Building Bhakashal - In Person Gaming for the Win!

So my kids are off for March break, my youngest had two of his friends over today, they are in the same class at school. They were given the option of video games or a one off game of D&D with their characters from last summer.

They chose D&D.

This was my first in person game in 2 years! I grabbed their character sheets and an adventure I ran for my after school group last month. I changed the names of a few of the NPCs and ran it as is. From the time they said, “D&D” to the time we were playing: 10 min. Their PCs were D’Kell Massar (3rd level emberi - human - slayer - a slayer is a Bhakashal ranger/assassin), Roggen Tulwane, 4th level emberi mercenary (fighter), and Jaal the Blue, 4/4 saan (lizardfolk) thief/warlock. They had no healers in the party. 

They arrived in Bhakashal and found their former patron, Gorgal the Green. Gorgal, a House Jin Saan warlock, hadn’t seen them in a year (real time = game time) and thought them dead! After some catching up he told them he was in need of a tracker. One of Gorgal’s apprentices (Hoc Jin the Syre) had been kidnapped by a rival Lord from another house, kidnapping for bounties is a fairly popular way to dishonor an opponent by showing their weakness and inability to protect their subordinates. The kidnapped parties are rarely hurt, as they command a great price and paying the price dishonors the victim’s patron, the longer they wait, the higher the price. So there is a strong motivation to keep the kidnapped party alive until their patron is willing to pay and for the patron to pay sooner rather than later. 

The party asked Gorgal for some House soldiers to send along (he provided 6 rakasta - cat men) soldiers with battle axe and crossbow + breastplate/greaves/vambrace, and mounts for everyone. Roggen chose a Gess (giant lizard), D’kell Massar chose an Amaran (giant white tiger) and Jaal the Blue chose a Tulure (giant frog). Gorgal would bargain with the kidnappers over the cost of the bounty for a few days; the party had that long to find Hoc Jin. There are a number of forests in the marshes near the city, Gorgal knew only that his apprentice was being kept somewhere in a particular forest they were on their own once there. 

They took their mounts and set out at dawn. They traveled by the main road heading East, then branched north on the North road past the Raosk. They rolled their first encounter in the late afternoon. I had rolled VERY hot weather and no clouds for shelter. They were riding with their canopies up. They needed to get their mounts water and shelter for rest after traveling every 6 hours. 

They were due for a stop, so they found some Ghallak trees, Ghallak trees have VERY thick branches and big, heavy leaves, they are also hydrophilic so they are often near water bodies.They located a small forest of Ghallak trees near a stream, the mounts drank and everyone rested for an hour. I rolled for a random encounter, and it happened while they were resting. 

I rolled two caterwauls. Caterwauls in Bhakashal can duplicate sounds, one of them made the sounds of a dying creature, wails of pain, gasps for air, curses of various kinds. D’Kell and Roggen along with 4 of the soldiers went to investigate. The remaining 2 soldiers and Jaal the Blue stayed behind with the mounts. D’Kell and Roggen entered the forest, and the caterwaul dropped from above, winning surprise. It attacked Roggen, all three attacks hit, did minor damage, but it also knocked him flat. Initiative was rolled after surprise, the caterwaul attacked, this time knocking D’Kell down and doing just more than half his HP to him in damage. That led to a Jack being turned over and D’Kell takes -1 on all rolls until he is healed. Now three of the soldiers attacked.

The first, Rammal, fired his crossbow and missed, fortunately it didn’t hit anyone else. The next two were close enough to use battle axes. The second, Kon, tagged the beast for 4 hp damage, I rolled it’s HP on the spot once wounded and it had 18 hp left, so a minor hit. Mokam, the third soldier, got a critical (the players roll for the soldiers), she chose double damage, did 12 HP, leaving the beast with 6 HP and it had a Jack turned over for the -1 penalty as it was below 1/2 total HP. This was a deep gash on its side.

D’Kell and Roggen both took their actions getting back up. We rolled initiative again, this time the slayer and mercenary attacked first, but both missed! Then Kon swung his axe and got a critical, he chose “set up your ally for +4 to hit”. Kon rolled 3 hp damage with his axe, and the caterwaul gets a Queen turned over, a 2 point penalty on everything. This was described as a slash to the beast’s shoulder that sent it stumbling towards Mokam. Mokam attacked, the beast had a 2 point AC penalty and Mokam got a +4 due to the set up from the last attack, +6 to hit. She rolled a critical, she chose 2x damage, and rolled a 3, x 2 = 6 hp damage, slaying the beast. “The dark indigo beast lurched towards Mokam after Kon slashed it’s shoulder, Mokam planted her axe into the creatures skull, splitting it in half and leaving it twitching on the ground.” 

