A Hollow Vengeance, Session 2
Playing with "Hollow Hike", a pocket-sized Soulslike TTRPG by Jake C-B (RollForThings), available on itch.io
Previously
Estrid of the Eadgyth People, short on memories, departed from the relative safety of a Bonfire in the bleak coastal realm of Domneva in an effort to find and kill the King of Cinders, one of the five Ashen Lords who appeared and decimated the land. Estrid made little progress, killing a monstrous bear at great cost before dying to a Realm Boss at the edge of Domneva and reviving at the Bonfire, one memory lost to the death. Now, though she doesn't remember her recent attempt, she is ready to head out into the wilderness to find her enemies.
Realm One - Domneva
(2 encounters) The land is empty and gray as Estrid treks across the flat, blistered-sand landscape. She walks in a southern direction, heading for a gap in the distant mountains that will be a good crossing. As she's walking, she keeps one sword out and ready, wary of the dangers she cannot see.
Encounter 1
(2d6, rolled 4, 2: a basic foe. 2hp, 1d6 attack.)
Halfway to the mountain pass, Estrid spots a wanderer and draws her second sword, just in case. There's no telling what kind of person the wanderer is. She tries to steer clear of the person approaching, but with each change of direction, the wanderer alters their path to intersect hers. As the figure gets closer, she sees it is a woman, thin and hard, armored and armed. A marauder. There's no getting around her, so Estrid stops and waits for the woman to approach, hopeful she can be reasoned with.
Unfortunately, as soon as Estrid stops, the woman starts running directly at her, a spiked club held ready to swing.
(Estrid rolls 4, 3. The woman rolls 4.)
Estrid steps aside at the last moment, dodging the woman's wild swing, but when she tries to attack back, the woman is just as quick, catching one of her swords with the club and arching her body to avoid the second.
(Estrid rolls 6, 5. The woman rolls 3.)
With the twisting of her body out of the way, the woman puts herself on weak footing, and Estrid takes quick advantage. Still holding the club captive with her sword, she twists her other sword and thrusts, stabbing the woman through the ribs (foe -1hp).
(Estrid rolls 4, 1. The woman rolls 5. Estrid activates her warrior training and rerolls 6, 4 (-1fp).)
As the woman screams, her face twisting in defiant rage, Estrid digs deep; she doesn't want to linger in battle. Keeping the one sword buried in the woman's chest, she sweeps aside the club, turning underneath it, and cuts upward, cutting deep into the woman's armpit where there is a gap in the armor (foe -1hp). Blood gushes, and the woman takes a surprised step back, pulling herself off Estrid's sword. More blood comes, and in moments the angry marauder turns pale, then white, then wobbles to the ground and closes her eyes (foe defeated).
Estrid waits until she is sure the marauder is dead. She would like to keep moving, but something in her says she must stay to be sure. It is not worth it to try to hurry, only to be stabbed in the back. After a few minutes, a silver wisp appears, tethered like a buoy, above the body. Estrid instinctively reaches for it, and is unsurprised when it moves from the marauder's body to hover above her head, though she doesn't know how she expected that to happen.
(Encounter results: foe defeated, Estrid 4hp, 2fp, +1 soul)
It takes Estrid another full day of walking to make it to the mountain pass, and it feels like the closer the mountains get, the more dread presses on her. The roads, once paved and carefully maintained, for the important trade route across the mountain range, are broken up and treacherous. She nearly trips a few times as she makes her way along the road up through the pass, torn between watching her footing and watching for danger around her.
Encounter 2
(Realm boss, does not reset. 4hp, 2d6 attack, 2 Qualities: Ambush, has +2 strength (2d6) the first time it is encountered; Brutal, beating all of Estrid's dice in a round deals extra 10 damage)
When she sees the hulking man with a massive sword at the top of a rise, seven Souls haloing his head, Estrid feels a deep fear and a twinge in her hip.
The man grins, revealing rotting, crooked teeth, his eyes moving hungrily to the single Soul above Estrid's head.
(Estrid rolls 2, 2. The man rolls 2, 1, 1, 6.)
In her haste to back out of the range of the man's massive sword, Estrid trips over a chunk of concrete and nearly falls. Her stumble creates an opportunity the man takes immediately, and he swings jabs at her with the point of his sword, which is long enough, despite the distance, to stick into the meat of her shoulder (-1hp).
(Estrid rolls 4, 2. The man rolls 3, 1.)
The pain is like a bolt of lightning and despite it gives her jolt of energy. She backs up, pulling herself off the sword, and uses her swords to push the man's weapon aside. As she does so, she springs forward and and slashes at the man's arm, trying to get him to drop the massive weapon. Her swords connect with flesh and he howls (foe -1hp).
(Estrid rolls 3, 1. The man rolls 4, 1.)
The man does drop his sword, but as he does so he swings with his left hand, makeshift brass knuckles secured to his fist with filthy white cloth. His fist connects with Estrid's ribcage where her strike has exposed herself (-1hp). The blow forces all the air from her lungs and she gasps for breath.
(Estrid rolls 2, 1. The man rolls 1, 1.)
Instinct and training kicks in, and as Estrid struggles to pull air into her lungs past bruised ribs she brings her swords up and cuts across his torso. Only one sword catches him, but it is enough to draw blood and slow him down (foe -1hp).
(Estrid rolls 5, 4. The man rolls 4, 2.)
With the man slowing down, blood leaking from his arm and now his chest, Estrid pushes hard. In a quick motion she reorients her swords, cuts his arm when he tries to throw another hand, and slashes his throat in one bloody moment (foe -2hp). He clutches his throat, trying to stem the the gush of red, but in moments he falls, twitching, and then stills (foe defeated).
The whole exchange has taken barely thirty seconds, and Estrid heaves for breath while she watches him fade. When she finally catches her breath, she steps closer and reaches for the seven Souls bobbing gentle above the corpse before side-stepping and continuing around it, one arm wrapped around her ribcage.
(Encounter results: realm boss defeated, Estrid 2hp, 2fp, +7 soul)
A few hours of walking later, she crests the final rise, still in pain, and sees with some relief a large Bonfire ahead, on the edge of the dark, brooding Eansma Forest
Aftermath Report
Today, the dice were much kinder, but the session took longer because, due to the fact that I'm sick and all fuzzy in the head, I got sucked into my phone a few times. Still, this is fun! I'm sure each successive realm will take longer, as it gets progressively hard, so I'm not sure how many sessions this will take, but, I'm invested in Estrid's story and now that she's successfully made it beyond the "tutorial" level, I want to see her story all the way to the end.