Three Worlds #11

(photo from: link) 

Our heroes limped back into Obanhold four days after their confrontation with the villagers of Yngley, keeping off the roads to avoid pursuit, only to find that Saulinus, Remunas and Elze (see PC and NPC profiles here) were already there.

Elze had revealed her story to the Castellan: upon suggestion from Enree during his first visit to Yngley, she had left home to try to join the service of the Castellan, but when she deviated from the road to avoid Gatton (fearing that the villagers there would force her to return home) she became lost and came upon Spring Lake, near the source of the Rhodophine River, where she met the Great Horned Water Serpent. Through psychic communication, the serpent learned about the orcs, and promised her powers and protection against the orcs, if she would serve it and lead it to her home. Elze pledged her service to the serpent, and when she returned home tried to convince her father and the other villagers to do the same. The villagers were initially skeptical, but then the soldiers reported finding more than twenty dead orcs by the shore of the lake, they and also the soldiers became convinced of the serpent's power to protect them. Word spread to the villagers of Gatton, who likewise became converts. The villagers had wanted to keep the matter secret, but when our heroes arrived at Yngley the serpent demanded that Rokas be sacrificed, and matters came to a head.

The Castellan was displeased that Rokas, an orc under his service, had been attacked, but he knew he needed allies in the upcoming war with the orcs. He warned Remunas that if any of the villagers of Gatton or Yngley dared harmed Rokas, it would be as though they had harmed the Castellan himself; at the same time, he considered that the death of the villagers slain by our heroes meant that the matter was closed. Our heroes grudgingly agreed to a truce with the villagers.

Elze then told those present that the serpent would slay the leader of the orcs and end the orc threat, if he could be brought close to the lake, where the power of the serpent was strongest. The Castellan then ordered Enree, Mala, Malkam, Melig, and Rokas to travel to the north to make an offer of peace, and if that was not accepted, to try to lure their leader to the lake.

Our heroes once more visited Bruthalan, where they asked him about the serpent. Bruthalan scoffed at the mention of the serpent, claiming that the Thunderbird had defeated the evil creature countless times, and would no doubt do so again.

The next day our heroes set forth once more to the north, bearing a flag with the sigil given by Bruthalan painted upon it, and after three days they were intercepted by an orc patrol. Our heroes dismounted and gave up their arms, but refused to be bound, and were led northeast, towards a forest. As they traveled north, they noticed that storm clouds gathered on the horizon.

As evening came the party arrived at an orc encampment at the edge of the forest. Their arrival caused a stir, and not long afterwards Chogan appeared. Chogan was at first angry at our heroes for not heeding his advice and leaving the plains, but when he saw the sigil and learned that Bruthalan lived and that our heroes came to offer peace, he agreed to lead them to meet Agh'hkan, the prophet of the Thunderbird and the leader of the orcs.

The next day Chogan and a party of orc warriors led our heroes north, through the Sword Belt Forest and crossing the Rhodophine River. As they emerged from the forest they found that they were at the foot of a ridge, where a path led further northwards; the storm clouds that they had seen the day before now loomed larger and nearer above them. As they trekked north they noticed dozens of clusters of tents on either side of the path - hundreds, if not thousands of orcs were gathering. When they neared the crest of the ridge they saw that the path led into a large crater a mile across in the side of the ridge: Maut'hgar, the Thunderbird's Nest; above it was the centre of the whirling storm cloud.

Inside the crater there were hundreds of orc warriors. The sound of drums could be heard as everywhere clusters of warriors danced in circles as they cut symmetrical wounds in their faces and limbs. Chogan led our heroes to near the centre of the crater, where he approached a large orc warrior: Agh'khan, Prophet of the Thunderbird.

Agh'hkan spoke to our heroes haltingly in the Northern Tongue, demanding to know why they had come. Our heroes presented the Castellan's terms: the Plains Orcs would quit the lands they now held, and be given land south of Obandhold, where Men would not enter. But Agh'hkan knew that the lands promised them were too small to house his peoples, and that the beasts there would not be enough to feed them. He dismissed the Castellan's terms, and asked our heroes to bring a message to the Castellan instead: send all the women and children away from these lands, and let the battle be that between only warriors. They were then escorted out of Maut'hgar.

Our heroes knew that their quest was unsuccessful, but they had learned much: that the orcs were more numerous than they had expected, and that among them were warriors from the other tribes: Coastal Orcs, Canyon Orcs, and Woodlands Orcs - Agh'khan's message had been brought to the other lands, and many had joined his cause.

Prepping and Running the Game

This was another combat-less session, and one with the most number of players yet, with all five active players present.

While there were plenty of role-playing between me and the players, probably about half of the session had them discussing what to do between themselves. The players are divided at first in whether to work with the villagers and their serpent patron, and later in their support of the orcs and the humans, and the events unfolded with them not having a clear common objective between them.

While the session ended in what seemed like failure (or at least a lack of success), I believe that the players left with food for thought.

