Solo Savage Pathfinder – Scene 7 – Return of the Eye

      This series is about a solo Savage Worlds Pathfinder game using the Solo Savage Worlds Guide and Mythic GM Emulator 2. It begins at Session 0 .

      Last scene our wizard hero Ondo Baridad, along with two crewmen from the Devotion, vanquished a giant demon crab in a hidden cliffside cave used by smugglers.

      For some quick bookkeeping, let’s prune our Mythic NPC List a bit and take off Ondo’s mother and the Timid Narwhal Inn. They seem a little too peaceful for the direction this adventuring is going. For the Threads list, we can probably take off “Spies in Delcor?” since these latest scenes have revealed that something is definitely going on in Delcor and it’s related to the Sisterhood of the Watery Hells.

      Let’s also lower the Chaos Factor to 6. While they lost a man, Ondo actually won the fight with the Crab, so he’s exerting more control over the action.

      The expected scene is really just a follow-up of the previous fight, searching the cave and determining what’s going on in there. Rolling a d10 to test the scene we get – a 2, which is less than the Chaos Factor, so it’s an Interrupt Scene. That means it veers off in a new direction.

(Oracle roll for the Interrupt Scene – “New NPC”. Cool, but since I’m not sure which on our list is the most logical, I roll and come up with our “Mysterious Scryer”. Ooh, that’s awesome! For the Event Meaning I get “Petite” “Expose”. How about…the mysterious scryer exposes clutches of small eggs of the demonic crab and they begin to hatch. Which leads to another fight!)

Scene 7 – Baby Crabs!

      Ondo examines the mystic symbols in the shell of the slain Crab. He rolls his Occult skill d6 – it explodes for a 22! He knows all about this beast.

(Let’s roll to get more details about the Crab. First, for its name, I pick three random tables to roll on from Mythic GM Emulator and get — “Abandon” “Helpless” “Scary”. Combining the first few letters of each I come up with Aba + He + Sc. And “Abandon” reminds me of Forsaken. Throw in a random apostrophe, like some demon names have, and we get — A’Bahesc the Forsaken. Good enough.)

(Now to give some history to justify Ondo’s roll of a 22 on his Occult skill. Picking two more tables at random, I get “Frightening” “Common”. So it’s used as a guard dog to frighten away common folks when the Sisterhood is operating in an area and they don’t want people snooping around. Is it guarding something valuable? – Yes. Nice.)

      The wizard traces the lines on the Crab’s shell and says, “I’ve seen these markings before…in a book. This is A’Bahesc the Forsaken, Unholy Guardian of the Eight”.

      Anvil looks on wide-eyed. “Guardian for what?” he asks, echoing Ondo’s thoughts. The pair look around at the rocky cavern.

      They both notice the Eye at the same time. The same mystic eyeball Ondo saw hovering over his mother’s bedside is now floating in the middle of the cavern, watching them. Scowling, Ondo weaves his hands in an arcane pattern to dispel the enchantment and then makes a pushing motion, sending a little spectral white bird flying at the eye (rolling Spellcasting d8 to cast dispel – a 5. He’s down to 7 Power Points).

(Let’s delve into the mysterious scryer a bit. Is the eyeball a spell being cast by Wran? – Yes. Great. As a powerful warlock, he’s got to have a pretty high Spellcasting skill. Rolling a couple of yes/no questions – he’s got a d12. Rolling for Wran for the opposed arcane skill check for Ondo’s attempt to dispel – 8. Ondo is unsuccessful at dispelling, unless he wants to spend a Benny, which he doesn’t).

      The eyeball dodges Ondo’s bird and then quickly zips over above the fallen demon crab and begins bobbing up and down behind the creature. Each time it descends there is a squelching sound.

      With a sickening feeling of dread, Ondo steps around the giant form of the dead Crab to look behind it. He sees about 20 or so fist-sized translucent spheres affixed to the back of the Crab. Within are miniature versions of the larger Crab, each with glowing tracery of mystic symbols pulsing. As the eyeball hits them, they begin to wriggle. Beyond, there is a shallow pool filled with hundreds more. And they are all beginning to writhe as the creatures within tear their way free. “Eggs!” he hisses.

      Cursing, he steps back, motioning for Anvil to do the same. “The offspring of A’Bahesc are said to be ravenous when they first hatch,” he cautions. (Can they safely escape without a fight? D8 – a 1 – “No, and…” They’re actually trapped! Let’s put two Medium Blast Templates worth of Crablet Swarms on the map). Ondo looks around the room and sees dozens of the tiny Crabs swarm out from crevices and under rocks.

      As per the Solo SW, we draw a card to determine the Scene Theme again – “Mental Seeking”.

