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  1. - Top - End - #91
    Banned
     
    Scow2's Avatar

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    Oct 2009
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    Ohio

    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    I Must Read More About The Exploits Of Harold The Awesome!

  2. - Top - End - #92
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Queensland, Australia
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    Male

    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    I hope Dev reads that comment.

    Session 2.7: The End of the Line

    "Welcome to Session 1.10, and yes I realise that is some bizarre numbering, but I couldn't care less."
    I later fixed the numbering of the earlier sessions so that we didn't get weird session numbers like that.


    The companions quickly suit themselves up. By now Tremor and Harold both have some substantial armour and Harold in particular can resemble a walking armoury. They're going to take this cult on. No more hiding in the shadows, no more subtlety. This time, the ****'s going to hit the fan.

    The storm is approaching, the clouds dark and ominous. The rain is getting heavier and the distant thunder is gradually getting closer. It will be an ugly night.

    The party splits into two groups, hoping that they might be a little less conspicuous. Tremor and Breanna can sort of blend in a little as there are other Leathe and dwarves in the town, but Harold, Maebh and Kel'Serrar are far more noticeable. Tremor and Breanna head off together while Maebh, Kel'Serrar and Harold stick together as well. Before they head off, Tremor asks Harold for a better weapon than his own hatchet and hammer combo. The Invarrian thinks about this and then unbuckles one of his belts, handing over his longsword to the Dwergar, who takes a moment to reconfigure the suspension system and slings it over his back.

    Tremor also picks up a loud whistle from a vendor on the way, thinking it could only be a good idea.

    The two groups arrive to find that the warehouses are arranged in five rows of five. The first four rows appear to be relatively old constructions, weathered, with dirty windows and rough woodwork. The hindmost row however appears to be of a considerably newer make, showing less signs of wear.

    Harold considers setting the whole thing on fire, but they throw that plan aside quickly. Maebh notices that the two closest ones on the corners are dilapidated and abandoned. In fact judging by the accumulated dust, only the central warehouse in the first row has been used in the last few weeks.

    There is precisely as much thought given to Tremor running through each column of warehouses, blasting each wall apart as he goes, as you might expect after his theatrics on Shylocke's door. It was seriously considered, which, to be honest, doesn't say much for the IQ of anyone involved.

    "I think we should be checking inside the most recently used ones." - Harold, stroking his canine chin.
    Each warehouse is made of wooden planks, the doors about two inches think with a heavy lock. The side walls have high windows that are designed to allow light into the structure during the daylight hours. On the other hand, it might be able to admit Breanna if she climbs up on Harold's shoulders to get up there.

    The companions walk around to the right hand side of the central warehouse of the front row and Harold heaves Breanna up. As he does, she grabs hold of the window sill and pulls herself over the edge before dropping to the floor in a neat crouch.

    Unusually for a warehouse, this structure is almost empty. In the front corner of the room there is a desk with a piece of parchment on it, but in the sparse light and at this distance, she cannot see what is on it. In the centre of the room there is also a small construction. It appears to be a small golden bowl upon on a three legged silver stand. The bowl contains a dark substance, but the Leathe cannot make it out.

    First she approaches the desk and looks at the piece of parchment, finding it is a map. The map shows Summer Hill, though it appears to be different from the map that she is familiar with, namely the one Tremor produced when asked. According to this map, Summer Hill has actually shrunk in size. Crucially, this makes the warehouses almost squarely in the centre of what did make up the entirety of Summer Hill's boundaries.

    Spoiler
    Show
    This is very interesting here, because while this may look like a case of GM fiat to get this arc over and done with, it was not really. The fact that Summer Hill is smaller now than it used to be was something I came up with quite early, though the players never thought to enquire about that when they were discussing potential places for a summoning ritual to be held at. As they never considered that the town might have shrunk, I felt that was something I shouldn't point out as a possibility as that might have just given it away. In hindsight, they were getting frustrated so maybe that was something I should have managed to drop somehow a fair bit earlier.

    In all I think I might be most frustrated by how I played Rangard. I wanted him to be an ambiguous character that would turn out to be a relatively powerful and interesting ally in terms of his connections and money rather than any real personal power. Sadly, I got annoyed that none of the players were particularly thorough with the investigative side of things, and they got annoyed that things weren't clear-cut and straightforward. Their first impression of Rangard was that he could not be trusted, and while that is true to a certain extent, he was intended to be an ally.

    Anyway, I guess it's true that you can't guess in advance which characters your players will like and which ones they hate, though admittedly I found it bemusing that they did end up hating Rangard more than their various nemeses.

    Moving on from that rant, and on to the previous one, the fiat did not come in with regards to the size of Summer Hill and the location of the ritual. That was set right from the start. In fact, the only fiat involved here was that I intended to make sure that the map was found regardless of which warehouse was entered first so that they knew they were on track. And that was just so that we wouldn't waste another session on relatively pointless exposition. Again.

    Back to the story and thanks for reading my rant/s.


    Beside the map is a small key. Breanna snatches both and stuffs them in her beltpouch before taking a closer look at the golden bowl. As she walks close enough to recognise the contents of the bowl, she stops, within a step of walking into the magical field around the contraption. Breathing slightly quicker now, Breanna realises that the field is likely an alarm or maybe a ward that could hurt someone who gets too close and decides that she is magically out of her depth here. She cautiously backs away and approaches the front door.

    "I'm going to slide a key out for you to try on the lock okay?" - Breanna, fumbling to get the key out of her belt-pouch.
    "Don't bother." - Harold, who along with Tremor hack at the doorway with their axes until they stand inside.
    "Hmm, it seems we have a key. Let's draw attention to ourselves by hacking our way in!" - Ladyhawk, shaking her head and laughing bitterly with LD.
    "Maebh, I think you need to look at this." - Breanna, pointing at the contraption.
    The Danann mage walks over to the bowl and quickly snaps the control over the ward. It's a pretty slapdash job so takes her very little time.
    Breanna grabs the bowl as soon as Maebh gives her the nod and studies it for any clues. She realises quickly that the blood is intended as an offering for a very, very powerful daemon. The Leathe figures that frozen blood would be an appropriate offering a daemon with a particular affinity for cold, leading her to believe that this is something to do with the Lord of Winter. She also knows that there must be more of these offerings around, intended to lure the daemon into the town and then trap it. Just dealing with one or two of these offerings will not stop the summoning, only leave a "gate" for the daemon to escape and wreak havoc. They must either destroy all the offerings before the summoning begins or leave them intact until the summoning has commenced and then banish the daemon before it is unleashed.
    They study the map and then have a short conversation about how to approach it.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Somewhere along the line it was revealed that only a few warehouses had been used. When shown the map, a diamond shape was apparent in the bird's eye view with the very centre of the diamond being the central warehouse itself. It was swiftly decided the recently used warehouses must have had focusing devices such as the one they have found, and the central one is where the summoning is actually being performed. This was mainly delivered through Black Magic Knowledge Checks from Breanna, though the recording is hard to make out here, hence this OOC spoiler. Just thought I would explain this diamond business to the readers before the players start flipping their **** about it.


    "Can we shift this diamond to outside the town? And then have Breanna hijack the spell?" - Tremor, stroking his beard and ignoring the unspoken rule regarding Breanna's magic.
    "I don't think it works like that." - Breanna, quietly.
    "Us moving the diamond is no guarantee that the daemon will show up out there when it's summoned. The diamond's just to trap it right?" - Harold, correct in a way, and yet incorrect in another.
    "The diamond's here to attract it too. If we shift it, it might not show up at all." - Breanna.
    "But if we shift it and it does show up, it's now in the middle of the town and uncontrolled." - Maebh, grim.
    "Anyway Tremor, even if we did shift the diamond, I don't think our Leathe would be able to do anything about it. As my people say, one person on a mhor's back may direct it. One flea on a mhor's back does nothing." - Kel'Serrar, chiming in.
    If you're interested, a mhor is something like a small indricothere. Sins actually said elephant, but Kel'Serrar wouldn't know what an elephant is, so I'm using creative license.
    "So shifting or tampering with the diamond in any way is a bad idea..." - Tremor, resigned.
    "That's okay, we don't need to. I say we go to the central warehouse, which is where they're performing the summoning, right Breanna?" - Harold, turning to the Leathe.
    She nods.
    "Right. We go there and kill the bastards." - Harold, clapping his hands together.
    "I don't think we can take them all. Judging by Brewer, they've got some impressive casters in there." - Tremor.
    "Bad plan. We'd all die." - Maebh.
    "No, fine then. We burn it down!" - Harold, exasperated.
    "But then they'll just run out and kill us. I'm pretty sure they'll notice if the building they're in starts smoking. Plus this rain's only getting heavier." - Maebh, pointing out the flaws.
    "I can give everyone two words for a really good reason as to why we shouldn't just go blindly in there. The Trickster." - Kel'Serrar, grim.
    "Aaaah.... Yeah..." - Harold, troubled.
    "Whose side is he on anyway?" - Maebh, with a sarcastic laugh.
    "Probably not ours. And do you really want to find out?" - Kel'Serrar, with a laugh.
    "Back to the problem at hand though, what do we do?" - Harold.
    "Regarding that, I had an idea. Frozen blood right? If I immolate it, it's not frozen anymore. Breanna's already told us it has an a affinity for cold. So I suggest that if I melt the blood it might not be attracted to it, but leave the tripod intact so that if it is summoned, at least it can't break free because of us." - Kel'Serrar, thoughtful.
    "Will that work Bree?" - Maebh, quickly.
    The Leathe shrugs and then nods.
    "I guess so." - Breanna.
    "That's good enough for me. Do it." - Maebh, to Kel'Serrar.
    Everyone else nods and the ranger pulls an arrow from his quiver, concentrates for a moment and fire erupts from the shaft. He stabs the arrow into the block of blood-ice and watches as it begins to melt in contact with the superhot flames.

    The arrow is ruined by the time the blood is melted, the flames having licked up the shaft and turned the hardwood to charcoal. He puts the arrow in his quiver anyway so as not to leave any evidence behind.

    "Tremor and I have axes, we'll go break some doors in." - Harold, foregoing subtlety.
    Breanna tests her key out on the lock of the warehouse they're already in, opening it with a slight *click* and giving the rest of the party condescending looks.
    "To save time, Tremor and I will take every second one." - Harold, really wanting to hack down some defenceless doors.
    Breanna and Maebh share an eyeroll and the party moves out. Tremor and Harold attack the next warehouse in the diamond while Breanna runs ahead to another one on the list and unlocks it with her key. Kel'Serrar and Maebh follow them, the ranger with a lit torch to melt the blood and the mage ready to do some serious dispelling.
    Surprisingly, this all goes according to the plan, and within minutes they find themselves outside the first warehouse with the summoning diamond hopefully disrupted. Every warehouse they attempted to get into, they did so and there was a contraption in each one. Somewhere along the line they even had time for Tremor to take a quick leak on the side of the warehouse.
    Yet another occurrence of our special houserule, wherein if a player needs a bathroom break, we find a way for the character to do so too. We've not yet had to deal with this in combat to my memory, though I envisage it potentially being full of funny.

    It was interesting to note that all of these warehouses had been recently completely cleared out and the last row are actually such recent constructions that they consider the possibility that they were created specifically for this ritual.

    And then, trouble. From the direction of the town proper, they hear the sounds of a commotion of some description.
    There are guards coming, wearing the Redwyn livery, not that of the town. They are wearing leather armour and armed with shields and a mix of maces and spears. These are the mayor's men.

    The mayor Breanna recently killed.

    There are ten of them and they are swiftly approaching.

    "I don't really want to get into a drawn out combat that I will probably die in." - Dev.
    "Well do you want to get into a short combat where you wound a few of them while the rest of us run?" - WIngs.
    "No." - Dev.
    "Right, well then. I'm running away." - Wings.
    "My arrows will be going in the same direction as our dwarf." - Sins.
    "I outrun your arrows!" - Wings.
    "WHAT!?" - Ladyhawk and myself, practically simultaneously and cracking up with laughter. In hindsight, the funny part was just how he said it.
    "Run fast little man, for I have twenty-three friends who fly faster than you." - Sins. And the whole table lost it. And after the event, I award him the Badass One-Liner of the Night Award. And it was glorious.


    The group runs, taking cover amongst the warehouses, taking the warehouse furthest from the oncoming guards and barricading it from the inside. Unfortunately, Tremor attracts their attention as he runs, his chain hauberk clanking slightly.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Maebh scored a 3, Kel'Serrar a 1 and Breanna a 0 on their Concealment Checks. All three have bonuses and Kel'Serrar and Breanna's are rather substantial ones. Harold also passed, but not that amazingly.
    "I'm a stabbing shrubbery, in a warehouse, and I'm still so inconspicuous that everyone thinks it's completely normal!" - LD, very happy with her rolling. As well she should be. She's turned into quite the little Dice Jesus. Or should that be Jesus-ette?
    Many jokes were made how she could steal someone's shoes, belt and pants and then shave their hair without them noticing. In fact, she's so good, she could probably steal their identity from them. And they still wouldn't have a clue.


    In a complete turnaround, Tremor's stealth failed him and the guards charge after him.
    "Quick, that way!" - Guardsmen, after the dwarf.
    Tremor, not wanting to lead the guards to the rest of the party, waves them on and changes direction, turning left and hoping to throw the guardsmen off.
    Some OOC discussion where Maebh suggests a Wall of Blades between the Dwergar and his pursuers to allow him to get away, but Wings turns it down, wanting to do things differently.
    The party looks back out at the Dwergar who nods at them before running towards the central warehouse, leading the guardsmen away from his companions. They take his cue and quickly close the door. Breanna, hidden with her Shadowskin and preternatural stealth skills, stays outside and relocks the door before scrambling up the wall and through a window.

    "Quick, stop him before he gets to the centre!" - Guard sergeant to his men. The whole group hears this as the guards pass their warehouse, conforming that the guards are in league with the cult.

    Hearing this, Harold growls.
    "We can flank them." - Harold, to the rest of the group.
    "Our assassin just locked the door Harold." - Kel'Serrar, pointing out a major flaw.
    "Then open it for me." - Harold, with a grin.
    Maebh readies a Wall of Blades as Kel'Serrar draws an arrow from his quiver.
    "Stand back, this might be painful." - Kel'Serrar as he ignites his arrow. Magical flames ripple over it as his spell works.
    The Danann draws his bow, takes a step forward and aims for the centre of the door, roughly where the lock is on the other side. And looses. The arrow slams the doors open and flames billow out, startling the guards who turn and look with horrified expressions as a tall Invarrian lays into them with axe and sword.
    Tremor turns with his borrowed sword in hand, in time to see the explosion and grins in anticipation as the first of the guardsmen reach him.
    Harold whirls into two of the stragglers, smashing them aside with consummate ease before running further out to his beleaguered companion, shoving his axe through his belt and drawing a shortsword over his shoulder. One of the guardsmen closing in on Tremor turns to face the duellist and takes one of Harold's swords on his shield. The guardsman is so amazed to have survived this onslaught, he loses his grip on his mace and drops it.

    Kel'Serrar meanwhile prepares a Patriot Arrow, with just a little bit too much power and giving himself a splitting headache.

    "Is there anything in the warehouse?" - LD.
    "No there's not really save the gold and silver contraption. In fact, one thing you guys note is just how clean it is."
    "You know, you could have put some loot in this scene for us." - Wings.
    "There is. Walking loot. Whoever wanted ten maces and shields and some leather armour, you've got it."
    "Right well then, is there any way I can affect this fight in any way whatsoever?" - LD, after the laughter had died down.
    "You could go out and stab some guards."
    "Right. I go out there with my carving knife and attack the first guy I see." - LD.
    "Don't you have a dagger?" - Dev.
    "I have two daggers, but I prefer to kill with my carving knife." - LD, just about creepily enough to give me nightmares that night.
    "Okay..." - Dev, practically speechless. As we all were.
    "Yeah, so I'll run out there.... And start swinging randomly, hoping to hit someone in the kneecap." - LD, to much laughter.
    "I'm going to assume you meant you want to go out there and flank them?"
    "In the kneecap!" - LD. And all lost their respective ****.

    That's all for now. But I'll be back in a minute.

    EDIT* Here's the second part. Enjoy!
    Last edited by Phoenixguard09; 2020-03-27 at 08:32 AM.
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  3. - Top - End - #93
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Queensland, Australia
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Breanna runs out, shrouded in darkness and wielding a heavy carving knife. One of the guardsmen moving towards Tremor is unaware of the little assassin up until the point where he find his right leg will not move. He looks down and notices the his lower leg is lying upon the ground beneath him. And then he crumples, in too much shock to even feel the pain as he bleeds to death. Breanna's presence is unnoticed by all, having already moved on.

    Spoiler
    Show
    LD's maniacal cackle in the background of the recording is really quite disconcerting. An interesting point came up here though. Breanna is at this stage, the strongest party member, narrowly beating Harold in that regard.

    So where there were jokes about her being somewhat chubby at the beginning of play, the character's weight is actually quite accurate as Breanna is obscenely strong. As in, would probably win an arm-wrestle against the six foot tall Harold.... Ah well, that's what happens when you pump the Strength stat. As an aside, Breanna is probably the most optimised character in the party at the moment, though that is purely in a killing things sense.


    Tremor barrels past two guardsmen and meets up with Harold, cutting one of them down with his sword as he goes.
    "THE RUM COMPELLS ME!" - Tremor, giving into his berserker blood.
    Also, Wings wanted to roll an Intimidate Check on the second guardsman to try and avoid a Provoked Attack. Part of Tremor's background is that he has a massive case of blood-rage. We've still not decided if it's a curse or a disease or just something supernatural that will always remain mysterious, but it basically gave Tremor the Beserker Rage Trait virtually for free. As it was a characterful idea which explained his rampant alcoholism, I was happy for him to take it.

    The guardsman grits his teeth and swigs at the Dwergar, but Tremor ducks under the mace with supreme ease and delivers a raking sword wound across the man's chest. He continues to run towards where Harold is facing a single disarmed guardsman.

    Maebh steps out of the warehouse, with her readied spell crackling in her hands and anchors it between two warehouses, splitting the remaining three guardsmen from Harold, Tremor and Breanna with the disarmed guard, buying them some time. She takes quick stock of the situation and notices something alarming.

    "One's missing!" - Maebh, letting the rest of the party know that one of the squad of ten guards has disappeared.

    The disarmed guardsman in front of Harold throws his shield to the ground and hold his hands up, gaze flickering from Harold to Tremor and then back again. The Dwergar gives a snort of contempt and picks up the guardsman's mace and shield before stalking over to the Wall of Blades, where he eyes of the guardsmen on the other side. The man whose chest he carved open earlier has been eviscerated where he lay by the blades as they whirl through the air.
    "Please, let me go. I don't want any trouble." - Disarmed guardsman, nervous.
    "Why did you attack us then?" - Breanna, scoffing and still hidden.
    "Wherever you are, whoever that was, I'm just doing my job." - Disarmed guardsman.
    "Tell us everything and we'll let you go." - Maebh, striding up to the conversation.
    "About what? I only started this job a week ago. I was a baker before that." - Guardsman. Up close they can tell he is quite young.
    Dev asks if he can check to see if the guard is lying. They all roll and Harold is the only one to fail. So everyone thinks he's telling the truth, except Harold, who gets an inexplicable urge to beat the kid's face in because he just knows he's lying.
    "The boy can go on his way-" - Maebh, cut off.
    "No, no, I don't think-" - Harold, advocating a more permanent solution.
    "After we release him from the storehouse which we lock him in." - Maebh, finishing her sentence.
    Kel'Serrar gives a somewhat admiring chuckle from inside the warehouse.

