Session 2: The Belly of the Beast

[Marullus]

Someone with a check, please say "We camp now."

I have no checks and didn't make the list for donations, so will stay Exhausted, it seems. Once camp is declared, then Norgrim traps the room and I make bandages for your conditions. So... Knowing what you are going to recover from helps.

[Enoch]

Norgrim will start setting up camp.

BTW, checks can be donated between players, so it's possible that someone will donate a check to you.

[C. Steven Ross]

Those magic words, huzzah!

Camp Events (Typical Underground): [2d6] = 7

Minor Inconvenience (Dungeon): [1d6] = 3

You all settle down around a makeshift campfire, the edges formed from broken chunks of collapsed ceiling. Rand leans as much as he can, trying to get comfortable and close to the warmth. When he does so, a sharp piece of stone cuts into his wineskin, ruining it and spilling his precious wine all over the dusty floor.

Start spending Checks! You can spend checks to recover or to do something in camp (repair gear, write scrolls, cook food, etc.). Remember, you must recover in order - hungry/thirsty, angry, afraid, exhausted, injured, sick. Also, you may only attempt to recover from a given condition once per phase.
You can give checks to others and a character may not hog the spotlight and spend two checks in a row. When you're ready, tell me that you are breaking camp. That will clear out any unused checks and put you back in adventure phase. If you've got a camp-triggered instinct, go ahead and activate that bad boy. You cannot earn checks in camp.

[Marullus]

I thought that since they provided beds for us, we would all shake off exhausted by sleeping, or am I just assuming too much?

I think we missed this post with the page break. Steven?

With Enoch's revision, we have:
Enoch - 2
Garen - 1
Rand - 3
Ulrich - 0

So that is six checks, and no two can be spent in a row.

Taking into account recovery order... we suffer from:
Garen - Hungry and Thirsty, Angry, Exhausted, Sick
Rand - Hungry and Thirsty, Angry, Afraid, Exhausted
Norgrim - Hungry and Thirsty, Exhausted
Ulrich - Hungry and Thirsty, Exhausted

We must all eat/drink to fix that first.
Maybe we can recover exhausted by rest (per Garen's question)
Then we decide recovery.
For my poultices, I can probably do it successfully for Exhausted. Maybe for Afraid. Too many factors after that.

[C. Steven Ross]

No I saw it, it was just way too much to ask. Automatic recovery of exhausted is limited to posh hotels at the epicenter of luxury and civilization. You're sleeping in a cold, dirty hallway that even Hobgoblins don't bother with.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Rand ... cuts into his wineskin, ruining it...[/b]

*whispers towards other PCs when Steven isn't looking* Guys, I am pretty sure dude hates me.

Seriously though, that is rotten luck! I was planning to offer it to Garen, too. I'd like to see that grump shake angry so he can be a bit more civil to our newest member! Is the skin ruined, or just the wine lost?

Marullus, depending on what Enoch does with his second check, you can have my third. I don't have a chance to shake Exhausted because of my health.

Disappointed at the loss of his wine, Rand resigned himself to water for the rest of this abysmal adventure. Abysmal... That reminded him of a passage in Dagtroft's Litany of Verses. The short quip had always amused him. He recited the passage several times in his head as he stared at the crackling fire. To holding anger is to grasp a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone. The meaning was obvious enough. And Rand did not wish to be burned.

Will 5 vs Angry (Ob2)
[1d6] = 2[1d6] = 6[1d6] = 6[1d6] = 5[1d6] = 5
Does not bode well for my next roll...

He soon found the anger had faded. He found himself offering his cloak to the dwarf. "Norgrim, you look tired after that lifting. Why don't you use this to rest?"

[Rusty Tincanne]

Steven, the rock-egg-thing I am carrying gives off heat. Can that be used as a +1D for recovering from exhausted because it makes someone more comfortable? I can imagine a character wrapped up in a cloak with their feet on it finding themselves better rested.

Updated:
Enoch - 2
Garen - 1
Rand - 2
Ulrich - 0

And if anyone is unsure of the Ob for their recovery, I have a cheat sheet at the top of my character sheet.

[C. Steven Ross]

Rand: You cleared hungry/thirsty earlier, I just remembered.

Nice rolls on getting rid of Angry!

Your wineskin is ripped open. When you get a chance, maybe you want to sew it back together?

That's an interesting point about your radiating football of marble. I think it falls under the purview of helping recover from Exhausted, so yeah it should give +1D as you suggest, though I would limit it to only one use per phase.

[Marullus]

Ulrich helps start the camp fire and settles in with the others as they begin to rest. He looks over his new companions. Angry, exhausted, suffering and sick. Bedded down in this hovel with the smell of their hosts dinner but without the taste of hospitality. He does fight back a wave of bitterness - a promise to shelter us safely, but without hospitality. A promise to tell us knowledge of the Daedra but with nothing known. A promise to provide us weapons against it, with nothing to give. He would not flinch to see this whole company of hobgoblins burning in the Hells for duplicity and treachery.

