Tim's Outlanders: Road to Thuringia, Session 2 - June 14 to June 20, 18 IC

[The Outlanders enter Thuringia, stop over just inside the border, and arrive at the city of Goebblein.]

[This session took place August 25, 2001.  We were playing Champions 4th 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

Max Lucas - male human ranger from the Bayern District

Rory the Red - Wizard and graduate of Outlands University, traveling companion to Tarquin

Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert

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

Session Begins

June 16, 17 IC

The Outlanders traveled through the open plains another two days and arrived at a small village on the border of Thuringia just as the sun was going down.  They secured rooms at the only inn and decided to spend some time in the tavern at the inn eating “real food” [that is, not trail rations] and arranged for baths.  This got some odd looks from the locals, but the Outlanders were paying good silver and who were they to say no?

Wanting to resupply on healing potions, the Outlanders asked the bartender if there was a temple in town.  The bartender told them that there was a new shrine belonging to the Crystal Brotherhood that might be able to help them.  Having never heard of the Crystal Brotherhood, the Outlanders asked around for more information.

They learned that the Crystal Brotherhood was a “nondenominational” religious order that was started spreading in Thuringia.  They do not follow any one particular deity but provide services to meet the religious needs of those without direct access to a temple.  They recently purchased a building in town and renovated it.  The Outlanders were told they couldn’t miss it – it was the only building in town painted solid white.  Members of the Crystal Brotherhood could be recognized when they cast blessings – their eyes go solid white.  This reminded Tim of something, but he could not remember what.  The Outlanders, suspicious of the Crystal Brotherhood, retired to their rooms.

Later that night

The Outlanders independently [and without telling each other] snuck out of the inn in various manners and proceeded to the Crystal Brotherhood’s “White House” to investigate further.  Tim, Dangar, Max, and Rory ran into each other as they moved through the village.  Once they realized they were all thinking the same thing (the Crystal Brotherhood needs to be investigated further), they headed to the “White House” together.  In the meantime, Malwyn and Darkfox, being stealthier, and noticing the rest of the Outlanders tramping around, moved around to the back of the White House and let the rest provide a distraction.

When the noisier group reached the White House, they knocked on the door.  Getting no response, Dangar knocked harder and they waited.  In the back, Darkfox and Malwyn could distinctly hear someone inside the building snoring.  Eventually Dangar knocked hard enough for the snorer to wake up and move to the front of the building to answer the door.

While Dangar and company distracted and interrogated the priest at the front door, Darkfox broke in through the back and investigated the temple.  She found it to be rather ordinary.  She left before the priest eventually tired of talking with Dangar and Tim and shut the door on them.  The adventurers returned to the inn and settled in for the rest of the night.  The next morning, later than planned as they all overslept, the Outlanders left the village and followed the road to Goebblein.

June 20, 18 IC

The Outlanders arrived at the city of Goebblein mid-afternoon.  Approaching from the south along the road through the apple orchards, the Outlanders were able to get a good look at the city before arriving.  Built across a tall hill, Goebblein allowed the Outlanders to see many of the buildings on this side of the hill, including a building painted completely white – possibly another temple of the Crystal Brotherhood.

The Outlanders took a ferry across the Havel River and arrived at the city gate.  They questioned one of the City Guards at the gate for a good place to stay and he recommended they hire Zeroun Seven-Fingers, a dragoman of some repute, and gave directions to the Nine Knuckle Grogshop where they could find him.  They followed the directions to the Nine Knuckle Grogshop and found Zeroun shooting craps on one of the tables in the back.

After agreeing to payment terms and asking what they were looking for, Zeroun took the Outlanders on a short tour of the city, leading to The Tower at Goebblein, the best hotel in the city.  Dangar attracted the manager’s attention quickly by slamming down a sack full of coins on the check-in desk and asking for a room.  After a short explanation of room rates, the Outlanders secured the top floor suite of rooms and paid for a week’s stay in gold.  The hotel manager personally escorted the Outlanders to the private pub reserved for those occupying the highest quality suites and asked them to wait while their rooms were prepared.  While drinking the finest the pub had to offer (complimentary, of course), the Outlanders arranged for Zeroun to return in a few hours, after they had cleaned up from their trip and were ready to see the city.

After a relatively short wait, the Outlanders were escorted to their suite.  Rather than having to climb stairs to the 10th floor, the manager took them to a door in a small sub-lobby.  Showing them their “key”, a magical pass token, he touched it to a brass plate on the wall.  There a small chime sounded and a pair of doors beside the plate slid sideways into the wall, exposing a 10 ft by 10 ft room.

The manager and the Outlanders stepped inside where the manager explained that this room was a magical conveyance called an “elevator” and pressed the upper of a set of two buttons on the wall beside the doors.  The doors closed and there was another chime (this one higher in pitch), followed by a short sense of movement.  Then the doors re-opened and instead of the sub-lobby they had entered from, there was an entry hall with an ornate set of double doors at the far end.

