Hexplore24 — Day 22

HEX K10 WEATHER: 3, Severe Violet Rays DAWN WATCH: 2 - Rest, then [-]

For a short moment, as dawn light hits clouds, casting a red glow, it appears the storm has passed. Then, with gusts of wind, the sky is obscured, turning to violet rays to dark grey and swirling snow. There will be no travel today.

Malla has everyone wait and rest. If they return to the Mammoth, it will be later when the meager sunlight better illuminates the snowy expanse.

AM watch, 4 local effect, 10

MYTHIC RANDOM EVENT.

NPC Actions: YUHTAR, celebrate victory.

What's he celebrating?

FC: Is this about the Mammoth? Yes

As Malla studies the storm, debating if she should gather a group to try and kill the Mammoth, she sees two of the Prannites, Yuhthar and Abah, returning to camp, Yuhthar waving excitedly.

They explain to Malla that they have just been to the Mammoth, and are happy to report it has died. After asking some further questions, Malla learns that Yuhthar, disappointed his tree felling had been unsuccessful, returned this morning with Abah, and finding the Mammoth much weaker, were able to kill it without incident. ¹

Malla hides her disappointment that she wasn't the one to land the killing blow, and thanks the two Prannites for the help. They all agree that once the weather is better the group will move to butcher the beast — all are excited for the rich meat they can soon share.

PM watch: 5 - Signs

10 hrs fire wood

In the afternoon Mahbe leads a wood foraging party, returning with 10 hours of firewood, and reports that they passed by the lair they had seen the other day, and signs of blood and a struggle were there.² Falling snow had made tracks too hard to read, so no clues about what predator or prey were involved, at least not without sending someone down into the lair. Malla and Aima decide one of the people on watch should always cover the direction of the lair. Something that hunts is in the area.

Dusk Watch - 5, signs. Again

Blain passes story check

As evening comes to their camp, which at times feels like it floats alone in a white void, the world quiet and vanished and cold, while Malla tends the fire and distributes what is hopefully the last ration dinner for a while, Yuhtar sees a dark shape stalking along the ground, moving parallel to the camp, and claims whatever it was, it had many legs and was the size of a mule.

This puts people on edge — no one wants a monster to be stalking them in a storm.

Blain, feeling he should contribute, tells a story about a forest that goes searching for a better landlord, and has most of the camp laughing as they eat rations in their crowded tents, watching the fire push back the cold night.

Night watch. 1, Encounter³

Rhagodessa, 4 of them.⁴

4 HD + 2, DF 4, sucker-grab, bite

Mahbe and Rahn are on watch. They are not surprised.

The camp goes to sleep, and Mahbe and Rahn take the first watch. An hour later Mahbe sees movement, fast approaching, and shouts an alarm as four ten-legged monsters, each the size of a mule, come flying out of the darkness.

Rhagodessa have initiative of 5, Mahbe and Rahn have 1, so act last.

All others are surprised and don't act this round.

I'm assuming the Rhagodessa target tents & drag out ppl at random, we have 5 tents:

Hierlings

Malla, Blain, Aima

Safis, Belus, hierling

Prannites, #1: Maube, Abah, Thaba

Prannites #2. Yuhtar, Anger, Rahn

I will roll a d6 for each Rhagodessa, and a 6 means they target one of the two on watch.

Rhagodessa targets: 5, 2, 6, 2

Specific targets: Angor, Blain, Aima, Mahbe

Angor dodge: 4 < d20 ≤ 12, roll: 18⁵

Blain dodge: 4 < d20 ≤ 12, roll: 12

Aima dodge: 4 < d20 ≤ 14, roll: 14

Mahbe dodge: 4 < d20 ≤ 12, roll: 3

To make it easier to follow, I will color-code the four Rhagodessa as having Red, Blue, White, and Black hairs on their bodies.

The shout is barely out of Mahbe's mouth when he feels a heavy impact on his chest, and then is taken off his feet as a strong sucker yanks him towards the chittering mandibles of a Rhagodessa, a massive spider, with red hairs.

Angor, roused by the shouts, is reaching for his dagger when he feels a painful impact on his ankle, and suddenly he's being dragged from his tent by a Rhagodessa with blue hairs into the stormy night, screaming.

Malla, Aima, and Blain are all scrambling to get up when two suckers burst into their tent. One latches onto Aima's sword, but she wrestles it free, the other hits Blains bedding, yanking it, without Blain, into the storm.

"Mahbe!" Rahn shouts, running after her friend. Suddenly she sees the hulking, red-haired monster he's being dragged towards. With a scream of rage, the Paladin draws her sword, preparing to strike.

Rahn's attack: 4 < d20 ≤ 12. 18⁶

She swings, but the red beast is too fast and ducks out of the way, Mahbe nearly in its jaws.

