Part 3: Session 2: Robbing the Dead, Attempt #1

Session 2: Robbing the Dead, Attempt #1

Glad you could all make it back.

I got nothing better to do Saturdays.
That makes seven of us.



Anyway, where we left off, you guys were about to enter the graveyard.

What about that one god guy?
Travia or Firun?
The one with the quest.

Oh yeah, about that. I took another look at the module, and it turns out it really was all one quest.

So what does the god of whatever it was have to do with the graveyard?



It turns out that his temple is just next door.

Excellent! My character enters the temple to talk with the priest.



Priestess, actually.

Bob…

I won’t try to do the voice, William, don’t worry.

Kara asks her about the troubles in the graveyard.

She explains that there have been undead rising in the graveyard recently. For several weeks, Boron’s servant has been attacked by undead. And of course these things only happen when there’s no guards around!

Of course.
What else would be hanging out in a graveyard, honestly?
Who’s this Boron’s servant? _{(And who’s Boron, while I’m at it?)
(God of Death and Dreams. The broken wheel Bob’s been describing is his symbol.)}

The gravedigger is…Eb—boreus…Eboreus Arts—Arsteener. What the hell. Eb—the gravedigger isn’t used to his customers returning to complain about the service…and far less used to his customers attacking him. Still, he is adamant about staying in his hut in the graveyard, instead of moving to an inn for a while—even though the city would have footed the bill.

Kara is a little suspicious about him wanting to stay. Can I roll Sense Motive to see if the priestess is hiding anything?
That’s D&D. You need to roll Human Nature to detect lies.
Oh. Crap, I’ve got a 0 in Human Nature. Could someone else roll for me?
Hey, I’ve got a 3 in it. *roll* I rolled a 13. Did I succeed?

The priestess isn’t lying, guys. Can we please move on?

Alright, go ahead.

As she was saying, she would like you to look into the disturbance, and you should tell…Eboreus she sent you when you see him. She also suggests you drop in on Thorgrim the Strong in town. He’s a dwarf who lives somewhat south of the market square. He was going to deal with the problem on his own, but the priestess managed to stop him.

Sounds like my kind o’ dwarf!
The stupid kind?
He’s been playing Dwarf Fortress. There isn’t any other kind.

Are you guys done yet?

Let’s get in the cemetery already.
No problems with that here.

Alright. So you enter the graveyard and see…



(backup). The graveyard theme. Also plays in the secret tunnels underneath.  *SPOILER ALERT* 

Ah, nothing says evil haunted cemetery like some ominous Latin chanting.

Do you know what they’re saying?

Not a clue.
So what else is here?



There’s an old crypt, plus the hut where the gravedigger lives.

Shit’s probably in the crypt. Can we go in?

Unfortunately, it’s locked. Oh, and as soon as you touch the door, a man comes running out of the hut next door. You think he’s probably the Servant of Boron, like the priestess mentioned.

Alright, fine. “Greetings, Gravedigger. Wha—”
“‘Oo be ye, and what be ya doin’ ‘ere?”
*Snort*
*Snicker*

What?

Oh god, not the Cockney again.

What?

I don’t mind.
*sigh* “You’re the Servant of Boron, correct? The priestess of—hunting—asked us to look around, on account of the undead you’ve seen.”
The man looks at you somewhat disappointed. Apparently you having a reason to be here has take the wind from his sails. “’At’s roight, th’undead. Well—it’s been quoite a whoile, and there’ve been no more sightin’s…but go ahead and ‘ave a look, it couldn’t ‘urt. Mind you don’t disturb th’peace a this ‘allowed ground, though!”

I ask him if we can enter the crypt.

Roll Dip—no, that’s not right…*tap* *tap* Roll Convert.

I—hmm. I think we’ve all got negatives.

Really? Crap. Well, er, after you all talk at him for a while you eventually get him to open the door for you. Eboreus pulls a key from his pocket and opens the door. For one heartbeat there, he doesn’t move a muscle, and then he whirls around screaming and runs away.

Why?

Well, there are a bunch of undead skeletons rising up to attack you.

Coward. Have at ‘em!


I’d say it’s about time I described the combat system. Combat works on a point system; each action takes a different amount, and you only have so many points to spend. Agility can have an effect on how many you have, but it’s usually around 7, although encumbrance seems to have a chance to lower this. Also, I can’t remember if it shows up in this video or a later one, but if you try to use a ranged attack, either with bow or spell, the game will highlight with red the squares you can attack from.

Ignifaxus is the Magician’s mainstay, a pure damage spell from the Combat section. The manual doesn't describe the spell at all, but apparently the spell level is how many dice of damage you roll, and each ten points of damage reduces the target's armor by 1 permanently.

Paralyze is the specific reason why I insisted on Transformation being the specialty. It turns almost anything to stone. It’s got a failure chance, as you saw, but that’s what the high skill level is there to counter. It’s not permanent, but it lasts a good long time.

Fulminictus is supposed to be the Elf’s main damage spell, but it’s not hard for a Magician to get up to decent levels. It doesn’t have the weird level-thing Ignifaxus does, which is partly why I end up using it more often.

