# The Wastelands (Story Hour)



## two (Nov 26, 2003)

My latest campaign has been meeting a while now.  I have copious notes about all the sessions, but have not writetn most of them up in a formal way.  Let me know if anyone cares.  Thanks.

[Campaign]
The Wasteland

[Session 0 - Background]
Every Monday, 6:30pm until somebody has to go.

[Humans]
GM:  me.

GUNNAR:  I've known him for about five years.  An avid war gamer, and part-time RPGer.  Cooks for a living, and in some obscure way is probably the most charismatic of us all.  Has the easiest time getting a girl to agree to date him, and paradoxically (related, actually) never has had a relationship last more than 6 months.  Widely traveled, and a bit prickly.

JOEY:  Long time friend.  We grew up together, became distant after college, and nearly lost touch entirely.  Then he pulled me back into the RPG-fold, after a 10 year absence.  Whet my appetite with CPRG's, then some easy min/max talk, and before you knew it I was running him through a city adventure.  Computer programmer, impeccable nerd credentials, and one of the nicest people you ever will meet (if you are lucky).  Defines the "LG" alignment for real-world peeps.  Would give up his kidney for a friend in an instant.  A better "person" than I am any day of the week.

JOHN:  Known via JOEY, also does computer-related stuff for a living.  Is a bit in love with movie and TV "tag lines," and even busts out a Monty Python routine once in a great while, until we shut him up.  [I hate that sort of tag-line humor].  Married, oldest of the bunch (mid 30's), with two children.  Seems to be under a lot of pressure, which fades away after about 10 minutes of gaming.  Addicted to disgusting snack items like pickled pig's feet and crispy pork rind.  I attempt not to look too closely any more.

CAROL:  Did not know her very well at first.  Work associate/friend of JOHN.  Gave me some major initial worries, as she was "relatively" new to gaming, and had just bought the 3E books a few months previous.  I did not want to baby-sit a newbie.  Had played CRPG's extensively, as it turned out.  Athletic, trim, and energetic, often added much-needed energy to the session when things flagged.

[House Rules]

1) D&D 3.5 whenever possible.
2) Some basic ones (Dodge feat applies vs. all attackers, etc.)
3) Arcane Spell Customization:  all non-cantrip arcane spells must be customized somewhat.  "Grease" might turn into "ice-slick" for a cold-themed arcanist, "magic missile" turns into "Venom Spittle" for a Arachnid-focussed arcanist.  New spells easy to develop, but no "magic missile" for the Bard; spell-list focus is maintained.
4) Meta-rules:  boring "archetypes" not allowed.  No greatsword-wielding raging barbarians.  Instead, make a greatsword a blunt weapon (same stats but does bludgeoning damage) and give the weapon a new name/description/shtick.  Etc. Do something different, if only for flavor (mechanics can stay the same, if totally necessary).
5) No easy "raise dead," death is death.  Raise Dead moved to a ninth level Cleric spell.  Resurrection is epic.   Death hurts.  All "easy travel" spells moved up, teleport is 9th level.
6) Every time you gain a "general feat" (every third level) your character gains a "hero point," which can be used to re-roll the last roll rolled (either an attack by a bad guy, a failed save, an attack on a bad guy, etc.).
7) All die rolls done in the open by the player.  If a goblin attacks a player, the player rolls the goblin's "to hit," "damage," and any other rolls.  I determine (secretly) if the roll hits, if a save is made, etc.  There are exceptions, such a "secret" rolls (spot/listen checks, sense motive, etc.) which are determined "behind the screen."

[Characters]

Creation:  28 point buy (heroic) PC's, start at first level.  Just normal books, splat possibly if discussed previously.  Human race.

ROGER "Shady" GREEN (Sorcerer1):  Run by GUNNAR.  A darkness/shadow-focussed arcanist.  Has a Charisma of 16 and a decent constitution.  Took Scribe Scroll as a feat, which surprised me.  Likes to skulk around the rear of the party, throwing out sarcastic comments every once in a while.

