Orluf Wavebane and party rest in a safe alcove, guarded over by a statue of a legendary cleric. Over the past year or so I’ve been trying to get more into tabletop roleplaying and I feel I’ve been pretty successful. I’ve had the urge to get back into it for many years, after some unsuccessful previous attempts from a while back. This new attempt started by my overhearing in the school pick-up line a couple of people talking about playing some D&D or something like it. The next time I went to pick up my son from school, I made sure to wear one of my nerdy D&D t-shirts. Sure enough, it caught their eye and the ice was broken. Since then, I’ve discovered there is an annual TTRPG mini-convention within walking distance and from tables played there have joined multiple weekly online groups. Today I’ll talk about, in narrative style, the adventures of the most recent one I’ve joined, a Tales of Argosa group, where I’ve started playing a 1st level barbarian sailor named Orluf Wavebane. Orluf’s Adventures Begin Orluf, starting his adventure making their way through a deep jungle with his compatriot Ronin Tasar, is following a map that he thinks is a path to valuable loot but the further along they go the more he doubts the map’s veracity. After surviving a pitched battle against a small group of monsters two adventurers stumble on the scene, Brogan and Calder. At first, the tension is hight, Orluf and Ronin having just finished their battle and Brogan and Calder finishing running from a giant lizard – which literally just ate one of their companions. However, after Orluf and Ronin realized the newcomers were not threats, axes and swords were put down and Calder asked if possibly the treasure-hunting pair could assist them on their mission. Calder had, in his vision, a runic symbol that was leading them toward the location of cypher discs they needed to decode some important text. With the treasure map seeming more and more like a dud, Orluf and Ronin accepted the offer and the joined group went off together. Following the runic sight, the party happened upon a cave leading deep into the earth. After scouting ahead and disabling some initial traps, Brogan, the rogue, made a little too much noise and alerted the Urgot inside to their presence. Abominations of dark sorcery, Urgot are twisted humans mashed with perverse animal-like mutations. Defeating them, the party fought its way deeper into the caves until it came to a temple. The temple appeared to be in reverence to a group of adventurers from the weekly group’s previous campaign, who had just barely saved the world in a spectacular, um, world-saving fashion. Their travails depicted as frescos all around the temple walls. Using the legends of the previous group’s adventures, the new adventurers found hidden switches within the frescos leading to a chest containing the cypher. A crab-like abomination with tentacles swirling emerged near the chest and immediately attacked. After stunning half the party with its sudden appearance and ferocity, Orluf regained his senses, hefted his axe, and smashed down hard on the creature’s exoskeleton, opening a rift that allowed Brogan the opportunity to penetrate their dagger deep and end the crustacean-abomination. Finding a safe space to catch their breath, the party finally relaxed, cypher discs in hand, ready to make their way out of the cave and on to their next endeavor. I’ll give thoughts on Tales of Argosa and how it compares to other TTRPG systems I’ve played later, which is very limited, but so far this has been a pretty nice start for the burgeoning barbarian sailor. Or, at least I think so. The seemingly unforgiving system that is Tales of Argosa may have other ideas. // Ocho