Eared sees some combat! (Eared's Journey #6)

Ongoing adventure
1

We’ve been journeying with mouse merchant, Eared Grant, as he arrives at, enters, and explores Rolling Coast, with you voting on what he chooses to do - catch up on the the full story here.

Read on to vote on his next step!

Eared Grant
Eared Grant1420×1334 140 KB

I know Eared has a sling, not a sword, but this is the artwork we’re working with for now :smile:

As the rat nears the mouth of the alley, Eared and Kester flatten themselves against the wall and hope they don’t get noticed. Eared readies his sling just in case…

I’m going to throw a luck roll here - the rat could turn in either direction, or he could even just look around before moving, so I’m going to give Eared and Kester a 1-in-6 chance they remain hidden, since it’s really unlikely they will do so. If this roll is anything other than a 1, the rat will notice them.

@dice d6

2

Rolling d6:

:game_die: 2

3

So close! Well, let’s see what happens…

As the rat exits the alley, he turns the corner and immediately comes face-to-face with Eared and Kester trying to remain hidden. Not wanting to drop the sack of food, the rat whips out the cocktail sword that he had attached to his belt and wields it menacingly. Fortunately for our heroes, Eared was prepared for this outcome and starts swinging his sling, getting ready to attack.

Meanwhile, Kester, without any weapons of his own, slinks back into the darkness out of fear. He can fight if needed, but with only his paws to attack, he feels woefully under-prepared.

It looks like we’re finally going to see some combat here. To get us all up to speed, here are the relevant stats for Eared, Kester, and the rat:

Eared Grant, merchant
3hp, STR 12, DEX 10, WIL 9
Attacks: d6 sling & stones (light ranged)

Kester, packrat hireling
3hp, STR 6, DEX 12, WIL 8
Attacks: d4 paws (no equipped weapon)
These stats are outlined at the start of this story.

Rat, foot soldier for the Packratz
5hp, STR 10, DEX 13, WIL 9
Attacks: d6/d8 cocktail sword (medium melee)
These stats are outlined in the extended bestiary for Rolling Coast.

Eared was somewhat prepared for this, so he’s going to go first, followed by the rat. Since Kester isn’t keen to fight, he will only enter the fray if necessary.

4

Eared already had his sling loaded and ready, so upon being noticed by the rat, he swings it around and lets the stone fly.

Damage roll for Eared’s attack:

@dice d6

5

Rolling d6:

:game_die: 4

6

The rat is reduced to 1 HP.

The stone flies true and hits the rat on his cheek, leaving a nasty gash up to his ear.

The rat snarls and, using speed that Eared didn’t expect, quickly lunges with his cocktail sword directly at Eared’s chest.

Damage roll for the rat’s attack:

@dice d6

7

Rolling d6:

:game_die: 2

8

Eared is also reduced to 1 HP - a close call!

The sack of food the rat is carrying throws him off-balance, and his lunge misses its mark slightly. Instead of a direct hit, Eared takes the jab in his shoulder, severely weakening him. He’s badly injured, but not down yet.

Kester sees his master taking such a strong blow and shrieks in anger. Without thinking about the consequences, he launches himself at the rat, intent on scratching his eyes out.

Damage roll for Kester’s attack:

@dice d4

9

Rolling d4:

:game_die: 2

10

The rat is reduced to 0 HP and takes 1 point of damage to STR, bringing the attribute down to 9.

As the rat pulls back his attack, Kester lands on him, scratching at his face. His claws dig into the gash that Eared’s stone caused, and the rat stumbles backwards, pushing Kester off him.

Since he took STR damage, the rat is going to need to make a STR save here to stay in the fight. Since his STR is down to 9, this roll needs to be a 9 or below, or he’s going to take critical damage and be incapacitated:

@dice d20

11

Rolling d20:

:game_die: 18

12

That’s a tough break for the rat…

As the rat stumbles backward, he falls over and hits the ground. The shock and pain from Kester’s sudden attack appears to have pushed him over the edge, and he collapses in a heap. He’s badly injured and unable to fight anymore.

“Thank you, Kester,” says Eared shakily. He survived the fight himself, but not without getting badly hurt.

“I’m glad you’re alive, Master,” says Kester, relieved, “What shall we do now?”

“I need to rest and heal, and we need to get this sack of food to the chef at the Spicy Rooster. We also need to decide what we’re going to do with this rat - do you think we should just leave him here?”

Kester scowls toward the rat, “Leave him - he doesn’t deserve to survive.”

Eared isn’t so sure - he’s a merchant, not a fighter, and he always believes in treating all creatures with respect. Maybe the rat just got caught in a bad situation. On the other hand - the Packratz aren’t exactly a force for good in the park, so maybe they should just leave him to his fate - Eared does need to focus on his own recovery after all. Leaving the rat here will send a message that this food theft is no longer an option.

Eared needs to make a decision here - what should he do?

:white_check_mark: Any logged-in user can vote - just click on the option you like the sound of. You can join for free or login here.

What should Eared and Kester do?
  • Leave the rat and return the sack of food to the Spicy Rooster
  • Help the rat recover before doing anything else
0 voters
13

Author’s note: I thoroughly enjoyed writing this! Not knowing what was going to happen with each roll made this quite a roller-coaster! Eared’s first combat went well, and I think there’s a lot of excitement in store for him still.

1 Like
14

I love this style. This is how I solo RPG for the most part. I have the oracles in Einzelmaus that would replace the fan voting but other than that it’s the same. It is so fun!!!

Well done on the writing Hugh!!!

1 Like
15

I seldom play solo, but this does feel very similar. When I have done so, I haven’t written everything out as explicitly as this, and I’m really enjoying doing it this way here.