[April 28 – Fight Conclusion]
[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened September 4, 2023.]
[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea due to the sinking and flooding of ~374,385 square miles of the Plains of Syrak.]
Player Characters
Sorvia of Stavros – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)
Tharduk Lavabreath – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally
Kadruth Worldbender – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Anomin – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon
Islo Redgrass – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)
Via Roll20
Inserrant – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer
Spring
April 28, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)
Shortly after 11:00 AM
The adventurers were in the midst of being attacked. Islo attempted to break free from the grip of the burly rider, straining to his maximum [pushed his Strength], but the burly rider held him easily.
The female rider, muttering that fighting adventurers was not what she was being paid to do, stopped fighting with Sorvia and ran over to where Tharduk set the postal box on the ground when the riders first approached. She picked up the box and whistled for her horse. Tharduk moved over to the female rider and did a Take Down, dropping her to the ground. The burly rider Crushed Islo in his grip, breaking some ribs, stunning the elf, and knocking the elf unconscious. Anomin, seeing Islo hanging limply in the burly rider’s grip, ignored the mooks near here and moved across the battle field to help Islo. The lead rider stretched his legs to get behind Tharduk and did a Leg Sweep, dropping Tharduk on the ground next to the female rider. Sorvia, shot at the female rider with her heavy bow, hitting the rider in the vitals [with the use of a Hero Point] but for minimal damage. The 5 crossbowmen moved their horses, three to get a shot at Sorvia around the Force Wall Kadruth was maintaining and two to close with Anomin, hoping to shoot and kill the shapeshifter. Sorvia was only hit by one crossbow bolt, but it was low in the back and stunned her. Both crossbow shots at Anomin missed. Kadruth moved close to Sorvia, and then cast another Wall of Force to protect himself, Sorvia, and Inserrant from further attacks by the group of three riders.
Islo stirred slightly in the crushing grip of the burly rider [he recovered from being stunned]. Inserrant continued to sing her song of surrender at the riders [increasing the cumulative total from her Mind Control to 13].
Tharduk failed to kippup, then climbed to his feet and attacked the prone female rider. He swung with all his might [pushing his strength], aiming high [High Shot] on the prone woman, who squirmed to avoid the attack [aborted to a Dodge]. He hit her in the head, wounding, stunning, and knocking her out. She lay prone on the ground. Sorvia regathered her wits [recovered from being stunned]. Anomin, in cougar form, attacked the burly rider holding Islo. The rider dropped the elf to dodge the attack, but Anomin caught him with a deep clawing across the chest. The lead rider, seeing he was having trouble holding Tharduk’s attention, drew his sword and attacked Tharduk with it, slashing the dwarf deeply across the leg. Four of the crossbow riders reloaded their weapons, starting to look a little concerned about how the fight was going. The fifth rider decided to go for the brass ring and rode at the postal box, attempting a grab by on it. He nearly lost his grip and completely lost control of the horse, which decided to flee post haste from the dangerous predator [Anomin in cougar form], leaving the combat with its rider desperately holding onto the saddle. Kadruth moved further south, dropping the recently cast Wall of Force before recasting it for better protection from the three crossbowmen threatening Inserrant and Sorvia.
Islo caught his breath and woke up.
The female rider recovered from being stunned but was still prone in the middle of the fighting. Tharduk turned and punched the lead rider in the head [spending a Hero Point to mover the hit from the hands (6) to the head (5)]. Islo failed to kippup [possibly due to fractured ribs] and instead climbed to his feet. He then moved into the shelter of the two Walls of Force Kadruth was maintaining. The burly rider, in full combat frenzy wrestled with Anomin in her cougar form. She attempted to block the attack but failed and he successfully grabbed her. Sorvia stepped for a better angle and shot the burly rider in the chest. The lead rider stabbed his sword into Tharduk’s chest, stunning and knocking out the dwarf. Two of the crossbowmen moved their horses around the Walls of Force to get shots at the held Anomin and still missed. Another crossbowman shot at Kadruth, who just dodged the attack, while the last crossbowman held his action, looking unsure. Inserrant continued her singing, its effects now weighing heavily on the thoughts of the crossbowmen [cumulative total now 25 on Mind Control]. Inserrant called out an offer to pay the crossbowmen if they switched sides.
[Post 12 Recovery happened.]
Islo steadied his breath, drew his bow, and shot the burly rider in the vitals [with the use of two Hero Points to move it from a leg shot], killing the man and releasing Anomin from his crushing grip.
Tharduk unconsciously recovered his wits while remaining unconscious. Anomin fluidly rolled to her paws, moved to the lead rider and raked him across the legs with her claws. Sorvia now shot at the lead rider who dodged the arrow [aborted to a dodge]. The crossbowmen ask Inserrant if the job offer is still good. She says yes, but the pay was now less. They said “That’s fair,” and surrendered. Kadruth asked the lead rider to surrender, dropping his recent Wall of Force and holding part of his action to see if the leader surrendered.
Islo moved to the unconscious female rider and retrieved the postal box.
The lead rider asked that he and the female rider be allowed to leave with their horses and possessions. After a little back and forth [and the female rider waking up], these terms are accepted. The crossbowmen asked Inserrant what the pay was for escorting the adventurers over to Nomi. She conferred with the others and offered a silver each. They gladly accepted this arrangement. The lead rider and the female rider both mounted their horses and rode away to the west.
When they were gone, Kadruth started casting healing spells on the injured adventurers. Tharduk got into conversation with the crossbowmen and subtly pumped them for information on their employer. He is able to get a name: Viktor Nicabar.
Once everyone was mostly patched up, the group with their newly hired escorts headed east.
Noon
The group approached Nomi, a small walled town that spanned the Cephissus River. The crossbowmen started getting nervous when and asked if they could get paid before entering the town. They would likely get into trouble if they were recognized and planned on fleeing southeast to The Shires. The adventurers did not begrudge them wanting to avoid trouble and paid them. Inserrant used her continuing Mind Control to have the crossbowmen forget her singing, that Anomin shapeshifts, and the details of the adventurers faces before sending them off with a silver coin each.
End of session
Commentary
[So I went to go see my dad and he was in better health than initially reported. Two weeks of physical therapy and no more chemotherapy helped in the recovery from the stroke. I very much enjoyed the time I spent with him.]
[Back home in the Houston area, just as we were ready to have a repair guy work replace the blower fan in our Air Conditioner, which was going bad, it locked up and died. Sigh. We are working on get that fixed ASAP, but don’t know how long that will be. I hoped it would hold out until we had the repair scheduled, but no such luck.]
[As to the game session, things went well. Having a break between sessions in the fight gave me time to remember that the antagonists were there to get the mail, not kill the adventurers. I wanted the female rider to do the grab by with her whip and drag the box away, but she didn’t have her horse anymore and the delay for the horse to arrive let the PCs dog-pile her and keep her from fleeing with the box. The crossbowmen were loyal until it was clear their side was losing, then Inserrant’s Mind Control hit its stride and completely undercut their will to keep fighting.]
[Speaking of Inserrant, I allow players to fiddle with their characters a bit during the first month or so of play. Hero System characters can be complicated and sometimes things don’t work in play the way you thought they would or you forgot things, like skills your character should have. Several characters have done minor tweaks, but Inserrant is doing a major one and will have a higher Speed and Dex going forward as a result. Her player learned that a Speed of 2 allowed for Dodges to last a long time but meant that the cumulative Mind Control was very slow to get to useful numbers. We will see how the revamp works out in the future.]
Sudden Sea Adventures
Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign
Last session: Session 4
Next session: Session 6
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