Who's riding with Serafina Rissanen to meet with Victor Matui and his faction of worshippers of "Old Khador" at his keep?
- Slick (And Dukan Dildran)
- Frederick
- Jax (And Goober)
Might want to stand back, in case the religious discussion gets heated.
Serafina was greeted with, understandably, distrust and some hostility, as her zealots were among the parties who persecuted the Keepers of Light, Green Star, and others of the old orders after the original fall of the western lands and resulting upheavals.
But her approach with humility and explanation of her escape from Acroria under duress won over a few of the old campaigners. Discussion soon led to questions and much animated pointing to lines of text in various holy books and requisite religious armwaving.
The party sat back and tried not to nod off.
Just in time before Slick started to either 1) snore and drool, or 2) go steal shit, an alarm from the tower went up. "Something's botherin' Momma!"
That was a curious phrase.
Well, one of the original occupants of the keep tower was a giant eagle. Victor had made the choice to wait for her to fledge her chicks prior to evicting her. Which turned out to be fortunate, as the eagle rehomed to a large tree not far from the keep and "Momma" now acts as an impromptu sentry to things moving about in the area.
Slick offered to ride out to see what was amiss.
Could it be Chaos troops with Damned Horses? Of course it was Chaos troops with Damned Horses.
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| YeeHaw! |
Slick beat feet back to the stronghold, with the following cinematic barring of doors and windows, loading the ballista, old knights squeezing into their cuirasses, soldiers hut-hut-hutting to the palisades...
The Chaos troops appeared and looked to be in the mood to overrun and take captives. The keep troops fired arrows to some effect, but several mutants reached the walls and spider-climbed over, spreading disorder. Slick and Frederick aided in shooting (Slick wounding one Damned Horse badly enough that it fled with its rider) before the wall got webbed, hampering the defense. Serafina, Dukan, and Jax aided soldiery inside the walls as more baddies scrambled over.
The keep rattled as a mutant ogre slammed through a postern gate, followed by a Chaos Knight on horseback.
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| Hi! |
Jax and Goober took on the ogre. Goober got a couple of good bites in before getting backhanded across the courtyard, getting laid out, and taking off the rest of the fight. Jax and Dukan were having none of this and ganged up on the ogre. You don't touch our dog.
By now, Slick and Frederick had been burned free from the webs and rejoined the fight. Slick hates those Damned Horses. He took a flying leap from the parapet, skewering the Chaos Knight to the horse.
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| Reenactment |
Dukan and Serafina took on the horse, with Serafina taking some nasty horse bites. Dukan decapitated it, so no more bitey. With their leaders and heavy hitters slain or scattered, the remainder of the Chaos troops fled with a few captives.
Everyone brushed themselves off. Serafina limped over to the gravely injured wardog and laid on hands, bringing him back to muster. Slick, in turn, offered her a healing potion to take the sting off.
Damages were assessed, and Serafina announced that she would be willing to stay at the keep to render aid and continue the rapport. Joachin, an old campaigner, announced he was too old for this shit and awarded Dukan his sword ("Ghost-poker" - +1 short sword, +1d4 dmg vs incorporeal foes). Now Dukan has a brace of magic swords.
The party returned to Neuforde to celebrate and heal. After some thought, Dukan approached Slick. "Hey Boss. After you sprung me from the fighting pits, I said I'd stay as long as I felt useful. Let me ride back to the steppes and I'll find the Khan. Things are bad up north in Acroria, Our people might be up to help." Slick agreed, and Dukan departed with a string of horses and a few hired hands, hoping to thread his way between various factions.
Bella Hoekstra, Brother Sigeric's second in command, who had fled Acroria after the takeover of the "Home for the Wayward" announced that she would risk return to get a better sense of what was going on in the city, especially with the shifts of leadership and influence. She would send word if she was able to ascertain anything.
With that, the party returned to Chirath with the intent to sail back the Smoking Isles and retrieve the completed lenses.
Oh yeah, they got attacked by a wraith and then caroused once they got to town. Slick has declared a duel against someone...
Small group, with a couple of players waylaid, so just some moving the story forward.
I ran the combat pretty loose, with rolls to see how the various groups were doing each round (Chaos, soldiers, other knights). The party took on individual foes they picked each round, although I gave them the juicy targets for fun. The fight got pretty hectic.
With the departure of Dukan, Slick needed a new mook (he's lost two mooks to campaign plot at this point). Crap. Digs through game bag. Finds this tucked in the back:
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| Never throw anything away... |
Finhorn, 4th level halfling from a past B/X campaign at my FLGS. Welcome to the party.
Note: Yes, Goober, nearly got one-shotted by the ogre, and chose discretion over valor. The death of Goober would lead to party mutiny, I'm sure. Anyway, when traveling back home last month, we visited Fort Robinson State Park. The facility began as a cavalry fort in the late 1800's and operated through the Second World War, with its final assignments as a POW camp and center for training of war dogs:
Of course I bought a shirt:
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