Mausritter Solo Actual Play Mousey Wizard Ep 6

 

Episode 6

In the last episode of Mausritter, Anise and Aloe braved a snowstorm and travelled from the ghost beech to the Tower of Magnolia.  They were given a warm stew and then went straight to a nice rest in a couple of rooms they had rented for the night.  The Keeper of the Tower, Reepicheep, set up a meeting for Anise in the morning with the wizard of the tower, Gwendoline White.

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

Materials: Mausritter Core Book, OPSE, Bernpyle #3 and #8,  Oak Mill Institute by MatthewSteakHam, Knave 2e, Ironsworn Oracles, Hanson Expansion, Burrows Chronicles, Deck of Dungeons

Set the Scene:

d6=2 An obstacle blocks your way
Weather: 2d6= 9 Overcast

Aloe and Anise awaken the next morning and find themselves a hearty bowl of barley porridge in the Black Fox tavern here inside of the Tower of Magnolia.   Reepicheep notes they have arisen and waddles over to them, seeds in hand.  He speaks over a mouthful of food, “Good morning, young’uns!  I hope you had a wonderful rest!”  Both mice nod their heads while spooning the porridge into their mouths.  “Great, just great!  I have spoken with Gwendoline, and she will see you whenever you are ready.  She’s in a bit of a worrisome mood this morning, so don’t dilly dally before you head up the stairs to meet with her.”   The mice acknowledge the friendly warning and quickly finish their meal. 

They walk wonderingly up the spiral staircase, gawking at all the art lining the walls.  Mice adventurers standing upon slain cats, mice riding birds of different varieties, mice exploring dark caves.  All wonderfully rendered on canvas paintings. They finally arrive at a nondescript door and knock timidly.  They hear an ancient creaking voice inviting them in, and they see the wizard sitting behind a large table, completely covered in scrolls, books, and spell tablets. Gwendoline is a tan mouse with a brindle coat, the fur gone in a few patches.   She looks old, no, not old, ancient!  Her ears seem so thin they are almost translucent.  She peers at them with her night-black eyes as they enter, and the two youths sense great power and wisdom in her stare.

“Welcome, my children, to the Tower of Magnolia.  I am Gwendoline White, the creator of this place and the headmistress of the only wizarding school in all of Ek.”  Her voice creaks as she speaks, but her mind seems perfectly clear.   Anise introduces herself and Aloe and mentions the spell tablet she recovered at Stumpsville.  Without even meaning to, she also divulges their encounter with the pixie and the second tablet she now has.

What is Gwendoline’s reaction to the news of their violence? 2d6=6 Unsure.

“Well, that’s a bit of nasty business, barging into a creature’s home, slaying them, and taking their belongings. I was going to invite you to study with us here as a student, as you seem to have a penchant for magic, but now…” Gwendoline trails off, tapping her claw on her whiskers.

Anise gulps loudly, not wanting to lose this opportunity.  Aloe seems oblivious to the conversation, seeing his reflection in a mirror behind Gwendoline. Anise sees him and elbows him to pay attention.  “It wasn’t our intention for things to turn to violence, you see, he suddenly became very angry when he noticed the tablet I carried.  He seemed to really hate magic.  He drew his sword on us and threatened us.”  Gwendoline didn’t answer immediately, only continued to stroke her whiskers. Anise cleared her throat and continued, “I brought this here back to you as well, as I was told it was yours,” and she slid the Frenzy tablet onto the wizard’s desk.  When she did, a stack of books tumbled to the floor. 
Anise gave a startled apology and she and Aloe picked up the books. They tried to restack them on the table, but they continued to fall every time.  So they gave up and stacked them on the floor next to the desk.

“Never mind the books,” Gwendoline eventually said.  She picked up the Frenzy tablet and idly traced the runes.  “I was wondering where I had left this.  It must have fallen from my cloak while visiting there.  Why don’t you keep it for now, as it seems you have used it some.  It can be recharged by submerging it into rapids in the river.  Once you have studied here, you will be able to decipher those types of things from the stone tablets yourself.”

“Oh thank you, your..ummm…Wizardness?” Anise stumbled around a correct honorific. 

