The Guild of Adventurers

[Dean]

Here begins the tale of Ragnar’s Ravens and their epic Quest to save a sleepy settlement from the ravages of the foul Orc Warlord Gramdark.

Ragnar himself is a Wilderness Ranger who can fight equally well with his hand crafted longbow or his trusty broadsword, but disdains metal armour.  He has just been to the Adventurers Guild in Oventor and contracted for a quest where he is to head to a settlement to the north that has been having trouble with their new neighbours, a warlike race that seem intent on destruction of anything in their path. The settlement of Thistlebrook sounds idyllic and poorly suited to defend itself from raiders, this seems like a righteous quest worthy of his efforts.

A quick scan of the posted contracts board has lead him to assemble a diverse party as he has no idea what they may be facing. 

Doric is a sarcastic yet formidable Dwarf fighter armed with a finely sharpened axe.

Earl is an Shooter, he’s known to be a steady aim in the face of howling enemies.

Aldaran is a Rogue, there’s no fine way to put it, if he wasn’t an adventurer he’d be a mugger, footpad or worse. Every party needs one.

His choice of Magic User will raise some eyebrows, Ssarama is dragonkin, but is an Arch Mage amongst her kind, and with both Illusionist and Firestarter magic at her command is major asset on any quest.

Finally in the starting Party that by the end of this quest will be known far and wide as Ragnar’s Ravens, is Zoltan. Little is known about this Fighter, they have never been known to take off their helmet, so even whether it’s a man or woman under there is a mystery.  As long as they can fight though, Ragnar doesn’t care!

Ragnar is content, “This new quest will pay well although it will no doubt keep me on the road for months, and the party I was able to assemble seem like a good match for whatever might get thrown at us along the way. I guess it’s time we were going …”

The figures from left to right are a 3D print, an Oathmark Light Dwarf, an Oathmark Light Human, two more 3D prints, and a Victrix mash-up of Viking and Hoplite.

[Dean]

Game 1 - Waylaid

It’s just a pleasant stroll until the arrows start flying.

We were not far into our journey but had crossed the border from Valention into the more wild land of Mendiple where Thistlebrook is situated, when we ran into our first taste of battle, Orc archers that clearly want to suggest that we turn back already. Sadly Zoltan had already taken a tumble in this rocky terrain, but the rest of us were in good shape, and as usual Aldaran was already ahead and heard the grunting language of the Orcs ahead and gave us the warning.

Round 1 - Aldaran’s prime position spots our first Adversary, while the rest of us start moving forward.  Then more Adversaries started to show themselves, including one popping up in a position where Aldaran was no longer concealed!

Round 2 - so that Orc became the primary target!  Earl and I both shot it, then Ssarama cast a spell making it think there was an enemy behind it.  Aldaran sought better cover now his position was exposed.  The Orc fell for it and fired at the illusionary foe, while their two fellow archers just stood there gaping at the foolishness.  Aldaran kept a watchful eye and thought he saw movement, but it was a false alarm.

Round 3 - while the poor confused Orc tried to figure out where the person they were aiming at had disappeared to, Earl and I both shot it again, and it died, still very much confused.  This meant that Aldaran was now hidden from prying eyes again and he snuck bak to his original position, while their two fellow rest of the Ravens scuttled forwards, keeping cover between them and the other two Orcs.  One did take a shot at Zoltan, but missed, while the other decided to cower behind cover.  At which point, not one but two more Orcs appeared, and one was right next to Aldaran!  It was a close call as to which of them was more surprised!

Round 4 - Again there was an urgent target for the Party.  Earl shot the Orc, but there was a nasty “twang” as my bowstring snapped!  Ssarama then cast Blind on it, followed by Doric giving it a mighty whack with his axe that left it rolling on the ground in pain, at which point Aldaran also hit it causing another wound.  The poor thing had no idea what was happening to it and just stayed down.  The Orc hiding behind the rock had had enough now and ran off, but the other two fired at Zoltan and although one arrow struck rock, the other struck flesh.

Round 5 - the Orc got its sight back just in time to see Doric’s axe hurtling towards its head.  Ssarama attempted to cast Terrify but lost concentration and wasted her power. The rest of the Ravens gathered in, and I hurried forward in search of a replacement bow. Doric was now a bit exposed and the two Orcs both fired at him, he dropped in front of me with two arrows sticking out of him.  At this point a sixth and final Orc popped up on our right.

Round 6 - Earl took a shot at one Orc ahead of us, a powerful shot that dropped it prone.  Aldaran used the distraction to get to a new concealed position. Ssarama used the remaining point of power stored in her staff to cast Misdirect again, and it succeeded at again making an Orc think someone was behind them, and Zoltan started off towards it. I grabbed up the bow from the Orc that Doric had killed and got a shot off wounding the other Orc in front.  The prone Orc scuttled behind cover, the one I shot fired right back at me an caused a wound, the one on the rock was caught between Zoltan on one side and an imaginary foe on the other and didn’t know what to do.

Round 7 - I continued tit-for-tat wounds with the Orc, but Earl missed. Ssarama started gathering more power.  Aldaran and Doric got ready to go after the cowering orc, and the one on the big rock was surprised when the foe in front vanished and Zoltan charged up the incline at him and with a well positioned thrust killed it in one blow! This happened in plain sight of the other two orcs and sent my opponent heading far far away, while the other one got to its feet and sauntered off at a slower pace.

Round 8 - Earl and I fired after the retreating Orc, with Earl getting a solid hit that floored it again, while Doric and Aldaran followed up behind it. This turned out to be enough encouragement for it to leg it.  Battle over.

[Dean]

This is the fantasy version of my Solo Adventure rules, due for release in December.  If anyone is interested in trying a playtest, please PM me.

[punkrabbitt]

That's a very nice write-up. I look forward to the rules release