Like it’s 1981 all over again, part eight

Our Heroes beat a tactical withdrawal and close the door behind them. Hairy Bob and Squidgee stand guard while Parson Jeffries heads back to the entrance to collect Mahkra the Wizard. He then retires to Room 6 to recover and eat the last of the pie.

Translation: Don retires his Half-Elf Cleric with just 2 hit points and 1 surge remaining. He’s playing the Wizard for the rest of the session.

I’ve described Mahkra as warped and demented as a result of reading Things Man Was Not Meant to Know – his name is, after all, Arkham reversed (Didya spot that? Didya?!). Don takes this and runs with it. This is a Wizard who wouldn’t be out of place roaming the corridors of Pratchett’s Unseen University.

“BloodybugrumWallaceandGrommitaiNyarlathotep ICY TERRAIN!”

We go from five Goblin Cutters to five Goblin Popsicles in a single round. Nice! Wizards eat Minions for breakfast. If he’d been there right from the start of this encounter I’d have included a few non-Minions in there to provide more of a challenge – but without a Controller of some kind, Minions can be pretty scary on their own.

Case in point: In the first round, Hairy Bob used his usual tactic and charged right into the room, Cleaving two of the Goblin Cutters instantly. That’s good, except he’s now in the middle of a room containing 10 Goblins, and it’s their turn.

By the law of averages, a third of them should hit, but that particular law seems to have been repealed and 7 of them strike home – 4 of which are against Bob. They do 18 points of damage against him, taking him from 28hp to 10hp. Ouch. The Parson takes 7 damage, and Squidgee 3 from a well-aimed old shoe.

Squidgee takes one Goblin out with a Juggling Ball, but the Parson misses and uses a minor action to heal Bob. He’s down to 5 surges remaining, and misses with his next attack. Oop. The 9 remaining Goblins take their attacks. 3 hit Bob for another 13 damage, and 2 hit the Parson for 8. He’s gotta heal himself now.

And so it goes for another three rounds with the Goblin Cutters basically showing the Our Heroes that a roomful of Minions ain’t to be sniffed at.

Then Mahkra turns up and shows them who is The Boss.

Our Heroes search the room and find nothing of value – the Goblins have long since trashed the place – but the humanoid Rat-headed statue captures their interest. I describe is as having an obscure runic inscription on the base that defeats their attempts to translate it. Mahkra makes a copy of it in his Ritualbook for later study. In other words, I haven’t got a clue what it says either :D

It’s time for the final room.

Next time: Hobgoblinz!