Building Bhakashal - Session Report - Fight!

My Thursday group had a busy session.

The first thing they did was to meet up with two NPCs that they “rescued” in the marshlands. The NPCs were plants sent there by a rival House to infiltrate the group. So far the party believes that the NPCs were genuinely at risk when they found them, and have no idea that they are spies.

The PCs met with the two NPCs, a mercenary and a spartan, both reasonably high level (7^th and 8^th). They NPCs made the case that they owe an honor debt to the two PCs that rescued them, and the party is going to think about what to have them do, either serve as henchmen for a time, or go complete a task for them. There was some lively debate about how to handle them, but nothing was resolved.

Last session, Riyan the Raze, a warlock at House Quannar and the leader of a rival faction, sent one of her allies, Ghanglor Terrick, a 7^th level Wind Gyre who had a Censer of Controlling Air Elementals, to bloody the noses of the party, and tell them to back off of the Brass Blade Spider’s Guild. Riyan used to run the city branch of the guild, but when the PCs united the city and Raosk branches (the task that made them Bhakashal nobles), they took over the newly united guild. Riyan did not like this and sent Ghanglor to intimidate the party. She was hoping the party would back off without having to formally confront them and reveal her loss to the wider city factions.

Well, they decided to challenge her to a duel. She accepted on behalf of her and Ghanglor.

Duels in Bhakashal are complex, honor bound exercises. If you show up to the arena alone, take on a larger group and win, you have earned the respect of the spectators and other House nobility. If you show up with a small army to take on a single foe any victory you gain will be stained by dishonor. The goal is to have both sides be comparable, so the fight is challenging. You can bring in any magic item you have, any spells, and if you have henchmen, animal companions or similar things you can bring them as well. You cannot, for example, summon a monster then enter the arena. Any spell casting has to happen in the arena, not outside.

If you defeat your opponent you can choose to slay them or let them live, combatants often look to the crowd to decide on that. When you are defeated in the arena the victor can claim you possessions and your title if desired or ask for some concession of your liking. Essentially the victor has full scope to make demands of the defeated.

The party conjuror and the party mercenary were the challengers. The PC conjuror showed up with his three henchmen, the mercenary showed up alone. Riyan is an 11th Level Emberi Jantu Magus Warlock at House Quannar. Jantu warlocks make monsters. She showed up mounted on a gess with a squealer of her own creation on a lead, and Ghanglor hovering in the air about 10’ up beside her.

Fights between factions within a House bring out spectators from their allies and their enemies. Plus, of course, representatives from other Houses, and the general public. Bets were placed; odds were 2:1 against the PCs as they were relative newcomers. One of them, the mercenary, was a Bhakashal Lord, the other (a new player) was not. So the fight was fairly even, two Bhakashal nobility, each with an ally.

Before they arrived in the arena there was a skirmish between a giant lizard and 4 prisoners, the prisoners got the worst of that, then the arena was cleared for the main event. Battles between Bhakashal nobles happen at night.

When the horn was sounded and the fight began, the party mercenary and one of the conjuror’s henchmen charged, they were hoping to get to the spell casters before they could cast. The PC conjuror cast Runic Circle on himself, anticipating that Ghanglor Terrik would summon an Air elemental (Runic Circle, Bhakashal’s version of Protection from Evil, hedges out conjured creatures of all kinds). The PC mercenary and NPC henchmen were headed toward Ghanglor Terrik.

Riyan let the squealer loose and it ran towards the charging figures. I rolled to see who the squealer would attack, and it was the henchman. The beast landed on him with a mighty spring through the air and tore him to pieces, slaying him instantly. When the squealer landed on the henchman the PC mercenary pivoted and moved towards Riyan instead. She saw this, what would she do?

