We had a pretty good game tonight despite once again typing. The typing really hinders us time-wise. We played from 5:30 p.m. to about 9:30 p.m. Unfortunately, both Archie, playing Enarit the Scout, and Tyson, playing Maelstrom the Wizard, weren't able to make it. Both showed up to let us know, though. Thanks, guys! Normally, we try to end each session "in town" so that I don't have to NPC player characters. However, that wasn't the case at the end of the second session, so I took over both roles. Players for this session included: * Brandon playing Rothuk, a Barbarian Berserker (Greataxe). 255 points. * Chris playing Aldric Cadeyrn, a Knight (Broadsword and Large Shield). 260 points. * Leo playing Lucius, a Cleric of Eysus, God of War (Morningstar and Light Shield). 260 points. No awards were made at the conclusion of last session, nor were any made at the conclusion of this one as we still haven't finished the scenario. However, it's now pretty well all over but the crying, and there will be an in-character role-playing decision to be made at the conclusion, so I hope everyone makes the next session on August 30 at 5 p.m., CDT. Not much to say about this short game, so I'll be brief. We started where we left off last session. First of all, we want to make sure Archie—for whom the dice roller has an intense grudge—to know that my first attack with his character, Enarit the shadow elf Scout, was a critical hit. I shot one of the two charging gourouni warriors with a fine bodkin to the vitals from like 15 yards. It did 18 injury taking him to -1 HP in one shot! the critical table only gave "normal damage only," but that was enough. Before that, Lucius, the Cleric of Eysus, God of War, swung his flail for a critical hit against the goblin archer's right arm, causing it to drop its large knife and take off running. Lucius then took a critical hit rolled by me from another goblin archer, doing negligible damage. I rolled a ton of critical hits this session. At that point, Lucius decided the real battle was against the minotaur, skull spirits and gourouni warriors and charged toward that front. The other monsters also dashed toward the battle, but were so far out that they didn't really have a dog in this fight. The minotaur—still super charged with Grate Haste and berserk—bull rushed Rothuk the towering Barbarian, but went barreling right on past. He then turned his horns on Maelstrom the Wizard, but another Fumble spell kept the frail human safe. The Wizard, NPC'ed by me, then cast Create Fire in a three hex radius in the same general area as the previous Grease spell. The flame engulfed both the gourouni and the minotaur. The gourouni with the arrow sticking out of his spleen slipped and fell in the flaming grease and started to burn. The minotaur and the other pig-man made it out with only singed fur. Maelstrom used all the FP in his staff and is down to less than 1/3 FP, so he is pretty well out of the fight at this point. He'll probably have to burn HP if another spell is needed. Rothuk and Aldric, the Knight, started hacking away at the minotaur, doing oceans of dice worth of damage. In the end, they quickly reduced him to -5xHP (less than -125 HP), finally slaying the one-armed, one eyed minotuar. As the orc shaman watched the mighty minotaur fall, he took off running in the other direction. The last gourouni warrior took a Heroic Charge and lit into Aldric, but the Knight fended off his attack with ease. Aldric then counter attacked and split his shield in twain doing injury to the gourouni's arm with a tremendous blow. Again, the skull spirits did no damage despite Innate Attack-17. The PC's really have high defenses! The players found that they are hard to hurt, though. Each cutting attack from Rothuk or Aldric only does 2 injury to the diffuse undead. Only one of them took any damage. The four surrounding goblin archers look shaken and ready to run. What will the PC's do next? It will be almost impossible to catch up to the orc shaman. He has a sizable head start and the combat still rages. Enarit might have a chance, but he's 20 yards away with a fire and a cloud of stench in-between. If history serves, they'll kill whoever remains standing against them and destroy the skull spirits, but by then, the orc shaman may be long gone. Will that be the end of it? Will the noble reward the escorts as promised, or was the orc shaman's threats true and the only payment that awaits the PC's at the end of the mission is a spear in the back? Are there more monsters in the woods? What else could lurk out there in the shadows? What is this "role-playing descision" I foreshadowed? Tune in next time, August 30, at 5 p.m. CDT to find out!