Stepping into the entry hall, the manager explained that they and the elevator had been teleported to the entry area for their suite on the 10th floor.  He led the Outlanders to the double doors and touched the key to a brass plate set into the right-hand door.  There was a beep and the sound of a bolt sliding back.  The manager then opened the door and showed the Outlanders the suite of rooms they had paid for.

The suite had four sleeping rooms, each with a different decorating theme and large windows providing spectacular views around the western half of the floor.  The rooms opened onto a central sitting room which had a small wet bar (freshly stocked), a set of “call tubes” that connect to the concierge’s desk, and floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls, providing a view along the entire southeast quarter of the floor.  There was a dining room in the northeast quarter of the floor, also with floor to ceiling windows.  Finally, there was a spacious bathing room with numerous amenities.  Completely surrounding the rooms of the suite was a covered patio with numerous chairs and small tables.  The patio was accessible from each sleeping room, a door in the south wall of the sitting room, and a set of large glass double-doors in the dining room.  The entire suite area was magically kept at a comfortable temperature, with controls built into a statue of Serapha, Goddess of Weather, in the sitting room.  Each sleeping room also had individual temperature controls.  All of the windows had a brass strip next to them that, when touched, controlled the opacity of the glass.

After showing the Outlanders the features of the suite, the manager excused himself and left the Outlanders in a mild state of shock.  Eventually the shock at the opulence wore off and, after dividing up the sleeping rooms, the Outlanders stashed their gear, bathed, and prepared for a night on the town.

At seven-bells-after-noon, Zeroun returned to the Tower and met the Outlanders in the private pub.  Over the next several hours, Zeroun led them to a series of excellent eating and drinking establishments.  Two significant events happened during this time.  The first happened at a bar where there was wagering on fights.  The fighting happened on the lower floor while the drinking patrons sat on the upper or balcony floor.  Dangar decided to participate and headed down to the lower floor.

[There is a gap in my notes about what happened.  The copy of notes I have might not be the final version, but it is the latest I still have.]

The second event happened on the way back to the Tower.  The adventurers ran into two groups of temple acolytes shouting insults at each other, obviously working themselves up to fight each other.  One group of acolytes seemed to be followers of Horne, God of War, and the other of Mithra the Huntress.  Surprisingly, the Outlanders decided to avoid getting involved and had Zeroun guide them safely around the fight and back to The Tower.

Session Ends.

NPCs Met

Zeroun Seven-Fingers – Dragoman in Goebblien.  Usually found at the Nine Knuckle Grogshop on Short Street.  Friendly and urbane, he knows the town’s best eating and drinking places.

Happening Off-Stage

[Nothing in my notes, but the 5th Imperial Legion was marching en masse south from Loforch, through Tusmit and Thuringia, on their way to engage the Goblinoid Hordes.]

DM Discussion

[Mostly a traveling session, I was able to introduce the Crystal Brotherhood as a new religious faction and establish the tensions in Goebblein between the temples of Horne and Mithra.  The Crystal Brotherhood are a background issue that I was introducing for much later adventures.]

[25 years later, I just realized I missed the opportunity to call it a "televator".  Sigh.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page 

Road to Thuringia

Previous session: Session 1 

Next Session: Session 3 [not edited yet]

Tim's Outlanders: Road to Thuringia, Session 1 - May 26 to June 13, 18 IC

[The Outlanders receive an assignment from The Faceless Five.]

[This session took place July 7, 2001.  We were playing Champions 4th 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

Max Lucas - male human ranger from the Bayern District

Rory the Red - Wizard and graduate of Outlands University, traveling companion to Tarquin

Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert

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

 

Session Begins, May 26, 18 IC

Tim's Outlanders returned to Freegate from Mansion of Illusion. [Actual session notes covering this are missing.]

While splitting the loot and receiving their pay from Monteflurio, Tim was summoned before the Faceless Five, the rulers of Freegate. The Faceless Five tasked the Outlanders to go to the city of Goebblein in the Grand Duchy of Thuringia.  There they were to observe the Imperial Crendian 5th Legion as it marched past and verify the Imperial Legion proceeded southeast, into the Plains of Syrak.  If the Legion instead marched southwest, towards Freegate, the Outlanders were to “persuade it otherwise”.  They were also to report on any unusual things they observed on their travels.

After some negotiations Tim accepted the job in exchange for 50 gold Ryals and the patent on Tim’s Double Distilled.  He could not secure a lifting of the Ban on possession of TDD inside the city as the Faceless Five did not want anything that destructive anywhere near where they lived.  Two additional people were assigned to the Outlanders for this mission – Malwyn, a military expert, and Darkfox, a “security expert”.

