Text as always from Talons of the Horned King, from the Dungeon Crawl Classics line from Goodman Games, by Mike Ferguson. Hi, Mike! I just noticed we had some comments on the blog that are over a month old; my apologies for taking to long to notice. I guess I'm used to this blog being mostly a one way street.
Anyway, now that we're concluding, I want to thank the author for putting together a great adventure. We had a lot of fun with it! I picked Talons of the Horned King after a lot of pre-campaign research; it was the perfect way to establish the Thundarr the Barbarian vibe I wanted for this campaign. And I'm pissed as hell that my players didn't want to fight the awesome holographic dragon scene that was in the published adventure. For shame, players, for shame.
Ahem. We opened up in the WARDYN room, where the ship's computer had just revealed that the Cryolab had just woken a crew member, and would be bringing 11 more out of stasis. The vikings ran out of the room and charged into the nearby chamber!
A chill fills the air as you enter this huge circular chamber. It is lined by large white metal cylinders – 20 in all. Each cylinder measures 12 feet high and 6 feet in diameter. White mist billows forth from cracks in the side of two of the cylinders.
In the center of the room is a pyramid-like object, measuring 8 feet in height and 6 feet long at the base of each side. The pyramid, which is made from a bronze-colored metal, is covered with switches and red blinking lights. A small clear globe floats a few inches above the peak of the pyramid. Inside the globe crackles a cloud of electric-purple mist.
To one side of the pyramid is a small metallic platform. Many of the weapons used by the apelike inhabitants of this strange place rest on top of this platform. To the other side of the pyramid is one of these very same dragon-like creatures, operating parts of the pyramid. When it sees you, it begins to press various lights and witches on the pyramid at a hurried pace.
The cryo-chambers were in the back half of the room, with a computer console in the middle. Three figures worked feverishly at the controls: two dragonborn and a large blue robot. In the back a dragonborn specialist wandered around near his pod, still groggy from waking. Additionally, two slasher robots activated at the dragonborn's command and sped forward to attack!
The party took notice of the sparkling blue glode on the top of the computer and tried to break it! Bartix and Varin send shock spheres and dreadful words into the computer; while they failed to damage it, the attacks spent 1d6 lightning feedback damage into the three adjacent figures.
Rurik and Edgar charged one of the Slashers, and Rurik and Oddny charged the blue labor drone, with Oddny hitting with On Pain of Death to give damage now and for the next four rounds. Mendas hugged the far wall and waited for his chance. Finally, the second slasher charged Hermiad and Mendas on the flank of the battle.
The fighters hacked away at their robots, but they were playing conservatively. Most of the robots kept missing, except against Edgar... the Slasher got my first of many crits of the night against him. Erik and Varin kept shooting at the computer, zapping the three operators. Bartix did something cool by running around the console using Prestidigitation to cover the display screen with a glyph of a Blood Eagle, obscuring the operator's vision! The dragonborn cursed at the wizard but kept working, though with difficulty.
The newly awoken Dragonborn had grabbed a rifle, and he wheeled around to blast Bartix. He missed, but now he was exposed to Edgar's charge. Mendas also got engaged in the back of the robots, doing Bait and Switch to move the labor drone and give Oddny room to engage both bots. Eric charged forward and engaged the front-most Dragonborn operator, who had been taking potshots with his pistol. And in the back of the battlefield, another Dragonborn woke up!
But at this point, the momemntum of the battle was swinging against the Dragonborn and robots. Their ability to quickly rouse their companions was seriously hindered, despite the fact that one guy had let himself be bloodied while he continued to work. Bartix set up behind him and cast Thunderwave, damaging him through the electric feedback as well as the wave. Oddny used her Arcing Smite to hit two robots, and Hermiad used Twin Strike to hack away at the Drone.
The woken Dragonborn was in a tight spot: he had no weapons, and had to get to the locker between a wizard and a fighter! He tried it, and avoided Bartix's lunge, but Edgar hit him and locked him down. Then, the Dragonborn Specialist tried to gain some distance on Edgar to use his rifle, and it worked, although Edgar got another swipe at him. His challenges and other Fighter features were really locking down the battlefield.
