[Let's Play] Dragonsword of Lankhmar: Thieves' Guild Assassins

[Dogopolis]

Fine, Mog it up.

[Beroli]

Each time you guess their location it has one of two results. If you get it right you attack them immediately. If you get it wrong you have an encounter. The encounters are only partially location-coded (that is, guessing on the Street of the Gods you will always get a Street of the Gods encounter, but that doesn't mean stepping on a spider at the Temple of Mog was a Temple of the Gods of Lankhmar encounter) and will not repeat.

And in fact, they are at the Temple of Mog. Continuing in the main thread; watch this space as you may need to decide something shortly.

[Beroli]

So decision time: should it be unclear from my descriptions, your current hit points stand at

Renango: 16/40
The Guardian: 8/20
Trainees: 7/15

Does Renango wish to use his net, and if so, who will he choose for it to paralyze?

[Dogopolis]

I think the sword is better: actual damage, plus a chance to negate theirs next round. Half a vote on using the sword. If we do use the net though, it has to be against Fafhrd

[JourneymanN00b]

I also vote to use the sword, as we still have to hit our target with the net.

[Beroli]

PRIMARY PLAYER CHARACTER: Zandor

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Class: Wizard

Level: 15

Armor: Magical Enchantment

Hit Points: 24/24

Spells: Zandor has the following spells prepared and can cast each of them once. They are used up whether they hit or not.

Lightning Cast: If it scores a hit or double damage result, it deals 10 damage to each enemy Zandor is currently facing.
Sword Dancing: If it scores a hit or double damage result, all enemies Zandor is currently facing drop their weapons. Humans are reduced to using their fists, doing 2 damage per strike. Undead who were using weapons will flee. Any monster who was not using weapons will simply ignore the spell.
Death Dust: This spell succeeds automatically with no check. When Zandor casts it, and each subsequent round on his action for the rest of the battle, each enemy will take 4 damage.

Magical Weapons: 8 Beads of Death: Whenever Zandor throws one of these it is used up. If it hits, the number in the ones column of the target’s hit points becomes 0 (so an enemy with 29 hit points now has 20, and an enemy with 13 hit points now has 10).They will only work on enemies with 12+ hit points. Wand of Cold: has 10 charges, uses one charge whenever Zandor uses it, and deals 7 cold damage per successful hit.

Weapons: If Zandor doesn’t want to use anything limited, he can attempt to stab his enemies with two enchanted daggers. He has two attacks per round with them, but can only attack one enemy with both. If either one of them hits it deals 3 damage, but if both hit they deal a total of 10 damage and the enemy is stunned for the next round.

Description: Zandor is a jovial, heavyset man with a short beard and long hair. He is a nonconformist and dresses in white because the Sorcerers’ Guild insists its members wear black. Zandor is no thief. Under normal circumstances, he would never have considered working for the Thieves’ Guild, but he has run low on cash due to several disastrous experiments.





Zandor’s Ally: Zombie Warrior

Alignment: None

Class: None

Level: None

Armor: None

Hit Points: 30/30

Weapons: Magical sword

Damage: The Zombie Warrior’s magical sword strikes twice per round for 10 damage.

Description: The Zombie Warrior was once a friend of Zandor’s. The Wizard was so impressed with his friend’s fighting ability that when the warrior died, Zandor brought him back as a bodyguard. The Zombie follows Zandor wherever he goes. Because of the magics Zandor used to create him, he moves like a living man. He will also continue to attack for two rounds after he has reached 0 hit points.


Thief Trainees

Each Primary Thief Character gets one set of trainees who Hoorik sends along on this mission. They are not particularly competent, but they are completely devoted to whoever is in charge. They fight collectively, as one unit. They do 6 damage per attack and have 15 total hit points.

After being briefed by Hoorik, you are informed by Thieves' Guild spies that Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are on the Street of the Gods. Where will you guess they are?

Temple of the Rat God
Temple of Kos
Temple of Aarth
Temple of Mog
Temple of the Earth God
Temple of Issek
Temple of the Gods of Lankhmar
Marsh Gate
Shop of Ogo the Blind
Outdoors on the Street of the Gods

[JourneymanN00b]

Tentative plan if we should face Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser with this pair of assassins:

Use Sword Dancing, then Lightning Cast, then Wand of cold. Redirect all damage to the Zombie Warrior in order to take advantage of the two post death Attack rounds.

Half vote for going to the Temple of Aarth next.

[Dogopolis]

Definitely keep Sword Dancing in reserve for our main enemies. It's the most effective thing we've seen yet. I've no objection to Aarth.

[Beroli]

They are not at the Temple of Aarth.

You are loitering near the entrance to the Temple of Kos, god of warriors in the north. Spies tell you Fafhrd thinks well of this deity, and you hope to catch him here. The day is beautiful, and so is the slave girl who approaches you.

