The Problem with Plastics

What's wrong with plastic miniatures?

This, for a start.

Reaper Bones - because money.

This is after several goes with the hair dryer to try and straighten the bend. The mace was finally, permanently straightened by cutting it off above the hand and reversing it. News Flash: it's now a permanent weak spot, despite gluing. This figure is well on it's way to completion, and it will look fair-to-middling once finished.

Plastic cannot hold fine detail the way metal can - by nature, it's a softer medium. And logically, the detail is less crisp. Is that why the manufacturer's suggest you don't prime the mini? Is the detail so lacking that even a single coat of primer will serve to efface it? You be the judge.

Nolzurs Marvelous Miniatures are not immune to this - pictured below is a Female Gnome Thief, which is an admittedly niche concept: 

For starters, this isn't a picture of the miniature, it's a computer render. Because it looks much, MUCH better than the actual miniature. It's Corporate Marketing.

Even when it's shown "painted", Bishōjo style, it isn't. It's been cg coloured: 

They even duplicated the angle of light, from the 3d render. That's talent...wow.

I tried painting the top example, and I've been painting miniatures for THIRTY years. That result is almost humanly impossible. I say almost, because I'm sure some savant could do it - but you probably can't and neither can I.

Also, since she's a tiny miniature in a half-crouch, how is the brush supposed to get in between the arms? My money is, the CA Designer has never physically sculpted a miniature in their life; instead of looking for trouble spots for a brush to reach, they just went with "the rewl of kewl."

Make no mistake, plastic minis are part of the New School Corporate Gaming philosophy. There is no material benefit for the consumer, but the manufacturer, by using cheaper, lighter materials, saves pennies on the dollar. Multiplied, those pennies add up.

If you're using plastic for unpainted game pieces, like a fantasy version of Parcheezi, then plastic figures are fine - you can even paint them a single colour, just like the game.

If you're looking to paint with a reasonably rate of return, stick with metal. Life is too short to paint plastic miniatures.

Troglodytes!

 Here are some pics of some 28/32mm Shadowsea Troglodytes from Antimatter Games (although, per an announcement on the Antimatter Games site, miniature production for their various titles will be going over to Dark Sword Miniatures). 

Nice animation, excellent detail. The metal is rather both soft and brittle - I'm not sure exactly how one achieves that.  Sprues of arms, with shields and stone axes and stone spears are included - though it would have been an improvement if they had mixed up some of the handed-ness of these accoutrements. As it stands, your choice for the right hand is either stone axe or spear, and for the left hand, a shield.

Antimatter Games/Dark Sword Miniatures

These sculpts share a design aesthetic reminiscent of Edition 3.5 Troglodytes. I've added some Otherworld Miniatures Trogs, which are right out of the first edition Monster Manual. 

Shaman and Chieftain by Otherworld Miniatures

While slightly smaller than the Shadowsea Trogs, the Otherworld ones come with a plastic slotta-base, which compensates for the disparity in height. The Otherworld miniatures also have great animation and detail, and are made of sturdier stuff.

Shaman and Chieftain by Otherworld Miniatures

Ratings:

Shadowsea Troglodytes: 4 out of 5

Otherworld Troglodytes: 5 out of 5

The Maztica Campaign: Where in the World is Ferdinando Poe? Part II

The Mother of all Clogs

 (What has Gone Before)

It was dark in the sewer. The reek of  greasy smoke and burnt hair stung João Afonse's eyes.

His flaming flask of oil had struck the nearer rat-pack, immolating the vermin in a rat-pocalypse of fire.The second rat-pack had fallen upon the party, scratching and biting. To complicate matters, the kobold shaman had magically thrown the corridor into darkness - at his barking command, strands of black fog, like a thick pitch, had coiled forth from the adventurers' lantern.

Esperalda's Gnome-vision could see the outline of the kobold shaman, as well as the bright shapes of the rats all about her - running up her leg, climbing upon Diego's maille, dangling from Osondria's hair. She decided to prioritize the one biting on her leg, and slashed at it. The rat fell away with an angry squeak. 

