After a short and violent interruption, Uldihm Frostfavor leaves his campsite and begins to look for bear tracks.
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| The sort of landscape I am imagining (Concept Art from Monster Hunter Online) |
The Second Scene
Location: Dun Morogh's mountains, west of Ironforge
Uldihm carefully reloaded his long rifle and started to gather his supplies. The still-fresh corpse of the wolf laid steaming on the cold, hard ground. It would have been a shame to let it go to waste.
Can anything be salvaged from the corpse?
DC12 Knowledge (Nature): 16 Success
The pelt was matted, and the wolf had barely any meat on his bones, but Uldihm was sure that he could harvest a few useful things from it. The only problem was time. He couldn't afford to spend all the time it would require. Sunlight was a rare commodity in these mountains, and he wanted to use every second of it looking for a possible animal companion. He dragged the wolf toward the cliffside and covered it with a few nearby branches. He could always come back to it later in the day.
I'm tracking encumbrance in the background, and Uldihm is going to leave a few things at the campsite. He'll still have the penalties from a medium load, but Dwarves are slow either way, so it's not a big deal.
The early morning hours passed quickly as Uldihm trudged through the snowy mountains.
Is it snowing? (Likely): 11 No | At least the weather is nice, which will make survival checks a bit easier.
Does Uldihm successfully follow his planned route? D10 Survival check (+2 from weather): 13 Yes
This was the furthest Uldihm had ever ventured into the mountains of Dun Morogh. Luckily, there were plenty of landmarks around to help him navigate, and yesterday's snow made it easier to find potential animal tracks.
Does he find any animal tracks? DC10 Survival check (soft ground): 6 No
Let's say he spends 1d6 hours looking for tracks: 4 hours.
Does the weather change after that time? Unlikely: Yes, but… | Sounds like a light snow that could potentially escalate later in the day.
To make things more interesting, I'm going to roll for possible random encounters every few hours. No hard rule, just whenever it feels appropriate.
Is there a random encounter? Unlikely: No, but… Focus: Location | Not enough to count as a random encounter but still something noteworthy. Let's go with the snowed-in remnants of something and roll on the oracle to learn more about it.
Smoothly Force Beauty: My mind immediately jumped to a statue, half covered in ice and snow.
Is it a dwarven-made statue? Likely: No, but… | Maybe it's a warning that marks the territory of someone hostile to dwarves? There are ice trolls from the Frostmane tribe in the area, so let's go with that. I'm also adding the statue to the Location list and the Frostmane tribe to the Faction list.
A long shadow announced the ruined statue standing atop a nearby rocky outcrop. A once proud waymarker of the dwarven kin, now grotesquely defaced by garish Frostmane markings. One side entirely covered in ice, it stands as a warning to anyone reckless enough to enter the realm of the Frostmane tribe. They once ruled the entirety of Dun Morogh, but ultimately crumbled before the might of the dwarven armies. Uldihm Frostfavor would not be intimidated. Looking at the defaced statue, he vowed to successfully finish his training and to show no mercy to any troll scum trying to stop him.
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| Ice Troll Concept Art by Samwise Didier |
Another (1d6) 4 hours pass while he continues to look for animal tracks.
Does he find any? DC11 Survival check (light snow makes it slightly harder): 18 Yes
Are they bear tracks? (Unknown): No | A step in the right direction, but he'll have to press on.
Does the weather get worse? (Unknown): No
8 hours have passed, so the cold is starting to get harder to tolerate. I'm going to have Uldihm roll Fortitude saves that get progressively harder the longer he stays without shelter.
Does Uldihm endure the cold? DC5 Fortitude save: 14 Yes
Is there a random encounter? (Unlikely): No, but… Focus: Quest Target (the bear) | I want to be careful here to not invalidate the survival checks from before. Uldihm didn't find any bear tracks so it would feel weird to just give him the goal anyway.
