roleplaying:hero:ws:chapter_two
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+ | ======The Story so far====== | ||
+ | Go back to the [[Session reports|Session report index]] | ||
+ | |||
+ | =====Chapter the Second: The Red Star===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Six==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sunday, 2nd October, 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | Game date - 7th of April 3250 | ||
+ | |||
+ | T'was the end of the month and the gods' bribing days came by once [[Footnotes# | ||
+ | |||
+ | One fine day, a new priest, [[..: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then, late at night, while thunder rocked the peaceful town and strobes of light played across the hills preparing for their first real dramatic role in this adventure, a damp Cadmus and Riso saw, in one flash of Thor's hammer, a dark robed man on the hill. Knowing a GMPD (GM Plot Device) when they saw one, they decided to check it out. Much to their disgust (Well, Cadmus' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Firstly, we were told the [[Footnotes# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Really. | ||
+ | |||
+ | More dire, the 'red star' (aka a bloody big war we want to avoid but probably can't) is coming. Worse still, Conrad, Cadmus' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, being a man of honour and a loyal grandson (who knows a 15-point disadvantage coming into play when he [[Footnotes# | ||
+ | |||
+ | We paused at [[Footnotes# | ||
+ | |||
+ | As Constantia had ridden down a main street, surrounded by guards, two small ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | '' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Seven==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sunday, 16th October, 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Game date - 7th of April 3250 to 9th of April | ||
+ | |||
+ | Deciding to wait a day to see if Thodric would be released before we tried anything more...straightforward, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thodric, having told the truth in front of a truth-seeing priest, was released, disappointing all who had been hoping for slightly more death (theirs, not ours) and destruction to go along with such a momentous event. Unfortunately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | We noted a Doomsday Cult of the Red Star, wearing a red dot on their foreheads, and all went, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | We left at midnight, rowed upstream, and then walked for two days, with the Baron as a humble merchant on a pilgrimage. On the way, the Baron failed to resist temptation to look inside the chest with the magic item we were transporting, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Unknown to us, Riso found the same ring in his backpack a few days later. He wisely palmed it off on some unsuspecting priest. It might have been a good magic item, but why take a chance with strange, crying [[Footnotes# | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 9 April, Heroes Day, we found ourselves in a village. Cadmus immediately became the centre of attention at the festival. The less party-minded of us kept to the sidelines, more interested in watching the plain-clothed but armed strangers also in the village than in having fun. At least the Baron kept his end up and had a good time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was a shooting star overnight, and bad omens the next morning. Riso advised us to stay, but we decided to keep moving-until we discovered a guard missing, the useless bastard. So we searched, eventually finding him sans head. But in true Godfather [[Footnotes# | ||
+ | |||
+ | '' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==GM Synopsis== | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[GM's Session 7 Notes|GM' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Eight==== | ||
+ | Sunday, 27th November, 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | Game date - 10-24th of April | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having buried our dead guard, but having no idea what evil lurked in the hearts of the men who obviously intent on doing something nasty to us, we continued Irolo’s capital. We heard that there were lots of immigrants down south, but had no idea why. Coming upon a walled town, we decided to stay overnight. Some of us took rooms, while the guards and Rizo (Argh! Sp?) slept in the common room downstairs—and Red decided to sleep out of town. | ||
+ | |||
+ | During the night our brave priest awoke to see an assassin—one of the watchers from Kremaburg—standing over the bodies of two guards, including (alas!) Vitals Albrecht, so, of course, he screamed long and loud. Instantly those upstairs awoke and rushed to his aid—except Cadmus, who, despite being a light sleeper and having a high perception, blissfully slept on. Meanwhile, a third guard died, his head rolling free to join those of the other guards. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The party piled onto the stairs, Thodric wearing nought but a loincloth and a helmet—fortunately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | There being much wailing and gnashing of teeth for Vitals Albrecht, and a muttered ‘Dammit! Now I need to hire more guards!’ for the other two red shirts, we wasted the next day burying them and talking to the Sheriff. Thus, we stayed another night, this time all in the common room, with Cadmus-prepared alarms of string, bells and one crossbow. We slept, though Red, now with us, stayed awake. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Bells rang. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Red leapt. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The assassin was grappled! | ||