With her free hand, Esperalda drew an unlit torch from her belt; they needed light (at least the humans did) but with their lantern extinguished (or gouting darkness, she wasn't sure how this worked) she would need something with which to light the torch. Her beady, Gnomish eyes fell upon the flickering pool of flaming oil - on the opposite walkway.

The Edge of Night

"Garl's Glitterballs" Esperalda said, to no one in particular, as she readied herself to jump the greywater channel. "I hate this sewer..."

"Try to stay to your right..." said Osondria, as she slapped hard at the rats that assailed her. "...if you're jumping. The walkway was drier to the right."

"Thanks, coach..." Esperalda said, not without sarcasm. But she angled right as she leapt. She landed, surprised by her good luck, with a semi-dry squelch.

While this had been transpiring, the kobold shaman had taken to throwing small darts at João Afonso, who was defensively pressing himself into an archway.

"I can't see him!" called João Afonso. "I can't really see anything!"

"Hold on, Killer..." said Esperalda, as she bent to the now-guttering puddle of oil. A rat's body had caught fire, and she lit the torch from the sizzling corpse. She stood up as the torch took flame.

The fire was now interfering with her Gnome-vision, but she could just make out where João Afonso's big shape bulked, relative to the kobold. Osondria was suddenly at her side, as a kobold dart struck the masonry beside her.

"Take a step straight forward, then turn a clock-point to your left..." she called to João, ignoring the cleric. Osondria readied a blessing.

"Garl Glittergold..." said Esperalda, under her breath, "...just for once, just aid my throw."

"I can work with that..." said Osondria, as she blessed Esperalda, while the Gnome hurled the torch.



The torch arced across the channel, struck the walkway, bounced once, and then landed at the kobold shaman's feet.

"Yark?" said the shaman, looking down to the flaming torch at his feet. João Afonso leapt.

"Yark!" said the shaman, as João Afonso landed on the walkway next to him, drawing his greatsword.

"Squish!" said the greatsword, as it slew the shaman.

Across the channel, Esperalda grinned wickedly. "No "Yark" today..."Yark" tomorrow."

Beside her, Osondria smiled. "There's always "Yark" tomorrow..."

Shortly thereafter, the shaman's spell ended, and light returned to the lantern. Searching the corpse, Esperalda found a bone tube, in which rested a scrap of vellum. She handed the tube to Osondria, who unrolled the scroll and gazed at the runes.

"It's a scroll of Command...for animals, I'd say..." said the Cleric. "...probably how he controlled the rats." Seeing that the Gnome wasn't really listening, Osondria shrugged, re-rolled the scroll and tucked it back into the tube, before placing it into her belt.

Esparelda was working on untying the shaman's purse; once free, she examined the contents.

"Another addition to the Trove..." she said with a grin, as she poured another dozen or so gems into her hand.

João Afonso and Diego Garzia were examining the clog.

Diego sighed, "That is one big clog...do plumbers make dungeon calls?" he asked, wryly.

João Afonso nodded in agreement. "We're going to need some shovels and rakes..."

"...and men." said Diego. "We can't clear this and carry up the "treasure".

"Speaking of which..." said Osondria, "Look who I've found."

Fernando Poe trailed, embarrassed, behind the cleric. As he explained, just before the guardroom fight, he had been hit with an intense feeling of dread and doom. so as to make it difficult even to breath. He had run along the walkway, headlong into the wall, then had fallen into the water, before getting stuck at the doors in the middle chamber. Realizing he was lost, he sat down in the dark until the feeling left him. Shortly hereafter, he had seen Osondria's magic light approaching, and had called out to the cleric.

"Fear spell" said Osondria. "Happens to us all."

"Hmph!" said Esperalda, not entirely satisfied.

A party of workers were hired, through Voil Guldi, to help clear the clog and recover the lost coins, at a 10% commission, plus expenses. As Esparelda had predicted, it took the better part of the day.  As the last barrel of coins was carried up to the street, where Osondria was keeping tally, one of the workers called to Esparelda.