Mostly, though, he looks at the cleric with the eyes of a Defender examining the bullwarks of their spiritual resistance. Rand is caught under rubble, mired in fear and anxiety which robs the group of his help as he jumps at shadows. If we are to face the Daedra, he must have much more courage. He our best defense is a good offense, and a good offense requires a Priest fired with the passion to fight. He puts a pinch of motherwort into his mortar to ease his fears and give him calmness, then considering again, also adds some ground root of the guarana shrub. That should give him the vigor to pursue their cause. They will act well together, and we will be more effective when fear is beyond his reach.

Ulrich grinds the herbs with his pestle, flavors it with some lemonbalm, then asks Garen's help with the cooling to make it a palletable tea. He carries it to the cleric. "Here Rand, drink this. Perhaps it will help. The Gods need us strong of spirit for what lies ahead."

[Acting upon my instinct to always make poultices when we camp. Producing a poultice for the Afraid condition. Adding my Defender trait. Requesting help from Garen. Any other help to add?]

[Rusty Tincanne]

Instincts are on your own. I tried to make poultices twice last session. Got my boots stuck and a hole in my pack for the efforts. Good luck. I listed the likely Ob for you earlier, but that was for a exhausted poultice; afraid might be different. Never can tell.

On another note, if you really want to help him, you could donate him wine. It'll grant +1D for tests to recover from angry or afraid. Or for making a meal...

I also had the thought that freeing Rand could be the first test after camp, leaving us 2 checks unclaimed (me and Enoch).

If Ulrich tries to shed exhausted, he is welcome to my cloak and the egg. +2D on that test. I know that is my plan for the next camping phase!

[C. Steven Ross]

Quite correct! Instincts happen fast, they don't take up time (a Turn or a check), and so can only get Help from similar Instincts or from Nature descriptors.

Ulrich: Make an Ob 3 Healer test (poultice for afraid at Ob 2, exhausted).

I think 'Defender' is a bit of a stretch, saying that you are defending Rand's spirit. That sounds on par with a Human character Demanding that their companion clear a condition. Defender, to me, implies that you defending against something that is actively harming something of yours. What you're doing right now in Camp is trying to crush up king's root or whatever.

Rebuttal? Otherwise you're looking at 2D vs. Ob 3 with no Fate/Persona and there is no point in rolling that one.

Also! Rand make sure you mark your passed Will test (against Angry) and Norgrim your failed Laborer test (to pull Rand free).

[Enoch]

Now that camp's been set, he drains his waterskin, and sets up a simple alarm trap similar to the last camp--some twine strung around the perimeter, with metal gear and the like strung from it to rattle and ring if disturbed.

This is via my instinct.

[Marullus]

Whatever you say goes. If I don't have the dice to even attempt success, you declared the Ob, so just give me the failure and I'll mark the test for advancement. The intent was not that I was "defending Rand's spirit" but rather that I'm addressing the weak link (Rand's fear) in the Group's defense. I've had two scenes talking about the importance of teamwork in defending against the Daedra, and am specifically saying that Rand's fear is the greatest weakness in my ability to implement that defense.

[C. Steven Ross]

Hmmm, ok I'll take it. Let's see 3D vs. Ob 3 then.

And, for everyone's knowledge, having 2 Levels in Defender (as Ulrich does) means that he can use this trait to benefit himself as much as he wants per session.

[Marullus]

Ulrich blends the rough equivalent of Zanex and Cocaine for Rand to ensure he is without fear for their coming endeavor... perhaps drug mixing is a bad idea.

Poultice Check: [1d6] = 3 [1d6] = 6 [1d6] = 2

[C. Steven Ross]

While waiting for Ulrich to create his botched potion, Rand shifts around trying to get comfortable and dislodges some of the rocks at the bottom of the collapsed floor. Unfortunately, he feels a dreadfully chilly dampness pierce through his clothes.

Oh no....

The good news is that you have found a source of water.

The bad news is that you have found a source of water and may soon drown.
Also, +1 Ob for Rand to recover from Exhausted.

Norgrim: You go about your business of trapping the place. Make an Ob 2 Dungeoneer test (simple trap, exhausted).

[Rusty Tincanne]

hmmm...

Marullus, in future sessions we could both take similar instincts of that nature and then be able to offer assistance to one another. Might be worth doing considering my feet have gotten wet twice now while poultices are getting made.

And quite frankly, I am thinking my next sessions goal will be to keep my damn feet dry during the camp phases.



Edit: I was thinking about this a bit and realized it is good material for my Afraid test, giving Rand a reminder to focus on the present rather than a future he won't get to if he cannot help his friends! So thanks Steven!

[thesniperknight1]

One of us is stuck under rocks, the other is drowning and I am sick.....We are in a bad state

[Rusty Tincanne]

Wait a minute! I didn't notice the drowning part! How am I about to drown if only my feet are wet? Or is it all of us?

How imminent is that drowning, anyhow?

[C. Steven Ross]

Well you are in a bit of a pit or depression in the floor, it having collapsed. Since you've been tussling around, that's opened up a spring or underground river beneath you, so water is starting to bubble up. Right now the water level is at your shoes and pants, but it will eventually rise up and potentially drown you.

What do you do to figure out how fast the water is coming in?