In the Shadow of Mount Gundabad

[tomcat]

Not sure if we are going in any order here, but Esgalwen will draw upon her Hunting skill as knowledge in how wolves hunt and what throws them off a trail. Again I am going to work through her Adventurous trait, as this is definitely something that is testing her mettle. (Let me know if I am out of the ballpark on that one, Paul).

Also, Matt - that roll didn't even hit the TN 14, so I think it is an auto-fail. You might want to throw a Fellowship at it to give Paul a success to roll an opposed roll against.

Here is Esgalwen's test roll:
TN 14 hunting 2d

1d12 : 6, total 6
Rolled 2d6 : 4, 4, total 8

[tomcat]

Okay! That is a success - a weak one - but a success. We'll see what happens with Paul's opposed roll. Just as an FYI - can I say I hold a at the ready to spend, if it is necessary to beat the wolves?

[tomcat]

The companions run, following Esgalwen as she leads them silently through the upper vale. She is not too familiar with the land, but she knows her enemy. She knows how they think and how they hunt. The baying of the wolves is distant, but that could change at any time.

Esgalwen whispers to Grimbeorn, "I will take Essylt and we will split up. You two run for that crest there." The Ranger points to where she intends the men to run. "We will follow the low lands," again she points out her path, "and then meet you there."

The two Beornings look hesitant at her plan. "I think it is not best to separate..."

"If we move quickly, we should be back together well before the wolves have closed, but this will confuse them - it will either split them up, or cause them to follow off our main trail." Esgalwen said, cutting off Hathcyn's concerns. "And should you be able, mark the terrain along the way." The men knew what she meant. "We shall do the same, if there is time and it proves useful."
Esgalwen is going to lead Essylt down into the lower terrain - hopefully there is a stream or creek that they can zig zag across, as well as run in for a length, and create confusion. If they get the time they may even try to 'mark' the terrain along the way to firm up the scent in the misdirection. Not trying to be gross, just thinking about what animals (wolves) sniff at and follow.

[Telcontar]

"This plan is not to my liking, but time is short."

Hathcyn paused on the trail, the encounter at the tower led him to believe these were not ordinary wolves driven by ordinary needs. He was wary to run headlong driven by the wolves into perhaps a greater danger.

"I am loathe to flee any further from wolves. Let us grab deadfall as we move to the hill top. And there with fire and blade stand like men. I'll not flee like a hare in a field into perhaps greater danger at greater speed. I'll meet you at the hilltop, but there I will face our foe if they still pursue us."

Hathcyn fingered his horn. "And if they come these hills will echo the thunder battle song of the Longspear."

[tomcat]

The Ranger looked at the Beorning admiring his bravado but also thinking him foolish.

"Hathcyn, there will be time to fight, but the destruction of wolves is not our goal. We make this trek to find the lost city of the Éothéod, and so serve Arbogast's needs. We are far from any help and even the slightest of wounds would hinder our plans. Evasion is the best tactic, at this time."

Esgalwen did not look to Grimbeorn for support, but she hoped that wisdom would be perceived as the wiser course over valour.

"That said, if we find that our path has run dry of options, we shall face this enemy."

[GandalfOfBorg]

  Ya ok, 

"She's right, let's press on."

[Eclecticon]

(Going to try and read the lay of the land and the direction of the wind. So travel or insight? Both are 3d for me.

Grimbeorn scouts the best, most expedient route for them to go.

So, going by the book, Hathcyn's action should be using Riddle and Grimbeorn's Explore - Travel is really for keeping up the pace in the long term.  That said, I'm happy to read both as just trying to outlast the pursuing wolf pack to save you the trouble of having to re-roll anything. 

At the risk of seeming capricious and arbitrary, I'd also like to make an important change to how I'm running this sequence.  Rather than just having a number of successes you have to reach before racking up a certain number of failures, I'm going to say that the wolves' successes subtract from yours, while any extra successes you score add to your 'failure margin'.  So Esgalwen's extraordinary Stealth success vs the wolves' regular success only netted you two successes all up, but the flip side is that it's extended the number of rolls you can fail (from two to four) as you've extended your lead. 

