The Barrow II: Surgical Tools and Skeletons

Lottie the thief awakens under an unfamiliar roof as the sun begins to shine through the shutters. A quick pat-down reveals that all of her organs are (mostly) in place, although the blackened bandages around her chest - and the sharp pain when she tries to breathe - reveal that not all is fine and dandy just yet. 

Lottie: HT, vs 10: 13. 

Her condition hasn't improved overnight, but it hasn't got worse, so she forces herself to her feet and joins the other party members in the dining room. Miguel and Garret are hard at work preparing their weapons; Miguel in particular seems very happy to have his sword back, and he sits at the table oiling it enthusiastically. Almost gleefully, in fact. Garret's weapon is not as sensitive as the sword; his preparation mostly consists of swinging the flail around a few times to loosen the chain, barely missing Elias as he comes in. "Good morning," he says to Lottie. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been shot in the chest," she winces. "I don't suppose you could offer some support?"

Elias shakes his head and spreads his palms apologetically. "I've been praying for you since I awoke, my dear, but I daren't risk channelling the spirit into you again until this afternoon. You don't want to know what a healing gone bad looks like." Lottie sighs painfully and checks the straps on her armour. Finally prepared, they set out towards the barrow. Miguel collects his rucksack and throws it over his shoulders with a grunt, although he leaves the hardy Garret to carry the mallet and spikes.

There's no sign of any disturbance outside of the barrow, barring the spatter of Lottie's blood on the grass, which still lies bent over in the rough shape of her body. The door she opened yesterday is ajar, the darkness within hiding countless dangers. She shivers. 

Lottie: Cowardice, vs 12: 7. 

"Still good to go in?" asks Miguel, hefting his shield to show support in his own, awkward way. The young girl nods bravely and follows him up to the door. Elias raises his lantern behind them, revealing the walls to be largely composed of earth, with ancient beams supporting the passageway placed every few yards. There's only room for them to walk single-file comfortably, so Miguel goes first, followed by Lottie, with Elias and Garret bringing up the rear. The shadows make it difficult to see ahead with the monk so far behind, but it's better than nothing. 

The Barrow I: Bodies, Bolts and Backup

The party set out the following morning. Miguel finds he's slightly overburdened, so he places his rucksack in the wheelbarrow for Garret apologetically. The big lad's a little grumpy, but it doesn't slow him down significantly, and he would have been far more annoyed if they'd taken longer to travel because Miguel was walking slowly. 

Weather: 7, passable. 

Travelling at a leisurely 2 miles an hour, they make it to the outskirts of Old Man Rutger's land before lunchtime. The barrows are visible behind his fields, although you wouldn't recognise them as such unless you knew what they were beforehand - they're sufficiently covered in turf that they barely stand out from the sometimes-hilly landscape. A handful of sheep can be spotted grazing away happily on their slopes, and the sounds of chickens clucking can be heard from the gate. "Looks normal to me," says Garret, as he trundles the wheelbarrow up the rough path towards the farmhouse. The house itself has seen better days - the roof needs re-thatching, for one. The grouchy farmer never was happy with how anyone else did it. Garret goes up to the front door - a creaky wooden affair - and raps on it heavily with his knuckles. 

Preparations II: Debt and Doorframes

The party's week in town is over all too quickly. The innkeep starts making oblique references to their advance payment being over, so they need to start looking for more work. Elias, as a travelling monk, spends his off days giving street sermons; Lottie is often found in the crowd of said sermons, lifting the purses of the faithful, while telling Elias that she absolutely was paying attention, and she's sure she'll come to the next one. Miguel and Garret, ever the hard workers, hit the bar. 

Intermission: Shopping Spree I

Lottie, Garret, Miguel and Elias have each earned 6 points and $745 in cash from their short adventure to the monastery, making them 131-point characters. Let's see how they spend them, and in the process clarify the options available to them (which don't vary much from those found in DF Setting 1: Caverntown). 

