The Sudden Sea –Session 18

[Night of May 21/22 – Anomin vs. Calliope and Interrogations]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 22, 2024.]

[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea.  The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]

 

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

Yggsday, May 21, 56 I.C.

Night

In the barn in Pedino, Anomin shook off the last of the paralytic poison from the trap protecting the wooden box in the hayloft.  She took the heliograph out of the box and stashed it on her person before transforming back into her crow form.

Anomin flew back to the house the teens reported to, attempting to be quiet, but she landed heavily [rolled terrible on her Stealth check].  Luckily no one seemed to have heard her.  She fluttered down to an open window and snuck inside.

Having better luck indoors, Anomin landed silently on the floor.  She then first transformed back into a human and then into her cougar form.  Now that she could see clearly [neither her crow nor human forms can see in the dark], she realized she was in Calliope’s bedroom with Calliope asleep in the bed.

Anomin moved as silently as the big cat she was over to the door.  The door knob proved to be a challenge to open with no thumbs [she spent 3 Hero Points to improve her roll from complete failure to just a success].  The knob unexpectedly squeaked when Anomin turned it, waking up Calliope.  Anomin hunkered down as Calliope looked around in the darkness.

After a tense moment, Calliope started quietly getting out of bed, carrying a large dagger.  In response, Anomin attempted to crawl under the bed, but Calliope kept the dagger between her and Anomin, apparently able to track the cougar's movements.

With no better option, Anomin swatted at Calliope with her claws retracted to avoid murdering the woman.  Anomin hit her hard in the ribs, probably breaking one or two, and stunned Calliope.  Calliope shook off the stun and tried to catch her breath, one hand holding her injured side.

Anomin followed up with a pulled punch to Calliope’s vitals, knocking the woman unconscious but breaking no additional bones.

Anomin immediately took advantage of Calliope being unconscious to go search the rest of the small house, especially the floor in the corner of the living room.  It took Anomin some time [5 minutes and another Hero Point] to locate the well concealed compartment and lift the floor boards covering it.  Inside was the journal she had seen Calliope making notes in.

Anomin pushed the journal around a bit with her paws until she could get a bite on it and lift it out.  She then padded back to the bedroom window and awkwardly and noisily pushed it the rest of the way open before jumping out through it.

Anomin padded quietly to the edge of Pedino with only one barking dog any the wiser to her presence.  Once past the edge of the village, Anomin set the journal down and returned to her human form.  She secured the book on her person and then shifted back into crow form for the long flight back to the caravan.

In the Caravan Camp

The captured and tied-up bandits, 2 human women and 1 human man, were sat down on the edge of the camp.  Tharduk and Kadruth stood aside to discuss how they were going to question the captives.  While they did this, Inserrant started singing and playing her zills, ostensibly to entertain the caravan guards, but really to hide her casting her Mind Control spell on the captives, giving them the command to “Tell the Dwarves everything.”

Once Tharduk and Kadruth approached the captives, the captives were completely ready to spill the beans on anything the dwarves asked about.  The dwarves learned:

• They do work at the nearby farm to the northwest as cover and for food.
• They are part of the Green Hand.
• They use a heliograph to forward information in the morning to guys at the Watch Rock, so the ambush people know what to expect.
• The Watch Rock is a formation in the hills to the south of the County Road, next to a rock that looks like some guy's nose. 
• The leader of their team was not here now.

That piece of information prompted Islo and Sorvia to immediately go looking for their leader.

The captives continued to tell the dwarves everything:

• They gave the 5 names of people they know in the Green Hand, including themselves and their leader, Nikos.
• They gave a complete description of the other person and where to find them - at the hill fort where ambush guys are from.
• The hill fort holds 40 to 50 people. 
• They provided a description of the fort and its whereabouts.

Tharduk was also able to pick out [using the Conversation skill] that in addition to the hill fort, the Green Hand have their own town hidden in the hills south of the County Road, past the Keramidi cross road.  Kadruth asked why the captives were working with bandits and learned the entire Green Hand were once farmers in areas of County Modon that are now under the Sudden Sea.  As they fled the rising waters, merchants kept swindling them or used thugs to outright steal from them with no repercussions.  Eventually they had enough and formed the Green Hand with the intent of raiding the merchants in kind.

Tharduk and Kadruth indicated they were done questioning the captives to Inserrant, who used her high levels of Mind Control to muddle the captives’ memories of the questioning.  The captives were now convinced that Kadruth used some unspeakable dwarven torture devices on them, so horrible that cannot stand to think about it or remember details.

Out in the Grasses Surrounding the Camp

Islo and Sorvia went back to the blind and followed the tracks of the captives when they approached the blind.  It wasn’t hard as they seemed very confident they would not be seen.  Following the tracks along their approach, they found where a fourth set of tracks split off from the group.  These tracks were a little harder to follow, indicating that their leader had some skill.