FILIBUSTER JONES (Barbarian1):  Run by JOEY.  A barbarian, but with a twist.  Strength is just 14, Dexterity is 16, other stats are relatively high (for a barbarian).  Power attack, combat expertise.  Uses a longspear (10' reach) or a short sword + shield.  [I approved (silently) of the non-archetypical setup, which still promises to be mechanically solid.]

CHARLES (Mr. C) DIMMICK (Cleric1): Run by JOHN.  A very martially-oriented cleric,  and JOHN was quick to proclaim in the first session that "if you go down in combat, you might get healed, but a) only after Mr. C is done kicking hiney, and b) only if Mr. C has not run out of spells after extensive pre-combat self-buffing.  If you want lots of after-battle healing, buy him a wand."  [Seemed fair enough, as he announced it from the very get-go.]  Strong, solid Cleric, Wisdom 15 or 16.  Took dodge and Power Attack.  Uses a scimitar and large shield.

"SOAPY" BILL (Bard1):  Run by CAROL.  [When I heard CAROL was going to be playing a bard I groaned inwardly.  It's a hard class for a "newbie" to run, and prone to early death.  As it turned out, my concerns were in the wrong direction.  CAROL turned out to be a ferocious Min/Maxxer. ]  CAROL had some strange feat choices [I thought], for a (mostly) bard-based character; Two-Weapon fighting, and dodge.  Spread stats, Charisma only 14 or so, I believe.  I let her look over and use whatever she wanted from Song&Silence; to her credit she asked when equipping her character if she was allowed to purchase a bone horn.  I said, "what's a bone horn?"  "A non-magical horn made of bone, you know, useful for musical performances." "Sure why not?" replied I.  Ah, am I slow to learn or what?

[The Setting]
I won't get too much into it, as it's better described through the eyes of the PC's.  However, (as it turns out), three of the four PC's came from the same small secluded desert town, which is perched on the outskirts of "The Wasteland" (see campaign title), a huge desert that, for those alien to desert ways, seems barren and entirely without life (or hope, or interest).  As usual, ignorance is rewarded with misery, at least for those that wander into the desert... without guidance or forethought...

[Codes]

Brackets[] indicate meta-commentary on the action, or human commentary on character actions.

A [...] indicates time has passed.

[Session 1 - Introductions all Around]

First, the humans meet one another.  I'd only met CAROL once before.  It was good to see her again, although she seemed a little nervous and "out of her element" at first.    GUNNAR had never met her, and that went relatively well (for GUNNAR).  JOEY and JOHN were JOEY and JOHN-ish.  Before long the chatter died down and we sat down at the table.  There was a short pause as people shuffled paper and brought out dice bags.  Then everyone looked my way, and we were off.

[...] Outside of town, around a fire, FILIBUSTER, MR. C, and SOAPY are sitting around shooting the breeze.  Suddenly, from out of the darkness, appears... WILLY, one of the townspeople.

WILLY:  Hey y'all, heard da news?  Ole Lady Prue got a customer, and a good one.

MR. C:  Nope, we haven't heard anything.

WILLY:  Looks like a runner came in from one of them hill villages, talking about the chief's son being sick and all, not even able to lift a finger.

MR. C:  Oh?

WILLY:  Yeah, and people are sayin' he threw down a big pile-o-gold on Ole Lady's Prue's table, upsetting her tea pot.

SOAPY:  Teapot?

WILLY:  Teapot, and you know how she loves her tea.

FILIBUSTER:  Well we didn't but now we do.

WILLY:  Brought a trader along with him, seems to be a secretive sort.  Looks like one of them wizards, and if he ain't I reckon he wishes he was one.

SOAPY:  How so?

WILLY:  Dressed up in them black robes, looks like pretty much of a fool I think, particularly out there under the desert sun.

FILIBUSTER:  Ah...

[JOEY says to JOHN, "Plot hook, methinks."
JOHN:  "Yup."
JOEY:  "Better go along with it."
JOHN:  "Yup."]

