Episode 17: Interlude (a Night of Terror)

[Mushgnome]

April 27, a cold and foggy night

Fated to Die, Breath of New Moon, Shade of the Evermore, Minion of the Unholy Fragnog, A Gunnery Veiled, and Sgt. Cannibal are all deep in sleep and unavailable for this episode, as are the dinosaurs. Any XP earned will be split between the players to allocate among your henchmen and hirelings as you choose.

crusssdaddy controls 5 ulfire men (1HD light foot), Gunnery's 3 orange men (1HD light foot), and Buck Quarry (1HD armored green man)
ehiker controls a Deep One (1+1HD heavy foot), 8 brown men (2HD armored pike), and Lance Quarry (1HD armored green man)
kipper controls 4 bone women (2 fighters + 2 specialists), Minion's 4 bone men (1+1HD armored foot), and Rod Quarry (1HD armored green man)

[additionally everyone except the brown men has a howdah pistol, and spare pikes are available for all if desired, just say so]

There's lots of brontosaurus burgers for all! What is your sleep schedule and accommodations? How do you organize patrol/guard duty? Do the different colored men camp separately and keep their own company, or do they fraternize? Do your men have unique customs or quirky habits that distinguish them from the other men? What is the general mood in camp after the day's events (cannibal attack, death of one of the dinosaurs, nearing the Haunted Swamp)?

The idea here is that the hero-tier characters never have to worry about stuff like keeping night watch or putting food on the table; there is a whole support network of henchmen and NPCs behind the scenes running the camp, and once every few episodes we'll check in and see how they're getting on with things, set up some mildly-entertaining recurring subplots. Also this sets up a pool of somewhat-fleshed-out minor characters from which we can potentially recruit replacement PC's in the event of untimely character death.

[ehiker133]

Copied from other thread, as per requested...

Egads... there is a REASON why I've never gone for that management position at work.

Hopefully the Fine Brown Cannibals will stay in line, at least for a while. Shade would hate to reduce the number even lower than 8. Of course, he will, if it becomes necessary.

Assuming Sgt. Cannibal accepts his offer, he will direct the Sgt. to maintain control over FBC. They should not be ostracized by the rest of the party. They should understand (and have been told) to NOT eat anyone else of the party, alive or dead. Failure to comply will result in death. And the tasty parts of that soldier will be destroyed in front of the others, so they understand it does not benefit them to have another member of the FBC killed.

If they want to partake in normal eating habits, they can sup with the rest of the group. When they are cannibalizing, they'll need to do so at a slight distance from the others. Only four of the eight can go out at a time. This will be mandatory until they earn Shade's trust.

During non-combat periods, they will share in menial tasks that others in the camp must participate in, as well.

In combat, they are the front line (at least in front of Shade and Andre). Shade will send them into battle with the battle charge, "Kill first, eat later!"

Shade is absolutely in agreement with making camp, eating the dead dino, and leveling up.

Can he get an update on the Deep One Minion's current level of happiness with his master? Happy? Still put out? Shade attempts a Sense Motive on him to see what he can find out (after he is rested and leveled up and has a better chance of success).

[crusssdaddy]

My men create a strongpoint of a circular space about 20' in diameter that is ringed with pikes jammed into the ground to form a defensive barrier. They intend to sleep within it. 9 pikes are kept for personal use.

[Mushgnome]

Oct 10, 2012 11:01:43 GMT -6 crusssdaddy said:

My men create a strongpoint of a circular space about 20' in diameter that is ringed with pikes jammed into the ground to form a defensive barrier. They intend to sleep within it. 9 pikes are kept for personal use.

Exactly the type of details I was looking for!

Do I understand correctly want your ulfire and orange men (plus the Quarry Bro) camping together? (as implied by your "9 pikes" comment)

[crusssdaddy]

Yeah, we're one big happy rainbow coalition.

[Mushgnome]

Is the Deep One happy with his master, or still feeling put out by Shade's (mis)treatment?

How about Breath's bone women, what is life like serving under the bone heroine? Are they starting to coalesce as a group? What are their attitudes/interactions like with their masculine cohorts?

Fated's ulfire men of course have nothing but good things to say about him (+2 loyalty base due to Charisma), right??

How 'bout those Quarry Brothers... is this the strangest bunch of individuals they've ever served with, or have they seen weirder, working for the Miskatonic University?

Share your thoughts on these matters, as we segue into...

[Mushgnome]

Meanwhile...