Over the next two days the Outlanders prepared to leave on their assignment.  Dangar put down 50 gp on a new set of armor and banked another 40 gp in a bank.  Max also placed 25 gp in a bank.  [Somewhere I have the names of the banks in question, I just cannot find them right now.]

The Outlanders left Freegate May 29th on horseback.  They headed north, following the trails toward Thuringia.  The adventuring group was comprised of the following people:

• Tim
• Dangar Stonekleaver
• Max Lucas
• Rory the Red
• Malwyn
• Darkfox

June 13, 18 IC

After crossing the plains claimed by the nomadic Horse Lords for nearly two weeks, the adventurers realized something in the tall grasses was following them.

That Night

The Outlanders were awakened by those on watch when Dangar was attacked by some sort of plains lions with two large tentacles protruding from their backs. The beasts were difficult to hits as their images were somehow displaced from their actual locations. Dangar named them “squid-kitties”, a name that stuck [much to my chagrin]. During the attack, the Outlanders killed two of the beasts before driving the rest away. While injuries amongst the adventurers were generally light, healing potions were used to keep everyone in top form.

End of Session.

 

Happening Off-Stage

[As it was early summer, the Horse Lords were in their northern pastures nearly a thousand miles to the north and the Outlanders would not encounter them.]

[Montiflurio, now possessing one of the Sorcerer-King Rods of Rulership, started the process of bonding it to him. Once this process is complete, he will be able to tap the same vast amounts of power the Sorcerer-Kings did. Montiflurio started experiencing a level of paranoia during this process and he cut off all social ties while he “reviews his findings from his last expedition”. This whole process will take several months to complete.]

 

DM Discussion

[So I finally went through my complete pile of disassociated files saved from the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2014 and discovered that I’ve lost the session notes for the final sessions of the Mansion of Illusions adventure. The Road to Thuringia is the next adventure, but starts after the PCs made it back to Freegate. I might have a hard copy print out, but I have to move furniture to get where those are kept and that’s not happening anytime soon.]

[In this adventure, Arturo’s player returned to playing his original character, Tim. Two new players joined the group at this point, playing Malwyn and Darkfox. They were friends of mine from college who moved to the Houston area for work and were looking for a game to join. They are a regular fixture of the group from this point on. Tarquin’s player switched to playing Rory the Red to learn how magic worked in the Hero System.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page 

Road to Thuringia

Previous Session: Mansion of Illusions, Session 6

 

Next Session: Session 2 [not edited yet]

In Search Of –Session 1 – Escape Anjer!

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a month.  This session happened March 28, 2026.]

[Like the Sudden Sea campaign, this adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, 30 years after the events of Tim’s Outlanders and roughly con-current with the Sudden Sea Campaign.]

Player Characters

Devorah Orna of Freegate – female gnome mechanist from Freegate

Halfrijd Iceflayer of Clan Worldfist – female dwarf axe master from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Ath’ir – male human “tracker” from "lots of places"

Jorunn the Turtle – male human wizard with turtle-based spells from Freegate

Shaes – male elf storm wizard from Freegate, name pronounced shĀ-Ehss

Bertulf of Druuna – male human cleric of Druuna the Protector from Tusmit

Not Available this Session

Enoder Gribbin – male Tolk “field researcher”

 

May 12, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

The recently founded group of adventurers were riding pell-mell down a street in Anjer, the only city in County Silverloc and part of the Gnome Protectorate.  They had secured the box containing the McGuffin ™ they had been hired to secure and were now fleeing the wrath of the security they had thwarted to get the case – ninjas!

Bertulf was driving the wagon by virtue of being the only one able to drive a 4-wheeled wagon.  The speed they were going and the turns necessary to stay on the winding road were beyond his actual abilities, but anyone else would have been worse.  There were ten or more ninja security from the site they took the McGuffin from running along the roof-tops to either side of the road with more appearing ahead.  Innocent bystanders were shrieking and diving out of the way of the barely controlled wagon as it raced to the city gate.

Combat Starts

Ath’ir was braced in the back of the wagon, waiting for a target to shoot with his heavy bow.  Halfrijd had her great axe at the ready to deflect any incoming ranged attacks.  Shaes cast his Lightning Barrier spell [Force Field] while Bertulf drove as well as he could.  [Then the GM remembered the ninjas should have gone already.]  Three ninjas jumped from the roof tops and landed on the left side of the hurtling wagon, swinging their hack swords at Jorunn, Devorah, and Shaes while three others flung entangle bombs at the right side of the wagon.  Jorunn took damage from being attacked, Devorah was significantly injured and stunned, while Shaes’ protective spell shrugged off all the damage.  Devorah quickly shrugged off being stunned.  Halfrijd deflected two of the three thrown entangle bombs, protecting Ath’ir and Bertulf, but was caught in the third entangle bomb’s explosion of sticky threads [3DEF, 3d6 Entangle, Area of Effect: 1 hex – rolled only 2 Body].  Jorunn cast an exploding turtle spell at a ninja on a rooftop ahead of the cart, bounced it off the building into the dirt in front of the horse pulling the group’s wagon, causing Bertulf to reign in the panicking beast [spending his only Hero Point to make the roll].  Ath’ir stopped holding his action and shot one of the ninjas still running along the rooftops, killing the ninja with a shot to the head!