Back at the mounts, Jaal was on watch. I roll for surprise but it does not come up. The caterwaul, then spotted, charges, the soldiers Balak and Umab shoot crossbows and miss.

In Bhakashal you roll to see if your spells are successful, Jaal rolls and successfully casts magic missile, “two sizzling spikes of bright blue energy are pulled from Jaal’s forehead then flung at the beast as it charges, the first strikes it in the chest and it stumbles but continues the second sears it in the haunches and it snarls.” I roll on the spot for it’s HP, apply the magic missile damage and it has 17 hp left. Still above half so no penalties. 

The beast is now in melee range. Initiative is rolled, Jaal wins, and casts a reversed enlarge spell, he is successful, shrinking the beast down to size. I roll a morale and it fails, bolting off. Jaal calls the slayer and mercenary back to the camp they come back and decide to track the fleeing caterwaul back to it’s lair. The slayer rolls successfully for tracking and the chase is on. After a few turns of pursuit the beast transforms back to full size and arrives at it’s lair. The party arrives shortly after and sees the cave. I roll, no surprise, and the beast sees them and chooses to attack. Jaal manages to successfully cast sleep on the beast before it reaches them, and they slay it.  

They investigate the cave and I roll for loot on the spot. They find a bunch of gems (Caterwauls are gem hoarders) and 6 potions! 1 clairaudience, 1 healing, 1 hill giant strength, 1 plant control, 1 polymorph self and 1 invisibility. They grab these and head back to the mounts. 

They traveled for a few more hours then camped. The next morning D’kell consumed a dose of the healing potion, then they headed out. This was the ONLY healing magic they had other than the potion of polymorph self, that heals upon transformation back to regular form. 

They had another encounter that evening. This time it was with a group of Jugyi (turtle folk) pilgrims, conducting prayer near the forest. The party decided to stop and talk and pray with them. I rolled a positive reaction roll to these overtures and they spent a few hours with them, they asked some questions and this allowed them to target the location of the warlock’s tower (the Jugyi were local and knew of, and avoided, the tower). 

The PCs offered a donation to the pilgrims (one of the gems they found), and their leader (a 4th level Seer) offered to cast an augury for them in return. They asked, “what will happen if we send some of us to the tower out in the open and the rest try to sneak in”. The seer cast the bones and the answer came back as “WOE”, e.g. this was not a good idea. As the ref I figured that sending some of the party to the tower would put the warlock on guard, as he was expecting Gorgal’s flunkies to try and get the kidnapped apprentice back, he’s no fool. So that plan would lead to disaster.

They decided against a direct frontal assault. They did, however, pick up a potion of invisibility, they split that between the three of them, leaving the soldiers with the mounts nearby in the forest, and they approached the tower. Technically this was an attempt to approach unseen, e.g. to surprise, so I rolled for surprise with a 2 in 6 bonus as they were invisible. So there was a chance that someone from the tower was looking out when they approached and noticed the reeds parting as they moved in or something.

They had a 4 in 6 chance of surprise, I rolled a 2. So they reached the tower and D’Kell threw a rope with a grappling hook to climb, he was successful. Then Jaal cast reduce successfully and shrunk the party fighter, placing him into his backpack, climbing the wall. Everyone made their respective rolls to climb. When they reached the top they found a giant lizard chained up, it was awake. They were all invisible, but they weren’t all silent. Nor were they all without smell. I rolled for surprise again, and they were successful

Jaal decided to cast sleep again. In Bhakashal a warlock can cast 1 spell per day per level, plust INT bonus, so he could cast 7 spells per day. He had cast 4 so far. He rolled and failed to cast. There was a 5% chance of a reverse/harmful effect, but that did not come up. A failed spell casting means the creature was now aware that someone had cast a spell against it, and Jaal became visible as the invisibility potion’s effects were neutralized when he attacked. So the giant lizard could see him. 

The lizard was about 40 feet away and traveled at 15 ft per segment, this meant it would take 3 segments to reach him (and his invisible colleagues), it took a segment to cast a 1st level spell, Jaal chose to cast reduce again, this time he was successful. He now watched as the beast was shrunk out of it’s collar. He now had one more spell he could cast today. I rolled and the lizard fled now that it was free. The party went over to the door that led down into the tower and Jaal listened at the door. He had a 20% chance to hear noise and he was successful! He heard someone below turning pages, likely reading. He decided to try and open the door to the stairs. I rolled to see if it was open or not, given that it was on the roof and there was a giant lizard there  it might be open or locked. It was open. Jaal had a pair of boots of silence, he stole down the stairs and tried to hide in shadows at the bottom. He made his roll and waited in the shadows, casing the room. 