    Spoiler
    Show
    There's a fair bit of OOC here and I started worrying that I may have been wrong when I thought that this would be the last session of this arc. That my players' inability to agree on the simplest of solutions had struck once more and we would be debating what to do with this guardsman until after midnight. Because similar things have happened in this game.

    Dev went on one of his, "I need to mindlessly antagonise people" benders and decided that the disarmed guardsman needed to be fed into the Wall of Blades. The rest of the party was sort of passively against this, save Ladyhawk, who had her heart set on keeping him prisoner and releasing him later.

    I must remember to put an overview of the resulting post-game conversation in the Wrap-Up as it leads to some interesting role-playing observations.

    Anyway, back to the game.


    Before a decision is made, from where Tremor is hurling abuse at them from the other side of the wall, one of the three stunned guardsmen has a brainwave.
    "**** it, go round!" - Guardsman, who promptly sets off running with his fellows around the warehouses.
    "Pick up your weapons and fight lad!" - Another grizzled guardsman with pepper grey hair and beard, to the younger disarmed guardsman upon coming face to face with Harold. He obviously didn't notice Tremor picking them up earlier.

    The young guardsman backs off with his hands still raised until his back brushes against the wall of a warehouse with a saddened expression on his face.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Dev continued to propose methods of killing the unarmed guardsman.
    "Right, so if you don't want me to kill him, can I just mortally wound him?" - Dev.
    "No or I will shield bash you with his shield!" - Wings.
    "Why not!?" - Dev.
    "You've got three guys running towards you and you're going to turn your back on them and go for the unarmed guy?" - Wings.
    "He could grab a weapon and kill us from behind." - Dev.
    "He moved away from his weapons! Plus I already have them!" - Wings, getting frustrated.


    Maebh sends of Gust of Wind toward the three oncoming guardsmen. Two of them are lifted off the ground by the force of her magic and thrown through the wall of a warehouse. The third is slightly more solidly built and manages to keep his feet through the buffeting wind. He braces himself with his shield before him but then finds himself cut down by Harold, who charges at him with sabre and shortsword.

    "Brother!" - Disarmed guardsman, with quite a bit of grief.

    Aww you made him cry." - Ladyhawk.
    "Haha, you made him cry!" - LD.
    "Argh! Who cares!" - Dev.


    The guardsmen have been taken care of. Both guardsmen who went through the wall have not stirred, so the party assumes they're out for the count. So Harold, Tremor and Breanna spread out amongst the corpses and start to divest them of their money. Which is real sensitive in regards to their prisoner.

    The rest of the party was not aware of this at the time, but Harold finished off the two unconscious guardsmen before looting the bodies.

    Maebh approached the prisoner with three sulvers in her hand.
    "You can have these if you leave town for a couple of days. At least until this all blows over." - Maebh, apologetic.
    "I have nothing left here anymore. If you want me gone then I shall leave gladly." - Guardsman, wiping away tears.

    Spoiler
    Show
    "Aww, I hug him." - Ladyhawk.
    "He shrugs you off, still upset at the role you played in killing all of his friends."
    "I bet I'm stronger than he is. I hug him." - Ladyhawk.
    "You may manage to pin him down in a hug, but he doesn't hug you back."
    "Fine then, I kick him in the shins and walk off." - Ladyhawk.
    "Or you could stab him in the throat." - Dev.
    "Put him out of his misery." - LD.
    "No because Dev is getting angry for some reason, let's move on." - Ladyhawk.
    "The sociopathy with you guys is incredible. I mean, you just killed this guy's mates and brother so you are seriously looking at slitting his throat to put him out of his misery."
    Order of the Murder-Hobo indeed.

    Breanna reckons he should be put out of his misery, believing that he will probably commit suicide over the course of the next two days or so anyway. Dev agrees with this assessment, although his reasons for wanting to kill him are a never fully explained as the rest of the group seem to reach a consensus that the guardsman being a threat is unrealistic. Ladyhawk expresses some dismay at their predictions regarding the young guardsman's lifespan, which cues a massive rant from Dev where he questions the very nature of role-playing itself. Once again, the specifics will go in the Wrap-Up, but some of the points expressed are quite interesting.


    The guardsman walks away and the group discuss how they're going to take on the central warehouse. They have bigger fish to fry.
    "We're going to fry him? I'll get the oil!" - LD, maliciously.

    "Let's burn it down." - Harold.
    "In the pouring rain...." - Kel'Serrar.
    Silence...
    "I don't care." - Harold, with a slight smile.
    "I don't care about your fancy 'laws of reality!" - Breanna, laughing.
    "Can I have my longsword back?" - Harold, to Tremor who is busy adjusting the strap of his new shield, appropriated from the young guardsman.
    "No." - Tremor, grimly and not even looking up.
    "There's only one doorway in and out." - Breanna.
    "Let's make our own entrance then." - Harold.

    Maebh pools fire in her hands and sends it out in a roiling gout of flame which blasts the side-wall in. Inside, there is, a room.
    "There are some walls, and, some ceilings... Wait! Just one ceiling." - LD and Ladyhawk. I used to quote Red vs Blue a lot and it seems to have rubbed off on them.
    There is a cabal of warlocks in long, dark red robes. Wilmund Brewer is in pride of place, standing before a wrought iron pedestal, fashioned into the shape of a three-clawed hand, with hands upraised. Set into each of the claws is a thick, gleaming coin. Beside Brewer stands the Trickster, clad in nondescript drab grey. Five other warlocks stand in the warehouse, three men and two women. The missing guardsman is also here, sprawled on the ground with a jagged chunk of splintered wood embedded in his throat.

    Brewer looks up from where he is standing before the pedestal and his brow creases in frustration.
    "Stop them. Quickly!" - Brewer, to his compatriots.
    Breanna recognises what he's doing. He's in the middle of this summoning and she can tell that it's not going the way he wants it to. She surmises this is down to the group screwing with all of his lures.
    Harold, the first to react, charges across the warehouse and smashes into one of the four warlocks who turned to stop the group when Brewer gave his command. The Invarrian manages to push both of them back, and both are badly injured by his blades, but neither goes down.

    There is a flash of light from next to Brewer and with a strangled yelp, six identical copies of the Trickster flash into being. There is another flash of light and one of the copies gives another yelp of pain, turns blackened and burnt for a split second, and then disappears.

    Having readied a Flaming Arrow earlier, Kel'Serrar draws it back and sends it towards Brewer, but the arrow flies wide and slams into the opposite wall, blasting a small hole in it.
    Maebh calls up a tempest and flings it into the warehouse. Harold staggers slightly, but keeps his feet, while Brewer is taken by surprise and is blasted off his feet and into the opposite wall. The various Tricksters dissipate upon contact with the howling wind and there comes a thud from that wall, along with a muffled groan of pain, though there is nothing there to be seen. One of the female warlock flies into a wall and hits it with a sickening crack. She falls to the ground, lifeless.
    One of the warlocks next to Harold managed to avoid the majority of the blast and starts clicking his fingers, trying to call up some sort of magic. With a small grin, Maebh figures that this must be the incompetent who was set to ward the lures.
    The other warlock against Harold calls a flaming green dagger into existence is his hand and takes a swing at Harold. The Invarrian uses his decades of experience and takes the man's wrist high on the flat of his blade and guides it down beside him and into the chest of the clicking warlock, who falls to the ground with both a surprised expression and a gaping, steaming and corroding wound in his chest.

    A successful use of the Fall on Their Own Blades Talent. Basically, on a successful Parry against one of two or more opponents, Harold may force the parried strike to hit one of his other enemies. They get a Reflex Save, but if they fail, they take the damage. It's a Talent which is designed to make the Duellist just a little better at taking on multiple opponents in a truly swashbuckling style.

    Brewer staggers to his feet, looks around and appears to get pretty angry.
    "If you've read Harry Potter, book B I believe." - A call-back to a previous conversation.
    From the warlock's hands springs a roiling whip of fire, which then seeks out his first foe, Harold, but the wily Invarrian manages to roll away from the flames.

    The only member of the cabal who is not yet engaged hurls a blast of fire at Maebh, who brings up a disc of shining gold energy between herself and the oncoming flames. Her shield absorbs the majority of the blast, but it doesn't stop it all and Maebh finds her arm is burnt.

    Breanna ducks inside and makes for the warlock with the green flaming dagger. She takes her carving knife and puts it through the man's leg. He dies and his dagger gutters out into nothing.

    Tremor charges inside with his hatchet in hand and a looted shield strapped to his arm. Brewer's whip cracks at the Dwergar, but it slams into his shield instead, singeing Tremor and staggering him slightly, but still he carries on. He slams his shield into the warlock, pushing him back with a roar of fury before caving his chest in with the hatchet, smashing him to the ground and almost decapitating him with the rim of the shield.

    Three cries of anguish ring out, one from what seems to be nowhere as Tremor practically mutilates their leader. Harold charges at one of the surviving warlocks and cuts him down easily. Kel'Serrar puts an arrow in the last one and brings her down.

    Running footsteps can be heard heading for the breach Kel'Serrar made earlier. Maebh uses Trueseeing and all of a sudden, she can see him. And he looks terrified. The Danann mage throws two blasts of fire at him, one of which hits him and the other slams into the wall before him. The Trickster falls to the ground, flames wreathing his body. She walks over to him.
    "I got you, bitch." - Maebh, putting her spear through his throat and grinning.
    And that's it. The cabal is finished.

    Harold walks over to the two female cultist and pulls back the hoods. His suspicions however are unfounded when he finds that neither woman is Dhara.
    Breanna, Tremor and Maebh go to the pedestal and Breanna explains that the coins seem to be a receptacle for daemonic power, however they are empty. Tremor takes them out of the pedestal and hands one each to Maebh and Breanna, taking the third for himself.
    Tremor then joins Kel'Serrar and Harold in looting the bodies, picking up some money and the Dwergar grabs an amulet from Brewer himself. It is a gold medallion on a silver chain, the symbol of a burning pine tree carved into the token. He hands it to Maebh, who studies the enchantment on it, but comes to no conclusion other than it appears to be enchanted with preternaturally good luck. The mage hands it back to him, informing him that it is safe. Tremor puts it around his neck.
    Breanna picks up a book from the young warlock, recognising it as a banned text. She has seen it before though never read it.
    In essence, Daemon Summoning for Dummies.
    Maebh searches the Trickster's smoking corpse and finds very little. Some spare coins and a small note.

    Quote Originally Posted by Trickster's Note
    Morgaris,

    Remember to fill out last quarter's trade report when you get home.
    They take a moment to breath, before heading out. The cult's been taken out. It's time to leave.

    And we left it there....

    The Wrap-Up
    Okay, first up that was quite an enjoyable session. Now on to the interesting debates we had.

    First Rant: Dev expressed here that of the party, the Danann were not playing their characters completely right. Now that is dangerous ground to be treading to begin with, but he did back up his argument with examples.
    Maebh: Hates humans and would think nothing of sacrificing them according to her background, is suddenly squeamish about killing an innocent.
    Kel'Serrar: Much the same, except that he was indifferent in the event anyway.

    In response, Sins said that Kel'Serrar didn't really care anyway, while Ladyhawk defended herself by saying that interacting with the group has led to her softening in general as she's realised that her people have cast her out and maybe that other peoples are perhaps worthy of more than just a swift death. Dev still believed that she was playing herself and not her character, something Ladyhawk took some offence at, believing that instead she was playing out a more complex arc of her character's development.

    Second Rant: Dev then expressed that he could not believe that the players were getting emotionally attached to this NPC. As far as he was concerned, the sympathy they felt was not something he felt should be taken so seriously. Personally I feel that if you are not emotionally invested in a story and the characters then there is no real point in playing, but I recognise that people so play differently. The problem is when someone tries to force others to play their way when the others don't really want to. An interesting observation I guess.

    Anyway, that's it for the second arc. Session 3.1 has been played and I will get to that soon, but for now this is all. I'm also going to make the stat blocks of each character available online for the readers to take a look at.

    Cheers,
    Last edited by Phoenixguard09; 2020-03-27 at 08:33 AM.
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  4. - Top - End - #94
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Just letting everyone know that the write-up of Session 3.1 is in the works and I hope to have it finished pretty soon.

    Sadly we have called off the next session until at least after Christmas as Dev is unavailable. Hopefully this hiatus won't be permanent, but if I'm honest, I can't guarantee that.

    Still, here's hoping that 3.1 isn't the last one.

    Thanks for following us this far.

    Cheers,
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  5. - Top - End - #95
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Amidus Drexel's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Quote Originally Posted by Phoenixguard09 View Post
    Just letting everyone know that the write-up of Session 3.1 is in the works and I hope to have it finished pretty soon.

    Sadly we have called off the next session until at least after Christmas as Dev is unavailable. Hopefully this hiatus won't be permanent, but if I'm honest, I can't guarantee that.

    Still, here's hoping that 3.1 isn't the last one.

    Thanks for following us this far.

    Cheers,


    Aw... well, that sucks... I hope you guys can get together again afterwards. I love reading these.
    Avatar by FinnLassie
    A few odds and ends.

  6. - Top - End - #96
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    I hope everyone has had a good and safe Christmas and New Year.

    I also bring glad tidings.

    Tiding the First: Session 3.1 is on it's way. I've been busy over the last few weeks but I've slowly been chipping away at it. So not long now until you can all read the latest adventure.

    Tiding the Second: Dev finally got his ass into gear. We are looking at making a return game some time in January.

    So anyway, should be a bit of fun for everyone.

    Talk soon,
    PG
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  7. - Top - End - #97
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Just a small update so as to reassure you all that you are not being abandoned.

    We are going to play 3.2 tomorrow night. Everyone has assured me they can make it, so we are full steam ahead.

    Cheers,
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

    Follow us on Instagram for artwork and updates:
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  8. - Top - End - #98
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Mewtarthio's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    I shall anticipate with all my strength!
    Quote Originally Posted by Winterwind View Post
    Mewtarthio, you have scared my brain into hiding, a trembling, broken shadow of a thing, cowering somewhere in the soothing darkness and singing nursery rhymes in the hope of obscuring the Lovecraftian facts you so boldly brought into daylight.

  9. - Top - End - #99
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Session 3.1: Fire, Smoke and Dwarven Catapults

    Welcome to Session 3.1
    "Interrupting noise!" - Dev.
    "Aaaand, we've killed Sins." - In response to Sins who has faceplanted on the table.

    I ask if they wanted to actually play out their escape or just time-jump to wherever they want to go. Dev wanted to time-jump but the rest of the group seemed to be pretty set on at least playing the escape from the town.

    Personally I expected them to go for the time-jump. I thought they couldn't wait to get the hell out of Summer Hill.


    The cart is in the courtyard behind the White Stallion, along with Harold's horse, which he had picked up from the stables earlier that morning and hitched to a tree next the wagon. The marcwolves were both tied up as well. The group decides that they need to get there and quickly.

    Before they leave, Tremor finishes the decapitation job on Brewer and quickly fashions a sack for it from the man's robes, following Kel'Serrar's suggestion that they are far more likely to be paid if they have evidence of Brewer's demise.

    "We need to get to the east gate." - Maebh.
    "What happens if they are closed, barred, whatever?" - Harold, tightening the straps of his cuirass.
    "Well we blow them open. I've done it before, I'll do it again. It's just on a larger scale this time." - Maebh, wanting to get on the move.
    "We could make a dwarf-hole!" - LD.
    "Because dwarf doors are invisible when closed." - Dev, knowingly.


    They exit the now swiftly burning warehouse.
    "Wonder who that was? And the two madly grinning Danann answer the question."
    "And there's a slightly disappointed Invarrian watching them." - Dev.
    "Who's also on fire." - Sins.
    "It's okay. Just a little bit. Like a shoulder." - Ladyhawk.
    "It's only in your hair man." - Sins.
    "But I'm covered in hair!" - Dev.


    They exit the warehouse district and are closing in on the tavern, when they notice movement on the streets ahead. Several squads of guardsmen coming closer at a steady jog.
    This particular district of Summer Hill is laid out in something approaching a grid. Luckily for the party, by the time the squads of guardsmen started arriving, they were only two streets away from the tavern where they had left their wagon.

    Maebh and Kel'Serrar turned right as soon as they saw the guards, thinking to go down the street the White Stallion was on and approach it directly. Tremor and Harold, realising that they were definitely going to be the most noticeable of the group, continue to move straight to the east gate, drawing the majority of the guards away from the mage and ranger. Breanna decides to hell with it and climbs onto the rooftops while the others take a moment to discuss the plan, and proceeds to leap from rooftop to rooftop without any difficulties.

    Breanna passes any tests she is required to make by a minimum of five degrees of success, something the group decided meant she was practically flying over the rooves. We have joked about her microwaving her dice to achieve better numbers, but so far she has vigorously denied doing so.

    Spoiler
    Show
    We got a little off-topic here as there was some conversation regarding Tremor's sneaking ability. I include the following only because I am proud of the word-play.
    "Yes, Brewer and Shylocke most likely heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet, but passed it off because hey, he's only a little drunk."
    I got a lot of laughs on the night, though looking at it now, I'm probably inordinately proud of the remark.


    Harold, on horseback, leans out of the saddle and heaves Tremor up behind him, regardless of the Dwergar's indignation. The two of them then canter down the street, towards what they assume is a squad of guardsmen.

    Seeing Breanna scramble onto the rooftops, Kel'Serrar and Maebh exchange a glance and then follow her up there themselves, struggling a little more to gain purchase than did the abnormally strong Leathe. The ranger pulls himself up, but Maebh slips in the rain and would have fallen if not for Kel'Serrar's help.

    "Can I assist her Climbing Check?" - Sins.
    "Yes, you can actually. Especially since you're already up there yourself."
    "Do you have any rope?" - Wings.
    "Yes I do. I have the entire party's supply of rope actually." - Sins.
    "....Why!?" - Wings.
    "Because nobody has taken it off me yet." - Sins.
    "Well fair enough. I wouldn't take it off you, mainly because you will shoot me." - Wings.
    "... Yes. Yes I probably would. My rope." - Sins.


    The jumping from rooftop to rooftop is made a fair bit more difficult by the rain, which is gradually getting heavier and heavier. Breanna succeeds quite well. The two Danann however find themselves being dragged up onto each roof by whichever one manages to avoid slipping and falling. Once they reach the first street, the two Danann clamber down, finding the rooftops just a little too dangerous. Where they climb down, Breanna practically soars over the street, moving at incredible pace, rolling immediately into yet another springing leap to bring her onto the roof of the dwelling adjacent from the tavern. From her vantage point, she can see the various squads of guardsmen marching towards the warehouse district. At least one squad will reach the tavern before the Danann. As the Danann start to make their way to the tavern, that squad notices them and the guards break into a brisk run, thinking to apprehend them before they reach their cart.

    The squad which is running towards them is comprised of four regular guardsmen, clad in the livery of house Silverwood and armed with maces and shields. They are led however, by a large man in heavy armour who wields a broad-bladed shortsword and a large, rectangular shield. He carries no livery however, so they are unaware of his place of origin. As they get closer to the two Danann, they start to move slower and more cautiously, spreading out along the breadth of the road so as to avoid the Danann from running past. In response, Maebh calls up a torrent of raging water, knocking most of them over and snapping the arm of one of the guards.

    Kel'Serrar hits the leader of the group with a Patriot Arrow, which punches into his abdomen and leaves him dying on the ground as the two Danann sprint at full speed to where the guardsmen are still recovering from the magical deluge they just suffered.

    As the Dwergar and Invarrian canter down the street on horseback, they are surprised by a squad which jogs around the corner ahead of them. Another squad of five men, their leader is clad in heavier armour and wielding a spear, something Harold doesn't want near his horse.
    "Wait, you're developing a horse-powered dwarf catapult?"
    "PG gets it! I'm so happy." - Wings, laughing.
    "On a scale of one to stupid, this is stupid." - Ladyhawk.
    "Right, so you're okay with it?" - Dev, to me.
    Silent, wondering nod.
    "Sooo, how do we do it?" - Dev.

