Lair Of The Orc Lord - Deep 1 (Part 5)

Three months. Has it really been so long since last I GMed a game of Rolemaster? Apparently so according to my players. A break was expected but only for a one and a half months to two, not three. The Christmas and New Year's breaks, as well as the start of the school year, made it very difficult for the group to come together, but hopefully now that we have then it will run like clockwork every two weeks. Except for the fact that I will be away for two weeks in four weeks time - oh well, on with the game.

Last time we saw the PCs in trouble when a bunch of goblins swarmed them and tried to push them into the Pit of Deff. Tonight's gaming saw them move away from the trap and head down the corridor (12) to the west. Without much ado they open the door at the end and are faced with six goblins and a mage or shaman of some sort (13 on the map).

This room smells terrible and the party spell users can feel magic power emanating from it. In the gloom you can see a set of stairs leading to a raised platform. A door leads off to the north.

You may click on the map to enlarge it and use your browser Back button to return here.

Kodos remembers this room as being the one he accidentally teleported into not too long ago and now, if the PCs want to find what they came for, they will need to search this room or continue north in order to find the Life Stone.

Cavell moves into the room and is stopped by the platform as well as most of the goblins as they come to meet their uninvited guests. The goblin shaman starts mumbling some words and a big beefy goblin stands in front to protect him. See image.

Click to enlarge.

Rikku attempts to bash a goblin good, but he breaks his sword hitting the wall in his swing and is really unhappy. (Rikku's player rolled 77 and so the rules called for a weapon breakage check. Given his broadsword has a strength of 86, the poor guy rolls 9(?) and breaks his weapon - ha! He needed to roll over 14 to get a total score over 100.) That will teach Rikku to sell off perfectly good magical swords when he doesn't have a backup sword! He now has to rely on his dagger.

Xera and Kodos use their missile weapons on the goblin in front of the shaman.

Shashari attempts to use her atlatl and fumbles. Her player rolls on the fumble table to see what happens and now poor Shashari also has broken her weapon. This just goes to show that if a PC's player is absent from the session (Shashari's was this time), then something bad will happen. So far we are at 100% weapon fatality for absent players - two absences for this campaign so far and both have had their weapons broken.

Asmodeus casts sleep but because he speeds up the spell preparation time he fails to cast it and still manages to lose the powerpoints in the process. Asmodeus' player failed the Spell Casting Static Manoeuvre roll, getting less then 25.

The goblins have taken very little damage and with the PCs' bad luck, look to be the favourites in this fight. Rikku goes down early with a broken shoulder and then, after getting a nasty cut, is bleeding badly. He falls unconscious to the floor as the shaman's bodyguard is taken care of and Cavell dispatches another goblin.

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Things start to look better for the party as they concentrate on the remaining few goblins. The shaman vanishes as he takes more damage while his goblin retinue continue to fight a losing battle. It was fortunate for the PCs that the doorway was fairly crammed. Having little room to get at the PCs gave them the edge they needed to win this fight.

Once the goblins were taken care of, Rikku demanded the attention of the healers in the party. Xera managed to successfully cast a fracture repair on his shoulder and then smeared some blue mush (magical herb) on him to seal his bleeding wound, but her player failed the Use Prepared Herb skill check, so the bleeding continued. Cavell assisted the wounded too, isn't he nice!

Experience points were worked out and the night finished here. A short session to be sure but a good start to the year's gaming.