DF Whiterock Session 7: First Casualty

Date:

2018-06-08


Weather:

Warm, overcast


Player Characters:

Bernard (threethreethree), Human Fighter, 163 points

Durkerle (M.C. Warhammer), Dwarf Cleric, 175 (+5) points

Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 183 points

Holly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 160 (+5) points

Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 173 (+2) points

Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High-Elf Wizard, 177 (+6) points


Significant NPCs:

Hugin, Human Caravan Guard
Quintus, Human Wizard
4 Orcs of the White Talon Tribe


The heroes spent a week in Cillamar, resting and training and buying gear.  At the end of the week, they met for dinner at the Inn of the Slumbering Drake to plan their next trek to Castle Whiterock.  Bernard, who'd been out of town on personal business, made it back for the meeting.  So did Hugin, fully recovered from the wound he'd taken on the last trip, and still eager to kill orcs and recover the gear they'd taken from him.

After a good meal and a few minutes of planning, they set off for the Castle.  This time, they brought two wheelbarrows along, hoping for a great haul of treasure.  By putting some of the slower PCs' heavy items in the wheelbarrows, they made good time on their hike, and arrived in good spirits.

A debate ensued as to whether they should head straight for the orcs in the basement, or continue exploring the surface level a bit.  Durkerle wanted to go downstairs as always, because lower is better.  Holly and Hugin and Bernard wanted to kill orcs.  But Garreth argued that they should check out the tents on the surface first, and Seépravir agreed, so they took a brief detour to do that first.

The five tents, which had been set up by the human slavers who had been pretending to be monks of the Order of the Dawning Sun, turned out to not have any monsters or significant treasure.  One had some digging tools, which appeared to have been sitting there for a while.  One had a table containing some minor artifacts from the ruins.  And three had hammocks and empty footlockers.  Ibizaber detected that the tent with the table was rigged to collapse quickly if a rope was pulled.  Durkerle couldn't resist kicking the tent until it collapsed, which it did nicely, but with nobody inside.  Seépravir wanted to collect some canvas to put rust spider webs in, and Gerrard wanted a free bedroll, so after that minor looting was complete, the group continued to the stairs down.

Holly pointed out that last time they sent Hugin down alone then back up and ambushed the orcs, so this time they should send everyone down together and ambush the orcs.  This plan was mostly adopted, though Ibizaber scouted in front a bit, without a light.  The orcs in their guard room saw the lights coming down the steps and were waiting in ambush, though they didn't see Ibizaber sliding along the wall in the shadows.  Ibizaber saw three orcs with glaives flanking both sides of the stairwell exit, waiting to ambush.  And one more orc with a bow hanging back off to the side, waiting to shoot.  He gestured "four" to the others and then froze in place.

Bernard thought there might be someone sneaking up behind the group from above, and returned to the stop of the stairs to guard their rear.

After a few seconds of nobody moving, one of the glaive orcs got impatient and stepped out in front of the stairs.  At that point it was on.  Holly shot an arrow at the orc, but it dodged.  Garreth threw a glowing knife (maximum brightness Continual Light) at the orc, but he missed.  The orc started yelling details about their group to its companions.  The remaining three orcs held their positions, waiting for the intruders to come down the stairs.  Hugin and Holly overconfidently obliged.

The three waiting polearm orcs laid into Hugin and Holly with their glaives.  Hugin, a tough fighter wearing a mail shirt and some leather armor, was badly hurt, but not badly enough to take him out of the fight.  Holly, a rather slight wood elf with no armor, paid dearly for her bravery.  She failed to dodge the first attack, then used her Luck to get another chance, and made it.  But then she failed to dodge the second attack, and with her Luck used for the hour, had to take the blow.  The big strong orc rolled good damage, which was enough to subject Holly to a death check, which she failed.  A bit too much bravery plus four bad dice rolls was enough to end her brief adventuring career.

