[Trollbabe AP] Against The Lord Of Kragg Keep

[Solo RPG Gamer]

Just reposting my ongoing Trollbabe AP to add content. This was part of #SGAM 2016 but I did not finish the adventure before SGAM was over. 

Previous scenes can be found at this link for now, but I will be reposting all of them to this thread:

https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?793890-Solo-Gaming-Appreciation-Month-2016-Trollbabe-actual-play

[Solo RPG Gamer]

Scene 14b

Again separated the raw session from the “prettified” post-game write up (i.e. my interpretations of the predictive text).

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~ She wakes up in the dungeon. Still magically bound. ~

_ Her only hope, she feels, is to escape and find Joss before Ingald gets to him [the threat that requires PC action]. [goal: escape. Magic. 2, fail. Incapacitated.]_ 

~The effort drains her and she passes out again. [forgot to use predictive text here again. I think I was bored with failing in the same manner.]~ 

_[Reroll for narrative rights. Use the Joss relationship to spice things up. She won’t be aware of any of this, but this is how the player narration works in the last re-roll. ] Joss invades the Keep looking for her, probably to somehow use her against Lord Ingald. When he/it finds her unconscious, he tries to break her magic bonds and imprison her somewhere else [I just want to change scenery at least]. [magic. 5 fail. Joss incurs another injury] _

~ The entity’s plan fails when it falls into Ingald’s ambush. It/Joss finds it cannot breathe, and begins to cough violently. It/Joss desperately holds his own throat and slumps to the floor unmoving. Greta regains consciousness to find Joss’s body lying very still on the floor. 

Greta gains consciousness in the same room. She can see blood oozing from his mouth. [I probably let the predictive text break an RPG rule here about relationship NPCs, but I’m ok with it as a player. Anything to make this scene more interesting or impactful.] 

Ingald was standing behind the body. He turned to Greta and smiled with satisfaction. Talking to her, he said: “My body still pulses with your life force, like a hot sun. I am not so sure I’m about to let go of you just yet, my lovely.” ~

_ Greta can only glare at him.  at the moment, she is too weak to take him on. Better to bide her time... [And this is my way to request that the next scene be a recovery one, because starting out injured just doesn't favor me probability wise.]_

########

Again, pretty short scene due to the way the dice rolled. 

Also, if these last three scenes don't count as an Ordeal, I don't know what does! Funny thing is that Greta's Ordeal might not be over yet. As long as she is magically bound, I feel reluctant to use a fighting conflict...I can't justify it.

As an aside, I have not invoked Gunnar or Fergus for rerolls, because I do not feel like Greta would put them at risk in this situation.

Scene 14b (Raw)
~[She wakes up in the basement (dungeon).] Still magically bound.~
_Her only hope, she feels, is to escape and find Joss before Ingald gets to him. [goal: escape. Magic. 2, fail. Incapacitated.] The effort drains her and she passes out again. 
[reroll for narrative rights. Joss relationship. ] Possessed Joss Invades the Keep looking for her probably to use her somehow against Ingald. When he finds her incapacitated, he tries to break her magic bonds and take her somewhere else (goal). [magic. 5 fail. He incurs another injury]_
~[ his plan fails hopelessly, when suddenly something appeared to hold his breath. Noel began coughing violently. He couldn't breathe and grabbed his throat desperately. Then he slumped unmoving. ]
[Greta gains consciousness in the same room. Noel's body lying still on the floor, blood oozing from his mouth. 

Ingald behind him. He turned to her and smiled. My body still pulsed with Sophia's (Greta's) life force like a hot sun. He was not so sure about letting go of her.]~
_ Greta can only glare at him.  at the moment, she is too weak to take him on. Better to bide her time. [And this is my way to request that the next scene be a recovery one, because starting out injured just doesn't favor me probability wise.]_

 

[Gerard Nerval]

I've found that the dice usually thwart any attempt to impose a narrative structure, butoften add one of their own in the final analysis.

[Solo RPG Gamer]

So true. 

