Session 3 - Paige Two

Here is Paige's view on what happened last session...

I‘ve always hated to be told that I do better when I don’t have to think.  I know I’m not the most patient person in the world, which hasn’t always been great when I’m supposed to be moving slow and being quiet and unnoticed, but I’ve never liked it being pointed out.  Today I saw the other side of the coin.  When Yannick triggered a trap and went down under a collapsed ceiling, everything was happening so fast and all my worries and fear about getting hit and hurt just disappeared and I guess instinct took over.

We’d tracked the wagon back to a clearing in the woods, with the surface pretty deserted apart from the empty wagon and some mules which were still hitched up.  I was pretty pleased – I’d lost the tracks back at the river crossing, but got us there anyway, and the clearing looked exactly as I’d imagined Thyle to be.  Forget the muddy mess of the port town, this had broken columns and cracked archways and ivy-covered ruins and the promise of treasure.

There was a set of steps leading down to a pretty impressive set of doors, which happily weren’t locked.  I still can’t figure out what we found in the first room, with what looks like the results of a recent fight and corpses from both sides left lying in the centre, but I showed my worth in getting us there and helping us get out so I’ll leave the whys and hows to someone else.  Still, the questions are stacking up even if I’m not the one to answer them. 

Yannick was all interested in the statues which stood around the edge of the room, which looked old and I suppose religious – I only took a glance but nothing looked familiar.  It’s reassuring to see that they had different gods back then, since whoever they followed don’t seem to have done much to save their believers when the Blue hit. 

We moved on and poked behind a couple of doors before we found a barricade which looks like it’d been thrown together from whatever the defenders had found nearby.   The last door we opened was the one which got Yannick – some sort of rockfall trap as soon as he shouldered it open – and we heard shouts from the other side of the door and running feet.  Bomani and Quill somehow got Yannick back on his feet and heading back towards the door, and I just started sending arrows towards the footfalls to try and buy us some time. 

I can’t remember thinking about it or about actually moving back to cover Yannick’s retreat, but I kept sending arrows into the charging thugs until we made it to the door and out into the last of the sunlight.  I know I managed to kill one of them.  I can’t remember how many arrows I shot, but he got two good ones.  As much as it shouldn’t matter – and it doesn’t matter, really, despite it being there at the back of my mind – dad would’ve been damn proud of me keeping my head, shooting smooth and making sure the guy wasn’t getting back up.

I guess after today I shouldn’t worry too much about concentrating and playing it safe.  I haven’t found my riches yet, but I’m learning good lessons: today’s was don’t over think things, just act.  Make sure the other guy dies.  One down.  Yannick seems better now, thank the Saints, so maybe more tomorrow if we head back in to answer some questions.

Session 3 - If you go down to the woods today - the Judges angle

This week my players made it into the dungeon. There was some debate as to whether to enter or not, but in the end I think the lure of possible glorious combat overcame trepidation.

They didn't get very far, after some consternation over some corpses and bafflement at a blockade, Yannick the Ox, feeling confident and cocky, shouldered open a door. Only to find it was trapped with a deadfall. The 7hp Barbarian was reduced to -4hp as his head was battered and mangled by big heavy rocks... Oops.

It also alerted some of the denizens.

Quick thinking on the part of Quill the Bladedancer and fortunate dice rolls meant that the party all got away alive and mostly in one piece, aside from one human 'bandit' who was shot in the face by Paige and her bow (forcing a morale roll which, as the party was fleeing, meant they opted to not pursue).

Yannick now sports some attractive facial scars and the party earned a grand total of 10xp. Go them!

Hopefully individual write ups to follow!

From a reffing perspective it was my most comfortable session yet. I'm still struggling to feel at all confident about running the game, and I'm not as clued up on the rules as I should be, but the guys are generous and forgiving so it's all good. Having put a lot of effort into keying the dungeon (mostly) according to -Cs technique described here, it felt good to actually use it. I think it'll take a little time for things to become smooth, but I think we're all having fun so far.

Useful lessons for me to learn are to get better at the descriptions of incidental things, like walls, trees, etc.. Things felt a little flat and 2-D last night as I was spending a lot of mental energy thinking about what was going on. I'm sure that'll get better with time and practice, but I need to remember to do it.

Session 2 - Stygias Perspective

This report is from the perspective of Bomani, the Stygian warrior. A former officer whose men were all killed in some unspecified action.

