Heretic: A Mork Borg Solo Campaign - Theras the Deserter

Welcome back to the squalor and this disgusting romp through the greatest city that ever was or will be.

Check out the first chapter where we inhabit the eyes of Urvarg (not Urvarg, you understand?)

In this session, we pick up the story through the eyes of Theras the fanged deserter.

Let's play!

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I am Theras. Some call me the Deserter, but never to my face. Not many would call me smart; I have no letters, but I’m still breathing, and that is better than most. I do not like this city. It smells, people try to take your money. Many stupid people.

I used to do lots of war. Then I farmed. Settled down, I did this with a friend from the wars, named Graft. One night, I drank too much. Graft made a joke about my teeth. I beat him to death. I left that night, with nowhere to go. So I came to the big smoke.

Let’s roll a D10 to see how much silver Theras has spent. He started with 60. He has spent 3 silver, mostly on food.

The big city guard wanted a bribe. I pretended not to understand but showed my teeth. He let me in. I wandered around looking for work. It took me days. I slept on the ground like in the war days. Bought the food I needed.

A fancy priest man finds me. He sees my armor and sword, tells me to go to the cathedral for work, gives me a paper with lots of words. I look at it and nod. After he leaves, I use it to wipe my ass. I head to the churches.

Inside a big church, an important man tells us we kill bad people for coin. I nod. I kill for less than a coin. At least if I kill for the church, guards won’t chase me like when I killed Graft. The ratty-looking man, his name is Urvarg, asks where we need to go.

“Well, go to the place they call the Sweetbread. Ask for a man named Nifehl. He is a heretic. Get names from him and take care of those people. Bring heretics' heads to me before sundown for your coin.”

“And we need to work together?” says the man holding the stick, named Berun.

“If you want to see sundown, yes. Sweetbread is a dangerous place, even the High Priest’s guards do not venture there. Get the heretics together, bring their heads together, make your coin together.”

“I am ready! Let’s kill bad men.” I say. I'm not keen on waiting. If we got work to do, we got work to do. I'm too old to stand around blathering.

The other two look at each other and nod. We leave the big fancy church and the fancy man.

“Why is this place called Sweetbread? Do they bake here?” I ask the other two.

The man in dark leathers, Berun, pinches his nose, “It’s a butchery term. It means some of the leftover organs. A delicacy in some places I’m told. But here in Galgenbeck, it’s mostly fed to dogs. It means the people there are cast-offs, not worth dealing with.”

This man in dark is smart. Smart men are good to have around, but sometimes smart men think they are too smart. They can get everyone killed. I need to watch this smart man.

We make it to this Sweetbread, and I can see what the dark man was saying. I’ve seen better-built buildings in cities I’ve sacked. There are sad people living in the streets, kids playing in the dirt, and old people selling themselves. Shameful.

“So where is this man Nifehl?” The ratty man asks out loud. “Should we just ask random people? Hey you, kid! You know someone named Nifehl?”

The kid looks at the ratty man and starts running down an alley.

“I think he might actually know Nifehl,” the dark man says. We start chasing this kid. The dark man is not so fast, but me and the ratty man are quick.

Theras - DR18 (for wearing heavy armor) Agility = 17+1=18 Pass

My bones are old, and my knees hurt, but I am still quick. I quickly grab the kid by his filthy shirt and put him against the wall of the alley. The dark man and ratty man catch up.

“Right kid. Spill the beans. Where is Nifehl?” the ratty man asks.

“The. The. The Wretched Wraith. The tavern. Just let me go.”

I let the kid go. His life is already bad; no need to make it worse.

The ratty man smiles, “Well, this job is taking us to a tavern. Ain’t half bad so far, so long as we get paid.”

Now, I have been to some bad taverns. But this one could be the worst. Dirt floors with puddles of puke. Blood-stained benches. Smelled like rot, piss, and maybe worse. We stepped over a dead man on our way in. Maybe he was still alive. Nobody cared.

“Right, we should split up and look for this Nifehl,” the dark man says.

“Yes. I’ll check out that dice game; he might be there.” The ratty man goes to play dice. I never play dice; can’t do the numbers.

