![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In my blog yesterday about Friday's session 3 of my City of the Dead D&D game I left off before the coda. Just as the group thought they were washing up from fights with undead and still trying to figure out how to permanently deprogram that reprogrammed golem, news of another danger arrived.
The news came in the form of the paladin's empathic link with her warhorse. Yes, paladins can communicate with their horses telepathically. Well, not all paladins; one has to reach a certain level to summon a celestial creature. And the link is empathic, not fully telepathic. What's the difference? Well, aside from the fact you're communicating with a horse, albeit a smarter-than-average celestial horse, the link is limited to brief, surface level thoughts.
"🐴 I FACE DANGER," was the message.
The paladin first thought to answer, "Come to me," but then she remembered that an evil spell in part of the graveyard had previously barred her horse from entering.
"DEFEND," she responded. "I COME."
The paladin alerted her companions something was attacking their mounts— there were a total of 3 horses and a pack mule parked in the 5 minute loading zone outside the cemetery— and dashed out to help. ...But carefully, because she knew there were still undead underground in the cemetery who could burrow out from the ground swiftly and ambush travelers.
As the paladin and her compatriots arrived they found they were dealing with an unexpected enemy: sheep. But not just any sheep... evil, bloodthirsty sheep.
These were zombie sheep! And they were trying to kill the horses!
These checks were largely scorned by GMs and players alike because, if followed to the rule, opponents would be running away much of the time. How much fun is that? The rules did away with morale scores and morale checks 20+ years ago.
Well, I did like the concept of morale checks. They just had to be... tweaked... like so many things in the early rule sets. Playing D&D with numerous house rules was the norm 20+ years ago! So anyway, I threw a d20 for each of the animals to gauge their reactions.
The paladin first tried her Turn Undead ability on the sheep. It was a reasonable move as there almost a dozen sheep. She's not as strong with that move as the cleric, though, so all she managed to do was drive off about half the sheep.
The scout and the warrior joined the combat next. Zombie sheep are surprisingly hard to kill. I mean, they're still sheep so they're easy to hit; they just have way more HP than normal sheep. Not that that was a problem for the muscular warrior wielding his magical katana with a two-handed grip.
Then the cleric arrived and opened his can of Turn Undead whupass. His power in this area is way stronger than the paladin's. His power is stronger than other clerics', too. Fighting undead is his religious mission. He pulled out his holy symbol of Charonne, spoke the words to summon her power, and reduced all the sheep to ashes— including the ones that already started running away.
While the group was beating the sheep two of the mounts were still fleeing. The mule was charging down the old trade road. The group will have to try to catch him later.
The riding horse met an unfortunate fate in the graveyard. Her racing hoofbeats drew the attention of some of those burrowing undead ghoul-like creatures. They surfaced and grabbed at his legs. With a couple of claw attacks, combined with a bit of damage the sheep had done a few rounds earlier, he succumbed. The players know that this happened but the characters don't yet. It will be a macabre surprise when they go looking to retrieve the horse and find instead a bloody horse-corpse feeding a gaggle of ghouls.
That'll be the start of the session next time. And that'll be 3 weeks from now. Yes, after playing a remarkable 3 weeks in a row, we're taking the next two off because we'll be traveling for Thanksgiving. But then it's 2 more weeks of gaming in a row before people start to disappear for Christmas and New Year holidays.
🎵 I Can Talk to My Horse, Of Course 🎵
The news came in the form of the paladin's empathic link with her warhorse. Yes, paladins can communicate with their horses telepathically. Well, not all paladins; one has to reach a certain level to summon a celestial creature. And the link is empathic, not fully telepathic. What's the difference? Well, aside from the fact you're communicating with a horse, albeit a smarter-than-average celestial horse, the link is limited to brief, surface level thoughts."🐴 I FACE DANGER," was the message.
The paladin first thought to answer, "Come to me," but then she remembered that an evil spell in part of the graveyard had previously barred her horse from entering.
"DEFEND," she responded. "I COME."
The paladin alerted her companions something was attacking their mounts— there were a total of 3 horses and a pack mule parked in the 5 minute loading zone outside the cemetery— and dashed out to help. ...But carefully, because she knew there were still undead underground in the cemetery who could burrow out from the ground swiftly and ambush travelers.