[...] Later, the head of the town calls a meeting.  It turns out that a hill-dweller named PROXY GEE has indeed come into the village with a bag of gold, desiring a poultice from OLD LADY PRUE to cure the son of his chieftain who, as PROXY put it, "is weak as a baby and can't even lift his arm."

There is some excitement and discussion.  The MAYOR is loath to let PROXY have the poultice he desires, as it is some of the most powerful medicine the town is capable of producing, and he does not like to see it leave his control.

However OLD LADY PRUE's immediate family is all for it, plus they have been having some tough times recently... then one of the PC's speaks up.

FILIBUSTER:  He's got the money, gold rather, so what's the problem?  

JACKSON [town mayor]:  The town doesn't like to let those sorts of things out of their control.

FILIBUSTER:  Well he's paying for it.  I don't see what the big deal is.

JACKSON:  It's just not the way things have been done.  

PROXY GEE:  Please, for the sake of he who is too ill to be here himself, forget how things have been done in the past, I beg you!  A life hangs in the balance, and you sit here worrying about "doing what was always done."  

MEMBER OF THE CROWD:  It IS a very generous offer.

More talk, some squabbling, but eventually the MAYOR agrees.  However, PROXY GEE has requested an escort back to his village ("I met some resistance out there in the desert") and, not surprisingly, FILIBUSTER, SOAPY, and MR. C are entrusted with the mission of "seeing that the poultice is used as the town would want it to be used.  And to help ensure PROXY GEE gets home safely".

[...]  SHADY GREEN, the sorcerer, trades some silver for the root of the black cohash, a valuable herb that only grows near some hidden springs on the outskirts of the town... people whisper that he's a wizard, and SHADY makes no bones about it, even being heard to mutter "now I can develop that spell I've been dreaming about..."

SHADY later asks to accompany PROXY & CO. back to the hill village, as there is safety in numbers.  Everyone agrees to let him travel with the band, and they decide to leave the next morning.  

Morning breaks, and last-minute purchases are made.  There is a great strapping on of weapons and armor, then the party is off.

The Wastelands is incredibly hot and bleak, at least during the hours between 10am and 4pm.  Before and after which (for a few hours), it's merely brutally hot, until around 8pm when the night chill creeps in.  As such, the party travels "around" the hottest part of the day, 4 hours from 6am to 10am, and 4 hours from 8 to 12pm.  On the first night (yes, the very first night) during the first watch (yes, the very first watch), while the PC's and the NPC are still getting to know one another "(so what's your chieftain like?  What happened to his son?  Why are you at war with your neighbors?"), there is a howl of something (close) in the dark.

MR. C and PROXY have the first watch; they both clearly hear a barking cry that MR. C recognizes as that of the desert jackal, which in normal circumstances is a shy and reclusive canine.

"Everyone wake!" MR. C shouts, standing and seizing his scimitar, gripping his shield firmly.

PROXY looks scared, and stares into the darkness at the edge of the circle of light provided by the small campfire.  Circling, and (it seems) circling inward, he sees the fleeting shapes of light-boned dogs.  He tries to count them,  all the while edging toward MR. C.

"What's going on?" SOAPY shouts, standing and pulling out a saber and a light mace.

"Yeah, I was just..." FILIBUSTER begins to say, casually picking up his longspear.

That's when six jackals leapt out of the darkness.

FILIBUSTER was having none of it.  As two of the jackals passed him by, making for PROXY and MR.C, FILIBUSTER had a perfect opportunity to poke them, quite violently, in the side.  

[Power attack for 2, says JOEY, rolling a 5 and a 15, gleefully taking his AOO's.]

"You stab one of them very thoroughly in the ribs as he passes and since your minimum damage is 7 or so, it drops with a sad little squeal."

"Damn vermin," FILIBUSTER says, illogically.

Before the jackals could move very far, MR. C positions himself in front of PROXY and casts a "Shield of Faith". [That, plus his Banded Mail and (physical) shield (plus dodge) gives him a scary 1st level AC of 22.  My jaw dropped a little at this development.]

