Tim's Outlanders: Cultists, Cultists, Cultists, Session 1 – March 10-23, 20 IC

[A conversation, a visit, a duel, and a flight south.]

[This session probably took place April 2004.  We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University

Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Mord Worldfist – male dwarf bodyguard [and handler] for Dangar

Wendell Dorshield III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird

Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert

Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw

NPCs

Rebecca – female gnome, part of the Gnome security detail for Wendell

Herschal “the Hunter” – also known as “Bearkiller”, male gnome, part of the Gnome security detail for Wendell

Yacov – male gnome, part of the Gnome security detail for Wendell

Session Begins

March 10, 20 IC

Tim had been spending some of his time since the Flight of the Yardbird [end of 18 IC] researching and examining the items the Outlanders had taken from the vault under the Imperial Legion Citadel in Fordsway, in particular the set of copper scrolls that described an assault on the temple of a death cult and its sealing [see below, after the session report].  This suggested to Tim treasure was to be had.  He was greatly frustrated trying to determine where the ruins might be located as the location references were escaping him.  To blow off some steam he met Malwyn to have beers at a tavern Malwyn had recently built [representing part of Malwyn's points in Wealth].

Malwyn, always keeping abreast of military affairs across the continent, was discussing some of the fighting taking place in what used to be County Silverloc but was now Horde territory.  He was describing where some resistance fighting had been happening and Tim recognized one of the place names Malwyn listed as also appearing on the copper scrolls.

Suddenly very interested in the conversation, Tim quizzed Malwyn as to where the locations he was describing existed.  Malwyn told him and Tim [after finishing his drink] quickly ran [staggered really – they had been drinking for a while] back to his study and passed out.  When he woke back up [and defeated a terrible hangover by taking some of the hangover cure he had ordered from Goebblein], he renewed his search for the temple ruins, starting on the western fringe of County Silverloc.  

March 13, 20 IC

Several days (and many better maps) later, Tim felt he had a good idea where the temple was located [good enough to go looking anyway].  He then sent messages to the members of the Outlanders, requesting their assistance to “check out a site of potential value”.

March 15, 20 IC

The Outlanders met to discuss the opportunity and do some planning.  Through Wendell the Outlanders were able to arrange a ride on a gnome supply airship heading south to Fordsway in a few days.  This gave them time to lay in supplies and gear for their expedition into the southern Worldspine Mountains.  Due to tight shipping schedules, the airship could not provide transportation into the mountains and the Outlanders would have to be dropped off in Haus Senke and go overland from there.  This area was now a Gnomish Protectorate, per the Treaty of Fordsway, and Haus Senke (“Valley House” in Gnomish) was the Gnome fortified trading house maintaining the Gnome presence required by the Treaty.

March 16, 20 IC

The Outlanders had heard weird rumors about Montiflurio, the sage that occasionally hired them to explore ancient sites, and decided to pay him a visit before they left Freegate.  [It is possible they were asked to by people at the University based on information queries Montiflurio had made during the previous months, but I have no notes telling me how I played it.]

The Outlanders [at least Tim, Dangar, and Mord, probably the rest as well] went to Montiflurio’s home and noticed it seemed newer and cleaner that they remembered from previous visits.  Perhaps Montiflurio had renovations or cleaning done in the last year.  When Tim knocked on the door, he was answered by Jeeves, Montiflurio’s butler, who was in good health.  Tim explained why they were there, to which Jeeves said, "The Master is performing some involved historical research and is currently unavailable.  I will let him know of your concern and he will contact you when he takes a pause in his work."  Tim asked when that might be and Jeeves was stating he couldn’t be certain when a voice, clearly Montiflurio’s, from inside and up on the second-floor balcony directed Jeeves to bring his guests to the study and he would join them shortly.  Jeeves’ face showed great surprise at this but he quickly hid it, inviting the Outlanders into the house.

Jeeve showed the Outlanders to the study, a room Tim and Dangar had seen previously.  Jeeves asked the groups’ drink preferences and then left to fill them.  The room was pretty much the way Tim and Dangar remember it, but everything seemed fresher somehow.

A couple minutes later Montiflurio entered the room, followed by Jeeves, who was carrying a tray with everyone’s drinks.  Rather than his regular, scholarly robes, Montiflurio was wearing robes made of red-dyed silk with ornate dragon designs sewn into it using gold, silver, and copper thread.  He appeared to be in very good health and was very well groomed.

After greeting the Outlanders and thanking them for enquiring about his health, he asked Tim [and Wendell if he was there] if he/they would mind answering a few questions about Mage Tongue [the language of magic].  Tim was willing and they spent about 20 minutes discussing possible alternate pronunciations and conjugations of words in Mage Tongue while the others enjoyed their drinks.  During the conversation, Tim quickly realized that Montiflurio already knew Arcanium, the recently rediscovered more advanced form of Mage Tongue, and was probably better at it than Tim, the person that rediscovered it.  Tim chose not to say anything.

Eventually Montiflurio seemed to be satisfied with the conversation regarding Mage Tongue and switched topics.  He told the Outlanders that he had been following their exploits somewhat and wondered if they could verify something for him.  He has heard that they might be in possession of a map that shows the pre-Mage War landscape, including the location of ancient cities.  He wanted to know A) if the Outlanders had such a map, and B) may he review it sometime?  The map would be an invaluable resource for his research.  Tim allowed that they had such a map, but it was back at the university and perhaps they could arrange a viewing in the future.  Montiflurio thanked him and stated he would work out a day to do so when his research schedule allowed.

After that, Montiflurio excused himself, saying he must return to his research.  He thanked the Outlanders for their time and asked Jeeves to see them out.  He then left the room.

Once the Outlanders were outside the house and down the street some, Tim shared his suspicions about Montiflurio knowing Arcanium with the others.  They generally trusted Montiflurio as he had been their patron for a while, but all agreed something was definitely going on.

March 17, 20 IC

While the Outlanders were going about making their preparations, a dwarf in immaculate armor, wearing an opulent cloak, having a perfect dwarven beard, and followed by four immaculately dressed dwarven servants carrying his weapons and gear, approached Dangar in a public place.  Closer inspection showed that the lead dwarf wore the crest of the Torkrest Clan of the Southern Dwarven Kingdom and looked every inch a dwarven national hero.  He walked right up to Dangar and held out his hand to one of his attendants.  The attendant handed the hero a white leather gauntlet, with which the dwarf smacked Dangar across the face!  He then threw the gauntlet to the ground and said the following in Dentugog (the Dwarf language):

"I am Azrak of the Torkrest clan, whom you have greatly insulted in years past.  I have come to demand satisfaction, you scruffy-bearded tramp."

This was a formal challenge.  Azrak was not carrying any obvious weapons [his flunkies were carrying them for him] and Dangar would lose great honor if he attacked right then.  As Dangar was currently a National Hero of the NDK, this would reflect badly upon the entire Northern Dwarven Kingdom, especially its king, who had vouched that Dangar was a hero.  Due to the heightened tensions between the Dwarven Kingdoms, there was no honorable way for Dangar to decline the challenge.

The correct and honorable response was to accept the challenge and name a place, which Dangar did [I think it was in the courtyard behind Malwyn's bar on the Western Rim].  Azrak, as the challenger, named the time – Noon, two days hence.  As the challenged, Dangar set the boundaries of the duel: first surrender.  Dwarven duels assume that the weapons used will be the hand weapons favored by the individual warriors, so at this point the duel parameters were established.

As the duel was set for the day after the Outlanders planned to leave Freegate, Wendell had to reschedule the supply airship’s departure and explain why to the Consortium.  Sensitive to the politics involved, the Consortium allowed for the delay but also require Wendell to take a security detail [now that they knew where he was going might not be safe].

