The Sudden Sea –Session 12

[May 3 – “That” turned out to be a Nemean Lion!]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened November 6, 2023.]

[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

May 3, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

Nighttime, Second Watch

As Kadruth slowly backed into the circle of light from the campfire, a lion nearly twice as big as a bear followed him.  Kadruth silently worked his mouth, trying to alert Tharduk to the lion’s presence, but he could not find his voice.

Kadruth turned and ran into the campsite and cast his Wall of Force spell.  He then finally found his voice and called out “Lion’s here!”  The lion moved over to the bear carcass and snarled loudly at Kadruth at Tharduk [Presence Attack].

A light sleeper, Islo was immediately awake.  He grabbed his bow and fled out of the camp and into the trees.  The lion snarled at the adventurers and took a bite of the bear carcass.  Inserrant, in her tent, grabbed her club and did her best to not sound like lion food.

Tharduk was immobile from fear.  Sorvia stood up, grabbed her bow, and fled into the trees.  Anomin turned into a crow and flew up and away.  Kadruth, after his brief burst of mobility was immobile from fear.

Having put some distance between himself and the lion, Islo strung his bow and took cover in some bushes.  The lion took another bite from the bear carcass, giving a look at the adventures, daring anyone to stop him.  Inserrant snuck out the back of her tent, noisily.

Tharduk’s will broke and he retreated from the lion.  Sorvia backed up another 12 meters, arcing around to the south and keeping a line of sight on the lion.  Anomin, now far away, hid in the treetops.  Kadruth had a plan and decided to hold to it [saved his action].

The lion decided Kadruth was challenging it and rushed the dwarf, clawing down the Force Wall and slashing Kadruth across the chest.  This triggered Kadruth’s contingency Teleport spell and the dwarf teleported up into the branches above him.  He attempted to cast his Force Bolt spell [using his saved action] but decided grabbing at branches to avoid a 20 meter fall to the ground was more prudent.  Islo took a Quick Shot at the lion but missed [due to range modifiers].  Inserrant pursued the fleeing Tharduk.

The lion, temporarily satisfied, returned to the bear carcass and took another bite.  Islo, once again in charge of his emotions, advanced on the lion 8 meters and shot at it again, hitting it solidly in the vitals!  Surprisingly, there was no blood...  Inserrant caught up to Tharduk who, ashamed of his cowardice, advanced to stand between Inserrant and the lion, ready to Block any potential attack from the lion.  Anomin, feeling safer, quietly flew 10 meters back towards the camp and waited to see what happened.  Sorvia braced herself and aimed for the lion’s head, but missed.  Kadruth, now secure in the branches, cast Force Bolt at the lion and hit it hard in the kidneys [technically a stomach hit, but from the back].  This drew blood, stunned, and knocked out the lion!

The lion groggily shook its head [it woke back up during the Post-Segment 12 Recovery and was shrugging off the Stunned effect this phase].  Islo braced himself and fired a Quickshot to the lion’s body and hit...to no effect!  Inserrant advanced on the lion with her club and struck it on a limb to no effect.

Tharduk ran as hard as he could to close with the lion and swung with all his strength and skill at the lion [pushed his running, pushed his Strength, and put his combat levels into damage].  He hit the beast but drew no blood.  Anomin, seeing her friends attacking the lion, flew back to the campsite but stayed up in the trees to avoid being a lion snack.  Sorvia set her bow to improve her odds at a head shot [a full action].  Kadruth cast his Force Bolt again, again hitting the lion in the kidneys and knocking it unconscious again.

Islo shot the lion in the head, making certain that the beast stayed unconscious.

Despite all their attacks, only Kadruth’s Force Bolts actually caused the lion to bleed.  Thinking it over, the rangers thought it likely that the lion’s extremely sharp claws would likely cut itself.  They cautiously moved in and manipulated its massive paws to extend the claws and cut its own throat, killing it.  They then extracted one of the claws so they had a tool sharp enough to skin the beast for its nigh-impervious hide.

