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[WotMK: Hexcrawl] Session Nineteen
2017-Feb-01, Wednesday 09:54
Dramatis Personae:
At the edge of town, Elaphe peered over the roof onto the wall of wooden stakes around the town. On the dirt ramp behind the wall was a motley militia of chuzan, amanita, mycon, and a few mandragora, as well as two kappa each holding a pair of battleaxes, and on the other side of the wall were dozens of of the walking dead. The townsfolk were holding them off with rural weapons--spears, pitchforks, and bows--but the wall was starting to creak ominously, and Elaphe noticed that some of the walking dead seemed to be moving more purposefully and their eyes were shedding a faint red light.
He leapt down to the wall, followed by Bonnie and Amos, and hurled his bob-omb into the middle of the walking dead. It exploded in a burst of silver fire, hurling bits of dead flesh everywhere and stopping the press of bodies against the wall, but drawing the attention of the red-eyed monsters, who jumped onto and over the wall. Up close, with the stink in her nose, Bonnie recognized them as ghuls, the hungry dead, eternally driven by empty stomachs that could never be full and whose bites were infectious.
The ghuls were vicious combatants, but not very skilled. Perhaps the bob-bomb explosion had damaged them enough that they were slower than normal. Amos used his musket and blew one ghul off the wall, and Elaphe followed it down, running down the wall and leaping toward it, and hacked off its head. He then turned and hurled a dagger into the eye of another ghul that was strugging with a chuzan militia soldier with a spear, also destroying it.
One ghul ran toward Shining Star and, while it dodged the bolt of holy fire she hurled at it, it could not dodge the Green Knight's wooden claws, which extended and wrapped around its neck until they took off its head. Amos shot another one before it started grappling the kappa next to it, prompting Bonnie to grab it from behind. It leaned back and bit her, tearing into her shoulder, and then Shining Star incinerated it with white fire and it burned to ashes in Bonnie's arms, leaving her untouched.
The last ghul was ripped in half by one of the kappa, and the other administered first aid to Bonnie while she admired the smooth curve of his shell and the pointiness of his spines. Shining Star also looked at Bonnie's wound, and when Bonnie told her about ghul fever, Shining Star murmured some words over the wound and made a note to keep an eye on it. As Amos continued to shoot flaming arrows at the walking dead, the others questioned the kappa.
In Muskalan heavily accented by the tongue of the Kappa Wastes, he gave his name as Sakuya, and said his clutchmate Ayumi and he grew sick of the Dragon Emperor's sacrilegious abandonment of the ancestors and decided to go somewhere where they wouldn't be bothered. This softened Shining Star's attitude toward them considerably, and Bonnie next asked about the walking dead. Sakuya replied that they first showed up a month or so ago, first only a few and occasionally, but gradually increasing in number until now they attacked almost every night. The kappa cursed the king of Fontina, saying that he hid in his palace with mercenaries around his town and refused to help his people.
The party asked Sakuya about the rumors they heard in Fontina, about shrouded figures attacking and people on rooftops. Sakuya replied that there were often people on the roofs, but a chuzan named Old Three Eyes had vanished after complaining about seeing eyes in his window. A local wise woman had tried to find out where he went, but turned up nothing, even when using his precious locket given to him by his dead wife as a focus. The party asked if they could see his house, and Sakuya considered and then agreed to lead them to it.
Combat can take a while. I was expecting to get a bit more time in for investigation, but it looks like that will be the focus of next session. There isn't really anywhere in the town for someone to disappear to, especially now that there are walking dead outside the walls, so what could have happened to Old Three Eyes? Will the party actually have to talk to people and do detective work, or will they get bored and decide to just kill their way to a solution? I guess we'll find out!
Bonnie is infected with ghul fever now. Bitten is not as good as dead, but Bonnie also has a Stamina of 1, so it's closer to that meaning with her than it would be with the others. Though maybe not. I realized when I went to check that I hadn't actually written the rules for ghul fever yet, though it'll probably end up being a less severe version of The Embrace of Decay from canon Exalted, which niche it fills. So I doubt she'll die, but she might be unhappy for a while.
- Shining Star, mandragora sorcerer-priestess of Nyahré.
- The Green Knight, mandragora briarwitch.
- Bonnie, kong Auspicious Orator.
- Amos Burnham, a human from Earth.
- Elaphe, a chuzan junior member of the Black Rose.
At the edge of town, Elaphe peered over the roof onto the wall of wooden stakes around the town. On the dirt ramp behind the wall was a motley militia of chuzan, amanita, mycon, and a few mandragora, as well as two kappa each holding a pair of battleaxes, and on the other side of the wall were dozens of of the walking dead. The townsfolk were holding them off with rural weapons--spears, pitchforks, and bows--but the wall was starting to creak ominously, and Elaphe noticed that some of the walking dead seemed to be moving more purposefully and their eyes were shedding a faint red light.
He leapt down to the wall, followed by Bonnie and Amos, and hurled his bob-omb into the middle of the walking dead. It exploded in a burst of silver fire, hurling bits of dead flesh everywhere and stopping the press of bodies against the wall, but drawing the attention of the red-eyed monsters, who jumped onto and over the wall. Up close, with the stink in her nose, Bonnie recognized them as ghuls, the hungry dead, eternally driven by empty stomachs that could never be full and whose bites were infectious.
The ghuls were vicious combatants, but not very skilled. Perhaps the bob-bomb explosion had damaged them enough that they were slower than normal. Amos used his musket and blew one ghul off the wall, and Elaphe followed it down, running down the wall and leaping toward it, and hacked off its head. He then turned and hurled a dagger into the eye of another ghul that was strugging with a chuzan militia soldier with a spear, also destroying it.
One ghul ran toward Shining Star and, while it dodged the bolt of holy fire she hurled at it, it could not dodge the Green Knight's wooden claws, which extended and wrapped around its neck until they took off its head. Amos shot another one before it started grappling the kappa next to it, prompting Bonnie to grab it from behind. It leaned back and bit her, tearing into her shoulder, and then Shining Star incinerated it with white fire and it burned to ashes in Bonnie's arms, leaving her untouched.
The last ghul was ripped in half by one of the kappa, and the other administered first aid to Bonnie while she admired the smooth curve of his shell and the pointiness of his spines. Shining Star also looked at Bonnie's wound, and when Bonnie told her about ghul fever, Shining Star murmured some words over the wound and made a note to keep an eye on it. As Amos continued to shoot flaming arrows at the walking dead, the others questioned the kappa.
In Muskalan heavily accented by the tongue of the Kappa Wastes, he gave his name as Sakuya, and said his clutchmate Ayumi and he grew sick of the Dragon Emperor's sacrilegious abandonment of the ancestors and decided to go somewhere where they wouldn't be bothered. This softened Shining Star's attitude toward them considerably, and Bonnie next asked about the walking dead. Sakuya replied that they first showed up a month or so ago, first only a few and occasionally, but gradually increasing in number until now they attacked almost every night. The kappa cursed the king of Fontina, saying that he hid in his palace with mercenaries around his town and refused to help his people.
The party asked Sakuya about the rumors they heard in Fontina, about shrouded figures attacking and people on rooftops. Sakuya replied that there were often people on the roofs, but a chuzan named Old Three Eyes had vanished after complaining about seeing eyes in his window. A local wise woman had tried to find out where he went, but turned up nothing, even when using his precious locket given to him by his dead wife as a focus. The party asked if they could see his house, and Sakuya considered and then agreed to lead them to it.
Combat can take a while. I was expecting to get a bit more time in for investigation, but it looks like that will be the focus of next session. There isn't really anywhere in the town for someone to disappear to, especially now that there are walking dead outside the walls, so what could have happened to Old Three Eyes? Will the party actually have to talk to people and do detective work, or will they get bored and decide to just kill their way to a solution? I guess we'll find out!
Bonnie is infected with ghul fever now. Bitten is not as good as dead, but Bonnie also has a Stamina of 1, so it's closer to that meaning with her than it would be with the others. Though maybe not. I realized when I went to check that I hadn't actually written the rules for ghul fever yet, though it'll probably end up being a less severe version of The Embrace of Decay from canon Exalted, which niche it fills. So I doubt she'll die, but she might be unhappy for a while.
