Last episode Edrik helped another dreg named Mira to secure a Relic with grand healing powers from an old ruin claimed by the Derweald. Thinking the Braided Chain Relic belongs to the Church of the One Light, Edrik left it with Mira once her father was cured.
Starting a new quest, I’d like Edrik to face more of the Church and want to pull in another PC. The backgrounds are so awesome. Maybe a druid type The Whispering Flame?
Pull in adventure crafter to set the stage for a story involving searching for a druid. Mystery Character is nowhere to be found (the druid)
Mystery Involves suspicion (the church do not like what the druid is doing)
Action Action intensifies (Templars still there?)
Mystery Mysterious new person (Templars taking orders from someone)
Mystery none
After bidding farewell to Mira and her father, Edrik set out to find a Druid said to have been tending an untouched grove within the Derweald. He believes the Druid may have knowledge to free spirits from their internment in Spell Marbles.
After a long trek, Edrik sees signs of the grove and is now approaching the outer perimeter. The thorned vines and roots of the Derweald thinning out were the first indication Edrik was on the right track. The lessening of the pull from the Derweald felt like a calming balm.
As he travelled closer, the vegetation began to brighten with more flowers and strong looking trees. Edrik, ever mindful of an ambush, his own preferred tactic afterall, crept towards a particularly dense grouping of trees.
Dex check 4D: 2 hits. Edrik will be able to prepare from a good position.
He can hear movement and some muffled voices.
2 Fulgid Templars: 5 HP, Armour 1, Sword d6 damage (I made up these foes to be rank and file One Light members).
Edrik has the Bonefinger Rattle, Oh’amunh dagger and Stiletto he could use to get the jump on them. Also, he has the Rise of Ashes ability (draw on long life experience to gain better positioning and use tried and true tactics). Edrik will wait for the perfect moment and watch to see what he can learn. He will use the successful Dex / stealth check to find a hidden place to observe and listen.
Edrik, silent as death, picked his way into the center of the grove. The abundance of vibrant moss assured his approach did not even cause a small rabbit to stir as he stepped beside it. He found a darkened place among some thick vines to settle into. Here, he watched and waited.
The Templars revealed they had already performed burial rights for three of their companions felled by the vicious druid. One Templar had a weal purpling around his left eye. Furthermore, Edrik was able to parse that 4 of their companions left with the druid on their way to the Fieldhearth Redoubt.1 They left two days ago heading north.
Edrik, completely inert, waited another half watch until the Templar with the swollen eye announced the need for relief. He moved to meet the Templar as he walked beyond their perimeter alone.
Dex / stealth test: 2 hits.
Like stalking death, Edrik moved up behind the Templar before thier belt was unclasped and drove the Stiletto into the base of their skull.2 He gently helped the body to the ground and turned his attention to the other Templar.
Dex check stealth 4D: No hits, push the roll (+ Fatigue): 2 hits.
Edrik crept up behind him, leading with Oh’amunh due to the Templar’s positioning. He let the dagger sup on the Templar’s lifeforce as he plunged it between armour joints and up into his ribs.3 The Templar yelled to his companion as he rolled away from Edrik, pulling his sword.4 5
Edrik tried to press his advantage and leaped in, Oh’amunh merely scraped along the Templar’s armour. The Templar was quick to respond with his longsword. Edrik took a glancing blow as he waded through the enemy’s defensive posture, landing a killing strike.
Edrik gave the dead bodies a cursory once over, collecting some rations. Next, he slowly walked and took in the grove. It seemed like a well kept home of sorts - save for the recent damage. Grouped trees and shrubbery formed areas, walkways, hallways and rooms. The sun streamed in via glowing beams through the canopy above and wildlife began to show their presence now that the commotion had ended.
A central area had a spring with clear clean water and an altar nearby. Lush moss for a sleeping area and even a small cavity under an outcrop with food resting in the coolness there. Charms and fetishes hung everywhere on braided twine. Edrik pocketed a sole empty spell marble. He was looking forward to meeting this druid.
Dusk was approaching and Edrik chose to risk that the party gain distance vs travelling through the Derweald in the dark. Better to stay in the safety of the grove until dawn.
Reduce Fatigue and fully recover HP.
