I’ve played before,but today was my first session running DW, and all of our first time with material from Grim World.
Our cast:
Tam, Female Halfling Thief known for her reckless behaviour. (Played by Jay, a DW newbie with AW experience).
Nuhluc, Male Human Necromancer (played by Bill, system newbie).
Dunbar, Male Human Battlemaster (played by Dylan, a DW vet).
We have one or two players on vacation, hoping for four or five players next session.
Nuhluc’s starting jar? The body of his son, who he is keeping safe until he has the knowledge to heal him. Dark, poignant, and very promising.
Starting Questions:
Tam has never been in a Guild, she treasures her independence. She recently returned an heirloom to the son of the Burgomaster of Manthar — it was attracting too much heat for her.
People react very poorly to Nuhluc’s black magic, although he swears he only uses it for good. Offered a significant purse to conduct a ritual recently, he refused as his abilities were not to be squandered for mere coin.
Dunbar did not join the war willingly, although he was honourably discharged. His ancient sword was once owned by the Dwarven King Grell, and glows in the presence of Orcs.
(Racial move from GW swaps in another class starting move, and makes one of your starting moves an advanced move).
Bonds:
Tam spent time in jail with Nuhluc.
Tam is doesn’t fear Nuhluc, he seeks to change that.
Dunbar leaves a trail (or banquet) of corpses for Nuhluc.
Dunbar doesn’t approve of Tam’s wild and impetuous ways.
Tam earned Dunbar’s respect on the battlefield.
Action!
Searching for the Monster of Arcasse, for which the Duke has offered a large purse of gold, in the slums, the floor gives way and the group tumble into the darkness…
…Nuhluc wakens first, and tries to get by without any light. He fails. Tam comes to, and they get a lantern lit (and we explain “Adventuring Gear”) . They find Dunbar, and rouse him.
Question: Who did not survive the fall? Their guide, Rix, a local thug who swears he saw the beast.
There is no return through the collapsed rubble above, and only one exit. Nuhluc tries to Discern Reality (fail). His lantern flickers and the wick grows dim — he forgot to refuel it before they left! Another adventuring gear use crossed off, as they grab a pint of lamp oil.
Nuhluc tries to Raise (well, Awaken) Rix — but fails. An encounter moves a room closer.
Tam slides through the narrow gap into darkness — Nuhluc gives her his ear (gross!) and she puts it in a pouch as she leaves. She sees two glowing eyes! She throws a dagger (looted from Rix) (+1d8+2 damage 1d6 does 2 hits – one past the creature’s one point of armour) and calls for help.
The “mummy” is revealed (very weak undead) — as is the charnel house, stacked with bones and with niches filled with bodies in the wall.
Dunbar goes on Defense, and repels an attack while Nuhluc dithers about figuring how to command this corpse. Tam tumbles past the creature’s grasp (Defy danger, success). She stabs the walking corpse (Fail) and the blade is lodged, and wrenched out of her grasp.
Nuhluc raises a second corpse, and then sets it upon the walking dead. Old bones break under the pummelling assault while Dunbar weathers a scratch or two but continues to Defend.
Tam grabs her blade and wrenches it out of the back of the creature, severing the spine and killing it.
Each corpse has a small votive jar shaped like an amphora. Tam loots them all, each contains two coin. She’s frustrated, and would rather they robbed a merchant.
Nuhluc Spouts Lore. The catacombs are hundreds of years old, this is the way they used to inter corpses before the Empire was founded. He dismisses his undead servant.
They search a couple of the connecting chambers in the old catacombs before finding a locked bronze door, green with age.
Tam sees that the lock is trapped, and improper unlocking will trigger it. She sets about to pick the lock, as the men guarding her back see two more skeletal undead approaching.
Dunbar goes on the defensive again — and Nuhluc flees!
Dunbar dispatches one of the monsters with a single swing of Orcbiter, while Tam works the lock. She succeeds! But a pin darts deep into her palm! (3 damage).
Nuhluc retired to find a corpse, and raises another minion. Dunbar batters the remaining monster with his shield before it could maul Tam, and Nuhluc’s minion hits it once before Dunbar slays it too.
Tam inspects the needle. There, dried by the passage of time, are flakes of old poison she suspects is deadly Nightbane — her carelessness could have cost her her life! Oh well! She swings the bronze door open!
