LoS: BoL Actual Play

This past Friday I received a call to pick up my oldest Heir from school. He was sick. Although he was sick enough not to be in school he wasn’t laying in bed incapacitated sick. Just uncomfortable. So, I decided to seize the moment (and take advantage of the lack of distractions) to play some Legends of Steel: Barbarians of Lemuria.

My son had created a character several weeks ago. I mentioned in another post that my son has a strange penchant for evil characters. Here is his character.

Sparks
Origin – Padjistan

Attributes
Strength 3
Agility 2
Mind 0
Appeal -1

Combat
Brawl 2
Melee 3
Ranged -1
Defense 0

Careers
Assassin 3
Gladiator 1
Mercenary 0
Thief 0

Lifeblood 14
Hero Points 5

Armor – Battle Harness
Weapons – 2 Daggers, 2 Swords

Boons
Blind Combat
Escape Artist
Hard-to-Kill

Flaws
Morgazzon’s Curse
Unsettling

He actually created this one evening when I was away at work. I was impressed that he chose to use his appeal as a dump stat as well as choosing Morgazzon’s curse. Rather complementary I thought.

Sparks had wandered to Belsa hoping the unsettled political situation would lead to steady work in his particular specialty. But things hadn’t worked out that way. We join our hero in a rundown restaurant having spent the last of his coin on a mediocre meal and a large mug of root beer. While eating he overheard a local talking about a mysterious tower and the riches within. While staring ruefully at the dregs of his root beer he was approached by a stout fellow who had somehow heard of him. The stranger introduced himself as Thorasz. And Thorasz had a plan. He was going to rob the tower but needed a partner. Sparks agreed and they arranged to meet in the alley outside in an hour. At this point I had to persuade my son that it wouldn’t be a wise idea to have Sparks try to pickpocket one of the patrons of the restaurant. So he sent Sparks outside. I then had to persuade him that mugging a passerby wouldn’t be a wise idea. Wait, I said. If the adventure in the tower didn’t work out be could rob people then.

Sparks and Thorasz made their way to the round tower. The tower was an imposing five story structure surrounded by a hewn stone wall. The two scaled the wall easily. They came down in the foliage of a lavish garden. Thorasz had heard that guards wandered the garden and the pair were suitably alert as they followed a trail to the tower. They were expecting guards but not the vicious tiger that lunged at Thorasz! The tiger promptly puts the bite on Thorasz, who is too surprised to react. Sparks isn’t surprised and reacts by charging forward with both swords swinging. My son, without delay, rolls a 2. I judge that his sword snaps and the blade sails away into the bushes. He swings his other sword and misses. The next round the tiger misses, Thorasz hits and Sparks again misses. Then the tiger hits Sparks for a small amount of damage, Thorasz misses and Sparks hits with a mighty blow that slays the beast. Bloodied but not beaten they moved to the tower.

Unlike the wall, the tower was smooth and featureless except for a window on the third floor. Thorasz had come equipped with a grappling hook and Sparks, on his second attempt, managed to hook it through the window. They climbed up and entered a lavishly appointed bedroom. The only door in the room led to a spiral staircase leading both up and down. Thorasz had heard that the treasure was on the highest level so the pair starts upward. And almost collide with a descending guard who immediately spears Sparks. After a brief flurry of blows Sparks drops the guard. The two thieves drag the body to the bedroom and stuff it under the bed. My son decided to spend a hero point to heal the damage caused by the guard. Flesh wound is an option offered in Legends of Steel. It heals the damage incurred by the last combat. They then begin their ascent again, skipping the door on the fourth level and going directly to the fifth. The door is locked but Sparks manages to pick it. Thorasz tells Sparks to guard the door while he checks out the room. After a few moments Thorasz staggers out and collapses on the floor, dead. Sparks enters the room carefully and sees five chests overflowing with gold and silver coins and an altar-like table with several gold chalices and a large, clear gem on it. Sparks moves to grab the gem, not noticing the giant spider as it drops toward him. The spider attempts to bite Sparks but misses. Sparks backpedals, swings and hits, causing a moderate amount of damage. The spider bites again and again misses. (I didn’t roll to terribly well this game.) Sparks braces himself and slays the spider with his next blow.

Sparks takes the gem and a chalice. As soon as the gem is removed from the altar the tower begins to shake, as if rocked by an earthquake. Sparks rushes out of the room and down the stairs but trips because of the shaking and takes damage in the resulting fall. My son spends a hero point on flesh wound and heals himself. He goes into the bedroom and finds the wizard waiting for him. The shaking stops and the wizard rasps something threatening about daring to enter his tower. And then zaps Sparks with a blast of lightening which does considerable damage. Sparks charges and hits the wizard. The wizard is only slightly hurt and throws another blast of lightening but misses! Sparks swings and connects. My son decides to use another hero point to upgrade his hit to a mighty success. The swing lops the head off of the wizard, sending it spinning across the room in a gout of blood. With the death of the wizard the gem explodes into small fragments and the tower begins to shake again. Sparks slides down the rope and makes his way through the garden and over the wall just in time to avoid the implosion of the tower.

Sparks survives and comes away with a golden chalice and his life. Now having played a few sessions of Labyrinth Lord my son was very interested in the money he gained from the sale of the chalice and wanted to spend it gold piece by gold piece. I had to persuade him that the money itself wasn’t that important. He ended up buying a nice suit of black clothing, rearming himself and eating many good meals. I awarded him with two advancement point which he used to improve his thief career and increased his ranged combat.

My son said it was too bad that Thorasz had died. I asked why? He said that he planned to rob him when they were done. Although he hasn’t read any sword & sorcery fiction he certainly he certainly seems to understand its spirit. This all took between 45 min and an hour.

We both had fun and look forward to playing again.