The afternoon sun shines bright and warm upon the heroes, but the four heroes pay no heed. Instead, they are forced to split their focus betweein watching their step and keeping an eye on the kender Riffel, chasing him through the lush, thick trees and undergrowth.
Come on, come on! Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Jeez Louise! What's the rush, anyway!
It's my friends! I don't know how much time they got left!
Your friends? I thought you said that we were going to Three Moons Vault or whereever?
Well, yes! My friends and I are all Blue Fire Wardens. We *all* want to get in there and raid that Vault! Raid 'em, raid 'em, raid 'em. No love for Soldiers of Soth, for sure! Except...
"Except..."
Okay, so, we actually raided the Three Moons Vault *last night!* But it all kind of fell apart. Dizzz-aster! They got our leader, Valendar, before we all managed to escape.
So, wait. You want us first to go and meet the Blue Fire Wardens, and then we all raid the Three Moons Vault, which you already tried and failed?
Yep, yep! We're all set to gear up and attack the vault one more time, to rescue Valendar!
Except...
"Except..."!?
Except... a Borthak showed up.
Right~~~ And what's a borthak?
THAT... is a borthak!
The four heroes and the kender look across the muddy ground, where a rocky bluff rises at the opposite end of a clearing. Two rows of tall stone pillars thrust from the earth, each standing below a floating boulder. In the face of the bluff, a stone arch marks the entrance to a temple within.
An enormous, slavering monster attacks the bluff face, where a crumbling stone door separates the monster's ferocious attacks from the temple's interior. Beneath the monster, the ground, leeched of heat, appears frozen and icy.
**Gnash!** **Snarl!** **Growl!**
Whoa. That's a hell of a borthak.
My people, the Wardens, are trapped inside! That's why the fruit! The peylon fruit will distract the beast!
Okay, then. Sounds like the start of a plan to me. And those floating boulders over each pillar gives me an idea. Sheila? What are you thinking?
I'm thinking that it's a terrible idea, but those are usually the only ones we got.
(flipping up her hood, making herself invisible, she extends the fruit out from the cloak, so it appears to float mid-air)
Yeah, that about tracks.
The borthak continues to dig and jab at the temple door-- a predator whose prey has been cornered.
Hank, surveying from the opposite end of the collonade, stands in the open. He raises a hand as a signal to others, then raises his Bow of Light, firing at the monster while it's distracted.
BOWS (14), rolls a ⬙(8) = Hit!
Damage D10 (7) + Damage Bonus D6 (4) = 11 piercing damage
The arrow of light smashes into the borthak's hide, and it throws hits head back in a howl. Slavering, it twists violently to face its source of pain.
Hank is nowhere to be seen, having moved behind a pillar, but a lonely peylon fruit appears to float at the end between the rows of pillars.
ROUND ONE, draw for Initiative.
🎴(9)-->(6)
🎴(4) -->(2)
🎴(2)-->(4)
🎴(6)--> (1)-->(3)
🎴(1)-->(6)-->(9)
🎴(7)🎴(3)-->(1)
Come on, come on, boys and girls...
Oooh! Look at the lovely froo-uit! So tasteeee!
**Grrr-ROAR!**
Sheila's EVADE (14), rolls a ⬙(11) = Success!
As the borthak moves along the ground, it creates an icy, slushy floor underneath it.
Just as it's about to reach the peylon fruit, the invisible Sheila ducks and runs between two nearby pillars. The giant, four-meter tall borthak is momentarily stymied, and its size is too large to rush between the pillars.
Diana! Bobby! Now!!!
Alley-oop!
Diana's ACROBATICS (14), rolls with a boon a ⬙(5, 18) = Yep!
And batter up!
Cudgel of Might = -2 WP
Bobby's CLUBS (15), rolls a ⬙(11) = Success!
Damage (3D6) = 7. Hmm.
The boulder flies from its magical perch and into the massive form of the borthak. The boulder hits the monster's form but it seems to shrug it off, and it thunks into the ground. Where it touched the borthak, the boulder is covered in a thin layer of frost.
**HOWL!**
Turning on its attacker, the Borthak leaps on the boulder, then the top of the pillar, its canine legs carrying it to the other side where there is more room to attack Diana and Bobby.
Monster Attack 🎲(1) = Razor Sharp Bite! Random target 🎲(2) = Bobby
Damage 3D8 (2,6,5)= 13 - Armor (1) = 12
The beast bites down HARD on the boy, its many fangs covered in acidic saliva. The area around them grows cold and frosty.
Y--AAHH!!!
Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods...
(to the Blue Flame Wardens inside)
Brothers and sisters! It's me! Riffel! And friends! We've come to the rescue!
Through the small space beneath the door, where the borthak had been digging to reach its prey, Riffel slips inside.
Seven wardens in varying degrees of huddle press themselves into their hiding spaces, as far from the entrance as possible. Dim torchlight emphasizes their sorry state.
Riffel! You silly kender! What are you doing?!
It's okay, Argentius! It's okay! I brought friends! We've come to the rescue!
to be continued in 8.6 Bittergrass Fen, Part II . . .
GM FOOTNOTES:
This chapter's flow is *weird.* The information is scattered among various paragraphs, so I have to read back and forth to make sense of events. Not great for solo gaming, where a bit of skimming and lack of foresight is enjoyable. Instead, information is at times missing, scattered, or repeated unnecessarily across sections, making it less than streamlined. It's difficult to tell which encounters are truly threats (like battles) and which are meant to be obstacles. I suspect a different writing team was on this section, perhaps a different editor as well, resultingin the disparity.
Trying to figure out the damage of boulder. It does 2D10 damage by the book, but there's no obvious DnD weapon that does that for purposes of swapping out a DB equivalent by comparing weapons. But we can take Dragonbane's spell Tidal Wave as a cue, as if it's Power Level 2, that's 3D6. (And.... I rolled horribly, so it didn't really matter I guess.)
This is a good example of how strategizing with initiatve order really helps. The plan to use the boulder worked due its specific initiative turns. That being said, I feel the Dragonbane rules aren't very clear to help with precise timing-- in D&D, Sheila would be able to hold her action until a very specific trigger, then dash out of the way. Although there are "waiting" rules in Dragonbane, it's not exactly the same. In essence, it's kind of all or nothing, so techincally Sheila would have to roll Evade ahead of time before the borthak's action, if it's allowed at all.