On my part I have to decide how the Castellan will respond to the rejection of the peace offer -I do not envy the man's position.

Three Worlds #10

When our heroes reported the threats by Chogan to the Castellan, he became grim. He led our heroes to a hut at the edge of the hold which was guarded by his bodyguards. Inside, held in an iron cage, was a blinded orc. Our heroes soon learned that the orc was Bruthalan, an emissary from the Plains Orcs and a former friend of the Castellan, but when tensions between the two peoples grew the Castellan had him blinded and imprisoned out of fear that he might provide information to the orcs.

The Castellan tried to learn more about the Thunderbird from Bruthalan, but the latter would not reveal more. Frustrated, he left our heroes to interrogate the prisoner instead. Our heroes tried to threaten, then cajole the former emissary, but met with no success, until Melig (see PC profiles here) promised to try to broker peace between the two peoples. Bruthalan then scratched an orc sigil in Melig's forearm, and bade him to go to Maut'hgar - the Thunderbird's Nest, the gathering place of the Plains Orcs, north beyond the Rhodophine River.

Our heroes plotted to travel to Maut'hgar, but to keep their purpose hidden from the Castellan, but before they could depart news arrived from Yngley that some twenty orcs were found dead in the woods on the north shore of Lake Rhodophine by a patrol. There were no wounds on the bodies, and fearing that it was from the plague, the soldiers burned the bodies.

The Castellan ordered Enree, Mala, Malkam (a dwarven warrior recently recruited), Melig, and Rokas to travel to Yngley to learn more.

The next day saw the party arrive at Gatton, the lumber village south of Yngley. Our heroes were welcomed by the villagers, but even as they gathered for dinner that evening, they noticed two villagers leaving. Mala and Melig followed the duo, and found that they seemed to be heading to Yngley, but decided to return to Gatton before their presence was missed.

The day after saw our heroes arrive once more at Yngley, where they were likewise welcomed by Remunas the headman, as if they did not last part on bad terms, although Elze avoided being near Enree. Remunas seemed confident that the orc threat had been eliminated, and the soldier garrisoned there asked them to recommend to the Castellan to recall them.

That night, as our heroes laid asleep in the hall of Remunas' home, Enree and Mala were awakened by the sound of four men entering the hall. Possessing darksight by their magic, they saw the four men pounced on Rokas and gagged and bound his limbs. The two raised the alarm. Confusion reigned as the others awoke but stumbled in the darkness. Melig rushed to a window and called for help.

Eventually the villagers arrived with torches. One of the assailants lay dead, slain by Mala's magic, while the other three were incapacitated. But our heroes' troubles were not over, as it soon became clear that the villagers were all complicit, and that they intended to capture Rokas to be sacrificed to the Great Horned Water Serpent, whom they claim slew the other orcs and now protect them. Elze it seemed was the Serpent's emissary, and she now promised the others their freedom if they handed Rokas over.

For a while our heroes were at a loss. Malkam threatened to kill Rokas if the villagers attacked and deny them their sacrificial victim, but Elze called his bluff, and our heroes had no choice but to surrender, on the terms that Mala and Melig be allowed to leave the village before Rokas was handed over.

At the edge of the village, out of sight of the other villagers, Mala and Melig turned on their escorts and slew them, and then entered the woods off the road to double back to the village.

Meanwhile, Rokas was once more bound, and led to the edge of the lake, where he was set upon a boat. As most of the villagers began to gather at the shore of the lake, Enree and Malkam also overcame their guards, recovered their gear, and left the hall.

Melig entered the hall briefly to recover his gear, and once more entered the woods, skirting the village to arrive at the edge of the lake, where he joined up with Mala and Malkam.

Meanwhile, Enree appeared before the villagers and taunted Elze and challenged her. As the two exchanged heated words Melig loosed an arrow at Elze, which struck her down, causing great alarm among the villagers. While the villagers were distracted, Enree made his exit, while Malkam tied a rope to his axe, and threw it at the boat. The axe whirled through the air and the blade embedded itself into the boat, and the trio began to pull the boat back with all their might. At the same time, a strange glow appeared in the lake near the boat, and the water began to roll and bubble. Moments later, the head of a giant snake bearing antlers broke through the surface of the water. Melig once more drew his bow, and his arrow once more found its mark, striking the serpent. The serpent's head recoiled, and it released a cloud of green gas from its mouth as it did so. But Rokas was now already beyond the serpent's reach; our heroes cut the bonds on his limbs, and together they fled into the darkness.

Prepping and Running the Game

This session saw the addition of yet another new PC - probably the last one for this arc of the campaign.

In this session I introduced the character of an imprisoned orc emissary, an element in the module, to give the players more of the orcs' side of the story.

The second part of the session was planned to introduce the "cult" of the Great Horned Water Serpent. Rokas' player had to drop out of the session at the last minute, but as an "orc sacrifice" was an important element of the plot, I decided to play his character for this session.

