Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nebulous" data-source="post: 4496515" data-attributes="member: 31465">Adventure #7: Darga's PalacePart 3 of 3But lack of a fun execution has left Darga in one of his moods, and he demands for everyone to join him at the gladiator match!  Shifting slowly out of the room, the crowd follows Darga to the gladiator pits, where frantic betting is already taking place.  They find themselves elevated over an enclosed pit underground, looking down on rough terrain and scattered boulders.    Lights click on around the perimeter, and after Six-Six announces of the combatants, and the last call for bets, the doors on either side of the arena open.From the north lunge two hungry cat-like creatures; from the south emerge two scrawny Wookies bearing steel-shod spears.   The five heroes place their bets on who they think will win the fight, and before they know it the battle is over, with both Wookies slain, and one of the cat-creatures thoroughly skewered.  The crowd goes wild as money exchanges hands, and then Six-Six speaks through the intercom system and introduces the next round of combatants:The Karg Brothers!  (the crowd cheers)Wrex, the Assassin Droid! (the crowd cheers again)Zayda the Rodian Killer! (more cheers)<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/glads.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The gammoreans pound their chests and thrust their axes at the roof.  The droid whirls his shoulder-mounted cannon in all directions, and the Rodian gazes coolly up at the Hutt.Turning sly eyes at the heroes, Darga finally says what they dreaded he would say:“I want you to be my champions, newcomers.  Fight in the arena against my best gladiators.  Stun settings only! Do you accept?”Fearing that declining Darga’s offer will place them in a worse predicament, they take the turbolift down to the lower level.  But Darga insists that Warrick Raden (Toto!) must join them in battle.  Whining softly, the thug can only comply.   They give him a blaster pistol (and I give the PCs stats from the adventure book for Raden), and the fight begins!But in the brief interim while they traveled from the upper level to the lower, the gladiators have switched positions.  As soon as the interior door opens, the group sees that the droid and rodian have taken cover, and before the heroes can move from their clumped position, a concussion grenade streaks into the midst!  Stun damage hits four of them, and they quickly scramble for cover to avoid that little mishap again.Wrex the Droid is their #1 problem.  His grenades have full range over the board, and will quickly pound them senseless if they can’t take him down.   He’s immune to Stun too, so they don’t feel guilty about lethal force. The rodian doesn’t fire (no range for stun yet), and the THREE gammorreans (hey, wait, where’d the fourth one go?) are slinging energy balls around. The fight is six on six, and early on the PCs figured that, yeah thanks Mr. GM, we’re screwed. Rather than relate a play-by-play of this whole two hour fight, I’ll hit the highlights.  (First off, the music was Burly Brawl from Matrix, which was perfect).  Thanatos and Nep’Tuk find cover early behind a rock, while Tomla feels confident with 10 rounds of Damage Reduction to protect him.  The Jedi doesn’t want to blatantly use his powers, and carries a pistol he never actually fires.<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/arena1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The gammoreans start throwing their energy balls once they advance some, but I don’t think they hit anyone, or they hit for low damage. The grenades from the droid are problematic, but several high rolls knock Wrex down the condition track, although he is incredibly hard to hit behind cover unless they aim.  It wastes his time while he struggles up the track and takes a Second Wind.The floor of the arena itself is another major obstacle.  Most of it is rough terrain, which severely limited their movement.  The rodian advances, trying to ping Stun shots off the Jedi, and the gammoreans eventually drop their ranged weapons and switch to vibro-axes. And they sure as hell aren’t pulling their punches!One gammorean is actually able to line himself up for a Devastating Charge on the Jedi, which inflicts enormous damage.  (GM Note: we had to pause the game and try to calculate per the rules exactly how these guys were dishing out so much punishment; I think it was 2d10 +17 for the charge).With some lucky shots on the behalf of the heroes, and three missed shots from Wrex’s grenade launcher, they are able to destroy the droid before he inflicts serious damage.  He could have easily laid the whole party down had he hit consecutively.But the gammoreans make it into melee range, and they are horrible opponents.  Toto “Warrick Raden” is cut down by a gladiator, and only saved from death by his final Force Point.   The PCs themselves are spending Force Points, desperately trying to get rolls high enough to hit their enemies, all of whom have very high Reflex Defenses.  <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/arena2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />It’s not until there is a single Gammorean left standing that the FOURTH brother turns up.  He had been hiding in a secret tunnel under the arena, and pops up to help his brother flank A’ath the zabrak.  It is bad news for A’ath, and both gammoreans hit him, grinding A’ath into the dirt. <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/arena4.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Thanatos is likewise cut down, and the fight boils down to a heated match with injured parties on all sides.  It’s Tomla who ultimately takes down the last two gammoreans with a couple of well-placed Ithorian “belches.”  Or whatever they’re called.  The brothers are slammed against the wall, and crumpling unconscious, and the crowd erupts into a cacophony of cheers.<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/arena3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />There are three heroes standing, but all very injured.  Tomla would cheer himself, but the exertion would probably knock him unconscious. Standing as tall as they can on wobbly legs, the winners gaze up at Darga the Hutt, who is glaring down at his newest combatants with malevolent glee…<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/arena5.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />GAME TIME:  About 4 hours</blockquote>

Verification