[December 9 – King's Secretary and the beginning of the Guild Tryouts, Vorgand’s first two duels.]
[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement. This session happened February 7, 2022.]
Player Characters:
Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows
Ozrel the Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician
Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer
Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild
Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates
Non-Player Characters:
Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild
Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild
Unit: Z0-E – Zarek’s first golem, looks like a fox made of iron
Medea Bartok – Secretary to the King
Moonday, December 9th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Morning
While attending classes at The Blooded, the Kingdom of Aegea’s military academy, Vorgand was approached by an academy messenger who informed her she had a guest in the Visitor’s Building. Vorgand finished the exercise she was doing and then went over to the Visitor’s Building.
[The Blooded is a military academy that trains those who will be officers in the Aegean Army. Most are children the from the nobility who are not expected to inherit the family lands, but there are also those from mercantile families and the occasional commoner who showed talent. As those attending are not expected to be (directly) involved with politics, advancement is merit-based…mostly. Visitors are not allowed to wander the campus for security and safety reasons and must wait at the Visitor’s Building, the public facing area of the academy. The visitor’s building has a large entry area and then smaller private rooms for meetings.]
When Vorgand entered the meeting room she was directed to, she found it occupied my Medea Bartok, Secretary to the King and enactor of Royal Decrees, and her assistant, who Vorgand did not recognize. Addressing Vorgand as Guildmaster, Secretary Bartok got immediately to business. She produced the Deed for the Moon Manor and surrounding property, apologizing somewhat insincerely about the time it had taken for Vorgand’s request to claim the abandoned property to be processed. Vorgand had filed the paperwork to claim the ruins on November 18th [Arc 1, Session 27] and the Guild had expected the process to take several months to complete. Looking at the paperwork barely three weeks later, Vorgand noticed the date of approval under the Royal Seal was November 22nd. That was only four days after the paperwork had been submitted and the day before the elves had arrived in the city. Interesting.
With that bit of business complete, Secretary Bartok then stated she was aware that Vorgand’s guest for the Royal Winter Ball [Clarence] had been sent by his temple to serve in another city. She politely asked if Vorgand had a replacement yet, adding that if not, the King had several suggestions she might choose from. Vorgand allowed that she did not have a replacement for Clarence and was willing to see the list of candidates from the King. Secretary Bartok handed over a page with a list of seven names:
- Victor Yakovovitch, who Vorgand recognized as an applicant to the Delvers Guild.
- Théophile Lothaire Thibault, who Vorgand vaguely recognized as part of the Thibault Family that held the Duchy of Sperrin.
- Fisk Greenling, Vorgand’s personal rival in The Blooded.
- Bellinus Dragonkiller, another Delvers Guild applicant, one Vorgand looked forward to quickly thrashing in the Guild tryouts later that same day and put in his place.
- Three other names that Vorgand did not recognize at all.
Vorgand thanked Secretary Bartok for the King’s interest in her and her guild and would sincerely consider the names on the list. They talked some more after that, but Vorgand completely missed the subtext in the conversation. Secretary Bartok and her assistant left shortly, having many things to still arrange for the ball and Vorgand needed to return to her training.
[There was definitely subtext in their conversation. The King was seeking loyalty from the Delvers Guild for upcoming political conflicts, especially regarding the demands of the elves. The names on the list were either sons of families loyal to the King who were too junior to otherwise attend the ball or scions of families whose loyalty the king was interested in attaining.]
Elsewhere, Ricky spent the morning reading out loud from one of his elven books to Jala as a method to teach her the elven language. He read through the book on magic circles, which was a trifle academic, so there were pauses as he needed to explain some of his translations.
Ozrel spent the morning prowling the parts of the city where pugilists congregated. He spread the word that the Delvers Guild was having an exhibition in the afternoon with the Guildmaster dueling applicants using wooden practice weapons to evaluate their skills. He also sparred with some of the other pugilists in town to get some practice in.
Zarek spent the morning at the Guildhall testing various magic items the group had brought back from their expeditions but not identified yet. After doing that for a couple hours, he spent the rest of the morning training Unit: Z0-E. Before lunch he sent Z0-E out to the blacksmith he had trained under with instructions to give the blacksmith a high five.
12:30 PM
Nearly two hours after being sent out, Z0-E returned to the guildhall with the blacksmith’s reply.
1:00 PM
The Delvers Guild tryouts were held at a rented training ground on The Blooded campus [part of a series of open-air pavilions regularly rented out by the academy]. Not expecting much of a crowd, the Guild was charging a nominal fee to watch the exhibition and put Ricky at the entrance to sell tickets. The applicants scheduled to duel Vorgand and the order they would face her were:
- Fadeyka the Saber
- Kettle the Pike
- Victor Yakokovich
- Bellinus Dragonkiller
It turned out that the group had underestimated the interest in the Delvers Guild itself amongst the citizens of the city and a moderate crowd arrived to watch the tryouts, including two bookies with a chalkboard listing the competitors and their odds. In a show of solidarity, each member of the guild put a gold coin down on Jala for each fight and several put another gold coin down for her to sweep the fights. Jala, literally hedging her bets, placed a silver coin on Victor Yakokovich and on Fadeyka the Saber to win. Betting by the other observers was lively.
