Game log 18 May 2014

Present:

Mayhem, a short human barbarian (Chris)

Yémos, a human cleric of Dōsaútōr (Eric)

As NPCs:

Anêr, a human swashbuckler (run by Eric)

Caleb, a human wizard (NPC)

Log:

The group made camp on the evening of 12 Žnēâns 2852, and the night was peaceful. The next morning, they set forth for Dībités Rock, which they could see through the dying trees. They could see two things, in truth: something man-made, and something not, both in a clearing, rising just above the trees. In spite of the rotten wood, the weather was a nice spring day.

There is no hobgoblin, only thoul!

After a few miles of travel, they found an old rope around a tree, and a few broken arrows in the ground near it. Marching onward, two hobgoblins with sickly grey-hued skin and skull drawings on their shields came into their sight. The hobgoblins didn't strike the group, after learning that they did not work of "the Necromancer," who they said lives in the keep. The two sides chatted a bit, and the hobgoblins, who said their names were Fukuruk (who has deep-set eyes, and did most of the talking, though often just "Uh") and Soli (who has a beaked nose), said there was a cave with many ravens near it to the north, a pond to the north of the keep, and a thicket to the south. After getting to the pond, the group spotted the keep and the eponymous rock, a tent rock in the middle of the woods. Thinking that maybe the cave had a way into the tower, the group went there.

They walked inside the cave for a bit, and its path became a stairway leading down. At the top of the stairs was three dwarves, eating their nasty rations. One of them, an ugly stuntie with big forearms, told them to fuck off, that whatever was down in the cave was theirs. The other two, one who was missing an arm and the other who had shaved a Tengwar rune into his hair, kept eating and belching. When Yémos asked if there was a way to the keep from the cave, the big-forearmed dwarf lowered his axe to block the group from going down. Thus, it chose to leave the cave.

They instead turned south to the thicket, walking away from the clearing and reaching the thicket in late afternoon. They went slowly through the thicket, and saw six bandits with black sashes and scarlet trim at about 200 yards away. The bandits saw them as well, and ran towards the group, which hid in the thicket. After looking for the group and calling out that it would let it live if it gave itself up, the bandits walked back to the tower. Our heroes set up camp for the night, though not before Caleb got food positioning from some foraged food. Yémos healed some of Caleb's hurt belly with Minor Healing. The others only had little bellyaches. The nuts and berries of this woods seemed as woeful as its trees.

At about midnight, with Anêr on watch, another group of bandits came, wearing the same crimson-tinged black sashes. They came towards the heroes, and Anêr woke the others. The group held its ground, and when the bandits made it to about 10 yards, one of them, a man with a wrinkled face and mail armor, shot Anêr, but his mail stopped the arrow. Mayhem shot an archer, a rough, unshaven man,  who limped onward. One of the bandits, a woman with plates in her earlobes, ducked out of sight. Another archer, a woman with wild, messy hair, shot back at Mayhem but missed. Yémos held his ground, as did Anêr, and Caleb started casting fireball.

The bandits got nearer, and the wrinkled man rushed Anêr, who sidestepped his wayward blow. Yémos wasn't so lucky, as another man in mail, who also had plates in his earlobes, slashed him with his broadsword. Mayhem shot at the woman with wild hair, but missed, as she and her fellow archer knocked arrows and aimed.

Anêr and the wrinkled fighter traded empty blows, while the plate-lobed fighter gave Yémos another cut. Mayhem readied his sword, while the archers let loose at him: one missed, the other's arrow stuck in his side. Yémos swung wildly at the plate-lobed fighter, who parried his staff, and then he blocked Caleb's fireball.

Anêr got a good stab at the wrinkled man, but couldn't get through his mail. The plate-lobed fighter swung at Yémos again, this time knocking him out. Mayhem stepped over Yémos and gave the plate-lobed man a mighty blow, making him drop his sword. He still stood, but was hurting. The archers drew arrows again and aimed, while Caleb started casting fireball again.

Anêr's next blow still couldn't get through the mail of the wrinkled man, while the plate-lobed man stepped back. Mayhem pressed him and swung his sword, but the plate-lobed man caught it with his shield. The unshaven archer shot Caleb, who lost his spell in the pain, while the wild-haired woman missed Anêr. Caleb started to cast his spell again.

Anêr stabbed the face of the wrinkled fighter, and this time poked his rapier into one of his wrinkles. The wrinkled fighter wildly swung back at Anêr, who stepped away, and when the plate-lobed fighter went for his sword, Mayhem gave him a killing blow.

And there we stopped, since Eric (Yémos) had to get his son (Anêr, when he's there).

Notes:

Yémos rolled Survival for the group both nights, and kept them from getting hurt. Anêr didn't do so well when foraging, getting an 18, and poor Caleb failed his HT roll and took the maximum 6 HP damage. Chris (Mayhem) said Caleb had the "King Kong"—stuff coming out both ends and his ribs hurt, like a big ape was squeezing him. The puke would make this campsite known for some time.

We went to critical hit and miss tables, but Eric didn't want hit location, until I said that Anêr, with his high skill and low ST, would be a perfect candidate for them. After a few blows didn't get through armor, Eric then asked what the hit location penalty was for the Face (-5).

We played for about two hours, less than half in combat. The group had a good reaction roll with the hobgoblins. And those weren't hobgoblins. They were thouls, from the Basic Set. Not the Steve Jackson/Sean Punch/David Pulver GURPS Basic Set, mind you, but the Tom Moldvay Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set. They're actually easy in GURPS, being hobgoblins with Paralyzing Touch (from GURPS Horror) and Regeneration, though I think they should have some intermediate level of regeneration so they're not as good as real trolls. Anyone care to make intermediate levels?

I didn't think they would go into the raven cave, so I whipped out a dungeon I had. Still, they didn't go far into it. I hope they go back at some point, though now I'll need to tweak it, since the dwarves won't sit there. The group had a bad reaction roll with the dwarves, but since dwarves aren't chaotic evil, they didn't strike.

The chase rules from GURPS Action 2: Exploits came out again, this time when the first set of bandits spotted our heroes. Eric, for the group, chose a Hide maneuver, and he made the Stealth roll, which wasn't too hard since the bandits started at Long range.

We played at the 1-mile hex level this game. Luckily, the group's pace came out to one mile an hour in the woods. Rolling for this level gave me some new lairs, like the ravens and the thouls. For the most part, however, I don't think hexcrawls should be this fine; kind of a pain to map everything. But since what will happen at the keep is up in the air, I thought it best to have many little choices.

I've long lost Caleb's character sheet, so he's more or less a wildcard skill at this point: Caleb!-13. He casts Fireball, Explosive Fireball and Continual Light, and knows a few wizardly skills (Thaumatology, Innate Attack, Occultism). Still, I'd like another player to make a wizard or at least fill this niche and chair. I keep trying to find more players, but scheduling, location, and my own feeble GMing skills keep me from getting any. Bother.