    "I can't guarantee you will survive this." - Harold, over his shoulder to Tremor.
    "Wha-?" - Tremor, as he is grabbed by the Invarrian and, with the aid of his horse's momentum as Harold wheels it around, is thrown into the midst of the formation of guards, crushing the sergeant and running another guardsman through with his hastily drawn sword.
    "Whee!" - Tremor, inevitably drunk, this time on horsepower. (Pardon the pun.)

    Still mounted, Harold finds himself surrounded by three guardsmen who are attempting to pull him down to kill him. The horse, they can sell.
    "Tremor, take the one on my left!" - Harold, using his horse to push through the guards and swinging at the two others on the right. One guardsman goes down with a sabre strike to the neck, while the other manages to get his shield in between the Invarrian's blade and his head.
    Tremor meanwhile picks up the vanquished sergeant's spear and hurls it through the guardsman. Somewhat sadistically, Tremor grinds his boot into the sergeant's broken arm as he stands up before moving towards the Invarrian. The Dwergar takes a moment to relieve himself on the side of a dwelling while he watches Harold's flashing blade bring down the last guardsman of the squad.

    The various companions make their way swiftly towards the inn, cutting their respective ways through any squads they come across. Points of interest include Tremor taking out a captain and a guardsman together with a single, scything blow, Breanna dropping from a rooftop to put a knife through the head of a guardsman who was heading towards Maebh and Kel'Serrar and those selfsame Danann putting down two squads together between them with a storm of arrows and magic. In all, the party fights as a well-oiled machine, save for the fact that the party fights as a barely organised bunch of quite powerful individuals.

    Ah well...

    Spoiler
    Show
    At this point in the recording, LD took a moment to say hi to her legion of adoring fans.
    "Hi public!" - LD, with corresponding creepy face to go with it.


    Maebh takes a moment to rush inside the inn and answer the call of nature while Kel'Serrar stands in front of the wagon and covers the streets with his bow, Breanna standing beside him with knives at the ready.
    Spoiler
    Show
    At this point there was an amusing interlude. We play on my pool table, and as such, there is netting which hangs from each pocket of the table, filled with the balls which are required to play. At around this point in time, Wings noticed the knocking noise which was emanating from Dev's direction.
    "Would you stop playing with your balls?" - Wings, to general laughter.
    "The worst part is, they're not his balls." - Sins, to more laughter.
    Good times were had by all, but not like that.
    "Actually everyone who reads this, what you are thinking is exactly how it happened. It was awkward. All awkward." - LD, trying to mislead you all. But she requested that I write that.

    And so we continued.

    Once Maebh had finished in the inn, she quickly comes out and hitches her horse to the cart before the three of them mount up. On their way, they pick up Tremor, while Harold rides on slightly ahead, riding down the occasional guardsman who gets in his way.

    While sitting in the cart, the party recognises that the heavily armoured leaders of the guardsmen are armed in the fashion of Elspeth legionnaires. Which is enough to worry the companions regarding the talons that kingdom seems to have inserted into the town.

    During this ride, Harold attempts to intimidate a squad of legionnaires. Holding his sword high, he induces his horse into rearing.
    "Death to Elspeth and your whore-queen!" - Harold, brandishing his blade.
    Spoiler
    Show
    Harold succeeded on this test and managed to break their morale, making it an easy matter for the party to blast their way through, Harold personally riding down their leader, dispatching him in short order and riding onwards to join his companions. But this may not have been the case.

    For his birthday, I bought Dev a gold-plated D10 so that he would always have a tens dice for any percentile rolls. Sadly however, this dice manages to always land between 5 and 8, making it a poor tens dice for a "roll-under" system like Norbayne. As such, we decided that instead, the golden dice would be his ones and his usual silver plastic dice would be the tens. Harold's efficiency took a sudden climb at this point.

    "I should stick this one in the microwave." - Dev, referring to his golden dice.
    "Yeah, but you know, you should probably not put metal in the microwave."
    "Oh yeah, right." - Dev.
    "Actually, in all seriousness, how about the oven? Would that be safe?" - Ladyhawk.
    "I have no idea."
    "Not if you don't have mittens. You could end up with gold all over your hands." - Wings.
    "Then he would have the Midas touch." - LD, in a sing-song voice.


    The wagon heads at a breakneck pace through the streets of Summer Hill, until it comes to a halt, a mere bowshot from the eastern gate. The gates are closed and the gatehouse manned by guards bearing the Summer Hill livery.

    Harold notes that Captain Settwatch is in command of the guards.
    "Royan!" - Harold, calling up to the gatehouse, upon which some guardsmen level low-powered bows at the Invarrian. The rest stand ready with spears to repel anyone who comes up the stairs to use the winch to open the gate.
    "Sir Oakenshield. I hoped it wouldn't come to this." - Settwatch, grim.
    "Come to what?" - Harold, either trying to bluff or genuinely confused.
    "The mayor is dead. You killed him." - Settwatch, laying the charges.
    "No I didn't!" - Harold.
    "I did!" - Breanna, somewhat cheerfully.
    "Technically then, your companion committed the murder. That is still something you all must answer for, despite your various other actions including arson, break and enter and destruction of property." - Settwatch.
    "What witnesses are there to pin the mayor's death on Breanna?" - Harold.
    "Does it matter? She just confessed. But regardless, I shall tell you. The Lady Silverwood has it that the Leathe was seen leaving the mayor's office and followed her to the outskirts of the town as she was suspicious. As it happened, she had good reason to be so." - Settwatch. From this it can be deduced that the Lady Silverwood has some magical ability as she was able to detect the Leathe, and has since lied about who was following who.
    "I've seen what you can do and I know a mere man like I cannot stop you. But I am bound by my duty to stand in your way, and by my honour I will not stand aside." - Settwatch, resigned to his fate.

    A tough thing to put to the group because on the whole they liked him. Only Tremor and Breanna actually considered killing him at all, something both Harold and Maebh agreed was the wrong thing to do.

    "Then Royan, I am sorry. Maebh, blow the gates." - Harold.
    The Danann mage blasts open the gates with a fireball, blowing the portal open and allowing the cart to storm through as the guards atop the wall look on in helplessness as they were thrown to the floor. A few guards immediately send up the call for water to put out Maebh's fire, while a handful more take up their bows.
    Harold, trotting behind the wagon stops and turns back to Royan with a self-satisfied grin. Without being able to help it, the captain of the guard gives a small smile and waves a hand to call off the archers.
    "My friend, you may want to sort out the fire and fix the gate!" - Harold, calling back.
    "I shall. Take care on the roads, you will be hunted!" - Settwatch.
    The wagon too draws to a stop and Maebh stands on it and calls back.
    "Beware the Lady Silverwood. You will find that we destroyed a cult in our time here which intended to bring down your town from within. She was part of that cult." - Maebh, shouting, although Settwatch makes no indication of having heard.
    "Cause she's a douchebag!" - Breanna, in a sing-song voice, delivering the finishing touch.

    With that, the party begins their long ride to the east, hoping to get within Naillish territory.

    And that is the proper end of the second arc.

    On the plus side though, that means that now the third arc begins for real. And I will be back with that soon.

    Cheers,
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

    Follow us on Instagram for artwork and updates:
    The Norbayne Campaign

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  10. - Top - End - #100
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    The companions have found themselves on the road east, travelling for many weeks. They remain unmolested on the road, and gradually push further and further into the kingdom of Naille.

    On this journey, the marcwolves begin to grow. Outside of any constraints, they now run alongside the wagon, climbing up into it to sleep at night. Most of the party spend the time deep in thought and thinking about what they have done and where they are going. Tremor takes the opportunity to imbue some of his equipment with power, laying runes upon them.
    I do not actually have a list yet of what Tremor did, only that he has done so.

    At one point on the journey, after unhitching her horse from the wagon after a hrd day's journey, Maebh took the beast aside to graze. She had felt herself become more and more attached to the creature as the journey had progressed, and now felt sure enough in her own power to attempt to bind the horse as a familiar. Reaching out with her consciousness, she mentally touched the horse's mind and was overcome with a wave of calm, assurance and overwhelmingly, curiosity. And so did Toirneach become bound to Maebh, awakened in a sense by a small portion of her being.
    We did come up with a backstory for Toirneach, which was quite interesting. For visualisation, think a black Andalusian horse. Gameplay wise, the horse is able to communicate with her through a mind-link. The downside being that there are those who may be able to tell that they are bound and that Toirneach's death could put Maebh out of action for a while. Any pain one feels is felt by the other, and they do, to a certain extent share emotional reactions too, though this is limited and can be controlled.

    After this substantial journey, the main road peels off and into a riverside village. A nearby signpost declares the village is named Dreven. In terms of how to visualise it, think of Riverwood from Skyrim.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Seeing as most of my players have played Skyrim to a certain extent, basing locations like this off that game has aided me in setting the scene. I haven't had to devote a great amount of time to describing Summer Hill or Dreven, instead just drawing up a map and telling the players that the place looks like Edoras/Whiterun or Riverwood as the case may be.

    That's not to say Dreven isn't different. Just that the basic layout is similar. This is also due to the fact that I'm not much of a cartographer and I struggle to make towns and the like, look realistic. But that's neither here nor there.


    The company leaves the wagon by the western gate of the township and lead the two horses to the stables. Unusually for a village in these parts, not only is there a dedicated stable for livestock, but it is situated within the walls of the town, which are squat, sturdy stone affairs, roughly eight feet high. The marcwolves tag alongside Breanna and Harold, both having grown to the size of large sheep. They are well behaved though, to an extent. They are wild animals after all, and their trainers are amateurs, so they are rather rowdy and don't always do as their told. Despite this, Harold manages to get them both in the stable without too much difficulty, having to grease the stable-master's hand with just a little more copper than if he was just stabling a dog.
    "Make sure you get in the common room of the inn tonight, eh?" - Stable-master, pocketing his copper and looking up at the sky with a bit of trepidation.
    "Why is that?" - Harold.
    "It wouldn't do to speak of it out here. Make sure you get inside. And all your friends too." - Stable-master, walking away.
    Harold shrugs his shoulders and heads off to the inn.

    Kel'Serrar heads to the smithy and sees a massive bear of a Northmann, easily seven foot tall working at his forge.
    "Good afternoon." - Blacksmith, looking up from his work and wiping his brow.
    "Good afternoon. I was wondering, would you have any arrows for sale?" - Kel'Serrar.
    "Hmm, I have arrow-heads. How many would you like?" - Blacksmith, frowning.
    "Five should be enough." - Kel'Serrar.
    "Well then I can do that. Hang around for about half an hour and I should be able to let this sit by then and I will go sort it out for you. Is there anything else you might be after?" - Blacksmith, about to take up his hammer once more.
    "Fine, I'll cave. I might be looking for a sword." - Kel'Serrar, with a wry grin.
    "Ah, then you are in luck! I have been called one of the finest swordsmiths in Naille. Once I am finished here I will show you my wares." - Blacksmith, nodding to the ranger and then going back to his work.

    Tremor makes his way to the general store and has some time to look around. A bearded man at the back of the store looks up and smiles at the newcomer.
    "Ah, what can I do for you my friend?" - Shopkeeper.
    "I need this identified." - Tremor, drawing forth his unidentified root.
    "Hmm, I'm afraid I do not know. But, tell you what. Magdalyn, out the back of the village, she might know." - Shopkeeper.
    "Do you have writing materials and or paper?" - Tremor, swiping the root back into his pouch.
    "Ah, that we do. I don't really sell much in that way out here, but of course that means I have quite the backlog! What would you like?" - Shopkeeper, with a laugh.
    Tremor purchases various writing instruments and a quantity of parchment to replace that which was stolen.
    "Ah, I have another thing for you to look at. Can you identify this?" - Tremor, fishing his amulet out from under his shirt.
    "Look friend, I am sorry but I could not say. From the sheen on it, I would say that magic was involved in its forging and I would pay a handsome price for it, but I couldn't tell you of any properties it may have beyond the natural." - Shopkeeper, apologetic.
    At this point Maebh walks in, having stabled Toirneach and seen to his feed and water.
    "Oh! Another newcomer to our village. What can I do for you?" - Shopkeeper.
    "Just looking around for now." - Maebh, quietly and almost to herself.
    "Well then, do let me know if you need anything." - Shopkeeper, obviously unnerved.

    Kel'Serrar takes a walk around the village, at first to clear his mind, but then he starts to look at the place as a potential battlefield. The village is too quiet to be a cheerful place, the overcast sky lending an ominous air. Several dwellings on the outskirts are abandoned and others show the signs of having been under attack. Windows are barred, doors heavily reinforced and anyone on the street looks to be a in a severe hurry to get back inside. Unsettled, the ranger heads back to the blacksmith, who is just laying his work to rest after quenching the steel in the trough.
    "Good timing! So, arrowheads and a sword was it? Follow me and I shall see what Ingir can do for you." - Ingir, good naturedly.
    The blacksmith leads Kel'Serrar into a workshop and rifles through some draws before withdrawing five arrowheads and placing them on the wooden counter.
    "Now for swords." - Ingir, absent-mindedly going through finished pieces.
    He eventually places a collection of arming swords upon the counter and, after testing the balance and heft, the Danann picks out one he would like.
    In the end Kel'Serrar gets a good deal on the blade and arrowheads and heads outside with his purchases, thinking about how he's going to fletch some arrows.

    Harold walks into the tavern, thinking to get himself a room and maybe some food for his marcwolf. Upon coming in, he realises that the common room is being used as a communal area for most of the village, with bedrolls everywhere. A short blond man at the bar looks up.
    "Ah, a newcomer. We don't get many here anymore. Can I help you?" - Innkeeper.
    "I think I may be here for a while." - Harold.
    "Unfortunately, all our rooms on the second floor are taken, but there is still room here in the common room." - Innkeeper.
    "That will be fine. I'll pay for two nights right now." - Harold, handing over the sulvers.
    "Is there anything else you may be after?" - Innkeeper, having fleeced the Invarrian something shocking.
    "Yes actually, meat for my wolf please. In fact, I'd better go get him now." - Harold, with a malicious grin, knowing he has been ripped off and fully intending to get back at the innkeeper.
    "What does he eat?" - Innkeeper, somewhat faintly.
    "Meat." - Harold.
    "An old ram was slaughtered today. He'll take mutton?" - Innkeeper, looking steadily more uncomfortable.
    "Aye, he'll eat almost anything really." - Harold, far too cheerful.
    Harold then heads out to the stables to retrieve his marcwolf, and then gets sidetracked by the blacksmith.

    Maebh looks around the store and is singularly unimpressed by what she finds. There really does seem to be nothing of any interest. She is just about to head out in disgust when she notices a glint from the corner of the room. There is a golden dagger on the floor, a short blade which appeared to have fallen from a table at some point. The blade is golden and the hilt seems to have been wrapped in a form of white leather. She cannot see a sheathe around, but picks it up and finds that it is quite dusty and has been there for quite a while. Interestingly, it is of a Danann design and she thinks she has seen this blade somewhere before, though she cannot place its origin.

    Tremor makes his way to what he was informed was Magdalyn's house, a dilapidated affair on the outskirts of the village. It is quite overgrown, vines creeping up the walls. The front door is barely on its hinges, but Tremor knocks anyway out of politeness.
    "Just lift the door and come in!" - Woman's voice, calling from inside.
    Tremor takes the door and opens it with more difficulty than one would expect from a small wooden door before walking in. The interior is considerably more well-kept, with firelight spilling from a room to the right. Tremor moves towards it and comes across a young Selkye woman stirring a large iron cauldron. She is small and lightly built and clad in a simple dark green dress.
    "So, what can I do for you?" - Magdalyn, not looking up from her cauldron.
    "I was told you could identify this root for me." - Tremor, fishing the root out of his pouch.
    The woman laughs at his unintentional pun and then takes the root (I'm so sorry) from the Dwergar.
    "Ah, you have found something interesting. This is bloodroot. You can make heaps of things out of this, but the most common use is if you grind it up, add a little water and you get a rich sauce." - Magdalyn.
    "Hmm, that's nice. Anything else?" - Tremor.
    "Some people believe that when mixed with lavender it has healing properties, though that's stretching a bit. Other than that, just use it as food flavouring." - Magdalyn.
    "So why did you say it was interesting?" - Tremor, disappointed.
    "Well, because it is rare. Particularly in these parts. It requires pretty special conditions for it to grow." - Magdalyn.
    Tremor is about to leave when he has a thought.
    "Hmm, can you teach me any of your craft?" - Tremor.
    "Yes I can, but you will have to be willing to learn." - Magdalyn, who spends the next few hours teaching Tremor the basics of herblore. With a bit of lavender and his bloodroot and a lot of water, Tremor is able to craft three small vials of a healing liquid. The two part ways on good terms, one happy with his newfound knowledge and the other with the progress of her student.

    Harold drops off his weapons at the blacksmith for service and sells the shields and maces, the wood Ingir will use for firewood and the iron maces can be melted down. Harold looks at the blades Ingir has available, one in particular catching the Invarrian's eye. Almost three feet, utilitarian hilt and a tempered, blued steel blade.
    "I have not seen a blade of such exceptional craftsmanship." - Harold.
    "My forge is exceptionally hot. A mage came through these parts a few years back and I asked her a favour. The payment was harsh, but she came through for me and now my forge-fires never die and can reach higher temperatures than I have ever before felt." - Ingir.
    "That must work very well for you." - Harold.
    "Aye, as difficult as the payment was, it was worth it." - Ingir.
    Harold spends a lot and gains a blade of masterwork quality.

    Standing in the corner of the general store, staring at the dagger in her hands, Maebh starts when the shopkeeper calls out from behind his bench.
    "Have you found something you like?" - Shopkeeper.
    "Yes.... Yes." - Maebh, preoccupied.
    "Hmm, I have never seen that before..." - Shopkeeper, walking around to her. "I may... have to ask for that I'm afraid. Yes. It's not for sale." - Shopkeeper, holding out his hand and looking troubled.
    Maebh hesitates, but eventually hands it over. Almost immediately, the shopkeeper produces a bolt of cloth and wraps the dagger in it. Almost as if he fears to touch it...

    While all this is going on, Breanna just finds a tree, climbs it and has a quick sleep.

    And we left it there....
    Last edited by Phoenixguard09; 2020-03-27 at 06:02 AM.
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  11. - Top - End - #101
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    Scow2's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Seems ominous. I'm hoping they can be genuinely heroic here, instead of Murderhobos R Us like the last town they were in.

  12. - Top - End - #102
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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Was that dagger the "gilded sword" of the campaign title?
    Prince Fraternal of Pudding, Snuzzlepal, Feezy Squeez Lover, MP, Member of The Most Noble And Ancient Order Of St. George, King of Gae Parabolae.

    Lego Ergo Sum

    "Everyone's cute if you just look at them the right way"~Rebekah Patton Durham, Princess of Pudding.

    "If they have stats, we can kill them... I'd like to point out that we also have stats..." ~ PhoenixGuard09.

    Warhammer 40K: Where the faction that is a cross between the Inquisition and Space Nazis are the good guys.

  13. - Top - End - #103
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    The players know by now, so I'll tell everyone here. No. It's not.
    Campaign Logs:
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    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  14. - Top - End - #104
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Well the session was played but I will leave it up to the readership to determine whether or not there was any more heroics than before.
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
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  15. - Top - End - #105
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Okay, sorry for the triple post but I felt the need to update everyone.

    The next write-up will be along shortly. I've been quite busy recently, just turned twenty and some other stuff I've forgotten about.

