This weeks attendees would be Captain Sebastian LaCroix (Toms character), His Lieutenant Rafaldo Scorgiani (Steve's character), Martin's Priestess and 'Spiritual Advisor' character Danika Jansen, the Mechanik Bragg Halvard (Harry's character) and we'll be joined by Andrews new Pygmy Troll character Toborg Lugosh after the unfortunate brutal execution of his last character Bradick Davalos. My Ogrun 'Bosh' Skullsplitter will be again temporarily moved to NPC status as I'm GMing for the next couple of sessions.
Martin wasn't very well that evening so we were all particularly grateful that he both turned up and provided us a place in which to role-play though as a consequence he wasn't as active with his character as he normally is...just in case you were wondering why Danika spends a lot of time 'being on guard' this session...
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Note - As I was GMing and obviously had notes and intro bits written down I've just pasted them into this article directly so they'll be in a 'reading to the group' style. This'll save me a lot of time writing out everything again and hopefully wont effect your reading enjoyment too much bouncing between the two styles of writing.
Part One Can Be Found Here
Mission Eleven - 'A Stroll in the Hills... (Part Two)'
With the missing child located it's time to return to the actual mission...
After a fairly restful nights sleep the officers and their new charge wake refreshed despite the need for watches throughout the evening and the girl has seemingly decided that the safest place to sleep is tucked next to the giant Ogrun much to his general annoyance. After carefully checking the maps and with Toborgs experience of the terrain it is decided that there are two potential courses of action. Either they can back-track to the junction before rejoining the trail that they were initially following or take the rockier route up the quarry face and try to intercept the trail further up. The first option is the most reliable but will add time to the journey but the second should be quicker despite being far more hazardous. There's also the small matter of them now having an extra person to worry about.
One of the spare backpacks is modified to create something that the girl can be carried in...or more specifically carried by Bosh...if he's bothered by this then he doesn't say so. The difficult route is selected from the two options and the bandit trail will hopefully be intercepted along the way. The ground is now extremely treacherous with every foot fall with the potential to cause a fall or slide of some kind and the ground is covered in scree, tangled roots and other hazards. It is a miracle that any significant raiding force has been able to move this way at all though local terrain knowledge has no doubt given them an edge over the Brotherhood's own raiding party. Hopefully this difficult route would enable them to approach the trail from an undefended direction.Being the only members of the team with any kind of stealth training or ability Sebastian and Toborg take the lead with the others in a loose formation behind.
Not As Undefended As They'd Have Liked...
The terrain has become more and more hazardous with many areas that test the climbing and survival skills of the infiltrators though in spite of this a trail was picked up. With their minds set on the simple task of navigating the increasingly inhospitable terrain it is inevitable that concentration levels will drop and that mistakes will be made...unfortunately it's Bragg who first falls foul to this...
The pit trap had been cunningly concealed by loose rocks and scree and the blissfully unaware Bragg plummeted downwards barely missing the deadliest of the spikes in the centre though took several small wounds from others near the edges. Only his natural Trollkin resilience saved him from severe injury or even death and while his wounds slowly regenerated a rope was lowered for him so he could be pulled from the death trap. From this point onwards every-one became far more attentive to the potential danger.Several slightly out of place looking shrubberies, patches of scree and other overgrown sections caught the attention of Sebastian and so from a safe distance he hurled rocks and stones from the trail into their midst triggering deadly spiked 'Bear' traps. Bosh took an interest in these and as they seemed useful enough to warrant salvaging Toborg made sure they were safely triggered and gathered them up for potential later use. Bosh carried the majority of them with Toborg keeping a couple for later use by himself.
Just ahead the trail narrowed significantly and already being suspicious given recent events Sebastian sent Toborg in advance to inspect this obvious choke point. Several trip wires were detected running at ankle level and upon further investigation these led to what appeared to be a scattergun aimed at chest level. After some miscommunication between Sebastian and Toborg involving the Pygmy Troll somehow mistaking the five cant for 'cut' and that for 'pull' the shotgun was set off with a loud retort which echoed down the narrow canyon in which they currently found themselves and though they were all out of range and Toborg was lying down this still would easily have warned any-one nearby that some-one was approaching from this direction. To say that Sebastian was displeased would be a considerable understatement...
