Building Bhakashal – Home Game – Session 3

My home game is currently a few dads from my kids friend group. We added a new player this week, so I thought a session report would be useful.

When a new PC arrives in our home game, I generate the PC for the player or we roll it up together, player’s choice. In this case they asked me to make them a PC, and the existing party, a Seer (priest) and a warlock (magic-user) needed some muscle. I rolled up a fighter using the Bhakashal chargen rules, randomizing almost everything.

Last session the PCs had managed to kidnap Mitrax Toma the Bold, a House Omander Lord who was plotting against House Rostus. Between sessions Mitrax was ransomed off to his House in dishonor, and he fled to his retreat to plan with his ally, Calligaster Naukan, a House Omander Necromancer.

The party discovered that the pair were funding bandits to harass caravans in territory under the protection of House Rostus. They don’t know why. Kamerli the Ivory, the party’s patron and a House Quannar Warlock, along with Tairnay the Sphene, House Rostus Warlock, and Kammershorn the Iron, House Rostus Lord, have banded together. Tairnay and Kammershorn are responsible for House Rostus territories in the marshlands.

They met in Tairnay’s tower, in the upper Northeast corner of the ward of House Rostus. The tower is made entirely of green marble, it has no windows except on the top floor, which is almost entirely open with pillars every 10 feet or so. The roof has an elaborate garden on top, filled with lush foliage, strange flowers taller than people, vines that slowly move and more than its share of bird-sized, luminescent insects. At the centre of the roof is a pool made of white stone filled with silvery water. Seats are arranged around the pool, and the party is escorted to the roof by four Chitin House Rostus Regulars, wearing their blazon of an Emerald Lantern on Black.

Fun side note, Tairnay is a high-level warlock at House Rostus (8^th level), so her tower is in that ward, but I don’t place that sort of stuff, instead, when the players interact with the location, I specify it on the map. So as of yesterday’s session, that building has been designated as the tower of Tairnay the Sphene.

Tairnay sits beside Kammershorn in robes of green that shimmer and shift when she moves, like ripples through water, she is bald, has an elaborate flair collar behind her the head, and wears a silver skullcap with no jewelry of any kind. She is a Malu (fish-folk). Kammershorn is an Emberi (human), a tower of a man, also bald and without beard, wearing only a leather kilt and harness. He has a House Rostus tattoo on the shoulder of his weapon arm, and his signature trident by his side.  Sitting across from the two House Rostus dignitaries is your patron, Kamerli the Ivory. Kamerli is a tall, thin Emberi, dressed in dark red leathers, his hair is a lustrous black and his all-white eyes lack pupils.

The party and the NPCs discussed options based on what they knew. In this situation I roll randomly to see what Kamerli, Tairnay and Kammershorn have come up with, they are well connected Bhakashal Lords and Warlocks, they had a lead.

 Mitrax Toma the Bold is allied with a Necromancer, Calligaster Naukan, Naukan’s lieutenant, a lesser Necromancer named Pholl the Gaunt, has a penchant for searching out the places where groups of people have recently died and collecting their corpses to reanimate. A local hunter, a friend of House Rostus, had guided him to the location of several slaughters, and after a modest bribe has let them know of his next trip. Kammershorn suggested that this route might be the most direct.

 Before that, they were sent to retrieve someone. All high level Bhakashal Mercenaries recruit lower-level mercenary followers, they act as sort of a personal guard. One of Mitrax’s former followers left his service, dissatisfied with his progress within the Bhakashal Lord’s ranks (he was passed over for important assignments, etc.) He left House Omander and is a free agent. He is staying at a Ketka named the Slumbering Naga on the Southmost platform of the Raosk, fishing, gambling and fighting on the platforms in the Raosk for extra coin, his name is Taerg the Rain.

 Taerg might have useful information, the party had to find him and convince him to come back to their patron and share information.

The new PC was of course Taerg, I told him two pieces of information he had that were relevant to House Rostus holdings in the marshlands.

1.        There is a Yalan village in the Cairan Forest (“Village of Golta”) who have denied House Rostus access to their territories, all villages can choose to reject the protection of a House. Lord Kammershorn and Tairnay the Sphene have been in talks with the village to reverse this decision. The bandit raids have made House Rostus look weak. Taerg heard Mitrax discuss this village before.

2.        A Togmu village along the River Kirth, Bargo, in House Acantus territory, has been competing with a Saan village in House Rostus territory, Amabar, both villages have been breeding giant slugs and harvesting their acid for use as spell components and in creation of alcoholic beverages. Taerg saw Mitrax take interest in this conflict and discuss it several times.