“You may call me Headmaster or Gwendoline.  Now, about your studies.  I have a place for you here in the Tower, but I want to know your intentions are genuine and not full of malice. Our entry level teacher has been gone for a few days.  They went down into the root cellar of the Tower to investigate a disturbance, and I haven’t heard from him.  It’s not that uncommon, as I didn’t expect them to report back.  But now I’ve become a bit worried.  Perhaps you and your…friend…can accompany a couple of our current students down in the cellars and find out what is keeping him?  His name is Wattle Blackfoot; he’s a vole of some great intelligence.  So, I can’t imagine he has gotten lost.  I fear he may have gotten hurt. Go down to Reepicheep and ask him to introduce you to the two students who are already preparing for the search.  That will be all, I will see you soon.”  And without waiting for an answer, she waves a paw and a quill rises from a nearby stool and floats to her hand.  She begins writing even as it inserts itself into position.

Anise and Aloe back exit the room and go to find the Keeper.

Let’s roll up these students who will be going with us to hunt for the missing teacher.

Female mouse: Cherry Totter.  Enthusiastic young wizard mouse.  Known as the mouse who lived, she bears a scar on her forehead from Cat Lord Balthazar’s claw after he killed her parents.  She has brindled blue fur.
STR 10, DEX 7, WIL 10, HP 4, 3 pips.  Fishhook as a light weapon  (d6), [d20=19 from Oak Mill Institute] Mind Shatter spell tablet: Target creature must make a WIL save, if failed, target creature takes 1d4 psychic damage.  User will receive insight into memories and thoughts of targeted creature.  Recharge: Cannot be recharged

Male stoat (Beastiarium: Mausritter Discord Bestiary): Vermione Stranger.  Speaks with a very strong accent.  It is a know-it-all.  Thinks he is better than mice.  Tan coat with white underbelly.
STR 14, DEX 12, WIL 12, HP 6, 4 pips. D8 bite. [Critical Damage carry away to be eaten]  D8 Bobby Pin Javelin with plastic ball removed (if thrown, mark usage on 3-6)  Advantage on STR saves related to grappling.
[d20=2 from Oak Mill Institute] Quill Hide spell tablet: Sharp quills cover the caster’s body for 1d4 turns.  Inflicts 1d6 damage if touched.  Recharge: Cover in thorns or quills freshly collected

Reepicheep introduces them to the two students who will be accompanying them into the cellar.   Cherry is quite enthusiastic about going on this quest.  She pips in her squeaky voice, “Don’t you two worry, I once faced down Balthazar the cat lord, and I lived!”  And she points to her scar on her forehead. 

Vermione stares hungrily at Anise and Aloe, which is deeply disturbing.  “Vell, vell, vell.  Vot a tasty-ah, I mean, most capable couple of mice you are seeming to be. Ve look forward to be brinkink out Vattle vith you, ja?”

Anise takes a moment to puzzle out what he said, then says, “Ja..err..Yeah.  We look forward to it as well.  So, where do we go from here?”   Reepicheep nods, eating more seeds, and bustles them through several doors, to a stairway leading down deeper into the roots of the tree.

“That’s where we store a lot of our archived materials.  It’s not uncommon for students or teachers to be down there for some time, but not for 2 days!   I hope he’s ok.” 

“I’m sure he’s fine, we’ll be right back!”  Cherry says, and motions for the group to follow her down.   Vermione gives a wicked sharp toothed grin at Anise and motions for her to follow Cherry.   Anise gulps and grabs Aloe’s arm as they walk down the darkened stairs.

Ok, for this dungeon delve, I have an interesting add on called Deck of Dungeons, where the dungeon is laid out with a deck of cards.  It comes with a premade dungeon called the Wizard Tower that I have altered to fit our storyline.  Here is the short instructions.  Lay out 20 face down cards in a 4x5 matrix with one face up to the left of the layout, this is the entrance.  Roll a 2d4 and that will generate the connections to the next card.  Flip the card and the oracles will tell what is in that room.
 
