Game log for 31 August 2014

Dramatis Personae:

Yémos, a cleric
Anêr, a swashbuckler
Mayhem, a barbarian
Caleb, a wizard

When we last left everyone, Yémos and Anêr were knocked out, and Mayhem was hurt. The guards of Dībités Rock led the heroes into the keep, to a heavy door. The guards opened the door, pushed down a ladder which they used like a stairs, and led the captives down the ladder at sword point. The guards then pulled up the ladder and bolted the door shut. Oddly, the captives still had their weapons and most of their gear.

The first deed they needed to do was heal the hurt. Caleb bound Anêr's wounds and he awoke, but nobody could rouse Yémos, who had the healing spells. When Anêr awoke, this chat happened:

Anêr: Is there any part of me that doesn't hurt?
Mayhem: Apparently your tongue.

They passed the night next to a fountain among the buildings of the dungeon. Yes, buildings. As best they could tell, there were buildings here, the wreckage of an old keep upon which someone later built the new keep. Only Caleb could find a meal of bland mushrooms among the wreckage; everyone else ate rations. The next day, they tried to heal Yémos again, and at last he awoke, and he cast Major Healing on both Anêr and Mayhem.

Anêr and Mayhem started checking out the buildings. The first one the tried was locked, so they moved onto the next one. It was an old stable, and wide open. They poked a mound in the middle of one of the three stalls, and out came two big rats, covered in a white mold. Four more came out of the other stalls, and all struck the two delvers. Anêr and Mayhem fought them off, but took enough wounds to set back much of the healing they had done. They brought the spellcasters into the stable, and Yémos cast Create Food on the dead bodies of the dead rats. While eating this lunch, they heard an unearthly screech from inside the underground keep.

They shut the stable door, and passed the next two days without any pain, making short trips out to forage for mushrooms. The second night, they heard some scuffling outside, but nothing came to them. Now on their fourth day down, the new moon having passed, Yémos at last cast Major Healing on himself, and they choose to brave the wreckage. They checked out a well a few yards away from the stable, and threw down a pebble. They heard the pebble hit solid rock at the bottom a few seconds later. They talked about lowering themselves into the well, but instead to check out the locked building.

Mayhem chopped down the door, and they found the building was an old guardhouse, with its arrow slits and chairs near them. The first and second room of the small guardhouse were empty, but the third one had a small chest in the middle of the room. Yémos walked up to it to check it out with his staff, but he didn't make it—he poofed. After some prodding, they found out how the trick worked around the chest, and soon all of them were in another room.

The room held an altar to Ažbrátōr, god of death, who had once been the leading god of the lands of men. Caleb guessed that the altar was the means of teleportation, and they walked out into a room that had carvings of men throwing a ball through a hoop, much like the hoops in that room. They opened a door, and saw a dozen little beings, a cross between a norker and an earth elemental, with red skin making plates. They wisely shoved some stone rubble up against the door, then awaited the onslaught as the little guys battered open the door.

This is a norker from the Fiend Folio.
The hellshots look a lot like them, but naked.

One by one, the little buggers shot out into the room, slamming their bodies into their foes for their first strike, then fighting with their little spears. Yémos buffed both Mayhem and Anêr with Shield, and they fought six of them before the others shut the door.

Notes

The fight against the norker/earth elementals—"hellshots" is my name—was more of a comedy of errors at the end. Mayhem and Anêr did take out the first few fast, and the others got wise and shut the door, but after they did so, there was a series of critical misses and critical failures on defense rolls on all sides. Caleb kept failing his Lend Energy roll to give Yémos a lone Fatigue Point. The last guy held out until we broke to leave, and we agreed to have him die anyways, since he didn't do too much damage.

I'm starting to want to learn a few better tactics, since swarms of goblin-like beasties gets repetitive. At this point level, the players can't take them out fast.

I gave out 5 character points for the last two sessions together.

Hellshot

This looks like a cross between a norker and an earth elemental. It is about four feet tall, with its red skin making plates.