At a certain point, the leader had stopped, possibly when the trap in the blind had gone off.  He seemed to be serious about not being seen nor tracked after this point.  They lost the tracks for a bit and spread out to reacquire them.  Islo found a spot where the leader stopped for a bit.  It was near the edge of the camp, close to where the captives were questioned, possibly close enough to hear what was said.  After this the tracks moved away from the camp and Islo and Sorvia lost them again.  The two rangers spread out again, but had no luck picking up the trail again.  Failing to reacquire, they returned to camp.

Back in Camp

Kadruth cast his Force Wall spell and placed it around the captives to hold them in.  When the rangers returned to the camp, the group shared information.

Third Watch

Anomin finally returned to the caravan.  She was able to locate the campsite due to the camp fires.  She shared the  information she had acquired and produced the journal for Kadruth to look at.  While Tharduk brought Anomin up to date on the captives and what they had spilled, Kadruth looked over the journal.  It was in some form of code, but he was fairly certain the first column was a notation of date and time, suggesting the journal was a message log.  He will need some time to attempt a decipher.

Anomin, having been up most of the night, went to sleep and Kadruth covered her watch.

End of session

Commentary

[I think I mentioned that I was awarding Hero Points to the players for turning in their session notes.  If I hadn’t mentioned that, I was doing so.  This helped me greatly when it came time to write the blog entries as they recorded things important to them and their characters that I might have missed.  It also meant I could spend more time running the game and less time writing down what was happening.  I believe the complete rules for the use of Hero Points is in the Pulp Hero genre book from Hero Games.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign

Last session: Session 17

Next session: Session 19

The Sudden Sea –Session 17

[May 18 to 21 – Caravan Guard Work, Lights, and Prisoners]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 8, 2024.]

[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea.  The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]

 

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

Magusday, May 18, 56 I.C.

Tharduk returned to the Merchant Guild with Anomin in crow form.  Tharduk used Guild records to track down the ownership of the farmstead at Pedino, a village west of Mouzaki.  It used to be a waypoint for caravans before the Sudden Sea submerged most of the County.  Pedino officially owes loyalty to the Yorgos, Baron of Mouzaki.

While at the guild, Tharduk went fishing for the next caravan to head west to Grizano.  He wasn’t able to get the information [with all the raiding, the Guild is keeping tighter leash on that information] but he didn't alert anyone that he was looking either [just made his Conversation roll].

Failing at the Guild, Tharduk next went to the regular hiring area for caravan guards and asked around who was hiring.  He eventually tracked down Attor Cerdicson, the leader of the next caravan to leave Mouzaki for Grizano.  He was able to convince Attor that Tharduk’s group were serious bounty hunters with all the capabilities needed.  Once Attor was certain that he will not need to pay Tharduk or his group of bounty hunters, he stated that they will need to bring their own supplies and will fall under the authority of the caravan guards, led by Vagn the Lion.  Attor introduces Tharduk to Vagn and they discuss capabilities.  

Once Vagn was satisfied, Attor started writing up a contract for Tharduk to sign on the group’s behalf.  At this point Anomin whispered into Tharduk’s ear, reminding him to add a clause where the “bounty hunters” were free to leave once they captured bandits.  Tharduk brought this up with Attor and they haggled a bit before Attor agreed to include the clause.

Once Tharduk signed the contract, Attor told him the caravan would be leaving within a week.  Tharduk would need to check in at 4:00 PM each day until told the caravan was ready.  Tharduk’s team would then need to assemble the following dawn with the caravan.  They shook hands and parted.

Afternoon

Tharduk met back up with the adventurers and informed them they had a caravan to use as bait.  Kadruth discussed the details with Tharduk and then worked out placement of the adventurers, especially himself, along the caravan for optimum attack capability.

The adventurers then spent a total of one gold coin buying manacles, rope, and food for four days.

Freysday, May 20, 56 I.C.

4:00 PM

At the regular check-in, Tharduk was told that the caravan would be leaving the next day at dawn.

Yggsday, May 21, 56 I.C.

Dawn

The adventurers arrived as the caravan assembled.  The caravan consisted of 9 wagons with 2 caravan guards on each wagon followed by Vagn and his lieutenant on horseback.  The adventurers situated themselves on the wagons as follows:

• Sorvia was on Wagon 1
• Kadruth and Anomin on Wagon 5
• Tharduk and Inserrant on Wagon 7
• Islo on Wagon 9

7:00 AM

The caravan left Mouzaki, taking the County Road west to Grizano.

Midday

The caravan passed the village of Pedino.  The adventurers saw that it was an extended farmstead that sat north of the road with multiple crop fields around it.  People could be seen weeding the fields.

