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D&D Subforum / Pen & Paper RPG Discussion Thread

Fourier

Posted this in the tabletop forum, but it was suggested some here might be interested:

Anybody interested in an online play-by-post game of some tabletop RPG. I've been finding Roll20 difficult to schedule as most players are in different time zones and so would prefer an Irish crowd.

No experience required and it'd be relaxed enough in pace.

Games I'd be interested in running:

1st Edition D&D, but with one of the modern adventures (award winning ones published in the last few years).

Cyberpunk 2020 Blade Runner-ish, also going to be made into a game by the lads who made the Witcher games

Rippers Resurrected High action Victorian horror, like a lighter Penny Dreadful

All of these have very cheap pdf options.

EDIT: Another possibility is Vampire: The Masquerade.

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Fourier

Two players busy, will reschedule

Nebelwerfer

Sorry! Will try and catch up shortly

Fourier

I'm looking toward a forthcoming fantasy mini-campaign back in our old Fantasy World of Fourion Prime. The rule system will be Dungeon Crawl Classics, similar to D&D.

However DCC has the concept of a Funnel, where you get a bunch of Level 0 characters and take them through a slaughter fest. The guy who survives and makes it to Level 1 will be your character for the mini-campaign.

Of course you can just make a Level 1 character directly for the campaign, but anybody who would prefer the Funnel, just let me know. I'd run it soon enough, with the campaign a week or so after when Monster of the Week finishes.

Evade

That sounds a little like the game I'm running now except my players are all at least level 10 and fumbling through Tomb of Horrors The survivors will have to fight a Tarrasque but they don't know that yet.

Necro

Fourier wrote: »

I'm looking toward a forth coming fantasy mini-campaign back in our old Fantasy World of Fourion Prime. The rule system will be Dungeon Crawl Classics, similar to D&D.

However DCC has the concept of a Funnel, where you get a bunch of Level 0 characters and take them through a slaughter fest. The guy who survives and makes it to Level 1 will be your character for the mini-campaign.

Of course you can just make a Level 1 character directly for the campaign, but anybody who would prefer the Funnel, just let me know. I'd run it soon enough, with the campaign a week or so after when Monster of the Week finishes.

Funnel for me please

I'm plotting my army of dwarves as I speak :pac:

sKeith

fourion prime 4.0

is it the forth installment?

did i miss one?

lemme in...

Necro

sKeith wrote: »

fourion prime 4.0

is it the forth installment?

did i miss one?

lemme in...

Currently playing Monster of the Week, Dungeon Crawl Classics to follow that

Fourier

sKeith wrote: »

fourion prime 4.0

is it the forth installment?

did i miss one?

lemme in...

Lol, I misspelled "forthcoming" as "forth coming".

I'll post a little summary of the rules soon, if ye've played D&D before there is very little to learn.

Fourier

Basically very like 5E, but with 1E's classes and some cool modification to magic. I'll mostly talk about the highlights for the Funnel here where you are level 0.

I'll make a post tomorrow about the classes and the new rules (mainly magic) that apply from Level 1 onward. This is so you can see what class you might want your level 0 guy to become.

Occupation:
All PCs come from some Medieval background job, this mainly affects your skills and gives you one weapon you are trained in.

Trained vs Untrained:
Basically like Proficiency in 5E in concept. However rather than getting a bonus, being trained in a skill means you get to use a d20 for the roll, otherwise it's a d10. Skills checks are just the old:
d10/d20 + Ability Mod vs Target. 10 is the default target.

There is no formal list of skills, it's more "logical". So if your occupation is farmer you are considered trained on a roll to identify a seed.

At Level 0 your Occupation gives you one weapon you are trained in.

Luck:
There is a new stat called luck replacing wisdom (other stats are the same, just new names, e.g. Charisma is Personality).
Based on your birth sign your luck gives you an additional bonus to something. Could be a roll type (to hit, damage), could be your AC, etc

You can also permanently burn your luck to gain bonuses to rolls. The bonus to the roll is equal to the amount lost, e.g. a character with Luck 12 reduces it to 8, gaining +4 to next roll.

There are also Luck checks for if something is purely down to raw luck with no skill or ability playing into it.

