Saturday, 22 October 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 24

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (337 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (329 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (323 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (339 points)

Day 69:
Weather: Perfect
Date: Khalis 48th, 2525
The party ran towards the horn in the north while the other adventurers headed south, and any townsfolk that were still outside this late fled to the nearest building.  Arc cast Continual Light on a nearby rock to be able to see better ("Why didn't you just cast it on your holy symbol that you wear around your neck?" "...Right."), and Mor'ath, who is by far the fastest, arrived at the ditch at the edge of the town to see that five ogres had just killed the two guards stationed there.

Instead of attacking them, he crouched behind a pile of lumber to see what they did next, as there was still lots of distance between them and the nearest civilian.  Thanks to his elven eyes, he noted that they had symbols of cracked and/or split skulls on their armour.  The biggest ogre, and the only one wearing armour, pointed around and yelled at the others in some language that Mor'ath didn't know.

The ogres let out a battle cry and charged towards the town while splitting up into two groups.  Zaxod heard this, though he could not see them, and took up an ambush position behind a house, while Arc and Aurum tried to catch up.  The ogres saw Arc's brilliant light and fixated on it, letting out a scream of "Blood Drinkers kill you all!" in Giant as they charged.  Aurum tried to take cover behind a house while Arc cast Shield 5, threw his light-rock as far as he could, and then cast Continual Light on his holy symbol and readied his urgrosh.

Mor'ath quickly checked the guards to see the extent of their wounds and found that one was cut in half at the waist, and that the other's head had been crushed.  He charged after the smaller group of ogres while still being somewhat stealthy (-5 for going faster than Move 1 isn't a big deal when you have Stealth-18), and as the ogres passed Zaxod's hiding place he readied his great axe and did the same.  Whether due to dumb luck, or dumb ogres, he also wasn't noticed.

Arc charged the ogres, while Aurum continued hiding for a bit longer.  The big ogre lagged behind his less-encumbered fellows, and Zaxod ambushed him with a devastating swing to the skull.  The ogre, howling in pain, turned around and slammed his own great axe into Zaxod's torso, doing over 30 damage.  The two ogres tried to slam Arc, but he successfully dodged, and landed a hit to the back of one's head as they passed him.

Aurum came out of his hiding place and cast Panic on the flanking ogres, causing them to flee back out of town, screaming in terror.  Zaxod shattered the big ogre's right leg with two heavy swings, and turned to join Arc, while Mor'ath ran past the fleeing ogres and towards the others.

Arc finished one ogre off as the other moved to attack him, and the big ogre started crawling after Zaxod.  Aurum started charging a Fireball, but Mor'ath got to the last standing ogre first, and stabbed it through the eyes, directly into the brain, killing it.  Frustrated, he launched the fireball at the big ogre, but it still took another blow to the head from Zaxod to finish it off.

Arc healed up Zaxod, and the party moved to the North gate to hold it in case the two ogres came back.  One did, and was very quickly killed after it slammed past Zaxod and was attacked from four directions at once, but the other one seemed to be gone for good.  They held the perimeter until another guard came over to get an update for Harthex, and after briefly mourning the loss of his two fellow guardsmen, ran back towards the mansion.

Several minutes later, Harthex came back with two more guards and told the party that they could rest, as the militia would be raised and on alert for the rest of the night.  Zaxod went back to grab a chair and then spent the night out with the militia, while the rest of the group got a good night's sleep.

Monday, 17 October 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 23: To Chryssa's Rest

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (334 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (324 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (318 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (333 points)

Day 52 (Flashback):
Date: Khalis 31st, 2525
Weather: Perfect
Arc was in the infirmary of the arena, working on wounded competitors.  He had just finished stabilizing a noble with a missing arm when he heard a scream of rage from around the corner, where another fighter had woken up mid-surgery and begun strangling the surgeon working on him.  Arc asked the Berserk fighter to calm down, and he miraculously did.

Day 53 (Cont.):
Weather: Overcast, No Rain
Aurum and Zaxod watched the fight between Mor'ath and Roberto intently, as Aurum had bet 10 gold coins ($1,000) on Mor'ath to win.  Meanwhile, Arc was elbow-deep in a half-orc's chest in the infirmary.  The warrior had refused to yield until he had fallen unconscious, and his left arm and right leg were almost dismembered.  Despite this, Arc was able to stop the internal bleeding and repair the limbs, saving the half-orc's life.

