Nibelungs AP report: Gunther did die

Nibelungs play report! I will be light on module details, since I plan to run this scenario again.

2 players, Adam and Never, a knight and a witch. Plenty of debating about equipment. I decided, "Tell me what your item is, and then we will figure out what it does. The effect comes second." The most important two pieces were rope (which we said could come untied any time the user wished, a la elvish rope in the lord of the rings) and an oak twig, which could grow instantly into a full oak if planted in the ground.

Before the scenario started, one player noticed that they would need a disposable follower in case they rescued Gunther, otherwise they would violate the rule of 7.

They took 2 war dogs, 1 hunting dog, and 2 men at arms.

The journey to the Unkensee was pretty easy. Encounter with a revenant who level-drained the witch but killed no one.

At the Unkensee, the knight tried to rule-of-three intimidate the hunting dogs into following him after driving them off twice, but on his third attempt failed. The dogs attacked and killed him.

His replacement was a thief. But with the knight dead, and the other player a witch, the thief had nobody reputable to vouch for him, and the retainers had nobody to follow. They abandoned the party and left. (I can't remember if I rolled morale or used situational authority; either would work, I think.) The players retreated.

Adam called it a night after that. Never rolled to find new hirelings (going against the rules, in which the process should be automatic; but I wanted to give a bit of weight to the character's status as a marginal woman). 2 dogs, 4 men at arms.

On the return journey they met Lodinga bathing but negotiated poorly and made no progress. The area was flooded.

They staked out the area and found the chimney to Lodinga's bedroom. After she fell asleep and her fire dimmed they rappelled down with the rope. 1/6 chance of waking her up for every person climbing down. She woke up as the witch descended.

Thinking quickly, the witch planted the oak branch in front of Lodinga. Actually Never suggested that it simply start growing in mid-air, and that the roots could block Lodinga. But I reminded him that we said it had to be planted, and suggested that he could do so.

Lodinga was briefly (1d4 rounds) trapped. Meanwhile the party took clothes from her wardrobe and paper from her book and set fire to the tree. Not much damage from that, 1d4 per round.

They fled through the caverns. Their path was somewhat dictated by the flooding; they went to higher, drier ground. Lodinga broke free and followed them, killing a hireling.

They were attacked while escaping by some hags. After the hags killed a dog, the hags were content to eat its heart, but the party pressed the attack. They lost another hireling before retreating.

Ultimately, no treasure recovered. 2 enemies (a revenant and a hag) overcome. 1 player and 3 retainer deaths. Gunther died the next evening. A fabulous success on my end!

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