"Hey, Ms. Gnome...You'd better look at this..."

The graywater level had lowered considerably, as the clump had been removed and the drains finally cleared. Through the murky water, where the base of the clump had been, Esperalda could see the faint outlines of a door...no, a trapdoor, resting in a short plinth at the bottom of the channel.

The party agreed - the next adventure they accepted would be above ground. 

To Be Continued...

The Maztica Campaign: Where in the World is Ferdinando Poe?

 (What has Gone Before)

The kobold leader lay dead at the feet of João Afonso de Villalobos, while his guards had felt the keen point and heavy flange of Man-at-Arms Diego Garzia and Acolyte Osondria D'Esserain. Several deceased kobolds bore the marks of having been shivved by a Gnomish blade - the work of Esparelda de Ragosa (almost certainly an alias), but while the Adventuring Party could congratulate their own force of arms, their hired crossbowman, Ferdinando Poe, was missing.

Indeed, from the complete lack of quarrels (aka bolts) in evidence, it looked as though Bowman Poe had never engaged the enemy. A quick search out in the corridor had yielded up Ferdinand's discarded crossbow.

"I'll wager he ran away." said Esparelda, a touch scornfully. "Cowardly humans..." 

"We should search for him..." said João Afonso. Diego nodded in agreement.

"We haven't found the cause of the clog..." Esparelda huffed. "Clog first, coward second!"

Osondria nodded in agreement. "Poe could be anywhere between here and the stairs, or even above in the streets. We can search for him on the way out..."

"Pity" said Esparelda. "We're going to need help with these coins..."

The party had discovered the kobold leader's hoard - pots and pots, chests and sacks of coins...

"...all lömmebittzen." said Esparelda. "Spare change! These idiots must have cornered the market on every bit of lost pocket-change in the city. Losers..."  She kicked half-heartedly at a dead kobold, but without enthusiasm.

"Oh well..." said Osondria. "Not all that's not gold does glitter..."

"Especially down here!" said Esparelda, gesturing at the hoard. "There must be thousands of copper pieces here. It's going to take at least a day to haul this up street-side."

"There's some silver pieces, too..." said João Afonso, helpfully. Esparelda shot him a look.

Osondria stooped and leaned against a chest - the chest shifted, as did the flagstone on which it rested.

"Well, well..." said Osondria. "What have we here?  João, could you help with this?"

Once João Afonso and Diego had muscled the heavy chest out of the way, the flagstone was easy enough to lift. Using broken kobold weapons as crude levers, the slab was raised up, until Osondria was able to reach beneath and retrieve a modest leather bag. The contents rattled.

"Great..." said Diego, with resignation. "They were gamers..."

"I don't think so..." said Osondria. "Esparelda, hold out your hands."

Into the Gnome's cupped hands, Osondria poured the contents of the bag. 

"Well, all right!" said the suddenly-less-cranky Gnome. Cascaded into her oddly large, Gnomish hands was a glittering pile of about three-score gems; large, small, and in between.

"This is what adventuring is all about!" said João Afonso, with satisfaction.

Their celebration was interrupted by a whispering noise from the corridor. Quickly returning the gems to the bag, Esparelda stowed them in her pack. 

Venturing out into the corridor, the party heard the noise again, a great rustling of many feet, and what sounded like wheels...

"...squeaking." said Esparelda. "Rats!"

Gazing down the corridor, they could see a solitary kobold, wearing an ornamental cloak, who gestured towards the top of the great, oozing pile.

A great, soggy pile; an accretion of bits of wood, twisted vegetation, slimy weeds, bits of once-colourful cloth, all mushed together in a seeping, tangled knot, atop of which squatted a crude, vaguely reptilian icon.

"Behold, Great Qürtalmak!" declared the Kobold Priest, in the common tongue. "Now, Die!"

Rushing at the Adventurers was a moderate horde of foot-long rats, on both sides of the walkway.

"João Afonso, I think we could do with some more of your oil!" said the Gnome.

...To Be Continued...

