Olympus RPG Blog

Dramatis Personæ

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

Of Stairways and Storm-Clouds

10 May 2014

Continued… As Rainald lifted his spear for another throw, he found that his mark had disappeared back up the stairs to warn, in person, whomever else might be up there of the intruders’ presence and disposition. No longer attempting to pass unnoticed, Rainald yelled to the other Heroes downstairs in the “dungeons” that company was on its way—in the event they hadn’t heard the other man’s cries already. Gabriel tried to motivate the other prisoners to leave their cells, but no matter how frightening he may have made himself, they were far more frightened of their captors, and refused to budge. Then Gabriel and Merasiël sped upstairs and to the window they had all come in through, to secure their escape route; outside, through the upper windows of the compound, they could hear a clamor being raised two levels up, and knew there were more enemies on the way. As the watch was kept outside, Brother Mendel lent Etmund, whom they had come to rescue, a shoulder to aid his progress up the stairs, but it was slow going as the wretched man could barely stand; the others began making their way to the window as well, giving aid to Brother Mendel as they could.

Meanwhile, Rainald had positioned himself upstairs at the next landing and prepared to hold off the guards alone, if need be, to allow the others time to escape. Down the stairs before him came three foes, a sword-wielding Templar followed by two spear-wielding mercenaries, in their armor. Gramjarn in hand, Rainald immediately set upon the Templar, blocking the others behind him up the stairs; Rainald nearly smashed the Templar’s shield to kindling, all the while laughing maniacally and loudly berating his enemies. After the first exchange of blows, the Templar warded off further strikes with his damaged shield while attempting to cast Paralyze Limb on Rainald’s weapon-arm, failing twice before attempting a Tanglefoot spell instead. Rainald was tripped; while getting to his feet, the Templar swung his sword for a kill-stroke, but Rainald narrowly deflected it with his shield as he stood, and smashed the Templar’s shield-arm, then his head. Rainald then began backing down the stairs, leading the two mercenaries back toward the others; they reached out with their spears, to keep Rainald at bay while trying to find the gaps in his armor. As Rainald fended off their attacks, landing a blow or two in spite of their efforts, Brother Mendel had handed off Etmund to Gabriel to be helped to the open window, and joined Rainald at the stairs; with his staff, he disarmed one mercenary, then the other. Magnifico also joined them as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and afflicted one of the enemy with a Madness spell, causing him to hallucinate wildly, just before Rainald smashed the other one’s foot with his hammer. With the stairs cleared of opposition, Brother Mendel cast an illusion upon the door as they retreated through it: sounds of someone attempting to hack their way through the now closed door.

Their flank so secured, the Heroes still inside determined to make good their escape rather than risk further combat, as they had heard others preparing for battle in the upper floors of the compound and knew not their numbers or skill. They fled through the window they had entered, and hasted to the compound gate. As they ran across the courtyard, they hazarded a glance back to see another Templar, and more guards, at the balcony, calling back to the intruders that the matter was not yet settled; Gestlin had been holding a Fireball spell, and now released it at the balcony, as the Heroes disappeared through the gate, into the streets of Bannock.

The Heroes hasted through the city and back to the Gleaming Endeavor, moored a mile or so downriver awaiting their return. As they rowed the ship’s boat over to the ship to board, they noticed that they had been pursued by a large number of mounted troops, some of whom bore the tabard of the Templars. Once aboard, as the ship got under way, the Heroes looked after their pursuers, some taunting them, until Gabriel and Dane recognized the leader of the Templars ashore there as Auqui, Gabriel’s former apprentice, believed killed by Gabriel’s hand four years ago after over some slight he never spoke of.

It was expected that it should take a week and a half to reach Hadaton, where the Templars were said to have taken Lord Wallace after being rescued from a shipwreck; after consulting with Captain Finn the following morning, the Heroes elected to get straight to it, stopping only as the captain saw fit to take on or sell cargo, as they had enough provisions for the trip already. For the next couple of days, little occurred; Gabriel practiced incessantly the sword, as if trying to kill the memory of Auqui on the shore they left behind; Brother Mendel began the long process of healing (by non-magical means) the emotional wounds that Etmund had suffered at the hands of the Order of Talos, expecting that it should take months, if not years, to restore him to mental health (Gestlin was considering using Smil-Blam to temporarily grant some ability to take away the man’s madness; also, Magnifico planned to use a Mind Search spell to discover what Etmund knew of Lord Wallace’s disappearance). The Heroes had not sailed the open sea before, therefore, a new experience lay ahead in Keyhole Bay—Rainald was particularly excited at the prospect.

12 May 2014

Two days further into their journey, the weather took a nasty turn—such was the well-deserved reputation of these waters—and they were caught up by a tempest. The less hardy amongst the Heroes fared not well for the rocking of the ship, tossed about by wind and wave as it was; Brother Mendel and Gestlin were incapacitated with motion-sickness below-decks. Rainald (laughing and joking, unaffected by the storm), Gabriel, and Merasiël were above-decks helping handle the ship; Magnifico came up from below and staggered his way over to the dragons’ cages to calm them, lest they injure themselves against the cages from panic. The mainmast began to crack from the stress of the wind against the sail, and the crew tried to quickly bring the sail down, but one of the lines jammed in its pulley, and would not wrest free. Before the order could be given, Gabriel had scampered up the mast and out on the yard to cut the line, but for the wind and rain, he slipped from the yard and fell into the ocean; Rainald left off attempting to shore up the mast and began to haul in Gabriel by his life-line. Merasiël climbed up the mast as Gabriel had, and made it to the pulley, cutting the line in one stroke with Angrist. As she returned to the deck, she noticed her life-line had become unsecured, as had Tully’s; just then Tully was knocked over by the swinging yard-arm and subsequently washed overboard by a mighty wave; she dove to the deck to grab Tully’s life-line and was dragged to the ship’s rail, where she anchored herself long enough for others to arrive and lend their strength to hauling Tully back aboard. With all back aboard the ship, Captain Finn steered as he could to shallower waters near Keyhole Isle and dropped anchor, to wait out the remainder of the storm.

Notes

• Rainald had a good day at the stairs; for once, the dice seemed to cooperate, and he looked like he knew what he was doing 😛
• As we were unable to get the other prisoners to budge from their cells, they remained behind in the Order’s “care,” unfortunately for them
• Auqui was Gabriel’s apprentice since the PCs met him in the Otherworld in the early days of Book I, having taken him as a Dependent; see Gabriel’s story for details on what happened afterward
• I have no idea what that big island in the middle of Keyhole Bay is called; I just made up a name for story purposes—it could be that other cultures know it by another

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Blindness and Recovery

10 May 2014

Continued… The Heroes collected their light-coins and dragged the bodies of the slain guards, and the one dead Templar, to the shadows of the keep, as Brother Mendel finished healing his wounded comrades. They began to look for a way into the keep that did not involve the front door, which they knew to be guarded by another Templar wizard (wounded by Dane’s arrows). Gabriel, his leg restored, climbed up to the keep’s second-level balcony and tried the doors there, but found them barred from the inside. Just then, another guard rounded the keep’s corner nearly on top of them; Rainald threw his spear, striking the man in the shoulder, before drawing Gramjarn to charge; at the same time, Merasiël sprinted and rounded behind the guard, stabbing him in the kidneys, and he fell. Rainald dragged the guard’s body over to his fallen brethren, while Merasiël climbed up to the balcony to aid Gabriel. Meanwhile, the others examined the keep’s windows at ground-level and found them also barred from the inside. Gestlin cast Apportation to remove the bar on one of the windows, on the slim chance he might succeed, and was surprised to find it had worked; he then informed the others of the open window.