Fight 1: Fadeyka vs. Vorgand
Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground, each holding a wooden practice sword. Vorgand’s was shaped like a rapier, her preferred weapon, Fadeyka’s like a saber, her namesake.
Fadeyka had a slight edge in starting over Vorgand [they had the same Dexterity but Fadeyka won the roll-off] and charged across the dueling arena to attack. Vorgand made use of the flexibility of her Steel Serpent training and avoided the attack [aborted to a Martial Dodge]. Fadeyka pressed her attack but could not land a blow. Vorgand counterattacked and hit, but it was to the hand and had little effect. Fadeyka resumed slashing at Vorgand, but Vorgand’s defense was too good. Vorgand attempted to strike back and just missed.
Finally Fadeyka was able to land a hit to Vorgand’s chest while Vorgand’s return attack just missed. When Fadeyka slashed again, Vorgand twisted out of the way, not wanting to chance taking another hit [aborted to Martial Dodge again]. Fadeyka decided to back up 8 meters and wait for Vorgand to approach her. When Vorgand followed [needing to push her Running to do so] and attacked, Fadeyka dodged the attack.
Vorgand gained the initiative and put everything into her attack, landing a blow to the vitals, stunning Fadeyka. Fadeyka had a moment to shake off being stunned, but this allowed Vorgand to land another solid blow, hitting Fadeyka on the shoulder and temporarily knocking her out.
The crowd applauded and money changed hands at the bookies. The bookies posted revised odds, favoring Vorgand slightly more in the remaining fights. While that was happening, Vorgand shook hands with Fadeyka [once Fadeyka woke back up] and went back to the sword stand her actual sword rested in. She placed her hand on the sword to surreptitiously access its restorative magic.
Fight 2: Kettle vs. Vorgand
Both combatants stepped into the arena inscribed on the ground. Vorgand held her wooden practice rapier, while Kettle held a long pole, representing the pike he normally used.
Vorgand had the edge over Kettle and decided to wait for him to approach before responding [her Dexterity was higher than his and she held her action]. Kettle approached Vorgand and then used the reach of his “pike” to attack Vorgand. Vorgand used her better reflexes [she used her held action and rolled higher in the Dexterity roll-off] to step in and hit Kettle on the leg. This seemed to throw Kettle off and his attack missed. Realizing she had Kettle out-classed, Vorgand switched tactics. She stepped in close and used her sword as leverage to flip Kettle over, dropping him to the ground. Kettle immediately yielded the fight.
On the sidelines, Victor Yakokovitch had been observing Vorgand as she fought and gained some insight into her Steel Serpent fighting style, something that would help him greatly in the next duel, when it was his turn to face Vorgand. [He made his Analyze Style roll by 8 and so has +2 effective Overall Combat levels against Vorgand in his next fight with her.]
End of Session
Guild Postings
[So this is the beginning of the Delvers Guild tryouts. The first four duels are applicants that Vorgand felt were applying on their martial prowess and she wanted to see how they stacked up. Being able to fight monsters is an important part of delving and her area of expertise. A couple days later in-game there will be additional tryouts, split between those who want to fight with a weapon and those who prefer unarmed combat. This will serve both an in-game purpose and an at-the-table purpose. In-game, the PCs will get a chance to evaluate the actual fighting skill of the applicants in a relatively safe way. At-the-table, we are getting a thorough shakedown in how combat works in the Hero System. We play several different RPGs and most of the players only have a basic knowledge of the Hero System, so this is helping them get the details in place. Even I have learned things about the system I missed or had forgotten and I’ve played it for over 30 years.]
[Some of you might notice that the Guild is getting some very preferential treatment by the King. There are political reasons for this. Vladik the Gamesman took over the throne barely 6 months ago in-game and was not part of the original line of succession, so he is shoring up his support where he can. A new guild that owes him will help if he needs to call a meeting of the Estates (part of the subtext Vorgand missed this session). Additionally, delvers are known to come back from expeditions with lots of loot that can be taxed or gets spent locally, meaning the locals can easily pay their taxes, adding to the royal treasury two ways. Finally, the King is sharp and realizes that the Guild is probably the reason the elves have returned to the city, even if the elves are not aware of it yet. This gives the King a useful pawn when dealing with the elves, who are a bit overbearing in court. If things go too sour, the King can sacrifice the Guild to placate the elves and avoid an invasion, but he’d rather not do that without extreme need.]
Delvers Guild
Arc 1
Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions
Arc 2
Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post
Last Session: Arc 2, Session 1
Next Session: Arc 2, Session 3 [Not Yet Typed Up]
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