Topic: The most epic Rolemaster fight you can remember

[ToM]

Here's a topic on the ole "Rolemaster Moments" feature taste.
But, this is specifically about a combat session that ended up being the most exciting, dangerous and/or epic you ever played or GMed.
Please specify:

• which version of RM it was
• the player characters involved
• the setting
• a brief description of the scene and
• a motivation of why it was the best fight you can remember

I will go first as obvious.

As far as I can remember, such a fight took place come years ago as the final climax of a long adventure in our old Hyborian Age RMSS campaign.
The adventure was based upon the "Sons of Hanuman" module from Mongoose Publishing.
The characters had been following from some time across the desert to the dirty streets and marshes of Zamboula the Man-ape Lord, a powerful magic creature leading a breed of mutated monsters from a lost citadel in the shemite desert to the conquest of the nearby city and (of course) rest of the world. After traking the disguised man-ape in the corrupted halls of the city temples, and gathered information about his hideout from priests and zealtos, the characters headed out of the city to a nearby marsh, were the man-ape and his followers were. He hasn't reveaed his true nature neither to his blatant human zealots, which were convinced he was a only a powerful cleric of the Ape God patron of the city, Hanuman.
The characters stalked in night while during a ceremony with all the dances and trances and fires and drugs and stuff, you know. The zealots were excited for the upcoming revelation of their master. The characters had also to release the stereotypical daughter-of-a-noble headed for sacrifice.

Two of them, a barbarian archer of the plains and our typical two-bladed light-armored swashbuckler, stalked across the woods to the pond of still water in which the leader of human zealots, priest of Hanuman himself, had taken his sacrifice. They ambushed him while he was preparing for the clou of ceremony, in a little boat near the bank. The assassination was silent and perfect with the 'buckler (carrying only a dagger and swimming underwater) showing up behind of the priest while he was distracted. He stabbed him in the chest, and simoultaneously, from the reed, the archer flung his arrow which *lucky critical* punctured the foe in the heart, killinh him instantly without a sound. The body was dragged to the floor of the boat and then the hostage released and took to safety.

Meanwhile, the other PCs of the party, being a gigantic thug-like assassin/warrior monk and a proud shemite oplite fighter headed to the rest of the party. The fighter remained hidden in the reed while the assassin, covered in dirt and mud, stalked through the dancing zealots to the shore, were he desappeared.
Immediately after, having discovered his sacrifice was gone, the Man-Ape Lord released his fuorious men-apes against the drunken zealots to soothe their bloodthirst with their own blood. The entire ceremony was actually a mass sacrifice the evil foe has planned from the beginning.
In the middle of the subsequent slaughter, the fighter ended up confronting three of the ten gigantic men-apes. Lucky swings, and a defensive tactic, ended up on him barely unscathed heading past the fight to the Man-ape Lord, now revealed and killing, himself. He felt, however, he was the only one survived, and prepared to die in a sucicide assault.
Actually, the assassin was there. He was hidden between slaughtered bodies and keepep up slowly crawling towards the enemy.
The fighter came in front of the two remaining men-apes bodyguards of the Lord. He was bleeding and under penalties, but managed to dispatch the first one on a flying swing while running, tumbled past the second and standed up to confront this last foe. Meanwhile, the other two PCs were running up to give their support. The archer was shooting in the middle of the fight killing indistinctly men and men-apes. The swashbuckler, with his two blades, was cutting a trail of blood thorugh enemies.

The fighter managed, witha last desperate blow, to cut down the last foe. He was near death from bleeding and penalties: a broken shoulder and other major wounds. The Man-Ape Lord towered onto him to kill. The fighter parried desperately the first blows. At the same time, the 'buckler teamed up with him, but they were the same outmoded by the strenght of this last foe and fighted defensively, only slowing the time of their death.
Suddendly from the bushes the archer came out shooting his very last arrows at the boss. It did'nt cause much of a  harm but distracted the Ape Lord. The assassin had been waiting in the shadows for this. He stood up, dashed through the enemy, and grappled his neck from behind (he was a bare-handed fighter). While the Man-Ape was trying not to be choked, the fighter and 'buckler simoultaneously swung at him. The fighter short sword gutted the enemy. The fight was over.

