Last time, the gang explored the western Merchant District of the abandoned Imperial town of Harzgard. During their explorations, they caught sight of a massive ogre, 15 feet tall to the shoulder when moving on all fours (like a gorilla). They determined that this ogre was the most likely cause of the damage to many of the houses in the Merchant District. When they met the wood troll Eldora, she explained that this beastly ogre seemed to — directly or indirectly — cause the strange mutations that affected the animals that followed the ogre here. She — as a powerful old ettin warrior witch — had come to kill the ogre, but she was grievously injured by it, leaving her unable to walk.
The gang decided to go on an ogre hunt.
They had gone on several expeditions into the Merchant District already, bringing back a large amount of valuable treasure to their new home base, the city of Sole Harbor. They had made several purchases of useful gear, and gotten some training to level up their characters.
Tony — the dwarf vagabond — was trained by a fur trapper named Hera in the special Trapper class. This granted him the ability to make snares and operate other traps that he could find with greater effectiveness than other folks — including a set of bear traps he found in Harzgard.
Forram — the ettin magician — learned to be a wood troll from Eldora. This gave him a layer of protective bark on his skin that regenerates each day.
Agorak — the orc pilgrim — invested in his follower, Jana — an orc warrior. Jana studied alongside Tony, mentored by Hera’s partner Yani in the special Hunter class. This made her a more effective warrior, by granting her an ability similar to “critical hits”. Normally, there is no special bonus for rolling extra well on an attack. There are no critical hits. The Hunter class gives Jana the “Heartshot” ability, allowing her to deal bonus damage when she rolls much higher than she needs to on an attack — 1D6 damage for every 5 over the target number.
Lendel — the gnome magician — had sought out a bowyer to make him special arrows and a high-quality bow, to expand his combat options.
Between all this and a few other bits of shopping/training, the gang was very prepared for their hunt. So they went back to Harzgard.
Long story short, they went to a market square in town that they believed the ogre would come to at night, since it hated sunlight. (Spoiler — They were right.) They set up snares and bear traps in the square, and positioned themselves on rooftops and balconies. When the ogre arrived, they were ready and launched their ambush.
The fight was enjoyable enough. It was meant to be a bit like a boss fight — albeit an optional one. They could have gotten through the town without fighting the ogre.
The Beast Ogre
The fight was easier for them than inspected. One reason for this is that, as a very large creature, the ogre was easy for them to hit with their strikes. This is deliberate. It should work this way. Additionally, the ogre lacked an effective way to fight a large group, especially when they are mostly armed with ranged weapons, as they were.
Also, I still didn’t have a good gauge for the power levels of characters. I think the ogre simply wasn’t a strong enough foe for the group. It seemed to have a lot of health, but under assault by a large group of enemies, it drained quite quickly.
On the other hand, this isn’t all bad. The game is a sandbox game. I don’t build the fights to match the heroes. Instead, I build a place for them to explore, and if they come upon a dangerous enemy, they may have to retreat and come back when better prepared.
And that’s exactly what they did. When they first saw the ogre, they didn’t chase it. They rightly assumed that they couldn’t handle it. When they came back, they were stronger and very prepared. They had traps, they had a strong warrior — Jana — to take the lead and let everyone support her, and they even had special arrows for their bows that were designed to crack plate armor — like the bony plate on the ogre’s head. Breaking the plate made the ogre easier to hit.
They earned their win. I like that.
I still think they should have gotten a little more hurt doing it, but that’s how game balance goes, I guess. Trial and error. In a published version of this adventure or something similar to it, this ogre would have a slightly higher level, and either some protection from ranged attacks or ranged techniques of its own. Since it’s meant to fight solo, it needs abilities that can challenge a whole group, without just eliminating their advantages.
After the ogre fight, they found the ogre’s cave and (after some scuffling with the horse-headed pooka and potion-stealing nockers) acquired Eldora’s magical Elder Bear statue — a wooden statue that transforms into a large bear with ram’s horns that breathes an acrid green gas that decays plants. The Elder Bear was the “key” to get them into the eastern district, because the gates were held in place by massive overgrown vines and trees.
With the Elder Bear in tow, they set off to the eastern district, hopefully to find greater treasure.