The second adventure takes them further inland to escape the Cryx. They find a ruined village to hide in, but it is only a brief respite. The Cryx are searching the island, and the party contacts one of the Cryxian groups. Some plot stuff is mixed into this episode, along with a nasty fight at the edge of town. The Cryx have ways of creating more undead during the battle, and this was the first real spellcaster/’jack controller that they faced.
Most of the evening was the set-piece fight at the edge of town: a ruined graveyard, some tumble-down buildings, stone walls, and plenty of zombies to run about the table. While the Players were ready for a fight, they did not know about some of the Cryxian tricks. The Ogrun did their job and held the front line, but took a beating from the Siren’s spells, and had trouble hitting the nimble bonejacks. The Llaelese character got too far in front of the battle line and was brutalized by several raiders and thralls. He did survive (thank you, Heroic Dodge!) but was a bit disgruntled. The Alchemist did his job by providing healing ointments and anti-corrosive paste to the front liners.
From the GM’s side, the battle went well. We had some lovely surprises. The first time they killed a scrap thrall it exploded with great force, catching Players off guard. Then the BoneJacks showed up, and were faster and harder to hit than anything they had encountered. The main spell the Siren was throwing was Venom, which makes a great spray of corrosive acids. Fortunately, the Players rallied and proceeded to smash the bad guys, as they are supposed to do. The Players’ Monk did a good job by running up and smashing the jaw right off the bonejack, preventing it from biting him back. The Raiders were facing the Player’s warjack, but since the Player had not yet formed a Bond, the Feedback ability had no effect. Sparky the Storm Sorcerer also took advantage of his mobility to engage several Raiders before they could be a serious threat to the rest of the party. The Menite Priest and Khadoran Warcaster kept most of the undead thralls at bay until the Storm Sorcerer could get around to attack the Necrotech. The Pistoleer kept blowing up the scrap thralls before they could get too close. All in all, a good fight.
Total enemy forces were: six Statyxis Raiders, six Mechanithralls, eight Scrap Thralls (with more being made during combat), one Necrotech, two BoneJacks and one Siren as the leader. Note: Remember, this is up against a party of twelve! Scale down for smaller groups! So a party of four might face four Statyxis, four Scrap Thrall and the Necrotech, with one Bonejack for the Siren. That should be a tough fight.
There was supposed to be a bit of plot exposition. One of the Raiders was still breathing (but badly hurt) at the end of the fight so that the Players could interrogate her for information. Instead, the Players just put her out of her misery, and thus gained no useful information. As GM I will be trying to find ways to feed them this information during the next adventure, since it is some more detail about the plot with the Iron Cask, which just happens to be the central thread for the campaign…
The Players are now fleeing towards the second harbor, and hope to find a useable ship. The main force of the Cryxian army has been alerted by the Siren, and are now bearing down on the Players are hard as they can. The Cryx are looking for the Iron Cask, and think the party may have stolen it. Next time will be a battle at the docks!
Cast of Non-Player Characters
Siren – Cryxian Warcaster
SPD:7 MAT:5 RAT:4 DEF:15 ARM:13 WIL:10 ARC:4
Full Life Spiral: P6 A6 I4
Bloodblade: PS:11 magic Reach, on hit target gets -3 DEF and no movememnt
Spells: Venom- SPR:8 POW:10 Continuous Corrosion
Nightwretch Bonejack (Bonded)
SPD:7 MAT:6 RAT:5 DEF:15 ARM:14
Full Light Damage Grid
Spitter: RNG:6 POW:12, 1FOC = AoE:3
Arc Node
Deathripper Bonejack (Bonded)
SPD:7 MAT:6 RAT:5 DEF:15 ARM:14
Full Light Damage Grid
Jaws: PS:13, Sustained Attack
Arc Node
Statyxis Raiders
SPD:7 MAT:6 DEF:14 ARM:12 WIL:8 Hits: 5
Combined Melee Attack
Lacerator: PS:9 Chain Reach Feedback Crit:KD
NecroTech – Undead Generator
SPD:5 DEF:12 MAT:6 RAT:3 ARM:13 WIL:9
Full Life Spiral: P6 A4 I6
Claw Wrench: PS:10 Reach
Can create 1 Scrap Thrall or repair one Bonejack 1d6 per turn
Scrap Thrall
SPD:5 DEF:11 MAT:3 RAT:2 ARM:12 Hits:5
Explodes: POW:16 AoE:4″ (must directly hit in melee for direct POW hit. Blast 8 otherwise)
Will Explode when destroyed
Mechanithrall
as previous
Map
The players start in the ruined buildings at the edge of town. Necrotech and Thralls deploy in the graveyard, and the Raiders deploy in the trees at the edge of town.
