A couple of NPCs

There is no game today, since I took my family to the Minnesota State Fair, where we fought Sweet Martha and her killer calories. I'm taking a page from the master of Dungeon Fantasy game blogging, Peter Dell'Orto, and posting a couple of NPCs who have been fighting alongside the PCs. A couple of things from their character sheets are lobbed off, since they have yet to affect play, or are a special number like Loyalty that nobody other than I should know.

Likháfrikh

Likháfrikh is a dwarf from Mōr-Nembe who has been an engineer at the Zúbrās Mines for four years. His snub nose peeks out over his big, bushy brown and auburn mustache, and he is strong and muscular. He is missing four teeth from the left side of his mouth. As an engineer, he’s unremarkable. He likes going into the mines himself and bossing the slaves, as the danger gives him a thrill. Likháfrikh likes to have others around and likes chatting with them, though, like most dwarves, he trusts neither elves nor goblin-kin. He knows the built-up spots of the mines well, but sends orcs or goblins into the unknown spots, and makes them bring back news. Better they die than he. He likes to be known to be good at his job, and talks up even his small deeds in the mines to anyone who may listen.

ST: 13	HP: 13	Speed: 6.00
DX: 12	Will: 10	Move: 5
IQ: 10	Per: 10	SM: 0
HT: 13	FP: 16	DR: 5/3*
Dodge: 8	Parry: 10U	Block: n/a

Great Axe (15): 2d+3 cutting. Reach 1, 2*. 
Punch (14): 1d crushing. Reach C.

Traits: Alcohol Tolerance; Chummy (12); Code of Honor (Dwarf's); Dwarven Gear; Greed (12); Lifting ST 2 (ST 15); Night Vision 5; Obsession (Mine safety) (12); Pickaxe Penchant 1; Resistant to Poisons (+3); Risk-Taking Behavior (Goes into the mines and works with the slaves); Stubbornness; Wealth (Comfortable).

Skills: Area Knowledge (Zúbrās Mines)-12; Brawling-14; Carousing-13; Climbing-12; Crossbow-13; Engineer (Mining)-12; Fast-Draw (Arrow)-12; Forced Entry-14; Intimidation-10; Lifting-13; Prospecting-14; Survival (Subterranean)-11; Traps-10; Two- Handed Axe/Mace-15.
Class: Mundane.
Notes: Reacts to others at +2. Armor not compatible with human armor. He speaks and reads Dwarfish and Mannish at Native, and speaks Goblin at Broken. Gear includes:

• Fine Mail Hauberk (covers Torso, Arms on 1-3 on 1d, Legs on 1-3 on 1d), $1,575, 26.25 lbs.

• Great Axe, $100, 8 lbs.

• Hardened Leather Gauntlets (covers Hands; gives Ham Fisted 2), $13, 1.5 lbs.

• Leather Boots (covers Feet; DR 2/1 against impaling), $80, 3 lbs.


• Light Layered Cloth Leggings (covers Legs on 4-6 on 1d (Shins); DR 2*), $150, 12 lbs.

• Light Layered Cloth Sleeves (covers Arms on 4-6 on 1d (Forearms); DR 2*), $75, 6 lbs.

Kúflaug

Kúflaug is an orc miner. He has a ring in his septum, with a paunchy body, a craggy face, straight dark brown hair over his ears, and an unkempt mustache. He is truly worshipful of Kásnotok (aka Rōripermónē, goddess of farming), and wants to set up a bigger garden for the orcs, and sow some fields. Kúflaug isn't the best miner, but he has been in the mining camp most of his life and so knows the layout well enough. He feels the need to be calm, and bullies others sometimes to get them to calm down too.

ST: 14	HP: 16	Speed: 6.25
DX: 10	Will: 9	Move: 4
IQ: 8	Per: 9	SM: 0
HT: 13	FP: 9	DR: 2/1*
Dodge: 8	Parry: 8	Block: n/a

Axe (11): 2d+2 cutting. Reach 1. 
Punch (10): 1d-1 crushing. Reach C.

