A Detective Game - Retrieving the Grimoire of Life

“How in the name of all that’s unholy did you manage to lose my Grimoire of Life, it’s only four months past that you were able to acquire it in the first place and now you’ve lost it”. There was a short pause.

“Have I spent the last 18 years teaching and training and schooling and coddling and wiping your snotty nose for it all to have been a waste of my time”. “I’m not getting any younger you know and don’t have the years or the patience to go through all that nonsense again”. “I knew I should have stuck with the cat, at least he could catch mice, had a better aptitude for potions and was a better conversationalist than you, you great clod of an apprentice”.

As you will appreciate this was all a little unfair but the tirade directed at Rufina Grey Eye by her boss Thanda the Grim was never going to be fair. Thanda was not known for being fair, she was known for being Grim, she was from up north and there’s no fair about it, no one ever says it’s Fair up North, especially Southerners.

Rufina Grey Eye bowed her head and waited for Thanda’s wrath to fade, she knew it would take some time but it would eventually pass, erupting again a few times and then the air would be cleared. Well apart from the static charge as if a great lightning bolt had just struck the earth and of course, the faint smell of sulphur as well.

That was the real reason she wore the battered hat with the big brim, she had learned the trick when she was only ten years old. If you lowered your head and wore a big brimmed hat no one who was taller than you could see your face, at 10 she used to pull faces at Thanda from beneath the hat and that helped to pass the time before life got back to normal and her wrath subsided. Now she was older and taller she had to bow her head even more and refrained from pulling the faces because that would be undignified for the Apprentice to a renowned Wizard, she just thought them instead and the brim hid the smile in her eyes.

The painting above is of happier, carefree times when Thanda led the band of warriors, thieves and vagabonds throughout the land and Rufina was the Apprentice and did as she was told, - usually. Things were changing, she had recently been sent out leading her own party on Thanda’s errands, the responsibility was hard for her to bear but on the last mission she had successfully recovered the Grimoire of Life, from it’s rightful owner of course, which in a well policed country might be considered stealing. It was this same Grimoire that had gone missing, or maybe been recovered or stolen depending on your point of view.

“You will have to go and get it back” Thanda’s voice had quietened from the volume of a volcanic eruption to more like a bull in heat and Rufina knew it was time to start listening again.

The obvious question was “where is it?” but she had learned to not ask obvious questions for obvious reasons.

“Take six of the household, ask Sonia and Tina if they will go with you and take that new lass, the tall one - Astrid, let’s see if she can fight as well as she can eat, oh and try and get her to keep her shirt on”. “I know she comes from Vanaheim and they have some strange ways up there but it doesn’t set a good example to the rest of the Household if she goes around half naked”.

“How many days provisions do you think we should take” Rufina asked cannily. “Six or seven should be fine, you’re only going a day beyond River Run” Thanda replied.

So far so good thought Rufina, we’re going west 3 days, about 40 miles, the only village she could think of was Halfdan’s, maybe that was too obvious but she tried it anyway. “Does Halfdan know where it is” she asked.

“Of course not you oaf, Halfdan and his people left when the Dead moved in, but they’ve probably moved on by now, however the Grimoire is there, or if not at least you will find evidence to lead you to it”

Ok that didn’t sound too bad, how much trouble could a few dead spirits be, even if they were still there?

Thanda went on “Just to make it perfectly clear, I want the Grimoire back, or at the very least to know where it is, and I also want to know who stole it so we can have a little discussion about my property” “Oh and you might need to find out how they’ve protected it before trying to pick it up”

Hummm it might be a little more difficult than she had assumed, oh well best get on with it then.

A sexy little shot of Halfdan’s village.

This after action report is about an experimental game I played trying out concepts of solving a crime but doing it solo, so it’s not just for fun. About 18 months ago there was some discussion on here about detecting games i.e. games with detectives, detecting and solving a crime and how they could be played solo maintaining the essence of finding clues to solve the case without knowing the answers. I want to maintain it as a miniatures game and all that entails, grafting on the detecting, clue solving bit to give some sense of solving a crime as well.