+ | |||
+ | He dropped a letter! | ||
+ | |||
+ | He vanished! | ||
+ | |||
+ | Aargh!! | ||
+ | |||
+ | We read the note. “Kill Thodric and you may go free!” While daggers were for a while fingered thoughtfully, | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, having noted that there are now 4 red stars in the sky (joy) and still wondering what our friendly visitor yelled, we headed to the nearest big town—the capital of Badenmark—for information. Cadmus and the Baron went to Margrave’s palace, but found nothing in the library—though the Margrave himself noted that the Duchess was now raising her own army to counter Constantia. Rizo and Thodric found at the church library that the assassin yelled, “You shall not disrupt the evil sorcery!” in Elvish and mentioned “Morghul”. Umm…huh? Sigh…assassins…go figure… | ||
+ | |||
+ | We pressed on and, after a few weeks, reached Irolo. Now one red star had dimmed. Oh…ok. The amazing celestial lightshow—and us without astronomy knowledge skills! | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus immediately went to his Grandfather Conrad’s place, with Red and Rizo, and took him out for a meal—and not a moment too soon. Coming up the stairs as we descended were two sailor types. Could these be the prophesised kidnappers? One way to find out. We let them pass. Having ‘forgotten something’, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Really, this happened (i.e. player, not PC knowledge): The bastards kicked in Conrad’s door! For that, they must pay! Cadmus stepped into the doorway. Two daggers flashed from his hands, knocking one sailor down, into permanent darkness. “Surrender—or you’ll get the same as your friend!” ordered Cadmus, and the sailor instantly put up his hands, dropping his weapons. As Rizo questioned Conrad about Cadmus, Cadmus questioned the sailor about, well, everything. Then Cadmus killed the kidnapper—not wanting the aggravation of explaining things to officials—messed up the house as though it had been robbed (being careful not to break anything of sentimental value to Conrad, but placing it as though it had been roughly thrown aside), and set up the corpses as though they had been killed by an ally while arguing over the ‘valuable jewellery Cadmus had left only a short while before in the apartment for safekeeping—dammit!’ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Meanwhile, Baron Alden and Thodric were at the university library. Alden got a marginally magically book about Morghul, but could not read the language. He offered a reward for information. Back at the hotel, he received a letter from the ‘Eternal Guardians of the Torch of Flame’ (well, better than the Torch of Water). Intrigued, he followed the instructions and went to the noted warehouse, where there was no door—well none Thodric could see. So Thodric was sent off and the Baron dispelled the door. Inside he found the remains of a demon summoning ritual, a book on the subject (with the standard missing pages) and other good stuff. Treasure at last! Now all we need to worry about is: where are the Guardians? What happened to the demon? And did the Baron clearly say the three magic words before picking up the book? Find out – next time! | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==GM Synopsis== | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[GM's Session 8 Notes|GM' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Nine==== | ||
+ | Sunday, 11th December, 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | Game date - 24-25th April | ||
+ | |||
+ | With his deep, booming voice, the High Priest of Odin told everyone to go inside for two hours-no reason given. Red immediately ignored the order and headed for the castle, along with the red-dot hordes. Cadmus took his grandfather, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Meanwhile, Friar Riso, looking a little the worse for wear, made his way back to the Baron. As he approached the hotel, Riso felt the gods' favour withdrawing, | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was a huge ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Riso staggered into the hotel, finding Thodric and no baron. Thodric ignored Riso's suggestion that the baron might be in need of assistance, and Riso crawled off to sleep and recover with a restorative herbal brew. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus immediately headed for the crater. The air near the crater was very warm and smelt slightly of cooked meat. Red met up with Cadmus near the crater' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Meanwhile, the city gates were closed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When we finally ventured in, we could see a huge black shape at the bottom of the crater-a bone-like shell structure. Red snuck forward, almost burning himself on the hot ground, and threw a rock at the panels of the shell. It bounced off with a woody thunk noise. We decide to leave so as not to be found 'at the scene' and to get people with actual science-based knowledge skills to come back with us. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On regaining his strength (or at least most of it), Riso made his way to the main temple complex, finding deserted streets and evidence of the violent dispersal of what appears to have been an angry mob of red dot followers. Riso plies his medical talents, with little help from the departed gods, to help the suffering and find out as much as he can about the riot. (Which is not a lot.