Games Expo 2024

After making contact with another wargaming group during a convention in October, we were invited to put up a game for their own convention in December. Martin and I decided to attend and reprise the Indian Mutiny game FG and I ran in the previous convention, since we already had the scenario and charts ready.

Once again we managed to run two sessions, and although the British came closer than ever to winning, victory continues to elude them!
 

The convention featured other games, including an A Song of Ice & Fire tournament, many boardgames, and a few RPGs, but the centre-piece of the convention was a giant Bolt Action Bastogne game which ran for some eight hours. 

Martin and I made more new friends, and no doubt more gaming will come from these meetings.

Conquerors & Kings and Kill Team

For the month of December we played the long-awaited battle between wahj's Late Romans vs Martin's Sassanid Persians. They were a matched pair of armies, but have not met in the field for many years.

Adrian and I played the Romans, and we managed to roll what I thought was a good terrain set-up for our predominantly infantry army. Our main line was anchored on two patches of rough ground, with the centre on a hill, and a small reserve force in the rear. Cavalry covered the extreme left flank.

Martin was worried about the deployment, but nevetheless decided launching cavalry charges on the flanks was the best option. On the Roman right the charge in the rough ground was repelled, but the troops in the open ground were routed by the Persian heavy cavalry, and the reserve force was unable to plug the gap.

On the Roman left there was a large cavalry melee, but Persian cataphracti triumphed against Goth and Roman cavalry. The Roman lines was thus cut up and surrounded.

Roman counter-attack on the left

This was the second game in a row where heavy cavalry settled the issue quite quickly and decisively. I wonder if this is a feature or bug of the game, as the lists do allow armies with historically large cavalry proportions to replicate that in the game. Or perhaps it is a matter of us not having figured out how to counter cavalry-heavy armies.

The next game should hopefully fit two infantry-dominant armies, and we'll see if they give a closer game.

For our second game we played Kill Team, pitting FG's newly-painted Ork Commandos versus Adrian's newly-painted Veteran Guardsmen. The figures were beautiful sculpts and the players did a great job with them, but I found the play rather complex and slow. Perhaps this is a game that requires investment on the part of the player to appreciate its full potential.

Battle of Hollabrunn

Last week we managed to get together for a mid-week game of grid-based Napoleonics. What's more, we hosted two members from another gaming group whom we got to know at a convention we went to the month before.

The scenario was Battle of Hollanbrunn, a rearguard action in the aftermath of Wagram that saw Massena's Corps catch up with the Austrians.

The game started with a Vincent's Division holding Hollanbrunn in the middle of the table, and the French cavalry arriving at their base edge. FG, commanding the cavalry on the French left, thrusted his squadrons forward and engaged the Austrian cavalry. In doing so, he crested a plateau and found another two other Austrian divisions behind the town.

The Austrians sent their cavalry and half of Kottulinsky's division to counter the French movement - a fatal error.

The opening set-up

On turn 3 the player playing the role of Massena, arrived late to the session but in perfect timing for the game. He quickly assessed these situation, and Neuenstein's Division on a march through the woods on the Austrian left, and then sent the light infantry from the Friedrich's Division to skirmish against Hollanbrunn's defenders while he organised a grand battery on the ridge overlooking the town.

While there are no national characteristics in these rules, the French had six commanders (albeit two being cavalry commanders that commanded only their respective squadrons), to the Austrians' four. In addition, Vincent had to command both cavalry and infantry and artillery. Having over estimated the importance of the French cavalry attack on their right, the Austrians were in addition plagued by poor dice rolls on the part of their artillery, and superb dice rolls on the part of the French which saw them moving through the woods on the flank at great speed. Belatedly they realised their peril, but with only three real commanders to speak of they could not redeploy their forces in time to counter the French, lost the town, and only by running down the game clock did they avoid a French major victory.

Mid-point of the game, with the French flank attack developing and the Austrians making their countermove

It was a fun game, and the timing was perfect, with the battle played to a resolution just as the game clock ran out and within the time we allotted for play.

In the discussions after the game one of the players was inspired to start painting 15mm Napoleonics, and Martin was motivated to paint up a few more units for his British-Portuguese army, which will allow us to play some Peninsular Wars scenarios in the future.

Kill Team

 Adrian hosted a game of the latest edition of Kill Team, where I pitted my warzone Bauhaus and Shieldwolf Miniatures figures against his Traitor Guard figures commanded by FG.

The rules are pretty standard to me, but the range is really helped by the beautiful figures and terrain. The gang have ordered several starter armies, but I have managed to pass the Saving Throw. I did scratch-build a Mekboy workshop shed for Adrian's terrain set, inspired by Orktober and GW's Mekboy Workshop terrain.

One peeve I do have with the system is the rather restrictive army lists, but hopefully that means that the lists have been playtested for balance.

