As I previously mentioned, Cairn arrives at the end of spring, so we’ll make things easy and say it’s the first day of summer. It’s about 60 miles from Stonehold (where Cairn is from) to Daggerford, but that’s assuming a straight line. I would think that the primary road would head west from Stonehold to the river, and then follow the river north, crossing at some point to get to Daggerford. I would assume there are several villages and small keeps along the river where the caravan would stop to barter for a day or two - probably stopped ten times, so two days of rest and one day of travel would be thirty days since he left Stonehold. Paid a silver a day for guard duty would put him at the 3 gold he has in pocket, so that all lines up.
I’m going to say that Daggerford is a walled town of about 100 buildings and about 1,200 people. The people are exceedingly superstitious and gossipy. Daggerford was a small fishing village until 70 years ago when the survivors of Trasik arrived, and the village blossomed into a town virtually overnight. The majority of structures are less than 70 years old, but the roughly two dozen older structures stand out in contrast with the newer buildings.
I had actually written up a bit of information on Daggerford already, so I made a few minor edits to that, but it gives me a foundation to work from.
The first stop is the tavern. Cairn will spend 1 gold there to get some food and drink, and to see if he can get some information about Trasik (at a minimum) and his uncle (if he gets really lucky).
What is up with Trasik? I guess the first thing to determine is who lived there, and then what happened to it that it’s in ruins…
Was it humans? Likely. 8. Yes.
Was the purpose of the city mining? Possible. 6. Yes.
Copper mines? 7. No.
Iron? 9. No.
Salt? 3. Yes.
The Salt Mines of Trasik. Has a nice ring to it.
What happened?
Dragon Attack? 9. No.
Humanoid Siege? 11. No.
Evil Awakened? 10. No.
Combined event? 3. Yes.
So, the mines started to tap out of salt, deeper excavations opened a portal to the Vale of Eternal Winters, allowing wintry beasts to come through and ravage the town, sending the survivors fleeing. It was rumored that the more powerful salt guilds of the town had amassed great wealth that was lost or left behind, and may still be in these ruins. The town is now enveloped in an unending winter.
Let’s see how much of this Cairn learns. It’s a Mind check (yuck). He gets +1 edge from the gold he spent. I roll a 10 and an 8. Success! He basically learns everything I’ve written above. It is unlikely he also is able to get information about his uncle; I roll a natural 1!
Well then. It turns out that his uncle had made the Blind Basilisk his base of operations, and had reserved a room there permanently (paying 1,000 gold to reserve it ‘for 99 years’). He had made a half dozen successful forays to the ruins until two years ago when he stopped returning. The innkeeper allows him to use the room (since he has provided sufficient evidence that he is the nephew - and he assumes that the uncle is dead at this point).
I’m going to say that the room has a level 2 treasure left therein… I roll terribly, but still decide there must be at least one instance of treasure. There are three things in the chest: 14 gold, a key, and a journal that is written entirely in the dwarven tongue. I have him trade in his light hammer (gets 1 gold) and buy a medium hammer 4 (8 gold), leaving him with 9 gold. It is likely (if not very likely) that the key is to a chest that the uncle has hidden (containing his actual wealth), and this money was just pocket change he left here. If Cairn trades in his leather armor (getting 2.5 gold), he has enough to buy a ringmail shirt (leaving him with 1 gold and 5 silver). He does all this.
Cairn Torvinson of Clan Thunderforge, Jovial Dwarf Myrmidon 1
Armor 2; Hits 12; Move 60’; Hammer (5) and Shield (2)
Might 4; Mind 1; Reflex 1
Brawler; Fortitude; Two Weapons; Warrior
Ringmail Armor 2; Shield; War Hammer 4; 1 gold, 5 silver
He attacks at +2 with melee weapons, and deals +1 damage. He attacks with both hammer and shield each round. The shield grants +1 edge to armor checks.
The Journal…
I’m going to roll D12 to see how much awesome stuff is in the journal. On a 1, it is mostly personal entries about how he’s feeling, general “I destroyed three skeletons today” entries, and reflections on food or the people of Daggerford. With a 12, there are detailed maps of the ruined town, notes about caverns under the town he has explored, and with a natural 12 details on where he has hidden the chest.
Dang. I roll a natural 12. Alright then!
He learns that Toren had buried the chest at the back of a cave on the opposite side of the river, about a mile upstream. He has a drawing of what the cave looks like. The journal implies that the key is for the chest.
Toren had found a gap in the north wall of Trasik, and used this to venture in and out of the ruins.