"Come and get me, puppies," MR. C shouts, holding his scimitar above his head, "I'll teach you to fetch!"

[You might note that the player's were not quite on their game yet. Their battles cries were a bit, how shall I put it?  Lame...?]

"Let's get it on," SOAPY said, taking a 5' step to be next to MR.C and using MEA to position the blowing end of the bone horn, hanging around her neck on a string, into her mouth.  CAROL then proceeded to have SOAPY (squeaky clean bugger that he is) toot the horn a bit.  [I thought it was a cute role-playing move; inspire the troops with a horn, a la Boromir (though no bard was Boromir).]

["Good start," I thought.]

MR. C and SOAPY now formed a wall in front of PROXY, who had a dagger out but was not (truth be told) looking very confident about his fighting skills.  Can you say "total defense," anyone?

Finally the jackals continued their advance.  One turns on FILIBUSTER, who had rudely attempted to poke it, while the other 4 head in PROXY's direction.

["I don't like the way this is playing out," JOHN said.]
["Why?" JOEY replied.]
["He's still reaching for miniatures," JOHN said, pointing in my direction]

Sure enough I was, and grabbed six more.

"From behind you, another six jackals attack..." I intoned rather blandly, moving them swiftly into position.  My poor players looked a little boggled at the development; they had made a nice little front, and here I was sending in reinforcements from the rear.  Was it fair?  It was, dear reader - it was.

["That's what I'm talking about," JOHN said, rubbing his hands together.]
["Oh dear," CAROL said, making me feel pretty durn good.]

There are four jackals in SOAPY and MR. C's face.  Behind them six more have charged in, surrounding PROXY and placing another two (each) in flanking position behind SOAPY and MR. C.

"Now it's time to see how much you hurt yourselves.  MR. C, resolve four Jackal attacks.  Roll 4 d20's and tell me what you get.  Note that they are both charging and flanking"

["You really are a ..." whispered somebody]  -- and to this day I don't know who it was.

Roll Roll Roll.  "10", "13", "6", "15".  Unbelievably, even a "15" won't hit AC22, even after an additional "+4" is thrown into the mix.  I was pretty disgusted.  

"OK SOAPY, deal with 4 attacks.  Give me some 20's."

"Oh my," CAROL said again, picking up her d20 and shaking it... and rolling... lovely... 16, 11, 18, 4.  Her AC was Chain Shirt+16 dex + dodge = 18, so 2 hit easily.  I then had her roll 2d4's, which resulted in a "3" and a "1",  causing me to intone, "SOAPY gets gnawed upon quite painfully for 6 points of damage.  One got your knee, the other your butt.  Deal."

"Ack!" said CAROL, rather "ACK!" said SOAPY.

"In addition, the 2 remaining jackals decide to munch a little on PROXY.  [I rolled 2d20's in front of everyone].  "19 and 2" well, one definitely hits.  PROXY is hurt, but isn't down yet.

["This ain't good," JOEY said.]
["Well it's not like SHADY's had a chance to do anything yet!" GUNNAR burst in.  GUNNAR is a man who hates a low initiative count.]

FILIBUSTER, faced with a jackal, easily dispatches it with a roll of "13".  (minimum damage kills it, as usual).  The barbarian now decides to RAGE and moves next to MR. C and PROXY - well, as close as he could get, given the jackals in his way and his 10' reach longspear.

Finally,  SHADY stands up (everyone had forgotten about him, and the jackals had not bothered him - yet) and moves into the darkness a bit, away from the fire/fight.  Then a horrible chanting is heard, and a 10' square area of the ground is covered in a black, horribly black, and horribly slippery oil.  This oily substance seems to suck all light into itself; there is no reflection of firelight on its surface.  The 10'square manages to catch the two jackals behind SOAPY.  Since it's GUNNAR's spell, I have him roll their reflex saves.

"8 and 1!" GUNNAR says with satisfaction, knocking the miniatures over.  He was right; they both failed and slipped.

