Kami hesitated. Beyond the open steel door lay a rectangular, windowless chamber that must have taken half the floor. The room’s only furniture was a wooden stool, and a worktable topped with various alembics, crucibles, glass tubing, and esoteric objects. A brick chimney lacking a hearth protruded from the east wall, while on the west wall hung some sort of scaled creature on display.
Standing motionless in front of her was a large suit of plate armor, seemingly made of bronze, with dead ratfolk littered at its feet. Kami didn’t know much about weapons- or armor-craft, but even still it was clearly a rare and valuable artifact, looking wholly unlike anything made in Kalee, Kaizuka, Mesca, or the Stone Isles. The metal figure was complete, from domed helmet to gauntleted hands to bronze boots. Its burnished metal was ornate with filigree, yet the details did not take away from the impressive, imposing bulk of the thing. Whoever this armor had been made for must have been a giant of a person.
The bronze helmet was a sphere with breathing holes and two menacing eye slits, which glared darkly at Kami. Yet when she stepped into the room, the eyes flared with pale blue light in the gloom. As they did, the armor shifted, regarding her, and a wave of apprehension and malicious, predatory intent washed over her. The armor stepped forward with a heavy thunk. Not an empty suit, after all!
First villain combat! Last time I figured out the stats for this imposing animated suit of bronze armor. Because of its Aura of Fear, I won’t need to make stats for Sergeant Mewa or his two City Watch thugs—they simply can’t attack the Bronze Armor in melee and they have no missile weapons (I mean, technically they could throw their spears, but then they’d be unarmed and I think they’re more likely to just freeze and allow the PCs to engage).
For the first turn, once again that Aura of Fear is doing work. The PCs hesitate, which means that only the Bronze Armor gets to attack. They won’t be surprised, however.
Kami is the one facing off against it, so that’s where it will deliver its first blow. She’s still conscious of using her powers in front of the City Watch, so won’t use Elasticity to dodge. That means, with its Prowess of 16 and her Alertness of 13, Kami has a 35% chance to dodge. But wait! I said last time that the PCs would get -20% in all melee rolls because of the aura, so that drops her chances of avoiding a blow to 15%.
Kami rolls 82, which means even if she used her lone Hero Point this Issue she wouldn’t be able to avoid the attack. The Bronze Armor has a whopping Strength score of 38. Thankfully, Kami subtracts 10 from all bashing damage due to her Elasticity. She takes 28 damage and is down to 2 (!) Vitality with a single blow. I, uh… don’t think she’ll hesitate to use her powers now.
Let’s talk Knockback in Crusaders. Knockback occurs when a character takes bashing damage greater than their Physique score, unless that character has Super Strength, which Kami does. What’s unclear in the rules is whether the damage is before or after resistances. I think it’s more cinematic and comics-accurate if knockback occurs even when a person is partially immune to damage. So I’ll say that Kami is hurled backwards but, because did not take damage greater than her Strength level, she won’t be stunned.
Again, because it’s cool and comic book-like, I’m going to say that Kami hurtles backwards and through the wall behind her, rolling to a stop before she would break through the outer wall and fall three stories below. Because of Elasticity, I won’t inflict any damage to her from this effect. But I think the Bronze Armor has everyone’s attention now!
Kami’s bowels clenched as the figure advanced on her, unable to will herself to move out of the way. Her assailant raised a bronze gauntlet faster than she would have expected and slapped her with the back of its hand.
Before she could register what had happened, she was flying backwards, out of the steel door through the air. There was a tremendous crashing sound and Kami found herself rolling on a dusty floor. She blinked, trying to get her bearings, just as the pain of the blow began blossoming in her battered chest where the warrior had struck her. All around her were shards of shattered wood. He had backhanded her through the wall!
She was in an entirely different room, this one devoid of ratfolk corpses and full of cobwebs. Like the room with the bronze figure, it had a long, narrow table and stool, though this one was adorned by a brass cage and a small box encrusted with gold and jewels.
