Darkwall

From: Peter Maranci <pmaranci_at_sunspot.tiac.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 21:07:32 -0500 (EST)

> But what if the guards had not charged? The PCs can move the wall,
> but only at 1 m/SR, while the average speed of a fleeing PC is 3 to
> 6 m/SR plus spells. This means the party must retreat very slowly
> if they want to keep a darkwall between them and the opposition, so
> they cannot flee, and if they engage the guards themselves it is
> they who suffer the ill effects of the darkwall. My suggestion is:
> once the situation is stalled if the PCs do not take any action and
> wait for their foes to charge, have one of the guards go and fetch
> the BIG magician and see if they can stop _him_ with a Darkwall.

        That's a good point; I think someone else mentioned that a few Digests ago. In this case, however, it wasn't an option. The PCs had suddenly struck out at the NPC guards' master, who was lying dead or unconscious on the floor. The guards couldn't see exactly what was happening, but they had seen a Darkwall suddenly cover their master, and then heard him scream, followed by a heavy thud as of a body hitting the floor. Being loyal guards, they couldn't hang back while a bunch of wild barbarians had their boss.

        It might have been an option to throw weapons or fire arrows at the PCs, but since the battle took place indoors they didn't have their bows with them. More importantly, a girl that the guards were ordered to protect was standing in the room beyond the Darkwall, in the line of fire (yet another reason that they charged; they didn't know what the PCs might do to her).

        All of this is taking place in the town mayor's manor. Need I mention that the PCs started the battle? And that they'd made no real plan beforehand, and were grossly outnumbered? :-)

        Incidentally, this is part of a new scenario that will be posted on my RQ web site when I finish running it.

        As far as Darkwall goes, I'd forgotten about the concentration roll required for moving it. And I agree that each discreet movement should count as an action. In my defense, the game was running late and the players for my second game (yes, I do two games in one day -- why is it that people can only play on Sunday?) were sitting in the living room and getting kind of pissed off.

                                                                -->Pete

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