PART 3 (and last!) of my first COJ game.

PART 3 (and last!) of my first COJ game.

As they were getting outside of Jerusalem by night, Azim and Zeno (and their mule) went towards the port of Ashdod. Zeno’s gang stayed behind as they didn’t cross the gate in fear of compromising the mission (that was a call of Zeno’s player actually and not such a bad idea).

Staying on the merchant road heading to the west, Azim pondered and strong of countless treks in the wilderness during his soldier life, thought that the road would be watched and decided to get off the beaten tracks. But as the City of Judas was at least lit a bit, that wasn’t the case (at all!) in the wilds and that they might be spotted at a distance if they used torches. Azim’s player asked me if he could have a kind of thief’s lantern with only one beam of light that one could shut down quickly. That wasn’t something his character was supposed to have amongst his possession as a veteran but I called for an Equipment check anyway. Azim scored a 10+ and then used two holds to have something unusual for his character and the last one to have it while on the road. Our two Fraters started their trip through the wild and rocky countryside.

NOTA : I called then for a defy danger+steel (if I remember correctly) as the trip was rough and they had to keep on moving quickly to egt to Ashdod before the captain ran away. Both aced it. However, I have a question here for +Davide : have you considered a move to deal with this “adventuring into the wild” like there was in DW?

After a harsh night spent walking, climbing and exhausting themselves, Zeno the raider and Azim the veteran finally caught a glimpse of the shimmering waters of the sea! They reached the port itself and noticed the frank vessel, “le Fol Ventoux” not far away. But between them and the boat stood a group of tough mean looking mercenaries who were visibly patrolling in the vincinity of the ship.Azim told Zeno to stay behind as he’ll try to get past the guards to talk to the captain of the Fol Ventoux. He succeeded (10+) and managed to reach the dock just in front of the vessel. There he asked for the Captain and saw a frightened bearded face looking at him with extreme caution. As they were nearly mid-day, he Frank was tense. He hushed at Azim about hem being crazy to try to board their cargo now as the mercenary pack was searching for them all around the docks. Azim tried to calm him down but failed (6-) at his face danger+charm move… Suddenly a rugged voice shouted something behind him. The mercenaries finally saw him! (I used the GM move show remote danger – well not so remote actually ). Already two of them were nearly at him and he started a bloody fight standing on the footbridge. He managed to throw one of his adversaries off the bridge but the other one forced him to abandon his position (-1 to his AD) using the length of his spear. Zeno who saw the whole scene from behind a sturdy building started to shoot at the other group of mercenaries, mostly forcing them to dive for cover. Azim fought fiercely against three opponnents (should I had him used the face death as they were more than 2 Vs 1?? At this time I didn’t but I am not so sure now…) and Zeno was now crossing blades with the sergeant (a strong type adversary) whose broad sword moved aside the light dagger of the raider and ripped his armor apart (thought that some weapon should definitely be able to break some armor, for good, as Zeno was only wearing light leather armor) putting his life at a real risk.

During the fight, the footbridge collapsed as the boat was leaving the port! Worse, one of the mercenary started to take the mule with him (as a consequence of one of their failed combat move)! Azim fled the battle and sprinted along the docks to finally jump and land on the Fol Ventoux’s deck! Then as he was trying to assess the situation (using a perception check) he asked as one hold this question : what is the best course to have the captain stop the ship? To which I answered : in threatening his life, and that’s what he did. He rolled a test of manipulate (and succeeded with a 7-9. With a blade onto his throat, the captain reconsidered his option and acept to give a bit more time to the blood brothers (Azim player chose the “they give you what you want …” option). The boat stopped his course and a rowing boat came down.

At the docks the battle between Zeno and the mercenaries led by their grim and strongly build sergeant went bad for the raider (he suffered several injuries and was at 0 health). As he didn’t see where Azim was (the player didn’t want to make a perception check maybe in fear of a failure hence another GM move?^^) he decided to run for his life! The mercenaries didn’t really care to kill him anyway, so they let him go (they were paid to recover the shipment only). That’s at this precise moment that two sailors led by a determined Azim appeared from below the dock where a poor now exhausted mercenary tried to pull the mule away. Quickly and with a deadly precision, the veteran sneaked  behind the man and stroke him down with a blow of his mace crushing helmet and skull alike.

NOTA : here Azim asked to sneak behind the merc, so I asked for a defy danger+shadow. As he succeeded with a 10+ I decided that he stroke the man down without a Inflict harm move. I thought it suited best the fiction. Was the guard dead or simply KO, it didn’t really matter as he was taken down for the rest of the fight.

At once he started to pull the mule to get it inside the rowing boat when the rest of the mercenary gang spotted him and rushed straight towards his position! Zeno spotted this two from behind his hideout and rushed as well to help his brother. He ran like a madman until he reached the rear of the mule, pushing his bottom as Azim was dragging it!

NOTA here I asked for a help someone move and decided that Zeno automatically succeeded. I guess I was maybe a bit too kind having him spotted the whole thing as he said he was running away from the fight but it was late and I thought ah “what the heck”.

Finally the mule got in the rowing boat with Azim and the two sailors completely startled by the beast standing now next to them! As for Zeno he was the last to get on board and was baddly struck by a spear as he was trying not to regain his balance.  The spear head pierced his leather layers and broke his shoulder blade (I think he was then at -2 health and as such got the unstable condition). And the hit pushed him overboard! Fortunately for him, Azim saved the day (and surely his life!) and pulled him out!

NOTA : as he got a 6 on the suffer harm move, I chose the “it”s serious…” option and decided he strength of the blow pushed him overboard. Then I don’t remember well but I asked a face danger+steel (or was it edge?) at Zeno’s player and I think he missed it completely., but as Azim tried to help him and successfully got a 10+ I said that he saved him from drowning. Was I right here? Can you still increase the success of someone who just failed ?

At the end, both Azim & Zeno went aboard the Fol Ventoux and managed to deliver the opium. The mission was still a success but there were some questions here still unanswered : who paid those mercenaries and the bribe at the gate? How could he knew of the operation? What was the fate of brother Timeus? Did he die during the assault in the Essenian district? And most importantly what will become of their new friend the mule?^^

Anyway I had a good time running this game even if I screwed up from time to time. We still have to go through the “milestoning” and the end of a mission move but I think we had a good overview of the game’s mechanics. Hope you enjoyed this gaming report! Cheers! 😉