So what’d we get?

The skeletons don’t have any gold on them, but you can take their swords.

Sweet! I’m taking that.
We should go explore the rest of the area.

Fine. Directly across from the main gate, you find Boron’s shrine.


What’s with the raven?
There’s just the gravedigger here, right? Couldn’t we just steal everything from out of the shrine?

Yes, but keep in mind that this is a “the gods are real” setting.

We should probably leave it be.

You could make a donation.

Yeah, but screw that. What else is around here?


This is where the gravedigger lives?

Yep.

We’ve already talked to him. So what else is there?


What’s a gate doing here?

You could find out.

Oh yeah, I bought a crowbar. Let me try that out.

Well, you take a look at the crowbar, followed by a much longer look at the bars, which are at least twice as thick. And when you hit one with the crowbar, it rings out like a bell.

So? Should I make a Strength check or something?

It’s tempered steel. Your crowbar isn’t. There’s no roll that can make it happen.

Fine, I’ll put the crowbar away.
I could give it a shot. I spent points on Foramen for just this occasion.


You didn’t even let me roll! Look, I got a five. That should work fine.

You spend several minutes trying to open the gate with your spell (cross out those AP, by the way), but it refuses to open. You think it might be magically sealed.

Really? And the spell just fails outright? That has to be one hell of a seal.

Well, that’s because…William!

Huh?

You were looking around the site while everyone else was busy with the gate. You find a moss-covered stone sign behind some plants, and when you pick the moss from the letters, you see the word “Feylamia.”

…Okay.
Ah. Heh.
What?
It’s an old elven vampire. I read about it in a setting book. That would explain why it’s locked up so tight.
Vampires? Sweet. I hope we get to fight some soon.
Anything else around here?



Just the graves. You know what? Screw it. William!

Now what?!

When you examine the grave sites, you start examining dirt clods and crumble them between your fingers.

So?

So, you soon figure out that one of the graves is a lot newer than the two next to it.

Should we dig there?

I don’t think you guys brought tools, but the dirt should be loose enough to move without much effort.


Sweet. Let’s rob us some graves.


Why’s it so dark?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe because none of you bought torches?

I knew I forgot something.

Never mind, it’s just a long corridor anyway. So on your left,


Can we open it?



It’s locked.

I should use Foramen, then.
Hang on, I got a bunch of Lock Pick for this reason.

Did you buy lockpicking tools?

…Oops.
Foramen it is.
Wait, can we just bust the door down?
Hey, yeah, I could do that!
Hang on, Suzie…Belle’s got the best strength here.
Hmm? Oh yeah, I’ll try that. *Roll*

You fail.

Can’t I keep trying?

No reason not to.

Then I keep going until I succeed.



Alright, the door opens. Inside is a bunch of chests.

Oh yeah, have we done marching order yet? We should probably get everyone in the right order.
Put Hal in front.
Yeah, I can get all the good kills that way!
I thought you wanted to survive?
Oh yeah, that too. Well, put Suzie in front, and put me behind her.
I will go in the back with William, since we’re both ranged characters. Alex, you should stand in front of Lewis.
All right, that sounds good.



Wait, I just realized I never looked at you guys’ inventory. Hand your sheets over for a sec.



Why’d you buy a hammer?

Hammers use Axe skill, right?

No, they’re Edged Weapons.

Oh. Crap.



Looks good. You might want something heavier for armor, though.

I thought we’d be visiting the market first.



What, no paper?

There’s always paper. A good supply of ink is harder to come by.



Were you wielding that dagger earlier?

No, I forgot that Swords had their own skill type and bought one at start. That’s one of Suzie’s daggers, actually.



Nice choice for armor, Suzie.

Thanks. I also didn’t know that two-handed swords weren’t Sword swords, so I’m actually using Alex’s sword instead.



When did you buy a flute, William?

I dunno. I figured maybe we could get some money performing or something.

Alright, some minor goof-ups, but nothing…hang on.



Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?

Heh. Whoops. I guess everyone’s been staring at my manly pecs this whole time.

Ugh. Not the mental image I wanted to see. Just buy a damn shirt when we get to the market, okay? Moving on, you force the chests open, and in the first you find…


A pharmacopeia! I’ll take those.


I guess I can hang on to them.
The crystal ball should be pretty valuable. And hold onto that alchemy set; I need it to make potions.


We won’t need it for a while, though. What potions are they?

Well, there’s a fear poison, an anti-disease elixir, two antidotes, a super healing potion, a sleeping potion, and a strong magic potion.

Does anyone mind if I drink the magic potion now? I’m kind of low at the moment.

William’s the only other spellcaster.

Go ahead, man. I haven’t even cast anything yet.


What’s the pentagram on the wall made of?
Blood, duh.

He’s right, actually.

Figures.


Can we take it with us?

You’d need pliers to pull the nail out. Otherwise, you’d bend the amulet.

I’ll just put that on the wish list here…next to “axe.” Now, let’s keep going!