Saving Throws:
There are three Saving Throws now:
Will, Reflex, Fortitude

Will resists mental assault and effects
Reflex is dodging stuff
Fortitude resists physical effect

Fumble/Crits:
Gotten respectively from a 1 or a 20. You roll on the critical or fumble tables which tend to have extreme effects. Different classes have different Crit tables, Warriors and Dwarfs have several depending on level.

Monsters and NPCs also can get crits and these lead to gruesome scars on the PCs that take a long time to heal with penalties.

The App:
DCC has the best app of any RPG: "Crawler's Companion".

You'll need four Level 0 guys for the Funnel.

Just go to Tools, then Generators up top and 0-level character. Generated immediately and then copy/share will add it to the clipboard and you can post it here.

Rest of the app contains all the rules, e.g. Tools->Reference has all the class special abilities. The Spells tab will make more sense after my post tomorrow. Criticals has the complete list of Crit tables (pick table and roll value), same for Fumbles.

Fourier

Spells:
Clerical and Magic user spells have a much wider variety of effects in DCC. Basically when casting a spell you roll:
d20 + Level + Personality/Intelligence.

Personality for Clerics and Intelligence for Wizards. Spells can be used as much as you want unless you lose them (see the following).

The spell works differently depending on the value of the roll, each spell gets a huge table of outcomes. Generally very low rolls tend to cause the spell to be lost for the day, low cause it to fail but not be lost and then there are about eight different types of success depending on how high you roll.

For example 16-17 on fireball gives you one that can fire 100' and do 3d6 damage, but rolling 32-33 travels 500' and does 14d6 and allows the fireball to erupt from the heavens rather than the caster's hands.

Rolling a 1 might cause "Deity Disapproval" for Clerics and "Corruption" for Wizards.

Crits give you not only the 20 from the roll, but doubles the level bonus:
20 + 2*Level + Personality/Intelligence

Other classes can cast spells if they find a scroll, but because they're untrained in it they only get to roll a d10, not a d20

Deity Disapproval and Corruption:
Basically Clerics roll on a table and their god will give them some quest based on the result.

Wizards however undergo some mutation due to Corruption, these range from minor (grow pustules, one leg grows a few inches) to extreme (mutate into having a beak orifice, start rotting to death). Luck can be used to stop Corruption.

Spellburn:
Wizards can temporarily burn their stats to add to spell rolls. So you might drop your Strength from 17 to 13 and your Agility from 11 to 8, a loss of seven stat points, giving +7 to the next roll. The points will heal back at a rate of one per day.

Patrons:
Wizards can reach out to Eldritch entities called Patrons, who give access to unique spells and can send aide in dire situations. The downside is that they become an additional source of Corruption that stacks with the usual one. They also have special effects when you spellburn.

For example if you have Bobugbubilz as your Patron and roll a 1, then you get a usual corruption and one of six possible extra ones from Bobugbubilz (that get worse each time they're rolled).

Learning Spells:
When you learn a spell I roll on a table that determines what variant of it you have, so people don't have exactly the same fireball for example

OldGoat

Room for a daywalker (and probably even less online time with the onset of the Pistmass season)?
If the above caveats are acceptable...

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

Room for a daywalker (and probably even less online time with the onset of the Pistmass season)?
If the above caveats are acceptable...

Of course!

The Funnel isn't necessary by the way, if Christmas busyness is too much you can just make a regular Level 1 in January when the campaign starts.

If you do want the Funnel that's no problem either of course.

OldGoat

I'll throw up a character and get it to you for Jan.

Necro

Occupation: Dwarven blacksmith
Strength: 13 (+1)
Agility: 17 (+2)
Stamina: 11 (0)
Personality: 11 (0)
Intelligence: 11 (0)
Luck: 12 (0)

AC: 12; HP: 1; Weapon: Club +1 (1d4+1)
Speed: 20; Init: 2; Ref: 2; Fort: 0; Will: 0

Equipment: Pole - 10-foot (15 cp)
Trade good: Mithril (1 oz.)
Starting Funds: 21cp
Lucky sign: Lived through famine (Fortitude saving throws)
Languages: Common, Dwarven
Racial Traits: Dwarven ability: Infravision

First Dwarf anyways

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

I'll throw up a character and get it to you for Jan.

That's grand, I'll probably go through it with you in January, although DCC isn't that complex, it can seem so from the massive book. So I'll just present it as a series of options with you giving me your ideas to guide it.

Until then enjoy watching the others getting slaughtered in the Funnel!