Someone, I think it was Eduardo suggested using the board game 221a Baker Street, the Sherlock Homes detecting game, it’s a more sophisticated version of Cluedo, can be played solo and means I have to work out who done it etc.

I already had some 1930’s gangsters, they just needed a lick of paint and of course I needed to build a city to have my hard boiled detectives wander around, so no problem there then.
Well the figures are still unpainted and the city block’s still waiting for planning permission but for Christmas I received a cobble mat to lay it all down on. So rather than wait for it all to be ready, I’m going detecting in some other time zone, with swords, spells and horrors rather than guns, molls and mobsters and this is the result.

I thought I would describe the clues as I find them so that anyone reading along can see if they are smarter than me in solving the case sooner than I did.
Essentially the game board has 15 locations and you visit each of them getting clues or not as the case may be, once you have enough information you rush back to Baker Street to announce the result of your deductions. Mrs Vagabond seems to be better at this than I am.

I’m not sure about the law of copyright so if I get sent to prison, maybe some one could send me a cake with a file inside I would much appreciate it.

The village is deserted, obviously abandoned in a hurry, there are sacks of produce and food left behind in the rush to leave. Tina has climbed one of the trees surrounding the place and has spent most of the day watching to see if there’s anything useful to be discovered before the group enter the village.

Tina in her eyrie.

Nothing stirs, it’s as quiet as the grave which might be an ominous sign, we’ll just have to wait and see. Rufina has decided to enter the village after night fall. It’s a full moon and there should be plenty of light to explore by, this might not be such a good plan but at least it’s a plan.

As well as the possible crime clues each building may contain something or someone that caused the village to be deserted. I’m just using a shuffled deck of cards, all the diamond cards have had something allocated to each card, nothing good usually. To counteract that I left the Jokers in the deck and they will represent the Grimoire which will be a lucky break because otherwise I will have to solve the riddle of the crime to find the Grimoire. So odds of 1 in 4ish that there will be a reception committee waiting in each building.

Entering the building the first through the door has to succeed on a stealth roll and they get the advantage in any confrontation, fail and they are at a disadvantage and equal it and it’s even - yes I know, - I like to keep it simple.

Night falls and this is me trying to simulate moonshine, by turning off 2 out of the 3 lights, all it did was make it difficult for the camera to focus and didn’t achieve much additional atmosphere, it does means there are a few more blurred shots than normal, sorry, I would sack the camera man but it was me.

If you are concerned about semi naked people please switch off now because it looks like Astrid ignored Rufina’s instructions about taking her shirt off before a fight.

The village is quite large and as Rufina is expecting to have to enter and search most, if not all of the huts she decides to split the party into two separate groups to try and get the job done sooner rather than later.

This was to be a re-occurring theme at each hut, Tina the Swift who was a skilled thief, well versed in entering places stealthily would be the first through the door. Rufina would take up a position at the window to provide a magical spell casting back up and Red Sonia and Atsuko would be prepared to rush into the building to protect Tina if there was anything dangerous inside.

You can’t see Tina because she’s quite small and is hidden behind Red Sonia who’s quite stocky.

I checked to see if the door was locked before Tina tried to enter but then decided that as the village was abandoned hurriedly no one would lock their doors even if they had locks.

Nothing and no one inside, they spent a couple of turns searching and then went on to the next building going in a sun wise direction around the village, (no one had invented a clock yet and this is the northern hemisphere)

Minors and easily offended people look away now. In fact keep your hands over your eyes throughout the story because there are disturbing things happening in Halfdans village.

Signy Freyasdotter is also an experienced footpad and pickpocket and so leads the way into their first building, she enters quietly but finds nothing. She is backed up by Ayesha and Astrid, the tall one of the group.