All good?  This captures more of the feel of a chase, I think. 

With that in mind, let's do some rolling for the wolves, who will respond to the Beornings' trying to outlast them by trying to do the exact same thing, them being pursuit predators and all:

vs Hathcyn (Movement TN 14)

1d12 : 12, total 12
Rolled 3d6 : 3, 4, 1, total 8

vs Grimbeorn (Movement TN 14)

1d12 : 10, total 10
Rolled 3d6 : 4, 6, 5, total 15

[Eclecticon]

So, that's an outright failure for the wolves against Hathcyn's great success, increasing your lead to six.  Even with Grimbeorn's Hope point, the wolves still claw one point back with a great success against a normal one, bringing your lead back down to five. 

Esgalwen whispers to Grimbeorn, "I will take Essylt and we will split up. You two run for that crest there." The Ranger points to where she intends the men to run. "We will follow the low lands," again she points out her path, "and then meet you there."

Doug, I like the way Esgalwen thinks here, and Hunting would certainly apply.  Don't worry about Hope, as you're mainly looking for es. 

Let's see how the wolves cope with her tactics:
Survival

1d12 : 4, total 4
Rolled 3d6 : 1, 3, 2, total 6

[Eclecticon]

Not well, it seems.  You're back up to a lead of six, and close to losing your pursuit altogether. 

for Hathcyn and Esgalwen's APs, and Grimbeorn's Hope. 

I want to throw in an action for Arbogast here, but I'm about to be tied up with work stuff - hold off on further actions a little, if you wouldn't mind. 

[Telcontar]

  so from a MeTA standpoint what is a mechanical way to share the burden if rolls? Is there a mechanism that forces characters to roll outside their comfort zone? Is it successes as a group? What is the downside to just leaning on the character with the best skills to carry the whole team?

I think these are also some of the questions I have for social challenges too.

I'm not questioning Paul's running the game just thinking about how this works mechanically as I am exploring differences between 1e and 2ed. 

[Eclecticon]

As and when he may, as he helps Esgalwen bear Essylt toward the low lands, Arbogast glances at the sky, peering at any dark shape that hides the light of the stars.  Finally, he finds what he seeks in the form of a great eagle-owl abroad on its nightly hunt. 

To it he calls out in the bird-tongue, "Silent-wing, Night-prince, hear me!  We who have known the favour of the Eagle-king are beset!  I beg you, seek the wargs that pursue us and harry them, that we might slip away, to carry stories of your prowess to all those who go about on feathered wings!" 


A Song roll from the Fire-watcher:

1d12 : 11, total 11
Rolled 3d6 : 6, 2, 6, total 14

[Eclecticon]

That's... a mixed result.  Let's see how the pack leader responds:

Awe (to keep the wolves in line and scare the owl away)

1d12 : 4, total 4
Rolled 2d6 : 1, 6, total 7

[Eclecticon]

That's the last two successes you needed to escape, plus an extra 'cause the wolf blew his roll.  Narration to follow tomorrow!

[Telcontar]

  hell yeah! I've been waiting for ol Arbo to use his bird speech!

[Eclecticon]

With a sharp hoot of assent, the owl wheels once more and then descends in a sharp and soundless dive, plunging down on the companions' unseen pursuers.  The howls of the pack turn, after a few moments, into barks of dismay and snarls of defiance as they are forced to turn from their pursuit to drive away this new and unforeseen adversary.  Little by little, by means of false trails and and confusing markings, splittings-off and rejoinings, the companions leave them behind.  Finally, as the stars wheel implacably onwards and exhausted legs threaten to collapse beneath despairing runners, an agreement is reached that they have escaped, the hunt of the wolves seemingly having been abandoned. 

Though no eyes can be seen in the darkness and no creatures stir in what remains of the night, there is a new sense of malignant watchfulness to the country about the Fellowship, and the next day dawns dismal, as if a blanket of cloud were thrown across the sun to give wargs and orc-kind a few more precious hours to wreak their wrongdoing upon the world. 


Arbogast's roll produced another revelation episode ( es are dangerous in Shadow-haunted lands).  It's not triggering yet - there's an upcoming event that will be made a bit worse than it otherwise would.