He had a lair in Trasik - he found a house with a hidden cellar, and used the cellar as a place to rest and recover. He had taken extra measures to hide the cellar entrance, and in the several months the journal covers, he had made dozens of forays into the town.
His most recent entries were about the ‘frozen portal’, and how he had discovered a way past it. His final entry suggests he was attempting to get through the portal.
I have a hankerin’ to do some solo gaming, but I’m also gearing up for a few weeks of teaching along with directing the play and then eventually the musical, so odds are good that I won’t be able to work on much gaming stuff. We’ll see.
I have flipped through all three of my current games - Army Ants, Hack’D & Slash’D, and Stalwart ‘85, and couldn’t decide which one to play. I started a pros and cons list to see which system to go with, but ultimately decided that I should let the dice determine everything, starting with which game I’m going to play. This is the most consequential D6 roll of the entire thing: 1-2 = Army Ants, 3-4 = Hack’D, 5-6 = Stalwart ‘85. 4. Hack’D it is. Well, I can put all my dice away except for a D12 or two. Makes things simple.
There are 11 pregens in the core rules. I will use one of those. A 12 will mean that I use likelihood dice rules to determine my character… I roll D12 and get 7. I will be playing a jovial dwarf myrmidon. I decide to keep his stats, but to swap out the axe for a hammer. It’s a cosmetic change, but I already think of him as a little Thor (maybe give him a name like ‘Toren’ or ‘Tohr’ to hit the nail right on the head). He is a ‘jovial’ dwarf, so I cannot give him the classic ‘angry last dwarf of a fallen clan background’, since ‘jovial’ does not imply drunken or traumatized - it implies cheerful, friendly, and of good humor. I will use likelihoods to determine why he is adventuring to begin with…
Searching for a lost relic? Possible. 8. Nope.
Came upon a map? Possible. 7. Nope. Hmmm. Those were my big two.
Looking for a lost family member? 3. Yep.
Okay. I roll those same two likelihoods, and get a 2: the map. So, his uncle had a map to a hidden treasure, and went off in search of it, never returning.
I look up some Norwegian names and like Torvin. That’s not bad. It’s a little close to Thorin from the Hobbit, so maybe I’ll look in another direction. I’ve used the names Hewn and Cairn before for dwarves. I like Cairn the most, so I stick with that. I also change around his gear a little bit, setting him up to be a little more defensive. Between his shield and his higher than normal Hits, he should be pretty durable for solo play...
Cairn Torvinson of Clan Thunderforge, Jovial Dwarf Myrmidon 1
Armor 2; Hits 12; Move 60’; Hammer (3) and Shield (2)
Might 4; Mind 1; Reflex 1
Brawler; Fortitude; Two Weapons; Warrior
Leather Armor 1; Shield; Hammer 2
He attacks at +2 with melee weapons, and deals +1 damage. He attacks with both hammer and shield each round.
Setup
He last knew that his uncle Toren (younger brother to Torvin) had set off in search of treasures. He had a map to a hidden vault in the Ruins of Trasik, near the village of Daggerford. The adventure opens as he arrives in Daggerford with 3 gp in his pocket, his payment for serving as a guard on the caravan’s journey from Fort Mistledawn.
We you can plainly see, I failed to provide any updates on my July plan to do an Army Ants file card a day... life just happens that way I guess. It's been a busy few weeks, so I thought I'd give an update and then talk a little gaming stuff...
On the health front, things are doing well. I had a scan done last week, and it showed that tumors are stable and slightly improved from my last scan six months ago. Since I had paused treatment in there for a few months, that's about the best I can expect. I have started the next round of treatments, and we're going to be adding in another treatment, so I've got a full calendar of getting needles in my arms lined up for the next several months. I feel good, I'm exercising a lot, and I've lost a little weight, so very positive on that front.
I actually feel good enough that I've accepted some long-term gigs. I've got a 5-week substitute teaching assignment for September and into October teaching English 9 (which I did for a decade, so it's pretty easy), and I'll be directing the play and musical at the high school this year, which I'm excited about. I'm very blessed to have these opportunities, and they make me feel productive and useful. It reminds me of Marge Piercy's poem, To Be of Use... and, of course, of Tennyson's Ulysses.
FWIW, here's a drawing I did of a character I made for Hack'D and Slash'D - I was leaning that way earlier this week, but then I got distracted by flipping through Army Ants and Stalwart '85, so now I'm not sure... I'll let you know when I make up my mind (or I'll blog about my thought process)...
