War on the Skaven in Dungeon World (Inactive)

Game Master DM Mooshybooshy, "the Foolish"

nice one Grigor!

It's drawn to high concentrations of magic! Dhice, maybe your elemental could lead it away!

It's drawn to high concentrations of magic! Dhice, maybe your elemental could lead it away!

"I don't think I trust that thing at our backs, but maybe I can keep it distracted while the blades do their work?"

Dhice next commands Muppy to zip through the creatures tentacles just as Archepex is going in for another strike. Aid Archepex: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 3) + 2 = 9

I'll put myself in harm's way on that move. Archepex you're at +1 on your next move.

Sorry for not posting for a while guys. I'll get back into it sooner or later. As in, right now.

Emma has a bad feeling as she makes her way towards towards the decapus.

Discern Realities: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 4) = 5

And that might be why.

Lyntel wrote:

Dhice next commands Muppy to zip through the creatures tentacles just as Archepex is going in for another strike. [dice=Aid Archepex]2d6+2

I'll put myself in harm's way on that move. Archepex you're at +1 on your next move.

Is he zipping around while still holding onto my ankles? :)

Is he zipping around while still holding onto my ankles? :)

Haha, no, I was picturing him boosting you up and out but not really "stuck" to you. More like throwing you out of the water. He's not really that dextrous and/or careful.

Emma I suspect it might help Mooshy out a lot if you were to expand on how you're discerning realities. remember, it's not really a "spot check". You have to actually do something to trigger it, and it's usually more than just looking around. Studying something intently from afar can count but you should explain how you're watching its movement patterns, counting tentacles, estimating their power, etc.

Thanks to their good teamwork, Dhice is able to successfully vault Grigor out of the golden river! He lands roughly, his armor slamming against his own neck painfully - take 1d6 damage that ignores armor, Grigor - but he's up and fighting again in a flash. Taking a more defensive stance, Grigor moves closer to engage the decapus, slicing back and forth with two-handed swings on his longsword. The tentacle that Archepex just deflected continues its momentum forward to attack the fighter! Blood sprays in his eyes, take -1 on your next Hack and Slash (from Archepex's 7-9 roll on his parry) BUT, despite that, Grigor manages to get the upper hand.

The fighter lifts his left arm up high and brings it back down sharply around the tentacle itself! The Decapus is completely taken by surprise by this maneuver and doesn't withdraw its powerful muscled appendage in time. Screaming in rage, the fighter uses his other hand to bring his sword down in a vicious slice, severing another tentacle!

Thanks to the fighter's efforts, the decapus is basically an octopus once again, having lost two of its tentacles so far. The continuing pain that the party is inflicting on it is beginning to cause the decapus to enrage, and as Emma joins the fight, it reveals another secret weapon.

Withdrawing its tentacles, the decapus flips itself upside down in the golden river, exposing its beak mouth to the open air. The beak begins to emit an ultrasonic sound, incredibly high pitched, that assaults everyone's ears in the party! You must roll Defy Danger using Constitution to take any action while the Decapus is "singing" - take +1 to your roll if you use both hands to cover your ears. While it sings, it fends off Muppy from causing any serious harm to it using its remaining tentacles, but Muppy's efforts are indeed setting up an easier opening for the elf ranger Archepex to strike.

Lyntel braces herself against the piercing noise, covering her ears.

Defy Danger (Con): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 2) + 1 = 7

defy danger, con: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 2) = 8

Archepex wills his way through the screech and leaps onto the raised face of the monster! Shut up! He shouts as he tries to sunder the hard beak!

hackity slash!: 2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2, 2) + 2 + 1 = 7
damage: 1d8 ⇒ 8

The jump is less than perfect from the noise, as is the swing, but it hopefully gets the job done and shuts the thing up.

