It's time to wrap up my Sellswords and Spellslingers campaign. I've learned, I've made mistakes, and it's time for the Low Rollers to be retired so I can start fresh. They did better than I expected in the first two of the "winding down" scenarios, I thought for sure this one would be their end. Behold, the dread Thunder Lizard! And since I only have one lizard folk painted, I proxied cultists instead because what sort of madmen would worship such a vile beast....
Although the Low Rollers did suffer one fatality to the
Big Lizard in My Back Yard, the ferocious Doc McStuffin's sidekick did fall pretty quickly. Per the Low Rollers modus operandi, as soon as the big baddie was taken out, there was a consistent stream of failed activation rolls and the scene quickly flooded with villains. I threw the second Thunder Lizard into the mix in place of a wandering monster since there's no wandering monster specified in this scenario, and also because I was disappointed that more of the heroes weren't mangled/eaten by the first one
By the end of the scenario, there were twice as many opponents on the table. I ran out of cultists and has to start tossing orcs into the fray.
Although I was hoping for a heroic yet fatal end game, I was OK with the dramatic way things turned out. Youbie died while fighting the original Thunder Stuffie, and P-Stash delivered the killing blow. By the time he got to his friend, she was flat out dead. But he wasn't going to leave her behind. He shouldered her body and ran towards Stabbie the shaman, and their new recruit, Wad.
By that time the second, more serious looking Thunder Lizard had arrived nearby. Wanting to settle things in a heroic blaze of glory, Stabbie tried to cook the lizard (failed) and Wad tried to fill it full of arrows (also failed) so it was up to P-Stash to run in and save the day fisticuffs style. Almost. He crippled the cold blooded beast, but failed to deliver the final blow.
Wad, unexpectedly showing a sense of loyalty, bravery, and honor towards his new friends, charged into assured death to avenge and rescue his brave companion. In a fit of rage, he stabbed the crap out of the unsuspecting dino and brought him down in short order.
But that was only the start of his work. Six more cultists showed up on the scene and (due to shitty activation roles yet again...) they charged rapidly from the far corner of the battle and surrounded the strong archer. Despite the six-on-one odds, Wad managed to quickly butcher the cultists, grab P-Stash's comatose body, and meet up with Stabbie (who was carrying the corpse of Youbie) and flee to safety.
So that's the dramatic finale. Two casualties, one dead the other comatose. P-Stash will survive, and although Youbie is technically dead, the group has plenty of unspent wealth to resurrect Youbie.
But I'll leave that all behind for now. I'd like to start fresh, though the newcomer -- Wad -- may make an appearance in a potential group of next (anti)heroes...
Neville, Zeek, Wad, and Tommir