The Heroes crept through the now-open window into the compound’s refectory as quietly as could be managed. Merasiël went through before, and helped her less-stealthy fellows, but a misstep while aiding Gestlin resulted in him stumbling over one of the tables. The scant light in the room came from the night sky through the window and a crack of light under one of the doors to the interior of the building. In remedy, Gestlin passed around a few Night Vision potions to the others; Rainald drank one, knowing not what it was, and was surprised at the result. Gabriel and Merasiël listened at the “lit” door, and heard hushed voices beyond; dropping to the floor to peer through the crack under the door, they could also make out a swirling mist beyond, much like they encountered in the courtyard outside at the hands of the Templar—their enemy was clearly prepared for an attack. Quietly, the Heroes concocted a plan: Brother Mendel would cast Dispel to remove the magical mist, to be released once the door was flung open by Gabriel at Brother Mendel’s command; at the same time, Gestlin would cast and hold a Fireball, hoping to target the Templar wizard once the mist was cleared; the others took up positions around the door, ready to rush in and attack. With everyone in position, and spells prepared, Brother Mendel signaled Gabriel to open the door.

A familiar “thwack!” preceded a crossbow bolt struck deep in Gestlin’s chest; by will alone, he held onto his Fireball without dropping it. Nearly simultaneously, Brother Mendel loosed his spell, which instantly negated the swirling magical fog that concealed their enemy in the adjoining, well-lit room—three mercenaries, one at the far end bearing a crossbow, and a Templar amidst them, all hastily equipped, having obviously been roused from sleep. Rainald and Merasiël charged through the door, followed by Gabriel, but were met at the threshold by a shield-rush to prevent their advance; Merasiël managed to slip past and circled ’round to flank the crossbowman; Rainald met force with force at the threshold; Gabriel tumbled over Rainald and through the shield-wall, and bore down upon the Templar, who appeared to be casting a spell with his sword; Dane, seeing the blockage at the door, found the other, and through it, hasted toward the enemy’s other flank. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light centered on the Templar, unbalancing all save the two mercenaries that had their backs to him; Rainald, and Gestlin (still holding the Fireball), were effectively blinded for a few moments. Rainald held fast at the threshold, blindly swinging Gramjarn in front of him, while the mercenaries tried to find the gaps in his armor with their spears; some wounds were exchanged, in spite of the difficulty, to both sides. Brother Mendel healed Gestlin of the bolt-wound but could do nothing for his blindness, nor for Rainald. Meanwhile, the Templar’s second spell backfired before he abandoned his spellcasting altogether to defend himself, backpedaling before Gabriel’s continued press. Dane appeared through a side door to the flank and began to loose arrows at the enemy. Merasiël had bolted ’round behind the crossbowman as he reloaded his weapon, and slashed his throat, though not deeply enough to kill him outright; he turned to face her and produced a shortsword, but in that instant, Merasiël saw an opportunity as Gabriel backed the Templar toward her, and quickly plunged her blade deep into the back of his skull. At the same time Gabriel, Merasiël and Dane finished the crossbowman, while Brother Mendel had struck one of the mercenaries with a Sunbolt, wounding him deep and setting him aflame, Gestlin’s and Rainald’s sight was returned (though blurry as the others’); Rainald brought down his hammer upon Brother Mendel’s target, breaking his arm, while Gestlin finally loosed his fireball past Rainald at the other, throwing the mercenary mightily backward and killing him instantly.

All enemies lay dead or dying; those not dead, Gabriel hurried along. The Heroes made a quick check of their foes’ persons and found little of use or value, but Brother Mendel picked up the Templar’s hand-and-a-half sword and determined it to have some magical properties, and so kept it. Gestlin having scouted the building earlier in the week (through his Possession of a cat) knew the way, and pointed the group to the basement stairs; Gabriel and Merasiël went ahead, and found a padlocked-and-barred (from the outside) door, which Merasiël picked open. The two proceeded into the total-darkness cautiously, and discovered the prison there, reeking of filth and sickness; Merasiël retreated, reminded of her own past encounter with such a place. As the others filed in behind them, bringing light, Rainald stayed at the top of the stair to keep watch, joined at the bottom of the stair by Merasiël. There were a handful of pathetic folk in the cells there, maltreated and malnourished, one of which answered to the names “Etmund” and “Wallace” by retreating further into his cell, muttering; the man they barely recognized as Etmund Moree, Lord Wallace’s Master-of-Coin, was so traumatized by his torturers that his mind was utterly broken, such that he could hardly respond to the Heroes’ questions—Brother Mendel cast a Forgetfulness spell upon him, hoping to unburden his mind of any recent torturous moments, though it eased him only a little. Gabriel was adamant that all the prisoners should be released, and set about opening their cells and arming them with the mercenaries’ weapons, though naught was truly expected of them but more cowering should they meet their captors in battle—it was all the Heroes could do to coax them into leaving their cells at all, they believing their release a test of loyalty by their masters.

Too late to hide, Rainald spotted another man—a priest, perhaps—stepping into the hall before him; as the man cried out to his fellows, Rainald moved to throw his spear, but the butt of the spear struck the wall behind him, knocking it from his grasp—he toe-flipped it back to his hand, to try again, but the alarm had already been raised. To be continued…

Notes

• Magnifico’s player had to sit this session out on account of a case of houseguests; the character mostly just hung back for the duration
• Gestlin rolled a Critical Success on his Apportation of the window, not even really expecting it to work at all (-10 for not being able to see the bar)
• Merasiël rolled a Crit Fail to assist Gestlin through the window
• This session was mostly fighting; wrapping up last week’s tussle, and another. Having already figured out the Dispel trick to get rid of the “mist,” fighting the second Templar wasn’t as bad, though the “flash-bang” was a well-placed surprise (no defense against the -3 DX is pretty rough). At least this one wasn’t in the dark
• The Templar ended up rolling a Crit Failure on his second casting; result=took a point of damage
• Merasiël was in a position to ambish the Templar from behind, but was engaged with the crossbowman and did not want to turn her back to him; the GM coaxed her into it with free CPs. She actually didn’t do enough damage to knock him down at first—a point shy of a Major Wound—until a few rounds later, we remembered the knife she used was of Fine quality; the GM retconned the result
• Rainald ended up rolling two 18s; one on a Block defense that made his shield unready (which he just ignored), and the other on the spear-throw at the end

Dramatis Personæ

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

Of Break-Outs and Break-Ins

9 May 2014

Continued… On the Bannock arena floor, beset on either side by armed men intent on seizing the Heroes, Dane loosed arrows at the remaining guard to the one side, while Gestlin directed his conjured wind-storm to envelop the guards to the other side, throwing them around like rag-dolls until there was no will to fight remaining in them. The thousands of patrons in the crowded stands had panicked at the storm, and were scrambling for the exits; in the dignitaries’ box, the stranger bearing the cross of the Order of Talos and the arena-master were nowhere to be seen, having already fled. In the tunnels beneath the stands, after having secured the portcullis on Aamir’s behalf, Rainald headed toward the main entrance prepared to fight his way out, encouraging those that would to follow him; Gabriel insured the fallen guards would never rise again, deducing that these were not “city” guards, but employed by the arena-master, undoubtedly ordered to capture the Heroes for the substantial bounty on their heads. But as far as the Heroes could tell, there were no guards remaining to oppose them, so they stood down, and gathered themselves up, and the wagon and horses, and left the arena in an orderly fashion, joining the crowd on the road heading the short walk back to town, after apologizing to their sponsor, Aamir, for the ruckus. The crowd on the road gave the Heroes a wide berth, unsure what to think of what they had witnessed; the guards at the city gates allowed the Heroes through without incident, confirming the Heroes’ suspicion that the attack was the work of the arena-master.

It was now evening as they made their way to the Gleaming Endeavor at dock, where they were met by Captain Finn asking after the situation. They told the Captain that, lest they suffer an attack on the ship, they would cast off immediately as the wagon and such were loaded, and anchor some distance downriver, out of sight of town, where the Heroes would disembark to see to the rescue of Lord Wallace’s man, Etmund, still a prisoner of the Order of Talos. The dragons were to remain aboard under Radskyrta’s usual supervision, as was Gabriel’s horse, Cometes. The Captain was instructed that the ship should remain moored for two sunsets before leaving for Qazr as-Sawh to wait as long as they dared for the Heroes’ return.