Kami grimaced and watched through the broken wall as she struggled to stand. Her companions faced the towering figure in bronze armor with its witch-lit eyes, clearly someone as god-touched as her. If she didn’t get back into the combat, they would all die.
Round 2! Now we’re using our regular Alertness to determine order. Maly will go first with a 15, then Emah and Kami with 13, and finally the Bronze Armor. Sergeant Mewa and his guards will effectively just stare slack-jawed and cower thanks to the Aura of Fear.
What can Maly do to a suit of animated plate armor? She’ll call out to her panther friend, for one, and then draw a dagger and strike. With her Prowess of 13 and its Alertness of 10, she would normally have a 65% chance to hit. With the Aura of Fear, however, that drops to 45%. She rolls a 16! That’s 15 damage, reduced by 10. It takes 5 damage, bringing its Vitality to 49. Not much, but it’s a start.
Emah draws her sword and charges. With her sword she would have a 100% chance of hitting, but that’s dropped to 80% with the aura. She rolls a 93, and I don’t think it’s worth using a Hero Point just yet. I’ll say the blow deflects off the armor.
Kami has been sent into the battle’s Perimeter (all distance in Crusaders is abstracted into three zones: Center, Perimeter, and Environs), and she doesn’t have any ranged attacks. As a result, she uses her turn to stand and make her way back into the room.
Now it’s the Bronze Armor’s turn. Who will it attack? I can make a case for any of our PCs, so will roll randomly to determine. I go in order of turn and roll a 3 on a d3, which means Kami. If it hits, she’s out of the combat.
This time Kami has no hesitation to her Elasticity to dodge. Now the Bronze Armor’s 16 Prowess is against a score of 25. That would normally give Kami a 95% chance to dodge, which is now 75%. Here we go… I roll 02!
Beyond the breach, the pale-skinned Maly showed incredible courage. She dove past Emah, shouting something Kami couldn’t hear over her ringing ears. As she danced around the warrior in armor, a dagger flashed past in the dim light of the room, scoring a line across its shoulder plate.
Her friend’s attack seemed to jolt Emah out of her hesitation. With obvious training the Kalee warrior stepped forward to engage the figure.
But Kami didn’t wait to see the result of the confrontation. The armored warrior had hit her harder than she would have thought possible. If it struck any of the people in her party, it would simply kill them in a single blow, she was sure of it. The warrior’s strength was greater, even, than Kami’s own, something she wouldn’t have believed. Any worry about displaying her newfound abilities in front of her companions was gone. She needed to end this fight, and quickly, before anyone died.
Though her stomach lurched, chest ached, and head pounded from the blow she’d received, Kami pushed herself up. The landing beyond the break in the wall was clogged with the City Watch members, all of whom stared frozen at the battle before them. Even Hakau, despite his strong sense of duty, appeared unable to will himself into the fray.
The house was a simple square, which meant it was only this room and the one with the battle, each wrapping part-way around the central staircase. She moved left and through the dusty room, past the long table with its birdcage and gilded box, around a bend and to a closed door. Kami practically ripped the door open and stumbled forward, still clearing her head.
Beyond the door was the armored figure, pale glowing eyes illuminating the darkened room. Almost immediately upon seeing the bronze warrior, a wave of apprehension again filled her. It seemed that he or she radiated some sort of unnatural aura, causing her heart to race and weakening her limbs.
Those glowing eyes locked onto her, ignoring Maly and Emah futile attempts to damage the thick plate armor. It charged her and swung its gauntleted fist down, the blow meant to crush her into the floor.
Instinctively, Kami’s body simply… flowed. She didn’t know how else to describe it. She relaxed into allowing her torso and limbs to loosen, like taking a deep breath. The bronze figure would have punched her where her neck met the shoulder, a blow that may have crippled or outright killed her if it had landed. But instead, she dove left and around the bronze fist with her body while her legs moved right, almost as if the two halves of her were splitting up and darting in different directions. The armored warrior’s gauntlet struck only air, and Kami’s own arms simultaneously stretched out, ready to strike.