March 18, 20 IC

Word of the duel rapidly spread through the city and betting pools started.  People gossiped about the duel everywhere and bookie scouts started showing up and following Dangar around to see what kind of contender he was.  Whatever Dangar did to impress the scouts, he learned that Azrak had already done something more impressive.  By the next morning, people were talking about how much Azrak looked like a "proper dwarven hero", while Dangar looked the part of a scruffy vagabond.  Groups of people quickly fell silent for an awkward moment when Dangar walked by.  By the time of the duel, Azrak was the 4 to 1 favorite over Dangar.

[At some point, Dangar was loaned a magical battle axe and had his armor polished so he would at least look more like a National Hero of the Northern Dwarven Kingdom.  Unfortunately, I have no notes indicating who it was, but it might have been the Gnomes, currying favor with their allies to the north, or even the High Priest of He Who Protects.]

March 19, 20 IC

When Dangar and the Outlanders arrived at the chosen place, Azrak was already there, sitting comfortably in a sturdy but beautiful chair under an ornate silk pavilion, his family crest flying on a flag above it.  Azrak was wearing a different set of armor this day.  It appeared to be extremely functional, but was decorated to make Azrak appear to be a great mountain lion.  The helmet was sculpted to be the lion’s head, the gauntlets and boots looked like claws, and the plates were sculpted and painted to look like fur.  He moved very gracefully and easily in the armor.  [Dangar tended to get heavily injured by cat-like or cat-related opponents, so this was a psychological ploy against Dangar on Azrak’s part.  Dangar's player approved.]

There were spectators everywhere they could fit and still see the fighting area.  The crowd cheered loudly when Azrak stepped forth.  There was a lesser cheer for Dangar, mostly from the University crowd.  There were several bookies set up and food vendors worked the crowd.  The City Watch was present keeping the crowd under some measure of control (and to watch the fight themselves).  As this was a proper duel between national champions, by custom the City Watch would neither stop nor interfere with the proceedings.

[To provide a challenging opponent, I played a dirty trick on Dangar’s player.  A month or so prior, I asked all the players to send me a copy of their characters so I could align the adventure better with their capabilities.  This was a lie.  I did it to get a current copy of Dangar.  I then made a copy of what the player sent, changed the name to Azrak, and swapped all references to the Southern and Northern Dwarven Kingdoms.  Viola!  The perfect foil – Dangar would fight his clone!]

The duel happened.

During the duel, everyone noticed that both dwarves were wielding powerful magic axes.  Neither dwarf called the other out over this and the fight was furious.  Both could hit with near impunity [Dangar had very high OCV and low DCV, so his opponent did as well] so many wounds were inflicted and both were quickly bloodied, which got the crowd cheering.  In the end, Dangar got the last hit in, knocking Azrak unconscious!  Dangar told the unconscious dwarf to “get up and fight or I’ll accept your surrender.”  When Azrak lay there unconscious, Dangar raised his axe and was declared the victor.  The crowd, very entertained by the fight, cheered [but not as much if Azrak had won as most had bet on the Southern Dwarf].  Dangar wobbled over to the Outlanders and asked for healing potions before collapsing to the ground.

March 20, 20 IC

Morning

The Outlanders arrived at The Yard out on the Western Rim.  Construction of the new, "sunken", construction bays (built down into the side of the canyon walls instead of sitting on top) was nearing completion.  Two of the sunken bays were complete and currently retooling to produce a new type of airship – merchant airships.  The above ground bays were now storage facilities or "hangars" [because the Gnomes hung the airships from points on the ceiling] for completed airships, although they rarely had any ship of the fleet in them.

The loading facilities for the airships had developed, so it was easier to get aboard.  Additional facilities for handling cargo and loading it onto the airships were being constructed.  The Outlanders boarded the supply airship and rode it south.

Later That Day

As the airship approached Wemmel from the north, the Outlanders could make out the immense Wemmel Water Works, in the process of being built where the Tabor River poured over the escarpment in a set of immense waterfalls.  [The escarpment was the southern border of the Freegate Territories.]

The gnomes were building immense water wheels to harness the power of the river and one of them was finished and spinning.  There appeared to be a set of gears and linkages connecting the completed wheel to a work area where all sorts of construction was happening.  There were several stone towers and a small keep for site security and to protect the workers.  Even from the altitude they were flying at, it was apparent to the Outlanders that the majority of the work force was non-Gnomish.  They appeared to be a mix of humans and dwarves.

To the Outlanders untrained eyes, it appeared that the gnomes had a long way to go before they completed the enormous complex.

March 21-22, 20 IC

As they sailed south, flying high above and along the Greater Tabor River, it was still possible to see signs of the GHN.  There were few trees of any height anywhere within two miles of the river.  All the underbrush was short and relatively sparse.  The few farmhouses they saw seemed small or were obviously abandoned.  The city of Ingolstadt, once the capital and home of the rulers of the Bayern District was now piles of rubble, still abandoned over three years after the horde besieged and sacked the city.

One of the odd things they noticed were the flags flying from farmhouses and small towns along the river.  Those flags flying on the western side of the river showed the traditional coat of arms of the Bayern District on a field of light blue, but now included an additional heraldic device above the coat of arms.  The exact device shown changed multiple times as the airship flew south.

Meanwhile, all of the flags flying on the eastern side of the river showed the coat of arms of the Bayern District, but instead the traditional light blue background, the background was divided vertically, half green and half red – colors associated with Greater Lundania.  Once the airship passed the ruins of the city of Oberwessel, the flags on both sides of the river showed the Lundanian colors.

March 23, 20 IC

On the third day of travel, the airship entered the remaining territory of County Silverloc.  The change was apparent from the air as the scars of war were still fresh upon the earth here.  There were large swaths of burnt croplands and farmsteads on the eastern side of the river.  Patrols of bat-riders could be seen far to the south and east while the airship captain now scrupulously kept the airship to the west of the Greater Tabor River.

The lands to the west of the river were not in much better shape.  Along the river the farms were all abandoned and overgrown.  In the distance to the west, a few scattered smudges of smoke were the only signs of inhabitants.

As the airship crossed the Mosel River, Haus Senke was finally able to be seen.  It was pentagonal in shape, with impressive walls and coated with the traditional Gnomish glaze [fireproof and acid resistant].  It was completely surrounded by an extensive shanty town of hovels.  Clustered in the sea of hovels were a few permanent looking structures that must have once been the manor house and outbuildings for a large farm or small barony.  Thronging the "streets" of this impromptu town were thousands of people that looked to be refugees.  As the airship came in to tether to a tower on top of the Haus, the smell of the refugee camp hit the Outlander, and they fully understood the poverty here, caused by the Khanate of Grimthug Og Garguzgulz to the south and east.

Session Ends.

NPCs Met

Azrak Torkrest - Hero of the Southern Dwarven Kingdom

The Copper Scrolls

The following are excerpts from the Copper Scrolls the Outlanders recovered, detailing a report on the sealing of the main temple of a death cult – The Temple of the Watching Night.  The report indicates that the cult was put down, but at a terrible cost.  The catacombs under the Temple were never cleared but sealed by impenetrable magics 3400 years ago.  A password to unseal the Temple was provided for the time when the forces necessary could be assembled to clear the catacombs.  Why, exactly, this never happened remains unclear.

• "…up the river to the falls, where our guides led us into an ambush…"
• "Once past the lake and the stronghold there…[we] followed the river upstream until we reached the ruins of a cult fort…"
• "The river now points at the Lesser Spine.  We followed it for several days until we reached the ruins of the lesser temple, razed two years ago.  We followed the [correct/right? (unclear due to damage to the scroll)] branch until it enters the mountain."
• "There, there is a way-stone…which now points to the pass we must take.  That pass leads to a valley through the Spines."
• "…where heavy fighting took place and we thought we were close.  …[after] the battle and the destruction of the fortress, our scouts reported another valley and pass days to the west…where the cult forces retreated."
• "…where they fought like devils, never giving an inch, but our forces finally prevailed.  From here we could see their accursed temple, a dark blot upon the landscape due west."
• "…finally able to seal them away after the Erodan Knights drove their final Mesidian gargoyles from the sky.  We…performed…the Sacred Earth ritual, sealing them away in their catacombs until my lord can raise the forces to finally purge them…"
• "…[the phrase] "Imberia amar leithian" will unseal the spell and allow access to the catacombs."
• "…the final treasures of the cult were buried with them, as were their diversions…"

Happening Off-Stage

No notes for this.

