Grand Arena - Episode 3

• Rules
• Equipment
• Survival mods
• First Aid

They find an anthill and gather minor stuff...

OK GM discretion.
There is a "good" ambush spot about 200yds away from the hill. There were 6 of you and you need 3 meals/day, so there are 18 meals. The lead soldier does not have a meal, then there are 17 workers each with a meal and at the end of the line there is a soldier with a meal. The ants are moving at 4 hexes/turn, a bit faster then the ants on the hill.

Everyone had a breakfast before entering the arena, so you can afford to lose 6 meals.

You have time to talk about what you want to do, use a spell stone and setup the ambush. You do not have time to repair weapons using a skill, dig a moat or stuff like that.

OK make an observation roll... OK you made it.
There looks like a trail two ants (2yd) wide running in the direction of the food plant beacon. The "ambush spot" has good footing for humans (you notice that the ants don't seem to notice things like going up hill, soft sand, etc.) and is about 20 yds wide, there is plenty of cover that tee's the trail.

We ambush the line of ants returning to the anthill. They have raided the food plant. We recover 12 meals (of the 18) they had. Ben get injured again. We return to the anthill and grab easy stuff on the edge. Then we head to the water hole and discover that it is surrounded by carnivorous plants. hmmm... what do do now?

We burn our way through the carnivorous plants to get to the water. While we are burning the trees, another column of ants comes to the watering hole. There are 4 warriors and 6 workers this time. They wander among the trees and finally find us to their loss. We kill a bunch. more than we saw come in. And we think that at least one went back to the anthill.

Now we're looking for a place to camp...

Davoid - Where is the party spending the night? I would like to prepare for next weeks game, at least mentally. There still needs to be some survival rolls that everyone needs to do. Until I know where and when the party "beds Down" I won't know the final modifiers.

Silas - I suggest we make a fire on the trail near the oasis, and camp out under the cliff face near the trail/Fire. As Ben is the only one who has gotten injured, I suggest that he gets as much rest as possible while the other take turns on guard duty.

Davoid - OK there is a spot near the cliff face, cliff on 3 sides out of 6 (hex sides you know)....
Soft sand to sleep on.
You can see the trail from here.
Looks like the one.

Is this were you are going to stay?
Everyone please vote or make another suggestion.

Silas - Ben & Sally look around to see any disadvantages to this spot. Are there loose rocks near the top of the cliff? How far is our visablity to either side of us? Bushes anywhere near us? Holes in the ground where snakes might be sleeping? Any tactical disadvantages?

Ben rolls a 8
Sally rolls a 4 (ooh a crit)

What did they see?

Davoid - Survival skill is used here.

Ben: errrrrr..... looks OK to me

Sally: The cliff looks stable. 10yds to the first obstructions. 30 yds to the trail. No holes that you can see, no snakes either. Animal tracks, yes there are some. Hard to tell what kind animal.

Tactics? Now that's a different skill...

Silas - Sally: "Hey Ben, you know a thing or two about tracking don't you?"

Ben: "Err... Yes actually I do! Why do you ask?"

Sally: "What kind of tracks are these?" (Points to tracks on the ground).

Ben: "..." (Skill level 9, rolls 9) "... Those are ______ Tracks!"

Davoid - Ben: Ooooh...... look tracks! Those look like a hooved animal, smaller then a horse. Anybody know what a goat track looks like? No? Goat if I'm not mistaken. Hmmmm.... all walking parallel to the cliff.

Silas - Ben: "Hmmmm... all walking parallel to the cliff in ______ direction(s)."

Sally: "Those obstructions 10 yrds away are a bit to close for my comfort. Maybe we should (re)move them."

Ben: "True something might be able to sneek up on us that way. It might also be a good idea to put 2 more watch fires out about 30 yards, say at 45 and 135 degrees. That way if something sneeks up on us in the night we can see them better with the backlight of the fires."

Davoid - The ant trail is parallel to the cliff at this point. The game trail(?) is also parallel east to west. Sally (who did have a crit): Game trail? Camping on a game trail is... bad ....right? I think so...

