Run Date: September 8, 2024
PCsHelena: Lv4 Bladedancer (WTW)
Lycalia: Lv1 Witch
Plethon: Lv1 Mage
Francisco: Lv1 Fighter
Hench
Mercedes: Lv1 Priestess
Athena: Lv1 Priestess
Lothor: Lv1 Vaultguard
New Faces of Chaos
I cast the net for recruitment and fished up a crop of three new faces. Much of the initial session time was handled with introductions, questions, and general explanations. Helena took the lead since much of the current goings-on pertained to various threads she’d been involved in.
After sorting out the orders and travel speed, the party headed toward the lake in the northwest of the Greenwood where Helena had previously met up with some “witches.” Helena described the conditions of the previous meeting and set expectations (including cracking open a hot one) well head of time. Her goal was to turn over a Lv2 Lieutenant from the recent raid as payment for a “spellcasting service.” On the way there, the party spotted a huge and holy falcon that didn’t take too kindly to the walking ball of chaos that was the party, but Helena’s scout managed to find a path to escape. The creature circled above them for a while before giving up and continuing on its way.
Once the party arrived at the lair, the group split: several went to sit near the lake and avoid the interaction altogether while the others had dinner and managed negotiations. It turned out that the LT didn’t have much strength of soul, but his blood carried potential. This satisfied the “witch” and the bargain was struck. That night, they called in the mists of the veil and communed with chaos. Helena learned that there were more ruins within 12 miles of their location and on the east side of the river. Given her current map of the area, that heavily narrowed down the potential locations and added another hook for later.
After spending the night by the lake, the party trekked through the wooded hills toward a ruined mausoleum. The last time the party had been here, the place was covered in thick fog and lead to several shenanigans and a captured “necromancer.” The group had intended to use the sketched pieces of map to delve into the mausoleum and claim it for Ryder. Given the time they arrived, however, they decided to set up outside the place and just watch.
Night fell and the group spotted several torches descending from a path that wrapped around the mountain and into the mausoleum. They noted this and made plans to check out the area in the morning. Alas, their night was interrupted by the descent of flapping wings as a swarm of unknowns descended upon the camp. Helena and her crew were on watch and quickly threw up the alarm while lighting torches. These fresh flames revealed the creatures were striges, and quickly attaching themselves to those sleeping!
The camp roused and began sweeping through everything they could. Lysalia ducked into a defensive line built by Plethon’s Manes and cast Angelic Choir, a spell that creates a large chorus of singers. Funny that there was a recent back and forth about how useless the spell was because of no real mechanical effect. I ended up ruling that it disrupted the creature’s echolocation enough to reduce their morale by 1. As the party continued to push against the flying monstrosities, and with the benefit of blaring tunes, the creatures faltered and flew back into the trees. The camp cleared out the remaining creatures attached to the bodies of their brethren, but it was too late for them. RIP several Mercs.
The following morning, the group awoke before sunrise. They descended into the ruins of the tiny hamlet and up the road toward the mausoleum. They spotted several “garden beds” with freshly turned soil. One of the party pulled a finger sticking up and yanked out a forearm (to stow away for later use). They then headed up the rounded path and discovered a platform that lead over a sharp drop. The area had several statues and a deep pit or well.
Lysalia spent some time looking over the most intact statue and discovered it bore the symbol of the Dead King. A loremaster would have known more, but she regaled the party with a legend of a lich king that once ruled some centuries back.
The party sat down and had a long discussion about setting an ambush at this ledge. There wasn’t much in the way of cover, but they could use the curvature of the path to block line of sight until the enemy entered the platform. Helena bribed her scout to act as spotter (he’s the navigator and didn’t want to be the first thing the enemy could target) and the group settled in. Less than an hour later, the scout gave the first signal.
The party had the advantage with Line of Sight and Foreknowledge, but the groups marching up the path had gotten a bad feeling. Evil place with bad feelings? “Must just be my imagination.” As the first group hit the landing, the party engaged and charged.
The Manes hit the initial line, which turned out to be zombies. They didn’t do much but managed to stop the enemy just on the stairs with enough space for Francisco and one cavalryman to charge the flank. The charge decimated the zombies surrounding one of the “necromancers” and locked down the platform. The group slowly shifted around and prepared a variety of spells and support to maintain position.
The “necromancers” began unleashing their own spells while the zombies attempted to shove their way onto the platform. Frighten Beast sent both of the previous chargers fleeing back onto the platform, forcing Francisco to dive off his horse before it tripped on the edge of the pit and fell to its death (this ruling was mildly contentious). Meanwhile the horde continued its press up the stairs and once again hit the wall of Manes. Shortly after, a Holy Circle sealed the area and left the zombies stuck with no way around.
The “necromancers” were preparing another volley of spells and commands for their zombies, but Helena burst in with a Halt Humanoid that stopped them all in their tracks. This was the turning point of the battle, and allowed Francisco, the cataphract, and other spear/lancemen to take advantage of their reach. They began prodding the zombies and killed one of the “necromancers.” Soon after, Plethon popped open his rolodex and Summoned Cacodemon on the enemy’s rear.
The Friend cast Fan of Flames and heavily wounded the enemy ranks. Two of the burning zombies retaliated by charging it off the cliffside. Meanwhile, the party continued to prod and kill the surging horde, soon prioritizing the “necromancers” that had begun to return to their senses. They would never get the chance. Finally, I hand-waved the rest of the battle as the zombie horde is mindless, their leaders were dead, and there was no path around the still-intact Holy Circle.
The party took stock of their kills and dug items from pockets, getting a slew of copper, silver, and a few of the enemy’s bestial masks (I used the Adventuring Party TT here). Given we were already well over on session time, I asked the group how they wanted to handle wrap-up and we resolved the return to the Golden Sun. After a short Q&A and planning for the future, I resolved a prisoner exchange that should have happened prior to this session and we ended.
Rewards (Totals)
183 XP
51 GP
Bonus: Helena/Gwen received 945 GP/XP for the value of the captives.
Afterword
It’s been a bit since I’d run a session and I forgot how difficult it can be to introduce new players to the game when there are a lot of layers or moving parts. Keep it simple, pick an objective, learn as you go. Ezpz?
The prisoner exchange is something I should have resolved by now and slacked off terribly on. I was trying to sort out how difficult or suspicious the event would have been, potential ambush/counter-ambush, etc. I landed on a neutral result (2d6) and ruled that Serif Georgio prioritized saving face by managing the exchange without risk of more lives. Ryder did later say that the Serif had a colourful litany of insults to toss his way, and Helena got a good laugh out of it.
Oh right, unsure if I mentioned in the past, but Helena suggested infecting the prisoners with lycanthropy. I tossed the dice and it looks like no symptoms will show until 2 days before the full moon, meaning that things are going to go crazy real quick. Since we run 1:1 time, this means the date is coming whether I like it or not. This is good for the players because they can now plan to profit from the chaos. This is bad for me because I’ve got to step up and figure out how to adjudicate it. Stay tuned!
That’s all for now. Take care.
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