Ibizaber ambushed one of the orcs that had stepped up to chop Holly, and gave it a solid cut to its well-armored vitals, enough to hurt it but not too badly.  Garreth continued advancing while throwing knives.  Durkerle stepped up to cast Major Healing on Hugin.  Seépravir started hurling insults with her Rapier Wit, stunning one of the orcs with a cruel jest about his low-tech nature.  Durkerle, realizing Holly was not just knocked out but dead, stopped fighting and just dropped to his knees crying and praying for her.

It took a while, but the PCs gradually advanced into the guardroom full of orcs and started landing a combination of minor wounds and stuns on them.  Seépravir ultimately dropped four Rapier Wits (one per orc) and a couple of Stun spells, keeping those orcs from attacking and reducing their defenses.  Ibizaber cut one of the orcs several times with his knife, including one minor face stab that caused an unexpected knockdown and stunning jackpot.

Hugin cut one stunned orc down with his broadsword.  Garreth hit one of the polearm orcs, but then ran past them to the archer, and seriously wounded him with his greatsword.  Ibizaber kept getting small knife cuts and stabs in on one of the glaive orcs until it finally dropped.

The archer seemed very skilled but very unlucky -- he kept blowing his Fast-Draw arrow roll or his Fast-Ready bow roll or his shot.  And then Garreth was all over him while Seépravir was harassing him with spells, and that was that.  Garreth finally chopped him in half.  The orc archer had a composite bow and arrows, a great axe, a bearskin cloak, some arrows, a potion, and a key.

Durkerle was still praying, hoping that somehow Danethar would intervene and bring Holly back to life.  But it was not to be; she was really dead.

With all four orcs and one PC down, the group decided to head back to town, but Hugin asked if he could grab his gear first.  So Seépravir cast Invisibility on Ibizaber, who snuck south past the minotaur room (now empty) and the cells (now empty) to the storeroom where Hugin thought the orcs kept prisoners' items.  There they found Hugin's and Sapphira's equipment, along with some random peasant clothing and some ladders and hooks.  The party kept their deal, letting Hugin recover his gear and his friend's, in exchange for her potions, which Hugin identified as Minor Healing, Strength, and Paut.

On the way back out of the dungeon, the group visited the guard tower to recover some rust spider webs and some live bird eggs.  (The parent birds were again not home guarding the nest.)  After some discussion of how to keep the eggs warm, the group decided that Ibizaber should cradle them, as he was the most dextrous and least likely to drop them.  But he rolled an 18 on his DX check, with his Luck not available, and face-planted on the eggs.  Oops.  He attempted to bring back some bits of egg to figure out what kind of bird they had been, but their value as treasure was gone.

The party made it back to Cillamar in low spirits.  They had killed four more orcs, including one very tough archer, but it had cost them Holly, and they hadn't found a whole lot of treasure.


GM's Comments:

GURPS combat is for keeps.  If you have 9 HP and no armor, then one good hit from a strong orc with a glaive just might kill you.  Holly was the first PC to die in this game, but will probably not be the last.

Bernard's player had technical difficulties early in the session and had to drop out, so Bernard guarded the rear rather that participating.  This was a significant blow to the group's fighting ability.  I've been getting better with Roll20 with experience, but it's still a big heavy website that sometimes gives players grief.

Holly only got off one shot before she died.  The orcs had open-faced helmets, so if she'd hung back she probably could have killed a couple of them without breaking a sweat.  Instead, with her down, it was a long slow grind.

Everyone knew Durkerle liked Holly, and he didn't take her death well.  After healing Hugin, he spent the rest of the fight on his knees, getting closer to Danethar.  I gave him +1 to his Divine Intervention check for the convincing level of pain and sacrifice, but he still needed a 9 or less, and rolled a 10.  I guess Danethar had more important things to do that day than save a nature-loving wood elf.

The orcs keep re-deploying to cover their front entrance, but the PCs have now killed at least 15 of them, plus their minotaur ally.  Are they running out of troops yet?  We'll find out next time.