Thrilling Tales of Adventure! Vol. II, Chapter 3

[For previous entries in this playtest session report, see Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.]

When last we left Doktor Radium and his faithful bodyguard, Gunther, they had discovered a Pit Chamber in the basement of the pawn shop adjoining the good Doktor's laboratorium.

Without hesitation, Gunther prepares to descend into the darkness. He will only fail his Might test on a roll of 1, but failure will mean a fall into the bottomless depths, so Doktor Radium's player chooses to invest some Moxie in Gunther's roll and increase his chance of success. Buying bonus dice is pricey for Allies though -- 2 Moxie for 1 additional die -- so the Doktor chooses to buy just one bonus die.

Doktor Radium's player rolls two dice for the test, and neither comes up a 1, so Gunther successfully scales the pit's wall and finds purchase on a ledge somewhere in the darkness below. Now Doktor Radium must attempt the descent.

He needs to roll a 4 or higher (his Might of 1 + a roll of 4 = 5, the difficulty of the test). The Doktor doesn't like those odds. He reviews his German Discipline Advantage to see if it will be of help to him in this instance.

Because German Discipline allows Doktor Radium to re-roll all dice used on a test, Radium's player chooses to buy 1 bonus die in order to make more efficient use of the ability. He rolls a 3 and a 5 on his first roll, though, so he doesn't actually need to use German Discipline. Gunther assists the Doktor in the short climb down to the ledge.

Each success on the test grants the Doktor +1 Moxie (as indicated by the thumbs-up "Phew!" result on the Pit Chamber card), so his net loss for resolving this card is -1 Moxie (-2 Moxie to buy a bonus die for Gunther, -1 Moxie to buy a bonus die for himself, +2 Moxie for both characters passing the test). In the Doktor's analysis, that's a fair price for not falling into a bottomless pit.

Having resolved the Pit Chamber card, and still in possession of the upper hand, Radium's player chooses the Underground Clue (white magnifying glass on dark gray background) as the next card in his adventure.

The cold ledge appears to open into a passage or tunnel, but the progress of our intrepid pair is quickly obstructed by a Pile of Rubble.

Gunther, with his Might of 3, is obviously the man for this job; the Doktor would surely injure himself if he lifted even a single brick. The Doktor's resources are depleted (he currently has just 1 Moxie), so he must either let Gunther make the "Excavate" test without any bonus dice, or retreat from the depths. Gunther begins the hard work of clearing the passage, tossing the hefty stones off the ledge and into the darkness below.

"Gunther! Nein!" shouts the Doktor as Gunther rolls badly, pulling out a stone that brings down part of the ceiling on his head. As per the "ceiling collapse" test failure result, Gunther suffers 2 wounds from a roll of 1D3, avoiding death by 1 wound. Loudly castigating his bodyguard for incompetence, Doktor Radium begins to clear the rubble from the boxer's battered body. As part of the same failure result, the Doktor is now forced to spend the first of the 2 actions he has available this turn.

Having completely resolved the Pile of Rubble card, the Doktor has only 1 Moxie and 1 action remaining. He briefly contemplates spending his last action to rest and heal Gunther, but then realizes he can finish his adventure by choosing a Valuable (yellow background) as his next card. Luckily, since it's still the first turn of the game, he has zero Menace, so he still has the upper hand, and can choose the next card. Loot (gemstone icon) tends to be grant Moxie, while Artifacts (urn icon) and Gadgets (lightbulb icon) grant useful powers. The Doktor's player chooses to reveal an Artifact, because he already has a Gadget (the Magnetosphere), and just wants to mix things up.

As Doktor Radium struggles to haul Gunther out of the rubble, he notices a gleam amongst the stones. Leaving Gunther groaning on the ledge, he steps back toward the rubble, reaches down, and pulls a small object from the debris.

"Was ist das...?" the Doktor mutters under his breath, mometarily hypnotized as he holds the Girasol Ring up in the darkness. The gemstone seems to flash with red light from within. The sender of the coded message that led him into the basement of the pawn shop must have intended this strange piece of jewelry for him. But why?

Such matters must be considered at a later time. Gunther needs medical attention. The Doktor swiftly pockets the ring and moves to help his bodyguard back onto his feet.

The Girasol Ring has an Occult theme (red pentagram in the theme column in the upper left), and grants +1 Moxie upon being revealed (the +1 star below the theme column). The "End" box in the lower right corner indicates that this card wraps up the adventure. With all of the cards lined up in the player's adventure area, the final adventure looks like this:

Because the adventure came to a "Heroic Conclusion" (i.e., Doktor Radium reached the end card in one piece), all of the preceding cards in the adventure are checked for a green hourglass icon, which indicates any effects that are triggered by a Heroic Conclusion. The only card with such an entry is the adventure's first card, The Curious Doktor.

"Curiosity satisfied" grants the Doktor another +1 Moxie, bringing his total current Moxie up to 3. The Girasol Ring is an item, so the Doktor can equip it, and decides to give it to Gunther. He figures that the ring's "Dazzling gem" ability will make a good combination with Gunther's "Jab" ability. All of the adventure cards are now discarded to their respective decks, and Doktor Radium appears back in his Laboratorium.

The Doktor still has 1 action remaining, and decides to use it to rest, using the "Sanctuary" ability of his Laboratorium. Gunther is healed completely, and Doktor Radium's turn ends.

That wraps up Doktor Radium's first adventure of the game. Tune in next week, to see what happens when Rockwell Jones mixes it up with the Midnight Army on the streets of Chicago!

[Continue to chapter 4]