords of Zarthul, Issue #1

The three prisoners are escorted to an unexpected meeting with one of Zarthul's most powerful and influential citizens, the Blue Wizard. (Note: In this setting, anyone with the Magic advantage must also take the Freak disadvantage. Magic is not necessarily evil, but it does tend to warp the bodies of those who use it. The Blue Wizard is so named because he literally has blue skin.)

The Blue Wizard offers to clear their criminal records and give them a substantial reward if they will serve him by bringing him a legendary magical artifact called the Staff of Telios. It's said that the staff was created by a man who was the son of an Amazon queen. Knowing that as a male child he could never inherit rule over the Amazons, he set out to acquire power by another means, magic.

His staff rests in a ruined fortress on an island in the center of Lake Neer, a remote and mysterious place. The staff is protected by an enchantment and can only be removed by someone of noble Amazon blood. Hence the Blue Wizard has chosen Nimari, and on such a dangerous quest, he figured a barbarian and a thief might have skills that would come in handy too.

The party agrees to his offer and sets out on their journey, traveling up the Stormwater River to the city of Valex. Leo gets involved in a dice game, and actually wins a few coins this time, treating himself to the best food and drink in town, as well as a hot bath. (Leo, it seems, is a bit of a dandy, who frequently consults a hand mirror to make sure his hair is perfectly coiffed.)

The party sets out overland and come to a rugged mountain pass, which they try to cross at night because bad weather is on its way. This nearly results in disaster, but they make it across, though Leo ends up with an injured arm from almost falling off the path at one point. He exaggerates his injury, bitterly complaining about not being able to feel his arm, getting gangrene, &c.

After sitting out the storm in the valley beyond, the party finally reaches the shores of Lake Neer, where they camp for the night. They don't get much rest, as a pack of wolves attacks them. One grabs Leo by the leg and tries to drag him off. Nimari and Halgred fight off the wolves, though Halgred gets bitten pretty badly on the arm. Leo is just about fed up with this whole adventure and threatens to leave in the morning and go his own way, but the others convince him that he would be safer putting the water of Lake Neer between him and any other predators that might be out there, so reluctantly he agrees to stay....

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Game notes (these are mostly written for a cross-post to rpg.net): Just getting to the adventure's main location proved to be a fairly bloody affair, but I think that's appropriate (and sometimes overlooked in fantasy games). There's a reason why most people don't venture off the beaten path, why old dungeons are just sitting there waiting to be delved. Traveling away from civilization is dangerous!

It's particularly dangerous if, like Leo, you have a low wound threshold. BASH Fantasy combat is designed to be more gritty than the supers game it's based on. Non-magical healing is slow* and every character has a wound threshold equal to Brawn x 10. Damage that exceeds this results in 1 or more Wounds; each Wound gives your character a -1 penalty to all rolls before multiplying. So for example, when Leo suffered 25 damage at one point, he also suffered 2 Wounds from that. In all he accumulated 3 Wounds in this first session, which is pretty significant. It drops his average defense roll from 28 to 16, to give you an idea of the mechanical impact.

* None of the players thought to ask if healing potions even exist in this setting or are available for sale. Nimari performed successful first aid on both Leo and Halgred, but that doesn't heal any damage immediately, it only doubles the normal heal rate, which is Brawn x 10 per week for "lethal" damage (pretty much anything other than punches, kicks, blunt staff hits, &c).

Still, despite the difficulty of the wilderness trek, much fun was had by all, and the characters' personalities and interactions are pretty well established already.

[BASHMAN]

Very nice!

[MrJupiter]

Sounds like a great game, ftj. Each of your player's characters are quite memorable and I especially liked Leo's "Lucky" quirk.

I'm glad you're simultaneously posting this on RPG.Net. Though I've never been a huge fan of BASH: Fantasy (mostly because it always felt like the supers system shoe-horned into a fantasy rpg), I am still eagerly waiting for LEGENDS OF STEEL, which will be a much more polished set of genre-specific BASH rules.

BASH: LoS would be perfect for the PRIMEVAL THULE setting that I just backed. Your Swords of Zarthul adventure post has really wet my appetite for swords and sorcery gaming.

Thanks!

[fairytalejedi]

Thanks, BASHMAN and MrJ !

BASH: LoS should be a full helping of awesomeness. But in the meantime, BASH: Fantasy provides many hours of fun. I understand it seems like a fairly straightforward hack of original BASH! but to me it plays like D&D should play, so I try to gain new converts whenever possible.

And without further delay...

Swords of Zarthul, Issue #2

Our heroes have made a crude raft and set out across the mist-covered Lake Neer toward the island fortress. Leo freaks out, seeing various shapes moving in the mist just beyond reach. At one point he grabs his sword and starts swinging at the "attackers" and Nimari has to restrain him, lest he hurt her and Halgred or tip the whole raft over. (The mist has magical illusory traits to scare off intruders to the island, but Leo was the only one affected via a low Mind roll.)

Finally reaching the island, the PCs enter the ruined, blackened fortress home of the wizard Telios. The entrance hall seems to have been the victim of fire long ago. The heroes decide to ignore the upstairs (a shame, since there was some cool stuff up there) and instead head into a ground floor library, where Leo finds some scrolls that may or may not be magical (they were). In case they're dangerous, he slides them into the party's backpack with his sword blade, not touching them with his hand.