I am tempted by the aesthetics of a Genestealer Cult army, so if we continue to play Kill Team, I may need to make another Saving Throw in the future.

The Men Who Would be Kings at Campus Game Fest 2024

Other than my usual home RPG group and my wargaming group, I have been gaming off and on with a public gaming group at a community centre these past few years. The group plays mainly RPGs and boardgames, and some Battletech Alpha Strike; I run the occasional one-shot RPG there, and play the occasional boardgame.

This year, the group was invited to take part in a games convention at a school, and I was invited to put up a historical wargame there.

This was when I realised that, while I do have many paired armies, most of them are sci-fi or fantasy, and the historical armies that I do own both sides of are not painted by me, but cobbled together from various ebay purchases. The only armies which look presentable are my Indian Mutiny forces, which were mostly painted by a single painting service.

Now while I do enjoy The Relief of Luckpore, I thought that a grid-based wargame would not be a good representation of most historical miniature wargame, so I went through to my library and decided on Dan Mersey's The Men Who Would be Kings, which I helped playtest with these same figures in 2015.

I modified the command rules a little to allow for five players - two on the British side and three on the Mutineer side - with three units each. I picked out a scenario from Colonial Conflicts: The Indian Mutiny, adjusted the set-up to fit, and with the help of a few friends tested the scenario, made some adjustments, and we were ready.

The set-up

Civilians in the village

The British train

We were scheduled for 4pm to 9pm, and I imagined that gave enough time to run two or maybe three games, each with five players on each side and FG and I umpiring. As it turned out the crowd were mostly there for the e-games and card games, and we didn't draw much attention apart from the other miniature wargamers who were there. One of them played the mutineers against me, and beat me resoundingly with incredible dice rolls.

We then had a student of the school walk by and he decided to take a swing at playing the British. He had better luck than me, and almost made it to the mutineer lines before his luck ran out.

The situation at the end of the second game

Over all the amount of gaming we did out of the session was probably not worth the effort of preparing the charts and cards and traveling down, but I did make friends with some historical wargamers and we might be getting some gaming in in the future, so that made the whole evening worthwhile.

Conquerors and Kings

We played another game of Peter Pig's Conqueror and Kings. Despite revising the rules briefly before the session, I still managed to get the multiple combat wrong by confusing the rules with those of an ACW set I am working on (also a grid-based game) 

View from the Ayyubid line

We fielded my generic Saracen army (mostly painted figures bought off ebay) against my anachronistic Late Byzantine army, using the Ayyubid list and the Crusader list.

Adrian, playing the Ayyubid, saw that his advantage was in cavalry, and that he would be at a disadvantage if the battle became an arrow duel, and so launched an all-out charge on turn one, using the 'Advance' Battle Tactic. wahj, playing the Byzantines, managed to survive the initial onslaught, and even managed to launch a counter-attack on the Ayyubid cavalry that were now outflanked. But dice luck determined the eventual outcome, and the Byzantine units that were pushed off the table failed to rally and return in time to shore up the line, and we called it an Ayyubid victory.

Byzantine counter-attack that ultimately failed

The game was quick because we did not do the whole pre-game sequence and the 'Piggy Chase', and while the strategic choices seem limited once the army list is made and terrain placed, there are still tactical choices to be made like whether to push forward on a sector where the attack is more successful, or pull back and reorganise the line to prevent outflanking.

This game was a little lopsided due to the list-making - my fault - which in turn was limited by the figures I have at hand. Perhaps in the future I should field a list with Close Order bowmen, using my Norman figures.

The next game of C&K is scheduled for November, when we hope to pit Late Romans against Sassanids. Stay tuned.

Lone Wolf - Adventures in Magnamund

I have sworn off Kickstarter after a few bad experiences, but I have made an exception for this new project.

I own at least three iterations of Lone Wolf RPGs, and have played two long campaigns in the Lone Wolf setting, and they are both memorable ones. There is something about the dualistic cosmology and the heroic narrative of the characters that instantly lend gravitas to the campaigns. Lone Wolf RPG characters can't help but to be heroic because the stakes are so high - all they need are a campaign premise to allow them to shine.

This current iteration is for the Dragonbane rules, which I do not own nor plan to buy; I am backing it chiefly for the fluff, the art, and most importantly the modules. The delivery date for the project is Nov 2025, although with the number of stretch goals being hit I will not be surprised if it will be late. It is too far ahead to plan, but hopefully I will have a stable of players ready to take on the Darklords when it arrives.

Catching Up and 3D printed resin figures

I apologise to my readers for the long absence. Recent changes in my living circumstances, work demands, and a dislocated little finger have all eaten into my leisure time, and while I have continued to spend on the hobby and play, it has left me no time to update this blog.

