Dune Freaks: Defiler Walk With Me

[Sable Wyvern]

I love the fact that you are using the 1 magic point/day rule along with the water scarcity. That makes resource management much more of an issue. No using magic to just get yourself out of every jam!

It was mostly set up with slow recovery to make defiling more tempting. Sure, it's slow and you don't have many to begin with ... but if you defile, you only ever need to spend one point per spell. Take the rest from the plants!

Power points for psionics recover more quickly (three times healing rate per day), but the costs can add up fairly quickly, and the individual uses tend to be a little less powerful (a lot of what the players are doing is essentially folk magic).

 

[AsenRG]

It was mostly set up with slow recovery to make defiling more tempting. Sure, it's slow and you don't have many to begin with ... but if you defile, you only ever need to spend one point per spell. Take the rest from the plants!

Power points for psionics recover more quickly (three times healing rate per day), but the costs can add up fairly quickly, and the individual uses tend to be a little less powerful (a lot of what the players are doing is essentially folk magic).

Tempting the players into creating issues on their own is like 69% of GMing...

The rest is adjudicating the violence that ensues!

 

[Sable Wyvern]

Session 3

18 May 2024

Pre-session Discussion and Random Musings

Another quiet interlude between sessions. Jo asked a couple of questions about the combat system, but nothing else really happened.

The Actual Session

• De: Alnak-Tul, Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist
• Jo: Krik, Thri-Kreen Gladiator
• Ro: Malchus, Mul Gladiator/Psionicist
• Tr: Kynes, Human Preserver/Psionicist
• La: Mortan, Half-Giant Brute

It seems we're starting to get a handle on this water thing. It's relatively easy to work out how much additional water Mortan was carrying, how much was used and how much he has left. The party also works out that they can't just rely on drinking tainted water and then purifying themselves, as they ideally need to drink throughout the day, and would need to continually purify. No one wants to be a test subject to try and confirm what kind of onset time there is.

Admin sorted, the group heads towards the elves that were spotted, making their way along a trail that runs along a wide ledge part-way up the canyon wall. They make some good pace and eventually hear screams ahead of them.

Alnak-Tul charges forward to investigate, and finds an elf woman on another ledge about two metres down, under attack by three tall, lanky, vaguely reptilian gith. He turns and heads back to the group, where they decide to have a quick chat about it. Some members are inclined to let the gith and the elf have their fight and then deal with whatever is left. However, Malchus, Kynes and Krik decide they need to intervene, and rush forward.

Krik leaps straight into the fray, while Kynes hurls his spear, albeit wide of the mark. The elf woman has already gone down with a leg injury, and now takes a nasty wound to her chest, while two of the gith break off to engage Krik. Meanwhile, Malchus, Alnak-Tul and Mortan are busy trying to activate various psionic powers, leaving Krik to go it alone.

Mortan eventually steps down and engages one of the gith, striking a solid blow. Slowly, the rest of the party ends up engaging, with Kynes carefully levitating his way down, while Malchus leaps but ends up sprawled on the ground. One of the gith is knocked out, one flees and one surrenders. The two thri-kreen pursue and slaughter their routed foe.

Krik is not exactly impressed that, when he charges into the fray, it seems that his companions do not support him, but instead just stand around watching – this having happened twice now.

Kynes questions the captive, while Malchus attempts to stabilise the unconscious elf before she bleeds out. The gith doesn't seem to know much of any particular value and, upon his return, Alnak-Tul eagerly executes the poor creature.

The elf eventually regains consciousness, and introduces herself as Jenghi. She makes it clear that Kynes will be amply rewarded if he helps return her to her clan, where her father is one of the chiefs and a powerful sorcerer. However, when the druid is mentioned, she is adamant that the thri-kreen must pay for its crimes against the elves, in aiding the Nibenese.

Some of the party is still a little unsure of the chain of events, and Jenghi makes it clear that the dwarves of Keld sold the elves out to Nibenay, while the druid's crime is apparently aiding the dwarves and failing to oppose the Nibenese military.