Traits: Acute Hearing 2; Appearance (Ugly); Bully (12); Fit; Infravision; Lifting ST 2 (ST 16); Rapid Healing; Religious (Kastonok); Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+3); Sense of Duty (Owner); Social Stigma (Savage); Social Stigma (Subjugated).

Skills: Area Knowledge (Zúbrās Mines)-10; Axe/Mace-11; Brawling-10; Climbing-9; Gardening-8; Intimidation-9; Lifting-13; Wrestling-10.
Notes: Right now, he is carrying a halberd (12 lbs.) and wearing medium leather armor (36 lbs.). He wears an iron slave collar (1 lbs.) and normal clothes. He speaks Goblin and Mannish at Native, but cannot read.

Class: Mundane.

Notes:

• I based Likháfrikh off the Dwarf template that appeared in Pyramid #3/50, Races as Professions, and lobbed off 1 from each of his attributes. I also ignored most of the optional picks. I didn't want him upstaging the PCs.
• I based Kúflaug off the Laborer template from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen. Unlike Likháfrikh, I didn't worry that he would outshine the PCs since the template is only 62 points, and not focused on fighting.
• Kúflaug's armor is a generic armor that I made from taking the Torso armor in GURPS Low Tech: Instant Armor, and making the weight and cost threefold it so that it covered everything other than the face and neck. Unofficially, I leave gloves and boots at DR 2*, but mostly I don't fret about that since it seldom comes up.

Game log for 16 August 2015

Dramatis personae

Kim, a thief
Mayhem, a barbarian
Caleb, a wizard
Anêr, a swashbuckler
Yémos, a cleric
Kúflaug, a slave
Likháfrikh, an engineer (intrans actum in alterum)

Quid occurrit

Caleb lifted his head to let out an Acid Jet, but passed out from his wounds. Anêr started to stand with his rapier in hand, while a guard poked him with his sword. Another guard tried to smite Mayhem, but slipped and fell. Mayhem had reached his limit, and snapped. He planted his axe into the guard before him.

The two cultist clerics again tried to get Mayhem and Anêr to drop their weapons, and again Mayhem held onto his while Anêr dropped his. Yémos turned around, and started back towards the cleric cultists, while Anêr again grabbed his sword. The guard by Anêr struck him, and Anêr couldn't parry, taking a nastier hit. Mayhem rushed one of the clerics but missed, but Yémos stepped behind the cleric and smacked him with his staff, killing him.

The other cleric, now worried about Mayhem, tried to bid Mayhem to drop his axe, but Mayhem shrugged off his words. Anêr stood up, while the guard before him tried to hit him and missed. Mayhem, now on a tear, stepped towards the standing cleric, and smashed his axe into him, killing him. Anêr tried to stick his rapier into the mug of the guard before him, but the guard parried his blow, then dropped his sword and lifted his hands into the air.

Mayhem snapped back to reality, which was good for the guard throwing in the towel. However, another cowled guard slipped out of the hallway in the back of the room and lifted the lever to let out his trapped fellows.

The gang saw this and ran, grabbing Caleb and Kim and slipping past the secret door, near which Kúflaug was waiting. They shut the door, and Yémos cast Watchdog to keep them safe. Then, they rested for the next 20 hours, with Yémos healing Caleb, Kim, Anêr, and Mayhem. After that, the whole gang went back to the room with the columns and the chasm, and Caleb cast Levitate on everyone to get over the chasm.

Nothing bothered them until they made it to the stairs out of the bat shit room. The bats squawked, and as they started up the stairs, Kim stopped before she stepped into a big cube of nothing. They tried to hustle around the cube, but it could keep up with them. Thus Caleb, the last one, hung back and scorched the cube with a few Fireballs, which left it as a big puddle.

They came outside, and found a sunny morning after a rainstorm. They went to talk to an amazed Péllē, who was thrilled to hear that they met cowled men down in the dungeon. Kim told her they would bring her back one. After talking to Péllē, they talked to Likháfrikh, to see about building a bridge over the chasm. Likháfrikh said he didn't have any workers to spare without maybe getting some ore from the ruins. She also told him about the gelatinous cube, and Likháfrikh said, "That's why we send two kobolds. One can come back and tell us what happened to the other."