And it was so, at a bell past midnight, that the Heroes came ashore and made their way back to town. They were allowed through the city gates without complaint, though they were armed for battle, and found the fortified compound of the Order of Talos, where Etmund was kept. The streets about the compound were empty and dark, with but a waning moon to light them. Gabriel, Merasiël and Dane climbed a nearby building as before and spied inside the compound, seeing but four guards, two of whom were Templars by their dress. Together, the Heroes planned that the more stealthy among them should scale the walls and open the gate for the others, while Dane should remain aloft where he was to overwatch and support them by bow-shot.

Silently, Gabriel and Merasiël climbed the compound wall near the stables, within sight of the single entry gate. After the patrolling guard had passed on his way, Gabriel crept up behind the guard at the gate, followed by Merasiël; an ill-timed scrape caught the guard’s attention, and Gabriel stabbed him through the throat as he turned to face the sound, lest he should cry out. Merasiël found the gate key while Gabriel stood the now-dead man up at his post, hiding behind him in the shadows, that he might fool the now-returning patrolman into thinking him unharmed at a distance. But by some miracle, the guard, one of the Templars, saw something amiss and retreated back toward the door of the keep, raising the alarm. Gabriel released the dead guard and bolted for the near-side of the keep to draw their attention, hoping he was the only one seen; just after, Merasiël set immediately to unlocking the gate and opening it for the others; while at the same time, Dane having seen the guard at the keep’s door—the other Templar—turn and appear to fumble for his keys, loosed an arrow out of the darkness, then another, wounding the guard through his mail. Rainald, under the influence of Gestlin’s Haste spell, followed by Brother Mendel, Magnifico, and Gestlin, piled through the now-open gate and rushed toward the backpedaling Templar in the yard; Brother Mendel flung his copper-piece, upon which he kept a Continual Light spell, ahead of them into the courtyard, to provide illumination. Just then, both Templars threw some small object to the ground and stamped it with their foot, and they were immediately surrounded in a swirling cloud of magical mist, such that they could not be seen at all. With nothing more to shoot at, Dane scrambled down from his perch and hasted to the compound’s gate to join the others; Gabriel and Merasiël also charged toward the Templar in the courtyard, now hidden in a shroud of mist, intending to catch him up before he could reach the keep. An unseen blade slashed Gabriel’s unarmored leg to the bone, nearly severing it, and he fell. Then Merasiël was also struck deep in the shoulder, though she managed to stay on her feet, turning instead to Gabriel. Then Rainald was struck hard in the legs, though his armor was strong enough to bear the attack, and he continued skirting around the mist-cloud, straining his vision to find even a shadow of his adversary to attack him. Then as Gestlin commanded Smil-Blam to conjure up a wind-storm to blow away the mist and reveal their enemy, he was also attacked by the invisible blade, and cut deep; as he barely held onto consciousness and his spell, he realized their enemy was using a Distant Blow spell, and called out to inform the other casters, who were now running to the aid of the fallen. The other non-Templar guard had rounded the keep, and now charged over to Merasiël as she helped Gabriel to his feet, and stabbed her with his spear, before Gabriel, balanced on his remaining leg, managed to return the “kindness” two-fold with his family blade, aided by Merasiël as she struggled to remain consciousness. As Brother Mendel passed by Rainald, also rushing to help retreat with the wounded, he quickly cast a Minor Heal spell on his leg wound, and then Dispel Magic on the nearest Templar’s mist, before turning his healing on Gabriel and Merasiël. No longer hidden by the magical mist-cloud, the Templar in the courtyard faced an angry Rainald, who threw his spear before charging in close with his hammer, Gramjarn; they exchanged blows on each others’ shields, though Rainald landed a heavy hit on the Templar’s sword-arm, before Dane finally reached the courtyard and put an arrow through the Templar’s ribs, dropping him to the ground, after which Rainald’s hammer finished him. Gestlin was also healed by Brother Mendel; all having been healed, and the tide having turned somewhat in their favor, the Heroes gathered themselves and determined to assault the keep’s door. To be continued…

Notes

• Depending how the rescue goes, we’ll be having some words with the arena-master as well—give him the “hard goodbye” before we leave town; either way, though, we won’t be hanging around for long. We expect Proximo’s going to be a bit put-out when he hears of what happened, though it was truly not our fault
• As usual in these matters, a lot of time was spent planning the assault; ideas included a lot of spells to get everyone over the walls at the same time, but we ended up deciding to keep it simple, and save the spells for when it mattered most. It was reluctantly decided to leave the dragons on the ship, as they aren’t conducive to a proper stealth operation. The assassins got some spotlight time, and would have been more if not for the oddly-prescient guard
• Fighting in darkness sucks. ’Nuff said
• The Distant Blow thing was a bit of a shock to the players, especially combined with the mist—normally you get a defense against the “distant” attack, but if you can’t see the attacker, it’s just free damage for them. Technically, Gabriel’s leg suffered injury enough to sever it, but the GM allowed the usual HT roll for Lasting Crippling, which was succeeded. (Gabe’s considering his armor choices differently for the future as a predictable result.) We were pretty much in full retreat—three PCs making consciousness rolls or Crippled—until Gestlin’s player figured out what was going on, and Mendel’s player had the Dispel epiphany—good thing we have a mega-healer in the party 😛

Dramatis Personæ

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

Of Cats and Mousetraps

5 May 2014

Back at their host’s manor, the Heroes deliberated how they might best get a look inside the Order of Talos’ compound. Brother Mendel tried a Seeker spell, but could see nothing; Gabriel remembered from his encounters with the Order in the past that their “prisons” tended to have magical symbols etched here and there, and supposed that it might be a ward against scrying—or possibly more. After a great many ideas were presented and evaluated, they opted for safety, that Gestlin would use a spell to “possess” a small animal—a cat, in this case—that could wander the compound unbothered, and see through its eyes. It would take a great deal of energy to operate so for even a short amount of time, so the casters would have to work together to support Gestlin’s efforts. A suitable animal was found easily enough, and a discreet location found near the compound to do the spell. Gestlin’s casting, with Smil-Blam, went without a hitch. He (as the cat) moved as quickly as he could, darting through windows and those doors that were open, but he had not enough time to make his way to the lower levels to find the prisoner they sought, and the spell expired. They tried again the next day, and though more progress was made, he was still unable to reach the prisoner. Gestlin was, however, able to describe the interior of the compound such that a map could be drawn, which would certainly aid any future attempts to infiltrate.

9 May 2014

Now seven days after arriving in Bannock, the time finally came for the Heroes to put on their dragon show. There were several gladiatorial bouts that would precede them, but theirs was the main attraction, and those that had ventured outside the estate during the week prior heard much buzzing about it from the locals. As evening drew close, they made their way to the smallish arena just outside the city proper, keeping the dragons under cover to preserve the surprise; they saw a long line of townsfolk down the road approaching the arena, indicating a promising payout for the night’s work. Excitedly, they waited in the tunnels under the arena floor for their turn at the stage, though they remained wary of a potential attack.

Then their turn to perform came, as the sun dropped below the hills, and the Heroes emerged from below to the arena floor. Even as they were being announced, Magnifico interrupted and took over, beginning with a rousing speech to whet the crowd’s appetites. As Brother Mendel began his illusory display, backed by Gestlin’s pyrotechnics, Magnifico began, once again, to tell the story of the Heroes’ exploits in the War in the Otherworld, in grand fashion. Merasiël joined the players this time, dressed in Proximo’s gifted Wazifi garb. Magnifico and Merasiël rode on the backs of Primus and Secundus as the dragons performed a flyover of the grandstands, after which the dragons were secreted back to their cages while their illusory counterparts took over for them, feasting on the illusory flesh of men and Vasa alike as they battled back and forth across stage-center. As usual, the role of Lord Wallace was emphasized, adding the sad revelation at the end that he had gone mysteriously missing after the war.

