MCC Recap - Entering The Ruined Citadel

Last Wednesday I ran the another session of my monthly(ish) MCC game.

Meet the Seekers:

• Thorn the Plantient (level 1)
• Played by Craig McCullough
• Sinclair the Mutant (Chitinous armor) (level 2)
• Played by Andrew Lyon
• Agutter the Healer (level 2)
• Played by Paul Go  
• Bo Goodboy the Yorkie Manimal (level 1)
• Played by Jon Hook
• Flic-flak the Sentinel (level 2)
• Played by Alex Perucchini 

Prior Session Reports:

• A Branch to the Head for All
• A Door Too Far
• Things Get Blue
• Hot hot hot!
• Purple Pit of the Mole Men
• On the Trail of Tibbar

The Ruined Citadel

As dawn broke early the heroes woke to the dawn's light coming across the grassy hills by the lake where they camped. A hasty breakfast was gobbled down before they set off to climb to the ruined citadel they could see across the lake. Before departing the members of the Atomic Equinox pulled Thorn aside and said that if he would like to join their brotherhood he should travel to the west and south to the Glowing Grove, where he would be welcomed as a fellow plantient.

Moving Southeast around the lake the group stayed low, hiding in the waist high grasses and moving between the copses of trees that dotted the hillsides. They were able to stay hidden as they moved onward toward the citadel that way. Skirting one copse of trees they overheard some voices from within and approached cautiously. Within they found a group of four manimals of the Chosen of Zuu, one of whom had been wounded by a tibber "thunder-stick." Agutter applied some healing herbs, saving the life of Magilla the Gorilla. After some conversation these new followers offered to accompany the group and help end the tibbar threat.

• Meet the manimals:
• Ida Kno, the Orangutan manimal 
• Magilla, the Gorrilla manimal
• Ratfinkle, the Rat manimal
• Lyle, the Bear manimal

After another hour of stealthy travel the group found a stair cut into the mountain and used it to climb towards the ruins above. Though the stairs were in some disrepair in places they were able to reach the top without issue only to come to a walled off area blocked by a metal door. 

The door had no handle on their side and only a slit to look through. Ratfinkle tried to push the door open, and failing that he knocked loudly, and then attempted to stab the creature whose eye appeared at the slit. As a desperate attack on the barely seen doorman ensued Bo Goodboy impressed the others with his mutant talent to devolve other creatures and reduced the target to an animal state. 

Confident now, Lyle stuck his hand into the slit and ripped the door from the wall, gaining a large and unwieldy tower shield in the process (+2 AC, fumble die of d14). Beyond the now door-less portal was a room occupied by two tibbar and a rabbit. The group quickly charged in and dispatched not only the tibbar, but also the rabbit. One of the tibbar did make an attempt to escape and warn its fellows but was downed by a thrown dagger. 

The group searched the room and turned up a c-cell (charge unknown), and some basic tibbar weaponry. Beyond the room they could see a cliff-top area. on one-side a swift drop down to the lake, on the other a long low building, and ahead a small cluster of tents, though they could see no sign of more tibbar. 

The group attempted to sneak to the nearest structure but unknown to them they were spotted, and the tibbar, now on alert, began to gather their forces. Inside the building they found the remains of some ancient vehicles and a number of useful items including a solar cell, AND, a quantum cell! Also a slot machine, a coffee maker, and a copy of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 

Judge's Note: I used my scavenging table (here) for the major loot, and also this table for minor loot. 

With the garage thoroughly ransacked the group peered out to see a group of seven tibbar warriors led by a tibbar wearing a strange red cloak and wielding one of two "boom sticks" (I kept changing the name), with a lieutenant wielding a second.  These tibbar were evacuating the tents of their occupants, mostly females and young, and getting prepared for battle.

The group tried to sneak out of the garage but most failed their agility checks for sneaking and a combat broke out. Using smart tactics (prioritize the artifact users, stay behind cover) the group rallied and defeated the warriors and ran the leader off. The leader, still alive and now down several men managed to make a break for the main portion of the ruins.

The group now had a choice, would they press the attack, or take a moment to regroup and tend their wounds?

In Memoriam: 

• Ida Kno, the Orangutan manimal 
• Felled by an arrow