The night brings many dangers for our dwarf hero.
The Fourth Scene
Scene Transition (-15): Positive Interruption | Focus: Quest Target | Looks like the bear came back to check out the noise.
Location: Avalanche remnants
Goal: Tame the bear
Start: Uldihm is crawling out of his snowy grave.
Does Uldihm hear the bear coming closer? Contested Listen vs Stealth check: No
Cold mountain air filled his lungs and Uldihm finally knew that he'd survive. The avalanche nearly crushed him, but there was still some fight in him left. He would give everything to become a mountaineer, but this was not meant to be his end. Inch by inch, he crawled forward and upward until he lay flat on top of the snowy remains of the avalanche. Just a short breather...
Is the bear curious instead of aggressive? Likely: Yes
The snowy crunch of massive paws startled him back into reality. The large outline of a black bear came ever closer while carefully sniffing the air. This would be it. No running away from this one. "He will be mine, or I will be his." was the last thing going through Uldihm's mind before he started to slowly sit up and held out his hand as an offer of peace. The taming had begun.
The rules talk about the Hunter using both natural and supernatural means to compel a creature to become his ally. It takes one round per hit dice (3 in the case of this black bear) and requires a Handle Animal check at the end (DC18 + creature's hit dice + creature's Charisma bonus).
Does the bear stay calm during the taming process (3 rounds)? Likely: Yes
DC19 (18+3-2) Handle Animal check: Fail
As per the rules, a failed check doesn't change the creature's attitude, but the hunter cannot attempt to tame that creature again for 24 hours. The next attempt will need some more preparation to gain situational bonuses to the roll. Otherwise, this will take forever with a DC19.
The black bear looked confused at Uldihm's stretched-out hand. He hesitated and slowly took a few steps back. Uldihm tried to stay calm, but he was tired and his entire body hurt. He couldn't keep his arm from shaking and the black bear got startled and ran away.
Scene Goal negatively altered: +5 to next Scene Transition roll | This attempt failed, but the bear is still out there.
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| From u/murphmuffin on Reddit |
The Fifth Scene
Scene Transition (+15): (84) Negative Alteration | Focus: Player Character
Interesting, I expected something external to cause problems on the way to the campsite, but maybe it's more of an internal struggle. Is he having second thoughts about the entire endeavor?
Goal: Come to terms with the initial failure.
Start: Exhausted, Uldihm falls to the ground.
The track back to the camp is faster than before, as he isn't looking for tracks, but it's still a several hours long march through rough terrain. I elevated the 'fatigued' condition to 'exhausted'.
Is Uldihm losing hope? DC15 Will Save: (15) No
The world closed in around Uldihm Frostfavor. His body weak and useless, his eyes too heavy to keep open. The cold had long crept into every crevice and there would be no escaping it. He had failed his task and the bear is once again out of his reach. Exhaustion demanded its price, and dreamless sleep fell over him.
Sometime later, he awoke to the drums of his own heartbeat. The sky was still dark, and the frigid air did its best to keep him on the ground. Not here. Not today. Uldihm Frostfavor would not die like this. He would reach his campsite and live to fight another day.
He forced himself to get up again. Steadying himself on his long rifle, the redheaded dwarf looked like a boulder learning to move for the first time. Albeit, a very determined and stubborn boulder.
After this short rest, the 'exhausted' condition returns to 'fatigued'.
Scene Goal positively altered: -5 to next Scene Transition roll | I like to think that Uldihm didn't really 'accept' his failure, more so than stubbornly refusing to give in to such thoughts.
The Sixth Scene
Scene Transition: Random Event | Ideology (Attack because of belief) | We have already established that we are near Frostmane tribe territory, so it only makes sense for this to be an attack by these ice trolls.
Location: Near the defiled statue on the way back to camp
Goal: Survive or escape the troll ambush
Start: Uldihm gets attacked
It's still night, but Ice trolls have low-light vision, which allows them to see during a moon-lit night as well as during the day. I think it makes sense that this is a scouting party that just randomly stumbled upon our lone wounded dwarf.
How many trolls are there? (book says teams of 3-6 so let's roll 1d4+2): 4
Do they successfully ambush Uldihm? Contested Listen vs Stealth check: 29, 26, 11, 16 vs 14
3 trolls will get a surprise round, which allows them to take a single standard action. Let's see if Uldihm makes it through that.
There it was once again, mocking him with its blank stare. It felt like the defiled statue looked directly at him. Uldihm wanted to scream a defiant challenge, but he stopped when he saw a shadow lurking on the cliff above the statue.
Three javelins impacted the ground before him. The somber realization of a warrior becoming prey overcame him. At full strength, he'd be glad to fight them all, but his current condition would only lead to a swift defeat. He would not give these savages the gratification of defeating him.
All attacks from the surprise round missed. Uldihm won the initiative and tried to flee out of line of sight. The trolls were too quick for him, and they easily surrounded him. Fighting valiantly, he severely wounded one of them, before being overwhelmed and knocked out.
Scene Goal failed: +15 to next Scene Transition roll.
Closing Thoughts
The main adventure goal is still to tame an animal companion, but I might use this opportunity to introduce one or two additional characters and make it a proper adventuring party. 3.5e games are really unforgiving when it comes to single-character playthroughs.
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