By
Jon Creffield
What follows is an encounter setup, an exciting ambush Lejend
Masters can stage any time the avatar team is on the road.
Some details have been left intentionally vague; the bandits
are neither named nor described so the Lejend Master can tailor
the encounter to his own campaign.
This ambush can take place on any road leading through a
wooded region or other area that affords the bandits sufficient
cover. Unless the party is using a suitable ability to negate
surprise they automatically loose three actions when the ambush
is sprung.
The bandits array themselves as follows:
The chief and four lieutenants are 80 ahead of the
party blocking the road with the 10 spearmen crouched in front
of them. An avatar afoot will take 3 ABCs to reach them if
advancing hastily to attack.
The archers are to the partys left, some 50 distant.
The ground is broken and an avatar afoot will take 2 ABCs
to reach them if advancing hastily to attack.
The cavalrymen are behind the party, some 100 distant.
An avatar afoot will take 4 ABCs to reach them if advancing
hastily to attack.
The bandits adopt the following tactics:
ABC 1: the 10 archers shoot, the lieutenant with magical
powers begins a Sticky activation, investing an extra 10 AEPs,
and the cavalrymen begin a charge.
ABC 2: the 10 archers continue to shoot, the lieutenant completes
his Sticky activation effecting a strip of ground 10
deep and 30 long in front of the archers. The cavalrymen
continue their charge.
ABC 3: the cavalrymen attack with their lances, riding through
the party and ending the count 40 ahead of them. If
the horsemen are still riding in formation require each avatar
on foot to make a disaster avoidance check with complete successes
indicating that the avatar dodges out of the horses
path, a partial success that they are struck for 1-20 shock
harm, and a failure that they are knocked prone, suffer 2d20
shock harm, and are stunned for 1-3 ABCs. The lieutenant
with magical powers begins a Blue Bolts activation.
ABC 4: if the party was surprised by the bandits ambush
they are able to take actions for the first time in this count.
The 10 archers shoot, the cavalrymen wheel their mounts and
the bandit lieutenant with magical powers completes his Blue
Bolts activation, hitting man size avatars with 2-8 bolts,
each delivering 1-2 points of preternatural harm.
ABC 5: the cavalrymen ride into the party and remain in melee,
thrusting with their lances. The spearmen advance as do the
chief and all four of his lieutenants.
ABC 6: the cavalrymen continue to fight, the archers shoot
at any clearly unengaged avatars and the spearmen, chief and
lieutenants continue to close. Lieutenant number three has
an eye of otherworlds and uses it to search out invisible
adversaries.
ABC 7: the cavalrymen continue to fight, the archers shoot
at any clearly unengaged avatars and the spearmen, chief and
his lieutenants continue to close.
ABC 8: the cavalrymen ride away from the melee to regroup
(a process taking a full AB to complete), the archers shoot
at any clearly unengaged avatars, the spearmen, chief and
three of his lieutenants enter melee, the lieutenant with
magical powers hangs back and activates Shadow Bolts boosting
the power with an added 20 AEPs, thus each bolt delivers 6-7
points of harm and drains a like amount of Speed, on the following
count he will break his energy storage plaque
Thus the first two Activity Blocks of battle are covered.
If by the end of the third Activity Block the bandits are
loosing the chief will call for his cavalrymen to make another
charge, withdraw under the covering fire of the archers, leave
his spearmen and one lieutenant as a rearguard, and attempt
to flee. Having escaped the survivors will use their stock
of curative items to revive themselves and make a final stand
at their campsite (see below.) The bandit enspeller will
use his Morbens energy nodes to restore his magical
power.
Of course no plan survives contact with the enemy and the
chieftain will adapt his tactics to the avatars actions.
Consider each bandit group to have a morale score of 60%.
A group failing its check will retreat to the campsite immediately
thereafter.
Treasure and extraordinary items carried:
The archers, cavalrymen and spearmen each have $200-500 in
silver and copper coins.
The lieutenants each carry $500-2000 in copper, silver and
gold coins. In addition number one carries a bar of lie soap,
number two has 3 preternatural wound dressings, and number
three has an eye of otherworlds.
The lieutenant with magical powers carries $3000 in gold
coins and an inspirit node, six red Morbens energy nodes,
eight ounces of Miranas health restorative, and a plaque,
energy storage, high.
The chief carries $8000 in gold coins, 3 poison placebos,
minimus, 4 bolus of health, moderatus, and 2 doses of wound
nostrum.
In addition every bandit has a secondary weapon of some sort,
dagger, short sword, club, knife, or garrote, as the Lejend
Master deems appropriate. The bandits swords are of
common manufacture worth no more than $1000 each and breaking
just as easily as any other weapon.