Tracking the 4 One Light members and the druid will start with a track of 8. Edrik will have an advantage in speed over a larger group and will roll from a good position with rolls directly related to tracking them. He will begin each day looking for signs and uses progress to gain on them.
Day 1. Watch 1. Search Fortune likely from good position 3D: 2 hits.
Edrik is able to find their trail with ease. He begins his trek in earnest.
Day 1. Watch 2. Travel fortune roll Likely from standard positioning 3D: No hits. Setback: Detour add 1 box to track.
Even though the weather held and Edrik made some progress, he knew the party had increased their lead. The shadowy dismal Derweald roots and thorned vines soon faded into more sparse brush with few trees as Edrik trekked north.
Day 1. Watch 3. Camp. (vulnerable at night with no watch, but it is in a secluded spot) 2D: 1 Hit for a better position on the next roll. Setback: Chilled.
Edrik made camp in a somewhat hidden yet open spot. He slept fairly well without incident but woke chilled to the bone.
Day 2. Watch 1. Search F roll good Pos 3D: 2 hits.
Day 2. Watch 2. Travel F roll Standard pos 2D: 1 hit, progress setback: Chilled.
All day, Edrik made headway while the northern winds blasted his every step. He was gaining on the group but took time to find a spot for camp where he could light a small fire.
Day 2. Watch 3. Camp (Use rise of Ashes for survival skills) for better position 2D: No hits. Push = Fatigued: 1 hit for +1 D on next travel roll. Setback: Spoiled ration roll.
Edrik was exhausted by the time he found a safe place to make a fire. The outcropping provided plenty of shelter and he warmed himself fully by the fire. Sleep and fitful dreams finally took him late in the night.
Day 3. Watch 1. Search: 1 Hit. +1 die on travel roll. Setback: -1 on the next search roll in this region.
Day 3. Watch 2. Travel good pos 4D: 2 hits.
Day 3 Watch 3. Camp (extra die) 3D: 1 hit. Boon +1 Travel. Setback: Thief. Lose equipment. Ration roll from animals. - fatigued.
Edrik made excellent headway today and made camp, intending to get a good head start in the morning. Signs of the party told him he was very close - he should find them the following day. Unfortunately some rodents got into his pack and ate some of his rations while camping for the night.
Day 4. Watch 1. Travel F roll 3D: no hits! Chilled.
Day 4. Watch 2. Search: 1 hit. +1 Ration. Setback: Where: Wilds. Pressure: Dread. Cost: Weapon. Fallout: Shamed. I think this points to Edrik’s identity as a Thornmouth. His Mask gets compromised. The next scene just popped into my head, so I’ll just go with it and see what happens…
Edrik finally spots the party briefly as their silhouettes disappear over a rise far ahead. The sun was beginning to set behind and to the west, he… a thin sharp sound, a flicker, pain in his forehead as it snapped back. Thrown off his feet, landing on his back, hard. Gasping for air, trying to sit up. Something… his head… his hand coming away from his forehead bloody… Something was wrong! An ambush… don’t think… run!
Edrik kept low and ran southeast. He caught a glimpse of his Mask of the Swallowed on the ground, split with a white crossbow bolt sticking out gaudily.6
No thinking… hide… wait. He found some scrub to hide behind while keeping the place of the attack in sight.
Dex / stealth check 4D: no hits. Damn! Push +1 Fatigue: 2 hits.
Edrik began to process what had just happened. They must have spotted him following and set up the ambush. He waited, still as death, only his eyes tracking for motion. He could feel that the bleeding had stopped and was drying along the side of his… face. He slid his hand into a pocket and grasped the Fingerbone Rattle.
The sun continued to set as an hour passed. Through the Fingerbone Rattle, he kept tabs on the vermin in the surrounding area. There! Vermin skittering away from something slowly moving. It was like a pocket or hole in the awareness of all the little vermin in the tall grasses.
Edrik cautiously began to flank the pocket of silence. Soon he saw shadowed movement. A One Light Assassin, no doubt about it, skulking towards the spot where he was hit. They were good. Moving from cover to cover and waiting, patient as death, before moving one to the next spot of cover.
