 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
<< RM Moments
Main Index | 1 | 2 | 3
| 4 | 5
| 6 | 7
| next >>
Though not fully packed with melee moments, this little escapade spawned quite a turn of events for one of our adventurers. Just to give you a short background, our adventuring consists of using several different modules from several different scenarios, tied together by our joint "Gate of Worlds" homemade creation/campaign.
In this world, refugees from several different worlds and cultures have gathered together to eke out an existence in this magical land. Foremost is the Elven Warrior Princess turned Queen named, "Lorien". Lorien, being a creature of light and law, broods an intense hatred of Trolls, Goblins, Orcs, and any creature of Chaos/Darkness.
So it happens that my very good friend and player decided to roll a half-troll half-elf (Mother was raped by a Troll) named, "Malg", and play in our little world. (We allowed such combinations and rule bending during character creation if the player is willing to off set this with a geas or three.) Though very successful in off-site adventures, Malg always had trouble keeping himself hid at home in the Gate of Worlds from the prying eyes of Lorien, especially due to his stature of 13' 8" and red glowing eyes. Eventually Malg came upon a magic ring that allowed him to look human for a period of 4 hours, which pretty much solved the problem, until he decided to dabble in local politics.
Growing rich off his journeys and during one of his solo adventures, Malg decided to open an Inn, which was run by another player/friend named "Durin" . Not satisfied, Malg began to frequent the town, and stumbled into an orphan child who simply fell in love with Malg's human persona. Not being able to easily get rid of the child, he decided to have the kid run errands for the Inn, picking up supplies and better yet, information regarding the doings of Lorien. Unfortunately, the little "Mole" (as Malg called him) was discovered and thrown into an orphanage for troubled children.
Caving in to his noble side, Malg finally found the whereabouts of the Mole, and decided it was time to put in an appearance as his father and rescue the poor child. A meeting was arranged with the local magistrate, and Malg, with the aid of his magic ring, was on his way.
Upon arriving, Malg was left waiting in the reception area for a little over an hour. When the Magistrate finally decided to show, a lengthy meeting ensued proving that Malg was a capable father, and to berate him for letting the child get into so much trouble. Almost 2 ½ hours passed, when a messenger ran up to talk with the Magistrate, telling him that Lorien wanted to speak with the Father. Malg, now beginning to get nervous, nonetheless decided to meet with the Elven Princess, knowing that refusal would arouse more suspicion than necessary.
Malg, with the Mole in tow, quickly made his way through the winding streets to meet with the Lady Lorien. Again he was made to wait, as the Lady had much business to attend to. When the Lady finally met with Malg, he had but a ½ hour left on his magic ring. Rushing the Lady to get to the point, she simply wanted him to consider joining the local guild of Innkeepers, so as to benefit from the local guards protection. Refusing with the best grace he could muster, he told the Lady he had pressing business and left quickly (which would later arouse the Lady Lorien's suspicions.) Dragging the child behind him as he made his way to the nearest dark alley, he instantly transformed into his larger, more ugly, self. The Mole, at this point never having seen Malg for what he truly was, screamed in terror, thereby alerting the town guards of trouble.
Grabbing the Mole and whispering into his ear, Malg made his way to the rooftops, attempting to leave the city. This is when he discovered the poor workmanship of the local Carpenters, crashing through the roof of a semi-prominent guild master. Squiggling from his grasp, the Mole ran crying for the guards. Cutting his losses, Malg decided to leave the kid and make his escape. Of course, he had to quickly dispatch the startled house guard, who offered no more resistance than to stand in Malg's way with his pike pointing at the crouching giant. Using his custom made giant Irgaak (a weapon of Rolemaster yester-year) he practically cleft the man in twain in his rush to exit the house.
Upon arriving at his inn some miles from town, he discovered the town guards surrounding his establishment, posting a sign that read, "Here ye! Let all know that a troll parades these parts and has killed the owner of this establishment, Baldwin Bowheart (Malg's alter human ego)." With a great sigh, and even greater subterfuge skill, Malg made his way back to the local caves, where many a night he spent before… It's not easy, being green.
How about I start at the beginning? How did the party get the name The Derelicts? From their first encounter!
Imagine this: An odd mix of wanna be adventurers answer a notice for 'brave' souls to go out and investigate a missing shipment of goods. Orcs are suspected.
Our brave souls; Brian Bloodaxe:Dwarven Warrior, Taurandir:Elven Ranger,
Mungo Eliah Took:Hobbit Thief, Telemaitte:Human Bard and Alcavar: Human Wizard;
set out and barely a few hours out of town they hear a rustling in the undergrowth
quickly followed by a Huge Boar, scattering the party. The boar swings about
and charges again.
This is where the fun begins....After a few disastrous rounds. "It's
only a pig. I'll be eating bacon for breakfast." HA!
We now find our 'brave' souls all huddled atop a large boulder like scarred
children and a huge boar snorting and circling the boulder. The boar looks
healthy. Telemaitte has a broken arm. Brian Bloodaxe is bleeding from a tusk-sized
hole in his side. Alcavar is trying to remember why he isn't home in his library
studying (making a mental note to learn to climb). Taurandir and Mungo peppering
the 'just a pig' with arrows.
Eventually, either from the multiple arrows in the butt or sheer boredom,
the boar leaves. Does anyone know how uncomfortable it is to sleep atop a
boulder with four other people? Our 'heroes ' do.
Next morning found the party returning to the town to lick their wounds and cry in their ales. I don't think any of them have eaten pork since.
So was born The Derelicts!! More to come....
