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terrycloth...which neither side won.
We had a session of Lazar's GURPS neverwhere campaign. It started just before a combat which we couldn't possibly win, and sure enough, we didn't win it. We did *survive* it, though, which was more than I expected... I think everyone in the party needed to make at least one life roll, though.
Are we playing GURPS wrong? We're basically letting people fight normally (barring pain from wounds in the next second) no matter how hurt they are, unless they fail their consciousness or life rolls. This benefits the party more than the enemy, of course, since the party is the side starting combat with negative hit points.
So, the party had finally reached their goal, the central boiler room of the strange animated metal facility, which was also the place of power, the source of the spirit-field driving all spirits away from the are, and one of the five seals holding... something... in place. Oh, and Enochin's head was there, attached to the boiler.
Unfortuantely, they got there only one step ahead of the Kits, and before they knew it, Enochin was awake and insane, John and the Marquis were pinned against a wall by flailing metal arms, and Charlie and Don were staring down a Kits who'd teleported in at point-blank range.
Fortunately for them, that Kits was a mage, and didn't immediately leap into melee to shred them with his massive claws. Charlie, without a weapon in hand, and basically out of energy, called on a bound spirit to destroy the air behin the Kits, trying to suck him back into the flailing arms -- which sort of worked, in that the Kits moved, but sort of didn't, in that he jsut hovered in the center of the thunderclap, effortlessly doding the arms and seeminlgy unhurt by the shockwave. Don tried to shoot him, and scored a nasty hit, which the Kits also ignored. Fricking Kits.
The Marquis managed to break out of the arms' embrace before the Kits' reinforcements arrived, but John was held tight -- he uttered a prayer to *something* to come help him, and soon a large black creature showed up, demonic looking, with wings and teeth and all. "He's here to help us!" John shouted, so that no one mistook the newcomer for a demon or something.
Charlie also tried to call on favors from the spirits, but nothing happened -- apparently, they were kept out by the spirit wind, as he'd figured they'd be. He tried to use his rituals to put the Kits to sleep, but that didn't work either. He tried throwing the dangerous totem at the Kits in the hallway, but by some strange trick of fate missed badly enough to bounce the missile back into his hand.
Don fired again, still not killing his target, and shouted for Enochin to close the door! He was then taken down (and knocked unconscious) by a vicious strike from the second Kits, who lept through the door just before Enochin closed it... and then got back up, after suddenly slurping up life energy from everyone in the room. The Marquis leapt at Don, and shoved him Between to protect him -- everyone else in the room forgot that he'd ever existed.
With John trapped against one wall, and Charlie cowering and failing to do anything effective, the Kits turned on the Marquis, who was able to fend off the melee Kits, but not the madness spell of the mage -- he decided that all metal was out to kill him, and started viciously burning his own life force for massive amounts of energy to pour into metal-killing spells, shredding the walls and floor and ceiling, all of which were metal. Luckily, he avoided breaking the boiler -- maybe it was made of sterner stuff.
John's 'friend' grabbed Enochin's head, and teleported away. "What? You were suppposed to HELP us!" John cried, angrily. The Kits mage summoned a swarm of rats to start biting everyone, and then... the door burst open, and the third Kits -- which they were able to recognize as the one they'd fought in the night, when Enochin's head had been taken, rushed in, claws flaming, just ahead of a massive metal worm, studded with plates like the walls of this place, and also with radioactive power sources like Enochin had. It gobbled up the melee Kits, just like that. Gulp. The Marquis decided that this metal creature was the biggest threat, and leapt into its mouth, burning more life to blast it -- which didn't do much to slow it down, although it broke open a bunch of the power sources, releasing even more radiation. The worm swallowed him, too.