Once the sum of the cards face values (all non number cards are 10) sum to 50, the dungeon is complete.  We’ll see how it works out and alter things if need be.  To facilitate screenshots, I’m using https://deck.of.cards.com  I’ll make the cards touch one another if they are connected.   The Entrance is 3 Spades: 2 type A creatures fighting with 1 centipede who made his nest in this room.  Type A creatures are ones that live here, B creatures are intruders and C creatures are elite intruders.   Here is what I have for the table:
A creatures: Red suits 2-10 Mice students of the Tower ; Black suits 2-10 Mice servants of the Tower
B creatures: Red suits 2-10 Termite workers ; Black suits 2-10 Termite soldiers
C creatures: Red Suits 2-10 Termite Queen ; Black suits 2-10 Random Adventurer

I drew a 3 of Spades for the entrance.  So we see two mouse servants fighting a centipede in the entrance of this cellar.

Mouse laborers stats: HP2, STR 6, DEX 4, WIL 8.  Improvised weapons d6
Centipede stats: HP 8, STR 10, DEX 12, WIL 8 Attacks: Poisonous bite (d6, damages DEX) Critical Hit: The venom spreads (1d12 damage to STR).

Oracle is one of the mice the missing teacher, Waddle? Unlikely 2,6: No,and.  I think that is going to mean they came down to find him, but were immediately waylaid by this centipede.

Cherry immediately gasps upon seeing this combat before her, the two mouse servants using improvised weapons against the rearing centipede, obviously ravenous for some mouse flesh. Their barrel staves they are using are just keeping it at bay, but they won’t do much damage against it. 

I’ll be using the modified hit rules from Bernpyple 3:


The insect is oblivious to the newcomers, so they will go first. 

Cherry wastes no time, and immediately casts her Mind Shatter spell.
Centipede WIL save d20= 3 Save

The spell seems to have no effect on the insect.  Anise winds up her sling and sends a stone at the centipede.

2d6=8 Hit d6=2 damage
Centipede HP=6

Aloe and Vermione both rush forward to assist the hapless servants.  Aloe smashes his hammer, two handed, against the tail end of the centipede.  At the same time, Vermione lashes out with a nasty bite at the centipede’s center.

Aloe 2d6=6 Hit  d8= 2 damage
Centipede HP =4
Vermione 2d6=8 Hit d8=5 damage
Centipede HP = 0 ; STR save d20= 12 vs 10 Fail.

Aloe’s hit stuns the bug, and it looks back only in time to see Vermione viciously snatch it up in his mouth, crunching down on it’s middle segment.  It thrashes for just a moment, then falls limp as the stoat greedily tears into the flesh and gobbles down the insect.

Anise makes a face of disgust, and upon seeing it, Vermione uses one of the legs of the centipede to pick his teeth. “Vhat, zis is a vonderful treat for me, ja?”

Anise just looks away and moves over to ensure the two servants are ok.  They breathlessly thank the students for their help.  They mention that they were on their way back upstairs to report signs of a termite infestation in the roots of the tree, which is very bad news.  The students urge them to go and report back to Gwendoline, and they will continue the search for Waddle.

Cherry rubs her chin and looks at her tablet, “I wonder why this didn’t work…”  No one bothers to answer, and they decide to keep moving forward. 

Next room flip: Ace of Diamonds.  Roll connections 2d4=3,3.  One exit to the south

The door to the next room is closed with a lit torch beside it.  Above the door is a carved wooden eye that watches the students as they approach.  There doesn’t seem to be a latch or handle on the door.  Instinctively, Anise reaches up and pulls on the torch, and the eye blinks as the door opens. 
Next room flip: Queen of Clubs.  Roll connections 2d4=2,4. One exit to the east
As they walk into the room, they see row upon row of huge bookshelves all along the long room.  They can see 2 treasures sitting atop one of the shelves, and Vermione decides to wiggle atop the shelves to grab them.

DEX save d20=18 vs 12 Fail

As the stoat climbs the shelves, they shift under his weight and begin to collapse like a row of dominoes!  Cherry gives out a squeak of fright, and the mice scurry to avoid getting hit!