End of session

Commentary

[This session was basically a big fight with a Nemean Lion that was near impervious to the PCs weapons.  The lion had 10PD/15ED Armor that only worked versus slashing and piercing attacks.  Inserrant's club would have bypassed that, but her player rolled near minimum on the club damage on her only attack.  This is why the cyclopses were not very scared of the lion, just cautious about it - their punches and clubs were mighty and bypassed the armor.  As it was, they eventually knocked it out and then worked out a way to kill it.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

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

Last session: Session 11 

 

Next session: Session 13 [Not yet typed up]

Adventures in the Green Published!

My OD&D clone set of rules, Adventures in the Green, is now published and available on DriveThruRPG.com!

Think "OD&D, but readable" and you will understand what Adventures in the Green offers.  The rules were reorganized to consolidate rules bits from across the original booklets where clauses and complete rules were hidden away in magic item descriptions or magazine interviews published separately.  I also rewrote the rules to make them clear and concise.

Book I: Characters is 68 pages and provides the rules for creating characters to play, equipping them, and some basics of adventuring.  This is the link to the Book I product page.

Book II: Conflicts is 68 pages and provides the rules for combat, including naval and aerial, plus the writeups for all the monsters.  This is the link to the Book II product page.

Book III: Campaigns is 66 pages and provides the rules for Referees to run campaigns plus the random treasure tables and descriptions of magic items.  This is the link to the Book III product page.

Each booklet is sold separately at $10 each, which I feel is a fair price for 66-68 page booklets with five years of development behind them.  I've been running a test campaign parallel to the rules development, which has helped spot rules gaps (like how much light a torch provides) and eliminate typos.  

[As a tech writer, I know by saying those words that someone will now find an obvious typo, but that is the nature of writing.  Send me an email or comment here and I'll fix it and update the published PDFs.]

That's it for right now.  I should have the next session of the Sudden Sea campaign up later this week.  We've reached a stopping point, right after the players trigger a revolt and are switching back to Book 4 of the Shattered Star AP.  Keep reading!

The Sudden Sea –Session 11

[April 30 - May 2 and 3 – Cyclopses and bears and...what is that!?]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened October 30, 2023.]

[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

May 2, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

Just After 3:00

Trying to discuss the cyclops sentry on the other side of a bend in the ravine without being heard, Sorvia and Tharduk were “arguing” in hand signs.  Tharduk had no idea what Sorvia was trying to convey and was miserable at conveying that he did not understand.  

With no resolution in sight, Islo decided the group needed to retreat back to a place they could actually speak.  He quietly walked back around a previous bend in the ravine.  The rest of the adventurers went to follow when the cyclops sentry finally noticed they were there, spotting Anomin (in crow form) and the two dwarves out in the open.  “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he called out.

Tharduk answered, stating that they were trying to not be threatening, which confused the cyclops.  Then Sorvia spoke up from a concealed position, agreeing with Tharduk.  The cyclops saw her and asked what she was doing hidden down there.  She replied, “Mapping.”  The cyclops stated he did not want to appear on the map.  Kadruth explained that since he is not a natural landmark, he and his sheep would not be drawn into the map.  This satisfied the cyclops.

The cyclops warned the adventurers that there was a big lion in the forest that was responsible for the death of his favorite sheep, Irwin.  Tharduk asked about whether or not the cyclops traded or sold wool.  The cyclops said they did but his brother was better at that stuff.  He also introduced himself as Nunya and said he would be right back with his brother to trade.

While the cyclops was away, Sorvia and Anomin went back to where Islo was to bring him up to date on the conversation.  Kadruth also used his Force Wall spell to create a ramp so he and Tharduk could negotiate with the cyclopses at eye level.  [That was not an intentional pun.]

When the two cyclopses returned, the second one introduced himself as Inna and that their third brother, Auda, was watching their camp.  Inna and Tharduk then start negotiating the price of the wool.  They eventually agreed on a cost of 2 gold coins to purchase 6 cloves (42 pounds) of wool.  [This was a good deal for Tharduk as a clove of wool usually went for half a gold coin each.]

During the negotiations, Kadruth spoke with Nunya about the lion, trying to get the cyclopses to agree to a bounty for killing the lion.  Nunya wasn’t interested as the cyclops just gave it a hit and it left them alone.  Kadruth did learn that cyclopses had been in this area about a year and the lion first showed up during the recent winter.