Charlie decided that running away was the better part of running away, and retreated to a corner to turn into a bird, so that he could do so -- the worm was blocking the lower part of the only exit, but there was plenty of room for a hawk to fly out over it. Unfortunately, the room had no corners, and in his mad fleeing, the flaming-clawed Kits took a swipe at him. Somehow, he managed to parry it, but his knife -- picked at random from his stock of 69 magical knives that he'd bought at the auction, which had followed him to this world -- was destroyed, blinding the Kits and releasing a large, evil looking spirit which started draining everyone's intelligence! Unfortunately for it, it filled the room, which meant the center of the spirit wind was located inside its 'body', and it quickly inflated like a Dig Dug victim. *pop!*
But the Kits mage then sent away the flaming-clawed Kits, and was then kept busy getting unsuccesfully eaten by the worm, so Charlie only had to deal with being nibbled to death by a swarm of rats as he tried to hold on to the spell, and eventually managed to turn into a bird and fly away.
Don, still Between, reached for 'a way to escape', and pulled a portable time portal out of his pocket, which he shoved John and himself through. As he pulled himself through, he tried to pull the loop with him, to keep the Kits from following, and managed to break it into two smaller loops. Still, on the other side, there were no enemies, and they were able to run away and get back up to the caverns, and eventually find their way to the bottom of the well.
Charlie, meanwhile, lost his way trying to find the way out of the maze of metal corridors in the dark, but spotted a lit room with his shaman friend in it, pinned to the ground by a metal arm. Since Enochin had been removed, the metal arms weren't moving, and as the plates and such were only held on by magnets, even as a bird he was able to rip bits off the arm until the shaman was freed.
In the distance, they could hear the Kits fighting the worm -- and it sounded like the fight had left the boiler room. So Charlie led the shaman back to the boiler room, and together (Charlie was still in bird form, not having enough mana left to shift back into a bird if he dropped it) they gathered the other 99 totems, shutting off the protection, then snuck out up to the caverns, past the preoccupied Kits, and also eventually reached the bottom of the well.
Of course, they reached the bottom of the well two days before Don and John, but Don fixed that by trying to 'repair' the rings by shoving them back together physically -- this destroyed both rings, but not before sucking Charlie and the shaman forwards to join them. Their rope was still there, hanging down the well, so they climbed up (well, Charlie flew) and stealthily began to creep out of the forbidden temple.
Charlie asked Agamemnon if it was safe to scout around in spirit form now -- was the wind gone? Agamemnon appeared -- apparently, it was. The demonic familiar also informed him that his friends were very agitated, since he'd called on their help and they hadn't been able to answer. Joy.
So Charlie scouted out both levels, flitting quickly trough walls to check all the rooms on the way out of the place. He located a bunch of heads of household standing guard around the top of the south stair, and told the party to be sure to take the northern route. Well, cawed at them and led them to the northern stair. John reached over and opened the door to the northern staircase...
...and there was an armored vampire, lying in wait. Charlie tried to fly past -- the creature looked asleep -- but was viciously struck by its claws and flung to the ground, unconscious. John sped up and tried to fight it, but it was Don that took it down with a swing of his wrench -- 500 MW channeled through the weapon was enough to stun even a blood-frenzied vampire. ["So what does he roll to resist? His armor gives him +2." "We're figuring it out, now, from vehicles... ah. HT-141."]
Unfortunately, this was enough of a scuffle that the guard upstairs were alerted. They were full heads of household, and would likely not have gone into a frenzy and attack (but with the amount the party was wounded, maybe they would have?), but they would probably not have taken kindly to finding them trespassing. So John picked up Charlie and ran upstairs, still in hyper-speed, while the Marquis -- who somehow wasn't dead -- pulled Don between again and got him out.
The poor shaman was caught standing over the stunned vampire, covered in blood, trying to apply first aid to the massive neck wound John had dealt it before it had been stunned.
So while the party escaped with their lives, they managed to rescue neither of the people they'd gone in to save.
last week | next session
"Geez, we spent the whole session in combat."
"No, there was some running away in the middle, there."
