Sunday Afternoon Game Report - Atlantis: The Second Age RPG, Session 21
Yesterday, the Sunday gaming group players continued their play in the Atlantis: The Second Age campaign. You can read about the previous game session in this journal entry. This post is somewhat long, so I've put it behind a cut so that folks who don't want to read any detailed rpg posts don't have to.
CHARACTERS:
Alethia (Tammy) - Saturnian Mercenary
Dubaku of Ophir (NPC) - Ophirite Sorcerer
Orabela the Silent (NPC) - Balam Tharshi Thief
Koralo Keen-Eye (SteveR) - Tharshi Scavenger
19th Ululu, Year 506 Meta Kataklysmos (M.K.)
The player Heroes and Dubaku of Ophir and Orabela the Silent confront the walking dead. Both Orabela and Alethia leap on the rower's benches to leave more room for the others to fight in the aisle of the rowers' deck and to give themselves a better vantage [they both succeeded at DEX + Athletics checks]. One of the undead creatures attacks Koralo Keen-Eye and causes a nasty gash using its bony claws [he suffers 7 points of damage, but uses 1 Hero Point to absorb 4 of them]. He fights the undead creature to a standstill for a bit, evading several blows, before finally landing a killing blow on the creature. Orabela attacks two of the creatures from her higher perch, landing two solid blows to different targets [and spending 1 Hero Point on the second attack for +4 damage to it]. Orabela then strikes two massive blows to the two creatures [spending a Hero Point again to do +4 additional damage to the second creature]. She manages to kill the pair of undead creatures finally, but not before one of them lands a blow that hurts her somewhat [it inflicts 11 Hit Points, but she uses 1 Earth Hero Point to cancel 8 points of damage]. Meanwhile, Alethia matches Orabela in her fight against the creatures, almost as if it is a contest. She attacks two of the undead creatures, striking them for heavy damage [and using 1 Hero Point to add +4 damage to the attack on the second creature]. Over the next few moments, Alethia kills the two undead creatures with apparent ease, but one of them strikes her for a sharp blow [inflicting 10 points of damage after spending a Hero Point, and she spends 1 Earth Hero Point to counter 8 points of damage]. Meanwhile, Dubaku uses his magic to put up a shield of protection around himself [a 10-point Shield], and finally attempts to use his spear on one of the undead but fails. Before he can regroup, the creature falls dead to the ground after a massive blow from Orabela's gladius [she succeeded at a Critical Success, and added 1 Hero Point to the damage check]. With many of their number fallen, the four remaining undead figures fall to the ground, their animation time obviously finished.
The player Heroes check out their injuries, and see that they are minor. Looking around, Koralo spots Segetori [he rolls a Critical Success on his PER check, even with the negative DoD] near the rear of the rowers' deck, at a point that was behind the undead creatures. There are two additional undead there that he has obviously killed, and his cutlass is soaked in their black ichor. When asked how he got there, Segetori tells them that he was hiding near the front of the rowers' deck when the lurching corpses just appeared out of nowhere! He was forced to defend himself against two of them, and did what he had to. Dubaku says that if the undead creatures were summoned out of nothingness, then the sorcerer (presumably Mephrekhet) is extremely powerful.
While several of the Heroes bind their minor wounds, the group talks about what they should do. Dubaku tells them once more that the only way to stop and kill a mummy is with obsidian weapons, and that assumes that Mephrekhet is a mummy to begin with. The others state since this is what Segetori and the other crew of Zapporo's Folly told them earlier, it's safe to assume that he is. They debate where they can find some obsidian tools or weapons to use, and Koralo remembers that there were two obsidian blades in the sarcophagus of Atemun, Mephrekhet's consort. The group of Heroes decides to go back to the cabin on the quarterdeck, and retrieve the weapons. Segetori tells them that he's coming with them.
