Chapter 3: The Blood Tide.
Part Twenty One: Could Have Gone Worse
Players:
Magic Level: Adept (20% to Initiate)
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Bone, Blood
Wounds/Effects:
Missing Eye (Less perceptive overall)
Skills/Bonuses:
Bonespeaker: +1 to Bone Magic rolls.
Scavenger : +1 to Graverobbing/looting catacombs.
Self Directed Learner(Elements): +1 to learning elements alone
Possessions:
Old Black Steel Blade.
Magic Level: Adept
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Blood
Wounds/Effects
Missing Arm.
Exhausted.
Skills/Bonuses:
Trained Fighter: (+2 to all rolls in combat if it gets physical)
Brawler (You fight well when outnumbered.)
Dungeoneer (You should head into that dungeon, you do better in dungeons.)
Possessions:
Iron Wrapped, Enchanted Staff(+1 on spell rolls)
Hefty Axe
Well Made Spiked Round Shield.
Magic Level: Adept (10% to Initiate)
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Bone
Wounds/Effects:
Skills/Bonuses:
Jack of All Trades (You can slip into most mundane roles with no trouble.)
Studious: +1 Study rolls.
Battle Command (Forces under your command are more effective)
Possessions:
Mail Shirt.
Magic Level: Adept (35% to Initiate)
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Earth
Wounds/Effects:
Concussion
Exhausted
Skills/Bonuses:
Bookworm (+1 Research rolls)
Earthshaper (+1 Earth Magic Rolls)
Possessions:
2 Loot Tokens
Shaper's Gloves (+1 Earth Magic spells)
Absorbing Armor (-1 To enemy spellcasting, if targeting you)
Book of Rituals (Earth Magic, Initiate or Higher)
Magic Level: Apprentice (90% to Adept)
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Void
Wounds/Effects:
Exhausted
Skills/Bonuses:
Violent Magic (Your magic always bends towards more violent means, Critical rolls are more dangerous.)
Sneaky (+1 Stealth rolls)
Combat Mage (+1 to magic rolls in a pitched fight)
Voidbringer (+1 to Void Magic rolls)
Possessions:
Plain Short Sword
Carved Gemstone
1 Loot Token
Magic Level: Adept (45% to Initiate)
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Blood
Skills/Bonuses:
Bloodcaller (+1 to Blood Magic rolls.)
Cryptologist (+1 to All Deciphering rolls)
Beast Hunter: You are better at tracking, and killing beasts of all natures.
Wounds/Effects:
Missing Eye (Less perceptive overall)
Broken Arm (-1 Spellcasting)
Possessions:
Enchanted Staff(+1 on spell rolls)
Unknown Blade (Effects unknown)
Carved Gemstone
Magic Level: Apprentice (75% to Adept)
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Earth
Skills/Bonuses:
Earthshaper (+1 Earth Magic Rolls)
Wounds/Effects:
Broken Arm (-1 Spellcasting)
Broken Ribs
Exhausted
Items:
2x Loot Tokens
Sturdy Wooden Shield
Battered Mace
Magic Level: Adept
Known Spheres: Death
Known Elements: Blood
Wounds/Effects:
Deep Gash
Bleeding heavily
Skills/Bonuses
Spirit Conduit. (You may commune with spirits at any point, to gain answers or assistance)
Dominion of Blood (You are less likely to lose control of minions summoned by Blood magic.)
Items:
None.
-----------------
Known Locations:
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Suomi has been abandoned. Its people fled in the dead of winter to any nearby town.
Norvak A town with an unknown population. It seems to be primarily focused on cattle. It is defended by a small fort garrisoned by veterans of the King's Army. It is affiliated with Welnshire.
Confirmed as having the Plague. Currently under Quarantine.
Vis Valdi is a looted husk of a town.
The Tower, is ramshackle and old. It possesses few amenities currently. Your best guess is its still an unknown location.
-----------------
Note, all resources/items are placed in the Tower Stocks unless declared otherwise.
Rooms: Catacombs, Living Quarters, Advanced Storage Vaults, Crude Altar.
Crude Stone Map
Exterior:
Crude Slave Pens (4/40 Slaves contained)
Defenses: Wooden Palisade, Wooden Gate.
