Mausritter Solo Mousey Wizard Ep1

 Episode 1

When we last left Anise, she was in the hamlet of Stumpsville, retrieving a stone tablet inscribed with runes for the Grand Library in her home village of Oaksgrove. She was a young mouse, and this was the first task she was able to perform outside of her home village. Unfortunately, soon after she had gotten the tablet, a gang of rats known as Dedratz proceeded to terrorize Stumpsville, and focused their ire on Anise when they could not find the mayor of the hamlet. Let’s see what happens next!

Bold text: mechanics
Italics text: Roleplaying
Plain text: Out of character explanation

Materials: Mausritter Core Book, One Page Solo Engine (OPSE), Bernpyle #3, Oak Mill Institute by MatthewSteakHam, Knave 2e

In between sessions, I rolled to see how the faction Dedratz progressed in their Goals. In particular, they have a goal to “Establish a Protection Racket”. They have two resources available to them, A Ruthless gang, and a Secret Hideout. So, they get a +2 for their d6 roll. 1d6+2 = 8. With a 6+, they get to progress towards their goal, two marks. So now they have 2 out of 3 progress for their goal of a Protection Racket.

We haven’t rolled up any other factions yet, but perhaps there will be one to oppose this gang. While we are on the subject of factions, let’s go ahead and create the Grand Library faction in Oaksgrove. I imagine they are a scholarly group of mice, so looking at a Faction table in Knave 2e, I find Scholarly Circle. Sounds good. Note: There is a list of faction types in Mausritter core, but it only contains 10 options, so I decided to broaden the scope with some additional tables.

Leader we established last session – Iris Maker
Faction Trait: d100=37 Global Reach. Since this is Mausritter, global is relative to mice. But they are powerful it seems
Goals: d100=45 Impersonate NPC. I think this means they are trying to build up local chapters in all of the major surrounding villages/towns. Since they have “global reach” I’ll give them 2 out of 3 progress on this already.

The way factions work, the more resources they have, the more progress they get toward their goals, and the more influence they have in the hexcrawl/adventure sites.

Now, to set our scene for today’s session.

Scene:

The Dedratz gang are approaching Anise, who is poised on a ladder leading to the mayor’s house. They appear to want to detain her for questioning. She doesn’t want to be captured, mostly for fear of losing this mysterious tablet to a thieving gang. She must escape!

Scene Complication: d6= 1 Hostile Forces Oppose you. Well, duh

Does the wall of this stump appear to be climbable? So, if we ascend the ladder to the mayor’s house, can we climb further? Oracle Even odds: 3,1 No, but

So, if we climb this ladder to the mayor’s house, we won’t be able to ascend the wall, but perhaps we can leap to a nearby house, also in-set into the wall.

Ok, let’s grab the rat stats.

3hp, STR 12, DEX 8, WIL 8 Attacks: d6 cleaver, d6 short sword, d6 dagger

They have higher DEX than Anise. Let’s ask the oracle if we can see any ranged weapons on them.

The OPSE Oracle Yes/No works with 2d6. One for the Yes/No and one for the mod (but/and/no mod)
Oracle Even odds: 6, 4 Yes. How many have ranged weapons? d8=4 Ok, so 4 of them have a ranged weapon. Are they carrying slings? Oracle Even odds: 4,1 Yes, but
I’m going to take that as they do have slings, but they aren’t very good with them. We’ll give them disadvantage on their attacks. EDITOR’S NOTE: I COMPLETELY forgot to do this later in the combat and just caught it in editing. I feel like it would have made a huge difference, but oh well.

Time to roll the dice!

Anise is scared these brutes will take her prisoner, possibly stealing the mysterious tablet she had just acquired for the Grand Library. That won’t do at all. She glances up the ladder, and notes that several of the houses in the wall are relatively close together. Maybe if she scurries up the ladder, she can hop across and lose these rats in a chase. She glances at the rats, and sees a few of them have slings on their belts. This might be tricky.