[Post Segment 12 Recovery]

Ath’ir drew again and shot the ninja attacking Devorah, hitting it in the arm.  Halfrijd, through supreme effort [pushing her Strength] was just able to break free from the entangling strands wrapped around her.  On the left side of the cart, the ninjas hanging on attacked.  One attacked Shaes to no effect, one attempted to grab the McGuffin from Devorah’s backpack [where it was sticking out slightly] and mis-judged his grab, grabbing Devorah in a very inappropriate location before jerking his hand back and apologizing for doing so.  The third ninja slashed Jorunn’s leg, wounding the Turtle Wizard.  The ninja Jorunn had targeted with his spell threw an entangle grenade in response, missed Jorunn but hit Halfrijd instead [due to grenade scatter diagram].  Two ninjas on the rooftop on the right used Flying Claws to attack [metal claws on the end of chains, giving them 7 m of reach], one hitting and stunning Ath’ir, the other wounding Bertulf.  Bertulf was trying to navigate a turn at this point and failed, banging the left side of the wagon on a building that jutted out into the street, dislodging the apologizing ninja, who fell to the ground and disappeared in the dust.  Shaes cast a Lightning Strike at the bands entangling Halfrijd, freeing the dwarf.

Ath’ir shook off the effect of being stunned.  Halfrijd used the long handle on her axe to attack and kill the ninja on the wagon attacking Jorunn.  A ninja on the rooftop used its flying claw to hit Ath’ir and temporarily knocked the tracker unconscious.  Another used its flying claw to hit and minorly injure Halfrijd while a third hit Bertulf to no effect.  Jorunn was targeted by an entangle grenade thrown from the rooftops and successfully entangled.  Bertulf failed to gain control of the wagon, which ground to a stop after side-swiping a storefront.  Shaes attempted to cast his Knock spell to release Jorunn but was unable to do so.  [He blew his spell roll.]  Jorunn tried to break free on his own to zero effect while Devorah activated her sonic wave-inator, injuring a nearby ninja.

Ath’ir struggled to regain consciousness. [He started a recovery.]  Halfrijd attacked the ninja threatening Shaes, but the ninja blocked her attack!  Ninjas up on the right-side rooftop flung their flying claws at Bertulf and Halfrijd, hitting and wounding both while other ninjas ran to get into better positions or waited for better targets.  Pausing in his attempt to control the now stopped wagon, Bertulf cast a Ward of Defense on his companions [+2DEF Force Field with linked +2DCV] and then worked to get the wagon moving again.  With the wagon more stable, Shaes was able to cast his Knock spell on the entangle holding Jorunn and freed the turtle wizard.  Jorunn returned the favor, hitting the ninja adjacent to Shaes with an exploding turtle, deeply knocking out the ninja.  One of the ninjas waiting decided Jorunn was a good target and threw another entangle grenade at the turtle wizard, entangling the Jorunn again.  Devorah, deciding two can play that game, pulled some components from her belt pouches, assembled her own entangling device and hurled it at the offending ninja, successfully entangling the ninja.

[Post Segment 12 Recovery]

Ath’ir, having regained consciousness, stood back up and shot one of the attacking ninjas in the head, killing the ninja.  The ninja that blocked Halfrijd returned the attack, hitting her in the arm for minimal effect [I rolled very low damage].  Halfrijd swung back and cut the ninja in half across the vitals.  Suddenly seeing her as the threat she was, three of the ninjas attacked Halfrijd with their flying claws, all hitting but to little avail.  [Combination of low damage rolls and poor hit locations.]  Bertulf swung his mace at a ninja but missed, but managing to get the wagon moving again.  Shaes attempted to cast Knock again to free Jorunn but was not able to make it happen.  Jorunn attempted to break free to little effect.  Devorah turned back to her Sonic Wave-inator, knocking the last ninja on the cart unconscious.  The unconscious ninja fell off the cart and under the wagon wheels to his demise.