1 Barrels of Blood
1 Tainted barrel of blood.
13 corpses (human)(Rotting)
2 Loot Tokens
8 Supplies
Undead:
1 Bone Golem (small) (Helfd)
1 Gravehaunt (Helfd)
1 Skeletal Minion (Human)
28 Zombies (Helfd)
14 Skeletal Minions (Human)(Unarmed) (Jerik)
1 Zombie Salamander (Jerik)
5 Festering Zombies (Jerik)
1 Soulless
5 Ghouls (Sholan)
1 Stone Warhorse (Flint)
1 Iron Golem (Small, Semi-pure) (Patrizio)
3 Zombies (Jim)
13 Ghouls (Mine)(Guarding Mine)
10 Zombies (Tower Exterior, Guarding Slave Pens)
---
Living:
2 Dark Minions (Magical; Spark)(Tower)
1 Dark Minion (Magical; Spark, Bone Aptitude) (Tower)
4 Enslaved Humans (Tower, Penned)
20 Enslaved Humans (Mine, Laboring)
Level 1 Mine (20/20 laborers)(Provides resources: Ore, Stone, +5 supplies/turn) Stocks: 31 Supplies
The Tower.
-----------------
Events:
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Patrizio, Flint, Sholan, Roland, Detani, JimThe troops are ordered to encircle the quarantine forces, while you take up strategic positions and scout the enemy forces. Based on the information received, a plan is laid out.
The preparations are made, troops and spells made ready. Together you will triumph over the forces of Weln. This is the hour, this is the day! Let the world tremble in fear at the resurgent Dark Cabal!
Jim, you raise a few further corpses prior to the attack commencing. +4 Zombies.
---
Jerik[1] Your attempst to raise any corpses fail magnificently. Lacking anything else to do you try again, this time managing to raise 5 of the corpses. Making up somewhat for your prior failure.
+5 Festering Corpses
---
Helfd You travel onwards to the Tower, arriving in reasonable time. Gathering up the dark minions you teach an impromptu class on Bone Magic. One of the students really grasps what you're teaching, you believe they may be quite valuable in the future if they assist you. Unfortunately, limited to the sphere of Bone Magic you cannot come up with a spell or ritual to defeat or even damage the Wraiths.
---
The Battle of Norvak Cabal Forces: 1 Iron Golem, 3 Stone Golems, 36 Zombies, 20 Ghouls, 25 Festering Zombies, 20 Zombie Salamanders, Patrizio, Flint, Sholan, Roland,
Detani, Jim.
Quarantine Forces: 67 Men At Arms, 25 Archers, Hero (Level 5)
Moving under cover of dark your forces take position around the quarantine forces. Preparing your assault for dawn, you manage to get most of your forces into position in time.
Dawn breaks and your forces begin to move.
[Rolls vs Other Rolls]
The advance of your forces is greeted by a hail of arrow fire, fortunately your forces are mostly proof against such a response. Horns blow, rallying the Quarantine forces together. Before long your undead troops are facing a completely unified shield line.
Spells fly from the mages of the Cabal. Light tremors rock the earth breaking the line slightly. Blood magic wraps insidiously around the line, causing several Men at Arms to fall to the ground bleeding copiously from the eyes and ears.
The commander of the quarantine forces rallies the line together and begins to advance on you. The archers continue peppering your undead with arrows. A few arrows come close to spearing various mages around the line.
Detani and Jim take this opportunity to lurch forth from the cover of the town, intent on pressing the Quarantine forces between two armies.
The archers take many opportunities to fire on both advancing armies, but barely even manage to put down a few zombies. The two forces clash in melee, the Men at Arms showing that they are a well disciplined force, when a giant of a man is shouting in their ear at least. The commander unlimbers a heavy warhammer and wades into the thick of it, sending zombies sprawling. The golems are doing the same to his own line, and the archers are manuevering to get a better shot on the mages.
[1,3,3] Fortunate shots manage to peg Patrizio, and Sholan, but the wounds are hardly serious. Reprisals are levied in the form of spells that impact the archers cutting them down, or burying them under the earth. Alltogether your magics are taking a heavy toll on the enemy line. There still hasnt been an opportunity to hit the Commander with anything.
[Rolls vs Other Rolls]
In the melee your forces are being massacred, the commander is rallying his troops and leading them to do massive damage. Only the ghouls and zombie salamanders are holding their own. The golems are steadily being swarmed and chipped into rubble by the commander and his warhammer. Magically, you are hammering the archers while dodging their missiles. No further wounds are accrued, but your front line is doing terribly. Before long the commander and whatever forces he keeps ahold of will be charging you.
Detani and Jim's forces take the archers from behind, slamming into them and tying them up in melee. They are caught by surprise and take losses under the undead fists of the zombies, and Detani's void magic. Jim's blood magic is wildly ineffective but he may just be excited by his first serious battle.
[Further rolls!]
Striding forth, Roland uses his borrowed staff to empower his spells, but only manages to tag the Commander with the outskirts of the occasional spell. The commander simply shrugs these attempts off, breaks away from the golems and begins to charge forward towards the mages. Patrizio turns his magical expertise towards the commander as well, opening a giant pit to trap the Commander under the earth. The commander merely leaps it, and has entered melee range with the mages, warhammer swinging wildly.