Inside is a small chamber with marble panels, and a sarcophagus. Little attention is paid to the bas reliefs that fill the walls, Tam struggles vainly with the massive stone lid.
Dunbar notes that this will not work out well, and finds a crowbar in his pack. Together they shift the lid — and break the seal they never looked for — which then flies aside, shattering it and the marble reliefs as the mummy awakens!
The mummy attacks Dunbar, who meets it with his crowbar — they are both injured.
Nuhluc sends his undead minion into the fray, remaining clear, but it is hammered by a backhand blow (Fail) and sprawls against the near wall with a shattered leg.
Tam circles the sarcophagus, and while the mummy shakes Dunbar like a rag-doll she jumps on it’s back and sinks her blade into it. (She rolled maximum damage — and as this wasn’t a “real” mummy almost killed it).
Dunbar hammers the claw end of the crowbar into the mummy — and it hurls him against a wall — he feels ribs snap (STR debility).
Of course that was Dunbar’s plan all along! Maintaining his grip on the crowbar he rips it free as he is thrown — the extra damage is more than the creature can take! It collapses.
After bandaging wounds Tam stows the mummy’s regalia, which she is sure she can fence for 500 coin.
Exiting the catacombs into a maze of old sewers, buried buildings, and abandoned sub-basements the group try to get back on mission and find information or the location of the Monster.
Custom Move taken from This Very Website! (I can’t remember who posted it, though).
*Exploring the Maze*
When you explore the maze, choose one party member as the spotter, one as the rear guard and one as the cartographer (the same character can only have one job). If you don’t have enough party members or choose not to assign a job, treat that job as if it had rolled a 6. The spotter roll+DEX, the rear guard roll+WIS and the cartographer roll+INT. On a 10+, the spotter can find a way around any traps on your way. On a 10+ the rear guard will spot any trouble quick enough to let you get the drop on it. On a 10+, the cartographer marks an efficient path on their between the room the left and the new room the enter. On a 7-9, each role perform their job as expected; you do not blunder into any traps but you still have to deal with them, no one gets the drop on you but you don’t get the drop on them either , and you find a new room without getting lost. Retracing your steps When you seek your way back to a previously visited room, if you have an efficient path marked on your map you get there quickly, though you still have to deal with any traps left behind on that route. If you do not have an efficient path marked on your map, you still take +1 for each time you visited it when rolling for Exploring the Maze, though on a hit you will get back to the previously visited room instead of a new one.
They all succeed, but Nuhluc gets a 10+, so they find a bloody trail that leads them to a “nest” of ruined clothes that must belong to the Monster of Arcasse!
Tam uses Trap Sense — and finds an ivory quarrel with a tip covered in fresh blood among the torn and bloody rags.
Nuhloc Spouts Lore — ivory arrows and quarrels used to be a gift of the Temple of Lamar the Hunter, blessed beneath a full moon they are said to be able to kill any beast.
Dunbar Discerns Reality (Fail) and totally ignores the fresh blood and — no one is ready for the beast when it storms into it’s lair!
The creature attacks Tam, who is holding the ivory quarrel! She tries to roll out of the way, but has a tough choice — escape safely and knock Nuhluc into the path of the beast, or suffer it’s attack! She chooses to not sacrifice her companion, and weathers it’s vicious assault ( b2d8).
Nuhluc sends his minion at the beast! It’s fists do no damage to the monster. Dunbar chooses to distract the beast from Tam, his armour and shield protect him from the worst of the beast’s rage.
That distraction allows Tam to use the quarrel like a dagger and plunge it into the back of the beast! The blessed quarrel does it’s job and the creature collapses. Then — slowly, it starts to lose mass! It’s red fur becomes long red hair, it’s muscles become the smooth skin of a maiden wounded twice, the quarrel still sticking out of her back. She is dead, and how will the group prove they slew the beast?
Nuhluc motions the others away, and with necromantic magic inters the red-haired woman into one of his canopic jars.
Exhausted and injured they repair to their inn, stalking through silent city streets. Hammering on the door until the inn-keep unbarred it, they trooped off to their beds, leaving mundane concerns until the morning.
The next day, cleaned and partially mended, they headed into town, fenced the treasures and went shopping. They noticed a lot of guards — like, all the guards — combing the streets and alleys.
Inquiring, they discovered that the Duke’s daughter was missing. You know the one — long curly red hair…
…the one sitting in Nuhluc’s canopic jar?
I hear the outer provinces are nice this time of year.
