Legate Valerian's Campaign Against Inthorn the Brigand Warlord

Foreword

If you've been reading this D&D ACKS blog for some time (only the best people do) you know the players have been causing trouble in the Auran Borderlands near Turos Tem. So much trouble, in fact, that their actions have led to major mass battle movements for the NPC rulers and generals. 

On their way to the introductory dungeon in an early session the players came across a Brigand Lair. By some freak dice roll, the brigands found the PCs charming and invited them to sup with them. After this session, the PCs would often stop at the encampment on their way to the dungeon to rest and avoid random encounters at night. 

In doing so they learned it was led by a retired Auran General named Inthorn. He was highly decorated and the two Legionnaire PCs were shocked that a man of such high prestige would turn to brigandage. The party became convinced Inthorn was enchanted in some way by his mage retainer or evil cultist paramour. Inthorn was wearing a fancy plumed helmet he never removed; surely it must be a Helm of Alignment change!

A few sessions later the party had a random encounter with an adult green dragon named Ferigno. Its reaction was Neutral so it circled the party demanding tribute. Jack Filcher (RIP), the party's level one Thief, instead promised the dragon he would find riches undreamed of if he raided Inthorn's brigand camp. Ferigno was intrigued and Jack gave him directions to the camp.

Unfortunately my between session reaction checks etc for the dragon engaging the camp didn't lead to a full on assault from the serpent. Instead, the brigands teamed up with the dragon for a short term alliance to attack the Lawful Human Town of Siadanos. The raid was highly successful and Inthorn sat on his laurels for weeks. The dragon took his spoils to a Lair somewhere in the forest the party has yet to discover. 

The Palatine of Siadanos was enraged. He was all too happy to allow Inthorn to take a merchant wagon on its way to Turos Tem now and again. But a a full on assault on HIS town? It would not stand. Worse yet, he demanded the Legate of Turos Tem, the Keep on the Borderlands the PCs called their home base, take care of the problem himself. It's in his region, after all!

It took the Legate about six weeks to call his bannermen. The Palatine, additionally, sent a few units led by his retainer Veritas the Prophet; a strange cleric whom the Legate found off-putting and likely a bit mad. It was obvious the mad cleric was there to assure the Legate carried out the orders exactly.

The party made a mad dash to try and rid Inthorn of his Curse but were unable to accomplish it before Legate Valerian had gathered his armed forces. In another session, the party engaged in a mad assassination plot against Inthorn's retainer(s)... and succeeded! The Legate moved up is timeline to engaged with Inthorn immediately, since the PCs had eliminated one major retainer of the brigands and apparently burned much of their food supply and some of their walls. Amazing.

The Turos Tem regulars gathered at the Parade Ground on March 6th, 2021. From there they marched off into the Viaspen Forest and the PCs had no idea what happened. Two PCs are Legionnaires (Veteran Infantry) and players were worried they could die off-stage. Maybe. 

I ran all of this using the ACKS Domains at War: Campaigns book.  I allowed my dad to roleplay Legate Valerian, giving him his general orders from the Palatine and his Order of Battle. He does NOT have a PC in the proper D&D game, so his motivations had nothing to do with helping or hindering the Players. All was roleplayed as if by the Legate himself; uncaring of PC's needs or wants. Pops brought a more curmudgeonly aspect to the Legate than I would have envisioned myself. His interpretation was the Legate was put out from not being offered a place in the major foreign campaign the Empire was engaging in against Skysos. His career likely going nowhere fast. My below correspondence from the Legate attempt to emulate the voice he gave him during RP.

At this point the Military Campaign was run as a wargame of sorts whose results would echo into the TTRPG campaign. If you've seen the documentary Secrets of Blackmoor, you are aware that D&D began with wargaming; with the referee then zooming in on the individual captains, generals and such. Proper D&D, then, is actually a region based wargame wherein we zoom in from time to time on various major regional players; oftentimes the D&D Players.

As such, I believe I am upholding the spirit of True D&D by allowing a side mission wargame like this. Additionally, by using Jeffrogaxian Timekeeping, I didn't need to figure it all out at once. ACKS Domains at War rules move a week at a time for overland campaigns. Essentially a turn each week. 

The Campaign

On March 6th the Turos Tem forces were gathered: four units of elite catapharacts,  three units of horse archers, three units of bowmen, and five units of heavy infantry. At platoon scale this meant each normal unit was 30 men and each unit of horse was 15. At such a small scale the enemy wizard was thought to be a great threat indeed; calculating at a value in mass battle about 6 times that of a normal heavy infantry. For one man! Legate Valerian was unconcerned and marched off into the Viaspen before lunch time.

On March 10th the Players received their first word about what was happening in the Viaspen Forest and the Legate's campaign. The Praeco took to a small stage outside the Turos Tem Villa and made the following announcement:

"Auran Citizens! It is my pleasure to announce the traitor Inthorn, disgraced General of the Legion, is on the run. Our glorious Legate Valerian and our stalwart Legion have harried the traitor from his den of trollops, sending Inthorn to flee into the wretched Viaspen forest. Great spoils were found in the traitor's camp, as well as the much abused corpses of Temple faithful; one Damianus (PC Cleric Level 1), an Acolyte of the Ammonar sect and Swoleous Maxiumus (PC Paladin Level1, a new paladin of same. Both men have be posthumously named 'Petty Heroes of Turos Tem' for their work in infiltrating Inthorn's camp. They will be provided a Turos Tem funerary pyre and shelf space for their urn in the Hospital at a place of honor intended for Petty Heroes. Any citizens heard referring to these Petty Heroes with the contemptible title of 'Adventurer' will be subject to summary judgement. Auran Citizen Jack Filcher (PC Thief Level 1), also found dead at the scene, may be referred to as 'Adventurer'. "

"Upon gathering the spoils of the camp for his Men, our Legate has taken chase of the disgraced general, his remaining forces, and his warlock puppeteer Dairin. Citizens are advised to make extra tithes to the various temples, as per their patronage, in divine defense against nightmares and cacodemons said warlock may send to our Legature, as reprisal. Our Legate has no timeline for his campaign and the Legions return and encourages our patience!"

"As per our majestic Palatine, this campaign cannot be abandoned until Inthorn is brought to Auran Justice. Dead. Or alive. Further news of our Legate's Viaspen Campaign will be sponsored by the Miller's Guild. True Auran bread for true Aurans."

Players bought drinks for some of the Legion who returned to Turos Tem with this news. It seemed the Legate had lost two units of infantry in a rear guard action against Inthorn who was fleeing the ruins of his burned up camp. The 30 or so injured legionnaires from this action were sent back to Turos Tem to pass the news along and be treated in the Hospital. They reported to the players that Legate Valerian took no prisoners, executing all captured brigands and burned unceremoniously, so that the Turos Tem forces might take chase of Inthorn who had fled off into the forest. 

What follows is new info for mine players documenting what happened with the campaign after March 10th. Correspondence from the Legate to various parties.

"Juselen 19th, 382 IY (March 12th, 2021 in our world)

From the mouth of Legate Ulrand Valerian, dictated to his humble servant Cyr the scribae.

My Palatine: The campaign goes well. The traitor Inthorn fled his burned up parapet some two days ago. My men are taking chase with great alacrity and discipline. I believed Inthorn was heading for the swamp on the western edge of the Viaspen but now his movements seem random. Perhaps trying to lose me or, we fear, attempting to taking a roundabout path to the lair of Ferigno the dragon. Its difficult to tell what Inthorn or his warlock may be planning. I personally witnessed Dairin the warlock riding a flying nightmare during our initial engagement. He appears trained in elementalism and his fireballs greatly injured some of my infantry who were sent back to my keep. I regret that Veritas the Prophet, your retainer and cleric, has been unable to divine anything of tactical value to the above. Our supply line and morale remains strong. May the Emperyan gods guide my path and steady my blade."

"Juselen 20th, 382 IY (March 13th, 2021 in our world)

From the mouth of Legate Ulrand Valerian, dictated to his humble servant Cyr the scribae.