[8] His arcing blow sends Sholan sprawling, Roland catches the blow on his shield, but is still knocked over. [1] The both of you feel bones break, and Sholan is knocked unconscious from the force of the blow.
Roland, showing his true cowardice in the face of a real opponent, tightens his grip on his staff and scrabbles away as the Commander taunts him.
Several Men-At-Arms are rallying towards the Commander, but are being held back by Patrizio's spells.
The flank by Detani and Jim has nearly cut down the entirety of the archers, but their zombies are mostly annihilated. Only a few still stand.
[Rolls vs Other Rolls]
Your magic has won the day against most enemies, and now you turn it full force on the Commander of the quarantine forces. Your spells do land, showering him in rocks, opening deep cuts, but still he keeps coming. Hurling his warhammer at another of Flint's golems, he pulls out a blade and neatly severs Roland's arm, laughing at the feeble attempts of the mage to defend himself.
[1] The shock of the blow causes Roland to pass out as well, depriving the Cabal of one of their finest fighters.
Coming up from behind, Detani and Jim have surged through the archers, and are now carving through the men at arms preventing reinforcements from reaching the commander. Detani's magic is surging wildly across the battlefield crushing all those who oppose her.
[Rolls!]
A flurry of powerful earth magic from Patrizio and Flint manages to deliver mighty blows to the Commander, driving him back and keeping him at bay for now. He is beginning to slow down slightly.
[More Rolls!]
With the last of the Men at arms crushed, as well as the archers, only the commander remains. Detani and Jim move quickly to join the melee, as Patrizio and Flint seem to be growing weary.
[5+3, vs 1,1,3,5]
The Commander is easily a match for all of you together in hand to hand combat, each of you barely has time to begin a spell before he has turned on you and given you a few brief cuts, enough to disrupt concentration but nothing more. He saves the majority of his attack for Jim, who suffers a deep slash across his chest. Flints final golem thunders in to protect the mages.
[2+3 vs 3,2,5,6,1] The four of you surround the Commander, testing his defenses. It has never been more obvious that none of you are fighters of any caliber. Still together you seem to be able to keep him on the defensive, until he lands another massive blow, crumbling the golem to pieces. Jim takes advantage of a momentary opening, picks up a blade from a fallen warrior and slides it neatly through the Commander's body. Far from causing his immediate death, the Commander is still standing.
[3+3 vs 6,4,1,2] The goal now is to prevent him from killing you off until he realizes he has a sword sticking through his body and finally gives up. A few attempts are made at spellcasting but the Commander lashes out whenever anything close to magic is used. Still, he suffers a few more wounds from your combined attacks. Slowly but surely you are whittling him down.
[1+3 vs 1,2,6,6] Detani and Jim, maneuvering carefully manage to take advantage when the Commander endeavors to strike down Flint. Flint suffers a devastating blow that breaks his arm and may have broken his ribs again. The commander carries through the blow to send Patrizio sprawling as well, but thanks to Patrizio's armor, the blow is not as serious as it could have been.
Detani and Jim strike as one, and this time, the Commander is felled by a pair of blades through the chest. He dies gurgling, cursing and still trying to swing his blade again.
---
Victory to the Forces of the Cabal!
Roland reaches Adept
Jim gains Adept
Flint/Detani gain 50% to Adept
Sholan/Patrizio gain 15% to Initiate
No skills gained.
---
Your scattered and badly battered forces reform after mopping up. All told you think there are 5 ghouls, 3 Zombies, and the Iron Golem left. Each of you has collected an assortment of small wounds. Sholan, and Flint have collected a few broken bones. Roland lost an arm and is in a bad way. The gaping slash across Jim's chest should probably be tended to soon. Several of you are exhausted thanks to the rigors of battle. Rest would be a good idea.
The three of you still conscious can hear the steady sound of footsteps marching in unison. You warily turn towards the town and see ranks upon ranks of undead townsfolk marching towards you, led by a rather well dressed man walking with the aid of a skull-topped staff. His minions give off a palpable chill as they approach.
The well dressed man fixes Jim and Detani with a malevolent glare "I believe I told you not to get involved. However. All told, I suppose this will work out. I want the body of their leader. Everything else left in the town, and this battlefield you may have for your own purposes."
---
Events in Near Proximity:
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Summer begins to bloom across the local area.
Further Catacomb exploration is Dangerous.
Note, There is now a map in the OP.
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Topic: Dark Magi: TTC, Chapter 4, Update 9 (Read 46711 times)