Up
Resume of game on 11-8-94
Summary
The players escaped from the Northmarch barony and reported Baron Antigonus' misdeeds to their own Knight. Shortly thereafterwards the Count's men marched north and placed Antigonus under arrest. Mark Cowper joined the campaign (as Manish), a farmer's lad from near Genest. He witnessed a raid by some bandits, and followed them into Rathorela to discover their hideout. Sir J asked him to locate the bandits precisely, working with the other PC's, and then they returned with the militia and some soldiers to exterminate the bandits. Unfortunately this led to a diplomatic incident with the tribesmen there. The PC's were hired to fetch a prize pig from a farm for Mr. D'Strad; it turned out to be a gigantic mean-tempered boar and there were various problems getting it home.
Details
Game dates: late Fire - mid Earth, 1621. Dramatis Personae: Pan (Charlie); Agvan (Alan); Marcus (Lynne); Gelert (MarkB); Manish (MarkC).
Manish is a farmer's son who lives near Gelert, between Genest and Reventon. Now that a tavern has opened in Genest, he's begun going there instead of Reventon and was vaguely known to the others before being thrust among them in this game. He is large -SIZ 16 -, good-looking, lazy and vain.
As you may recall, at the end of last game the PCs were retreating south in two groups. Between last game and this, Lynne & I covered her group's journey; we never actually covered it in this game, because Rupert didn't show up and Charlie was delayed, so in summary: Marcus, Pan and Viran travelled SE from Moranus along an overgrown old trail. They stopped short when they came to the remains of a ruined village, because it was adorned with crucified broo. They did not enter the village but turned south, and next day came to the swamp. Here they discussed crossing the bog: they felt it would take a couple of days to travel round, but the ferry point to Newfaith was blocked by some of Antigonus' men including one wearing a silver helm. However by flashing sunlight off a sword they attracted a Newfaithian fisherman who readily poled them across. Then they continued south through the Rathorelan forest to keep out of Antigonus' sight, and went straight to Reventon to report to Sir J.
See also map from last game
Meanwhile, Agvan, Gelert and Praxos were fleeing South. Their retreat was much more eventful than the others' somehow... Agvan's / Gelert's / Praxos' map alongside Marcus' / Pan's / Viran's map
As they travelled South they were jumped by a gang of immature broo. Two went for Praxos, one for each of the others. The Turkey had viciously sharp feathers and flailed its wings in a flapping frenzy. The Pig had a big club, vicious tusks and vomited acid onto Praxos. The Snake had a poisonous bite, of course, and the Cliff Toad backed up its constrict / acidic swallow attack with extremely sticky skin which immobilised weapons once struck. But eventually the PC's clubbed, kicked and hacked the critters apart.
Shortly after beating off the broo, the PC's heard pursuers behind them. After realising they were as well hidden as a Not Very Well Hidden Thing, they fled into the forest. Agvan tried hiding up a tree with the silver-helmed henchman of Antigonus only a couple of hundred metres behind, but failed to get a foothold and legged it instead, thus living to run away another day. Agvan's next idea was to cause a diversion by surreptitiously setting light to a pile of dry leaves with an Ignite spell. "What, in the middle of a forest at the end of Fire Season? There's been no rain for days..." I said. "Yes" said Alan. The pursuers raced past the smouldering leaves, being too intent on their promised reward to pay it any attention. But minutes later it looked like the resultant wind-fanned roaring inferno would sweep past them, so they headed north back to the castle (which had a firebreak around it). Praxos, Agvan and Gelert were driven by the flames first East, then South. It looked like they were cut off by a ring of fire. Panicked animals ran in all directions, the heat was like a blast furnace, sweat streamed down them and the smoke and noise was terrifying. Then they realised that they might be able to find safety at the stream. They found their way back to it and assessed their situation. The stream was down a ravine, a natural firebreak and obviously much cooler than their surroundings, but it was steep - perhaps dropping 50 feet vertically in just 5 feet horizontally - and at the bottom was a raging torrent of rapids. ("What, in Earth Season?" said MarkB.) They chose the easiest spot they could and climbed down to a ledge, very cautiously, though Praxos got rather wet at the bottom. Then they prepared to wait for 1 - 2 days until the surface above got cool enough to walk on. Every now and then another animal would fling itself off the cliffs above to be dashed to death or drown below. The skies were dark and the air full of the stench of burnt wood and the cries of burning animals. "Those bastards!" swore Praxos. "If I ever get them they'll rue the day they set fire to my woods. If this were a town they'd be publicly tortured to death for arson, it would last at least a week." For once, Agvan kept quiet. Whilst they sat on the ledge they realised there was a large green lizard-man swimming in the stream, trying to drag a dead deer upstream. "Why don't we attract its attention?" suggested Agvan. "Yeah, we could throw rocks at it" said the others. "Leave it alone." They also saw some elves on the cliff opposite; the Aldryami ignored the humans, but set up a vine across the stream and a firefighting crew went over to the Empire to counter the disaster. Agvan realised they were near a cave (limestone ravine, you see) and suggested sleeping in there. This was accepted as a sensible idea by the others.........