Once the trade was done, the adventurers backtracked a bit and then worked their way around the cyclops camp.  Islo and Sorvia discussed what kind of lion the cyclopses were reporting but came to no definite conclusions.  [Neither really had an appropriate Knowledge Skill for this.]  They reached the western edge of the hills late in the afternoon and made camp.

Night

The night passed quietly.

May 3, 56 I.C.

Rain clouds moved in from the east and it rained lightly most of the day.  Kadruth used his Force Wall spell to provide protection from the rain for Sorvia so she could continue mapping the forest as the group explored.  Anomin kept a look out specifically for lion tracks but saw none.

During the day, Anomin and Kadruth noticed that the group had passed the same set of trees three times and called out Islo on it.  A quick tree-climb later, they worked out where they actually were, corrected Sorvia’s notes, and resumed exploring, having only lost an hour or two of time.

Mid afternoon the rain started letting up and gradually stopped.  At the end of the day Sorvia found an excellent site for a camp and the adventurers made camp there.

That Night, First Watch

Early in the watch, before it got too dark, Islo heard something moving through the underbrush.  He fired an arrow at it, hoping to scare the creature away.  Instead, the creature bellowed in response, allowing Islo to identify it as a bear!  The bear's bellow awoke Sorvia and Anomin, but barely stirred the dwarves.

Islo waited for the bear to appear.  When the angry, shaggy, brown bear marched into the camp, Islo tripped it with a trick shot.  Sorvia notched an arrow and shot the bear, hitting it with a glancing blow to the head [she very rolled low damage].  Anomin shifted into her cougar form and charged the bear, nastily raking its forelimbs [lot of Body, but light on Stun].  At this point Tharduk woke up, but Kadruth continued sleeping.

Islo shot at the bear, piercing both of its forelimbs [again, lots of Body, little Stun].

Tharduk readied his axe and shield.  The bear got up off the ground and stood on its rear legs and roared [Presence attack], impressing Sorvia.  It then clawed at Anomin, injuring her significantly.  The noise finally woke Kadruth up, but he was still groggy and complained about all the noise Anomin was making.  Sorvia sank an arrow into the bear's torso, killing it.

When Kadruth stumbled out of his tent, he found a very hurt cougar whining at him.  He immediately set to healing her with his magic.  Islo and Sorvia set to skinning and butchering the bear carcass.  Once his watch is done, Islo cooked some bear meat steaks.

That Night, Second Watch

Midway through the watch, Kadruth was at the edge of camp collecting some wood for the fire when he saw two large gleaming golden feline eyes staring right at him from a distance of 10 meters!

End of session

Commentary

[I had not planned on having the lion show up here, but I rolled two random encounters for the night and after Islo cooked bear steaks, it seemed likely the lion might get a whiff of it and come investigate.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

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

Last session: Session 10 

 

Next session: Session 12 [Not yet typed up]

The Sudden Sea –Session 10

[April 30 - May 2 – Start scouting the Mikro Dasos]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened October 23, 2023.]

[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

April 30, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

Day

The adventurers forded the Mesta River after a quick breakfast and then entered into the Mikro Dasos, the small forest along the border between County Modon and The Shires [home of the Tolk].  Once inside the forest they started exploring and mapping it.

While exploring they found several areas of damp soil that held very large footprints.  Islo estimated the beings that made the footprints were 10 to 12 feet tall and walked on two feet.  There was no continuous path and the tracks ranged from days old to weeks old.  This seemed to suggest the rumors of sheep-stealing giants they heard in Nomi might have some truth.  Islo and Sorvia made suggestions what the source might be, thinking very tall ogres or actual giants.

As the trees of the forest were much taller than the footprint makers, Anomin flew up above the trees in her crow form to look around.  The only treetops in motion she saw were likely from the wind.  She flew back down to the ground and reported this.

Night

During the second watch, Kadruth and Tharduk heard the sound of a very large cat making a kill further to the south.  Tharduk checked inside the tent to verify Anomin was there and asleep.  The dwarves decided the forest had at least one big predator and stayed quite alert the rest of their shift.

May 1, 56 I.C.