In the arena, Mor'ath and Roberto continued their duel.  After dodging another stab to the eyes, Roberto foolishly exclaimed that he had seen through Mor'ath's trick in the earlier rounds, and wouldn't be blinded like the rest of his foes.  Mor'ath switched tactics and cut off Roberto's sword-hand, but instead of yielding, he continually attempted to grapple onto Mor'ath with his one remaining hand.  Roberto failed repeatedly, and yielded after taking another severe wound, winning Aurum $200.

During the last battle of the day, an older man approached Aurum in the stands and made pleasant conversation.  He claimed to be a scholar who was in-town to do research at the Grand Library, but was taking a break to watch the tournament.  Aurum decided to verify this by asking him obscure questions about the origins of the Grand Library, and was satisfied with the answers he gave.  The two watched the last fight, and Gauthak the Goliath won easily.

Day 54:
Weather: Overcast
The tournament was down to only four competitors.  The first fight, featuring the one-eyed High Elf Seriel and the swordswoman Alayne, lasted for quite some time until Alayne shield-rushed and knocked Seriel off her feet.  Shortly after, Mor'ath and Gauthak entered the arena for the last fight of the day.  Aurum was looking to continue his win streak and bet $1,000 on Mor'ath to win.

Mor'ath hung back and Evaluated while Gauthak closed the distance between them in a defensive stance.  After some more manoeuvering, Gauthak stepped in, Feinted, and then made two swings at Mor'ath's skull.  The first was parried with a little Luck, but the second was a critical, and knocked Mor'ath unconscious.  Meanwhile, Aurum tore his gambling ticket to shreds in the stands.

Arc healed Mor'ath's wounds with mundane healing in the infirmary, and with Major Healing once back at the Blue Pheasant Inn.

Sunday, 9 October 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 22: The Grand Tournament Begins

Party:
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (314 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (320 points)

Players Absent:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (330 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (322 points)

Day 50:
Weather: Sunny
The party went to the arena first thing in the morning, and Mor'ath, and Zaxod were ushered into a side-entrance along with several other combatants to join up with the rest of their team for the melees, Chimera.   Arc was lead to the infirmary, and Aurum went into the stands to watch.  As the rest of Team Chimera arrived, Zaxod recognized Roberto, a pirate from his mercenary days, and Mor'ath talked to a goliath saber-wielder, who turned out to also be a practitioner of Red Cloak style.  Several competitors from Team Gryphon came by to antagonize them, and Mor'ath told one that he would kill him tomorrow.

Shortly after, Team Chimera entered the arena to great fanfare, opposite Team Dragon.  Looking around, it seemed as if the arena floor had been restructured to resemble a village.  High above, in the Autarch's box, Chancellor Spiros announced the 253rd Khalisfall Tournament open to the cheering crowd, and the first melee began.

The two teams rushed towards each other, and somehow, two elves with spears managed to flank Zaxod and Mor'ath.  Zaxod took a big hit to the vitals and was knocked down, while Mor'ath parried his opponent and then stabbed him in the eye.  Zaxod defended himself and made it to his feet, but was then forced away by a pair of swordsmen.  Mor'ath picked another target and blinded him, while Zaxod forced his way through to the spear elf only to overextend himself.  Luckily, the elf stumbled and lost his balance before he could capitalize, and Zaxod took the elf down with a heavy blow from one of his axes.

The rest of their team had been equally successful, and only Zaxod and one other teammate, a half-orc wielding a maul, required medical attention.  In the wake of their success, Roberto suggested that they meet up tonight at the Blue Pheasant and party, as they would obviously win their second melee the next day.  Several combatants bought healing potions (25% off for the tournament!), and the team went into the stands to watch the second fight.

In the intermission, a group of wizards shaped the floor of the arena, dismantling the village into sand and ruins.  The second melee, between teams Gryphon and Manticore, lasted longer than the first, and left many injured, but ultimately went to the nobles of Gryphon.  Back at the Blue Pheasant, Zaxod got Arc to patch him up while most of the team celebrated their victory.  Mor'ath partied a bit too hard, and ended up losing some sleep.