Ambush on the Road

(Author’s Note: This chapter and the next include some more detailed combat with rolls; the whole story won’t be like this since it’s a little slow-moving, it’s just setting the scene for how the game works.)

“The villages of western Norhassel are in trouble,” I said, putting on my DMing monologue voice. “The war against the Dark Tyrant has been raging for eight gruelling years in the east, and the attention of the realm’s kings, dukes and knights have been turned towards that cause for long enough that the west, once a peaceful and bounteous region of resources worked by the smallfolk, has slowly slipped into shambles. Patrols of the King’s Men no longer watch the roads. Generations of adventurous young men have been recruited from their homes into the army. Some will return, hopefully, at the end of the war - that has always been the hope. But as the years wore on, and bandits stalked the highways, and rumours of monsters spotted in the deep woods spread from village to village, life has become worn down. This is the land through which you are travelling.”

I pulled out a map of the region that I had designed - it was a rough drawing, like something they would have gotten scrawled on a parchment by an innkeeper and not a fancy map from a cartographer. “You have been travelling the King’s Way, here, towards the village of Tremulous Crook, bearing a message for the Headswoman who manages the affairs of Duke Unger, whose land this is. You have, however, come upon one of the many problems that plague travellers these days.”

I looked at Rhia. “Olivia of Parnasus,” I said. “You were thirsty and turned to grab your waterskin from the side of your pack, and that brief moment is what saved your life as the crossbow bolt tugs at your hair, passing right through the space your face was in a moment before, and thunking into your pack. What do you do?”

Rhia blinked, and then shook her head as she tried to get into character with the Hot Start I had planned. “Bandits!” she said, affecting a slight British accent that was pretty common for people starting out in fantasy roleplaying. Then she mimed drawing a sword and looked at the others. “Watch your butts, ladies!”

That got a couple of chuckles and snorts from the others, and I called for them to roll initiative to set their turn order. Elyse had gotten a quick primer from Tori, but I still coached her so she knew what I was asking of her. Once I had the turn order sorted, I turned to Tori.

“As soon as you heard the thunk of the crossbow bolt burying into Olivia’s pack, Jade, your lightning-fast reflexes kicked in. You can see two men stepping out onto the road ahead of you, each of them wielding woodsman axes menacingly, and a quick glance behind you shows a woman armed with a large knife doing the same. What would you like to do?”

Tori worked her jaw for a second and I could tell she was making that last-minute decision what her character would sound like. “Can I see where the varmint with the crossbow is?” she asked, affecting a southern drawl.

I had her roll a Perception check, but she rolled low.

“No dice,” I said. “They shot from somewhere in the trees around you and you can’t see them.”

“Alright,” Tori said. “Then I leap forward, rushing towards the two men ahead of us and yell, ‘One be’ind, and a coward in the bushes!’ Can I reach the two men?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

“Awesome. I want to jump the last few feet and use my Wuju-style to dropkick the first one right in the fucking face!” Tori grinned. Hearing those words, out of her, in the accent she was using was a bit of a trip.

“First we need to know what you look like when you do it,” I said. “I assume all your characters are dressed about how you gals are, but Jade is the first Harefolk player character that’s ever shown up in Firth, so you get to tell me how Rabbity or Persony they are. Are we talking humans with ears, or like Peter Rabbit where you’re almost all rabbit and just wear some clothes?”

“Oh, I’m definitely, like, Lola Bunny ratio,” Tori said. “Big hare feet, powerful humanoid legs and torso, but covered in light fur. Boobs are obvious under my leather top. But my head is mostly cute rabbit girl, and big floppy ears like I’m wearing.”

“You’re such a furry,” Rhia teased her.

“Am not!” Tori laughed. “You can’t tell me Lola Bunny in the original Space Jam didn’t open up some bisexual curiosity in pretty much every girl.”

“I’m not saying she didn’t,” Rhia smirked. “But you came up with those fancy, high-quality ears pretty fast.”

Tori did blush then. “Well, my older brother is kind of a furry,” she said. “When I came up with the idea, I asked him about getting them, and he had like… contacts. I’m honestly a little worried about how fast he got me exactly what I was looking for.”

“Alright,” I said. “So you run up faster than either of the men expect and you leap up with your big, powerful feet into a drop kick. If we were seeing this in a comic book, it’s a shot of you flying through the last few feet in the air, about to kick this bandit’s teeth in. ‘Jade Highkick’ is splashed across the page. Tell us what her nickname is, and then make your attack roll.”

“Ooh,” Tori said, and then clucked her tongue rapidly as she quickly thought of it. “Jade’s nickname is definitely ‘Stonefoot’ because of how hard she kicks.”

“Doesn’t that sound like she’s slow, though?” Elyse asked.

“Damn, yeah,” Tori said. “OK. Her nickname is ‘Steel-toe’ because she kicks like she’s wearing steel-toe boots.”

“Awesome,” I said, writing it down in my notes.

Tori rolled her dice and quickly checked her sheet. “My unarmed strike is an eighteen.”

“Nice!” I said. “As you fly at the bandit you can see he’s grimy, and has probably spent weeks out here in the wilds, but he’s wearing a fairly nice and clean leather jerkin - other than the patched stab wound and stain of blood on it. Roll damage.”

Tori rolled again and did the math quickly. “Six points of damage.”

