Solo GURPS: Alas Mirayra, Session #2

Solo GURPS: Alas Mirayra, Session #2

Let's continue the journey of Alas Miraya, the almost-dead fire elf bloodrager. A short session.

Session #1 - link.

Session #3 - link.

Scene 3

Setup: Alas rests near the corpse of a bandit, because he's too injured to go on.

CF: 6 (The previous scene wasn't in the character's control).

Character List: Alas Mirayra, Sana Mirayra, Eldrin Phiwarin, Vaeril Entoris.

Thread List: Obtain a thunder wolf pelt.

Chaos Roll: Normal Scene.

There's no choice, but to just rest and let the natural recovery bring Alas into the positive HP. Then it should be possible to do some shock treatment. At the end of each day of rest and good food (thankfully, Alas has 20 rations on his person), we should roll against HT to see if we recover 1 HP. [Day 1 - I roll 8, so Alas is at -2/12 HP. I also checked for random encounters and got none; Day 2 - I roll 11, so I do not recover any HP. Also, I get a random encounter]. According to the Recovery from Unconsciousness rules (p. B423), if you lost consciousness between 0 and -1xHP, then upon awakening you do not have to roll against HT every second to stay conscious until you receive new injury. I guess since Alas did get to sleep, these rules are in effect. That also means that he could've bandaged himself to heal 1 HP and did some shock treatment for 1d-3 (I rolled a -2, so I only heal 1 HP from shock treatment). I omitted the rolls, because there's enough time to succeed. That means that Alas is at 0/12 HP when the encounter happens.

Detail Check Question: What was encountered?

Detail Check Table Result: Anger

Meaning (Action): Trick Wishes

Meaning (Description): Defiantly Natural

Alas, resting near a tree, notices some movement. From behind another tree walks out a beautiful elven woman with green hair and bark-like skin. Alas recognizes this creature as a dryad, but he does not know anything about these fey creatures. The dryad cautiously approaches Alas, staying at a safe distance from him. [Reaction roll - she reacts Poorly towards Alas.] She tries to start a conversation, but Alas does not understand Sylvan. Maybe she wanted to tend to his wounds? The dryad sighs, rolls her eyes, and walks to the sitting fire elf. She attempts to take the axe that lies beside Alas. While she probably regarded this as a tree-felling tool, not only as a weapon, Alas regarded this as a looting or disarming attempt. Alas stands up, letting the dryad grab the axe. He then goes for an All-Out (Determined) two-handed grapple, targeting the dryad's neck. [DX 11 + 4 AoA - 3 neck = ESL 12; rolls against 12 and gets a 4, that's a critical hit!] The dryad couldn't even attempt to dodge, and now she was grappled by her neck. The dryad wiggles around, trying to break free [Quick Contest of ST. She rolls against 9 and gets a 4. Alas rolls against 17 (+5 bonus from grappling with both hands) and gets a 9]. But she fails to do so. Alas attempts to use the Kiss the Wall rule (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 118) and smash the dryad's face into the tree. He will do this as an All-Out (Determined) Attack and spend 1 FP to use the Mighty Blows extra effort to add a damage bonus. [DX 11 + 4 AoA - 5 face = ESL 10; rolls against 10 and gets a 10. The dryad attempts to dodge, but not only she is kneeling, she is also grappled, which results in a Dodge score of 5. She opts for a feverish defense. She rolls against Dodge 7 and gets an 11. Alas rolls thrust+3 (+1 for hard surface, +2 for mighty blows) crushing damage. Rolls 1d+2 and gets an 8. That's a major wound to the face. The dryad rolls against her HT-5 and gets a 17.] With a loud crunch, the dryad's face smashes into the tree trunk, and the fey falls limp in Alas' hands. Yet again, the elf deems the fey too dangerous to keep her alive and finishes her off with the axe that is back in his possession.

Now that Alas is safe, let's loot the dryad and the bandit! I'll generate some items using GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables. First, let's determine how many pieces of treasure does the bandit have. I'll roll 1d for that - 2. That'll be in addition to the two puffer pistols, kusari, and, let's say, 3d (6) bullets. Apparently, in his pockets there are 3 ounces of huajiao (Szechuan Pepper) and a book. The book is a primer on the Musical Instrument (Hurdy-Gurdy) skill. The pages are made of a plumed bird skin (text is written only on one side). The text is written in Panelven. Well, that's not very useful, but at least Alas will have something to read (and then sell). It is unlikely that the dryad has any loot, so let's roll 1d-4. I got -2 - she does not have any possessions.

Alas isn't even at the halfway point of his journey (12 hours out of 37.3, i.e. 9 miles out of 28). He can start moving now, but since he's reeling from wounds, he'll be moving twice slower. Still better than nothing! [The first day of the resumed trip resulted in no encounters. 16.5/28 miles done. In the evening of the second day, when 22.5/28 miles were done, the roll results in yet another random encounter. We're so close now!]

