Ronny [ Deacon, Hound (like a ranger) ] was sent down the Fort Augmentin road to scout. He came running back.
"They're coming!" he spluttered. "Six guards and an open wagon full of barrels. At least, I hope it's them."
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| but with no trees... |
stream through a ford. This would make a good choke-point.
Here, they hastily placed some vague and make-shift rocks to slow any crossing wagon, and then positioned themselves behind other convenient rocks and the odd bush, ready to strike.
Moonlight Birdsong [ Chris, Druid ] dug a depression in the stream, enough to submerge himself beneath the water. He breathed through a reed tube.
The wagon arrived (lucky it was the right one!) and went down the depression into the stream to cross at the ford. Three of the wagon guards jumped off to clear away the rocks that blocked the way.
"Now!" shrieked party leader Huilam [ Jamie, Spider (mastermind/coordinator/leader) ].
The Engagement roll was three dice: 1D plus 1D from Ronny's reconnoiter and plus 1D from Huilam's feat. The highest value was a 5, which meant "Risky". Risky is normal; other possible results were "Controlled" and "Desperate".
Burrito [ Darryl, Hound ], Ronny and Sorrow [ Jeff, Lurk (thief) ] opened up with their bows...
The logical choice for a bow shot is HUNT Action. Burrito did a Lead-a-Group on the archers which meant he could use the HUNT rolls from Ronny and Sorrow as well. The risk being that any fail rolls (1-3) from any of them would count against his Stress. There were no fail rolls. One of the rolls came up two 6s, which is a "Critical"!
... and with superb shooting dropped three of the targets.
Hypothetically, what would have happened with other results?
One 6 would have been a "success". The targets would still have fallen, but they'd get a Fortune roll and might be scratched rather than out for the count.
4 or 5 would have been a "success, but ..." As above, but the "but" would mean maybe some of the party would be wounded by return fire, or the rocks would have been cleared, or the foe might risk taking the wagon through a different route, or risk the wheels on the bad terrain.
1, 2, 3 would have been a "fail, and ..." As above, but none of the baddies fall or even be scratched.
El Cid [ Shane, Cutter (fighter) ] cried out "Three of you are down! Surrender, or we will drop the other three!"
El Cid did a COMMAND (2D) action on the foe to do this. He also did a Lead-a-Group with Huilam helping with his own COMMAND (2D). A 6 was the highest roll. Success.
Realizing the precarious situation they were in, the other three quickly surrendered.
They were tied up and interrogated. One of the shot ones was at death's door, so Rita [ Ian, Brightspark (priestess of REAL) ] cast a Cure on him.
The wagon had ten barrels. Rita cast a Detect Magic spell and that showed that six of the barrels were magic.
"These must be the Magic Grape barrels," she mused.
The other four barrels contained only wine.
The leader of this group was a half-elf called Gertrude. Huilam plied them all with wine, and then he interrogated Gertrude. She didn't know much, but they were planning to be met by a group outside of Scabport, and thus sneak the barrels in to the city.
All the sloshed prisoners were loaded into the wagon and covered with a tarp (Sorrow's tarp).
Attlee [ Kevin, Lurk ] drove, with Huilam and El Cid beside him.
Rita and Ronny headed off ahead to go the Scabport to report to the Wizards' Guild. They were faster than the two-horse dray, so were soon out of sight.
After half an hour of travel, Attlee was dozing off, and he misread a corner. The wagon left the road into a steep ditch on the side ...
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| nearly ... |
... but with a superb piece of skilled driving, Attlee judged the incline angle right, and didn't break a wheel, nor disgorge the wagon contents, nor hurt the horses. With shaking hands and sweaty brow, Attlee resumed the travel.
Half an hour from Scabport, Attlee pulled the wagon off and hid it behind a rise.
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| Sly Dunbar, WG Liaison |
Rita & Ronny by now were in Scabport. They went to the Wizards' Guild. Here they met up with Sly Dunbar and gave him the good news. He furnished them with documentation to get the wagon past the Scabport Night guards.
Back on the plains, skulking Burrito spotted a group of four walking up the road. He quickly told the party, and everyone stayed low and hidden behind the rise, and the four walked blithely past. Burrito returned to his guarding and Sorrow then tailed the four.
Rita & Ronny made their way out on to the plains and headed back towards the party - her searchlight Sunray forehead lighting the way. [ Priests of REAL have a beam-focused bright light on their foreheads ]. Burrito spotted the search-light from leagues away, and by the time the two arrived, the wagon was back on the road and headed towards them.
With the WG paper-work, it was no trouble to get past the Scabport Night guards. They weren't even interested in examining the barrels.
At the Wizards' Guild, the wagon was unloaded in the WG loading bay. Sly Dunbar then paid Rita the agreed coinage, and then the group took the wagon and horses (now theirs) back to their secret base.
Downtime
BitD/FitD has a concept called Downtime which is done after a Score (Mission). It abstracts into four things:
- Payoff (good) - The crew (group/party) earns money and reputation. Money is abstracted into units called COIN. This score earned 6 COIN and 3 REP. The crew is an entity in its own right, with its own class (Smugglers), attributes, skills and feats. And REP is how a crew earns experience and advances (and benefits all the members).
- Heat (bad) - HEAT is an indication as to how notorious the crew is. The more HEAT, the more the big-cheeses or the law start to sit up and take notice. Too much HEAT gets you WANTED.
- Entanglements (bad) - This is random occurrences that happens to the crew, the members' friends or their vice peddlers. It is a function of HEAT and WANTED.
- Downtime Activities (good) - Each character can do two of: Acquire Asset (get a temporary toy for one score), Long-term Project (build something or plan something), Heal, Reduce Heat (clear some of the crew's HEAT), Train, Indulge Vice (helps to clear Stress).
