Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (CommJunkee, for Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Strengths and Perceptions

23 Apr 2014

Continued… At that, the fight began in earnest, a whirling, chaotic tempest of steel and magic. The captain of the Templars rolled on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the flames, aided by his lieutenant; those Templars bearing sword-and-shield remained in the saddle and charged forward at the Heroes; those bearing two-handed swords quickly dismounted and followed behind the horses; the crossbowmen above loosed their bolts at the spellcasters and Dane. Gestlin dove to the ground to avoid being struck, and crawled to the cover of the boulder. As one of the mounted enemy passed ’round the dark side of the overturned wagon, Gabriel sprang from the shadows and stabbed his horse, which fell with its rider; Gabriel attacked its rider as he got to his feet. One of the Templars cast a Grease spell upon the boulder where Dane perched, and though he struggled to keep his footing, he continued to loose arrows two-at-once at those who approached nigh to the rock. The horsemen weaved amongst the Heroes on the road, dividing them, hacking down at them with their broadswords; Brother Mendel and Magnifico were both struck hard in the fray, while Gestlin blasted the backside of one of the horses with a Flame Jet (the rider managed to stay mounted). Rainald dodged ’round the horses and managed to force two greatsword-wielding foes back away from the casters, but his spear could scarcely find its mark, for the enemy was very skilled. After another volley from above, Dane shifted his aim to those crossbowmen on the cliff. The casters remained encircled by the horsemen, while Gabriel and Rainald exchanged strikes with the other soldiers on the ground. The pixie-scout flew up to Gestlin as he had gotten to his feet; it threw a tiny handful of pixie dust into Gestlin’s face, and he fell to the ground, fast asleep. Brother Mendel cast a healing spell upon himself lest he should fall, and masterfully wielding his staff, disarmed one of the mounted Templars of his sword, then later, another. Magnifico cast a Madness spell upon one of the enemy, who lost himself to imagined horrors, dropping to his knees; then Magnifico tried, in Elvish, to convince the pixie to betray its master for a promise of freedom. The Templar captain, now extinguished, and his lieutenant charged forward to join the fight. The now-weaponless mounted Templars spurred their horses to attack, assaulting the casters with hoof and flank, then they quickly dismounted and scrambled to retrieve their fallen swords. Gabriel wounded one Templar such that he would surely die, and the enemy surrendered himself, and he turned to one of his formerly-mounted company as he reached for his fallen sword. At the same time, Rainald had been lured away from the casters, and after a lucky thrust of his spear caught one in the face, quickly fell back to his fellows. Dane picked off one of the crossbowmen, then another, and another. Brother Mendel now faced the Templar captain, and he disarmed him with his staff; the pixie, unconvinced by Magnifico’s reasoning, tried to pick up the sword for its master, but Mendel spotted it and smashed it with a mighty swing of his staff. Magnifico strained himself to summon the magical energy to cast a Madness spell on another soldier, who succumbed to its effects, just before Magnifico collapsed from the injury it caused him. As the Templar captain reached for his fallen sword, Brother Mendel disarmed him again; the enemy leader became so furious that he chased Brother Mendel unarmed, trying to tackle him, though Brother Mendel batted him aside again and again with his staff. Meanwhile, Gabriel had near-decapitated one foe, then another, while Rainald engaged the lieutenant, and one by one, the Templars, most of them grievously wounded, threw up their hands in surrender to the Heroes. Finally, the Templar captain, exhausted and angry, and grieved by the apparent death his dear pixie companion, gave himself up as well, broken as his company was broken.

The Templars still able asked permission to see to their wounded, and it was granted them; in the end, only one of them had actually died. Rainald, Gabriel and Dane were impressed with their surprisingly-honorable behavior after the battle as they were with their martial skills during it. Magnifico and Gestlin were roused. Magnifico took up the pixie—not quite dead yet—and magically healed it, and offered it freedom, but it instead went to its master; there was no spell binding it to the captain, forcing its loyalty, that they could detect. The Heroes, specifically the casters, were in bad shape, but were intent on dragging the truth of what the Templars were up to here from the captain, who they declared would remain their captive; the others they elected to allow to leave in peace, though the lieutenant insisted he remain behind to stand by his captain, and surrendered his weapons to his men as they returned to their tower in the city. As they all rested, Rainald spoke to the lieutenant, asking what this business was about: he replied that they were under orders to capture them, and could say little else on the matter.

After much rest and some magical healing, the Heroes prepared to “interrogate” the captain, assuring the lieutenant that he would not be harmed. Gestlin then cast a Sleep spell on the captain, who fell into a deep sleep. Then Magnifico cast a Mind Search spell, sifting through the captain’s unconscious—and therefore, unresisting—thoughts for the answers to their questions; he learned that Lord Wallace had been taken captive by the Templars for “treasons” against King Conall, and was being held prisoner in Tredroy, and was not expected to be moved from there. This was cause for some speculation, as the Heroes knew that the Templars had little presence in Caithness, and as an order of the Church, had no business in Caithness politics.

Afterward, it was decided to take both of their prisoners back to the ship, to be held there in its hold, while a runner was sent with a message to the Templars at their tower, demanding a ransom for their release, to be paid at the docks in the morning. The following morning, the Templars did indeed present themselves at the docks as bidden, bearing a ransom of thirty-six gold marks; the prisoners were released as promised, without incident—the Templar captain, though still feeling low over his defeat, even seemed to acknowledge the Heroes’ honorable behavior. After the business was done, the Heroes wished to hasten away to Tredroy, but there was the matter of Proximo and Aamir, and the demonstration that had been promised, along with whatever information Proximo might have been able to gain from his contacts regarding Lord Wallace’s whereabouts. Also, the Templars would undoubtedly have magical communication abilities, and their agents in Tredroy would certainly be immediately alerted to the Heroes’ approach, ruining any chance of surprise. So, they elected to stay in Craine for one more day, to see what could be done.

Notes

• This session was dominated by the rather large combat sequence that began at the end of the previous session
• Gabriel’s player was on vacation for this session; Gestlin’s player picked him up when Gestlin fell
• The Templars that opposed the PCs were possessed of skills of around approaching 20; we quipped that this must be all the “master-level” fighters in the whole order come after us—fortunate for the Order that they didn’t all die. As we began to understand what we were up against, we were unsure of a positive outcome, but we triumphed anyway—for reasons I can’t fully understand; it was a total mess on the PCs’ part, and I don’t recall any particular tactical blunder on the enemy’s part
• Now that we have a definite location of Wallace, we have no real need to go to Bannock, but Aamir himself hailed from Tredroy, so he will undoubtedly want to do a dragon show there—same plan, different location. Proximo’s information via his contacts is no longer a requirement, but we’ll see what he came up with anyway—maybe he can add something useful