Adventures in a Doomed World: Session 22

I'm playing a mashup of Scarlet Heroes and Basic Fantasy RPG with a few supplements to turn it into a solo fantasy hexcrawl in the world of Eilobar, a doomed land entering its end times. I'm using the Level 0 Character Tumbler, Hexcrawl Adventures and some homebrew rules. The characters started as level 0 peasants and have since levelled up to become heroes.

Introduction

I'm continuing with my Scarlet Heroes campaign after a long break. As a recap:

• This is the Kingdom of Lond in the world of Eilobar, a medieval world entering its end times. The age of heroes is long over and passed into legend.
• There are no adventurers. Our party was formed from peasants as the result of a funnel adventure. They've since levelled up into heroes.
• Monsters are awakening in the deep places of the earth and beginning to terrorise common folk again.

• Stilda is a female human level 3 fighter with a longsword and splintmail. Previously a barber from the isolated village of Keyham, she is menacing in combat but has a phobia of giant ants due to seeing a companion killed by one. She rides a horse called Sig. Most powerful enemy vanquished: giant crab spider.
• Cyna is a female human level 3 fighter with a pitchfork, shield and chainmail hauberk. Previously a farmer, she mistrusts most people. She rides a horse called Wyn. Most powerful enemy vanquished: goblin king.
• Helia is a female halfing level 3 thief with a shortsword and leather armour. Previously a beggar, she is calm and composed most of the time. She rides a pony called Thamas. Most powerful enemy vanquished: Mothric the Sorcerer.
• Bryne is a female human level 2 wizard with a donkey's jawbone (don't ask) and a blue robe. Previously an apprentice to the wizard Yormath of Keyham, she is generally positive and doesn't give up easily. Like Stilda she has a phobia of giant ants. She rides a horse called Grinny. Most powerful enemy vanquished: giant crab spider.

• After killing Mothric the Sorcerer who was terrorising their home village of Keyham and wiping out a goblin tribe that had overrun a nearby village, the heroes found the same strange rune in both lairs. Yormath the Wizard directed them to an old friend, Thiri, a dwarven wizard now living as a priest of Rhana in Seethorpe, a town one hundred miles west of Keyham. Thiri is an expert on magical symbols and may know what it means.
• Before leaving Keyham the council offered to pay them to clear the surroundings of monster lairs, which they've almost done.
• The only area remaining to be cleared is Vathmang Temple to the west, where a landslide once killed a death cult. Fearing an infestation by the undead, they went to Wastow village to hire a priest. Meeting Aentheorn, a priest of the earth god Grum, he asked for their help in bringing down a demon-worshipping cult in Wastow before he'll join them.
• They investigated the cult and captured some of them mid-ritual in the cellar of the Weary Wench Inn. They interrogated them and were told to go to a cave on the shore of Black Boar Lake to find the other cultists and their leader, a woman called Jovia.

One last thing - I've decided not to let the heroes use the Defy Death rule at all from now on. They're going to have to be more careful and pick their battles well.

The Adventure

The next morning the party saddles up and leaves for Black Boar Lake. They used their rope to tie up the cultists so Helia takes the spare one from her saddleback and puts it in her pack. The dry season has started and it's a warm but cloudy day as they ride into a hilly area. Funnily enough they see a pack of six wild boar coming from the direction of the lake. They give them a wide berth, not wanting to antagonise the dangerous animals.

In the afternoon they see the lake on the flat land below them and they can make out the cave entrance. The weather has got warmer and Cyna notices that some of their rations and horsefeed have spoiled in the heat (random weather-related event), but only about one day's worth. They head on down to the cave and tie their horses to a tree hidden by some bushes.

Entering the cave mouth, they find themselves in a wide tunnel that curls around, sloping downwards in a spiral shape. They follow it down into the earth, Stilda holding her lantern in one hand and her longsword in the other.

This will be a Scarlet Heroes dungeon rather than a BFRPG one.

Encounter: 8 minions (cultist acolytes or fanatics), 5 civilians (cultist neophytes), 1 elite (cultist enforcer).

The heroes round a bend in the tunnel and come face to face with a large group of robed cultists walking towards them, some holding lanterns. There are five neophytes (new members), eight acolytes (regular cultists) and one enforcer (an experienced warrior who keeps them in line).

Stilda and Cyna approach the group who are quite a distance away in the long, wide tunnel. They equip their crossbows. Helia shoots her shortbow at the cultist enforcer, hitting him in the chest. Bryne casts Sleep in the middle of the crowd and six of them fall into a deep slumber.

The cultists all charge at the heroes.

Stilda and Cyna use their crossbows but Stilda misses the enforcer, and Cyna's bolt pings out of the weapon and clatters on the floor as she raises it (critical miss!). Helia shoots at the enforcer again, hitting him a second time. Bryne slings a stone at him but misses however it hits the man next to him in the eye, taking him out.

One of the acolytes screams when he sees this, and runs back down the tunnel. They'll have to deal with him later. The enforcer reaches Stilda and whacks her with his morningstar, wounding her.

Stilda hangs her crossbow on her back and draws her longsword. Cyna is still fumbling with her crossbow so she can't act this turn. Helia shoots the enforcer yet again. He staggers about a bit but remains on his feet, a grim look of determination on his face. Bryne looses another stone but it misses.

The enforcer swings wildly at Stilda but she parries easily with her morningstar. The neophyte at his side jabs Stilda with his dagger, piercing her. An acolyte appears in front of Cyna and swings a light flail at her but it hits her shield. Another neophyte steps up to Stilda but she's ready this time and parries his dagger.

Stilda clashes with the enforcer who parries her blow and then parries Cyna's pitchfork too. Helia shoots at the nearest acolyte but misses, as does Bryne.

The fight continues in a deadlock for some time, neither side making any gains until one of the acolytes makes a beeline for Helia, whirling his light flail around before bringing it down on Helia's head, cracking her skull and killing her instantly (critical hit: quad damage!). A neophyte approaches Cyna and pokes her with his knife, wounding her.

The heroes are stunned (as am I - someone gets killed as soon as I decide to remove the Defy Death rule). Cyna roars in anger, stabbing the enforcer in the chest then spinning around to an acolyte and stabbing him too. Both drop dead. Bryne charges at the acolyte who killed Helia but stumbles and drops her jawbone on the ground (critical miss!).

Stilda is stabbed two more times by acolytes but fights back, cutting them both down quickly. Cyna runs a neophyte through with her pitchfork, killing him.

The last remaining cultist holds his nerve and stabs at Bryne but only cuts into her robe, not hitting her skin, then Stilda charges at him and hacks deep into his shoulder. He crumples to the floor, dead. Cyna rushes over to check on Helia, but there's blood running down her face and she's not breathing.

"They murdered her!" She shouts, before rushing over to the sleeping cultists and stabs all six of them dead, mercilessly. The heroes gain 325 XP, but at a terrible cost. They glumly gather up Helia's gear and move her body outside the cave, intending to take her back to the village for a burial later. After bandaging their wounds they resolve to press on into the cave system and put an end to the cult.

My Thoughts

That was one of the most frustrating fights in the whole campaign. It felt like all the heroes forgot how to fight while the cultists were all acting like highly skilled warriors, and then to top it all off we lost a character as soon as I decided not to use Defy Death anymore. Ah well. That's how it goes in OSR games, even the more forgiving ones like Scarlet Heroes.