The Maztica Campaign: Return to Beneath the Planet of the Kobolds (Yes, the Sewer...)

(What has Gone Before)

New Hirelings, not yet painted...

The newly assembled party of adventurers (João Afonso the Ranger,  Esparelda the Cranky Gnome, Osondria the Cleric and hirelings Diego Garzia and Ferdinando Poe) returned to the site of their earlier encounters with the sewer-infesting Kobolds. 

Upon descending into the storm drains, they were surprised to see that the secret door to the gate lever, as well as the gate itself, were tightly closed. Before each gate was built, from assorted flotsam and jetsam, a barricade.


"What now?" asked Esparelda the Cranky Gnome.

"They're fortifying." said João Afonso.

"They just don't want a repeat of last time." said Esparelda. 

"Neither do we..." said João Afonso.

Once Osondria the Cleric had located and opened the door to the Gate Lever, Esperalda entered cautiously. Fearing a trap, she grasped the lever, and was attacked by a foot-long centipede that had been tied to the handle. The insect latched onto her leather vambrace and began to chew. Making her saving throw, Esperalda slew the kobolds' gift.

Barricades of flotsam and jetsam...

"I hate these little gobshites!" she muttered, to no one in particular, as she pulled the lever.

The gate ground open with a rusty rattle. and the PC's were only slightly surprised to see that the newly-built barricade was defended by four kobolds. They had heard the cranky gnome's hurled shouts and curses, and laughed and jeered as the gnome peaked around the corner.

"They've been busy..." said João Afonso.

"They should have saved themselves the effort." said Esparelda, "Get them!"

A Kobold Boss falls to João Afonso

After an exchange of missile fire, including another flask of flaming oil, the kobolds were driven back, leaving two of their own dead. They fell back on the first guardroom, where another party of kobolds reinforced them, including a leader and his guards.

These, too, fell before the Adventurers, but not before they managed to inflicted some damage on the party; after the scrum in the guardroom, Esparelda was down to 2 hp and João Afonso was down to 7. Diego was down to 8. Osondria brought out some scrolls of "cure light wounds", and after some debate, the party barricaded themselves in the guardroom and rested for the night.

The sounds of heavy dragging could be heard in the corridor, as the kobolds built another barricade. The next morning (assumed so by the return of Osondria's clerical spells) the party set out to further scout the storm drains.

Finding another hidden door, and Gate Lever #3, the PCs found more kobolds, defending yet another barricade.

"This is getting ridiculous!" said Esparelda.

"They are definitely protecting something..." said Osondria.

"It's probably the source of the clog." said João Afonso.

A clatter of javelins and the odd pot of sewage rained down about the party.

"We can't take much more of this skirmishing!" said Osondria. "Let's charge the barricade!" She raised her shield eye-level and leapt across the channel, slipped on the landing, and fell backwards into the grey water. The kobolds burst into jeers and laughter:

"Yark! Yark!"  It must be fish!"

"Not fish...a TOAD!"

"Not toad...a TURD!"

"I begin to understand why the Gnomes dislike these little bastards so..." said Osondria to Ferdinando, as he helped the cleric onto the walkway, taking her shield and mace. The tall cleric pressed her hands together prayerfully, drew herself up to full height, and then threw both hands out, palms open, toward the kobolds.

"άς υπάρχει φως!" she cried, as a blaze of light struck the barricade, illuminating and now blinding the surprised kobolds.

"Blind!" shrieked a kobold. "That twice in two days!"

"Don't just stand there..." cried Esparelda, drawing her bow. "Shoot the little fëkkesh!"

Arrows thrummed and a crossbow rattled, as João Afonso, Diego Garzia, and Osondria D'Esserain charged the barricade under cover of the Light Spell.

Caught at a severe disadvantage, three of the kobolds fell where they stood. The fourth one, with a heart-felt "Yark!" took off down the walkway while shielding his eyes from the effects of Osondria's spell.

"That was great!" said João Afonso. "We cleared the barricade without taking any damage."