Do you want to remove them? a couple of bushes and a couple of rocks. Let me know if and how.

Silas - (how big are the rocks?) We could burn the bushes.

Sally: maybe we should move out about 10 yards from the cliff so we don't get trampled.

Davoid - The rocks are big enough for a human to hide behind. Call it 2 1/2 ft high by 3 ft wide. It would take some effort to move... The bushes could be burned if that's what you want..... Moving 10 yd would change which bushes and rocks you'd have to "deal with", but other than that you wouldn't have your back to the cliff....

I would like a final decision before Wednesday...It's getting dark what do you do?

Lon - Theo: "I like that idea, Sally. Let's move away from the game trail. And I don't want to bother with moving things. So let's just move away from them. We need to settle in and rest or we'll be working all night."

So. Ben rests. 3 watches one character from each of us each watch. Set fires out 30yds like Ben suggested.

sleep.

Silas - Sally agrees "Theo Come with me and help me build the fires."

Ben is very ok with that

Lon - "OK. hey baby, do you want me to light your fire?" (Theo's default 'Sex Appeal' isn't quite that bad, but with a little practice could be much better.)

Silas - Sally: (Slap's Theo across the face, not hard but not soft either) "Try again later with a less cheesy pickup line!" (Smiles) "Come on. Lets go get the wood... I heard you think that!"

We set up camp away from the waterhole, near th cliffs, but not on the game trail and with a view of the ant trail. We set out watch fires. Toward sunset a cople of people come walking down the ant trail from the direction of the waterhole. They're waering sarong, carrying sticks and waterskins. Sally decides she wants a waterskin a beats up Smiley to get it. We eventually convince Smiley and Andy to stay with us.

Everyone except Ben fails their Survival roll for the day. and no one recovers any LTF fatigue overnight.

As we're getting up in the morning, we see a group of ants heading toward the waterhole. We, led by Sally, jump them and slay them all, taking a few injuries ourselves.

Davoid - Aftermath. There are some loose ends we need to clean up.

1. There is one ant left. The one that ran away from the battle and is currently sitting still on the trail. What do you do about that one?
2. First aid. Are you going to do First aide now? Remember it takes 30 minutes...
3. Where do you go from here? And when do you leave?
4. Where do each of you spend your points. ?

Silas - Kill the ant (Trivial). Do First aid on Smiley, and Sam. Send Andy to the top of the cliff to survey area. Go Get the food. Head back to the ant hill to smash more ants and get better weapons/equipment.

Pat - The oasis is now open to anyone -- courtesy us. Emil thought it was strange to leave the area, and is very uncomfortable with any delay that means our not being there to harvest when there's a harvest.

He wants to go back. ASAP. We all fill up on water (desert rule--carry as much in you as possible, when you can... and as much as you can, otherwise), harvest, and clear out to do other things.

the timeline (actual, Davoids comments are in italics )...