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | To get back into the closed city, Red ventured into the sea and swam all the way around, coming up at the docks. Cadmus used his inimitable talents to get back in dryly, over the walls. Cadmus retrieved his grandfather from his apartment, and took him to meet Thodric-putting | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus and Red went to the docks and organised a ship for the Baron.[[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | As Riso tended to wounded rioters, the palace gates opened and assorted elite military units accompanied the highest ranking priests towards the city's eastern walls. Riso followed behind the procession, but was left behind when the city gates slammed shut behind them. Riso was lucky enough to make contact with some rather shady elements in the city while lightning bolts repeatedly struck the area of the crater, and Riso found his way outside the city just in time to see the remnants of the elite units racing back towards the city, obviously still in contact with a most fearsome enemy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The high priests babbled prayers to themselves in utter panic, the guards were wide eyed and panicked; as Riso approached the group he noticed something. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A guard near the back paused, then was violently pulled back towards the fog, some 5 metres. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Riso was ignored as he joined the stream of fleeing guards and priests, and he did not stop running until he returned to the inn, panting heavily and collapsing on a bench. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next day, the Baron left with Thodric and Riso. Red stayed with Cadmus to relocate Conrad. Cadmus also shopped for items with some new-found wealth given to him by an acquaintance who owed him money. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Red headed out to the crater, and found the remains of 10-12 clerics, hideously clawed and slashed. The shell thing had been broken open-it was big enough for 100 men! Heading inside, Red found it full of broken organic bits and pieces, including some extraordingary weapon-like limbs or blades, one of which he ripped out of the wall to take back to his brighter companions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now monsters are roaming the world! War is upon us! Aiyeeee! | ||
+ | |||
+ | Perhaps it is time for the PCs to tell each other their secrets so we can all understand what is happening! Hah! Yeah, right, that' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Loki' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Secret Diary of Varin# | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Ten==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Sunday, 22nd January, 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Game date - 25th of April | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===The Baron' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pre game: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Good Baron and Thodric were a little puzzled - their understanding of the world had changed with the magical SAM attack. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | And so, on with the story. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It was a bright and sunny day for the first day of the end of the world. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It took some time but they found the first sign of its passing - a house with two guards outside and a pool of blood in the street. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The final point of call was the gates of the palace. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The Good Baron bought Riso a new sandle (he wanted to keep the other - it was ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | A little while later, it was obvious that the blood was carbon/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Nori the Dwarf was a happy little chap, ensconced in his shoppe on the corner of Cheap and Shadey streets. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Meanwhile, Red went to see a man about a hilt for his Demon Claw on the grounds that it'd probably be a good thing to hit them with. Cadmus ... was Cadmus. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | That night, Cadmus and the Baron had a little chat in private while Thodric was having a drink (on the Barons coin of course, the freeloading git). An ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The next day saw a return visit to Nori - fat lot of good that did. The jumped up little wanna-be alchemist could provide no useful information what so ever. The Good Baron was inclined to Thodric him for his impertenance but, being a Good Baron, merely left. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | After some discussions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | On the way they passed the church of Odin, which was surrounded by a large number of guards poking the bushes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | After some ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Tomorrow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | On his way back to the hotel, Red discovered that the Master of Bangs, the Alchemist Guild Master had been attacked by ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Anyway, the Baron ended up at the Alchemists guild (powders and what not, you know) and it turns out that the GuildMaster had been attacked by the beast but lived to tell the tale - his door was magically sealed and he bravely didn't open it to the monster. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | There he was distressed to find that his little fellow practicioner of the alchemical arts had been slain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The shop was trashed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | As he left the building he noticed a large, 10' tall shimmery invisible shape on the building opposite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus, having returned from preparing the ship (and other nefarious deeds no doubt) joined the rest as they charged to meet the Baron. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | He showed the others his secret lab, figuring that by now it was getting to dangerous to keep many secrets - the others would be dead soon anyway. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The thing decided to try and capture the Good Baron, firing its meathooks at him. Fortunately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The beast, moving faster then any of them, ran around the guards and again attacked the Good Baron, chopping at him stupidly fast with his massive claws. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Being quite tired now, given the amount of useless whaling on armour it had been doing, the beast retreated to the top of a nearby building to catch its breath. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Here, the beast made its fatal mistake. It fired its flesh hooks at Red to try and drag him close for the killing and eating. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | While the two guards were demanding hazard pay from the Good Baron, and Riso was healing his hand, Cadmus knelt next to it and *poof* the body disappeared. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===The Bard's Synopsis=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Having returned, the baron read his translated book to us. Demon aliens! Aiee! Cadmus went out to do some investigating of exactly who had given us the fake alien McGuffin while the others decided to walk along the wall, looking for where the alien/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Lacking marked success, they wandered into the interior of the city, finding a cordoned off area near the palace gates. A priest stood near some weird purple bloodstains. Riso bluffed his way through the guards and made notes of the scene. When the priest noticed Riso, he was not about to be bluffed and began to throw Riso out. With admirable forethought and no concern for the fact that the purple blood might melt his foot off, Riso stepped in it before leaving to ensure we got a sample | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Having met with little success but gotten inquiries rolling, Cadmus checked on his purchases and made his way back to the hotel, where he met Red and Riso-the baron having gone to the warehouse laboratory to investigate the blood. Cadmus and Riso chatted about life, Riso and the nature of miracles. Cadmus found him trusting/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The baron could not find a biological agent to affect the blood, but he did find a powerful mineral solvent would work on the creature' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The next day we went to visit Nori, a dwarf alchemist the baron had given some purple blood to. He agreed with the hypothesis that acids work on it, while known poisons do not. Riso went off to track down the red-dot people. Meanwhile, Cadmus and the baron had an in-depth chat-about life, Alden and the nature of miracles. In order to gain more cooperation within the party, and because he thought it was time-and because it amused him-Cadmus swapped background material with the baron | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Now we can be much more free regarding what we do most of the time-something which turned out to be of major help the next day. As for the rest of the day, Cadmus went back to the shops, and he and Red changed Red's Kataran money into real cash | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The next day we went to visit the Ducal court. On the way, we found that the High Priest of Odin had been murdered! Now many mystical guards and wards surrounded all places of importance-especially the palace, where it took over 10 minutes for even a Cadmus-announced Baron to gain entry | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The court was abuzz with the news of a serial murderer monster, let loose, obviously, by the Hand of Loki. We ignored the courtiers, having more pressing business, meeting with Count Flavio and telling him our problems. We got permission to leave the city and a writ to command assistance when we got nearer to Elb-Elsta. After some discussion about whether we stop by Constantia for a quick murder and army theft, we decided to first go further south by boat, which was faster and gave us time to get a few troops of our own. Cadmus began to organise the boat trip. Meanwhile, the baron heard the Master of the Alchemy Guild had been attacked but survived. Having checked it out, he made his way to Norri' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | We left, fully prepared to be attacked-and yea! We were | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Near the back, Red bumped into something. The beast appeared! It grabbed at the baron with tentacles, which bounced of his armour! We instantly attacked it, with our attacks bouncing off its armour! Sigh | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | An armour-bouncing barney ensued, with the highlights including: it escaping to the roof, tentacling Red, and Red ripping it off the roof | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The Baron letting loose with some rather impressive spells. Cadmus nailing it through both feet in a brilliant double-shot. And Thodric proving why we respect him as the punchy-by cleaving the beast' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | And so we left, triumphant. For tomorrow Red and Cadmus gather our on-order swords, and then we all get the hell out of here by boat. An army, a country in peril, an evil ruler and glory await! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Eleven==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sunday, 5th Februay, 10.30 \\ | ||