Normally we wouldn’t roll to simply climb a ladder, but since she is trying to move as quickly as possible, we are going to see if she can pass a DEX save. Mausritter uses a Roll Under or Equal system D20 WIL= 18 v 6, fail

Since we don’t have a GM, we will use the OPSE to find out what that failure means for us.
Oracle Failure move: d6=2 Put someone in a spot
Sounds like that someone is going to be Anise.
When she attempts to scurry up the ladder, do any of the 4 rats shoot at her? Oracle Even: 3,1 No, but
The rats won’t try to shoot her since she doesn’t appear to get far, but they do give chase.
We’ll give them a DEX roll to see if they can catch up. Their DEX is 8.
D20 DEX Saves= 15, 20, 20, 10, 8, 20, 8, 6
So, 3 of the rats succeed on their DEX save.

Anise judges her chances of escape, and begins to scurry up the ladder as quickly as she can. She is making good progress, then, her paw slips and she nearly falls, only barely catching herself on the rung below her. Unfortunately, this gives the rats a chance to make headway in their run towards her. 3 of the rats begin to climb the ladder below, the rest are cheering them on and calling out insults to her.

For range, we will use categories to judge distance. The rats started at Long Range, and 3 have now proceeded to make it to Short Range. If they close the distance to Adjacent, then they can attack.

Anise makes it to the top of the ladder and doesn’t even stop to try the door to the mayor’s house, though she does see a face peek from behind a curtain in the window. She doesn’t pay it any attention though, and focuses on a leap to one of the nearby porches of a house. It suddenly looks MUCH further away than it did from below. She gathers her wits, runs, and gives a mighty leap toward the adjacent home!

DEX save d20 = 12 vs 6 fail
Oracle Failure move:d6= 4 Advance a threat

Anise lands roughly on the adjacent porch, and rolls to the edge before she can stop herself. She is a bit addled, but ok. She glances across and sees the 3 Dedratz arriving at the top of the mayor’s ladder. She looks down the ladder of the house she is on, and is dismayed to see [d6= 3] three of the rats from below also climbing this ladder. Desperation takes hold, and she thinks there is a chance she can make the jump to the next house over before these rats can get to her…if…she slides a stone from her pouch and spins it in her sling in a mighty circle, releasing it at the right moment and sending the stone sailing toward the lead rat on the adjacent porch.

As a reminder, I’m using these modified combat rules from Bernpyle #3:

2d6= 7 Hit. d6=2 damage R1 3-2=1 HP

The stone flies true, and slams into the forehead of the rat preparing to make the jump. He falters…

Disadvantaged DEX save for R1 d20= 4,7 vs 8 Success

…but is able to right himself as he leaps across the chasm.

Do the mice living in this house try to help Anise? Oracle Even odds: Yes
Who are they? D10=4 Armorer/blacksmith How many: d6=2
Let’s get them some stats:
3hp, STR 9, DEX 9, WIL 9 Attacks: d10 blacksmith’s hammer

As the rat lands on the platform and growls at Anise, “Now I’ve gotcha!”, two heavily muscled mice burst from the door of the house, both wielding blacksmith hammers.

Is there a passage inside their house that leads to a forge down below, besides the ladder? Oracle Likely: 1,6 No, and
I take that to mean the worst way possible, there is nowhere to jump from here either…they will have to fight their way down this ladder or back across to the mayor’s.
Upon the blacksmiths entering the fray, does the mayor also come out? Oracle Even: Yes. How are his stats compared to the blacksmiths? Oracle How: 2, Less than expected
3hp, STR 6, DEX 6, WIL 6 Attacks: d6 Improvised weapon, club
Let’s roll some initiative, because this is going to get hairy.
Order of attack: R3, R6, R1, Anise, R4, R7, R2, B1, B2, R5, Mayor, R8
Rats 2-3 are on the mayor’s porch, Rat 1 is on the blacksmith’s porch, Rats 4,5,6 are climbing the blacksmith ladder, rats 7,8 are on the ground.
Are the rats on the ground ranged? Oracle Likely: 2,3 No. hahaha idiots.