He saw the warlock Ghar Kohl reading a book, their target, Hoc Jin the Syre, was sitting bound and gagged on the floor, a giant snake curled up nearby. I rolled and the snake was asleep. Jaal asked to wait in the dark until he saw the warlock get up and leave. I rolled to see how long it would be until he left. 1 turn. I made him roll again for hide in shadows and he was successful. Ghar Kohl left the room, and Jaal called quietly for D’kell to come down. The thief and the slayer stole silently across the floor, Jaal had a 90% chance due to his boots. D’kell was a slayer and surprises on 3 in 6, so had a 3 in 6 chance to sneak up silently. They moved past the sleeping snake as both rolled successfully. 

They whispered in Hoc Jin’s ear that they would rescue him. D’kell slung him over his shoulder and carried him invisibly to the stairs. He had to roll again to do so silently, and rolled a 2! While on the way back I roll a 2 in 6 chance that Jaal will notice the chest on the floor. He does. He quickly decides to cast reduce (his last spell) on the chest. He was successful, and reached down to pick it up and take it with him. I rolled to see how long Ghar Kohl would be gone and got 6 rounds. They used 4 rounds to cross the room, get Hoc Jin, and take him to the top of the stairs. Another round to free him from his bonds. Then they fled.

Ghar Kohl returned by the time that D’kell was halfway down the rope to find his charge gone! He screamed for his ogre guards, Pogath and Mogath, they came running and they searched the room, Ghar Kohl suspected magic and I rolled that he looked around for 2 rounds before running up the stairs. By that time D’kell was on the ground, Jaal with Roggen shrunken in his backpack was there as well. He dispelled the magic bringing Roggen back to full size, still invisible. Now Ghar Kohl and his ogres appeared on the roof, Hoc Jin was halfway down the rope at this point. Roggen shouted to him to let go and fall and he would catch him. Roggen rolled a 17 to hit to catch the falling warlock, and his invisibility ended with the catch. 

The ogres ran down to get their mounts and give chase. 

Ghar Kohl saw them fleeing and successfully cast Ammon Marr’s Wall of Talons, he took out an arrowhead dipped in raven’s blood and gestured towards a pile of arrows he had brought to the roof. The arrows assembled in the air then shot towards the fleeing party members at his command. Roggen was missed entirely, Jaal took two arrows dropping him down to 8 hp, just below half, “An arrow slices your shoulder, and another takes a chunk out of your side, but neither cuts too deeply”. A Jack was turned over as he was below half and he takes a 1 point penalty on his rolls until healed. Hoc Jin was hit in the leg and took minor damage, but a critical knocked him down. 

Roggen picked him up and carried him as he fled. Ghar Kohl then had time to cast another spell, he successfully cast magic missile at Hoc Jin and three bolts struck him, doing enough damage to take him down to a single HP (all rolling is done in the open in Bhakashal). 

The party continued to flee to the forest’s edge to get to their mounts. They made it to the forest and Ghar Kohl went down to get on his mount to pursue. The two ogres and the warlock followed on Raggams (giant boars). They were 500’ behind the party when they started out.

Bhakashal has chase rules, the mounts in question were all the same speed except for Jaal’s Tolure, which was out front. The party chose to “pour it on” and increase their mount’s speed to get further distance. They were successful in their rolls and pulled out ahead. Their pursuers tried the same, but all three were unsuccessful.

Once ahead, Jaal stopped and quaffed the potion of plant control they picked up at the caterwaul’s lair. He waited until the charging boars were in range then he had the forest enclose around them, like an entangle spell. All three of them failed their saving throws. They were around 250 feet away, and their mounts were stopped for the next 13 rounds (rolled). At this point the party fled and we were about 15 min from our stopping time, so I called it. If this were regular campaign play I would roll to see if Ghar Kohl would continue pursuit even after the party was well ahead (in 13 rounds they would travel around 3/4 of a mile) or if he would seek them out later in the city. For a one shot I called it there.

The boys all asked if we could play regularly going forward, I have 4 games a week at the moment, so a bimonthly game (twice a month) is entirely doable. Playing in person was an absolute blast, were were 3 hours all in and it timed perfectly. I miss rolling real dice, we set up a table and chairs in the basement, grabbed the books, dice and character sheets and were up and running in 10 minutes. It felt like old times, just the basics, dice and fun.

There was a lot of shouting and jumping, a lot of dice rolling, and they really got into playing their PCs again. It’s been over a year and it was like nothing had changed. We’ll see if they have time to play a regular game again. 

Good times.