Necro

Occupation: Elven falconer
Strength: 12 (0)
Agility: 9 (0)
Stamina: 13 (+1)
Personality: 10 (0)
Intelligence: 14 (+1)
Luck: 7 (-1)

AC: 10; HP: 3; Weapon: Dagger +0 (1d4)
Speed: 30; Init: 0; Ref: 0; Fort: 1; Will: 0

Equipment: Hammer - small (5 sp)
Trade good: Falcon
Starting Funds: 33cp
Lucky sign: Survived a spider bite (Saving throws against poison)
Languages: Common, Elven
Racial Traits: Elven traits: Heightened senses, iron vulnerability

Second character. Couldn't pass him up when I rolled him tbh.

Occupation: Dwarven chest-maker
Strength: 14 (+1)
Agility: 13 (+1)
Stamina: 9 (0)
Personality: 8 (-1)
Intelligence: 14 (+1)
Luck: 14 (+1)

AC: 11; HP: 3; Weapon: Dagger +1 (1d4+2)
Speed: 20; Init: 1; Ref: 1; Fort: 0; Will: -1

Equipment: Chain 10' (30 gp)
Trade good: Wood (10 lbs)
Starting Funds: 45cp
Lucky sign: Path of the bear (Melee damage rolls)
Languages: Common, Dwarven
Racial Traits: Dwarven ability: Infravision

And third, back to the dwarves

Occupation: Slave
Strength: 3 (-3)
Agility: 14 (+1)
Stamina: 13 (+1)
Personality: 10 (0)
Intelligence: 11 (0)
Luck: 10 (0)

AC: 11; HP: 2; Weapon: Club -3 (1d4-3)
Speed: 30; Init: 1; Ref: 1; Fort: 1; Will: 0

Equipment: Crowbar (2 gp)
Trade good: Strange-looking rock
Starting Funds: 35cp
Lucky sign: Harsh winter (All attack rolls)
Languages: Common

And fourth for ****s and giggles :pac:

Fourier

They look like a laugh Necro!

sKeith

Level 0 characters.

1)
Occupation: Ostler
Strength: 12 (0)
Agility: 10 (0)
Stamina: 9 (0)
Personality: 12 (0)
Intelligence: 7 (-1)
Luck: 11 (0)

AC: 10; HP: 4; Weapon: Staff +0 (1d4)
Speed: 30; Init: 0; Ref: 0; Fort: 0; Will: 0

Equipment: Oil - 1 flask (2 sp)
Trade good: Bridle
Starting Funds: 43cp
Lucky sign: Raised by wolves (Unarmed attack rolls)
Languages: Common

2)
Occupation: Confidence artist
Strength: 11 (0)
Agility: 9 (0)
Stamina: 11 (0)
Personality: 11 (0)
Intelligence: 11 (0)
Luck: 9 (0)

AC: 10; HP: 4; Weapon: Dagger +0 (1d4)
Speed: 30; Init: 0; Ref: 0; Fort: 0; Will: 0

Equipment: Oil - 1 flask (2 sp)
Trade good: Quality cloak
Starting Funds: 43cp
Lucky sign: Hawkeye (Missile fire damage rolls)
Languages: Common

3)
Occupation: Tax collector
Strength: 11 (0)
Agility: 10 (0)
Stamina: 8 (-1)
Personality: 13 (+1)
Intelligence: 8 (-1)
Luck: 13 (+1)

AC: 10; HP: 1; Weapon: Longsword +0 (1d8)
Speed: 35; Init: 0; Ref: 0; Fort: -1; Will: 1

Equipment: Rations (1 day) (5 cp)
Trade good: 100 cp
Starting Funds: 33cp
Lucky sign: Wild child (Speed, each +1 = +5' speed)
Languages: Common

4)
Occupation: Animal trainer
Strength: 6 (-1)
Agility: 12 (0)
Stamina: 10 (0)
Personality: 14 (+1)
Intelligence: 10 (0)
Luck: 13 (+1)

AC: 10; HP: 3; Weapon: Club -1 (1d4-1)
Speed: 35; Init: 0; Ref: 0; Fort: 0; Will: 1

Equipment: Pole - 10-foot (15 cp)
Trade good: Pony
Starting Funds: 39cp
Lucky sign: Wild child (Speed, each +1 = +5' speed)
Languages: Common

Fourier

Just to mention three things about the Funnel.

