Book 2: Act 1 - Words of the Wise

[Muskrat]

Varuthil looks at Pipkin with new respect--that is, when he finally appears again. She whispers to the others, "We had best wait for Amalric and the others to loose their arrows first, to give them a chance at taking the stag. Once the deer are spooked, we can try our hand." That said, she knocks her bow and holds it ready.

[Trogdor]

Pipkin nods. He's just following the lead of the others on this. So he too gets his bow ready, and waits for the main hunting party to set things in motion before firing.

OOC

Fire when things start. And heck yea, spend a Hope if it'll help. I'm a hobbit. Hope I have a lot of.

[Eilandor]

Wren whispers, "Good idea Varuthil."

He readies his bow and scopes out for deer more out in the open than others, perhaps with less chance of finding immediate cover when the hail of arrows falls.

OOC

Spend hope if needed.

[TetNak]

Aerth prepares his Shepherd's bow for the shot. He takes a few deep breaths, sliding an arrow from the quiver. "Let my aim be true," he says to himself. The half-elf slowly aims and eventually fires.

Action

Use Hope!

[Vardaen]

The Stag is at the far side of the clearing, and the deer are much much closer. You give the Woodmen plenty of time to get set, and then open your volley on the small group of deer.


Your quartet fires off almost in perfect unison. Aerth and Pipkin end up targeting the same deer and their arrows fly true striking the neck of the fine creature only seconds apart. The two arrows are far too much for the deer to survive and it topples over with a scream and several kicks before it expires.

Wren and Varuthil also target the same, but Varuthil's shot flies embassingly high over the head of the deer spooking not only the deer but the Stag way at the far end of the clearing. Wren's shot as a result hits the target in the flank, and the animal screams in pain and bolts into the forest charging through the brush, near to Borir.

The Fellowship has dropped one but another badly wounded animal is racing into the forest....

Roll

You get 1 shot.

Its Hard TN16

Aerth: 3,2,4=9 + Hope (Favored!) 7 = 16 success for 5 Endurance

Pipkin: 8,5,4 = 17 Success for 5 Endurance

Varuthil: "Sauron Rune" Miss

Wren: 7,1,4,3 = 15 + Hope (Favored) 6 = 21 success for 5 Endurance

I'm going to assume two of you team up, one deer drops. Another does not.

Do you give chase? I'll give Borir a bonus on the chasing since he's positioned himself for this sort of thing.

[Muskrat]

A look of frustration crosses Varuthil's face. She knocks another arrow and prepares to move after the fleeing deer.

Display

Uh, my plan had been to wait until Amalric and others had actually shot at the stag, to avoid doing just what I did--spooking it. Not a big deal though.

Pursue the fleeing deer. I'm not sure what the gain is to spending Hope on a casual hunt.

[Trogdor]

Pipkin has helped down one deer, and that's more than he'd expected when he started out. He leaves the second deer for the others to deal with and moves into the clearing to check on the quality of the venison they'll be having for dinner.

OOC

With little in the way of skills to help with this, Pipkin will retain some dignity and stay with the first deer.

[Shurijo]

Borir watches as the deer flees. The dwarf takes notice and begins to position himself to intercept the deer, hoping that the archers arrows don't pierce him rather than the deer.

Action

I know it's comical to keep killing game/deer/boar with melee, but I'm a dwarf..

Use hope pt if I get a swing at it

[Eilandor]

Wren is about to chide the elf for her errant shot but quickly remembers it could have just as easily been him. Instead he tries to turn a negative into a positive.

Looking over to Varuthil, "Your next shot will strike true, I'm sure of it."

He then draws another arrow and takes aim at the deer running into cover. Catching sight of Borir, Wren doesn't want to take the chance. He instead scans the area for any other potential targets. The elf spots several deer but they seem just out of range. He quietly gets up and starts to pursue them. Bow ready he takes a shot when he closes the gap.

Action

Spend hope on this most difficult of shots!

[Vardaen]

Pipkin knows he has no real chance of chasing down a deer so instead bounds into the clearing after the deer that was downed to see what he can do about that animal.

The wounded deer flees, and it flees straight at the waiting Borir as you hear shouts and barks from the far side of the clearing. The woodmen have loosed the hounds, and they come charging into the clearing scattering and deer that might remain and plow into the underbrush barking and howling as they give chase. The wounded deer charges right at the dwarf, who, once again as luck would have it, is in the right place at the right time and his axe fells the noble animal with a single swing that cleaves one if its legs off near to the hips. The bleating animal topples into the trees with a crash.

Wren's bow turns from the wounded deer to the ones the hounds are chasing and he gives chase himself calling after Varuthil. He nimbly moves through the trees and catches the bright white tail of the deer up in the air as he fires at the fleeing creature. The arrow strikes home and sinks into its flank leaving a trail of blood as the staggering and stumbling animal nearly falls. Varuthil, alongside Wren spots the same animal and fires, but at the last second her shot strikes into the thunk of a tree as this third deer turns into the cover of the forest.

Aerth, the whole group not lost yet, the noise of the hounds echoing all about gives him plenty of options...

Roll

GM

I know Muskrat, but the "Sauron Rune" on the roll made things go awry.

FYI before this fight I refilled all your quivers to 20 arrows.

The wounded deer lags behind the rest of the pack, and isn't too terribly hard to try and catch up. An Atheletics TN12 allows you to catch up to it to use a close combat weapon. Since Borir was set up, his TN is only 10.

Chasing one of the uninjured deer is another story, and I have a list of rules on gaining enough ground to take a ranged attack at it, etc. It seem to me however you are just going for the hurt one.

Borir: Athletics 1(Favored): "Gandalf Rune", 4 = Success
Catch the Deer: Close Combat Attack: 5,6t,3,5 = 19 Great Success: 5 + 6 Endurance = 11 DEAD

Wren: Chase Healthy Deer:
Athletics 3: 4,4,5,2 = 15 Success
Shoot: 6,3,4,2 = 15 Success for 5 Endruance

Varuthil: Chase Healthy Deer w/ Wren
Athletics 3: 3,5,3,4 = 15 Success
Shoot: 2,3,4 = 9 Miss No Hope

Pipkin: Stays to tend to the dead deer

Aerth: ??? you can give chase and shoot at the wounded deer (this is the 2nd wounded one, third total)