After befriending Lucky Liam the leprechaun, Howl the white wolf and his new pal travel through the fairy wood, looking for food and gold.
They hear a banging noise ahead. Howl tries to sneak up on the source of the noise, but he only manages to frighten a fairy away. In his haste, the fairy drops a stack of flyers. Lucky Liam reads the notice to Howl.
By the Order of Queen Thomasina
A Games Tournament Shall Be Held
Today at Noon
At the Gleeful Glen
First Prize - 500 gold and a free lunch
"Five hundred gold!" exclaimed Liam.
"Free lunch!" exclaimed Howl.
They decided to try their luck at the tournament.
Arriving at the Gleeful Glen, they see colorful toadstools arranged throughout the clearing. Queen Thomasina is on a perch overlooking the scene. Fireflies are flitting throughout the glen, creating a dazzling light display.
At first, the crowd is scared of Howl, but he reassures the attendees with his friendly manner. The pair sign up and are assigned the same toadstool.
As they are waiting for the tournament to start, a smelly goblin enters the glen. The guards are ready to throw him out, but he issues a challenge.
"Five hunnerd gold sez that I win this tournament!" he bellows. Queen Thomasina nods her head. The organizers sign the goblin up, and assign him to Howl and Liam's toadstool.
The game of the day is Settlers of Catan.
"Excellent!" thinks Howl. "My bargaining skills will really come in handy."
"Excellent!" thinks LIam. "My luck will help me win!"
Howl tries to engage the goblin in some uneven trades. "Three of his sheep for one of my logs. He's stupid enough to go for it!" thinks Howl. The goblin just laughs at Howl and proceeds to build cities with the cards he holds. Meanwhile, Liam mutters in frustration. Unluckily, he just can't get any useful cards. At the end the game, the goblin emerges victorious.
As Howl and Liam hang their heads dejectedly, the goblin dances upon the toadstool and crows about his success.
"The tournament is not yet over." Thomasina reminds him.
The goblin laughs. "'Tis in the bag! I'll even up the ante. The goblin's hoard, in exchange for yer kingdom!"
"Enough!" the queen scolds him. "Respect the game or you shall not be allowed to play."
This makes the goblin angry. "Not play?! Then I'll be takin' the winnings!" With that he leaps onto the prize table, grabs the gold and a picnic basket with the lunch, and scampers into the woods.
"Not the gold!" cries Liam
"Not the lunch!" cries Howl.
"Find him!" cries Queen Thomasina.
"With your nose for food and my sense for treasure, we should find him easily!" says Liam. Howl nods in agreement, and the pair chase after the goblin. They track him to a dark, desolate looking cave.
"Let me check it out first," announced Howl. Stealthily he creeps into the cave, following the goblin's scent. Suddenly, a swarm of goblins jump him and tie him up! He barely gets a howl out before he is dragged off!
Meanwhile, Liam is anxiously waiting at the cave mouth.
Notes
And thus ended our first session. It was made very interesting by our heroes' inability to make their rolls. For example, in the cave, Howl's stealth roll was a 2 on 2D6!
By the way, I changed the task resolution system to use 2D6. In standard Amazing Tales, players will roll a D6, D8 or D12, depending on their skill, with a target of 3+. I'm not fond of multiple types of dice so I use a straight 2D6 roll, with a target of 5, 6, or 7.
