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Bandits! - An Encounter

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 party’s 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 Morben’s 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 Morben’s energy nodes, eight ounces of Mirana’s 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 chief’s 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 Hekhjeem’s 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.

 

 

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