That was one of the best I've had for some time. Ninjae, necromancers and romance. Well, almost romance.
The group is in a network of seaside caves near Buccaneer's Den, your typical wretched hive of scum and villainy. They're there hunting down the assassins' guild, who have been popping up at regular intervals for the last few months (game time and real time) and causing violence against them.
I've got the Kill Bill soundtrack on continuous loop on Winamp, and they're plowing through the assassins like there's no tomorrow. Three people escape alive from the first 20 that they meet (they'd already gone through about 40 in the previous session). Having disposed of the mooks, they penetrate into the inner sanctum of the guild.
The first encounter inside is with a guardian nimblewright, bumped up by 10 HD/levels. The nimblewright beats the knight and the barb/fighter down to about 10-20 hit points out of 150, and is almost unhittable due to high AC. To make matters worse, they also meet three bloodmages (necromancers) who zap them while they're tangling with it. But eventually the barb/fighter gets his revenge by smashing the nimblewright to pieces, and also smooshing the bloodmages all over the chamber.
Next encounter is with two shadow warriors, who meet them in the corridor. The battle is over in 4 rounds, as the group opens up another can of whoopass on them. Oh, their trumpet archon ally nearly gets killed, but he's tough, he can handle it. "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" is playing.
I describe a cutscene, where the guildmaster of the assassins, Tarim Val, bitterly complaining that his men are dead, his chief minions have deserted him, and today has seen the end of his guild. The bloodmage he's talking to says that it will also see the end of these upstart adventurers. The guildmaster retorts that whatever happens, the bloodmage will also see it happen, for he will not escape. The bloodmage sends his henchman, a warrior in full plate looking rather like a Warhammer chaos warrior, off to dispose of these intruders. Background music: "Twisted Nerve".
Cut back to "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" as the group meets the warrior, who is waiting for them Darth Maul-style. The battle takes 3 rounds. The archon and the barb/fighter nearly die (again!), but the warrior falls. On his body, the group can see foul, black oozing ichor and his wounds reveal horrible growths, tumours, pus-filled cysts, cancerous organs, even internal limbs. I'll freely admit I stole that from L5R's maho-tsukai. The soundtrack has switched to "Flower of Carnage", so it all fits, really.
Finally comes the showdown with the guildmaster, and the bloodmage with him. It's the mage who's got away from the group two sessions running, and has been sent to dispose of them once and for all.
Unfortunately for him, and for the guild of assassins, it doesn't quite work out that way.
Music playing at the start: "The Grand Duel"; and at the end, Zamfir's "The Lonely Shepherd".
So that was the serious, kickass-and-take-names bit. Next comes the comic relief bit.
Later, back at home base (sort of), the female ex-assassin they've had with them for about six months is chatting to the knight. She's torn about what she's done in the past, the end of the guild she was part of for many years, and is unsure about what she should do now that it's all over.
So she's talking to the knight who rescued her when she was abandoned by her erstwhile colleagues. The man who exemplifies all that's foreign to her worldview, one dominated by dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest and most ruthless. The man who seems to think she's worth a second chance, even though if their places had been switched, she'd have left him to his fate. She doesn't like that thought, and she doesn't like the person she used to be, and she's confused. And she'd like to, you know, maybe ask him why she's changed, what to do, and perhaps even get to know him a bit better?
And the player has a total deer-in-the-headlights look on his face, and his mouth is opening and closing like a fish out of water. And I'm mixing metaphors like nobody's business, and the rest of the group are busting themselves. One of them has to excuse himself to make some tea, he can't stop giggling.
The guy playing the knight is basically a by-the-numbers tactician/wargaming type of player, a programmer by trade, and a total geek/nerd by personality. He's a great guy, but it's obvious he's completely out of his depth.
So he botches the conversation, much to everyone's amusement, and the girl leaves with a rather downcast look on her face. She talks to the druid (party mum, sort of), who in turn talks to the knight. The knight spends the night (sorry) drinking heavily.
I probably should apologise to the player for springing something like this on him and dragging him out of his comfort zone, when he was expecting just the usual go-forth-and-slay type of game. But by heck, it was fun.
