Dear Lord! A story of awful luck turned fun [Archive] - Wizards Community

Dear Lord! A story of awful luck turned fun [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Super Guy
05-26-05, 04:41 PM The begining of a campaign was today. This is a small campaign, involving half of our group, and is a low magic campaign (like, magic is bordering on "the stuff of legend" as opposed to regular settings) It's also heavy on roleplaying.

Only three of four were there for opening day. The fourth is a rogue, we are fighting types. Well, after a bit of time in town doing things (I helped at a hospital with my heal check, a party member purchased a small business 'cause he had a lot of leftover gold, since we started at level three), we got hired by a caravan and a man named Leopold. He came annually to this spice town and purchased things. Well, there is an upstart warlord self-titled "Dark Sigg". No one in town takes him seriously because he and his men are just common ruffians and he actually gave himself the title "Dark". However, they are a problem.

We got hired, along with Leopold's other guards, to escort him to his next stop. We encounter a caravan, trading ensues, we move on. We hit the next caravan, and Leopold begins trading but, surprise! Dark Sigg revealed himself and his intentions and battle erupted.

Very few deaths were involved, though four of Leopold's men escaped and about 20 were taken prisoner. This was due to awful luck in the die rolls that the DM made. The battle should've been roughly even. Dark Sigg won.
Two of us three were taken prisoner- I escaped on my horse, barely alive. This was after several disastrous rolls from me (I rolled six 1's in six rounds, because on 1's we roll to confirm critical miss, then we roll on the critical fumble chart to see what happens. I also rolled pathetic damage on my two hits)

Dark Sigg set up a shanty town while I rode alone and down the road looking for help. I got it. A merchant had 24 mercenaries and I tempted him into helping in the fight against Dark Sigg by telling him of Dark Sigg's magic greatsword (again, this stuff is really rare so he obviously wanted it) and promised he'd get it. We went, I tracked them down to the shanty town. This is where it gets worse.

My party members and Leopold's captured men are held prisoner until they swear allegiance, which most of them did. We set fire on their little houses with our bows from afar so that they'd come out, after our scout didn't return. The first guy to come out I shot at. Roll... 1. Roll to confirm? Yes, critical failure. Roll for the chart. Ooh, good. A guy bumped into me and I misfired my bow when my hand slipped, piercing my right hand and dealing enough to completely cripple it. I rode off after being shot to 3 HP, being mostly useless and still somewhat damaged from the last encounter. The mercenaries lost and were captured.

I went back to town. They threw cabbage at me because they believed I was in with Dark Sigg and lured that caravan to its demise. I took the cabbage 'cause I was broke and needed a meal, then rode to another town. I made it in and didn't mention what happened. Instead, I traded a tent in for a week's room and board at a local inn. There, I tended my hand. I rolled a percentile check to see if the hand would ever be able to be used again. My roll was really bad. No more right hand.

I will have to spend a month training to fight with my left hand using a sword. I need to make enough money, from pretty much scratch, to buy a locked gauntlet. We've decided if I have a locked gauntlet I can put it on my crippled hand and fire my bow with it. I'll have another locked gauntlet attached to my shield, so I'll have to take about a round and a half to switch between bow gauntlet and shield gauntlet, but it's worth it.

The session ended before this month started, so I will have to find a way to make money in the next session, then hope that there's some way I can get our party reunited. This is very difficult but very interesting.

If anyone has read this whole thing, what are your thoughts? Do you have any helpful ways to free my party? I know the mayor of the spice town was desperate to get Leopold to sign a contract... Leopold didn't. Perhaps I can contact the mayor and he may want to free those people because that would enable him to force Leopold to sign the contract.
Arkidisey
05-26-05, 04:52 PM man... this is a great looking campain.... storywise ;) but man did you get scewed with this lol... your lucky there are locked gauntlets :) as for getting your party back... i'll see what i can think up :) cya
Super Guy
05-26-05, 05:07 PM Heh, thanks :)

However, I was just thinking... Leopold's fortune is pretty much gone to Dark Sigg. I doubt the Mayor will help me. I also asked my DM and he agreed that it probably wouldn't work out.

Though it is going to be a bit limiting, the problem with my not having a salvageable hand is not the big thing. It's really just getting us back together.

