WHAT 1st Encounter – Part 4, The Game

While most of Entoich is open semi-arid land, the land becomes more wooded in the north approaching Tropilium, which was where Bhoma and her band was headed. The border between Tropilium and Entoich is the Clemency River and the Clemency River flows into Mare Tropilii, “Sea of the Tropilium”. Today finds them in Kanesh, the largest city in the province of Kultepe. Merdone, the Capital, lies four days to the southeast and the port city of Etanhur, their destination, is eight days to the northeast. But without supplies, they are going nowhere.

They stood in front of an abandoned temple, once dedicated to the god Nergal. The merchant Ibrul Cloudbrand was next to Bhoma and hissed “If you want quick money or a quick death, this is as good of a place as any – it is said this place is a nest of thieves and a treasure trove of stolen goods. But beware, some say there is an evil curse on this place, long ago King Mawatalli the Usurper was assassinated here.”

“The Game Is Afoot!”

When I first thought about doing a Dungeons Encounter, I envisioned a ruined temple complex in a wilderness. But when I rolled Wererats on the Big Bad Table, I had to change to a city, because that is where you find wererats.

With the dungeon denizens being Wererats, I rolled on the Wererats entry on the Dungeon Encounter Rating and scored a four. This means my dungeon begins with eight cards drawn from a deck of cards (be sure to leave the jokers in). If I happen to draw a four, it will trigger a random event.

There’s going to be a lot of pictures of to show off my new battle mats. Normally, you just burn through empty rooms by immediately flipping over the next card, but what can I say, I like photographing minis!

Level 1

Level 2

The First Fight

For the first combat in the dungeon, I’m going to show how the figures are set up for combat. In future combats, I won’t illustrate this step. This is the Setting Up the Fight section on page 88.

The fight occurs on a table top area or battle board that is 12″ long and 3″ wide. At one end, I set up my band in any order I wish. At the other end, 8″ away, I set up the Minion Caster’s band. To do this I roll 1d6 for each figure, rerolling any ties, and then place the figures with the highest rolls in the front.

The next thing to do is to roll to see who is stationary. This simulates that moment when a band steels itself for combat. The Wererats are stationary. Now we go to the Action Table which will drive what happens.

Bhoma wins the activation and her band goes first. Emini shoots at the Caster and hits – the Caster is OD. Bhoma and Shashah charge into melee. Bhoma knocks down her opponent. In the next round of melee Bhoma’s opponent goes OOF, but Shashah is knocked down by her opponent. One more round of melee this activation sees Shashah go OOF. The rest of Bhoma’s band moves forward to position themselves for the next activation.

Before the Wererats begin their activation, the Will To Fight test is taken by both sides. Bhoma’s band passes whereas a Wererat runs away. Only the Beastmen are left and they charge into melee. One Beastman attacks Bhoma, Bhoma holds fast; they fight another round. Bhoma strikes true, the Beastman is OD. The other Beastman attacks Neshi. With a roar of rage, the Beastman shatters Neshi’s shield and she goes OOF.

After this round of action, as the Beastman sees Bhoma striding toward him casually swinging her sword, he loses his Will to Fight and flees. Since Shashah and Bhoma both fought Wererats, they both take the Wererat Poison test. Bhoma has natural immunity and Shashah is free of any poison. They tend to their wounded and then Denja, Svona, Emini, and Bhoma decide to go on.

But first things first, they loot the bodies. The most valuable thing they found was a Caster’s Wand of Light on the Caster’s body. In addition to bread and cheese, they looted 2 one-handed weapons, 1 two-handed weapon, 2 sets of AC2 armor, 1 set of AC4 armor, and 1 shield. In all, they picked up 10 Increasing Rep d6.

Fighting the Big Bad

With the battle mat set up for the fight, I roll to see which side is stationary going to the Action Table. The Rat Ogre is stationary.

Bhoma’s band activates first. Svona casts a Damage spell and hits the Rat Ogre with a lightning bolt, the Rat Ogre Ducks Back. Unable to find cover the massive Rat Ogre stands stunned, he’s just too big to fall prone. Emini looses an arrow from her long bow, it strikes the Rat Ogre, but the creature continues to stand dazed and confused. Bhoma charges the Rat Ogre and fate is on her side. After a brief struggle, the Rat Ogre goes OOF. (How, you might ask? Even though the massive Rat Ogre was on his feet, he counts as being prone, so Bhoma got to roll additional dice in the melee. She won the melee by two dice, which allows her to add +2 to her damage roll giving her a score 1 point higher than the Rat Ogre’s AC.)

Level 3

Fighting Lowlifes

The Wererats copy their masters in that the lower Rep fighters are in the front with the Rep 5 Leader in the back. The Wererats are stationary.

The activation roll is a tie, so the stationary Wererats go first. A Rep 4 Wererat charges Emini, she fires, but misses. Emini’s dagger is no match for the Wererat’s spear, she goes OOF. The second Rep 4 Wererat charges Bhoma. He does not share his comrade’s skill as Bhoma sends him to meet his ancestors (OD). The Rep 3 Wererat charges Denja. Denja knocks the Wererat prone. One more round of melee and the Wererat goes OOF. The Rep 5 Wererat now charges Bhoma. In the exchange of blows, the Wererat’s spear splinters on Bhoma’s shield as she cleaves his skull making him quite OD.

The remaining Wererat saw a Spear woman and a Caster with electricity flowing about her in front of him and a terrifying swordswoman behind him. Gripped with terror, he wet himself and ran away.

While Svona tended Emini’s wounds, Denja and Bhoma gathered up what items were sellable. In weapons and armor, they had 8 Increasing Rep d6 worth of items. Both Denja and Emini are free from Wererat Poison, this time.

The Treasure

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They were able to get 15 Increasing Rep d6, a Caster’s Wand (2) and a Scroll of Strength from the Treasure Room. In addition, the loot received from combat was 17 Increasing Rep d6 and a Caster’s Wand of Light (1).

Getting out of the Dungeon

The next card I drew was a red card, so my party can leave the dungeon without encountering any more PEFs.

Recovery

Shashah, Neshi and Emini all recovered from Out of the Fight.

Bhoma divided the Increasing Rep d6 among the band: Shashah, Emini, Neshi, Denja, and Svona each got 5 and Bhoma got 7. Next on the agenda is to sell the Magic Items.

I hope these posts on a WHAT Dungeons Encounter was helpful and entertaining. Please let me know what you think in a comment or two. Your comments play a part in helping to make this blog better. Thanks!