Enter stage left...

The most horrid dinosaur you've ever seen, a spiny runt of a thing
[purple]Apothecaria the Purple Witch
Four purple humans[/purple], two of either sex; and one [red]red woman[/red]

Closely pursued by...

A Mob of Walking Dead lurching out of the fog in endless numbers!!!

[ehiker133]

Oct 10, 2012 22:13:41 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

Is the Deep One happy with his master, or still feeling put out by Shade's (mis)treatment?

Hopefully the Deep One isn't too put-out right now. Shade has been sharing XP with him (he's up to 500 now, right?) and he's been putting the Deep One to good use as his enforcer. The next time Shade gets a bit of XP, he'll give enough to the Deep One Minion to level him (if he gets that much to give away, of course).

The Deep One Minion ponders this promise of advancement as he takes one of the pikes and breaks off the pike head to fashion a prosthetic pike/hand for himself while he stands guard during his shift.

Meanwhile, Lance Quarry, the ever watchful green man, notes a group of six non-combatants running into the light of the fires with fear in their eyes. He looks past them to the shambling corpses in their wake.

"To arms! To arms! Defend the camp!" He grabs his howdah pistol and a spare pike and runs to the defense of the newcomers. He fires his pistol at the closest undead and then readies his pike. "We need fire throwers up front! NOW, pigs!"

Hearing the cry to do battle, Sgt. Cannibal and the Fine Brown Cannibals grab their pikes and form up into two rows of four, placing themselves between their new commander and the undead.

[Deleted]

"I've wandered too far afield in search of ingredients," Apothecaria says, in her oddly accented Common. "We've been attacked by these ... things!"

Bast snaps a command and she and the other four henchmen turn back toward their pursuers. Planting their spears in the dirt, they all prepare a volley of sling-stones and let fly. Apothecaria does the same. Grekk hunkers down at his mistress' feet.

[Mushgnome]

Welcome to the game Cameron!

Oct 10, 2012 23:31:33 GMT -6 ehiker133 said:

The Deep One Minion ponders this promise of advancement as he takes one of the pikes and breaks off the pike head to fashion a prosthetic pike/hand for himself while he stands guard during his shift.

Love it! I wonder if we can get Bruce Campbell to don the rubber suit and play the part of Deep One??

Also if there are at least 120 zombies (not saying that there are, necessarily, but consider: 120 x 50xp = 6,000xp, split among 4 players = 1,500 each) then Deep One can level up without Shade's help!

[ehiker133]

Oct 11, 2012 10:18:39 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

Welcome to the game Cameron!

Jeesh... if this is the welcome a new person gets, I'm taking back my Lurker comment!

[Mushgnome]

I don't see slings on the Chainmail missile fire chart, but we'll figure something out... anyone got suggestions? Obvious suggestion is to make them equivalent to short bow (the weakest missile in Chainmail) but part of me wants to give them a bonus vs. plate armor.

Fated's men have constructed a crude palisade from pikes, do they stay holed up there or maneuver elsewhere?

What's the plan for Breath's troops?

[crusssdaddy]

Fated's men stay put. If they can open up with their guns without hitting friendlies, they begin peppering the dead with volleys.

[Mushgnome]

I've been thinking a little more about these howdah pistols... essentially a double-barreled, sawed-off Arquebus with limited range (4/8/12" instead of 6/12/18"). You choose whether to fire 1 or 2 barrels at a time, and reload time is 1 round per barrel. So once you have discharged your initial salvo, the sustained rate-of fire is 2/3 (2 shots/3 rounds) but you can also achieve 1/2 (1 shot every 2nd round) by reloading just 1 barrel. The bummer about the long reload time is that someone has to cover you. Historically, the "pike and shot" formation was an effective combo.

I will assume that everyone's default action is to let 'em have it with both barrels as frequently as possible (especially when facing a zombie horde!) unless you specify otherwise and tell me some kind of staggered firing plan.

[Mushgnome]

The present situation is at least a dozen walking dead emerging from the fog at 12" (long range for the pistols) but [purple]Apothecaria[/purple] at 6" can tell you there are many more than that! There is a very real risk she and her potters will get caught in the crossfire. [d3] Breath's troops are denied a clear shot (if that were to be their action) and risk a friendly-fire incident on a roll of 1. That's a .50 caliber Carcosan black-powder slug, very painful. Deep One and Fateds's troops have the enemy in their sights and let them have it with both barrels, while the newcomers fire a volley of sling stones...