We had a session of Lazar's GURPS neverwhere campaign. It started just before a combat which we couldn't possibly win, and sure enough, we didn't win it. We did *survive* it, though, which was more than I expected... I think everyone in the party needed to make at least one life roll, though.
Are we playing GURPS wrong? We're basically letting people fight normally (barring pain from wounds in the next second) no matter how hurt they are, unless they fail their consciousness or life rolls. This benefits the party more than the enemy, of course, since the party is the side starting combat with negative hit points.
So, the party had finally reached their goal, the central boiler room of the strange animated metal facility, which was also the place of power, the source of the spirit-field driving all spirits away from the are, and one of the five seals holding... something... in place. Oh, and Enochin's head was there, attached to the boiler.
Unfortuantely, they got there only one step ahead of the Kits, and before they knew it, Enochin was awake and insane, John and the Marquis were pinned against a wall by flailing metal arms, and Charlie and Don were staring down a Kits who'd teleported in at point-blank range.
Fortunately for them, that Kits was a mage, and didn't immediately leap into melee to shred them with his massive claws. Charlie, without a weapon in hand, and basically out of energy, called on a bound spirit to destroy the air behin the Kits, trying to suck him back into the flailing arms -- which sort of worked, in that the Kits moved, but sort of didn't, in that he jsut hovered in the center of the thunderclap, effortlessly doding the arms and seeminlgy unhurt by the shockwave. Don tried to shoot him, and scored a nasty hit, which the Kits also ignored. Fricking Kits.
The Marquis managed to break out of the arms' embrace before the Kits' reinforcements arrived, but John was held tight -- he uttered a prayer to *something* to come help him, and soon a large black creature showed up, demonic looking, with wings and teeth and all. "He's here to help us!" John shouted, so that no one mistook the newcomer for a demon or something.
Charlie also tried to call on favors from the spirits, but nothing happened -- apparently, they were kept out by the spirit wind, as he'd figured they'd be. He tried to use his rituals to put the Kits to sleep, but that didn't work either. He tried throwing the dangerous totem at the Kits in the hallway, but by some strange trick of fate missed badly enough to bounce the missile back into his hand.
Don fired again, still not killing his target, and shouted for Enochin to close the door! He was then taken down (and knocked unconscious) by a vicious strike from the second Kits, who lept through the door just before Enochin closed it... and then got back up, after suddenly slurping up life energy from everyone in the room. The Marquis leapt at Don, and shoved him Between to protect him -- everyone else in the room forgot that he'd ever existed.
With John trapped against one wall, and Charlie cowering and failing to do anything effective, the Kits turned on the Marquis, who was able to fend off the melee Kits, but not the madness spell of the mage -- he decided that all metal was out to kill him, and started viciously burning his own life force for massive amounts of energy to pour into metal-killing spells, shredding the walls and floor and ceiling, all of which were metal. Luckily, he avoided breaking the boiler -- maybe it was made of sterner stuff.
John's 'friend' grabbed Enochin's head, and teleported away. "What? You were suppposed to HELP us!" John cried, angrily. The Kits mage summoned a swarm of rats to start biting everyone, and then... the door burst open, and the third Kits -- which they were able to recognize as the one they'd fought in the night, when Enochin's head had been taken, rushed in, claws flaming, just ahead of a massive metal worm, studded with plates like the walls of this place, and also with radioactive power sources like Enochin had. It gobbled up the melee Kits, just like that. Gulp. The Marquis decided that this metal creature was the biggest threat, and leapt into its mouth, burning more life to blast it -- which didn't do much to slow it down, although it broke open a bunch of the power sources, releasing even more radiation. The worm swallowed him, too.