    After our early year hiatus, we've scheduled a game for this Friday night, hopefully with another player, a friend of LD's. We may also see yet another player's arrival in the next few months, depending on whether or not he behaves.

    We shall see. Anyway, this message was just to let our readers know that we still think about you and you all haven't been abandoned.

    Cheers everyone, :D
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  16. - Top - End - #106
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Okay everyone, picture time. :)

    First up, here's the group as it stands.
    Spoiler
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    From left to right, Ladyhawk, Dev, Wings, LD, Sins and PG. Note the ever important Coke in the foreground.


    Next up, we've got a new player, Wings of the Opal Sky, or Opal for short. She's a bit of a budding artist herself, and drew some fanart style pictures of Maebh and her soon-to-be-introduced character, Therressa Bannimagen.

    First up, Maebh.
    Spoiler
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    And secondly, a first glimpse of Therressa.
    Spoiler
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    That's all for now, but LD has some stuff that will be made available soon.

    EDIT* Here's LD's picture of the group, including Therressa.
    Spoiler
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    This image is actually based on a joke sketch I produced about half a year ago. I knocked it up in about fifteen minutes while I was in the bathroom actually. It's actually quite peaceful, but I digress. LD did a very good job of taking my lack of ability and blocky shapes and turning it into a pretty classy sketch. I'm personally very impressed, if only because I've seen the original she is emulating.


    On an unrelated note, we were supposed to play tomorrow, but Wings cancelled at the last minute, so we're postponing again. Opal may or may not be available for the next session, we'll see.

    Cheers,
    Last edited by Phoenixguard09; 2014-04-20 at 12:04 PM.
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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    The Norbayne Campaign

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  17. - Top - End - #107
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Session 3.2: Sleepless Nights and Undead Wolves

    The dead line of the Wildermonts once held Blackfort on Mount Dove, an ancient and now abandoned stone fastness built into the side of the mountain in a forgotten age. The Wildermont kings ruled the lands surrounding Mount Dove with a firm and yet fair hand. In a time where the forests were even more untamed than today and villages were under constant threat of attack from neighbouring kingdoms, the Blackfort's positioning gave the Wildermont kings a strong strategic position to strike out at invading forces from. In time, the kings of Wildermont were renowned as the most powerful of those in the western Midlands.

    And then one man took the throne who never should have.

    History has never recorded if his condition stemmed from causes mundane or arcane in origin, but once the Wolf King was crowned, the lands surrounding Mount Dove would never be the same....

    - From Records of the Ancient History of the Naillish Kingdoms.

    "Welcome to Session 3.2-"
    "You lost The Game." - LD.
    "Ah, and there we go again." - Wings, despairing.
    LD fails to open her dicebag and drops it on the floor.
    "LD verses inanimate object." - Sins.
    "So far, inanimate object seems to be winning." - Dev, to general laughter.
    "Proof if ever it was needed that the assassin should never have to go up against inanimate objects." - Sins.

    So the company finds themselves in the village of Dreven. It is late afternoon and various things have happened around the village. Harold's had his metal objects polished and sharpened, Maebh is upset she's had to hand over a nice golden dagger she found in the general store, Tremor's spent the afternoon with a witch who has taught him all kinds of witchery, Breanna's spent the afternoon sleeping in a tree and Kel'Serrar bought some stuff and buggered around for a while.


    The sky is becoming rather dark and overcast and it would surprise no one for rain to set in later. But before we see to that, we must cut back to Maebh, who is still conversing with the owner of the general store.
    "Why do you not want to sell it?" - Maebh inquires, regarding the dagger.
    "Because I do not know where it has come from, but it is not for sale." - Store owner, looking troubled.
    Perception Check from Maebh reveals that he is uneasy about the situation, though most people would be uneasy alone in a room with an irate Danann.
    The store owner retreats back behind the counter.

    "Very well. If you change your mind, do let me know." - Maebh, before turning and leaving the store.

    Tremor is walking down the main road of the village thinking about how he will use not only his new-found witchcraft but also his runecraft which he learnt in secret before he was exiled from home. His initial thoughts are to steal some pieces of equipment from Harold's extensive armoury to practice on, but he discards that for the more honest approach.
    "Harold, may I have a word with you?" - Tremor, gruff as he has not had a drink since noon.
    "Yes..." - Harold, wary as he knows the Dwergar is prone to sudden changes in character. It would not be out of the realm of possibility for the next ten minutes to become either village-wide drinking contest or an all-out brawl between two very competent warriors.
    "Would you have spare pieces of armour I could practice my runecraft on?" - Tremor, inquiring.
    "I might do. What were you thinking?" - Harold.
    "Runes of protection and fortitude which will hold them strong in battle mainly." - Tremor, already thinking ahead and not focussing entirely on the conversation to hand.
    "Aye, I believe I can lend you something." - Harold, grabbing his vambraces and handing them over. "Will these do?"
    "Aye, but I hope you won't miss them too much if I bugger it up." - Tremor, taking them.
    Tremor takes the bracers to the workbench near Ingir's forge and begins to carefully chisel protective runes into the steel. In little time at all he has completed his task and hands his handiwork back to the Invarrian.
    "Thank you." - Harold, taking the vambraces.
    Tremor is already thinking about his next project and ignores the duellist. He wanders off to the wagon and picks up his greatsword, bringing it back to Ingir's workbench. He then spends the next half an hour chiselling runes into the blade which will allow him to send molten silver flying from the blade on his command.

    Having perfected the runes necessary to provide what he heard described as the Silver Arrow effect, Tremor finds Breanna and offers to give her more powerful weapons. The Leathe, awoken from her slumber throws down her knives to the Dwergar and tells him to go away. Happily, Tremor wanders back to the forge and chisels the runes in, working past the time where the sun dips into the horizon and the majority of the light he is working by is given off by the forge-fires Ingir is still working.

    Soon enough Breanna wanders past the smithy and reclaims her knives from the Dwergar, the two of them joining Harold in heading to the inn.

    "Now over the course of this journey you have befriended your horse and given him a name." - To Ladyhawk. "Which reminds me, LD and Dev, your marcwolves have gone a hell of a long time without names. They were introduced in the first session..."
    "Well, Mark...." - LD offers helpfully.
    "What? And Wolfe?" - Sarcastic.
    "Ah that's it! Wolfgang! Mine is Wolfgang!" - LD, happily.
    "Wolfgang von Markus?"
    "Haha that is.... My marcwolf's name." - LD
    "And keeping with the minstrel theme, Bach." - Sins, to generally laughter.
    "What about Amadeus?" - Ladyhawk.
    "I'm torn between Amadeus and... Bach." - Dev, lengthening the syllables of the latter due to his distinctive Dev-ian accent.
    Laughter all round.
    "Well, roll off then." - Wings.
    "Wait, whatever you don't call your marcwolf, you call your horse."
    "Okay, the horse is Amadeus. The wolf is Bach." - Dev.
    "I'd like to point out for the sake of the recording, you did this." - Sins, blaming me for starting this tangent.


    The companions meet up in the tavern and obtain a table. The barkeep wanders over to them.
    "I have already spoken with you Invarrian, but not your companions. I imagine you will need a place to stay the night?" - Barkeep, trying to be friendly.
    "How much will this cost? Because if it's expensive, back to the tree I go." - Breanna.
    "Two sulvers to stay in the common room. We have no more rooms available upstairs." - Barkeep, frowning slightly.
    "No rooms available?" - Maebh, frowning.
    "No, none." - Barkeep.
    "So we'll be down here with other people, on the floor?" - Maebh, frowning even more.
    "Yes." - Barkeep.
    "I am not staying here. I'll set up my own tent out near the cart." - Maebh, with finality.
    "I will too. This is ridiculous." - Breanna.
    "I can't recommend that. You really should come in." - Barkeep.
    "Of course you would say that, you're charging us for the privilege of using your floor." - Maebh.
    "I cannot say, for the Wolf Lord might hear, but for your sake, you should all be indoors when night falls." - Barkeep.
    "Fine, I'll pitch my tent inside. I want privacy. And I refuse to pay extra for that." - Maebh.
    "It's two sulvers to stay the night in the common room. What you do once you have paid is your business." - Barkeep, shrugging.
    The company pays the barkeep for shelter for the night.
    "Now, tell us. Who is the Wolf Lord?" - Maebh.
    "I cannot say, for if he hears me it would draw terrible vengeance upon us." - Barkeep, leaning in and keeping his voice low.
    "Who could I ask for more information?" - Maebh, just as conspiratorial.
    "Look, stay in the village tonight and you will know why I am wary." - Barkeep.
    He looks around the common room and the companions follow his gaze. They realise that the majority of the village seems to have congregated inside the building. Many of the people look to have abandoned their homes and now are living out of the inn.

    A small period of discussion here is turned off topic as Wings describes how he will propose the next Tremor and Harold vs Norbayne drinking contest.
    "I have decided that Dev will be the drinking drinker tonight." - Wings, launching into a planning monologue.
    "Meanwhile, Dev is sitting here scratching his head, thinking, "What the actual f***?" - Dev, laughing.
    "While Harold is sitting, thinking, "Ale!!!!" - Sins, to more laughter.
    "No guys, wait, you didn't let me explain! I'm going to stand up on the table and call out, "Ten sulvers to the one who can outdrink my man here!" - Wings, trying to derail things further.
    "Well before the crowd goes to stupid, can we get something to eat?" - Ladyhawk.

    The inn provides meals to its patrons as a matter of course. The fare is simple, a cut of roasted meat, a hunk of bread and a slice of hard cheese. Usually there would be more variety available, but times are hard in Dreven.


    Plates are promptly served to the companions, who delve in with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The meat is overcooked to the liking of the Danann for instance, but the irritating habit they have found amongst other Midlanders of providing vegetation as foodstuffs is absent, much to their relief.

    "So, how about we liven this place up a bit, eh? I'll put my money up for anyone who can outdrink my mate here." - Tremor, friendly to the barkeep.
    "I am sorry, but we have not received any goods in town for a long while. I simply cannot afford to do anything like that." - Barkeep, apologetic.

    The people within the inn are quiet and subdued, none of them willing to make eye contact with the strangers, let alone strike up conversation. Outside the inn, those few people who are not sheltering there at night shut up their houses and shore up any points of egress as well as possible.

    Ingir the smith has finished his work and practically barricades himself inside his house. Having seen how the populace prepares for the evening, what was initially thought to be extreme reinforcement of the stable and inn are now viewed in a new light.

    The feeling inside the inn is that few outside will survive.

    A hallway upstairs has a window which looks out over the stable, allowing Maebh to potentially look out over her horse. The window is barred too, making it difficult for anything to get in.

    Night falls. Families huddle together in the common room of the inn. A small child begins to cry and the way the nervous mother hushes the small boy gives the feeling that they've been in this situation before.

    Through the mind-link with Toirneach, Maebh can feel a growing sense of restlessness. The other animals in the stable, livestock, dogs and the few other horses start to panic and even the normally stoic Toirneach finds himself getting nervous. The sounds of the animals in their panicked state can be heard clearly from within the inn.

    Harold walks upstairs and looks out the window. The sun has set and dark heavy clouds shroud the skies. Two torches have been lit in the iron brackets on either side of the western gate, brave men having run out and set them in the brackets before retreating to the safety of the inn. Aside from those two points of light, Harold can see nothing from his vantage point.

    Everything is black.

    A low thunder builds in the distance and the wind begins to blow harder through the trees. The thunder gets closer and louder as the minutes roll by. From within the stable, Toirneach is starting to panic, caught up in the same mad frenzy as the rest of the animals inside. His great black shoulder slams hard into the side of his stall and the stallion screams into the night. Through her mind-link, Maebh can feel that panic and fear, but with a great force of will, she pushes the emotions aside.

    Willpower Check from Toirneach is failed, so he succumbs to Fear. Due to the mind-link, Maebh must also take the same Check with a negative equal to how much Toirneach failed by, in this case netting her a -17 to the Check. Which is hefty, but not insurmountable. Her Check is passed, and she manages to retain control of her own emotions.

    Having a familiar has its upsides, but there's some disadvantages too.


    Kel'Serrar slips deep into a trance where he sits upon the floor, trying to determine just what is coming. His mind's eye leaves his own consciousness, affording him an eagle-eye view of what is transpiring.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Kel'Serrar took the Woodland Senses Major Talent at some point, but I think this is the first time he's used it. Major Talents are basically very useful effects that can generally only be used once a session. Woodland Senses is a Ranger Major Talent that basically allows the Ranger to see the landscape from above and determine just what is in the immediate area. It's a combination of extraordinary, almost supernatural senses, knowledge of the lands and patterns in nature and just an innate sense of direction.


    Kel'Serrar swiftly notices that the rolling thunder is in fact the sound of hundreds of paws hitting the ground at great speed, but it takes some time for his mind to adjust to the new perspective he is being granted. The spectral vision of his mind's eye reveals the area around the gate, where there is a great rushing pack of creatures, subtle hints in the air suggesting both that they are both wolves and not of the living variety. Such is Kel'Serrar's attunement to the world around him, he can tell that they are not breathing, nor are their hearts beating.

    "What is it?" - Tremor, to the Danann ranger.
    "Wolves, but this is no ordinary pack..." - Kel'Serrar, mumbling in his trance.

    From his window, Harold can see only the vaguest of shapes passing by on the street below. There is a series of sickening thuds, a crash and then the screaming begins in earnest from further within the village.

    Harold attempts to sniff but, has no luck smelling over the smells of the various people in the tavern and the woodsmoke permeating the inn.

    The darkness outside seems to be drawing closer and closer to the torches, drowning the light being emitted.

    "Can we kill the things now?" - Wings.
    "Well, if you want to go outside..."
    "No, I don't want to go outside. Not yet. I want to find out if we can kill them." - Wings.
    "If they have stats, we can kill them... I'd like to point out that we also have stats..." - Sins.


    The screaming ceases. The pack thunders through the village. And that's it.

    It's over for the night.

    The mood in the tavern is not panic as much as depression. As far as the common people are concerned, no one will be leaving this village alive. Every night, the wolves return and kill a few more citizens and it's only a matter of time until the wolves break into the inn and kill everyone inside.

    "I want to be able to wake up immediately if something does come crashing through." - Wings.
    "So sleep in front of the door. Nothing can go wrong with that." - Sins, helpful.
    "No, that would put me in the direct path of attack. I don't want to be the doorstop." - Wings.
    "The dwar-stop?" - To pained laughter. They can't all be funny.


    The companions set themselves up in the common room and sleep for the night, wary and with weapons close at hand. Bach wriggles his way under Harold's jacket, seeking reassurance before he sleeps.

    "Meanwhile, my marcwolf's out in the barn screaming, "What the hell's going on!?" - LD.
    "Yeah pretty much."
    "Sorry Wolfgang!" - LD.
    "No don't say sorry to the wolf-gang, they just rampaged through town." - Sins, proving my earlier statement regarding puns to be correct.
    "You have planned this." - Dev, glaring at the GM, as if it were my fault that LD named her marcwolf after a famous composer.


    As dawn breaks across Dreven, the people of the village awake to do their daily business.

    "Did Dev's marcwolf pee itself on him during the night?" - Wings, sniggering.
    "Oh no, please tell me it didn't." - LD, head in hands.
    "No it didn't, although it did get very anxious at various points in the night."
    "If it does continue to do that, we may change his name to Often Bach." - Sins, redeeming himself for his earlier pun.


    The companions head out together into the village. Maebh, Harold and Breanna cross to the stable to go check on their various animals, while Tremor heads to the general store to avail himself of a pipe and pipeweed and Kel'Serrar heads to the party's cart to bring all of the group's belongings that have been left on it into the common room of the inn.

    "We were fortunate last night that the stables were not attacked. That was a large pack- Ah, but I have said too much." - Stablehand, unbarring the door and lifting the chains away.
    The companions reunite with their animals, both Maebh and Harold leading their horses out into the open air. Where Harold does so to simply get the horse's muscles warmed up and moving again, Maebh takes Toirneach aside and speaks with him quietly in the shade beneath a tree. Breanna leads Wolfgang outside too before settling down to play with him in a farmer's abandoned paddock.

    Kel'Serrar, having shifted the party's gear inside the tavern begins exploring the town. The dirt road leading through Dreven has been turned to churned up mud, both by the continuous rain during the night and by the horde of wolves. The Danann finds the dwelling which was torn into and is struck with the oddity of what he finds. The corner of the house had been forced inwards to allow the wolves in. The ranger assumes that the wolves just battered themselves against the walls until they gained entrance. Inside, the table is set as if for dinner, however two wooden chairs are overturned and there are splashes of blood upon the floor. No body parts, nor torn clothes, just blood.

    "Can I take a Wilderness Knowledge Check to determine just how odd this is?" - Sins.
    "Don't need the check, it's very odd and your character has never seen anything like it."
    "Okay, second thing. I engage sociopath mode and loot the house, how much money do I find?" - Sins.
    "*Sigh* Roll a D10... Do something heroic why don't you..."


    Having searched the house for evidence, Kel'Serrar finds himself in the possession of several sulvers and a good deal of coppers, which, seeing as the previous owners are probably eaten, half of which he pockets, the other half he sets aside to be spread evenly through the party later.

    Harold happens across the Danann as he is just sorting through the coins. The Invarrian studies the dwelling carefully, wordlessly accepting the money from the ranger.

    "Look at this." - Kel'Serrar, holding up one of a handful of teeth scattered around the corner of the house where the wolves forced entrance. To the ranger's trained eye, it appears as if the wolves literally chewed through the wall.
    "That is odd..." - Harold, peering at the fang in Kel'Serrar's hand.
    The walls themselves are mud slabs built over a light wooden framework. Sturdy enough, and will keep the wind out, but not so strong to be impregnable to wolves. At least exceptionally determined wolves.
    To Kel'Serrar's experienced eye, the wolf-fang in his hand appears quite rotten. It is something he would expect to see in the mouth of a year-old corpse rather than a moving creature.

    Tremor passes the Invarrian and Danann on his way to Magdalyn's house on the outskirts of the village. As he does so, Kel'Serrar throws a small coinpurse at the Dwergar who catches it, nods his thanks and keeps walking.

    The ramshackle door of Magdalyn's house is still intact, as is the rest of the somewhat dilapidated dwelling. Tremor knocks upon the door, causing it to fall inwards with a thud.
    "Ugh, just lift it up and come on in. Fix it up when you leave." - Magdalyn, exasperated.
    The Dwergar gingerly picks the door up and sets it against the wall before heading into the woman's main room.
    "Ah, Tremor. You survived the night I see." - Magdalyn, brightly.
    "Yes I did. How did you survive?" - Tremor, suspicious.
    "By not dying." - Magdalyn, raising an eyebrow.
    Tremor is unconvinced.
    "They know better than to attack me. Now come master dwarf, you can help me. I need someone to lift this. I started work on it yesterday, but it's all **** now. Come on now, take it out and empty it for me, there's a good chap." - Magdalyn, referring to a full cauldron on the floor.
    Tremor takes it and lifts it with a small amount of difficulty, carrying it outside. He hesitates once out the door.
    "Just go ahead, tip it on the garden. Won't hurt it." - Magdalyn, referring to the twisted, brown growths protruding from the patches of bright violet soil on the ground.
    Mentally shrugging, the Dwergar pours the oozing grey sludge of the cauldron onto the ground.
    "Disgusting. Looks like my mother's cooking." - Magdalyn, sniffing. "Right, take that back in for me."
    The Dwergar does as he is told and carries the cauldron back inside and setting it into the recesses in the stone floor. With his task done, Tremor looks back to the Selkye woman.
    "So, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" - Magdalyn.