“Are you trying to kill him, or just knock him out?” I asked.

Tori blew out a breath, glancing at the others.

“You’re already flying through the air and kicking him in the face, you can’t ask your friends right now,” I said.

“Fuck it,” Tori said. “He’s obviously wearing looted kit. I’m not pulling my punches. Or kicks.”

“Alright,” you said. “Our comic moves on and we see the impact of both of Jade’s feet as they hit the bandit in the chest and face, snapping his head back and sending him falling backwards. He is at least out of the current fight.”

“Yes!” Tori said with a grin.

“Renee, you’re up next,” I said, turning my attention to Elyse. “Your half-elf reflexes aren’t quite as fast as Jade’s, but you are already moving as your friend Olivia shouts her warning.”

“There’s a lady bandit behind us, right?” Elysa asked.

“There is. She’s holding a large hunting knife of some sort and is stalking towards you.”

“Alright, I turn to her and say, ‘Fight from the shadows, die by the shadows!’ and I want to blast her with a spell,” Elyse said. She didn’t put on a voice for her character, but that was more than fine.

“Cool,” I said. “Which spell on your list would you like to use? Remember you have the ‘Free’ level ones that you can cast over and over, and you have the limited First Level spells that you can only use a couple of times a day right now.”

“Um…” Elyse said. “If I’m blasting her, I guess ‘Fiery Bolt’ makes sense.”

“Sounds good. She’s still about ten feet away from you. What’s it look like when you start casting magic?”

Elyse smirked a little. “I think it’s like the classic ‘wind that no one else can feel’ thing where her robe and hair start to blow around a little, and the tattoos on her head and neck start to glow a purple colour. And her eyes do that too!”

“Very spooky!” I said. “So that all starts to happen as you reach out and touch the weave of magic that’s in all things, drawing upon your powers. In the comic book ‘Renee de l’Ombre’ splashes on the page. What’s her tagline, and then roll your d20 and add your spell attack number to it at the top of your character sheet?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Elyse said. “Under her name is ‘Princess of Shadows.’ And I rolled…. A seven to hit.”

“Ah, bad luck even with a cool name,” I said. “What does your fiery bolt look like?”

“Can it be more like… a black fire? Like a shadowy bolt since that's what my magic is?”

“Sure!” I said. “You gather your power and release your shadowy bolt at the woman stalking towards you, but she’s got her eyes focused on you and sees the attack coming. She has to dive out of the way, but your magic skips off further down the road before splatting against a tree and leaving a scorch mark. She definitely looks a little worried that they’ve decided to ambush someone who can do that though.”

Elyse grinned, scrunching up her nose cutely as I softened the miss a little, and nodded.

“Next up are the bandits,” I said. “The man still in front of you guys reacts to Jade rushing forward and he’s going to let out a wordless shout of anger and charge at her with his axe held high. What’s your AC, Jade?”

Tori checked her sheet. “Fifteen right now.”

“OK,” I said, rolling behind my DM screen and doing the quick math. “He comes in and tries to swing at you, but you’re too fast. How do you dodge him?”

“Well, I drop-kicked that last guy so I guess I’m on the ground where I landed,” Tori said. “So can I roll out of the way and then kip up like a badass?”

“Sure,” I said. “The dropkick was cool, and usually you wouldn’t actually be prone after your attack, so you roll sideways, the axe chunking into the dirt of the road just beside you, and you do a fast kip up and are back in your fighting stance. Meanwhile, the woman bandit decides if she’s going to fight someone with magic, she better do it fast - she charges in at you with her big knife, Renee. What’s your AC?”

Rhia, sitting next to her, helped her find it on her sheet. “Twelve,” Elyse said. “Worse than Tori’s - I mean Jade’s.”

“That’s true, but I still have to try to roll to hit you,” I said. I rolled the dice and internally winced - I never liked beating up on a new player and she’d already missed her first attack. But, maybe I could help her do something else cool. “The woman comes in, darting quicker than you would have expected, and stabs the point of her big knife towards your guts. She’s so fast you don’t have time to dodge out of the way, but you do have time to do something by muscle memory. You can either take the hit, or I saw earlier that you have the Shield spell on your list. If you cast that, you’ll block it.”

“Mmm,” Elyse said, furrowing her brow in concentration as she studied her character sheet and spell list. “That means I’ll only have one of my powerful spells left for the day, right?”

“Just a day in game, not today,” Rhia said. “If we get a chance to rest, you’ll get your spells back.”

“Oh,” Elysa said. “I get it. OK, yeah, I mean I’d rather not get stabbed in the stomach! I’ll use Shield.”

“Cool,” I said. “So you summon a pane shadow **** with a quick flare of your magic and a snap of your hands and wrists. The knife hits it like it’s a brick wall and there’s a weird scratching, tearing noise as it’s deflected and the woman finds herself eye-to-eye with your glowing purple orbs. Want to say anything to her?”

Elyse stilled her face, resuming that stoic one she’d had on when she first came into the room. “Welcome to the party,” she said dramatically. “Wait! No, I’ve got a better one. ‘Shades to meet you.’”

Tori and Rhia both snorted and started laughing.

“OK, I need to work on my shadow pun one-liners,” Elyse chuckled.

“Well, you’ve definitely made an impact on this female bandit,” I grinned. “Let’s see - OK. Next up is Olivia, and then the mysterious Crossbowman.”

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