It is with regret that I report an abject failure on behalf of my party, the Holy Rollers. Not only has their betrayal shown their weakness of character but also my ineffective leadership. It will take time to right this ship but such are the trials set in our path. It is through the crucible of life that we become harder, better, faster, stronger, more able to endure the pain of existence and ready ourselves for the after. I pray for the Light to guide us through the darkness ahead.
The new Scarlet Brotherhood converts were true to their word, working diligently to smuggle handfuls of slaves out of Port Julio in exchange for the fabulous gem in their possession. Unfortunately, we had many many handfuls of slaves to rescue and the longer we waited, the better the chance of interference from the locals. We sent pleas for aid out to our allies, receiving responses from the heretic BalaSoto in Bastia, Sheriff Kai Lan of Bonevale, and the smuggler Bandit.
BalaSoto volunteered to help us and sent ships immediately, Pelor bless him. Kai Lan refused aid citing concerns over starting a war, unsurprising that an uncivilized elf did not have the fortitude to do what is right. Bandit sold us berths on Cledus Snow's strange motorized sailing ship. Between them, we were able to much more rapidly account for the high head count and get underway.
The ghost ship The Shadow harried us as we sailed, heralded by the supernatural mists that roil in its proximity. It chased us and the much slower ships of BalaSoto's until I began to formulate plans on how to challenge it. By all accounts a futile effort but standing idly by was not an option. We hatched a scheme to draw it away from the slower ships and hope we could outrun it. Bandit reported "Smokey" up ahead, by which he meant the pirates that pass for the law in Monmurg, and we hoped to lure the two antagonist forces together and escape in the chaos.
After a daring bit of seamanship from Bandit and Snowman, our plan worked and The Shadow did indeed become satiated by the destruction of the two Monmurgian ships. Good riddance to them all.
Some of the devout followers of Procan in the crews insisted that we stop to give offerings at a colossal statue in the middle of the ocean in thanks. I was glad to allow them to recognize a legitimate member of the pantheon when we were so often confronted with heretical petty "gods" during our adventures.
The rest of our travel was swift and uneventful, which the crews attributed to Procan whose domain is the sea, after all. That is all well and good but of course I know all thanks belong to Pelor. Kai Lan did not want the slaves moved through his village so we relied on the smugglers' knowledge of the coastline and they came through with a little cove sufficient for our needs. Coincidentally, it was the same location at which we were duped by the seamonster during the Candy Mountain fiasco. Zimon looked fiercely around for the creature but could not find it.
A short march saw us arrive in Horizon and I set my right hand Abraham to organizing the settlement of the new residents. Meanwhile, we needed to inform Danconia the Khajit that we were not going to sell him the gem that we recovered after all. It was clearly sent to me by Pelor to aid in his glorification and would be used as such. As soon as I could figure out how.
There was some complaining from June and Zimon, distasteful greediness that I attempted to sate with a frankly absurd offer to buy out their interests in the gem. They declined under veiled accusations of it being "cursed" and needing to "get rid of it", but I could see through the subterfuge. They simply wanted it for themselves. Danconia accepted my decision to keep my gem but demanded that I supply the gem's name. An absurd mockery from a skooma-addled up-jumped peddler.
We retired to our tree-top villa and rested after our long travel, the others' slitted, covetous eyes bothering me enough that I sought seclusion in my chamber. I awoke in the early morning hours and reacted to imminent danger, throwing my pillow in my place and drawing my sword from concealment. Finely honed adventurer's instincts saved me from being murdered in my sleep by a magically silent and concealed figure, hard to see in the darkness, creeping up to my bed.
I charged it, bellowing for the guards, and struck a mighty blow only to find that it was Zimon the bounty hunter, my friend! Betrayal! I was both angry and disappointed, but above all, cautious, as he is a capable warrior in his own right and had the upper hand what with me in my underwear and all. When June the Heathen rushed in to join the combat I knew the treachery was deadly serious. She grasped at me to take the gem and in the scuffle I sought escape through the only exit available to me. I dove out the window, the savage little fighter clinging to me and clawing greedily at the gem, and we both dropped the long way to the ground.
Stunned and bloodied the both us, she recovered first and struck out with her sword. When I awoke I was in chains and the thieves had handed over the gem to Danconia the Khajit, piss on his monstrous form, to get their blood money. Kai Lan arrived and correctly acknowledged that I was the wronged party. In my anger I demanded trial by combat, but settled for release to Horizon considering that I could not trust either of them to abide by any rightful laws of men.
I arrived to find an unusual welcome orchestrated by the magician Boblin, a choreographed dance routine by dozens of townsfolk. Clearly a distraction, I had him removed from my presence and retired to my quarters. Zimon and June both have contributed to the restoration of the fortress at Horizon and I have not yet decided upon an ultimate course of action. Until then, I have banned them from the headquarters and my immediate vicinity. I will focus on administering my rapidly growing domain and pray for guidance on how to heal from this betrayal.
Yours with heavy heart,
Knight Paladin Percival
Lord of Horizon
We have entered an era of truly shared action in a condensed region among different parties. In order to preserve the fog of war, session reports will be limited to class grading and xp. Those who know will know, those who don't, shan't.
Grading:
Gunnbjorn: Excellent. Organized his men, paid a premium for extra help, set security.
Kirk: Superior. Ignoring a fallen ally to finish the fight is more warrior coded than priest. It's borderline but in the Norse milieu we've got to draw a distinction or everyone just ends up a flavored fighter. Guinea-pigging Riddle on the fountain was more my fault in describing meta results. Justifiable in character, no hit.