    "What happened last night? The innkeeper was not very forthcoming about events." - Tremor, sitting at Magdalyn's table, finally having found a seat in these lands which he does not swing his legs like a child while sitting.
    "The Wolf King sent his minions. You're relatively intelligent, so you probably got that already. You know about the Wolf King? No? Ah right, well then, he's an ancient sorcerer living in the woods who has the people of these lands caught under his 'evil spell!" - Magdalyn, wiggling her fingers at the last words and laughing. Obviously she's not taking the situation too seriously, despite the fact that her next-door neighbours were eaten just last night.
    "Look, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. He doesn't seem to be able to get them riled up enough to attack me properly. So I'm just going to continue as I have done since I came here." - Magdalyn, more serious now.
    "Can you help me then? If I go to take down this sorcerer, how could you help?" - Tremor.
    "I do not know, I could potentially patch you up after you've taken a few hits... That's about it I'd say." - Magdalyn, apologetic.
    "Why do they not attack you?" - Tremor, hoping for some of that stuff instead I guess.
    "I think they're scared of me." - Magdalyn, simply.
    "Why?" - Tremor.
    "Because I am me." - Magdalyn, with finality. She then hits her head with the palm of her hand.
    "No wait, this might be the reason!" - Magdalyn, springing up and heading into the room directly across the hallway.
    Tremor follows her and is amazed at the shelves full of completed potions and ingredients which are being stockpiled. The Selkye woman snatches up a vial from one of the shelves before ushering the Dwergar out of the room and onto the road through the village.
    "Yes, this might be it." - Magdalyn, before throwing the vial into the centre of the road.
    A three metre square section of the road erupts in a blindingly bright fireball before receding into nothing, scorching the mud.
    "Yes, that may be it. I hope you enjoyed that, I only have three of them left now." - Magdalyn, absent-mindedly.
    "How would we make more?" - Tremor, getting to the point.
    "Right. Yes, well, I, uh, don't actually have the ingredient at hand at the moment...." - Magdalyn, looking at the ground, somewhat bashful.
    "They're in the woods, aren't they?" - Tremor, scowling.
    "Uh.... well.... yes...." - Magdalyn, scuffing her shoe in the mud.
    "Write me a list of what is needed. I shall take it to my companions and we'll try to find it." - Tremor, coming to a decision.
    "Uh, that would be helpful. Who knows, we might even be able to mount a bit of an active defence next time they come knocking." - Magdalyn, with a laugh, having brightened considerably after Tremor offered to find her ingredients.

    The Selkye woman runs inside and emerges with one of her books, riffling through pages and pages of spidery handwriting. She goes through six books, growing more and more irate with every new volume. Placing the sixth back in the shelf with some annoyance, she slaps her hand against the wood. A book falls off, which she picks up and flicks through.
    "Aha! This is it!" - Magdalyn, ripping out the page with the instructions, crumpling it and throwing it to Tremor.
    "Okay now, out you get. I've got work to do and you're in my way. Go on, out with you." - Magdalyn, moving back to her storeroom.
    "Okay, okay I'm leaving." - Tremor, with a smile. The Dwergar picks up the woman's door and sets it back into place across the doorway.
    "There, I even put the door back." - Tremor, half to himself.
    "Thank you!" - Magdalyn, from inside the dwelling.
    Chuckling to himself, Tremor heads back to his other companions.

    Throughout Tremor's misadventures, the rest of the party have been investigating the most recent break-in, Maebh and Breanna having joined Kel'Serrar and Harold.
    "Hmm, no scraps of clothing, no pieces of the victims. So either they've been dragged off, eaten whole or..." - Harold, trailing off.
    "Or what?" - Maebh.
    "Or they've turned into wolves themselves." - Harold, quietly.
    Not so long ago, some of them may well have laughed at the idea, but now, even in the light of day, they can't help but shake off that such a thing might be possible.

    Tremor soon joins them in the house, standing around a particularly large blood splatter on the floor.
    "Do you have anything to tell us?" - Harold, to Tremor.
    "Yes I do. I know what's going on here." - Tremor.
    "People are dying and being eaten by wolves?" - Kel'Serrar, sarcastic.
    "No, it's a sorcerer apparently. I went and saw the witch and she was far more helpful than the tavernkeeper. There is a sorcerer plaguing the town. Um, the wolves really dislike her, which is a positive. Oh, and she's given me a list of things she needs to make well, explosive vials of stuff. Firebombs! She's only got three left, but she can make more if she has the ingredients." - Tremor, explaining the situation.
    "And what are these ingredients?" - Kel'Serrar.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Wanting to avoid any major issues with regards to not actually having names made up on the spot for explosive tubers of the forest, I informed the players here that the page simply had what was required and that both Kel'Serrar with his woodland knowledge and Tremor with his newfound herblore would be able to recognise them. The players understood and moved on, which I do think is the key to dealing with issues with a particular GM.

    For instance, I know a fair bit about combat and medieval weaponry, however town layout and botany are two things I am not as well versed in. So I pinch things when I can and admit my faults when I can't. Players understand this and move on in my experience, and good fun can be had by all.


    More to come.
    Last edited by Phoenixguard09; 2020-03-27 at 05:56 AM.
    Campaign Logs:
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    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  18. - Top - End - #108
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Queensland, Australia
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    I would never lie to you lot. On with the game.

    "Okay, there they are. I suggest you all go looking for them while I stay here. Having seen what these things are capable of, I can see that come nightfall, these people are in great danger. I can help them. My plan is to obtain as much wood and iron as possible and start turning the tavern into a fortress." - Tremor, handing over the page with the ingredients and explaining his plan.
    "So we traipse around in the dark forest looking for mushrooms and the dwarf stays safe in the village?" - Kel'Serrar, sceptical.
    "Come nightfall, if I don't do this, none of will be safe." - Tremor, simply.
    "Are you going to let him do this?" - Kel'Serrar, turning to Maebh.
    The mage considers it for a moment.
    "You're going to owe us." - Maebh, to the Dwergar.
    "Agreed. I will owe you all one favour each." - Tremor, shrugging.
    "Well, first favour, I have five arrowheads, can you attach shafts to them?" - Kel'Serrar, pulling the arrowheads forth from his satchel.
    "Sure. I can't fletch them, but I can attach the shafts." - Tremor, taking the arrowheads.
    "More of the job done. I'll find a fletcher. Regardless, it's still not my problem." - Kel'Serrar, smirking.
    "Okay, good luck my friends, I'm going to get to work." - Tremor, taking his leave.

    I gave Wings a basic overview of the tavern's floorplan and then tossed him a pencil and told him to start drawing in his fortifications while I took the rest of the group through their journey into the forest to find the crap they're after.

    For the sake of continuity, all of Tremor's preparations can go here.


    Tremor heads to the tavern and takes out his newly purchased writing implements to begin sketching his fortifications. Upon finishing this he heads around the village, first talking to the innkeeper and getting the man's permission to make his alterations.

    Well actually he approaches the innkeeper, gets frustrated with the man's recalcitrance and knocks the man out. The innkeeper finds himself oddly compelled to not hinder the dwarf.
    "The power of unconsciousness compels you." - Sins.
    "Anyone else in here who wants to survive the night, you'd be better off helping me than getting in my way." - Tremor, to those men in the tavern. A few men had stood up to intervene on the innkeeper's behalf, but the engineer's steely gaze cows them.

    Tremor then sets to gathering up a small team of stout-hearted men who will follow him to the eaves of the forest to cut down some trees for wood. He gets his hands some wood-cutting saws too, to help with this endeavour.

    "So, on a scale crap to ten, how crap is this plan?" - Kel'Serrar, to Harold.
    "Well.... I've dealt with worse ones in my time." - Harold, thinking.
    "It's comforting to know that I don't need to run faster than whatever attacks us, only faster than you." - Kel'Serrar, clapping Harold on the shoulder and finishing his preparations.

    Before they leave, Maebh purchases a time-keeping candle to help them manage the time they are outside the village. The candle has notches in the side, each notch corresponding to an hour. In their preparations, Harold decides to take Amadeus and Bach out into the forest, while Breanna slinks ahead, Wolfgang by her side and dagger in hand. Her task is to make markings in the bark of the occasional tree she passes so as not to lose their way in the tangled woods. For his part, Toirneach follows Maebh warily, unhappy about going into the forest, but unwilling to be parted from the mage.

    The forest around Dreven is dark and brooding with exceptionally thick undergrowth, twigs, roots and thorns entangling the companions as they forge their path under the canopy. After almost two hours of travelling, their diligence pays off, and the companions begin to find significant amounts of the items needed.

    "Three successes on finding them, so now Intelligence Checks from Kel'Serrar to see if they're the right ones or if they're just similar in appearance."
    "Oh great, we're screwed." - Sins, before passing all three checks.
    "Well what do you know? I know my weed." - Sins.


    Not long after their first discovery, a low, gravelly howl can be heard from the north in the direction of Dove Mountain. At the sound of the howl, Amadeus rears and strains against the lead-rope in Harold's hand. With a quiet snarl, the Invarrian manages to keep the horse from bolting and soothes it with some quiet words.

    Maebh drops into a defensive crouch, spear held before her and magic writhing in her grasp. Kel'Serrar moves up behind her, bow in hand and an arrow nocked and ready. He has heard many wolves over his years in the wilds, and that was like no wolf he had ever heard before. Whatever made that noise sounded like it had its throat torn out.

    Ahead of the rest of her companions, Breanna simply crouches against a tree truck, one hand on back of Wolfgang's neck, calming the young marcwolf.

    Minutes go by and there is no answering howl. The woods are silent now. No birds fly overhead or sing in the canopy. All is still, save the brave band looking for herbs.

    "I think we should go back. We'll call Breanna back and head to Dreven." - Maebh, voicing her opinion.
    "If you can cover me, I can try to sense any movement around us." - Kel'Serrar, making a usggestion.
    "I will cover him." - Harold, to Maebh.
    Maebh consults her candle. Only a little over two hours have passed.
    "Hmm, we haven't been gone long and this stuff is supposed to help us. Okay, Kel'Serrar, you do what you can. Harold, guard him. Don't either of you get eaten and warn us as soon as you know something's coming. I will find Breanna and the two of us will keep searching for ingredients. We will stay out here another hour and then begin heading back." - Maebh, coming to a decision and commanding the group.

    The mage moves forward and eventually finds Breanna, softly calling out to her until the Leathe breaks cover. The two of them study the ingredients already discovered and then start to search anew, this time with a far better idea of what they are searching for. They find more ingredients, although Maebh notices that the flowers of some of the plants being harvested are not exactly the same as the first example they found. She hopes that they're the same plant and throws them in the sack regardless.

    Meanwhile Kel'Serrar sits against a tree and starts to meditate on his surroundings, Harold standing over him, sword in one hand and Amadeus' lead-rope in the other. Bach sits at his master's feet, looking around at the shadowed undergrowth with some apprehension. Toirneach meanwhile just stands apart from all of them, staring off into the undergrowth which Maebh disappeared into.

    Unfortunately, despite all his best efforts Kel'Serrar cannot attune himself. These woods are not natural and the more he tries to become one with them, the more they unsettle him. It's no use. He just can't do it now, jittery as he is.

    Thus it is not Kel'Serrar, but Harold and his keen ears which can hear that the dead silence of the forest is in fact that. Dead silence. The only noises to be heard are those of his companions in the undergrowth, however when he closes his eyes and really focusses he can hear, beyond the forest, faint howling. Hundreds of wolves howling over the top of one another until each individual howl is lost in the mash of sound and then carried down the mountain by the wind and into the forest to Harold's ears.

    The sound chills him to the bone.

    The Invarrian takes a deep sniff of the air and considers what he can sense. Death and decay. Damp wood and moss. Mud and leaf-litter. Nothing living.

    And then he smells something he recognises. The same smells of rotting flesh from the woods around Summer Hill. The smell he associates with one thing.

    Corpsewalkers.

    Except not. Where the corpsewalkers smelt of death and disease and rotting flesh, this new smell has an unclean acrid tang to it. Almost a strong, acidic smoke. The Invarrian is puzzled, and tightens his grip on the hilt of his sword.

    Ranging ahead, Breanna and Maebh find a crevice between two standing boulders with an abundance of one of the herbs growing in between. They harvest as much as they dare before heading back to Kel'Serrar and Harold, Wolfgang roving ahead of them through the woods, following the Leathe's signs, first to the Dwergar and Invarrian and then on to Dreven.

    Once the trees are cut down, Tremor organises teams which work to shape and position the logs. At least two logs are set aside to be carved into sharp clusters of wooden spikes which are driven into the gaps between the walls and rooves of both the tavern and the stable, to prevent the wolves from clambering up the walls and then through the thatch.

    Two more logs are used to create two barricades to form a chokepoint in the common room of the inn. Tremor also enlists Ingir's aid to create iron braces for the doors, barring them shut. The only way into the tavern is through the kitchen door on the side of the building. He also pays the blacksmith for the use of his forge for a short time, creating a universal key to his exact specifications.

    The first successful use of the Invention Skill. Tremor has drawn out the blueprints for such a key at an earlier date, but only now has he had the chance to actually forge it. The key works with a flat 80% chance to work as a key for any mundane lock.

    The last of the logs are used to create a walled off section of the common room for the citizens to sleep in. The stairs to the second floor are broken up for firewood, replaced by a swiftly fashioned ladder which can be kicked down if in need. The ladder should also be impossible for the wolves to climb.
    "What in the name of the three gods happened to my stairs!?" - Innkeeper, once he comes around.
    He is roundly ignored, the populace impressed by Tremor's enthusiasm for his task and his hands-on approach to the work at hand.

    It is around this stage in the work when Tremor's companions return from their foray into the woods, rattled by the experience, but alive and critically, bearing the fruits of their labour. They return to find that the humble tavern is now a fortress. Indeed, the sign hanging above the door is just now being repainted, on Tremor's suggestion. Emblazoned proudly on the wooden sign is a white silhouette of the tavern on a red field, a scroll painted beneath the symbol bearing the words, The Fortress.

    "Good work here my friend." - Harold, clapping Tremor on the shoulder and looking on at the masterpiece.
    "Thank you, but our work here is not finished. Maebh, I must ask, can you please ward the side door. Let me show you." - Tremor, guiding Maebh around the side so she can ward the area around the side door with her magic to provide early warning if the wolves manage to break through.

    With that done, the companions hand over their findings to Tremor so he can take them to Magdalyn.
    "Ah great, I can make more from all this. Thank you!" - Magdalyn, excited.
    "So, how many vials can you make now?" - Tremor, gruff.
    "Oh, just one." - Magdalyn, absent mindedly.
    "Ah! What!?" - LD, outraged.
    "She is joking right?" - Ladyhawk.
    "I have no idea."
    "The Leathe reckons she's possum-ly insane." - Sins.
    "Just, stop. Please." - Ladyhawk, laughing.
    "Hey, he told us to 'paws' the insults earlier." - LD, getting in on the action.
    Spoiler
    Show
    As a side note, before this spoiler, this write-up was sitting on exactly 6,666 words.

    The witch takes the ingredients inside and starts working.
    Tremor takes to a new task, hefts his hammer and starts to try and "fix" the witch's door. He hammers at it for a while, but soon gives up. The door might be fixed, but he just doesn't care anymore.
    "Time for a drink now." - Tremor, wiping his brow.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Wings failed his Woodcrafting Check three times in a row, on the third forgetting what he rolled, only that he failed. We took that on board when describing how Tremor went about it.

    As an aside, Sins made an awful Australian joke here, which a lot of international readers may not understand.
    "And now we're definitely in the land down under, cause there are men at work." - Sins, very proud.
    We laughed, although in hindsight, cringing may have been the more appropriate response.


    Harold finds a quiet spot and practices his sword-drills, Amadeus safely ensconced in the stable and Bach looking on. He gathers a small crowd of the townspeople, watching as he goes through his forms.

    Maebh meanwhile sits in the corner of Toirneach's stall in the stables, mentally preparing herself for the night ahead. Her thoughts drift to the golden dagger in the general store and she realises something. Standing, she farewells Toirneach and heads off to find Kel'Serrar and Breanna to explain her plan.

    Kel'Serrar sits alone in the corner of the common room of The Fortress, running a whetstone over the blade of his new sword. He has never used a sword before, far more familiar with bow and knife, but the extra reach the sword provides should prove useful this night.

    Breanna plays with Wolfgang, but even the usually bubbly Leathe is reserved. She knows what is coming.

    Tremor remains busy and after buying himself a drink from the bruised barkeep at The Fortress, he heads around the village trying to round up everyone to bring them to safety. To each, he delivers the same ultimatum.
    "Come with me or you will die." - Tremor.
    He is mainly successful, save for two people. The first is Ingir, the blacksmith.
    "No, master dwarf. I have laboured my whole life, and the results of that labour are here in this home. I will not let them drag it away." - Ingir, adamant.
    "What would wolves want with quality ironwork?" - Tremor, chortling.
    "How would I know? But it is not only people who have been dragged into the night, but belongings too." - Ingir, angry.
    "Very well, as you wish. I hope I will see you on the morrow." - Tremor, resigning himself to the situation and finding someone else to hassle about it.

    The Dwergar heads to the witch's house and sees the door he attempted to fix earlier has fallen off its hinges completely. It seems to always be in a constant state of dilapidation. Tremor walks to it and knocks. It falls through the doorway to land flat on the floor.
    "Damn it all, that f****** door! Oh, Tremor, you're back! What can I do for you?" - Magdalyn, cheerful. Her dress is blackened and her face smudged with black, sparkling dust.
    "Can I persuade you to leave here and come back to the inn with me?" - Tremor, pleading.
    Magdalyn's eyes seem to wander off over Tremor's shoulder, before snapping back into focus.
    "I'm sorry, what was that? Something about the inn?" - Magdalyn, cheerful and certainly not listening.
    "Yes, will you come back with me?" - Tremor, exasperated.
    "Uh, well, no. I have work to do here. If you will excuse me." - Magdalyn, distracted.
    "Have you finished the explosives?" - Tremor.
    "Oh yes, I finished it ages ago. Here, takes this one too." - Magdalyn, absent-mindedly handing over two firebombs before heading back to her cauldron.
    Shaking his head, Tremor leaves the dwelling.
    The party has started to refer to these vials as Vials of Boom-sauce. I approve of the name.

    The Dwergar then enlists Harold's help to organise the populace into work-teams. The two of them gather volunteers to man the barricades in the common room while the women and children start making spear-hafts and quick, ready shields for the militia. The two of them obtain a handful of spearheads from Ingir, along with the shields they sold him earlier.

    Command Check from Harold. Easy pass.

    Harold quickly realises that these men, accustomed to working as part of wood-cutting teams, are well equipped for working together as a group. In no time at all, Harold has them working in a close approximation to a shieldwall. Tremor adds his own expertise, picking up the faults in the formation.

    The militia is ten strong and armed with shield and spear, along with a scattering of other weapons, hatchets, daggers and the like. Hopefully they will last the night.

    Having gathered both Breanna and Kel'Serrar, Maebh informs them of the dagger and how the storekeeper was loath to part with it. With the entirety of the village in the inn, a break and enter would be easy to cover, but the mage is too easily recognisable. Kel'Serrar and Breanna however, well they could do it without raising attention, especially if they waited until twilight to make their move.

    Breanna picks the lock on the backdoor under the cover of the growing darkness, cracking it with no difficulty. She slinks inside with Kel'Serrar, both wielding daggers.

    They are met with pile after pile of accumulated junk.
    "Get me tobacco! Feed my addiction!" - Wings, whispering.
    Searching through all the junk, Breanna focusses on finding the golden dagger, while Kel'Serrar starts gathering all the vessels of oil, pitch and flammable liquids that he can find, stuffing a swiftly pilfered burlap sack. Breanna finds a bolt of cloth, wrapped around a dagger resembling the one Maebh described. The Leathe pockets it.

