Sorcery! #9 - The Kurultai

The party is waylaid by satyrs

Campaign Diary

With a heavy heart, the party continued up the foothills of the Xamen Mouintains, towards Mampang Fortress.

Near sunset they noticed an bird of prey circling above them - it was a Goldcrest Eagle from Analand. The eagle bore a message from the king, announcing his joy at the party's progress, as well as news that spies from Analand operated within Mampang - but the identity of these spies were not revealed for fear of the message falling into the wrong hands. The party wrote a quick reply, but soon after the eagle took to the air again it was attacked by two birdmen, who then quickly fled towards Mampang.

As the sun set the party found shelter in a cave by the well-used path to Mampang, where they observed a large party of soldiers carrying banners and supplies pass them, presumably to attend the meeting of the tribes.

The next day the party continued the climb, ever wary of winged spies from Mampang. Late in the afternoon they found they way blocked by a party of satyrs, who disarmed them and led them to their village. There, they met the head of the village Sh'houri who, learning that they were enemies of Mampang, offered to show them a secret trail to the fortress.

The satyrs claimed that the denizens of Mampang hunted them for sport, but the party noticed that they satyrs had many items among them that seemed beyond their skills to make, and came to the conclusion that the satyrs probably robbed the caravans that brought goods into Mampang. Learning that the next caravan was due the next afternoon, they concocted a scheme with Sh'houri: they would pretend to be merchants headed for Mampang who were attacked by the satyrs, and then join the caravan.

The plan worked, and the next afternoon our heroes entered the gates of Mampang Fortress disguised as merchants, carrying with them two sacks of medicinal tree roots supplied to them by the satyrs.

The caravan passed through a sturdy gatehouse into the first courtyard, around which the barracks of the Archmage's guards stood. Entering the fortress, our heroes were awed by the size and scale of the fortress, which more resembled a walled city than a fortress. A large caravanserai was directly to their right, and a small army of clerks and customs officer began to quickly look through and assess the goods brought in to the fortress, as well as levy a tax on them. Beside the caravanserai stood a large stone building, which the party learned was the Covered Market.To their right there were two large buildings with tall chimneys: one was the foundry, and the other the glassworks. Carts laden with ore and firewood were led to these buildings.

On either side of the second courtyard were buildings which held numerous stores and guild houses. Beyond these were the gated residential quarters of the inhabitants of Mampang.

Far from a garrison, Mampang looked more like a thriving town.

Facing the gate, behind another layer of walls, was Mampang Tower, a large building with a dome 150 feet across, built atop a rocky rise. Several smaller towers were built along the wall, and birdmen could be seen flying in and out of some of them.

Having paid their levy, the party found accommodation at the Mampang Inn, and decided to split up to investigate the town.

Glowulf tried to enter the residential area, but was told that it forbidden to outsiders. Here, he learned, the inhabitants of Mampang lived side by side, regardless of their race or origin.

Goncol investigated a walled part of the town known as 'the Dragon's Den', and learned that it indeed held a dragon tamed by the Archmage.

Morgana took herself near the second set of walls, and found it well-guarded by the black-clad soldiers of Mampang.

Valerian marched straight to the barracks, where he told the guards he wanted to join them. He was brought to the captain of the guards, a soldier formerly from Ruddlestone, who recognised his sword, and told him that his arrival had been expected.

As Glowulf, Goncol, and Morgana tried to make their way back to the inn, they were each confronted by guards, and brought before the second gate... where they now saw Valerian arriving from the barracks with a party of guards. They party was disarmed, brought through the second gate, and handed over to the Tower Guards. Then, they were led up the flight of stairs that ascended the rock that the tower was built upon, and into Mampang Tower. They passed through the cavernous halls of the lower levels, ascended yet more stairs, and were finally brought into a chamber in one of the smaller towers that rose like minarets from the main dome. Here, seated behind a large wooden table, was the Archmage.

The Archmage bade them to sit, and asked the purpose of their journey. The party accused the Archmage of stealing the Crown of Kings and planning to raise an army to conquer Analand.

The Archmage responded to their accusation calmly, admitting that he did steal the Crown, but only because the kings of the 'civilised kingdoms' had denied Mampang's admittance into the Femphrey Alliance. The lands of Kakhabad, the Archmage said, were once home to many non-human civilisations, until the devastating invasion by Analand centuries ago, which laid waste to the lands and reduced its peoples to disunited, warring tribes. Why, asked the Archmage, should the peoples of Kakhabad be denied the benefits of the Crown, when they have suffered so much from the kingdoms? Now, with the Crown in hands, he could finally unite the tribes, end the ceaseless warfare between them, and lead Kakhabad to a new age of peace and prosperity, where they could trade and deal with the other kingdoms as equals.