Day

The group resumed exploring and mapping the forest.  More giant footprints were seen off and on through the day.  Anomin also found a sheep carcass that was several days dead and eaten by animals, leaving bones and some wooly pelt.  No one was certain what had killed and eaten the sheep, which was worrying.

During the afternoon, Tharduk noted that the ground was getting softer and wetter with some of the tallest trees clearly leaning.  This told the adventurers that they were getting near where the forest approached the coast of the Sudden Sea.

Anomin flew up above the trees again to look around.  She could see that the forest thinned out to the east and beyond that was part of the Sudden Sea.  To the southeast she could see the Dowr Gwernan, the river that was the border with The Shires.  What really caught her eye was smoke from a campfire somewhere in the hills to the west.  The forest wrapped around the northern half of the hills and the hills were scheduled to be scouted the next day.  She flew back down to the ground and reported what she saw.

The group shared what they knew about giants.  This came down to “Giants tend to live in mountain or hills, don't like plains, and tend to have cattle or sheep.”  Giants were rare in the plains so none of them knew very much about them.  [None of the group had an appropriate Knowledge Skill.]

Night

During first watch, some raccoons infiltrated the camp and attempted to steal food.  Islo and Inserrant noticed the pilfering.  Islo shot two of the raccoons with his bow and the rest of the raccoons fled.  The remainder of the night was quiet.

May 2, 56 I.C.

Day

The day dawned cool and damp with a lot of fog.  Anomin flew up above the trees again to relocate the smoke in the hills but it was too foggy and she could see nothing.  [Failed her Perception roll.]

The adventurers moved into the hills, exploring and mapping along the way.  Mid-afternoon, while the group was walking through a narrow ravine between some hills, Kadruth quietly told the party to stop.  Up ahead he spotted a very tall sentry with one eye keeping a lazy watch on the ravine the adventurers were moving up - a cyclops!  He quietly pointed out where the cyclops was and the rest of the adventurers located it.  Sorvia stopped her mapping, put away her notebook, and readied her weapons.

The group started sneaking up on the sentry with Islo several paces ahead of the rest.  Once the adventurers were close enough to attack the sentry if they wanted to, Anomin flew ahead to see if there were any more.  She kept low, along the floor of the ravine.  This worked, and she was able to fly around a bend and then past the cyclops.  She noticed he had two extra spears, a large haversack, and a stack of very large throwing rocks.  He also seemed to be very bored.

Further up the ravine, Anomin discovered a side gulley containing two very large tents, a low campfire, and a small herd of large sheep.  Anomin snooped around a bit.  One tent was laid out for sleeping but had no cyclops in it, the other did.  Anomin entered that tent and looked around.  The cyclops feet were the right shape and size for the footprints seen in the forest.  In addition to several spears and a haversack, Anomin saw a large sack full of something.  While investigating that sack, the sleeping cyclops woke slightly, turned over, and then went back to sleep!  [She just made her stealth check.]   

After resuming breathing again, Anomin looked in the bag and found it was full of spun wool.  Under the bag was a spinning wheel.  Anomin snuck back out of the tent and then flew back to the other adventurers.

While Anomin had been away scouting, the rest of the adventurers decided to sneak even closer to the cyclops sentry and conceal themselves as best they could.  This made it slightly more difficult for Anomin to find them once she returned.  Luckily, the dwarves were not very good at concealment and she found them.

Anomin landed near the dwarves but not in the cyclops’ line of sight.  As close as they were to the sentry, Anomin had to use wing gestures to try and inform the dwarves there were two cyclopses.  Kadruth understood her intent and turned to relay the information to Sorvia.  Sorvia understood Kadruth was warning her of a second cyclops, but pantomimed “Where?”  Kadruth pantomimed a bird.  Sorvia understood and quietly crept back to where the dwarves were.

Meanwhile, Islo had observed the hand gestures going back and forth but did not understand any of it.  On his own he decided to sneak back to the dwarves to find out what was going on.  He found Anomin just around a bend, using a twig to draw a map in the dirt.  From the map, Islo and Sorvia understood that the cyclopes had a camp and there was a second cyclops there, but Tharduk completely failed to understand any of it.