04:30	Emil, Ben, Ron, Andy go kill the ant. That gives us two with two hex reach. Slow approach. Step, wait. Step, wait... until we're close enough to move in and unleash a massive assault. They go kill the ant. The cowering ant gets pounded knocked back a hex, rolls up right then expires.
04:35	Emil, Andy and Theo start scouting for a path up to the top of the ridge. They need to start looking for a path or reasonable slope now.... Optimally, somewhere between "here" and the waterhole. If they find one with enough time to spare, go to the oasis and drink up, then go up the ridge. So we get the guys who are good observers up where they can see and take bearings--and look out over the area in general and warn the rest of us... if.... Once they're done, they'll go rejoin the foragers and bring back the food and all the water they can. Lon - Theo: "We'll try and find a place where we have a view across the land and a view of the waterhole. If we see ants coming we'll wave at you and hold up one arm/10ants. If we see non-ants we'll wave like this". He demonstrates Pat - Emil adds: "You wave back so we know you see us waving." "And if it is something other than ants, we wave like Theo says, and then we hold up arms to show how many." He pauses, thinking. Holding his arms out as if on a cross, "This will mean people" Holding his arms to make an X over his head "This will mean 'Stay, and fight or what seems best and we will hurry to meet you.'" Holding one arm up and waving it in a big circle over his head "This will mean 'Run away, and come meet us." Silas - Ben: "Oh, nice idea with the hand signals. May I make a suggestion... If you see something approching, other than ants, do jumping jacks." Sally starts applying sweetness and light and bandaids (Nurse Ratchet...) to Sam and Smiley. Sally: "See you cliff climbers later (Waving to Theo, Emil, and Andy as they walk away). Smiley come here... Don't worry I am not going to hurt you (mutters under her breath "much..."). Look I am putting my sticks down" (Sets sticks on the ground, and retrives Emil's first aid kit). (Starts first aid on Smiley). While Sally is patching up Smiley, Ben tries to help Sam out with his ant bite (also using first aid kit). Ben: "Sam sit down here."
05:00	Sally's done with first aid. First Aid Skill: 9, 10 with first aid kit Rolls: 5 (ohh... almost a crit) Sally: "There, is that better?" Ben's done with first aid. First Aid Skill: 10, 11 with first aid kit Rolls: 7 Ben: "Ok lets head over by the water hole." (Starts Walking) Everyone (Ben, Sally (The Iron Butterfly), Sam, Ron and Smiley) goes to the oasis.
05:15	They reach the oasis, get the s--t scared out of them by some wild goats. Did it look like the goats have a relationship with the trees too? The goats ran through the burned out area past you and they avoided the trees at all costs. Ben: (Looks at the goats and counts them, rolls 8 against naturalist 10) "These are one of any number of desert goats!" These goats look well feed. Sally: "Should we kill them or chase them away before the food arives at dawn? I don't like goat slober on my food!" The goats are gone. It doesn't look like they touched the food plants. Ben: "It would be hard to hunt, easer to ambush these goats which are great to eat by the way. It would be too easy to chase them away." Those at the oasis drink up... Drink full up. Fill the water containers. And wait slightly outside the ring of trees. Prep for breakfast picking -- get a sarong or two ready to fill... How far from the hill to the oasis (in a hurry)? Would we be able to see each other, come dawn? The oasis is in a depression so.... A 10 minute walk to see the top of the hill, another 10 to get up to the top. Call it 4 and 4 at a run.
05:30	The hill climbers get to the top of a small rise, the back of the cliff you were camping by. In the darkness you can see stars all around, nothing that looks like a bigger hill. Too dark to see much else. Hard to tell how far you could see the ants coming, at least 15 minutes. You will know more at dawn.
06:00	Dawn - those at the oasis start harvesting, Ben: "If we eat breakfast NOW then we'll have less to carry" ; ) This sounds reasonable to the group, they pick then eat while they're waiting. Those on the ridge observe, and figure out landmarks and directions. Emil: "Look at all the light blue lines! What do they mean? Oh! and there is a prize point over there! and one over there and another one far away over there. [2] Food ones too!" (pointing at each) Theo: "Light blue lines? Say you're right! They are are light blue lines! Non-potable water that is. The bright blue ones are potable water, see them next to the green food beacons." Andy: "The light blue lines ARE water, quality not guaranteed. That food / water one (pointing) is close. We should get back to the group and go over there." Theo: "That's the oasis, we've been there." Andy & Emil (in unison): "Are you sure?" Theo (slapping his forehead): "Look, the sun rises in the west and the oasis is to the west and that food / water line is to the west! Got It?!" Andy & Emil (in unison): "Ohhhh!" The terrain is bad lands. All the hills seem to be the same hight. The exposed rock is volcanic. Andy: "Remember ALL the light blue lines look like they're in the low spots around here." (1 to 5 miles) Emil puts a stone arrow (triangle...) in the direction of each of the places that look of interest, and marks the watch point with a small cairn.
06:05	Emil, Andy and Theo come off the ridge and head to join the party.
06:15	Emil, Andy and Theo get water / food. Everyone has had a drink, had breakfast and is carrying 2 meals. Everyone has 1 LTF from yesterday (no recovery). Everyone (except Ben) has taken 1 hit from a failed Survival roll yesterday. A few still have ant bites.
06:30	move out to the ant hill. Ben: "I say we stash our food in a safe spot a short distance from the ant hill, and approach from downwind".