...........until, that is, they were attacked by the two dragonsnails that emerged from the cave that night. These weren't that hard, really, though I was disappointed that Agvan declined to use his Ignite spell as one was Highly Flammable. Gelert was disappointed that there were only two: "That's the trouble with Dragonsnails - two are never enough, you always feel like more." The PC's dissected the critters for loot in their intestinal cavities but only found a curious piece of horn covered in mother-of-pearl and a lot of goo.
I would like to congratulate Agvan on two points - (1) he led the others into as much chaos in 2 hours as we've seen in the entire rest of the campaign, and (2) I'm sure his deity is very pleased with his devoted acts of worship.
In the morning the PC's crossed to Rathorela using the elves' vine and travelled south to the Marsh. Here they spotted the silver-helmed follower of Antigonus' and some other minions, lurking near the normal crossing point at Newfaith, so they used the flashing trick to attract a fisherman surreptitiously. They were ferried over to Newfaith and had a hurried but uneventful trip back to Genest.
Consequences of the trip "oop north"
Once Sir J informed the Baron of what the PC's had seen and experienced up north, it was not long before Thule's entire garrison of 90 men thundered north. (Political note: most of these are the Count's men - the Baron can't support many full-time soldiers, nor does he have a need to as the Count's soldiers do most of the policing round here; nor would the Count be pleased if the Baron did have lots of men.) A few days later Antigonus and his supporters were escorted south through Genest under armed guard. Antigonus seemed calm, confident, even amused: "I'll be back," he told the curious villagers who came to gawp, "I've simply been living on my land and there's no harm in that, is there? About time it was put to use." There did not seem to have been any violence but Antigonus has disappeared for now, the rumour is that he's been 'invited' to visit the Count in Harandash.
Manish and the Gladiator **** Bandits?
A few days into Earth season, Manish (MarkC) was walking down the road next to the Rathorelan forest, chatting to a merchant driving a wagon, when suddenly a swarm of bloodthristy robbers charged out of the trees and hacked the merchant to death. They'd have got Manish, too, if his legs had not found they could run faster than ever before. He hid and watched them loot the cart, then disappear back into the forest. It occurred to him that these might be the infamous Gladiator Gang, and there was meant to be a big reward on these guys for information leading to their arrest. He very cautiously followed them to find their hideout. Naturally, being 16 years old he just knew he was a Master of sneaking and tracking. All went well for a few miles, the outlaws were laughing and talking loudly and were easy to trail at a distance. Manish was beginning to feel uneasy at the creepiness of the forest environment, when suddenly he was struck on the back of the bonce and passed out.
He came to in the camp of the Burnt Tree clan, Rathori tribesmen who seemed friendly and helped him recover. Some could speak Carmanian, and told him he had been found unconscious in the forest and carried to their camp for treatment. He appeared to have been attacked with a club and left for dead; all his "valuables" were gone.