Mundane weapons and equipment are easy to find, including cheap versions. There's lots of dead bandits, brigands, mercenaries, and adventurers about, and just as many opportunistic scavengers willing to sell their stuff on for a quick buck. Anything fancy, especially well-made or of foreign construction is unlikely to appear, but might on a roll of 6 on 3d, with a penalty equal to the total cost factor/10. If it can't be found, they'll have to wait a week and check again, or get it made specially, which takes 1d+1 weeks, and needs to be paid for in advance. Armour, on the other hand, is made specifically for its owner. Sometimes it can be refitted - a suitable piece or suit of armour can be found on a roll of 9 or less on 3d, less the DR of the armour (better stuff is made less often!), and an additional penalty equal to the total cost factor/10. Anything magical isn't for sale, at least in Sternvale. They'll have to go further afield - or go looting. 

For points, anything on the appropriate DFRPG 250-point adventurer template is up for grabs, including advantages that aren't class-specific. Where the 125-point template ties into multiple 250-point ones, they must choose one that best fits their intended role, and stick with it until death does them part. Disadvantages may be bought down, but not off - a flawless hero is boring!

So, what do the intrepid adventurers buy?

The Monastery III: Loot Your Local Library

 Another day begins in the village of Sternvale. The innkeeper ambushes them in the communal hall. The party still don't have quite enough to buy a week's stay for each of them, so they hand over $50 to cover Lottie (who's afraid of commitment) and Garret (who isn't sure how long he's going to stay anyway) staying for the night, as well as $300 to lock Miguel and Elias in for the week. This leaves $231 in the communal purse - not worth splitting yet. Garret has an idea - why don't they go back to the monastery with a wheelbarrow and collect some of the larger books? The party agrees, and hand him $60, as he's the most experienced with farm equipment and the best at carrying heavy loads regardless. He returns within the hour, rolling it in front of him, and they set back out for the dungeon. 

Three hours later, they arrive in front of the monastery's chapel once more. "Did we leave the door open?" asks Garret as he nudges it with his boot. Nothing in the chapel appears disturbed, and the secret door is still closed, so they shrug and activate the mechanism, opening the door to the basement level once more. As Garret pushes goblets and plates aside with the wheelbarrow, and they gingerly step around the rat corpses - now beginning to fill with fly eggs - Elias pops up with an idea. Since they weren't passing through the other door, maybe they should block it with something? Garret and Miguel take one of the large tables and begin dragging it over to the door. It's not especially heavy work, but it is loud…

Intermission: Traps and How to Use Them

Last session, the party narrowly avoided becoming the victim of a crude goblin trap - a big stick that swings into your face when you open a door. Fans of Skyrim will be very familiar with this experience. Traps are vital to the Dungeon Fantasy experience: they encourage careful preparation and exploration, are fun to work around and integrate into the party's own plans, and perhaps most importantly, they give the thief something to do! Thieves get a little shafted without traps in the mix, as swashbucklers, martial artists and scouts are often just as good at sneaking about, and the wizard can like as not just turn the fighter invisible. 

So, we need traps - but when are they appropriate? Which ones are suitable for the situation? What if I really, really need a trap, right now, because the party is going a way I didn't expect them to? For answers to these questions, read on. 

The Monastery II: Fireside Fracas

Day breaks, and so does the rain. With a lot of help from Miguel and Elias, Werner takes the sack of table settings to the local pawn shop, where the owner takes pity on him and offers to buy the loot for 60% of its value. He feels somewhat cheated, and rolls against Overconfidence-12 (10) and Stubbornness-12 (10), deciding not to haggle, in case the merchant points out the many dents under the thick layer of rat-dropping patina. The party receives $248, $100 of which goes straight to the innkeeper, who waits outside tapping his foot. 

The party needs a fourth member. Lottie says that she knows a guy, and pops out of the tavern for a few hours. Despondent, the party sit around the fire for the morning until she returns, with a large, muscular man in tow. She introduces him as Garret (so-named for his birthplace), a part-time farmer, part-time bodyguard. He's a real mule of a man - stubborn, with a habit of kicking off at inconvenient times, and he never learned to read, but he more than makes up for it with broad shoulders and a mean kick. The cutpurse vouches for him, and he couldn't lie if he wanted to, so the party shakes his hand and asks how quickly he can start.