ST: 6	HP: 9	Speed: 6.00
DX: 13	Will: 16	Move: 6
IQ: 8	Per: 13	Weight: 180 lbs.
HT: 11	FP: 11	SM: -1
Dodge: 9	Parry: 10	DR: 4

Slam (14): 1d crushing. Reach C.

Spear (14): 1d-1 impaling. Reach 1, 2.

Traits: Berserk (12); Enhanced Move 1 (Ground Speed 12); High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Infravision; Social Stigma (Infernal).

Skills: Brawling-14, Spear-14.

Class: Demon.

Notes: Unwilling to negotiate. Truly evil. It will try to slam (All-Out Attack (Strong) giving +2 damage) with its first move, and make as many All-Out Attacks (Strong, mostly) as it can. Notable equipment includes:

• Cheap Spear (SM -1), $10, 2.6 lbs.

Evaluate as Deceptive Attack

I thought of this after last GURPS Thursday, but since Christopher Rice is at it, I thought I'd throw this out there, no real testing.

Evaluate as free Deceptive Attack.

You can either take the bonus to hit (obviously, if you're striking from behind) OR give a penalty to your foe's Active Defenses. It's simple, though I have no idea if it's balanced. Maybe I'll try it this Sunday, maybe I shan't. They could well have more combat than normal.

Game Log for 3 August 2014

Cast of characters:

Yémos, human male cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of magic (146 points, Eric)
Anêr, human male swashbuckler (146 points, Eric)
Mayhem, short human male barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan (146 points, Chris)
Caleb, human male wizard (125 points, Chris)

We started on the early evening of 27 Žneâns 5812, in the town of Mīstássun. Yémos asked Praidīvós where the best place was to buy a pony, and he told Yémos to walk for a couple miles outside of town to the hamlet of Šlešûmos, where its lord breeds and sells steeds.

Mayhem went to the armor smith, Alliólē, who agreed to cut the mail hauberk and coif down to Mayhem's size for 13 silver pennies and the spare links. She bade Mayhem to pick up the mail the next day.

That night at the Scarlet Harlot, they found the scorched table now better than ever, and a woman in a face mask soothsaying for a copper farthing. Anêr plunked down his farthing, and the woman whispered:

Where things are grown, a beast with a brain will try to kill thee. 

Justice must be served with irony.

The rest of the night was merrymaking, and Yémos cast Watchdog and they go to sleep.

The next morning, they woke up to find there had been a shower outside that night. No sooner than they turn a corner, they looked between two buildings and saw a male orc with a weather-beaten face mugging a young man with a pointed beard. They walked up to the orc and stood around him, and he suddenly thought better of mugging the youth and turned to run. Mayhem tried to trip the orc as he fled, but the orc jumped over his foot as he ran away.

Dīpátōr, the young man, was thankful to the gang for saving him. Yémos asked Dīpátōr where he could buy a pony, and Dīpátōr, like Praidīvós told him to see Kúktos, lord of the hamlet of Šlešûmos. He also told the gang that he would gladly give them a free meal at the Pantry, the tavern of his family, where he is a cook.

Our heroes went to the hamlet of Šlešûmos, two miles south of Mīstássun. There, all the serfs were friendly, and a drunkard told the heroes to go to the manor house. There, they met Kúktos, the red-haired Dēspótēs (lesser lord) of Šlešûmos. He sold them a grey mare for 17 gold pieces and 10 silver pennies, down from his first offer of 20 gold pieces, throwing in a bit and bridle, and some old saddlebags. Kúktos told them that the pony rubs against fences and sometimes will stop while bearing a load, though a carrot can help get her to go again.

They went back to Mīstássun and ate a late lunch at the Pantry, which is also in the Market Ward, but near the South Wall of the town. There, among the trinkets on the wall, they ate a beef and wine pie, and Arrūnús, the lopped-eared father of Dīpátōr, gave the heroes a bottle of wine.

