Editing User:Bill/Rifts Week by Week/Series One Notes (section)

==Session Three - August 22, 2011==
Tess informed me via email that it was possible she would be unable to attend this week's session. Fortunately that turned out to not be the case. 

I began the session by describing a horrific four-legged monster that a humanoid figure in black armor approached the group on the back of. The beast appeared to be a twisted combination of rhinoceros and horse with huge predatory claws and teeth. The armored figure dismounted and approached to within a few feet of the player characters, then began to question them about where they had come from and their relationship with the elves. He then noticed the hilt of Jimena's sword and insisted that she hand it over. That rapidly precipitated events. JW shot him square in the chest without warning. 

The combat that ensued was not something I had planned for. Generally I think that players are sensible enough to take my description of a "zombie horde" to mean that they probably shouldn't try to fight. Regardless, I think it went fairly well. The party was swarmed by two to four undead monsters each. As might be expected, the players haven't yet worked out how to best coordinate their attacks, so the fight was effectively broken up into smaller conflicts. Hopefully the inevitable slide towards doom that they experienced in this session will help motivated them to find more effective means of fighting off larger numbers of foes. They did attempt to avoid the monsters and go after their master, which could have worked if not for the large number of creatures working very hard to keep them busy. 

About the second melee round, Nick and Kyle approached and I invited them to join the game. I've played several games with Kyle before. While he can be frustrating at times, he is an enthusiastic player and a welcome addition to the group. Nick and I did not meet under the best circumstances and up to this point I think he has been reluctant to participate in my games. Hopefully they will both return next week. Nick took on the role of Milosh and Kyle played Theophorus. They did well for being unfamiliar with the system or the characters. I think another session with the same characters would help them be very effective, though my impression is that they would like to create their own characters.

Anyway...combat concluded after approximately five rounds. It quickly became clear that the player characters had little to no hope of successfully defeating the undead horde. Both JW and Peta's armor had taken significant hits. The huge undead mount had nearly shredded the grackle's suit. Additionally, JW was the only character to fail his saving throw against ''Speed of the Snail''; a devastating spell that reduced the character's combat abilities to a fraction of their normal effectiveness. Peta heaved him up on her shoulder once the mount had been destroyed and used her bionic speed to flee. Jimena took to the air with her jet-pack. Unfortunately this left Theophorus and Milosh to fend for themselves. Which they didn't do well. Theophorus went down under several of the monsters as they tackled him and Milosh surrendered rather than see his friend killed.

I concluded the session by describing two interrogations. The group that fled back to Sceaduwe were questioned by Wisfæst Dökkálfar while Theophorus awoke to find himself strapped to a table in a torture chamber. Meanwhile Milosh was offered hospitality and a tour of the necromancer's home. Finally, the group that returned to the elves was confined in a sitting room while Milosh spilled his guts to save Theophorus. Milosh successfully saved against a Sleep spell, but decided to play along with it. When last we left him he had been sealed into a confined space.

Even though I was substantially less prepared for this session that I had been for the previous two, I think it went more smoothly. The combat system continues to be something of a challenge to keep exciting, but I think I can address that by shifting antagonist tactics more frequently.