"Why didn't you use it yesterday?" asked Esparelda, a little pointedly. The cleric shrugged.

"I didn't have it yesterday..." she said. "I prayed to the Great Helm, and He sent it to me in my dreams. Rather useful, yes?"

"Yes!" the party agreed...even, grudgingly,  the cranky gnome.

Storming the Barricade - Can You Feel the Kobolds' Sting?

"Can you do it again?" asked the gnome.

"I can do it once more, today." answered the cleric
.
"Then make it count..." said the gnome, as the cleric nodded.

A sudden,  repetitious clanging sounded from further down the passage.

"That sounds like a kobold, giving an alarm." said João Afonso.

"That sounds like a kobold, requesting assisted suicide..." said Esparelda.

"We must be very close to the cause of the clog." said Osondria. She pointed to the water - it had stopped its slow course and was welling up to the edges of the walkway.

"Let's get this done..." said Esparelda. "I'd like to sleep with dry feet tonight, for a change." She set off ahead of the party, at the very edge of the lantern light. 

"Is she okay?" asked João Afonso. "I can't see her."

"I can..." said Osondria, "...barely. She's stopped at the corner."

Esparelda had indeed reached a left-hand turn in the storm sewer, where she had seen several kobolds rush through a door, in response to the clanging. She motioned for the adventure party to keep silent.

"There's a group of kobolds beyond that door..." the Gnome whispered, so gently she wouldn't have disturbed a dandelion. "I don't know if we can take them."

"I don't want to spend another night down in this sewer." said Osondria. "Bow your heads, all."

The rest of the party complied, and Osondria said, in a low but firm voice:

"Ελευθερώστε μας από το Κακό." in benediction. The cleric took up her mace and shield.

"C'mon!" she cried. "The Power of Helm!"

The party members answered, loudly, spontaneously: "The Power of Helm!"

"And Tymora, too!" shouted João Afonso, as he kicked in the oaken door.

Charging the final Guardroom

The door fell inward on sprung hinges, as the Party charged in to a room with a half dozen, very surprised kobolds. 

"φως!" cried Osondria, gesturing, as another wave of light burst forth against the kobolds. 

João Afonso squared off against a kobold in fancy leather & iron armour, while Diego held off the chieftain's guards with his spear. Osondira was laying about with her mace, while Esperalda was stabbing at anything nonhuman that presented its back.

Between the Light and Protection from Evil spells, the kobolds didn't stand much of a chance; João Afonso's opponent managed to get a good cut in before the ranger cut him down, and Diego and Esparelda both took a nasty scratch. Ferdinand had disappeared, but even without his bow, the weight of arms was with the party.

As the last kobold breathed his final "Yark!", the guardroom was taken.

"Where's Ferdinando?" asked Esparelda, as Osondira healed her wounds. "Wasn't he supposed to shoot at targets from the doorway?"

"He was behind me, and I didn't see him at the door." said Osondria.

"I'll go look..." said João Afonso. "Maybe I can track him..."

But while the ranger found a discarded crossbow, not far from where the party had their blessing, Ferdinando Poe was nowhere to be seen.

To be continued...

DM/Editor's Notes:
This post actually encompasses parts of two sessions - with an extra month's gap between the two. That's why the hireling miniatures go from being bare metal to fully painted from the entryway to the guardroom, and the barricades change manufacturer.

In the early part of this post, the Players were taking a lot of nickle and dime damage, which adds up fast at first level. The players were both puzzled as to why this encounter was so damaging, when they were fighting "only kobolds".  I told them (directly and also via the cleric) that they were fighting on the kobolds' terms, and they had to counter this. After some thought (sleeping in the first guardroom - overnight - for two months) they adapted the tactic of throwing lit torches down the corridors, to spoil the kobolds dark sight.

Even with the occasional miss-and-plonk into the waterway, the torches at least prevented the kobolds from easily ambushing the players, and the Light spell absolutely wrecked the kobold's infravision bonus, and gave them a -1 penalty to hit as well.

