Link in WHFRP

[Aranfan]

Spoiler: winning vote

[X] Charge at one of the three.
-[x] Bow

You immediately charge at Leroy, you know all too well how bad an idea it is to fight someone while another guy is shooting you. Leroy seems surprised by your speed and he succeeds only in getting his arm in the way of your sword strike. It's not a clean strike, and you don't cut very deep at all, but Leroy yells in pain and collapses.

You turn on your heel, continuing the swing into a probing strike at Arnou. Arnou gets his axe up in time to deflect the Master Sword, but your second strike bounces off his ribs and he screams in agony before he's cut short by falling unconscious. There's a lot of blood. A lot of blood.

You turn again, to look at Maxim.

His eyes are wide, and for a moment he seems frozen. Then a noise from the forest seems to snap him out of it. He screams as he turns tail and flees, never having even drawn his sword.

You flick your sword clean of blood and sheathe it. Considering you turn to the bandits on the ground.

Leroy, clutching his right arm, stammers at you. "Puh-please don't kill us mister elf."

Arnou… is probably bleeding out.

[] Help stop Arnou's bleeding, then take Leroy's bow and arrows before leaving.
[] Take Leroy's bow and arrows, then leave them to their fate.
[] Kill them.

OOC: Link doesn't have a Heal Skill, but staunching bleeding is basic enough combat first aid that I'll let you guys roll it on unmodified int.

 

[Aranfan]

Spoiler: winning vote

[] Help stop Arnou's bleeding, then take Leroy's bow and arrows before leaving.

You ignore Leroy, and head over to Arnou. He's bleeding very heavily, so you take out your knife and cut the clothing around his wound out. Yeah, you hit a vein or something, blood is coming out way too quickly, and his breathing is increasingly shallow. Based on the location of the wound… tourniquet won't work, it'll need to be cauterized.

You hurry to your campfire, grab a burning stick, and hurry back to Arnou. Sadly, its too late. As you press the stick to his wound and burn it shut, you take his pulse, and it's gone. No breathing either.

He's dead.

Shaking your head, you stand up and take the stick back to the fire. He's not the first person you've killed, and you doubt he'll be the last. You weren't even trying to kill him, just take him down. But people and beasts are more fragile than one might expect.

You clean yourself and your knife of Arnou's blood and then turn to Leroy. He tenses at your approach.

"I don't. Why did you try to safe him?"

You shrug, and point first to his bow, then present your hand to him palm up.

"Ah. Right. Of course mister elf." He fumbles a bit, but hands over his bow and gives you his quiver without fuss.

+1 Bow, +Hip Quiver, +12 Arrows

[][IC] Ask if he knows where greenskins are before you douse the fire and go on your way.
[][IC] Ask if he knows where beastmen are before you douse the fire and go on your way.
[][IC] Douse the fire and go on your way.

[][OOC] Keep the hunter career.
[][OOC] Make a custom career for link.

OOC: For those who aren't familiar with WHFRP 4e, careers determine what characteristics and skills you can buy advances in, and what talents you can buy.

 

[Aranfan]

Spoiler: winning vote

[x][IC] Ask if he knows where greenskins are before you douse the fire and go on your way.
[x] [OOC] Make a custom career for Link.

"Greenskins? Ah, not this far west. Further east, into the forest. Follow the river deeper in a few miles, then head north. Coin toss if you hit Greenskins or Beastmen first. Last I knew, the greenskins were getting pushed back, but things can change fast in the forest." Leroy says.

You nod along as you douse the fire. Course decided, you take your leave. Finding the river is easy, following it, no harder. It's a peaceful and bucolic walk. You eventually strike camp, but the night passes without incident.

The next day mostly passes without incident as well. You shoot a rabbit for lunch, and after lunch head north. The forest rapidly darkens as you leave the river. Soon the trees are dense enough that you can't easily move around, and you need to take care not to loudly snap any twigs.

It still takes several hours before you come across any traces of evil beings. Specifically signs of a battle. No bodies, but you see the blood and the disturbed forest floor, and your instincts scream at you that people fought here.

Examining the battlefield, you think there were two groups that left the battlefield. One group left to the north and the other to the east. The one to the east seems to have hooves?

[] Follow the Trail East.
[] Follow the Trail North.

What are our options if we go custom?

Click to shrink...

OOC: I will pick 20 skills, and 16 talents, and distribute them among the levels.

 

[Aranfan]

Spoiler: winning vote

[x] Follow the trail north.

You follow the trail north. You suspect that if you knew what you were doing, it would be much easier to follow the trail. Once the blood stains dry up and you only have the wrecked foliage to guide you you promptly get lost.