DM Discussion

[This set of session notes was patched together from my GM adventure notes and back-referencing from things in Session 2.  As mentioned before, the loss of the actual session notes was due to the Hard Drive Crash of 2014.  Remember to back up your files somewhere that is not your computer’s only hard drive!]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Cultists, Cultists, Cultists

Previous session: Flight of the Yardbird, Session 16

Next Session: Session 2 [not edited yet]

Status Update - Busy Month

Apologies for the radio silence - it has been a very busy time for me, both in life and at work.  As a result I've had significantly less time to post stuff here.  We are gradually getting out of the weeds and should get to a point where I am able to post regularly again. 

The next adventure arc for Tim's Outlanders (Cultists, Cultists, Cultists) is missing the session notes from multiple sessions due to the Hard Drive Crash of 2014, so remember to regularly back up your data somewhere not your computer, unlike me.  I'll need to piece together the missing sessions based on what happens before and after them in the remaining session summaries plus my actual adventure notes (which survived!).  You might notice some bare entries here an there as a result.

Even so, this is the penultimate adventure arc for Tim's Outlanders.  I have one more arc and then the campaign ended.  It mostly ended because I did not keep tighter control on how the players spent their experience points on their characters.  Dangar in particular and Tim to a lesser extent became an issue as anything that was a challenge to Dangar in a fight would wipe out the rest of the PCs and anything challenging to the rest of the party Dangar could kill in one hit.  This is something that the HERO System is susceptible to, being a points-based system, and the GM has to set limits to how high skills, powers, and combat abilities can get.  As the campaign goes along, those limits should rise, but never spiral out of control as happened to me.  One of the important GM lessons I learned with this campaign.

We've had two more sessions of my monthly campaign, In Search Of..., which I owe write-ups for here.  My goal this week is to finish writing up the earlier one session and get it posted this week plus the first session of Cultists, Cultists, Cultists, which will be embroidered from memory as the notes from the first session are one of the sessions missing.  Next week I want to get the second In Search Of session typed up and posted before the next game happens on the 25th of this month.

Finally, the Sudden Sea campaign is on hiatus as I write up the new area the players are fleeing to, I mean, exploring bravely.  The Other GM is picking up with the characters from the Shattered Star Adventure Path, but we are stepping of the path for a "week at the beach" adventure because Book 4 was harrowing for several of us and we want some fun to cleanse the adventuring palette.  Two of the other players wish to enact something called Operation: Kaiju in game and the Other GM is actually interested in seeing it happen.  I'll report on that when it happens.

Best of luck to everyone reading this and see you soon!

Tim's Outlanders: Between Adventures, Winter of 18 IC to Spring of 20 IC – Part 2

[This is a summation of events in the world that happened after the completion of the Flight of the Yard Bird and the beginning of Cultists, Cultists, Cultists.  It covers slightly more than a year of time.  I think I read it aloud to the players during the first session before we got into the actual adventure, but I’m missing the session notes for Session 1 of the Cultists, Cultists, Cultists adventure, lost to the Hard Drive Crash of 2014, so I am not entirely certain.]

[This is a huge wall of text, so I broke it up into two parts for the blog.  Both parts are roughly the same length as the complete session notes for one session.  Part 1 covers the Weather and the happenings in the three regions of the Empire: Southern, Central, and Northern.  Part 2 covers the Syrak Alliance, the Free City of Freegate, the Gnome Consortium, the Tribes of the Spur (orcs and goblins that settled in the mountains west of Freegate), and The Mountain Wars.  Consider these two posts a huge “Happening Off-Stage” for the previous adventure.]

Part 2

The Syrak Alliance

The Syrak Alliance started 19 IC facing multiple issues.  The Khanate of Grimthug Og Garguzgulz was expanding in the southwest, the Goblinoid Horde North (GHN) was raiding from the old 7th Imperial Legion Citadel in the east, the Lizardfolk Horde (LH) periodically raided for supplies in the north, and the 5th Legion was operating just inside of the Alliance's northwestern border.  To top it off, Borot Grotto in the southeast appeared to now be under goblinoid control.

Representatives of the Alliance traveled to Freegate to meet with the Faceless Five, the Gnome Consortium, and representatives of the Northern Dwarven Kingdom (NDK).  They secured the right from the Faceless Five to place postings in Freegate requesting wizards and dragonslayers for work in the Alliance.  Diplomatic representatives of the Empire attempted to block this and the other activities of the Alliance representatives, but were defeated by Freegate's "Business is Business" attitude.  The Faceless Five somewhat reassured the Imperial Representatives by stating categorically that Freegate will remain neutral in the Empire/Alliance dispute and offered to host any negotiations and/or talks between the two.

The Alliance wanted wizards, air power, and dragonslayers, not necessarily in that order.  They needed earth mages to assist in the creation of defensive works and fortifications.  They wanted quick troop transportation and aerial fire support in the form of airships and belf'rads.  They placed several orders with the Gnome Consortium and the new NDK Airwerks.

By the end of 19 IC, the Alliance was in a somewhat better position.  The 5th Imperial Legion had left their territory, the LH was disorganized after their defeat, and many miles of defensive works were completed thanks to wizards hired from Freegate, blunting the raids from the GHN.  On the downside, it was confirmed that Borot Grotto was under the control of goblinoids, the Khanate renewed attacks in the south, and the LH appeared to be settling down for a long stay.  The Alliance is hoping the delivery of belf’rads mid-year in 20 IC will start tipping the balance in their favor.

The Free City of Freegate

The Thieves' War

Fighting between the Fordsway Mob and the various Freegate Thieves' Guilds was almost continuous throughout 19 IC.  The Freegate Guilds attempted to keep the action out of sight in back alleys and on rooftops to avoid a Crackdown by the Faceless Five.  The Fordsway Mob had no compunctions about causing public displays and caused several notorious "incidents".  The Faceless Five maintained a "business is business" attitude until the infamous Norlimba Incident forced their hand.

The Fordsway Mob was muscling into Brass Town to take over the fencing operations there.  The fences were controlled by the Brass Tacks, one of the Freegate Thieves' Guilds.  Their leader, Miles Norlimba, was leading a strong resistance to the Mob's attempts to take over and succeeding.  The Mob decided to crush the Brass Tacks in one act and send a message to the other Guilds.  They spent three weeks tracking Norlimba to learn his real identity and the location of his residence in the Merchant's Quarter.

Once this was done and verified, the Mob sent the "Cat's Claws", their top killers, to deliver their message.  The Cat's Claws killed everyone in the residence – Norlimba, his family, the servants, and the house guards – in a very bloody and messy manner.  They then trashed the rest of the house, taking nothing but destroying everything.  The Mob believed this would cow the rest of the Brass Tacks into line and warn the other Guilds to beware opposing the Mob.

While this method would have worked in Fordsway (in fact it had in the past), in Freegate it had a different reaction.  The guildmasters of the Freegate Guilds arranged a meeting of themselves.  At that meeting, for the first time in hundreds of years, they agreed to set aside all of their differences and act in concert against a common enemy – the Fordsway Mob.  The Guilds combined their forces and resources to wage war upon the Fordsway Mob for complete control of the city’s underworld.