My Palatine: I beg you keep your mage close and, if you deem it wise, request the company of a templar for some days. My life was endangered this night by an invisible assassin, conjured by chthonic magic  from the warlock Dairin. I consider my life indebted to you for sending Veritas the Prophet for this campaign. His kinship with the gods gave him sight to see and eliminate what was otherwise a silent and invisible assassin. I have my problems with the man (he is a drunkard and lacking in stoicism) but he eliminated the invisible stalker in my tent with mace hand before returning to our chess match. He became too drunk and I subsequently won. We have yet to engage Inthorn's forces in direct battle but know he is close. The fact he would employ such a cowardly attack on my person speaks ill of the man. A legionnaire in my service who met with the traitor recently claims him a good man, but I become unconvinced. May the Emperyan gods guide my path and steady my blade."

 "Juselen 22nd, 382 IY (March 15, 2021 in our world)

From the mouth of Legate Ulrand Valerian, dictated to his humble servant Cyr the scribae.

My Palatine: Victory is ours. This afternoon, after nigh a week of chase in circles around the elf touched briars of the Viaspen Forest, we closed with Inthorn's forces and engaged in a pitched battle. One imagines what Auran honor was left in the warlord finally appealed to the better angels of his nature, temporarily eliminating the cowardice which sent him fleeing here and there on this pointless ramble. After our rear guard action on Inthorn some days ago, he had the following at his command:

-Seven units of medium cavalry

-Five units of bowmen

The Auran forces much superior in numbers, my only fear was what sort of mischief the warlock may get into during the engagement. As before he was circling the field on a flying steed of flame, singeing the treetops with hoofbeat. Our bowmen exchanged volley with Inthorn's and both side took losses. Fireballs fell from the sky removing the last of our bow from the field. I ordered a melee engagement as quickly as possible. I held no delusion Dairin would care if his magic fire landed upon his supposed allies but I intended for both sides to take losses from such cruelty. 

It happened just as this. Fire continued to fall from the sky as our horse and infantry clashed with Inthorn's. Despite Inthorn's men being much better trained than any brigands I have yet engaged with his many remaining bowmen were scattered with fear upon sight of our veteran catapharact and the warlock's wild flames from the sky. Veritas appeared to have brought the strength of the gods to his unit of cavalry and their strikes were true indeed. He and my own Centurion proved their worth.

I personally brained Inthorn with my lance in a full charge, knocking him from his horse. He surrendered as best an nigh unconscious man might. His helmet did indeed appear magical as it did not take flight from his head as is the norm. Dairin the cowardly warlock never touched down to face justice and flew off away from the battle leaving his brothers-in-arms to their fate. One is thankful the mages at the Tower of Knowledge know the empyrean gods, understanding justice and order. Not vile slaves to the chthonic supposed gods of chaos and decay, as is Dairin. Veritas divined Dairin's location later and believes the evil mage has gone to beg the service and protection of Ferigno. Such are concerns for vagabonds and adventurers, but I repeat myself.

The rest of the day was a simple cleanup action. Most of the brigands attempted to flee but were easily ran down and destroyed by our horse. I have claimed one hundred and one prisoners which I will send back to Siadanos with your retainer Veritas to be adminstered Justice as you see fit.

This number of prisoners includes Inthorn the warlord himself. I can report my legionnaire who moonlights as an adventurer was correct. The General was under a curse. Veritas removed the curse and Inthorn is very contrite for his actions. He has asked the I behead him personally for his transgressions.

But I send him back to you for your Justice. I advise leniency as many a man has fallen to the wiles of a black widow. Much less one who whispers schemes with Nasga herself.

The losses I faced were more than I would have preferred. Though none of my units were destroyed, many were crippled. Including:

-three unit of cataphract

-two units of heavy infantry [DM Note: The Unit with Mandonio (PC Fighter Level 1) and Gauis (PC Fighter Level 2) were not among these.]

-three unit of bowmen (all of them)

-one unit of horse archers

I regret that your forces were among these losses. These men will need to be given bed rest and time to combine the forces to reconstitute new units. 

Many spoils were taken; 32,000 gold piece in value in all. I send 5,000 of this back to you as apology for your loss of men. I also will send you Inthorn's spear and sword which Veritas claims are of great magic indeed. [DM Note: as per ACKS Domains at War rules on "Spoils of War" on page 75, the General of an army takes 50% of the spoils. The other 50% is disbursed to the men on a pro rata basi in relation to their wages. This gained the PCs Mandonio and Gaius each about 15 gold pieces in spoils and 15 XP.]

I expect my return to Turos Tem on Juselen 28 (March 21) as a funeral pyre will need to be provided for our lost men and travel through this forest is quite taxing to us; especially with casualties. May the Emperyan gods guide my path and steady my blade."

"Juselen 23nd, 382 IY (March 16, 2021 in our world)

 Wife: I have won. I will return by the end of the month.

Your husband, Legate Valerian"

ACKS Session 13: Wandering Stooges

 Session played on 03/10/2021

Foreward

Every session has its own feel. This one was a bit more laid back and focused on info gathering. That's not to say the players WANTED to fail to find a good score (or even the dungeon they set out to find). It's just that, in hindsight a month or two from now, this session will likely be seen as one where the game world got bigger and some major points of interests were discovered for future exploitation.

Tonight the players were still running with The B Team since the main party PCs were still stuck in Time Compression due to their adventuring into the future many weeks.

Players were less hyped this week to make a major change to the campaign world. Perhaps losing most of the party in the previous session gave them pause or they were tired of rolling up new level 1 PCs. Instead they set up a simple goal of going to a new dungeon the bard PC brought to the table and checking it out. Unfortunately, they never found the place. Read on!

Session Report

Things started quite a bit quicker this session, with players only taking about 25-30 minutes to decide on the goal of seeking out the book The Lost Cults of Cyfaraun the new historian bard Felix the Elder (PC Bard Level 1) was interested in finding. He guessed it to have a value of over 2,000 GP to a collector. With a game using GP = XP this was all the motivation some of the players required to agree to help him acquire it.

 The codex was not near Turos Tem, however, where the party currently resided. The ruined Zaharan monastery rumored to hold the codex was across the Krysivor River from Turos Spen. For reference each hex on this map is 6 miles across. The party discussed a bit if such a mission would trap them in a time compression situation ("If it takes 2 weeks to get there we can't play these PCs in next week's session.") but their main PCs were catching up to our irl calendar on 03/15/21, before session 14 was scheduled. Team A would thus be available next session!

follow along!

So Team B set off and took about a day to get to Turos Aster. This party was a bit faster since none of them were wearing plate mail or carrying a great deal. In Turos Aster is when things took an interesting turn. 

Broll (PC Barbarian Level 1) decided to try and sell the ruby encrusted d1sney princess tiara he ripped off the lady cleric he assassinated in the previous session. Being valued at 1,300 GP he was unable to find a buyer in Turos Tem. He only had a 5% chance of finding a buyer in Turos Aster upon the party passing through but, guess what... it hit.

The party celebrated on the mics and slapped electronic high fives. Broll and Felix split the cash but then all the players started to realize they could hire some mercs with their newfound riches. Broll and Felix agreed to invest some of their gains for long term success.

In ACKS it takes a week to try to find hirelings and such so the party decided to go all in and spend a week there and attempt to find:
1. Henchmen (who would delve dungeons)
2. various mercs (light infantry and bowmen)
3. animal handler to handle the mules and horses they were also hoping to find.

This process took longer than when we did it in session 11 at Cyfaraun. My game slowed down a bit as I looked up chances men showed up to offer their services and as we tried and wheel and deal to get them to come on and join the party. Felix kept rolling "Try Again" result for the chance to hire NPCs. My house rule on that is you have to up the offer 25% up front and monthly pay or guarantee the guy 1% more treasure take.

Eventually the party gained 1 henchman named Boe (Normal Man Level 0 hench to Flavius) and 3 Light Infantrymen (Larry, Moe and Curly). The animal handler, or it may have been a Level 0 henchman PC, was so offended by his offer that he's bad mouthing the party around Turos Aster (-1 to future reaction rolls here).

Boe joins the party to great acclaim!

Flavius (PC Cleric Level 1) spent the week in Turos Aster at the Hospital/Temple making friends with the Mother Superior there. He ended up with some more comfrey (healing herb) and holy water from the priestess, as a result.

Next on to Turos Spen, which took about a day of travel.

Because my players are surprising me with these long trips across the map I have begun to pre-roll my random encounters. When I do so I number them for each roll then just go down the list for "roll 1", "roll 2" etc. Many entries are "Roll 1: nothing". So if I was to check twice a day I'd use my entry for Roll 1 and Roll 2. 