Finally, Osondria the Cleric had an opportunity to adjust her spells, stocking up on more group-effective spells like Light and Protection from Evil. 

The Leap of Faith

I had hoped to finish this particular tale with this post, but it was getting too long, and it's sometimes good to pause with a mystery...

Campaign Miniatures for the Player Characters

Finding appropriate miniatures for the player characters can prove to be challenging, but what great satisfaction when you succeed.

Derek's character, João Afonso Villalobos, is a chaotic good Ranger, of poor, landed yeoman status. His name is, to quote the player "an unholy combination of Spanish and Portuguese..." 

Figure by Ral Partha Miniatures

João Afonso's miniature is a Ral Partha Forgotten Realms Hero "Tristan" with the bow removed (and with a shield scheduled for addition in the not-too-distant future). The miniature is currently OOP - mine was had from eBay.

His jupon, sewn by his mother, carries his house "colours", since, while not of noble birth, his father, Senior Tinian D'Lanni Villalobos, maintains the family is impoverished nobility, and insists João Afonso wear his colours with pride. In keeping with the spirit of the character, his colours are an unholy combination of the coats of arms of Spain and Portugal.

Finding a miniature for Megan's character, Esperalda Ragosa, the Cranky Gnome, was harder. There's not a lot of demand for Female Rogue Gnomes, and my first purchase, a New School piece of plastic, proved to be an error (more on that, anon).

Figure by Reaper Miniatures

However, a proper metal miniature was found. Reaper Miniatures "Ingrid" which fit the bill nicely. My only wish is that the sculptor made the miniature to look more "Gnome-y" (with a bigger, pointier nose and less "Halfling-y". Still, I'm grateful for the figure.

Finally, there had been plans for a half-elven third player, but scheduling and a reluctance to engage in simple "Dungeon Crawling" (lulz) resulted in them being dropped from the campaign. Instead, a half-elven cleric was inserted as a primary NPC.

Figure by Reaper Miniatures

Once again, I found what I was looking for at Reaper Miniatures**: Christina the Devout. I had to file off the holy symbol, but this cleric obviously means business. The miniature now represents Osondria D'Esserain of Waterdeep, Acolyte of Helm.

**Really, I should learn - check Reaper Miniatures first.

Finally the two Hirelings; Diego Garcia and Ferdinand Po. These are part of the two Outlands Miniatures "Brigands" pack. I thought they fit the "Desperate Hirelings" description pretty well.

Figures by Outlands Miniatures

And so, having hired some muscle, the Party prepares to REenter the sewers beneath Athkatlos...What Excitement Awaits Them?...

Half-Orcs, Rats and Kobolds

28mm Half-Orcs by Grenadier/Mirliton

These Half-Orcs are old Grenadier/Mirliton casts. One of the players in my AD&D 1E game made a joke about skipping out on their contract with the Coin Lords of Athkatlos, I decided to paint these as a potential Brute Squad, to send against them; should they break their bond, these guys will break their legs.

28mm Half-Orcs by Grenadier/Mirliton

There's also a half-orc assassin, also Grenadier/Mirliton, for the subtler approach:

25mm Half-Orc Assassin by Grenadier

25mm Half-Orc Assassin by Grenadier

The rat packs are from Ral Partha, for their AD&D line. My set has been gathering dust for 20 years, as I originally had intended to use them for a game of Call of Cthulhu, but the opportunity passed. Now that I'm running a table-top RPG/combat game of AD&D, these rats will prove useful again.

25mm Giant Rats from Ral Partha

Finally, some plastic Kobold Characters from Reaper Miniatures (Bones). Let me start off by stating that I don't like painting plastic figures. The detail usually isn't as fine as metal, the medium doesn't accept paint as well (even if primed) and the miniatures bend/break more easily and are more difficult to repair.)

(I will have a longer, more critical post on plastics, the economy of the New School, Corporate Games and other jolly topics, out shortly...)

28mm Plastic Kobolds from Reaper Bones

28mm Plastic Kobolds from Reaper Bones

All things considered, these came out halfway decent - except half-decent isn't all-the-way decent. I just noticed I forgot to paint the weight-stones on the back of the spellcaster's cloak (sigh).