I mean, my party members might escape, but there'd have to be a lot of travel before we ever met up. I'm going to make sure people know where to contact me if they come to any of the nearby towns, so hopefully if they escape they go to one of those towns.

Otherwise, I'm going to have to bust them out. I'll be out-of-commission for another month and I don't want to wait that long to start gathering forces. If I can just get, oh, thirty or forty warriors together, or some higher level fellows, then we'd be in business. But the problem is where.

Or, I could try to barter with Dark Sigg, but I don't know what I'd give him.

Alas! :)
NinjaGarret
05-26-05, 05:52 PM Your buddies pledged allegiance to Dark Sigg, no? So go pledge *your* allegiance. Tell him you can't stand to be away from your buddies.

Then, now that you're in his group, get together with your guys... heal your hand... Then backstab Dark Sigg!
lucky2
05-26-05, 08:05 PM Why not see if your DM will allow you to use a locked gauntlet to hold your sword in your right hand? I mean, having a crippled right hand could be seen as a constant disarm going on. Hard to figure it out, but it works. So why not?
Arkidisey
05-26-05, 09:25 PM Your buddies pledged allegiance to Dark Sigg, no? So go pledge *your* allegiance. Tell him you can't stand to be away from your buddies.

Then, now that you're in his group, get together with your guys... heal your hand... Then backstab Dark Sigg!

no.. THEY did not, according to him at least, but everyone else did... now, what i think is you should find a way to get the thieves giuld to come in and help you... of course you'd have to give them something GREAT for them to help you out... but if you do, have their ninja\thieves sneak in and take sdown the population a bit... then when the time is right, have them put down the security walls or whatever and have the rest come in, in the midst of the chaos, duke that epic battle thats been itchy on ya for a while, get into a fight with him, kill him with any means nessisary, and then get yee friends out (if you can get them out BEFORE fighting him, that would be even better for survival purposes, but if your prides hurt, stab that bastard to death by yourself) i sugest getting two swords and two bucklers, they strap on to your fourarms so you could get more armor with both hands occupied by swords!!! hope this plan works if ya use it, good luck mate ;)

Best wishes,
Ark Arin
Super Guy
05-26-05, 09:56 PM I will have to consider all of this advice. The town I'm in may have some sort of thieves' guild, and perhaps I can contact it. Unfortunately I have only 11 Charisma and no Gather Information...

I don't have any ranks in Bluff, unfortunately, so I think if I pledge allegiance to Dark Sigg he may see through it easily and try to have me killed. Which probably wouldn't be all that hard, though I could perhaps escape.

Only recently have I realized the reprecussions of losing that hand. Sure, maybe I can weild my sword in a locked gauntlet, or train to fight left handed and weild a locked gauntlet bow or locked gauntlet shield when the situation calls for it, but I'll be limited in climbing, and I won't be able to play my instrument very well (though I wasn't a bard to begin with). I'll be heart-broken if I take a penalty to craft: poison, though I doubt I really would be. It may take a little longer.

I hope my DM is sympathetic enough to give me a bit of mercy somewhere. Because I'm seriously handicapped... and on the first damn session no less!

Heh, maybe I will eventually remove the hand and get locked gauntlets to screw into my arm. And I suppose there is a possibility that eventually I can find a cleric that casts some spell to fix it, but really, casters are pretty much extraordinarily rare. The average adventurer probably wouldn't meet one unless specifically seeking one or something.
Arkidisey
05-26-05, 10:44 PM no signing up with dark sigg.. this is something i'd failed to mention in the second post ;) tell the thieves guild they can take all the treasure (exept yours) that they find in the camps, as long as you and your friends can just leave with your items and your original gold. that will give them some good interests, and no check needed, full truth and everything :), also another thing i forgot... practice you dice rolls lol, try... using you index finger and middle finger to trap the die in the middle of them, twist it so the middle finger is OVER the index finger, on top of the die, with the die on top\side-ish area of the index, then un twist as hard as you can to make it spudder and roll, it works for me :)
Arrowhen
05-27-05, 03:47 AM No one in town takes him seriously because he and his men are just common ruffians and he actually gave himself the title "Dark".
Then the town is full of fools. Maybe they're just common ruffians let by a guy with a silly name, but even if their ability to defeat 24 mercenaries doesn't bother anyone, the fact that they're apparently not taking prisoners for ransom purposes, but to force their allegiance should certainly be of immediate interest to the powers-that-be. Obviously, he's interested in more than just robbing merchant caravans; a mere bandit gang wouldn't be coercing people to join like that because it would mean smaller shares of loot for everyone. No, this Sigg fellow is raising an army.