Opening the forward hatch from the rowers' deck, the player Heroes and Segetori emerge into a fully blown storm. The player Heroes are forced to carefully make their way to the quarterdeck, the slippery deck and the wind being their enemies, not to mention the driving rain. [Each character succeeded at a DEX + Athletics check to make their way to the quarterdeck.] Once at the quarterdeck, they make their way to the cabin where the sarcophagi are to be found. When Koralo goes to put his hand on the knob of the door to the cabin, he is struck by a sense of foreboding and gloom [and succeeds at a WIL + Resolve check]. Once inside the cabin, the Heroes make their way to Atemun's sacrophagus, and Alethia manages to open the sarcophagus on her own [she succeeds at her STR check]. Searching Atemun's sarcophagus, Koralo finds the two weapons made of obsidian - a Khopesh [DR9, Parry, Wght 2.3 kg] and a Pacho [DR7, Bleeding, Wght 1.8 kg]; both have a 50% breakage chance. Alethia takes the obsidian khopesh to use, and Koralo grabs up the obsidian pacho. Koralo sees another weapon in the sarcophagus, a knife-like weapon with markings on it that he can't read and with strange hand indentations. Sensing danger from the weapon [he spends a Void Hero Point to do so], Koralo decides not to take the extra weapon. Alethia recloses the sarcophagus of Atemun, and the player Heroes and Segetori make their way back to the forward hatch to the rowers' deck. As they reach it, the storm intensifies, lightning flashing everywhere.
The player Heroes descend back onto the rowers' deck, Koralo closing the hatch to the main deck after him. Orabela, Alethia, and Segetori grab up some torches and light them. Cautiously making their way to the hatch down to the hold, the player Heroes listen at the hatch, but there is no sound. This worries Alethia. Very cautiously, she opens the hatch to the hold. Even with the torches to provide light, there is pitch blackness to be seen down below, but there is a charnel smell [the characters all succeed at CON + Resolve checks], the sound of lapping water, though there is no sign of the Folly's crew or Captain Lorca. Lorca suddenly appears below them, smiling and welcoming them, though he tells them that the crew of the Folly are all dead. [With the death of the pirates, all player Heroes lose 15 Renown points, as they were responsible for allowing them to descend into the hold earlier.] He tells them that he is Mephrekhet, and that he was the one who lured Lorca's pirates to their doom. Horrified, the player Heroes and Segetori react with shock and fear. Orabela is rendered shocked and paralysed with fear, as is Segetori. [Orabela fails her WIL + Resolve check, and is paralysed with fear, as is Segetori.] From the wet floor of the hold, Mephrekhet attacks Alethia, using his ability to drain life force, and he succeeds sucking some of her life essence out of her, leaving her a bit pale and somewhat weakened [he drained her of 10 Hit Points, but she spends a Void Hero Point, and only suffers 6 Hit Points of damage.] Dubaku attempts to attack Mephrekhet with a spell [he only achieves a Partial Success], but the undead sorcerer easily resists the attack. Mephrekhet attacks Dubaku, but the Ophirite sorcerer had put up a shield [for 10 points] and is barely able to resist the Dark Arts magic.
Using Dubaku's attack on the mummy sorcerer as her chance, Alethia leaps down to the hold and attacks Mephrekhet. She uses the obsidian khopesh to make her attack, and the undead sorcerer is harmed seriously by the attack, though not incapacitated. [She spends her last Hero Point, and is also forced to tempt Fate, spending 4 Fate as Hero Points, but gains 2 Fate points.] Mephrekhet summons the undead crew of the Zapporo's Folly, and Quayoue, to his assistance. Seeing the dangers down below, Koralo leaps down to assist Alethia, twisting his ankle [and suffering 2 Hit Points of damage]. He leaps to the attack, striking Mephrekhet with the obsidian pacho [and using a Fire Hero Point to add to the damage], and the undead sorcerer suffers a terrible wound, but due to his sheer stamina and undead status is able to continue the fight. Alethia makes another attack on Mephrekhet, but is only able to do minor damage as she fears for her eternal soul and this hinders her fighting ability somewhat. Mephrekhet puts some distance between himself and Alethia, surprised that she's been able to hurt him. With the arrival of Quayoue and the animated undead pirates, Koralo is forced to turn his attention to them. Figuring Quayoue as the greatest threat, Koralo attacks him [spending a Void Hero Point to absorb 8 damage from his attack, and using tempting Fate with the use of 3 Fate Points to strike down Quayoue]. The first mate of the Zapporo's Folly is badly hurt, and almost near to dying. Koralo turns his attention to the other undead pirates. Koralo then attacks a pair of the pirates, and is able to strike them down [using his last Hero Point and 2 Fate Points in the attack]. Meanwhile, Alethia is attacked by a pair of the undead pirates, but is able to deal with them relatively easily, her combat skills helping her in this regard against Mephrekhet's mindless minions. Dubaku works up the courage and descends into the hold, attacking one of the undead pirates with his spear. The attack does a modicum of damage [Dubaku spends 2 Hero Points, both to make the attack successful], but doesn't hinder it that much.