From here it was a matter of moping up. Rurik came in and finished off the Dragonborn before he could get a weapon, and Edgar took out the Specialist. The last of the robots collapsed. Eric used the flat of his mace (uh, the handle) to hit the wounded comupter operator, and asked him to surrender. The dragonborn put up his hands, turned around, and then with his elbow hit a final button! From the back of the room, a third Dragonborn woke up! Rurik immediately tackeled him.
We ended combat and the vikings tried to determine what to do with the various captives. The computer operator, now completely surrendered, revealed that he was the only one still alive able to safely defrost the sleepers. There was some discussion about what to do... Edgar wanted to wake everybody, hide the weapons, and run around and kill them. Blatant XP farming. Anyway, killing the Dragonborn in their sleep lacked honor, but everyone agreed that they were evil and dangerous.
Bartix had an idea to get Krymath, the Dragonborn captured two sessions ago, to prove his loyalty. He was given a knife and told to kill the operator. That didn't work, he turned on Edgar, and was killed. That settled things: the two conscious prisoners were also summarily executed. The vikings then started to play around with the pods: they found that breaking the glass revealed a frozen body, which could be easily carved!
Next it was time to search the room. Six pistols, eight rifles, six vibro-swords, and eight combat knives were gathered between the storage locker and the bodies. The various cabinets contained 6 healing potions and some 300 gp of arcanic components. Now that Bartix can make potions, that's what I give out now, components instead of gold or pre-crafted potions.
Then, a voice boomed throughout the room:
"You are worthy opponents," it said, "but you have run rampant on my ship for long enough. I challenge you to come to my bridge, and we will finish this!"
Well, obviously, that was the Captain. No one was ready to finish this yet before exploring the rest of the ship. The party set out for the barracks and the mess hall, but found them both empty. Save some healing potions and components, there was nothing to be had.
Next they went to the bio-lab. This was also empty, but the center of the room contained four tubes, standing ten feet tall. In each floated a dragonborn suspended in a blue liquid. The dragonborn were unconscious, but seemed to be dressed in medieval scraps and not the hi-tech sivlery fabrics of the beings that they had been fighting. There was no immediate way to free them, however, so they moved on.
So with the rest of the ship explored, the party approached the bridge:
This chamber measures 50 feet across. It appears more ominous than many of the other chambers you’ve explored – the walls in this chamber are flat black, not bright silver, and the room is dimly lit with cold blue flickering lights.
In the center of this chamber, stretching from floor to ceiling, is a clear glass cylinder filled with sinister green gas. A sword floats inside this cylinder. Electric sparks fly and sizzle as the sword slowly moves up and down. At the far end of this room is a huge clear globe, with images flickering upon it like a giant crystal ball. You see images of figures attacking monsters with both swords and sorcery – after a moment, you are astonished to realize that the images are of yourselves and your recent exploits! A good half-dozen or so metal cabinets with blinking lights are located below the giant globe. Next to the globe is a metal cot and chest.
Standing before the globe and the cabinets is a shaggy ape-like creature. This one appears to be slightly larger than the others that you have encountered, and he wears some sort of curious metallic armor. He holds a glowing sword in one hand, and a bizarre-looking crossbow in the other.
The creature turns to face you. “I have studied your abilities,” it says in a harsh, growling voice. “You are worthy opponents. But I cannot allow you to take my power from me.” He raises his sword. “It is a pity that I must kill you all.”
The captain had brought some friends, including a giant crab robot, two hammerers, and two slashers. The captain himself hovered over one of the platforms in the back.
The vikings discussed what to do, weighing options like starving the captain out, or running in and grabbing the sword. The discussion went a little long, and the robots moved up to block the sword. At this point they just decided to rush 'em and pray.
