Summary of This Session
Feeling well prepared, the twins attempt to ambush Corgan. Things go askew when Corgan drives Toro away with a fear spell, and Tali must retreat as well. The twins return a while later to find that Corgan has set an ambush for them in the troglodyte caves. A fierce battle on the bridge ends in a TPK. After arguing with the dice a little bit, I accept my fate. The twins are slain, and it’s time to make some new characters.
Actual Play
The twins move through the secret door and up the stairs. They arrive at the top to the closed door and hallway leading north and south. I think they would check the north tunnel first, then the south tunnel, and then the door.
Heading north (and trying to be quiet), they arrive at the door. Listening at the door, they clearly hear the sounds of Corgan directing his zombies to dig.
Tali casts Vestments on herself (it grants armor 3 due to rolling an 11). Toro casts Bless on Tali. They both cast glimmering weapon (3 rounds each), open the door, and attack.
Round 1
Despite rolling 3 dice, Tali misses Corgan.
Since it’s only a 20’ square room, Toro can get to Corgan within his 10’ move allowed as a free action, so he attacks normally and gets a 12. Nice. Corgan uses his shield to offset that 12, and Toro still hits with a 10 for 7-4=3, leaving him at 17.
Corgan casts Fear on Toro. He succeeds. Toro fails his mind check and runs out of the room. Since he can run 120’ per round, and will run for 3 rounds, he can travel 360’ before the fear ends. This will take him off of the map entirely… as he runs past the mushrooms (causing them to chirp), across the bridge, past the troglodyte females (who will be freaked out), out of the cave, and through the valley down past the bottom of the map… Dang.
Round 2
Tali closes the door and attempts to casts portal on it. She is successful. She runs out, following her brother (but probably not as fast as he is going).
She meets him down near the bridge, his head hung low for having given in to the fear spell. He resolves to never feel that way again… he plans to seek out a magical way to block fear.
Drat. Now I’m in the tricky position of having to determine the strategy for both sides. I would think that the secret door is where Corgan would want to set his trap. The dice disagree. Option two would be the altar. The dice disagree again. The entrance to the troglodyte caves? No. His study? No. The dice aren’t giving me many options. In the dig room? Nope. Area 14? The dice say yes. Hm. He wants to attack them on the bridge. Would he kill the troglodyte females? Yes.
In his rage at having been attacked (he presumes correctly by agents of his father), Corgan and his zombies kill the three troglodyte females, smash their eggs, steal their two gems, and destroy the babbler mushrooms. He wants the fight to be on the bridge. He puts his zombies in the water on the near side of the bridge (towards area 13), and he hides on the other side of the bridge (among mushrooms). Okay then.
My heroes return, moving cautiously but not having activated any of their defensive abilities (because the durations are so short). They expect that Corgan is still up near the temple, but are dismayed to find the troglodyte females slaughtered. They move carefully towards the bridge… They horribly fail their sneak checks (a 1 and a 2, respectively). Corgan fails his sneak check, so they see him moving as they ascend the bridge. It’s initiative. The twins barely win.
Round 1
They both cast glimmering weapon. Both succeed, Toro with an 11 (so his will last 4 rounds).
Tali fires at Corgan (using enchanted arrows) and hits for 8-4=4. He’s at 16.
Toro moves 10’ and attacks with sword and shield. Corgan uses his shield against the sword attack, neutralizing the +1 edge. Toro still hits with the sword but misses with his shield bash; he deals 7-4=3, leaving Corgan at 13.
Corgan uses his life tap on Toro, since he’s already suffered significant damage. He barely succeeds. Toro makes his mind check, so the spell fails. He also attacks with his mace (at -1 edge from Toro’s shield), and misses. The zombies move into position to attack from behind.
Round 2
Tali fires again, hitting for 6-4=2, leaving Corgan at 11.
Toro attacks with sword and shield (Corgan attempting to block the sword). Toro hits with both (an 11 on the sword), dealing 8-4=4 and 5-4=1, leaving Corgan at 6.
