Estimated reading time: 20 minutes
Session played at: 2021-12-25
Published at: 2022-01-15
I used Tricube Tales and Tricube Tales Solo Rules,
in addition to my other go-to oracles.
Hey, psst…character stats and plots can be found in Session 0 - Adventure Setup.
The Aftermath 🔗
The noise of battle ceased in an instant, the tunnel is now overfilled with silence and darkness.
How many casualties are there?
Scaled question: 2 ⇾ Mild casualties
Death on duty is part of everyday life in the Underlands.
They salvage what they can from the corpses and tend to those who still can be helped.
Be my guest, I hereby present this adventure's Unofficial OST. 😅
Link for your convenience.
Level Up! 🔗
⬆️⬆️⬆️
I love me a good advancement!
Ūmtar's affliction is converted into a
Quirk: Battle Wounds
SomethingForeshadowing! lol catches Iax's eyes:
Perk: Battle spears
Iax
Hey, you dead for sure this time?
- kicking Ūmtar.
Ūmtar
Stares Iax in the eyes.You won't live to see me die.
- answers with a smirk, though visibly in pain.
As Ūmtar turns, Iax sees the Trapper's spear went through Ūmtar's body.
The spear missed the vital organs and looks like it had a clean exit.
Iax
Investigating the spear closely - By the way, have you noticed what a lovely spear this is?
I mean it is somewhat bloody right now, but this is rather good craftsmanship…Even though brainless sponges made it. I'm not kidding, they _literally_ have no brain…or any organs for that matter, yet those shitters know their shit pretty well.
Ūmtar
Who cares?! Just get it out already!
Iax
Okay, here's the deal.
I'll patch you up, but I need the spear in one piece and most importantly: in pristine condition.
Ūmtar
What?? 😵
Iax
Well…I'm gonna keep it.Aww…😊😆🤣
…crickets…Stay put! That'll hurt.
Ūmtar
😳
Iax manages to carefully pull the whole spear through Ūmtar's body, paying great attention not to damage the weapon in the process. Once it's out, gets some underground herbs and dried lichen from their backpacks, generously fills Ūmtar's wound with them and seals it with clay.
Iax
See? Done and done! 🩹👌
Scene 4 🔗
Scene setup 🔗
📜Side note 🔗
Now that I had some practice with Tricube Tales and its Solo framework, I am more comfortable with putting more emphasis on scene setup and spicing it up with other oracles.
Q of ♦️: Advance primary subplot
Q of ♠: Advance primary subplot
'Kay, I get it! I must conclude the primary subplot, no matter what! 😅
Scene Challenge: 7 of ♣️ ⇾ Hard Brawny Challenge (6)
Double Queens for the primary subplot ⇾ Hunt down beasts.
Could it be that a large herd of some kind of creatures is coming? 🤔
Tricube Tales Solo Oracles:
Wilderness region: marsh
Wilderness feature: bones/corpses 😱
Wilderness event: eerie sounds 😱😱😱
Wilderness folk: explorers/travelers
My own oracle toolkit:
Rune: Ansuz ⇾ True vision
Tarot: King of Cups Reversed ⇾ Emotionally manipulative
Tarot: 10 of Swords ⇾ Painful endings/betrayal
Rory's Story Cubes:
Statue of a woman
Bow and Arrow
Syringe
Figuring out the location 🔗
The Tricube Tales Solo tables provide pretty concrete results, which I think makes a nice blend with the more abstract prompts that I get from my other oracles.
I got marsh for the region, I imagine a huge subterranean lake in my mind's eye, but the shore area is not your fancy sandy beach, but resembles more of a muddy bogland. The kind of stuff in which you are walking knee deep until the mud thins out and transitions into the lake.
Meeting explorers/travelers is highly unlikely, so I'm pretty sure it means that the muddy shore area is scattered with corpsesbones/corpses of explorers ⇾ their own people or members from other related tribes.
But why are they dead? And why so many? #SUS
Mudland mosquitoes 🔗
Using the other prompts, I am thinking of a swarmlarge herd of some kind of creatures of heat seekingTrue vision, mosquitoSyringe 💉 like creatures that inject hallucinogens into their victims, causing comrades to turn against each otherEmotionally manipulative
Painful endings/betrayal in a wild frenzy.
The mosquitoes suck their victims dry after they finished killing each other off.
The squad spent some time cathcing their breaths and providing aid to those in need and then set out again.
Iax
By the way, have you seen my newest find?
Ūmtar
You mean that blasted spear?
Iax
How rude!
- thinking really hard.
I reckon I should name it. Every great weapon has a name.
Hmm, hmm…
Hmmm…
The humid, slippery, yet solid ground slowly starts to turn moist and muddy beneath their feet as this conversation continues.
Iax
Ohh, I know! I'll call it Hmmtar, got it? 😜 The slayer of warriors!
Just about to punch Iax in the face, Ūmtar nearly trips at the next step.
There is something in the mud, unmoving.
Upon closer inspection they discover a corpse. The mud seem to have preserved it in good contiditon.
Ūmtar
What in the Depths is this corpse doing here?
- examining the corpse's clothing.This damned thing is one of our own!
Under closer inspection, the squad seems to find more and more 'bumps' in the mud. Looks like they were members of another scouting squad and met their demise here.
It is high time for the mosquitoes to swarm out. 😈 #SAVAGE
Do they have enough time to prepare or hear them in advance?