Now, just for context, I roll magic items for all NPCs, and in this case Riyan is an 11^th level Warlock, her magic item list was:

+1 Chinook Blade (2-3 rounds of 1 hp drain for everyone in 2” range)

+2 Ring of Protection

Cloak of Displacement (+2 AC and Saves, first attack misses)

Rod of Beguiling (12) – Charm, no save, 2” radius

Scroll: Forecage, Sink

Scroll: Sequester, Astral Spell

 

For 11^th level Bhakashal nobility this seems like a fairly modest outlay of magic items. However, in AD&D1e (and thus in Bhakashal), magic items aren’t “balanced”, and having the right one can make all the difference. What magic item would she use when faced with a charging warrior who is also a Bhakashal Lord?

The key thing to remember here is that Bhakashal lowers overall HP for all PCs and NPCs, so it is entirely possible that the charging warrior could one shot kill the warlock. Not on the first shot (the Cloak of Displacement would protect against the first attack), but attack number 2 and forward would be a problem. So, in other words, a charging warrior of repute is a threat to any high-level warlock, no matter how powerful they are. This is one of the major areas where Bhakashal varies from AD&D 1e and other old school games, because overall HP are reduced, and any successful strike interrupts spell casting, mid-to-high level warriors are a threat to mid-to-high level spellcasters.

With the mercenary charging it made sense she would pick the fastest and most efficient way to stop him, and that was the Rod of Beguiling. It does not give a saving throw. Once the mercenary got within 20’, she activated the Rod. At that point the PC mercenary was beguiled and could not hurt Riyan. Furthermore, she could influence his actions.

The party conjuror was about to cast Mokull the Mighty’s Monstrous Conjuration (Bhakashal’s version of Monster Summoning), but he realized he would have to go a few rounds before his monsters would show up, and Ghanglor Terrik’s air elemental would be there before then.

With the PC mercenary out of the fight, his odds were looking long.

Riyan called out and told the PC conjuror that the mercenary would now protect her, so he should surrender now and she would be lenient.

The players discussed the situation, the PC conjuror was reluctant to give up conjuring monsters, he wanted the fight, but he also realized that by the time the monsters go there he could very likely be dead.

A 16HD air elemental is not to be trifled with, even from within a Runic Circle.

He surrendered and asked for terms.

She told him, “you know what I want” (she wasn’t going to state her demand explicitly in the arena), she wanted control of the guild again, in this case a united and more powerful guild. She would not strip the PC mercenary of his title (as was her right) or his property, she just wanted control of the guild.

He assented, and she let them both live.

This is a good move for her, she has demonstrated her power in the arena, and shown the PCs she means business, and now she will approach them in the House and look to form alliances to secure her power. They will have to decide if they want to go along with her or work against her to get control of the Guild back in the long term. Going against her right after losing an arena battle will look dishonorable, part of the honor culture of Bhakashal is accepting defeat gracefully, not being petulant and aggrieved. For now, since she let them live, they will likely go along with her and not make an issue out of her running the guild. If they want it back, that will be a long term project.

But in any case, they have learned that taking on a powerful Bhakashal Warlock or Lord is not an easy task.

To be fair, had they chosen other tactics, things could have turned out much differently. They could have struck the magical Censer, disrupting the summoning of the elemental. They could have sent the conjuror’s henchmen to attack Riyan, keeping her busy while they cast spells. Either one of them could have used magic items that act faster, or even shot arrows, charging takes time and allows your opponents to take shots at you while you approach them. The PC conjuror has a spell that swarms targets with insects disrupting spell casting. He also could have tried to charm the squealer and send it back against Riyan and Ghanglor. Emyar the Ashen’s Ebony Coils (Bhakashal’s version of Evard’s Black Tentacles) would have also wreaked enough havoc that he probably would have had time to summon his monsters.

Oh well, perhaps next time!

Another facet of Bhakashal that was accentuated in this fight was tactical opacity. Bhakashal recommends that the referee roll randomly for NPC spells and magic items, as well as randomly rolling for all of their characteristics. I have been told many times that this will put NPCs at a disadvantage with respect to the PCs as the PCs will be optimized by min-maxing players. However, this overlooks an important fact, when you optimize your opponents then it becomes much easier to predict what they will do. Certain magic items and spells turn up more often, as well as certain monsters.

When you randomize these things the players have no idea what to expect. This tactical opacity makes for a challenging game, and keeps it interesting for everyone.