Dhice claps his hands to his ears and tries to focus his mind enough to shift his attunement to the air that's resonating around him sound check: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (6, 5) + 4 = 15. His attunement snaps into place and he uses it to block out the noise from his own head as if it was nothing. The side effect, however, is that Muppy disintegrates into a pile of small rocks and gravel, scattering across the ground and splashing into the water.

Then he focuses on the great beast's beak and tries to still it with a mass of solidified air: Air Bender: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 1) + 3 = 5. This plan does not work quite as he imagined...

so I put myself in danger with the Aid Another and then rolled snake eyes. Mooshy, do your worst!

Defy Danger (Con): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 3) + 1 = 10

Grigor ignores the terrible screeching assaulting his ears and attacks if he can reach the body of the creature, if not I Defend Dhice as he is casting.

Hack and Slash: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (3, 3) + 3 = 9, hitting for 1d10 + 1d4 ⇒ (9) + (2) = 11 if it's within reach...

Or Defend the Squishy: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 2) + 1 = 5 doing as good a job Defending as Dhice is doing Casting.

Don't forget to take your 1d6 damage and update your HP in your profile, Grigor.

Lyntel, you manage to act, but you can't bear to even think about taking your hands away from your ears. The sound is too painful; you can act otherwise, though. Which of your spells require hand gestures and which don't?

The elven ranger Archepex leaps through the air. His distraction from the screeching sound causes him to be whacked by a waving tentacle as it emerges from the water, forcing him to scrabble around on the decapus' slippery body for a moment. His pack comes open, and his supplies begin to spill out into the river! He loses 2 rations right away, and his pack is still open; risking losing further gear items to the river. He slashes at the beak with his sword. He's almost knocked clear off the decapus, but Muppy is there to support him; pushing the elf back up onto the creature's body and recovering 1 of his supplies. The earth elemental puts them safely on land before disintegrating. Archepex's swing took all of his strength, and he knew he hit that beak hard...but the beak itself is made from keratin almost as strong as steel plate, and the armored nature of the beak reduces the damage he deals. He briefly interrupts the screeching, but it continues again soon after!

Grigor winces in pain from the assault on his ears, but he resists the urge to stop where he is and just hold his head in pain. Instead, the fighter leaps to Dhice's defense.

Just in time, too. The bender had been trying to cast a spell, but the haste and distraction of the battle all around him led him to pull too hard on the magical elements all around him.

At the far end of the tunnel, Dhice inadvertently binds an Air Elemental to this plane. Enraged at the sudden change in environment, the air elemental, looking like a tornado with a face, begins blowing as hard as it can down the sewer pipe. The effect is a wind tunnel, and Dhice is blown clear off his feet! Anyone in the tunnel who isn't using one hand to hold themselves down is knocked off their feet, Dhice first.

Grigor tries to hold Dhice down by bracing himself against the stone fist that is pressed against the ceiling and holding Wicks in place, but he loses his grip as well. The two of you fly back down the sewer pipe the way you came, landing with a rolling thud about 50 feet down the tunnel where the wind's force has died down a little. Take 1d6 damage, each of you, from being knocked around. The wind is still harshly blowing from that direction, and the decapus is still "singing." What do you do?

Previous Slam Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Wind Tunnel Damage: 1d6 - 4 ⇒ (5) - 4 = 1

For 7 points total.

I'm kind of torn up unless we got some health back from our night of rest. Anybody have any healing for me?

Archepex drops to one knee and grabs onto the base of a tentacle to keep from being blown down the tunnel. He strains against the pressure and lifts his sword high. The beak was damaged, but that didn't help. Time to see if it was softer on the inside!
He calls upon the Sky Above to bless his strike with an Elven battle cry, turns the blade point down, and drives it deep into the decampus's throat! Mule then joins the fight and dives for the monster's eyes!
magic Weapon: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 3) + 2 = 8
I draw attention to myself. As if stabbing it in the gullet wont. :P
hackity stab!: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 6) + 2 = 11
Damage: 1d8 + 1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (8) + (6) + (4) + 2 = 20
Leaving myself open for extra damage
BOOM, max damage!

