Reavers on the Seas of Fate – Session Summary 24 Posted

Twenty-fourth Session (9 page pdf) – “Throwdown With the Arm-Ripper” – The party works their way through the ruined complex to an ancient druidic shrine, only to meet two of Jaren’s old friends – a witch and the Arm-Ripper!  Is Jaren’s missing arm a coincidence?  Hint: no!

We finished up with my randomly generated dungeon and kicked into Throwdown with the Arm-Ripper.  I have a soft spot for those Wicked Fantasy Factory adventures – they need work, but they shine in the setpieces.

Before that, they ran across a sleeping cave bear.  “We’ll sneak up on it and kill it,” they declared.  I took a look at the dire bear stats and shuddered.  Even with the sleeping perception penalty, there was a real good chance that with three PCs sneaking up, one of them would be heard, and if that thing woke up in close quarters with the three PCs, someone was going to get ripped to bits.  But they all snuck up successfully and all executed coup de graces.  The bear was tough, and it rolled TWO natural 20’s on its Fort saves – but luckily, it failed its third.

The interaction with Gilmy the ettin was entertaining.  They thought he was maybe some druidic guardian, and that his forehead scars were maybe lobotomy scars – they weren’t, they were a plot point, and he had been turned from a human into a mutated ettin by Mythra and the altar (also used the same way to make the Arm-Ripper).

And then it was The Big Fight.  A freaky altar!  An Arm-Ripper!  A witch (druid, really)!  A wolf!  The Arm-Ripper and Mythra weren’t all that hard per se, but the altar goes nuts when there’s violence and strong emotions going on and it kept affecting the environment, raising and/or animating dead foes, etc.

In the end, it resurrected Mythra but everyone else was dead and she didn’t have the starch to keep fighting.  She surrendered and helped them regrow Jaren’s arm and make the dragon helm (it’s probably for the best that they didn’t have to rely on their Knowledge skills).

So, mission successful!  Now it’s back to Riddleport for the grand finale of the first main plot arc.