Our Three Worlds RPG campaign has ended, but I have yet to write the AAR for the final two sessions. We have taken a break from RPG due to the attrition in player base, with most of the players for that campaign now in other countries, but we may be cobbling together a group from our old players and getting some gaming in with a new game master.

Wargaming has therefore come to the forefront, with several purchases being made, figures painted (some by me, but most by a professional painter I engaged), and convention game being put up this coming weekend.

I will try to post the AARs for the sessions we had the previous months in the near future; in the meantime here are a couple of photos of 3D printed resin figures painted by me:

15mm Arab Civilians by Red Copper Miniatures, via Proxy Wargaming Aus

15mm Carthaginian Poeni Cavalry by Cromarty Forge, via The Plastic Soldier Company

Conquerors and Kings and Warmaster

For our August session we played Peter Pig's Conquerors and Kings (2023 edition) for the first time. Wahj brought his Romans and Carthaginians and some hills he build specifically for these rules, and we spend the afternoon working through the rules.

As expected when trying out a new set of rules, we got some stuff wrong, but I think over all we got a sense of how the game plays. I played the Romans, which I did not handle boldly enough, and by game end I had failed to occupy enough grids to win.

I also realised that the Battle Tactics are an important consideration not just during play, but also during army-building (and vice versa I suppose), since some tactics mean you can get more mileage out of cheaper troops.

I like the more abstract way combat and positioning are handled in this game. I hope to get a Roman vs Sassanid game on soon. In the mean time I have ordered some Tribal Germans to be painted (an opponent for yet another Roman army!).

For our second game FG and I played Warmaster. It's an old game which we used to play a lot back in the day (especially the Ancients version) but I am unfamiliar with the Goblins list, which seems to be quite weak. Nevertheless it was a joy playing with the well-painted figures.

I have been very busy with life and am three RPG reports behind. Various factors have caused attrition to our player pool, and I have made the decision to stop my weekly RPG sessions for a while until we have a more stable pool of players. This may mean more wargaming in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Relief of Luckpore and Alpha Strike

Martin was back in town last weekend and six of us managed to get together for a couple of games, beers, pastries, and dinner.

The Luckpore game was a little lopsided, with the British side having too much of an advantage. This is likely due to us playing it as a once-off game instead of in the context of a campaign, where the British become saddled with Fatigue and low ammunition as the campaign progresses. I will need to make some tweaks to the game to make the contest more interesting for both sides. I have ordered a few packs of Essex Mughal musketeers to paint as matchlock men for an Indian prince, so we will visit these rules again once they are done.

For the second game we played a game of Alpha Strike. Now that we are more familiar with the rules, play is faster and more relaxed.

For the game in August I hope to run a game of Peter Pig's Conquerors and Kings, and maybe a game of Deth Wizards.

Three Worlds #14

After nine days, our heroes arrived at the dwarven settlement of Karn Buldhar, a wooden-walled town of some five hundred souls. They were met by Melin, a retainer of the council that ruled Karn Buldhar, and conducted to meet the three councilmen. After the appropriate formalities were performed, they were led to the dining hall, where they were fed a meal of beef dumplings by Baba Clay. Here, they were introduced to a young woman from the Northland named Bliss (see PC profiles here), who had come to seek her fortunes too. Here too Enree found Vaclovas the fur trapper, whom he had met at Obanhold.

After their meal, Melin spoke to our heroes of the events that had led to their invitation of Karn Buldhar. In recent months, a fever has gripped the town as rumours of orc treasure hoards that laid hidden in ruins in the Labyrinth of Shadows, a vast jungle that laid in the next valley from Karn Buldhar. Adventurers have streamed into Karn Buldhar to provision and recruit followers for expeditions into the jungle; few return, and those who do spoke of attacks by savage orcs and monsters, and none return with any treasure. Yet each day more adventurers arrive, and more young dwarves abandon their profession in the town to seek their fortunes. The council feared that the incursions into the jungles would provoke a retaliatory attack from the orcs that lived there.

But more immediate was the problem at Amethyst Ranch, a cattle ranch that laid a day away from Karn Buldhar, by the Lake Amethyst. The ranch provided the town with beef, but in the past few weeks Taggert the ranch owner reported that he was losing cattle. Soon, he began to lose ranch hands, and after a third disappeared the rest decided to abandon the ranch. Fearing that the orcs of the jungle were involved, the council tasked our heroes to investigate the disappearance.

So Arwin, Baldrik, Bliss, and Enree made the journey to Amethyst Ranch. When they arrived they were met by Taggert and the only two ranch hands who remained behind. From the three they learned that the cattle (and later ranch hands) were lost when the cattle were led to drink by the shore of Lake Amethyst. The next morning, our heroes helped the ranch hands drive the cattle to the shore of the lake, and there they waited.