+ | Game date - 26th of April - 12 May \\ | ||
+ | The Irolon Times - a new edition of this monthly newsletter will be coming out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Synopsis a la Red=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | A final day in the city. The events of yesterday calmed the mind and body, as the beast we feared might still be walking the streets, slaughtering those it encountered was now dead. Others knew nothing of our actions, my companions desperate to conceal their heroism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morning was quiet, and the blade not ready until afternoon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For days our travel was uninterrupted and mostly smooth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passing not too far from the piratical isle of Dornica, possible distant relatives of one of my companions, a shipful of buccaneers, tried their luck with our ship. They were driven off handily, what I assume to have been Alden' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Days again passed, our idylls interrupted by a storm, a perfect opportunity to ride out on the bowsprit as the ship rolled and plunged across the waves. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nautical expertise saved us, and the captain and crew found ways of accounting for the lost mast, and we were soon limping into harbour. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The story continued in town, the docks awash with refugees desperate to escape to anyway, with more, desperate for a little money for their hard-ridden horses, arriving hourly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The dockmaster, a hideously fat and ugly man came aboard. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The conspiracy was revealed to me, in part at least, only later. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We continued north, the baron raising a small force of children and invalids on the way to... for some reason. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===The Bard's Synopsis=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Waiting to depart for Elbe-Elster, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As they came closer, their ballistae fired over us. Then a second shot smacked into our mast. Having deciding this was unfair, Cadmus carefully attached one of the Baron' | ||
+ | |||
+ | At 60m Cadmus smashed another firebloom potion into the pirates' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Near home, we passed lots of ships fleeing in the other direction, yelling at us to turn around for war is ahead! We try to look surprised, and mostly fail. At the docks, we find that most able bodied men are already further north with the Duke. We decide to follow. First, the Baron and Cadmus make a deal with the dockmaster and the captain-the details of which lead to an apparent minor falling out between Red and Cadmus, leading Cadmus to apologise to Red, a lot-and make some money for the group. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now with some funds, Thodric and Riso begin recruiting whoever is left. We gain a few young, but eager, lads. We travel north, pausing only to buy horses cheap from those fleeing south. Soon we recruit a few more people, bringing our Grand Armee up to: us, 3 guards and 5 lads-one with his own suit of chain! The others make do with leather armour. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The baron sends a messenger-priest north to the duke with a copy of his war warrant, commanding the Duke to meet him in Elbe-Elster. We go straight there, where, much to our horror, we see a melted castle, utter devastation and what is left of 50,000 troops-a mere 15,000 men. So we head away a few days to a bridge to cross to join the army. Then, one night, as we are camped-at least armoured in a war zone, not lounging in hotel rooms-a man steps out of nowhere and chops a guard in half. Then another steps out. The fight is on, but this time, we are ready. Will we repeat last time, or will we take these scum out, loot their bodies and find their masters? Find out, next time! | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Loki' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Secret Diary of Varin# | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Twelve==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Sunday, 19th Februay, 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Game date - 12 May \\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===Synopsis a la Red=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==A Simple Combat== | ||
+ | |||
+ | We ended the last session encamped, Red and a guard on watch, with Red watching a tree and the guard falling to the ground in two pieces as he was bisected by one of the teleporting men in black, or Morgul. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hearing the thumps as the body parts fell to the ground, I turned, causing Cadmus who, by coincidence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was a pause. The attackers, the Morgul allowed us some little time to re-group and rise, eventually running into a phalanx lead by Thodric and I. The one who had moved forward was soon struck down, the claw-hewn blade I wielded more effective than I could have hoped, and Thodric his usual warrior self. There were moments when my gratitude to the armour I had purchased back in port was great as a stroke or two from this fellow failed to penetrate it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The man down, I moved forward, noticing Riso from the corner of my eye moving in, presumably to stabilise and hold for questioning the fellow. Cadmus was facing off against the second attacker, the two of them fencing a little. He paused, took a half-step backwards, and projecting himself I do not know how created in the pale attacker a moment of fear and uncertainty. I used this moment to drop my blade and grab the fellow, wrapping him in an unbreakable hold, although the strange ripple that ran over my armour after Alden did… something almost caused me to lose that grip. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In my powerful grasp, surrounded by angry and armed men, he surrendered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We think. None of us could speak his tongue, and he could not, or refused, to speak ours. Alden tried another spell, attempting to peer directly into the mind of this pale elf, but caused only an eruption of blood from our captive’s skull, and his death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They were stripped, Alden and Riso cooperating to discover what strange magics these fellows held while I, as usual, buried the bodies. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==A Meeting with an Old Ally== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next day we continued on, seeking the bulk of the army. In the midst of war-ravaged and abandoned lands we came across a caravan, a portable dwelling promising glimpses into the future, palms read and fortunately not unearthly delights. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In there, rather as expected and feared waited the Seer. We paused a moment to consider our options, but eventually decided that burning the caravan with him inside probably would not succeed anyway. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For some reason, we then decided to speak to the Seer separately, first Baron Alden, then Cadmus and Riso and finally myself. We all asked different questions, were given answers and soon developed a little circle outside the caravan discussing upcoming plans, both to deal with Constantia, the Margravine of Ostmark, aka the evil dark elven sorceress who never truly existed and cast the Margrave, our Thodric (!) from his rightful place and the strange alien beasts inhabiting, and consuming Alden’s Barony of Elbe-Elster. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The secrets fell thick and fast. | ||
+ | |||
+ | No more is Thodric an unimportant and unknown sellsword. Instead he is the rightful Margrave of Ostmark, and his mother is working with the underground to return him to the throne. Baron Alden may be reconsidering certain flippant remarks about pink tutus. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Riso’s parents died in a deliberately set fire and he, mere minutes after assuring me that elves have no soul, turns out to be one. Biologically at least. His name may, or may not be, Thanul. I barely heard it. Certainly don't know how to spell it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Constantia isn’t, and has a good reason to kill birds that might approach her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | My mother is currently okay, but a Kartaran expeditionary force is approaching in the interests of discovering my whereabouts. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Baron whose demesne we avoided because he had made some agreement to kill Cadmus approaches with an army, determined to assist Constantia, an act only he knows will occur. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Constantia has been feeding the army of 50,000 men to the aliens rather than fighting them. She and her dark elf cohorts have reduced that army to no more than 15,000 men. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus was responsible for the assassination attempt upon Constantia that I spent hours trying to unravel, that got Thodric identified by the enemies who thought him dead and lead to the deaths of many of our guards. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I think that is worth repeating, dear friends. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus was responsible for the assassination attempt upon Constantia that I spent hours trying to unravel, that got Thodric identified by the enemies who thought him dead and lead to the deaths of many of our guards. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After winging the darts at the shielded Margravine, he transformed into a bird and flew away. He clerics, mages whatever saw this. Methinks her destruction of birds was not so insane, if a little exaggerated. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus was never mugged and did not lose my crystal to thugs. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, I suspect this is worth repeating. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus was never mugged and did not lose my crystal to thugs. | ||
+ | |||
+ | No. He deliberately handed it over. Yes. My crystal. My mind, my soul etc, etc. And he, in the guise of friendship, pretending to look after it for safety, to keep it protected, gave it away. !#$)$% *!@# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Loki, mining my memories!, gave it to the Baron who now approaches with an army. And created a fake in which resided the alien queen and was placed within Alden’s safest of places. Until it got out… | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cadmus betrayed me. He then burned down a part of Alden’s main port town. And why? First, Cadmus hires some guys to make his story of alcoholism and mugging convincing. They then leave town and Cadmus _creates a fake descriptions_ of his mugger, wasting the time of myself, my companions and the local authorities. Pledging to find it, he then waits until the Hand of Loki decides it is time to return the _fake_ crystal. Choosing a red-headed stranger at random he kills him, to create an scapegoat or something and then burns the place down around the corpse to conceal any details. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And now that they’ve started to come up with some plans to deal with Constantia et al, this Cadmus/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Loki' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[Secret Diary of Varin# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Thirteen==== | ||