Both Koralo and Alethia are surprised and shocked when a giant octopus enters the fray from the aft end of the hold, using five of its massive tentacles to snatch up several of the undead pirates, and crushing them to death in its grip. An irate Mephrekhet, annoyed at the death of his pirate minions, turns his attention to the giant octopus. He attempts to drain its life force, but fails to do so, and is left vulnerable. Seeing her chance, Alethia sneaks up behind him [she makes her DEX + Stealth check, with a DoD of +3 due to various factors] and strikes him down with a blow from the obsidian khopesh, destroying the mummy. With Mephrekhet dead, his body collapses in on itself and turns to dust, and his undead pirate minions that are left break apart and crumble on the slightly watery deck of the cargo hold.
With the fight over, and the giant octopus seemingly having retreated back into the briny depths at the aft of the galley's hold, the player Heroes turn their attention to their wounds. However, Koralo is somewhat surprised to find that Quayoue, the First Mate of the Zapporo's Folly, is still alive. Badly injured and clearly near to dying [he has 2 Hit Points remaining], Quayoue tells the player Hero that the ancient mummy sorcerer did not kill him along with the others. He kept him alive, but under his mental control, for reasons that he does not understand. Quayoue asks Koralo for some medical attention, as he does not feel that he has long to live.
Sunday afternoon's session of the Atlantis: The Second Age group campaign was a terrific afternoon's gaming that had two combat sequences, one of which was the final, climactic battle against the villain of the piece. There was a good amount of roleplaying during the session as well, the players and their Hero characters forced to make some difficult decisions, but in large part it came down to that final battle. Both player Heroes found themselves running out of Hero Points and were forced to tempt Fate, increasing the danger their characters' lives would be in, but were able to avail themselves well and avoided attracting the attention of the Elder Gods. :) Both Tammy and Steve expressed the thought that they were going to die during the final fight afterwards to me, but fortunately things didn't work out that way. The final fight took quite a while to play out, due to some surprises that stood in the player Heroes' way, so I didn't wrap up the adventure with this session. That will happen next time out, but it will only take about an hour or so to do that.
Overall, this was a pretty fun session of the Atlantis: The Second Age Sunday afternoon campaign, and I had a great time putting the players and their characters through their paces. I would have liked to have wrapped this adventure up, but am looking forward to the next session of the game to do so.
CHARACTERS:
Alethia (Tammy) - Saturnian Mercenary
Dubaku of Ophir (NPC) - Ophirite Sorcerer
Orabela the Silent (NPC) - Balam Tharshi Thief
Koralo Keen-Eye (SteveR) - Tharshi Scavenger
19th Ululu, Year 506 Meta Kataklysmos (M.K.)
The player Heroes and Dubaku of Ophir and Orabela the Silent confront the walking dead. Both Orabela and Alethia leap on the rower's benches to leave more room for the others to fight in the aisle of the rowers' deck and to give themselves a better vantage [they both succeeded at DEX + Athletics checks]. One of the undead creatures attacks Koralo Keen-Eye and causes a nasty gash using its bony claws [he suffers 7 points of damage, but uses 1 Hero Point to absorb 4 of them]. He fights the undead creature to a standstill for a bit, evading several blows, before finally landing a killing blow on the creature. Orabela attacks two of the creatures from her higher perch, landing two solid blows to different targets [and spending 1 Hero Point on the second attack for +4 damage to it]. Orabela then strikes two massive blows to the two creatures [spending a Hero Point again to do +4 additional damage to the second creature]. She manages to kill the pair of undead creatures finally, but not before one of them lands a blow that hurts her somewhat [it inflicts 11 Hit Points, but she uses 1 Earth Hero Point to cancel 8 points of damage]. Meanwhile, Alethia matches Orabela in her fight against the creatures, almost as if it is a contest. She attacks two of the undead creatures, striking them for heavy damage [and using 1 Hero Point to add +4 damage to the attack on the second creature]. Over the next few moments, Alethia kills the two undead creatures with apparent ease, but one of them strikes her for a sharp blow [inflicting 10 points of damage after spending a Hero Point, and she spends 1 Earth Hero Point to counter 8 points of damage]. Meanwhile, Dubaku uses his magic to put up a shield of protection around himself [a 10-point Shield], and finally attempts to use his spear on one of the undead but fails. Before he can regroup, the creature falls dead to the ground after a massive blow from Orabela's gladius [she succeeded at a Critical Success, and added 1 Hero Point to the damage check]. With many of their number fallen, the four remaining undead figures fall to the ground, their animation time obviously finished.