When I pre-roll a random encounter for Roll 3, for instance, I also roll the monster it is, whether there is a lair, distance encountered, and reaction (number on the dice). I then use this info and compare it to the party at play the night this entry comes up and play it out from there. Five orcs with a Neutral reaction may attack a party of 3 PCs but won't mess around with a party of 6 PCs and 6 henchmen; too daunting. For instance.

I highly recommend doing this for games where players are doing or will do a great deal of overland travel. Rolling up ALL the things I list out above is a pretty slow process for players to wait through. Additionally, overland travel focused sessions are ones where only the Caller is talking much. Spending even MORE time to roll up encounters, numbers encountered, etc causes the other players to zone out even more than they already may be doing.

The only random encounter the party had during their long trip to Turos Aster, despite making about 6 checks, was with a Skysos elementalist mage and his man Friday Farran. The mage had an anemic look to him and played with the flame on his torch (despite it being daytime), obsessed with its flickering. He was out looking for magical components, herbs, dead animals, etc. The party was polite but the NPCs were Neutral towards them so the players moved on.

In Turos Aster Bakup (PC Fighter Level 1) asked normal folks about the Zaharan monastery rumored to be nearby in the wilderlands. A fisherman told him that the party would need to ferry across the Krysivor and to do so on the north side of the confluence to avoid having to make two river crossings. The party did that and paid the fisherman to ferry them and check back once a day for a couple weeks for when they would come back.

As you can see, some of the travel and planning details of this adventure were slowing down play. These were important details and, if the party just set off towards the river without learning this, they'd have had to head right back to town to look into a solution.

Some DMs may have hand-waived these kinds of concerns. I certainly considered it this night as things slowed. But I think playing this out for real and not ignoring the dice is how you get a real DND game and a real fantasy realm that feels alive and important.

Felix hit the Chapterhouse in Turos Aster to see about finding maps or info about the ruined chthonic monastery but didn't learn much. The party had no one with the Mapping proficiency and no guide to the location so they had no choice but to go to the general area and look around; hoping for the best. 

The best isn't exactly what happened.

The party crossed the Krysivor River (hex 2005 above) then followed the river north until they could see the forest. Then they traveled along the southern edge of the forest looking for the monastery. They were aware that it could be in 2105, 2205 or in the forest at 2204. That's a large area to investigate.

Upon nearing the forest edge they heard rustling of some large cat creatures the party chose to evade successfully. Never got a good look at them. Traveling along the southern edge they eventually came to a big oak with strange black wilting leaves, silvery bark, and dead stirges lying everywhere. The trunk of the tree was all hacked up by an axe or something. The party looked around a bit yet eventually set off into the woods.

After a few hours deep into the wood night was falling and they rested. During the camp on Felix's watch some massive scorpions came across the party but appeared affraid of the large camp fire. The party set up a few other fires to avoid further disturbance.The next day of travel about the woods, the party got lost.

They made a circle of sorts looking for the monastery and tried to return to the hillside they had camped at the previous night. At this time I allowed the Explorer PC (X'enti the PC Explorer Level 1) make a check for Getting Lost. He failed so they couldn't find the hill. 

At this point they decided to go north and west and hopefully either exit the forest near the river or find the ruined monastery dungeon which was the session goal (remember that? I didn't.) They came across a silkworm farm that appeared cursed. The silk turned into ash when touched and the worms themselves had faces of the PC's lost friends screaming in agony. The Mercenaries in the party had to make a morale check but succeeded with flying colors.

The party did break out on the northside of the wood eventually and found a harsh cliffside with a massive circular doorway some 40 feet up its side. The ancient crypt stone door, a big circular stone with weathered illegible Zaharan runes, lay broken in half on the ground at the base of the cliffside. 

Well this had to be investigated right? So Broll, being the only PC with the ability to climb sheer surfaces, climbed up the side. And rolled a 1. Broll got about 20 feet up the cliffside, his hand slipped, and he went cartwheeling off the side landing on his back directly on the big stone door lying on the ground, knocked out and probably dead.

Flavius the cleric ran over and began to heal the barbarian. It took a few minutes and Broll appeared like he was going to survive but could barely walk. As Flavius was stooped over to heal Broll there was movement way up the cliffside at the big circular opening. Hawkmen began tossing spears at the party. A battle ensued!

Six hawkmen revealed themselves with a chief of sorts decked out very nice gear including a beautiful and powerful shield. Spears rained down on the group but only Larry the Light Infantryman was killed. The party exchanged missile volleys and were also able to take a hawkman out of the skies. The chief directed two of his hawkmen to engage with the party with polearms made of jagged lizard teeth.

Flavius helped the injured Broll into the woodline away from missile fire, blocked some javelins that were sent their way from impaling the barely walking barbarian. 

they're lawyers. Terrifying!

About a minute or so into the battle a blue blur flew out of the cliffside, a 30 foot long blue dragon, in fact. It hovered 100 yards in the air and surveyed the field. The PCs (and the players) were terrified. It seems they had stumbled onto a dragon's lair and the hawkmen were her guards. So the party ran away.

The remaining 2 infantrymen were the only ones engaged in melee so I ruled if they won initiative Moe and Curly could disengage form melee and the whole group could attempt a Wilderness Evasion roll. The Explorer in the group was doing pretty good at those and seemed like a good way to escape the dragon's wrath. If not, the party may have to leave the stooges behind. (Serves them right for demanding 75% higher pay!)

They won. The party succeeded at Wilderness Evasion and ducked off into the woods so their flying enemies would be less likely to pursue. At this point the players decided to cut their losses and head home. They kept the river in their site and followed it upriver to where their ferryman should be.

On the way they came across a big nazca lines of sorts with tiny stones laid out across a massive hill to form some sorts of shapes. When X'enti climbed a big tree nearby (not poor Broll!) he was able to make enough notes to get the generally idea that it was a map of some of the nearby area and to a spot marked by a Vulture Statue. Using it and a Mapper I ruled the party would be to find the monastery they were looking for all session. They'd also be able to make it to the Vulture State marker which was much much much further away. Translation of some of the runes on the massive map would need to be interpreted in downtime, these PCs had no clue what it said.

The party met the ferryman and crossed the river back to Turos Spen where they ended their adventure for the night. Big XP payout for killing 1 (one) [uno] [[ein]] hawkman. The party adventured for 14 days starting on 03/10/21 so these PCs are unavailable until 03/24/21.

Afterword

You may have noticed that some of the things the party came across were not Random Encounters but weird stuff like maps and dead stirges. The is because I used the "Stocking the Wilderness" rules from AXIOMS 8. Here's a picture of the first chart you roll on. 

After this are nested charts for those various things on what "Dangerous Terrain" might entail or whatever.

I love this article and system since I always wanted a good way to toss non-encounter points of interest into my wilderness crawling gaming. 

As I said in my foreword I believe this session, though not very action packed or gilded with treasure, had seeded a handful of interesting locales and possible missions into the campaign. The party now knows where a dragon lair is ($$$), where the dungeon they were looking for is, and where some new point of interest is which is signified by a vulture symbol. It's likely they'll investigate into the latter and find something of interest there with a map to get them there.

This type of gaming can sometimes seem slow. Dealing with encumbrance, travel times, and scads of random encounters/terrain isn't what most newer players of D&D and TTRPGs would consider a good time. But, for me, letting an interesting world open up before you based on some weird dice rolls is much more interesting than trying to cram a plot or story into a game. Let the story come to you based on these crazy rolls and your crazy players. It's more interesting then the one you'll come up with on your own. 

Check out the #brosr on tw1tter to learn more winning secrets on how to do this for yourself. God bless.

Surviving PCs Present

XP Cuts: 11 cuts. 2 for each PC and one for Boe. 3 XP per cut 

Bakup (10% bonus) Fighter Level 1: 7 xp gained. Total: 7 

Broll (10% bonus) Barbarian Level 1. 7 xp gained. Total: 1079 

Felix (5% bonus) Bard Level 1. 6 xp gained. Total: 825 

Flavius (10% bonus) Cleric Level 1. 7 xp gained. Total: 7 

Xenti (no bonus) Explorer Level 1. 6 xp gained. Total: 6 Hench: Boe. 3 xp gained. Total: 3, probably.

Surviving Henchmen Present

Boethius. 3 xp gained.