Over the next two weeks, Fordsway Mob businesses and warehouses were systematically robbed and/or attacked.  Their safehouses were invaded by combined teams of troll heavies, knife fighters, and bandit archers.  Known members of the Mob were tracked down, their homes stripped bare, and their bodies thrown to the klakkers in the canyon.  Mob smuggling shipments were continuously attacked and looted by goblin raiders from the Spur, newly allied with the Freegate Guilds.

To keep the heat off, the Freegate Guilds took pains to reduce the amount of damage done to non-Mob targets that were merely in the vicinity.  They also spread bribes around thickly.  They bribed Watch patrols to be elsewhere when "things happened".  They bribed witnesses to "see nothing".  They bribed people suffering incidental damage from a raid to not report any problems.  They bribed snitches to provide information on the Mob and their operations.  Due to the unpopularity of the Mob, these bribes did not have to be as large as one would expect and went a long way to keeping the war on the sly.

The Freegate Guilds gradually pushed the Mob out of the city, from west to east, leaving a single safehouse on the eastern rim alone.  Naturally, the Mob assumed the Guilds did not know about that safehouse and used it to house Mob personnel pushed out of the rest of the city.  Once the Guilds had cleared the rest of the city, they staged their final assault upon the Mob.  They assembled every fighting member of the Freegate Thieves' Guilds, paying heavy bribes to the Watch and the Guard to keep them from "noticing", and surrounded the Mob's last safehouse.  They attacked at midnight with the rallying cry, "Remember Norlimba!"

The next morning, when the Watch finally arrived to investigate "some strange noises", they found the building heavily damaged.  Inside, the bodies (or portions thereof) of the remaining members of the Fordsway Mob were found laid out in a central room with the words "Remember Norlimba" written in blood on the walls.  Surrounding these words were the bloody right-hand prints of the 182 Freegate guildmembers who participated in the raid.

As a result of this event, the Faceless Five were forced to declare a crackdown.  The King's Guard were seen to be active across the city for a full month and crime nearly stopped completely.  However, the Guilds had expected this and every guild thief in the city was hidden away and kept safe.

At the end of a month, the Faceless Five announced that order had been restored and the crackdown was over.  Astute observers noticed that while there was much activity and some arrests, the only thieves arrested were non-guild thieves.

Those guildmembers who volunteered to participate in the final raid are considered honored members of their guilds and respected by the other thieves’ guilds of Freegate.  They are allowed to wear something indicating their status, with each guild using a distinctive manner to indicate this: red right gauntlets or gloves, red armbands worn on the right, pendants with a red right hand in the design, or a body tattoo of a red right hand.  [Darkfox’s identifying tattoo of a fox was modified so its front right paw was red.]

Collectively, this group is referred to as the Red Right Hands of Freegate.  Members of this group are given more leeway and/or the benefit of the doubt when found in another guild's territory in Freegate.  Pretenders are beaten heavily when discovered and thrown to the klakkers.  As word of the final raid spreads through the underworld across the continent, Red Right Hands will be treated with a mix of respect and fear by the thieves' guilds of other cities.  Those few surviving members of the Fordsway Mob who were out of Freegate during the war have scattered to the winds and hide in other cities.  No other guild will accept them, fearing the ire and attention of the Red Right Hands of Freegate.

The Gnome Consortium

Construction Projects

As a result of Alliance orders plus other orders plus their own needs, the Gnome Consortium has hired many more non-Gnome workers than in the past to build the facilities they need.  This is increasing the economy of Freegate and making it a destination for people looking for work, particularly people from Fordsway.

Fordsway

Restarting Fordsway's economy has been extremely difficult, even for the Gnomes.  Few of the residents had valuables left, let alone money, as the majority were previously enslaved by the Khanate.  The Gnome Consortium loaned the Fordsway City Council monies to jump-start their economy.  The loans are sums delivered over a period of four years with repayments starting at the end of 5th year (24 IC) and spread over 30 years.  Final repayment is scheduled to be at the end of 54 IC.

The Consortium is in the process of setting up a manufacturing facility in Fordsway to produce repeating arbalest and repeating ballista (non-magical) components.  This facility will employ locals and provide a second vector for introducing money into the economy.  Ownership of the facility is by a joint venture including the Consortium, the NDK, and the City of Fordsway.

Finally, the Consortium is coordinating the effort to establish a center of education in the city – Fordsway University.  The majority of the money funding this effort is from grants made by wealthy individuals from Freegate, organizations based in Freegate, and Outlands University.

Local workers, paid half in cash, half in credit, are constructing Fordsway University.  The credit can be used by the workers to pay for education for them or their children once the University is able to start.  This has made it a very popular project to work on as tuition for students covers room and board.  Many parents in the city work whatever time they can on the University to gain credit.  They plan to put their children into the University as a way of feeding them.

Tribes of the Spur

Several things are happening in the Spur [an area of mountains west of Freegate and south of the road that leads to the remains of the High North Trade Route (HNTR)].  The tribes have established their survival needs and started a low-level economy amongst themselves.  Some of the tribes raid the merchants using the road between Freegate and the HNTR.  One tribe, the Snaga Naskop, traded their riding lizards for horses and started skirmishing with the Horse Lords.  As a general rule, most of the tribes seem to avoid drawing too much military attention to themselves.  The Flight of the Bottles seems to have given them a strong respect for the wizards of Freegate and they don't seem to want to face that again.

Contact has been made between the Tribes and groups in Freegate.  One of the goblin tribes is acting as highwaymen and is now allied with the Thieves' Guilds of Freegate.  Members of this tribe participated in the Thieves' War and six of their goblins are Red Right Hands.

In addition, Go-Tok of the Snaga Dakaz (Snake Bites) has sent delegations to confer with "Boombottle" (Tim) about establishing trade.  Success has only been minor so far, but has allowed both sides to learn about each other.  Recently, the Snaga Dakaz have started producing their own alcoholic beverages for trade with Boombottle.  It is meeting with some success, particularly in Outtown [the district of Freegate where those not human, elf, or gnome live].  Orcs have also occasionally been seen working odd jobs around Tim's Tavern, but there have been no incidents (so far).

The Mountain Wars

Below Ground

During 19 IC, relations between the two dwarven kingdoms started deteriorating.  The Keybreaker Incident cemented in the minds of many Northern Dwarves that the Southern Dwarves were becoming irredeemably corrupt.  This led to a raised level of hostility and suspicion towards Southern Dwarf merchants who traded between the two kingdoms.

The Southern Dwarf merchants reported this hostility throughout the SDK in the form of stories and tales of oppression.  This increased the resentment of the Southern Dwarves and Northern Dwarf merchants started receiving the same hostile treatment from the Southern Dwarves.  Ancient grudges, long set aside, started weighing heavily on the minds of dwarfs from both kingdoms.

During the winter of 19/20 IC, when communications between the two kingdoms was most difficult, the Betdmuans started staging small raids on both sides of the border.  Their raiders left evidence implicating members of the opposing kingdom.  Where possible, they made use of clan rivalries that crossed the borders to incense the dwarfs.  These raids further heightened the tensions between the two Kingdoms and sparked spontaneous revenge raids, worsening the situation even further.

As the war becomes more immanent, the Militant faction in the SDK started to gain power.  While they were not able to get the King on their side, they were able to take more control of the government and start limiting the King's choices.  They gained a great deal of influence when the King requested additional support from the Imperial Legions to protect the Southern Dwarven merchants moving along the HNTR.  By the time the King concluded that the only way to stop the war was by a direct appeal to the King of the Northern Dwarves, the Militants had maneuvered him into a position where he could not do so without appearing weak and unable to defend his kingdom.  He realized too late that his options had been narrowed down to war or the loss of his throne – and probably his life.

Above Ground

Once the 8th Imperial Legion left the Worldspine Mountains, the Uplander Clans started thinking hard about reclaiming their lost lands.  They did not want to destroy the HNTR (they had learned the benefits of trade with the lowlands), but they did want to kick the Empire out.