Next round, we roll initiative for everyone else:

6: Thaba

5: The Rhagodessa, Abah

4: Hierlings, Belus, Angor

3: Blain

2: Satis, Aima, Yuhtar

1: Malla, Mahbe, Rahn

Thaba, a gnome with lightning reflexes⁷, leaps from his tent, axe in hand, sees the blue-haired beast that grabbed Angor from the adjacent tent, and runs towards it, swinging his axe, blade flashing in the snowy darkness, as a dozen greedy eyes look up at the fast approaching attack.

Thaba, to hit, must roll 4 < d20 ≤ 12. Roll is 5! He does 7 damage. This Blue Rhagodessa had 11 hp, so is now down to 4/11 hp.

Abah, running just a few paces behind Thaba, slashes with their short sword at the Blue Rhagodessa, reeling from Thaba's Axe attack.

Abah must roll 4 < d20 ≤ 12. Roll is 1.

But one of the ten blue-haired armored legs jerks up and deflects the swing, as the beast, having brought Angor to its jaws, bites down.

Auto hit. Damage is: 5. Angor is at 3/8 hp.

The red-haired monster that grabbed Mahbe has him in its jaws now and bites down.

Auto hit, damage: 6. Mahbe is at 3/9 hp.⁸

As Aima, Malla, and behind them Blain leap from their tent, both a black and a white Rhagodessa try to grab them again.

Malla dodge: 4 < d20 ≤ 12: 5! Aima dodge: 4 < d20 ≤ 14: 19!

Malla is able to deflect the white Rhagodessa's grabber with canvas from the tent flap. Aima, however, has her ankle grabbed and is yanked, fully, and dragged towards the black Rhagodessa.

Angor, moaning in pain from being bit, struggles to break free, but can't. Angor jabs a dagger up at the blue Rhagodessa that is about to bite him a second time.

Angor attack: 4 < d20 ≤ 12, rolls: 3.

But he cannot pierce the monster's thick blue-haired chitlin armor.

Belus, charging towards Angor's blue monster, swings his mace...

Belus Attack: 4 < d20 ≤ 13, rolls 7.

Damage: 1 - so Blue now has 3/11 hp.

Belus hits, his mace cracking the shell of the blue-haired monster, but not killing it.

Two of the hierling guards, once they saw the mules were not being attacked, rush to help Mahbe, thrusting spears at the red-haired beast.

Guard 1, 4 < d20 ≤ 11: 5!

Guard 2, 4 < d20 ≤ 11: 20 - Fumbles!⁹

Red has 5/8 hp.

Guard 1 hits, sinks his spear into the side of the red-haired monster. Guard 2 thrusts, but his spear deflects, and the shaft cracks.

Blain, seeing Aima being dragged towards the black Rhagodessa, shouts Aima's name and swings his sword.

Blain attack 4 < d20 ≤ 10. 10 - a crit!

1 damage - doubled to 2 - but this 1 lets us roll on crit table: 16 - must save or attack ally. 12 - Black fails save.¹⁰

Rhagodessa has 5hp, so 3/5 hp.

Flashing, Blain's sword hits the black Rhagodessa hard, and the beast seems stunned — then it releases Aima and, hissing, turns to attack the white Rhagodessa next to it.

Yuhtar, running to help Angor, swings his axe at the Blue Rhagodessa.

Yuhtar attack: 4 < d20 ≤ 12, 2.

But unlike with the tree, Yuhtar's axe bounces off the hard blue-haired shell.

Aima scrambles to her feet, amazed at Blain's luck in saving her.

Satis watches in horror, trying to decide where she is needed most. To her left, a crowd is trying to save Angor from the jaws of the blue Rhagodessa, one more bite potentially killing him. Ahead of Satis, she can see Blain and Aima facing two Rhagodessa, one black and one white. The Black one is about to attack the white one, though. To her right, she can see Mahbe struggling in the jaws of a red Rhagodessa, Rahn and two hierlings fighting to save his life. Satis decides to wait just a moment — she has to make sure any magic she casts saves the day.

By not going this round, Satis can change her initiative position to go at 6, before everyone else.

Malla, seeing Mahbe is in mortal peril, unleashes her bow at the red monster trying to kill him.

Malla, 4+4 < d20 ≤ 11, 10!

5 damage!

Just as the beast is about to take a potentially life-ending bite of Mahbe, Malla's arrow flies true, finding its mark through one of the red Rhagodessa's many eyes, killing the monstrosity instantly.¹¹

Rahn, realizing the monster has just been killed, pulls Mahbe up from the dead beast's jaws and shouts to Malla "good shot!"

Now we begin the next round, Satis now has an initiative of 6 because she waited.

Satis, seeing how the blue monster with Angor in its jaws is moving too fast, dodging the attacks of the people trying to save Angor, takes her hands and presses them into the snowy ground, a column of smoke shooting out towards the monster, as earth becomes vapor, the beast falls into this new-formed trench.

Rhagodessa must save or drop Angor. 12.¹²

The blue Rhagodessa drops Angor as it tries to rebalance as it falls. Satis pulls her hands back, and the mists instantly condense back into soil, trapping the beast in the ground, part of its abdomen and legs sticking up in the air like some frightening cacti.

