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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 6332618" data-attributes="member: 6776411">Rise of the Runelords (Season 3) – 06/03/2014 Following the rusty rails of the old mine-cart track, Rast advances ahead of the party, shrouded in his Cloak of Lurking Menace (+2 stealth). He is soon crouched on a ledge overlooking a huge cavern aswarm with industrious ogres. The sweltering air rings with the clang of metal as the muscular brutes labour at their anvils, pounding shapeless metal into crude, oversized weapons. Two enormous vats of molten iron bubble and spit – and beyond that, the shaft of a large freight elevator ascends through the roof of the cavern. This mechanism is powered by a miserable collection of human/dwarven prisoners, trapped in a huge wheel at the base of the shaft. Their pleas for water and mercy are distantly audible, even over the general clamour of the foundry. Rast returns to the party, reporting that the area ahead is teeming with ogres. “Ogres?” Vale Temros enquires. “Yes, lots of ogres,” the dwarven alchemist answers distractedly. “I propose that we sneak passed without drawing their attention and see if there’s any way to rescue - ” “OGRES!!!” Vale Temros roars, charging off down the tunnel. “He really doesn’t care for ogres, does he?” Ben Kotek observes, readying his bow. (GM Notes: Again, so much for the stealthy approach, although this time it was an NPCs fault). By the time they catch up with the bloodthirsty ranger, he is already trading blows with two of the hulking ogre metalworkers, while yet more crowd around to watch. The Kreeg overseer cracks his whip, ordering the distracted brutes to return to their work. Rast flings himself from the ledge, the harpy wings of his glider snapping open on recently oiled springs. The thermal currents rising from the two huge vats of molten iron allow him to remain airborne almost indefinitely. One ogre takes umbrage with the dwarf’s blatant disregard for the rules of gravity and hurls a hammer at his head. Rast looses a couple of teeth, but remains in the air. Grogg and Asha rush to support Vale, while Solaris snipes from the ledge. The burly ranger takes a nasty blow to the head and falls unconscious. The ogres place his body on an anvil and prepare to beat his skull into a more pleasing shape. As the hammer descends with bone-shattering force, Asha leaps forward and slices off the ogre’s arm. The hammer strikes the anvil (inches away from Vale’s head) throwing up sparks. Another ogre grabs the sun-worshipping cleric in his muscular arms, tendons straining as he begins squeezing the life out of her. Grogg hurls his magical battleaxe at the ogre’s head, burying the wicked blade deep in the monster’s skull. Meanwhile, Ben Kotek repeatedly casts Blast (burning through Power Points like a fat child eats Smarties), mangling ogres left, right and centre. At the far end of the cavern, the large elevator begins to descend, groaning with the weight of its load. An angry stone giant emerges from the lift and tips over one of the two vats of molten metal. Everyone (except for Grogg and a couple of ogres) make their agility saves and get up onto the oversized anvils to evade the puddle of death. Grogg takes 3d10 = 6 damage (oh, fickle dice!) and refuses to catch fire. The half-orc begins splashing around (incurring horrific burns, but no actual wounds), searching for the magical axe that he threw earlier in the combat. (GM Notes: The other players thought I was too lenient on Vic’s character and should not have allowed Grogg to wade around in a pool of molten metal. I rolled 3d10 damage for every round that he was splashing around (Vic really wanted that axe back before the iron cooled/solidified) and not once did the result exceed Grogg’s TN - even without his AV bonus. Those rolls could just have easily exploded for massive damage. Perhaps I should have rolled 2d10+4 instead). Still flying, Rast circles the giant and chucks a pot of alchemical glue at its legs, adhering its great stone feet to the ground. Ben targets the immobilised giant with Jet (rolling exceptional damage on 2d10) and kills it with just the one spell. The giant topples over backwards, crashing through the huge wheel at the base of the lift shaft and releasing the prisoners who had been trapped within. Grogg and Karrack both play adventure cards to establish themselves as folk heroes in the vicinity of Hook Mountain. “Thank-you for rescuing us!” one particular dwarf says, pumping Rast’s