"Ok, NEW ROUND folks."

MR. C chopped with his scimitar and did 5 points of damage to one of the 4 surrounding him.  SOAPY, standing there wounded, with slasher (his saber) in his right hand and masher (his light mace) in his left, decides to attack.  After all, the two jackals behind him fell down...  [Personally, I thought this more crazed than wise, but I wasn't going to pull any punches for the newbie].

This is when CAROL announced that her bard song gave everyone +2 to hit and +2 damage...  I was like "huh?"  She handed me Song&Silence, and I read up on the "bone horn." She was right.  At least she had the grace not to smile and rub it in.

"OK everyone's at +2/+2" I said, causing JOEY's eyes to light up somewhat.

["Will be nice to power attack that 'to hit' into damage" he said to himself, and I was already weeping thinking about my poor critters' probable fates.]

CAROL rolled a "12" and because of her 14 strength (and the +2 song) she hit AC 14 with slasher (-2 for 2 weapons), doing 1d6+4 damage - total of 7.  One jackal down (it had charged last round and that further hurt it's AC).  Then masher jumped into the fray, and she rolled a "15", easily hitting.  1d6+3 crushing damage later and another jackal was dead.  

["Solid rolling," JOEY said.]
["Ah, I got lucky," CAROL replied, modestly.]

The next round was rather brutal - at least for the jackals.  FILIBUSTER easily smashed another into the ground - there was no need to power attack anymore with an 18 strength and the bard song going.  SHADY killed the wounded jackal in front of MR. C with a "Obsidian Shard" spell (magic missile look-alike spell).  The two jackals behind SOAPY stood up and gave her and PROXY attacks of opportunity; SOAPY managed to do 5 points of damage to another one. 

There was some further nicking of the party's skin, but nothing too dire.  When the remaining jackals finally turned to flee, FILIBUSTER killed two of them using movement AOO's.  All in all, pretty ugly.

When it was all over, PROXY lay on the ground, bleeding from two wounds, but MR. C got to him with time to spare and converted a cleric spell into  "Cure Light Wounds."

["Don't expect me to do this all the time," JOHN mumbled, "MR. C ain't built for healin'"].

When PROXY recovered... the party pulled him next to the file (not actually IN the fire) and proceeded to grill him.

"Where did those jackals come from?"
"What is making them attack?"
"Do we have more attacks to fear?"

PROXY's answers... next time...


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## two (Dec 1, 2003)

*Session Two*

[Session 2 – PROXY’s Problems]

(Recap:  after defeating a small pack of jackals, PROXY is grilled by the PC’s who want to know why these typically shy animals decided to attack a well-armed group of humans).

FILIBUSTER:  “Do you know why they attacked?”

PROXY:  “I’m not sure… ever since I left Boudnib I have had the feeling of being watched… and a few times we (pointing to SHADY) just traveled all night instead of camping.  It seemed safer that way.”

MR. C:  “Is that true?” (looking at SHADY).

SHADY:  “True enough.  I didn’t notice anything unusual, but then, I’m not as used to the desert as you are… or PROXY is.  I just met him the day before we left Boudnib.  It seemed like a perfect chance to travel to your town.”

PROXY:  “Yup.  And that’s it.  That’s all I know.”

SOAPY:  “You never really did tell us what was wrong with your chieftain’s son.”

PROXY:  “He was hit in battle by some sort of poisoned spear.  He collapsed immediately, and has been… weak as a baby… ever since.  Our Chieftain called a stop to all skirmishing until he is healed… he is our strongest warrior…”

SOAPY:  “And who are you fighting?”

PROXY:  “Those Figuig bastards.  It’s been going on now for almost a year.  Their village is about two hours away.”

SHADY:  “And you are fighting them….”

PROXY:  “The Chieftain demands it, and it is to him we owe our allegiance.”

MR. C:  “Ah, one of those sorts of things.  Well.  There you go.”

[The players discussed it a bit, asked PROXY a few more questions, but were content to let things develop.  PROXY, for his part, tried to make everything seem very reasonable; the forces opposing him were, he said, “evil and vindictive.”]

