[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]
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