As the show continued, Dane spotted a stranger enter the dignitaries’ box at the top of the stands; the stranger wore the cross-symbol of the Order of Talos, and spoke quietly to the arena’s master. Just then, Gestlin’s attention was caught by someone rattling the portcullis behind him—their sponsor, Aamir Rahmani, wearing a troubled visage. Gestlin ceased his pyrotechnics to see what was the trouble; Rainald noticed this, and knocked on Gestlin’s wagon to alert Gabriel inside that something was amiss. Aamir informed him that guards were swarming the tunnels, come to take the Heroes by force as they left the stage—they could see guards gathering at the side gates to the arena floor, and Aamir had seen a number approaching from behind him. Gestlin bade Aamir raise the portcullis enough for him to get through, borrowed his turban and cloak to disguise himself, then charged down the tunnels toward the steps leading up to the audience seats, intending to get an overview; he slipped aside of the oncoming guards, pretending to relieve himself in the corner, before continuing on. Meanwhile, Brother Mendel was quietly informed of the closing trap, and he used his illusions to discreetly inform those performing. After a brief conference with Brother Mendel, Magnifico excitedly announced to the crowd that they would share the wealth they recovered during the war with the good people of Bannock, as Brother Mendel created the illusion of coins raining down on the stands around and before the dignitaries’ box, hoping to start a mad scramble as a distraction—the limits of Brother Mendel’s abilities, much spent already on the show, meant the scramble wasn’t quite as mad as he would have liked—as they all backed toward the exit portcullis. At the same time, while Aamir continued to struggle with the portcullis by himself, Gabriel slipped beneath and down the steps to the access tunnel, to meet the approaching guards. Rainald moved the wagon to provide cover for the exit, and moved to join him; Dane scrambled atop the wagon and raised his bow to engage any targets within the arena or in the stands. Gestlin emerged up in the stands and approached the edge, and with Smil-Blam, conjured up a small windstorm. The guards in the tunnel were clearly unimpressed with Gabriel’s dragon-mark tattoos, and attacked; Rainald arrived barely in time to kill one of the guards, as Gabriel slew four others in a matter of seconds. Above, as the guards stormed into the arena from the side gates, Gestlin assaulted one group with his windstorm, while Dane loosed arrows at the other group, felling one instantly. To be continued…

Notes

• There was quite a lot of deliberation over the handling of the reconnaissance of the compound, and the particulars of the show’s illusions, as normal
• Gestlin was limited to about 11 minutes of possession, so he could only get so far before the spell ended
• The arena wasn’t filled quite to capacity, but was well attended; our guess was around 3000-4000
• Gabriel killed four guards in five seconds—and probably would have killed the fifth if Rainald had been a little slower

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Secrets and Spies

28 Apr 2014

The Gleaming Endeavor cast off from Raphael in the early morning, under sail to Bannock; four days more passed without incident or remark. The Heroes gazed upon the great city of Bannock in the distance as they approached, a strange mixture of Megalan and Wazifi architecture, as it was a religiously-cosmopolitan place owing to its fluctuating ownership by Megalos and Al-Wazif. A number of the Company had never spent any significant time amongst a Moslem community. As the ship was being moored at the docks, and the fees paid by Captain Finn, Dane noticed that their activities were being discreetly observed by a man further down the port quarter. The Heroes decided to split up to take care of some business and return to the ship.

• Gestlin and Magnifico followed Brother Mendel as he made his way to the cathedral, where he checked in with the bishop to see if there were any duties he might be needed to perform, and to deliver letters from upriver. He told the bishop of their mission to find Lord Wallace, and the bishop confirmed much of what they already knew on the matter, and promised to aid them as he could. As they made their way back to the ship, Gestlin found himself attracting a large crowd of stray cats and dogs, for no reason he could discern.
• Merasiël sought out the criminal elements of the city to learn if someone here might have been contracted to take Lord Wallace; Rainald went along to guard her person (leaving most of his money at the ship). After a bell or two, they found themselves at a disreputable tavern talking to an appropriately-disreputable character who knew nothing of the comings and goings of Lord Wallace a year ago, though he recognized the large Northlander bearing the white-on-black tabard, confiding that there was a 50 gold mark (equivalent) bounty for his head, as for each of his four companions—a two-fold increase from the amount heard of in Craine. As the two left the tavern, satisfied they had heard all they were likely to, Rainald called back to whomever it might concern there, “Any man who doesn’t fear death who can strike this head from its place deserves to be well paid, for it won’t come easily!”
• Dane and Gabriel waited patiently after the others had left to see what the spy at the docks might do. As the man left his post, they discreetly followed behind him through the crowd, unnoticed, and observed an interaction and exchange of coin between him and the dockmaster.

The Heroes met back at the ship and discussed what they had learned. News of the bounty on their heads was unwelcome (though not unexpected); they were lucky to have survived the assassins back in Craine the week before. Bearing in mind the need for security, they considered whether or not it was wise to go on with their dragon show, as it wasn’t necessary to the completion of their mission; but neglecting the show would reflect badly upon their newfound partnership with Proximo and Aamir. They decided to speak to Proximo’s contact in town and see what could be made of it. Proximo’s letter to his friend must have been quite convincing, for upon reading it, his contact was ready to spare no expense; it would take one week to make the necessary preparations to host the show at the local arena, but the contact offered to lodge the Heroes at his fortified estate, in secret, until time for the show. The Heroes accepted his offer.

They were well cared for at the estate, and spent the days behind its walls, relaxing in luxury and preparing for the show. On the third day, a guard announced that a visitor wished to speak to them—it was Shaun (crewman on the Gleaming Endeavor). He was staggered at the lavish accommodations, and between cups of excellent wine hastily consumed, he told that the bishop had come to the ship to find Brother Mendel to give him some news. After a few more cups of wine, Gabriel escorted Shaun to the cathedral, to bring the bishop back to the estate as discreetly as they could. Later, they returned with the bishop, who spoke to Brother Mendel of a nun in his service who, while attending the needs of those imprisoned at the local compound of the Order of Talos, heard the name of Lord Wallace spoken by one of the prisoners, one Etmund Moree, a Caithnesser, whom the Heroes recognized as Lord Wallace’s Master-of-Coin and traveling companion—he was in ill health, and babbling mad.

The bishop offered to show them to the Order’s compound, and Dane left with him to spy it out; he returned later, saying that it was well fortified and guarded by soldiers. The Heroes agreed that Etmund’s presence in Bannock meant that Lord Wallace was likely taken here as well; Etmund must be rescued, for he would certainly know how and by whom it was done. They discussed many possible methods of extracting the prisoner, but knew it would be for naught without a peek inside the compound.

Later, Brother Mendel, Gestlin (dressed as a monk), and Merasiël (who mostly kept to the nearby shadows) went to the front gate of the compound of the Order of Talos and tried to gain admittance to see the prisoner, saying to the guard there that Brother Mendel, a Caithnesser priest, had been requested to take the Caithnesser prisoner’s confession; the guard denied the existence of such a prisoner—they sensed the man was intentionally hiding the truth, though they knew it to be false already—and would not allow them inside. Brother Mendel tried everything he could think of: the guard refused his money, saying he have to come back tomorrow; he balked at being threatened with eternal damnation for refusing to allow the man’s confession, and poked a spear at Brother Mendel through the gate; he stood aside for one of the priests in the compound’s courtyard, when Gestlin made a commotion, drawing a crowd of onlookers on the street, demanding the priests’ aid. The priest went into the keep for a moment and returned, saying the two would be allowed to enter providing they relinquished their “weapons” (wizard staffs); they refused, and left in a huff.