Broderick: Excellent. Driven to seek out the source of the evil.
Raylan: Excellent. Scouted, pathfound, tracked.
Riddle: Excellent. Baaaah.
Knight Captain Dawes will note my unease in the following report. Our experience with alternating time-lines or dimensions or however Sanji might define it does not appear to be localized, affecting even the great factions of the Oerth.
Father Cassian saw to each of us over the weeks since our last adventure, restoring our missing kidneys through the loving light and healing rays of Pelor. Those of us strong in Pelor's favor recovered as good as or better than before. June the Heathen suffered a mild rebuke by the Sunlord, almost certainly a result of her continued denial of his power.
We had several items on the docket for this adventure but chose to investigate the missing gem for the khajit Danconia. It offered a significant reward and was the most interesting to our adventurous natures. Rumor had it that a red-robed individual had recovered a gem of some sort from the mine and was lording it over the slaves-turned-miners, who had revolted against their masters and barricaded themselves within the facility. This immediately smacked of the Scarlet Brotherhood to me, who we had a brief and bloody encounter with in the streets of Bonevale so long ago.
The injustices perpetrated by that foul organization over the last few decades are well-documented and I will not rehash them here. Suffice it to say I was eager to retrieve the gem while also striking a blow against evil. We booked passage immediately to Monmurg, with our final destination of Port Julio further south.
The ghost vessel The Shadow was active in the area, terrorizing the shipping lanes all along the coast and raising prices of any passage booked to exorbitant levels. We encountered a strange mist before our arrival to Monmurg but the captain of our ship was able to evade it. I circulated among the shaken men of the vessel's crew to raise their spirits, with a few of them converting on the spot. Pelor's light will shine in the darkest of places and show you the way, if you will only let it.
Zimon hired these converts on as informants with the intent to keep abreast of the events along the coast. With The Shadow active, local captains were being overly cautious so we put the word out to our prior associate Bandit to get us quickly south. It would be some days before we expected a response. I suggested to our group that we keep a low profile in the known pirate den of Monmurg to mixed results.
We did some shopping and otherwise stayed to our inn. One evening, a group of city watchmen barged into the common room obviously in search of someone. We maintained our calm and evidently were not the target of their investigation as they gathered themselves to leave. Zimon chose to put his new informants on the case to figure out what they were looking for. One of them caught the ire of the patrol and was taken out to the alley and beaten by the corrupt lawmen.
Zimon intervened and being a puissant warrior drubbed the entire squad single-handedly. For reasons unknown to anyone but the bounty hunter, he tied each man's wrists to his dropped trousers and pinned a message on their corporal warning them to see to their corruption under the light of Pelor. When he informed us of this, I knew we were likely to catch suspicion considering both Fr. Cassian's and my attire. I suggested to Zimon to take his people and find a bolt hole until we could get out on a ship and waited for the inevitable return of the city watch.
Their captain barged in, surveyed the room, and chose the weakest of us to harass in Gaia the elf. Immediately showing himself a coward, he proceeded to bully and insult our weird little Spellsword, who made matters worse with his peculiar way of speaking. Fr. Cassian should be proud to note that I did not immediately relieve the captain of his duty, and head, and instead persuaded the corrupt officer that we were not responsible for his squad's assault, which the victims confirmed. A bit of coin spent to make him go away and a prayer said for Zimon's ability to lay low and we were clear of that unpleasantness.
The Bandit arrived and agreed to carry us on his strangely equipped ship. We departed at dusk, Zimon's people hustling up the gangway as we readied to depart. I am told that we passed a fishing vessel as we were outrunning yet another instance of strange mist. Charlie the Explorer witnessed The Shadow overtake and destroy the vessel despite his attempts to warn them. The Bandit was noncommittal and the rest of us were asleep.
Port Julio was a squat, shell-brick fort with a shanty town huddled in its shadow. It was not difficult to learn about Bob the Red-robed and his slave revolt at the local copper mine. He was trading for food and equipment at advantageous rates that merchants were eager to take advantage of. Both Port Julio and the inland stronghold of Hokar were claiming the mine, and apparently this tension was delaying any actual action. Naturally we sped off to investigate.
Negotiations with Bob went well, eventually coming to the agreement that we would try to smuggle his several hundred escaped slaves out of the region in exchange for the gem that we sought. I demanded to see the gem when he simply offered a drawing of it. I am no fool. It is a sight to behold, a most glorious specimen of its kind, and it act as a symbol to bolster my armies to victory over evil in the battles to come.
Invigorated, I questioned Bob about his affiliation with the Scarlet Brotherhood after Gaia confirmed the cut of his robes signified a middling rank in the organization. He gave a queer story about the entire organization losing focus some time ago, apparently around the time that the dimensional oddities began. The local cell had taken it upon themselves to free the slaves of the region and were instigating uprisings wherever possible. Sowing chaos among Chaos made me laugh.
I asked of Fr. Cassian what the Church had to say about redemption and was assured that the healing light of Pelor shines brightest on those in need. I suggested to Bob that instead of taking noble actions under the guise of a known, heinous organization that he do so under the faith. Such was the passion of my appeal that he immediately tore off his robes and was converted by Fr. Cassian on the spot.