It takes a while to get back and get your bearings again. But you do, and your second attempt to follow the trail goes significantly better. You are following it when you hear talking. You slow and move carefully to try and hear what they are saying.

"I dun geddit Snotmaw. I'z 'arder den dese beasty gitz. Why can't I get 'em proper krump'd?" A large green man asks of a shorter green man with a fancy stick. You think the fancy stick has a skull on it? You can't see it that well from behind.

"They know you are more Brutal than dem Smashgut. So they refuse to give you a proppa scrap what they could actually lose. You need to out Kunnin dem Smashgut."

"Hmm. Like a trap? Find sum bait?"

"Yooze da boss, boss."

It looks like there are about twenty of them in the clearing. The biggest is the guy apparently named Smashgut. The others are all smaller, like the guy seemingly named Snotmaw. They are mostly milling around doing stuff like repairing stone spears and cooking. Smashgut and Snotmaw are sitting on a fallen tree trunk, facing away from you.

[] Attack from surprise with bow.
[] Announce yourself, then attack with surprise.
[] Charge in from surprise, and attack with sword.
[] Walk into the clearing and challenge Smashgut specifically.

 

[Aranfan]

Spoiler: winning vote

[x] Challenge Smashgut directly

You walk confidently into the clearing.

"Oi! WHATS DIS! 'OO'RE YOU!?"

You spin on your heel, and draw the Master Sword off your back to point directly at Smashgut.

"YOU WANT A KRUMPIN', YOU GET A KRUMPIN'!" He screems as he charges at you and makes a wild overhead swing that misses you entirely.

So you kick his knee in. There is a pause before his eyes roll up into his head and he collapses like a puppet with his strings cut. You haven't even gotten the Master Sword bloody yet, so you look around.

The smaller green men look somewhat shocked at how easily the big one went down, but Snotmaw is screeming.

"GET HIM! GET HIM YOU IDIOTS!" He makes a bunch of gestures but nothing seems to happen beyond a trio of the people in the clearing closing in on you.

You duck below a swing and open up one's gut. As you bash the second with your shield you feel the third one try to grab you from behind and stab you, but he winds up only stabbing his own hand. So you keep bashing the second one until it goes down.

As you turn to the one who stabbed themselves, a bolt of what you, painfully, recognize as magical energy slams into you and spins you around. Two more foes pile in. You stab them, and keep stabbing them until they fall.

A quick look around sees most of the remaining green men fleeing, only to go down to a newcommer who has just entered the clearing. But your primary concern is Snotmaw, who is trying to batter you with his staff and kick you.

You open his throat. He gurgles as he falls.

Lowering your sword you turn to the newcomer, who is finishing off a few of the green men.

"You Link then?" He snorts, "Mavis was worried when you went out into the forest alone, and Alrik was furious, looks like neither of them should have gotten so worked up."

He stabs the final of the green men through their eye.

"How the hell are you able to take on so many goblins alone? I thought you were supposed to be nine?"

He moves to a downed goblin and stabs them a couple times. You quirk your eyebrow.

"I'm making sure they're dead lad! How do you know so much about fighting and not know about putting down greenskins? That orc," he gestures at Smashgut "is going to need to have its head smashed open to be sure."

He shakes his head. "I'm Gaston. Nevermind the other questions for now, what are you even doing out in the forest?"


[] Leave Gaston to look for more gribblies.
[] Shrug at Gaston.
[] Answer Gaston's Questions
-[] How? (Write in)

+35xp

[][XP] Spend XP?

OOC: If you don't want to spend XP on anything you can just leave it out of the vote. I'll only spend XP if more than half of all voters agree on the expenditure.

 

[Aranfan]

Spoiler: winning vote

[x] Answer Gaston's Questions
-[x] Indicate the battlefield, then for emphasis smash Smashguts' head.

In lieu of answering the question verbally, you gesture to the dead greenskins with a sweep of your right hand before stabbing Smashgut in the head with the Master Sword.

"Hmm, hunting greenskins eh? A worthy cause. Just greenskins, or would you be up to hunting… other quary?"

You stare at Gaston, quirking an eyebrow.

"Beastmen, I mean. Maybe some other sorts of enemies of humanity. Skaven and undead, for example."

You shrug, you'd be fine with fighting those too.

"Well… in that case…" He pauses, stroking his beard. "How about we see how you do against some beastmen? Some fellows I know have been keeping tabs on a local warherd so the lords can have advance warning when they leave the forest. Depending on how good you show yourself to be, I might have an adventure for you. What do you think?"

He stabs the last goblin.

[] Return to town to think it over.
[] Reject his offer and return to the forest, seeking out more greenskins.
[] Take up his offer and find some beastmen to end.
[] Write in.

[] XP?