If the town mayor isn't worried about that, go over his head. I don't know the political makeup of the land you're in, but surely there's some kind of lord or baron or somebody the taxes go to. This person probably isn't too keen on somebody raising a private army in his backyard. My advice to you is to get an audience with this person if at all possible and let him know that you know the current location of the shantytown.

If he's able to end this threat, it's going to make him look good to his duke or king or whoever his taxes go to. If he's a sufficiently powerful lord, he might be able to express his gratitude by finding you some healing magic.
Super Guy
05-27-05, 11:14 AM Ah, brilliant! That's it! I had been considering forging a document from a king or lord or something that would declare immediate warfare on Dark Sigg unless he released two royal servants (namely my party members), but he might not buy it. Next, I'd fall back on the Thieves' Guild.

But this I hadn't thought of. Of course he wants to raise an army. The townsfolk thought he was just the common thug but they didn't know he was taking people into his ranks. I'll inform the mayors of local towns, and if they don't offer as big a force as possible, I'll report to a higher power. Well, first I'll threaten them with telling a higher power. And ride like hell just in case someone wants me silenced.

Great idea, I think if this suggestion somehow doesn't work I have enough good ideas to keep us afloat, but I'm sure this will work. Good thinking, man :)
Arkidisey
05-27-05, 04:16 PM Glad to help :tiphat:. and the person after my suggestion is also very creative and smart! :) hope you got some craft skills :) good luck on cutting this "Dark Sigg" down :) i always go with brute force ;)