When Kynes and Malchus point out that poisoning the water supply is having detrimental effects on third parties who had nothing to do with these events (ie, the slave community they wish to join), Jenghi expresses some regret (but not much).

During the conversation, it becomes apparent the elves are immune to the poison they have used in the water supply. It is only some time later that anyone thinks to ask Jenghi if the water she was carrying is also poisoned. She confirms it was, and the group has already poured Jenghi's water into one of their larger skins, which they now have to treat as tainted.

They group now have a number of new daggers, spears, javelins, shields, some armour and an axe, as well as a decent supply of water from the gith. They dump a lot of their extra, poisoned water, as Mortan needs to carry Jenghi.

We also check the encumbrance rules, which seem quite punishing at first (Mortan has to make an Endurance check every 15 minutes) but I then realise that, on failing a check, he just needs 15 minutes rest to recover. That actually works remarkably well. Every couple of hours, he's likely to need an extra break – that sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Jenghi directs the along the trail, down to the canyon floor and along a winding path to the elven camp, which is set on a wide plateau surrounding on three sides by cliffs, with a rough gully leading higher up to the sheer northern face of the Windbreak Mountains.

As they meet the first set of guards, Kynes is not impressed that Jenghi introduces them by saying they rescued her, but then immediately mentioning that the party are here to free the mantis druid. There are hundreds of elves encamped here, with many open-sided tents, kank pens and the like. Stairs are cut into a nearby cliff, with various cave openings, and a half-collapsed tower on top of the cliff.

Jenghi is taken away by elves, while the party is invited up the stairs to meet the chieftains.

A dozen elves are gathered around a large table in a great hall on the lower level of the tower. The party are offered syrupy rice, which is sweet and extremely refreshing; they discover the sauce is made from kank honey, and it restores them as if it were fresh water.

It turns out that Tuga Dai, Jenghi's father, is the high chieftain of the clan. He indicates that he is in the group's debt for the safe return of his daughter. Malchus mentions with gratitude that the PCs were freed from slavery by the elves, and Tuga Dai comments that the clan has been rewarded for its kindness and generosity.

Malchus takes this as a clear opening to directs the conversation towards the harshness of the Jura Dai's treatment of the druid and innocent dwarf children who will die of thirst. When the story is again told that about the dwarves selling the elves out to Nibenay, Malchus asks for proof of this claim, but does so in a less than diplomatic fashion. Tuga Dai does not take well to being interrogated so in his own hall, and makes it clear that dozens of his clan now languish in slavery in Nibenay, that there is no feasible way to rescue them, and that the only recourse the clan has is to ensure that those responsible suffer for their crimes.

It is mentioned that all the leaders of the clan are sorcerers. Kynes is interested to discover if they are preservers or defilers, but when he probes for more information, it is made clear that they will not share the secrets of their magic with outsiders.

The PCs indicate that their plans are to seek shelter with a nearby group of escaped human slaves. The Tuga Dai suggests this is probably the group ruled by Oudom. He does not know their exact location, but they are in the badlands further to the west. To help them on their way, the chieftain lets the group know he will happily supply them with kank honey, as well as a range of other equipment.

The PCs are now nearly starting to look well equipped. Jo is especially happy that Krik now has a net and trident.

The group spends the afternoon resting among the elves, with plans to depart in the morning. While they relax, Alnak-Tul psionically calls to some kind of desert rodent, and sends it out seeking another thri-kreen. Using a combination of devotions, he is eventually able to ascertain the druid's rough position, which is up at the top of the cliff, some distance from the chieftain's tower.

A plan is hatched, and Kynes seeks for permission to have Alnak-Tul to visit the druid in order to administer last rites for the creature, as it is obviously fated to die. Somehow, Kynes not only manages to convince the elves that this is actually a thing, but also that they should allow it to happen.

A-T is told to ascend the stairs, where he is met by three elves who escort him to the lowe remains of a second tower. The druid is within a pit set into the floor, covered with a grate of bone, chitin and sinew.