Charlie decided that running away was the better part of running away, and retreated to a corner to turn into a bird, so that he could do so -- the worm was blocking the lower part of the only exit, but there was plenty of room for a hawk to fly out over it. Unfortunately, the room had no corners, and in his mad fleeing, the flaming-clawed Kits took a swipe at him. Somehow, he managed to parry it, but his knife -- picked at random from his stock of 69 magical knives that he'd bought at the auction, which had followed him to this world -- was destroyed, blinding the Kits and releasing a large, evil looking spirit which started draining everyone's intelligence! Unfortunately for it, it filled the room, which meant the center of the spirit wind was located inside its 'body', and it quickly inflated like a Dig Dug victim. *pop!*
But the Kits mage then sent away the flaming-clawed Kits, and was then kept busy getting unsuccesfully eaten by the worm, so Charlie only had to deal with being nibbled to death by a swarm of rats as he tried to hold on to the spell, and eventually managed to turn into a bird and fly away.
Don, still Between, reached for 'a way to escape', and pulled a portable time portal out of his pocket, which he shoved John and himself through. As he pulled himself through, he tried to pull the loop with him, to keep the Kits from following, and managed to break it into two smaller loops. Still, on the other side, there were no enemies, and they were able to run away and get back up to the caverns, and eventually find their way to the bottom of the well.
Charlie, meanwhile, lost his way trying to find the way out of the maze of metal corridors in the dark, but spotted a lit room with his shaman friend in it, pinned to the ground by a metal arm. Since Enochin had been removed, the metal arms weren't moving, and as the plates and such were only held on by magnets, even as a bird he was able to rip bits off the arm until the shaman was freed.
In the distance, they could hear the Kits fighting the worm -- and it sounded like the fight had left the boiler room. So Charlie led the shaman back to the boiler room, and together (Charlie was still in bird form, not having enough mana left to shift back into a bird if he dropped it) they gathered the other 99 totems, shutting off the protection, then snuck out up to the caverns, past the preoccupied Kits, and also eventually reached the bottom of the well.
Of course, they reached the bottom of the well two days before Don and John, but Don fixed that by trying to 'repair' the rings by shoving them back together physically -- this destroyed both rings, but not before sucking Charlie and the shaman forwards to join them. Their rope was still there, hanging down the well, so they climbed up (well, Charlie flew) and stealthily began to creep out of the forbidden temple.
Charlie asked Agamemnon if it was safe to scout around in spirit form now -- was the wind gone? Agamemnon appeared -- apparently, it was. The demonic familiar also informed him that his friends were very agitated, since he'd called on their help and they hadn't been able to answer. Joy.
So Charlie scouted out both levels, flitting quickly trough walls to check all the rooms on the way out of the place. He located a bunch of heads of household standing guard around the top of the south stair, and told the party to be sure to take the northern route. Well, cawed at them and led them to the northern stair. John reached over and opened the door to the northern staircase...
...and there was an armored vampire, lying in wait. Charlie tried to fly past -- the creature looked asleep -- but was viciously struck by its claws and flung to the ground, unconscious. John sped up and tried to fight it, but it was Don that took it down with a swing of his wrench -- 500 MW channeled through the weapon was enough to stun even a blood-frenzied vampire. ["So what does he roll to resist? His armor gives him +2." "We're figuring it out, now, from vehicles... ah. HT-141."]
Unfortunately, this was enough of a scuffle that the guard upstairs were alerted. They were full heads of household, and would likely not have gone into a frenzy and attack (but with the amount the party was wounded, maybe they would have?), but they would probably not have taken kindly to finding them trespassing. So John picked up Charlie and ran upstairs, still in hyper-speed, while the Marquis -- who somehow wasn't dead -- pulled Don between again and got him out.
The poor shaman was caught standing over the stunned vampire, covered in blood, trying to apply first aid to the massive neck wound John had dealt it before it had been stunned.
So while the party escaped with their lives, they managed to rescue neither of the people they'd gone in to save.
last week | next session
"Geez, we spent the whole session in combat."
"No, there was some running away in the middle, there."