"Waiting is such thirsty work," she says demurely. "Will you not buy some of my fine, honeyed wine?"

"If it is as sweet as you are, it should be good indeed!" You toss her a coin. She pours the wine into a wooden cup and hands it to you.

As you drink, you notice it has a peculiar taste. Then your stomach wrenches...(rolls) Luckily, you do not die.

Now waiting for the end of Fafhrd's turn.

[Beroli]

The Thieves' Guild spies tell you that Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are in Lankhmar but not on the Street of the Gods.

Will you look for them at:

Street of the Silk Merchants
Cheap Street
Damp Street
Cutthroat Alley
Rainbow Palace
Animal Handlers' Guild Area
Blue Moon Inn
Park In Lankhmar
Carter Street
Nun Street
Great Library of Lankhmar
Plaza of Dark Delights

[Dogopolis]

They probably need to visit the library, so let's go there.

[JourneymanN00b]

I also vote to go to the Great Library of Lankhmar.

[Beroli]

They are not at the Great Library of Lankhmar.

You couldn't believe it when you heard the two were in the Spire of Rahn. Now, you can't believe you're here, trying to climb this blasted thing in the dead of night during a raging thunderstorm!

You begin to have second thoughts about climbing the wall. You were hoping to surprise them by coming in through the top of the Spire. But the stone is wet and slippery. If you don't fall off, you'll probably get struck by lightning.

1) Give up the idea of surprise and break into the front of the tower.
2) You've come this far, you might as well keep climbing.

[JourneymanN00b]

I say we should keep climbing. The tower’s front will probably be guarded and force us to waste spells, items, and hit points to get through.

[Dogopolis]

Keep on climbing.

[Beroli]

You make it up the side of the Spire but, unfortunately, you're the one who is surprised--by a Carrion Crawler!

The Carrion Crawler does no damage but will attempt to paralyze you. If you and both your companions (the trainees count as one companion for paralyzation as well as for other combat effects) are paralyzed the Crawler will eat you. How do you wish to use spells and/or items here?

[JourneymanN00b]

I will tentatively vote to use a bead of death, then the Wand of Cold. A bead of death should also be used if it would deal 8 damage or more.

[Dogopolis]

It all depends on our enemies hit points

If we don't actually know the hit points of our enemy, I don't think the beads are very good. I would like to skip our magic weapons and go straight to the stabbing, I think 2 hits plus the chance to paralyse is better than 1 guaranteed 7 hp hit with no secondary effects. If we find out that our enemy has _8 or _9 hit points then I think we should use the bead.

[JourneymanN00b]

I actually like Dogopolis’ plan better than mine, so I will change my vote for this.

[Beroli]

Zandor hits once and misses once. The Zombie Warrior hits twice. Then the trainees hit, finishing off the Carrion Crawler.

You find a set of stairs leading down. There are also several beautifully carved chests in this room, likely what the Carrion Crawler was set here to guard.

1) Examine the chests.

2) Hurry down the stairs before Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser can get away.

[Dogopolis]

Whilst I don't want to let them get away, I'm thinking those chests will have something good. Half a vote for examining the chests. If JN disagrees, I will swap, you don't need to wait.

[JourneymanN00b]

This might bite us, but I agree to check out the chests.

I would also like to edit the tentative battle plan if we should face Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to this:

Use Sword Dancing, then Death Dust, then Lightning Cast, then the daggers. Redirect all damage taken to the Zombie Warrior after the trainees cannot take any more damage in order to take advantage of the two post death Attack rounds.

[Beroli]

There's no treasure in these chests! They're all trapped!

Dagger Trap would do 10 damage on a special result. Spear Trap would do 12 damage on a normal hit result. Poison Gas does 15 damage on a double damage hit result. Pit Trap does 8 damage on a normal hit result. Magical Trap does 13 damage on a special result. Each is harmlessly disarmed if it gets any result but the one that does damage, and...

The Spear Trap and the Poison Gas hit. Since the Zombie Warrior has no formal "immune to poison" or "doesn't need to breathe" ability, I'm saying the poison gas is corrosive and will damage him if it's him it hits. Choose who takes 12 damage and who takes 15 damage (will kill the trainees if it's them).

1) Immediately go down the stairs after Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, cursing your own greedy nature.

2) Leave this accursed Spire before anything else happens.

[Dogopolis]

12 to the mooks, 15 to the zombie.

Go after them.

Obviously Sword Dancing first, after that I'm pretty easy, I'll give tentative approval to JN's plan.

[JourneymanN00b]

Holy jeez did being greedy screw us here. I guess the life lesson here is not to get greedy and keep your eyes on the goal.

Agree with Dogopolis’ choices, and I hope the Sword Dancing spell works here.