This was a fun fight: Everyone knew that this was the end, so they pulled out all the stops, with whetstones, daily powers, action points, the whole bit. The party used a lot of group bonuses, juicing their AC, strike, and damage for the whole encounter. And the dice turned high-octane, with very few flubs and a huge number of crits!
The vikings mostly had the high initiative, so they rushed in to take out the little robots. Rurik, and Hermiad engaged one of the Slashers, with Varin and Bartix sending missile support; all this killed it before it could act! Edgar followed up on one of the Hammerers, backed by Erik and Oddny. The Captain's initiative came up in the midst of all this, but he held his action. Interesting...
The Crab-bot used an action point to shoot lightning at just about everybody. Edgar was critted, with Rurik and Hermiad taking non-significant damage. Then the second lightning blast hit Mendas, Varin, Erik, and Oddny. Its job done, the crab retreated a few steps behind the sword.
The robot left flank charged the party, with the slasher engaging Varin and Oddny, and the Hammerer getting Edgar. Both missed, though. Finally, the Captain shot forward and used his flamethrower, hitting Edgar, Hermiad, and Rurik, as well as one of his robots, a computer, a coil... there was medium damage traded all around. And this left the captain out in the open, which would prove to be fateful!
Half the party was faced with this slasher robot. Erik and Varin hit it, and Mendas moved in to back-stab. Oddny then attacked and critted, maximizing her extra-damage die rolls as well! That did it: there was a smoking pile of gears in the middle of the four party members.
The other half of the party had the Captain in front of them. Rurik went first, hitting with his daily and doing high damage. Then, he used an action point and did his second daily, critting! On his turn his greataxe dealt well over a hundred damage! Hermiad followed, using his action point to carve into the Captain four times and hitting each time (though it took Eleven Accuracy to do it). And Bartix followed up, with a demure Magic Missile. But the Captain was down to 15 hit points, and that finished him off! We paused and checked our math, but everything worked. The Captain was a level 10 elite, AC 23, with 206 hit points, and he had lasted one round in direct combat!
So, that left the crab-bot and two of the hammerers, one of which was bloodied from Edgar. The party worked over the turn to take the hammerers down and harass the crab.
The crab-bot shot and retreated to the platform, and I thought he could climb it while his main lightning attack recharged. Barix ahd a plan, though... he used Icy Terrain to knock it prone, which meant that it couldn't do opportunity attacks as people approached! Oddny, Rurik, and Mendas swarmed, with Varin and Erik providing artillery. Once Edgar joined the fight, he had combat advantage from three seperate effects!
The crab bot stood up and tried to fight his way out, but he was on borrowed time. Another round and his 200 HP was gone. Poor robot! And that was it for the dungeon!
The vikings wanted treasure, but the chamber didn't have much. Edgar removed the Captain's armor, and maybe it could be retooled for him. There was also the matter of the sword: it seemed to be a power source, but it was also treasure. What to do?
They made their way back to WARDYN, who answered more questions. The vikings could not access many of the ship's functions, even though the Captain was dead. The computer did provide a list of instructions to work the tubes in the bio-lab. We had a brief skill challenge, and the players puzzled through the controls to release the captured dragonborn. They woke without craziness, with fevered fractured memories of the past week.
Back in the bridge, Erik smashed the chamber and grabbed the sword. The lights went out around the ship, then came back on, with a vocal message that 30 minutes of power were left. The vikings left for the surface.
We'll pick up here in two weeks, emerging from the ship in the valley. Thanks to everyone for a great adventure!
CASUALTIES:
4 Dragonborn Recon
1 Dragonborn Specialist
9 sleeping Dragonborn
Captain Merykare Setep
4 Slasher robots
2 Hammerer robots
1 Labor Drone
1 Crab Robot
Hmm, we haven't recorded beer casualties in a while. Truth be told, I had a stomach flu the night in question, and had neither food nor fluid the whole day. Rebecca said my color turned from deathly pale to healthy pale at the two hour mark. DMing, the miracle cure!
No comments:
Post a Comment