Building Bhakashal – Session Report – Domain Play

We had our first session for one of my after-school groups this Saturday, we are shifting to biweekly 3 hour weekend sessions rather than weekly 1-1/2 hour after school sessions for this year, as after school activities are increasing, as well as homework!

We took a 2-month summer break, when we finished they had just arrived back in the city after a fierce fight with a bandit crew. They had traveled across the game world to the Forgotten City, and they were heavy-laden with 8 months of adventuring loot. I have to hand it to them, they hired extra pack animals and traveled with a caravan to ensure they brought all their loot home, it was a major pain in the ass, an extra cost, and it slowed them down considerably. But they were rich!

After a recap of the previous game year, mainly reminding everyone of tasks finished, tasks unfinished, commitments met and not met, allies and enemies created. This was essentially a bookkeeping session, but my group loves those. First we dealt with leveling up ¾ of the party (two PCs didn’t level, the rest did). One side benefit to this (differential XP requirements by class) is those classes that level more often get rewarded. When you run different classes leveling at different rates, this becomes another way to differentiate the classes. People complain about thieves in 1e for example being “underpowered”, but they level up fastest in AD&D and so improve more regularly.

We had one of the party warlocks level, and they rolled for their Patron spell, in this case they rolled a homebrew spell and were pretty stoked about it. It allows you to “borrow” power from a monster if they fail their save.

**********

Inarrak’s Ingenious Appropriation (Alteration) - Level: 6, Casting Time: 6 segments, Range: 1”, per level, Duration: Special, Area of Effect: Special, Components: V,S,M, Saving Throw:Neg.

Inarrak’s Ingenious Appropriation allows the Warlock to temporarily “appropriate” a power from a monster who fails their saving throw. This could be, for example, the breath weapon of a dragon or the gaze of a basilisk. While appropriated, the monster does not have that power. The Warlock can in principle appropriate any power, multiple attacks, etc. Powers can be used 1 time for every three levels of the caster and must be used within an hour of casting the spell. The Warlock may not appropriate a power from a creature that has more HD than she has levels. The material component of this spell is a small mirror and a gold piece.

 

**********

Warlocks in Bhakashal are free casters, once they memorize a spell they can cast it up to their maximum number of times per day (level and INT based), but they have failure odds for all castings, and the odds of HARMFUL failure are 5% per level of spell.

Ouch.

Now almost everyone in the party was 8^th level. This means that they are on the cusp of conversion into Bhakashal nobility. At 9^th level PCs who have completed an important task for their faction are considered to become part of that factions upper echelons

The party had two 8^th level members before everyone leveled up at the start of our current sessions, they will likely hit 9^th by mid year and be eligible for noble status. We are transitioning into what would traditionally be called “domain play”.  I consider all levels of play in Bhakashal to be “domain play”, as  you work for a faction from 1^st level, and are thus tied to bigger things from the beginning.

But I digress.

They decided that it was time to figure out what to do as their “big task” to impress the existing Bhakashal nobility to let them in when they did reach requisite level. Up until this point they have been following the direction of their patron. They had a sense of what was important to him, but they did not have a sense of what was important TO THE FACTION beyond him. And the point is that they need to do something big so the faction will want to add them to the existing nobility.

They had two ideas, first was to find a powerful monster that was threatening their House and slay it. The second was to pair up with Craight the Swift, the caravan master of the caravan they had traveled with for the last game year, and find some distant place to open trade with, either in mundane resources that are rare in Bhakashal, or in magical resources, e.g. rare components used in spell and item creation. This second option was what my Friday game from last year decided to do when they had a few players hit 8^th level. They are currently in the underworld trying to build a trade network around exotic monsters. Slaying a fearsome monster is good, figuring out a way to harvest materials from a monster in perpetuity is even better. For example, in Bhakashal several of the marshland villages raise giant slugs and use their acid for various things, from weapons to spell components to alcohol. If the party could corner that trade or get an advantage for their house in that trade, it would be a big deal.

They spent some time talking and decided to ask their patron, Quin Faal the Iolite, for suggestions, he’s obviously more plugged in than them. Over the last four years of this campaign they have gotten to know him pretty well, and on the whole they have been successful at the tasks he has put them to. So, how does the Patron respond? I roll for that. Encounter reaction roll (with mods) was very positive. I decided that Quin Faal was ready to make some big moves of his own, and having any member of the party as House nobility would give him another ally. So, he gave them 3 options, tasks that would both work in his favor, but also give the party a big reputation boost.

The first was related to the Bhakashal Blossom, this gigantic plant has roots all over the city that lead to healing pools, the temples and the Noble Houses control them, but there are rumors of another that has not been found. The healing pools are a big deal for two reasons, one, they heal ANYTHING, you could bring back a finger and get back the person. Second, regular healing drains the Seer (Priest) who does that healing temporarily, the pools do not. Odds are the pool will be on another House’s territory, so if that’s a House they want to forge an alliance with (which can be rolled for), or one they are opposed to, no matter what there are lots of possibilities!

The second task related to demons that have been appearing with increasing frequency and targeting powerful people in various Noble Houses. Demons in the city used to be rare, with so many high level warlocks and seers around, why bother? Find out why and stop the demons. That would be very dangerous, between magic resistance and psionics, demons are deadly, and defeating them and rooting out the source of their summoning would bring major Honor to them and any House that would take them.

The third related to the Spiders (Thieves) guild, in Bhakashal the Guild is split into two, the city branch and the Raosk branch. They have an uneasy truce, but the city branch is run on the sly by a Lord of House Quannar, the PC’s house. When Quin Faal told them this, they became privy to “nobility” level information, the identity of the “Black Arachne”, the guildmaster of the Brass Blade Spider’s Guild, is pretty secret. Now they know, Quin Faal was trusting them with key information. House Quannar has influence over one branch of the Guild, but not the other

Task three was to either slay the Guildmaster of the Raosk guild or take him out of play so that either one of them or a House Quannar Lord could take over, making their house dominant over both branches of the Guild.

That would be a boss move.

We took a break at that point from the RP with Quin Faal and while they thought about the options, we took some game time to take care of some bookkeeping. They had to cover expenses. They had been gone for months, so they had to pay their retainers (the ones who protect their property in the city). They also had to pay tribute to their patron, pay their taxes on their property in the city, make their donations to the various temples, make their donations to their factions, and grease the palms of a number of regular allies. Some also had to replenish supplies, henchmen and mounts.

Then they had to convert their mountains of coin into gems and jewelry. We roll for each PC to see if they get a better, worse or fair exchange when they buy gems and jewelry, various PC skills figure into these rolls.

One of the PCs wanted to RP a brief encounter with a mid level brawler who had bested him in a fight in the Raosk before they left on their big trip to the Forgotten City. He found the guy after some searching around a brief trip to the temple of Aeskaros, