Tuesday 26 July 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 15: Hobgoblin Battle Part 1

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (313 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (294 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (298 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (299 points)

Day 27 (Cont.)
Weather: Perfect
The party finally introduced themselves to the bard ("I'm Zaxod the Axe-God"), and learned that his name was Farric.  Mor'ath choked out the tied-up hobgoblin prisoner (again), and Farric led them towards the hobgoblin camp.  Once they were close, Mor'ath, Zaxod, and Aurum decided to sneak closer and check out the hobgoblin defences.

The hobgoblin prisoner's intelligence turned out to be accurate; there was indeed a cave on the side of the hill, there were hobgoblins around the cave and on an elevated platform keeping watch, there was a 20m clearing that the hobgoblins were working on expanding, the sides of the hill had been collapsed to make climbing treacherous, and there were many large stakes around the perimeter which would make charging difficult.

In addition, Mor'ath noted several horns by the hobgoblins keeping watch and reasoned they would be used to sound an alarm, while Zaxod used his spyglass to see a human, probably the missing hunter, digging a pit further up the hill from the cave entrance.

The scouts retreated back to the party and they decided to begin their assault immediately.  Aurum cast Great Haste on Zaxod, then Mor'ath, losing Zaxod 3 seconds, and then Arc cast Armor 5 on both of them and they charged out of the forest.  The horns were sounded, and bows were readied, but both combatants had jumped the stakes and entered melee before a shot could be fired.  Arc, Aurum, and Farric moved out into the clearing as the last hobgoblin died, and Zaxod noticed that the human who had been digging wasn't there any more.

Mor'ath moved to the cave mouth and Zaxod ran to the hole the human had been digging to check for a body, while the rest of the party finished making it over the stakes.  Inside the cave, Mor'ath found a whole platoon of hobgoblins, lead by one wearing full bronze plate and wielding a spear that crackled with lightning, while Zaxod found that there was no body in the hole and suddenly lost 5FP as Great Haste wore off.

Mor'ath moved further into the cave to a bottleneck, and noticed a tripwire that would activate a net overhead, which he avoided as the new group of hobgoblins pushed past him.  Zaxod began moving at his normal pace (which suddenly seemed very slow) back to the cave mouth, which the rest of the party had just made it to, and the hobgoblin leader slowed down as one of his soldiers cast a series of spells on him.

Three of the new hobgoblins attacked Mor'ath, but he parried two attacks, absorbed one thanks to Arc's Armor 5, killed two, and moved to plug the gap, preventing any more from making it through.  Aurum charged a Fireball and killed one hobgoblin outright (his fourth kill of the campaign!), while the surviving hobgoblin who had made it through moved to attack the squishies, and the leader engaged Mor'ath.

Zaxod finally made it to the cave mouth and Slam'd through the hobgoblin attacking the rear guard to join Mor'ath against the leader, but the battle continued to be a stalemate, nobody able to land a hit.  Arc landed a light blow on the lone hobgoblin, while Farric caught up, and another hobgoblin spellcaster failed to cast a spell 5 times in a row.

Mor'ath was critically blocked twice, ended up dropping his weapon and took the leader's electric spear to the face, but made the stunning roll.  The lone hobgoblin landed a big hit on Aurum, knocking him down to 1HP, and then knocked Farric into the negatives.  The leader stepped back to allow more of his soldiers through, but luckily Zaxod was able to cripple one of his legs, knocking him to the ground and potentially ending the fight.

Notes:
Pretty much 3 hours of combat.

Fighting in the cave was terrible for everyone except for Zaxod thanks to the -3 for poor lighting.

If it hadn't been for Arc's spells, Mor'ath would have been knocked well into the negatives.

Forgot the hobgoblin leader had tactics rerolls, which it really should have used to avoid that nasty axe to the leg.  Oh well.

All the team's casters are either FP-empty or almost dead, so it's looking grim.

It's funny to me that one hobgoblin is actually a threat to three characters, even though 2/3 are better than it in melee combat, in addition to being spellcasters.

Used the wrong penalties for sustained spells (-3 instead of -1), which is part of why no more spells were cast beyond the initial buffs.

XP:
0 for no progress
1 for roleplaying
0 for the hardest fight (it wasn't over yet)
0 for loot
0 for quests
MVP went to Mor'ath for holding the line.

Sunday 17 July 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 14

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (303 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (294 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (298 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (299 points)

Day 24 (Cont.)
Weather: Good
Throughout the day, the weather improved, but due to Arc's poor Tracking (defaulting from Naturalist), the group lost the hobgoblin's trail.  Partway through the day, three six-legged lizards stumbled across their paths.  Arc correctly identified them as basilisks, warned the party that they could turn you to stone if you met their gaze, and the party tried to hide in nearby bushes but failed.

The basilisks turned and charged, ignoring Mor'ath, and gazed at Zaxod and Arc.  Aurum started casting Explosive Fireball and Zaxod cut one down, while Mor'ath threw a flash nageteppo to no effect.  The basilisks charged ineffectually at Zaxod, who killed another, while Mor'ath approached and attacked from behind.  Aurum loosed his spell on the last remaining basilisk, which Zaxod then decapitated.

After healing up and resting for a bit, they put the severed basilisk head on the levitating disc so they could extract some alchemy bits later.  The party made good time and arrived at the lake the hunters had told them about that afternoon.

Day 25
Weather: Good
The party followed the third river from the east as per the hunters' instructions, but made poor time due to the thicker forest and failed Hiking and Navigation rolls, despite the slowest person, Aurum, staying on the levitating disc.

Day 26
Weather: Good
Halfway through the day, Arc noticed that two trees in the forest were rigged to fall and warned the party quickly enough to allow them to dodge out of the way.  This was fortunate, as they were then charged by a group of dire beavers on both sides.  Zaxod and Mor'ath split to the left and right while Aurum cast Shield and then hacked some up with his urgrosh, and Arc prepped a Fireball from the safety of the disc.

The dire beavers proved resilient, their blubbery hide deflecting many weaker blows, but they were quickly killed by Mor'ath and Zaxod.  One managed to take a big chunk out of Arc's groin, and another jumped onto the disc with Aurum, but after some magical healing, everyone was fine.

Just before sunset they arrived at the hunters' camp and found that everything of value had been taken, leaving only a firepit behind.  They also noticed a large group of humanoid tracks, which they would follow the next day.

During his watch, Arc heard some loud, vulture-like noises from somewhere above but never saw what it was through the darkness.  Whatever it was, apparently it didn't see them either.

Day 27
Weather: Perfect
The weather took a turn for the better, and with the wind at their back, the party followed the tracks.  After several hours, they heard music (which Mor'ath identified as Elven) from somewhere off in the forest, so they decided to investigate, with Mor'ath and Aurum proceeding in Stealth mode.

Several minutes away, they found a small clearing with the elven troubadour they had seen playing in Kral Narthis apparently entertaining a group of 8 hobgoblins.  The elf saw some of the party but waved them off, and Aurum noticed that the hobgoblins were arranged in a formation such that they would all be affected by a 2m area spell.

After about 10 seconds, the music changed from soothing elven tones to dissonant, violent noise, and 7 of the hobgoblins ran screaming to the west in terror, leaving one very confused and looking around for threats.  Zaxod took this as the "go" signal and Slam'd the hobgoblin twice to knock him prone, and then Mor'ath grappled it with his cloak and choked it out.

The bard thanked the party for their timely appearance, and told them that he was out here trying to rescue the brother of his beloved, who had been kidnapped by the hobgoblins.  He admitted that he had gotten in over his head, and was glad to see someone more experienced was around.  The bard mentioned that he could show them where the hobgoblin camp was, which they agreed to.

The party then decided to see about interrogating the hobgoblin, and the bard mentioned that he might be able to coerce it through magic after some rest.  An hour later, the hobgoblin was woken up and its eyes glazed over as the bard played a hypnotic tune.  The party asked various questions (where is the camp, how is it defended, where are the entrances), but after a minute the bard lost control and the hobgoblin regained clarity and shut up.

Notes:
Lack of tools to means they're always at -5 to Navigation, which Aurum is already defaulting to from Cartography at -4, for a total of -9.

During the basilisk fight, Zaxod noted that he shouldn't even bother rolling weapon skill after a successful parry against unarmed skill because he will almost always hit, and then immediately rolled an 18.  Highlight of the session for me.

Aurum's Explosive Fireball hit a grand total of one basilisk, even though all three had been alive when he started casting, because Zaxod is just insanely strong in melee.

The dire beavers got the desired response of "are you shitting me?".

They didn't get attacked during Arc's watch was because the hunters' camp was well-positioned, which resulted in Mor'ath winning the Quick Contest by 1.

Nobody even asked the bard's name, which is why he's referred to as "the bard".

They got the following details about the hobgoblin camp:
-The camp is inside a cave in the side of a hill
-There are groups of hobgoblins watching outside on an elevated platform above the cave mouth as well as off to either side
-The hobgoblins have cleared 20m of treeline
-The hobgoblins have placed wooden stakes all along the perimeter, making charging difficult
-The hobgoblins have deliberately collapsed rock on the sides of the hill to make attacking from behind more difficult

The party's current plan for assaulting is called "Operation Sanic" and involves Aurum casting Great Haste on Zaxod and Mor'ath, who then sprint across the open terrain directly at the hobgoblins.

Nobody's sure if hobgoblins have Dark Vision or just good Night Vision.

XP:
2 for general success
1 for roleplaying
1 for the hardest fight
0 for loot
0 for quests
MVP went to Mor'ath because he racked up the most kills.

Monday 11 July 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 13: Hobgoblin Ambush

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (303 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (291 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (298 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (298 points)

Day 23 (Cont.)
Weather: Stormy
While the rest of the party was scrambling out of their tents, Zaxod noticed that the hobgoblins had flanked them, and moved to attack the western group.  Mor'ath instantly readied his sword and acrobatically sprang to his feet to face the eastern group of hobgoblins while Aurum struggled to get out of his tent, due to the levitating disc being immediately above him.

Before Arc could exit his tent, one of the hobgoblin spearmen got in a quick jab for light damage, so he quickly readied his quarterstaff to defend.  Mor'ath noticed that there were also large numbers of archers on either side due to his Night Vision, and informed the rest of the party of this while eye-stabbing a spearman.  Zaxod rushed the hobgoblin who had attacked Arc but missed a punch, then dodged and readied The Axe while Aurum and Arc exited their tents and stood up.

The hobgoblin leader moved in slowly from the east and was blessed by an unholy cleric while the spearmen continued to encircle the group and the archers finished drawing their bows.  Mor'ath and Zaxod killed several more spearmen, but Aurum was stabbed, then shot with two arrows.  Arc cast Major Healing twice and got him out of the negatives, and Aurum finally readied his staff.

Several arrows bounced off of Zaxod, who continued carving a bloody path through the hobgoblins and switched to his greataxe, while Mor'ath moved to engage the hobgoblin leader but was unable to get a blow past his tower shield.  Arc and Aurum went back to back with Mor'ath and began casting Fireball and Dispel Magic.

Mor'ath managed a feint and landed an eye-stab on the leader, but the attack bounced off of the unholy force-field cast by the cleric.  Zaxod finished off the western spearmen and switched to the east, leaving the archers alive.  Aurum's fireball was blocked, but Arc successfully dispelled the force field from the leader, which was quickly followed with an eye-stab from Mor'ath.

Aurum was hit with several more arrows, and fell prone, hoping to dodge any more shots, while the hobgoblin leader stood back up and began attacking Mor'ath with renewed fury.  The cleric attacked with his longer spear but was repeatedly parried, and Arc cast Shield on himself.  Zaxod took out the rest of the spearmen, then Mor'ath finished off the leader, and the cleric yelled something in goblin while the archers began retreating to the west.  The cleric was killed by Mor'ath after a couple seconds of duelling, Arc and Zaxod took some arrows, though most were caught by their armour, and the battle was won.

3 hobgoblin archers managed to escape, while 1 was captured.  Zaxod wanted to torture it thanks to Bad Temper, while Arc demanded it be treated fairly due to Charitable.  After some arguing, Mor'ath stepped in due to Impatient and choked the hobgoblin out and tied it up.  Arc then cast Vigil on Zaxod so he could take the watch overnight, and another Major Healing on Aurum.

Day 24
Weather: Good
Arc cast Gift of Tongues and Compel Truth, but flubbed his attempt at Diplomacy, so the hobgoblin stayed silent.  After a quick huddle, and much complaining from Arc, Zaxod smashed one of the hobgoblin's hands and set him free.  The group planned to follow him to the hobgoblin base, and the missing hunter.

Notes:
Combat took 3.5 hours.  Likely due to both the number of characters involved, and the fact that all the spearmen were using tower shields.

Archers don't do any damage against even mail shirts 2/3 of the time with vanilla arrows.  Going to switch to bodkins in the future.  The better multiplier for impaling doesn't matter if the base is 0.

Aurum didn't really do anything this entire fight out of fear of running out of FP too early, and ended up only spending 2.  I think he's learned to never burn out so that he's able to contribute without rest.

Nobody actively tried to use cover, with "go back-to-back to prevent them from shooting us from behind" being the only defensive strategy.

Used campfire light as 0 lighting instead of -3.

Forgot to assign penalties for darkness almost entirely.  Need to check what the penalties are if something is attacking from a hex that's at a -3 penalty into a hex that's fully-lit.

Their idea to track the hobgoblin is good, though it would be better if one of them had actually taken Tracking, and they weren't relying on Arc's Naturalist-5.

XP:
2 for general success
1 for roleplaying
2 for the hardest fight
0 for loot
0 for quests
MVP went to Arc for the big heals.

Might reduce general success XP down to 1, because they basically get a guaranteed 3 unless they waste a ton of time.