We retired towards Port Julio to attack the logistical problem of smuggling so many people out of a small port while Bob stayed to hold down the fort, so to speak. We encountered another band of freed slaves and directed them to Bob. A third band of freed slaves, led by Bill in Red, converted to our cause. The power of Pelor's word was amplified by the prospect of my new gem and truly shone on us, as Bill happened to have smuggling contacts in town. He went to work immediately upon our arrival, where we remain to help facilitate the transport.
Yours under Pelor's shining gaze,
Knight Justicar Percival, Lord of Horizon
Port Julio
The party rebooted this week with mostly new PCs since the majority of their primary team was down with training or absent. There was a push to get back into the dungeon after all the high stakes shenanigans and everyone agreed, so off they went.
Kirk of Forseti was the only legacy PC involved and they ran on his memory of things. An illusory 30' lava pit caused the first death of the night, Arthur the Mage testing the fake bridge and falling to his death. Huldu pulled his corpse out and they burned him before moving on over a sekrit hidden ledge.
In a twisting, winding hallway Kirk decided to double back and search a wall. He had some logic I don't recall. A small compartment was found that held a wooden box covered in some synthetic, weird leather-like material. It rattled when they shook it. They didn't open it.
A magical handprint in the wall of one room teleported them back and forth from a chamber somewhere else in the dungeon. They opted to stay on the original side and keep exploring, Tonga's brother Loa appearing next to them during the teleportation. A hidden lever raised a portcullis which they spiked shut to disable.
A huge mural depicting an epic fight with a dragon dominated one wall of the next chamber. When they got close enough to inspect it, the dragon leapt out of the wall and attacked. The viking warrior fell flat to the ground, his fancy broadsword clattering nearby. Wooderson grabbed up the fallen sword and the rest did battle, learning quickly that it was only harmed by magical weapons. Between the found gear and what they already had, they were able to get it done, but not before Huldu was brained by the stony claws.
They shared out the clearly magical items and carried on, walking into an ambush laid by a couple bugbears due to the noise of the previous fight. Kirk fell, but wasn't killed, and the party overcame the enemy through magic and sheer will. They investigated the bugbear campsite and found a chest trapped with a magical flamethrower. Attempts to disarm it resulted it in being perpetually on, blasting the chest with flames. Having had enough of this place for the day and acquiring what appeared to be the rumored dragonslaying sword, they pulled out.
Some appraisal of the gems in the little box yielded a tidy sum. Jarl Fost paid them for recovering Istand the Dragonslaying broadsword with the understanding it was to be employed by one of their stoutest warriors against the white dragons. I left them to do treasure splits because there is nothing more boring and tedious than splitting treasure when it doesn't concern you.
Musings:
A bit of get along gang this session with Kirk pushing to have Istand the Dragonslayer given to their legacy party. To be clear, idgaf about any of that. Players do what players want I just run the results. Just interesting we had a back-stabby crab bucket session not too long ago. These boys keep it fresh.
There was a question about how much of their session was decided by 2d6. The existence of the little box was the only thing in the dungeon I used it for. The likelihood of Fost offering some kind of reward for the sword was the other, back in town. The rest of the session was pre-existing shenanigans.
Training costs what it costs. If a discount is offered as some kind of reward or negotiation, I assume the trainer is paying the difference themselves. If PCs train other PCs, there is no profit to be made and discounting would be a kind gesture indeed. The advantage to PCs training other PCs is when there are no other trainers available.
There's a bit about bonus languages needing to be learned during play, but the timeline to do so is longer than gameable. Some DMs allow those bonus languages to be chosen at character generation. Some would sperg out about RAW. Bloodfall compromises in that a new language can be chosen like a new weapon proficiency at level-up, from the languages known by available sources. Register your complaints with HR.
Grading:
- Kirk: Excellent, drove the action as public servant of Bloodfall
- Huldu: Deceased, RIP
- Ojisan: Excellent, utilized magic where able, offered advice and light from the safety of the rear
- Tonga: Excellent, curious about the weird stuff, fumbled at trap stuff
- Arthur: Deceased, RIP.
- Loa: Excellent, curious about the weird stuff, fumbled at trap stuff
- Wooderson: Excellent, held the line
- Ormr: Excellent, held the line
Team No-Good made their play last week and stole the Falcon Idol, leaving the besieged Bloodfall at an all-time low in morale and teetering on the verge of destruction. Having created their own problem, several of the same players put on white hats and took a run at solving it this session.
Several PCs had escaped the siege to seek help from outside, Thorgal and Raylan the rangers from Untorfin the Bronze Dragon and Broderick and Kirk from the city Svarthold. Untorfin agreed to aid them in exchange for the death of the nearby white dragons. The leadership of Svarthold didn't care at all, but a visiting band of mercenaries from Brozer Island offered their aid. They only asked a detailed map of the area surrounding Svarthold in exchange.
Much of this session was planning and maneuvering resources. CPT Animal of the Drakonian Auxiliary Army accompanied Broderick to the rendezvous with Raylan and Untorfin. Raylan snuck through the lines and raced a patrol of goblins to the smugglers' tunnel. The plan was to use a duel with the gnoll king as a distraction, then attack while he was exposed, but the PCs were too cowardly to challenge the gnoll themselves so they convinced Halforn Halfornson to do it for them.
The group sent the new thief, Peter Dinklage, out the sekrit tunnel to deliver the plan to Broderick and Raylan and the new cleric Pius (this party grows every week). He got lost and took a long time to deliver the message. Meanwhile, the ranger Hussein demanded the honor of delivering the terms of the duel to the Gnoll king. He ran into a group of gnoll sentries who gave him a bunch of grief, so he outran them to the command tent and tossed his underwear-laden spear-made-parley flag into the ground at the king's tent and demanded he show himself.