That was the most epic and climatic night of battle I ever GMed in a lifetime (20+ years) of gaming.

What about yours?

[RandalThor]

Unfortunately it has been too long for the epic, but I do remember a small fight that is what I use to exemplify why I like RM.

I was playing a 7th level human, fighter who had talents that helped him sneak - he was one of my "Batman" like characters. He also had a few levels of Anticipations, Mentalism open list. While scouting out some ork caves the group came to a fork in the tunnel. While the rest waited there I went down one of the tunnels a little way (not more than 100') seeing if this is the way we need to go. Well, I ran into 2 ork guards, barely getting the jump on them.

I quickly activated anticipate blow to give me a +50 bonus to my DB against one of the orks while I concentrated on the other one. The first round saw me missed by their attacks but I hit the one I went after and stunned it. Then I switched to go after the other one, was able to hit it and stun it, while being missed. The fight went on this way for 2-3 more rounds until I finally dropped them. Wheeeewww. Of course, right after than more orks came and I ran for my life. Very fun. Hard to do in Dnd (Basic, Adv. 3.X), where a 7th level fighter wouldn't be in any trouble from 2 orks, unless they were given more than 2 levels of fighter themselves.

[markc]

 I have a couple one has to do with a fumble but the other is a pure combat example.

 The group had encountered 3 giants, they thought about running but then decided to give it a go and hoped to get away by running if anything went south. During the battle it was going very well for the PC's and one of the Dwarves chopped down a giant. But as gravity says if a force is not acting on an object to negate gravity then gravity will affect it. So the giant fell. I made the Dwarf roll Ag to get out of the way. He fumbled with a result of -50 or so. So the giant fell on him and he took minor damage but had to get out from under the giant. It took him 3 rounds to get out from under the giant but it just happened to occur when the party had killed the second giant. Yes the Dwarf again fumbled his Ag roll and the giant fell on him again.
 By this time the party was asking when he was going to get out from underneath the giant again so they could drop the last giant and have him fall on the PC again.
 All in all a very good time.

MDC 

[David Johansen]

Well the PCs were charged with getting the daughters of a local lord out of the city when it was attacked by a Tzoldrian* sea raiding force.  The PCs fled into the nearby forests and made for the mountains but not before they were sighted and pursued by a raiding party riding giant strider birds. (Think JOUST!)

Coming to a ravine the party swiftly felled a couple trees across it and started on their way.  One of the raiders attempted to flutter across the gap, but the party's mentalist hit the mount with Jolts and it splattered into the side of the ravine.  The paladin was hacking at the make shift bridge, the enemy charging across it, spells and arrows were flying.

In the end, half of the party was at the bottom of the ravine and in pretty bad shape but it was glorious!

*Tzoldria is a parasitic continent that is slowly infesting the world.  Its native inhabitants are what men call demons and such men as have imigrated have intermarried a fair bit.  Tzoldrian warriors ride into battle on giant war birds.  Tzoldrian ships are built on the backs of bound dragons and can rise into the air for short distances.  Tzoldria is larger beneath the surface where its' lava tube tendrils undermine many of the other continernts giving rise to the notion that hell is beneath the earth.

[Hurin]

The climax to one of my campaigns was pretty fantastic. They were fighting the big-bad of the entire campaign, an ancient vampire, and his minions. The battle burst out and vampires and PCs were dropping like flies. After many rounds of fighting, everyone was spent-- only the head vampire and one PC were left standing, but the one PC was a Magician with no powerpoints left. He was hiding in the corner of an adjoining room when the vampire found him. The vampire rushed toward him, and all the PC could do was read out his last scroll-- I think it was a fire wall or a stun cloud. Anyway, it was clear that the only thing the vampire had to worry about was a piddly 'A' critical before he finished off the last of the PCs. But as the vamp lunged forward towards him, the PC hit a '00' on the critical and blew his head off. The campaign was over, and everyone lived!

The other fun one was a dancer my buddy played for 5 minutes. In the very first round of the very first battle of this ill-fated dancer's career, he triple-open ended on his ESF roll and destroyed his own brain. I just have this image of a guy running towards and enemy, striking a pose and blowing his own head off like that guy in Scanners. Priceless.

[markc]

Hurin,
 The head blowing off is always priceless.
MDC