Standard Crafty Challenge (5)
Ūmtar , ⇾ Ūmtar relies-1 Karma on Perk: Keen ears
The difficulty is decreased ⇾ Success!
How does hearing them help? In what respect?
Mythic Action: Increase good ⇾ Uhm… #THANKSFORNOTHING #NOSHIT 🤣
Let's try something else:
Lenormand: Anchor + Lily ⇾ Stable peace
Ūmtar
Hears an eerie sound approaching amidst the commotion. It resembles the buzzing of hundred wings.
Ūmtar immediately realizes what's going on:
MOSQUITOES ARE COMING!
DUCK AND COVER YOURSELVES WITH MUD!
Protected under thick mud, with just an opening for them to be able to breathe, they were able to wait out the swarm's dispersal. They have Ūmtar's exceptional auditory perception to thank for.
Emerging from the layers of mud, they set their eyes on the vast lake and notice an island in the middle.
Mage
I sense a strong wave of energy emanating from the island…It is possible we finally found a new SourceMain plot.
Do they have the means to set sail on the lake?
Unlikely: No
They search the surrounding area.
Standard Crafty Challenge (5)
Ūmtar
, ⇾ Success
What do they find?
Mythic Description: Majestically rough
Lenormand: Heart + Ship ⇾ The “core” of something that floats 👌 #CHEFSKISS
Rory's Story Cubes:
Elevated ground
Checkerboard
Not so far from the shore they find a rock shelf overlooking the whole area. The rock is overgrown with a large patch of majestic long-stalked musrooms, elegantly intertwined with each other. They figure the inner parts of those stalks could make for improvised planks that would float.
Giving their best guesstimates, those fungi are at least 8 metersApprox 8.7 yards tall and half meterApprox 1.6 feet
Ur welcome! 🤘 in diameter.
The squad decides that half of them climbs the cliff, the other half stays at the lake shore.
Climbing the cliff
Standard Brawny Challenge (5)
Ūmtar
, , ⇾ Success
Iax
, ⇾ Failure
Around midway, the cliffside breaks off, Iax looses grip and falls straight back into the mud.
Loosing 1 Resolve along the way, but does not give up and succeeds the second time.
They have no time to waste. The ones who climbed the cliff immediately start felling the stalks, when they notice something gargantuan towering above them.
OMG what is this thing?! 🔗
The adventurer: 4 of ♥️: ⇾ Met an interesting stranger
The adventurer: 8 of ♦️: ⇾ A mechanical contraption
An interesting stranger speaks to me as a mixture of animals maybe?
It is a stranger ⇾ something rare or yet unknown for our protagonists?
Mechanical contraption ⇾ Well there are no such things in this setting, but I can think of something like a crustacean with a carapace or any other kind of hard outer shell.
Stats 🔗
Mysterious creature
Rank 1 Brawny Agile BossThis is supposed to be
a Hard Challenge after all.
Ranged and Melee attack
2 Effort
The creature has 2 types of attacks.
A primary ranged Agile attack in the form of noxious fumes sprayed over an area.
A secondary, melee Brawny attack with its pincers.
The monster will alternate between the two types of attacks based on a random table.
I'll also use a random table to decide whom the beast will target.
| Attack | |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | Primary |
| 5-6 | Secondary |
| Target | |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Ūmtar |
| 3-4 | Iax |
| 5-6 | Someone else in the group |
I'll be rolling on these tables during combat,
but won't go into detail on each individual roll in order to avoid unnecessary noise.
Combat 🔗
Warrior
I be scorched by the cursed Sun! What even is this thing??
The group watches as a huge monster, resembling a centipede, but having pincers like a crayfish rapidly crawls upon them, impaling people under its sharp segmented legs.
Scene Challenge 🔗
Monster
Ūmtar defends
Against noxious fumes
Hard Agile Challenge (6)
, ⇾ Success!
Ūmtar ducks just at the right time, clutching a cloth to the mouth to avoid accidentally inhaling the gas that fills the air.
Ūmtar
Attacks Monster
Hard Brawny Challenge (6)
, , ⇾ Success! ⇾ Monster -1 Effort
As Ūmtar dodges the spray of gas, swiftly gets into melee range and smashes the war axe deep into the beast.
Iax
Aims at Monster
Hard Agile Challenge (6)
, , ⇾ Failure
Iax releases an arrow. It hits the target, but bounces off its hard shell.
Monster
Ūmtar defends
Against noxious fumes
Hard Agile Challenge (6)
, ⇾ Failure ⇾ Ūmtar -1 Resolve
Iax
Aims at Monster
Hard Agile Challenge (6)
, , ⇾ Failure
The Father take you into the Depths! My arrows keep bouncing off!
Ūmtar
Attacks Monster
Hard Brawny Challenge (6)
, , ⇾ Success! ⇾ Monster -1 Effort
Ūmtar bursts forward, finds a weak spot on the underside and slashes the creature's belly wide open.
Challenge success 🎉
This beast will be more than enough of a trophy to bring home once they secured the Source.
Primary Subplot Done ⇾ Hunt down beasts.
Do they have time to recover a bit before setting sail? 🔗
Likely: Yes
I mean, they've been hiding from über mosquitoes, cutting down huge mushrooms and fought to death with a centipede/crayfish hybrid. So it kinda makes sense. 😅
They take a breather and everyone recovers 1 Resolve.
End of Session 2 🔗
Session played at: 2021-12-25
Published at: 2022-01-15
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