A brief interaction between the two led to blows and Hussein's horse was cut from under him. He managed to avoid being crushed and exchanged many blows with the Gnoll king before being cut down by the Blackblade, skinned, and displayed as another morale blow to the troops of Bloodfall.
Halfornson declined to engage in any duel with the gnoll king after that, so those inside simply lit a big fire to signal go-time. By about this time, the Sandwich goblins to the south, being led in gross chanting by the Sons of Loki Cthaylorites, had manifested some sort of weather event of strange green clouds, heat lightning, and fishy, stagnant water smell on the wind. No one really knew what to make of that so ignored it.
The allies formed up outside under Halforn's command, meeting the gnolls across the field. CPT Animal's poorly disciplined and slovenly mercs formed up to attack from the rear once battle was joined. Untorfin kicked it off, risking gnoll archer fire to strafe the enemy with his breath weapon and force a fear check from his terrifying aura. The bulk of Bloodfall's forces remained in the walls to defend against the goblins threatening to assault.
Most of the session was planning and such so by the time we actually kicked off we only had about an hour left. I gave the group the choice of running a scaled AD&D combat at 10:1 or zeroing in on the strike force trying to kill the gnoll king which was always their plan. They chose the gnoll king zoom in and I breathed a sigh of relief. There were like 6 different factions worth of figs to account for and I was kinda spent energy wise. I didn't have the gas to run all that at the end of session.
The dragon's fear had been wildly effective, making a giant hole around the gnoll king and his body guards. Gunnbjorn led his Ogresmasher mercs against them, with Raylan wielding Heartstopper and Aevarr being carried into battle behind Chanting a battle hymn of Tyr. Broderick and Pius engaged from the rear, with the NPC armies engaging the gnolls and sticking them in place to prevent them rallying to their king.
I thought the gnoll king's +5 longsword was going to kill at least one PC, but I think the only casualties were horses. Aevarr's chant prevented at least 2 hits that I recall and otherwise he just rolled poorly. The goblins attacking the walls and the gnolls giving the humans all they could handle broke and fled when the gnoll king fell and the Blackblade was lifted high overhead by Raylan.
The defenders of Bloodfall suffered heavy casualties but survived. Animal's mercs many fewer, the PCs none. The crazy weather faded away as the cultists and goblins fled. The siege was lifted and the PCs were declared the heroes of Bloodfall. The Blackblade thrummed and hummed and vibrated in unsettling ways. Raylan really liked the sword but agreed it was probably evil when Broderick demanded its destruction after detecting it as definitely 100% evil. Jarl Fost agreed and suggested it be stowed in a lead-lined box until some way to destroy it could be discovered.
Grading:
- Raylan: Excellent. Bold in combat, defeated the gnoll king, tried to wrangle the cats
- Broderick: Excellent. Bold in combat, brought reinforcements, steadfast against evil sword temptation
- Gunnbjorn: Excellent. Bold in combat, led his men against the enemy
- Hussein: Deceased. RIP
- Pius: Excellent. Hard on the heels of Broderick the "main character"
- Aevarr: Excellent. Battle Chant of Tyr probably saved two lives.
- Peter: Excellent. Sneaky message delivery, [REDACTED]. NO COMBAT XP
I, Knight Justicar Percival of Horizon, report a great victory from the tip of Pelor's spear thrust deep into the heart of evil. Some might call our success the blind luck of aimless idiots, but not in my hearing, because I know as sure as the sun rises in the east that we owe our success to our most awesome god of Light and Warmth.
We knew the ogre village from our previous excursion would be a problem and unfortunately it was. While we were seeking allies from anyone nearby interested in the fight against the beastmen, the brutes lashed out at the nearby halflings of Starnsville, effectively destroying our vassal town before we had time to react.
To blunt their march should their rampage continue, Fr. Cassian boldly called forth griffons with his Pelor-gifted miracles and set to routing them with June's borrowed Mask of the Basilisk, strafing them until they broke and fled for home. This tactic had limited long-term value as their chieftain was not the typical drooling specimen of Ogre-kind and regrouped his forces at their village. They were unlikely to stare up at any approaching griffons in the future.
Our call for aid was answered by the filthy insidious arrogant local elves of the Dreadwood, led by their Emperor Xi Tzu, who promised aid within a few days. With reinforcements on the way, we deployed our adventuring party to destroy any recon sent out by the ogres and keep them blind. The ogres were not scouting so we put the pressure on them, using a rotating shift of griffons to strafe their camp, screech, and otherwise disturb them. This had the desired effect of depriving them of comfort and exhausting them so if it came to battle they would be weakened and vulnerable.
I desperately wanted a chance to kill their leader. If we could cut the head from the snake, they would be unable to organize effectively and maybe even retreat. Unfortunately two full companies of ogres had survived Fr. Cassian's strafing. There simply was no way we could just attack them.
We camped at our forward point and continued our airborne psychological attack on the ogre camp. Charlie the Explorer, my faithful henchman and hero of the operation, shook me awake sometime in the night. He was alarmed to find the entire ground shaking. It could have been many things but Pelor guided my instincts and I blurted out the command to halt. Everyone was to stand perfectly still.
The rumbling subsided and I thanked our Sunny Lord for the added wrinkle on my otherwise smooth brain. Rumbling ground could be any number of things, but for some reason I imagined a subterranean assault, a worm or tunneling creature. As it turns out I was right, and the creatures, great gray monstrous worms, left us and attacked the ogres who were stirred to unrest by the griffon harassment.