Having learned the strength of the Legions the hard way, there was much planning and discussion about how to accomplish their goals.  Time and again, as the talks stalled or threatened to break out into a fight between clans, Mikal Torvaldson, known as Mikal the Wanderer, stepped in and defused the situation.  Mikal became the voice of reason and was regarded as a sort of holy man, dedicated to the expulsion of the Empire but without destroying the Uplander Clans in the process.

By the middle of 19 IC, the Uplanders' plans were ready and the Clans start preparing for the coming war.  Due to the tensions between the Dwarven Kingdoms, the Clans did not ask for dwarven support, but planned to accept it if offered.  When the SDK requested Imperial support for their merchant caravans, the Clans start leaning towards the NDK as possible allies.

The First Mountain War

The First Mountain War was between the Uplander Clans and the High Reaches Protectorate.  The Commander of the 4th Legion stationed troops at critical points on the HNTR in fortified positions, but did not start re-activating the Reserves – the retired legionnaires who had settled the High Reaches Protectorate.  He was not expecting the Clans to make any kind of move that year and saw no reason to pull the Reserves in early.

Much to the Legion Commander's surprise, the Clans did attack that year, just after the first snows fell.  The Clans targeted the critical control points and attacked, easily overwhelming the under-prepared legionnaires and seized all of the supplies they could.  By the end of October 19 IC, the HNTR from North Terminus down past the Southern Citadel was in Uplander control.  The only exceptions were the two Citadels, which were isolated and besieged.

In early 20 IC, the NDK offered air support to the Uplanders besieging the Northern Citadel in exchange for an alliance.  The Uplanders agreed and the addition of the Northern Dwarf forces, particularly their canons, rapidly brought the siege to a close as the legionnaires surrendered rather than have their citadel demolished on top of them.

Flush with victory against the hated Empire, the commander of the Northern Dwarf forces volunteered to help at the Southern Citadel.  His assistance was accepted and his force moved south with Uplander messengers and letters of introduction.  Once the Northern Dwarfs were in place, it was a relatively short time before the Southern Citadel fell to the combined Uplander/NDK forces.

[This represents a break with later writing about this war, where I wrote that the Southern Citadel held after some bitter fighting.  I’ll need to reconcile the two accounts at some point.]

The Second Mountain War (Ongoing)

The rash collaboration between the Uplanders and the NDK forces had an unintended side effect.  The SDK Militants used this as an example of uncontrolled NDK aggression against a SDK ally (ignoring the fact that the Militants were previously against cooperation with the Legion).  With this ammunition, they whipped the SDK populace into a frenzy of fear and paranoia and were able to seize control of the SDK government and military.

Citing the military adventurism of the NDK, the SDK declared war against the NDK and its allies.  The War Council sent the SDK armies north, attacking Uplander and NDK forces alike.  In their zeal to "defend" their lands, the SDK armies overran several of the locations the Uplanders had sent their non-combatants for safety.  Many were killed and the rest were sent back to the SDK as prisoners.

These acts cemented the alliance between the Uplanders and the NDK.  Both sent armies to intercept the SDK forces to protect their people.  The Uplanders and the NDK then started planning military strategy against the SDK.

End of Part 2.

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Between Adventures

Previous session: Part 1

Next Session: Cultists, Cultists, Cultists – Session 1 [not recreated yet]

Tim's Outlanders: Between Adventures, Winter of 18 IC to Spring of 20 IC – Part 1

[This is a summation of events in the world that happened after the completion of the Flight of the Yard Bird and the beginning of Cultists, Cultists, Cultists.  It covers slightly more than a year of time.  I think I read it aloud to the players during the first session before we got into the actual adventure, but I’m missing the session notes for Session 1 of the Cultists, Cultists, Cultists adventure, lost to the Hard Drive Crash of 2014, so I am not entirely certain.]

[This is a huge wall of text, so I broke it up into two parts for the blog.  Both parts are roughly the same length as the complete session notes for one session.  Part 1 covers the Weather, and the happenings in the three regions of the Empire: Southern, Central, and Northern.  Part 2 covers the Syrak Alliance, the Free City of Freegate, the Gnome Consortium, the Tribes of the Spur (orcs and goblins that settled in the mountains west of Freegate), and The Mountain Wars.  Consider these two posts a huge “Happening Off-Stage” for the previous adventure.]

Part 1

Weather

The 18-19 IC winter was slightly colder than the previous one and lasted until April 19 IC.  This was slightly later than normal, but not alarmingly so.  Planting season was delayed by a few weeks, particularly in the north.

Another side effect of the longer winter was a higher level of snowfall.  This caused rivers to run a little higher and colder during the spring melt.  There was some minor flooding in the usual places, but nothing particularly unusual.

The summer 19 IC would be fairly normal in the southern plains and forests.  On the northern plains it would be slightly wetter, cooler, and shorter.  However, the farmers were mostly expecting it this year and planned accordingly.  When winter of 19/20 IC arrived (slightly early yet again), the crops had been harvested and nothing was lost.

The 19-20 IC winter, as mentioned, arrived early, like the winter of 18/19 IC.  Snow started falling in the mountains in early September and was falling on the Northern Plains by the end of the month.  The snowline moved gradually south and by the end of October 19 IC all portions of the continent that normally experienced snow had it on the ground.

[This is related to the block of permanent ice that Tim touched to tile mosaic on the floor of the Temple of Baharat.  It returned a critical bit of power to Ymer of the White Eyes, one of the Elderlan Gods (those who assisted Baharat in the creation of the world) and got himself locked away in the far past.  The returned power allowed Ymer to start escaping his prison and exert his will on the world.  Yes, the Crystal Brotherhood (see below) are related.]

Southern Empire

The 2nd Imperial Legion

During the end of 18 IC, the 2nd Imperial Legion gradually pushed back the Goblinoid Horde, South (GHS) [its official Imperial designation] out of and to the edge of the Farwood Forest.  However, once out of the forest, the Legion's advantage over the Horde lessened and the battle lines stabilized.  Both sides immediately started digging in.

Due to the 2nd Imperial Legion's focus on the GHS and the need for troops, the Imperial Navy was extremely short on Marines to defend ships and attack pirates in the seas along the south and east of the continent.  Both the Pirates of the Far Drift Isles and goblinoid hulks sailing from Borot Grotto discovered and confirmed this in mid-19 IC and pirate attacks on shipping rose as a result.

The Gnome Air Fleet

The Gnome Consortium maintained a commitment to Fordsway's freedom from the GHS.  The regular bombings and intensifying air war continued for most of 19 IC until the addition of the dwarven improved air carrier, the Radhwyr ("Iron Wind"), convinced the Khan of the GHS to negotiate with the Gnome Consortium while he still had air power.  This led to the signing of the Treaty of Fordsway.

The Treaty only governs relations between the Horde and the air arms of the Gnome Consortium and the NDK.  It allowed for the creation of the Free City of Fordsway and established the domains of the city [a triangle between the Greater and Lesser Tabor Rivers with the southernmost edge of the Worldspine Mountains across the top].  It also established an air-route Gnome and Dwarf airships may use unmolested between Fordsway and the remnants of County Silverloc [a wide valley set into the edge of the Worldspine Mountains over 75 miles north of Fordsway, bordered by the Greater Tabor River].  Protocols were also established for later contact between the belligerents.  Finally, the GHS's actual name was recorded for the first time by someone outside the Great Swamp: "The Khanate of Grimthug Og Garguzgulz".  [Imperial scholars, at the Emperor’s direction, instead use “the Khanate of the Horde” so as to not aggrandize the Khan personally.]

The Khanate continued to improve its' airpower to maintain parity with the Gnomes and the Dwarfs.  They developed wing blades for the giant bats and experimented with various types of wands as armaments.  It is rumored that back in the Great Swamp, goblin and orc shamans are attempting to breed giant bats that have a magical gland that provides the same effect as a potion of speed.