Three Bears guided him to Reventon and Manish reported what had happened to Sir Julius. Sir J asked him to show the other PC's (who are now notorious in the area as knowing the forest and its peoples) where he'd been attacked, so that they could pinpoint the bandits' camp; and he asked the PC's to track them down and report back.
The PC's tracked the bandits to the Old Ruins ( map). They entered cautiously (well, the older PC's were cautious, "un"fortunately the younger ones didn't do anything lethal) and went to see Kimosa, the Black Dryad and her band of merry mushroom men. This was the first time Manish, Gelert or Agvan had come across such strange creatures and Manish in particular was extremely frightened.
Kimosa was friendly, though she did ask when her Table would be ready. She had some silver and gold coins to swap for it now. As far as she was concerned, the PC's could kill the bandits and take all their possessions as long as they left the bodies for her folk to 'eat'. She said the bandits had been there a week or two, buying food and healing from the Dark Elves. She said the bandits hid in the "warm" Temple.
The PC's left the ruins and went to find a nearby Rathori clan. Marcus and Pan knew these ruins were taboo to the Rathori, so all they said to the chief was, could they get the bandits within? The chief said he'd discuss it with neighboring chiefs (the ruins straddle several clans' territories) and send a message to Sir J. The PC's returned to Reventon.
Next day, the Rathori informed Sir J he could go wait outside the ruins with some men and ambush the bandits, but he must not allow his men into the ruins as they were a sacred / taboo place.
Sir J summoned the best militia and soldiers and, with 20 men plus lance-corporal Pan, Gelert, Marcus, Agvan, and Manish he marched into the Forest to the ruins.
Here, it was generally agreed that a quick end to the situation was best and rather than lie in wait for days, possibly being spotted and unable to cover all exits, they had best foray in to where the bandits were hanging out. The PC's were assigned to cover the rear, sneaking in behind the temple just before the main mob charged the front with a makeshift battering ram.
The PC's had 15 minutes to move into position; they almost didn't make it, being slowed first by the attack of two ghosts (on Agvan, Manish) and then being partially shredded by the thorny vegetation behind the temple. But as the main attack began they were ready to scale the walls of the roofless temple and managed to engage two gladiators attempting to escape out the back. A crack of thunder signified the escape of one gladiator through D.I.
Molotov cocktails seemed to be effective against one, who threw himself down into the militia for a last frenzied attack. The other stoically withstood the flaming oil and rushed into another building, a curious mill-like place with machinery inside that appeared to be running. Here, amid the turning wheels and clanking gears, Agvan charged through a wall of flame (Molotov), buffeted Marcus and Gelert out of the way and almost caused them and himself to plummet down a very deep shaft indeed. The gladiator ran out the front of the building, and traded blows with Pan - this was the first time Pan had ever fought someone so good that Pan's Attack and Parry were reduced! However the gladiator, weakened by burns, finally expired from Pan and Manish's attentions.
The 7 gladiators, outnumbered 4 to 1 by professional soldiers and the best of the militia, had killed two soldiers and one villager. Sir J took the heads of the 6 bodies as proof whilst the militia and soldiers collected the bandits' plunder (= looted). The shrine itself was pretty much a shell, but there was something interesting in the inner shrine, a golden brazier said one man who got out. The soldiers entered - there was a commotion - and they ran out, except for one who got fried noisily by some kind of fire magic. Agvan volunteered to Sir J to go in and recover the body, figuring he was not going to be attacked because he's in the smith's cult and "recognised" the runes above the inner shrine as his own cult's: uKr. But when he entered, some kind of fire creature chased him out sharpish! Sir J was not very impressed by Agvan's misremembering his own cult's runes!
Note fromGM: when Alan's first character died and he rolled up a second in the same cult - which was the one this shrine was for - I deliberately changed history. Suddenly, this Fire temple was to a completely different deity, so that Alan couldn't use pre-knowledge about this shrine which his old character had discovered along with Pan and Marcus ...tut, tut...However, it does get a mite confusing at times!