Surprisingly, no one was worried about the thri-kreen's conversation being overheard. Fortunately, I had determined that none of the elves nearby spoke thri-kreen, even though they stood close and did their best to imply that they could.

Once he had established who he was, the druid demanded that Alnak-Tul take him to the chieftain immediately, so that it can kill him and have its vengeance. A-T tries to talk some sense into the captive and have the druid focus on escape, but it is intent only on wreaking bloody vengeance on the chieftain for poisoning the oasis and for torturing it. Eventually, one of the guards decides that the two have had enough time to conduct their insect business, and ends the conversation.

The party depart as arranged the next day, and note that they are being trailed by a handful of elves, keeping a watch on them. That night Alnak-Tul, with the location of the prison pit fresh in his mind, is able to teleport into the pit, where he lets the druid know he is there to take it to safety.

The druid isn't having a bar of it, and commands A-T to take him to the chieftain. The chieftain is responsible for poisoning the oasis, wounding the spirit of the land and is a defiler. A-T is frustrated that the druid refuses to see sense, and returns to the group alone.

There is then some debate. Mortan is convinced that the elves are the good guys. Kynes points out that, yes, the elves allowed the PCs to live when attacking the caravan (although they fully expected the PCs to die in the desert) and have offered them hospitality and honey, but they also poisoned an oasis, and many people, including children and others not involved in this blood feud at all, will die as a result.

The general feeling is that the clearly neither the elves nor the druid are being reasonable, they are simply perpetuating a cycle of violence. Kynes thinks that the druid's claim that Tuga Dai is a defiler is enough to justify siding with the mantis, but the rest of the group isn't ready to just take the druid at its word.

Ultimately, the deciding factor is more pragmatic – the group needs some kind of long-term prospect for survival, and neither the slave community nor the dwarves are likely to take them in if they return and say, "Sorry, but your druid is psychotic and has refused to return to the oasis. On the other hand, the elves gave us some kank honey. Can you please let us live with you?"

Off to kill the chieftain it is.

A-T is able to teleport the group back in two batches. They manage to free the druid without alerting a guard some distance away in the night. The druid is definitely not in great shape, with one arm ending in an oozing stump and many other wounds. Nevertheless, once it is out of the pit and it's limbs unbound, it is dashing away to the tower, with the rest of the group joining.

There are two guards at the door, and Mortan engages the first, swinging his axe, but the guard is able to parry. Krik engages the next. He gets his net wrapped around the guard's shield, and tries to pull him to the ground, but the elf is able to retain his footing. The elf then tries to cut at the net with his sword to free himself, but Krik jabs back with his trident, getting a crit on the parry and selects pin weapon. Jo is having a blast, because this is exactly what he wanted from the character, and he's completely nullified this opponent.

Meanwhile, Alanak-Tul and Malchus are both hanging back activating psionics, as usual, but the druid joins the fray and eviscerates the guard Krik is engaged with. Krik then drops his net to turn and jab at the remaining guard with his trident, driving it deep into the elf's stomach. The others are rushing through the door of the tower and upstairs, while Krick wrenches the trident out, disembowelling his opponent in the process.

Up the next level of the tower, the group finds the chieftain and his wife, who have been alerted by the cries from below. A sickly black-green light pulses and a wave of nausea runs through the party as the Tuga Dai invokes his magic. Any doubt about whether he was a defiler is now gone.

Black, misty tendrils launch from the elf towards every one of the imposters (Krik is the one running late this time, as the mantis warrior recovers his net). Several of the characters attempt to dive aside, while other decide their evade is so low it's not worth making the attempt. As I type this just now, it occurs to me that I should have inflicted some special effects on those who chose not to attempt the evade. I will have to try and remember this for next time.