The party then hears rats in the wall and figure there might be a secret door/hidden passage. They find a section of wall that sounds hollow but can't find the opening mechanism for the door, so Halgred just hacks through the entire wall. They descend a secret passage which opens up into an underground chamber hollowed out of solid rock. There are two stone statues, and Leo investigates them to see if there's any hidden treasure. He comes up empty, but does cause one of the statues to come to life and attack the party.

They flee through a door in the other side of the chamber, where "lucky" Leo triggers an arrow trap and gets shot in the leg. Halgred chops off the statue's head, but it keeps coming. The party all flee deeper into the other secret passage and reach another room, where they're able to shut and lock an iron door to keep the statue out. It bangs on the door a few times but gives up (actually it's magically programmed to shut down if it sees no one to attack for 3 straight rounds).

The party continues on and finds the chamber housing the magic staff. Halgred, just like a stubborn barbarian, has to try out the magic force field guarding the staff and gets some burn damage for his trouble. Nimari cautiously tries the field after him and gets through unaffected. She grabs the staff, which casts magic light whenever she's touching it. But as soon as she lifts it from its resting place, a portcullis slams down over the only exit and the walls begin closing in.

Leo, with his keen hearing, was supposed to be able to hear an underground river flowing underneath this room, giving the heroes a fairly easy out by lifting up one of the floor tiles and going right to the outside of the castle. However, due to his accumulated wounds, he couldn't make the hearing check. I guess he was moaning and whining too much to stop and listen to his surroundings. This could have been disaster, but Halgred is strong as an ox, and with a little help from Nimari he's able to lift the portcullis and the heroes escape back into the passageway they entered from.

One small problem, they forgot to grab the backpack with their supplies and scrolls. And Nimari had to put down the staff to help Halgred, so the staff is now lying just out of reach beyond the portcullis. Leo's skill at squeezing into tight places doesn't let him down, and he's able to retrieve the spear just before everything left in the room gets crunched.

Now the party has another problem, though, because they have to go out the way they came in, and they soon discover the animated statue is still on guard right on the other side of the lead door. With one mighty blow, Halgred smashes it to pieces. They party then escapes the fortress and crosses the lake to head back to civilization, though without food or water they'll have to live off the wild for a few days.

No sooner have they started their journey back than they are ambushed and surrounded by a dozen warriors whose leader demands the staff in exchange for their lives. Nimari tries to bluff their way past the group, waving the glowing staff around and warning them to beware its power, but they don't fall for it. Fighting ensues, with Halgred and Nimari dishing out most of the damage. At one point Nimari has her back turned to the leader, who spurs his horse forward, looking to grab the staff from her and gallop off. Leo lashes out and cuts his saddle strap, spilling the leader onto the ground. But the horse rears up and knocks Leo out.

The leader calls a halt to the fighting and demands once again that Nimari give up the staff. This time he says he admires the group's fighting spirit and skill, and offers them employment with his mistress, promising them greater rewards with her than anything they're getting from their current employer. Nimari tells him to stuff it, and engages him in a one-on-one duel. Halgred meanwhile fights three of the minions but is finally overwhelmed and goes down in a bloody heap. Nimari is badly wounded too and makes a last desperate attack, spending her XP from last issue to turn a miss into a hit, and then fortuitously getting exploding doubles on the damage roll. She takes off the leader's head, at which point his remaining minions turn and flee.

Checking on Halgred, Nimari sees it's too late to save him. He says it was a good day to die, and breathes his last, going to join his gods. Nimari makes a cairn for him, and leaves the bad guys lying out for the vultures to feed on. She does, however, take the leader's necklace with a pendant engraved with a scorpion, in hopes of being able to identify who it was that attacked them. Using the supplies from the leader's saddle bag, Nimari and Leo are able to make it back to Valex and sail down river from there to Zarthul. They take the staff to the Blue Wizard, who recognizes the bad guy's pendant as a symbol of the Scorpion Queen, a rival magic user who must have found out about the quest to retrieve the staff. With this plot hook left dangling, Nimari and Leo settle down for a month to heal from their wounds and blow their reward money.

(Much to Leo's consternation, Nimari insists on donating a portion of the reward money to the Temple of a Thousand Gods in Halgred's name. I've decided this might allow Halgred's ghost to come back and help them in the future, possibly as fluff for whenever they spend XP to improve a roll. )

[MrJupiter]

Great recounting of the adventure. It's funny that despite all Leo's misfortunes, he at least makes it through the adventure alive.

Poor Halgred though. Has his player given any hint about what character he/she will be making for the next instalment?

P.S. I like the idea of Halgred's spirit keeping tabs on his companions from time to time.

[fairytalejedi]

We were supposed to talk about a replacement character for Halgred over the weekend, but got sidetracked talking about supers characters. So I guess it wasn't a complete waste of time.

I want to do a high seas/mysterious island adventure next, but we'll have to wait and see.

Thanks for reading!

[MrJupiter]

Mysterious island... High seas... Gosh, I hope Leo is a good swimmer! Sounds great. I look forward to reading it.