Ath’ir shot at one of the ninjas pursuing the wagon on the rooftops, aiming high, and killed the ninja with a headshot.  Halfrijd waited for another target for her axe.  When the ninjas attacked the adventurers, Halfrijd interrupted one, hitting and wounding the ninja on its shoulder.  That ninja just missed its attack on Halfrijd.  Two others wanted to bind up the turtle wizard and Bertulf with entangle grenades.  The one on Jorunn missed the wagon entirely while his companion dropped his grenade at his feet and entangled himself.  Bertulf was unable to keep the wagon under control and it scraped along a building.  Shaes successfully cast his Knock spell, freeing Jorunn again.  Jorunn promptly cast an exploding turtle at one of the ninjas on an adjoining building and knocked that ninja out [plus doing 6 BODY].  Devorah waited for a better target as the area was temporarily free of ninja targets [the ninja were roof-running away from the edge to catch up with the wagon while not presenting themselves as targets].

Ath’ir and Halfrijd waited for threats to present themselves.  Three ninjas moved to the roof edge and attacked with flying claws, hitting Jorunn once and Ath’ir twice to zero effect.  Ath’ir decided that these ninjas were not threats and turned his back on them as the wagon accelerated.  Bertulf, finally seeing the gate courtyard ahead, attempted one more steering correction, overcompensated, and flipped the wagon on its side!  As the wagon turned onto its side, Devorah and Ath’ir took the opportunity to get last attacks in on the ninjas, Devorah knocking out one and Ath’ir winging another.  The adventurers were shaken from the crash with Ath’ir struggling to retain consciousness.  [Ath’ir was at 0 STUN but made a CON roll to stay conscious.]  Shaes stood up and then waited in the cover of the tipped over wagon.  Jorunn stood up and summoned a flying turtle to ride on.  Devorah activated her Flight Rings and skittered along the ground 22 meters, trying to reach the courtyard.  [In hindsight, this was her going a second time in the same phase and she should not have been able to do that.]  Halfrijd performed a kip-up maneuver and moved forward to follow the gnome.  Ninjas on the rooftops hopped down and closed in on the gnome.

[Post Segment 12 Recovery]

Ath’ir stood up and shot one of the ninjas around Devorah in the arm, stunning the ninja.  Halfrijd charged to close the distance and killed one of the remaining ninjas around Devorah, cutting the ninja in half, bottom to top.  She then yelled out “You’re Next!”  This impressed the remaining ninjas…and drew the attention of all the people in the exit courtyard down at the end of the street.  The remaining ninja grabbed Devorah to act as a shield against the dwarf’s fury.  Bertulf attempted to cast Mass Healing on the adventurers still near the wagon plus the injured horse, but dropped his holy symbol.  Shaes cast his Knock spell on a nearby ninja, blowing the ninja’s armor and clothes clean off.  Jorunn flew up 4 meters and cast his turtle attack spell at a ninja but missed.  Devorah broke free from the ninja holding her.

Ath’ir verbally insulted a nearby ninja and walked towards the end of the street.  Halfrijd attacked the ninja that grabbed Devorah and cut the ninja’s leg clean off at the thigh.  The ninjas made a final push to stop the adventurers from escaping.  Shaes was hit [to little effect], Ath’ir was hit [also to little effect], and Halfrijd was hit twice, once to minimal effect and once a solid wound to the chest.  Bertulf recovered his holy symbol from under the crashed wagon.  Shaes cast his teleport spell, appeared adjacent to a ninja, and cast lighting at the ninja, knocked the ninja very unconscious.  Jorunn swooped down and grabbed Bertulf as he flew by, hauling the cleric with him towards the exit courtyard.  Devorah used her Flying Rings to fly up, out of the reach of ninjas, and towards the courtyard.

The adventurers continued moving individually into the courtyard, where the people there let them pass.  The ninjas peeled off to avoid any official notice of their activities.  At the gate on the far side of the courtyard was Enoder, working diligently to convince the guards to let the adventurers exit the city.

[Post Segment 12 Recovery – the fight is over]

The adventurers, injured and bloodied (not all of it their blood) were questioned by the guards.  After a short while the guards, who were suspicious but had no actual orders to stop the adventurers, let the adventurers pass through the gate and to the airport outside the city walls.

The airport consisted of several large fields with anchor towers for airships with a white picket fence all the way around.  It was under direct control of the Gnome Consortium and considered neutral ground for people concerned about such things [like the adventurers and the ninjas].  The party’s ride out of the area was the passenger airship Stormlight, which was ready to go as soon as they got on board.  Once on board, the party was able to heal with Bertulf’s magic and got somewhat cleaned up.  The flight north to Freegate took two days.

 

May 14, 56 IC

The Stormlight arrived at Freegate’s airport, a much larger and built-up facility on the western rim of the canyon.  The adventurers met their contact at a tavern near the airport and turned over the McGuffin.  Once satisfied the contents were inside, their contact paid them 70 gp and told them to meet him tomorrow at the Sleeping Shrieker in the Adventurer’s Quarter to discuss another job.

