The Maiden Saga: Role Playing Game (16 page)

 

Tanalorn, a PC, has chosen his Allure in an attempt to get the matrons to let him past, a sound ploy given that he is extraordinarily handsome and that as a Hai it is his Primary Drive, even if in practical terms it means he will be forced to satisfy all three matrons, who are lowborn and lack the moral airs of their highborn countrywomen. Tanalorn has an impressive 18 Game Points in Allure, but the three matrons are Mund and no mean opponents, with 14 ((6+7+7)x0.7) between them.

The GM throws first, for the three matrons, scoring – 6,6,2,2,1,1 – and reducing Tanalorn's points to 16. He throws in turn, scoring - 6,6,5,4,4,2 – which reduces the matron's points by 3, to 11, as he is able to make sixes. The matron's throw – 6,6,3,3,2,2 – reducing his points to 14. So the game goes, until Tanalorn wins with just 3 Game Points remaining in Allure, which represents the state he is in after satisfying all three matrons. With a win in his Primary Drive he has gained 2 Glory Points.

The decision now lies with the GM, who in this case is not about to let Tanalorn continue unimpeded. Instead he has the matrons sacrifice one Glory Point each in order to retaliate. Deciding that it might be nice to have a man around for a change, kept in some suitable dungeon, Polia gives the order to capture Tanalorn.

 

We now calculate their Capture Points -

Tanalorn is alone, so his Capture Pool is 27.

 

The matrons are together, so their Capture Pool is 56 ((32+24+24)x0.7).

 

The matrons have 22 points in their Constitution pool. Tanalorn has 8.

 

 

The capture attempt can now be expressed as a table –

 

The matrons have now lost 7 Game Points in Constitution and both Gura and Kein have only 6 Game Points in Guile. Astonished by Tanalorn's resilience, they back off. Polia now stands alone. She accounted for 57% of the group's Capture Pool and 45% of the Constitution, so their figures become 28 (49x0.57) for Capture and 7 (15x0.45) for Constitution. The Constitution Pool has now dropped from 22 to 7, a full 15 points, but Polia's has 16 in Guile and knows when a man is on his last legs.

Tanalorn is down and out, drawn forward by Polia's pretence of exhaustion, only to find himself crushed beneath her weight. He is quickly wrapped in the net and dragged back towards the gates of Kavas-Arion. Polia regains her Glory Point but Gura and Kein do not. Tanalron has 2 Glory Points to his credit, so he has 10 Game Points to distribute among his attributes, unless he prefers to keep them for future use in his quest to become a hero, which is beginning to look a little tougher than he had imagined.

 

 

Late that night, once he has recovered his strength, Tanalorn attempts a Dash for Freedom – 6,6,6,5,5,4.

 

He has broken free, unarmed and naked, so he is entitled to swim for his boat and complete his escape.

Reaching the courtyard, he pauses. Is this not the ideal opportunity to complete his mission? The keep is formidable, but he is already inside it and it is remarkably quiet. He has seen no men, only the three women who captured him and another, equally formidable, who brought his supper. Perhaps the menfolk are hunting somewhere out along the Spine, or have gone against Aeg raiders?

Directly across the courtyard a massive building of four stories rises against the sky, presumably the great hall. There is a tower at one end, taller still, the tallest in the keep perhaps, and if what he has heard is correct surely the abode of some fine young highborn girl, her hair as golden as corn ripe for the picking, her virginity also ripe for the picking. His tongue flicks out to moisten his lips at the prospect, and after all: what hero would turn from a goal so nearly won?

 

By deciding not to take up his right to flee, Tanalorn has given up his success on the Dash for Freedom roll and must now play by ordinary escape rules. His first obstacle is the climb to the top of the tower, which rises eight times his height from the flagstones of the courtyard, a formidable climb even with grappling irons. Perhaps it would be easier to take the stairs?

 

Slipping from shadow to shadow, Tanalorn approaches the base of the tower, where a dark arch conceals a door. It is locked, but the perhaps the crude Mundic mechanism will yield to a nail or knife?

 

He now makes a search roll – 6,6,5,4,3,2. Two sixes means he has found a weapon of the GMs choice, a small but serviceable club, not a bad thing to have in a brawl, but completely useless for picking locks.

The door has a resistance value of 12, the same as Tanalorn's Game Points in Power. Together with his Intelligence of 2 and his Dexterity of 6, that makes 20, so he has a fair chance of barging it down but knows the effort will leave him bruised and exhausted. He has only 7 Game Points in Craft, which together with his Intelligence and Dexterity makes 15, an even worse option. It is time to sacrifice 1 Glory Point.

 

Now feeling angry and frustrated, Tanalorn reconsiders his position. The hall has windows, rather a lot of them in fact, and for some reason not immediately apparent only those of the upper floors are barred. A single bold stroke of his club, a quick scramble, and he will be within the hall. He hesitates, cautious of the sound of breaking glass.

 

As he faces another obstacle he is entitled to another search roll – 5,4,4,3,3,2. No sixes. He must face an opponent.

 

A swing of Tanalorn's club breaks the window. He unfastens the catch and pushes it wide, enabling him to haul himself within. Faint moonlight illuminates not the huge hall he had envisaged, but a room of more or less ordinary dimensions and furnishings, including a bed in which yet another woman of imposing bulk is sitting up. She is clearly about to scream, and Tanalorn hurls himself forward, intent on ensuring her silence.

 

This is a straightforward confrontation, except in that when a naked stranger enters a woman's room by the window in the early hours of the morning negotiation is seldom an option. In this case, as Tanalorn is in Kavas-Arion celibentuary, where there aren't really supposed to be any men at all, negotiation is definitely not a option. The GM therefore forbids it, leaving Tanalorn with the option of Power or Craft. He carries no potions, nor so much as a piece of string, so chooses to employ his club.

 

Unfortunately no matron of Mund goes down without a fight. Tanalorn wins the fight but he is left bruised and battered. The matron lies bound and gagged on her bed, regarding him with sullen fury.

 

Tanalorn's Power is now reduced from 12 to 6 Game Points, although he has a victory and so has regain 1 Glory Point. He is also entitled to loot the matron's room, although what he finds is up to the GM.

 

There is plenty of clothing, but as he knows he looks as if he is carved from marble when naked and suspects he will look comprehensively ridiculous in an embroidered chemise and a pair of heavily flounced drawers he decides to do without. A brush allows him to rearrange his tawny locks and a couple of impressively heavy duty hatpins suggest themselves as either weapons or lock picks, so he takes both but that is all.

He moves on, into a long corridor and up a spiral staircase within the tower, both greed and triumph pushing down his fear. At the top is a door, all that now keeps him from the bounties of the sleeping girl.

 

Once again Tanalorn is entitled to a search roll, but there is the risk of another encounter so he decides to forego the privilege.

 

The door is locked, as he expected, but he now has an excellent pick.

 

As before the lock has a resistance value of 12, but that is now halved. Tanalorn has chosen to employ Craft, in which has 7 Game Points, so he has a pool of 15 Escape Points (7+6+2). The GM throws first –