Seeing the blacksmiths emerge to help in the fight, the mayor is emboldened to do the same and springs from his house with a club in hand behind the 2 remaining rats on his porch.
One of the rats turns in time to see the mayor, and slashes at him with his cleaver.

R3 2d6= 9 Hit. 6 damage, oof 0HP and -3 Str. Make a Str save, d20=8 vs 3 Fail. The mayor is gravely injured and falls unconscious.

In Mausritter, once HP is depleted, damage is dealt to STR. After taking STR damage, the creature must make a STR save. If they succeed, they are still able to fight. If they fail, they take critical damage. When a creature takes critical damage, they take an Injured Condition, and are incapacitated until tended to by an ally and take a short rest. If an incapacitated creature is left untended for 6 exploration Turns, they die.

R6 climbs the ladder, nearing the top
R1 attacks the nearest blacksmith, B1. 2d6 = 5 Hit. D6=6 damage, man… 0HP and -3 STR. Make a STR save, d20= 3 vs 6 Saves! B1 continues to fight
Anise 2d6= 3 Weak hit. Disadvantage Damage d6 = 3

Anise watches in horror as the newfound allies all take terrible hits from the rats, this isn’t good. She spins another stone in her sling, this time at the rat on top of the ladder. She looses and hits him directly on the top of his head!

Does he fall and knock down his fellows from the ladder? Oracle Likely: 3,5 Yes
Fall damage d6 for each= 4 R4,R5,R6 are all at 0 HP and -1 Str. Let’s see if they pass their STR saves: 10 vs 11, save R4. 11 vs 11, Save R5. 17 vs 11, Fail R6.

The rat loses his grip on the ladder as the stone strikes his head, and he tumbles down with his fellows, hitting the ground below. Unfortunately for him, they land on top of him, and he is knocked unconscious. They are bruised by the fall, but largely ok. They begin to climb the ladder once again, now furious and wanting blood.

R4 stands to his feet and puts a stone in his sling, 2d6 = 9 Hit. Who is he firing at? B1, B2, Anise d6= 1 so B1. D6= 5 damage. STR is Now 1, Str save d20 = 4 vs 1 Fail. B1 collapses from the hit
R7 rushes to the ladder and begins to climb. He will make a DEX save to see if he can make it in 1 turn instead of 2. DEX d20 = 5 vs 8 Success

R2 tries to jump to the Blacksmith porch DEX D20= 17 vs 8 Fail. Oracle Fail Move: Advance a threat.

One of the blacksmith mice is struck in the head from a stone slung from below. Another rat from the mayor’s porch sees an opening and makes a leap across the chasm. He misjudges the distance though and is unable to gain purchase. He falls down to the ground below.

D6 fall damage = 6 R2 0 HP, -3 STR. STR Save d20 = 6 vs 9 Save
B2 strikes at R1 standing in front of him 2d6 = 7 Hit. D10 damage = 4. R1 0 HP, -3 Str. STR Save d20 = 10 v 9. R1 falls unconscious.

Enraged at seeing his partner struck down, the remaining blacksmith swings his hammer mightily and knocks the rat from the porch, down to the ground below. He doesn’t move from where he lands.

R5 is going to wait for R7 to make it to the top, he doesn’t want to repeat another fall.
R8 does the same
R3 now is making the jump over to the blacksmith’s porch DEX d20= 3 Success. But that uses up his actions.
Anise winds up another stone and attacks the rat, R7, moving up the ladder. 2d6 = 9 Hit. D6 damage= 5. R7 0HP, -2 Str SAVE d20= 14 vs10 Fail. He falls to the ground unconscious. D6 STR fall damage = 6. 4 STR left for R7.

R4 winds up another sling attack at B2. 2d6= 3 Weak hit. Disadvantage damage d6= 5,6 dang. B2 0HP, -2 STR. Save d20= 13 vs 7, he falls unconscious.