Hakau and his guards yelled out of sight from the landing.
Kami saw Emah flick a glance at the doorway and grimace. “Rats!” she announced. “They’re here!”
Yes indeed. A troupe of ratfolk have been waiting to make their attack, and Round 3 is the time. There are a fair number of them, as well. I’ll say it’s three “bunch of thugs” groups, each with a Fight score of 10. They’re led by a lieutenant with the same stats as the one that tackled Maly out in the street: Physique 12 Prowess 12 Alertness 14 Psyche 10.
This addition to the combat means that the City Watch members also need stats. I’ll say the two guards are a group with Fight score of 11. Sergeant Hakau Mewa will have 12 across all his stats.
So here is Round 3 in initiative order (I’ll also list current health & location):
- Maly (30 Vitality, room)
- Ratfolk lieutenant (12, landing)
- Kami (2 of 30, room)
- Emah (39, room)
- Sergeant Mewa (12, landing)
- City Watch guards (11,11, landing)
- Ratfolk mob 1 (10,10,10, landing)
- Ratfolk mob 2 (10,10,10, landing)
- Ratfolk mob 3 (10,10,10, landing)
- Bronze Armor (49 of 54, room)
Let’s get crazy! Maly can see that she won’t be much use against the Bronze Armor, so will return to the landing in order to help the City Watch. In fact, she’ll take on the lieutenant. She has a 45% chance of hitting and rolls an 18, doing 15 damage and killing it. Nice, Maly!
With the lieutenant out of the way, Kami and Emah are up next and will continue focusing on the Bronze Armor. With the Aura of Fear, Kami has a 30% of hitting and rolls a 56. Dang, that would have been cool. Emah, meanwhile, has an 80% chance and rolls 64, doing 10 damage after the thing’s Armor is applied.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Mewa turns and lays into the first ratfolk mob. He has a 60% chance of hitting and rolls a 73. Nope. He’s surprised and still affected by the Bronze Armor’s aura.
The City Watch guards also defend themselves against the rat horde. They have a 55% chance of hitting and roll 88… Amazingly, through four combats that is our first ever critical fumble! I’ll say that with the Aura of Fear and sheer number of rats, they panic. They’ll be Passive Targets for the ratfolk mobs, meaning they defend with an Alertness score of 5. Yeesh.
Let’s see if they survive the onslaught of rats. With an Alertness of 5, they only have a 25% chance of avoiding damage from each mob. Against the first they roll 37, which does 10 damage. Against the second they roll 99, another critical fumble! No wonder Inspector Calenta recruited our PCs! With that result, I’ll say the second mob tears through them, doing enough extra damage to kill both guards. That leaves the third mob to attack Mewa, who is not as stupefied as his guards. He has a 60% chance of defending and rolls 19. He can’t kill any rats, but he does fend them off (and more importantly, delays them from entering the room).
Finally, it is the Bronze Armor’s turn. Will it attack Kami or Emah? I’ll roll odds/evens… 4. That makes sense. Kami isn’t doing any damage to it, so Emah is the bigger threat. With Emah’s Parry ability, she would normally have a 70% chance to avoid damage. With the Aura, that drops to 50%. She rolls… 95. Ouch, that’s not even a roll that a Hero Point will help. The Bronze Armor does a whopping 38 damage, leaving Emah with a single point of Vitality. But let’s also remember Knockback. Emah goes flying against the wall. I’ll make a Luck roll to see if she bursts out of the wall to fall three stories or not. The outer walls are stronger than the inner ones, I’ll say, giving her a 60% chance of staying indoors. I roll a 24. Whew. She is Stunned (unable to act next turn), but at least she didn’t fall three stories to her… death? I don’t know how I would have handled that.
Kami heard combat unseen around the bend of the room, the chittering of large rats, the shouts of the City Watch. Then she heard screams, awful and anguished, and they sounded like human screams.