Date 1
The Sprinter's Heel finally arrived on Thyle. Three of the untrained rabble jumped ship as we got within sign of Thyle, screaming and shouting about the death that waits for us on the island. Leaving the boat here will certainly prevent them from dying on Thule.

The main "port" is a ramshackle sorry-excuse for a professional operation. How they plan to retake the island without basic fortifications, organised militia or basic supplies I don't know. I have not heard the sound of a single forge since I arrived.

Local organisation seems to consist soley of Rufus who has assigned me to the work group of "The Sheaf". Rufus assigned us a scouting job, which while seemingly menial, the pay is better than offering my services and it gives me a good reason to explore with some expendable men. We are to find a lost wagon and the accompanying troops, either on route or at a staging settlement up north. Rufus was not expecting anything untoward, although they are almost one week late.

My sheafmen are a rich Priest of Sol, a warrior and a hunter. I expect the priest to killed or robbed within a week and doubt the skills of any hunters that eat dry rations for dinner.

If any of the rumours are of Thyle are to be believed, my three undisciplined companions don't stand much chance against the terrain here, let alone beastmen skirmishers. I'm not sure they even have waterskins. Sol save us. Quill has seen the wisdom of recruiting some local talent and has provided the means to do so.

The local tavern is so new (or so old) that it doesn't even have a name. Some of the men inside didn't seem like they would be able to recall their names. Even so, we managed to hire some men that should prove useful in a fight, even if the use is not knowing the best time to withdraw. Once I heard of a mercenary band that hired men on the same 100 gold pieces.

Land north of the port seems fairly fertile, with miles and miles of green grassland. No sign of men, beasts or otherwise. Tomorrow we will reach the outskirts of a sizeable forest. The wagon and settlement should be within the forest, at most one more day of travel.

Day 2
Travel has been fairly quiet. I expect everyone is thinking hard about why they came to Thyle.

I know I am.

It will take months to train decent fighting men here and I suspect I am working with the most skilled already. Sol give me strength.

There are no signs of civilisation aside from the old road we have walked along.

We have finally found signs of encampment and some tracks. It looks like there was an ambush here, although there are no signs of fighting, just tracks going off in all directions. Some of the footprints may be beastmen and We are now following what might be a wagon.

By tonight I expect we will see who can fight and can run.

and 100xp to Bomani

Session 2 - An Ox-Tale

From the perspective of Yannik, 'The Ox', a Thembrian Tribal Hill-man (barbarian).

Claims to have been press-ganged, and then abandoned on Thyle because he's a dreadful sailor... 

Day 1
First day not woken up on a Ship.  It's good to be alive and with the ground all steady, like.
Not many organized folk here, men left adrift to make their own lives work. Or not, as they feel like.  Those of courage dip into a lots and get themselves a job to do.  We got supplies.

We had to track down a shipment that went north to a small village up the river.  So we did that, finding the place where something like a dozen beastmen chased away the lads and made off with the donkey.
Why did none of the lads ever make it back the town?  Seems like hard to lose yourself out there.  Find river, follow river and when the water gets salty there's a town.  But they didn't.
Well that was Day 2, seeing as how we camped out overnight.  Got the bloody dog watch, of course... stupid short stick.
Day 1 (again)
We hired ourselves some hands before setting off.  Some of them were a little shakey, but they'll hold weapons.  The merc, Bomani, picked Limpy, Shaggy and The 'stache out for a band:
Limpy's got the injury, but looks fit. 
Shaggy has mail he probably robbed off a corpse, since he's not nothing better than a club to swing.  Not sure if he'll last long in action.  Wonder if his mail would fit me.
The 'stache doesn't sound so bad, till you know its a lass and not a young one, neither.  Must be able to hold herself, though, to have got so old as that.
Me, I was looking for someone to carry a torch and thought I'd do a countryman a favour, hiring the beardless boy in the corner, but Quill (or was it Page?) was lending me the money and decided to have him for carrying her pack.  He's a little young even for an altar boy, but he can hold his ale so I wont deny her the use of him or him the chance of a man's life.
Paige (or was it Kwil?) didn't hire anyone, but was right good at following tracks.  She picked up the tracks of the wagon, at least.
Me, I'm skint but managed to find a good set of tubers to feed us all that night.
Day 2 (again)
So we're ranged out expecting trouble and following the beastmen tracks.  We're about a week behind so I can't say "battle on the 'morrow", but chances are there'll be a fight and a half when we pick out the place they stashed the donkey and supplies.
I'm ready... it beats sailing any day.

and 100xp for Yannik!

Session 2 - A write up!