Astrid is a recent recruit to the band and didn’t appear in the round up of the members that I posted late last year. She feels a little out of her depth amongst this tight knit group of adventurous souls and is a little awkward about her height, she’s trying to create a legend for herself, and likes to be called the Ice Maiden which the others find amusing. She is armed with a double handed axe that because of her strength she can wield one handed and when doing so can also use the shield to defend herself. This was going to come in useful later.

Searching the next house Tina discovered a scrap of burnt parchment that was written in some rune-ish script that they could just decipher, the first part appeared to be a poem ___ for the wings of a dove, the first word was burned away and then a part of a riddle Reverse of Nil, they puzzled on this, wondering if it might be some reference to where the Grimoire was hidden?

Continuing round the village you can see them emerging from the 3rd building, it was obviously used as some work room, to what purpose they weren’t sure but they found nothing and moved on quickly.

On the far side of the village Signy Freyasdotter had investigated the flat roof building but it was also empty however in the low building they are entering, daubed on the wall, written in charcoal in the common tongue were the words Little _____ Least, the middle word was smeared and undecipherable, was this an indication of the Thief?

They needed to press on and in the next building found a piece of a clay tablet inscribed with the three words Puffins Liberation Organisation. Had Halfdan been a bird lover, was this left by the dead who had driven him out, no it had to be human or semi human to put pressure on the clay! Could this be some indication of the protection afforded to the hiding place of the Grimoire? No point in guessing and they moved on.

Rufina’s party had entered and searched two more buildings and I was wondering if I’d left the diamonds out of the deck of cards. No encounters but the tension was ratcheting up, they had however discovered a piece of a clay tablet inscribed in a pictorial script which was translated as No___ pense Spared, translating it was easy although the big thumb print after No might mean anything, a clumsy scribe probably. In the last hut someone had written on the wall in charcoal Commerce Wind in the Southern Ocean what the hell did that mean.

Clues on Parchment indicate Location, on Clay Tablets – Protection and daubed in Charcoal are the Thief but I expect you got that by now.

Signy has a very good stealth roll as she makes her way into one of the buildings in the centre of the village but draws the Queen of Diamonds, not a clue but a Green or Gollem Demon. This thing is horrific and inspires horror into anyone who comes close to it, she draws a horror card and pushing past Astrid and Ayesha who were just behind her, she runs like hell. The creature chases after but with fear providing the spur her little legs going like pistons she easily outdistances it but will continue to run next turn after that she may regain her composure.

Ayesha and Astrid see what’s caused Signy to run and also take horror cards, being overcome with madness Ayesha strikes out with her sword, not at the Gollem but at Astrid who has retreated in the face of the Green Horror. Recognising her weakness it rushes at her but taking a firm grip on her shield she defends herself bravely and holds off the attack from both the Demon and Ayesha.

Ayesha lost control of her mind to the Gollem for a short time, hopefully she will regain control or it’s curtains for Astrid.

Things have taken a turn for the worse, I expected the split parties of 3 and 4 adventurers would be able to stand against most of the creatures and horrors that they might encounter but this is not going well.

The next turn Signy continues to run away and makes it to the tree line. Astrid has still not recovered her nerve and continues to back away from the Demon but facing it and ready to fight if she needs to. Ayesha though recovers quickly from the madness that overtook her, she comes to her senses and places herself between the Demon and her retreating friend. The Demon considers the new threat and a very aggressive threat it looks as Ayesha waves her fist in the air and threatens the Demon with hell and damnation (which if he could understand her words he might like the prospect) but her aggressive stance matches his own.

They both failed the test to charge.

The next turn Signy is now overcome by panic and instead of running away, runs in a random direction which was back the way she had just come. If only she can pass her guts test next time she is in a good position to aid the other two.

Astrid though continues to back away from the Demon and Ayesha thinks she should attack it, but just not yet. However the Demon takes the decision away from her, howling like a Green Demon, which is a bit like a Banshee but not as loud, it attacks. She stands her ground and after a flurry of blows from claw, sword the deciding thing is the small armguard on her right arm that deflects the scrabbling claws trying to reach her throat.

