This weekend saw our first death in our Underwatch campaign. The group made it to the lair of the Lantern Goblin horde that has taken up residence in the city’s ancient sewer network. What they faced was a small horde worshiping a giant glowing crystal suspended in the air (The Source of the Goblin’s Light!?!). Lasbador the Wizard quickly launched a fireball into the crowd and maximized the damage.
That is a whole lot of Goblin death. Funny thing about Latern Goblins is that when they die their “light” travels to another one of their horde to make them stronger.
This resulted in a huge amount of Lights flowing around the room and empowering the remaining dozen goblins. One of these goblins was special.
He stood head and shoulders above the rest and had a powerful build. In his filthy hands was a huge double bladed axe ablaze with green flames. He let loose a terrible war cry and charged the party with his retinue of vile companions.
Our Fighter, Aubrey, charged right back. She was determined to smash into the enemy line and give the other heroes time to destroy the crystal. Dash the bard was right next to her side but that is beside the point. The story today is all about Aubrey.
The two sides met in the middle of the chamber. Aubrey and Dash being surround by the Goblins while our Druid and Wizard were going around to break/dismantle/disenchant the big glowy crystal in the center of the room.
Aubrey charged through the crowd to meet the Goblin Warlord (this title sounds appropriately bad ass doesn’t it?) in combat. She described how she would slide along the ground (not hard since she is a Halfling) and swing for the legs with Sally, her Messy, Forceful, Piercing Signature Weapon.
I can hear the epic film score chugging along in my head. I’m ready for the slow-motion sequence of Aubrey cutting the legs right off the Goblin Warlord. I’m ready for it! ROLL Hack & Slash!
::shooka shooka go the dice:: Aubrey gets a 6. A Miss.
That big Axe with the green flames? The one the Goblin Warlord has? It has Messy too. The Goblin leaps in the air right over Aubrey’s leg sweep. He comes crashing down and the axe chops right through Aubrey’s arm, taking it off at the elbow. Aubrey is on the ground and wracked with pain. The Goblin screams triumphantly and raises his axe to finish her off.
Dash tries desperately to reach Aubrey and parry the blow. Sounded like a Defend to me. He rolls a 5. Miss. The other goblins swarm him and hold him back.
At this point I thought to myself, “Is that it? Is Aubrey dead? Did that arm come off and now the Goblin finishes the job? Or did the shock of the wound really have time to set in yet? Is there time for the bravest Halfling that every graced the City Watch to get in one last swing? She is THE Fighter. She’s got time for one last swing of her axe. Aubrey is THE Fighter. I’m a fan of the characters after all. Fighter’s go down swinging.
I look to Aubrey’s player and describe the Goblin’s axe coming down on her. “What do you do?” I ask. She described how she is going to drag her axe along the groung and bring it up in a brilliant upward arc toward the Goblins face. Awesome. Roll Hack & Slash.
She rolls. She gets a 9. They are both taking Damage. What results is a simultaneous double-kill right out of a movie. Both of the weapons strike true and do enough damage to end the life of the other in the most gruesome manner possible. The Goblin’s axe bites into Aubrey at the waist. Aubrey’s blow cuts straight through the Warlords arm and buries itself in the foul creature’s face.
During this chaos, the big crystal is pushed over and takes a tumble down the pit (why do the bad guys always place their McGuffins in such precarious places?). Druid’s in Bear form make short work of pushing stuff over.
Aubrey rolls Last Breath. She gets an 8. Death offers her a deal. She stands before the Black Gates and talks to Death. Death tells her that she still has much to do in the world. He can send her back. She just has to murder Lasbador (the party’s Wizard) without hesitation when Death calls her to do so.
Without hesitation, Aubrey tells Death “NO.”
This is how THE Fighter dies. With Glory and with Honor.
Rest in Peace Aubrey. The Underwatch will miss you.
Originally posted on Bored & Sorcery
http://www.boredandsorcery.com/?p=607
http://www.boredandsorcery.com/editorials/the-fighters-dying-breath-2/
It is always the best when, after reviewing a scene, it feels like you are remembering a movie. That is how I know, as a GM, I did it right. And this definitely feels like a movie scene!
I had a similar idea to have some sort of crystal entity act as the source of the lantern goblin’s glow. I am planning on running my first DW session in two weeks. There will be goblins. There will be lights. And, some of those goblins will be wielding some nasty daggers made of crystal chipped off of the entity. I’m not exactly sure what will happen when the little crystal daggers cut into the PCs, but I know it won’t be good.
Good stuff Michael Brewer . Great minds and all that =)
I wish I would have thought of weapons made from the crystal. Then again that would have marred the otherwise supernatural perfect cut. The Goblin’s wouldn’t have liked that. The crystal wouldn’t have been wild about it either =p
I think of it as a way for the crystal to “infect”. But it could be something else. I am hoping that I my players will make comments about what they think will happen and then I can feed off of that instead of going with what I preconceived.
Hmmm… more ideas as I type! The crystal infection could be like intelligent weapons how they get into your mind and suggest courses of action to further their own goals.
Crystal Infection sounds awesome.
That offer from Death is going into my notes. It’s so wonderful, even if you never call it in.
Was this based on a dungeon starter or another front I like the idea if lantern goblins
Nope. I got the Latern Goblins from the Dungeon World site and Codex. But this was just part of my ongoing Underwatch Campaign.
VERY cool!