After a while, Enree heard a sound coming from the water of the lake not far from the shore. It sounded like a drowning man struggling, and when he looked he saw what seemed to be an arm waving and bobbing up and down in the water. Enree was suspicious, but he felt himself compelled to take the boat by the shore and row towards the drowning man. The other heroes saw Enree rowing the boat out, but they could not hear nor see what Enree did.

As Enree rowed out into the lake, it seemed to him that the arm began to drift further and further away. When he finally reached the arm, he looked through the surface of the lake and saw a blue bestial face of a creature the size of a large dog staring back at him. The "arm", in reality a long tail of the creature that ended in what looked like a hand, grabbed the side of his boat and tipped it over, causing Enree to fall into the water.

Enree felt himself being dragged into the depths of the lake. He drew his sword and hacked at the creature; he felt his blow connect, and he was free to swim to the surface.

On the shore the others saw what happened, and Baldrik and Bliss began to swim out to reach Enree. Arwin saw the creature surface, and loosed a crossbow bolt at it, striking it and causing it to bleed dark red blood that left a trail in the water and the creature swam towards an island in the middle of the lake.

Once they had reunited, our heroes decided to follow the creature in their boat. When they arrived at the island, they found a cave on the side of the island that opened into the water. The followed the watery passage deeper into the cave system. The passage wound one way and then the other, and soon the party was in complete darkness. Our heroes lit a lantern, and continued.

After a while they saw a light ahead of them. Heading towards the light, they found themselves at the bottom of a large sinkhole. In the middle of the sinkhole was a small island. Above them they could see the sky; dark clouds were gathering above them.

Our heroes beached their boat and stepped onto the small island, which measured no more than sixty feet across. At first they thought that they saw a strangely geometric pattern on the surface of the island, but they soon realised that the pattern was formed by more than a hundred orc skulls, laid twelve to a side in a square. Rain began to fall.

Examining the skulls, our heroes found that they seemed to have been laid there as severed heads, as each had a short length of spine at its base - some of the vertebrae were cut clean across, as if by some sharp implement. Venturing into the middle of the skull formation, Enree discerned something with a magical aura - an obsidian dagger set in a jade handle laid in the centre of the formation. Curiously, the handle of the dagger depicted not an orc, but a stylised elf. Enree pocketed the strange dagger.

The rain started to fall heavier, and our heroes realised that the water level had begun to rise, causing their boat to drift away from the shore and threatening to seal off the passage by which they came into the sinkhole. When they sought to return to their boat, they found the creature lying in wait for them in the water by the shore. When they waded into the water, the creature would leap to attack them, and then vanish into the water before they could strike back. But Bliss, gifted with foresight by the Fates, were able to sense the creature coming towards her, and struck it a heavy blow with her club; the creature became motionless, and floated up on the water. At the same moment, the rain stopped, and the clouds soon parted.

Our heroes hauled the creature into the boat, and made they way back towards the ranch.

Prepping and Running the Game

This was once again a bit of a filler adventure. We have suffered some attrition in our player pool, but Bliss' player, a longtime member of our group, was able to join us for this session.

The session was based mostly on the module, with the main monster swapped. The creature in the story is an ahuizotl, which I thought was an interesting monster.

Much of the session was actually spent roleplaying as I introduced the main NPCs who will appear in this arc of the campaign, chiefly Melin, and Vaclovas from the previous arc. They players also spend some time roleplaying with the two ranch hands, whom they found amusing.

The discovery of the elven dagger sets up the rest of the campaign. It will probably take another two sessions before we are truly into the plot of this arc, but I wonder if I will have enough players to see this through.

Altar of Freedom

Due to my recent move, one of the gang offered to host our monthly game for June at his place instead.

The game was the Battle of Stone River, using Altar of Freedom rules. The tactical rules were rather simple, but the command rules were interesting, especially in a multi-player game where there were two or more commanders on each side. The whole experience was made even better with the beautiful table and large number of 10mm figures. I would certainly want to play these rules again.

Three Worlds #13

After the danger at Obanhold was over, our heroes returned to Belton, where they spent their well-earned money on various things - it was not long before the silver began to run low. Fortunately, their fame as "orc slayers" had spread, and they were approached by a dwarf from Karn Buldhar in the south.

Novac, for that was the dwarf's name, was a "seeker" working for the Council of Karn Buldhar, a mining town in the jungles in the interior of the south known as the Gemthrone Wilderness. The Council had been having "orc trouble", and was looking for people who could handle the problem for them. Novac gave little detail of the nature of the "trouble", but the pay was handsome.

And so our heroes found themselves in the port city of Coluha a few weeks later, where they spent a few days acclimatising to the heat and humidity while preparing for the twelve-day journey to Karn Buldhar.

One evening at the inn they were approached by a merchant named Cregna, who sought to employ them as bodyguards as he too planned to travel to Karn Buldhar. Once more, handsome pay was promised, the full sum of which would be paid upon arrival at Karn Buldhar. Our heroes accepted the job, and two days later Arwin, Enree, Melig, along with Cregna, his bodyguard Baldrik (see PC profiles here), and two other servants set off on the road into the interior.