With everyone assembled again at the mansion, the Heroes discussed the situation: clearly, they would have to take Etmund from the Order by force. To do so right away would be trouble for the show, and more time to reconnoiter the compound would not go amiss, so they decided to keep a covert eye on the place until after the show, and make their move then.

Notes

• Gabriel’s player was out sick for this session; the character was put to use in the background, doing a lot of escorting
• Rainald is certainly not afraid of a fight, but as our Craine experience demonstrated, someone sneaking into one’s room with a dagger can potentially ruin your day (unless you’re playing something like D&D); the intention is not so much to prevent an attack, but to make it difficult to kill us in our beds. There was talk of sleeping on the ship and mooring it on the other side of the river. We had been of a mind to get to Tredroy as fast as possible, and were perfectly willing to just move on and get to it, but in the end, “the show must go on” won out (and maybe the need for a bit more cash)
• The Order of Talos relates to Gabriel’s background, as the church order that Zabka belonged to; his official Enemy (as in the Disadvantage)
• There was much talk of teleporting Etmund out of the compound, but the Heroes’ magical abilities would require close proximity; at this point, we’re still leaning toward Gestlin using Smil-Blam to do a proper Teleportation spell that will take the lot of them back to safety. With the botched reconnaissance, though, it may come down to force anyway—maybe we prefer it so 😉

Dramatis Personæ

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

Of Devils and Priests

25 Apr 2014

In the morning, as the crew prepared the Gleaming Endeavor to cast off from Craine’s river docks, Brother Mendel took some time to cast Detect Foes over the the ship; he detected a fluctuating, mild sense of hostility within the spell’s coverage area, and informed the others, including Captain Finn, of his findings. It was decided to wait until after the ship was under way, and then perform a thorough search of the ship, top to bottom, stem to stern, opening every crate or container in the hold, to make sure they hadn’t picked up a stowaway assassin or somesuch. Everyone helped in the search, but they discovered nothing but rats in then hold. Later, Brother Mendel attempted the spell again, and sensed that the “hostility” was still present. With no better ideas what to do about it, they decided to simply remain alert, and make sure nobody stood their watch alone.

Three days passed, and the ship arrived at Raphael without incident; the Heroes would have pressed on for Bannock, but Brother Mendel had some letters he was tasked to deliver to the Archbishop’s offices there, so they put to port for the day to stretch their legs while the church business was seen to. Brother Mendel went straight for the massive cathedral, and was seen by the Archbishop’s clerk, to hand over the letters. When he asked what further duties the church would require of him, it turned out there was a matter he might be able to help with, and he was given audience to speak to the Archbishop of Raphael himself. The Archbishop explained that he had need of Brother Mendel’s companions, fighting men, as there had been a rash of murders under the last two full moons, the third of which would be this night. None had lain eyes on the murderer save for shadows, though rumors persisted that the cathedral’s gargoyles had come to life. Brother Mendel assured the Archbishop that his friends would come to his aid once told of the matter. And so it was.

As there was plenty of time before sunset, the Heroes came ashore into the walled town about the cathedral to search the grounds for clues; the Archbishop saw to it they had access to whatever they might need to discover the truth. It was reported to them that there were a total of five souls murdered, two on the first full moon, and three on the second; the Heroes were taken to the places where the poor unfortunates were found, horribly savaged, all high on the roofs surrounding the cathedral—the victims’ identities and stations revealed no clues as to why they had been so targeted. One of the priests, Father Julian, while examining the gargoyles for signs they had left their perches after the last incident, found one to be chipped as if by the strike of a sword; Gabriel climbed out at Magnifico’s request to see it for himself, and thought the damage to be as the priest had said. Meanwhile, Gestlin dug through the mountain of written records in the church’s archive, but found no similar events such as had been described. As the evening drew close, the Heroes had no better plan than to patrol the grounds that night and dare whatever-it-was to come at them; Rainald requested and was granted some horses, to speed their reaction time should someone cry out at a distance.

As night fell, Rainald, Gestlin and Brother Mendel patrolled the street around the cathedral on horseback, while Magnifico (Primus and Secundus at his side), Merasiël, Dane and Gabriel moved around atop the cathedral’s lower-tier roof (the level nearest to the gargoyles). They kept watch for many long hours under the light of the moon (bright enough that even night-blind Brother Mendel wasn’t terribly inconvenienced by the darkness). Some time into the patrol, a commotion was heard at the West end of the grounds that turned out to be a drunk couple leaving the local tavern; they were shooed on their way, for their safety, and the patrol was resumed.

Suddenly, those on the ground heard a heavy, wet thump behind them, and turned to find the mangled body of an unknown fellow in the middle of the street some distance away from them. They quickly looked up into the dark sky from whence the victim appeared to have fallen, and Brother Mendel barely saw a moving, shadowy shape pass overhead, and called out a warning to the others. As the Heroes dismounted and ran over to see who it was that had fallen, the shadow-creature flew down like a bolt of lightning, landing on the street some paces ahead of them; now in full view, they could see the creature’s wings and horns, and believed it some manner of demon, and were afraid. It beckoned without words, daring them to attack, and Rainald strode boldly forward, unafraid, and cast his spear at the demon, striking it in the shoulder; though wounded, it pulled the spear out of its body to wield it. As Rainald continued to advance, Brother Mendel followed behind him, and began casting a Banishment spell. Meanwhile, those on the roof of the cathedral raced over to the edge to see the creature, and were also afraid, though Gabriel and Dane found themselves on the wrong side of the building, and had to climb over, and so were delayed. Magnifico, flanked by his dragons, called out to taunt the demon, to draw it to him—he succeeded, and the demon flew up to the roof, and attacked, striking Primus with Rainald’s spear. Merasiël threw a knife and struck the demon in the ribs, but the knife could not penetrate his thick hide. Magnifico threw himself atop Secundus and urged the dragon to leap off the roof, flying down straightaway to the street, as the wounded Primus followed; the demon, even faster, pursued them downward. The demon was met there by Rainald, Brother Mendel, and the now-recovered Gestlin, and the creature suffered blows from Rainald, nips from the dragons, and lightning from Gestlin, while Brother Mendel continued his casting to banish it. Injured, it disengaged from the melée to fly up to the nearby roofs and attack a lone man there, surely vulnerable—it was Gabriel, who plunged his family blade (now named Misericordia) between the creature’s fourth and fifth ribs. At the same time, Dane, now with a clear shot, decorated the demon’s back with arrows, while another bolt of lightning from Gestlin struck him, and the creature fell to its knees, all but finished. Gabriel could just hear a man’s trembling voice come from the demon crying for mercy; though his bloodlust was checked, Gabriel did not trust that this was no trick, and so struck the demon again, and the creature fell from the roof, to the street below, even as the dragons caught up to the roof, as did Rainald, under Gestlin’s Air Walking spell. As the Heroes gathered round in wonder, they saw the demon transform back into a man, at once suffering all the wounds the demon had taken, and the man died.

The Heroes told the thing to the Archbishop, and he recognized the man, one of his priests. He was thankful for the Heroes’ aid, and offered them beds at the inn. He would have them stay for a day or two as they researched what the priest had done, but they declined with regrets, that they might make haste for Bannock.