Also eating there was a rich woman with a tall neck and paling fair hair and her guard. Yémos asked Arrūnús who she is, and he told him she is Nabbrášus Zúbra, head of the Zúbrēs clan that owns the Zúbrēs Mines in the Áos Hills to the north of Rēláistis. Anêr walks up to her and introduced himself. This impressed her, especially as she knew of Anêr and his friends saving Dīpátōr from the orc mugger earlier. She said she would be happy to give a job to a strong, brave young man like Anêr.

That afternoon, they finished training, and Mayhem picked up his armor. They spent that night in the home of Praidīvós, who told them of the armor and shield of Kīrid that folks say are in a tomb in the Áos Hills. When Praidīvós was young, he went hunting for them, and went into a tomb that he thought had those artifacts. However, he and his friends were wrong, and instead of finding the armor and shield, he fled, lucky to have only lost his right hand instead of his life, unlike his friends.

The next day, they packed up their pony, still not having a name they wanted to give her, with the flour, sugar, and cinnamon that Praidīvós had bought the day before. He told them he had cast Preserve Food on the flour, and that it would last a week. They left town, and Mayhem thought rain was coming, so they moved with that in mind. However, no rain came that day until after they had made camp and a caravan of serfs had made camp next to them. Kûltōr, the leader of the serfs with wood sticks in his beard, said they were coming home to Drūkûros after helping the lord of Vēristrés Castle sow his fields. He told them that a man of the Queen's came to Vēristrés Castle and tried to throw out Kaggrétōr, rightful lord of the castle. Instead, Kaggrétōr and his men threw out the Queen's man and told him to go back to Gōkésun.

The next day was clear but chilly, and that morning, outside Ōndrûnks, a scrawny peddler named Praidīvós (no, not the same one; this is a common name) tried to sell them a little musical box that played "Old King Cole." As none of the gang had need of a musical box, they passed on it and ate lunch at Magog in Ōndrûnks.

They passed the night in Bóllā, which has no tavern or inn. Instead, they spent the night in a serf hovel, and the serf clan told them of the sightings of big spiders. The town watchman had even gone mad when he saw one bear off a pig.

The next day was uneventful, and they spent the night in the woods near the caterwaul's cave. The day after that, they walked past the goblins' cave, and outside were three men with broadswords and no armor. One, whose beard had dyes of many hues, spoke for them (the others had a black eye and a wrinkled face), and told the gang to go away.

Early that afternoon, they made it to Dībités Rock. When they rapped at the door, Aidīvós, the majordomo, told them to go away, after making sure they did not have the druid or the testicles of any fauns. When they did not, out came Aidīvós, four guards, and Praitanêr, who bade the guards to kill the heroes. (Praitanêr's face was scorched when he greeted the gang.) Things went badly from there. Aidīvós crippled Anêr's arm, and Mayhem's axe flew out of his hands when he tried to strike Aidīvós. Within seconds, Anêr and Yémos had passed out, while Caleb told Mayhem to surrender, with Praitanêr promising to sacrifice them.

Notes

Lots of reaction rolls today. The one for Nabbrášus was outstanding, while the one for Praitanêr was truly awful, -1 after his -6 reaction penalty to everyone. He's a Paranoid Loner! You have to take the good with the bad, and he was upset after the PCs didn't find the fauns, but chatted with the druid instead.

So, what do I do with them? Ideas off the top of my head:

• Follow through on Praitanêr's threat to sacrifice them, and make them make new characters. It seems both logical and unfun.
• Let them try to get out. Unlikely, and again Praitanêr might send goons to follow them. Also, Anêr's right arm might be bum; we didn't bother to roll to be sure. (Yémos did heal him right back up to full HP as soon as he could, before both dropped, of course. He took 12 HP to the arm when 6 HP crippled it, but I didn't have it lopped off since it was exactly twice the minimum and again, it seemed unfun at the time.)
• Let Praidīvós bail them out. However, he isn't a Patron, and it seems anti-climactic. Needless to say, they won't get any character points if this happens.
• Make them prisoners for a long time.

So I'm asking the few readers of this blog to post in the comments what they think should happen to these guys, and I've asked my players as well.