Previous Story Post...

1,733 words

"Mattie, what have you gotten us into?" the cleric asks an hour later as the two Seekers trudge westward and only a bit southward. "And why..." he asks, breathing deeply as he disentagles a soaked boot from bog detritus, "are we ... heading toward The Blackened Forest? Are you... trying to get us... killed by Renata and her brigands?"

The cleric halts, spits, and fusses at his lips, pulling away a cobweb he's walked into in the shade of a black ash tree. Mattie has paused too, hands on hips, robe gathered up high on his torso and belted there in an effort to keep it dry. The water is now almost above the two's boots.

"We won't actually enter the forest," the mage-scholar answers, taking a sip from his waterskin. "But the frogmen are most populous near its eastern border."

"I won't murder any of their youth!" the cleric asserts solemnly. "They may or may not have souls, I cannot say, but they have language and culture. And we're planning on killing them. It's our express intent!

"We won't initiate hostilities," Mattie says after a few moments of sober silence. "We'll only resort to violence in self-defense." He leans on his staff with his right hand, left picking a leech off his right shin just above the boot. Then, leaning on his staff with both hands, he sighs, staring westward. "Listen, Aury, they aren't people. They're bestial. Hells, they sacrifice their children to Herne, for Petarkian's Sake!"

"They do," Aury acknowledges, "but only the sick ones, and they believe it results in the bog's bounty, extending the life of the other tribe members. We can't know because it's lost in the Far Ancient, but our own species was most likely every bit as barbaric once upon a time." The cleric slogs over to the scholar and places a hand on the thinner man's shoulder. "Listen, why do the goblins want this anyway? You can at least explain that."

Mattie wipes muggy condensation off his brow. "Fine. Well, as you know, I've been studying the Scarface goblin tribe, befriending them; it's taken me two years to reach this point of trust with them. I bring them medicines, sometimes food. I've spent nights among them, warm by their fires, unharmed while I slept. These efforts have not only furthered our aims as Seekers of Knowledge, but they also have the practical result of making the goblins better disposed towards the people of Helix." He looks up at the cleric. "Did you know not a single villager has gone missing in the last six months?"

The mage tucks his damp handkerchief back into his belt and continues, "The Scarface's shaman has learned through his magic that the froglings have made a pact with the lizardmen that live between the Merisc and The Blackened Forest. They are planning a joint assault on the Scarface tribe. The goblins won't stand a chance if that happens. Not only will my research subjects be destroyed, but Helix will also lose an important buffer separating the villagers from the worse inhabitants of the bog." The skittering trill of some nearby swamp bird echoes through the cypresses, ashes, hemlock and spruce trees. "However ... were the froglings to have their numbers thinned..."

"Yes," Aury nods, "they'll think twice about coming closer to Helix when two humans from there have wrought carnage among them. And, the lizardmen will be derisive. They have contempt for anyone who shows weakness. The alliance will be ended, or at least retarded. You can continue your research, and we will have further promoted the growing trust between you and the Scarface tribe, while simultaneously making Helix a bit safer" the cleric concludes, smiling in spite of himself.

"There, you see," answers the mage, "there's that first-class mind that got you into the Seekers' brotherhood!"

Midmorning finds our heroes further west in the bog. Continuing the philosophical discussion of the past several minutes, Aury explains, "And that is the gist of where not only my reasoning leads me, but also what my gut insists must be true: there cannot be multiple gods. There can only be one. Knowledge and power of that magnitude would abhor division and inevitably be held within a single Entity."

"Then what of clerics of other faiths?" Mattie asks. "Where do they get their power if there aren't numerous gods?" This isn't the first such conversation they've had on this subject, but Aury is always bringing it up, and — truth to be told — Mattie enjoys getting the cleric wound up.

A loud splash off to the right has Aury withdrawing his mace from its loop in his gear belt. He rests the head of the weapon on one shoulder of his studded leather hauberk and makes significant eye contact with Mattie.

"I heard," says the scholar-mage. "They're pacing us." The two slowly slog past a cypress tree. A large water moccasin undulates across the surface, disturbed by their passage. Fortunately, it is heading away from the two. "Probably a hunting party. Either that, or a trio of scouts." The mage's left hand dips into a belt pouch that holds spell components.

The cleric turns toward the mage. "Oh, they travel in threes to scout? And how large are their hunting—"

Loud, warbling amphibious warcries shatter the relative quiet, cutting off the cleric's question as froglings attack from the moss-laced trees surrounding the two Seekers.