The party travelled through the city to the Raosk. Note that I rolled for encounters along the way in both locations and while travelling there. The rules are weighted such that encounters are not the default, but they can happen. The party ended up on the platforms of the Raosk. A positive encounter reaction roll with a Togmu hunter they randomly picked out of the crowd got them the location of the Slumbering Naga.

The Ketka  was a large tent that has curtains hung to divide up the space into sleeping squares, these squares have mats and pillows and a small table and chest. They are marked by having a maze-like corridor that snakes between the divisions to give access, and a green (oxidized copper) a four armed emberi (human) statue of Bemmarg, god of love, holding two long staves, at the entrance.

The party asked about Taerg when greeted at the entrance, explaining they had work for him. I rolled to see what the tent-minder would think about that, given that the PC was looking for work and fighting on the platforms for coin, I weighted it slightly in their favor. He told them that Taerg was fighting on the elevated platform tonight. He fought every few days.

They went to the platform. During the day it is elevated to the top, it’s shade is a well known refuge, during a fight it is lowered so it is only 10’ above the closest platform below (platforms vary in height). The disc is large, fights can stay in the center or branch out towards the sides. A critical hit to someone near the edge would send them over, taking falling damage and perhaps missing the platforms and heading to the marsh.

The PC is a mid-level fighter, he was pitted against a Jugyi (turtle folk) named Kulkage – AC: 4, Lv: 4, HP: 20, NA: 2, DA: 1-6/1-6, SD: Back AC 1 – Kulkage will attempt to pick up his opponent (critical required) and throw them off the edge of the platform.

The fight was fairly short, Kulkage won initiative and tried to grapple Taerg, but the mercenary managed to avoid his grasp.

They circled again, this time the Jugyi charged, hoping to knock Taerg back towards the disc’s edge, this means longest “weapon” strikes first. As it happens, Taerg has longer arms than Kulkage, so Taerg struck first and rolled for two strikes, hit both with criticals, the first he took another unarmed attack, the second he took double damage.

“After circling for minutes, feinting and pulling back, and failing a grapple, your opponent charges you, clearly intending to knock you back towards the disc’s edge. You anticipated this, and you move to the side slightly as he lunges, smashing the side of his head with your fist, he stumbles and turns towards you, only to meet your forehead as you bash his face, blood flying wild. As he staggers you spin around and smash the side of his face again with your foot, and he collapses to the ground”.

Laughter, shouting, and the sound of coins exchanging hands.

That was a fun character introduction.

The PCs had a conversation, the new player held out for a bit, and asked a few questions, he had just left the employ of a Noble House, and was doing alright on the platforms, he wasn’t sure. But they promised good compensation, and to at least hear out their patron, and he went along.

New party member gained!

Back at Tairnay’s tower Taerg shared his information. The party discussed options with the two lords and the warlock.

1.        Taerg thought they should ambush Pholl the Gaunt, Kammershorn liked the idea

2.        Tairnay, the party Warlock (Ormann the Crimson) and Seer (Ghollen Taz) thought it made sense to go to the villages to gather information

3.        Tairnay also suggested they could try to break into Calligaster’s tower in the Ward of House Omander. Calligaster has a tower of his own in the city, he and his apprentices live there. Tairnay knows something of his comings and goings.

Ormann suggested that ambushing Pholl was the best idea, and several encounter reaction rolls later we had agreement from the patrons.

So the party was directed to the hunter that had given up information, they found out about the excursion, Pholl was leaving the next morning.

Last session after defeating the bandits one of the bandit units, their leader and several lieutenants all joined the service of the PCs, in anticipation of House Quannar coins being sent in their direction. The party left in the afternoon the next day to get to the location, 3 days away in the marshlands. All parties were mounted. The party took a slightly circuitous route so that Pholl would arrive there first.

I roll for random encounters for any travel, that was for both groups. For the party no encounters came up. For Pholl there were two, one with a pair of crocodiles, they left after seeing the size of Pholl’s party (himself, a pair of henchmen and 10 house Omander regulars). The second encounter was with a small caravan, they passed without note. The necromancer arrived at the location and set up camp. Pholl would animate the dead later to move them under the cover of darkness to a different location where Calligaster has been collecting undead.

Just before the party arrived they heard a distant horn blowing from their destination. Nothing came of it, so they continued on. The party hid itself and the bandits around the location when they arrived. They waited until sundown and then sent in the mercenaries with instructions to attack as if they were surprised to find the Necromancer, but not to slay him.

The bandits were 15 0-levels, with 6 2^nd level lieutenants and a 7^th level mercenary leader named Rojmi Yin, they are all mounted on Saan (giant lizards). They burst upon the camp, there were 10 0-level soldiers, Pholl the Gaunt, a 3^rd level lieutenant and… a black dragon. The House Omander soldiers were not being menaced by the dragon, it was in the service of Calligaster, and through Calligaster, Pholl. So they were not impacted by the dragon’s fear aura.

