Rotvalan Reveries Ep5: Confronting a Weakness

Run Date: May 26, 2024

PCs
Anabelle: Lv1 Explorer
Urso: Lv1 Thief

Hench
None

Confronting A Weakness

Nearly everyone was busy due to Memorial Day weekend so today was a trek off the beaten path with fresh Lv1s.

Today’s duo decided to hit up a rumour from a couple weeks back involving a Serif, the equivalent to a Viscount, and his desire for discreet action. The party headed to the local church of Iona for Sunday mass and located Serif Georgio. After mass, and a bit of stumbling, the pair managed to get the attention of Georgio’s steward and set up a meeting. They were taken in an unmarked carriage to a side road in the shadier part of town where the Serif met up with them.

Serif Georgio informed the pair that he’d been having trouble with a group of thieves calling themselves Boggarts. They had a particular interest in harassing him, and had even been so bold as to steal his wife’s ring! For shame. He also offered them a bounty on the leader’s head. The definitely honourable duo then set out to bring law to the lawless.

There are a variety of obstacles I hit this session, but I’ll speak on it later. For now, the duo split off from their employer and decided to head west of Coxhaven to chat up the locals. After several hours of hoofing it, they discovered little. The Boggarts seemed to be Robin Hood types; stealing from wealthy merchants, harassing nobility, making vast donations to the commonfolk, enchanting the hearts of women, etc. Alas, no information on the hideout’s location.

As the sun set, the pair headed back toward the road and came across a group of brigands laden with loot. They ducked into a nearby copse and did some recon before deciding to follow this group to their hideout. For now, they hunkered down for a night of listening to the brigands party. The following morning, the tracking began.

The brigands spent a few hours traveling, sometimes hitting the road to check for targets. They soon moved southeast and attacked a group of traveling pilgrims. I had the players control the Pilgrim half of this fight, and in hindsight I should have tossed a few dice and adjudicated it quicker. The pilgrims managed to take down a gang of the brigands before finally breaking, and Urso used the opportunity to perform a costume swap and infiltrate the ranks. Afterward, they continued east toward the woods that haven’t been named yet.

They reached the edge of the forest at nightfall. The brigands’ morale was mixed. Urso overheard some of them complaining about the command to attack the pilgrims; while others were annoyed at the lack of a heavier haul. The camp settled down and put up their watches (Urso ended up on the first).

At midnight, a great howl came from the wood and the alarm went up within camp. The brigands made a mad scramble for their weapons as they were set upon by a huge, demonic wolf; the very air around it chilled the summer heat. The leader tried to organize his men while Urso sabotaged their response speed. Meanwhile, the demon wolf shredded the first couple gangs and began his bloodbath. The brigands made attempts at surrounding the creature and forcing it into a circle of spears, but the monstrosity shattered everything; weapons and men.

Urso ducked out to meet up with Anabelle, who had been hunkered down outside of the camp’s range. They stole off into the darkness listening to the panicked and desperate screams of dying men. The last sound they heard was the bloodcurdling howl of the demon wolf.

Both PCs had Endurance, and decided to ignore sleeping (or the penalties). As the sky started to grey, they returned to the scene of the massacre. They were happy to find no wolf demon, or other challenge, to interrupt their picking. There were a few valuables mixed into the bits of flesh and viscera, as well as some coin. The rest were sacks and casks; trade goods they weren’t about to slow themselves down with. Once they finished picking what they liked, the duo set up a small hiding spot at the edge of the wood and waited to see if the brigands’ comrades, who likely lived nearby, would come to check the site.

A few hours later, the duo heard a small army marching toward them. They were soon spotted by the scouts and attempted negotiations. This was clumsy, and somewhat funny. The scouts seemed cautious at first, but soon shifted to hostile once they approached and spotted the blood on the PC’s boots. Urso was in the middle of talking about the great wolf and pulled a “like that one!” feint. This was apparently enough to delay the scouts (low initiative) and give the PCs a chance to flee. Anabelle’s explorer powers shined here.

While escaping the scouts, the pair stumbled into a herd of roe. A few shots later and they had dinner. The pair headed back north toward the road and into Coxhaven.

Rewards (Totals)

350 xp
152 gp

Afterword

If I graded myself as a game master, today would be a fat F. I don’t often keep detailed notes of various rumours I post; they’re typically a mix of information, hooks, and showing the world is moving. This one I’d forgotten even the basic details to besides the Serif’s name and his desire for discretion.

To begin; the PCs had to first make contact with the Serif. That part was easy enough. Where things started getting rough was figuring out how to adjudicate the players’ desire to search for information regarding the Boggarts. Reaction Rolls suit for some of this, but what good is a hideout if it isn’t hidden? How do I keep it exciting enough to actually call it a session?

The brigand encounter was lucky for me because it gave me something to work with. They weren’t the Boggarts, but it was something the pair could make an adventure out of. This was followed with figuring out how to actually track such a group. Tracking, the proficiency, serves this purpose. What I had issues figuring out was how long the duo could follow without being potentially spotted. I ruled that they did a sort of spy/hunt movie montage; staying far out, ducking behind walls, buildings, animals, etc. Simple enough given the area is scattered with hamlets.

The next point of conflict was deciding where this group of brigands set up camp. Did they even have a lair? Was this pursuit a waste of time? What do? I ended up borrowing the Treasure Map rule for 1 hex per 1k gp value and rolled a d12 for clock direction. That set the Brigands moving ESE and their lair a few hexes out. In hindsight, this was actually a good judgment, though I should have used the lair’s full value for hex distance. Another suggestion I received post-session from the ACKS Discord was rolling % in lair as they traveled. Nonetheless, the area ended up with another point of interest and potential conflict for later adventure.

Brigs vs Pilgrims should probably have been skipped altogether. Not going to add much on this except I keep giving loot to creatures not in their lair; typically thieves, brigands, raiders, and other creatures it would make sense for.

The second Godsend of the session was the encounter with the Lesser Barghest. Adjudicating and narrating this was a lot of fun. Absolute brutality that shook up “travel and stalk these guys” with an opportunity to profit. Honestly, I think this allowed the session to even be called such.

That’s it for now. Take care.