End of session

Commentary

[There was a small bit more at the end, but it was me dictating how a PC acted and that was very wrong on my part.  NEVER take away player agency just for a funny bit.  I apologized when the player called me out on it - I was clearly in the wrong.  At the beginning of the next session I retracted the last bit and we resumed from the point above.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

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

Last session: Session 9

 

Next session: Session 11

Status Update - Beginning of 2024

December was busier than November at the Day Job (plus the holidays) and I'm just now coming off that busy period in January.

After reviewing the AdSense results I removed the ads from this blog.  I never met the minimum amount for payout, in fact I barely reached 5% of that number in the time I've had the ads running.  No real loss.

The Monday Group (a.k.a., Super Rat) has continued playing and we just did Session 17, so I'm 8 sessions behind.  I will resume writing up the session summaries this month and try to catch up a session every two weeks.

My clone of the OD&D rules is still progressing, although slowly.  I've done what should be the final editorial pass on Books 1 and 2, finishing Book 2 last week.  Next is Book 3, which I want to have done no later than the end of February.  After that I will put the PDFs up on DriveThru RPG for sale and then create a POD version because I want physical copies to show for my effort.

That's it for now.  My next regular post should be early next week.

Busy Thanksgiving

First, "Happy Thanksgiving!" to those in the US.  It is a significant holiday here and one of the major family-gathering holidays.  With our families scattered this year, my wife and I are hosting a get together for friends who cannot be with their families for various reasons.  We should have 16 or so people with a wide range of dietary needs but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

As a result of that plus other scheduled events and games, time has been short for writing last week and will be short for this week.  Saturday the 25th has been designated by me as a Day of Writing, so I plan to type up the next set of session notes and get them posted then.

That's all I have time for right now.  Later!

The Sudden Sea –Session 9

[April 29 – Repercussions and Confessions]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened October 16, 2023.]

[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

April 29, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

Pre-Dawn

Holed up in a cluster of trees outside of the town of Nomi, the adventurers had a heart to heart talk about the group’s actions over the previous several hours.  No one was particularly happy that the merchant was shot dead by the two rangers, Islo and Sorvia.  After a while they all come to two conclusions:

1. They all agreed that murder is off the table from here on out.  Self-defense is OK, but murder is right out.
2. They all agree that they want to be able to go back into Nomi and no one wants to go to jail.  They need to pick up the mail back to Mouzaki to complete their job.  Additionally, Nomi is the only town within 20-30 miles and so the only place to buy supplies.

After discussing their options and what those options imply (they realized if they fled they would be wanted by the law).  They decided to write a letter to the Sheriff explaining their side of things and have Anomin deliver it in crow form.  Tharduk wrote the letter as he had the best handwriting.  The letter conveyed the following:  [the players gave me a 3x5” card with the following bullet points.]

• We tracked Kostakis to secret rooms
• Our intent was to capture and question him about the fire
• We healed his wounds after capturing him
• We found evidence incriminating Viktor Nicabar
• A counterfeit form is enclosed with this letter
• We have more evidence if you are willing to meet us
• We overheard Viktor state “the deputies are on to us” in regards to the fire
• Viktor walked into the secret room we were in and was shot twice
• We immediately tried to heal him, but he was dead
• We panicked!

Once the letter was written, the group discussed where they wanted to meet with the Sheriff if he was willing.  They decided the abandoned tannery outside of town on the County Road would be best.  They could see the town gates from there and would have advanced warning if a group rode out to arrest them.  They also worked out a plan in case the Sheriff wasn’t interested in talking - Anomin would fly in circles and then to the east if things go bad.  If the Sheriff insisted on bringing more than two deputies, this would also count as things going bad.  If things went well, she would fly east and then directly to the tannery.

Dawn

The group quietly made their way back to town and hid in the abandoned tannery just as the sun rose. Anomin then took the letter and flew into town.  While the rest waited, Sorvia started copying the map of the logging camp and the hidden mine.

As Anomin flew over the town walls she noticed many more guards on the walls.  She could also see wisps of steam still rising from the burned building.  Anomin also circled over the northern part of town to look at the Nicabar Residence.  She saw many people milling around the front and back of the building, some of whom were deputies.  From all the lighted windows and active chimneys, Anomin suspected the entire house was awake and alert.

