Dwimmermount with Middle Schoolers -- XXI

At the top of our 21st session, Hurtis and Sergei spent their loot in Muntburg on lifestyle / carousing rolls in an effort to gain some xp and buy higher guaranteed minimum hit points when next leveling up.  Both players botched their rolls, however, and after a night on the town Hurtis accidentally insulted a watch captain's wife and has been challenged to a duel when next he shows his face within Muntburg's walls.

Meanwhile, Sergei contracted a nasty throat infection, spent his down time flat on his back covered with leeches, and didn't gain any xp for his cash spent.


So, with this inauspicious start, the "Fabulous Five" trekked off toward Dwimmermount.  Here's the party's roster:

• Y'draneal -- elven cartographer and thief 4
• Ivor the Doorman -- fighter 4
• Hurtis -- fighter 2
• Sergei -- Fighter 1
• 2 Dwimmerling dwarves (NPCs working off their debt)

**notice the complete absence of any spellcasters!**

Steered by Y'draneal's prized maps, the group hastened through The Path of Mavors and down to level 2 without any encounters or entanglements (even the toll-taking, sentient rats were conspicuously absent).  Advancing along the western end of explored territory, the adventurers entered first one broad, columned hall (devoted to the four elements), then another.

In this second hall they discovered columns clad in rare metals.  Hurtis made an effort to pry some of this material free with Sergei's crowbar, but the work was slow, and in the end they decided to mark their map for the future and move onward.


In the long hallway beyond, the group soon learned that the noise they had made hadn't gone unnoticed.  A northern door was jerked partially opened and two flasks of oil were hurled their way, followed by a lit torch!

The torch throw went long, however, and while a pair of great Dwimmer-goblins fired crossbows from behind the partial cover of the door, another torch was kindled.


The adventurers weren't particularly coordinated in their response, some retreated while others advanced, or just stood their ground, but the big goblins continued to suffer from poor luck on their torch throws.  Finally, Hurtis led a charge and he, Sergei, and Ivor were successful in forcing the door, slaying a goblin, and wounding two others.  The creatures' morale broke and they withdrew hastily and in good order, while Y'draneal kept up a steady stream of arrows, risking shots into melee to hasten the retreat.

Pursuing the great goblins through a room of strange, fluid-filled tanks, Hurtis and Sergei kept up the chase.  They succeeded in running the goblins down, overtaking them when they hesitated just outside a door.  In the face of spears and arrows, the Dwimmer-goblins dared to open the portal, only to reveal a dreadful, undead guardian!

The horrid deadite sprang forward, draining the life from the first goblin at a mere touch.

"Oh no ..."

"Last time we fought one of these guys I lost like 12 hit points permanently."

"If I lost 12 hit points I'd be at -1."

"I'd be at like -3."

As the group back-peddled, Ivor switched from his greatsword to spear and shield to improve his armor class.

"You can only hurt them with spells or magic."

"But we don't have that!"

"The only thing I've got are my purple arrows."

Sergei tried to fend the horror off with his shield, staring into the soulless depths of its empty eye sockets, while Y'draneal passed a few of his precious, azoth-infused arrows to Ivor.  Y'draneal's arrows proved effective, as hoped, but just as Sergei pushed back a second attack, a stray shaft from the elf's warbow struck him in the back, felling him!

"Well, at least I have a clear shot now."

"Yeah, you did your job, man."

(c) Wayne Reynolds 2000

While Y'draneal's next arrow found its mark, Hurtis hewed at the monster with his ax.  To his dismay, as the weapon struck the wooden haft withered into brittle fragments, defeated by the creature's deadly aura.  It was Hurtis himself who next felt the burning, cold touch of the dead guardian and he labored under a sudden vision of the cruel, outer blackness of The Void.


At last, a third azoth-arrow punched into the vile wight, banishing the deadly spirit and leaving a mere battered, mummified husk behind.  Sergei's player succeeded on three straight death saves, with the result that he was found not to be dead, but only stunned (reduced to 1 hp), the arrow having glanced off of his shoulder blade.

The group dared to explore one room further, but in the end they came away with but a double handful of coins taken from the vanquished goblins for all their pains.
--------------------------------------------------

This was a solid, little session.  It showed me how my players are growing more dungeon-savvy and cemented for me my approach toward "energy draining" undead.  Having hits deal permanent damage brings the fear, but doesn't require the bookkeeping of reducing a character's level mid-encounter (xp, spells, hit modifiers, saving throws, etc.).

