DF Khoramandu Sea, Session 110 - Losing a Volunteer
This week's session was a continuation of our playthrough of the published DF adventure Deep Night and the Star.
Session Date: Thursday 18 November 2021
Party roster:
Miao Miao, cat-folk swashbuckler, 525 points (PC)
- Jenkins, human servant, 249 points (NPC Ally)
- Father Warian, human priest, 261 points (NPC Ally)
- Alacus, human slinger, ~62 points (NPC volunteer)
Sir Yvor Gryffyn, human knight, 450 points (PC)
Sir Yvor Gryffyn, human knight, 450 points (PC)
- Manuta, human sergeant, 177 points (NPC Ally)
Hemmu Gahrol, half-orc berserker (knight), 385 points (PC)
Adam Aesalor, half-orc wizard, 349 points (PC)
We resumed inside Atoep. The party had exited the large humour chamber at a run, having just set fire to Atoep's green humour. The wizard Adam Aesalor led the way...
The group retraced their steps back towards the entrance until Adam heard what sounded like voices up ahead. Before the group could decide how to proceed, there was a shout of "Heretics!" and half a dozen cultists came around the bend in the passageway. Everyone rolled initiative*.
Adam was at the front of the line, and there wasn't much room or time. Hemmu stepped alongside him. Adam stood his ground and activated the Defence enchantment** on his wizard's staff. Miao was at the back of the line, and moved forward through the party as quickly as she could, calling to Jenkins to watch the rear. Manuta stepped up behind Adam. The first wave of cultists charged forward with their swords. Their attacks either missed or were easily parried. Sir Yvor moved up alongside Manuta. Alacus started readying his sling. Father Warian cast a level 2 Shield spell upon Adam.
The cultists were 24 in number. At its widest point, the tunnel had space for two combatants to stand more or less comfortably abreast with room to manoeuvre. More could squeeze in together if they didn't care, and this is what the cultists did. With cries of "Heretic" and "Atoep consume them!" they attacked the party like fanatics. Miao and Yvor were able to stab past Hemmu and Adam to attack the cultists behind the line, before they too moved forwards to push the cultists back (but they kept coming). Manuta threw first spear then axe, but the cultists avoided her missiles.
Adam loosed a Lightning bolt, but accidentally hit Hemmu in the flank; she instinctively blocked but her shield bonus made the difference. Normally this would mean a damaged shield***, however I ruled that as it was lightning upon an all-metal shield, rather than Hemmu's shield absorbing the damage, it merely conducted the lightning into Hemmu's arm instead (with the shield counting as DR1 as per the rules' treatment of metal armour). Hemmu is tough, and luckily it was not enough damage to cripple her arm. [EDIT: The lightning injury did however cause Hemmu to go Berserk.] Sgt. Manuta stepped in front of Adam, to hold the line in his stead.
From the point Hemmu went Berserk (EDIT: from the above friendly fire), she did her trademark move every second, until the last cultist was down (All-out Attack (Double) with Rapid Strike: an axe swing to the neck, followed by two rapid axe blows to the torso). Most cultists dropped from the first hit, sometimes without their heads still attached.
In that formation, with two rows of fighters in a narrow tunnel, the party could have held off such untrained fodder for a long time. Unfortunately twenty-four cultists were not the only threat. What would come from the rear was not the spreading fire from Atoep's burning humour (at least, not yet!), but rather a 4-hex swarm of large beetle-like critters, each bug about 10-15cm (4-6 inches) long. Jenkins called out to Miao. Warian called for Adam. Alacus loosed a sling stone at the swarm, but it just bounced off their hard chitinous carapaces.
Adam loosed a Lightning bolt, but accidentally hit Hemmu in the flank; she instinctively blocked but her shield bonus made the difference. Normally this would mean a damaged shield***, however I ruled that as it was lightning upon an all-metal shield, rather than Hemmu's shield absorbing the damage, it merely conducted the lightning into Hemmu's arm instead (with the shield counting as DR1 as per the rules' treatment of metal armour). Hemmu is tough, and luckily it was not enough damage to cripple her arm. [EDIT: The lightning injury did however cause Hemmu to go Berserk.] Sgt. Manuta stepped in front of Adam, to hold the line in his stead.
From the point Hemmu went Berserk (EDIT: from the above friendly fire), she did her trademark move every second, until the last cultist was down (All-out Attack (Double) with Rapid Strike: an axe swing to the neck, followed by two rapid axe blows to the torso). Most cultists dropped from the first hit, sometimes without their heads still attached.
