Solo Savage Pathfinder – Scene 6 – Demon Crab!
In the last scene, Ondo discovered that the Sisterhood of the Watery Hells was somehow involved in the brazen ambush that almost killed him. He followed up on a lead with two crewmates of the Devotion and ended up investigating a hidden smugglers’ cave.
Unfortunately for them, they’ve stumbled across a giant crab. Since this cave is affiliated with a secretive group of oceanic demon worshipers, I’m going to say this crab isn’t just a natural animal – it’s actually a demonic guardian beast set to protect…whatever it is that’s going on here.
For the battle map, I threw together something on Photoshop. I made several layers, added textures and colors for sand and water to give it a sea cave vibe, and then more or less just randomly scribbled some tunnels by erasing lines into different layers. The party entered from the northwest tunnel and I guess the boulders and pools will be considered Difficult Ground. Should be good enough for our purposes.
Scene 6 – Battle With the Demon Crab!
Ondo makes his Notice roll, so at least the Crab doesn’t get a surprise round. Initiative is dealt as normal.
For the Solo SW scene theme, I get — “Mental Harm”. Okay, so if Ondo can do something related to that during the scene, he’ll get a Benny.
Round 1 – Initiative – the Crab draws the Queen of Diamonds, the crewmates get the Six of Hearts, and Ondo is in last order with a Four of Spades.
(Note that according to the stats in the Savage Pathfinder Bestiary, giant crabs are Size 0, i.e. just normal human size, but I thought it looked cooler and more menacing with a big token. The increased size won’t have any effect on the rolls.)
The Crab rushes in, massive claws reaching for its prey. Ondo sees that its eyes seem to flicker with a hellish flame and its shell is covered with intricately-carved mystic sigils. This is clearly no ordinary crab!
The Crab snaps up Tarm with its two claws (rolls a 7, which hits Tarm’s Parry 7. The damage dice explode, doing 12 points of damage against the sailor’s 5 Toughness. He’s dead!) The beast crushes Tarm’s ribs with audible cracking sounds.
I’m going to give Tarm a heroic death here and allow him one last action. He strikes at the Crab’s eye stalks with his sword. This will be a Test of his Fighting skill vs the Crab’s Agility. Tarm rolls a 5 and the Crab gets a 2 – success! The Crab is Vulnerable for the next round, with all attacks made against it at +2. Tarm grins as his blade connects with the eye stalk and then screams a strangled cry as the life is crushed out of him. Poor Tarm!
Anvil moves to engage with his cudgel and Ondo yells for him to hold for a moment (to get the Gang Up bonus), that he’ll distract the beast. Anvil, an experienced sailor accustomed to following orders, acknowledges, “Aye, but be quick!”
Ondo steps forward then makes a screeching whistle and gesticulates rapidly in a practiced pattern (casting summon ally. Spellcasting roll d8 – for a 5 – success!). Behind his hand, a tuft of white feathers appears and rapidly grows to a man-sized figure, a massive owl.
The owl shrieks, mimicking Ondo’s whistle and flies into the Crab, slashing with its beak and claws (rolling Fighting d6 – an exploding 8 +2 for the Crab being Vulnerable +2 for the Gang Up bonus for a total of 12 vs the Crab’s Parry of 7. A hit and a raise! Damage – 11 points vs the Crab’s 10 Toughness. The Crab is Shaken!)
Ondo takes no more actions this round, wanting to concentrate on summoning the owl (and not incur a multi-action penalty). But he does yell to Anvil, “Strike now, man!” Anvil swings his cudgel hard against the creature’s shell, to no effect (rolls a 1). The sailor is too shocked from seeing his crewmate’s lifeless body being shaken around in the claw of the thrashing beast.
Round 2 – Anvil gets the Queen of Spades, Ondo gets the Jack of Clubs, and the Crab acts on Nine of Spades.
Ondo yells to Anvil, “Hold again! Its armor is too thick – give me a moment!” Anvil holds his action until after Ondo acts.
Ondo weaves another spell, this time targeting the Crab with a flock of small woodpeckers that swarm over it and begin hammering its shell with their beaks. (Casting boost/lower trait, targeting the Crab’s Vigor. He rolls Spellcasting d8 — and gets a 5 — success). It would be really great if he could improve that, so I spend a Benny for a reroll — this time I get a 4 +2 for the Elan, which is only a 6 and still not enough for a raise.
Still, the spell is a success and the Crab’s Vigor drops from d10 to d8. This lowers its Toughness from 10 to 9. Let’s hope that’s enough.
Ondo directs Anvil to strike, “Hit it on the right side – Tarm wounded its eye!” The crew mate ducks to his left, evading a snapping claw as the creature pivots and side steps. He then lunges in and…
(rolling Fighting – 5 +2 Gang Up bonus +2 because the Crab is still Vulnerable until its turn – a hit! Rolling damage d8 + d4 – it explodes for 14. The Crab’s Toughness is 9 and it’s already Shaken, so that’s two Wounds, which kills the demon-spawn!)
There’s a sickening crunch as Anvil’s club lands hard on the carapace. The Crab’s legs buckle and it slumps to the floor twitching. The three of them continue to hammer on the hellish crustacean until they’re sure it’s dead. “Return to the merciless depths, foul spawn,” Anvil says.
When they’re certain the Crab is no longer moving, they pry Tarm out of the giant claw and check the man for signs of life. “He’s gone,” Ondo says sadly.
End Scene 6
Whoa, that was quick. Poor Tarm. At least his death wasn’t in vain – he made the Crab Vulnerable, which gave bonus dice when the rest of the group hit it. And Anvil proved handy in a fight. Let’s add him to the Mythic NPC List. Ondo’s been needing travel companions.
No Bennies for Ondo. I forgot all about the scene theme, “Mental Harm”. Gotta put it on the map so I’ll remember next time, but for this one I’m not sure how I would’ve worked it into the fight anyway.
For the next scene we may continue from directly this point. Ondo’s owl is still summoned and they haven’t explored their surroundings yet.