For this game, I've tried to identify the narrative stages post-facto, rather than pre-plan the scenes. It's hard sometimes not to think that a scene will fit a certain narrative stage, though. Sometimes it's a good thing because when my expectations are broken, it creates a nice surprise. 

[Solo RPG Gamer]

Scene 14c

Murphy's Law tells me that Greta will remain injured as long as Ingald keeps draining her of her vitality. My rule is that it takes character action to avoid undesired events from happening (so ending the situation requires action from Greta). 

However, I don’t want to play all of these failed attempts out into their own scenes (see my solution, post-scene)*. 

########

~Each day blurs into another. Each much like the other except when Ingald again comes to drain her of her life force against her will.~

_ Each day Greta fights him or her bonds with all he might, not losing hope of overcoming either. She had promised to herself that she would escape or kill Ingald before she died, if that was her fate. 

[ * see what happened mechanically in the raw session text below] 
_

~For 12 months she grieved Joss’s death. She continued to degenerate as Ingald again and again reached into her body and mind with his dark power, leaving her utterly drained and powerless. Finally, on one dark night, she reached into her mind…what remained of it-and yes! Something shocked her into giving it all she had left. Finally, when it happened, she knew that her entire being was set free! 

She found herself in the water drain from before. How did she make it out of the Keep? She couldn't remember. She then passed out from exhaustion. 

When she woke again, Gunnar, the little boy, was watching her carefully ~

_ "Gunnar...I need help. Find Fergus...I'm weak."_

~When she looked on a puddle’s reflection, she found she had aged almost three decades. (Wow)~

#######

*I will run all of these checks one after the other for the same goal and in the same scene (breaking a Trollbabe rule in favor of moving things along). I will roll until a success happens (since the Trollbabe rules say that I have the final say of when the Trollbabe dies this makes sense). In exchange for this rule breaking, I deem that every failed check counts as a month of in game time that Greta remains imprisoned.

Basically, I'm going to roll until I get a success, and add a month of in game time for each failure. A sort of montage of Greta's suffering at the hands of her captor will have to do, because the only other options are boring or feel like cheating to me (or would require OOC knowledge about what's happening outside her prison which she wouldn't know).

In a social game, I suppose that the GM would somehow move stakes along despite the Trollbabe being incapacitated. Or maybe throw the player a bone. In a solo game, that feels to me like worse cheating than this compromise, and it would break my self-imposed rule of requiring character action (which I deem more important to me at this point than not breaking the particular Trollbabe rule I broke). I quite like this way of making a montage over time, though. 

Anyway, I've decided I need a recovery scene after this, since she has earned it. Given her condition, it should require some magical self-healing, and each failed roll should count as a month too.

Scene 14c
~Each day that Greta is awake there is a chance that Ingald will harvest her life force. [ each day is much like the rest except when Ingald again taking her life against her will. ]~

_ Each day Greta fights him or her bonds with all he might, not losing hope of overcoming either. She had promised to herself that she would escape or kill Ingald before she died, if that was her fate. 

[I will alternate goals between killing Ingald when he tries to drain her or simply escaping. Conflict is always magic. 

Goal: escape(odd)/kill Ingald (even) 7,8,4,2,4,2,7,7,6,7,5,6,10

Success on the 13th try, so I escape without getting to kill Ingald.]_

~[For 12 months she grieved Joss and continued to degenerate as Ingald again and again reached into Sophia's body and mind, leaving her utterly drained and powerless. Finally, on one dark night, she reached into her mind, what remained of it-and yes, something shocking her into action, she gave it all she had left. She knew that her entire being was set free. 

how she made it outside? She couldn't tell. She was in the water drain from before. she passed out from exhaustion and found Gunnar was watching her carefully when she came to. ]~

_ "Gunnar...I need help…Find Fergus...I'm weak."_

~[ she had aged almost three decades. (Wow)]~

[Solo RPG Gamer]

Scene 15

Greta is on the road to recovery. 

###############

_[it took 20 rolls (2,8,6,4,2,5,6, 3,5,4,5,3,2,4, 1,6,1,7,7,10) to get a magical success, so almost two years of recovery (good thing I didn't try a scene for each). Since each failure is incapacitation, the GM gets to narrate what happened.