Tuesday 5 July 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 12

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (300 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (291 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (280 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (293 points)

Day 16 (Cont.)
Just as the bar fight ended, Gylium walked through the door to the inn and went about buying rooms for the evening, while the swordswoman moved Trugal over to a chair and thanked Zaxod for helping.  Mor'ath asked the innkeeper if there was any interesting news, and was informed that an artifact of the gods had been found near Carda.  He then asked the swordswoman to spar, and she agreed, so the pair went outside and practised for an hour or so.

Day 17
Weather: Good
The party woke up at sunrise, said goodbye to the other group, and then continued on the road north.  They made good time and arrived in Adusia in the afternoon.  Gylium paid them their $2,000 fee, and asked if they'd like to be recommended to the Merchant's Guild, as they are always in need of guards.  Zaxod asked if the jobs would be heroic, and agreed after being told they were potentially heroic.

They then found a locksmith to get a key made for the lockbox with over $20,000 in it, but Zaxod was kicked out of the store for being a half-orc, so Mor'ath had to negotiate instead.  Aurum had the idea to check for work at the Adventurer's Guild, but there were no jobs available.  The last one had been given out two days prior, and involved hunting hobgoblins in the Iron Forest around Kral Narthis.  They asked to be notified if any new work came up, Zaxod went and bought a bigger sack, and then the party went to the Crimson Boot and rested for the night.

Day 18
Weather: Good
In the morning, Zaxod asked the barkeep if there were any rumours, and was informed of an upcoming tournament in the city of Zerakim to the west, sponsored by the Grand Autarch himself, while the rest of the party debated about what to do with the Nexus.  Aurum decided against the Enchanter's Guild, because he didn't want those merchants getting their "plebby" hands all over his artifact, and Arc vouched for the priests of Pelor, so they went to the church with the Nexus in a sack, to hide it from any wizards who might be watching.

At the church, the High Priest offered to identify the purpose of the Nexus, but warned that it could well be cursed, with its obvious aura acting as bait.  They proceeded, with the help of Arc, while Aurum and Mor'ath waited outside.  Zaxod went out and bought a larger sack, then got a tailor to embroider it with a huge and elaborate version of the symbol of his old mercenary crew.  After that, he went to the docks and got a job as a labourer for the next couple days lifting crates.

After 4 hours, the priests emerged from their sanctified chambers and informed Aurum that they had figured out that the symbol on the surface of the Nexus meant "Air" in Supernal, the language of the gods, but had not been able to activate it in any way.  Given that it was a holy artifact, they offered to hold it for a time while continuing to research.  Aurum accepted, and he and Arc went on their way.

Back at the Crimson Boot, Aurum got swindled by a local gambler named Big Money Erik and lost $100.

Day 19-21
The party stayed in Adusia, and inquired about costs of travelling to Zerakim, with hopes of entering the tournament.  Aurum lost another $100 to Big Money Erik, who bought a mink winter coat with his winnings.

They were then contacted by the Adventurer's Guild, and hired to rescue a Cosium hunter, Herral, from hobgoblins in the nearby forest.

Day 22
Weather: Good
At dawn, the party set out to Cosium, and they arrived just before sunset.  They asked around and were directed to the Wench and Flail tavern to talk to Brim and Aldric, the hunters who had been with Herral when he was captured.  The very drunk hunters told the group that they had been returning to camp when they saw a group of eight hobgoblins interrogating Herral, and then ran away to go get help.

The party were given directions (up Hag's Hill, down to the lake to the west, then follow the third river from the east south), and then rested for the night.

Day 23
Weather: Stormy
The party set out early in the morning, but made poor progress due to the dense forest and worsening weather.  After a few short kilometers of travel, they set up camp for the night.  During Zaxod's watch, he heard something break a branch, and noticed a large group of hobgoblins ready to ambush.  He called out to the party, who were sleeping in their tents.

Notes:
Aurum used Luck to reroll one of his Gambling rolls, but still failed.

Mor'ath is going to look into martial arts schools, but he wants to do that during downtime so it isn't covered here.

Aurum got $1,000 worth of stuff from the church of Pelor, but he hasn't decided what yet.

Ocean travel isn't cheap.  Zerakim is a week away by ship, and with 6x Cost of Living for travelling, that comes out to $900 each if they get on a dedicated passenger ship, or $450 if they slum it on a cargo ship instead of the usual $150.

Essential Food was ruled to be equivalent to Dwarven Rations, as we don't generally track rations.

The weather got bad right as they needed it to be good.  They also failed their Navigation, and Arc, the slowest member, failed his Hiking.

They finally got their first random encounter!

XP:
1 for little success
1 for roleplaying
0 for the hardest fight
0 for loot
1 for quest completion
MVP went to Arc for getting the 50lbs metal slab into somebody else's hands.