End of session

 

Commentary

[When running the wagon chase, I had a sectional map.  As the wagon moved to the next map section, I randomly rolled to see if the new section turned right, went straight, or turned left.  This was to represent that the PCs did not know this town, only that this street led to the exit gate closest to the airport.  This simulated the non-linear layout of medieval streets well and kept the tension high.  In fact, the players commented they liked the verisimilitude it provided.]

[Once the party made it to the courtyard I wrapped things up quickly as it was getting late and most of the players had to drive home.  I awarded 2 experience points and allowed the players to tweak their characters based on what they learned in this shakedown session, which was one of the reasons to start with a chase scene.  It let the players learn where there were gaps in their characters or where things did not work the way they thought they did without heavy story consequences.]

[It will be about a month until the next game.  That should give me time to re-write the job the PCs are getting hired for based on how the characters worked in this shakedown.  I have concerns about sending the PCs to do a subtle interrogation of a retired government official, but a breaking into his personal museum to steal some things?  That should be right up this groups alley.]

 

In Search Of Adventures

Last session: None

 

Next session: Session 2 [Not yet played]

 

 

Status Update - Early 2026

Sorry about the longer than expected down time.  It turned out I needed more time away from weekly updates than expected, plus some Real Life stuff was going on as well.  The Real Life stuff is mostly under control right now and we are working on a more permanent solution to the issue.  If you want to help, maybe purchase a copy of my RPG, Adventures in the Green?  I've just reduced the price on Book I and Book II to $6 each.  I don't have a Patreon of Kofi account, so this is currently the only way to get me some help and I would greatly appreciate it.

In the meantime, I've paused my playtest game using Adventures in the Green, partly because I've accomplished everything I wanted to do as a playtest but mostly because I ran out of ideas on where to go next, story-wise.  I'll eventually figure something out and resume that campaign, possibly with a time jump over the part I'm having issues with.

To keep that group together, I'm starting a new campaign.  I polled the players what they might be interested in and the majority wanted to use the HERO System rules for whatever happened next.  One player bowed out as he is not fond of that system, but offered assistance if I needed non-system specific help.

I decided I did not want to create yet another new setting, so after brainstorming for a while I decided to place it in the same world as my Sudden Sea campaign, but in a different location.  I also decided that this campaign would have a fixed end and not be a forever campaign.  I settled on a search for lost treasure at the behest of an unknown patron.  I then worked out how the treasure got lost and where.  From that I'm working backwards for the storyline and clues.  I've revised the background twice already and after the first session (a prequel shakedown) I realized I need to rework the beginning of the actual adventure some to mesh better with the PCs skills and capabilities.  I think I'll be doing this all the way through so the PCs are most engaged with events.  Keep an eye out for session notes for In Search Of to see how it goes.

Later!

Taking the Next Two Weeks Off

I'm taking the next two weeks off, so no blog posts until the first full week of January 2026.

Enjoy the end of the year and see everyone in the new year!

The Siege and Investiture of Freegate - Official Report

After marching for weeks, the Great Horde arrived at Freegate.  For days the massive dust plume from the Horde marched closer to the city.  Each night the ruddy glow from their massed campfires lit larger and larger portions of the night sky.  The glow of the fires was counter-pointed by the weird glows that occasionally lit the ancient walls of Zentil Keep [a small castle within the walls of Freegate] where the University wizards had painted giant copper glyphs.  The mood in the city see-sawed between confident optimism and sullen stoicism.

The day and night before the Horde came into view, swarms of giant bats could be seen performing aerial reconnaissance along the canyon sides, occasionally being attacked by ranged spellfire from the city.  When the Horde finally came into view on the 12th of September, it became obvious to all that the Horde had split in two and was marching up both sides of the mile-wide canyon Freegate was in the center of.  It took a full day for the Horde to move into position, during which time the last of the refugees entered the city and the University chose to activate the city’s magical defenses.

Two-thirds of all the wizards in the city gathered at Zentil Keep to perform a massive ritual spell that would take six hours to complete.  As the casting began, the glyphs on the Keep started to glow stronger and more vividly.  After three hours of casting, pulses of light started travelling down copper cables strung from the walls of the Keep to the walls of the City.

At this point the Horde launched a massive air assault of bat riders on the city to disrupt the casting.  Those wizards not part of the ritual, including Tim, were on watch for such an attempt and responded with a mass volley of spellfire.  Most of the attacking goblin batriders were killed in the initial volley and those that did not immediately turn and fly away were killed in the follow up volleys.  The townspeople and the Freegate Guard let out a mighty cheer at this first victory over the Horde!  Unnoticed by most of the townspeople, while the goblin batriders took massive casualties, the bats themselves took few losses and returned to their mobile roosts.