In that formation, with two rows of fighters in a narrow tunnel, the party could have held off such untrained fodder for a long time. Unfortunately twenty-four cultists were not the only threat. What would come from the rear was not the spreading fire from Atoep's burning humour (at least, not yet!), but rather a 4-hex swarm of large beetle-like critters, each bug about 10-15cm (4-6 inches) long. Jenkins called out to Miao. Warian called for Adam. Alacus loosed a sling stone at the swarm, but it just bounced off their hard chitinous carapaces.
The NPCs' attacks to the swarm did too little damage too slowly, and they were soon overrun. Alacus went down. Yvor stood over the prone form of Alacus, both to attack the swarm and to try and draw their attacks to himself. Jenkins fought a retreat. Adam threw a level 2 Explosive Lightning bolt into the rear of the swarm. It did some damage, but wasn't powerful enough to disperse them or affect the adjacent hexes (either bugs or party members). Warian went down. The critters' bites were nasty****. Even in his plate sabatons, Sir Yvor was not immune to their hardened pincers.
At the front, Hemmu and Miao cut down the last of the two-dozen cultists. At the rear, Yvor, Adam, Manuta, and Jenkins did enough damage to disperse all 4 hexes of the chitinous critters. Hemmu recovered from her Berserk state, just as Miao was preparing for the worst. With the swarm destroyed and the cultists defeated, attention turned to the wounded. Hemmu drank a greater healing potion, and returned to a healthy state. Warian was badly wounded and unconscious; first aid and potions got the cleric to positive HP. Alacus the slinger, who had suffered compound injuries from multiple bites from half the swarm, was dead*****.
Expecting an inferno to be following them down the tunnel, and not wanting to wait long enough for Warian to wake up, the party moved hurriedly on. Yvor shouldered Father Warian and Hemmu the fallen Alacus, and they headed for the exit. After a minor encounter with one of the tentacle-vine rooms, they otherwise made it uneventfully back to the stairs up.
They agreed to rest there, and that was where we paused the game.
---
Expecting an inferno to be following them down the tunnel, and not wanting to wait long enough for Warian to wake up, the party moved hurriedly on. Yvor shouldered Father Warian and Hemmu the fallen Alacus, and they headed for the exit. After a minor encounter with one of the tentacle-vine rooms, they otherwise made it uneventfully back to the stairs up.
They agreed to rest there, and that was where we paused the game.
---
* We are still using my houserule for randomising turn sequence in combat. I am happy with the result and think it is largely working as intended. My players don't seem to mind.
** A limited enchantment on Adam's staff gives +1 to Parry for 1 minute each time it is invoked. Each activation requires a concentrate action and consumes 1 charge. The enchantment had 9 charges.
*** We use the Damage to Shields rule from p.B484, with the modified shield stats from Low Tech and LT Companion 2.
**** Swarms are not fodder in GURPS, as being diffuse they are hard to avoid, and only take limited damage from normal weapons. Mundane bugs might more of a nuisance than a threat (venomous bites or stings notwithstanding). However a swarm of monstrous critters with pincers capable of piercing armour, those constitute a lethal threat.
***** Alacus was first encountered in session 28, where he was one of 3 hirelings recruited by Miao for ranged support. A budget hireling with a difficult weapon like a sling, is not very effective. After that, Miao did not employ him again, until he volunteered to come along for the journey as he was saving up for passage on a ship to return home.
** A limited enchantment on Adam's staff gives +1 to Parry for 1 minute each time it is invoked. Each activation requires a concentrate action and consumes 1 charge. The enchantment had 9 charges.
*** We use the Damage to Shields rule from p.B484, with the modified shield stats from Low Tech and LT Companion 2.
**** Swarms are not fodder in GURPS, as being diffuse they are hard to avoid, and only take limited damage from normal weapons. Mundane bugs might more of a nuisance than a threat (venomous bites or stings notwithstanding). However a swarm of monstrous critters with pincers capable of piercing armour, those constitute a lethal threat.
***** Alacus was first encountered in session 28, where he was one of 3 hirelings recruited by Miao for ranged support. A budget hireling with a difficult weapon like a sling, is not very effective. After that, Miao did not employ him again, until he volunteered to come along for the journey as he was saving up for passage on a ship to return home.
Comments
Post a Comment