This was our chance. We armed ourselves and rushed to engage the ogres while they were distracted, cutting a path to their chieftain. Our lances, arrows, and spells struck true and we were able to effectively eliminate the entire command structure of the enemy force. They routed in confusion after suffering many losses to both us and the worms. Unfortunately our temporary alliance could not be cemented and we struck down the remaining worm before it ate us, our horses, and everything around it.
Emperor Xi Tzu arrived to Horizon with an elite band of hippogriff-mounted cataphract cavalry, displaying all the haughty demands and condescension expectations an Emperor of a Chaos-tainted corrupt soulless long-lived race of sub-humans demi-humans. He demanded fancy cheeses and wine and I was happy that our little backwater fort had none of these things.
Xi Tzu was eager to pursue the fleeing ogres and blood his well-trained but green blades on an enemy already routed, weak, and broken. I was eager to see him gone. This is what we call a mutually beneficial arrangement and we happily waved him good-bye.
With the elves out of our hair, Fr. Cassian departed for Gradsul on griffon-back to deliver a foul blade recovered from the ogre hoard to the church heads there. It should be destroyed immediately as it creates undead from foes slain with it.
Horizon continues to grow. We have founded a settlement and attract the faithful monthly. We truly are carving out civilization from this dark land. Next, we will approach the lost of Skalafell who allege that they were abandoned by Keoland in the previous war. We will show them a better way.
Yours in victory,
Knight Justicar Percival, Lord of Horizon
Musings:
DM was going to run any engagement with the ogres with ACKS abstracted combat using Battle Ratings. This system is great for resolving larger scale combats quickly but it heavily favors those who are stronger. The ogres had us outmatched in this system maybe 8:1? Maybe more. We had some advantage in a defense, but waiting to get punched ain't really our thing. We put ourselves out there to see what we could achieve before it got to BR where we'd almost certainly lose and got lucky. The random encounter with the worms was just the opportunity we needed.
This session shines a light on players taking the initiative. Do not simply react to the DM. By destroying the enemy leadership, even if they rallied and attacked us they wouldn't have the commanders to effectively lead and would suffer in BR combat. Unfortunately the elves will get the glory of running them down, but we got all the treasure so I'll call that a win.
"Ok team, what are yall gonna to do tonight?" says the DM, wincing at the response. "Who's got a Good PC? Cuz you can't come." That pretty much set the tone for the session, balanced around 2 (two) separate heist schemes to be investigated, planned, and executed all at once.
There was some chatter in downtime among a segment of the party calling themselves "Team No-Good" where they wanted to steal the Falcon Idol from Bloodfall. Yngve the Fighter had personal reasons due to a downtime pbp run by a separate DM and the rest were just looking for a payout. If Yngve's hook generation bothers you, well, you are Not Going To Make It. Hold on loosely, brother, and lean into inserts to the campaign. This is part of playing in a club atmosphere.
So there we were with a massive party of scoundrels, ne'er-do-wells, and apathetics. They wanted to break Baldrig the Enforcer out of prison and also steal the Falcon. Much time was spent planning and investigating, with creative use of resources earning them quality intel and disguises. One group was going to infiltrate the Great Hall as part of the guard unit while the other was going to stake out the Falcon and secure their exit.
Vigi the dwarf was able to verify that Viseworth was indeed paying for Baldrig's release after some frustrating encounters with scoundrels. I think it was Hymir that laid a fat bribe on Rosco the Barkeep that revealed a sekrit tunnel used for smuggling and Hymir, Van, and Thornbro in some combination that convinced a trollop to involve herself as a distraction. Rollo and Yngve were persona non grata after their participation in the Bloodstein on the side of the besiegers of Bloodfall, so they were laying low and waiting to engage with muscle. Lloyd and Thornbro used their animals and magic to gather intel. Samson ran as face with Broderick the Neon, paladin guardian of the Falcon and also a PC not played during session, to get a written pass to get them past the gate. Thornbro commented, "Oh no we're going to have to kill my own PC!" and then continued with the heist because he's not a baby.
After some two hours of set-up, they purchased some supplies and another PC joined briefly only to be run out because he was Good aligned and also very very late to session. He insulted them and they insulted him and he left. Bros gon bro.
Van and Hymir infiltrated the Great Hall, but there were many more guards involved than they anticipated, a full squad for each shift. Istrid the trollop got to work but was a little overwhelmed at the attention. The SGT on duty was unimpressed and guarded the door to the cell dutifully. The two tried to convince him to leave, involve himself with Istrid, or something but he wasn't biting. So they ambushed him.
A SGT is generally a 1st level fighter. Ok, not that tough. The PCs generated two segments of surprise. This was gonna be a quick ordeal quickly resolved and I began to think about how to run the "hiding the body" Splinter Cell/Assassin's Creed scene. The slap fight that ensued took several rounds, alerted the room, and turned into chaos.
Van eventually choked the guard out and claimed him to be angling for Baldrig's release. There was much confusion and eventually Istrid fled, some guards chased her, and a runner went for the CPT. Leadbelly came out, quickly and incorrectly assessed the situation, and tied the unconscious SGT to a chair for the CPT to sort out. Then he plopped down in a nearby chair to observe.