Editors Note - Andrew (Toborgs player) said pull even though I'm reasonably sure that he meant to say cut but I somewhat cruelly activated the trap before he had a chance to correct himself...I make no apologies for that as the players were being really careful at this point and I really wanted some more traps to go off...even though it may seem a tiny bit cruel to you reading this, lol.
Though Toborg managed to find and successfully deactivate a second trap wired to a Dual Crossbow and a third attached to a Snaregun Sebastian was still annoyed enough to decide to take over the trap detecting duties. Sebastian found several traps of a type unfamiliar to him that appeared to be recessed into the ground and were concealed in a similar manner to the spring traps located earlier so rather than attempt to deactivate them he simply marked there location and moved on. With two people checking for traps and every-one else on the highest level of alertness the few remaining pit, pendulum and dead-fall traps were successfully avoided.
Now back on what could be considered a trail and with tracks located the hunt was back on...
Act Four - 'A Mountain Fortress'
What was once a long abandoned mine facility has been converted into an formidable base of operations and this achievement is even more impressive considering the terrain. Storehouses near the entrance passageways have been reinforced and have had guard towers built either next to or as part of several of them and you can see armed and armoured individuals manning the ones nearest to you. The unmistakeable barrels of light artillery pieces can be seen emplaced in these towers and have been positioned to give overlapping fields of fire encompassing the approaches.
From your current vantage point however you can only see a single entrance...perhaps there are other ways in...
Editors Note - This map has been in a folder on my computer for ages and I've no idea where I got it from now. I added extra indication numbers and letters so the players could make notes when they located any area of importance and re-named it for my own purposes. I'll include the reference numbers in the narrative so you know where the characters are...
After some long-range observation through the spy-glasses of Rafaldo and Toborg it was evident that a frontal assault was not an option. Several points of interest were noted including a barracks (3), armoury (4), workshop (9), what may have been a brig of some kind (8) and a large well defended and reinforced building at the rear of the complex (5). Most of the other areas observed seemed to be simply for storage or sleeping quarters.
Before they moved on with their plan the girl was found a safe place in which to hide and concealed behind the camo netting they'd brought with them.
As the only two team members with any aptitude for stealth, Toborg and Sebastian decided to scout ahead via a difficult climb to one of the few unobserved areas of the camp. With darkness now approaching Sebastian noted that the pairs of guards in the towers were changing shift and realising that this would give the largest amount of time without the possibility of being disturbed he decided to eliminate one set of guards (D) in order to allow several more members of his raiding party to enter the complex unobserved. This plan was then slightly inconvenienced by a third guard joining the group he was attempting to kill meaning that Toborg would be needed to eliminate the third man if this was to be done quickly. Sebastian prepared his springblades and Toborg his bayonet and when the moment was right they both struck killing all three silently and efficiently...With the dead guards roughly positioned in upright poses and tied in place Sebastian decided that some further scouting would be needed before he was confident with Rafaldo and Bragg following them in. Bosh and Danika were far to conspicuous to attempt entry and so were ordered to stay behind and only attack if there was absolutely no other choice.
