We had a great game tonight! Everyone seemed to have fun, myself included, and the session went smoothly. Thanks to all of our practice and the simple nature of tonight's game, we didn't really encounter a single rules hiccup of note. We played from 5:30 p.m. to just before midnight. About an hour and a half of that time was spent making introductions and in preparation for play. Everyone was impressed by what they've so far seen of David Hemenway's dungeon cartography. I designed the map and worked with Mr. Hemenway to make it look as good as in my imagination. He really delivered, and under a two-day deadline! That said, all we explored was the first hallway. All the really cool stuff is yet to come. A couple of the rooms in particular are jaw-droppers. The first time we met, it was mainly introductions and character creation. The second session, our game was interrupted before it began. So, from now on, we'll consider this our first session. Of course, the next session will thus be considered our second. Everyone showed up to the game table, so we had a full roster. Players for this session included: * Archie playing Enarit, a Scout (Longbow). 255 points. * Brandon playing Rothuk, a Barbarian (Greataxe). 250 points. * Chris playing Aldric, a Knight (Broadsword and Medium Shield). 255 points. * Leo playing Lucius, a Cleric (Morningstar and Light Shield). 255 points. * Tyson playing Maelstrom, a Wizard (Necromancer). 255 points. The delvers were given a quest by a local nobleman to rescue his daughter from the clutches of a ravaging band of gouruni (boar-men), orcs, and goblins. Upon her safe return, they were promised $25,000. She was captured and taken to a subterranean temple hidden deep inside a nearby system of caves deep beneath the earth. The long-forgotten temple had remained abandoned for more than one hundred years, but had recently been rediscovered. The delvers tracked the monsters through the wilderness, down into the earth, and to the doors of the temple. We began play there. The massive double doors were smashed open. One lay on the floor, knocked off its hinges. The five were immediately daunted by a gaping chasm, the result of an earthquake, most likely. The other side was dark, but they could see the sinister visage of a giant statue. The cavernous hall came to a 'T' intersection and ran north and south. They then noticed a faint light source to the north. There was some discussion about how to cross the abyss. The clock ticked as they first considered moving the door and bridging the gap at the north end. It was large enough, being nine-feet tall. the south end of the ravine was much wider, so no one was going to attempt that side. I warned the players that if they fell into the abyss due to a failed roll or otherwise, they would die. It wasn't a bluff. Suddenly, making a DX 13 roll for a jump becomes a lot more nerve racking. Rothuk (Rah-thuke) decided time was of the essence. He had enough of the planning and ran forward, taking a flying leap over the chasm. No, he desn't have any disadvantages such as Impulsiveness or On the Edge. He was just ready to go. He described his jump as a pole-vault with his greataxe. We'll let him have his fun. Regardless, he made his unmodified DX roll and landed on the far side, then did a dive roll because of course. Actually, he quickly learned that the shattered floor on the north end of the pit was highly unstable and in danger of collapsing into the pit. The other players took note of the instability, but, it was only part of the danger. From out of the hall to the north, a goblin Knight and a gouruni warrior came charging, attacking Rothuke. The slaughter began there. Rothuke, with ST 20 and Bandos' Fist—his fine, orichalcum Dwarven greataxe for which he paid 10 points—the barbarian does incredible damage. He parried and dodged deftly, then one-shot the goblin Knight sending him flying back against the wall. His axe cleaved through the goblin's scale armor with ease and did something in the neighborhood of 30 injury. It was a preview of things to come. More monsters were to the north, and they were coming. From the other side of the gorge, Enarit the Scout shot off an arrow at the still-standing gouruin, which buried in his shield. He didn't last another second before Rothuke hacked him down as well, doing his normal 25+ injury. Lucious the Cleric decided he wasn't going to be left out of the fight while there was killing to be done and took a death-defying leap . . . He made his roll and landed on the other side. That left Aldric the Knight and Maelstrom the Wizard remaining on the other side. Maelstrom cast Levitation on Aldric before Levitating himself across. On the other side of the pit, the battle ensued. There were almost a dozen monsters waiting. Behind them all was a gouruni shaman wearing a black robe and carrying a staff. Rothuke lead the charge and after taking an arrow to the chest fired form a gouruni archer, went berserk. Enarit shot arrows and Aldric swung his sword. The blood flowed. At first, the towering 7'2" barbarian was an unstoppable force, a mass-murder machine. The dice favored his bravery as well. His onslaught was so fearce, the monsters actually started to back away. However, his attack came with a price paid in blood; a bit more than half his HP. Lucious took care of his comrade's wounds with a quick Heal Major Wounds. Then, the shaman blasted Rothuke with Death Vision. With no resistance roll, the Barbarian was left mentally stunned. He would have to make an IQ 10 roll on his turn to recover . . . Aldric and Lucius rushed right past the barbarian and started doing work. The monsters kept back pedaling toward the north end of the hall, but they were trapped. It was a dead end. Ominous foreshadowing. They formed around the shaman, but Aldric burst through their defensive line with a scything slash of his sword to the tune of 25 injury. Yet another one bit the dust. At that point, it was clear to everyone that this was going to be a slaughter. Only Rothuke had been injured at all. The monsters had backed about as far as they could. Most the archers had dropped bows and drew large knives. The melee warriors were dead or dying. The shaman shouted out in the common tongue, "Cease your attack, humans!" Wait. Are we role playing now? Yes. It's negotiation time. The shaman offered to give the players twice what the nobleman offered in exchange for leaving the girl and vowing never to return to the temple. No dice. It wasn't considered very hard at all. The players practically ignored the offer and continued to advance menacingly, though Aldric stayed his bloody sword from attacking. Lucious also took pause, then made a counter offer: Leave or die. We role played for about a half hour, but the delvers had such a strong position, they weren't making even the slightest compromise. Maelstrom ended the truce with a casting of Death Vision of his own. The shaman screamed in terror and one of the gouruni archers loosed arrow, striking Lucious' shield. Rothuke had snapped out of his mental stun during the parley and leaped forward, swinging his axe and lopping off the shaman's leg. The gouruni archer dropped his bow and raised his hands in surrender. "No mercy," Aldric roared, then did around 40 injury to the monster's neck. Off went his head. The two remaining goblins lit out and ran away as fast as they could, ducking past the human killers and heading toward the door. That left a single living gouruni archer, and he was no match for Rothuke who in fact killed him with his bare hands. The goblins ran for the door, but Maelstrom cast Grease on the floor right at the edge of the pit. The sprinting goblins, fleeing for their lives, slipped and fell into the pit and to their dooms. Lucious and Aldric freed the girl, who was tied up at the north end of the hall. Together, they all left the dungeon and returned to Garinham where they were rewarded $5,000 apiece, but not before looting the gouruni shaman and goblin Knight. What they found on those bodies will be the subject of another post. However, while it's fresh in our minds, I'll say that with what you found you will have learned one thing . . . There was a bounty on the goblin shaman's life. He was wanted alive by a third party (not the nobleman who hired you) for $10,000 or dead for $5,000. The goblin Knight was also wanted for half as much. Each character was awarded the full 5 character points. The girl (the "quest item"—yes, I'm literally objectifying her) was rescued and the dungeon was not meant to be explored any further than it was. All enemies were killed and all treasure looted in the area meant to be plundered. Again, I think we had a great session and everyone did a fantastic job! Thanks for playing and I look forward to our next session on Saturday the 16th at 5 p.m. As always, I often hang out in the game room so stop by any time.