Notes

• Gabriel took some time on the ship to “ritually name” his sword (the Named Possession Perk, PU2:19); the casters had been cross-training each other on various spells, but Gabriel and Merasiël started doing some martial cross-training as well. Also, the GM allowed Mendel to retroactively cast a regeneration spell on Magnifico to get rid of his hunchback, which usually takes a month or so to complete; the required time will have elapsed when Magnifico’s player has the points to buy off the Disadvantage, at which point it will “officially” be gone, though he has been slowly straightening over the course of the journey thus far
• Brother Mendel’s Duty to the Church hadn’t been specifically featured before in this or the previous campaign, but as the ship approached Raphael and we were deciding whether or not to stop, the GM went ahead and rolled it; success was determined to mean he had some letters to deliver
• The stop was un-planned, but the GM decided to make the best use of it by pulling out GURPS Locations: St. George’s Cathedral
• Magnifico riding the dragon was a bit of a surprise—hadn’t been tried before—which led to a long period of deliberation about whether or not it was possible, at what Encumbrance level, etc., and required some post-game research; now that it’s been settled, we can likely expect to see it occur more in the future
• The demon certainly had the potential to do harm to the Party, but we got pretty lucky; in the end, Primus’ was the only injury suffered

Dramatis Personæ

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

Of Slaves and Assassins

24 Apr 2014

Merasiël

After splitting up the ransom for the Templar captain and his cohort, the Heroes headed out for Proximo’s estate, to perform their demonstration as promised (they had briefly considered leaving immediately for Tredroy). As they crossed the river, they spotted a cage-wagon further up the street, laden with human(oid) cargo, headed the same direction; they happened to notice a familiar face inside the cage amongst the other unfortunates, specifically, that of their former war-companion, Merasiël. They all rushed up to the wagon to confirm that it was she, and it was; she recognized the Heroes immediately, and claimed she had been wrongfully imprisoned through a case of mistaken identity, and sold into slavery. The slave-cart driver demanded these well-armed strangers surrounding his cart step off and allow him to continue, and he was getting a bit bothered as the Heroes tried to convince him to let their friend go free; he gruffly explained that these slaves were the lawful property of Proximo, and were being delivered to him now. The driver being distracted by the Heroes’ argument, Gestlin impulsively activated Smil-Blam and cast Blink on Merasiël; she appeared outside the cage, next to Gestlin. The slave-driver immediately became irate, and bellowed for the guard, saying that the Heroes were “stealing” his slaves. A pair of guards left their post at the bridge to answer the call, to find a heated argument between the slave-driver and this gaggle of armed adventurers over “ownership” of one of the slave-driver’s stock, confused all the more by the cries from the other slaves in the cage to be released as well. However, as Brother Mendel turned to the guard to plead the Heroes’ case, the guard-supervisor must have mistaken him for some old antagonist of his, for he immediately drew his weapon and took up a combative stance—he surely would have run Brother Mendel through had he not been backed by his fellows—and demanded the gaggle immediately disperse; whatever Brother Mendel said to try to calm the man seemed only to make it worse. Rather than fight the lawful city guards over what was, technically, a crime they had committed, the Heroes convinced the guard to escort the lot of them to Proximo’s estate, where the matter would be settled.

Proximo

Proximo met the entourage at his gates. After the guards’ explanation, he was a bit put out at the Heroes’ apparent betrayal, but Brother Mendel spoke to their good intentions, and their desire to make due recompense, and Proximo’s demeanor was cooled. They gathered together ten gold marks to compensate Proximo for the loss of his property, and satisfied, Merasiël was set free (officially this time). Brother Mendel asked how the necklace had worked out; Proximo admitted it appeared to have worked as advertised, and thanked them for the worthy gift. With the slaves taken inside, and the driver and guards now gone their way, the group moved to the south garden of Proximo’s estate. Neither Proximo nor any others present were told of the nature of the demonstration prior to its performance, that it was to be an illusion. As soon as they were ready, the show was begun: this time, rather than their usual recounting of the story of their adventures in the Otherworld against the Vasa, Magnifico and Brother Mendel prepared a performance consisting of the opening of a portal to the Otherworld a few paces before the viewers, where a great battle raged between Men and Vasa, before a pair of full-grown dragons (of the sort they had encountered there) descended upon the field and slaughtered all present without discrimination. The carnage was magnificent, the illusory performance encompassing sight, smell, sound, and even the heat and such. As the dragons appeared, Magnifico screamed that they had lost control of the portal, and the fighting spilled through to engulf the audience. The other Heroes were in on the play as well: Gabriel drew his sword and “fought” the invaders before tumbling out of the way of a fireball; also Gestlin cast magical strikes through the portal. Rainald, standing at the back to ensure things didn’t get out of hand, had to interrupt Merasiël before she could leap into the fray (as she had not been clued in). When Proximo’s face revealed their success—that he believed what he saw was real—the illusion was allowed to dissipate.

Proximo was greatly impressed, calling for food and drink to be brought out while they discussed the details of future performances. Merasiël sorely wanted her gear returned, especially her ancestral blades, and Proximo promised he would see if he could get them back for her, though they would need to buy them back; on request, Merasiël was taken inside to bathe, and was given some new clothes (which were of typical Wazifi fashion). The Heroes then inquired what news Proximo’s contacts had discovered regarding Lord Wallace’s disappearance, keeping to themselves what they already knew; Proximo revealed that one of his ships had picked up some shipwrecked sailors in Keyhole Bay, bearing an “important prisoner,” and taken them to Hadaton, where they later departed, presumably for Tredroy. He had also heard that the Templars had taken Lord Wallace captive, confirming what the Heroes had drawn from the Templar captain, though Proximo knew of no other details. Then, the Heroes talked of wanting to go to Tredroy, and Proximo was happy to make whatever arrangements were needed to make it so, and would deliver the happy news to Aamir Rahmani as well (he was away from the estate, but still in town). It was decided they would leave Craine immediately on the morrow, providing Merasiël’s weapons could be found in that time. Proximo penned some letters for his contacts at the show’s tour cities, encouraging them to make all the arrangements there in his name, and gave them to the Heroes. They parted company in good spirits.

After returning to the Gleaming endeavor and informing Captain Finn of their intentions, the Heroes retired back to the Crimson Mug Inn for the rest of the day. Some time later, a package was delivered to them: Merasiël’s knives; another eight gold marks were ponied up for their redemption—she was very thankful for their return, but rather depressed at how much money she “owed” the company as a result of her misfortune. In the evening, after much drinking (including some spectacular spills by Gestlin, resulting in his spending far more coin than he intended to compensate for lost drinkage and wet clothing), the company retired to bed. Sometime in the middle of the night, most of the Heroes awoke to the sound of someone creeping in their room; as they started out of bed, they saw the flash of steel in the darkness, as an assassin leapt forward and attempted to knife them:

• Rainald went for his nearby hammer, but dropped it when his assailant landed with a knee across his throat. He managed to avoid being stabbed as the two struggled; he got two hands around the attacker’s throat, and got one of his arms slashed nearly to the bone in the process. Merasiël had not been similarly visited, and arrived at Rainald’s room, flying in behind the assassin to stab him in the back, just before Rainald snapped his neck with his hands. Rainald tossed the now-dead man aside, and Merasiël made sure he wouldn’t be getting back up, before rushing down the hall to help the others.
• Gestlin rolled clear of his would-be murderer and managed to cast Stun on him; as the assassin tried to recover, Gestlin cast Sleep, and the killer fell to the floor unconscious. Gestlin then quickly threw open the window shutters and checked to see if it was clear, then cast Apportation on the sleeping attacker and levitated him out of the window, and up.
• Brother Mendel tried to go for his staff in the darkness, being night-blind, and got cut by the effectively-invisible assailant; as the killer was atop him, Brother Mendel managed to Command him to “roll off,” and the assassin involuntarily obliged. Scrambling to his feet while Brother Mendel fumbled for his staff, he was trapped by the arrival of Gabriel and Magnifico at the doorway behind him; the killer fled between them into the hallway to escape, but was not fast enough to get clear before Gabriel could run him through multiple times with his family’s rapier.
• Dane briefly considered reaching for his bow, but grabbed his shortsword instead; he and his assassin exchanged steel, back and forth, both landing weak blows here and there. The would-be murderer had his back to the room’s window when Gabriel, now finished with the one in the hallway, arrived at Dane’s door to join the dance; the assailant went for the window, but was not fast enough to reach it before Gabriel could run him through.