I also want to find out what happened while she was captive and in recovery. ]_

~ Greta was finally rescued from the drain by Fergus and Gunnar. They took her to the nearby forest, and set her up in an abandoned bear cave. They tried to make her as comfortable as possible, and came to check up on her regularly to bring food, water, blankets or anything she needed. 

It took her almost two years to heal her body and mind. It was a long process, but eventually she came back to her normal self. She still looked aged, though; a reminder of what she had been through.~

_ She certainly wasn’t exactly the same as before, mentally. She carried extra grief and guilt inside regarding Joss, and much more of a sense of hate towards Ingald, whereas before she was immaturely angry. Now she felt truly justified. 

[Mechanically she is no longer harmed in any way.] 

######

After all that, maybe someone will question why I didn’t just do things by fiat in GM mode or via an oracle. Again, I guess I’m very particular about sticking to my rule of requiring PC action to make desired outcomes happen (or prevent bad ones from happening), even if it means bending the base RPG rules.

***Raw Session***

scene 15

_[it took 20 rolls (2,8,6,4,2,5,6, 3,5,4,5,3,2,4, 1,6,1,7,7,10) to get a magical success, so almost two years of recovery (good thing I didn't try a scene for each). Since each failure is incapacitation, the GM gets to narrate what happened.

I also want to find out what happened while she was captive and in recovery. ]_

~[ Greta was rescued by her friends. They looked after her in a nearby forest bear cave. They showed up with water, food, blankets and made her as comfortable as possible. 

For almost two years she tried to heal damaged being, but it was a long process. 

eventually she came back to her normal self-- though she wasn't exactly the same. She still looked aged; a reminder of what she had been through. ]~

_ [Mechanically she is no longer harmed in any way.] she was still sad about Joss, and was carrying a burden 
######

Why not just do things by fiat, like a GM would? I'm very particular about sticking to my rule of requiring PC action to make desired outcomes happen (even if it means bending the base RPG rules).

***END Raw Session*** 

[Solo RPG Gamer]

Scene 16

 

~Kragg Keep had deteriorated into something of a nightmare. Ingald took all he wanted. This is what Greta had come to know from Fergus and Gunnar.~

_ Greta hopes to use Ingald’s thirst for power against him by goading him into hunting for her. She wants to spread the rumor that she has been found and is still weak so she disguises herself as an old beggar man to try and spread the rumor among the most gossipy of farmers.

[Conflict social. Goal: Trick Ingald into coming to look for her at her hideout, by spreading the rumor that she’s been found, still weak and helpless. Roll: a 9. (Whew) Success. ]_

~Greta, disguised as an old beggar, spends a few days visiting gossipy farmers to ask for alms and bring news of strange people in the surrounding forest. 

The farmers, who were probably scared of Greta herself, took the news and spread them like fire. The soldiers in the gates, who had been ordered to keep an ear out for any information, heard the rumor from the lips of the farmers who carried their scant produce into town.

This is what she heard from Fergus, whose brother in law was highly ranked in the guard.~

_ Greta asked for daily reports from Fergus. _

~Eventually Fergus heard that the rumor about her travelled to the highest level of the authorities.~

_Greta would prepare a trap for Ingald and his retinue, in order to ambush them before they could do anything to her. She would require a ram's head to disguise as herself lying down. [goal: be able to surprise and ambush Ingald and his soldiers. Conflict social. An 8! Success.]_

~ After (1d10) 8 days of rumor spreading, Ingald and (1d10) 5 soldiers showed up at her hideout. Not being aware of her presence, as she hid nearby, they did not notice the trap she set for them. Ingald and the others laughed when they found 'her' (the disguised ram’s head) lying helpless on the cave's floor. 

"What a big coincidence after all this time," he said."You were supposed to be at my side like a good little girl."~

_ Greta snuck behind them and said, "There is nothing little about me, Ingald. I've always been too much woman for you." Greta throws a punch at his face as she finishes saying that.