Central Empire

The Imperial Capital

Evacuation of the Imperial Capital

The Lizardman Horde (LH) spent the spring of 19 IC crushing the remaining 1st Imperial Legion forces on the south side of the Saggil River.  Reliable Imperial reports put the dragon strength of the LH at eight dragons – unreliable reports put it closer to twenty.  This increased number of dragons allowed the LH to completely stall the 5th Imperial Legion on its western flank.  The LH then massed troops south of the Saggil River and east of the Winnowglen River.

The anticipated attack happened in mid-June 19 IC.  Two armies of lizardmen crossed the Saggil and a third crossed the Winnowglen.  After two weeks of intensive fighting, the LH established secure beachheads and started marching on the Imperial Capital along three fronts.  The new defensive works built by the Legion during the winter slowed the Horde's advance, but failed to stop it.

When the new defensive works started to fall to the LH attack, the Gnome Compound in the Imperial Capital sent word to the Gnomes of Freegate requesting evacuation.  The Yardbird was quickly reconfigured for refugee transportation.  While it was being reconfigured, the Northern Dwarven Kingdom (NDK) informed the Gnome Consortium that the Hwyrrak was en route to the Imperial Capital to evacuate NDK personnel.  The dwarves requested a combined air operation to speed up the evacuation and to increase the security of the operation.  The Gnomes agreed immediately.

Two weeks later, the first combined air operation commenced.  The air fleet, comprised of the Yardbird, the Hwyrrak, 18 belf'rads, and the Driver of Foes [one of the Mjolnir-class Gnome airships], headed northeast from Freegate.  They established a temporary base on the border of the Horse Lords lands and southeast Thuringia to reduce turnaround time from the Imperial Capital.  Then they swung into the war zone, maneuvering to approach the Imperial Capital from the north.

The Imperial Capital learned of the arrival of the air fleet early one morning when two drop pods (Runaround Mark 5's) dropped from the sky – one on the Gnome Compound, the other on the NDK Enclave.  Both contained troops to supplement security at each location during the evacuation.  The Yardbird then took position over the city to receive refugees from both locations.  The Hwyrrak hovered higher to provide belf'rad air support for the operation while the Driver of Foes positioned itself to intercept air attacks coming from the front.

Initially, the populace of the city was cheered by the appearance of the air fleet, thinking that the Gnomes and the Dwarfs were aiding in the defense of the city.  Then they realized that the Northern Dwarves and the Gnomes had barricaded the gates of their respective enclaves and were evacuating from the city.  First outrage, then worry, then fear washed through the city as the populace realized what the evacuation really meant – the Imperial Capital was going to fall.  People, commoners as well as nobles, headed towards the Compound and the Enclave to negotiate space in the evacuation.  When told only Gnome and Dwarven diplomatic personnel and their families were being evacuated, panic started to spread across the city.

Halfway through the initial evacuation, a dragon was spotted approaching the city.  Driver of Foes turned and moved to intercept the dragon while the Hwyrrak started launching belf'rads armed with repeating arbalests.

The dragon, having never seen anything like the airships, had flown ahead of the Horde front lines to investigate.  The Captain of Driver of Foes allowed the dragon to close well within the range of the six repeating ballistae mounted on Driver before turning hard to port and ordering a broadside attack.  The dragon was caught by surprise and was hit several times.  Angered, it attacked and the fight was on.

The fight lasted for the better part of a quarter hour, with Driver of Foes maneuvering to bring as many ballistae as possible to bear on the dragon, the dragon trying to find a way to get in close for a good attack with its breath weapon, and the belf'rads chasing after the dragon like angry bees.  The fight came to a conclusion when the Driver of Foes bombardier attempted to drop a TDD bomb on the dragon.  The dragon easily avoided it and then slapped at it with its tail, thinking to knock the "rock" into one of the belf'rads.

The resulting explosion flipped the dragon and several nearby belf'rads through the air.  The explosion also battered the Driver of Foes, knocking two of its repeating ballistae out of commission and breaking most of the windows in a one-mile radius.  The dragon was able to catch itself in the air and avoided hitting the ground.  A few belf'rads were not as lucky and two crashed into the city below.  The dragon was seriously injured and had its confidence shaken to the core.  Deciding it had had enough, the dragon flew back to the Horde, dripping blood and looking for answers from the shamans.

On the ground, no one was certain exactly what had happened.  Witnesses of the explosion could only report that the dragon had performed some odd move and then its tail appeared to explode.  The witnesses further testified that the dragon appeared to be heavily wounded by the explosion, leading them to believe that it was some sort of magic the Gnomes or dwarfs had used on it.

After the battle, Driver of Foes moved back to its station and performed emergency repairs to bring the damaged repeating ballistae back online.  Drop pods were deployed to retrieve the downed belf'rads and their pilots.  Once this was complete, the evacuation of the Compound and the Enclave continued.  The populace of the Imperial Capital took this all as a sign and started to flee the city, heading north to the Wold Forest and away from the LH.

Emperor Orion was rumored to be not entirely displeased with the people fleeing the city – it kept him from having to order the evacuation himself.  He sent orders to the 5th Imperial Legion, ordering the Legion to cross the Saggil River in the west and defend the remainder of the Grand Duchy of Crendia.  He appeared to have written off everything south of the Saggil River as the Syrak Alliance's problem [see Part 2] and cut his losses.

It took the Gnomes two trips to evacuate all of their and the NDK's people.  Less than two weeks after the Gnome Air Lift, the Lizardman Horde broke through the Imperial lines and sacked the Imperial Capital for the first time in its 8000-year history.  The lizardmen and the dragons spent over a month ransacking the city and the Imperial Palace before reforming their armies to pursue the survivors.  This delay turned out to be a mistake on their part.

Pushing Back the Lizardmen

Using the time afforded by the ransacking of the Imperial Capital, Orion reinforced the remains of the 1st Imperial Legion with troops raised from the Wold Forest and ordered the creation of the 9th Imperial Legion at Ihyr (see below).  Using magic, he contacted the Legion Commanders of the 3rd and 5th Imperial Legions and outlined his attack plans against the Horde.  The goal was to push the Horde back south of the Saggil River and keep them there, causing as much harm to them as possible.

When the LH finally resumed its march north, it faced two problems.  The first was the renewed vigor of the Imperial Legions.  Furious at the sacking of the Imperial Capital and shamed by their failure to prevent it, the Legionnaires were now highly motivated to attack.  The second problem the Horde leaders faced was a lack of direction growing in their troops.  Their holy cause was to sack and destroy the city that defied their living gods in ages past.  Having done that, the troops were starting to feel adrift and their motivation was ebbing.  These two changes in attitude and motivation were costly for the Horde.  The Horde was finally fought to a stand-still and stopped before they could enter the Wold Forest.

The lines would have stabilized there, but an early snowstorm at the end of August spooked the dragons, who returned south.  Without the morale and physical support of their living gods, the Horde was slowly pushed back by the vengeance-filled Legions.  When the dragons returned two weeks later, the Horde was in full retreat.  The dragons were able to slow the retreat but not stop it.  The Horde held at the remains of the line of forts the Legions had built north of the Saggil River the previous winter.  The dragons and the shamans rallied the troops and prepared to resume the offensive, until a small cadre of priests appeared on the Legion's front line.

These priests wore white robes and claimed to be from a new sect known as the Crystal Brotherhood.  Their leader had been given visions and now knew how to drive the Horde back across the river.  The priests stood in a line in front of the Legion's battlelines and started chanting in unison.  Holding their arms out, great gusts of frigid air poured out of their robes towards the Horde.  The frigid air rapidly dropped the temperature over the Horde positions until it was freezing.  Then waves of snow flowed from the robes of the priests and suddenly the Horde was engulfed in a blizzard!