The next day, they went back down into the dungeon, and got Likháfrikh to come with them. They went to the side of the chasm, where Likháfrikh said it would be tough to make a bridge since the sides were so crumbly. Then he asked how deep the chasm was. Yémos cast Continual Light on a stone, then dropped it. Likháfrikh looked down at the little light at the bottom. "Yeah, I can see why you'd want a bridge," he said. "That's a big drop."

They also showed Likháfrikh the trapdoor in the floor of the alcove at the end of the room near the secret door, but he could tell them nothing that Caleb didn't already say. Mayhem wanted to light the gas, so he went between the columns to light a torch. No sooner did he get there and pull out his torch did jets of flame shoot up from the holes around the trapdoor, and slowly a big demon-head statue came out of the trapdoor, laughing, its eyes gleaming, and its mouth spewing flames. Mayhem lobbed his torch at the statue, but all it did was bounce off and go up in flames from the smokeless fire shooting out of the floor. And thus, the gang chose to run.

They got out the door and down the secret hall to the main hall, then went downstairs. They saw the rubble by which they saw the battle a few days before, and Yémos found his lit stone. They heard some hubbub to their left, and walked towards it.

They made it as far as a short flight of stairs when arrows greeted them. Anêr got out of the way of two of them, but Kim took both of them, and soon fell unconscious, bleeding. Anêr, Kúflaug, Mayhem, and Likháfrikh dashed up the stairs, while Yémos moved towards Kim's body lying on the ground. Anêr and Mayhem could see that four hobgoblins, hiding behind columns at the top of the stairs, had shot at them, and two were getting out their halberds. Anêr stabbed at one, but he missed, not able to see well. Mayhem tried to strike at another, but strained his shoulder. The two hobgoblins with halberds struck at Anêr and Mayhem, and dropped Mayhem prone. Yémos lobbed his lit pebble to the top of the stairs, while Caleb cast an Explosive Fireball. Mayhem lost his cool, and tried to punch the foot of the hobgoblin before him, but he parried. Likháfrikh, now at the top of the stairs, missed with a blow, while a hobgoblin hit Kúflaug, who somehow stayed standing. Another missed Anêr, while the other two shot at Caleb and Yémos, missing Yémos but dropping Caleb. Yémos healed Kim to get her out of immediate danger.

Pedicabo ego vos

Two important things. First of all, I went over the character sheets, and held everyone to their disadvantages a bit more. This mostly affected Mayhem, who lost some Reach from to his short arms, and Anêr, whose encumbrance knocked down his fencing skills a bit. Yeah, I feel like a shit, but they got points for that stuff. I should have been more diligent. Bad GM.

The other thing? When you drop a lit pebble down a chasm, anyone down there will know something is up, even a hobgoblin. Hell, an ogre would figure this out. Thus, when the hobgoblins saw the lit pebble fall, they were alert, and when they saw the gang come down the stairs, they nocked arrows.

So again we leave on a cliffhanger, but this time, the battle is going even worse for the heroes. Kim had lost 24 HP from those two arrows, and luckily she made her HT roll to stay alive. Mayhem going Berserk (another thing I've been enforcing more these last two sessions, but this one is much more fun in play) makes it harder for everyone to withdraw.

Game log for 2 August 2015

Dramatis personae:

Caleb, a wizard of the Order of the Sun (Chris)
Mayhem, a short barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan (Chris)
Kim, a thief (John)
Yémos, a cleric of Dōsaútōr (John, covering for Eric)
Anêr, a swashbuckler (NPC/Chris, covering for Eric)
Kúflaug, an orc slave (NPC)

Plus scriptum de quoquo facto:

Still the 28th of Blôs.

The heroes went up stairs, then opened a set of double doors at the top. They heard a din down the passage to the right, and saw a dim light. Kim found a secret door right before them, and there’s a foul smell behind it.

Kind of like this, but no umlauts.

They went right, and saw two guards. The guards were wearing brown cowls over their head and upper chest, and bore spears. Yémos knew that the worshippers of Ažbrátōr, god of death, wear cowls over their heads. The guards waited for the gang to come to them, and shouted, “Get her ready!” The heroes struck, and the guards fought back with their spears.