(a) You will be playing all four at once, so this will have twelve PCs in it. You can play this as you want, you don't have to play them to the same level of depth as typically when you have one character. Some sort of narrate their group of four coming to a consensus and having one speak, many don't name their PC until they survive the funnel, some just don't bother with dialogue at all during the funnel only saying "they discuss among themselves and then ask the wizard how to get their...", others have all four in their group talking all the time. Whatever you want.

(b) If more than one of your characters survive, you pick one to move on to Level 1 as your main PC and the rest become that character's hirelings.

(c) There are opportunities for picking up new characters, e.g. you might let a prisoner out of his cell and he'll join you. I've seen people make it out of the Funnel with one more than they went in with and I've heard of some who have doubled it. Most likely it will be one or two.

sKeith

Fourier wrote: »

Just to mention three things about the Funnel.

(a) You will be playing them all at once, so this will have twelve PCs in it. You can play this as you want, you don't have to play them to the same level of depth as typically when you have one character. Some sort of narrate their group of four coming to a consensus and having one speak, many don't name their PC until they survive the funnel, some just don't bother with dialogue at all during the funnel only saying "they discuss among themselves and then ask the wizard how to get their...", others have all four in their group talking all the time. Whatever you want.

(b) If more than one of your characters survive, you pick one to move on to Level 1 as your main PC and the rest become that character's hirelings.

(c) There are opportunities for picking up new characters, e.g. you might let a prisoner out of his cell and he'll join you. I've seen people make it out of the Funnel with one more than they went in with and I've heard of some who have doubled it. Most likely it will be one or two.

do we have to name our 4 pcs?

Fourier

sKeith wrote: »

do we have to name our 4 pcs?

Not at all, it's fairly common not to.

Fourier

One final thing, pick which one of these five nations all your human guys are from, they'll all be a small conscript army unit from there:

1. The Triumvirate (Alliance of Osinzir, Zassan and Bandyton)
2. Nerosian Shoganate
3. The Othegretian Protectorate
4. Madania (Slavic place to the East with vampires and polar bears that we never went to)
5. Corrilos League (Island continent with dinosaurs to the NorthWest from the 5E game)

Dwarves now have their old tunnels back and all cities are linked across the globe and most Dwarves have moved back there now. Similarly most elves have moved back into the forests (This'll be explained in game). So they can be from the same place as your humans or "The Mines" or "The Forests" respectively. If you pick "The Mines" or "The Forests", they'll have been sent by their superiors to help whichever human army you pick.

Banjo

(apologies for any typos, I'm transcribing from my phone!)

Occupation : Elven Forester
Strength : 9 (0)
Agility : 8 (-1)
Stamina : 13 (+1)
Personality : 14 (+1)
Intelligence : 13 (+1)
Luck : 9 (0)

AC : 9 ; HP : 4; Weapon : Staff +0 (1d4)
Speed : 30; Init : -1; Ref : -1; Fort : 1; Will : 1

Equipment : Holy Symbol (25GP)
Trade Good : Herbs (1lb.)
Starting Funds : 35cp
Lucky Sign : The raging storm (Spell damage)
Languages : Common, Elven
Racial Traits : Elven Traits : Heightened Senses, Iron vulnerability

___

Occupation : Elven Sage
Strength : 16 (+2)
Agility : 17 (+2)
Stamina : 15 (+1)
Personality : 16 (+2)
Intelligence : 17 (+2)
Luck : 10 (0)

AC : 12 ; HP : 2; Weapon : Dagger +2 (1d4+2)
Speed : 30; Init : 2; Ref: 2; Fort: 1; Will 2

Equipment : Hammer - small (5sp)
Trade Good: Parchment and Quill pen
Starting Fund : 31cp
Lucking Sign : Lived through famine (Fortitude saving throw)
Languages : Common, Elven
Racial Traits : Elven Traits : Heightened Senses, Iron vulnerability

___

Occupation : Armorer
Strength : 11 (0)
Agility : 14 (+1)
Stamina : 15 (+1)
Personality : 15 (+1)
Intelligence : 9 (0)
Luck : 9 (0)

AC : 11; HP: 5; Weapon : Club +0 (1d4)
Speed : 30; Init : 1; Ref: 1; Fort : 1; Will: 1