The mace icon represents Aury.    The wand icon represents Mattie.

I rolled 10 froglings. The froglings normally need an atk roll 13 to hit Aury and 9 to hit Mattie, but for their first attack they use their leaping ability, needing only a 12 to hit Aury and an 8 to hit Mattie.

Aury needs an 8 to hit froglings and Mattie needs a 13 with thrown dagger or a 14 with his quarterstaff in order to successfully hit a frogling. Because our two Seekers were expecting trouble, they aren't surprised and can therefore act first, in keeping with Scarlet Heroes combat rules.

Because these froglings are 1-1 HD, our heroes' Fray dice cannot help but take one enemy apiece out of the combat equation. Aury's mace crushes the airborne creature due north of him, while a burst of arcane force from Mattie slays the creature leaping toward the mage from the northwest. We'll indicate these slain froglings by coloring them red below.

The mace icon represents Aury.    The wand icon represents Mattie.

Now I must make attack rolls for our two Seekers. To do that, I'll pull pregenerated d20 rolls from this resource. Just to keep myself honest, I'll randomly determine which line I choose to pull from first: 1d6 yields a 5; and because Matthias has the higher Dexterity score, we'll grab his d20 result before getting Aury's:

I roll an 18 for Matthias, and a 6 for Aury's attack. Matthias hits and Aury misses. Although frequently used two-handed, I'm going to rule that Mattie's quarterstaff qualifies as a one-handed weapon in Scarlet Heroes parlance, and that it deals 1d8 damage, but because Mattie is a mage only (not multi-classed), he can only deal 1d4 with it. I get a 2 result. Translated to SH-style damage, that's a single HD of damage, enough to take out another frogling.

The mace icon represents Aury.    The wand icon represents Mattie.

Now the froglings attack; to keep the map clean, I'll remove the slain froglings — they've floated away in the bog's water anyway. This is the froglings natural environment and is not ideal terrain for our heroes. The froglings easily close with the two Seekers. We'll resolve attacks against Matthias first: from north to south, the three westernmost froglings attack with to-hit results of 10, 5, and 12. Two of the three attacks land. Their weapons are small and poor quality, dealing 1d3 damage. I get results of 3 and 2, which each translate to a point of hit point damage using Scarlet Heroes rules. Uh-oh! Our mage drops from 10 HP to 8.

Now let's resolve the other three froglings' attacks on Aury. We get to-hit rolls of 15, 7, and 4 — a single hit with a damage roll of 3, translating to 1 HP of injury for Aury, and dropping him to 12/13.

The mace icon represents Aury.    The wand icon represents Mattie.

A new round begins. Our heroes' Fray Dice activate, and two more froglings go down. Both heroes fail their melee to-hit rolls (5 for Mattie, 4 for Aury) and the remaining froglings attack — this time, without their leaping ability yielding a +1 bonus.

Two attack the mage and both miss (rolled 6 and 4). Three froglings attack Aury: a 9, 20, and 6 to-hit. Two misses and a critical. The successful frogling will add it's Dex bonus of 1 to the damage. Damage rolled: 3 translating to 1 HP, made 2 HP when adding crit damage. Aury is down to 10/13 hit points.

The mace icon represents Aury.    The wand icon represents Mattie.

The froglings have now lost almost half of their numbers, so a Morale check will soon be needed. In the meantime, it's a new round. Our heroes lash out with attacks represented by their Fray Dice, and two more froglings do down. Mattie pivots to the south and lashes out with his quarterstaff — a 16 to-hit result (success). But Mattie rolls a 1 on d4, a glancing blow that does no damage. Aury swipes overhand with his mace, getting a 6 result and missing.

The froglings are down to three. We'll make a 2d8 Morale check against a 7: result of 5 — their morale is steady and they will fight on! Removing the slain from the battle map, we have the following situation:

The mace icon represents Aury.    The wand icon represents Mattie.

The westernmost frogling attacks Mattie and hits with a 13, rolling damage 3 which translates to 1 more HP of damage to the mage.

The other two froglings attack Aury with to-hit rolls of 10 and 6, both misses. A new round begins, and our heroes continue to show their mettle, as evidenced by their Fray Dice taking out two more froglings. Aury twirls around and smashes the last remaining frogling in the head with his mace (to-hit of 13) for 1d6+1 damage yielding 7, which translates to 2 HD of damage, slaying the lone remaining frogling. END OF COMBAT.