Deceased:

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Yolo Baggins "My friends call me Swaggins" (L1 Gnomish Trickster) played by J. DECEASED. Paralyzed and eaten by ghouls in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Jack Filcher (L1 Thief) played by C. DECEASED. Shot full of arrows by Inthorn's brigands in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Swoleous Maximus (L1 Paladin). DECEASED. Captured then drawn and quartered by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Damianus (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Captured and beheaded by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Alexa this is so sad play "no fun" by the stooges

ACKS Session 12: You Only Live Once

Foreword

Session played on 03/03/21

I don't even know what my dnd game is anymore. This session, most of the major PCs were stuck in Time Compression and would be unavailable to play until 03/15/21. So this entire party except Jack Filcher (PC Thief Level 1) was completely new: freshly rolled. 

the b team

So of course that means some of the players want to try to swing for the fences. To do something really insane and impact the campaign world. 

Problem was, they didn't exactly have the right party makeup or resources to engage in the bandit camp infiltration scheme they truly wanted to. But that didn't stop them from trying! 

All seemed completely lost. A TPK imminent, a complete wash of a night. Yet, as happens in True DND, a sudden amazing dice roll in a player's favor turned certain defeat into an amazing and unexpected victory. Eucatastrophe!

Session Report

The party consisted of a newly rolled Paladin (Swoleous Maximus), a Lawful Cleric of Ammonar (Damianus), a Gnomish Trickster (Yolo Baggins), and a Bard (Felix Trifolium). Jack Filcher, despite being a thief, was the leader of sorts thanks to him being the only veteran to the adventuring life.

So we all logged onto the voice chat and proceeded to talk and scheme. Scheme and talk. Then talk. Then scheme. About an hour. I didn't force them to make a decision and GO because I knew the Time Compression coupled with the upcoming World In Motion Events gave them many variables to ponder.

The party was particularly concerned with Inthorn's (High Level NPC Warlord) big camp of nigh 200 brigands. The players are still convinced that Inthorn, an old retired general of the Auran Legion, was cursed to be Chaotic due to a Helmet of Alignment change; thus leading to his recent brigandage. 

INTHORN. i'll stop using this pic when
someone does something about the guy

The players have been contemplating how to get the Helmet off the brigand warlord since they met him months ago. Tonight was no different. 

They convinced me that the Priestess Genelen of the Hospital in Turos Tem (NPC Priestess Level ???) may agree to go with them to the brigands (bringing her Remove Curse spell) since tonight's party had a Paladin and Lawful Cleric. Sure why not. I did a reaction roll (2d6+2 needing 12+... rolled 5) but turns out the Priestess was less impressed with this party than the last one. "B Team"? more like "begone, team". One day into his adventuring and Damianus the Cleric was already questioning his Empyrean faith. smh

Mandonio (PC Fighter Level 1) wasn't played tonight but his player gave some cash to Jack Filcher to buy some Carcass Scavenger poison (?????) which happened to be available from a shady dealer on a street corner in Turos Tem.

After which the party departed and traveled about a day into the Viaspen Forest. They stopped at Inthorn's brigand camp, finding them to be much the same as usual; some wenching and boozing. Hashtag just brigand things. 

They didn't appear to be preparing for a mass battle with the regular forces of the Turos Tem Legature. The party was aware the Legate was gathering his troops to attack Inthorn on 03/07/2021 due to some PCs being in the Legion. This is another reason the players wanted to hurry and do something about Inthorn. Perhaps prevent the battle and save their other PCs who could die off-stage. Jack was more interested in the reward for bringing in Inthorn dead or alive before such a possibility would become impossible due to war.

The players debated and schemed a bit about what they might do to the brigand camp but chose to stay cool and just sleep and hit up the Blister of Doom dungeon in the morning.

The next day they did just that. They entered the Buried Temple and went down the east corridor to a room with some stairs going to the Second Level. I couldn't believe it! I never thought they'd delve a level down!

Attack a 9 HD ettin? Sure np. But go down some stairs to a level 2 dungeon? Too dangerous.

It turns out they were right to be wary. 

They found a natural cave with bars on the west wall some 30 feet long. Only the Gnomish Trickster YOLO Swaggins could squeeze through. Swoleous failed to live up to his name and couldn't bend the bars enough for the human PCs to slip through.

On the other side of the bars YOLO saw the caves continue north and south, northward with the light sound of waves lapping a beach or stone walls. The rest of the party cheered on from the other side of the bars, keeping a healthy six feet of social distance. 

Ghouls got a surprise on poor little YOLO and, despite his having a Mirror Image spell active, the ghouls' many attacks paralyzed the gnome, leaving his heart still beating for good eatin' later on. Three of the four ghouls absconded with YOLO into the darkness. One was killed by the rest of the party's accurate archery.

So they left the dungeon and went back to Inthorn's brigand camp.

Around twilight the players began discussing schemes to assassinate Inthorn or his cleric or mage. But this time, they started taking actions and sort of free-styled a scheme as they went.

Jack Filcher poisoned some sandwiches and brought them to the two guards keeping an eye on the door to Inthorn's wooden shack inside the camp. They chowed down and were paralyzed in short order. Jack slit their throats were they stood. While he was trying to push the bodies into a dark corner of the camp, sadly, some bowmen guards on the wall saw him. Jack got the jump on one, killed the bowmen with a thrown dagger (natural 20 roll) but there were still three more bowmen guards with eyes on him from the wall.

One round of combat later Jack Filcher was dead, feathered with arrows, his body splayed on top of the guards he poisoned.

In the meantime Felix was on the opposite side of the camp regaling the brigands with epic tales of adventure and excitement. "Just sit right there and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip..." It proved to be a powerful distraction and the majority of the brigands responded slowly to the commotion coming from the gate.

Swoleous and Damianus were using some tar and military oil Jack gave them to prep tents to be lit up by cinders from camp fires when the time was right. Neither PC is sneaky at all so this was an all night affair of looking for lucky moments when no one was around or paying attention. When they heard the gate guards hollering about "Jack Filcher killed the General's guards!" they decided the time was now. Five tents went up like the nine hells. Some moments later the mess hall tent's cooking oil must have set off and it exploded, sending salisbury steak into the sky like beefy fireworks.

The Paladin and Cleric realized it was time to leave and ran to the gate. They tried to get the guards to open the only gate stating they "needed water from the creek to put out the fire!" but the guards weren't having it. (I rolled 2d6  needing a 12  for the guards to have a Friendly Reaction and fall for it and got and 11... so close!). They pointed arrows at the PCs who agreed to be taken captive without further violence. 

Felix the bard, meanwhile, used prestidigitation for a puff of smoke to slide off his makeshift stage, realizing the audience was getting to be a tough crowd. He watched the guard tower nearest to him and got lucky (1 or 2 on a d6 to see if the guards were not paying attention) as its guards descended their post to help with the fires. He climbed to the raised platform and hopped over the wooden wall and disappeared into the forest beyond, safe from a brigand beatdown. 

Now dear reader we have come to the craziest part. Crazier than all that, you say? Oh yes.

Broll (PC Barbarian Level 1) had installed himself as a spy on the brigands for the party about two months prior to this session. The player essentially shelved his barbarian PC, choosing to play other PCs as one after another of his other PCs died or were wounded enough to need weeks of bed rest. Now and then I messaged the player online with something like "Broll has some interesting info about the brigands, do you want him to try and get it out to the party?" I'd give him the chances he succeeded vs the chances he'd get discovered as an infiltrator and the player would make a decision and we'd roll some dice. Success meant new info for the party proper back in Turos Tem. Failure, thus far, had only meant Broll couldn't get a missive out to his friends. He had not been discovered as an infiltrator and was living the life of a lawless brigand quite well; easy enough for a Jutlander Barbarian tbqh.

During all this craziness I said to Broll's player (he was playing Swoleous tonight) "Broll would see all this craziness happening with the fires and he may decide to attempt to assassinate Olyma tonight rather than when the armies are forming for battle". He had already decided he would give it a shot before the Big Battle despite my giving him these changes: 1d20 roll. 20+ on the d20 = success. 11 or less = discovered as an assassin and executed.

But I told him tonight he'd have a slightly better chance of success but also a higher chance of being discovered. 1d20 roll. 19+ = success. 14 or less = discovered as an assassin and executed.

Just one roll to decide all this. Similar to Ad&D assassination attempts. I was not giving the player the option to PLAY Broll tonight because he decided to play Swoleous. It's my contention players shouldn't get to play two PCs at once. If you want a bigger force, hire some mercenaries or henchmen imo.