Unfortunately, all of the party’s 0-level bandits and 2^nd level lieutenants were. They all fled in terror.

That left Rojmi, who immediately charged the necromancer and tried to scoop him up. He reached out and missed, turning around as the House Omander soldiers, who were on the other side of the camp (they were as far from the dragon as possible, even if they weren’t fleeing), came running. As he turned the necromancer took out a wand, spoke words they could not hear, and pointed it at Rojmi, a crackling blue bolt of lightning struck him and his mount, slaying his mount, and badly burning him.

At this point the PCs, who were hiding nearby, arrive.

Our new mercenary now attacks a group of 4 0-level fighters that surround him. He gets the initiative and strikes with his trident, getting four criticals. In Bhakashal, you get a critical with a total “to hit” roll of 25 or higher, a 6^th level fighter gets enough bonuses with a magical trident to make that quite doable.

“The soldiers surround you, menacing with their swords, your trident jumps forward, spearing one in the gut, you pull it back and spear another in the neck with it’s spiked butt. You wrench it out of the soldier behind you, and whirl it around to push back the other two, who are, for a moment, disoriented by your slaughter. You stab the one on the left in the chest, he heaves forward and then back. The other lunges in your direction hoping to hit you before you can react, but the soldier on your tines falls off, and you flip the weapon around, jamming it into your target’s gut as he arrives.”

Badass. The rest of the soldiers fled after a failed morale check.

The party warlock lets loose with magic missile, which staggers Pholl and stops his next action. By that time a singed and pissed of Rojmi smacks the Necromancer to the ground.

Ghollen Taz turns to the dragon… and talks to him.

Dragons are intelligent in Bhakashal, this is widely known. They are selfish, power hungry and somewhat vain, being ancient and powerful.

“A mighty wyrm like yourself, having to work with that low thing, I cannot imagine. Whatever debt you have to his master, as surely it could not be to him, we will discharge it for you as we are going to slay his master for his actions against ours.”

Didn’t see that coming. The player was offering to slay Calligaster so the dragon would no longer have  to work with him, speculating that the dragon was discharging a debt or Calligaster had some control over him.

The beauty of this game is that I don’t have to decide, the dice will.

I make an encounter reaction roll, I modify for charisma and House alliances, and give a negative modifier as there is clearly some sort of agreement between the necromancer and the dragon. The result comes up strongly positive.

So the dragon accepts their offer, agree to slay Calligaster, and he will leave.

Pholl the Gaunt loses his cool and shouts, “If you betray my master, you loathsome worm, he will have your skin flayed from your body!”

I roll a reaction roll for the dragon, this is essentially part of the parlay.

It comes up strongly negative. One other quick roll to see what the dragon does, spell, breath weapon or claw and bite.

Breath weapon it is.

The dragon pulls up to full height and spits acid on Pholl, the acid dissolves huge portions of his body before the eyes of the party.

That was a hallmark moment.

Unfortunately, Pholl was also their lead.

The dragon turned to the party Seer,

“Dragons can walk on two feet little ember, or they can fly. I will fly from here for a while, go hunting on the coast, when I return I will travel to the city and walk on two feet until I find you, to see if  you have honored our bargain.’

He then turned, spread his wings and flew off.

Now the party had a commitment to slay Calligaster Naukan, one they had not discussed with their patron.

But that was a concern for the future.

Ghollen Taz sat down in front of Pholl’s smouldering, half eaten away body. He began to chant, his holy symbol clutched in one hand. After several minutes, his head pulled back, and his eyes opened, they were a blazing deep blue, all other colors gone. At this point, the half acid-consumed skull of Pholl the Gaunt rose into the air, and it’s half destroyed jaw creaked out scratchy, cracked words.

“Ghollen Taz… servant of Sithasial… necronaut… ask me your questions”

The party had conferred about what to ask,

“Why is Calligaster Naukan interested in dishonoring House Rostus”

There was a pause, then the half skull, steaming flesh hanging off it like curtains, spoke again.

“The village of Golta has refused their protection, denying them access to their territories, Calligaster wished to dishonor House Rostus so they would not change their decision.”

So now they knew what thread to pull.

Taz spoke again, “Why did Naukan want the decision to stand.”

“I know not”

That was their two questions.

They decided to go and round up their soldiers who had fled thanks to the dragon, and head back to the city. That was another 3 days of travel. They had only one encounter, a group of Togmu hunters, who they passed amicably.

We stopped there as they arrived back in the city.

They now know the clue is related to the village of Golta, Calligaster and Mitrax don’t want House Rostus to gain access to the territories around the village, that suggests that there could be sites or items of power to be found there. The next step is to figure out what’s so important about these territories.

Big fun.