[This will be an action by action fighting conflict. I'm killing this mofo & his lackeys for all Greta has gone through (goal). A 6. GM narrates all successes (and I need 3 out of 5)]_

~ Ingald flew three feet back through the air, crashing into an unfortunate soldier behind hijm, when Greta hit him with her fist. They both land against the cave wall.~

_ [Before they can get up, Greta wants to grab Ingald and throw him against the rest.]

"You would have been better off killing me," she says, lifting Lord Ingald by his collar. 

[Still a fighting conflict. A 4. This is going to be cake. GM narrates. ]_

~ She throws Ingald into his personal guards as if he was nothing more than an oversized sack of flour. They all crashed to the ground together. ~

_ Greta straddles him before he has a chance to get up. Then, cradling his face in her hands, her own face very close to his, almost in an intimate fashion, she tells him: "Taking what didn't belong to you is the biggest mistake of your short life. Stealing is punishable by death in this town, isn't it?" 

[Of course she's going to twist & break his neck. Fighting roll: 2. Hasta la vista, baby.]_

~ Ingald bitterly told her: “You still believe you are the good one…a better person than me. Ha!” He spat. “You are wrong. Joss’ blood is on your hands too because you valued your ego and reputation more than his life. You and I are not so different. What we want is more important than any destruction and pain our search may cause.~

_ "Go to hell, Ingald." _

~ She breaks his neck like a twig. It snaps audibly. The rest of the men, horrified, were visibly nervous and afraid. They turned and escaped into the dark green forest. ~

~[Kragg Keep had deteriorated into something of a nightmare. He took all he wanted. 

this is what she'd come to know from my brothers. ]

_ [spread the rumor that she had been found, still weak. Tempt Ingald's thirst for power and cause him to come capture her. In this case, she
Disguises herself as an old beggar man to spread the rumor among the most gossipy of farmers.

Conflict social. Goal: Deceive Everyone into thinking she's been found at her Hideout, still weakened and helpless, thereby spreading a rumor that causes Ingald to come looking for her. Roll: a 9. (Whew) Success. ]_

[Greta spends a few days visiting gossipy farmers to ask for alms and bring news of strange people in the surrounding forest. 

The farmers, who were probably scared of her, took the news and spread them like fire. The men in the watchtower were the ones who'd been ordered to keep an ear on any information. they heard about her from the lips of the farmers who carried their scant produce into town.]

This is what she heard from Fergus, who knew someone in the guard.~

_ Greta asked for daily reports from Fergus. _

[ Eventually he heard that story come to their highest level of the authorities. ]~

_Greta would prepare a trap for Ingald and his retinue, in order to ambush them before they could do anything. She would require a ram's head to disguise as herself lying down. [goal: be able to surprise and ambush them. Conflict social. An 8! Success.]_

~ After (1d10) 8 days of rumor spreading, Ingald and (1d10) 5 soldiers showed up at [her house. They were no more aware of her presence. 

Ingald and the others laughed] when they found 'her' lying helpless on the cave's floor. 

["What a big coincidence after all this time," ] he said.

["you were supposed to be at my side like a good little girl."]

_ Greta snuck behind them and said, "There is nothing little about me, Ingald. I've always been too much woman for you."

Greta throws a punch at his face as she finishes saying that.

[this will be an action by action fighting conflict. I'm killing this mofo & his lackeys for all he put Greta through (goal). A 6. GM narrates first success (need 3 out of 5)]_

~[she hits him with her fist and he flew three feet back into someone standing next ] to him. [They both landed against the ] cave [wall. ]~

_ Before they get up, Greta wants to grab Ingald and throw him against the rest.

"You would have been better off killing me,"she says, lifting him by his collar. 

[a 4. This is going to be cake. GM narrates. ]_

~ She throws [the man into his personal guards like a giant sack of flour. They all fell together.] ~

_ she straddles him before he has a chance to get up. Then, cradling his face in her hands, her own face very close to his, very intimate, she tells him: "Taking what didn't belong to you is biggest mistake of your short life. Stealing is punishable by death in this town, isn't it?" 
[Of course she's going to twist & break his neck. A 2. Hasta la vista, baby.]_

~ [[he reminded her that she was still clinging to her ] belief that she was better [than he . But she was wrong. Noel's blood was on her hands] too because of her own damn heart was worth more than anything. ] (ingald thinks theyrevthe same because Greta acted as if what she wanted was more important than the mayhem she caused.)~

_ "Go to hell, Ingald." _

~ She breaks his [neck like a twig. it snapped audibly. ] The rest of the men [were looking nervous and afraid. They turned and flew into the dark green ] forest. 

