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Nearing the Standing Stones Temple, the Bittergrass Fen, exterior, afternoon...
Nearing the Standing Stones Temple, the Bittergrass Fen, exterior, afternoon...
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.
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
Come on, come on! Hurry, hurry, hurry!
BOBBY
(planting his foot but finding the ground give way to brackish water)
BOBBY
(planting his foot but finding the ground give way to brackish water)
Jeez Louise! What's the rush, anyway!
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
It's my friends! I don't know how much time they got left!
SHEILA
(keeping up as best she can)
SHEILA
(keeping up as best she can)
Your friends? I thought you said that we were going to Three Moons Vault or whereever?
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
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...
DIANA
DIANA
"Except..."
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
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.
HANK
HANK
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?
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
Yep, yep! We're all set to gear up and attack the vault one more time, to rescue Valendar!
Except...
DIANA
(growing impatient)
DIANA
(growing impatient)
"Except..."!?
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
Except... a Borthak showed up.
BOBBY
BOBBY
Right~~~ And what's a borthak?
RIFFEL
(brining them all to a small rise, gesturing below)
RIFFEL
(brining them all to a small rise, gesturing below)
THAT... is a borthak!
Cutaway to...
Cutaway to...
The Standing Stones Temple, the Bittergrass Fen, exterior, continuous...
The Standing Stones Temple, the Bittergrass Fen, exterior, continuous...
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.
BORTHAK
(digging and snapping at the temple entrance)
BORTHAK
(digging and snapping at the temple entrance)
**Gnash!** **Snarl!** **Growl!**
BOBBY
BOBBY
Whoa. That's a hell of a borthak.
RIFFEL
(brining them all to a small rise, gesturing below)
RIFFEL
(brining them all to a small rise, gesturing below)
My people, the Wardens, are trapped inside! That's why the fruit! The peylon fruit will distract the beast!
HANK
HANK
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?
SHEILA
(taking out the peylon fruit from her bag)
SHEILA
(taking out the peylon fruit from her bag)
I'm thinking that it's a terrible idea, but those are usually the only ones we got.
SHEILA
SHEILA
(flipping up her hood, making herself invisible, she extends the fruit out from the cloak, so it appears to float mid-air)
DIANA
DIANA
Yeah, that about tracks.
The Standing Stones Temple, the Bittergrass Fen, exterior, continuous...
The Standing Stones Temple, the Bittergrass Fen, exterior, continuous...
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.
GM says:
GM says:
ROUND ONE, draw for Initiative.
BOBBY
BOBBY
🎴(9)-->(6)
DIANA
DIANA
🎴(4) -->(2)
HANK
HANK
🎴(2)-->(4)
SHEILA
SHEILA
🎴(6)--> (1)-->(3)
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
🎴(1)-->(6)-->(9)
MONSTER
MONSTER
🎴(7)🎴(3)-->(1)
RIFFEL
(to himself, while cowering behind a pillar close to the entrance)
RIFFEL
(to himself, while cowering behind a pillar close to the entrance)
Come on, come on, boys and girls...
SHEILA
(invisble, waving the peylon fruit, taunting)
SHEILA
(invisble, waving the peylon fruit, taunting)
Oooh! Look at the lovely froo-uit! So tasteeee!
BORTHAK
(sniffing the air, then sprinting toward the "floating" fruit)
BORTHAK
(sniffing the air, then sprinting toward the "floating" fruit)
**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.
HANK
(from his cover)
HANK
(from his cover)
Diana! Bobby! Now!!!
DIANA
(from the other side of the pillar behind the borthak, she holds her Staff of Acrobats as a platform for Bobby to fly upward)
DIANA
(from the other side of the pillar behind the borthak, she holds her Staff of Acrobats as a platform for Bobby to fly upward)
Alley-oop!
Diana's ACROBATICS (14), rolls with a boon a ⬙(5, 18) = Yep!
BOBBY
(vaulting into the air, he swings with his club against the floating boulder to send it down upon the unsuspecting borthak)
BOBBY
(vaulting into the air, he swings with his club against the floating boulder to send it down upon the unsuspecting borthak)
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.
BORTHAK
BORTHAK
**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.
BOBBY
(in pain)
BOBBY
(in pain)
Y--AAHH!!!
RIFFEL
(on the other side of the scene, ducking his head and running for the temple entrance)
RIFFEL
(on the other side of the scene, ducking his head and running for the temple entrance)
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.
CUT to...
CUT to...
The Standing Stones Temple, interior, continuous...
The Standing Stones Temple, interior, continuous...
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.
BLUE FLAME WARDEN
BLUE FLAME WARDEN
Riffel! You silly kender! What are you doing?!
RIFFEL
RIFFEL
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.
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