hand in his, “My name is Silas Vekker. Tell me, where is my brother? Is he well?” Silas explains that his brother (Karivek Vekker) escaped from his cell two days ago and climbed the elevator shaft, hoping to escape from the clanhold and return with reinforcements to free the rest of his kin. “Never met the fellow!” Rast answers cheerfully, “He’s probably been eaten. Did he have any good treasure?” (GM Notes: This was a long battle for Savage Worlds, with lots of combatants and environmental hazards. With TN 12, ogres can be tough to put down, but most of the players are now dealing enough damage to take them out pretty quickly (Grogg is a viking in melee, Ben with the Blast power, Solaris using the Aim + Double Shot edge combo) Maybe I should give Savage Worlds ogres the Hardy ability, so that a second shaken result does not incapacitate them. Doug did had some trouble, I’m pretty sure that Karrack spent the entire fight trading blows with the same ogre. Gary did not build Rast for close combat and he avoids it religiously, relying on alchemical devices and his returning dagger to attack from range. I did impose the unstable platform ability to attack from the air, but that can be negated by taking the Steady Hands edge on a future Advance. I enjoyed running this fight, even though it did take ages, I just hope the players were not bored between turns). Following Karivek’s example, the heroes climb the lift shaft and enter the ogre hold unremarked. Having learnt their lesson, Asha distracts Vale Temros by displaying a shameful amount of cleavage, while the rest of the party range ahead and slaughter any sentries that they find. Eventually, the party enters a noxious-smelling cave, where three ogre-sized hags cluster around a bubbling cauldron. This coven of loathsome old crones (Briselda, Grelthaga & Lorastine) are responsible for the unnaturally heavy rainfall plaguing the region. Grelthaga is dealt a Joker during initiative and acts first, enjoying a +2 bonus to her spellcasting dice. She casts Blind and Ben, Grogg and Asha are all suddenly robbed of their sight. (GM Note: I don’t like how the Blind power works in the rules as written, so I changed it up to impose the standard -6 penalty to do anything based on vision for the three rounds that the power lasts. Grelthaga could have extended the duration by spending power points, but that would have been a dick move and I didn’t do it. I got the impression these three players were not happy about being knocked out of the combat for three rounds, but I did advise them there was nothing to stop them wading in and rolling their attacks with a -6 penalty, dice do explode after all. I had thought that Grogg would have done that, but he ended up cowering in the tunnel, waiting for the spell to expire like everyone else). Karrack rushes forward and drives his spear through Briselda’s eye, killing her instantly! (GM Notes: This was a stupid GM mistake, I forgot that each of the hags was a Wild Card with multiple wounds – by the time I remembered, it was too late to do anything about it. I did consider dropping this fight altogether and going straight to the confrontation with Barl, but the heavy rainfall was such a big part of the villain's plans that I didn't feel I could overlook the cause of it). Grelthaga lashes out with her filthy claws, scoring deep gouges in the side of the cauldron as Karrack ducks behind it. The final hag casts Baleful Shapechange against Vale Temros, transforming him into a pig. Her wicked cackling is interrupted when the animal sinks its teeth into her shin. Infuriated, she snatches the scrappy man-pig up and bites off its head! Salty pig blood gushes from between rotten, brown teeth. Next, Lorastine attempts to transform Karrack into a frog, but he resists the effects of the spell. The lizardman monk subsequently kills her and Grethalga in a flurry of scaly fists! Rast dredges the bottom of the cauldron and finds the skeletal remains of Silas Vekker’s missing brother, recognisable by the distinctive ring on one of his bony fingers. Grogg recovers his vision just as the battle ends. “Is anyone going to finish that pig?” he asks, stomach rumbling. New Treasure Ring of Miner’s Luck: A plain copper band that grows warmer the closer the wearer is to an unworked seam of precious metal. Highly valued by dwarven prospectors. Vekker’s Pick: +1 (fighting/damage) pickaxe belonging to Karivek Vekker, functions as a +2 weapon when brandished by a dwarf.</blockquote>

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