Urvarg plays dice. In his first game, he lost 2 silver, in the second, he won 1 silver. He must play until he wins, so he loses 1 silver. Not too bad.

The ratty man comes back after a few minutes, he looks sad. “Nope, he ain’t there.”

I go to the barkeep and ask if he has seen a man named Nifehl.

Theras - DR12 Presence = 1+1=2 Not a great roll. With that, the barkeep will be openly hostile.

“Nifehl? Ain’t never heard of him. And I’m tired of you rich city pukes coming into my tavern looking for people to rough up. Who the shit gives you the right to do that? Now get the shit out before you get thrown out!”

Ahh, a tough man. I like tough men because they don’t realize how tough I can be. I turn around and put on my monster mask. It’s goblin skin and scares tough people.

“What the hell are you doing?” the ratty man asks me. I chuckle under my breath and turn around, baring my teeth.

“You tell us where Nifehl is now!” I roar from under my mask.

Theras - Roll DR 8 (lower for using the mask) - 12-1=11 Pass

“Oh shit! Ok ok yeah yeah, I know Nifehl. What the hell are you, man? Some sort of monster!? He’s out back. Look, he’s bad news and got people with him who know how to use a blade.”

I keep the mask on. I like the smell. “To the back. Let’s go!” Dark man and ratty man follow me as we head to the back.

Alright, who does Nifehl have with him? It's the first combat in this campaign, and I don’t want it to be too deadly, but there should be some danger, you know? I’ll roll a d4 for his minions and decide what kind of enemies they are. I get a 3. So Nifhel and 3 minions. Let’s do their stats. Nifehl — HP10, Morale 9, Thick cloak - d2 damage, A flail D8 Scum x3 - HP6, Morale 7, No Armor, Knife and short swords D4 Because there's a lot of dice rolling in Mork Borg, I’ll dramatize the fight as below and place all the rolls after that. It just makes it a bit smoother to run. I kick open the door, and there stands four people, one with a big flail and the others with pig stickers. They were not expecting us, and we rush in swords and flails out. The Dark man uses his stick. It's weird. I cut a knife guy a good one across his chest. The Dark man gets cut good by a knife, and the guy with the big flail rushes him. The Dark man steps to the side and gives the flail guy a huge whack with his stick. I could hear his bone crunch. It was a good hit. I grab the knife guy I cut, and I bite into his neck. Blood pours out over me as I rip away his neck. He is dead. The Dark man aims another hit at the flail guy, and I see his head get caved in. The other two knife guys run and run fast. The Ratty man shakes his head and says, “Let them go. I bet this guy is Nifehl.” And he points to the man with the crushed head. Two heretics. 30 silver each. Not bad for a quick day's work. What do they find on these corpses? One body has 64 silver! Wow, it must be Nifehl. The other has nothing worth taking. I do the dirty work of removing heads. The Ratty man is happy when he finds a big bag of silver. What did that man need so much silver for? Big questions. Too big for me. Time to go back to the big church, I think. The group splits the silver and swears not to tell the priests about it. 21 silver for Berum and Theras, and Urvarg takes 22. ---

Combat! Initiative - Party goes first Round 1: Urvarg attacks Scum #1 - DR12 to hit, 5 Miss Theras attacks Scum #2 - DR 12 to hit, 17+1=18, Hit! 3 Damage to Scum #2 Berun attacks Nifehl with his Crook. DR12 to hit. 9-2=7 Miss Enemy Scum attacks. Miss Urvarg, Hit Theras for 1 damage but blocked, Hit Berun for 4 damage, 1 blocked. Nifehl attacks Berun/ Berun nat 20! and gets a free attack on Nifehl. 18-2=16 a hit. 8 damage, 2 of which is blocked. Round 2: Urvarg 8/8, Theras 3/3, Berun 6/9 Nifhel 4/10, Scum #2 3/6 HP. Scum 1 and 3 full HP\

Urvarg attacks Scum 1 and misses

Theras bites Scum #2 and kills him

Berun attacks Nifehl with his crook and kills him. Scum 1 and 3 make a morale check. 8 vs Morale of 7. They flee!

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And that is it for this chapter of Heretic, a Mork Borg Solo Campaign set in the Pox Scarred Squalor! Check in next week for the first chapter. 

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