One Light Assassin 8 HP, 0 Armour, 1D / 1D Twinned Daggers, 1D-1 Crossbow. Way of Light Spell Marble: Mercy’s Spark (P4 Uses) P4. Let the gentle hand take up wrath, for mercy sharpens the strike. Your character’s next attack deals +1 Damage, the next deals an additional +1 Damage, and so on. (The One Light Assassin is another foe I put tegether based on other entries in the bestiary).
Edrik will try to get the drop on the Assassin: Dex / stealth 4D: 0 hits. +1 Fatigue to push the roll: 0 hits. Oh boy…
The One Light Assassin had her back to Edrik, crouched low, Edrik’s Mask of the Swallowed in her hand while looking over the grass in the growing darkness of dusk. Edrik approached, dagger at the ready. A twig snapped under his foot and the One Light Assassin dove, rolling to the side, one dagger in hand, glint of a marble in the other. Her mouth twitched slightly as she took in Edrik’s face, before gritting her teeth for the business at hand.7
Edrik advanced first, feinting with Oh’amunh and coming down with the other arm to bury the Stiletto in the Assassin’s shoulder. She grunted but jabbed quickly with her dagger, timed with a sharp sparking glow of the marble in her other hand. Edrik snarled, his teeth looking more garish in the rising moonlight, as he ignored the slice along his ribs. He punched forward, Oh’amunh keeping her dagger up and away to end her life with the Stiletto.
Edrik scanned the horizon and ducked down. He took one of her daggers, 10 c, Crossbow, pack of bolts and the Spell Marble. Finally he picked up the Mask of the Swallowed. A white bolt was embedded above one eye hole with a large crack, wide at the top of the mask, narrowing as it ran along the bolt to a thin line down the mask. Carefully, he pulled the bolt free and packed it all away as he assessed his options.
He had a difficult night ahead.
Session end. Oh wow! Was that ever fun to play out! I’m getting used to the sort of free-form procedural mechanics of Boundless. There is enough built in to provide a solid base structure and a large part of that structure asks for player interpretation, especially if playing solo of course. The procedures feel like guidelines. I am also feeling more comfortable adding sparks and interpreting them to fit along with the narrative being weaved.
I was able to create the One Light Assassin using entries from the bestiary as a guide. There are also tips on the Fari RPG website: https://farirpgs.com/boundless/game/bestiary/
Boundless has an open license, which I love, and is also on the website. I keep imagining other Backgrounds and Ways for magics and regions. Full freedom to run with that feels great should anyone wish to put it out under that open license. Cool as hell.
It was this combat, (and the next one in Session 5) that seemed to spark an understanding of dangerous combat and using the environment, skill and gear for me. I think this is part of what OSR is all about - I’m here for it.
Boundless is approaching a full release soon. In the meantime, check out the Boundless 2 page rules on itch!
For this and other Actual Plays check out my Table of Contents Page.
I also make games! Check out my Itch.io page: Kerova Archive. I am also on DriveThruRPG and RPGTrader.
settlement table roll.
Damage: 6
3 damage. Note: Edrik was first attacking from good positioning and could have added 3 to his attack ending the combat - but the prolonged fight was worth the damger.
Oh’amunh is able to take 10 years from the victim’s life. It has a usage pool of 2 dice. To represent this I will roll a d6 to determine how many decades a victim has left. This could allow the dagger to end a potentially prolonged fight faster if a victim only had 10 to 20 years left to live. This Templar has 40 years left, now only 30 if he survives. Oh’amunh usage pool 2: 2 hits = no change. It also recharges when it takes a life.
Initiative: Edrik. Damage: 1D-1 and 1D rolled: 0 Damage through the armour! T atk: 5 Damage to Edrik. Edrik: Killl. E recovers 5 HP.
Damage roll 1: armour 1 = no damage
I am loving this combat. Init: E. 6 damage (I needed that roll). OLA: Big 7 Damage. Marble now P2. Rnd 2. 2 Damage: Assassin killed. Edrik heals 6 Damage. Big rolls right now. Scary.
Fun stuff! I like how you generated the assassin. The system reminds me of ToP a little, I guess they're similar, right? Maybe Boundless is also inspired by the Grief Engine, which I only know from ToP.
This was a great episode !! If you end up developing custom material for the game please tell me about it as I’d love to either showcase (or host) on the website to make it accessible to as many people as possible ! This was super cool and I loved how you improvised from those spark rolls