Session 69: A Pilgrimage, Part 1

 Session 69: A Pilgrimage, Part 1

4/28/24-5/6/24

PC: Gwendolyn, Alex, Legany, Aldric

Hench: Madrof, Mahin, Amadayo, Godfrey, Level 0

#ACKS

We began the session with a long talk about reserve xp and how the system works due to Flynn’s recent demise. Then the group launched on Team A to do more train salesmanship and chase a hook for Redcorn.

Travel to Millon was only interrupted by some zombies that were laid out in the road. When the party investigated they were ambushed! After the easily won fight, they tracked some footprints away from the scene to a small campsite. They scared the shit out of some scruffy looking guys but after some interrogation determined that the dudes were likely scavengers, not murderers. With no other evidence to follow, the group continued on their way.

Redcorn received them in Millon at his fortified monastery and gave them the hook. Some pilgrims needed escorting to a holy site that their leader had a map to. They were staging out of Northbridge and just needed some armed escort to go into the wilderness. The offered reward suited the party so they took the mission. They also convinced him to match the Baron’s commitment to develop a railway system which has been dubbed MARTA: Moving Armsmen Rapidly Through Aerdy. IYKYK.

Talston was recovering from the previous season’s hostilities under the care of Lord Delco, who agreed to see the party about the train. He matched the previous pledges and the party bounced.

EARS in Talston had apparently been turned into some kind of sweatshop, which Gwendolyn discovered after investigating some unusual behavior from the caretakers. She fired them and replaced them with fresh folk and a renewed mission statement for the noble EARS.

Issac met with the party in Northbridge about the train, but since it wasn’t a time sensitive thing I referred the party to Issac’s downtime player to hash out that conversation rather than run it as an NPC. The pilgrims were happy to see the adventurers and the whole lot of them took off the next day for the wilderness.

They found some more corpses, this time not animated, and then a pair of travelers that fled from them. This prompted a primal chase instinct in the party (apparently) and they ran them down on horseback, forcing a fight with what turned out to be a weird monster from ACKS called a Leyak and a charmed bodyguard. The fight was pretty tough but the party had all the advantages and won out.

It took a little while for the party to locate their target destination, but eventually they discovered a ruined temple complex the size of a small village. The whole place was gloomy and shadowed ominously by evil. The amphitheater in the center of town appeared to be the source of the gloom which was verified when the party destroyed the altar in the center. This revealed a staircase leading down into unknown depths.

Session time was late so we cut out there. The party is into the future beyond the next session date, so we’re gonna give it a run next week. If something comes up I’ll abstract their retreat back to Northbridge.

Musings:

Stopped play in a dangerous spot again. I swear there’s a way to make this work. ACKS Abstracted resolution will have to be used if something prevents us from playing next week.

Resources in the campaign are too plentiful given the unbalanced way that solo play was run for the first year or so. Implementing the changes from ACKS II will help some but I’m afraid we’re over the event horizon for any real impact to the established realms. I don’t fault the players involved, only myself for not recognizing it sooner. It's a small consolation that we’re not the only game that misinterpreted the way armies behave in the wilderness, leading to clearing for lairs that was much too easy and profitable.