The player Heroes check out their injuries, and see that they are minor. Looking around, Koralo spots Segetori [he rolls a Critical Success on his PER check, even with the negative DoD] near the rear of the rowers' deck, at a point that was behind the undead creatures. There are two additional undead there that he has obviously killed, and his cutlass is soaked in their black ichor. When asked how he got there, Segetori tells them that he was hiding near the front of the rowers' deck when the lurching corpses just appeared out of nowhere! He was forced to defend himself against two of them, and did what he had to. Dubaku says that if the undead creatures were summoned out of nothingness, then the sorcerer (presumably Mephrekhet) is extremely powerful.
While several of the Heroes bind their minor wounds, the group talks about what they should do. Dubaku tells them once more that the only way to stop and kill a mummy is with obsidian weapons, and that assumes that Mephrekhet is a mummy to begin with. The others state since this is what Segetori and the other crew of Zapporo's Folly told them earlier, it's safe to assume that he is. They debate where they can find some obsidian tools or weapons to use, and Koralo remembers that there were two obsidian blades in the sarcophagus of Atemun, Mephrekhet's consort. The group of Heroes decides to go back to the cabin on the quarterdeck, and retrieve the weapons. Segetori tells them that he's coming with them.
Opening the forward hatch from the rowers' deck, the player Heroes and Segetori emerge into a fully blown storm. The player Heroes are forced to carefully make their way to the quarterdeck, the slippery deck and the wind being their enemies, not to mention the driving rain. [Each character succeeded at a DEX + Athletics check to make their way to the quarterdeck.] Once at the quarterdeck, they make their way to the cabin where the sarcophagi are to be found. When Koralo goes to put his hand on the knob of the door to the cabin, he is struck by a sense of foreboding and gloom [and succeeds at a WIL + Resolve check]. Once inside the cabin, the Heroes make their way to Atemun's sacrophagus, and Alethia manages to open the sarcophagus on her own [she succeeds at her STR check]. Searching Atemun's sarcophagus, Koralo finds the two weapons made of obsidian - a Khopesh [DR9, Parry, Wght 2.3 kg] and a Pacho [DR7, Bleeding, Wght 1.8 kg]; both have a 50% breakage chance. Alethia takes the obsidian khopesh to use, and Koralo grabs up the obsidian pacho. Koralo sees another weapon in the sarcophagus, a knife-like weapon with markings on it that he can't read and with strange hand indentations. Sensing danger from the weapon [he spends a Void Hero Point to do so], Koralo decides not to take the extra weapon. Alethia recloses the sarcophagus of Atemun, and the player Heroes and Segetori make their way back to the forward hatch to the rowers' deck. As they reach it, the storm intensifies, lightning flashing everywhere.
The player Heroes descend back onto the rowers' deck, Koralo closing the hatch to the main deck after him. Orabela, Alethia, and Segetori grab up some torches and light them. Cautiously making their way to the hatch down to the hold, the player Heroes listen at the hatch, but there is no sound. This worries Alethia. Very cautiously, she opens the hatch to the hold. Even with the torches to provide light, there is pitch blackness to be seen down below, but there is a charnel smell [the characters all succeed at CON + Resolve checks], the sound of lapping water, though there is no sign of the Folly's crew or Captain Lorca. Lorca suddenly appears below them, smiling and welcoming them, though he tells them that the crew of the Folly are all dead. [With the death of the pirates, all player Heroes lose 15 Renown points, as they were responsible for allowing them to descend into the hold earlier.] He tells them that he is Mephrekhet, and that he was the one who lured Lorca's pirates to their doom. Horrified, the player Heroes and Segetori react with shock and fear. Orabela is rendered shocked and paralysed with fear, as is Segetori. [Orabela fails her WIL + Resolve check, and is paralysed with fear, as is Segetori.] From the wet floor of the hold, Mephrekhet attacks Alethia, using his ability to drain life force, and he succeeds sucking some of her life essence out of her, leaving her a bit pale and somewhat weakened [he drained her of 10 Hit Points, but she spends a Void Hero Point, and only suffers 6 Hit Points of damage.] Dubaku attempts to attack Mephrekhet with a spell [he only achieves a Partial Success], but the undead sorcerer easily resists the attack. Mephrekhet attacks Dubaku, but the Ophirite sorcerer had put up a shield [for 10 points] and is barely able to resist the Dark Arts magic.
