Friday 2 November 2018

So Few Signs of Life

When I bought a copy of the Tunnels & Trolls Adventurers Compendium, I noticed that some other T&T material was downloadable for free on the site hosting it, so I grabbed some of that at the same time. This included the solo adventure The Temple of Issoth, by Dan Hembree, which seems more thematically appropriate for this time of year than anything in the Compendium, so I'm having a go at it now.

Only characters of a certain standard can try this adventure, but the requirements are met by my veteran character from Seven Ayes (okay, so his track record consists only of a trip to the pub, but getting out of there intact still makes him more of a survivor than the vast majority of T&T characters), so I'll use him rather than one of the pre-generated characters provided. His poor Charisma could be an issue, as the General Instructions suggest that all stats may be tested at different stages, but that's a risk I'll just have to take.

The priests of Issoth have abducted the son of a local farmer, and intend to sacrifice him. Based on what he has heard about me from the innkeeper, the farmer has sought my assistance, though I'm not sure how the rather limited skillset I displayed in my previous adventure qualifies me for the rescue mission. I'm offered 100 gold talents if I do this, which is apparently not a great deal, though I do also have the option of declining the reward. I’m low on funds, and the reward offered could get me some reasonably good armour, so I think I’ll accept, but if I survive and get some decent loot in the temple, I’ll let the farmer keep his money.

The farmer thanks me, and urges me to make haste, as the sacrifice will probably be held before sunrise. I head off to the temple, which apparently just appeared one night, turning the farmland around it into a wasteland. Its malign influence is clearly powerful, as I have to trek through the desolation for a couple of hours to get to the temple, a surprisingly non-ominous-looking structure. No external walls surround it, and I see no guards, nor any features other than the double doors. Still, there may be a less obvious entrance round the side or back, so I make a quick recce. This requires me to make a Saving Roll on Luck, and the rules don’t appear to be working quite as I’m accustomed to: rather than having a set difficulty level, I just roll and check to see what level check the roll would pass. That has ramifications for the Experience Points gained, but as I roll just too low for even a level 1 success, I may not be around long enough for that to matter.

Behind the temple I run into a couple of guards, who are surprised to see me, but not sufficiently so to give me any advantage in the ensuing battle. We’re surprisingly evenly matched, though my lack of armour could tip things in their favour. And it does – well, that and the fact that the dice seem biased against me. Round after round I take small amounts of damage, only scoring a hit once, and on that lone occasion not doing sufficient damage to diminish the guards’ effectiveness, and then when I’m on my last legs, the guards suddenly get lucky and do almost as much damage with their final spear thrusts as they did in the whole of the rest of the fight.

Just out of curiosity, I replayed the fight, and the second time round I won at the cost of just over a third of my Constitution points. But there are no rematches in battle to the death, so I have to go with the unfavourable outcome.

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