The campsite:
In a nearby dell a cluster of crude dwellings and tents provides
a makeshift home for this larcenous gang. As noted the surviving
bandits will flee here, cure their wounds as best they can,
and prepare to defend themselves from the vengeful party.
They are joined in this endeavor by the chiefs consort,
who takes control of the band if the chief has fallen, and
three war dogs.
If the party defeats them and searches the dwellings successful
use of Evaluation, Luck or Scrutiny Ability locates a patch
of freshly dug earth in the shelter used by the chief and
chieftaness; excavating this area turns up a chest holding
$42,000 in silver coins, 90 ten carat amethysts each worth
$200, a heavy gold bracelet worth $4,500, a gold brooch worth
$3,500, two undressed otter pelts each worthy $350, a bolt
of silk worth $800, 2 ounces of rare perfume worth $1000,
a fortune plaque, fortune smiles, and a flask of Hekhjeems
honey oil.
The other shelters contain odds and ends of clothing, half
empty wine skins, decks of cards, dice and other personal
items, and a variety of foodstuffs the party could
scavenge provisions sufficient for a ten-day here.
Also present in the camp are a half dozen slovenly trulls
that serve the bandits as camp followers. They do not fight
and if left to their own devices will strip what valuables
they can from the dead and make off for pastures new.
The bandit gang:
The bandits statistics are presented in the following
format: first their type (chief, lieutenant, cavalryman etc),
next the number of that given type, then the Health Base Rating,
followed by precision (with that score modified by weapon
type shown in bold after a slash), then Speed is given (with
a rating modified for armor and shield given after a slash,
the enspeller also has his AEP total listed here), next an
initiative modifier is given for those who wish to use it
(this is figured by subtracting armor penalties and weapon
speed modifiers from unadjusted Speed Base Rating), following
that is an attack entry with all pertinent weapon statistics
given, and lastly an entry for defense showing protections
worn or carried and the pertinent number of armor points.
Creature |
Attacks |
Defense |
Bandit Chief |
Mace [Harm base 5-20 shock,
range 1, speed 6, precision bonus 5]. |
Buckler 6 vs. one opponent
and leather full armor for 8 |
Bandit lieutenant |
Sword, cut and thrust (longsword)
[Harm base 4-20 penetration, range 3, speed 4, precision
bonus 10] |
Shield 8 vs. two opponents
and leather full armor for 8 |
Common bandits archers |
Bow and 12 arrows [Harm base
1-20 penetration, range 50-150-300, Speed 1, precision
bonus 5/0/0] |
Cloth half garment for 4 |
Common Bandit Spearmen |
Spear [Harm base 2-20 penetration,
range 5, speed 3, precision bonus 5] |
Shield 8 vs. two opponents
and cloth full garment for 6 |
Common bandit cavalry |
Lance [Harm base 1-20/1-40
penetration, range 8, speed 5/2, precision bonus 0/10] |
Shield 8 vs. two opponents
and cloth full garment for 6 |
Bandit lieutenant, magical |
Enchantment 80
Shadow Bolts (I), Flame Fan (II), Iron Agony (III),
Sticky (IV), Blue Bolts (V) |
Personal Shielding 4 for
18 |
Creature |
Appearing |
H |
P |
S |
Initiative |
Bandit Chief |
1 |
60 |
58/63 |
15/13 |
+7 |
Bandit lieutenant |
3 |
40 |
30/40 |
10/7 |
+3 |
Common bandits archers |
10 |
20 |
30/35 at close range |
10 |
+9 |
Common Bandit Spearmen |
10 |
30 |
27/32 |
9/6 |
+3 |
Common bandit cavalry |
10 |
25 |
25/35 at the charge |
10/7 |
+2/+5 at the charge |
Bandit lieutenant, magical |
1 |
45 |
38 |
14/9/46 AEPs remaining |
+9 |
Creature |
Appearing |
H |
P |
S |
Initiative |
Bandit Chieftainess |
1 |
61 |
57/67 |
13.5/12 |
+8 |
War Dogs |
3 |
30 |
40 |
15 |
+15 |
Camp followers |
6 |
20 |
15/35 |
10.5 |
+9.5 |
Creature |
Attacks |
Defense |
Bandit Chieftainess |
Sword, cut and thrust (longsword)
[Harm base 4-20 penetration, range 3, speed 4, precision
bonus 10] |
Leather full armor for 9
|
War Dogs |
Bite 1-12+6 |
4 |
Camp followers |
Punch [hand, Harm base 1-4
shock, range 1, speed 1, precision bonus 20] |
0 |
Awards
The Lejend Master should award 50-200 General Merits and
25-100 Ability Specific Merits to each avatar participating
in the battle, a low award if the party flees, a high one
if they capture or kill the entire gang. If the avatars capture
the chief or chieftaness and turn them over to the local authorities
award them a point of repute. Killing captives out of hand
or selling them into slavery earns a point of dark repute. |