    The two of them also grab as much dried meat as they can conceivably stuff in their sacks before making for the exit, Breanna swiftly pocketing some exotic feathers from the front counter before she does so. They take the sacks through the kitchen of The Fortress, leaving them on the second floor and using the bustling of the preparations to mask their purpose.

    "Oh, Tremor. I happen to have twelve casks of oil and pitch. I won't tell you why I have them, but they're your problem now." - Kel'Serrar, with a wry grim.

    Night falls. A few brave men go out and light the watch-torches before running back to the safety of The Fortress. Those same men dig a hasty trench just inside the kitchen door, filling it with Kel'Serrar's pilfered oil, the plan being to light it as soon as the wolves break in. The companions take their positions, the mage and duellist having left their horses in the stable, the marcwolves in the common room, tethered to a table.

    I asked here about the marcwolves and where they were.
    "So, Bach and.... Wolfgang von Markus-"
    "Every time you say it is a victory in itself." - Sins.


    Maebh sits up at the second floor window with Kel'Serrar, the ranger about to use his preternatural senses to detect where the enemy will be. Tremor and Breanna sit in the kitchen with two vials of boom-sauce. They intend to hold the kitchen for as long as they can before falling back past the barricade using the cover of fire. They just hope that doing so will not burn their Fortress down. Harold meanwhile stands in the middle of his formation of spear-armed militia, fully armoured and ready for the coming battle.

    The sun has completely set and the darkness has crept completely over Dreven. To the north, the thunder begins anew. The shadows close in around the torches in an unnatural fashion and even the keen-eyed Danann find it difficult to see more than two feet away from the flames.

    The militia are on edge, hands gripping their weapons tightly.
    "Stand down men. The mage has warded the doors with her magic. We will now when they come. For now, just try to relax and stay calm." - Harold, commanding the men to steady.
    He is successful, to a point.

    From their vantage point, Maebh and Kel'Serrar can see vague, indistinct shapes hurtling through the darkness and into the village. Then there is a gurgled howl and the sound of rending wood coming from the smithy. A man's startled yell and the sounds of steel meeting flesh and crunching bone can be heard before stopping suddenly, leaving only a dragging noise.

    But despite having taken their prey, the wolves remain.

    From inside the stable, Toirneach can only hear what is happening outside. His panicked emotions start to trickle through to Maebh, and where she sits, staring out the window, she cannot help but be affected. Her breathing quickens and she shivers, but not with cold.

    Despite his companion's discomfort, Kel'Serrar slips into his trance-like state again, the wraith-like vision of his mind's eye showing him the wolves that are tearing through the village. The foremost members of the pack suddenly stop, before turning back.

    The Fortress is now surrounded by a mass of wolves. They do seem to be ignoring the stables, which is all to the companions' good.

    In the common room, the mood of the civilians is poor. They know what happened to Ingir and despite the example provided to them by Harold, they start to get jittery.
    "Hold men!" - Harold, noticing the way they are shrinking back from the barricade.
    The men are momentarily calmed by Harold's barked command, but this forced calm is swiftly replaced with nervousness once more.
    "Incoming! They're surrounding us!" - Kel'Serrar, calling down to Harold's militia.
    "Pardon the pun." - Sins.
    It took everyone a moment to realise he meant, "Inn-coming!"


    The main door shakes as wolf after wolf slams into it at some speed, trying to break it down with force of numbers. These creatures care nothing for physical pain and will continue to batter their way in until physically incapable of moving. More wolves scratch and chew at the walls, or leap and attempt to scrabble up the walls and into the ceiling.

    But all are unsuccessful at first, thanks to Tremor's fortification efforts.

    The kitchen door however, is the weak point. Needing to provide an access point for people to get inside, the kitchen door was not as securely barred as the main door. Nor for that matter, is it made of such strong wood. In minutes they have managed to force breaches in the door, snarling and clawing at the wood until it starts to splinter.

    Tremor takes up his spear and begins to strike at snouts and paws, but his efforts to dissuade them are unsuccessful, the spear ripping into rotting flesh, but as far as Tremor can tell, the wolves are ignoring his strikes. Behind him, Breanna hefts a lit lantern, ready to hurl it into the trench of oil.

    Eventually, one wolf manages to force its way through. For Tremor, there is an instant of snapping jaws and glowing green eyes before it is engulfed in flames as Breanna hurls the lantern. The walls of the kitchen are thick, sturdy wood and will take sustained flames to catch. The oil on the other hand lights up instantly, as does the wolf.

    And it is enraged. Flesh melting off its bones, flames wreathing it in light and jaws snapping in rabid fury, it launches itself at Tremor.

    Breanna, having shielded her eyes as she through the lantern has spied what Tremor did not. In the wolf's ribcage, approximately where its heart would be is a small, glowing green gemstone. And so she leaps forward, dagger flashing into the wolf's ribs.
    "I'm going to stab it in the stones! No, wait, that didn't come out right..." - LD, to our laughter.
    The stone shatters and the wolf falls to the floor, limp and thoroughly dead, the glowing, murderous light in its eyes fading. Before her eyes, the molten flesh disintegrates into sludge, leaving only charred bones.
    "In other words, not even worth eating." - Sins.
    But she and Tremor have only a moment to marvel at this because more wolves are forcing their way through the door and flames. The Dwergar grabs Breanna around the waist, slings her over his shoulder and tumbles over the bar, hurling her into the safety of the militia as he runs to the chokepoint.
    "They seem to be animated by stones in the ribcages. Shatter them and they die." - Tremor to Harold, catching his breath.
    "Hear that men, they can be killed! Remember the drills and aim for the heart." - Harold, exhorting his men.
    There's not quite a hearty cheer, but at least they're determined. Together, the militia lower their spears and raise their shields, ready for the onslaught.

    Sitting on the floor of the second level of The Fortress, Kel'Serrar tracks the movement of the wolves as they launch themselves at the building. He can see them all, the pack numbering well over a hundred and he wonders how they will survive the night.

    Staring out the window, the already jittery Maebh is startled by a wolf launching itself up at the window from below. Tremor's spikes installed on the top of the walls impale the wolves as they hurl themselves up, but the creatures do not seem dissuaded, and in fact, after several attempts, start to pull the contraptions down with sheer bodyweight. Some wolves even become stuck, impaled on the spikes, still snapping and snarling in fury, eyes aglow with green fire. Their living, but trapped, bodies form further footholds for more wolves from below. One wolf, clambers up the chain of bodies and clamps its jaws around one of the bars of the window.

    Despite the situation, and knowing that Kel'Serrar is helpless in his current state, Maebh seizes up with panic. With a strangled yelp, she breaks through the fear and blasts the wolf from the window with the sound of a thunderclap and a focussed gust of wind. The creature loses its grip and there is an ugly, wet snap from below as it hits the ground.

    On the first level, the horde of wolves come tearing into the common room and are met by the militia guarding the chokepoint.
    "Stand fast!" - Harold, to his men.
    And they do.
    Where the first wave of wolves come at them, the men push back, shields presenting a solid wall to the onrushing beasts. They even manage to put a fair few down, more than would be expected of a handful of hastily gathered and trained men, spears punching into the heart-stones and shattering them.

    Having withstood the first wave, the men hold firm behind their shields, just pushing against the horde. For their part, the wolves, in their ravenous fury are actually doing more damage to the other beasts around them, ripping into limbs and tearing off hunks of charred flesh. And then, everything changes.
    There is an eerie horn-blast from outside, two clear, consecutive notes ringing into the air. The wolves prick their ears and pause their attack, before rushing back out the kitchen door. The men, seeing their foe turning tail, make to pursue, but hurriedly barked orders from Harold, Tremor and Breanna keep them back.

    Upstairs, Maebh stabs through the window at any wolves still impaled on the spikes, until they either fall to the ground, or the green light fades from their eyes.

    To Kel'Serrar's ghost-like vision, the wolves seem to have retreated past the outskirts of the village, but he cannot see if they are gathering for another assault, or if they have been recalled for the night. He remains in his trance, just in case.

    On the first level, the bulk of the wolves having retreated, the companions deem it safe enough now to break formation and they and their militia disperse through The Fortress, dispatching any stragglers which had been incapacitated or slowed in the fighting.

    The initial assault has been seen off, with no losses to the militia however the defences have been damaged.

    The long night will continue, but the companions have earned their small moment of peace.

    And we left it there...

    The Wrap-Up:
    This was, quite honestly, a great session as far as I'm concerned. Everyone did their part, one character got to play a mini-game while the others contributed to a side-quest and they actually progressed some way in the plot.

    We also had a fair bit of action, a lot of drama and some horror and suspense.

    I personally had a lot of fun and I hope the players did too.

    I just wanted to ask if there would be any interest in the character profiles going up for your viewing pleasure? I'm considering it, but it would be a fairly involved process, so I just wanted to find out if there was any interest first.

    What else? Oh yes, I am going to start putting excerpts from in-game texts in front of the write-ups from now on, hopefully providing an incentive for the players to actually read them before we play as they contain some important information I may not have shared yet or made clear was important.

    Okay, I still have a mini-session to post up too, played by LD and Opal the other day. It's set a couple of years before 3 Coins and will detail the previous exploits of Opal's character, Therressa Bannimagen.

    The session itself was just to give her a run-down of the system and an understanding of how table-top games work. As I understand it, Opal has been involved in freeform PBP games before, but no table-top ones. I believe she had fun and both girls impressed me personally with how they approached it, LD jumping in admirably as an experienced gamer.

    Okay, that's enough from me. I hope you all enjoyed this massive update, as it is by far the largest write-up I have delivered. This is actually the second night in a row I have spent working on it until after 2 am, so I hope it was worth it. Very close to 10,000 words in this chapter alone.

    Good night and thanks for reading.
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  19. - Top - End - #109
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    Sartharina's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Wow... this was pretty awesome. Maybe I shouldn't have been reading about nightmare-inducing undead wolves at midnight during a thunderstorm, though.

  20. - Top - End - #110
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    ReaderAt2046's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Yes, I would love to see character profiles.

    "If they have stats, we can kill them... I'd like to point out that we also have stats..."

    Also, may I sig this?
    Prince Fraternal of Pudding, Snuzzlepal, Feezy Squeez Lover, MP, Member of The Most Noble And Ancient Order Of St. George, King of Gae Parabolae.

    Lego Ergo Sum

    "Everyone's cute if you just look at them the right way"~Rebekah Patton Durham, Princess of Pudding.

    "If they have stats, we can kill them... I'd like to point out that we also have stats..." ~ PhoenixGuard09.

    Warhammer 40K: Where the faction that is a cross between the Inquisition and Space Nazis are the good guys.

  21. - Top - End - #111
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    Amidus Drexel's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Awesome as always!

    The bit with the absentminded witch reminds me of Matoya from 8-bit theater for some reason...

    I just wanted to ask if there would be any interest in the character profiles going up for your viewing pleasure? I'm considering it, but it would be a fairly involved process, so I just wanted to find out if there was any interest first.

    What else? Oh yes, I am going to start putting excerpts from in-game texts in front of the write-ups from now on, hopefully providing an incentive for the players to actually read them before we play as they contain some important information I may not have shared yet or made clear was important.
    Sure! I'd love to see those.

    Heheheheh
    Avatar by FinnLassie
    A few odds and ends.

  22. - Top - End - #112
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Well I'm very glad there's enjoyment to be gotten out of it. :)

    Reader, feel free to sig away.

    Cheers,
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  23. - Top - End - #113
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Mini-Session 1.1: Caves and Conundrums

    Okay, welcome to the mini-session which will describe some stuff about Therressa's past.

    The Northlands of Norbayne are a wild, cold and windy place, especially the coastline near the Norstrand archipelago.

    Therressa Bannimagen finds herself in the small village of Snowshard. Her overwhelming impression is very grey and very snowy, with timber buildings.
    "Just like home." - Therressa, surveying her surroundings, having just arrived with her horse, Augustus.

    Snowshard's population is mainly made up of Northmenn, Midlanders with small pockets of Dwergar, Feartarbh and Invarrian habitation.

    Therressa, thrill-seeker that she is, wishes to explore the area and look at climbing Brokeclaw mountain, which overshadows the village. She has just stabled Augustus outside and is about to head into a tavern called the Cracked Flagon, when she runs into an old acquaintance who has just arrived by ship.

    [spoiler]Cue the introduction of LD's one off character, Assar Eilert, and Invarrian Ranger. Sadly, this character had a very impressive backstory, which is unfortunate as it is unlikely that she will ever be used again after this session.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Name: Assar Eilert
    Race: Invarrian
    Primary Class: Ranger
    Age: 27 years old. As such Assar is considered to be in her prime adventuring years.
    Eye Colour: Green.
    Hair Colour: Neatly groomed, shiny black.
    Birthsign: The Wolf
    Spoiler
    Show
    Trying to tie down these free-spirited individuals is often frustrating for those around them as Wolves are happiest on the move, exploring new cultures and ideas. Freedom loving, optimistic and honest, Wolves are notorious for their lack of tact however they do tend to work well in groups, both as leaders and members of the pack.

    Height: 5' 8"
    Weight: 130 lbs

    Assar carries a longbow, two sabres, a collection of throwing axes and a dagger as her wargear. Her adventurer's kit includes a backpack with three torches, twelve feet of coiled rope, a spare knife, a tinderbox and a one-man portable tent.

    Very short background info.
    Spoiler
    Show

    Assar hails from a small fishing village on the east coast of Varr. She was an only child, and was raised solely by her father, a poacher, who taught her how to survive on her own. When her father died, she ran away to Norbayne, working in several northern villages as a contracted poacher. Before she left Varr, in her early years, she was relatively close to the Bannimagen family.



    "Whoa, Therressa Bannimagen! It is a small world!" - Assar, surprised.
    "Do I know you?" - Therressa, looking up at the black-furred Invarrian.
    "Yes, I was friends with one of your brothers, several years back. On Varr." - Assar, with a friendly grin.
    "Oh yes, I remember. Assar, was it not?" - Therressa, nodding.
    "Yes, I was the creepy one. Everyone shunned me for my pelt. We never really talked that much unfortunately." - Assar, smiling.
    "That would be why I don't really remember you. But it wasn't cause you're black." - Therressa, nodding.
    Heaps of laughter here. LD's inclusion of racism in her background was completely spontaneous.
    The two Invarrians walk into the tavern together.

    The general mood of the tavern is pleasant. It is far warmer inside, several woodfires placed strategically around the room to keep everyone toasty.
    "Come in, come in. Tell me, what would you like?" - Innkeeper, to the two Invarrians who have just walked inside.
    Therressa and Assar walk to the bar, Therressa leaning on the wooden counter.
    "I would like a barrel of wine please. Preferably red." - Therressa, with a wink.
    "Just water please. Someone needs to be sober to keep her out of trouble." - Assar, grinning.
    "Make it two barrels actually. I may need more." - Therressa, thoughtful.
    "This is what I'm getting at." - Assar, rolling her eyes.
    The innkeeper grabs a pitcher, fills it with water and hands it to Assar.
    "I do hope you can afford these barrels." - Innkeeper, suspicious.
    With a laugh, Therressa throws a small purse of coppers at him. The innkeeper jingles the purse with a raised eyebrow and pockets it.
    "There's more than enough in there." - Therressa, leaning back in her chair.
    The innkeeper heads down to the cellar to get the barrels.

    "So, how have you been for the last, hmm, ten years?" - Therressa, to Assar.
    "Hmm, well Father died. Left home. Went adventuring, seen the world. Met some people, climbed some mountains. I've seen some impressive things." - Assar, rattling off her achievements.
    "I bet I've climbed more mountains." - Therressa, with a laugh.
    "So what have you been doing?" - Assar, taking a mouthful of water.
    "Well nothing much was happening at home and I decided to head out into the world. Climbed mountains, did some mercenary work, seen some things too. Just trying to enjoy myself really." - Therressa.
    They pass some time in companionable conversation, eventually deciding to split the payment for a room in the tavern and to head off to Brokeclaw mountain in the morning, Assar joining Therressa in her quest to see the top.
    Of course, Therressa plans to add to the feat by doing so drunk.

    Having decided what will be done in the morning, the two Invarrians retire for the night.

    The next morning, one wakes up considerably happier than the other. Assar is refreshed and ready to take on the day ahead. Therressa, well...
    "Why won't the sun just shut up? I need some brandy to wash away the pain." - Therressa, hungover.
    She heads downstairs and powers through her porridge before walking outside and plunging her head into the snow as a refresher. Assar just stands behind her, grinning madly.

    With a last goodbye to August, Therressa joins Assar on the northern outskirts of Snowshard, ready to start climbing. According to local legend, the mountain has never been scaled successfully and Therressa intends to be the first, with her newly purchased cask of wine at her back.

    The two make their way over the tundra before reaching the foothills of Brokeclaw mountain. The foothills are easy work, experienced travellers that they are. But the further they go, the harder the going gets.
    "When the going gets tough, the tough go downhill." - LD.
    "And when they finish rolling, start drinking." - Opal.

    The ground steadily becomes more and more treacherous as the companions progress, icy patches underfoot threatening to overturn them.
    Climbing Checks from Assar and Therressa. Both pass at this early stage.
    At about midday they decide to break for a short while, taking a swift meal, a well-deserved rest and another swig of wine.
    Another Climbing Check to get higher. Assar passes, Therressa fails.
    Between the hangover and the extra weight of the wine cask, Therressa begins to struggle. She slips.
    I made a deal with Opal. One Luck point and she keeps the wine or she ditches the wine to lessen the load.
    With some swearing and gnashing of teeth, she lets the barrel of wine fall. A waste, but luckily she does still have two skins full of ale. So things could be worse.
    "For the sake of the recording, I rolled my eyes here." - LD
    After that, the journey passes rather uneventfully, save Therressa's constant mumbling about it being such a waste and her worry that she will be haunted by a lonely, abandoned wine cask in her dreams.

    The companions reach a flat plateau, suitable for making camp. The sun will not be long in the sky and so they decide to set a camp rather than risk a broken neck in the dark. Assar pitches a small tent and lights a small fire using some of the wood she has carried up the mountain, while Therressa just wraps herself in a very thick blanket and tarp, trusting to the fire and her Invarrian constitution.
    Opal wanted to stress her being somewhat, "ditzy." Fair enough.

    In the morning, once again Assar wakes up considerably more comfortable than Therressa. Wiping the snow off her face where it has settled during the night, the warrior fixes the two of them a swift breakfast using the fire.

    After their breakfast, they begin their climbing once more, navigating their way without too many difficulties. After another two hours of climbing, they reach another shelf in the mountainside, not too far from the peak. However, what sets this shelf apart from the others they have passed already is that tucked against the rock-wall of the mountain, is an abandoned campfire. Assar deduces it is recent, perhaps only two days old. There is also a dark cave leading into the mountain.
    "Hmm, why are we here again?" - Assar, pulling forth a torch and tinderbox from her pack.
    "Because I was bored." - Therressa, also bringing out her own torch for the ranger to light.
    "You may have a torch, but you don't have a fear of small, dark, enclosed spaces..." - Opal, trailing off. We weren't sure where she was going with this.
    "But then, neither does Therressa. Let's go!" - Opal, realising that she didn't really know either.
    "So you're going in?"
    "Yeah?" - LD, making it sound more like a question than an answer.
    "Why do I think you're telling the truth but it sounds like you're lying?"
    "I don't know, because I'm ashamed of it? And I don't want people to know?" - LD.
    "I'm going to slap you soon." - Opal, to LD.
    That I tried to hang myself from a fluorescent light and it broke? Because I'm too heavy? Yeah? Yeah. Definitely." - LD, continuing her rant.