They took down the guards after a few seconds. Kúflaug went down in the fighting, and Yémos couldn’t heal him with his prayers. Mayhem took a spear hit, but kept his cool, not going berserk, while he and Anêr made fast work of the guards.

After a few more seconds, two more guards burst through the door, and with them was a black bear. Mayhem got a good swing at the bear, and down it went. Anêr killed one guard, and another threw down his sword right after. Kim bound the guard, while Yémos bound Kúflaug’s wounds. Kúflaug, however, was still out.

They went inside the room, and saw four torches, two chests, a set of double doors on the other side, and a lever next to it. They went past the doors, and down the hall to a cave. There was a portcullis in the air at the opening of the cave, and the cave smelled of the bear. The gang guessed that the lever opens the portcullis. There was residue of an ooze on one of the walls, left within the last few days. They looked over the bodies of the guards, and took off their cowls and armor.

Kim asked the bound guard what is in the chests. The guard said back, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kim checked the chest, and didn’t find a trap. She opened it, and the chest gave her a jolt, sapping her strength. After she reared back in shock, a cloud came out of the chest. Everyone coughed but otherwise the cloud did nothing to them. The guard laughed and Kim snaped and stabbed him.

The gang rested. Yémos healed both Mayhem and Kúflaug, the latter waking up, groggy and hurt. Kim barred the door. After an hour, someone banged at the door, and yelled, “What the hell is going on in there?” Kim, Yémos, Anêr, and Caleb put on the brown cowls the looted from the dead guards. Mayhem and Kúflaug hid in the hallway to the cave, and Kim took the bar out of the door.

Four guards in brown cowls came barging into the room, and one guard asked, “What did you do with Átilos?” The heroes looked at each other, having no idea who Átilos is, and tried to look like they’re with the cult. This did not fool the guards, so Kim pointed to the chest that she had opened earlier. The guard walked up to the chest, then opened it and chuckled, “It only works for you heathens.” Caleb asked what is in the other chest, but the guards walk off. Kim barred the door again.

Kim opened the other chest with the arm of the dead guard. Once opened, Kim picked up the treasure inside with her sword, taking care not to touch the chest itself: a jeweled mace, a bag with gems, an iron box, and a platinum box. She didn’t have time to look them over when everyone heard the banging on the door again.

Then, Kim got an idea: she takes all the torches off the walls and douses all but one of them, which she puts in the bear cave. Everyone waited by the door, and eleven men in cowls burst into the room. They had no light, and saw the one down the hall. One of them bade six of the cowled men to check out the light while he went out to grab the torch in the hall. He walked in, and checked to the left of the door. Kim steps out from the right and swings her sword at one of the guards. 

A fight happened next, mostly in the dark. The foes’ leader dropped to the ground from Anêr’s stab, and passed out trying to cast a spell. His lackeys did better with their spell, one of them bidding Anêr to drop his sword twice. Both Kim and Caleb dropped from their blows, though Kim was still awake as Yémos reached the lever to drop the portcullis, hopefully with the guards on the other side.

And we broke, as John had to go.

Aliquid Latine scriptum quod vos legere nequitis sed quod vobis ego dicere possum esse de ludo: 

The picture shows the state of play. Kim (on the right) and Caleb (on the left, with the sword, which happens to be his power item) are both down, and Caleb has failed his HT roll to stay conscious. Kúflaug is the figure raising his knife in the air, and is moving down the hall. Yémos is at the other side of the room, and the little dice near my notepad are the guards who are hopefully trapped. (Chris moved to new lodgings for the next few months, and his minis are packed away.) The two d8s are the lackeys, who are clerics who keep casting Command on Anêr and Mayhem. The one whose face is too dark to see, #7, is the one who keeps winning his contest against Anêr. The d10s are both guards, and the d12 is the unconscious lead cultist; Anêr is kneeling before the cultist to get his sword. The red d6 with the 3 showing is Chris's, and the big polyhedral are mine. I like big dice.