The final confrontation I ran unplanned, with no idea on how the PCs would get out of the predicament, and I was surprised at how they pulled it off. Their hasty departure did mean that they suffer some equipment loss, but they were well-rewarded in XPs.

Battletech: Alpha Strike and Azul

Scheduling difficulties meant only Adrian and I were at this month's session, which was held at his place.

We played a game of Battletech: Alpha Strike, which was simple enough to set up and play to a conclusion within two hours. We hope to bring in more advanced rules in our future games.

We then played three games of Azul, which I have seen played before but had never learned the rules of. I really enjoyed it, and hope to be able to play it again.

Three Worlds #9

Once more our heroes are summoned to the great hall, where they were met by the Castellan and six women. The Castellan informed them that the women were the wives of trappers, and had traveled from Belton to Obanhold when their husbands had not returned as expected when the trapping season ended. The Castellan charged our hero to find the missing trappers, and gave orders for the women to be given lodgings. When the women had left, the Castellan confessed to our heroes that he though the chances that the trappers were still alive was slim, but he nevertheless wanted our heroes to try, and to also travel to East Hall Tower to see if the orcs had occupied it.

Enree, Mala, and Rokas (see PC profiles here) sought out Clovas, the leader of the band of trappers whom they have met at West Hall Tower earlier, but learned that he and the trappers had left Obanhold. Enree attempted to contact him psychically, but it only caused the man to panic. They then sought information from Barrick the trader, but learned nothing to aid their search.

The next day the trio traveled north towards West Hall Tower, which had since been re-garrisoned. As they passed the Plains Camp site they detected the smell of carrion, which led them to a small copse of wood. There they found that a few plains hyenas had dug up a shallow grave and were eating the corpses of a few men. Our heroes drove the hyenas away, and fighting back the urge to retch, examined the corpses. The bodies numbered six, buried in threes in two separate shallow graves, and were dressed in the manner of trappers. The bones bore the marks of violence from blades. Nothing of value was found of them. With no way to identify the corpses, our heroes decided to take one boot from each of the bodies, hoping that that would be enough. They then continued to West Hall Tower, where they purposed to learn more about the way ahead while they rested their horses.

At West Hall Tower they learned from Tugh and the garrison that there had not been sighting of orcs. After learning where water could be found in the way ahead, our heroes set off once more.

At noon that day they dismounted at a stream near the East Hall Tower, where they planned to water their horses and take lunch. However, they were ambushed by four orc warriors. After a quick fight, two of the orc warriors laid dead, while two had been captured. Our heroes then noticed that the orcs were juveniles. Attempts to interrogate them were unsuccessful as they did not speak the Northern Tongue. Fearful of further attacks, our heroes decided to return to West Hall Tower will their prisoners in tow.

At the West Hall Tower, the sight of the orcs and the wounded Mala and Rokas caused a stir, as the soldiers called for the prisoners to be beheaded and their heads set on pikes on the tower's ramparts as a warning to the orcs, but Enree cited the Castellan's authority and ordered them to be held inside the tower until they could be brought back to Obanhold for questioning with the relief party, which was expected in two days.

That night, sentries reported sighting of orc scouts, which caused fears that the orcs would launch an attack to try to free their comrades. In an attempt to allay their fears, Enree used his magic to conjure an illusion of the decapitated heads of the two prisoners on a pike, and set it upon the tower's rampart.

The next day, three orc warriors approached the tower. Unlike the juveniles, these were adult warriors who bore symmetrical scars upon their faces and arms. Their leader was Chogan, one of the orc mercenaries whom our heroes had met at Fort Davelmag. Chogan swore vengeance for the slain orc warriors, and told the garrison that they and all the humans would be swept away from the plains when the Thunderbird came. When he saw our heroes, he bade them to flee the place while they still could, or they would be killed when they next met upon the field of battle.

Our heroes now decided to free the orc prisoners, which caused unhappiness in the soldiers, who feared it might be taken as a sign of weakness to the orcs. The two orcs were cut loose and sent out of the gate of the palisade wall, and in a misguided attempt to placate the soldiers, ordered them to shoot arrows near them to drive them on. By design or accident, one of the arrows struck one of the orcs, who was fortunately not killed by it. Chogan and his men quickly got to the prisoners, and left.

The mood in the tower was decidedly cold thereafter, as the soldiers shunned our heroes for the next two days and the return to Obanhold.

Prepping and Running the Game

The 'plot' for the session was a continuation of the development of the events that had taken place in the earlier sessions. I had sent the PCs to the northwest part of the map partly to divert them from the northeast part, where Gatton and Yngley are, so I could have some time to think about how events would unfold there. The next session will see them attending to events there.

I had expected the PCs to make it further to East Hall Tower, where they would gain an idea of the true size of the orc threat, but they had decided to take prisoners at the first encounter and cut short their trip - in their minds their mission objectives had been achieved, and little could be gained by further endangering themselves.

I did manage to introduce the Thunderbird as an antagonist, and give the players some inkling of the mystical forces they are up against.