We started walking toward the anthill parallel to the ant trail about 10yds off it. About halfway there, we saw an ant charging down the trail toward the oasis, stop and then charging back the way it came. Sally took off after it. Then the rest of of went "what...OK" and charged off after Sally. A cople of more ants went by toward the oasis, but Sally kept her eye on the one heading back to the anthill. Then she looked up and saw a column of ants 10 across and 40-50 deep coming from the anthill. Oops. We all turn and runaway, perpendicular to the trail. When we stop a moment, 100yds away, we realize the Andy and Smiley are gone. Oh well, they're on their own. We stay clear of the column and continue to the anthill.

At the anthill we take time to look for survival gear. Then take our time gathering it. Everyone but Ben gets bitten at least once. And we gather...

Sally Broadsword w/Scabard Shortsword w/Scabard Mace small backpack, 40lb capacity personal basics ring of purify water (pM39) Blanket 10 pitons 10 yards of heavy rope spellstone: Flash (pM57) spellstone: Beast Summoning (pM23) spellstone: Repair (pM60) spellstone: Frailty (lvl=20) (pG14)

Ben Bastard Sword GreatSword pouch small wineskin, 1gal large backpack, 100lb capacity personal basics sleeping bag Oil lantern 2-man tent 10 yards of rope potion of general Studliness (pG13)

Sam Leather Jacket (no left arm) Leather Brigadine (torso) w/pocket... spellstone: Wallwalker (pM70) spellstone: Repair (pM60)

Theo Great Axe boots, to big for Theo, too snug for Sam Lantern w/3 Continual Light spellstones

Ron

Emil

After collecting the stuff, we move off 100yds and perform First Aid for 2 hours. Theo is sure he knows which way is the next food plant site and leads off. We get to a depression with green water in it. We use the Purify Water ring to fill our canteens and then get away from the ant trails and find another waterhole for a campsite.

We cut the other sleeve off the leather jacket and Sally makes 2 belts out of it.

Ben oversees the Survival for everyone and no-one takes any injury from Survival for the day. We have tents for all and blankets for 2. We roll well enough that we all recover our LTF for the day (Emil got a crit all his LTF).

Two hours before dawn, those on watch (Theo and Emil) see something coming to the waterhole. They wake Sally thinking it might be goats (food). They're ants. We wake everyone and start breaking camp. Sally and Emil lay a false trail, buying us enough time to break camp. We run for a mile. Emil is winded. We reshuffle our gear, drop the Great Axe, and slow down to the ant's pace. We get to the next waterhole and rest a bit. Duh! we have a Hide Path spellstone. Theo has the highest HT and recovery, so he operates the Hide Path and mile and a half (he has to drink a healing Elixir). We climb a hilltop and wait for sunrise. Emil uses Hawk Vision and mapmaker to mark down the beacon locations at dawn. We go to the nearer Fodd/Water/Prize point and beat a pillbug off of the plants. We decide to forage for the day and try to recover HT tomorrow.

We went out foraging... Sally and Ben gather some foodstuffs: N meals. Ben and Emil go out. Ben gets very unlucky and very lucky, the reults being that the flush out a goat (or something) and Emil takes it down w/ the prod. We get 6 meals out of it. Sam and Theo watch the camp. They see a single ant come to the waterhole and do some gardening, including pushing the pill-bug out of the vicinity. We rest and recover...

The Map
On the map the "real" goat trails are marked (the easy way between places). Note that this is an excellent map within 5 miles "+2" on your orienteering skill. The pencil lines are the route you took. You are currently at the FWP point on the 5 mile ring. You find what looks like an ant trail, but only 1 hex wide. You jump over it as you've seen the goats do.

Prizes!
Each character gets a pint of "Vita-Grow Liquid Plant Vitamin", in a disposable bag. 1 lb.
Directions:

1. Rip open bag along dotted line.
2. Pour on the roots of any "food" plant.
3. Stand well back.
4. Should produce one meal in 5 to 10 minutes.

Dave: the baubles from Gurtab and Billy

Sally: I count 4.
Ron: You can count?