Equipment : Thieves tools (25GP)
Trade good : Iron Helmet
Starting funds : 44cp
Lucky Sign : Fox's Cunning (Find/Disable Traps)
Languages : Common

___

Occupation : Squire
Strength : 15 (+1)
Agility : 10 (0)
Stamina : 12 (0)
Personality : 11 (0)
Intelligence : 9 (0)
Luck : 13 (+1)

AC : 10; HP: 4; Weapon : Longsword +1 (1d8+1)
Speed : 30; Init : 0; Ref: 0; Fort : 0; Will: 0

Equipment : Holy Water (1 vial) (25gp)
Trade good : Steel helmet
Starting funds : 24cp
Lucky Sign : Fortunate Date (Missile fire attack rolls)
Languages : Common

____

One of them has mental rolls, but disappointed there's no luck mod / lucky sign synergy

Fourier

That Elven Sage is a beast! He'd make a great Wizard if he survives.

I'll put up summaries of the classes tomorrow.

sKeith

Pter wrote: »

Non-mod note

I wont labor the point gang. Just popping in to make sure everything is going ok. I lurk in the forum and read the games regularly & spotted the term Banjo used; 'Traveller Syndrome' and was curious to know what he meant by that.

Mod note

It doesn't appear to have happened here, and im glad any disagreement has been resolved, but mods do have to keep an eye out for charter breaches. A reminder that the FG charter is in effect so if there are future disagreements within the D&D sub forum, i hope everyone will be as friendly and courteous as usual in resolving them. As has been mentioned elsewhere, the group is quite small at the moment, so i just want to make sure disagreements are amicable, so that when potential new players read them, they understand this is an open and fun community.

Can the FG charter be edited to specify which games do not allow editing instead of blanket banning of editing for all FG games and having it such that those editing posts where allowed to are breaking the charter, in d&d we edit posts all the time. we even have a cool name for the practice.

Fourier

This is just a summary of what playing the DCC classes is like, I'll PM the section of the book when we get close to the end of the Funnel, though events your character undergoes may make one choice the only logical option. I might recommend one based on stats. Also if you are a dwarf or an elf, well you gotta be a dwarf or an elf.

No need to read this, as you might just pick one based on which feels right. It's just here if you want an idea or as a place to refer back to the main points of your class during play.

The modifications DCC makes to the classes is to make them more unique and emphasise their flavour to be more in accord with the fantasy literature of the 1930s-1970s.

Cleric:
The relationship with your god is pretty important, any fumbles on magic tend to generate quests to earn their forgiveness, so it's determined by me based on what type of god they are and what sort of personality they have what those quests will be. Fumble margin starts off at a roll of 1, but can grow (see below) so by the end of the day 1-5 will be a fumble.

Their alignment matters as it determines what weapons you can use and what creatures you can turn with "Turn Unholy".

Because Clerics are calling on a god constantly they never lose spells (something I'm surprised no other version of D&D has done). However failing a spell roll is taken as the god being busy or annoyed etc and not lending you power. The more you fail, the bigger your fumble margin becomes, basically the god is getting more bit pissed off before finally giving a quest.

Fumble margin can be decreased with sacrifices.

The cleric can ask for direct intervention by their god, which seriously increases the disapproval range, but can have massive benefits (e.g. kill the dragon, stop another characters death, halt time).

Overall this means Clerics in DCC act more like actual Priests/Monks than they do in other versions of the game and the god is a real part of gameplay.

Warrior:
The Fighter. Most health, 19-20 is a critical and they have tables and tables of possible critical hit effects. Their initiative gets a bonus from their level. And they can apply their luck bonus to one "Lucky Weapon".

Warriors get a special dice called a deed dice. It has two uses.

First it adds to their attack and damage rolls.

Also when attacking, if you hit and the deed dice has 3 or better you pull off any crazy assed stunt (within reason) that you declare in advance, e.g. "When my sword hits him, I'll use the momentum to toss him back into the portal". This ability is called "Mighty Deeds of Arms".

Overall Warriors act like Conan and other over the top Fantasy heroes.

Wizard:
The spell system above tells you all you need to know about the changes to wizards. They also always have a familiar.

