FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS: PURPLE WORM VS UMBER HULK

Fight #3 and its been a long time coming. Apologies to those who enjoy the fights, I'll try to put them out more regularly.

Okay this time, two umber hulks are raiding a lower dungeon level for one of their favorite meals: young purple worm. In a large cavern, they stumble upon a clutch of eggs, but their tunneling to the area has alerted a purple worm momma, who comes to eat the intruders.

Here is the purple worm:

ARMOR CLASS: 6

MOVE: 9”

HIT DICE: 15

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 and 1

DAMAGE/ ATTACK: 2-24/2-8

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Swallow whole, poison sting

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

SAVE: As non-intelligent monster

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L (50' long)

HIT POINTS: 70 (I just rolled this, average hit points would be 15 X 4.5 or 67.5, so this hit point tally is fairly representative)

Purple worms sense vibrations in 60'.

Swallow whole on 4 over the required number, or a natural 20. A 15 HD purple worm needs a '6' to hit an AC 2 umber hulk. Therefore it only needs a '10' to swallow one. Hmm, this fight may be over quick.

Any bite 20% over the required score (that is 4 or more over the required number) or a 100% (die roll 20) score indicates the creature has engulfed its victim. “A mature purple worm can swallow, whole, a creature as large as 8' or so tall and up to 6' wide. Any creature swallowed will be dead in 6 melee rounds. The worm will digest its meal in 12 turns, and at that time the creature is totally gone and cannot be raised from the dead. Note, however, that a creature swallowed can try to cut its way out of the purple worm's stomach. The inner armor class of the worm is 9, but each round the creature is in the worm it subtracts 1 from the damage each of its attacks does. This subtraction is cumulative, so on the second melee round there is a -2, on the third a -3, etc.”

This means the umber hulks, at 8' tall, 5' wide can be swallowed. Before the fight I had assumed that this was not going to be the case.

Poison stinger, used only in rear defense or in a spacious area. Since the cavern is pretty big, I'll allow the worm to use it if an umber hulk is in position. An umber hulk saves as a 10th level fighter and needs a '8' to save vs poison.

Okay. Here are the umber hulks.

ARMOR CLASS: 2

MOVE: 6”(1”-6”)

HIT DICE: 8+8

NO. OF ATTACKS: 3

DAMAGE/ ATTACK: 3-12/3-12/2-10

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Confusion

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

SAVE: Fighter 10

INTELLIGENCE: Average

MORALE: 93%

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil

SIZE: L (8' tall, 5' wide)

HIT POINTS: 44, 47 (again, just random rolling)

Average umber hulk hit points are 8 X 4.5 + 8 = 44

They need a '6' to hit an AC 6 purple worm. The 2-10 attack is generated by rolling a 1d4 and a 1d6.

Confusion: This only affects intelligent monsters, so the purple worm is immune!

If fighting against intelligent monsters, I use the chart from page 9 of module C2, The Ghost Tower of Inverness.

Roll Id10 each round:

1 Wander

2-6 Stunned

7-8 Attack nearest creature

9-10 Attack monster

I will say the purple worm heard the vibrations and the cavern is big, so the umber hulks can see it coming, no surprise.

Next is encounter distance. Indoor encounter distance is 5” to 10” (d6+4). It could be modified by line of sight and other factors. Since the purple worm can feel vibrations at 60' (6”), let's use this as encounter distance.

It is time to declare intentions. The purple worm will close to fight. The umber hulks have average intelligence and know the purple worm is faster than they are. They also decide to close to fight.

Now the combatants have closed the distance and it is a new round. Each monster chooses to use melee attacks. Time to roll initiative.

The umber hulks roll a 2 and the worm rolls a 3, so the worm attacks first. It attacks the second (47 hp) hulk and rolls a 3, so big time miss.

Now the umber hulks chance. The first hulk rolls a 15, 10, 16 and the second rolls a 10, 2, 20. So damage is 3d4, 3d4, d6+d4, 3d4, miss, d6+d4 for a total of 31 points.

End of round 1. The hulks are fine but the worm is down to 39 hit points. That was fast!

Round 2, same intentions, but I'll say the worm has worked its way into a position to use the stinger. Roll for initiative. The worm rolls a 5 and the hulks roll a 5, so simultaneous attacks. The worm attacks the first hulk with the stinger and the second with the bite. For the stinger it rolls a 9 and for the bite it rolls a 7. Both hit.

The stinger does 4 points of damage and the first hulk must save vs poison. It rolls a 5 and dies.

The bite hits for 16 damage and the second hulk now has 47-16 = 31 hit points.

The hulks can also attack and roll 5, 10, 17, 14, 2, 14 for damage: miss, 3d4, d6+d4, 3d4, miss, d6+4. I roll for this and it is 25 points.

Okay end of round two. One hulk is dead by poison and the other has 31 hit points. The purple worm has 39-25 = 14 hit points left.

New round, same intentions. I rule that the worm can't bite and sting the same monster in the same round unless it is really big (like dragon size). Let's roll for initiative. Worm rolls a 1 and hulk rolls a 3.

Hulk attacks first and rolls 18, 13, 13 for 23 points of damage. It kills the worm and goes back to devour the eggs.

Well, I guess the multiple hulk attacks were too much for the worm. I was hoping to see a swallow, though. I guess I will live with disappointment.