Brother Mendel tended the wounded, including himself, while the others summoned the guard and reassured the other guests that it was over. Gestlin had the only surviving assassin still fast asleep and floating outside the inn window; Magnifico bade him float the assassin close by, so that he could cast Mind Search on him. The unconscious killer could not resist Magnifico’s spell, and they learned that he was sent by the Assassins’ Guild on behalf of an unknown client to claim a ten gold mark bounty on each of their heads—excepting Merasiël, who was not known to be with the Heroes until earlier this day. Having learned what they felt they could, Gestlin floated the sleeping assassin back out of the window and high into the night sky, after which he let the man go, dropping him to land at the feet of the guards as they approached the inn.

Notes

• This session marked the return of Melissa from her hiatus. The character, Merasiël, is a timelost she-elf rogue/assassin-type the Heroes met before she was timelost—when they time-traveled back a thousand years to locate a mighty artifact. Now stuck in her future, she fought beside the Heroes in the Crusade, and as did most of them, disappeared to go their separate ways for seven years or so afterward, until now
• The attempted “rescue” of Merasiël was a comedy-of-errors. Rainald’s first reaction was to ask “How much for that woman?” Once Gestlin jumped the gun, and Blinked her out of the cage, it was pandemonium. Then the guards showed up: Brother Mendel rolled an 18 on Diplomacy, while the guard rolled a 4 on his Reaction—if it were Mendel by himself, he would have certainly been attacked. Once things were smoothed over with Proximo, it was back to Rainald’s idea 😛
• We would have liked to go straight to Tredroy, given the information we got last time, but it appeared that it would be faster to sail around Al-Wazif and upriver to Tredroy than to cross the desert “as the crow flies.” Given the route would take us past Bannock, we figured we might as well go ahead and do a show there—it’s on the way, and we would likely stop there anyway
• The assassins caught everyone unarmed and unarmored, and could potentially have killed someone, especially if they had ended up in the right rooms to start (like Magnifico’s). As it was, we pulled it off anyway, though not without injury
• As a GURPS player, though my opinion is that the Neck Snap Technique is a bit too “cinematic,” I’ve always been looking for an opportunity to use it. Finally, I found my opportunity, and rolled max damage—swing of 2d+2=14, ×1.5 for the neck location =21 HP; the poor bastard died instantly. Satisfaction, for once 😛

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

Dramatis Personæ

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

Of Diplomacy and Intimidation

23 Apr 2014

Brother Mendel met with the rest of the Heroes for breakfast in the common room of the Crimson Mug Inn and showed them the threatening note he had discovered next to his bed, secreted in the night by someone he believed to be a Templar brother-knight, a near-certainty given his Seeker vision and Gabriel’s reconnaissance from the previous day; they deduced the enemy’s location in the vision to be the same tower in town to which Gabriel had followed “Valorus’” Templar escort. They briefly discussed kidnapping the Templar from his bed in the tower using a portal, as they had in the past when Pachacuti traveled with them, but Brother Mendel considered the difficulty of the “weave” and determined it was beyond his skill. Instead, they decided to meet with Aamir Rachmani as promised, at the estate of Proximo, and perhaps draw their foes out of the shadows as they conducted their business for the day. As they were expecting trouble, they geared up for a fight before they left.

Proximo

Aamir

The Heroes traveled through the city without incident, across the river, to arrive at Proximo’s impressive estate. They were met there at the gate by a guard, who took their names and escorted them to a nearby garden area where he introduced them all to Proximo and Aamir. They were offered food and drink by their host, and got straight to business, though not initially regarding the dragon show as was expected—the Heroes instead inquired of Proximo what he might know of Lord Wallace, the Templars, and slavery in-general, telling him of their mission to find the wayward baron. Brother Mendel presented as payment the enchanted necklace they had recovered at Ferrier upon their return from the Otherworld, a “priceless” artifact that granted the wearer special favor with the opposite gender when under the light of the moon; he offered to allow Proximo to wear the necklace out that night to prove its effects. Proximo was so impressed by the gift that he told them much of what he knew (but not all, as he appeared to hold something back), and promised to speak to his many contacts in the area on the matter. When the subject was eventually changed to the dragons, the Heroes expressed a willingness to perform at Bannock, as the event would likely prove useful to their mission. Proximo was almost insistent that they perform in the arena, with the dragons fighting slaves, but Heroes were reluctant to shed blood needlessly, lest the dragons should make a habit of it. Magnifico swore that Brother Mendel’s illusions would be more than adequate to appease the bloodthirsty crowd, but before Proximo would relent, he desired a private performance to prove its “realism”; Magnifico agreed to a demonstration on the morrow, at the estate.

The Heroes left Proximo’s manor satisfied of their success, and started toward the docks to inform Captain Finn they would tarry another day or two. As they left the gate, a suspicious fellow was spotted down the street a bit, inattentively carving a piece of wood while not-so-discreetly observing their activities. Gabriel brazenly strode toward the man to ask him his business; the man at first tried to pretend to innocence in lacing up his boot, then broke into a run down an alley as Gabriel neared him; Gabriel decided to let him go.

Rainald spoke to Captain Finn, and after helping get Gestlin’s wagon loaded back on the ship, spent the day talking with the other sailors here and there on the docks, doing loading work, and fishing for a while, to feed the dragons. At the same time, Gestlin opted to make use of the Mages’ Guild in town to learn some new spells, taking Brother Mendel to aid his studies; Gabriel followed along to watch their backs. The time passed without incident.

As evening approached, the Heroes assembled back at the Crimson Mug. As they arrived, a youth seated on a barrel outside the tavern door jumped down to deliver a written message—upon reading, it said they should meet with Proximo at a monastery just outside town at sunset. The Heroes suspected a trap—perhaps just naturally suspicious—and girded themselves for battle before setting out on foot for the monastery; Gabriel knew the place.

As the sun settled and the shadows grew long, the Heroes strode boldly down the secluded riverside path leading up to the monastery. They spotted an overturned wagon up the path, and presumed it to be the inevitable ambush spot. They spotted a tiny light flitting about in the trees above, identifying it as a pixie (having encountered them before in the Harkwood), before it disappeared into the foliage ahead of them. Then the ambushers revealed themselves; first, a handful of crossbowmen emerged from a high cliff to one side of the road, followed shortly by riders appearing from (figuratively) nowhere before and behind them, all bearing Templar colors. The Heroes were boxed in by the cliff, the riders, and the river, and they took up a defensive stance; Gabriel darted into the shadows next to the fallen cart and disappeared from view, while Gestlin readied an Explosive Fireball and held it. One of the Templars to the fore rode forward a step or two, the pixie they saw before now resting atop his horse’s head; he addressed the Heroes, demanding they lay down arms and surrender or be slain. A few of the Heroes questioned their ability to best such a band, but held fast, wondering internally if this would be their end; after a minute or two of blustering back and forth, Dane, atop a large boulder, impatiently loosed an arrow at the Templars’ leader. Action ensued.