Left side is the tribal spellcaster - either a cleric/witch doctor or a magic user/shaman. Usually very helpful to throw the players and their carefully-laid plans into confusion. On the right is the chieftain/leader. I realised after finishing him that he's probably supposed to be wearing a combination of chaine maille and leather, not steel. Oh well...plastics.

There's another 20 common warrior kobolds that are waiting on the paint blocks. Now that I've found some Reaper Kobolds in glorious metal, I don't think I'll be finishing them...

The Maztica Campaign: The Prisoners are Revolting

 (What Has Gone Before)

The captured kobolds had cast down their weapons and wooden shields and lined up against the wall, along the walkway opposite the still smoking bodies of their fallen, flambéed comrades.

Taking Captives

João Afonso the Ranger and Esparelda the Cranky Gnome had debated the kobolds' fate. Against Esparelda's instincts, they had agreed to release their prisoners, provided they left the sewers immediately.

"Anyway" said João Afonso "We don't have anyone to guard them."

The kobolds had heard enough. Buoyed by the revelation that they outnumbered the filthy surface dwellers by two-to-one, the kobolds decided to make a break for it..

(DM's Note: Finally, Derek rolled a "1" on his Intimidate challenge. Alea sterca est!*)


The kobolds turned on their captors almost as one, striking with claws and fangs as João Afonso and Esparelda were driven back and apart on the narrow ledge. There were two kobolds on each PC. 
 
João Afonso cut his down with his halberd, while the other squeaked, turned and fled. The ranger swung at the retreating, scaly back and missed. 

Esparelda was having trouble. "Nasty, dirty Gnome!" hissed a kobold as it raked at her throat. "Nothing but THIEF!" screeched its partner, punctuating its words, and simultaneously, the leather protection of her arms, with a series of snapping bites.

Prisoner Revolt

João Afonso sank his halberd into one of the kobold's backs. "Urk?!" it said, dying, as its companion, yipped, leapt the channel, and ran down the passage.

Esparelda considered throwing her short sword at the fleeing kobold, thought better of it, and sat down with an audible squelch. Blood ran down her fore-arms.

"Nice," she said. "I've been looking forward to contracting rabies..."

*The die is crap...

Post Game Thoughts:
Credit to Derek for playing his character as Good, if perhaps a bit more Lawful than necessary. The kobolds probably changed his mind about taking prisoners (at least kobolds) but he gets extra XP for the effort.

Also, credit to Megan for her growing antipathy toward an allegedly already hated foe.

Both characters were a bit banged up, especially the gnome. I think they're planning to go back to the surface and hire some help. Time to roll up some NPCs.

To be continued...

The Maztica Campaign: Never so Bold, as a Kobold Cold...

"Now We've Got Them!"

(What Has Gone Before)

Continuing their plunge into the depths of Athkatlos' storm sewer, João the Ranger and Esparelda the cranky Gnome have found a secret door...

"Right where I said it would be!" said Esparelda, eyeing João for confirmation.

The Ranger grinned, then pointed. "Is that a lever?"

Nestled against the wall, opposite the door, was a yard-long lever, mounted onto a honking great gear, half-set in the floor. Painted in faded white letters on the stone wall, above the lever, was the legend "Storm Gate Lever 2".

"So, there's another lever and gate somewhere..." said Esparelda.

"Or, possibly, the first lever broke, and this is a replacement." Said João Afonso, dryly.

The pair pulled at the lever, and were rewarded with the a rumble and metallic scraping sound from the main passageway. When they looked around the corner, the left-hand water-gate had opened.

"Presto!" said Esparelda, then motioned for quiet and cocked her head. The sound of scampering feet and muttered hissing issued forth from the newly opened doors. The Gnome peered down the passageway, looking for heat signatures.

Faint grey silhouettes, under a yard high, could be made out, against the darker background. "Kobolds..." said Esparelda with audible disgust. "Four of them."