[to be continued]

[Deleted]

Oct 11, 2012 13:16:34 GMT -6 ehiker133 said:

Oct 11, 2012 10:18:39 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

Welcome to the game Cameron!

Jeesh... if this is the welcome a new person gets, I'm taking back my Lurker comment!

[Deleted]

After the volley of sling stones, Apothecaria notices the pistols and orders her troops to retreat behind those so armed.

[Mushgnome]

For now, let's use the missile fire table on Chainmail p.11 to resolve the sling attacks.

Apothecaria and her 5 henchmen roll 1d6 and score 2 kills on a roll of 1-2 and 3 kills on a roll of 3-6. They roll 6 and three zombie skulls are cracked, spilling their rotted braaaiiins all over the battlefield.

For the howdah pistols, let's try the gunpowder weapons table on p.13. Firing 2 barrels at a time doubles the effectiveness of each man.

Fated's team of 9 men fires with both barrels, attacking as 18 men! Because it is a long-range attack (12") they need a 5 on 1d6 to hit. They roll 18d6 and get 8 kills as the lead slugs prove to have ample stopping power vs. the shambling corpses, bursting their chests like ripe jack-o-lanterns. Unfortunately the team's ammo is spent and it will take them 1 round per barrel to reload.

Deep One gets +1 to his dice (because he is a Veteran) but only rolls (adjusted) 3, 4... the fish-man is no sharpshooter and wastes his attack. He barks his orders and the [brown]Fine Young Brown Cannibals[/brown] muster a pike formation as they were trained.

Breath's team was blocked from missile fire this round, but they still have an action available should they choose.

Zombie true death toll: 11

[ehiker133]

Oct 12, 2012 9:30:29 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

Deep One gets +1 to his dice (because he is a Veteran) but only rolls (adjusted) 3, 4... the fish-man is no sharpshooter and wastes his attack. He barks his orders and the [brown]Fine Young Cannibals[/brown] muster a pike formation as they were trained.

Just one correction... It's Fine Brown Cannibals.

[Mushgnome]

Irregardless of whatever non-missile action Breath's troops will choose to take in Round 1, the walking dead continue to lurch forward out of the mist. Some of them are well-dressed and appear almost alive, while others are no more than scraps of flesh hanging from bones. They lumber at a pathetic 6" rate and close half the distance to the party to conclude their move segment of Round 1. "There is never any morale check for these monsters; they will always attack until totally wiped out."


Apothecaria declares her Round 2 action will be to scamper behind allied lines, which ought not be a problem due to her superior 12" mobility, at which point her troops may shoot again with their slings if they choose. (In fact this is what she and her potters have been doing for a while prior to her introduction... staying one step ahead of the pursuers and peppering them with slingstones. Chainmail allows archers to move up to 1/2 their movement rate and fire a single shot in the same round, but note however that the movement must be contiguous and only certain elite troops like elves can split move-fire-move, or "shot on the run" if you will.)

[kipper]

((OOC: Of course, when I don't check in for a couple of days, *that* is when all the exciting stuff happens, LOL ;D))

Breath's Bone-Troopers hold their fire, not wanting to risk hitting their allies. "Wait until you see the whites of their eyes," Breath commands. Meanwhile, they circle around to one side, to get a clear shot and flank the oncoming horde.

Rod Quarry wonders how he ended up nearby these strange bone-people (who give him the creeps incidentally) and he looks around for some cover.

[Mushgnome]

The bone people (note that it's just the henchmen; Breath herself is sleeping and dreaming of leveling up) spread out to the flank, setting up a clear shot for Round 2 at 6" (medium) range. Rod Quarry wisely takes up position with his brother Lance behind the line of cannibal pikesmen.

Thus concludes Round 1 of the Walking Dead Battle. The slow-moving enemy automatically loses initiative, and the party will first to act in Round 2...

The tactical situation:

zombies at 6" range and closing at 6" per round
kipper can fire 1 or 2 barrels from medium range (4+ to hit) and/or wait until Round 3 and fire at point blank range (2+ to hit)... what's the call?
dubeers retreats behind the pike formation and is prepared for another short-range sling volley.
ehiker's pikemen hold the line while the Deep One reloads
crusssdaddy is safe for the moment behind the pike wall but all out of ammo; your choice to reload or something else?

[Mushgnome]

Once again I've forgotten a very important item on the pre-fight checklist: HIT POINTS!

