The Ministry of Blades : The Pyramids of Hertfordshire, episode 2

Prentiss dodges a mummy; April accelerates its collapse.

Played

25th March 2010.

Dramatis Personae

Miss Constantina Spit - a Rebellious Debutante.
Captain Benson Curruthers - a Military Policeman.
Jack Prentiss - a Dodgy Pedestrian.
Miss April Sharpe - a Self-taught Inventor.
Rodney Marsh - a Partially-reformed Thief.

Plot

As Lady Antonia headed off to locate the verger to inform him of the grave robbery, the rest of the team slowly became aware of a throbbing vibration in the ground and of a green glow from above the hill. With the fog and mud making it impossible to make out much in the way of details, they investigated, heading back up to the woods in search of clearer air and firmer ground.

Prentiss pressed on ahead as the main group got caught up in mud and a tangle of roots and, separated from the rest of team, found himself confronted by a strangely-aseptic smelling figure. Turning his torch on the figure's face, he found himself confronted by a horrific sight: a dry, crumbling, parchment-like visage wrapped in yellowing bandages. Panicking as the figure took an ungainly swipe at him, he hit at it with his cudgel and ran back to the group, nearly toppled by a powerful blow as he went.

Miss Spit magically-illuminated the scene as he returned, immediately regretting it as the creature lumbered into view, now clearly identifiable as an animated Egyptian mummy. Marsh was immediately immobilised by the shock, but the rest recovered and a confused battle ensued. Prentiss let fly with his blunderbus and Curruthers leapt forward with his swordstick, stabbling it through the chest. Marsh recovered from his bout of sickness and ran around to attack from behind with his daggers. Nobody seemed to have much effect, as blades slipped easily through the bandaged without disturbing them and bullets passed through with little impact, until Prentiss realised that fire might work. He opened and emptied a cartridge of black powder over the creature, just as Miss Sharpe finally got her mysterious weapon to work, discharging a corrosive substance at the mummy. This reacted with the creature's preservatives and it caught fire, encouraged by the black powder. A second blast put it out of the running for good, although Miss Sharpe's weapon then promptly failed with a spectacular shower of sparks and a worrying grinding noise.

Notes

Making up for the previous session's lack of action, this was basically an all-out fight. The mummy had the upper hand until the players figured out how to damage it, whereupon it went down quite fast. This was basically the plan. I had no urges to fudge the dice rolls, which was quite pleasing!