*EDIT* P.S. PM me if you need anything else on help :) or just to chat :D
NinjaGarret
05-27-05, 04:42 PM And while you're in a big city to talk to the higher ups, take the time to search for a druid capable of casting Regeneration. I believe that should heal your hand, but don't take my word for it.
Arkidisey
05-29-05, 12:48 PM So when are you having your next session? and exactly what method will you chose?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Super Guy 05-26-05, 04:41 PM	The begining of a campaign was today. This is a small campaign, involving half of our group, and is a low magic campaign (like, magic is bordering on "the stuff of legend" as opposed to regular settings) It's also heavy on roleplaying. Only three of four were there for opening day. The fourth is a rogue, we are fighting types. Well, after a bit of time in town doing things (I helped at a hospital with my heal check, a party member purchased a small business 'cause he had a lot of leftover gold, since we started at level three), we got hired by a caravan and a man named Leopold. He came annually to this spice town and purchased things. Well, there is an upstart warlord self-titled "Dark Sigg". No one in town takes him seriously because he and his men are just common ruffians and he actually gave himself the title "Dark". However, they are a problem. We got hired, along with Leopold's other guards, to escort him to his next stop. We encounter a caravan, trading ensues, we move on. We hit the next caravan, and Leopold begins trading but, surprise! Dark Sigg revealed himself and his intentions and battle erupted. Very few deaths were involved, though four of Leopold's men escaped and about 20 were taken prisoner. This was due to awful luck in the die rolls that the DM made. The battle should've been roughly even. Dark Sigg won. Two of us three were taken prisoner- I escaped on my horse, barely alive. This was after several disastrous rolls from me (I rolled six 1's in six rounds, because on 1's we roll to confirm critical miss, then we roll on the critical fumble chart to see what happens. I also rolled pathetic damage on my two hits) Dark Sigg set up a shanty town while I rode alone and down the road looking for help. I got it. A merchant had 24 mercenaries and I tempted him into helping in the fight against Dark Sigg by telling him of Dark Sigg's magic greatsword (again, this stuff is really rare so he obviously wanted it) and promised he'd get it. We went, I tracked them down to the shanty town. This is where it gets worse. My party members and Leopold's captured men are held prisoner until they swear allegiance, which most of them did. We set fire on their little houses with our bows from afar so that they'd come out, after our scout didn't return. The first guy to come out I shot at. Roll... 1. Roll to confirm? Yes, critical failure. Roll for the chart. Ooh, good. A guy bumped into me and I misfired my bow when my hand slipped, piercing my right hand and dealing enough to completely cripple it. I rode off after being shot to 3 HP, being mostly useless and still somewhat damaged from the last encounter. The mercenaries lost and were captured. I went back to town. They threw cabbage at me because they believed I was in with Dark Sigg and lured that caravan to its demise. I took the cabbage 'cause I was broke and needed a meal, then rode to another town. I made it in and didn't mention what happened. Instead, I traded a tent in for a week's room and board at a local inn. There, I tended my hand. I rolled a percentile check to see if the hand would ever be able to be used again. My roll was really bad. No more right hand. I will have to spend a month training to fight with my left hand using a sword. I need to make enough money, from pretty much scratch, to buy a locked gauntlet. We've decided if I have a locked gauntlet I can put it on my crippled hand and fire my bow with it. I'll have another locked gauntlet attached to my shield, so I'll have to take about a round and a half to switch between bow gauntlet and shield gauntlet, but it's worth it. The session ended before this month started, so I will have to find a way to make money in the next session, then hope that there's some way I can get our party reunited. This is very difficult but very interesting. If anyone has read this whole thing, what are your thoughts? Do you have any helpful ways to free my party? I know the mayor of the spice town was desperate to get Leopold to sign a contract... Leopold didn't. Perhaps I can contact the mayor and he may want to free those people because that would enable him to force Leopold to sign the contract.
Arkidisey 05-26-05, 04:52 PM	man... this is a great looking campain.... storywise ;) but man did you get scewed with this lol... your lucky there are locked gauntlets :) as for getting your party back... i'll see what i can think up :) cya
Super Guy 05-26-05, 05:07 PM	Heh, thanks :) However, I was just thinking... Leopold's fortune is pretty much gone to Dark Sigg. I doubt the Mayor will help me. I also asked my DM and he agreed that it probably wouldn't work out. Though it is going to be a bit limiting, the problem with my not having a salvageable hand is not the big thing. It's really just getting us back together. I mean, my party members might escape, but there'd have to be a lot of travel before we ever met up. I'm going to make sure people know where to contact me if they come to any of the nearby towns, so hopefully if they escape they go to one of those towns. Otherwise, I'm going to have to bust them out. I'll be out-of-commission for another month and I don't want to wait that long to start gathering forces. If I can just get, oh, thirty or forty warriors together, or some higher level fellows, then we'd be in business. But the problem is where. Or, I could try to barter with Dark Sigg, but I don't know what I'd give him. Alas! :)
NinjaGarret 05-26-05, 05:52 PM	Your buddies pledged allegiance to Dark Sigg, no? So go pledge your allegiance. Tell him you can't stand to be away from your buddies. Then, now that you're in his group, get together with your guys... heal your hand... Then backstab Dark Sigg!
lucky2 05-26-05, 08:05 PM	Why not see if your DM will allow you to use a locked gauntlet to hold your sword in your right hand? I mean, having a crippled right hand could be seen as a constant disarm going on. Hard to figure it out, but it works. So why not?