Broll decided to go for it. I waited until the end of the session to let him roll the assassination chance. The players all held their breath. Broll found his luckiest d20 and gave it a roll. 

"Oh man... I have to take a picture of this!" he exclaimed over the mic. "Did you hit it?" "you'll see"

We waited for a picture to load up on the chat room. Then it slides into the room and we see a picture of a d20 dice, with the 20 facing up.

Brilliant success! A night of foolishness and failure turns on a d20 roll! This is why we play this ridiculous game, folks.

Broll the Barbarian. Infiltrator and
Master Assassin.

I rolled that Broll killed the lady cleric Olyma whilst she was in a state of undress doing her makeup, lodging an axe in her head. Broll stoll the fancy d1sney princess tiara off her head, climbed the wall, and slipped out of the camp while the brigands were all dealing with the fires and arresting Swoleous and Damianus. He met up with Felix somewhere in the forest and they buddy-copped their way back to Turos Tem slapping high fives and laughing over their success.

They informed Legion about the situation at the brigand camp and, by all reports, Legate Valerian (NPC Fighter Level ???) intended to speed up his timeline and engage the brigands on battle much more quickly than previously planned, due to them being "weakened" by the party.

This was a wild session of mistakes and triumphs and it was all made possible because we are embracing the old Gygax ways and campaign assumptions. Follow the #broSR on tw1tter and you can learn how to run a similar campaign. You won't regret it!

Surviving PCs Present

Broll (10% bonus xp), Barbarian Level 1: 858 xp cut. Total: 1,072 

Felix Trifolium (5% bonus xp), Bard Level 1: 819 xp cut. Total: 819

PC's Captured by Inthorn's Brigands

Damianus, Cleric of Ammonar Level 1

 Swoleous Maximus, Paladin of Ammonar Level 1

Deceased:

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Yolo Baggins "My friends call me Swaggins" (L1 Gnomish Trickster) played by J. DECEASED. Paralyzed and eaten by ghouls in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Jack Filcher (L1 Thief) played by C. DECEASED. Shot full of arrows by Inthorn's brigands in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Alexa this is so sad play "rapper's delight" by sugar hill gang

 

ACKS Session 11: Ettin Attack!, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Time Compression

Foreword

Played on 02/10/2021

My players played a trick on me.

All of my pre-session discussion (scheming) was about how they were going to assault the cave lair of an ettin deep in the Viaspen Forest. I had everything ready: stats for the monster, treasure, the creature's schedule (I knew they'd tried to catch it outside it's home or something or burglar him whilst away from home)*, everything!

Ettin!

*[FelixOscar ettin leaves the cave on a d6 roll of 1, checked once each day. 5 PM plus 1d12 to determine what hour he leaves because he prefers the dark. How long is he gone? Roll 1d6. 1: 1d4 turns, 2-5: 1d4+5 turns, 6: 1d4+1 hours. He notices the party, upon his departure, on 14+ on a d20 roll due to heavy armor wearers in group. Adjust this chance as needed if the party only sends a scout type to be near the cave for recon. None of this came into play.]

So, of course, the party trekked off past the lair towards the largest city some three weeks away, instead.

If you've been following this blog (why wouldn't you be) you know I've been using the Jeffrogaxian Method of Real Time Timekeeping. Meaning, if the PCs travel to a location three weeks away, those Characters will be unable to play in a session that takes place in 2 weeks or less in the real world. Additionally, this caused a few weird timekeeping rulings I had to make in session for outstanding hooks and World-in-Motion situations that I'll document in the session report below.

So instead of mine session being a straightforward beeline for the ettin lair, I instead had to make a couple dozen random encounter rolls, toss out quick descriptions and rumors from 3 lawful settlements the PCs passed through, and try to quickly describe the biggest city in my campaign region on the fly with minimal prep on that particular issue. Quick, describe the impression the PCs get upon first arrival at a fantasy roman city that was formerly built by elves some two centuries past before being conquered by the fantasy romans!

Then, when it was all said and done, the players decided they would, in fact, attack the ettin. Three weeks in the future!

It was frustrating, it was slapdash, it was amazing. It was real D&D.

Session Report

Why did the party decide to travel to the city of Cyfaraun this session? Well, it's complicated.

Back in Session 5 the party stumbled across a powerful Brigand Camp led by a retired general of the Auran Legion. Mandonio (PC Fighter L1) and Gauis (PC Fighter L2) were certain the general must be under some form of enchantment to have turned to brigandage in his retirement. Yllmeeton (PC Shaman L1) seemed to confirm the theory by using Sense Power (Detect Magic style class ability) to learn that the fancy plumed helmet General Inthorn wore was quite magic indeed. It must be a Helm of Alignment Change!, the players theorized. It didn't help that Inthorn had a Chaotic Wizard retainer and a Chaotic Lady-Cleric Paramour.

So down the primrose path of PC scheming we go.

Inthorn, the man of the hour!

One: Mandonio, during downtime, seeks out a Remove Curse scroll to use and free the general. He also had a mock Fancy Helmet made up to "make a switch".

Two: Priestess Genelen of Turos Tem failed her Magic Research Roll to make the Scroll for the party. She needed three weeks to try again, if she'd even do so. She's not super high on our heroes, anyway.

Three: Genelen sent word to her mother superior in Cyfaraun that she needed such a scroll (pretty please!) and was told "nah, grrl". 

Four: The party, after gettinglucky and selling some expensive jewel between sessions, was determined to go to Cyfaraun and simply buy the scroll with their phat stacks.

Five: Plan was to get the scroll, bring it back, walk into Inthorn's Camp, ?????, Remove Curse, Swap the Helmet, Profit!

Further, Mandonio and Gaius both got orders that the Legate's army at Turos Tem would be attacking Inthorn's Camp soon, maybe in 2 weeks or up to 6 weeks hence. So the party wanted to accomplish their ridiculous scheme plan before the battle begun. Think of how many Legionnaire lives which could be saved! With Jeffrogaxian Timekeeping this becomes a bigger issue. Could their Legionnaire PCs die off screen between sessions?!

Oh, the only reason why Turos Tem was moving against Inthorn in the first place is because the party accidentally sent Inthorn's wizard a dragon to ally with and attack the town of Siadanos. Legate Valerian, being a vassal of the Palatine of Siadanos, was ordered to take care of the problem. Prior to the dragon attack, the Palatine was content to let Inthorn take a few merchant wagons here and there. No major action was planned. World in motion!

The gang left the border fort of Turos Tem on 02/10/21, traveling north and east along the fantastic Auran road which parallels the Krysivor river. Every 18 miles or so there was a border fort near identical to Turos Tem guarding over the river into the wild lands towards the Dark Wall beyond and to the east. Little guard towers dotted every few miles along the river which the party could see from the road, Auran military tasked with watching the river for monsters attempting to cross it and into the Empire. All the towers were prepared to send signals down the line so that the forts might be prepared and/or send reinforcement to the little manned forts. 

Follow along, kids!

Turos Aster was the first stop for the party. They double timed it to that first fort and needed to rest a day, lest they travel with Fatigue (-1 to a bunch of checks, including attacks). Spending a day resting at the Travelers Inn they were reminded of a rumor that had made it's way some weeks back about a ruined fortress on the other side of the river which had recently been taken up by a violent tribe of manbearpigs. The Legate of Turos Aster was eager to have the nasty brutes removed for the former Auran fortress and was offering legal right to it and the land to any who could accomplish the task. Yllmeeton (PC Shaman Level 1) was eager to get on this mission as he wished for a home for his growing congregation of faithful followers (cult). 

Turos Spen was the party's next stop some two days later. Again the fort was built on a hill, near uniform with whitewashed walls. They opted to only spend the night here then set off the next day. Their short time in Turos Spen allowed them to only hear rumors of a ruined Zaharan monastery across the Krysivor river and into the chaotic lands beyond. Word was it was destroyed but the catacombs the insane death worshipping Zaharans always keep at their old monasteries was still intact; full of gilded unholy symbols and wild magic items. Upon leaving Tuos Spen the next day and turning northwest at the crossroads the party even came upon a seemingly mid powered wizard named Weelen the Wizard leading a donkey cart with his servant and man at arms Grug. He and the party struck up a conversation where he revealed he was heading to the ruined monastery to seek out magic items and materials. "You should look me up if you wish to act as my retainers and share in the treasure! Ta ta!" 

