[December 14 – 4th session for December 14 and the tombs are looted, which led to a nasty surprise!]
[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement. This session happened May 2, 2022.]
Player Characters:
Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows
Ozrel Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician
Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates
Via Roll20
Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer
Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild
Non-Player Characters:
Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild
Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild
Unit: Z0-E – Zarek’s first golem, looks like a fox made of iron
Yggsday, December 14th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Having opened the tomb and entered, the Delvers were expecting each spirit jar to release a blue flame skeleton. They gritted their teeth and prepared tight hard. What they got was something slightly different.
One skeleton assembled itself from each of the two spirit jars, but instead of their skulls erupting in blue flame, they released a field that dimmed the light from the torches and Vorgand’s sword, caused much of the protective rocks from Zarek’s Stoney Skin spell to fall off, and Ozrel’s runes to go out completely. The field extended out into the corridor, nearly to the corner with the main hall! [The effect was 10d6 suppression of all magic, 10”r, 0 END – the darkening of the light was just a special effect.]
Vorgand advanced on the first skeleton and attacked it, wounding it significantly. Ozrel moved up next to Vorgand and performed a legsweep on the other skeleton, doing little damage as it kept its feet [made an Acrobatics check to stay standing]. The skeletons clawed back at the two adventurers, but only Ozrel was hit. Jala retreated to the edge of the dimness. Zarek floated slowly to see the skeletons, which triggered his two stacked burst lightning spells. Due to tight quarters [and terrible rolls], only two of the six burst shots hit the second skeleton and splashed off it, doing no damage AND two of the bolts hit Ozrel. Luckily, the suppression field kept the two that hit Ozrel from doing any significant damage. Ricky moved to a more advantageous spot for running or fighting, whichever became necessary.
Vorgand performed a three-attack sweep on the skeleton she was fighting, doing reasonable damage, but these skeletons could take more damage and so it continued to fight. Ozrel held his action, preparing to block his opponent. Vorgand’s opponent just missed her with its claws. When Ozrel’s opponent attacked, he used his saved action to block its attack! Jala stepped out of the suppression field but did not run for the portal. Zarek attacked Ozrel’s skeleton and missed while Ricky continued to hold.
Vorgand attempted a three-hit sweep, with two attacks on the skeleton she was facing [which she hoped would be enough to destroy it] and one on the skeleton fighting Ozrel. She hit all three times, but just failed to take out the first skeleton [it had more Body that she expected]. Ozrel, having blocked his opponent, followed up with a counterstrike, hitting the skeleton but only doing minimal damage. Vorgand’s opponent hit her in the hand for no effect and Ozrel’s opponent missed entirely. Jala and Ricky continued to hold position while Zarek advanced and cast a lightning bolt at Vorgand’s opponent, but the spell splashed off the skeleton harmlessly [a combination of the area effect suppress and the increased Energy Defense these skeletons had].
Vorgand, believing that the skeletons were well below her in combat skills attempted a four-hit sweep, planning to split the attacks evenly between the two skeletons. Unfortunately, her first strike missed, invalidating the rest of her sweep. [She rolled terribly on the first attack which ended the sweep.] Ozrel had similar problems, his Branding Strike went wide and he clipped the wall instead of his opponent. The skeletons, suddenly recognizing Zarek as a spellcaster, reverted to their original programming and both threw their skulls at the flying fox. Both hit to no effect [his remaining protective magics were just enough to stop the damage], but the black flames continued to burn on him [they were continuous…and sticky, which the players did not learn until later]. Zarek cast again at Vorgand’s opponent, hitting again, but again for no damage. Jala and Ricky continued to hold out in the hallway, both convinced they were useless in this fight.
Vorgand, starting to feel a little desperate, attempted a three-hit sweep, one attack on her opponent and two on Ozrel’s. All three hit and this time her opponent went down and a pile of bone shards! Ozrel struck the remaining skeleton for some damage, but it remained standing. That skeleton reacted to Vorgand destroying its companion by throwing its [reformed] skull at her, hitting her in the vitals for minimal damage. The fire on Zarek continued to burn, but also for minimal effect. Zarek switched up his spell to make it Armor Piercing and this time did damage when he hit.
Vorgand, scrapping the bottom of her endurance, attempted only a two-hit sweep on the remaining skeleton. She hit both times for no effect, doing more to herself from the extreme effort. [She spent 8 points of Endurance more than she had left and took 4d6 Stun damage as a result, doing more to herself than the skeletons had total in this fight.] Ozrel put as much as he could behind another strike [pushed his Strength for another Damage Class] and landed a blow that shook the skeleton but failed to drop it. The skeleton threw its skull at Ozrel this time, landing an ineffectual blow that kept burning. The fires on Zarek and Vorgand continued to burn. Zarek fired one last lightning attack, finally destroying the skeleton, ending the suppression field and the burning black fires.
After catching their breath, the adventurers opened the sarcophagus, finding a long dead elf. The elf corpse wore four pieces of gold jewelry plus a magical amulet with an unusual rune on it.
Jala started prying the gems off the exterior of the sarcophagus but stopped when Vorgand and Ozrel started testing its weight to see if they could move it. They decided that they could with the magical assistance granted them, but once they got to the anti-magic zone in the sloped gallery, they would drop it. The lid to the sarcophagus was lighter and they believed they could get it through the anti-magic zone with just their natural strength, so they moved it over to the base of the sloped gallery for later.
Having sorted that out, the group decided to open the next crypt forward in the left hall. While using the sledge hammer to remove the plaster concealing the granite slab behind it, Ricky joked that Ozrel and Vorgand could rush into the crypt if there were more spirit jars and hold the lids on. Once the slab was exposed, Ricky cast Dark Leeching on it and Ozrel punched it, causing the block to turn to dust and flow to the floor.
The crypt beyond held another sarcophagus and two spirit jars, which started shaking. Ozrel, thinking Ricky’s idea was valid, rushed in and held one of the jars closed against the struggles of the skeleton inside. Vorgand, not realizing they were actually going to try this was a split second slower and the second jar’s slid of before she could get to it, allowing the second skeleton to rise up and its magic suppression field to flow out.
End of Session
Guild Postings
[We skipped a week before playing this session as I had jury duty the day of our game. I wasn’t selected, but the early wake up time compared to what I have become accustomed to really knocked it out of me and I was too tired to run. Plus, there was a small chance I might have been exposed to Covid, even with the measures taken by the courts to avoid that, so delaying a week was acceptable all around.]
[This session we learned another change in the rules unique to 5th Edition Hero System. Sweeps work slightly differently than they have in the past. In past editions, you announced a sweep, selected your starting target, and then if you hit you could go on to an adjacent target with each attack after the first gaining a cumulative -2 OCV penalty until you missed. In 5th edition, you have to declare all of your targets up front and every attack has a penalty to OCV equal to the number of attacks minus one, multiplied by -2. So if you declare three attacks, all three are at -4 OCV. A subtle but significant change. Once we realized this (mid-combat), we switched to the new rule and continued smoothly. I think I like this rule over the previous version as it sets the number of attacks up front, which speeds up combat, something Hero System desperately needs.]
Delvers Guild
Arc 1
Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions
Arc 2
Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post
Last Session: Arc 2, Session 11
Next Session: Arc 2, Session 13
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