Thaba, laughing, swings at the stuck blue monster.

I'm giving any attacks against the now-trapped blue Rhagodessa double combat advantage, which is a +4 bonus.

Thaba attack: 4 < d20 ≤ 16 - 14!

1 damage. Blue now has 2/11 hp.

Thaba hits, sinking his weapon into a writhing leg.

Abah attacks, steel flashing.

Abah: 4 < d20 ≤ 16. 5! 3 damage.

Abah's short sword sinks into the exposed abdomen, and the blue monster stops struggling, dead.

The black Rhagodessa Blain confused leaps at its white companion.

Rhagodessa attack: 4 < d20 ≤ 14, 20, fumble.

Fumble result of "weapon stuck."

But the defending White Rhagodessa leaps to the side, and the black attacker's front arms sink deeper into the snow than it intended, trapping it.

Defending Rhagodessa now attacks, with combat advantage because Black is now stuck too. 4 < d20 ≤ 16, 12 hit! 3 damage.

The defending white Rhagodessa makes a counter-attack against the stuck black Rhagodessa, a hard bite that kills it instantly.

Blain swings his sword at the lone remaining white monster.

Blain, 4 < d20 ≤ 10, 17, miss.

But he misses as it ducks.

Aima thrusts her sword at it,

Aima attack, 4 < d20 ≤ 11, 18.

But the beast is again able to dance out of her blade's reach.

Malla lines up her shot, and fires.

Malla 4 < d20 [+] ≤ 11. 11, crit!

3 damage, doubled to 6.

That kills the white Rhagodessa.

Malla's arrow again finds its mark, and the dancing beast falls, crashing, a lifeless pile of twitching white-haired legs.¹³

Mahbe and Angor, both a bite away from death, have somehow survived. The group rushes them back to tents & dresses their wounds.

No one sleeps well the rest of the night.

← Yesterday | Index | Tomorrow →

I appreciate how Mythic random events add unpredictability. The NPCs' initiative, not anticipated, brought the Mammoth's storyline to an unexpected conclusion, enriching the world's dynamism.↩
This references last night's screams, suggesting a connection to the lair's bloodied scene. It’s intriguing how past events tie into current discoveries.↩
The contrast between the prolonged build-up with the Afah and the swift encounter here demonstrates the hazard die's unpredictability. It’s a testament to the mechanic’s dynamic nature.↩
Rhagodessa, from the OSE Advanced Bestiary, are giant hunting spiders that, as far as I can tell, don’t use webs at all. They have front legs that are very sticky — however I got confused and thought they had some sort of extended sticky grabber that worked like a frog’s tongue. Even when I realized this wasn’t the intended interpretation I decided to stick with it because I felt what I had imagined made for a much better opponent.↩
The mechanic here is not technically Whitehack rules as written. In this playthrough I’m using an inverted defense roll where I roll the dice from the perspective of the defender, not the attacker. The probability is exactly the same, so it is Whitehack 4e rules compliant, just the numbers have been moved around compared to the rules as written form of this attack. For the curious, the 4 here is the attack power of the Rhagodessa, which because Whitehack is so elegant is 4 because they have 4HD. The 12’s (with one 14) are the defense power, modified by armor, of the defenders.↩
These numbers look just like the numbers I used above when the NPCs were defending against the Rhagodessa. But that’s just a coincidence. It just happend the armor of the Rhagodessa and Rahn’s AV make the probabilities come out to be the same. Because Rahn, like all of the Prannite NPCs is 2HD, her AV is 12 (10+2).↩
We have not had an opportunity for Thaba to be featured yet, so it’s nice he gets to make such a cool entrance to the spotlight in this fight.↩
At this point I realize these two characters are very likely to die the next round if they are allowed to get bitten. You’ll see me make a lot of strategic choices to try and prevent a near-certain death.↩
Fumbles, a roll of a 20, in Whitehack mean you both miss and you get to roll on a fun table of things that go wrong, like dropping your weapon, or in this case it breaking. It’s funny that the Guards, who are not fighters, are the first to have a fumble in combat like this.↩
We just had a roll on the fumble table, now we get to have a roll on the crit table! When you crit in Whitehack, your damage doubles. However, if the damage you roll is a 1, you also get to roll on the crit table and have something good happen. Here it’s that the target becomes confused and attacks their ally if they fail a save. An amazing stroke of luck for Blain, and a fun twist in this fight.↩
This is just a normal attack and damage roll by Malla, but it makes for a nice bit of story telling for this to be the first time she’s succeeded at the arrow-through-the-eye trick she’s failed at with the Mammoth two days in a row.↩
I don’t know if there is a precedent for this in the Whitehack rules, but it makes a lot of sense to me that something really disruptive would cause dropping weapons or victims unless a save is passed, so I went with it.↩
Malla is becoming a MVP in combat. Her Deft ability to get a double positive combat roll, which you see me reference in the notes as [+], really helps her hit more consistently. I love how that simple mechanical advantage allows a deft character to feel like they are an expert. Whitehack has such cool classes.↩

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