Arkidisey 05-26-05, 09:25 PM	Your buddies pledged allegiance to Dark Sigg, no? So go pledge your allegiance. Tell him you can't stand to be away from your buddies. Then, now that you're in his group, get together with your guys... heal your hand... Then backstab Dark Sigg! no.. THEY did not, according to him at least, but everyone else did... now, what i think is you should find a way to get the thieves giuld to come in and help you... of course you'd have to give them something GREAT for them to help you out... but if you do, have their ninja\thieves sneak in and take sdown the population a bit... then when the time is right, have them put down the security walls or whatever and have the rest come in, in the midst of the chaos, duke that epic battle thats been itchy on ya for a while, get into a fight with him, kill him with any means nessisary, and then get yee friends out (if you can get them out BEFORE fighting him, that would be even better for survival purposes, but if your prides hurt, stab that bastard to death by yourself) i sugest getting two swords and two bucklers, they strap on to your fourarms so you could get more armor with both hands occupied by swords!!! hope this plan works if ya use it, good luck mate ;) Best wishes, Ark Arin
Super Guy 05-26-05, 09:56 PM	I will have to consider all of this advice. The town I'm in may have some sort of thieves' guild, and perhaps I can contact it. Unfortunately I have only 11 Charisma and no Gather Information... I don't have any ranks in Bluff, unfortunately, so I think if I pledge allegiance to Dark Sigg he may see through it easily and try to have me killed. Which probably wouldn't be all that hard, though I could perhaps escape. Only recently have I realized the reprecussions of losing that hand. Sure, maybe I can weild my sword in a locked gauntlet, or train to fight left handed and weild a locked gauntlet bow or locked gauntlet shield when the situation calls for it, but I'll be limited in climbing, and I won't be able to play my instrument very well (though I wasn't a bard to begin with). I'll be heart-broken if I take a penalty to craft: poison, though I doubt I really would be. It may take a little longer. I hope my DM is sympathetic enough to give me a bit of mercy somewhere. Because I'm seriously handicapped... and on the first damn session no less! Heh, maybe I will eventually remove the hand and get locked gauntlets to screw into my arm. And I suppose there is a possibility that eventually I can find a cleric that casts some spell to fix it, but really, casters are pretty much extraordinarily rare. The average adventurer probably wouldn't meet one unless specifically seeking one or something.
Arkidisey 05-26-05, 10:44 PM	no signing up with dark sigg.. this is something i'd failed to mention in the second post ;) tell the thieves guild they can take all the treasure (exept yours) that they find in the camps, as long as you and your friends can just leave with your items and your original gold. that will give them some good interests, and no check needed, full truth and everything :), also another thing i forgot... practice you dice rolls lol, try... using you index finger and middle finger to trap the die in the middle of them, twist it so the middle finger is OVER the index finger, on top of the die, with the die on top\side-ish area of the index, then un twist as hard as you can to make it spudder and roll, it works for me :)
Arrowhen 05-27-05, 03:47 AM	No one in town takes him seriously because he and his men are just common ruffians and he actually gave himself the title "Dark". Then the town is full of fools. Maybe they're just common ruffians let by a guy with a silly name, but even if their ability to defeat 24 mercenaries doesn't bother anyone, the fact that they're apparently not taking prisoners for ransom purposes, but to force their allegiance should certainly be of immediate interest to the powers-that-be. Obviously, he's interested in more than just robbing merchant caravans; a mere bandit gang wouldn't be coercing people to join like that because it would mean smaller shares of loot for everyone. No, this Sigg fellow is raising an army. If the town mayor isn't worried about that, go over his head. I don't know the political makeup of the land you're in, but surely there's some kind of lord or baron or somebody the taxes go to. This person probably isn't too keen on somebody raising a private army in his backyard. My advice to you is to get an audience with this person if at all possible and let him know that you know the current location of the shantytown. If he's able to end this threat, it's going to make him look good to his duke or king or whoever his taxes go to. If he's a sufficiently powerful lord, he might be able to express his gratitude by finding you some healing magic.
Super Guy 05-27-05, 11:14 AM	Ah, brilliant! That's it! I had been considering forging a document from a king or lord or something that would declare immediate warfare on Dark Sigg unless he released two royal servants (namely my party members), but he might not buy it. Next, I'd fall back on the Thieves' Guild. But this I hadn't thought of. Of course he wants to raise an army. The townsfolk thought he was just the common thug but they didn't know he was taking people into his ranks. I'll inform the mayors of local towns, and if they don't offer as big a force as possible, I'll report to a higher power. Well, first I'll threaten them with telling a higher power. And ride like hell just in case someone wants me silenced. Great idea, I think if this suggestion somehow doesn't work I have enough good ideas to keep us afloat, but I'm sure this will work. Good thinking, man :)
Arkidisey 05-27-05, 04:16 PM	Glad to help :tiphat:. and the person after my suggestion is also very creative and smart! :) hope you got some craft skills :) good luck on cutting this "Dark Sigg" down :) i always go with brute force ;) EDIT P.S. PM me if you need anything else on help :) or just to chat :D
NinjaGarret 05-27-05, 04:42 PM	And while you're in a big city to talk to the higher ups, take the time to search for a druid capable of casting Regeneration. I believe that should heal your hand, but don't take my word for it.
Arkidisey 05-29-05, 12:48 PM	So when are you having your next session? and exactly what method will you chose?