Ch. 10. Black Train Blues

[Mr. Handy]

With the train slowed down, William carefully makes his way back to the coupling mechanism to pull out the pin.

[Philulhu]

William reached for the pin and pulled hard! It moved, stuck fast as the engine and tender bumped into each other again, then came free, disappearing into the gap in between.

For a moment, engine and tender maintained their relative speed but the rear part of the train began to slow and the gap between the two began to grow, imperceptibly at first, but then with growing speed!

The creature’s tentacles flew towards the brake and the tender, one trying to slow the train and the other grasping for purchase on the wall of the tender as if trying to pull the two parts of the train back together.

From the firebox came a keening howl of rage as the ropey tendrils started to stretch as the engine and tender moved further and further apart!

OOC,Actions?

[Mr. Handy]

William picks up his shovel again and swings it at the creature. He feels bad about having left Thomas behind on the train, but he knows that if he had not separated it from the engine, they would all have been overwhelmed by those things.

OOC,Small Club roll (25% base skill) attacking the creature with the shovel again: [dice]0[/dice] Damage: [dice]1[/dice] I think that's a critical hit, too! :shock:

[Bullfrog]

Seeing a chance to strike, Lawrence attempts to thrust his knife into the creature.

Knife 25%,[dice]0[/dice]

Damage 1d6+1d4,[dice]1[/dice] + [dice]2[/dice]

OOC,Impale! Looks like luck has turned back in our favor

impale damage,[dice]3[/dice] + [dice]4[/dice]

[Philulhu]

OOC,6th edition CoC rules allow for an Impale at 20% of to hit role for firearms and pointed weapons. I reckon Lawrence’s hit causes another 1d6 damage, but it will require a a successful hit to remove the knife as it is now caught on something inside the creature. I’m not sure you could impale with a shovel but if you think otherwise, feel free to argue differently. Once we get an update for Howard, we’ll see what happens next!

[HoneyDog]

Howard is at the end of his mental energy. He vainly claws at the creature, but he cannot sustain himself much longer.

Grapple,[url=https://orokos.com/roll/846534]Grapple[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]81[/b]

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,The impale with the knife actually does an additional 1D6+damage bonus, so he should get an additional 1d6+1D4 for the damage bonus. Shovels do not impale, but there's an optional rule for critical hits in 6th edition for a roll of 1-5, which that was. Critical hits can have special effects that are up to the Keeper. Typically, they will ignore armor if there is any, or they will do double damage (like an impale does) if there is no armor. They could also stun the target.

[Philulhu]

OOC,The rule About impales is a bit ambiguous, I think. The example on page 59 states “Roll for damage twice” and I’d interpreted that as rolling the damage dice twice, before adding the damage bonus. Unhelpfully, the example doesn’t reference the damage bonus so it doesn’t give a definitive answer. I’m happy to allow it though, so Bullfrog can you let me know what your second roll is. Where can I find the rule for critical hits? I’ve been through the combat section and can’t see them.

[Bullfrog]

OOC,I've updated my original impale post. You can ignore the damage bonus on the second damage roll, if that's how you decide to rule it.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,It's not under combat, it's under optional rules in the Keeper's toolkit, page 140. Page 59 says that impales double the damage roll, and I've always run it that you roll twice the dice, including the damage bonus.

[Philulhu]

OOC,Ok, thanks for that. Happy to treat that as a crit - can you roll your additional damage?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,You're welcome, and thank you! Addition critical damage: [dice]0[/dice]

[Philulhu]

Lawrence’s knife bit deep into the creature and it started to spasm in pain, but that was swiftly put to an end when William brought the shovel down sharply, opening an evil-looking gash across its front. The creature convulsed once more, its multiple eyes wide with shock, before it collapsed in a fleshy heap, sizzling against the open firebox.

Before they could react, a shout from the tender drew their attention. Bloodied and with a wicked-looking cut across his scalp, Thomas waved weakly. As the three men watched him, the scene flickered as if they were watching a a doubly-exposed film, and multiple copies of the tender started to peel away as if following tracks leading to different places... ... or times... ...

As the gap between the train and tender grew, Thomas’ face paled as he looked beyond the train and he shouted again.

”Jump!”

[Mr. Handy]

]

William runs to the gap and tries to leap over it to where Thomas stands.

OOC,Jump roll (25% base skill) jumping across the gap: [dice]0[/dice]

[Bullfrog]

Not wanting to stick around and see what Thomas was so frightened about, Lawrence gets a running start and attempts to jump across the gap.

Jump 25%,[dice]0[/dice]

OOC,[i]Ouch.[/i]

[HoneyDog]

Howard closes his eyes and jumps.

Jump,Jump 25: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/847340]Jump[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]100[/b] I guess he doesn't make it. Poor Howard! He was a good character.

[Philulhu]

As the two parts of the train moved apart, William leapt easily from the boilerplate to the tender. Lawrence tried to follow but his foot slipped on the ichor that leaked from the distended tendrils that snaked across the floor. Without purchase, he lacked forward momentum and he fell between the train and the tender, landing heavily on the wooden sleepers and stone ballast, which were oily and slick from the passage of many trains.

Howard wasn’t so lucky. Having seen Lawrence fall, he tried to overcompensate and threw himself as hard as he could from the back of the engine. The distance was good, but he missed his footing on landing and he dropped to the track, catching his jaw on the carriage step with a sickening ‘crack!’ as he crashed onto the sleepers below...

OOC,Lawrence - 1d6 damage [dice]0[/dice] CON check please - that’s half Lawrence’s remain hit points. Howard - 1d6 damage but with his jump a critical failure, he will take maximum damage and now has -2 hit points...

[Bullfrog]

Con 18×5 (90),[dice]0[/dice]

Lawrence is down for the count, it's safe to say.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,That's the first time I've seen a critical failure for such an important roll! Yes, Howard's done for. I think he'd reached his limit anyway. Thanks for the game Phil! Good one!

[Mr. Handy]

William tries desperately to save Howard's life.

OOC,There's actually one chance to save him, as long as his HP are no lower than -2. A successful First Aid roll applied before the end of the following round heals 1D3 HP, and if he gets back up to 1, he survives. That requires not only a success but a 3 on the healing roll. However, if he has multiple injuries, [b]Thomas[/b] can try to treat the other one. First Aid roll (50% skill) treating [b]Howard[/b]'s injury: [dice]0[/dice]