Three days into the journey the party came across the site of a carnage: the bodies of a few human and dwarves bearing signs of violence laid on the road. Several crates laid broken on the ground, their contents, including some silver, lay scattered. Cregna let out a cry of despair when he realised that the crates bore the mark of Novac the seeker. He revealed that he had been waiting in Coluha to buy a "trinket" from Novac, but had decided to travel to Karn Buldhar to find the dwarf when the latter did not show up for their appointment. When he failed to find the trinket in the debris, and when our heroes found signs that someone had been dragged off the road into the jungle, Cregna offered to pay our heroes even more silver if they could find Novac and recover the trinket for him.

So leaving the servants behind, our heroes and Cregna entered the jungle and followed the trail. Before long the trail led to a narrow causeway that led through a swamp, which our party followed. Two hours later, Arwin smelled smoke in the air. Scouting ahead of the party, he found that the causeway led to a large opening half a mile wide. Dozens of ruined dwellings covered the opening, and huddled outside one of the dwellings were several orcs cooking lunch.

When they noticed Arwin the orcs immediately began to attack him with arrows. The other members of the party joined in, and soon the orcs were either cut down or fleeing. Near to the orcs' campfire our heroes found a dwarf's clothes, muddied and ripped. Our heroes followed the orcs through the ruined dwellings further into the clearing, which opened into a large opening that was previously paved with stone. At one end of the opening two rows of ruined columns flanked a paved path, which lead to a mound. The orcs were fleeing towards the mound where many more orcs have gathered.

Seeing that they were now outnumbered, our heroes scattered and hid among the ruined buildings, while the orcs gave chase. By stealth and speed made their way to the base of the mound, where they found the body of Novac. His limbs were broken, and a large wound had been made under his ribcage - nearby was his heart, ripped from his chest. A trail of blood led from the slope of the mound, and our heroes surmised that he had been thrown from its summit. Three stone orc heads each half the height of a man or taller stood at the base of the mound, but there was no sign of any "trinket" which might be what Cregna was after.

Presently the orcs began to return to the mound, and our heroes ascended it. At the summit they found a stone altar bearing the relief of dragon on one side. A groove was cut on the top of the altar, which led into the jaws of the dragon. Dried blood, presumably from Novac, lined the groove. Here too there was no sign of any trinket, and by now the orcs were beginning to ascend the mound. In desperation our heroes searched the altar, and found a hidden door that led into the interior of the mound. Peering into the darkness, Enree saw a stone steps leading down a stone-lined passage - this was no hill, but a pyramid!

Our heroes lit a lantern and descended the stairs, and as they did so they poured lamp oil onto the steps. When they had reached the chamber at the bottom of the steps, they put out their lantern, and waited. Soon afterwards they heard the sound of the orcs entering the pyramid, and then the sound of the orcs falling down the slippery steps to the base of the stairs. Lighting their lantern again, our heroes quickly put the injured orcs to the sword.

When they had slain every orc, they surveyed the chamber they were in. The walls were lined with relief depicting the life of an orc king. In the far end of the room a set of double doors bore the relief of the king worshipping what was no doubt an orc god. 

Cregna, who had evaded the orcs, now called to the heroes from the top of the stairs, and was warned about the oil. The merchant gingerly made his way down the stairs, and when he could not find his trinket among the bodies of the orcs, urged our heroes to explore further. Our heroes passed through the door to a colonnaded gallery that led to a smaller door, bearing a relief of the orc king with what seemed to be a mask over his face. Entering through this door, our heroes came into a smaller chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a stone sarcophagus. Around the rooms were broken pottery - it seemed that the tomb had previously been looted.

Our heroes decided to lift the lid of the sarcophagus and search within. When they opened the sarcophagus, they saw the mummified body of an orc warrior, but it bore no treasure. Baldrik began to search the body of the orc warrior, and as he did so the orc warrior reanimated and began to attack him with its obsidian sword. Baldrik was struck down, but the others overcame the undead warrior, and afterwards managed to rouse him.

When a search of the undead warrior's body revealed no sign of his trinket, Cregna became crestfallen. Then Enree noticed that the depth of the sarcophagus did not match its height. He urged Cregna to exit the pyramid and search the dwellings once more, and when the merchant had left he and the others searched the sarcophagus once more and found that it had a false bottom. Lifting this false bottom, they found the remains of the orc king, stripped of his burial treasures but one: a flawless jade mask that covered his face. Enree lifted the mask off the king's face, and tucked it inside his backpack.