Hymir and Van were on the clock, so Hymir went big and tried to slip in the door. I use 2d6 to resolve most anything that doesn't have an exact mechanical representation in the game I'm playing. Low is bad, high is good. Simple and effective. Boxcars got the elf into the room with no one the wiser while Van rambled at those present as a distraction. Baldrig nearly killed the elf but bought his story about freedom. He took the offered uniform and left promptly, never to be seen again in session. Hymir was left in an unlocked cell while Van ran interference outside.
The CPT showed up, called Van out, and once the bullshit was clearly drying up Van tried to split. A melee ensued where mercs tried to grapple him but by some miracle he fought each one off. Hymir dashed out in the confusion but caught a sword blow for his trouble. The two lightly encumbered PCs broke free and fled into the town. This was the first indication that their planning was not as precise as they'd hoped. No one knew where their rendezvous point was because they hadn't set one. Samson even waited in a different location to be notified when it was time to leave. They hared off into the town, Hymir eventually losing his tail but Van being caught and killed in the ensuing struggle due to ignorance of the winding alleys of Bloodfall.
 |
| Hymir the Elf, probably |
In the meantime, Rollo had snuck out through the sekrit passage to try and drum up a distracting raid on the town and gather his men to meet with whoever escaped in the chaos. Unfortunately, none of the enemies could be convinced to go against the Gnoll King's wishes to lay a siege with his ever-growing stockpile of catapults.
Growing impatient and running low on both session and game time, Yngve set fire to a house nearby as a distraction. While it caused quite the alarm, the guards on the Falcon maintained discipline. It should also be noted that Broderick was not on duty on the Falcon at this time. Eventually enough of a conflagration was under way to encourage the Gnolls to probe the town's defenses. Between the fire, a raid, and a breakout, it was full bedlam. Vigi the Dwarf ran forward and rallied the guards to join him at the raid, half of them joining him to run off into the darkness only for him to slip away and return to the Idol.
The remaining guards were quickly subdued with magic, missile fire, and charging attacks by Yngve, Lloyd, and Vigi, but not before one could escape. Uh oh they were on the clock. If Fost or one of the leveled guys showed up they knew they were chalked. Yngve jumped up on the statue to use some dust he was given to turn it invisible, but a hidden glyph of warding sparked off and paralyzed him. The rest struggled the idol into the waiting wagon and beat it for the gate, Hymir sprinkling the fairy dust or whatever on everyone in the back.
The guards on the gate were very confused about a seemingly empty wagon, but they had a pass signed by the hero Broderick so surely they were legit. Off they went into the night and were joined shortly by Rollo and his men who scared off a goblin patrol and "escorted" them through the besieging beastmen. Samson still waited at Thor on the Floor, left behind either on purpose or by accident, who knows.
As they struggled with their wagon in the dark through the hills, the members of "Team No-Good" sprung their betrayal, pushing the Idol out onto the ground and informing Lloyd and Thornbro that they were gonna take it for themselves so scram. Lloyd was pissed but outnumbered and Thornbro had to leave for RL so he just followed Lloyd's lead. They shook fists but otherwise carried on towards Svarthold. No-Good enacted their downtime plan, loaded the Falcon onto their waiting cart, and departed for destinations unknown.
Musings:
It should come as no surprise when the party intentionally comprised of scumbags does scumbag things. There was some frustration over the treachery and some apologies as players, but Yngve at least was magically compelled to act as he did. I find it interesting that despite all of the drama, laughs, and ultimate goals achieved during the session that no one got paid. Baldrig disappeared and the Idol, while in their possession, had not been liquidated. There were many witnesses to their various criminal acts, and these PCs are pretty much all wanted in Bloodfall should the town even survive. Downtime should be interesting.
Grading:
- Yngve: Excellent. Pursued his mission doggedly. Solved problems like a fighter.
- Hymir: Excellent. Disguising, spying, killing, fleeing.
- Rollo: Excellent. Gathered his men, tried to influence from his position as a commander, intimidated the goblins and escorted the cart through the line.
- Thornbro: Excellent. Druid in town played up social awkwardness, engaged with animals at every opportunity, set clear moral guidelines for participation
- Samson: Excellent. Ran interference with Broderick, missed the fighting because no one told him where the fight was.
- Lloyd: Excellent. MU focused, involved in planning with spells, used familiar to scout.
- Van: Deceased. RIP
- Vigi: Excellent. Solved problems like a fighter.
Rifle 1, SMG 1, Brawling, Fwd Obs
Malcolm Kriger was an aimless youth of no great potential. He was smart, but not particularly athletic or ambitious. By way of an upper middle class upbringing, he was able to dodge most levels of responsibility until he was tossed out of the house after a barfight and embarrassing-to-the-family-name night in jail. The Army recruiter loved him.
During his first term, he excelled mostly by faking it until he made it, his laziness flying under the radar as he tripped over a commission as a Lieutenant and stumbled through officer training as a forward observer. A disagreement with his CO, CPT Trigger, a flash of characteristically self-sabotaging temper, and a month in the brig left the young LT without an invitation for continuing service with the Army.
CPT Trigger, as a last middle-finger to the PITA Krieger, left him at a backwater waystation called Moonshine with no ticket out, no farewell weaponry, and only the wages that he had not wasted on liquor, fighting, and women in that order.
Thus far able to coast on above average intelligence and the bare minimum of effort, Krieger was left to actually have to make something of himself without any kind of real foundation as a man. Great. A temper and a little experience does not a brawler make, but he at least knew how to handle a weapon and call in an orbital strike? What the fuck use is that in civilian life?