    Assar walks forward, sabre in one hand, torch in the other, Therressa behind her, again with torch in hand. At first, the walls and floor are bare stone, but after some minutes of slow, careful shuffling forward, they notice paintings on the walls. Very simple paintings, basically just paint smeared on the rock.

    A horizontal blue line is struck through the wall to the left, with white beams striking down from above. Where they land, what appears to be mountains erupt from the blue line. Great, winged, scaled beasts coil around the bases of the mountains, digging furrows around them. Then comes the introduction of people, as two legged figures begin to dominate the images, hunting, gathering, dancing. As the paintings continue, this basic theme runs through them. Then the newer ones. Paintings of two legged figures climbing the mountains. Paintings of two legged figures with spears in them, being thrown off the mountains.

    Therressa approaches the images and sniffs it. The majority of the paint is various types of ochre or plant-dye, however some of the paint has been made with blood.
    "Someone's bled here Assar." - Therressa, quiet.
    The ranger just grunts, bemused by the whole cave-painting scene.

    There is very little in the way of signs of habitation. In fact, the smeared cave-paintings are just about it. The further the pair get in the cave, the more recent the paintings are, and the more recent the paintings, the more violent the source material.

    And then, from the end of the tunnel, they hear deep, gravelly voices speaking in a language they do not recognise. There is a snarl and then firelight emits from around a corner at the end.

    The Invarrians halt.

    From around the corner comes a large, heavy set figure, moving at some speed and clad in heavy furs. Slightly taller than the Invarrians, it is armed with a short, heavy hatchet. It stops once it sees the companions and sniffs once before roaring and charging.

    Assar moves forward and intercepts the charging figure with her blade, but the figure parries it easily. Therressa moves forward and pushes the figure back with her shoulder, but it evades her follow-up strike with her blade.

    Assar dodges aside from its hasty strike and darts forward with her blade again, but is foiled by the figure's quick reactions. Therressa steps forward herself, pressing from her side, but the figure manages to sway aside.

    From behind him, two more figure arrives, another with a hatchet and the last with a spear.

    All the combatants are struggling to make their strikes count in the darkness, but eventually Assar manages to cleave her blade into the original axeman's face. He falls to the ground, allowing Therressa to move forward. She sets her shoulder behind her shield and charges forward, the heavy wood of the shield smashing into the second axeman and sending him ploughing into the spearman behind him.

    All three enemies are still alive, Assar's axeman bleeding profusely from the face, Therressa's axeman struggling to get up with a broken arm. From this distance and given a little time to take stock, the Invarrians can see their opponents are fur-clad insofar as they are wearing thick hide coats. Their skin is beyond leathery, stone-grey and wrinkled and their out-thrust jaws bear protruding, yellowed tusks. Their hair is dark and their ears slightly pointed.

    And so the Invarrians continue their attempts to stab them. The original axeman manages to stagger to its feet before Assar lunges for the throat, striking a mortal blow. Therressa too moves forward and strikes at the broken-armed axeman, but the creature rolls out of the way at the last second. The spearman desperately thrust at the warrior, driving her back, but not even coming close to drawing blood.

    Assar strikes at the spearman, taking it unawares and scything her blade into his ribs. It sinks to the floor, bleeding profusely. Therressa takes off the last axeman's leg with a downward swing before finishing it off with one last strike to the head.

    Three more figures approach from around the corner. Two are much like the others, the third is much larger, shaggy and horned and led out in chains. The first two are holding the chains, one looped around the Feartarbh's neck and the other around his wrists.
    Spoiler
    Show
    The introduction of my brother's character. My brother, Scotticus, is quite young but has been pestering me to play for a long while. I viewed this as a good opportunity for him to see what it is all about without compromising the main game night with his immaturity.

    Anyway, Scotticus is playing a Feartarbh warrior, Martialis Ironlaw. We came up with a decent backstory for Martialis and he was going to play this session right from the beginning, but due to a scheduled haircut we were not aware of, he was missing for most of the session. Once he had returned, I tried to slot him in on the fly.

    Unfortunately, Scotticus and LD don't play all that well together in real life, and Scotticus seemed to really struggle with getting in character, which is absolutely fair enough when one considers that he is only approximately ten years old.


    The Feartarbh, Martialis, has been trapped in the mountain for some time now, having been captured by the tribe held prisoner. But he does not want to be a slave and seeing these two Invarrians, he sees his chance. I ask Scotticus what he wants to say here.
    "Kill them! Kill the Invarrians." - Martialis, commanding the mountain-tribe.
    "What?" - LD, not happy.
    "Can we just pretend no one understood him?" - Opal.
    "Okay fine, let me out of here!" - Scotticus.


    The Feartarbh falls to the ground, pretending to have fallen. The mountain-tribesmen start to haul on the chains, the iron cutting into the Feartarbh's throat. Assar steps forward and strikes at one of the chain-bearers, taking it in the shoulder, cleaving through fur, flesh and bone. With a strangled roar of agony, it drops the chains and draws a heavy bone and wood axe.

    Martialis, struggling to breathe finds he can now move his hands, so he staggers to his hooves and attempts to wrap the chains around his wrists around the tribesman's neck. Weakened by his ordeal, Martialis fumbles in this and is struck by the tribesman, its axe biting into the Feartarbh's upper arm.

    Assar ducks underneath the wild swing of her axe-wielding opponent, striking it down with a sword through his ribs. Therressa sees the last tribesman engaged with the Feartarbh and launches into a flying tackle, smashing it to the ground. It drops the chain and attempts to strike at the Invarrian with his axe, but she gets her shield in between the blow and her flesh.

    Assar takes a quick look around the room and can see no surviving tribesmen other than the one tangling with Therressa on the ground. She steps over and drags the thing off her friend, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and slamming her sword into its ribs. Therressa stands and delivers the finishing blow, taking off its head.

    Assar approaches the Feartarbh, sword lowered but still in one hand, torch in the other.
    "Who are you, why are you here and what do you want now? If you answer wrongly, we are armed and will attempt to kill you." - Assar, grim.
    "Shut up, can I kill you!?" - Scotticus, laughing.
    And so we called it quits as LD's response was to stab him in the face and I didn't want to have to deal with two players fighting at the table.

    But I thought Opal and LD both played well, with both Therressa and Opal likely to prove to be successful additions to the group.

    Cheers,
    Last edited by Phoenixguard09; 2014-07-13 at 10:21 PM.
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

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  24. - Top - End - #114
    Banned
     
    Sartharina's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    I like Opal's character already!

    I was under the impression she was some sort of catgirl from the teaser post, though.

  25. - Top - End - #115
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Well she's definitely an Invarrian, so canine, though perhaps more terrier than Harold's border collie?

    Glad that the most recent write-ups have been well received. I am unfortunately unsure of when we will have our next session as LD's dancing seems to have killed our chances for Friday nights. There has been talk of looking at Saturday afternoons instead, but until we can get that working, we are on a hiatus, at least until the mid-year holidays.

    Cheers,
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

    Follow us on Instagram for artwork and updates:
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  26. - Top - End - #116
    Pixie in the Playground
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    amused Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Hey, theressa may be small, but she's got bite!
    Bookworms will rule the world!!! Just as soon as we Finnish this one chapter...

  27. - Top - End - #117
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Just letting our readers know that we are planning two sessions to be played in quick succession in mid-June. So, a bit of a hiatus and then hopefully two good sessions which should see us through to the end of the Wolf King arc.

    Cheers,
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

    Follow us on Instagram for artwork and updates:
    The Norbayne Campaign

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  28. - Top - End - #118
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Okay, first up we are definitely going ahead with a session on the 21st. And we should have another on the 28th. Should be interesting being our first day sessions. We'll see how it goes.

    The other thing is I'm going to post the character sheets so far. All stats are accurate as of the end of Session 3.2.

    Spoiler: Harold Oakenshield
    Show

    Invarrian Level 6 Duellist
    Stats:
    Combat Skill: 51
    Ballistic Skill: 32
    Strength: 41
    Toughness: 42
    Dexterity: 36
    Agility: 36
    Actions: 2
    Initiative: 37
    Health: 12/19
    Charisma: 41
    Perception: 32
    Intelligence: 47
    Willpower: 27
    Luck: 3/6

    Skills:
    Animal Care +10
    Charm +20
    Command +10
    Concealment +10
    Deception +10
    Disguise +10
    Dodge Blow +10
    Gambling +10
    Haggling +10
    Healing
    Intimidation +20
    Riding +10
    Silent Movement
    Taunt +10
    Common Knowledge (Duelling)

    Talents & Traits:
    Reaver: +5 to Navigation and Sailing Checks.
    Invarrian Senses: +10 to Perception Checks.
    Ambidextrous: No penalties for attacks made with non-prefered hand.
    Cool-Headed: Re-roll a single Intelligence Check per day.
    Dashing Figure: +10 to Charm Checks.
    Moves Like Quicksilver: +10 to Dodge Blow Checks.
    Experienced Duellist: +10 to Parrying.
    Flurry of Blows: May attack twice per normal attack with a -10 To Hit.
    Lightning Parry: May sacrifice any number of attacks in a round for that many attempts to Parry.
    Fall On Their Own Blades: On a successful Parry Check against multiple opponents, the parried strike is resolved against another target in the same combat.
    Swordmaster: +1 Critical Damage when using a sword.
    Deathsword: +1 attack for every enemy with a lower Comabt Skill in the same combat.

    Equipment:
    Weapons -
    Sabre (Quality: Common)
    2 shortswords (Common)
    Walking staff (Improvised)
    Arming sword (Masterwork)
    Boarding axe (Common)
    Armour -
    Chain haubergeon (Common)
    Steel vambraces (High) Enscribed with Runes of Protection
    Steel plate cuirass (High)
    Steel greaves (High)
    Miscellaneous - (All stored in a backpack, save the tent which is usually left on the party's cart.)
    Tent
    Tinderbox
    Torch
    Rations


    Spoiler: Maebh Raven-Wing
    Show

    Danann Level 6 Mage
    Stats:
    Combat Skill: 33
    Ballistic Skill: 46
    Strength: 34
    Toughness: 42
    Dexterity: 30
    Agility: 34
    Actions: 1
    Initiative: 45
    Health: 15/15
    Charisma: 22
    Perception: 39
    Intelligence: 51
    Willpower: 42
    Magic: 3
    Luck: 10/6 (Luck points as a reward took Maebh over the maximum. Her Luck will slowly drain at a rate of 1 point per week until it reaches the limit once more.)

    Skills:
    Climbing
    Concealment
    Dodge Blow
    Drive
    Healing
    Intimidation
    Riding
    Search
    Silent Movement +10
    Survival +10
    Channelling +10
    Hypnotism

    Talents & Traits:
    Danann Senses: Night-Eye and +5 to Perception Checks.
    Unrestrained Power: +1D10 to Cast.
    Lightning Reflexes: Re-roll a single Initiative Check per day.
    Master of Destruction: +1 per Magic Level to Cast Destruction Spells.
    Make It All Burn: +2 Fire Damage.
    Dual Casting: May cast two Spells with a single Action. -4 to Cast the second Spell.
    Destructive Will: Adds the first digit of Willpower to Destruction Spell damage.
    Force of Destruction: Doubles the effect of Destructive Will.
    Master of the Bri: +1 per Magic Level to Cast Weathermancy Spells.
    Mage's Eye: +10 to Search Checks.
    Master of Protection: +1 per Magic Level to Cast Protection Spells.
    Arcane Lord: +2 per Magic Level to Cast all Spells. Stacks with the Mastery Talents.

    Equipment:
    Weapons -
    Hunting spear (Common)
    Arming sword (Common)
    Tower shield (High)
    Armour -
    Leather bracers (Common)
    Leather jerkin (Common)
    Leather boots (Common)
    Miscellaneous - (All stored in a backpack, save the tent which is usually left on the party's cart and the focus stone which is a pendant and worn around her neck.)
    Tent
    Rations
    "Candle-clock"
    Lesser focus stone
    Summoning coin (Uncharged)

    Magic:
    Flare - Magic missile, D10+Fire Damage (Destruction)
    Create Element - Small amount of fire, water, wind or electricity.
    Magic Alarm - Wards an area, producing a loud noise, plus alerting the caster to anyone in the immediate vicinity of the ward. (Protection)
    Remove Curse - Caster nullifies any active Curse effects on the target.
    Whispering Wind - A slight gust of wind carries a short message to a target. (Weathermancy)
    Wall of Blades - Creates a wall of magic blades which shred anything which tries to pass. (Destruction)
    Fireball - Magic missile, 2D10+Fire Damage (Destruction)
    Aethyric Shield - Magic shield, provides heavy cover against ranged attacks. (Protection)
    Eyes of Truth - See through illusions, invisibility and magical darkness.
    Gust of Wind - Strong gust of wind which staggers anyone it it's path. Causes minor damage.
    Fury of the River - Torrent of magical water, D10 Damage, can drown targets.
    Bloodboil - Causes the target's blood to boil. Fire Damage on touch.


    Spoiler: Breanna Blackrose
    Show

    Leathe Level 6 Assassin
    Stats:
    Combat Skill: 43
    Ballistic Skill: 37
    Strength: 42
    Toughness: 32
    Dexterity: 32
    Agility: 38
    Actions: 1
    Initiative: 32
    Health: 14/14
    Charisma: 25
    Perception: 36
    Intelligence: 39
    Willpower: 25
    Magic: 2
    Luck: 6/6

    Skills:
    Animal Care +10
    Charm +10
    Climbing
    Concealment +10
    Deception
    Disguise
    Dodge Blow +10
    Evaluation
    Haggling
    Healing
    Intimidation
    Riding
    Search
    Silent Movement +20
    Survival +20
    Lockpicking +20
    Sleight of Hand +20
    Prepare Poisons +10

    Talents & Traits:
    Tree Dweller: +5 to Climbing Checks.
    Sixth Sense: On a successful Perception Check, may ignore the Ambush rules.
    Blade in the Shadow: +10 to Concealment Checks.
    Sneak Attack: +D10 Damage to unaware enemies.
    Excellent Vision: Re-roll a single Search Check per day.
    Knife-Fighter: May still Parry with a knife.
    Like Killing A Shadow: +10 to Dodge Blow Checks. Increases to +20 in shadowy areas.
    Backstab: +2 Damage when Sneak Attacking.
    Sturdy: Re-roll a single Strength or Toughness Check per day.

    Equipment:
    Weapons -
    Carving knife (Common)
    2 daggers (Common)
    Armour -
    None.
    Miscellaneous - (All stored in a backpack, save the tent which is usually left on the party's cart.)
    Tent
    Rations
    Torch
    2 daemonology books
    Summoning coin (Uncharged)

    Magic:
    Shadowskin - Caster is wreathed in a shadowy veil. Counts as light cover and provides +20 to Concealment Checks. (Illusion)
    Magic Dart - Magic missile, D10+2 Damage (Destruction)
    Phantom Noise - Creates a single noise from a specific location. May duplicate two syllables of speech. (Illusion)
    Obscuring Mist - Creates a blanket of fog. +10 to Concealment when within the fog. (Illusion)
    Sleep - Causes the target to fall into a short magical coma on touch.
    Terrifying Visage - The caster causes Fear for the duration of the Spell. (Illusion)
    Shadow Figure - Creates the sillhouette of a single man-sized figure, which may perform any action the caster desires. The figure is insubstantial and disappears after a short time. It cannot be harmed, nor can it interact with the environment. (Illusion)


    Spoiler: Kel'Serrar Naya
    Show

    Danann Level 6 Ranger
    Stats:
    Combat Skill: 32
    Ballistic Skill: 51
    Strength: 40
    Toughness: 22
    Dexterity: 41
    Agility: 37
    Actions: 2
    Initiative: 36
    Health: 11/11
    Charisma: 20
    Perception: 45
    Intelligence: 41
    Willpower: 24
    Magic: 3
    Luck: 10/6 (Luck points as a reward took Kel'Serrar over the maximum. His Luck will slowly drain at a rate of 1 point per week until it reaches the limit once more.)

    Skills:
    Concealment +20
    Dodge Blow +20
    Healing +20
    Silent Movement +20
    Survival +10
    Common Knowledge (Wilderness) + 20

    Talents & Traits:
    Danann Senses: Night-Eye and +5 to Perception Checks.
    Quick Reload: Nock and loose an arrow in a single Action.
    Mighty Shot: +1 Critical Damage when using a bow.
    Herblore: +10 to Healing Checks.
    Forest Cloak: +10 to Concealment Checks in the wild.
    Whisper in the Tress: +10 to Silent Movement Checks.
    Secrets of the Ancient Archers: +1 to Cast Arcane Archer Spells.
    Might of the Ancient Archers: +3 to Cast Arcane Archer Spells.
    Aimed Shot: Sacrifice an Action for +10 To Hit with a ranged attack.
    Sturdy: Re-roll a single Strength or Toughness Check per day.
    Cool-Headed: Re-roll a single Intelligence Check per day.
    Eagle-Eye: +3 Damage for Aimed Shots.
    Powerful Shot: Adds the first digit of Strength to ranged damage.
    Witchflame: +1 To Hit with the Flaming Arrow Spell.
    Precise Shot: Adds the first digit of Perception to ranged damage. May also make a called shot with no penalties.
    Skillful Shot: Adds the first digit of Ballistic Skill to ranged damage.
    Masterful Shot: Combines Skillful, Precise and Powerful Shot Talents. They do not stack normally.

    Equipment:
    Weapons -
    Longbow (Common)
    Long knife (Common)
    Quiver with 25 arrows (Common)
    Arming sword (High)
    Armour -
    Leather bracers (Common)
    Leather jerkin (Common)
    Leather boots (Common)
    Miscellaneous - (All stored in a backpack, save the tent which is usually left on the party's cart.)
    Tent
    Rations
    Rope
    Compass
    Writing implements (Stolen from Tremor)
    Silver ring
    20ft of rope

    Magic:
    Flaming Arrow - Arrow causes Fire Damage and can used as a lightsource. (Arcane Archery)
    Patriot Arrow - Auto-Hit. (Arcane Archery)


    Spoiler: Tremor Ironfist
    Show

    Dwergar Level 6 Engineer
    Stats:
    Combat Skill: 32
    Ballistic Skill: 22
    Strength: 30
    Toughness: 43
    Dexterity: 33
    Agility: 34
    Actions: 1
    Initiative: 26
    Health: 17/20
    Charisma: 21
    Perception: 29
    Intelligence: 40
    Willpower: 35
    Luck: 5/6

    Skills:
    Command
    Concealment +10
    Disguise
    Dodge Blow +10
    Evaluation
    Gambling +10
    Haggling +10
    Intimidation +10
    Silent Movement
    Survival
    Invention +20
    Alchemy
    Craft (Wood) +10
    Runesmithing +10
    Craft (Metal)
    Common Knowledge (Herblore)

    Talents & Traits:
    Craft Master: +10 to Evaluation Checks.
    Innovative: +10 to Invention Checks.
    Stout-Hearted: Re-roll Fear Checks.
    Cold of the North: Re-roll Strength reduction Checks due to cold.
    Bloodrage: Can go beserk.

    Equipment:
    Weapons -
    Hammer (Improvised)
    Hatchet (Common)
    Greatsword (Common)
    Wooden roundshield (Common)
    Spear (Common)
    Armour -
    Chain hauberk (Common)
    Leather bracers (Common)
    Leather jerkin (Common)
    Leather boots (Common)
    Miscellaneous - (All stored in a backpack, save the tent which is usually left on the party's cart.)
    Universal Key
    Saw
    Nails
    Tent
    Rations
    3 vials of healing salve
    1 vial of pain-killing draught
    1 vial of pain-inflicting draught
    2 vials of "boom-sauce"
    Silver whistle
    Pipe and weed
    Writing implements (Stolen from Tremor)
    Summoning coin (Uncharged)
    Amulet (Luck enchantment)
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

    Follow us on Instagram for artwork and updates:
    The Norbayne Campaign

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  29. - Top - End - #119
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Okay, first up I thought I'd update everyone, firstly with some good news, and then a little bit of bad news.