Back to the other party and Tina entering the next hut, trips on the step as she enters making a noise. This turns out to be the first hut that she’s entered that has an occupant so a bad time to make a noise.

It’s the Red Woman, the same one that appeared in the last adventure, she wasn’t so hard then but this time she’s not attacked unawares and her Terrifying Aura overcomes Tina who is a bit chicken anyway and she becomes Transfixed. Being Transfixed means she doesn’t defend herself and the Red Woman easily defeats Tina in the 1st round of combat which means she can move in close and Bite like a Vampire.

Red Sonia was behind Tina but when she encountered the Terrifying Aura she Lost All Reason and backed away loosing a few of her marble for the rest of the game.

Biting like a Vampire sucks Tina’s life force from her, she is not dead yet but isn’t going to be much help for a long while. Rufina pushes past the retreating Sonia and seeing Tina sink to the floor summons all her powers as a would be Wizard and casts her least favourite but most deadly spell, at least it’s been deadly to its caster, making her unconscious one time and nearly so on another occasion. There’s a little blue crackle, a faint smell of sulphur and then nothing. Just a very small tingling in Rufinas right arm, followed by a sense of relief when she realized it hadn’t rebounded too strongly and she was still on her feet. Then a feeling of panic as she realized it hadn’t affected her antagonist either.

Fortunately for her, Atsukio is a brave and bold warrior, also maybe slightly stupid and she overcame the Aura and rushed in wielding her trusty sword but it was the sneaky spikes in her boot that inflicted just enough damage on the Red Woman to cause her to step back from the combat.

Things are not looking good for Ayesha, she continues to battle with the Gollem, back and forth but her allies are getting further away Signy has disappeared entirely, that’s the problem running around like a headless chicken, but Astrid still hasn’t overcome her initial reaction to the horror and continues to back away slowly.

Atsukio in the hut following up her ferocious attack on the Red Woman has been stopped in her tracks and pushed back, Rufina had a second attempt at casting her Elemental Bolt of Power spell but again failed, only just though, which is better than catastrophically but it still has no effect on her opponent.
Red Sonia recovers her bravery if not her brain and prepares to re-enter the hut and help out but it’s a bit crowded in there and she can’t get in.

Ayshas persistence and endurance has paid off, she’s still on her feet and Astrid recovering her nerve (YESSS) has advanced to help her, swinging her axe like a Viking Berserker she charges into the fight, bere shirt as some would have it, although coming from Yorkshire it would be bar shirt.

Back in the hut Rufina thinks bugger this spell casting and pulls her knife and wades in to help Atsukio, who having been beaten in a round of fighting is open to the Bite like a Vampire, fortunately or unfortunately depending on who you are rooting for, the Red Woman gets her fangs tangled in Atsukio’s armoured shoulder plates and misses her opportunity but doesn’t break any teeth so it’s not all bad.
Sonia still can’t get through the door to help and over in the forest Signys nerves have failed her completely and she’s run away.

The fight continued, Atsukio was thrown to the floor, Rufina was thrown back, turns out she’s as good with a knife as with her spell casting, she bounced off the wall which opened a space for Red Sonia to enter the hut.

Trying a different tack Rufina decided to go with a alternative spell and instead of attacking the Red Woman directly she cast one to enhance Sonia’s fighting powers and bugger me but it worked, only just, but who cares. Well Bryan if he ever reads this but he may not.
Sonia feels an extra flow of power coursing through her body. She is a famous fighter, renowned for her strength and prowess with her axe, who’s name I’ve forgotten (the axe that is), but with this additional boost she smashes the axe two handed into the apparition in front of her and destroys it.

Rufina helps Atsukio to her feet but Tina is unresponsive, damn they are going to have to carry her, fortunately she is light and Sonia is strong, but it means their best warrior is encumbered.

They search the hut before leaving but there is no clue to the mystery of the stolen Grimoire.

Ayesha and Astrid finally manage to defeat the Green Gollem, Hurrah!!! The fight went back and forth for a very long time, usually these things are fairly short but the dice decided otherwise this time.