Our heroes exited the pyramid and joined the dejected Cregna at the base, where they began to make their way back to the road. But as they passed the stone heads at the base of the pyramid, the ground began to rumble. Large stone hands erupted from the earth and pushed against the ground; the stone heads lifted off the ground and revealed themselves to be attached to giant stone bodies. Our heroes ran pell-mell towards the swamp as the stone giants pulled themselves free from the earth and pursued them. It soon became clear that they were converging on Enree. Panicking, Enree retrieved the mask from his backpack and tossed it to Baldrik. When he saw the mask Cregna let out an cry of excitement and demanded it be given to him. The stone giants now turned towards Baldrik, who tossed the mask to Cregna. Cregna caught the mask, and for a moment his face was filled with joy instead of fear. But it was a brief moment, as the hand of the largest stone giant closed around his body and seized him. Cregna screamed for help, but there was little our heroes could do as the stone giants now strode back to where they were buried, and when they had returned to their posts, their bodies began to sink into the earth along with Cregna and the mask, until once more only their heads were exposed.

Prepping and Running the Game

This was our first session after my recent move, and so I did not have time to prepare the sandbox module which I am basing this arc of the campaign on. I needed a one-shot module to depict the party's travel to the new base, and after some searching I found the module Watchers of Meng. This was a rather straightforward module, but the imagery of the Olmec style stone heads actually being attached to giant bodies was something which I thought was a nice twist.

Three Worlds #12

Our heroes returned to Obanhold to find that the fort had been reinforced by a company of 500 cavalrymen sent by the Castellan of Belton. After they had reported their mission to the Castellan, Averic, the captain of the cavalrymen, proposed that they allowed the orcs to advance to Obanhold, while he and his cavalry laid an ambush for them - surely they would be able to scatter the orc army on the open plains?

Elze, on the other hand, proposed that Agh'hkan be lured to the river, where the Great Horned Serpent's power was the strongest, and there he would be slain and the orc threat eliminated.

The eventually decided on adopting both plans, ordering our heroes to return to the north with an emissary under the pretext of negotiation at the river crossing, while also preparing an ambush against the orcs should the mission fail.

And so Enree, Mala, Melig, and Rokas (see PC profiles here), accompanied by Elze and Father Fiatus and two of the cavalrymen traveled north, where after three days they were intercepted by an orc patrol, disarmed, and once more brought to their camp. There, they were met by a furious Chogan, who threatened to execute them, but our heroes were able to convince him to arrange for one more meeting with Agh'hkan. Unwilling to bring the humans to Maut'ghar again, Chogan decided to take them as far as the river crossing, and then to fetch Agh'hkan himself, thus falling right into the heroes' trap!

The party camped by the river crossing for two nights, under a guard of six orc warriors. On the third day they spotted Agh'hkan and Chogan and a few orc warriors come towards the crossing from the north. The party made ready to meet them, and when Agh'hkan's party was in the middle of the river Elze called to the Serpent. A fait rumbling was heard upstream, which grew louder - seconds later a swelling came down the river. Agh'hkan's bodyguards held on to him and braced themselves. When the wave struck Chogan and one of the guards were swept away, but Agh'hkan maintained his footing.

The orc warriors guarding the party drew their weapons and moved towards Elze, and the unarmed cavalrymen and our heroes moved to defend her. Agh'kahn and the remaining bodyguards started to move towards the river bank, but out of the river rose the head of the Great Horned Serpent.

Seeing the Serpent, Rokas had a change of heart, and moved to strike Elze, while the girl summoned up a wall of water to defend herself.

The Serpent breathed a cloud of noxious gas on Agh'hkan and his bodyguards, who succumbed to it, but before the Serpent could do more a shrieking peal was heard from the north - a giant bird swooped down through the canopy of the forest towards the Serpent. Lightning issued forth from its wingtips, striking the Serpent.

On the river bank the melee continued, with both cavalrymen struck down by the orc warriors, but eventually our heroes were able to overcome the orcs. At the same time, the Thunderbird had seized the Serpent in its talons, and plucked it from the river. The two creatures engaged in a whirling struggle in the air, and the Thunderbird was triumphant, tearing the Serpent apart and scattering its remains onto the ground, Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it flew away.

The wall of water protecting Elze collapsed, and the girl sat on the ground, stunned by what she just witnessed. Our heroes dragged Agh'hkan from the river, and bound him. Then they followed the course of the river westwards, until at last they reached Lake Rodophine, where they were picked up by a fishing boat from Yngley.

When they finally returned to Obanhold with Agh'hkan in tow they were meet with a great cheer. Days later, the cavalrymen would report that the orcs have retreated beyond the river and scattered.

For their parts in the great victory our heroes were rewarded: Mala asked for the island in the middle of Lake Rodophine to be granted to him; Enree asked for the lake itself to be renamed after him, while Melig and Rokas received silver.

Agh'hkan was imprisoned together with Bruthalan, and for now the orc threat on the plains was over...

