It’s good to get back to my Perils on the Borderlands solo game. It is a labor of love and I’m thankful there are no deadlines for continuing the game. I’m happy to say that I’ve been getting a lot of time at the table via our weekly Fatbeards Roll20 game and also the game club I started this year at my school. The Roll20 games run the gamut from Boothill to Odnd. When I take a turn behind the screen, I like to run Pits and Perils and sometimes Risus. We change up the games a bit, but it is always a great time no matter what the rules. During our Game Club, the students always look forward to playing Basic Fantasy after school on Thursdays. They are exploring the old fort near Morgansfort as an introduction to BFRPG. I’m really energized by their enthusiam. They are loving every minute of it.
Now back to the Perils on the Borderlands…
Day 48
Arden and Company break camp and move towards the Caves of Chaos. Egg Barkley settles the horses down and makes a base camp nearby (in a secluded area). He will tend the mounts and keep watch for anything moving along the road.
Arden and Company return to the Caves and enter the goblin caves. Sgt Tenning and a dozen archers wait outside. They are ready with longbow and also carry chainmail, shield, and sword. It is large enough force to make any group think twice in engaging.
The company moves carefully through the goblin holdings and in one chamber to the west, they encounter two hobgoblin guards. They quickly dispatch the guards and move on.
In a torture chamber, two more hobgoblins are met. The also fall with little injury to the company.
Arden meets their first real resistance in what appears in a dining hall. Nine hobgoblins attack the company. Corwin uses a web spell to slow the hobgoblins assault. This is followed with a fire bolt to kill several in the chamber. Arden and Company slay many of them and leave the female hobgoblins alone.
Alarmed has been raised by sounds of the battle. Reinforcements meet Arden at the top of a stairway. The hobgoblins fire crossbows and rush to attack with maces. Once again Corwin casts a fear spell, causing the attackers to retreat in several directions. One hobgoblin decides to flee out of an entrance. He meets a quick death by Sgt. Tenning and his archers waiting outside.
The company moves farther into the lair. They find three hobgoblins cowering in fear. Corwin requests they be left alone for now. The spell will wear off in a little less than an hour.
Arden is met by the remainder of the hobgoblin tribe–a large brute in platemail and shield, four large body guards, and four females that are looking for a fight. Corwin unleashes his last fear spell and the hobgoblin’s clan deserts him. The big chieftain decides to flee as well, but not before he his fallen upon by the company.
Battered and bloodied, the chieftain makes a desperate escape through a secret door. [Note–I used the pursuit houserules by Abraham Gray. He has an excellent site filled with Pits and Perils goodies.]
The hobgoblin chieftain rushes through the goblin lairs (empty now) fleeing from Arden and Company. He runs out of one of the entrances and is met by the archers. Two volleys of arrow fire and he is riddled with arrows. He had been bloodied before and is now a pin cushion.
Arden and Company make a careful search of the hobgolin lair and find a trove of loot and weapons including a magic wand of paralyzation and a vial of poison. The will return to the Keep with as much as they can carry. The rest, they will remove from the Caves and make a cache of equipment to recover at another time.
Solo play continues to be a great diversion for me. I sit at my desk and watch as the scenes unfold. It continues to be a worthwhile way to adventure game.
More to come…
Damn Elf Press 
