Day 43 ~ Giant Stag Beetles

Most of the morning was spent in ale-fueled dreaming. Arden and Company would not be traveling to the Caves of Chaos this day. Thane was not impaired by the large amounts of ale. He was feeling rather good now that the financial matters were put behind them. Thane was like many dwarves, tight-fisted with coin. He was certainly no fool though. Meklin, Handsome, and even that young one, Catamont, had saved his bacon before. Paying them a fair share of the loot would go a long way towards keeping them all alive. You can’t spend it when you’re dead…his father would tell him. Thane believed that. He wasn’t about to throw money away, but being a miser would leave him lonely or dead.

Thane sat at the table dipping crusty slices of bread in the yolk of his eggs. I ‘ll have to admit it, this is better fare than my own mother made, he thought. Thane’s mother worked the family oven like she did the smelting oven…all sparks, sweat, and curse words. Needless to say, her bread smelled like pig iron.

After a late lunch, the Company assembled. Arden wanted to stretch his legs and the Company took an afternoon stroll out of the Keep. Martin was wanting to check on the progress of the new church in Coot’s Mill.

As the Company wound down along the narrow path from the Keep, Martin spied a couple large lumbering shapes moving out of the woods. They were a far distance yet but slowly rambling toward some farm huts. A couple farmers fled from the dark shapes. The Company moved cautiously towards the huts.

On approach, they saw two large beetles. They were the size of draft horses and had wicked mandibles that could cleave a man in two.

The Company spread out and unslung their weapons. Arden tipped his spear at the targets and they fired.

Egg Barkley and Martin both slung stones at the beetles. The rawhide cords whipped in circles about them and the stones whistled as they launched. Egg’s stone flew wide, but Martin’s cracked hard off the smaller beetle.

Meklin and Catamont drew back their longbows and released. Both arrows glanced off the hard carapace of the beetles. It did get their attention, however. Both beetles began waving their mandibles in the air towards the Company.

Thane cranked back his crossbow and took careful aim. Thunk! The iron tipped bolt hit the larger beetle and disappeared into its carapace. A gout of black blood splashed on the ground.

Goat Bentley brushed his greasy, gray beard and pulled his longbow back to its full draw. With a puff of air out the side of his toothless mouth, he let the arrow go. It found its home, dead center into the giant beetle’s head. “Lookit that, Master Dwarf! I got him!” Goat was still proud of his kill shot on the great ogre in the goblin caves.

Handsome fires his longbow, but curses when the arrow flies short. Arden stands ready to throw his spear and then engage a beetle with his greatsword. If the others kill both of the beetles with missiles, he would be just as happy.

Corwin stood a few paces behind the rest. He fumbled with his spell components and rehearsed the incantation in his head. The beetles were out of range for his magic just yet, but his time would come.

Disturb from their foraging at the farmer’s hut, the beetles shook angrily and looked towards the Company. Despite their poor vision, they could see a line of dark shapes in the field. With surprising speed, they moved.

Arden ordered all the men to fall back when he saw the beetles cover half the distance in a moment. The men did not hesitate. All fell back and prepared to fire again.

Egg fumbled in loading his sling. The burly cook tripped over his own feet and landed on his face in the field. [I rolled snake eyes on his attack…a critical miss. Consulting the criticial chart, result=trip and fall.]

The beetles charge seemed to unnerve the Company. The others fail to hit their mark. Goat fumbles and falls too. The beetles lumber on, anticipating an easy meal.

Corwin speaks an unintelligible phrase and points his finger. A bolt of fire streaks away and hits the larger beetle with a glancing fire ball. [Arden rolled a 1 for damage and gets +1 for being 3rd level]

Arden casts his spear and strikes the larger beetle for more damage. The others seem to rally…Meklin, Handsome, and Goat all hit with their bows.

Martin moves backward in an attempt to lure the other beetle away.

The larger beetle scrambles towards Arden and scrapes him twice with his mandles [I’m basing these beetles from the Giant Stag Beetles in the Monster Manual, converting to Pits and Perils was simple. I made them Level 7, large creatues, with 3 attacks. They are fairly potent.] Arden feels the chain mail give way and wonders if his ribs are broken. [He took 4 points of damage.]

The smaller beetle rambles over Meklin, slashing and biting. [Meklin takes 4 points of damage.]

Corwin casts another fire bolt at the smaller beetle this time. It catches the beetle squarely and causes severe wounds. [Corwin rolled a 6 and adds 1 for 7 points of damage!]

Thane and Catamont rush to help Arden. The giant beetle is surrounded. Thane and Arden both hit the beetle. [I rolled morale for the beetles, they only have a few hit points each.] The smaller beetle turns to flee. The fire magic is too painful to endure. The larger beetle is too stupid to realize it is near death and attacks Catamont.

Catamont takes a full hit. The beetle slashes and bites the young squire. Catamont falls to the ground unconscious…and bleeding out.

Goat and Handsome rush to pull the lad backwards to safety as Thane and Arden press their attack. Thane misses with his magic handaxe, but Arden stabs deep into the beetles mouth, killing it!

The smaller beetle falls to a hail of missile fire. Martin rushes to Catamont to cast a healing spell. Arden’s bruised ribs will have to wait.

Additional Game Notes ~ The idea for this scenario came from using Rory’s Story Cubes. I wanted to run something short this evening…a short trip into Coot’s Mill. I didn’t really have time to foray into the Caves of Chaos, so I grabbed a Story Cube and gave it a throw. A symbol of a beetle came up. Terrific, I thought. How can I work this into the adventure. Maybe the Company has bed bugs?! I threw another die for inspiration and a castle tower was the result. Okay, I decided it was a monster encounter in or near the castle. I used the FU die mechanic and asked the question, “Does this occur inside the Keep?” Result=3, No, but… So I ruled that several giant beetles were near the Keep, coming from the forest to nose around the farmer’s grain bins. I used the Monster Manual to find som beetle stats. The giant stag beetle listed there is a powerful monster. I scaled the numbers back because it was so close to the Keep. Two giant stag beetles lumbering towards the Keep made for a lot of fun.

More to come…