[Solo RPG Gamer]

. 

Scene 17

~After everything was over, Gunnar and Fergus arrived back at her former hideout. They had learned of Ingald’s fate, and had heard that the army was on their way here.~

_ "What about you and your families?"_

~ In the same way that she had toppled Ingald, they were going to fight what remained of his leaderless army. “You are free to go, Greta,” said Ingald. “It is not your fight anymore.” ~

_She was also wondering if the entity had been destroyed with Ingald. She wasn't even sure if it had lived inside him or was imprisoned like she had been. 

"Maybe you are right this time, Fergus, but there is one more thing I must take care of." 

[I sense for the presence of the entity. Conflict magic. A 5. Fail. Greta is Inconvenienced. No rerolls worth risking for this. The entity’s fate or whereabouts will just have to remain an open question for now. Player gets to narrate the failure, so no predictive text.]

I try to concentrate on sensing this entity, but it's either gone or hiding itself from me. Fergus and Gunnar didn't help things when they interrupted to tell me I was taking too long and really needed to leave.

[It really is time to start wrapping things up and saying our goodbyes to our friends.]

She picks up Gunnar for a big hug, and she also embraces Fergus with one arm.

"Thank you for being my friends. I will come back one day. When I do, I hope to find you here and that things are better." [with this, I'm mechanically releasing these relationships]._

~They were both reluctant to let go, but knew that they had to. 
“We are sad to see you go, Greta, but we hope you will return some day as you promised,” said Fergus. ~

- With that, she finishes her goodbyes and turns around to start walking back into the forest, with no particular destination in mind, but wherever the road takes her._

~ Their sad eyes followed her as she walked into the distance and disappeared into the foliage. ~

Scene 17

gunnar and Fergus [were there after he'd learned of the news. She would have to fight every man was following her. (every soldier looking for her). ]~

_ "What about you and your families?"_

~[ in the same way she had undermined his confidence, they would attack against his last feeble remains ] (in the same way she defeated him, they would take care of his remaining forces, which were weakened.). [ you are free of this mission. It was not her concern ] anymore. ~


_She was also wondering if the entity had been destroyed with Ingald. She wasn't even sure if it had lived inside him or was imprisoned like she had been. 

"Maybe you are right this time, Fergus, but there is one more thing I must take care of." 

[I sense for the presence of the entity. Conflict magic.a 5. Fail. Inconvenienced.No rerolls worth risking for this. It'll just have to remain an open question for now. I get to narrate the failure.]

I try to concentrate on sensing this entity, but it's either gone or hiding itself from me. Fergus and Gunnar didn't help things when they interrupted to tell me I was taking too long and really needed to leave.

[It really is time to start wrapping things up and saying our goodbyes to our friends.]

She picks up Gunnar for a big hug, and she also embraces Fergus with one arm.

"Thank you for being my friends. I will come back one day. When I do, I hope to find you here and that things are better." [with this, I'm releasing these relationships]._

~[ They were both reluctant to let go, but knew that they had to. My heart aches, but my heart was still clinging to the hope that she returned. ] (they also are saddened that she has to leave, but they also hope that she'll return as she promised ) ~

- with that, she finishes her goodbyes and turns around to start walking back into the forest, with no particular destination in mind, but wherever the road takes her._

~ [they eyes looked at her sadly toward as she walked into the distance and disappeared into the forest.]

[Solo RPG Gamer]

~[Later that night, after Greta had set up camp far away from Kragg Keep, two glittering eyes watched her from the dark, waiting.]~

**************

This is what the iOS app CreativeWriter led me to write. It partly answers the fate of the entity, and suggests further adventures for Greta. As to the fate of the town, well, Greta isn't there to find out, so I myself won't know until and if she receives news. 

We'll see.