Afternoon

Several hours later, Anomin happened to notice a signal light come from Pedino [made a very high Perception roll].  Turning quickly, she caught the return signal in the hills ahead, off to the left.  She whispered to Kadruth, asking the dwarf if she should fly off and investigate the light back at the farmstead.  He said yes and she immediately flew off, back towards Pedino to try and find the source.  Sorvia had also noticed the return signal from the hills ahead and gave a bird whistle signal that alerted the rest of the adventurers...except Inserrant, who wasn’t paying attention [made a terrible Perception roll].

Late Afternoon

The caravan arrived at the regular campsite for this route, which was marked with boundary stones.  The area inside was officially County property, separate from the barony it resided in.  While things were being set up, Islo and Sorvia scouted the area around the campsite.  In addition to signs of other caravans using this site, they also found a blind for observing the campsite just north of the campsite.  Islo set up a spike trap in the blind and Sorvia concealed it.  The trap was designed to injure but not kill and to pin the target in place.  They then returned to the campsite and informed the other adventurers about the blind and where it was located.

Tharduk asked Kadruth for a prayer to bless the campsite and he agreed to do so.  Kadruth’s blessing generated a feeling of safety that seemed to relax the caravan drivers.  The caravan guards set up watches while the adventurers kept their own.

An Hour After Sunset

Anomin arrived at Pedino and looked around.  There were 7 houses, 3 large barns, and a smattering of out-buildings of various types.

She deduced 3 possible locations the heliograph could have been discretely used from: one of the barns and two of the houses.  She checked the barn first and found nothing amiss.  Inside were several draft horses, some cattle, and some goats with hay up in the hayloft.

With nothing incriminating found in the barn, she flew over to the  first house, looking for an open window.  They were all closed until one opened and a person climbed out.  Anomin followed that person discreetly, nearly losing them as they headed over to the barn Anomin had just investigated.

Back At the Campsite

During the first watch, the trap Islo and Sorvia set in the blind went off and someone there cried out in pain.  Islo and Inserrant, on watch for the adventurers, immediately headed out to investigate, bow and xill at the ready.  Tharduk and Sorvia were awoken by the cry and readied their weapons.  Kadruth slept soundly.

Islo reached the blind first and found three humans in the blind, one pierced in the leg by the trap.  Islo whipped out a bolo and entangled one of the free humans with it.  He then shot the other one in the stomach with his bow before any of them could react, leaving that person unconscious and bleeding.  The humans immediately surrendered.

Tharduk woke Kadruth before heading out to the blind, taking rope with him.  He tied up the captives and brought them back to the campsite where Kadruth healed their wounds.

Back at the Barn

Anomin followed the person back to the barn, where they entered through a side door.  Anomin flew around the barn and found an opening she could squeeze through.  Inside the barn, she discovered that the person she had followed was a teenage boy who was hugging a teenage girl up in the hay loft and both were giggling.

After a moment the girl got up and opened the hayloft door to peer out.  The boy walked up behind her, wanting to continue but she told him to stop, a message was coming in.  Anomin glided around so she could see as well and caught the tail end of a flashing light out in the far distance, likely the same hills south of the County Road from earlier in the day.  The girl pulled a heliograph out of a nearby box and used a candle to reply.  She put away the heliograph and made a note on a slip of paper from the box before closing and latching the box.  She stating, “We need to tell Calliope.”  The boy, dejected, agreed.

Anomin made her way out of the barn as quietly as she could and then followed the two over to one of the smaller houses.  The girl knocked quietly and they were let in.  Anomin flew closer and found a window she could peek through.  While she could not hear what was said, she could read their lips enough to get the idea.  She saw a woman older than the teens receive the message and read it.  She then stated that the message would need to be passed along and she dismissed the teens, making the boy wait until after the girl left so the two would not “get up to anything”.

Once the teens left, the woman went over to a corner and did something on the floor that Anomin could not see from the window.  She then walked over to the lit candle holding a book she was not holding earlier and made some notes in it.  She then put the book back and burned the note from the girl with the candle.

After learning what she could, Anomin returned to the barn to steal the heliograph.  Up in the hayloft she turned human to open the box and take the heliograph.  The box was trapped with a needle covered in a paralytic poison, paralyzing Anomin for nearly 10 minutes [thanks to her unusually high Constitution - anyone else would have been paralyzed all night].

End of session

Commentary

[The PCs are learning how the bandits work and have prisoners.  Will the prisoners talk?  I didn’t want to stop in the middle of the action like this, but it was well past our stopping point for the night so we had to.]

[I tried something different when writing up these notes this time.  First I just typed up my notes as is, which are fairly sketchy as I’m busy running the game.  Then I embroidered the notes from the players on that, which seemed to spread the whole thing up.  Previously I have multiple source documents open and combine them as I go, which involves switching back and forth.  This time I just layered text and made modifications to my notes by adding the details the players captured.  That seems easier.  I’ll keep doing it this way for a while to verify.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign 

Last session: Session 16

Next session: Session 18