R2 is shaken up from his fall, WIL save to continue the fight d20= 6 vs 8, Save. But he spends his turn gathering himself.

Mausritter rules: Whenever an antagonist is in a battle with the mice and reaches one of the following conditions, it must make a WIL save. On failure, the creature must flee or surrender.
• Is obviously outmatched at the start of a battle
• Takes critical damage for the first time
• Sees an ally flee or fall

R5 makes a WIL save, seeing his fellow rats getting knocked out d20= 17 vs 8, Fail. He decides to make a run for it and find easier targets.
R8 sees R5 leaving, will it cause a mass rout? WIL save d20 Disadvantage= 11,16 vs 8. He too flees the fight

R3 sees his fellows running down below, but since he has nowhere to go except through Anise, he growls and strikes at her with his short sword. 2d6 = 3 Weak hit. Disadvantage Damage d6= 4,1 . -1 HP to Anise

Anise is heartened to see some of the rats begin to flee just when things were looking dire, but the fellow sharing the porch with her seems more than eager to continue the fight. He presses toward her, slashing viciously with his short sword. She dodges away, but the sword nicks her arm, drawing a line of blood.

Anise attacks with her sling 2d6= 3 Weak hit. Disadvantage damage d6 = 5,6. R3 0HP, -2 STR. Save d20= 1vs 10 Save. Damn my luck!

R4 makes a WIL save at seeing his fellows flee. Disadvantage WIL d20= 17,12 vs 8 Fail. He too turns tail
R2 is barely able to move after his fall, I’m giving him an automatic flee with the rout that is happening.

The Dedrat facing Anise is furious that his fellows are abandoning him in this fight, especially seeing only this wisp of a girl mouse standing against them. They are probably worried that other village mice will join the fray soon. There’s no way forward, but through this mouse though.

2d6= Hit. D6 damage= 5. Anise 0HP. No STR damage happened, so no save necessary yet.

Anise attacks back with her sling 2d6= 6 Hit. Damage d6= 6! Finally. R3 -6 STR. Save d20= 11 vs 4. R3 succumbs to his wounds.

The final rat, enraged, slashes repeatedly at Anise, she dodges aside, but he continues the attack, scoring small hits on her arms, ear, and leg. She leaps aside as he rushes forward, loads a stone and slings it at the back of his head as he steps past her. The stone hits with a crack and he tumbles to the floor of the porch. Anise looks desperately around but sees that the other rats have fled. She’s sure they will be back soon, so she starts calling out for help. She kneels at the side of the two Blacksmiths; they are in poor condition. Several other villages rush to the aid of the blacksmiths and the mayor. The local healer begins to work on their wounds immediately. Amidst the bustle, Anise slides to the floor of the porch, her back against the wall of the house. This CERTAINLY wasn’t what she expected a Librarian’s journey to be like!

I only remembered the morale save rules toward the end, otherwise, we might not have suffered quite so much. But it all kind of worked out. Everyone lived at least. The rats were tied up and there was much debate over what their fate should be. The remainder of the Dedratz didn’t come back, at least not that day…
The villagers brought Anise some water while she rested, Short Rest: d6+1 HP= 3
Let’s check our stones and sling for wear and tear:
Stones d6= 1 none
Sling d6= 4 , One usage mark

Weapons/armor/ammunition: after a fight, roll d6 for each item that was used during the fight. On 4-6, mark usage

Let’s get some loot from that scene: Probably nothing fancy, since these are bandits. We’ll roll a d6 on the useful treasure for each rat captured: 4d6= 4,1,4,6
Mundane armor X2 (value 300 pips)
rations d6= 5 (value 25 pips)
Lost mouse, willing to help (we’ll say one of the villagers will join Anise in the next part of her journey) We’ll roll him up next time.

So with the value of the gear looted, that’s 325 XP for Anise.

That’s it for this scene, it was intense! I hope you enjoyed it and will join me next time!