SHADY:  “How abouts we get some sleep-eye?  I for one am beat.”

SOAPY:  “Sounds good to me.  Oh, by the way, SHADY… can I speak with you in private a bit?”

SHADY:  “Sure can.”

[I didn’t know what was going on.  Turns out CAROL was asking GUNNAR to let her purchase/borrow/buy/use some of his scrolls…I think her plan was to use Use Magic Device on them.  At this level, it was not much of a power play, so I didn’t say anything.  Turns out she bought 2 scrolls of “Shell of the Black Beetle,” which was Gunnar’s version of the “Shield” spell.  It granted a +4 (shield) bonus to AC, and a +4 bonus to hiding, when hiding in shadows or the dark.  It offered no protection vs. magic missiles, however.  Spell effect was to grow a dark chitinous shell-like covering over the arms and torso of the caster, allowing the arms to block/deflect incoming attacks.   Also, incidentally, darkening the caster significantly, allowing for better/easier hiding.]

The party  slept deeply that night, everyone taking shorter watches and waking a bit later than is typical.

Day broke (crash) and the party headed out. The desert was hot, of course, but there was also a dry wind blowing, causing more than a little discomfort… the dryness penetrated the throat and lungs… everyone was struggling a bit, crossing the flatlands and dunes, following the wavering trade track… thinking about the previous night… and about their friend PROXY who, with his nervous eyes, narrow moustache, and jumpy hands, did not inspire confidence (fair or not) regarding his moral compass.

The party stopped at 10am, when the heat was becoming unbearable, and pitched shade-providing lean-to’s, and rested – attempting to stay cool – until 4pm.  Trouble is, at 1pm, during the hottest period of the day, when the sun was blazing down “mercilessly,” as is said in novel after novel, there came from the EAST a swishing sound, as of footsteps lightly impacting sand.

MR. C:  Looks like we have company.

FILIBUSTER:  That’s odd.

SHADY:  Well, what is it?

Everyone looks to the EAST, and about 100 feet distant, striding over the dunes, is something that appears to be… a mound of… sand… but upon closer inspection, the “mound of sand” appears bipedal… 

Though it walks with more of a slow shuffle than your standing “march.”

The party stand there and watches, with curiosity, as this thing mounts a tall dune and then, pointing at PROXY, curls a forefinger repeatedly.  Indicating, that PROXY should come forward.

SOAPY:  Looks like it wants to have a talk with you.

PROXY:  NO sir.  (PROXY gets out his dagger and a buckler).  No sir.  Keep that wild man away from me.  It’s a Figuig trick.  I’d heard that the wild men were working with the Figuig but I hoped never to see one myself.

WILDMAN:  COOOooooooommmmmeee PROXY…… (in a voice that sounded like wind rushing down an old dusty hallway).

PROXY:  No sir.

FILIBUSTER:  What is a “Wild Man?”

Just as this question was asked, the WILDMAN turns and walks back down the dune, disappearing from sight.

PROXY:  They live out there, in the desert.  They don’t never need to drink or eat, so I hear.  They have friends out there, they talk with the snakes, and the rats, and the scorpions.  They’re evil.  They come into villages at night and mark babies, and the babies get old and leave and become as wild as wild can be.  They’re EVIL.

MR. C:  That does sound… not entirely neighborly.

SOAPY:  What does he want from you?  Or from us?

SHADY:  I think we are going to find out. (Pointing towards another dune towards the SOUTHEAST, where the WILDMAN can again be seen).

Everyone notices that the WILDMAN is beginning to wave his hands in the air and seems to be surrounded by some sort of building charge of energy…

[“Here we go,” JOHN said, “Us vs. the WILDMAN.”
“Should be interesting,” JOEY replied, “considering we don’t really know much about this dude.”
“Every roll initiative, please,” say I.]