The party traveled northwest and arrived at Turos Orn some seven says later, the forts spaced out further upon getting distance from the Unbroken Line. The party spent very little time here but did hear rumors that the Keep was so ancient there was a deep an perilous dungeon right under ones feet! But the Palatine Valana Telpirion of Turos Orn, however, would take it quite ill indeed if adventurers were to sneak into the rumored dungeon without her permission.

The party achieved arrival in the City of Cyfaraun some nine days after their departure from Turos Tem. The only possible hostile encounter they had during their travels was with some wild boars who BriarWhisper (PC Elven Ranger L1) helped them evade.

Cyfaraun. My description of it sucked.

The massive rolling walls of the old elven city greeted them from across the hedge rows. They lined up with all the other merchants and such entering one of the half dozen gates and, within a few hours, were in the Temple District. This was perfect since they were looking to entreat with Daria's (PC Bladedancer L2) mother superior. The meeting went great and she agreed to set up a meeting with the head of the cult of Ianna wherein Daria could purchase the scroll of Remove Curse some days hence.

The party, at this point, decided to stay in the city a week to look for mercenaries to hire and buy a light repeating ballistae. The stayed at The Mink inn and tavern, one rumored to be controlled by a criminal syndicate. The PCs didn't poke their nose into that rumor (this time).

A week later Daria had 2 Light Cavalry, 3 Light Infantry, 1 artillerist to run her new toy, and 1 archer. They set off back to Turos Tem. The week or so trek back they encountered some merchant caravans but no hostile creatures saw fit to approach their mini army or donkey cart with ballistae installed. 

Now, back in Turos Tem some 25 days later (03/07/21) it was time for the moment of truth. Did the party get back with their Remove Curse scroll in time to try and use it on Inthorn before the Legate's army moved against the brigands? I decided, since six weeks was the estimated time the forces would gather, I'd roll a d6 for each week the party was gone. One a 1, it was that week the Legate was moving against Inthorn. Check 1: no attack on week 1. Check 2: no attack on week 2 .... at this point the party was getting hopeful they may have time to try their scheme. Check 3: I roll a 1. The Legate's forces were moving the same week the party arrived back. But which day of the week? I roll a d7. One day before the party arrived!

If they moved quick they could possibly outpace the Legate's army and try the scheme just as the battle may be heating up! Now the players started to analyze their plan.

How were they going to actually get Inthorn alone and use the scroll? Didn't Inthorn have a chaotic wizard of extremely high level at his right hand almost all the time? (One play stated at this point "I'm not scared of the wizard. I'm TERRIFIED.") Maybe this plan wasn't all it was cracked up to be...

I'm not sure I had any hair left at this point, having pulled so much out.

They decided to just go after the Ettin instead. I mean, they had a bunch of mercenaries now right?

haha great guys! Lets do it! I was ready for this... maybe not 3.5 hours into a 4 hour session but cool cool.

Back north along the road to leave Turos Tem. Just past Turos Aster then northwest into the Viaspen Forest at about 1505. BriarWhisper knew just where it was, having spent a great deal of down time reconnoitering it. 

The party arrived at the cave mouth and schemed how they might approach it. They laid out some net traps and such but the night was getting late and good planning was going by the boards. Eventually the plan involved Daria pretending to be a lost damsel in the woods or something (???)

The dumb brute with its Felix and Oscar heads came outside to see what the fuss was about. It talked in a language none by BriarWhisper understood but he was hiding in the brush hoping for some snipe attacks when the battle begun, in no position to translate for anyone.

The scheme did buy the party a surprise round of attacks which they mostly missed on. Then half of them won initiative and got a couple shots off. Puru (PC Mystic L1) ran into the cave to consider stealing some treasure while the party distracted the beast, but came back honorably to fight alongside the party, scrapping the burglary plan entirely.

Once the ettin engaged in melee with the mercenaries and Daria in the second rank, the bloodletting begun. Felix's fist punched a light infantry, killed him, cleaved, punched another light infantry, killed him, cleaved, punched a light cavalryman, killed him, cleaved, punched his horse, killed it, cleaved, punched Puru, felled him (exactly zero HP), cleaved, punched another light cavalryman, killed him, cleaved, punched his horse, hurt the horse but did NOT kill it. Cleave chain canceled. 

Now it was Oscar's turn to attack. Oscar Head successfully landed a punch on Daria but did not fell or kill her. Phew!

Well, as my DMs can attest, a single big monster against an entire party (even one with 9 hit dice) will eventually go the party's way. And fast. With a second round of attacks the party was able to fell the beast and Daria's player said "I've never cried tears of joy in a dnd fight". Powerful!

Once again it was so ate by this point I told the players there was a ton of treasure but it was heavy. It would take time to get it back to Turos Tem. That I'd give them the XP and treasure numbers later. You'll see this below, dear reader.

The trek back to Turos Tem from the ettin cave carrying heavy loot took them three days. When all was said and done the party of characters played from 02/10/21 to 03/14/21. The PCs will not be available to play until 03/15/21. We endeavor to play a session each week so this is quite the sacrifice indeed.

True D&D is confounding and beautiful. Start your own campaign, today!

Surviving PCs present
[NOTE: there was a revision on 03/11/21 when the party sold an expensive scroll and made more xp]

XP for Each PC in Session 11 02.10.21 

BriarWhisper (5% bonus) 2,4444.4 XP. Total 3,014 [LEVEL UP TO 2] 

Daria (0% bonus): 2,328 xp. Total: 4,038 [LEVEL UP TO 3] 

Marn (10% bonus): 2560 XP. Total: 3022 [LEVEL UP TO 2] 

Puru (5% bonus): 2,444 XP. Total: 4,241 [LEVEL UP TO 2] 

Yllmeeton (10% bonus): 2,560.8 XP. Total: 3716 (2,999) [LEVEL UP TO 2 BUT CAP AT 2,999 BECAUSE CANT LEVEL TWICE PER SESSION] 

Marina (hench): 1164 XP. [LEVEL UP TO LEVEL 1 FIGHTER. Morale check at +1 + Yll ChaMod before she plays again to see if she stays on]

Original Writeup:

BriarWhisper, L1 Elven Ranger (5% bonus) 1680 XP. Total 2,250 

Daria, L2 Bladedancer (0% bonus): 1,600 xp. Total: 3,310 [LEVEL UP TO 3] 

Marn, L1 Mage (10% bonus): 1,760 XP. Total: 2,221 

Puru, L1 Mystic (5% bonus): 1,680 XP. Total: 3,477 [LEVEL UP TO 2] 

Yllmeeton, L1 Shaman(10% bonus): 1,760 XP. Total: 2,916 [LEVEL UP TO 2] 

Surviving Henchmen Present

Marina (hench): 800 XP. [LEVEL UP TO LEVEL 1 FIGHTER. Morale check at +1 + Yll ChaMod before she plays again to see if she stays on]

Archer, Light Infantry, and Artillerist under Daria become Veterans

Coin Treasure Cuts for Session 11 02.10.21:  

Each PC receives 400 SP, 200 EP, 400 GP 

Daria: 220 SP, 110 EP, 220 GP 

Yllmeeton: 340 SP, 170 EP, 340 GP

Deceased:

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Alexa this is so sad play "lost highway"

 

Session 10: War in the Halls

Foreword

Played on 01.13.21.

My play report and thoughts will be a bit more sparse this time as this session was played a month ago. I took a break after this session and didn't have the drive to write up the report quickly, as such. 

I do recall my prep for this session including some calculations on what sort of defenses the hobgoblins would add to their lair. The party entered their lair the following week but  then departed without pressing into a battle. Since the hobs only had one apparent entrance to their section of the dungeon I had them fortify and guard it pretty well, in preparation for the party returning to harass them. My intention was to have their discipline about this become more lax each week as they'd resolve the party less of a threat.

But the party attempted to go straight for the hobs the following week and thus the beasts were ready! Kinda...
Read on!

Session Report

The party gathered in Turos Tem and departed on what would become their MO: stopping by Inthorn's Brigand camp on the trek towards the dungeon (the blister of doom). Both points of interest in the midst of the Viaspen forest so the party often uses the brigands as a waypoint. 