Wandering the streets of the city leaves him with little other than rumors that a local shipment of corn destined for the corpo-distilleries was overdosed with pesticides and like to kill anyone that drinks anything made from it. Maybe that info could be peddled to someone of note if he could find out more information, but until then he needed a place to crash and probably a weapon. This place is definitely sketchy.
I want to thank Knight Captain Dawes for his expediency in helping the Holy Rollers conclude our recent task in Gradsul. Without his aid, we would have undoubtedly erred through ignorance. This report will explain.
Fr. Cassian prayed upon his wounds suffered in the service of Pelor and was granted the restoration of his flesh by our Holy Lord. During his convalescence, we learned more about the task the Khajit Danconia wanted us to perform. He also offered a solid reward. I am troubled over the moral implications of completing it and will pray on it for guidance.
Our party renewed our quest to recover Sir Willers' remains from the wilderness. We offered to escort some halflings along the road and spent a little time investigating for rumored bandit activity which was ultimately fruitless. Depositing the halflings at my vassalage of Starnsville, we carried on.
The scout Zimon reported a hub of activity ahead, where men in aprons were loading wagons with harvested nuts. He took this as an illegal nut-butter operation and acted accordingly, setting a distracting brushfire and spurring us to attack. We arrived on the scene to armed but unimpressive men fleeing in panic. I quickly gathered their leader, asserted control over the situation, and organized the extinguishing of the fire.
Their story was that they worked for a grocer of sorts named Mr. Whole. He dealt in organically sourced, high quality produce and provided it to a discerning clientele. In other words, he picked berries out of the woods and sold them at an obscene markup to delusional morons. (DM had recently visited a Whole Foods for the first time. RIP). We met with Mr. Whole, quickly determined that while absolutely a den of Chaos, it was not one worth immediately burning to the ground without further investigation, and departed to revisit the place with cleansing fire at a later date. A scowling harridan threatened me on several occasions to "go back where I belong". I nodded politely and saluted her. We will meet again and her howling under the attentions of my Inquisition will soothe my irritated soul.
Zimon led our party onwards, where eventually we discovered the site of an old battlefield. Our teachings tell us that places of concentrated death often develop into sinkholes of evil and begin spawning undead, but none of that was happening here. We investigated and found it was clearly Sir Willers' resting place, where he had his heroic last stand against hordes of beastmen, primarily orcs by the bones.
Thanks to Knight Captain Dawes, we made contact with the Willers family and estate, apparently well-connected at court in Gradsul. I borrowed the flying steed and delivered Sir Willers home. The family hosted me and offered a reward which I accepted. It also improved our standing in all the right places with the nobility. The Holy Rollers are known now, and will continue to grow in renown as we fight the good fight on the frontier.
We set Fr. Jasper and his pilgrims to restoring the site and continued combing the territory for threats. Some foul creatures, undead constructs of heinous and unknown origin, were dispatched at the cost of much of Zimon's blood.
A warband of ogres stumbled into our party and said something absolutely foolish like, "You got trade?" with the glint of greed and naivety in their beady, retarded eyes. I suppose they missed the banner, holy symbols of Pelor, and resolute purpose in ours. As we rode them down, they scattered, seeking to notify their nearby village of attack. We prevented their escape but we may have been discovered and while I relish the thought of wading in ogre blood, chose the better part of valor against hundreds of them and we retreated.
Our trackers suggested doubling back and making false trails before heading home. It was a sound tactic. We will begin preparations to exterminate this nest of pests as soon as possible.
Yours at the tip of the spear,
Knight Justicar Percival, Lord of Horizon
Musings:
We're approaching the level of the game where it begins to beg for a wider scope. We're gaining renown with nobility at home, making allies abroad, and taking on larger tasks like domain building, vassals, and the like. The ogre village is our first large scale encounter. Something we're learning is building an army is possible, but it isn't fast without taking some extra steps. The markets available to us are small or distant. If we're going to clash on a battlefield with anything, we're gonna have to grow beyond our handfuls of troops. Our recent allies, recovered magic items, and market class manipulation should see us with a decent recruiting pool in May.
I am not a true believer in TNB, but I do recognize the Braunstein as a valuable tool to resolve some types of scenarios within your campaign that crop up organically. Much to my dismay, I realized that the Bloodfall campaign had many factions at odds with each other that were barreling towards conflict. Because it's a living campaign, this friction could not be ignored until I felt like feeding it piecemeal to the players. I was going to have to run a Braunstein session.
I am wargame coded. I tried to set the conflict up in an interesting way, which I thought I did ok at, but after stepping back it was clear that I had a wargame scenario that we were going to resolve differently. I needed many fewer zero-sum goals but this is why we try new things. My previous events have all been play by post.
The Roster
Madcow - Leadbelly, Captain of the Guard
WeatherReport - Halforn Halfornson, previous Jarl's son
Joshinyu - Jibberwall Goblins
Matthew - Jarl Fost, High Priest of Odin
Polyfamous - Howler the Blackblade, Gnoll Chieftain
Hollyfelled - Xandir the Shaker and the Sons of Loki, Cthaylor Cultists
Bdubs - Viseworth the Taxman
Boldvay - Olvar Goldeneye, Comall Trading Post
J - Sandwich Goblins
The McGuffins
The Falcon Idol - Installed by PCs. Permanent Plant Growth, infinite food, big status/wealth
The Blackblade - Legendary sword of Howler the Gnoll King. Unifying force for beastmen.
The Witness - Info on the previous Jarl's suspicious death.
The Jarl's Seat - Meet the new boss...