The Kobolds approached the door with a hopping, bounding gait. Balancing his spear in his right hand, João Afonso drew it back above his shoulder and let it fly at the lead kobold. The throw was surprisingly accurate - it caught the hapless kobold square in the face and penetrated out the back of its head.

"Garl's GONADS!" exclaimed Esparelda. "Bulls eye!"

The lead kobold died noisily. The other three shrieked, then ran away howling, down the passageway.

(DM's Notes: Once again, Derek rolled a 20, with maximum damage. The surviving kobolds' morale collapsed like a cheap lawn chair...)

As the barks and yapping receded down the passage, Esperelda laughed. "They're calling you 'Far Slayer' - you certainly impressed them."

"It was a good cast..." agreed João Afonso, retrieving his spear with a little difficulty and giving it a quick wipe-down.

The sound of a gong carried up the passage, from the direction in which the kobolds had fled. They were massing for another attack.

João Afonso was peering down the tunnel. "They've stopped running."

The kobold-rout had been stemmed by a sub-leader. Esperelda could hear the Kobolds down the passage, there was a lot of them. They were whipping themselves up, chanting "Kill the smelly Human" and "Fat, dirty, Gnome thief!" they bayed.

"Bunch of mongrels..." she muttered as she handed an oil flask to João Afonso.

The kobold pack was advancing up the passageway, somewhat more cautiously than before. Esperalda could hear the leader, in the back, egging them on. They advanced in a semi-crouch, shields raised to better cover their heads and upper torsos.

The Kobolds Advance a Second Time

"Now We've Got Them!"

Esparelda held the lantern, while João Afonso used its flame to light the tallow-soaked rag that wrapped the neck of the ceramic flask. The Kobolds were getting nearer.

"Kill the white-skins! Kill the surface-runners!" they chanted.

"And kill that fat, dirty Gnome in the back!" yelled the leader.

"Motherless scum..." hissed Esparelda. "Let 'em have it, João!"

João Afonso threw the flaming flask of oil, more with a side-arc curve than an overhead shot. It flew over the head of the lead kobold, shattered on the stone wall, and sprayed the following ranks like fiery judgement.

"AAaaaiiiieeee!" Shrieked the middle three kobolds, as the blazing splash struck the leader full in the face.

"Blind!" it screeched, clawing at its eyes. Turning, the leader ran into the wall, then fell backwards and disappeared into the grey-water.

"Smells Like Burnt Dog Hair"

The surviving Kobolds had quite enough. "No more burning!"

João Afonso raised his arm, as if to throw again. "Do you yield?" He was answered by the clatter of weapons and shields being thrown to the pave-stones.

Ranger and Gnome advanced to secure their prisoners.

"They're kind of pathetic..." said João Afonso. "We shouldn't just kill them..."

"Vermin!" said Esperalda. "They deserved to burn..." 

Post Game Thoughts

The kobolds each had 2 hit points - it was just easier to track. This made the splash damage of the flaming oil more effective. Once again, hot dice from Derek helped make the difference, and taking out the leader is a great way to shatter a kobold's morale.

When the PCs decided to use flaming oil, I had some trouble finding the mechanic. The ranges and saving throw were easy enough to locate, but the Throw procedure wasn't anywhere I could find it. Eventually, I settled on the Chaosium percentile skill check.

Kobold Cam

Heritage Goblins were used as stand-ins for the Kobolds, though I do have some Heritage Kobolds somewhere, in their wee shorts and vests, they look like bell-hops. Some packs of Reaper Bones Plastics (Ewww, filthy Humans) arrived today, so I'll have proper Kobolds painted up for our next session.

It was interesting seeing how João Afonso/Derek played his character's Chaotic Good alignment, vs Esparelda/Megan's Chaotic Neutral. Derek had asked whether his character should be concerned with Esparelda's alignment. I answered that, broadly, both characters agree on the principles of individual liberty and personal responsibility - the Gnome just has a tendency to do what is "expedient".

"So, you'd better keep an eye on her..." I said.

He agreed...

To be continued...