For reasons unknown the chaotic brigands have taken a liking to the party of adventurers. Daria (PC Bladedancer Level 1) requested permission from the brigand warlord, Inthorn, to hire some of his men as mercenaries for a week or less. I think the PC hired about 4 brigands which play as Bowmen mercs as per the ACKS wargaming rules. 

The high level Chaotic Mage and Lady-Cleric who make their home among the camp didn't treat with the party this session, if I remember correctly.

The next day the group approached the dungeon and had Puru (PC Mystic Level 1) approach and scout the entrance. No problems. In they go.

They went directly through the dungeon towards the door into the hob lair they discovered the previous week. It was spiked shut from the other side. Mandonio (PC Fighter Level 1) attempted to force it open to no avail. Puru's alert monk ears heard chains rattling on the other side of the door each time Mandonio forced his shoulder against it. An alert system, of sorts? 

The party gave up on breaking the door down and decided the muscular goblins would be too prepared for them to enter from that location. So Mandonio pulled out his map and they decided they may be able to come into that section of the dungeon from a different direction. Unfortunately, said direction would take them past an obelisk pyramid thing they believed a great beast may make his home in.

At the walls surrounding the base of the weirdly glowing pyramid were some doors along the eastern wall. The party certain one would enter the hob lair from that direction they had Puru go along the wall and listen at each one. It wasn't until the last that they found anything beyond except an empty room.

Some chihuahua-men were torturing a human prisoner by poking him with spears to make him run about a dirty old chamber. Some more human prisoners called out for help in a room beyond. The party made short work of the disgusting little beastmen except one who fled to try and hold one of the human's captive with a knife at his throat. 

Kagan Booklearner (PC Dwarven Craftpriest L1) was able to communicate with the vile creature and quickly discussed options. The creature wanted to leave the room and flee towards the pyramid. After such time it promised to release the human prisoner it had held in a (mexican) standoff situation. 

Kagan's player was open to this but, as a whole, most of the Players were convinced the beast wouldn't keep his end of the bargain. Also, after having learned a dragon lived atop the pyramid, they were scared the chihuahua-man would bring the dragon down on them in short order. They decided to try and save the prisoner in 80s action flick style by killing it before it could slit the throat of its prisoner.

Puru, being exceedingly fast, was the only one with any chance of accomplishing this. He pulled out a ninja star and tossed it perfectly at the chihuahua-man's pug nosed little face, killing him before it could kill the human prisoner.

I arbitrated this by using a surprise roll to see who would act before the knife could slit the prisoner's throat. Puru was not surprised, everyone else was. Then I had the chihuahua-man and Puru roll initiative. If Puru rolled a worse initiative it he would be too late. He rolled very good. He succeeded at an attack roll at -4 (due to prisoner in the way) and did enough damage to finish off the 1-1HD enemy.

The party rescued two human laborer prisoners who revealed they had been trapped for weeks and the chihuahua-men had fed man of their friends to the nearby dragon. They were terrified and malnourished. 

The party searched the east wall of the room, finding a secret door into the hobgoblin's section of the dungeon just as they hoped. They passed by a weird bas-relief of a multi armed demon before coming to another chamber scattered with rubble, two doors on the south wall to what the party assumed was the main chamber of the hobgoblins.

While instestigating the doors the lights went out. A darkness spell cast by an evil enchanted doom-spider hidden in the ceiling above. The creature, being possessed by demonic forces, was pre-disposed to attack the party's Lawful cleric's first. I flipped a coin and it went straight for Kagan, felling him in the magical darkness, gnawing off the Dwarf's leg. The party fought blindly in the dark but was able to kill the demonic insect. They healed Kagan and he survived but would need a week of rest to adventure again. Kagan's player began rolling up yet another backup PC.

After the skirmish the party went back to investigating the doors and found them jammed as well. Enough! They broke them down, finding an obvious quarters of some beastmen, but abandoned. Arrows flew from across the large chamber from doors on the opposite wall. 

What followed was a long and complicated battle with some hobgoblins who had set up a trap to try and tempt the PCs into a murder-hole of sorts with wooden barriers in front of an open room where the hobs would lay arrow fire down while holding a front line. The party didn't really fall for it and instead sent an away team to run around the dungeon to come the hobs from behind. They weren't able to get to the battle in time to make a difference from a flanking position (4 rounds of movement but the battle was over in 3) but they did stumble upon Marn the Mage (PC Mage Level 1), the new PC for Kagan's player. The mage appeared to have astral projected into the dungeon near the weirding statue the party passed before. Appeared just in time to get his XP cut for the hobgoblin horde!

During the extended battle the beastmen fought extremely organized, similar to the Auran legions, and were able to fell Daria and Daria's new henchman. She can't seem to keep one. 

The hob's shaman escaped with a handful of beastmen who weren't killed, fleeing to parts of the dungeon unknown. Future villain?

Yllmeeton (PC Shaman Level 1) was able to heal and get Daria back to her feet but she took a major mortal wound and would need a week of bed rest. 

I hand waved the rest of the night as it was late and simply told the party they found a major stash of cash, jewels, and trade goods. Their trek home to Turos Tem, though I did roll for random encounters, went without incident.

Surviving PCs Present XP Gained:

Daria, Bladedancer Level 1 (0% bonus): 459 xp. Total: 1,710 [LEVEL UP!] 

Kagan, Dwarven Craftpriest, Level 1 (5% bonus): 42 xp. Total: 840 

Gaius, Fighter Level 2 (10% bonus): 505 xp. Total: 3,182 

Mandonio, Fighter Level 2 (10% bonus): 505 xp. Total: 2,336 [LEVEL UP TO TWO!] 

Marn, Mage Level 1 (10% bonus): 461 XP. Total: 461 

Puru, Mystic Level 1 (5% bonus): 482 XP. Total: 1,167 

Yllmeeton, Shaman Level 1 (10% bonus): 505 XP. Total: 1,156

Surviving Henchmen: 

Marina: 229 gained

Yasema: 229 gained

Deceased:

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Alexa this is so sad play "despacito"

 

Session 9: Bandit Boogaloo!

 Foreword

Played on 01.06.21

World in motion! Between sessions I've been keeping up with many factions, NPCs, natural phenomena, etc and how these things change over time. I assign a chance something would happen, in each case, and roll that chance each week between sessions.

Some of these things the players are aware of, some they are not.

ladies love a man in a robe

For instance there's at least one NPC Party of Adventurers, called the Happy Dicers, competing with the player's party. The Happy Dicers adventure each week just like the players do. Mostly they'll delve a dungeon or take on a lair the PCs aren't even aware of. But I roll a chance each week the Happy Dicers tackle a hook the Players are aware of. If I roll a 1 on this check, the Happy Dicers died. If I roll that the Happy Dicers tackle one of the Players' hooks then I assign those hooks to a dice (1d6 if there are 6 hooks the PC's are currently juggling) and randomly decide which one they hit. Then I use the ACKS "Abstract Dungeoneering" rules to see how successful the Happy Dicers were. 

So far the Happy Dicers only tackled one hook the party was aware of at the time: trying to capture or kill the Bandit King the party had their sights on. All they managed to do, however, was claim much of the Bandits' treasure and push the Bandit King deeper into the dungeon. 

This annoyed the players who now didn't know where the Bandits lair was, having just found out its location the previous session. This weeks session 9, however, the party delved and explored enough where they were able to find the Bandits new dungeon lair and tackled it deftly. See below.

This process of keeping the world in motion assures that the Players' don't feel like they are in a video game on pause between sessions. Plans like "hit that location once this session then again next session to assure we have full hit points" might not work if something like this changes between sessions. 

Alex Macris, in his fantastic book "Arbiter of Worlds", advises not trying to keep a world in motion by juggling so many things, by not trying to run the entire world as a turn based strategy game. But when one employs the 1 Game Day = 1 Real Life Day rule from AD&D 1e, this becomes perfectly manageable. 1e wins again!

The random events table in TSR's "Oriental Adventures" and Judge's Guild* "Ready Ref Sheets" are great resources for keeping your gaming world in motion if you're uncertain on how you'd tackle this. If you're running a big adventure tome like those WOTC puts out for 5e ("Curse of Strahd", "Ghosts of Saltmarsh", "The Dragon Queen's Time of the Month"), I'd also advise removing the railroad aspects and seeding the various railroad events onto a random events table. I personally find large railroad style adventure books nigh unusable (they don't even lay flat on the table!) but I think the various seeds one would find in them could likely serve well to populate a region in a more sandbox focused game.