Round 1 – Initiative – The Crablet Swarms act first on the Six of Hearts, Ondo on the Five of Spades, and Anvil on the Five of Hearts.

      Ondo hasn’t dismissed his owl yet. We’ll say it has one round left on the duration of its casting.

      The two swarms scurry over the damp sand and rocks, engulfing Ondo and his owl. With their hundreds of pinching claws, they cause 2d4 damage – 5 on Ondo and 4 on the owl. The owl avoids taking any real damage, but Ondo is Shaken! He yells and anger and pain as he bleeds from a dozen superficial wounds and frantically tries to smack away all of the snapping, pinching forms.

      Fortunately he’s able to regain his composure as he successfully unshakes on his turn. First he renews his summon ally spell by spending a Power Point, which allows the owl to stay for another 5 rounds. Then he attempts a multi-action, summoning his protective swarm of sparrows and attacking with his cane.

(Spellcasting d8-2 – 2 – fail. This one is important and I probably should’ve just done it by itself without the multi-action penalty, but what’s done is done. I’ll spend a Benny to reroll – 6 – success! His protection spell goes off. For the attack he rolls – a 2 – a miss).

      Ondo twirls his fingers, spinning a ball of feathers into a circling column of sparrows that fly around him, moving to block the attacking crabs. Then he swings his cane back and forth, knocking the armored creatures about, but causing them no real harm.

      His owl fares much better. Fighting d6 – an 11! And the damage explodes too – 17 total. That’s enough to destroy the swarm. It stamps its claws and rends with its beak, crunching the tiny demonic crabs.

      He yells to Anvil, “keep your distance and see if you can find what they’re guarding!”

      However, Anvil doesn’t want to do that; he wants to rush in to save the wizard. In fact, he was ordered by his captain to make sure he stayed safe. So let’s make that a contested roll between Ondo’s Persuasion and Anvil’s Spirit – Ondo gets a 4 and Anvil rolls a 5.

      Anvil ignores Ondo and steps in, beating the scurrying crabs on the ground with his cudgel. “Begging your pardon, sir, but it looks like you could use a touch of help first,” he says. Fighting d6 – a 4, which hits the swarm’s Parry of 4. He rolls – 7 damage vs the swarm’s 7 Toughness, which Shakes it! The crablets scatter at his advance, instinctively going into protective, claws-up postures to defend themselves.

Round 2 – Anvil goes first on the Nine of Spades, the crabs next on Five of Diamonds, and Ondo is last with the Four of Spades.

      Anvil does a Wild Attack on the swarm around Ondo – and rolls a 6. Not enough for a raise, but still a hit. For damage he rolls – an 8, which is enough to dissipate the Shaken swarm!

      Laying about left and right with his cudgel, Anvil wades into the swarming crabs, crushing their bodies with every swing. The few remaining stragglers scuttle off under rocks and into the shallow pools of water.

      Ondo glances at the eyeball and sees that it is continuing to fly about, awakening more crab eggs. The small creatures are reforming into another swarm, blocking the tunnel they came from. He yells out, “quickly, let’s see if they’re protecting anything before more arrive!” Notice d6 – 3+1 for Anvil’s assistance, success. The men scan the room and discover a small, hastily-buried box.

      Brushing the sand off of it and tucking it under his arm, Ondo hustles Anvil out the passageway to the southeast. “Hurry, man, before they reform!” A large crowd of crablets is beginning to surge forward and he sends his summoned owl to slow them down while they make their escape.

      Ondo makes one last glance over his shoulder and sees the floating eyeball regarding him impassively from across the room. He makes an obscene gesture at the magical apparition and then flees down the sandy-floored tunnel.

End Scene 7

      Productive scene – they killed some more hell crabs and found a box. Unfortunately, they had to leave Tarm’s body, presumably to be devoured. Poor Tarm.

      For Bennies, the scene theme was “Mental Seeking”. Eh, I guess Ondo searching for loot qualifies? I don’t love this mechanic, but it’s better than nothing without a GM.

      I’m also going to roll for an advance for Ondo — a 1. No dice.

      So, what’s in the box? Messages for the pirates? — “Yes, and…” Messages and loot? — “Yes, and…” Very cool. Let’s say it’s a letter of instructions for the pirates and some gear to help them on their job. Magical gear? — Yes!

      Rolling an oracle for the treasure – “Health” “Graceful”. Maybe some light leather armor for the pirates in case they expect an armed fight or a run-in with the guards.

      And now for the good stuff, rolling on the Magic Item descriptors table – “Skill” “Curse”. Cool, a scroll with the curse spell on it. Meant, no doubt, to be used on Ondo. That’s the kind of thing a cabal of witches would provide to their lackeys.

Continue to Session 8