The sun is still high in the sky, but Uldihm had to think about his return trip to his campsite. He wouldn't want to get caught out here in the dark. He was about to turn around when a faint roar in the distance echoed through the mountains. That was definitely a bear. With a heavy sigh, Uldihm mentally prepared himself for a brutal night in the cold, as he started to walk towards the sound.
Now that he knows the rough area, the survival checks to find the tracks are going to be easier.
Does he find bear tracks? DC11 Survival check (+4): 15 Yes | It takes him (1d6) 6 hours to find them.
Does the weather get worse? (Unknown): No
Roughly 14 hours have passed, and the sun has long vanished behind the mountain peaks. Uldihm has 60ft. darkvision, a lantern, and several torches as a backup. He is going to rely on his darkvision, as any light source would be like a beacon in this dark environment. Either way, this is going to be rough and any check relying on visuals is getting a negative modifier.
Scene Goal achieved(-15 to next Scene Transition Roll): Uldihm found bear tracks.
The Third Scene
Scene Transition (-15): Random Event | Since this is more of a survival-focused adventure, I'm going to roll on the 'Environment' table from the GEMulator Campaign Turn random events.
Random Event: Natural disaster strikes unexpectedly | Oh boy, probably the worst result on that table.
Goal: Survive the avalanche
Start: Uldihm hears the avalanche crashing toward him.
The D20SRD has actual rules for avalanches, so I'll be using them even though they are deadly for a single level 5 character.
Avalanche width (1d6x100ft.): 500ft. | Bury zone of 250ft.
Uldihm's ground speed of 20ft, combined with the lighting and weather conditions, means it's almost impossible for him to escape in time. I'm giving him one (slim) chance, or he'll be crushed in the bury zone.
DC20 Jump check: 20 Success | I did not expect that. I was already seeing his death flashing before my eyes, but I guess he manages to make it outside the bury zone.
The deafening rumble of an avalanche stopped Uldihm in his tracks. He couldn't see it yet, but there was no mistaking it. He had to run for his life. He quickly saw the mass of crushing snow approaching and as an act of final desperation, he lunged as far away as possible. Hardened snow hit him with the force of a warhammer. Countless blows landed all over his body as he struggled to keep himself above the gliding mass of snow.
DC15 Reflex Save: 12 Fail
3d6 damage: 4 | lucky roll, down to 28hp. The failed reflex save still means that Uldihm is buried under the avalanche.
"Buried characters take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per minute. If a buried character falls unconscious, he or she must make a DC 15 Constitution check or take 1d6 points of lethal damage each minute thereafter until freed or dead."
His feet lost grip and Uldihm was swept under the avalanche. A mixture of training and dwarven instinct kicked in and allowed him to position his body in a way that formed a small hollow cavity inside the crushing snow. At least he'd be able to move his arms for a bit.
1d6 nonlethal damage: 1
Uldihm has a shovel on his character sheet... that he left behind at the campsite to save weight.
Instead, he's going to have to try and carve himself to the top using the pitons hanging on his belt. This is exhausting work in a tiny space that is always just about to collapse on top of him. I'm going to make him roll Fortitude saves that get progressively easier as he works his way to the surface. Each roll takes one minute. To save space, I'm going to do the rolls on a scrap piece of paper and continue here with the end result.
It took Uldihm 5 minutes to dig himself out, which cost him an additional 18 points of nonlethal damage, leaving him at only 9hp. I'm also giving him the 'fatigued' condition.
Scene Goal achieved (-15 to next Scene Transition roll): Uldihm Frostfavor survived the avalanche.
Misc. Notes
Oh well, I'm not going to switch mid-campaign, so let's just see where this goes. I'm playing fast and loose with the 3.5e rules anyway so it's not a big deal. For example, I forgot the medium load penalty for the Jump check to escape the avalanche. Let's just pretend that I used a Hero Point and move on. He ended up being buried either way.
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