While the part of the Horde on the western canyon wall continued to invest the Mountain Gate barbican, the eastern part of the Horde slowed, allowing part of it to race forward and rush the Sun Gate barbican.  The celebrations in Freegate died quickly when this avante garde appeared.  It consisted of hundreds of the lizardriders lead by an apparent dragon!  [At this point in the world dragons had not been seen for several millennia and most considered them long disappeared if not fully extinct.]  The City Guard at the Sun Gate barbican braced for the assault as best they could.  The dragon literally slammed into the barbican, knocking everyone in it to the ground and damaging the fortifications.  It then breathed fire across the battlements, ending any questions about it being a dragon.  After this the lizardriders swarmed over the breaches in the walls, seeking to overwhelming the defenders.

Fearing the eastern approaches would be lost, the Commander of the City Guard authorized the limited use of Tim’s Double Distilled (TDD) in the defense of the barbican.  Due to range limitations, the TDD had to be deployed from on the East Bridge itself.  Members of the High Energy Thaumatics department, supported by Tim’s Outlanders, left the eastern gate of the city and advanced along the East Bridge carrying three bottles of TDD.  Moving from building to building along the East Bridge, the group advanced into range of a telekinetic spell attack.

With the defenders in the barbican being overrun by the goblin lizardriders and the dragon repeatedly slamming into the barbican, Tim himself levitated the first bottle of TDD into the fray.  Attempting to position the bottle near the dragon for remote detonation (one of the other wizards would shoot it with a fireball), Tim was caught unawares when the dragon shifted attack mode and breathed fire on the top of the barbican.  The bottle of TDD was caught in the backwash of the flames and detonated.  The resulting explosion knocked stone off the barbican, deafened everyone in or near the barbican, stunned the dragon, and panicked the lizards the goblins were riding.  Many of the defenders and the goblins were either stunned or knocked unconscious, ending the fighting going on outside the barbican.  Those goblins inside the barbican were quickly overpowered and killed by the defenders who had been shielded from the explosion somewhat by the stone walls.

Outside, the dragon shrugged off the effects of the blast while the lizardriders regained control of their mounts.  They then moved to attack the barbican again.  Tim, realizing only one of the wine bottles of TDD was not enough, tied the remaining two together.  He then had a delayed fireball cast on one of the bottles and levitated both bottles at the dragon.  Not being able to get a good line of sight on where he wanted the bottles to go, Tim had one of the other wizards lift him higher so he could see better.  While providing a better vantage point, this also drew attention to Tim who was now a brightly glowing target.  The dragon noticed Tim and chose to breath fire at him just as Tim brought the bottles in front of it and the timer on the delayed fireball ran out.

The explosion from the two bottles detonating flipped the dragon tail-over-snout and nearly destroyed the barbican as well, knocking stones off the upper works.  Fortunately, this also completely panicked the goblins and their mounts, which fled back to the rest of the Horde.  The dragon itself, seeing Tim still floating in the air (but not knowing he was stunned from the explosion) decided to leave as well to recover from the pummeling it had just received.  The wizards lowered Tim and the group moved forward to assist the surviving defenders.  The Commander of the City Guard immediately passed an edict stating that TDD was not to be used within 300 yards of friendly units, ever.

Over the next two hours, survivors from the barbican were pulled out of the rubble.  Members of the University Department of Elemental Magics moved forward and worked on repairing some of the damage to the barbican and stabilizing the rest.  Reinforcements were sent to re-man the barbican and Tim’s Outlanders were stationed there with a small supply of TDD and strict orders on when and where they could use it.  The eastern half of the Horde marched closer to the city, apparently choosing to finish investing the city rather than lose more units in rushed attacks.

As the Horde's siege engines were moved into place, they started firing at the barbican.  At the same time, ground units of the Horde started chanting their battle cries on both sides of the canyon, psyching themselves up for a final attack on the barbicans before the city’s magical defenses were up.  Orders or not, Tim used telekinesis to start sending bottles of TDD at the Horde's siege engines before detonating the bottles at range, beginning a long-range artillery duel.  After 30 minutes of intense bombardments, the Horde's attack was held off until the defense ritual in the city completed and a golden dome of force enclosed the top of the mesa, protecting the city and the University.

Once the magical defenses were in place, the barbican defenders at both rims staged fighting retreats along the bridges, back to the city.

 

[Flight of the Bottles – Every mage with TK levitated containers of TDD to the Western Rim.    Once over the Horde, every mage with a fireball spell fired on the containers, detonating the TDD within.    This broke the moral of the portion of the Horde on the Western Rim and they staged a revolt against the shamans.    Then they fled west into the mountains.]

The Siege

With the rim defenses abandoned, the Horde pressed in on both sides and took control of the smashed fortifications.  The Horde's troops started to advance along the two bridges to the city, only to discover ambush troops hidden in the buildings along the bridges, inflicting heavy losses on the advancing troops and slowing them down.