Cherry DEX Save d20=17 vs 7 Fail d6=3 HP 1
Vermione DEX Save d20= 16 vs 12 Fail d6=1 HP 5
Aloe DEX Save d20=7 vs 9 Save
Anise DEX Save d20=10 vs  6 Fail d6=2  HP 4

Only Aloe is able to get away in time, as the shelves collapse and books and wooden planks fill the room in a crash. Cherry lies amongst a pile of books rubbing her head, Anise shoots Vermione a nasty look as she nurses her paw, and the stoat just sheepishly shrugs.  He digs through the debris to find the treasures.

Ace of Hearts – Shockwave Spell Tablet (600p)
8 Diamonds – Box with d6X100 pips=200 pips.

“We’ll have to return these things to Gwendoline,” Anise begins.

“You are seemink to be jokink, of course, ja?”  Vermione’s brows lower at the heat in Anise’s words.  He pockets the tablet and the box of coins.  “Zis is findahs keepas, ja?”  And he snaps his jaws in agitation. Aloe steps in front of Anise, but she places a paw on his arm.

“Forget it, let’s just go on.   But from now on, let’s be more careful, JA?” she says sarcastically.   Vermione just sneers at her. 

Next room flip: 2 Diamonds.  Roll connections 2d4=3,4. One exit to the south.

They walk into the next room, and it opens up on a balcony in a large cave underground.  A railing prevents them from tumbling down the steep cliff face, and there is only one door up ahead.  They hustle through the darkness and into the next room.  Cherry lights up her torch just in case.

Next room flip: 9 Diamonds.  Roll connections 2d4=1,3. No connections, so there is a door to the east and west.


In the center of the next room is a hardened block of resin.  Frozen within are two bags with treasures.  Anise gently presses on the resin and its hardness is somewhere between stone and rubber.  Cherry places her torch near, and it doesn’t appear to melt easily.  Aloe rears back with his hammer to give it a strike, and Anise says, “WAIT”, but she’s too late and he hits it with all of his might.  The hammer rebounds from the resin and knocks Aloe off his feet.  Vermione gives over into a fit of laughter.

“You think something is funny!?” Aloe says stormily and hops up to his feet.  He grabs Verimone’s tunic and pulls him down to his level.

“Ja, fery funny, tasty little mouse.”  And he smiles a wicked grin into Aloe’s face. 

“Break it up,” Anise says and pushes herself between the two.  They give each other glares over her head.  “What spell was that you found earlier, Stoat?”

Vermione reaches into his pouch and produces the tablet without ever taking his eyes from Aloe.   “Zis appears to create ze shockwave, ja? I zink zis vill do ze trick”  And with that, he holds the tablet in his paws and says the rune.   A wave of sound shoots forth and shatters the resin globe!  The resounding shockwave also impacts the mice around Vermione.

Spell d6=3  No usage

STR Save Anise=8 vs 6 Fail
STR Save Aloe=18 vs 9 Fail
STR Save Cherry=6 vs 10 Save

8 Clubs = Box of d6x100 pips=300
King Spades = Ritual Instructions (400 p)

Cherry was the only mouse to not be knocked from their feet.  She dashes forward to grab the treasure, since Vermione had grabbed the others. 
“What is this?!” She picks up the ritual instructions and her mouth hangs agape as she reads.  “This is instructions on how to create spell tablets!” 

“What?!  Really?”  Anise gasps.  She scurries to her feet and rushes over to read over Cherry’s shoulder.  “No wonder it was encased in resin!  I don’t think Gwendoline will be very happy we took this!”

Oracle, does Cherry agree with Anise that they need to give it back to Gwendoline? 2,2 No.

Cherry looks contemplative for a moment. “I think maybe I’ll hang on to it and try to puzzle it out.  Can you imagine?!  Making our own spells!?”  She gazes upwards as though looking at all of the possibilities.  Anise grumbles and shares a concerned look with Aloe.  He shrugs.

Verminone looks perturbed that he didn’t get this particular treasure.  “Ve should continue, ja?”

The map so far:

The group proceeds through the door to the west.

Next room flip: Ace Spades.  This gets us to the 50-point maximum, so the other rooms are nullified.  I’ll edit out the door to the East.