SOAPY is the first to act.  He drops his saber and mace to the ground, grabs his short bow from where it is strapped on his back, and immediately looses an arrow in the WILDMAN’s direction.  The WILDMAN, 100 feet away, doesn’t have much trouble avoiding the arrow, which glances off his sand-impregnated leather armor.  

[“Oh well, CAROL said, “he’s a bit out of range.”]

The WILDMAN eyes the party calmly, without fear or (apparently) much interest.  With a quick move of his hands, a ball of fire suddenly appears in the midst of the party.  The WILDMAN nods his head to the left, and the ball rolls left over to SOAPY, who had so rudely shot at him.

[“Make a reflex saving throw for SOAPY,” I said to CAROL, “just tell me your total and I’ll let you know what happens.”

CAROL rolled a “9” and, after adding what she could, just failed the DC.

“Roll 2d6 fire damage to SOAPY,” I said.

CAROL cringed.  And rolled a “5” and a “3”]

SOAPY, attempting to dodge the ball of fire, fails and feels his skin, hair, and clothing crisp and smolder.  With a cry of pain he drop to the ground, still conscious – but very much injured.

“Great,” said MR. C, “another moral dilemma.”

FILUBUSTER, seeing his friend SOAPY fall so ingloriously, is incensed.  In fact, he is enraged, and proceeds to foam at the mouth.  He rushes towards the WILDMAN, drawing his longspear as he does so.  However, the sand upon which the WILDMAN is standing is of the loose and unpacked variety (almost as if he had planned it this way!), and FILIBUSTER’s movement is greatly hampered.  In fact, even at a dead run, he only makes it 90 feet towards the WILDMAN.  

[Movement through the deep sand is at half speed, unless you have special skill in such maneuvers]

“It’s like you are running on the beach, along the edge of the surf, in one of those bad dreams where you are being chased by Duran Duran – “  I said, and they got the message loud and clear.

MR. C gave SOAPY a terrible look.  He did something he really hates to do; that being healing in the middle of combat.  Moving over, and reaching down, he slapped SOAPY’s forehead, and one “BE HEALED, SON” later SOAPY was feeling a lot better.  In fact, completely better, due to a nice healing roll.

“Much obliged,” SOAPY said, prone, still in close proximity to the burning sphere.

“Guess it’s up to me,” SHADY said, moving away from the burning sphere as fast as he could, which amounted to 15 feet sideways into the slushy sand.  Then an “Obsidian Shard” shot out of his fingers and slammed into the WILDMAN, drawing blood.  If nothing else, it made the party feel better.

[ROUND 1 OVER]

SOAPY, no longer shell-shocked, but sitting on his ass, decides (sensibly) to stand up and move 15’ into the sand, away from the burning sphere and also in the opposite direction of SHADY.   Splitting the party, as it were.

The WILDMAN, viewing everything (and nearly yawning), is seen to cast another spell, and a second flaming sphere appears, directly on top of  FILIBUSTER.  He then motions the first FLAMING SPHERE a bit to it’s left, into MR. C., who however is not burned [made his save].  Furthermore, from the WILDMAN’s feet there appears something slithering and sandy – it is in fact a desert constrictor snake, the largest the party has ever seen.  It had been hiding at the feet of its “master” for somebody to approach, that somebody being FILIBUSTER.

It charges out and attacks FILIBUSTER, easily hitting the enraged, lightly-armored barbarian.  Its grapple check fails, however, as FILIBUSTER brushes away its attempt to wrap its body around his arm and squeeze until the blood stops flowing…still, it manages to do 6 points of damage…

However, things are not so rosy.  FILIBUSTER fails a reflex save, and also takes 7 points of fire damage from the flaming ball of fire.  He’s shaken, but not giving up – yet.

FILIBUSTER is in a bit of a pickle, however.  He’s 15 feet away from the WILDMAN, and engaged in melee with a big fat ugly constrictor snake.  He’s also enraged, and low in hit points.  He wants to brush by the snake and attack the WILDMAN but… will he survive the AOO?  Who know… I sure didn’t… and it was moot, because the enraged Barbarian simply stepped back 5’ and gave that snake a full power attack whallop.  [BAB=1, note].  It took a pretty good roll, “11” or so I think, for him to hit, but hit he did, for something like 16 points of damage.  It was a very solid THUMP and the snake make a nasty little hissing sound.  Almost a squeal.  If snakes could squeal.