Before approaching the Sheriff’s Office, Anomin landed on the roof of the Post Office across the street and observed.  She saw a couple deputies out on the veranda around the front and side of the Sheriff’s Office.  She could also see the Sheriff in his residence on the second floor getting ready for the day.

Anomin glided over to one of the windows of the Sheriff’s residence and landed on the windowsill.  Holding the letter with one claw, she rapped on the window with her beak.  After doing this a couple times, the Sheriff pulled back the curtains and saw a crow wearing a necklace and holding a letter.  He sighed and then opened the window.  Anomin greeted him and asked how he was.  His response was, “I haven't had my morning coffee yet and am talking to a crow.”

Anomin explained to the sheriff that she had a letter for him, explaining their side of the events last night.  The Sheriff took the letter and read it, his eyebrow rising at a few points.  He then looked over the counterfeit official document and eyebrows went up again.  The Sheriff and Anomin then talked.

The Sheriff wanted more details on the secret rooms as Viktor’s body had been presented in the wine cellar, not some hidden room.  Anomin gave the Sheriff an overview, explaining she had not seen everything but knew Viktor had been in the secret rooms when he was shot.  The sheriff was willing to meet with the adventurers and get complete statements, but not alone and not in the town.  He stated that there were now wanted posters up for the adventurers, posted by the town guard, who answered to the Baron, not himself.  Anomin felt he was being earnest and agreed to his request, stating two deputies would be acceptable and the adventurers would be waiting in the old tannery on the edge of town.  Anomin then flew away, hearing the Sheriff say out loud, “I need my coffee.”

Anomin flew back to the tannery without spiraling, signaling to Islo and Kadruth that things went well.  When she arrived she related her conversation with the Sheriff to the other adventurers.  Islo and Kadruth resumed their watching positions to keep an eye on the town gate in case guards marched out or the Sheriff exited with more than two of his deputies.

An Hour Later

Islo spotted the Sheriff and two of his deputies exiting the County Gate.  Instead of walking directly to the abandoned tannery, in full view of the town guards, the sheriff turned left and walked through the buildings outside the town walls and approached the tannery from the backside, out of view of the guards.

The Sheriff and the adventurers talked.  The Sheriff wanted to know about the "more evidence" and the adventurers showed him the map of Viktor’s logging operation in the hills to the west indicating a hidden mine he was working.  Sorvia stated that the symbols near the map indicated the mine held precious metals and was not a simple stone quarry.  The Sheriff stated Viktor ran that logging company, owning 40% of it with Agni Michelakis’ recently deceased grandfather owning the other 60% of the company and all the land.  When the grandfather died, her claim to the land was challenged and now she needs to present the deed to the land in court.  If she can’t, the logging business would be Viktor’s and most of the rest of the land would go to Timo Onassis, who challenged the land ownership.

After that, the Sheriff wanted to know who shot Viktor and where.  He wrote down the adventurer's statements, occasionally asking questions.

With the map as evidence and the letter as their statement, the Sheriff felt he could go to the Baron and get the adventurer’s names cleared, but it would be good if they stayed away for a little while.  Tharduk stated the group had business surveying the forest to the south for monsters and would be gone for two weeks.  The Sheriff said that should be enough time, but to send the crow back in before attempting to enter Nomi when they returned.  Kadruth asked the Sheriff to also tell the Post Office they would return to collect the mail going to Mouzaki in two weeks and the Sheriff agreed to do so.  Inserrant asked for a copy of the wanted poster with her face on it as a souvenir.  The Sheriff then left and walked back into town. The adventurers exited the back and made their way south, towards the Mikro Dasos.

Sunset

After a day of walking south through the plains, the adventurers arrived at the banks of the Mesta River and made camp.

End of session

Commentary

[Much talking and roleplay this session as the players talked their way through the situation.  Depending upon the choices they made, they could have ended up outlaws.  Luckily, they had made a favorable impression on the Sheriff before things went sideways for them.  They still needed to navigate carefully and did so.  There will be some consequences when they return, but I have not decided yet what they will be.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

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

Last session: Session 8

 

Next session: Session 10 [Not yet typed up]

[UPDATE: Corrected date at the beginning of the session notes from April 30 to the 29th.]