+ | Sunday, 19th March (?), 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | Game date - 13 May \\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Synopsis a la Red=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | While my understanding was that we would wait a while, possibly up to a couple of days for Riso and Cadmus to return with the final ingredient needed for the potion to weaken and destroy Constantia (?) and her minions, we didn't pause very long at all. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Baron, his usual perceptive self, noted before any of us a strange glow beyond the edges of the forest in the direction of his castle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We began heading towards the army, our strategists, | ||
+ | |||
+ | About halfway there, a number of these flying Gargoyles came in our direction. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Old Home Week== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Inside the cave was a young woman, grievously injured by the flame breath of the gargoyle, but sufficiently faster than the rest of her ambush to escape crispy-critter death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We spoke for a little while, and I assured her that I would, at some point, be able to put her in contact with the great Mage, and she should hang around. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==A Fatal Misjudgement== | ||
+ | Thodric decided to try and head towards the army, but misjudged things and got his horse burned out from under him by a Gargoyle moments after leaving the cave. The Baron had to act quickly to save him. Mi Shang and I bolted out to try and grab what I hoped would not be just a body. Damn, that girl is quick. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Others of the original group of flying beasts, tired of being peppered by a rain of shafts from the army, began scattering as well, a group heading towards the forest despite the Baron' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As we were by this point already almost halfway to the army, it was decided to continue on, sans plan, sans poison, sans logic. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Constantia Falls== | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was little difficulty for our little group to enter and walk through the camp. Morale was clearly low, and there were the bodies of men and gargoyles everywhere. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the habits of insufficiently paranoid leaders the world over, Constantia actually resided in the most visible and rich tent in the entire camp. Outside stood a group of some dozen guards, odds on, her dark elves. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Baron tried to overawe the guards, to force our passage with his very will. He failed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Other than the Baron struggling in the grasp of something invisible in the corner, the tent held only the evil elf and two of her people. | ||
+ | |||
+ | While he stood a little surprised at the scene unfolding before him, Constantia helped our cause by crying out to him, ordering this fellow to attack those who threatened her. Unfortunately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Combat ensued: | ||
+ | * Constantia summoned a second air elemental to assist her | ||
+ | * I attacked her, discovering her force field far to powerful to breach | ||
+ | * Constantia mind-controlled me, ordering me to attack Aeskil | ||
+ | * A. freed the Baron in time for him to weaken the force field and allow me to injure her | ||
+ | * Thodric beheaded guards as they attempted to enter the tent | ||
+ | * Realising her defences were weaking, she fled, as did her guards | ||
+ | * The body of the one unconscious guard was loaded about with Fire Blooms and sent home to explode within the dark elf citadel | ||
+ | |||
+ | Assumption of authority over the army proceeds smoothly, with many happy to follow men who provide clear orders, and don't waste troops in pointless and fatal scouting manouvers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A. assists me in providing space for Mi Shang and for myself, both of us requiring a certain degree of privacy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We pause, and consider. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Fourteen==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sunday, 30th April, 10.30 \\ | ||