And though it isn't my core system of choice, I'm also really on board with a few elements of 5th edition D&D ... namely ...

• death checks -- these are just great (the player of a downed character gets something to do)
• advantage / disadvantage (saves time and page-flipping)
• occasional feats / special abilities for fighters are solid and add to the player's options without making things cumbersome (fighting style, bonus attack, second wind, etc.)

I can see a couple of these elements making their way into my own set of D&D "house rules" should I ever try to codify them.

White Star: Return of Rocket Wookie

Spring Break brought the opportunity to run several more White Star micro-sessions, both at home and in the car while traveling to see relatives.

The Chase: Rocket Wookie blasted off in hot pursuit of Meez-weez and his mobile takka stand.  We devoted a quick session to the chase, using saving throws and Strength checks where necessary.  In the end, following several near-misses from low-hanging pipes and causeways, Rocket Wookie nabbed Meez-weez, who promised to lead his captor to his secret stash of credits.

Claustrophobic: The next session, which ran less than 15 minutes, began with Meez-weez leading Rocket Wookie through a maintenance hatch and along a series of access tunnels ... predictably trying to escape at every turn.  Despite Meez-weez's efforts and a run-in with some critter related to a mynock, Rocket Wookie was able to catch the slippery gambler and drag him back out of the hatch ... only to find a squad of Imperial stormtroopers investigating the wreck of Meez-weez's takka stand!

Firefight!:  In the next session, Rocket Wookie tossed Meez-weez back through the hatch and began exchanging fire with the stormtroopers.  Under heavy fire, the wookie chose to scoop up the gambler and retreat back down the tunnels just as a stormtrooper tossed a thermal detonator through the hatch.  Stumbling through the smoke and steam, Rocket Wookie took a wrong turn and triggered a system purge, dumping the pair down the drain and into the lightless "Sump Level", deep below the city.

Splashdown:  Only Rocket Wookie's jetpack kept the plummeting pair from certain death as they tumbled toward the surface of the subterranean sludge lake, but to Rocket Wookie's dismay the device began to sputter and malfunction!  Landing hard in the vast cesspool, the wookie's frustrated roar echoed off unseen walls.  Soon, however, a pair of greeninsh lights appeared.  Could they be eyes?  Expecting to be swallowed at any second, Rocket Wookie was surprised when a voice spoke from beyond the light, "Ootu waggit do naka?"  Meez-weez and Rocket Wookie scrambled aboard the odd, little fishing skiff (the lights turned out to be lamps positioned at the bow to draw fish) as the pilot turned his craft back toward his village.

Sha-rat Village: Small, rat-like, reptile men, the Sha-rats built their floating village out of the trash and debris that washed down the drains of the megalopolis far above.  A fierce debate broke out over whether Rocket Wookie and Meez-weez should be considered "fish" or not, and eventually they were brought to the tribal shaman to settle the matter.

The Godhead: In the shaman's shrine a broad pipe projected from the wall, forming the mouth of a huge, stern droid face painted onto the rusty wall.  As the shaman bowed, the face spoke in a surprisingly alto, ordering him and the guards from the shrine.  

It turns out that the droid-head was occupied by Lyn No-moi, a diminutive humanoid who was accidentally washed down from the surface.  Lyn had been hiding out among the Sha-rats until she could find a way back up to the city.  She struck a deal with Rocket Wookie -- if Lyn could help find a way to repair and refuel the jetpack, Rocket Wookie would bring Lyn back up to the city.

Lake Monster: Knuj the Fletchling, a lonely Sha-rat who wasn't a good fisherman but who had a natural affinity for mechanical things, had befriended Lyn and kept her secret (not revealing that she was the source of the droid-idol's voice).  If Knuj could get back to the old Sha-rat village site, he might be able to convert some of the chemicals skimmed from the surface of the scum lake into a crude fuel for Rocket Wookie's jetpack.  The only problem is that the old village site was overrun by a dreadful lake lurker!  So Rocket Wookie, Knuj, and Lyn headed off to the abandoned village to battle the monster (Meez-weez stayed behind, have no appetite for danger), which they were finally able to drive away with the help of Rocket Wookie's one and only grenade.

-----------------------

Again, much of the fun we are having with White Star is due to the very light rules and the fact that we run a single, quick scene and stop after about 10 minutes.  This free-wheeling, completely improvised approach is like a spice that adds flavor to our regular role-playing fare.

Has anyone else fooled around with micro-sessions?