You heal half of your max HP every time you Make Camp, which is what you did at the dwarf sisters' house.

Lyntel gasps as she is lifted off her feet and sent flying down the passageway. In a heap on the floor, she begins singing loudly to herself, although none can hear it over the decapus.

Arcane Arts (remove enchantment from self): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 4) + 2 = 8

I'll heal you once I deal with this incapacitation. You are currently at 15, right?

The ceiling of the sewer seems to go temporarily blank, revealing a wide open sky above you for a few instants. The vision passes and the stone above your heads returns quickly, but not before the Sky blessings fell upon Archepex's sword. His elven blade glows with a blue force, even as one of the decapus' tentacles wraps around his waist and hefts his feet off the ground.

Seeing what the decapus is about to do, Archepex allows it to happen. In a blink of an eye, the elf's whole body is thrust into the gullet of the decapus by the creature's tentacle; cutting off its "singing." The elf feels himself being crushed by the decapus' throat, and the beak closes after him.

For a moment, nothing can be seen of the elf. Stricken with worry, his animal companion screeches loudly and divebombs the decapus, harrying it desperately. The decapus roars in triumph, waving its tentacles around in the air...

When suddenly a glowing-blue blade, thin and razor-sharp, pierces the decapus' skin from the inside and erupts to its full length. Screaming his battlecry, the elven ranger rips through the Decapus' whole body, slicing through the creature's entire body and cutting it nearly in half. The decapus shudders and roars in its death throes, its tentacles waving about dangerously, making the rest of you have to duck its swings; but it was the decapus' swan song. Its body has sustained damage too terrible to ignore. As its blood darkens the golden river, it stops its struggling and dies.

Lnytel, since the singing stopped, you had no enchantment to remove; I'll allow you to use your Arcane Arts for something different with your 8 roll.

In that case Grigor can heal for 2d8.

Lyntel gapes in open mouth astonishment as Archepex bursts from the decapus. Without bothering to stand she pulls out her songbook and begins writing a few lines of Archepex's heroics.

Thrown down the tunnel: 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2 damage.

Dhice picks himself up off the ground and immediately checks to see if Grigor is OK. "You look like s&!! Grigor!"

As Lyntel's magic takes effect, the soldier suddenly appears much healthier and Dhice grunts in satisfaction. "I appreciate the thought, but I'm a lot harder to squish than you might think, friend." (after the time that's passed it should be pretty obvious to everyone that Dhice is remarkably tough. Far more so than you'd think by looking at him. In game terms he's a rare magic user based on Con, and has pretty massive damage absorption capabilities by DW standards.)

"Well, that was interesting." he says in a voice that's a little too loud, probably caused by the ringing that's still in his ears.

Archepex may have looked heroic, but it was vile! Nothing he had done in all his years had prepared him for the feeling of being swallowed alive. The sewer water is glorious by comparison, and he makes sure the foul river washes every bit if him. The filth of humans was nothing compared to THAT.

In that case Grigor can heal for 2d8.

Lyntel gapes in open mouth astonishment as Archepex bursts from the decapus. Without bothering to stand she pulls out her songbook and begins writing a few lines of Archepex's heroics.

Magicky Healiocity: 2d8 ⇒ (4, 8) = 12

Thanks, Lyntel!

Once things get settled down a bit Dhice suggests that they continue on, heading upstream of the gold river.

You help Wicks down from when he got pinned to the sewer's roof, and the halfling suggests that Muppy carry the lantern. The elemental can somehow carry the lantern without the light being dimmed, so its glow is soon the only thing you can follow in these dark tunnels.

Your path continues for many hours through the sewer, following the golden river, until you suddenly find a large room with round walls. The river you had been following originates here, from a waterfall coming through a hole in the ceiling.

False gold, rubies, emeralds, and cut jewels of all descriptions crowd the floor in this room. Enough riches are here to make you wealthier than President Coghammer many times over, but you know by now that it's a simple by-product of the broken Mirror of Erised.