They went into the hut that the Gollem had emerged from but found nothing. What a let down after such a ferocious fight, one of the longest I’ve had apart from maybe the Samurai fight last year or was it 2 years ago.

Back with Rufina and in the next hut she finds another piece of the clay tablet that translates to Implement used to separate fine grains from coarse?

Finally having searched everywhere the two groups rendezvoused in the village square and reviewed the clues and I realised I couldn’t answer the question “where the Grimoire was” because I only had half the clues. Also I couldn’t work out “Who stole it” because I wasn’t bright enough but I did know what it was protected by.

I now have a dilemma, Rufina and her group had visited 14 buildings, and missed one, they would have to go back to search it. With 1 in 4 cards being encounters with bad things I had expected 3 or 4 encounters, so far I’d only had 2 and was loath to chance my arm again.

What’s the saying, “the cork’s been drawn and now the wine must be drunk” Mrs V’s says she’s never heard of this saying and maintains it must be one of mine but I’m sure it was Napoleon or one of his Marshall’s although I can’t find it on Google, mind you I can never find anything on Google unless someone wants to sell me something.

Rufina decides she is the leader on this expedition and with no stealthy thieves left will enter the hut first. Red Sonia and Atsukio disagree in a half hearted sort of a way and let her go first.

There’s no ravening beast or slippery snake in the hut but she does discover a parchment that has a drawing of a flower and underneath is says “A short Violet” and further down “If P’s and Q’s then presumably J’s and ___” the last bit was missing.

Having searched the whole village they have a number of clues and suggestions that might lead them to answer their questions regarding Who Stole the Grimoire, Where is it, What Protects it.

They decide to leave this dark, haunted place and make camp in the forest, have a drink of the super smooth mead they keep for emergencies and have a think about the information they gleaned from the nights work.



OK so that was my first run through of a detecting game, I know it’s not in the true traditions of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett but I wanted to continue Rufina’s story and it seemed like a good opportunity. The best bits for me were nothing to do with the detecting at all but with the standard wargaming storyline, the surprise and adrenaline rush of an exciting game. Yes I know I don’t get out a lot but in the main I find the games exciting, the detecting and clue solving was pretty pedestrian by comparison, but it served it’s purpose.

The various clues were.

Who Stole it – the clues daubed in charcoal:-
Little ____ Least
Commerce Wind in the Southern Ocean

Where is it – the clues on parchment:-
A short Violet
___ for the wings of a dove
Reverse of Nil
If P’s and Q’s then presumably J’s and ___

What Protects it – clues on clay tablets:-
No___ pense Spared
Palestinian Liberation Organisation
Implement used to separate fine grains from coarse

To work it out there was some other information and bear in mind this is a Sherlock Holmes story, so the answers relate to that, also the clues are given in order.

The story line has a number of red herrings but the pertinent information is that Sherlock Homes plays the violin and a master of disguise has escaped from prison and Inspector Lestrade brings Sherlock the news.

In the end I struggled with the Who Stole it because this had the most red herrings but I got there in the end.

So in my adventure Rufina found out the location of the Grimoire, and can go there to recover it, knowing how it’s protected, she knows who stole it and therefore who might be waiting for her to try and recover it, however that might be another story.

The 221a Baker Street game is quite good, I’ve only played 4 cases so far but it’s a bit more of a word puzzle than my idea of clues to solve a crime so if anyone has any thoughts on this I would much appreciate it. I know that Frank is working on something for his own stories and Greg was very helpful with ideas for other sets of rules which I’m looking through although reading rules tends to send me to sleep faster than a few whiskies.
I’m looking at 5010 and the Department but the main problem with trying to solve a case doing it solo is I can’t think how to, not know about it. It also needs to be fairly simple concept as I’m a bear with a small brain and can’t be doing with complex rule systems.

A much shorter post than last time – Thank goodness.

Take Care it's Dangerous Out There.