Toborg was sent ahead of Sebastian to scout around the edge of the camp in order to see if there was anything that could be used to cause a distraction but unfortunately the most likely candidate noted by the Captain (the Workshop) contained nothing suitable. While his Captain was occupied with the workshop he peered through the window of the 'prison' hut (8). This particular hut has had bars added to the windows and a heavy duty lock added to the door. Inside Toborg discerned an unmoving figure on a rough cot in the corner. It as far too dark to make out any specifics though. He relayed this information to the now approaching Sebastian who decided to investigate and was surprised to find the hut completely unlocked. The body on investigation was that of an athletic, dark haired woman who when alive would no doubt have been considered quite beautiful. Her outfit however is best described as that usually favoured by ladies of the night. The cause of death seems to be two precise stab wounds in the back, one in each kidney area. After examining the body Sebastian noted several tell tale callouses on the woman's fore-arms that were the unfortunate bane of wearing springblade type weapons and immediately leapt to the conclusion that this was the failed assassin spoken of by Marcus.While this was going on Toborg stealthily moved back to the cliff-face by the workshop and attached several ropes to anchor points and dropped them down in order to create both an additional point of entry and more importantly an alternative escape route signalling as he did so to Rafaldo and Bragg that the coast was clear. The second set of infiltrators moved to the now vacant watch tower to await further instructions where they were met by Toborg and while there Bragg looked for some-way of creating a diversion while he was there should his Captain get into difficulties.
Sebastian left the others and moved to investigate the single guard tower (E) by the seemingly lightly defended rear camp entrance nearest to the important looking building. It was bad luck that these guards were engaged in some friendly banter with others on the ground nearby making their removal an impossibility. With this plan foiled and access for his best assets in an assault unavailable an alternate idea needed to be formulated. With this in mind he moved towards the main building...
Editors Note - Apparently no PC could fail a 'Sneak' test that day and no NPC could pass a 'Notice' test...
The two floor building (5) had been extensively re-built and repaired and has several guards stationed at an entrance at the front opposite a disused and damaged set of rails and both at the top and bottom of a flight of stairs leading to the top floor. There's a rickety ladder on the opposite side of the building to the stairway leading to the roof which runs past a window in the upper floor. Sebastian decided to investigate the upper floor via the rickety ladder as soon as there were no passing bandits to observe him.
There are two people in the upper floor of the building. One is a tall, heavily built, giant of a man in heavy armour and the other is a petite woman in much lighter leather armour. The man is ranting loudly and aggressively about something while pacing back and forth around the room occasionally emphasising a point by gesturing with a large two-handed sword. The woman nods in agreement periodically but is having little input into the conversation other than that. Her expression can best be described as one of complete indifference...
After continued observation of the two apparent bandit leaders in debate and based on the method used to murder the would-be assassin Sebastian began to suspect that the real leader was the woman not the man, Apparently the assassin had thought differently...which had no doubt contributed to her downfall...
Editors Note - Note to self...leave less clues next time...
A Potentially Fatal Error
Finding no particularly useful way of creating a distraction in the watch-tower and growing increasingly concerned about their colleagues Rafaldo decided to clear a path for Danika and Bosh to enter the complex by using his magic to influence the one guard in the opposite tower to kill the other before disabling the first in some manner. Unfortunately the guard was stronger willed than he could possibly have expected and immediately shrugged off the attempt to control him and began to look around for the source of the attack....the glowing runes from the area of the tower were somewhat of a give-away in this regard. One of the guards unwilling to face an arcane opponent without help immediately ran to find assistance. Realising they had little time to act Toborg quickly set up one of his salvaged traps and they moved towards the cover of one of the buildings before the guard returned with reinforcements.Sebastian heard the commotion from his vantage point and immediately leapt to the correct conclusion as a bandit guard ran into the room he was observing and shouted something in a language he didn't understand. The large bandit ran from the room with the guard and Sebastian saw him join up with a larger mob of bandits presumably gathered on the way. This large and well armed group moved towards the watch tower that Sebastian knew had recently been occupied by his own officers and realising that he was effectively a sitting duck where he was currently dangling kicked open the shutter and entered the meeting room. The woman inside seemed only marginally surprised by the intrusion and drew a pair of wickedly sharp looking daggers...it seemed that charm wasn't really an option for Sebastian this time.
Editors Note - I'd probably have let him have a go at a seduction attempt if the rest of his team hadn't just been responsible for the bandits going on full alert status. She was after all a slightly aloof but attractive leader cursed with having to deal with the actions of incompetent underlings...I'm guessing they would have had a lot of common ground to discuss, lol.