On the far side of the room, beyond the waterfall, there crouches a figure. It looks like a thin, emaciated corpse of a former living man; its ribs stick out terrifyingly widely and its belly is distended. The corpse's bald head is bent over an object in the body's hands, a hand mirror, forever trapped in a posture of staring into it.

You help Wicks down from when he got pinned to the sewer's roof, and the halfling suggests that Muppy carry the lantern. The elemental can somehow carry the lantern without the light being dimmed, so its glow is soon the only thing you can follow in these dark tunnels.

Didn't Muppy disintegrate?

Whooops, I forgot! Any light sources that you guys are holding or wearing yourselves is diminished by 90% in these strange sewers.

Dhice snaps back into Earth Bending mode, and does a quick jury-rigging job on the lantern: he wedges a stone into the handle, such that the lantern has a rock permanently stuck in it. Then he reaches out with his mind and lifts the rock off the ground, floating it out in front of the party as they advance. Air Bender: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 2) + 3 = 9

"If something distracts me the light's going to fall, so be ready for that. He is careful to float the light just above ground level, over solid surfaces wherever possible, to avoid breaking the lantern if it fell.

He has to maintain concentration for the rock to stay moving. Once broken, it'll fall to the ground and he'd have to roll again to start it up.

Lyntel approaches the mirror and inspects it for damage, careful not to gaze into the mirrored surface. She also gently proves its magical aura for signs of distress.

Discern Realities: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (3, 2) - 1 = 4

I'd like to imagine she is discerning realities with her intellect here, but let's see how the -1 roll goes!

Edit: Pretty well.

"You see, Archepex, what she did there is classic spellcasting, done right." Grigor whispers to whichever shadow he thinks the elf is currently standing in.

Archepex momentarily becomes visible, raises a single brow, and waits for the fireworks.

I meant "probes" not "proves"

Grigor stands behind the mirror so he won't be tempted to look into it.

"So how do we fix this doo-hicky?"

As an aside: "That's an industry term, Archepex, don't worry about it."

Perhaps foolishly, Dhice causes the floating lantern to push just a little bit on the corpse's head, just to see what happens.

Expecting the worst, Archepex sighs at both Grigor and Dhice at the same time and pulls down his mask. They were probably going to get attacked again... or something...
He fades like smoke on a superior and yet slightly miffed wind.

The "corpse" gasps to life, shocking you all. Mule flaps his wings and screeches in alarm. The emaciated man looks like he hasn't eaten in centuries, his body looking far past the point of starvation, yet he still lives. You can see his pulse weakly pushing blood through his veins and arteries, clearly visible through his paper-thin skin. His beard reaches down to his belly, distended from hunger. His eyes, which had been lidded nearly shut, fly open and glance at the lantern that nudged him in the head.

An instant later, the man seems to remember what he's holding in his wizened, withered hands. With a weak shout of dismay, the old man drops the mirror of Erised! All of you nearby roll Defy Danger with Wisdom to react in time to look away from the mirror as it clatters to the ground face-up.

Broken from his staring, the old man collapses on his side, wheezing and gasping and groaning in pain.

Defy Dumb: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (6, 2) - 1 = 7

defy reflection: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 4) + 2 = 12
But if I fade to invisibility does the mirror forget I'm there because I can no longer see myself? :)

Don't Look!: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 3) = 8

♪♫ Defying You, Defying Me, Defying We, Let's Not Look at The Mirror ♫♩: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (5, 6) - 1 = 10

Grigor barely contains his shock, and keeps his self control, by whistling a little ditty.

I have a bad feeling about this: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 4) = 5

Dhice and Lyntel only catch fleeting glimpses of themselves in the mirror; glimpses of their heart's true desire realized, of their dreams coming to life all around them. Lyntel, Dhice, what scenes did each of you glimpse, if only briefly?