MR. C, now free of tedious healing duties, ran like a fiend away from that ball’o’fire, a full 40’ in the slippery sand.  Now stands 40’ away from FILIBUSTER and the snake.  Screams something nasty to the WILDMAN.

SHADY, looking things over, does something interesting, I thought.  Sends an “obsidian dart” against the snake (after moving away from the Ball’o’Fire).  The snake is hit for 4 damage, and squirms a little.  For the first time, some emotion crosses the face of the WILDMAN.  He looks, well, concerned. 

[ROUND 2 over]

SOAPY, taking the hint, moves 15’ into the sand and looses an arrow at the snake.  He misses, but the point has been made.  The WILDMAN seems to have made a decision.  He moves the burning sphere over, placing it very close to SHADY (but could not quite reach him), and moves back 30’.  Note that this did not give him a chance to try and crisp FILIBUSTER.  Note also, that the WILDMAN’s movement was not hindered by the deep sand, and he left (gasp!) no tracks in his wake.

The snake, interestingly, disengaged from FILIBUSTER and moved 60’ back behind his “master,” gliding over the loose sand effortlessly.

FILIBUSTER, thinking that this is his moment to shine, charges forward and just manages to cover 40’ and attack.  He hits, and does a respectable 16 points of damage to the WILDMAN, who merely grunts.

MR. C., slow in his armor, continues to run, covering another 40 feet.

SHADY, seeing the ball of fire next to him, attempts to run away but… is hampered by the sand.  Yet another “obsidian shard” strikes the snake, which looks pretty ill (as snakes go).

[NEXT ROUND]

SOAPY moves forward and starts to “inspire” the troops.  The WILDMAN, seeing the barbarian right in his face, takes a 5’ step inwards, brings down a knobby club (made of twisted pine roots), and hits low-AC FILIBUSTER for not very much damage.  However, it was more than enough.  He drops, bleeding.  Then, the WILDMAN gestures and the ball of fire near SHADY hops over and strikes him.  SHADY fails to dodge the ball, and takes 7 points of damage, dropping him as well.

[2 PC’s in one round!  Not bad, thought I.]

[“Uh, John.  Can you, like, kill him now?” said JOEY.
“Trying dude.  Hard to reach, you know.”
The party was looking pretty unhappy about now.  While the snake was badly injured, the WILDMAN didn’t look too terribly hurt.  ]

MR. C continues his heroic run, and manages to make it to the side of FILIBUSTER.  He’s sweating, panting, cursing, and… not sure what to do.

[NEXT ROUND]

SOAPY is not done yet.  He shoots an arrow, and the “inspired” arrow strikes the WILDMAN for 5 points of damage.  Every bit helps.

The WILDMAN, seeing SHADY drop, retreats 30’ (the snake disappears from view) and moves the close ball-o-fire on top of MR. C.  One failed saving throw later, he was 8 hit points burned.  The other ball of fire disappears (out of range).

[“GD that spell!  It’s eating us alive!” JOHN shouted.
“Some bad rolls,” Gunnar said, “plus it’s a pretty nasty spell.”
“Guess so.”]

However, the WILDMAN had had enough.  As SOAPY approached, and MR. C took a moment to heal FILIBUSTER back into consciousness, the WILDMAN slowly faded into the desert sands.  His last ball-o-fire winked out, much to the relief of the party… nobody had died, quite… of course, they had not done any lasting damage to the WILDMAN, either…

PROXY, who had played no part in the battle, and had run the other way at the first sight of the WILDMAN’s attack, congratulated the “heroes” anyway.  SOAPY, of all people, snarled something in his direction.  They were losing patience with him…


Next Session:  "THE WILDMAN COMETH"


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