Still unsure about whether his theory was correct he was unwilling to simply execute the lady in front of him so instead took a shot at her leg in an attempt at incapacitation but she was deceptively fast and the shot barely scraped the side of her leg before she was in close enough to bring her blades to bear catching him a vicious cut across the body. His next shot caught her in the thigh and sent her spinning away, blood sprayed freely from the wound and it seemed like the wound may well have been a terminal one. Two guards rushed into the room only to be met by several shots from Sebastian though their heavy armour greatly reduced the power of the incoming shells. Knowing that his position would rapidly become untenable he lifted up the now seemingly unconscious woman to use as a shield and with one gun held to her head forced his way through the door. Apparently unwilling to risk harm to their leader the few remaining bandits backed away. It was very fortunate that so many of them were currently occupied elsewhere...Rafaldo, Bragg and Toborg fell back to a position by the workshop (9) where the scout had previously fixed the ropes for their escape and he took up a position on the roof in order to give covering fire should it be necessary. They had just positioned themselves as Sebastian came running across the compound having dropped the apparently dead bandit and used the flaming enchantment on his gun to set fire to several buildings as he went. The bandits and the giant observed by their Captain earlier had located them and were getting ready to assault the position and the Brotherhood members were stuck in the problematic position of being unable to retreat down the ropes without being fired upon while vulnerable or having the numbers to mount an effective counter assault. If a solution didn't present itself soon then a massacre was about to occur...
With the immediate threat cleared an uncomfortable stalemate occurred as the now leaderless raiders were unwilling to engage the armoured and now blood soaked Ogrun holding the severed head of their most formidable warrior and with Bosh unable to engage without leaving his fellow officers and the scout vulnerable. However several of the bandits were now fetching artillery and moving ranged weapons into firing positions. As the last of the Brotherhood reached the bottom of the cliff-face Bosh turned to follow them just as a hail of shells filled the air, several of which punched through his armour as he got to the rope. Covering fire from his fellows and protective spells from Danika gave him time and the resilience to get to the bottom though he was in poor shape when he got there. With the remaining bandits in hot pursuit the assassins made their retreat stopping only briefly to collect the girl they had rescued earlier from her hiding place.
A Last Stand
Editors Note - This is now known as 'doing a 300' for reasons that I'm sure are immediately apparent...
With the mission complete and the bandits broken the battered and bruised team returned to their fortress...
Back to Reality.
I was reasonably pleased with how this session went as most of what I was expecting to happen happened.
The girl was written in to add a moral conundrum into the mix as well as to inflict an added complication to their travel plans. To be honest I was making an active attempt to get her killed and for it to be one of the players fault but they rather inconveniently remembered to dress her wounds, feed her, put her somewhere safe and collect her before they ran away...
The mountain fort was designed with a less specific purpose in mind. I had the area mapped, each building allocated a purpose and even the location of all the bandits and their patrols worked out and decided just to see how the players dealt with the situation. A frontal assault would more than likely have gotten them all killed though. All in all it wasn't a bad attempt even if I did almost lose my own character giving them an escape plan near the end.
I was also quite surprised that the most major potential disaster was bought about by Steve's character Rafaldo rather than by Andrews Scout 'Toborg'. Even though Toborg's setting off of the trap was pretty daft as well. I rolled dice as if there was some-one nearby to be alerted just to worry every-one but I had no actual plans to have any appear...which is why a GM screen is vital equipment, lol.
I gave every-one the default point of XP for turning up as well as the one for teamwork and the other for role-playing and in a moment of weakness a fourth for saving the girl. It only seemed fair as they'd done a decent job of keeping her alive despite my attempts to foil them. I just have to work out what I'm going to do with her now...
The next session will also be GM'd by me before Andrew takes back the reins for a session or three followed possibly by Tom for a bit. That gives me a good amount of time to prepare something for my next stint in a couple of months time.
Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.
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