 I recommend all serious GMs employ the real time approach to gaming and juggling all the factions etc week to week with likelihood of them impacting the players or region the players are in. It's a great deal of fun and keeps things interesting. 

 *(Judge's Guild, an outstanding producer of gaming supplements going back to the original editions of D&D, were "cancelled" by weirdos about a year back because it's owner did a little rightwing boomerpoasting on f4cebook. As such, their items are no longer in production. The OSR is a pretty small market. Half of them deeming you "problematic" likely eliminates all possible profit motive. There may be other ways for resourceful GMs to acquire their old stuff. haha just kidding... unless...)

Session Report

I'm not sure if you noticed but the sociopolitics of the usa are getting crazier out there. My players really wanted to chat about it on the voice channel for much longer than they usually would, last week. Don't worry, there was no wrongthink to speak of. Each player clearly disavowed all that our dear leaders said they should disavow and celebrate all those things we're told to celebrate. The process just took such a looooong time. I eventually had to say "5 more minutes, fellas". So, we got a later start than normal.

After this was all said and done the players decided to go back to the Blister of Doom and quickly left Turos Tem to travel into the Viaspen forest. They saw about a dozen beastmen of some sort rustle some leaves off in the distance and attempt to evade them. The party decided not to take chase and leave whatever those creatures were well enough alone.

They stopped at Inthorn's (NPC Brigand Leader) Brigand camp on the way and hired some bowmen to accompany them across the overland trek. Inthorn may have been pretty mad at the party and Jack Filcher (PC Thief Level 1) in particular for sending a green dragon to attack them some weeks back. Luckily for all concerned, however, I rolled a max Reaction Check and Inthorn, the gruff old Auran Legionnaire, found the whole situation quite humorous. "You ol' scamp, Jack! We almost got killed!" The brigands had actually made friends with Ferigno the Dragon and raided a town with him so it seems Inthorn figured no harm no foul.

After spending the night in the camp the party set off and reached the dungeon the next day. The bowmen mercs waited outside.

failed bandit ambush :(

The party explored a bit, crossing the Courtyard room they normally face random encounters in, this time with no incident. Deeper into the old Zaharan temple of Chaos than they had ever gone, they sent Jack Filcher to explore a room up ahead while they stayed behind a bit. Some brigands were ready, apparently having heard the party exploring the next room over, and they took some shots at Jack. He ran out and grouped up with the party.

What followed was a running battle with the brigands, or what I attempted to run as such.While the party was spiking a door to keep the brigands off them, some ratbird butterfly creatures attacked them and were able to land a lucky strike on Yllmeeton (PC Shaman L1) I believe. The bandits were attempting to break down the door so the party sent Jack to watch the hallway behind them while the party posted up to keep the bandits at bay at the door once it was broken.

Once the door was broken down the bandits tried to bankshot some arrows off the wall rather than engaging with the party's shield wall of death. To no avail. The party almost yeeted themselves upon trying to chuck a flaming oil into the room at the bandits around a corner. They handed the oil to the Player who always rolls ones, Mandonio (PC Fighter L1) and he rolled a one. He'd have dropped the oil and set himself up on fire and splashed onto Yasema (Fighter L1 Henchmen to Gaius) but Mandonio opted to use his single Fate Point to re-roll the attack. Not a 1. In hindsight I shouldn't have let him see the results of the bad roll before letting him spend the Fate Point. It won't happen again. No rewind! Retconning is bad enough in star wars.

Jack set up a bear trap in the hall leading away from the party but that didn't stop some bandits that had snuck around behind the party from getting some bow shots off on him and knocking him under zero hit points. 

The party, having left a big pool of flaming oil on the fire between them and the bandits at the doorway, turned around and took on the bowmen that had snuck up on Jack. Daria (PC Bladedancer L1) pulled Jack's unconscious body into the group to attempt to revive him. One of the bowmen came at the party but stepped on and was killed by Jack's bear trap. So sad. The rest were felled by the party with little fanfare. 

After the battle Jack rolled on the Mortal Wounds table and found that he had "taken an arrow to the knee" and would now walk slower and take a hit to his Dexterity based AC. He also needed two weeks bed rest. No more adventuring for Jack tonight. He went back to the party's mercs outside. Soon-after a new Thief arrived name Loki (PC Thief L1) who continued the delve with the group. So convenient!

jack and loki cross paths

The party pressed on into the bandits' lair and found them ready for battle. Drusus the bandit king attempted to parley with the party telling them to leave and he'd let them live. The bandits had a nice defensible position set up with barricades and bowmen so the party decided to go. But not before Kagan (PC Dwarven Craftpriest L1) offered to introduce the bandits to Inthorn the Brigand Warlord if they turned on Drusus. They agreed! However Drusus was reading their eyes and he killed three of his men quite handily before they even drew steel on him. The party took the opportunity to press the advantage. Yasema got a good stab on Drusus with Daria the Bladedancer sashaying up for the final blow on the bandit king. One bandit survived and surrender. Daria brought him along and eventually introduced him to Inthorn at the end of the session. 

Drusus had a sword and chain mail armor that Yllmeeton confirmed to be magic. Gaius (PC Fighter L2) held on to them. The bandits had basically no treasure since the Happy Dicers had taken in weeks ago and the bandits hadn't gotten organized enough to do any raiding. It's why they were happy to turn on Drusus so easily. What have you done for me lately, amirite? The brigand revealed that Drusus was aware of the section of the dungeon being unoccupied due to the goblins getting eradicated some weeks back. He noted that they had to clear out a bunch of headless goblin corpses just to lay out their bed pallets to rest in this section. "Why did they remove their heads?!" It disturbed him.

The rest of the evening drug on a bit as the party explored all over and mapped a large section of the dungeon. They found a well that Loki was stoked to try and rapel down but Mandonio tut tutted him. So sad because all my favorite gaming sessions are when PC's attach a rope to one of their number for some harebrained scheme. Maybe next time!

They also came to some pretty swole dark orange beastmen that fled from them before there was an engagement. The party took chase across a few rubble strewn rooms but didn't chase all the way to a battle. Instead they opted to skirt around the new section of the dungeon to try and find a side entrance. No luck and the night was dragging on and we all had to work in the morning. Cash out!

Now came the fun part for me. On the trip back to Turos Tem through a dangerous monster crawling forest, would there be a random encounter? Normally there are two chances for it. But alas. Nothing.

 The party made it back to safety with no further incident and claimed the 800 GP reward for bringing proof of Drusus's demise. Overall a successful night for the Gang. 

Surviving PCs Present

Daria (L1 Bladedancer 0% xp bonus) played by JB. Liquid treasure gained in Session 9 was 125 GP, 6 SP. XP gained was 146. Current Total: 1,251

Jack Filcher (L1 Thief, 5% xp bonus) played by Chant. Liquid treasure gained in Session 9 was 2 SP. XP gained was 13. Current Total: 386

Kagan Booklearner (L1 Dwarven Craftpriest, 5% xp bonus) played by RR. Liquid treasure gained in Session 9 was 125 GP, 6 SP. XP gained was 153. Current Total:798

Gaius (L2 Fighter 10% xp bonus) played by VoC. Liquid treasure gained in Session 9 was 106 GP, 5 SP. (15% to henchman) XP gained was 161. Current Total: 2,677

Loki (L1 Thief, 5% XP bonus) played by Chant. Liquid treasure gained in Session 9 was 125 GP, 6 SP. XP gained was 141. Current Total: 141

Mandonio Terkikos (L1 Fighter 10% xp bonus) played by RM. Liquid treasure gained in Session 9 was 125 GP, 6 SP. XP gained was 161 Current Total:1,831

Yllmeeton (L1 Shaman, 10% XP bonus) played by SS. Liquid treasure gained in Session 9 was 125 GP, 6 SP. XP gained was 161. Current Total:651

Yasema (L1 Fighter Hench to Gaius). XP gained was 73. DM tracking totals secretly.

Inactive:

Broll (L1 Barbarian, 10% XP bonus) played by RR. Current Total: 214. Current Location: Inthorn's Camp "as a spy".

Bucky (L1 Barbarian 5% xp bonus) played by VoC. Current Total: 27. Last session 6. Location: Turos Tem

Puru (L1 Mystic, 5% bonus XP) played by S. Current Total: 685. Location: Turos Tem

 Deceased:

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Alexa this is so sad play "dirty white boy" by foreigner