A session write up, from the perspective of Paige, a Thembrian 'Hunter'.

Thyle’s not exactly what I thought it would be – fewer grand old ivy-covered ruins with chests full of coins, more dirty taverns full of desperate old men, and everything’s a muddy brown rather than shining gold – but I’ve been here two days now and it’s all going pretty well.  Still no plague, and still much better than being back in Thembria.  Yannick was complaining about his trip over.  I can put up with a few days of watching other people retch given what I’m leaving behind.

The landing point can barely be called a town, so we won’t be missing much by leaving after one night.  I ended up being hired to hunt down a missing caravan somewhere between here and a village to the north, along with a morbid priest of Sol, Yannick the Ox (who is just as his name sounds) and Bomani the mercenary commander without any mercenaries to command. 

Our happy group expanded a little when we hired some additional muscle, though that doesn’t seem like the right word.  Bomani fetched us the cream of what was around, but two beat-up old folk (gristle, not muscle) and one child (not even gristle) doesn’t quite fit with what I’d imagined.  Where are the highly trained adventurers with plate mail and shining swords?  This is opportunity island!  Walking where nobody’s been for centuries, making great discoveries, earning riches beyond our wildest dreams – and all we’ve seen so far are people who look like they were dragged in by the tide. 

Still, the four of us seem solid enough despite the ropey additions.  We’ve found our way onto the trail of the caravan and I found tracks (thanks dad!) leading us to the site of what looks like an ambush.  Seems like some humans and some non-humans (beastmen – not a myth after all?) chased off the guards and took the cart back North. 

We’re on their trail so that if nothing else, we can head back and tell the man with the gold exactly what happened, but it’s pretty hard to focus on the job when we’re in the middle of a lost empire chasing beastmen on a forest trail.   It barely seems real, even though we’ve just walked through a clearing where people just like us died or ran away in terror from  people and Things intent on killing them.  Concentrate!!

That said, there’s a big old question still standing about why the beastmen and their mysterious friends let people run off and took their wagon.  That doesn’t seem like the behaviour of frothing monsters to me, and the human footprints alongside them make me wonder all the more.

CONCENTRATE!! One bit of boiled leather stands between me and the worms.  Getting carried away with the excitement and mystery has to wait!

And 100xp goes to Paige. Hurrah! :)

Lets ACKS for Directions

3 months? Really? It's that long since I last made a post? Oh dear.. poor blog..

Anyway. Last week saw the start of my ACKS campaign. A shaky start, from my perspective, but hopefully that will improve over time, and with practice.

The last time I ran anything was a 2-3 session Exalted game about 3 years ago, and the time before that was... so long ago I can't even remember what it was. So I'm seriously rusty, and not at all confident in my GMing abilities right now. I'm putting an inordinate amount of faith in my groups patience and our friendships, because what I don't want to do is bore them.

The premise of the campaign is that the Petty Emperor, Severin VII has declared a reconquista of the 'lost' island of Thyle, once the seat of his forebears empire, which has all gone to shit since the outbreak of a virulent and horrible plague wiped out civilisation on the island. In addition to penal legions and zealous holy warriors, adventurers from all over are flocking to his banner seeking fame and fortune.

Enter the unlikely 'heroes':

Yannik the Ox - A Thembrian Barbarian, a hardy hillsman whose people are reknowned for their skill at training animals, particularly war dogs.
Paige - A Thembrian 'Tracker' (or was it 'Hunter', I forget) - a more civilised woman from Thembria.
Bomani - A Stygian Fighter - Once a leader of men, now reduced to sword for hire after his men were wiped out.
Quill - A Kemetic Bladedancer - A curiously blunt holy warrior of Sol from lands not known for their worship of the sun goddess.

They made their separate ways to the (as yet unnamed) township that is the beachhead of the Imperial Expedition and were variously coralled into the town square the morning after / of their arrival. There, they and a few dozen other adventuring types entered 'the drawing' where groups of new adventurers were flung together and given a task by Rufus, the Quartermaster, who looks like this:

(The late Pete Postlethwaite, from Dragonheart)

They were issued with an adventurers charter (levying a tax on their booty, but exempting them from certain other taxes levied on other folks), and were asked to go investigate a suspected missing supply run to a village they were trying to get up and running to the North. It was suggested that they might want to try to hire 'help' from the various ne'erdowells that hang around the tavern after a Drawing, but are too chickenshit to enter themselves.

Tomorrow, the party will attempt to find some hirelings worth hiring! (and hopefully get underway)