Only Cats Have 9 Lives

Yesterday's game gave rise to a new talent - calling birds. This soon developed into calling dragons - with disastrous results, although for one poor soul a bucket proved more deadly.

Master Bob was an elf who was born unlucky and he stayed unlucky. He hooked up with some desperate wanna-be heroes in the Karangahake Gorge and had spent the night holed up in a shack. When dawn came, things turned to custard.

A gang of kobolds attacked, with wizards capturing the others with HTP spells. Master Bob had not known them for more than 24 hours and felt no compunctions about fleeing. He ran through the forest, pursued for 2 hours by kobolds, and when he finally lost them, he came out onto  a road where he met 2 fairies and a centaur.

These were friendly enough but almost immediately turned and made for Mackay Town as fast as they could. Master Bob signed  started running again, following the centaur and the large, slow fairy, Bulky Boy.

No sooner had he set out after them but three tree spirits (with alligator jaws) sprang out and attacked. The centaur kept running while Bulky Boy HTP'd one, leaving Bob to fight two himself. He took a scratch and then set about them in earnest before centaur and fairy returned to pulp the spirits. stealing his glory.

Master Bob was loathe to be alone on the forest road so he asked the centaur for a ride - she agreed readily enough but Bob had no experience of riding and no saddle...his CON was down from a high of 6 to 5 and he soon found out that it was taking all the DEX and STR he could muster to hang on to the galloping centaur. He did well until his mount has to leap over dead bodies in the slaughter that was Mackay Town whereupon he came off, banged his head and lost another point of CON.

He decided to indulge in a spot of looting since everyone in the town seemed dead and broke into a candlemakers. Getting candles and matches was no problem but when he tried to break into the strong box he was bitten by a diseased rat in the thumb (CON now 3) and he decided that, rather than risk infection, he would cut his thumb off with his kukri...

The first blow was not very accurate but he he succeeded with the second (CON now 2) only to find the fairies had summoned dragons...who incinerated the shops in the town including the candlemakers. His leather armour was scorched off from his back and he took a fair roasting (CON now 1).

Master Bob was in a bad way. He crawled out of the shop and found a well which he flopped into to avoid the dragons and their fire storm. As (his) LK would have it, it was a long fall - but he took no damage. He doggy paddled for a while but then grew too cold and too tired. He tried climbing up the well wall but it was slippery and he fell back down (rolled 1 and 2, critical fumble, but kind GM gives no penalty).

He wondered where the rope and bucket were? Could he climb up the rope? Fortune was not smiling. With LK 7, he needed doubles for the bucket and rope to be within reach...another critical fumble! The well was hit hard by a dragon up above and the bucket unreeled horribly quickly, cracking poor Master Bob on the head (CON minus 1), who was knocked unconscious.

Drowning while unconscious was a comparatively painless ending to a truly miserable day for an elf who never actually made one LK SR in his adventuring career.