The Lunar force exited Hourglaston. All in all, they had probably spent 45 minutes inside. As they headed home Marcus realised some Rathori were following them, stalking in the undergrowth. He hid in a bush as the column marched onwards, and followed behind the Rathori observing at a distance. He realized that the Lunars were covertly surrounded as he heard other groups moving closer from up ahead.
Marcus now found he was cut off from the column, and unable to warn them. Then an arrow struck and killed a soldier. Marcus made a break for the others, got into a tangle with a Rathori brave and was rescued by a mass Disrupt from the Lunars.
Sir J twigged why this was going on and challenged the Rathori leader to show himself and fight it out with him, personally, because he was responsible for leading the men into the ruins. Ghost Dancer, the shaman showed himself and bade the braves attack but Chief Twelve Cubs told him to shut up, and met Sir J in single combat. Kluthe Twelve Cubs was however simply outclassed by Sir J; even a solid blow to Sir J's head bounced off his silver helm and spells. Sir J bested him thrice and each time held back from killing Kluthe. After the third time, Sir J said he would not fight Kluthe any more because he could not kill such a brave man when it was the Lunars who were in the wrong. This impressed Kluthe who decreed the Lunars could go, though he and the other elders of the area would decree a penance after a council.
The Lunars returned to Reventon with their dead.
Sir J asked everyone to swear an oath: 1. Not to tell anyone about the existence of the ruins; 2. Not to go back to the ruins. He is worried that rumours will spread of loot and stuff there, bringing Lunar treasure seekers who will upset the Rathori by breaking the taboo. Most NPC's swore, but there were some noticeable exceptions: 1. Parmedes, the grizzled veteran, refused to swear because 'I never swear oaths. You can't make me; if you don't trust my good sense, tough. If I'd sworn oaths every time someone wanted me to, I'd be unable to do half the things I needed to - if I could remember them all.' 2. Mondias D'Strad, one of Farmer D'Strad's sons and a militiaman, because 'I refuse to be forced into swearing oaths for your purposes which constrain my freedom of action'. (His father raged at him back in Genest, this looks very bad in Sir J's eyes but he wouldn't swear.)
Two days later Kluthe came to Reventon and told Sir J that the Ancestors had decided Sir J should go to a holy place in the forest and pray to the spirit of the forest for forgiveness and understanding. Sir J did this; he said later he was more worried about being jumped by the Blackarm tribe than the Rathori when he went. He also said he learnt that the tribesmen had some hothead extremists anxious for revenge, but the chiefs and womenfolk had quashed their agitating.
The PC's were contracted by Farmer D'Strad to fetch a prize-winning swine for him, from a farm a couple of days away. He entrusted 200L to them to get Boris Balthasar Maximilian III and bring him back. The PC's were paid 2 or 3L each to act as guards. Good money when the alternative, labouring on the farms, pays 1c / day. The PC's trundled off through many a picturesque village, enjoying the sight of all those people hard at work in the fields (map). They noted with interest a wyvern rider who seemed to be hanging upside-down from his mount by a safety rope; the Inksprings militia, pride of the barony, drilling away in spotless uniforms - evidentally retired soldiers and their offspring; Addernest, site of an extremely old Earth / Snake / Fertility temple; Quinas, a poor village run by an oppressive knight; Blood Moor, site of an ancient Karmanian / Lunar battle during the Blood Kings Wars and said to be still cursed; a ruined castle on a hill next to Blood Moor. Finally they reached Leachcroft, dominated by a large tower of peculiar construction. (Rather than being round in cross-section, it is pentacular.) The architecture reminded the PC's of the ruins in the forest, and reminded Pan of a tower he'd seen once in a marsh, but this one is in good repair and occupied by the lord of the manor which rather precludes further poking about. Boris lived on a farm just outside this village and the PC's arrived there as night fell.
Mr Rutoff was happy to take the 200L and took them round the back to meet Boris. He disappeared into the stygian, fetid gloom of a large sty scattering squealing piglets. The players began to get a bit uneasy as they sensed something massive moving in the darkness. Then with a bad-tempered grunting noise the most enormous, evil-looking boar the (farming) lads had ever seen emerged and fixed its little piggy eyes on them. Imagine a giant tusker covered in sharp black bristles and you've got a good idea of Boris.
