[The Yardbird arrives at Fordsway and makes contact with the last defenders.]
[This session took place December 28, 2002. We were playing Champions 4th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]
Player Characters
Oliver – male human monk from “someplace to the south” [secret agent of the Far Kingdom]
Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Kyle Logan – male human thief and stowaway on the Yardbird
Wendell Dorshield III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird
Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert
Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw
Session Begins
September 1, 18 IC
The Yardbird left Castle Silverloc early on the morning of September 1st, heavily laden with relief supplies for the gnomes in Fordsway. The airship flew east and gained altitude to avoid the siege weapons and any other awkward situations along the Silverloc/Crendia border. When they flew over the actual border, they could see that the number of troops was significantly less than a full legion.
September 7, 18 IC
Several days later, after flying over the eastern Farwood Forest, the Yardbird flew over Fordsway.
The city was in shambles with immense encampments of goblinoids sprawled all around the area, including six mobile buildings in the distinctive shape of a “bat hive” – the mobile homes of the Horde’s giant bats. It was also possible to see large slave pens, filled with the captured citizens of Fordsway. Inside the burned-out ruins of the city there were only two buildings that flew the flag of Fordsway: the City Citadel and the Gnome Compound.
Conferring with the leaders of his security teams, Wendell put together a simple two-pronged plan. Runaround Mark 5s, stuffed with relief supplies and security troops, would drop into the Gnome Compound’s courtyard. At the same time, the Yardbird would drop bombs filled with TDD onto the bat hives, knocking out as much of the Horde’s air power as possible. The Yardbird would then continue dropping bombs on the Horde, encouraging an uprising amongst the slaves.
To ensure the Gnome Compound did not mistakenly attack the Runarounds, a messenger would need to be sent to inform the Compound to expect friends. Gideon of the Kite Commandoes volunteered and was dropped from great height in his battle kite, taking with him a green smoke bomb to indicate all was well.
The crew of the Yardbird and the Outlander watched Gideon glide all the way down and land. After several tense minutes a plume of green smoke rose from the compound. Wendell, sitting in one of the Runarounds, immediately ordered the Runarounds be released.
The Mark 5s resembled the roof of a house, inverted so the “v” pointed down. It had an aether cell that was not large enough to lift it, only slow its fall somewhat. There were four experimental rockets that used thickly gelled TDD as fuel, one at each corner of the Runaround. When the Mark 5s approached the ground the rockets would be triggered, slowing the Mark 5s descent enough to land safely. The Yardbird dropped three of these, one after the other, and then moved to attack the Bat Hives. Wendell and some of the Outlanders rode down with the Mark 5s while Malwyn assumed the role of bombardier on the Yardbird. Dangar and Darkfox prepared the defenses of the Yardbird’s topdeck in case any of the batriders reached the Yardbird.
The three Runarounds landed more or less safely in the courtyard of the Gnome Compound (guidance was limited), descending on pillars of fire, and were greeted by the cheering gnomes and refugees. Wendell met Ruth, the leader of the Fordsway Gnomes, and explained his mission and the fact that the Yardbird was stuffed full of relief supplies, all for Fordsway. The Security troops that came down on the Mark 5s moved to the compound walls to relieve the defenders and give them a chance to rest while the supplies on the Runarounds were off-loaded. Once that was done the Runarounds were disassembled to become building materials for the Compound.
While the Runarounds were being off-loaded, the Yardbird attacked the Horde. The Yardbird destroyed four of the Bat Hives before bat riders launched and magical attacks started hitting the Yardbird. The magical attacks came from the top tower of the Legion Citadel inside Fordsway. Lookouts with spy glasses confirmed that the Citadel was occupied by the Horde and a legal target. Malwyn had the Yardbird gain more altitude and then dropped several TDD bombs on the top tower, shattering it. He also dropped some smaller bombs on the curtain wall towers, destroying several and killing countless goblinoids.
By this time the bat riders were starting to approach the altitude of the Yardbird. The underbelly turrets opened, exposing the three repeating ballistae, which opened fire on the giant bats. The bat-rider units took terrible losses before they learned the effective range of the ballistae. The remaining bat-rider units flew higher than the Yardbird (outside the range of the ballistae) to attack the top of the Yardbird. They split up and four flights of bat-riders attacked the single ballista turret at the front of the Yardbird’s topdeck and the remaining three flights attacked the small barricade defending the rear roof entrance to the Yardbird (where Dangar and Darkfox were stationed).
The bat-rider flights took turns strafing the defenses and trying to drop firebombs on the defenders to burn the Yardbird from the sky. Crack shooting from Darkfox, Dangar, and the gnome defenders lead by Rebecca were able to either kill the goblins before they attacked or shot the fire bombs in their hands, igniting the goblin and bat in question. The ballista turret did not fare quite as well. It and its defenders were able to kill the bat-rider units attacking it but it was heavily damaged and on fire by the time the fighting was over. Darkfox called down to the bridge, asking that additional firefighting units be sent to the front turret. It took another quarter hour before the fire was out and repairs could begin on the turret. Luckily, the ballista itself was not damaged.
Once the Yardbird achieved air superiority over Fordsway and threw the Horde further into disarray with additional TDD bombs, it flew low over the Gnome Compound to drop off more relief supplies. It then spent the rest of the afternoon dropping TDD bombs on the Horde.
The leader of the City Citadel, Captain Arnauld Millot made his way to the Gnome Compound and met with Ruth and Wendell. Wendell agreed to drop off supplies, take on refugees from both the City Citadel and the Gnome Compound, and fly the refugees to Freegate. He also learned that the Bragolith Grass needed for the quest was available here and the gnomes were growing it as one of the crops in their hydroponics gardens (a new invention to keep the Compound fed). Wendell signaled via semaphore to the Yardbird to drop off supplies for the City Citadel and pick up refugees. The Yardbird signaled back that it would do so, that it was finally out of bombs, and that there was a slave uprising going on against the now disorganized and somewhat shell-shocked Horde.
That Night
Once the Outlanders were back together in the Gnome Compound, Darkfox proposed that they investigate the remains of the Legion Citadel. It might still have weapons and goods that could be given over to the ex-slaves, plus there might be some treasure to claim. Her source in Castle Silverloc told her that the Legion Citadel had a large vault with valuables hidden within it. After an extended conversation as to the legality of the idea, it was decided that this would count as a salvage operation and thereby be legal.
Late that Night
The Outlanders exited the Gnome Compound and made their way through the ruined canals of Fordsway to the shattered Legion Citadel.
Session Ends.
NPCs Met
Captain Arnauld Millot – human in charge of the Fordsway City Citadel
Ethan – gnome merchant/trader
Gideon – gnome Kite Commando
Malka – female gnome, head of the weather forecasters
Ruth – female gnome, leader of the Fordsway gnomes and in charge of the Gnome Consortium Compound in Fordsway
Schlomo – gnome accountant
Happening Off-Stage
[Nothing in my notes, but the players learned a lot about what had been happening in this part of the continent this session.]
DM Discussion
[The players got to be Big Damn Heroes in this session, smashing the siege of Fordsway and bringing relief supplies to the surviving defenders. The Runabout Mark 5s turned out well. Wendell’s player invented a new look for the Runabouts each time they were deployed as they were all experimental. The Mark 5s would become the most favored version.]
Flight of the Yardbird
Previous session: Session 10
Next Session: Session 12 [not edited yet]
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