Prepping and Running the Game

This session ended the second arc of the campaign. I left the session pretty open, giving the players several choices on how to bring about the final confrontation between the orcs and Obanhold. Much of the session was spent debating the best course of action, and while they did eventually agree on a plan, the players and PCs were still not 100% on their allegiance even when the final confrontation happened.

I feel I failed to make the fight between the Thunderbird and the Serpent sound epic enough, and that left the players a little disappointed about the power of both creatures.

Compared to the first arc of the campaign, the plot of this arc was more "sandbox" as one NPC faction (Elze and the Great Horned Serpent) were almost entirely invented in response to what the PCs did during the first session of the game. While there were relatively fewer fights, I believe the players enjoyed the interaction with the various NPC factions. I have yet to get a firm grasp on the next arc of the campaign, but hopefully I can come up with factions for the players to interact with again.

Operation Dumpkirk

Last month I moved from the place I have lived in for 15 years to a new place some 20km away. While I hired a professional mover to shift the furniture and other items, for my miniatures I enlisted the aid of six of my friends in an operation which I dubbed Dumpkirk (chiefly because in the run-up to the actual move I had to return the mats, terrain, books, and minis which some of them have left at my place over the years). The photo above shows what remained to be moved to my new place.

With three cars, we managed to complete the operation from loading to unloading in about an hour and a half, which gave us some time to play a game of Tiny Towns...

before dinner was delivered.

My dining table had not been delivered then, so we ate around the coffee table. 

A week later we had a supplementary session to move some stuff, after which we played a couple of card games at the new dining/gaming table, including Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls,

As a result of the move I am several reports behind - something which I hope to rectify over the next few days.

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.

Three Worlds #8

(picture from exarc.net)

A new day brought a new caravan to Obanhold, and the Castellan quickly recruited two of the caravan guards Melig and Rokas to his service. Having surmised that the orcs were trying to stop him from discovering their plans in the north, he had decided to send a troop of soldiers to garrison Yngley, and to retake the West Hall Tower, from which he had recently withdrawn his troops after an orc attack.

With Arwin and Mala still recuperating from their injuries, Enree, Melig, and Rokas (see PC profiles here) were sent with Tugh, a soldier formerly at the West Hall Tower, to travel with the relief party to the Valley Tower (a watchtower between the West Hall Tower and Obanhold itself) and thence to the West Hall Tower to see if the orcs had occupied it.

After two days' ride, the party neared West Hall Tower. They waited until nightfall, and then Melig stealthily approached the tower on foot. The West Hall Tower was almost identical to the Valley tower: a log tower three storeys tall, surrounded by a wooden palisade reinforced at the base with earth and rocks. He could see light coming from the windows of the tower, hear sounds of carousing, and see a single guard atop the tower's top. Creeping even closer, he saw that part of the palisade wall had burnt down, as Tugh had related, saw (and smelled) horses within the palisade, and learned from the voices within the tower that the men were trappers, and that they were discussing when to return to Obanhold.

Melig returned to his companions and reported his findings. Out of caution, the party decided that Melig and Rokas would remain hidden, while Enree and Tugh would approach the tower. When they came within sight of the tower, the duo were challenged by the sentry, and Enree informed him that he was a traveling minstrel who had gotten lost on his way to Obanhold. Enree and Tugh were disarmed before they were allowed to enter the tower, and given food and shelter for the night, while Melig and Rokas spent the night out in the cold.

The next morning, the trappers informed Enree that they had decided to return to Obanhold that very day, and invited Enree and Tugh to ride with them. Using his magic, Enree informed Rokas of their plans, and the party decided to travel ahead of the trappers and arrive at Valley Tower before them.

The two parties joined at Valley Tower, where Melig and Rokas was able to inform the garrison of Enree's cover story, and the next day our heroes arrived back at Obanhold with the trappers, to the joy of the fur merchant there.

When they went to the Great Hall to report to the Castellan, however, Enree was confronted by Remunas, the headman of Yngley, who accused him of seducing his daughter Elze, who had run away from home two days earlier.

Now Enree had indeed used his magic to communicate with Elze through a spell of sending when he was at Yngley, encouraging her to take up the life of an adventurer, but now he denied the charges vehemently, but at the same time sought the Castellan's permission to find the missing girl to defend his and the Castellan's honour. 

The next morning, the party traveled northeast towards Yngley, but when they arrived at the lumbering village of Gatton, midway between Obanhold and Yngley, Remunas was informed by the villagers that his daughter was there. A tearful Elze told her father that she had gotten the idea that she would become an adventurer like our heroes, and had left home to go to Obanhold to seek service with the Castellan, but had gotten lost on the way.