It seemed happy enough to be petted by Mr. Rutoff but every time Manish tried it, he almost lost his hand. And when they set off the next day, Mr. Rutoff just happened to mention that it would be a bad idea to let him see the colour red, because he tended to go a bit berserk.
The PC's cautiously led Boris down the road and got almost half a mile before the first Incident, some shapely sows in a field they were passing smelt Boris and almost demolished a fence trying to get at him. Luckily BBM III had a ring through his nose and had been de-tusked, so was semi-controllable. There were various other minor incidents such as Boris allowing Manish to pet him for once... until he was close enough to Manish's lunch to snatch and devour it, whereupon it was back to snapping at him. They carried on, Gelert's new terrier snapping at the boar every now and then until it was tossed 10 feet, stoppoing for a mud bath etc. every now and then. But as they approached Blood Moor, they realised they might have a problem:
Blood Moor is covered in red poppies.
After much discussion they decided to go past Blood Moor at night, so the colour couldn't be seen. Locals advised them this was a Bad Idea, and they were All Doomed, but they did anyhow.
It was really creepy wandering along the dark lanes. There seemed to be lights in the ruined castle, and out of the corners of your eyes there seemed to be shapes moving on the moor. And for some reason, Pan and Manish chose this time to be really irritable. They began slagging each other off, then actually fighting -vicious punches, kicks and shoves. Manish went down and now Gelert joined in: "Wot yer done to my friend?" and attacked Pan too, only to be almost knocked out too.
Pan had enough restraint to refrain from killing them, but there was much bad feeling and later, when they had passed the Moor and gone to sleep in a barn, Gelert and Manish set upon Pan when he was asleep to exact their revenge. Amazingly, Pan once again gave them a thorough kicking in; the other two withdrew muttering. Manish by now had two black eyes and bruised nose, legs and arms.
Next day, the group passed through Inksprings where the militia was once again drilling. Too late they realised that the Lunar army's favourite colour is red... Boris went berserk, but instead of the militia killing him, he routed them! He ended up in the tavern, and ate all the bran mash. Next day he had a bit of a headache...
And finally, the players got back to Genest. All in all, a five day trip and one they would remember. Boris seemed to like Farmer D'Strad, which no doubt will be the subject of many a ribald comment in the village.
Miscellaneous
Pan collected maximum Creep Points when he named his child Julius and asked Sir J to be its godfather. Afte rdue consideration, Sir J agreed.
Harvest I would like to re-emphasize that during Earth season, a lot of the PCs' time is spent labouring on the farms.
What next?
Calendar for the above PC's got back from Up North around Fire 1 The Ruins occupied days 5-6 Boris occupied days 8-12 approx Harvest is likely to occupy most of the rest of Earth Season.
Loot from the 3 searchers: Fire 1621 - from last game (But I didn't quote figures) Between: Marcus, Pan, Viran. A heavy crossbow (but forgot to take quiver of quarrels)....resale value 50L... did someone keep this? Full helms: Size 13: resale value 25L: Marcus would like this Rest: 277.6L. You also get a chance of an Evaluate tick on 2 items.
Loot from Antigonus and the 3 prison guards - again from last game Between: Praxos, Gelert, Agvan. Total cash value 300L, ie 100L each
Between: Praxos, Gelert, Agvan From: Dragonsnails curious piece of horn covered in mother-of-pearl - unable to find a buyer.
Reward for capture of gladiator bandits Total: 350L, divided thus: Manish: 10% for initial tracking & reporting, which led to their arrest; ie, 35L. Marcus, Pan, Gelert, Agvan, and Manish again: 10% between them for second risky tracking expedition, which pinpointed them; ie, 7L each. PC's and 20 other soldiers / militiamen: 80% between them, for actually getting the bandits. Ie, 11.2L each. Share of loot recovered: 23L each.
Email: Webmaster@furfur.demon.co.uk