Tumble in the Tavern

 

 

 “Now we’ll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer’s gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood.” -- Mark Twain -- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

We didn't write our names in blood--not our own, that is--but we did have a dangerous band, an unruly gang who lived and died by the roll of the dice.

Les Freres Corses made a visit. We began with getting some skills for their man cards. We began with learning to pop the hood. They had a difficult time finding the hood release, but located the dipstick (the one under the hood) and the oil-fill easily. They each got to check the oil on a vehicle and add a little of the lubricant. RC also got to add some water to the radiator. They should get bonus points for the quick lesson on making a funnel.

With the man card punched for the day, we convened around the kitchen table to resume the rip-roaring showdown between figures from Star Wars, Barsoom, Middle-earth, and common household items endowed with sentience and particular powers. When we started this level of the adventure, I introduced them to saving throws and chandelier swinging--the chandelier being an element of the tavern layout.

We played a short while with nothing beyond the usual movement and combat. Then RC moved the Darth Vader figure up the stairs in a retreat from the transparent. The latter is a fairly powerful creature they developed and which is represented on the board by the translucent plastic piece from inside the cover of Old Spice deodorant. Two other adventurers, Eldon Zyrax and Derek McCau (or is it McCow?) (both Middle-earth elf figures) soon joined the dark lord on the stairs. It was at this point that the game took a turn into the chaotic fun zone. 

RC didn't think the golden turtle (a turtle key chain) should attack his Darth Vader figure; he thought it should attack the goblins guarding the doors on the balcony. After some delay and some debate, we settled it with a die roll -- because letting the dice decide is always more exciting than simply getting what you want. K-man has bought into the die-roll-decision paradigm, but RC has been resistant to the concept. RC took the dice in hand and cast them into the hallowed hollow were all dice rolls must occur to be valid. It couldn't have gone worse for RC The result was that the golden turtle attacked DV. RC took it like a man.

When DV lost the combat so badly that the cold grip of death enclosed him--what with the golden turtle being the boss beast and most powerful on the board, with the possible exception of the blinders (who don't even have a figure or object to represent them), I reminded them of saving throws in this extraordinary situation. K-Man wanted to know what was extraordinary about it. The imminent death of a player character satisfied him. DV didn't quite make the saving throw, but his life was spared. He tumbled down the stairs with a wound or two and bounced off the transparent who was battling blinders or something there. Once we had the sith lord on his back, we realized he would have smashed into Eldon Zyrax and Derek McCau. They had to make saving throws and one of then also went head-over-heels down the stairs, taking an injury in the process. 

As soon as we had the rumble and tumble on the stairs resolved, the meteor hit. K-man had me set the time for 30 minutes when we started play. The timer went off and they made a saving throw to see if the meteor struck, or went on by. It struck. We rolled to see which quadrant of the board was absolutely devastated by the impact. The meteor crashed just outside the tavern, destroying a separate building there, blocking the other quadrants from access to the tavern, flinging a hunk of the edifice into the tavern and up to the balcony, and completely blocking the entrance to the tavern with debris and earth. But wait, there's more. 

 A tremendous shock wave burst from the meteor impact. Every figure, except those already prone at ground level had to make a saving throw or be flung to the ground with an injury. Most of them did pretty well. K-man rolled for most of them--with one of his figures being among those who failed the throw. Additionally, everyone on the balcony had to save against the huge hunk of building that had been flung there. Finally, the tavern itself was in peril but it made its saving throws so that no part of the establishment came crashing down to bury the occupants.

Following the explosive havoc of the meteor crash, some goblins leaped from the balcony to swing from the chandelier. One of them carried a long spear and failed his first, second, and third rolls, falling from the chandelier, tossing his spear up into the air in the process, and having the sharp pointy follow him down to nail him to the hardwood like a bug in a display case. It was fabulous.

All the player characters were down and wounded, but we were out of time and will have to hope to play out the conclusion another day.