Descending into the remnants of the old fort, a strange golem with a fiddle is their first challenge to overcome.
- 198 - The Cat and the Fiddle. It's an inn. The one element that just leaps from the page is a strawman playing a fiddle.
- 196 - Goblin Tower. Some goblins have build a strong tower.
Non-combat type thing, though some combat might show up. The minimites from yesterday had something like a Skill 7 + Dodge 8 thing going. I like that. Skill 7 creature, +9 Dodge. +4 Violin Playing. 15 magic points. As long as it has magic points, it has life. Any MP or Stamina spent to cast spells near it, it cancels the spell and absorbs the points. As long as it is not fiddling, it gains +1MP per hour. As long as it is fiddling, it loses -1MP.
If you manage to hit it with a weapon or fist, it will expend 1MP and then teleport somewhere else in the room. Crits merely do double damage. Fumbles, however, any damage you take from the fumble is absorbed by the creature.
Once destroyed, the Straw Fiddler will rebuild itself over the next day.
Is it guarding the sword? (50/50) → 99. A Random Event. Let's see... 10 Burden 90 Setback. The sword is before the Straw Fiddler. It traps people and convinces them they are going the right away. Ah, I'll say the sword is held in the fist of the statue. That would make sense with the other card.
We'll allow a Skill vs 10 sort of check to see if they realize they are going deeper into traps. If they do not pass, they will have at least one more encounter and each time it will get a bit more obvious that it's a trap.
Does the Bow speed up the process? (50/50) → 22. Another random event. Let's see: 36 Distant 81 Official. I'll say "no" but some entity behind the relics will sense its presence. Something will start watching.
They hear the sound of fiddling as they enter into the room. For a brief moment, they sense the chamber is a small place. Barely larger than a bedroom a peasant might have. But they are wrong, because it is a large place. A stately ballroom. Fire blazing. A table set for a feast.
In one corner, far from the fire, a golem made of straw and made to be something like a person, dressed in regal clothes, playing a lovely tune on a cherrywood fiddle The sound drifts around, catches in the ears, and pours out like water.
Above, a large glass chandelier swings to and fro. Stained glass windows let in the summerlight from outside.
And on that table, small silverware and cups dance to the tune, laughing in their silver and ceramic voices.
Barston blinks a few times...
Four round one, I'll give the Straw Fiddler a +3 bonus. 7+4+2d6(8) = 19. B (using just Skill): 4+7 = 11. D (using just Skill): 5+8 = 13. F (using Skill + Second Sight) = 4+1+7 = 13. None penetrate the illusion just yet. We'll let that dwindle each check.
Number of hours that pass = 1d6 = 4. Straw Fiddler will lose -4MP. 11 remain.
NOTE: In general rules, this should probably be Luck checks, but I would feel bad doing more than a single one. Maybe at the end.
...and, no, it is the stately ballroom. Faruin laughs and goes over to the food at the table and after a few sniffs takes a bit. Derron goes around and sits in a lounge chair to watch the fiddler. His face an almost unreadable expression.
Barston is the one who spots the problem.
"There are no doors. Where did we come in?"
"...behind the tapestry...?," Faruin asks with a mouthful of food.
Barston leans back and forward. He has the sudden sense of being tired. Like he has been standing still for hours.
I take it back, Barston is an Arcane Blank. He does get a Luck roll. One that does not detract from his score. He rolls a 6 vs his current Luck of 8. He makes it. The spell will crumble around him. I...forgot when I wrote this encounter. Still makes sense that a trap laid for a normal adventurer would have trouble with the glitch-boy.
Suddenly, like that, there is a pop and the whole ballroom is gone. The table is a small wooden deal with only two seats. The food is just straw, which Faruin spits out. Derron is only a few feet away, sitting on a pile of hay.
No fireplace. No tapestries. No grand chandelier. No large stained glass windows. Just a brick room with that table, that straw, the three of them, and that straw fiddler.