Detail Check Question: What was encountered?

Detail Check Table Result: Fear

Meaning (Action): Malice Reality

Meaning (Description): Dimly Cold

Alas felt cold. [Rolling against Per 12, got 11]. Among the trees, he noticed a clearly unnatural creature. A humanoid, featureless creature composed of ice the size of a dwarf (SM-1). Alas knew what that he was looking at an ice paraelemental, but he had no idea how such a creature could end up in this place. Of course, he knew about the ongoing invasion of various icy beings from the Northern Reaches, but he did not know that the ice paraelementals actually invade from the south, not north. This one is probably a summoning mishap or an elemental that wandered in through a natural portal in the mountains. Alas, not knowing the truth, was overcome with fear. As he did not know that the ice paraelementals are not very perceptive, his first impulse is to enter bloodrage and cast Cremate on the creature. Will he resist the impulse? [Rolling against Impulsiveness (12),  got an 8.] Yes, he will be more careful. He'll just try to circle the creature and sneak away, avoiding the encounter. Let's resolve this as a Quick Contest of Stealth versus Perception. Stealth defaults to DX-5 or IQ-5, which is 6 in Alas' case. He rolls against 6 and gets 13, that's margin of failure of 7. The ice paraelemental has Per 6. It rolls against 6 and gets 16. Alas manages to sneak away. He did create some noise, but the elemental still did not notice him. Good. By the end of the second day, Alas has traveled 25.5/28 miles. The next day he travels for 7 more hours with no encounters and reaches his goal.

Scene 4

Setup: Alas reaches the mountain range with only 7 trail rations left. He wasn't resting properly, so he is still at 0/12 HP.

CF: 5 (The previous scene was in the character's control).

Character List: Alas Mirayra, Sana Mirayra, Eldrin Phiwarin, Vaeril Entoris.

Thread List: Obtain a thunder wolf pelt.

Chaos Roll: Normal Scene.

There's no use climbing the mountains in these conditions, so Alas decided to set camp and recover some strength. He also has to wait for a natural storm, remember?

[Day 1 - there is a random encounter, but at night, when Alas is deep in his elven trance. First, let's roll HT to see if Alas has recovered 1 HP. I roll a 10. Alas is at 1/12 HP now.]

Detail Check Question: What was encountered?

Detail Check Table Result: Focus PC

Meaning (Action): Attract Leadership

Meaning (Description): Angrily Small

Now this is an interesting roll. I guess Alas will be approached and possibly joined by somebody "angrily small". I'll look through some lists to see what kind of a small creature could fit these criteria.  It must be sentient, small, possibly angry, and capable of communicating with Alas. Here's the possible options I've found:
   1 - dragon wyrmling (fang, mercury, tome, iron, chameleon, cloud, electrum, stone, song, mustard, scintillating);

    2 - fremlin (please, no);

    3 - an extraplanar being;

    4 - sentient undead.

I got a 3. No dragon friend for me. Is it from an Inner (1), Outer (2), or Transitive (3) plane? I got a 1. Elemental (1), Paraelemental (2), Quasielemental (3), or Energy (4) plane? I got a 1 again. Air (1), Earth (2), Fire (3), Water (4)? I got a 4. All right, let's see what small water beings fit the criteria.
    1 - water elemental (miniature, small, or medium);
    2 - mephit (water or mist);

    3 - topaz dragon wyrmling;

    4 - water gen.

I rolled a 4.

Alas was waken up by a wet slap on his face. Water made his face itch, but did no harm. Opening his eyes quickly and grabbing his axe, the elf saw the intruder in the moonlight. It was a (1 - male, 2 - female) female, blue-skinned humanoid two feet tall wearing a garish garment. Her hair looked like waving seaweed. She seemed very angry, but unarmed and not hostile. [Reaction roll, she reacts Neutrally towards Alas.] Alas does not know about water gens, as they are a very obscure type of an outsider. 

Detail Check Question: Why is the water gen angry?

Meaning (Action): Return Suffering

After talking to the gen, Alas found out that her name is Yaryam (will add to the NPC list), and that she used to be a familiar of a sha'ir adventurer from Meshnarz. Not only her master, but also the master's companion were slain, and now Yaryam is seeking revenge instead of returning to the Elemental Plane of Water.

Detail Check Question: Who killed Yaryam's master?

Meaning (Action): Violate Nature

Meaning (Description): Kindly Natural

Apparently, Yaryam's master was slain by the local fey or nature spirits for despoiling nature. At least that is what Yaryam says. She asks Alas for help. Alas already has experience dealing with the fey from a few days ago, so he agrees, but points out that he's not in a good shape right now, so they must wait. Yaryam agrees (new thread will be added to the list). What happens next? We'll find out next time.