(082) The Darkness Below

[ehiker133]

"Trouble ahead!" Leudigar calls out as he rushes into the room that Zax ran into, sword and long knife at the ready.

Restating Leudigar's action, if that's what you wanted...

[acodispo]

Manfully resisting the temptation to charge into the fray, Wetzel sticks to his position in the marching order as much as possible, holding his torch aloft to light his comrades' targets. If the enemy breaks through the line ahead of him & engages he'll fight strictly defensively with torch in one hand and spear in the other.

[Eris]

Freid is sort of stuck in the middle. He can't press forward without pushing people ahead of him out of the way, and he doesn't want to do that, and he can't fall back either. So he just stays ready to move in either direction, forward preferably, and fight.

[flightcommander]

Prevented from advancing by a hallway logjam of adventurers, Akbar joins Karl in minding the rear flank against interlopers.

[waysoftheearth]

Ahhhl right. So Zax is rushing into a room full of living dead, with Leudigar rushing to catch up, while everyone else--including The Herald--maintains a steely watch on the passage 50-60ft or so farther back.

Is that the plan?

[mgtremaine]

"Dwarf turns towards the impending combat and moves towards the front line." -- My intent was to put Zem into the combat.

[sully]

The Herald runs to the door, holding the torch high to guide Zax in his quest for a speedy trip to the afterlife.

If time allows, he attempts to turn the undead.

[acodispo]

Wetzel advances to the doorway of the room where the fight takes place, holding his torch aloft to light the battle, and keeping out of the way for other people passing in or out.

[waysoftheearth]

I guess I had kinda discounted orders prior to my posting the mud-map because it seemed everyone had assumed they are in the same room as Zax, which wasn't the case. However, now that everyone has seen the tactical position, I'll assume previous orders stand unless they have been subsequently overridden.

[waysoftheearth]

Zax charges madly into the awkwardly surging gang of zombies, and takes a staggering blow of inhuman strength for his trouble, while Leudigar and Zem race to provide him support (lest the crazy gnome be outnumbered six to one)! The Herald makes the doorway to brandish The Cross and Holy Words that should scorch the blasphemous dead, but is appalled that they do not react in the slightest to his affront!

Combat Turn 1

According to the SIMULTANEOUS MOVEMENT SYSTEM, the first segment is a move segment, described thus: Both sides move their figures, making one-half of the move, checking for melee contact due to opponent movement, and conducting split-moves and missile fire and taking any pass through fire; then the balance of movement is completed. All that in the first segment!

The reason I elaborate: The Herald wishes to Turn The Undead and the outcome could be important to Zax's chance of survival. So... the question is how to treat a Turning The Undead "attack"? Spell casting is treated as an artillery attack in Chainmail, but I figure that a turning attempt should be treated more like a missile attack insofar as it is a lot less fiddly to execute than casting a spell. Moreover, I reckon a cleric should be allowed to do a "split move and fire" with this attack (which is to say he need not be stationary in order to Turn The Undead; he can do this while on the move).

Movement Segment
Zax (7") charges into the room as the Zombies (6") surge forward. The distance was 40ft, so they meet about 20ft inside the room which is less than half a move for Zax, so there will be time for two rounds of melee this turn. The first round can be resolved before anyone else is in contact: Zax vs three Zombies. Zax (Man+1) 1d20+1=3, miss. Zombies 1d20=14, 6, 17, one hit: 1d6=4 (Zax -4).

Meanwhile, Leudigar (9"), Zem (7"), The Herald (9"), and Wetzel (9") all make a half move toward the contest. Leudigar does not quite connect with the enemy within the first half of his move, so he will only participate in one round of melee this turn.

Zem and Wetzel don't quite make it into the room during the first half of their moves.

The Herald will make it to the doorway in the first half of his move, which will enable his to Turn The Undead (as a split move and fire) after Zax has fought one round. Curiously, this is a scenario where a "missile" can be fired into melee safely. So... 2d6=6 (enough to turn Skeletons, but not Zombies).

Second half of the move is completed, so now Leudigar and Zem contact the enemy, with one round of melee remaining to be fought (not sure if The Herald can Turn The Undead and melee all in one turn).

Was that the most complex movement segment ever?

Missile/Magic Segment
None.

Melee Segment
Zax, Leudigar and Zem are in contact with a bevy of Zombies, and have the initiative (due to longer weapons, and also because Zombies are just awkward). 3@ 1d20+1=20, 15, 14, that's three hits. 3d6=13 hp damage. The ref rolls some Zombie hp (7, 4, 5 3, 9, 8, 7) so two of six zombies are dropped.

The remaining four zombies attack: 4@ 1d20=9, 15, 19, 13. Okay, who is targeted? 1-2=Zax, 3=4=Leudigar, 5-6=Zem: 4d6=5, 3, 5, 1, so it's 9 vs Zem (miss), 15 vs Leudigar (miss by 1), 19 vs Zem (hit), 13 vs Zax (miss). Zem takes 1d6=1 hp (Zem -1 hp)

Morale
Zombies need never check morale.

Okay, so that's the end of turn one. What for next turn?