As the paladin and her compatriots arrived they found they were dealing with an unexpected enemy: sheep. But not just any sheep... evil, bloodthirsty sheep.
These were zombie sheep! And they were trying to kill the horses!
I Can Has Spot Check?
FWIW the group had a chance to spot these sheep when they arrived. The sheep were some distance off in a scrub field on the opposite side of the road. "There's a small flock of sheep in the field," I would have told them in response to a successful minimum Spot check. "You see sheep feeding on the corpose of some animal, as normal sheep normally do," I would have told them on a strongly successful Spot check. 😅 Alas, the only character who was looking in that direction (everyone else was focused on the graveyard which, to be fair, was reasonable) boffed his Spot check.Morale Check
As the players started arrived the mounts were fully surrounded. I decided it was time for morale checks. Back in the early days of D&D (first and second edition rules) creatures all had a number for morale in their stat blocks. The GM was supposed to make a morale check to see if they'd flee from combat at certain points.These checks were largely scorned by GMs and players alike because, if followed to the rule, opponents would be running away much of the time. How much fun is that? The rules did away with morale scores and morale checks 20+ years ago.
Well, I did like the concept of morale checks. They just had to be... tweaked... like so many things in the early rule sets. Playing D&D with numerous house rules was the norm 20+ years ago! So anyway, I threw a d20 for each of the animals to gauge their reactions.
- The paladin's mount, Kristyl— "That's Crystal with a K and a Y, but not where you think!"— was already fighting. She's an elite, with combat skill, and she knows reinforcements are coming. In her mind the options were a) stay and fight or b) make a strategic retreat. I rolled well for her. She was standing her ground and fighting back. 🤺
- Next was the mage's riding horse. Quite the opposite of Crystal with a K and a Y, but not where you think! he had no training for combat and was pretty freaked that sheep were trying to eat him. I rolled poorly for him, I think a 3 on a d20. He bolted, and ran past the paladin... into the graveyard. 😨
- The mule also had no combat training, and while mules can be kind of ornery, this one was outnumbered and surrounded. He rolled poorly on his d20 check, too, so he took off running... downhill on the road... toward Graymount. (Despite hearing numerous times it's The City of the Dead he didn't pay attention... because he's a mule. 😂)
- The scout's warhorse also had a "meh" reaction roll. He had combat skill, though, so he was backing off slowly, trying to figure out which side of his fight-or-flight response was more prudent. Then the scout, who personally trained him, arrived. He made a Handle Animal check. He rolled well. "Where do you think you're going?" he scowled. "You're a warhorse. Get back there and fight!" "Oh, right, I'm a warhorse. Hurr!" 🤣
Beating the Sheep
The paladin first tried her Turn Undead ability on the sheep. It was a reasonable move as there almost a dozen sheep. She's not as strong with that move as the cleric, though, so all she managed to do was drive off about half the sheep.The scout and the warrior joined the combat next. Zombie sheep are surprisingly hard to kill. I mean, they're still sheep so they're easy to hit; they just have way more HP than normal sheep. Not that that was a problem for the muscular warrior wielding his magical katana with a two-handed grip.
Then the cleric arrived and opened his can of Turn Undead whupass. His power in this area is way stronger than the paladin's. His power is stronger than other clerics', too. Fighting undead is his religious mission. He pulled out his holy symbol of Charonne, spoke the words to summon her power, and reduced all the sheep to ashes— including the ones that already started running away.
While the group was beating the sheep two of the mounts were still fleeing. The mule was charging down the old trade road. The group will have to try to catch him later.
The riding horse met an unfortunate fate in the graveyard. Her racing hoofbeats drew the attention of some of those burrowing undead ghoul-like creatures. They surfaced and grabbed at his legs. With a couple of claw attacks, combined with a bit of damage the sheep had done a few rounds earlier, he succumbed. The players know that this happened but the characters don't yet. It will be a macabre surprise when they go looking to retrieve the horse and find instead a bloody horse-corpse feeding a gaggle of ghouls.
That'll be the start of the session next time. And that'll be 3 weeks from now. Yes, after playing a remarkable 3 weeks in a row, we're taking the next two off because we'll be traveling for Thanksgiving. But then it's 2 more weeks of gaming in a row before people start to disappear for Christmas and New Year holidays.