Emma, meanwhile, doesn't quite look away in time. She knew of the danger the mirror represented, but her pride didn't quite allow her to fully comprehend and realize the threat it posed until it was too late. She looks full upon the broken mirror, and the worst moments of her life are suddenly happening to her all over again. Grigor and Archepex see the antipaladin's skin turn white as a sheet, her eyes remaining fixed open. The antipaladin can't seem to move or look away from the mirror resting at her feet and facing up at her. In the antipaladin's mind, her dreams are being revived to full potency of belief only to be crushed again. Her heart, long thought broken beyond any trace of pain, seems to heal, only to break even worse than before. Tears begin flowing down the antipaladin's face. Emma, what terrible memories does the Mirror evoke in you?

What do you all do?

Mechanical effects: Lyntel and Dhice are confused -1 Wis Mod, Emma is confused and has taken 1d6 psychic damage that ignores armor.

Archepex snatches a traveling blanket from his pack and shakes it open. He tosses it over the mirror.

If that works

He then scoops it up and wraps it tightly.

Grigor raises his sword above the blanket covered mirror just in case we can't get people out of their stupor.

Dhice sees a flashback to the day that forever altered his destiny. The day that he surreptitiously followed Grigor's squad into the Skaven staging ground in the old cultists' temple. The day that he watched, from the shadows, his secret love Elise the hex-singer (and Grigor's sister) be mauled to death by the mad Skaven alchemist Split-Whisker.

But in this version of that memory Elise is not killed. In this version, Dhice's powers erupt from his forearms and shatter Split-Whisker with ten tons of rock. He carves the air up into razors and dices the remaining Skaven hordes with his raw power, sweeping the fair Elise into his arms as the foul rat men fall into horrible chunks like so much butcher meat around them...

Emma can see a perfect reflection of herself in the mirror.

Herself.

The reflection smiles. The scar, the murders, the terror inflicted and deserved all peel away into dust and good intentions. Skin sloughs away, eyeballs burst, revealing the Skaven Queen. The snout of the brood-mother splits open like an overripe, revealing a familicidal conqueress of the known world.

Herself.

Good intentions flutter in the cloying air like autumn leaves.

Her fingernails are red. Her wrists are open.

1d6 ⇒ 2

Lyntel watches as Grigor slays the skaven Queen. She turns to watch Emma gently pull her mother from the nearby cage. Lyntel races to her mother and hugs her, as Grigor and Archepex kill the remaining skaven. Together, Lyntel and her Mother begin crying with joy.

The visions, horrible or wonderful as they were, are fleeting. Archepex's quick thinking saved the party from suffering the same fate as the old man. As he sees Archepex's plan work, Grigor slowly lowers his sword, studying everyone's reactions carefully.

Speaking of the elderly fellow, he's still struggling to draw breath. His face and lips appear to have almost no moisture left in them, contributing to his corpse-like appearance. His ashen skin is dry as parchment. "Water...water," he murmurs, his voice as brittle, like autumn leaves crunching underfoot.

Grigor kneels down a give him a sip from his canteen.

"Easy old-timer. How long have you been down here?"

The old man gratefully drinks from the canteen. His thirst is clearly causing him great pain - when he swallows, he moans and closes his eyes, his head falling back before his thirst overcomes him again and he puts his lips back to your canteen. He drinks as greedily as he can and doesn't answer you until the water in your canteen is completely gone, or you take it away from him. Whichever comes first.

When that happens, his head falls backward and his body loses all tension, going fully slack. If you're holding him up, he's slack in your arms; if you weren't holding him up, he falls to his back on the stone ground. With a small exhalation of breath, the man's eyes close and he slips into unconsciousness. You check his pulse; still there, he's just out of commission for a moment.

You glance over at the source of the man's torment. It looks like an innocent hand-mirror, covered by the elven ranger's cloth.

What are the rest of you doing? How do you each react to the brief glimpses of what you saw in the mirror?