Using Dubaku's attack on the mummy sorcerer as her chance, Alethia leaps down to the hold and attacks Mephrekhet. She uses the obsidian khopesh to make her attack, and the undead sorcerer is harmed seriously by the attack, though not incapacitated. [She spends her last Hero Point, and is also forced to tempt Fate, spending 4 Fate as Hero Points, but gains 2 Fate points.] Mephrekhet summons the undead crew of the Zapporo's Folly, and Quayoue, to his assistance. Seeing the dangers down below, Koralo leaps down to assist Alethia, twisting his ankle [and suffering 2 Hit Points of damage]. He leaps to the attack, striking Mephrekhet with the obsidian pacho [and using a Fire Hero Point to add to the damage], and the undead sorcerer suffers a terrible wound, but due to his sheer stamina and undead status is able to continue the fight. Alethia makes another attack on Mephrekhet, but is only able to do minor damage as she fears for her eternal soul and this hinders her fighting ability somewhat. Mephrekhet puts some distance between himself and Alethia, surprised that she's been able to hurt him. With the arrival of Quayoue and the animated undead pirates, Koralo is forced to turn his attention to them. Figuring Quayoue as the greatest threat, Koralo attacks him [spending a Void Hero Point to absorb 8 damage from his attack, and using tempting Fate with the use of 3 Fate Points to strike down Quayoue]. The first mate of the Zapporo's Folly is badly hurt, and almost near to dying. Koralo turns his attention to the other undead pirates. Koralo then attacks a pair of the pirates, and is able to strike them down [using his last Hero Point and 2 Fate Points in the attack]. Meanwhile, Alethia is attacked by a pair of the undead pirates, but is able to deal with them relatively easily, her combat skills helping her in this regard against Mephrekhet's mindless minions. Dubaku works up the courage and descends into the hold, attacking one of the undead pirates with his spear. The attack does a modicum of damage [Dubaku spends 2 Hero Points, both to make the attack successful], but doesn't hinder it that much.
Both Koralo and Alethia are surprised and shocked when a giant octopus enters the fray from the aft end of the hold, using five of its massive tentacles to snatch up several of the undead pirates, and crushing them to death in its grip. An irate Mephrekhet, annoyed at the death of his pirate minions, turns his attention to the giant octopus. He attempts to drain its life force, but fails to do so, and is left vulnerable. Seeing her chance, Alethia sneaks up behind him [she makes her DEX + Stealth check, with a DoD of +3 due to various factors] and strikes him down with a blow from the obsidian khopesh, destroying the mummy. With Mephrekhet dead, his body collapses in on itself and turns to dust, and his undead pirate minions that are left break apart and crumble on the slightly watery deck of the cargo hold.
With the fight over, and the giant octopus seemingly having retreated back into the briny depths at the aft of the galley's hold, the player Heroes turn their attention to their wounds. However, Koralo is somewhat surprised to find that Quayoue, the First Mate of the Zapporo's Folly, is still alive. Badly injured and clearly near to dying [he has 2 Hit Points remaining], Quayoue tells the player Hero that the ancient mummy sorcerer did not kill him along with the others. He kept him alive, but under his mental control, for reasons that he does not understand. Quayoue asks Koralo for some medical attention, as he does not feel that he has long to live.
Sunday afternoon's session of the Atlantis: The Second Age group campaign was a terrific afternoon's gaming that had two combat sequences, one of which was the final, climactic battle against the villain of the piece. There was a good amount of roleplaying during the session as well, the players and their Hero characters forced to make some difficult decisions, but in large part it came down to that final battle. Both player Heroes found themselves running out of Hero Points and were forced to tempt Fate, increasing the danger their characters' lives would be in, but were able to avail themselves well and avoided attracting the attention of the Elder Gods. :) Both Tammy and Steve expressed the thought that they were going to die during the final fight afterwards to me, but fortunately things didn't work out that way. The final fight took quite a while to play out, due to some surprises that stood in the player Heroes' way, so I didn't wrap up the adventure with this session. That will happen next time out, but it will only take about an hour or so to do that.
Overall, this was a pretty fun session of the Atlantis: The Second Age Sunday afternoon campaign, and I had a great time putting the players and their characters through their paces. I would have liked to have wrapped this adventure up, but am looking forward to the next session of the game to do so.