Only now it looks less like a regal automaton and more like a nightmarish attempt to imitate a human. The cherrywood violin is made of bone and hair. The sound it makes is the sound of ice cracking in the winter as you fall into the deep dark water.
And the door they entered through is back. Another is across the way.
Barston walks over to it and tries to open it it...
Does the Straw Fiddler keep the door closed as well? (50/50) → 05. Exceptional Yes.
...only the door remains shut fast. The fiddler says nothing but instead plays a laughing screech across the bone-and-hair instrument.
"He's keeping us here," Barston says, and Derron faster than Barston can think.
Derron rolls an 11+12 = 23. The Fiddler rolls 16+3 = 19. Derron actually lands a hit. The fiddler takes 1MP and "puffs." Now the fiddler is at 10MP left.
Derron's fist hit the strange face but then encounter nothing there as the sound of the playing strings leaps in the small room to Barston's left. Only a bit of straw left behind. More for the floor.
Barston and Faruin leap at the same time to attack the creature.
Barston and Faruin vs Fiddler: 9+1+12 [22] and 6+1+7 [14] (note: Faruin does not have a sword, so is just using her fists) vs 10+16 [26]. The fiddler dodges both easily.
However, as they swing mace and fist, the fiddling creature simply leans away from each like it is easy.
"I'm going for the damned instrument, distract him!," Derron shouts.
Derron will be at -4 to grab the instrument. BUT, Faruin and Barston will both be assisting [so +4]. D: 11+12+4-4 = 23. Fiddler: 9+16 = 25. It dodges them all.
"Dammit, one more time!"
Same as last time. I'll drop it to -3 because Derron is kind of learning the tricks. 8+12+4-3 = 21. Fiddler: 7+16 = 23. Fiddler continues to outpace the characters.
"ARGH. ONCE MORE!"
Last time. -2 this time. D: 10+4-2+12 = 24. Fiddler: 6+16=22. He finally grabs it.
Right as the Fiddling monstronsity is playing another laughing note, Derron does a complex back twist to reach around with his left hand. Seconds later, he has the terrible fiddle in his hand.
The creature looks...well, like nothing. The face can show no emotion. However, it starts falling part into straw until it is only a burlap sack and some old ragged clothes.
The fiddle, likewise, falls down into disparate bones and hair.
Derron tosses it aside.
Barston walks up to the far door, well, the door a few feet away, and pushes again and it opens.
Barston vs The Trapmaker: 7+10 vs 10+4. Barston has twigged it.
Derron vs The Trapmaker: 3+8 = 11. Derron did not.
Faruin: 6+7. Also did not.
But Barston stops. Derron and Faruin are behind him, trying to push through, and he stops them.
"No, this is some sort of trick. The way the little fairy, above, wanted to eat our food. This place wanted us to wear down. Was this door here at the start, that first glance? I'm not sure. We are being lead the wrong way."
"But didn't those same friendly creatures tell us this is the way to the sword?"
"Maybe, or maybe they were just answering our question about where the fort was. A fort designed to destroy mages."
With that, Barston turns around and heads back up into daylight.
This shows the interesting compartmentalization between the two modes, I think. When I am in prep/gamemaster mode, my brain thinks about interesting story beats and setting up a few pieces of dressing. Then in player/mechanics mode, I switch to a more limited viewpoint. This combination leads to fun moments where I foil my own plans and concepts. Etc.
This is perhaps the most stark take on that, though. Realizing I had set up an encounter that Barston was the perfect foil while expecting this to be a more complicated thing as they are trapped down there for a full day. Though in retrospect, the encounter needs a lot of work. With just 15MP, it would be a mild annoyance. Giving it something much larger, like enough for a day or a week, would require different mechanics.
I really like the potential of it. I might grow it out a bit and try to build it up into a more balanced adventure in the future. For now, it was a semi-failed concept that needs more work.
As a note, it looks like Advent(ure) 2025 is probably going to wrap up around the golden pyramid. At least one more adventure here and likely 2-3 at least getting to the pyramid, and then 3-4 inside. After that will only be a couple more days which will possibly be story or lore beat.
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