Basically they now match Rhialto the Marvellous and other Wizards from Vance's book exactly

Thief:
They have a special language only other Thieves can understand.
They have the skills from 1E (e.g. Picking locks, backstabbing, etc) and some new ones (wearing a disguise)

The big difference is thieves are far more lucky. When they burn luck, they don't just get +1 per point burned, they roll a dice to see how much they get. And unlike other classes (except the halfling) they can recover luck, recovering an amount based on level per night.

They operate more like the lucky Grey Mouser from Lankhmar and Cugel the Clever from Vance's Dying Earth.

Dwarf:
Very like the warrior. They have less health than the warrior, but still higher than the other classes. Has the Mighty Deeds of Arms ability like the warrior as well and a "Lucky Weapon". They have several crit tables like the warrior (though crit is just 20 for them and the table used is one lower than a warrior of the same level).

However dwarves are experts in "Sword and Board", fighting with a sword and a shield. They always attack with both and can perform two separate Mighty Deeds of Arms with both.

Finally the "underground race" abilities from 1E are back, e.g. seeing in infrared, hearing stone, understanding architecture. However they're even stronger. Now they can smell concentrations of gold and gems, even down to a single coin if they concentrate.

So basically they function as a weaker version of a warrior, but who gets to apply warrior benefits twice in a round and has all the underground race benefits. So more like Tolkien dwarves.

Elf:
Elves work like a Wizard who can wear armour and actually fight (though they still have low health). They do not worship gods (since they know them too well) and live in small cities in remote locations.

Elves have lived long enough to have encountered beings willing to give magical power and their race deals with such beings as a matter of life. So they start with one or more patrons already for their magic.

Their immune to sleep and paralysis and can detect secret doors and see in infrared as in 1E. However they now have a vulnerability to iron, touching it hurts and being near it is disorienting.

On paper Elves just seem like a Wizard, but better since they can fight. However one of their spells is taken up with the patron, they have one less spell per level and the vulnerability to iron can get very lethal in some situations.

They're made to be like the godless malevolent elves from Pol Anderson's books like "The Broken Sword".

Halfling:
Halfings can all dual wield well, without the negatives other classes have. For most classes how well you can dual wield depends on agility, Halflings have a minimum Agility of 16 for this purpose. This might seem pointless if you have agility 17 say, bit since there are spells and other effects that lower agility (e.g. Poisons), this can be very useful.

Also they auto hit on crits with two weapons and need to fumble with both weapons to fumble.

They are also lucky. Luck is twice as effective for them and they can recover it nightly like Thieves. However their luck can aide allies as well, adding to another PC or NPCs roll.

They're made to match Tolkien.

Fourier

Tuesday alright to start the Funnel?

Also Monster of the Week will be on this Monday and Wednesday.

Fourier

Nation your groups are from for some final details for myself. Just need one nation per group.

1. The Triumvirate (Alliance of Osinzir, Zassan and Bandyton)
2. Nerosian Shoganate
3. The Othegretian Protectorate
4. Madania (Slavic place to the East with vampires and polar bears that we never went to)
5. Corrilos League (Island continent with dinosaurs to the NorthWest from the 5E game)

Banjo

Where are we starting?
If one of those nations has a convenient contested / hostile forest between it and where we start, that's where my squire and blacksmith are from, with the elves being picked up along the way - e.g. when a knight (which might explain the sword+1) and the rest of his entourage with whom the blacksmith and squire were conscripted to travel were slaughtered, they get found by an elven forester, brings them to the sage for healing, both escort them the f*** out of their forest 'cause they don't want any part of the round-ears' problems, then get caught up in the fun of smashing things on the head with sticks... or something... That ok?

Or failing that #4 on the list sos I can use my awful generic-eastern-european accent. Eeez no próbleem!

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Where are we starting?
If one of those nations has a convenient contested / hostile forest between it and where we start, that's where my squire and blacksmith are from, with the elves being picked up along the way - e.g. when a knight (which might explain the sword+1) and the rest of his entourage with whom the blacksmith and squire were conscripted to travel were slaughtered, they get found by an elven forester, brings them to the sage for healing, both escort them the f*** out of their forest 'cause they don't want any part of the round-ears' problems, then get caught up in the fun of smashing things on the head with sticks... or something... That ok?

Or failing that #4 on the list sos I can use my awful generic-eastern-european accent. Eeez no próbleem!

All five nations are at war with a new presence. Othegretian Protectorate and the Triumvirate both border the contested territory and have a forest along the border, so either will do.