This was too much for the lizardmen who turned and ran.  They fled south until they crossed the Saggil River and the snows stopped.  When the priests stopped chanting, the lands for 20 miles south of their position were covered in snow.  Orion is said to have asked them to repeat this miracle again south of the river.  The leader of the Crystal Brotherhood responded that this was a single miracle granted to them and could not be repeated until it was granted again, but he was willing to discuss the matter further at the emperor’s leisure.

The Legions spent the winter of 19/20 IC re-establishing their defensive works and improving upon them.  During this time, the emperor occasionally reviewed the progress of the fortifications.  The leader of the Crystal Brotherhood was always seen in the emperor’s entourage and some of the legionnaires converted to the new faith.

Northern Empire

The Northern Dukes

The loyalty of the Northern Dukes to the Malachite Throne of the Empire remained steadfast.  This loyalty was due to two things: continuing extensive trade and no hordes.  As long as the trade routes stay open and the Hordes are kept south of the Wold Forest, the dukes see no profit in deserting the Empire only to be reconquered later.  Additionally, they expect to be rewarded for their loyalty once the hordes are stopped and the rebellions are put down.  Emperor Orion has done nothing to abuse them of this belief.

Orion ordered that Ducal Militia units start assembling near the cities of Ihyr and Krakow.  He used these troops to create the 9th and 10th Imperial Legions (in Ihyr and Tusmit, respectively) and started training the troops to operate as Legionnaires.  He also sent runners into the Wold Forest to recruit troops from the Fiefdoms.  The troops from the Fiefdoms had veterans assigned to lead them and the new units were incorporated into the remains of the 1st Imperial Legion.

The veterans are legionnaires seriously wounded in the fighting against the LH and were looking at early retirement due to the cost of reattaching their limbs or providing magical replacements.  They were offered the option of becoming civilians or leading Fiefdom troops in a diminished capacity.  Given the option to lead troops back against the LH and get some personal revenge, every legionnaire offered the opportunity immediately accepted.

The veterans were magically healed to a point where they could return to combat, but not necessarily fight at full strength.  They were promoted and given bonus pay increasing their morale even further and they set to training the new troops with a fervor.  Once they assembled two companies, they marched south to join the rest of the 1st Legion.  As detailed above, the 1st Legion went on with the 3rd and 5th Legions to push the LH back across the Saggil River.

The Grand Duchy of Thuringia

The Cattle Barons of Thuringia have kept a close eye on the fighting to their east.  They drove herds of cattle and horses to the 5th Legion during the summer of 19 IC and sold them to the Legion for half cash and half credit on Thuringia's Imperial Taxes.  This helped the 5th Legion's supply logistics greatly and bolstered the Legion's morale, particularly with Sachsen and Sachsen-Anhault rebelling to the south.  It also inclined the 5th Legion to head towards Thuringia if a retreat was called for and this helped the morale of the barons.

The Domain of Ihyr

The Imperial University spent the year scouring their archives for references to dragon slaying and dragon-slaying weapons.  Undergraduate mages were organized into three-person teams lead by a fourth, experienced mage and deployed south.  An emphasis was placed on strong, ranged attack spells for use against dragons and strong, area effect attack spells for use against the lizardmen.  The initial units sent contributed greatly to the 3rd Legion's ability to stop the lizardmen from entering the eastern Wold Forest.  It was also discovered that dragons have some level of immunity to magical attacks, which is worrisome.

Once the full strength of the University's mages joined the 3rd Legion, they were able to push the Horde back to the Saggil River.  There the mages used spells to rapidly create defensive works to maintain control of the lands north of the Saggil, from the Gulf of Herault, all the way to the Winnowglen River.

The City-State of Galān

The people of Galān seem to have started a revolt against the Military Governor.  The exact situation inside the city is unclear as both sides have reasons for keeping the true situation hidden.  In late July 19 IC, the Military Governor declared the city quarantined due to plague.  All non-official communication from within the city stopped as all communication is now funneled through the office of the Military Governor.  Ships in the port when the quarantine was announced were trapped there when the Harbor Chain was drawn tight across the harbor entrance.

There is speculation about fighting going on inside the city walls, but no one is certain what is happening.  In fact, the only thing those outside the city are certain of is that something is happening inside the city.

End of Part 1.

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Between Adventures

Previous session: Flight of the Yardbird – Session 16

Next Session: Part 2 [not posted yet]

Tim's Outlanders: Flight of the Yardbird, Session 16 – November 12-15, 18 IC

[Return to Freegate and defending the ritual from attack.]

[This session took place May 17, 2003.  We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University

Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Mord Worldfist – male dwarf bodyguard [and handler] for Dangar

Wendell Dorshield III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird

Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert

Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw

Session Begins

November, 12 IC

After the attack at the Northern Dwarven Kingdom (NDK), the Yardbird headed back south to Freegate with Keybreaker and the Outlanders aboard.  To avoid any possible entanglements, Wendell had the Yardbird take a route directly over the Great Nef.  While this avoided enemy attacks, the high altitude reduced the Yardbird’s airspeed and it did not reach Freegate until November 12, two days before the conjunction.

The Yardbird landed at The Yard, where security was noticeably tighter.  They were met by Arthax Earthshaker, a representative of Outlands University.  Arthax informed the Outlanders that there had been several attacks on the University and The Yard that seemed to be attempts to stop the Ritual of Unmaking.  As a result, he, Arthax, was sent to escort the Outlanders and Keybreaker directly to the University.

Arthax had a wagon to carry all of their luggage and the Outlanders plus an experienced driver.  Everything was loaded into the wagon and they made their way into town.  When they approached the Guards at Far Gate [the city gate allowing entrance from the Western Rim], Arthax produced a badge from his robes and the wagon was waved into the city.  The trip across the bridge to the central mesa and then through the Adventurer's Quarter was tense, but uneventful.

While traveling the main street through the New Town ward, the wagon was ambushed.  Masses of black tentacles sprouted up from the ground both behind and in front of the cart, entangling the horses.  Two carts full of thugs then pulled out of alleys, boxing in the wagon the Outlanders were on, and attacked.  All of the thugs wore a set of long metal claws on their hands.  Darkfox recognized the favorite weapon of the Fordsway Mob, the primary thieves' guild in Fordsway, by reputation.

The fight was relatively short but intense.  For reasons known only to himself, Dangar jumped into one of the carts full of thugs and was nearly killed by them.  Only the quick action of Arthax, who cast a spell that created a whirling field of cobblestones around Dangar and himself, kept Dangar from being killed by the thugs.  The Outlanders killed most of the thugs and finally drove away the rest before continuing to the University.

Passing through the Student's Quarter, Darkfox noticed snipers on top of several buildings.  Before she could warn the Outlanders about them, the snipers were each grabbed from behind and apparently pummeled.  Then others stood up and gave her the "All Clear" sign used by her guild – Freegate thieves had reclaimed their turf from the interloping Fordsway thieves.

November 14, 18 IC

The Outlanders spent the next two days confined to the University Grounds.  The University Guard was at full alert and all classes were cancelled until the 15th.  The upper floor of the HET building was prepared for the Ritual of Unmaking and various last minute preparations were completed.

The night of the Ritual, every wizard in Freegate was pressed into defending the University.  The walls of the University Grounds were lined with wizards and University Guard, ready for battle.  The Gate of Knowing was completely sealed and warded [including the “secret” student entrance] and the Outlanders (minus Dangar) were stationed on the roof of the HET building as a final line of defense.  The Yard was also on high alert, with additional repeating ballistae in place.

As midnight slowly approached during the dark night, the Black Moon was eclipsed and the Ritual started.  For the Outlanders on the roof, the first sign of trouble was the sudden sound of alarms at The Yard followed by the steady "thump-thump-thump" of the repeating ballistae being fired.  Periodically arcs of lightning would reach up from a gnomish wizard and strike a flying attacker.