Saulinus, headman of Gatton, declared a feast to celebrate the reunion of father and daughter, and food and ale were had in his hall. Enree, ever suspicious, sought to communicate with Elze with his magic again, but found that he could not do so, nor could he sense her mind. He sought to speak with Elze, but Remunas, despite the efforts of Melig, would not leave his daughter's side. Eventually Enree decided to use the bone flute he had taken off the Skinwalker to play a tune for the party, which put everyone to sleep... with the exception of Elze. Enree then confronted Elze, demanding to know why he could not sense her mind. Elze replied that she had no clue what Enree was talking about, and roused her father and Saulinis, who declared the celebration at an end, and offered father and daughter his chambers for the night.

The next morning, Remunas set off to Yngley, but not before asking Melig to send his apologies and thanks to the Castellan, and promising to visit him in person to do so again after he had brought his daughter home.

Prepping and Running the Game

This session saw the addition of a new player to the campaign. Melig is the first thief class character in the party, which will hopefully give them more capabilities.

The session was a short one, with lots of roleplaying and zero combat. As you may be able to tell from the report above, the roleplaying was done mainly by Enree's player. While the other two players may have enjoyed watching the story develop, I think they may have felt left out. I had in fact planned for some exploration and combat in the first part of the session, but the players bypassed them.

In the second part it was difficult to shift the spotlight, as the situation concerned Elze, and the two other characters had not previously met her, and their players had little to go on. I will have to make sure to put the spotlight on the two players the next session. This should not be difficult as I plan to shift focus from the Elze story arc for the next couple of sessions at least.

Three Worlds #7

After they had slain the manticore and exonerated Jorrus, Arwin, Enree, and Mala (see PC profiles here) were recruited by the Castellan of Belton as his retainers. The trio spent a few weeks in the Castellan's service in Belton, until the beginning of summer, when they were sent by the Castellan to serve the Castellan of Obanhold in the north.

Now Obanhold was a fort at the edge of the Northern Plains that was beginning to become a settlement. It was also the gateway to the lucrative fur trade. But in the recent weeks attack from the Plains Orcs had resulted in the Castellan withdrawing his troops from two of the outposts that guarded the trade routes, and several fur trappers had failed to return to Obanhold as expected, and the Castellan of Obanhold had sent for aid from his friend in Belton.

Our trio of heroes traveled to Obanhold with a letter of introduction from the Castellan, and arrived at the wooden-walled fort. There they were led to the Castellan, who received them into his service.

Our heroes interviewed some of the soldiers who were attacked by the orcs in their outposts, but ultimately decided to investigate the rumours of orc sightings at the fishing village of Yngley; it had been reported that two fishermen had failed to return from the lake, and that their disappearance might had something to do with the sighting of orcs on the north bank.

Our heroes traveled to the isolated village of Yngley, and when Remunas the headman learned that they were sent by the Castellan, they were welcomed into his home. Our heroes declared their wish to take a boat to investigate the lake, and Remunas sent his young daughter Elze to row them in a boat.

The party first investigated the island at the centre of the lake, but there they found no trace of the missing fishermen, but were attacked by a bear defending her cubs, which they fled from. Reasoning that the bear must have been driven out of her habitat in the forests on the north shore of the lake, Arwin proposed that they investigated there.

When the party came close to the shore, Enree sensed that they were being watched. The party called out to the watchers, but received no reply. They rowed along the shore, shadowed by the watchers, until at last they found a pebbled beach where they might land. Leaving Elze with the boat, our heroes proceeded onto the land, and they were then attacked by arrows. Elze was felled, followed quickly by Arwin and Mala. Four orc warriors dressed in the fashion of Plains Orcs burst out from the undergrowth. Enree raised his hands to surrender, and was disarmed by the orc warriors, who seemed ready to kill them all, until one of them rolled Mala's prone body over and recognised him - the warrior was Achoka, one of the orc mercenaries whom our heroes had met at Fort Davelmag.

Achoka decided to spare our heroes, but warned them to leave Yngley and indeed Obanhold, or they would die as the two fishermen had, and would not say more. When the party rowed the boat back to Yngley, they were met with much dismay and anger.

The next morning they were sent off from the village with little fanfare, and traveled back to Obanhold.

The Castellan looked troubled at their report, and bade them to seek the aid of the fort healer while he pondered his response.

Prepping and Running the Game

I was unprepared for most of the session as I had expected the players to choose to investigate the abandoned forts instead of the story of missing fishermen. I did prep enough to give descriptions of the places they visited and the people they met, and come up with a couple of encounters.

The encounter with the orcs went badly, and I had to figure out a way to bail the PCs out - fortunately I had linked the four orc mercenaries from the previous arc of the campaign to this arc, which allowed me to do so.

I thought the session might have been a little frustrating for the players, but at least one of them enjoyed the interaction with NPCs over the exploration of cave after cave in the previous arc.

The unexpected path the PCs took does advance the plot of the arc a little faster than I had hoped for, but I have a couple of weeks before the next session to plan my next moves as both the Castellan and his adversary.