Over the next several days, as the fighting gradually made its across the bridges, the Wizards of Outlands University stepped up.  Combined attacks by units of wizards either killed the Horde troops on the bridges or pushed them off the bridges and let gravity do the dirty work.  This heavily bolstered the morale of the city.  Unfortunately, the Wizards knew this was unsustainable - eventually they would run out of reagents for their magics and then the Horde would have the numbers to break one or both sets of gates into the city itself.

This gave rise to a plan of desperation - the Arch Chancellor of the University authorized the mass distillation of Tim's Double Distilled.  This consumed all of the alcohol inside the city [at least all that could be found].  The mass of Double Distilled was used to fill as many glass or ceramic bottles and jugs as the University could procure.  While this happened, scrolls of extended telekinesis were mass produced as delivery systems.

The Flight of the Bottles

Four days later, in the early morning before the daily assault along the bridges by the Horde, while their warriors gathered near the entrance to the western bridge, tens of Wizards along the western walls of the city cast the extended telekinesis spell from the scrolls and as one, each lifted and sent clusters of bottles of Tim's Double Distilled across the gap between the city and the rim until the bottle floated over the massed goblinoids.  Then one Wizard launched a fireball at center of the massed bottles, triggering a chain-reaction detonation of all the bottles over the western half of the Horde.

The resulting airburst was devastating.

Hundreds if not thousands of goblinoid warriors were killed outright [plus an unfortunate number of the enslaved population of the Bayern District and other places south].  Squadrons of batriders were swatted out of the sky.  All of the immense rolling buildings the Horde had brought all the way from the Great Swamp were destroyed or set on fire.  The stone fortifications on the rim were heavily damaged, portions blown over into the chasm below.  Western-facing windows in the city [over a mile away] were damaged or destroyed.  Few of the defenders along the wall were injured because they had been warned to hide.  [But of course some didn't heed the warning because they thought they knew better than wizards and self-selected themselves out of the gene pool.]  Fire, smoke, and dust rose over the western rim of the chasm.

An hour later, another flight of bottles rose and started its way across the chasm, towards the besiegers on the western rim.  Many of the warlords on that side took one look at the new wave of approaching bottles and said, "Nope."

Ignoring [and occasionally killing] the shaman leadership of the Horde trying to get them to stay, the warlords turned their troops west and fled the area at best speed.  Nearly 50% of the Horde on this side of the chasm broke and ran, heading for the mountains to the west-southwest of the city [an extension of the Worldspine Mountains known as The Spur].  The remainder, barely held together by the religious leadership, flooded onto the bridge, hoping to close with the city and escape the deadly explosion that was immanent.

Seeing this, the Wizard in charge of the attack cast his fire spell early, detonating the bottles before they were all over the rim.  This airburst killed thousands of warriors and gouged a huge chunk out of the rim wall itself.  Those goblinoids on the bridge were blasted clean off, their bodies falling  down into the chasm below, where the things down there ate well.

This second attack broke the morale of the warlords of the Horde.  Those on the eastern rim organized their troops and headed northwest, towards the next target on their Grand Quest, the city of Crendia, capital of the Crendian Empire.  Any shaman that objected to the Horde leaving Freegate suddenly found themselves on the wrong end of multiple spears or pincushioned by many arrows.  The smart ones kept silent, accepting the defeat.  They could regain control over the Horde later.  Those goblinoids on the western rim still loyal to the Grand Quest [a significantly reduced number] packed up and headed north to march around the northern end of the chasm and eventually meet up with the eastern half of the Horde.  The rest fled to the mountains.

The Wizards breathed a sigh of relief.  They could not have done a third wave, having used up 90% of the alcohol in the city in these two attacks and virtually all the bottles available. The resulting celebrations in the city consumed the remaining 10% of alcohol [previously very well hidden away] until more could be brewed or distilled.

DM Discussion

[So this version includes the original writeup of the event I finally found in my pile of unidentified files coupled with the summary I wrote from memory.  My original writeup was detailed about the Horde arriving but only had a short summary of the Flight of the Bottles, which I embroidered on at the actual session.  It also reminded me the Flight of the Bottles happened on the western side, not the eastern side.  I had also forgotten about the magical defenses of the city and that a dragon appeared, breaking a secret about the world - dragons still exist.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Against the Horde

Session 5

Mansion of Illusions

Session 1

Missing Session Notes

So at this point I've looked through all the files I recovered from my hard drive crash in 2014 and I do not have any further session notes for the Mansion of Illusions adventure.  It is possible I might have more on a CD backup I made with previous computers, but those are even longer odds.

Right now I'm torn between continuing on with the next Tim's Outlanders adventure arc or switching back to the more current Sudden Sea campaign.  I'll make the decision tonight as for multiple reasons we are not gaming tonight.