Each faction had overlapping interests in at least a few of the McGuffins, plus their own individual things like survival, unification, revenge, or greed. I set a basic resolution system of a CRT for combat and 2d6 for anything else, then immediately shot myself in the foot by declaring that movement had to run through the DM. My vision of watching different conflicts develop and be resolved independently was dashed.
Despite my best efforts to ruin things, the players persevered, spending most of the time negotiating, setting, and breaking alliances. There was bribery, treachery, and double-treachery, all the greatest hits. I made the mistake of trying to keep tabs on everything which eventually turned into information overload. Add to that the need to track movement and special actions like theft, spying, and recon and I was toast. It was a mistake to emphasize the war element over top of the shenanigans element at the same time.
Ultimately, the goal of any of this is to set up solid scenarios for the campaign's PCs to play out during sessions. This event ended with the namesake town of Bloodfall under siege by a coalition of beastmen and Cthaylor cultists, the beastmen shooting themselves in the foot by killing their outside supplier of arms and armor, and the town's unsurprisingly infamous tax collector MIA.
There were several PCs allied to various factions and they all survived their various conflicts. On review, play was strong all around but Fost was closest to all of his goals. He maintained his seat as Jarl and possession of the Falcon Idol. He failed to discover the witness, but so did everyone else. Gnoll King also hit a goal and also wins the trophy for Funniest Voice D&D with his Scandinavian accent. I give myself a D-. Set up was poor, adjudication clunky, but we did get to an interesting resolution that all agreed was the right play.
Braunstein is the right tool for some jobs, but not every job. It helps to run it well and identify the correct application. Maybe this conflict needed a more dedicated wargame approach but we got there anyway. Special thanks to the good sports of Bloodfall. Let's see how the PCs get out of the siege.
Big fighter party, buncha mercs. Gnomes under the thumb of a Cthayloric priest. Paladin drove the party to mobilize and have them shake it off.
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| Ferocious cult leader |
We basically had two side sessions, a scout/recon/thief role and big clog-the-gap army battle. I'm gonna bullet point the big picture and then talk about the nuts and bolts of the session.
- Scout the gnome encampment, catch them mid heinous evil ritual, most gnomes hidden indoors
- Get discovered, try to lead gnomes into the hills and lose them, try to capture one
- Corrupted gnomes gather their numbers and rush after the party
- Big battle in the pass, PCs hold the front line, thieves sneak around
- Clean-up, treasure, cult journal
I pulled the scouts into a separate room in the hopes it would accelerate the recon part and preserve a little tension. It failed at the first, succeeded at the second. I used surprise to determine the initial situation. Hymir the elf was discovered! The few gnomes (30-40) that were outside scrambled to get ahold of him but he ran. Samson the dwarf waited to ambush a straggler but was discovered and ran the other way. Floyd the half elf tried to lead a bunch of them down the pass towards the waiting party.
Hymir doubled back to witness more than a hundred gnomes gathering at the camp from the nearby caves. Samson eventually did find a straggler and tried to grapple him before being forced to kill him. Floyd outpaced the gnomes who gave up on him, eventually returning to warn the party. The group formed up and began marching to meet the gnomes. They didn't yet know there were over 100 to their ~30. Samson and Hymir returned with more info.
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| Now with badger heads! |
The party wanted a flat part of the pass and to hold the front line with their PCs. In a more open battle to maneuver in, I would have scaled up the fight to accelerate resolution, but this would have unfairly penalized the PCs' individual power in this narrow gap. I chose to just run it as it was.
I had ruled during the recon that the gnomes were not as hampered by the rough hill terrain as Hymir. This opened the door to a possible flank during the battle which could have turned the tide. I used 2d6 to determine if the gnomes would/could execute on that and failed, ruling that their limited leveled presence kept them from having enough control to execute complex maneuvers.
Hymir was able to pelt the enemy cleric at perfect times to interrupt several spells and Floyd blind him with his own, effectively removing him from the combat. The rest was just a slog of numbers and morale. Ormr and Gunnbjorn went down, among a handful of mercs, but eventually the gnomes withdrew. Broderick the Paladin declared a counter-charge which resulted in more combat but ultimately broke morale for the gnomes.
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| Pretend there are a bunch of gnomes |
I missed a morale check for Gunnbjorn's men when he went down. I missed treating the gnomes as individual units or clusters based on their leveled LTs and subsequent morale checks when they went down. Had I scaled up I would have tracked that a little easier, but as it was I defaulted to two sides. Morale is the deciding factor in most pitched battles and it was in this one too, just took a while to get there and made this a bit more of a slog than it had to be.
We had our first engagement with the unarmed combat rules in Bloodfall. I am on record as despising AD&D unarmed combat. I find it an unwelcome change of pace during an encounter because of the jarring shift in system and the friction it causes. I refuse to grapple when I'm a PC and have missed many opportunities to train myself on it. I'm gonna have to get over that as a DM and start pummeling. My personal preferences have no bearing on PC choice of action. I suggest that if you think you're going to grapple, review the rules in the DMG and have your modifiers ready as much as you can.
Grading:
The Good aligned PCs nearly caught a hit across the board for making the gnome open the first treasure box, but review of notes and discussion showed they believed the captive to be an evil cultist priest and not the native gnome captured priest. The Paladin opened the second box once that seemed more clear.
Grading: Dinklage: Excellent. Scout, thief skills, dangerously curious Thorgal: Excellent. Scout, track, combat effective, caller Raylan: ...