A long while ago, I was playing MERP with a few trusty friends. The era was actually set AFTER the Return of the King, our goal was to "mop-up" some loose ends regarding the enemies of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth. In the party we had a High Man Warrior, several elves (warriors and rangers), and 2 wizards - I think. As it so happens, I was playing one of the Elves, going by the name of "Chuchill". This warrior had seen just a little too much of the horrors of battle, as well as brushes with the Nine, and thus was a little paranoid and high-strung...
At the time, our party had acquired a powerful "Ice Sword" from a rather clever trap. There were TWO identical swords, one cursed to freeze (Cold Criticals) whomever touched it, and the Ice Sword which could do the same and protected the holder FROM cold criticals. Chuchill was the only one in the party "brave enough" to risk picking up one of the swords. Luck was with him, and he now possessed the Ice Sword. However, not one to leave a potentially lethal weapon behind, he also picked up the CURSED SWORD. Now a wielder of two deadly weapons, and the only one who knew which was which, the party moved on...
In a short time, the party earned some powerful enemies, in particular, a group of sorcerous Vampires! While staying at an inn (I forget where), the Vampires located us, and decided this was a great time to dispose of some bothersome mortals. They began to level the inn, not even bothering with the other fleeing patrons. Our party was "on it's knees" from the Vampire spells/powers, and one of the vampires recognized Chuchill's blades...
(In a suitably scary hissing voice) "Give me your swords elf, and I may grant you a swift end..."
(In a suitable shaky squeak) "No chance, blood sucker." (Other party members say their prayers for him...)
"You WILL give me what I want..!"(Vampire's spells begin to overpower Chuchill)
"Fine..."(Chuchill suddenly stabs the Vampire in the gut with the CURSED sword, which promptly unloads a HUGE Cold Critical into the vampire!)
"Aaahhcckkkk-k-k-kk..." (The vampire's body freezes, and Chuchill smashes the vampire's head with the pommel of the real Ice Sword..!)
The other vampires were so shocked by this obviously INSANE act, they simply stood there agape. No one expected Chuchill to defy the seemingly invincible vampires, especially in such a brutal and swift fashion! Clutching the true Ice Sword, he pulls the cursed blade free, and turns to the other vampires...
"If you want them, take them from me..." Chuchill challenges. The other vampires’ ire is raised to new heights, and they move to attack! What ensued was the most horrific display of "Botches and Criticals" I have ever seen in MERP. With very little assistance, and seemingly effortless skill, Chuchill dispatches the remaining vampires if a flurry of "Whirling Blades 'o' Icy Death" (as he later became known). Looking back, it seems impossible for him to have been victorious, given how powerful even just ONE vampire is.
Personally, I fully expected Chuchill to die in the one act of true bravado (stupidity?) that might have allowed the party to escape. Instead Chuchill lived a long and glorious career as the wielder of both blades...
We were members of a gang in a small city and rivalry with the Ursa's Boys had reached a head, when Hengler the Strangler had performed his party piece on all of the working girls in one of our best brothels. We were ordered to 'deal with it' by our boss 'Shack in the woods' Benny. We don't know how he got that name and no one asked.
So wearing his trademark 'unitard' Spider cast invisibility on his single item of clothing, two hand crossbows and bolts and went off to Hengler's favorite bar, he walked up to his table took a round to aim then fired.
Now Dave, who has played spider for a number of year,s can always be relied on to fumble a roll at the critical moment, this was no exception. Spider fumbled and the first crossbow went off but the bolt dropped to the floor at Spider's feet just as he became visible.
Everyone sat with their eyes covered anticipating the second shot. THWACK the bolt buried itself in the wall to the side of Hengler's right ear.
Everyone sat around in silence as the image of Spider standing in his unitard with both bows empty filled our imaginations.
In the stunned silence Dave pointed a finger at the DM and said "Let
that be a lesson to you, Hengler". I took 10 minutes to settle the group
down again. The DM played it well and Hengler became a recluse behind a well
protected safe house. He even strangled all the girls in his own brothel to
make amends.
In the end Catso, a young cat burgler borrowed a heavy crossbow from an assassin and took him out with an exceptional shot from a rooftop in the dark.
Catso was one of my first characters in Rolemaster. He was a street urchin who was moving up from picking pockets to burglary. He was small, weak and poor in combat. After many adventures with an assassin and a rogue where he had avoided nearly all enemies using his tumbling or pole vaulting skills to great effect. We were in a small city that was plagued by mafia style gangs (of which we were members of one) and had agreed to help some fighters (for some magic weapons) open a haven for old warriors, unfortunately they would not pay the protection money the local gang wanted. Off we went to raid the gang's hideout leaving only one warrior to look after the hostel. Half way there, Catso decided to head back to the hostel to see what he could find in the way of magical weapons. He easily gave the old warriors the slip and headed back.
As he approached he heard some grunts from within. Sneaking in (+30 to next action, Catso always made his sneak) he saw 4 thugs who had backed the old guy into a corner and were slowly killing him. After some "do I don't I" reasoning Catso chose to fight like a man. He stepped into the room completely unheard by anyone.
Round 1
Roll open ended on first attack with quarterstaff and the leader of the thugs goes down with a crushed skull, I also get another free action with +30 bonus. A reasonable roll but the critical is excellent allowing me to smash the second thugs thigh which also tears open an artery.
Round 2
I win initiative and take a risk that the thug will fight 50/50 since he is surprised and choose to go full attack. Once again I get a high roll and the critical tells me that the shot took the thug in the chest and stops his heart, he dies 12 rounds later.
Round 3
The last thug is fighting the old fighter so I use my subdue skill to take
him alive. Funny thing is after this fight no one called me boy or anything
else just Catso, this fight was his coming of age, I am still playing Catso
and he has become a rather dangerous fellow and it feels like meeting an old
friend when the DM hands over his sheets.
Shop
ICE