Corgan attacks with his life tap again, but rolls a natural 1. Drat. He only has 1 mana remaining, and cannot attempt life tap again. He attacks with his mace at -1 edge (from Toro’s shield), but still hits with an 8. He deals 4-3=1 hit, leaving Toro at 14.
Three zombies attack - two on Tali and one on Toro. One hits Tali for 4 hits, leaving her at 8. The third misses Toro entirely.
Round 3
Tali fires an arrow at Corgan, hitting with an 11 for 7-4=3, and he is at 3 hits remaining.
Toro attacks with sword and shield (Corgan attempting to block the sword); he hits with the shield for 5-4=1, leaving Corgan at 2 hits.
Corgan casts withering bolt. He succeeds. Toro fails his check, and suffers 6 hits (that cannot be magically healed), leaving him at 8.
Two zombies attack Tali, dealing 4 and 6 damage. D’oh! She suffers 10 hits, and is at -2. She falls. The third misses Toro.
Round 4
Toro casts healing word on his sister. He succeeds, restoring 6 hits to her, and putting her at 4. She can attack again next round (if she survives the zombies). She has one task available this round, and uses it to cast vestments on herself. She rolls a natural 1, failing and burning her only mana point. Drat. She should have quaffed a healing potion instead…
Toro still has his full complement of actions, so he attacks with sword and shield against Corgan (with the shield offsetting his +1 edge to the sword from glimmering weapon, which runs out this round). Toro hits with his shield only, dealing 5-4=1, leaving Corgan at 1 hit!! C’mon, man.
Three zombies attack, focusing their attacks on Toro now. Only one hits, but it’s with a 12. It deals 6-3=3 damage, leaving Toro at 5.
Corgan attacks Toro with another withering bolt. He succeeds. Toro makes his check with a natural 12, completely ignoring the effect. Whew.
Round 5
Tali fires an arrow at Corgan, barely hitting for 6 hits, which leaves him at -1. Corgan is down!
Toro turns his attention on the zombies. He attacks one with sword and shield, hitting with both. He deals 7-1=6 and 5-1=4, leaving that zombie at 1 hit. Drat.
The three zombies attack him, hitting twice for 1 point each, leaving him at 3.
Round 6
Tali attacks the injured zombie, destroying it with an 11.
Toro attacks a fresh zombie, missing with both sword and shield.
Two zombies attack Toro. He uses a shield against one of their four claw attacks… 3 out of 4 hit anyway (dealing a total of 4 hits because one was an 11). He is at -1. He should have quaffed a healing potion…
Round 7
Tali will be at -1 edge with her bow because they are in melee range with her, but this just offsets her +1 from sharpshooter. She uses a task to drink a healing potion, putting her at 10. She attacks with her bow (at -1 edge from the task), and misses.
Two zombies attack her, one hitting for 6 damage. She is at 4.
Round 8
She backs away 10’ and attacks a zombie, missing. She also drinks a potion of healing, putting her at 10.
She is hit 3x, suffering 12 hits. She is at -2…
Well, poop on a cracker. This was a very difficult encounter for them (the three zombies alone or the cleric alone would have been a balanced encounter… putting them all here was too much).
In retrospect, I should have changed the encounter to the cleric and one zombie for balance. They were way outmatched and still made a game of it.
The reality is that this is a TPK. I could ask the dice for ways to offset this, but there’s really no way. The zombies would not let them live, and I think Corgan would also kill them. The shadow fiend at the altar would absolutely kill them. I decide it’s possible that something happens to save their lives. I roll a natural 12. The dice have decided. The twins are dead.
It was a good run. Maybe next time…
Thoughts
My new shield rules already ran into trouble… If you want to impose -1 edge to an attack that already struck with +1 edge, how do you resolve this? Cancel the best die? Force a re-roll? Rolling a third die makes no sense. I change the rule so that you have to declare your use of a shield before an attack. Actually, that works better, because it prevents re-rolls and extra rolls, and gets me closer to my one-roll resolution that I really want.
I guess it’s time to make some new characters…
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