+ | Game date - 14-16th May \\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Synopsis a la Red=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thodric continues to manage the army, setting men to collect the bodies, and setting aside time to properly bury them. Morale is low, and any effort that might improve such is of value. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lictors circle the camp, very few seeing even the faint traces they leave as they move, but that feeling of something evil watching, waiting, leaves men nervous. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mi Shang continues to try and quiz me of the location of the great mage, but, while not lying, I continue to not to answer too specifically. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A day or two after the gargoyles were driven off, a cry comes from the sentries facing towards the castle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A couple of us approach; the Baron as titular head of the campaign, and the owner of the lands upon which we stands, Thodric, Aeskil, of whose status I am quite uncertain and Mi Shang. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After a moment of insufficient negotiation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==We' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Alden' | ||
+ | |||
+ | We entered through what I think used to be a sally port, and was now... anyway. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was actually very disquieting. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I thoroughly lost my bearings as we were lead through the remodelled building. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Basically the demons required some 800 tonnes of sentient bio-mass, in other words, human or elven or Kartaran bodies, preferably alive. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ... | ||
+ | |||
+ | We discussed some of the details with the girl, and then left to discuss the matter. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some were in favour of feeding the incoming Bayern army to the beasts, others, Thodric, to shovelling Zylistani into this evil maw. However, all these evil thoughts aside, it was eventually realised at a minimum, whether we were going to feed them to the castle, or use them to attack the castle, the Duke of Bayern' | ||
+ | |||
+ | So, a little travel. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==All Your Army Are Belong to Us== | ||
+ | |||
+ | After buying a little time from the mind, we rested. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Next day, we went and took it. It was almost that easy. We approached as evening fell, intimidated in a little way a sentry to let us in to see the generals of the army and they believed the letter of marque. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A fellow identified as a nephew of the Duke of Bayern, but wearing an amulet that pretty much marked him as a dark elf, insisted upon communicating with home to check what may have happened with Constantia et al, but that communication was enough to convince him he was in a bad place. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He left, taking with him half of those we'd identified as elves. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now Alden and Thodric have bi-i-ig army. Thodric really wants to kill Zylistan with it. I think he'd lose personally. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==On the Horns of Two Lemmas== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having a grand lot o' men mostly surrounding the castle, although I suspect many of the soldiers are on the verge of running away from the stinking building, the demons, again sending a white lictor, so cool, agree to surrender and give Thodric forces to help collect the biomass they want. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I can not help but feel that, given these forces and no further opinions, the rightful margrave, Thodric, would very likely have tried to wage war, upon Zylistan to begin with, damning his soul by dealing with such demons. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Fortunately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | So, they agreed with the mind, which offered like 10 lictors, some big mage-types and a swarm of littler demons, oh, and some monstrous huge carnifex things, fully intending to ambush them a day or two away from here. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Here's me just hoping that their entire army doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==GM Synopsis== | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[GM's Session 14 Notes|GM' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Session Fifteen==== | ||
+ | Sunday, 25th June, 12.30 \\ | ||
+ | Game date - 17th May \\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==GM Synopsis== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * A thousand engineers trudged off to the devestated wood from the previous session | ||
+ | * Rest of the army camped infront of Castle Tyranid | ||
+ | * Castle started causing headaches | ||
+ | * Engineers built 100 ballistae and set up an ambush | ||
+ | * Thodric negotiated with Tyranid new recruits to ensure their complete encirclement | ||
+ | * Army went to a river valley near the woods and the Tyranids were ambushed. | ||
+ | * Carnifexes are nasty | ||
+ | * Over 3000 casualties - Tyranids lost 40 Gargoyles, 40 Hormagaunts, | ||
+ | * Castle causing earth tremors and major headaches | ||
+ | * Alden left magic dead zone around castle and opened portal to basement. | ||
+ | * Basement had organic resin wall, which was eaten through with universal acid. | ||
+ | * Megapotion thrown through and portal closed. | ||
+ | * Big badda boom | ||
+ | * Castle fell over and sunk into the ground leaving a large crater. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Score** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Evil megalomaniacal females with tremendous power: **0** \\ | ||
+ | Fireblooms: **2** | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[GM's Session 15 Notes|GM' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Go back to the [[Session reports|Session report index]] | ||
roleplaying/hero/ws/chapter_two.txt · Last modified: 2015/01/26 19:23 by 127.0.0.1