The chieftain's spell was a wrack combined with a palsy. For a preserver, this would have taken several actions to cast. A defiler has no such concerns. Every character was struck, and the chieftain had rolled well, so they also all failed their Endurance checks from the palsy. Thus, even though I rolled fairly low damage for most of them (the wrack portion of the spell just inflicts damage), they all still ended up with frozen and numb limbs (the palsy portion). There were a bunch of leg hits, resulting in characters who hadn't attempted to dive aside still falling. Mortan's stomach was spasming uncontrollably, and both legs ceased to function, the huge half-giant collapsing to the floor hard.

Part of the way through this process, I had a sudden feeling this was all a bit much. When the druid was struck, I initially fudged and said it had been hit in the arm, instead of the leg, just to make sure someone was still in a condition to fight. However, I then felt great shame, and soon corrected myself (oh, it was its leg, not its arm).

I'm very glad I did, because this fight was awesome. Mortan was crawling towards the sorcerer, while his wife stabbed at the half-giant repeatedly with a dagger, eventually inflicting some bleeding.

Malchus managed to lift himself up and hurl his spear at the sorcerer, who threw himself aside, but still took a glancing blow across his scalp. Almost everyone was on the floor at this point; fortunately, having forced the sorcerer down, his second wave of wracking tendrils were ineffective. Kynes throws his spear as well, impaling the chieftains arm.

Alnak-Tul is one of the few combatants still standing, and steps into the lop the top of the chieftains head off, while Krik runs the wife through with his trident, gaining another impale. It was bloody and furious, but is over.

Kynes would love to find some sorcerous writings, but doesn't feel it's safe to conduct a thorough search. A quick glance around the room locates a steel dagger and a nice-looking stone mace. Malchus also spots a helm of chitin laminar. Malchus uses psychic stabilisation to staunch the half-giant's bleeding, although it takes longer and costs many more power points than he would have liked. Then Alnak-Tul teleports the group away in two batches as elves are heard below making a fuss.

The paralysis from Tuga Dai's spells wears off after about fifteen minutes, but Kynes still has a serious leg injury, and it's decided to use the Sword of Kamelod to heal the injury.

We call it a night there.

* ** **** ** *

​

Final Thoughts

By the end of the second fight of the night, I was starting to feel a lot more comfortable managing everything that's going on in combat (although, as mentioned, I did just realise I missed some special effects from the wrack spell). There is quite a bit going on – I have my Pathfinder magnetic pad that I use to track action points and initiative, my NPC stat blocs on my tablet, and then a wet-erase sheet where I keep track of NPC damage. With small numbers of enemy combatants, tracking damage on the tablet makes things a little easier.

In any case, things are gradually feeling easier and seem to be running smoother. Meanwhile, it feels like there is actually a lot more going on. There were people diving everywhere in the last fight, people crawling around, javelins and spears being hurled, various serious injuries and I didn't feel nearly as overwhelmed as I had in the first fight with a mud snake, a dwarf adolescent and one PC.

When I commented at the end of the night that I felt things were coming together, there was a unanimous feeling that the combat system is a lot of fun. Dramatically slower than ACKS, but there's a payoff for that and there is a lot going on all the time. Jo commented the combats always feel intense, and everyone else agreed. The special effect system is awesome, and does what everyone who's a fan says it does, making combat dynamic and fun. It also makes it very easy to go from a rapid-fire system where I'm only describing things in broad strokes, or highlighting moments, to a system where you can really get descriptive about every thrust and parry. The system frames everything clearly, and it takes very little effort to add the colour as a net entangles a foe's shield, tearing a barbed trident out of someone's stomach disembowels them, or a character rises to a knee and hurls a spear that scores a glancing blow across the diving enemy's scalp.

If I had a little more time to think about it, I would probably modify the combined wrack/palsy a little. I treated each spell as its own separate thing, each following its own rules. If I was to do it again, I would probably make the combined spell more its own unique effect – probably, I would say the palsy only applies if the initial wrack portion hits (so a single successful evade nullifies both) but, if struck, the Endurance check to avoid palsy is Hard. In any case, if I needed any confirmation, I now have it – defilers are nasty. A combined spell affecting five targets at range. One point of mana, one action to cast.