Inside, the room opens up to be almost as wide as the base of the tree in a massive throne room.  In the center, an ancient throne is carved from the wood of the tree by mouse artisans of old.  Scattered around it, four treasures.   However, sitting on the throne is a pasty white termite queen.  The teacher Waddle is bound before her.  She’s flanked by 2d6=2 termite soldiers.

Termite Soldiers
4 HP; STR 10, DEX 10, WIL 15, Armor 1, Attacks d6 Mandibles
Can give off pheromones to attract other soldiers.

Termite Queen
6 HP; STR 13, DEX 12, WIL 15, Armor 1
Attacks: d6 psychic runic emblem worn around her neck (Damages WIL) or summon d6 soldiers
Critical damage: Lock both target and own minds, neither can do any action.  It breaks after 3 rounds or a successful WIL save.

Disposition toward the group: 2d6 Talkative: What could they trade for Waddle?

Anise looks toward the others, then steps forward.  “We mean no harm, we have only come to help our teacher, Mr. Waddle Blackpaw.” Waddle craned his neck to see who was talking behind him.  His eyes widened at the sight of the students. 

“Children, please go and fetch the Headmistress.  She will have this mess sorted.  These…termites…”he says the word with obvious disgust, “are trying to build a nest here in our tower.  It will make the whole thing unstable!  She’s a brand new, young queen.  They can’t really understand us when we talk to them...please, go get help.”

As Waddle was saying they could not understand, a voice suddenly echoed into Anise’s mind in a sort of hissing, clicking, accent.  “Oh, we cccan undersssstand you.  The olddd fool jussst hasss hissss minddd blocccked.  We only want peaccce.  Thisss tree is big enough for both of our housssesss.”

Anise concentrates and attempts to form words in her mind, hopefully the termite can interpret them.  “You see, when your people build a home from wood, it weakens our structures, and they collapse.  There is a very nice fallen tree in the woods very near here that could accommodate your brood.  And there would be no need of conflict.” After a moment of silence she thinks, “Can you hear me?”

“Yesss, I am consssidering…”

“Vell?!  Ve are just goink to stand here, or ve fight zis pitiful bug, ja?!”  Vermione clenches his paws into fists.

“Wait!  The queen and I are communicating psychically.  I think it has something to do with that medallion she wears.”  Anise explains a little too condescendingly.  Vermione growls.  “Please, just wait,” Anise pleads with sincerity.  The stoat looks a little shocked at her change in tone and grimly nods his head.

Oracle, does the queen accept the deal to move to the deadfall tree near the Tower? Likely 4,2: Yes

“Very well.  We ssshall proccceed to this new tttree and make our home there inssstead.”  And with that, the voice was silent.  The termite queen rose from the throne and she and the others walked past the students imperiously.  Vermione snarled as they passed but held himself in constraint.  Once they were gone, Cherry ran forward and began trying to untie Waddle’s bonds.  She couldn’t get the knot undone, so Aloe uses his metal file to cut the rope. 

“What in tarnation just happened?  They just up and left!” Waddle exclaimed while rubbing his wrists. 

“She was able to communicate with me telepathically, and I convinced her to move to another tree.”  Anise said with a self-satisfied smile.

“Well, I’ll be!  I suppose we should be headed back.   It looks like the bugs left a few things there around the throne, feel free to divide it up amongst yourselves.  I’ll let Gwendoline know your work here was excellent!”  He started walking out without another look back, just shaking his head and mumbling something about telepathy.  

10 Hearts = Dagger (light d6)
10 Spades= Bark Shield and Chest (Light Armor)
Jack Spades = Rubberband ball (4 slots 300p)
7 Diamonds= Bag with d6x50 pips= 100 pips

The students decide to divvy up the treasure, Aloe will take the armor and shield, Anise will take the dagger, Vermione will take the rubberband ball, and Cherry will take the 100 pips.

2060 XP/4 = 515 each.  +20 for Anise for negotiations. 

That will be enough to make Anise level up!  We will handle that and the follow up meeting with Gwendoline next time!  I hope you enjoyed this session as much as I did!