Valerian agreed with the Archmage, and pledged his service to Mampang. The others, still fearing that Archmage was intent on conquering their homelands, would not be dissuaded from their quest.

To convince them of his intentions, the Archmage asked the party to attend the Kurultai, the meeting of the all the tribes, with him, so they could see and hear for themselves. The party was then escorted back to the inn, and had their weapons returned to them.

The next morning a guard arrived at the party's room, bearing the uniform of a lieutenant of the guards for Valerian, and a message to meet at the gate. At the gate, the party joined a party of guards, made up of men, Black Elves, Svinns, ogres, and goblins, carrying banners and supplies. Over the next two days the party descended the Xamen Mountains, crossed the Visclami Swamps, where a wooden causeway had been laid, and arrived at the northern shore of Lake Iklalal on the evening of the second day. Here, the party rested and ate dinner, and as the full moon began to rise, they embarked dragon-prowed boats, and began to row for the south shore.

When they beached at the southern shore they could see thousands of people already gathered on the stretch of land between the lake and Snatta Forest: Black Elves, Swamp Goblins, Centaurs, and Klattamen. Tower Guards of Mampang ringed a small area of ground before them, upon which was placed large, flat stone, and upon that an elaborate throne.

Then as the moon reached the zenith of its path, a huge winged form could be seen approaching in the night sky: it was the Archmage, atop his dragon.

Prepping and Running the Game

This session was the first one where I (and the party) departed vastly from the books.

One of the questions I asked myself after reading the original gamebook was: if the Crown made its wearer wise and just, then why would letting the Archmage have it be such a bad thing for the rest of the world?

If the Archmage merely wanted to deny the civilised kingdoms of the benefit of the Crown, then he could have just destroyed or hidden it, instead of bringing it back to Mampang, which would have made the whole quest irrelevant.

As I thought about this while preparing for the campaign, I decided that the only reason why the Archmage wanted the Crown was to do good.

I then looked at the lands of Kakhabad and tried to construct a history. Why would the inhabitants of Kakhabad speak Common and use the same currency? Without a central authority, how would Khare have been built?

I decided that in the past Analand must have tried to subjugate Kakhabad, and indeed managed to extend its borders up to the Jabiji River, where they founded Khare, both as a city for trade, as well as to project their influence into the Baklands. I imagine the invasion broke the various non-human kingdoms of Baklands, but they were still able to repel the Analanders, who fell back beyond the Shamutanti Hills, and built a wall against these 'barbarians'.

Now the idea that the Archmage would want to the Crown to unite the tribes to just invade the southern kingdoms seemed a little silly to me, so I decided that like Genghis Khan, his aim was not to conquer the world, but to unite the tribes, establish peace, and trade with the civilised kingdoms, to the benefit of all. I then decided that as one of the steps in his plan, he would summon all the tribes to a greet meeting, a Kurultai, where he would wield the power of the Crown, and gain their allegiance. This added drama to the situation, and also gave the players a ticking clock to beat.

Throughout the previous sessions I gave clues that Kakhabad was home to several lost civilisations, and that the tribes were in constant warfare. Then I made Mampang itself an oasis of peace, trade, and civilisation.

The contrast was enough to sway Valerian's player to the Archmage's side and make him reveal himself to the guards.

This of course threw me off balance, as I had expected them to infiltrate or somehow gain entry into Mampang Tower, which would lead to a climatic confrontation with the Archmage, when I would present his side of the story. So I went along, presented the Acrhmage as a reasonable person, and moved the narrative along for the session, until we reached the next natural decision point.

After I ended the session, I asked the players to separately message me to let me know what their character would in our next and final session.

Morgana's player, with Morgana being the leader of the party, still felt bound by her obligation to complete the quest.

Glowulf's player found himself in a dilemma: on the one hand he wanted to fulfill his promise to the crown of Analand, yet at the same time he was drawn to Mampang's vision. In the end, he loyalty laid with his adopted country and parents, and he would probably side with Morgana.

Goncol's player was, ironically, the one who held out the most. Goncol, he reasoned, was used to being skeptical of people's intentions, and his natural instinct was to disbelieve the Archmage, and fall back to his previous assumptions.

During the whole session we only fought a single combat, and then only for two rounds as the captain of the guards tried to assess Valerian's skills. Most of the session was role-playing and exploration, with the players slowly learning the truth about Mampang and realising that the accounts they have been given were not always accurate.

The next session will be the finale, and with a party split in loyalty, I am not sure what will happen. Should be exciting, but I am prepared that it will be a short session...