The group is in a network of seaside caves near Buccaneer's Den, your typical wretched hive of scum and villainy. They're there hunting down the assassins' guild, who have been popping up at regular intervals for the last few months (game time and real time) and causing violence against them.
I've got the Kill Bill soundtrack on continuous loop on Winamp, and they're plowing through the assassins like there's no tomorrow. Three people escape alive from the first 20 that they meet (they'd already gone through about 40 in the previous session). Having disposed of the mooks, they penetrate into the inner sanctum of the guild.
The first encounter inside is with a guardian nimblewright, bumped up by 10 HD/levels. The nimblewright beats the knight and the barb/fighter down to about 10-20 hit points out of 150, and is almost unhittable due to high AC. To make matters worse, they also meet three bloodmages (necromancers) who zap them while they're tangling with it. But eventually the barb/fighter gets his revenge by smashing the nimblewright to pieces, and also smooshing the bloodmages all over the chamber.
Next encounter is with two shadow warriors, who meet them in the corridor. The battle is over in 4 rounds, as the group opens up another can of whoopass on them. Oh, their trumpet archon ally nearly gets killed, but he's tough, he can handle it. "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" is playing.
I describe a cutscene, where the guildmaster of the assassins, Tarim Val, bitterly complaining that his men are dead, his chief minions have deserted him, and today has seen the end of his guild. The bloodmage he's talking to says that it will also see the end of these upstart adventurers. The guildmaster retorts that whatever happens, the bloodmage will also see it happen, for he will not escape. The bloodmage sends his henchman, a warrior in full plate looking rather like a Warhammer chaos warrior, off to dispose of these intruders. Background music: "Twisted Nerve".
Cut back to "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" as the group meets the warrior, who is waiting for them Darth Maul-style. The battle takes 3 rounds. The archon and the barb/fighter nearly die (again!), but the warrior falls. On his body, the group can see foul, black oozing ichor and his wounds reveal horrible growths, tumours, pus-filled cysts, cancerous organs, even internal limbs. I'll freely admit I stole that from L5R's maho-tsukai. The soundtrack has switched to "Flower of Carnage", so it all fits, really.
Finally comes the showdown with the guildmaster, and the bloodmage with him. It's the mage who's got away from the group two sessions running, and has been sent to dispose of them once and for all.
Unfortunately for him, and for the guild of assassins, it doesn't quite work out that way.
Music playing at the start: "The Grand Duel"; and at the end, Zamfir's "The Lonely Shepherd".
So that was the serious, kickass-and-take-names bit. Next comes the comic relief bit.
Later, back at home base (sort of), the female ex-assassin they've had with them for about six months is chatting to the knight. She's torn about what she's done in the past, the end of the guild she was part of for many years, and is unsure about what she should do now that it's all over.
So she's talking to the knight who rescued her when she was abandoned by her erstwhile colleagues. The man who exemplifies all that's foreign to her worldview, one dominated by dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest and most ruthless. The man who seems to think she's worth a second chance, even though if their places had been switched, she'd have left him to his fate. She doesn't like that thought, and she doesn't like the person she used to be, and she's confused. And she'd like to, you know, maybe ask him why she's changed, what to do, and perhaps even get to know him a bit better?
And the player has a total deer-in-the-headlights look on his face, and his mouth is opening and closing like a fish out of water. And I'm mixing metaphors like nobody's business, and the rest of the group are busting themselves. One of them has to excuse himself to make some tea, he can't stop giggling.
The guy playing the knight is basically a by-the-numbers tactician/wargaming type of player, a programmer by trade, and a total geek/nerd by personality. He's a great guy, but it's obvious he's completely out of his depth.
So he botches the conversation, much to everyone's amusement, and the girl leaves with a rather downcast look on her face. She talks to the druid (party mum, sort of), who in turn talks to the knight. The knight spends the night (sorry) drinking heavily.
I probably should apologise to the player for springing something like this on him and dragging him out of his comfort zone, when he was expecting just the usual go-forth-and-slay type of game. But by heck, it was fun.