A quick recap of how we run PC and significant/boss NPC hit points around here: "Carcosan Crazy Dice" are used; 1 of each type die is rolled, and the d20 selects which of the other dice gets used: 1-4=d4, 5-8=d6, 9-12=d8, 13-16=d10, 17-20=d12. Hit points are rolled fresh for each battle. Minor wounds (less than 1HD) get healed instantly at the end of each fight; major wounds reduce your available hit dice for the next combat; for example a moderately wounded Hero gets 2HD instead of 4HD.

Insignificant NPCs and non-boss monsters do not get hit points. Rather, they can take a number of hits equal to their HD (any plus counts as 1 die higher, so a 1+1HD Veteran can take 2 hits).

For purposes of this fight I will treat all participants as "significant NPCs" and go through the exercise of rolling hit points so our newcomer can see how it's done. For future battles we will not necessarily go into this level of detail.

Apothecaria (1HD light foot) d6: 3hp
5 apprentices (1HD light foot) d6: 1, 5, 3, 6, 5
Grekk: 9d4: 17hp
3 green quarrymen (1HD armored foot) d4: Buck 4, Lance 4, Rod 4
Deep One (1+1HD heavy foot) d6+1: 7
5 ulfire men (1HD light foot) d10: 6, 7, 4, 9, 10
3 orange men (1HD light foot) d12: 9, 6, 1
8 brown men (2HD armored pike) 2d8: 10, 12, 7, 13, 6, 5, 11, 13
4 bone man veterans (1+1HD armored foot) d4+1: 4, 2, 5, 2
2 bone woman veterans (1+1HD) d8+1: 7, 5
2 bone woman specialists (1HD) d12: 5, 11

I think that's everyone... did I forget anybody? A total of 35 combatants! Tricky to DM in D&D, but a breeze in Chainmail!

[crusssdaddy]

5 Ulfire's reload 1 barrel each and prep to fire the following round, Oranges and Buck grab pikes and set to defend the picket against the sluggish "charge."

[Mushgnome]

Oct 12, 2012 19:17:31 GMT -6 crusssdaddy said:

5 Ulfire's reload 1 barrel each and prep to fire the following round, Oranges and Buck grab pikes and set to defend the picket against the sluggish "charge."

I can't believe that sentence made sense... but it did! Ah, Carcosa.

[ehiker133]

I suppose there is no damage bonus for setting pikes against the charge?

[Mushgnome]

Oct 13, 2012 15:23:24 GMT -6 ehiker133 said:

I suppose there is no damage bonus for setting pikes against the charge?

Pikes are awesome in Chainmail: they grant the wielder a bonus attack die! So a Man rolls 2 dice, Veteran rolls 2+1 dice, 2HD cannibal rolls 3 dice, etc. (This is probably the origin of the D&D rule you reference of them doing double damage.)

Additionally there are some special rules that a charging formation of disciplined pikesmen forces the defenders to make a morale check or be routed by the charge. I did not apply this rule against you in the Attack of the Cannibals (brontosaurus don't care), but you might use it to your advantage in the future. For this zombie battle however, it will not apply, since undead are not subject to morale.

[kipper]

Oct 12, 2012 14:51:42 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

T
kipper can fire 1 or 2 barrels from medium range (4+ to hit) and/or wait until Round 3 and fire at point blank range (2+ to hit)... what's the call?

The Bone-Troopers fire one barrel at medium range, then prepare to fall back and fire the second barrel the following round.

((OOC: They want to avoid melee with the undead horde))

[Mushgnome]

Round 2

Kipper's Bone Troopers circle around and fire 1 barrel from medium range. They need a 4 to hit rolling individually on the Gunpowder Weapons table and roll: 1 + 6 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 6 + 2 + 7.... 3 hits! (If it amuses you to indicate which of the troops scored the killshots, you may do so.)

Dubeers' 6 slingers roll 1 die collectively on the Missile Fire table. They roll a 6 indicating they have destroyed 3 more walkers.

Ehiker and Crusssdaddy's pikemen tighten their formation while Deep One and the Ulfires reload.

The zombie death toll stands at 6 for the round and 14 total. Here come the walkers! How many of these guys are there?? They close the remaining distance and are almost on top of you! You'll have one more opportunity for missile fire in Round 3 before the melee begins... Your Round 3 actions please?

[ehiker133]

The Deep One Minion fires both barrels of his howdah pistol, assuming there will be no time to use it in melee after this round.