[Night of May 22 and 23 – Expected Ambush - Part 2 and Return to Mouzaki]
[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened February 5, 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
Sunday, May 22, 56 I.C.
Morning, continued
[Fight resumes in Turn 2, Segment 9]
Islo took a shot at the archer leader fighting with Anomin and hit her shield. Inserrant, seeing that Kadruth was awake again and recovering, ordered the wagon driver to take the dwarf to town before she hopped out of the wagon.
The archer leader warned the other archer of the elf behind her [meaning Islo] and attacked Anomin, who blocked the attack [after spending a Hero Point]. Tharduk remained in place on Wagon 7 to protect Kadruth. Islo took another shot and hit the archer leader in the stomach, stunning and knocking her unconscious. The second archer took cover from Islo and shot at Anomin who blocked the attack. Sorvia crept to the second blind entrance. Kadruth continued to catch his breath [he took another Recovery].
[Post-12 Recovery phase]
Islo climbed on top of the blind and used the extra elevation to look for the archers who fled, but could not spot them in the deep grass. Inserrant ran closer to the fight.
Anomin entered the blind and attacked the second archer, scratching the archers thigh armor. The archer leader, barely awake, recovered from being stunned. Tharduk, satisfied that Kadruth was not going to die and was no longer under threat from archers, hopped off Wagon 7 and moved south towards the fighting at the blind. Sorvia, now in the blind, shot the archer leader in the shoulder, knocking her unconscious again. The second archer stubbornly decided to stay and fight, took another shot at Anomin but missed. Kadruth, stubborn and not wanting to leave the rest of the adventurers without healing, climbed out of Wagon 7. The caravan continued heading west as fast as it could, the wagon guards saluting Kadruth for his determination.
Islo hopped down off the blind, blocking the exit from the blind and cutting off all means of escape for the two bandit archers. Seeing this, the second archer threw down her bow and surrendered, ending the combat.
Anomin, heavily injured as a cougar, shifted back into her equally-injured human form and placed manacles on the captured archer and her unconscious leader.
Sorvia put away her bow and started bandaging Anomin’s wounds. Kadruth used several healing spells to heal his own wounds and then did the same for Anomin. Kadruth then healed the archer leader’s multiple wounds and discovered that the archer leader was Paraskevi the Green herself, leader of all the bandits!
Sorvia and Islo (assisted by Anomin) trapped the blind and concealed the trap. [Or so they think - the Concealment roll was successful but the trap roll failed so it doesn’t work.] Anomin and Tharduk talked a little about whether or not the bandits might attack again. During this conversation, Anomin shapeshifted back into her crow form [which has Deduction] but is also easily distracted and the conversation petered out with no conclusion.
The prisoners were relieved of their weapons and other possessions but kept in their armor. Items confiscated were: 2 heavy long bows. 2 quivers of Arrows (40 minus those used in the fight), and a couple bits of personal effects, including an amulet from the leader that Anomin palmed. The prisoners were also searched for lockpicks and other things before being stood up to leave.
The adventurers got back on the road, heading back to Mouzaki with their prisoners. Anomin shifted into her horse form and the prisoners were tied onto her back. As the party progressed, Sorvia did her best to conceal the group's tracks until they passed Pedino.
Sundown
The group reached the campsite from the previous night. After a quick discussion, they decided staying would be dangerous and so they kept walking. Anomin warned that people in Pedino might attack the group. The group decided that if things went wrong, Anomin would run off with the prisoners and everyone would eventually meet back up at the Ranger camp.
Moonday, May 23, 56 I.C.
Dawn
Fatigued from marching through the night, the adventurers arrived at Mouzaki.
As the adventurers passed through the vast refugee camp surrounding the town, a sullen and angry crowd started forming around them, following the adventurers through the camp. The adventurers prepared to defend themselves if attacked, but continued to walk to the gates of Mouzaki. Inserrant lagged behind and started using her mind control powers to keep a riot from happening.
When the party reached the walls of Mouzaki, hundreds of people were following them, hostile but not yet violent, thanks to Inserrant’s influence.
There were some people waiting in line at the gate to enter the town. Some of the guards looked up and noticed the mob following the adventurers. The guards moved the line off to one side and called for backup. They then pushed one of the two gate doors closed and waited for the adventurers to reach them, visibly concerned.
The crowd started chanting “Free the Hand” over and over. Tharduk explained to the guards that they believed they had Paraskevi the Green as a prisoner for the reward. Suddenly understanding the situation, the guards hurried the adventurers in through the gate. Realizing what was going on, the mob let out a great roar and rushed the gates. Kadruth put up a Force Wall outside the gate to give the guards time to secure the gate and start reinforcing it. The shouts and chanting of the mob could be heard to spread and get louder.
A group of guards escorted the adventurers through the slowly awakening town to the palace. The palace was a fancy house, possibly the fanciest house in Mouzaki, but not really a palace. When the escorted adventurers arrived, the palace guards demanded an explanation. The gate guards explain the situation at the gate and who the adventurers had. The palace guards called up more palace guards and took possession of the adventurers, freeing up the gate guards to return to defend the gates.
The palace guards escorted the adventurers around to the stable and asked that the prisoners be presented. The two prisoners were let down off Anomin’s back and stood up. One of the palace guards held up the head of the leader and said, “yup, this is her.”
At this point Sheriff Raptis arrived. “I heard you have taken Paraskevi. Well. This will be a busy day,” he said sardonically. He had also heard about the mob at the main gates and others forming at the lesser gates. “I’m going to take the prisoners as I'm sure the Count will talk to them. You should hang out near my office to get paid.”
Tharduk offered that the adventurers also had information on how the bandits were organized. Sheriff Raptis thought on that and said, “I can get that from you back at my office. Don’t go to far in case the Count wants to speak with you sooner.” Sheriff Raptis then took the prisoners into the palace with most of the guards. One of the palace guards went with the adventurers.
The adventurers went over to the one bar near the sheriff’s office. There the palace guard announced to the bar that the adventurers were allowed to be at the bar by order of Sheriff Raptis. He also announced that these were the adventurers who brought in Paraskevi the Green. The occupants of the bar, mostly lawmen and guards having their breakfasts were excited to hear that and bought breakfast and several drinks for the adventurers while asking for the story.
Tharduk took this time to sit at a separate table and started writing up an official report for the Count.
End of session
Commentary
[Anomin was heavily injured in the bandit fight as she has very little armor in her cougar form. If the last attack against her by the second archer had hit, she would have been forced back into her human form for the first time ever. This would have put her at a disadvantage as her human form is not as good at combat as her cougar form. It would have also blown her cover as some sort of familiar to one of the spell casters in the group to those outside the adventuring group.]
[The players were surprised that the Green Hand had a large following in the refugee camp but they had never heard of them. I explained that the Green Hand was keeping a low profile in the camp because they cannot feed everyone. To avoid becoming targets themselves, they were slowly expanding their network amongst those who could not feed themselves otherwise. The PCs, being able to feed themselves, had never been approached.]
[There is one more session after this to write up. After that I needed to take a break as the GM while I worked out the results of this session. The capture of the Paraskevi the Green will make the Green Hand desperate to rescue her. They have been providing food to parts of the refugee camp and have hundreds of loyal followers among the thousands of refugees surrounding Mouzaki. Worse, the Green Hand have backers who do not want to be exposed. This event is likely to trigger a premature civil war in the County and I need to work through the stages of that so I can describe what the PCs see/encounter along the way.]
Sudden Sea Adventures
Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign
Last session: Session 19
Next session: Session 21
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