Shortly after this started, the sounds and lights of spell fire started coming from the eastern wall of the University.  The walls there were under attack by the same mysterious flying creatures, underlit by the light from fireballs and other attack spells.  This continued for several minutes until a flight of the creatures topped the western University walls directly across from the HET building!

While the Outlanders observed the fighting at the wall nearest them, five of the dark, hulking creatures dropped directly out of the sky above them, crushing the portions of the roof where they landed.  The Outlanders reacted quickly and attacked the creatures, desperately trying to keep the creatures from ripping a hole in the roof and attacking the Ritual below.

The Outlanders were lucky and able to drop one of the creatures early, but the tide of battle slowly turned against them.  Fighting heroically, the Outlanders delayed the creatures the precious final seconds the Ritual needed to be completed.  Suddenly, just as one of the creatures tore through the roof, there was a thunderous silence, followed by an engulfing flash of darkness.  The silence and darkness lasted for a small eternity and then rushed back into the ritual space below.  The Ritual of Unmaking was complete and the Orb destroyed!

Knowing they had failed, the creatures ceased their attacks everywhere and started to withdraw.  The final creature fighting the Outlanders snarled, "You have won here, worms, but you have made powerful enemies.  Lord Taurkauld will not forget this affront.  He will open the Vault and destroy you all."

The creature then turned and started flying away.  With a, "Oh no you're not," Tim cast a final spell at the creature and killed it – its corpse falling down into the deep canyon surrounding the city.

November 15, 18 IC

The party honoring the Outlanders was legendary.

Session Ends.

Adventure Ends.

NPCs Met

Arthax Earthshaker – representative of the Outlands University and wizard of some skill.

Happening Off-Stage

Wendell later used his Rod of Engineering to shape the stony remains of the creatures into one-meter diameter spheres.  They will be incorporated into a memorial to the successful completion of the Ritual and to honor all those who died to make it happen.  The final form of this memorial is currently up for debate.

With the competition of the University Annex on the West Rim, the HET building on the University Grounds is no longer needed by the HET.  Therefore, the building will now house the newly founded Thaumatic Engineering Department, chaired by Wendell Dorshield III.

As word of the Orb Commission and its accomplishments started spreading, the Outlanders became something of celebrities.  Dangar was declared a National Hero by the NDK and Mord was permanently assigned to keeping Dangar from dying an embarrassing death for a National Hero.  This will keep Mord busy for some time.

A guild war between the Fordsway Thieves' Guild in Freegate and the various Freegate thieves' guilds started brewing.  Life started getting dangerous in the local underworld and roof tops over the next several months as the war heated up.

Monteflurio finished attuning the Sorcerer's Rod to himself.  He will start experimenting with tapping into the power of the Rod over the next several months, using the family lore he has access to.  The magic field around his home starts increasing as a side effect of this.

DM Discussion

[This is the end of this adventure.  Next posting will be a summary of events happening over the next 5-6 months in-game before the next Tim’s Outlanders adventure begins.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Flight of the Yardbird

Previous session: Session 15

Next Session: Between Adventures - Part 1

Tim's Outlanders: Flight of the Yardbird, Session 15 – End of October to Early November, 18 IC

[Retrieval of Keybreaker and the fight to keep it.]

[This session took place in April, 2003.  We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University

Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Mord Worldfist – male dwarf bodyguard [and handler] for Dangar

Wendell Dorshild III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird

Malwyn Talath – male High elf fighter and military expert

Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw

Session Begins

[I’m missing the session notes listing what happened during this session.  What I do have are my GM Notes as to what was supposed to happen, which is what I’m listing here.  This should give you some insight into what I had planned.  You will find that these notes are very sparse or empty in some spots as I just needed a mental note to include material, which I either made up on the spot (for the most part) or sourced from previous writings (rarely).]

Enter Worldspines

Description

Bad weather looming to the north.

Legion on the High North Trade Route (HNTR)

Description

The 8th Legion is moving down out of the HNTR on orders from the Emperor.

Contact

The Legion Commander and his staff will stop to discuss things with the Yardbird, while the rest of the Legion will continue marching by.

Taxes and Negotiations

The Legion Chief Accountant will ask if the Yardbird has paid for use of the HNTR and request they do so.  He is open to negotiations.

[This encounter was optional and most likely ended up with the Outlanders and crew flying by in the Yardbird noticing that the 8th Imperial Legion was marching down out of the Worldspine Mountains, indicating how serious things were fighting the Hordes to the south.]

Arrival at Karak-Urd

Dwarven Airship!

The dwarven airship, called The Hwyrrak (or “Wind Citadel”), is fatter than the Yardbird and is belching smoke from two smokestacks in the top rear.  It has a single, large propeller in the rear.  It has the symbol of the Fireworker clan (the clan of inventors) [I clearly changed this to the Worldbender clan in actual play] emblazoned on the front and flies the flag of the NDK.

The Hwyrrak uses helium for lift and a single, higher speed, steam-powered engine in the rear for propulsion.  Most of the Hwyrrak’s lower deck is configured for launching and retrieval of belf’rads (see below).

Warning from the Sky Guard

As the Hwyrrak approaches, the front of the lower deck splits and slides back.  There is a high-pitched whistle and a large dart-shaped thing shoots out trailing wisps of white smoke and making a buzzing noise.  Wings snap out from the sides and instead of dropping it starts rising.  Getting a better look at it, it looks like a large, odd-shaped battle-kite with a metal basket underneath it and some sort of gearworks turning a propeller behind it.  It is the propeller which is making the buzzing noise.  There seems to be a dwarf flying the contraption towards the Yardbird, his beard flapping in the wind.

The Sky Guard uses ultra-lights, known as belf’rad (“noisy iron”), with clockwork engines and snap out wings.  They are deployed with steam-powered catapults from a launching deck in the front of the airship.

[This actually happened in the previous session and included more detail than I recorded in the session notes.]

Land at Allies’ Gate

[Absolutely no notes here, so I improvised the entire encounter.]

Fight for Keybreaker (November 4, 18 IC)

Discussion with Dangar’s Uncle

• Attacks on outposts
• Saboteurs in the city attacking production of Keybreaker

Delivery of Keybreaker to the Outlanders

• Very large number of the King’s Guard escorting Keybreaker
• Three cases: two decoys and one original

Attack of the Betdmuan Warrior-Priests

• Four groups attacking from multiple points
• They will use a few mass damage, area effect spells before closing in.
• They will continue to attack until they have taken 75% losses and will then retreat to report back.

Looting the Bodies

• The Outlanders will find a teleport scroll on the leader of each attacking group.
• The scroll goes to a rally/resupply point.
• Amongst the supplies is a letter from Lord Taurkauld, ordering the attack and specifying the targets – Dangar and Keybreaker.
• The seal on the letter is the symbol of The Enemy.

[I definitely ran this combat and I seem to remember the Outlanders finding one of the teleportation scrolls and using it to find the rally point, but no one was there, having either died in the fight or fled before the Outlanders arrived.]

Session Ends.

NPCs Met

Unknown.

Happening Off-Stage

[As mentioned in the notes, the 8th Imperial Legion, one of two Legions maintaining control of the HNTR, was in the process of marching down to the lowlands to fight the hordes.  Unmentioned, the 4th Imperial Legion, the other Legion securing the HNTR, sent half of its numbers to the 8th Imperial Legion’s citadel and now covered the entire Route by itself, effectively at half-strength.  This would have consequences in the near future.]

DM Discussion

[Not much to say as I have no record of what actually happened.  I got the Dwarf lift gas wrong in my last blog post (Helium, not Hydrogen) and under-described the Hwyrrak in the session write-up.  I might update the previous post with this better description, but not immediately as I’m working on other stuff right now.  If the description here matches what is in the notes for Session 14 then I got around to it.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Flight of the Yardbird

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Next Session: Session 16