Emah circled the armored warrior and barked over her shoulder. “Maly! Help the others!”
“On it,” Maly said, and darted out of the room, a dagger in each hand. Oddly, she then shouted. “Yes now! We need you!”
Kami didn’t have time to ponder the young woman’s words or the battle raging on the landing, however. The glowing eyes within the bronze helmet pivoted away from her flowing form as the warrior turned to face Emah.
“Watch out!” Kami warned.
Emah was waiting, sword in front of her, but perhaps did not anticipate the speed or power of her heavily armored opponent. With the same backhanded swing that had surprised Kami earlier, the warrior batted Emah back. For her part, Emah seemed to move her blade to parry, but the warrior’s strength was immense. The blow knocked the sword from Emah’s grip and the woman went flying, crunching against the wall and landing in a heap.
“No!” Kami yelled.
As the bronze helm turned back to face Kami, a feral roar filled the third floor of the building, causing everyone to pause.
It’s Round 4, and Maly’s companion Destiny the panther has finally entered the story! Let’s take stock of our combatants in this crazy battle:
- Maly (30 Vitality, landing)
- Kami (2 of 30, room)
- Emah (1 of 39… stunned, room)
- Destiny (30, stairs)
- Sergeant Mewa (12, landing)
- Ratfolk mob 1 (10,10,10, landing)
- Ratfolk mob 2 (10,10,10, landing)
- Ratfolk mob 3 (10,10,10, landing)
- Bronze Armor (39 of 54, room)
Maly will attack the first ratfolk mob and has a 65% chance to hit. She rolls an 82, however. I think the chaos of the landing is tough for her to navigate.
Kami will try and hit the Bronze Armor again and again has a 30% chance to do so. She rolls a 94. Emah, meanwhile, is stunned. She shakily returns to her senses and will need to spend next round regaining her sword (am I being overly punitive? Given the strength of the blow she took, I don’t think so).
Destiny the panther is coming up the stairs below the rat mobs and will attack the third mob with his claws and teeth. He has a 60% chance of hitting and rolls a 96. For now, he’s just snarling and gaining ground. Besides, those rats are slippery.
Sergeant Mewa, meanwhile, is fighting the first mob. He also has a 60% to hit and rolls a 79. Wow, bad turn for our heroes.
None of the ratfolk mobs will attack Destiny. They want Mewa out of the way so they can swarm into the room (I’ve decided that once the City Watch are down, they can do so… Maly isn’t enough to stem the tide on her own). Mewa has three 60% rolls to beat them back. He rolls an 84 on the first one, taking 10 damage and dropping to 2 health. He rolls a 90 on the second one and dies, overwhelmed by the flood of combatants. The third mob moves through the hole Kami made when struck. They don’t want to fight, really… they’re here for what’s in the next room! It will take them the next turn to get what they want.
Finally, it’s the Bronze Armor’s turn and there is no doubt it will attack Kami. Once again, she has a 75% chance to dodge with her Elasticity. She rolls a 31, literally the only successful roll by the heroes this round.
Well, my first villain battle (adding thugs and lieutenants now that I have a feel for them), is quite the tense one!
What was happening? Kami could hear what sounded like a horde of ratfolk chittering and squeaking, heard Hakau shouting in surprise and defiance, a mighty “Yes!” from Maly, and some sort of enormous beast’s echoed roars. Then there was hissing, rats screeching, and Hakau screaming in pain. Kami realized that she couldn’t hear the other City Watch members, and feared what Maly and Hakau might be facing upon the third-floor landing.
Emah lay sprawled against the wall. Given the armored warrior’s strength, she assumed that the woman was dead.
And then Kami could think of nothing beyond extending her body left and right, her body flowing unnaturally to avoid the bronze, gauntleted fists of her assailant. Whoever was within the plate armor, they seemed unconcerned with the battle raging upon the landing. The entire glowing-eyed, malicious intent of the warrior was focused on her and her alone.
My Hero Brain 
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