The Leader ducked below Dane’s arrow, but Gestlin threw his ready Fireball at his horse’s feet, releasing a massive fiery explosion, felling the horse and setting the Leader ablaze. The mounted Templars bearing sword-and-shield charged the Heroes, while those bearing two-handed swords quickly dismounted and rushed in on foot; the crossbowmen loosed their arrows at the Heroes’ casters; none were struck, but Gestlin had to dive to the ground and crawl for the cover of the boulder. Then the unthinkable happened:

[“Sir” Magnifico] begins a dance hereafter to be enshrined in Anglish dictionaries under “suggestive,” though perhaps it commands rather than suggests. His sinuous, liquid movements awaken something primal in the human soul, evoking dim racial memories of Lovecraftian horrors beyond time. The concepts involved confront vows of piety, obedience and chastity and evert them—the very concepts of right and wrong lose, for a long, horrid moment, all semblance of meaning…

To be continued…

Notes

• The Necklace was a random bit of treasure we ended up finding in the ruin of Ferrier, our first stop after we returned from the Huallapan homeworld—the Vasa had razed the town, and had no use for treasure, so everything was left behind; Mendel was later able to identify the necklace’s properties. We had all but forgotten we had it
• The PCs really have no intention of touring Al-Wazif right now, though they won’t burn any bridges in that regard, as it may be useful before or after they recover Lord Wallace; however, having the show set up in Bannock is good for the mission, so we definitely wanted the sponsorship there, as well as Proximo’s slaver contacts. We spent a good bit of time thinking of ways to give the audience a vision of bloodshed while still being able to say, “No slaves were harmed during the performance of this show” afterward
• Dane was ready to take a shot at the spy outside Proximo’s estate, sparking a discussion about whether or not one could hide or disguise that sort of thing with an Illusion spell (Mendel doesn’t have proper Invisibility yet)
• We had a brief encounter with pixies in Harkwood in Book I; some of the PCs lost some silver to their sticky fingers, but Gabriel (at least) gave some shiny up willingly—otherwise, the encounter was benign. It did have us expecting an Elvish ambush, though, until the Templars revealed themselves
• Magnifico’s Infernal Dance was intended by his player to distract the crossbowmen from being able to effectively fire upon the other PCs, being unable to look upon the spectacle directly. Mags didn’t have any skill/spell/etc. to allow for that effect by RAW, though it certainly did draw attention. I think it had a greater effect on the players listening to its description—bear in mind that Magnifico is an old man, Unattractive and Hunchbacked, wearing a jester’s bright, silly-looking garb—and it was suggested he might be using Rainald’s spear as a stripper-pole. Just for giggles, the GM made everyone viewing it roll a Fright Check, the results of which included more than one Critical Failure
• We ended up stopping for the night mid-combat; I decided to defer the report until next time, to put it all together into one

Dramatis Personæ

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

Of Performances and Revelations

22 Apr 2014

At the approach of the appointed time, as the sun lowered in the West, the Heroes left the Crimson Mug and fetched Gestlin’s wagon once again, and the dragons in their cages, and made their way up the main street to the market square, to prepare for the evening’s show. A space next to the wagon was cleared for the “stage,” with the dragons in their cages to either side of it. Rainald and Radskyrta would take up stations next to the cages to keep the crowd at a proper distance; Dane found a balcony where he could overwatch the crowd for ne’er-do-wells, though he would eventually join the crowd-control team. Gestlin was ready to give his support to the show with magical fireworks, but his reputation for clumsiness gave Magnifico some concern, and it was decided he should sit out the performance to help manage things backstage. Townsfolk began to trickle into the square as the players rehearsed. As the audience grew, Magnifico began to doubt his ability to keep Primus and Secundus under control during their part of the show, and it was decided that the dragons would only be loosed one at a time.

Meanwhile, Gabriel slipped into the shadows of a side alley, and made his way to the guild-hall of the Aldenard Trading Company to observe the goings-on there, and break in when the time was right.

Soon, the spectators filled the square, and Magnifico gave the signal to start the show. Magnifico started off with a light-hearted joke routine that transitioned seamlessly into the main-course, the story of the Heroes’ adventures in the Otherworld against the Vasa, focusing, as it had before, on the role and person of Malcolm Wallace, this time with much embellishment of the Megalan role in the war. Participating due to a last-second capitulation, Gestlin magically levitated Magnifico above and amongst the crowd as he spoke, sang, and played, while Brother Mendel provided illusory illustration of the story, and all seemed well. Both dragons were very clearly unnerved by the large number of humans before them. As the show arrived at the point of the story featuring the dragons’ flyover, Secundus’ cage was opened; Magnifico failed to firmly seize his attention, though, and Secundus hissed and roared at the crowd, flying to rest atop the wagon, beating his wings and baring his teeth menacingly. The onlookers, of course, applauded the magnificent display, being oblivious to the players frantically struggling to get the young dragon under control, and keep Primus from following his example. Then the worst happened—Secundus excitedly bolted down from his perch to attack one of the spectators in the front row; Rainald sprinted to intercept the dragon, and threw his shoulder into the dragon’s ribs, knocking him to the ground at Dane’s feet. The townsfolk in the front row screamed and pressed back into the crowd to get away. Scrambling to help, Gestlin activated his staff with a shout of “Smil-Blam!” and Possessed the creature; his body went limp as his consciousness transferred to the body of the dragon, and he (as the dragon) collected himself and leapt into the air, circling low over the crowd in as close an imitation of Secundus’ intended performance as he could recall, before returning to the cage, entering with a “bow” to the crowd. The onlookers applauded all the more, now convinced by Magnifico that the “attack” was merely part of the show all along. (Primus didn’t get his turn after all, for obvious reasons.) Magnifico continued his performance without missing a beat, and concluded it with the post-Crusade, mysterious disappearance of Lord Wallace, on a trade mission through Megalos.

It seemed the show was very well received by the townsfolk, though none came forward to say they had seen Lord Wallace; in all, monies collected amounted to a little over 22 and a half gold marks, which, after reimbursement of the permit fee, was split up evenly amongst the participants—not a bad profit at all. During the cleanup afterward, the Heroes were approached by a well-dressed Wazifi man who greeted them in the Arab tongue—and was somewhat surprised when Magnifico responded in kind. Speaking Anglish, the man said his name was Aamir Rahmani, of Tredroy, and that he was very interested in sponsoring their show, “unique in all the world,” on a sweeping tour of the great cities of Al-Wazif. Though the Heroes had no time for such distractions from their mission to locate Lord Wallace, Bannock (where Lord Wallace had last been seen) was in Al-Wazif, and such a show there might be a good opportunity to cover their search. The man encouraged them to accept his offer and invited them to meet with him on the morrow before they left downriver; Magnfico promised him that they would do so. He would be found at the home of Proximo, a well-known dealer in slaves all over Megalos, with whom he was staying while in Craine.

Gabriel caught up to the rest as they returned to the Crimson Mug to bed down for the night; he had broken into the Aldenard hall and got away cleanly, but found next-to-nothing there that would shed any light on Lord Wallace’s potential whereabouts or his business with the trade company.

As Brother Mendel woke the following morning, he found a dagger stuck in a post by his bed, anchoring a paper note. Without reading the note, he immediately cast a Seeker spell to divine the location of the one who had left the dagger; he caught a vision of a man dressed in the garb of a Templar brother-knight, in a stone-walled room with a view of the river through a single, narrow window—likely the tower where Gabriel had shadowed the Templar earlier that day. Brother Mendel then carefully opened the note and read: “Give up on your search for Wallace or it will be your deaths.”

Notes

• Gabriel’s player was called away to work shortly after the session started, and did not return until it was all but over; had that not occurred, more would undoubtedly have been made of his break-in
• The GM gave Magnifico a -2 to handle the dragons due to the crowd, the size of which they had not yet experienced; then, at the critical moment, he rolled a “17” anyway—the die is a fickle mistress 😛
• After the near-death of one of the crowd, Magnifico’s player was beginning to wonder, understandably, whether this large-scale production was a wise idea—then the Wazifi guy showed up
• The discovery of the knife-note inevitably led to a lengthy discussion about how we should answer the deed; a most promising idea we had was to kidnap the Templar from his bed via a portal, created by “Alien Magic” (that is, Ritual Path Magic). As this group is inexperienced with RPM, this resulted in quite a long time spent figuring out what it would take for Brother Mendel, whose skills and abilities in such things are, as it turned out, woefully insufficient for what would turn out to be a rather more powerful effect than we had led ourselves to believe when we were portalling all over the Otherworld in Book I—suffice it to say that the “portal” plan was abandoned. Hopefully, we’ll have a better one ready for next time