    Firstly, we did play on the 21st and to this point the 28th is likely to go ahead too. Without giving away too much, Session 3.3 was full of action and good fun. Personally I think that the Saturday afternoon worked pretty damn well too rather than the Friday night, so that definitely opens up some options on the regularity of gaming.

    Then the bad news. Due to the haste with which we had to pack up and the age of the laptop we rely on, there was a technical mishap in which all three and a half hours or so of recording was lost. Luckily I was well prepared going into this session and between my own and Ladyhawk's notes plus Wings' map, we should be able to reconstruct it relatively faithfully. Sadly though, a lot of the humour and most of the off-topic chat is forever lost, so this write-up is likely to be a shorter one.

    On the plus side however, everyone seemed to have fun and we are most likely going to play this weekend too, hopefully a longer session and almost certainly without the recording being stupid.

    I also have updated character sheets for anyone who is interested, made more interesting by Sins multi-classing in 3.4.

    The other good thing about the situation is that no recording means that I've put my ass into gear when it comes to actually writing the damn thing so that I forget as little as possible. This means of course that I will definitely have the write-up available to read sometime this week. So that's something to look forward to I guess.

    Cheers everyone,
    Campaign Logs:
    Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: COMPLETE
    The Great Maw: NEARLY COMPLETE
    Seven Stones and a Pale Shadow: JUST BEGINNING

    Follow us on Instagram for artwork and updates:
    The Norbayne Campaign

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  30. - Top - End - #120
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Griffon

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    Default Re: Three Coins, Two Birds and a Gilded Sword: A Norbayne Campaign Log

    Session 3.3: The Lair of the Wolf King

    "Even one who is pure of heart and says their prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."
    - Old Leathe nursery rhyme, usually told to frighten small children.

    "Welcome to Session 3.uh... 3?"
    "Does it really matter?" - Dev.
    "Don't say it! No one say it!" - Ladyhawk.
    Silence reigns for a few seconds.
    "DAMN IT!" - Everyone, with laughter.

    Now I shall preface this with an apology. Unlike the usual thing which is lost at this point in the write-up, I must confess that there was an issue this time around. Sadly, due to malfunctioning hardware, we did not lose the Game this time, but the whole goddamn recording.

    As such I shall endeavour to reconstruct as much of this session from memory as I possibly can. And we'll see how that goes.


    We begin in the dark hours of the early morning. The Fortress has held for the night and the wolves have retreated, thankfully without any loss of life, presumably save for those who stayed outside and ignored Tremor's ultimatum. The remains of those wolves which were felled in the assault have been dragged outside by the militia. The kitchen doorway too has been heavily boarded up. The kitchen itself is a blackened husk of what it used to be, but at least the assault has been seen off.

    The few wolves which impaled themselves on Tremor's spiked installations atop the walls remain where they are, snapping at anything which comes close until Maebh takes her spear to them, shattering their heartstones.

    On the whole, the people are exceptionally thankful towards the companions, particularly Tremor who has given them increased hope. But the fact is that The Fortress only barely held out the night and another attack could spell doom for the people of Dreven.

    The companions are preparing to bed down for the night when they are approached by the innkeeper, his eyes bleary, the bruise Tremor's fist left on his head clearly visible. Despite their earlier confrontation, he seems in decent humour now, if very tired and scared.

    "May I borrow a moment of your time please? I understand how weary you all must be, so I swear I shall be swift." - Innkeeper, who introduces himself as Aurel.
    Cue snickers from my players. Immature sods.

    He is adamant that the tavern could not withstand another attack, but perhaps it would not need to. He shares his speculation regarding the controller of the wolves, reminding them of the horn blast which called them off, informing the companions of his belief that the legends of the Wolf King may just be coming back to haunt them.

    Harold asks for a bit more information on the Wolf King and is told a variant of the common legend. Several centuries ago, the lands surrounding Mount Dove where ruled by a line called the Wildermonts. The last of that line was an absolute nutter with an unhealthy obsession with wolves. In time he began to display wolf-like tendencies, eating his meat raw and filing his teeth to points. Over time he became even more depraved, so much so that some stories say that he had the pelts of slain wolves sewn onto his own skin. Every morning the bodies of servants would be found, mutilated and half eaten in the cold stone hallways. Dark shapes could be seen slinking in the shadows and in time, the king's human subjects left him, either fleeing in terror or consumed by the mad king and the wolves which followed him everywhere.

    The Wolf King and his packs terrorised the lands around Mount Dove for almost a century before the high king of Naille at the time slew him in single combat.
    "Nailed him." - Sins. It was beautiful. Thanks for reminding me Ladyhawk.
    The wolves fled as soon as their king died and for over three hundred years, the lands around Mount Dove have been safe.

    Until recently.

    Aurel also tells them of a man named Elias who passed through Dreven just a few weeks ago, asking about the old legends of the Wolf King. The villagers were wary of him and so gave him nothing and he left. It was not long after that when the attacks began again. Elias is described as a tall man who gave off an unsettling aura. His cloth was poor, clad in dark greys and browns with a mangy wolf pelt around his shoulders. Dark-haired and dark-eyed, he carried a heavy wooden staff and kept a dagger at his belt. Aurel reiterates that people are not the only things dragged away and that many other objects have been taken, mainly ironwork.

    Tremor speculates that he might be forming an army, but Maebh and Kel'Serrar point out that the iron could be reforged into all manner of things, Kel'Serrrar suggesting that it might be a mining operation.

    Aurel also tells them that if they intend to go to Mount Dove, the trek will take them several hours and that they had best do it during the day. He does not know, but he suspects that if these creatures are ever dormant, it would be during the day.

    With that out of the way, the rest until morning.

    The next morning, they awaken later than they usually would. Some of their hastily formed militia are already up and about, but not many. The companions head out of the Fortress and into the weak sunlight, Maebh splitting from the others to go to the stable to retrieve Toirneach. The others head to Ingir's house, thinking to investigate.

    The house and the smithy are deserted. Bits of wolf which have been cleaved from the animals can be found, paws, limbs and one head which growls at the companions as they approach. Harold crushes it under his boot and hears a soft clink. He bends down and retrieves three arrowheads from the wolf's jaws, which he tosses wordlessly to Kel'Serrar. There is a small puddle of blood on the floor which is smeared as if something was dragged through it. The drawers and backroom are checked, and all iron, worked or no is gone.

    Of Ingir himself, presumable aside from the blood, nothing can be found.

    Tremor does find a set of journals, which he skims through and is happy to find detail metalworking techniques. He puts them in his pack for later.

    A substantial amount of money is found in the house, which is spread evenly through the party. Interestingly, no gold can be found in the house at all.

    The group then prepare to leave, it starting to grow late in the morning. Tremor takes the casks which were emptied of oil the previous night and fills them all with coals from the late smith's forge-fire, knowing that they are enchanted to never go out. A draft-horse is rented from the stable-master too to pull the party's cart, Maebh deeming it beneath Toirneach now. Breanna is placed in a sack to prevent her taking revenge on the horse, a plough-horse in a previous life.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Before Breanna got in the sack she handed over the golden dagger to Maebh, still wrapped in cloth.

    And then I gave them a level up since Maebh was the only one who had Drive and she didn't want to, they'd just been through a traumatic experience and Sins was dying to try out being a Mesmer.

    I will put up the latest character sheets for everyone, but for now Maebh is able to create lightning bolts, Breanna's stats increased, Kel'Serrar picked up a sudden affinity for screwing with people's heads, Tremor got better at making things and Harold got better at killing people and not dying himself.


    Harold goes back to the Fortress where he ingratiates himself further with the militia, paying them all a single sulver each for their efforts that night and promising further reward for some brave souls to follow him. Four men are eager to do so, the others torn between wishing to spend their last day with their family or wanting to be able to protect their loved ones in the coming night. Harold takes what he can get and details the four volunteers to come along.

    They then began their hike up to Mount Dove, and from there, further up to the Blackfort itself where the Wolf King awaits.

    The hike up to the Blackfort is relatively uneventful, everyone noticing the clearly visible wolf tracks they are following. Except for Breanna, who can only see darkness and the inner stitching of her sack.

    On the ride, Maebh wards each and every oil-now-coal cask with aethyric shields. The intent is to provide a handhold to actually grasp them. Once warded, they are placed carefully into a large leather sack which is placed in the care of the militia volunteers. Kel'Serrar also experiments with magic, changing his appearance to that of a tall, grey-furred Leathe.

    After several hours the undergrowth becomes too thick for the cart to continue and the party dismounts. The wagon is overturned and Amadeus, Bach and the new draft-horse are left tied to it. Maebh simply tells Toirneach to stay in the area, and though they are loathe to separate, they do so, Maebh vowing to return. Wolfgang however stays with Breanna, who is herself let out of her sack on the proviso that she make no sudden moves. As soon as Harold turns away, Kel'Serrar changes his appearance once more, this time to exactly match Harold's. The Invarrian is impressed, but not especially pleased.

    One of the militia-men hefting the sack of coal-casks, the party heads onward and up into the foothills, which if anything are even more heavily forested than the woods surrounding Dreven. The woods are silent save for the party's progress. Not a creature stirs around them. No birds sing, nothing. Tracks can be easily followed, all of them leading up to Mount Dove.

    Halfway up the mountain, the party comes to a cave, a dark, dank hole in the side of the mountain.

    The cave-mouth is strewn with bones and old, dried blood. There are many wolf tracks leading both in and out of the cave. There are also plenty of drag marks where the wolves have presumably dragged captives, prey and valuables.

    Inside the cave is a slaughterhouse, mangled remains of partially eaten villagers are strewn liberally about the place. The further they go in, Breanna at the fore, they also find that it is not a cave, but a long tunnel, which appears to have been clawed out of the mountain by both wolf-claws and, troublingly, mining tools. The further they go into the tunnel, the narrower and more cramped it gets, until if they want to get any further, they must crawl on hands and knees.

    From further on, they hear the faint sounds of howling and snarling.

    And then, on the very edge of perception, the wailing of people.

    Breanna is sent in first as she does not need to crawl, merely stoop and she does so, Wolfgang slinking behind her. She pulls a shroud of shadows about herself as she goes, briefly wrestling with a daemon for the energy to do so. Rounding a bend in the tunnel she finds herself coming up upon a long, dark stone hallway. Turning back, she softly calls the others forward assuring them it is safe.

    Spoiler
    Show
    I do have a map of the labyrinth they have discovered and I will post it up to ensure that what occurs next is understandable. What comes next is a very short, traditional dungeon crawl.

    It is very short because as I figured it, they had time constraints. After all, the village they have attached themselves to is probably going to face destruction tomorrow night and on top of that, they just stripped the village of most of its defenders. So if they take too long and the Wolf King attacks the village while they're screwing around in the dungeon then they will have single-handedly been responsible for the destruction of the village.


    They immediately decide to explore this hallway, quickly finding that the place is a labyrinth of cold, dank stone. Tremor sets himself to the task of drawing a map for the group and Maebh calls upon her power to see through illusions and the like, just in case someone has attempted to hide something from her sight.

    Spoiler
    Show
    I had drawn the map before the session began, (I am usually not that organised, to my shame) but I asked the group how they wanted to approach this, giving them two options.

    The first: To have my map placed in the centre of the table. This would ensure there would be no confusion as to where everyone was, however it would also mean that everyone would know exactly where every path led. None of the rooms were marked on the map however, so only I knew what was in each room.

    The second: To keep my map secret and have one player draw out a map which the group would use. If we had a smaller table and perhaps if I were better descriptively, this could certainly work, but probably would have required more preparation and ability on my part to work well. Despite Ladyhawk's misgivings, we tried it out and Wings did do up a very serviceable map on an A4 piece of paper, which was far easier to make out than my 6" by 6" sketch. I have a bad habit of drawing things far too small.

    Anyway, we got some way through before abandoning it as too hard, though Wings finished his map by copying mine, ensuring that two copies could be had around the table. So for what it's worth, good work mate. ;) Ladyhawk does want me to state however that she was right all along and we shouldn't have bothered trying, but I for one am glad we did. Now I know what went wrong this time around, I'd like to have another crack at it next time we do a dungeon crawl.

    Rant over, back to the game.


    The exploration went quite well, at first at least, Maebh finding that there were manholes in the ceilings of some rooms which let the weak sunlight stream into the labyrinth. They could be used to get out, but the noises from above suggested that the wolves were out there in force.

    Everywhere the party went they found piles of bones, some fresh and recently chewed, others old and dry, cracked either by age or the attentions of the wolves.

    From their original position the sounds of both the wolves and the people in the hallways seemed to be coming from the left, and after some exploration, that is the way the group went, every now and then sending individuals out by themselves to explore some paths.

    After some time they came to what seemed like a central room. Ahead were two paths, one more each to the left and right and of course, the one they had just came from. The path to the left seemed to be where the sounds of the wolves were coming from, while one of the paths to the fore seemed to be the source of the wailing people. Maebh went right, discovering nothing but more bones and the remains of a man who had been taken by the wolves. Breanna took the path ahead to the right, while Kel'Serrar took the one to the left. Harold and Tremor took up position facing the direction they assumed the wolves would come from if they did, the militia forming a wall of shields and spearpoints around them.

    Kel'Serrar
    Kel'Serrar took the path and found it leading upwards slightly, the ground becoming slippery and treacherous in the dark. Rounding a bend to the left he came upon a very dark room and two green glowing eyes. To his keen eyes, he could see the owner, a powerful, yet mangy wolf, which stalked towards him, balefire glowing in its eyes. Kel'Serrar, arrow already nocked to the string of his bow, slowly stepped backwards, calling upon his magic, and swiftly enchanted the arrow to strike truly. With a smooth motion he loosed the missile at his target as it sprang towards him, a feral snarl echoing through the corridors. The enchanted arrow took the wolf in its "heart" and as the crystal shattered, the wolf slumped to the floor, flesh sloughing of its bones. The ranger took a moment to calmhimself, but in the silence following the wolf's demise he could hear something which worried him. Or rather, the lack of something which had been worrying him. The snarling of the wolves coming from back where he had left his companions had ceased. Suddenly there was a loud, muddied howl and the snarling returned, growing closer and accompanied by heavy footfalls. Softly cursing, he made his way back towards the room where he left the others.

    Breanna
    Breanna meanwhile, having taken the right-hand path rounded a bend to the right and came upon yet another room. In the centre of the room was a veritable mountain of corpses, what appeared to be villagers who had been ripped limb from limb. The Leathe quickly scrounged through them, but found nothing of value. Two paths lay before her, one to the right and one straight ahead. She took the one before her, following the sounds of people. Before she left the room, Wolfgang turned and growled at the path to the right, before scurrying to her side, but she did not pay any attention to him....

    Harold & Tremor
    Down the path to the left, Tremor and Harold could hear the oncoming horde. They heard the snarl from Kel'Serrar's direction and could only hope he was okay. Ahead of them came a rush of snarling beasts, the horde visible in the lowlight mainly by their flaming green eyes. At Harold's command, the militia presented their shields to the onrushing wolves were embroiled in a nightmare.

    Breanna
    Following the path before her, Breanna came to a long flight of stairs which lead to a thick, wooden door, reinforced with iron bars. The people were on the other side, and from this distance she could hear more of what was being yelled.

    "Is anybody out there!? Help us!?" - Unidentified voices.

    She turned back and made her way to her companions.

    Retracing her steps she found herself back in the room with the mountain of corpses, however she and Wolfgang were no longer alone. Before them were two massive wolves, eyes blazing with green fire. Snarling they began to stalk towards the Leathe, who gripped her daggers tightly and closed her eyes.

    Spoiler
    Show
    LD asked here if she had any way of attacking both wolves before they attacked her. Now by the rules, no she didn't, only having enough Actions to attack a single target. However, that's where the Luck points come in.

    Generally speaking Luck points are used to re-roll failed Checks. They also provide a target for Luck Checks. When a Luck Check is called for, a single D10 is rolled, with the aim being to score equal to or under the character's current Luck points.

    Personally I think it rather elegant and does get across the idea of one's luck running out as it were. But that's neither here nor there.

    They do have another function entirely though and it is as follows. At any point, a GM may make a deal with a player, basically to waive a rule or two in order to allow the character to do something cool.

    In this case, I asked LD for 2 Luck points to do what she wanted to do. She accepted and got the chance to roll for successes. And all in all, it turned out awesome.


    Breanna darted forward, the steel in her hands weaving with deadly grace. Leaping into the air, she sprang onto the face of the wolf to her left, before leaping again to the right, thrusting her dagger into the eye of the second wolf. She hit the ground, rolled to her feet and ran down the corridor, Wolfgang using her distraction to dart past the wolves too as they stumbled behind her. Snarling, they turned to give chase.

    Spoiler
    Show
    LD rolled an Agility Check for the initial kick to the face and succeeded by about three degrees from memory, followed by a called shot to the face and then another Agility Check to get away, which she passed easily.

    The whole thing was awesome and all comes down to having a rule which says sometimes, the rules need to shut up and sit down.


    Harold & Tremor
    Where they were in the fighting, at the forefront against the wolves, there was always going to be danger. Unfortunately, at this point, Tremor wasn't quite equal to it and he was brought down by a leaping wolf, it's fangs gouging into his face as it brought him to the ground.

    Harold leapt forward, blades swinging and took off one of the beast's forelimbs, causing it to lose its footing.
    Pun intended.
    As it staggered back, one of the militias' spears took it in the "heart." Harold dragged Tremor back, exhorting to his men to stay together as he did so and looking up. As such he saw both Maebh and Kel'Serrar appear from their sojourns, the latter immediately seeing to the injured Dwergar. Having seen to his friend's wellbeing, Harold jumped back into the fray.

    To his practiced eye he could see that the Engineer was beginning to succumb to some kind of paralysis, which he deduced quickly was as a direct result of the wolf's saliva which dripped from Tremor's face. The ranger swiftly wiped it away before starting to stitch the ragged flesh of Tremor's cheek back together. As such, he was busy when Breanna came streaming back into the room, a haunted look in her eyes, Wolfgang, running alongside her. Two wolves followed her, barrelling into the room.

    But where Kel'Serrar was occupied for the moment, Maebh was not and she took the opportunity to unleash her power. Calling upon the elemental force of unbridled fire, she blasted one of the wolves into oblivion leaving nothing but fine, grey ash. The sheer concussive force of her strike set the other sprawling into the stone wall, mangy fur smouldering. Maebh's strike gave Kel'Serrar all the time he needed and taking up his bow from where he had set it aside to see to Tremor, he sent an arrow straight into it's heartstone, shattering it.

    Harold meanwhile continued to lead his men, striking out at the wolves which continued to batter away at their wall. Despite everything, none of the four had fallen, but Maebh did not want to risk it and she strode forward, setting up a wall of aethyric blades between the militia and the remaining wolves. The magic spinning blades shredded at least three of the oncoming wolves, leaving only two to continue their charge bearing minor injuries.
    "What constitutes minor injuries to these things?" - Dev.
    "Ah, well you know, missing limbs and the like."
    Everyone seemed to find that really funny.

    The last of the wolves were swiftly taken down by the militia, who seem to relish the chance to actually strike back at the creatures which have been terrorising them for weeks.

    That'll do for now, back in a minute.
    Last edited by Phoenixguard09; 2020-03-27 at 06:07 AM.
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