Emil: I think I see 5...Do they look a little funny to you?
Smiley: Funny? No. Maybe except for that extra set of arms, maybe you think that's funny.
Sam: Hey! I saw them on a show once.
(an arrow smacks between Ron and Sally)
Ben: Did you hear something?
Theo: Behind us! Run!
Andy: Grab the Ant! Grab the Ant!

Andy and Smiley pick up the Honey ant. They along with the rest of the group run for cover.
On top of one of the many low cliffs there are a couple of figures, one with a bow. Hmmmmm....... No extra arms on those "people".

Andy, Smiley and the Honey Ant find cover, but there is no way out that isn't under fire. The rest of the group are under different cover.

19 minutes until "the Ants".

... the 'heroes'
We waited behind a rock outcropping and see a party coming to us; the archer had fired prematurely (we heard them yelling at each other) so they lost their surprise. They came at us in a nice tight formation. We dropped and Ice Slick and Stench and took them out easily.

xp=3pts

Loot	#	DR	who
Pot helms	6	4	Andy, Smiley.
Leather face (part of coif)	6	2	Sally, Ben, Sam, Theo, Ron, Emil
leather arms	5	2	Sally, Sam, Theo, Smiley, Andy
leather legs	5	2	Sam, Theo, Emil, Smiley, Andy
scale body armor	1	4	Ben
breast plate (scale w/ leather back)	3	4, 2 from rear	Sam, Theo, ?
gauntlets	1	4	?
chain legs	1	4	?
sollerets	1	4	?
daggers	3		Smiley, Andy, ?
shields	3		Smiley, Andy, ?
broadswords, thrusting	3		Sally, Sally, Theo
lg knife	1		?
waterskins	6		Sally, Bem, Sam, Theo, Ron, Emil (empty)
spears	2		Theo, ?, ?, + 1 cheap spear
bastard sword	1		Ron

Sally immediatly swaps her 2 broadswords for the nice pointy ones.
Once she is holding the swords she looks around. 'Anyone have a problem? No... I thought not!'

Things we observed:

1. the trees grab the bugmen
2. the trees touch the ants but don't grab. (from before)
3. the trees jerk away from the bugman after a turn of "concentration"
4. the bug men quickly move away from the tree when they're free.
5. the ants move freely through the trees. (from before)
6. Sally didn't feel another mind trying to control the tree.
7. The two "thoughts" Sally "felt" from the tree were "food" & "ouch".
8. Once you off'ed the bugman the tree ate him.
9. The tree didn't eat the dead ants. (from before)
10. the bugmen know your there in the tree. They're watching you. At least they were.
11. 10 minutes until the ants arrive.
12. Total darkness wouldn't hinder the ants at all. (your best guess)
13. the bugmen are badass!

The survivors Sally, Emil, Ben, Sam and Theo decide on a course of action. Given the problems Sally encountered trying to enter the tree the first time gave them an idea of how to win without first defeating the bugmen. They dropped the darkness spell, moved the branches of the tree out over the prize point and made the branches “dense”. Then, using their remaining shields for extra protection, lay the honey ant on the prize point.

Percival Pinhead pops in and says; “Well , well it seems you losers got lucky! Someone made a lot on you losers! But not me! So bimbo tell me ... (Sally’s swing misses Percival’s nose by a hair) yeow! Easy there! So tell me how......”

A middle age man in a suit pops in and throws a white handkerchief on the ground. Immediately after a man in black and white strips pops in blowing a whistle and waving his arms, “We have a coach's challenge, time out”.

Several more men in suits pop in, along with a few men-in-black and a couple more officials. The suits go confer with the bugmen, the men-in-black start talking to the survivors and the officials with each other.

Chet and Dan the talking heads (literally) pop in.

Official: The players were in control of the opponent when the prize point was triggered. By rule the game is over!

The camera pans over to the survivors.

Sally: WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAD 3 TIME-OUTS?!?

The channel fades as Sally is pounding the hell out of one of the men-in-black leaving only the talking heads.

Dan: Well that’s a fitting end. Say “Good night Chet”.
Chet: Good night Chet.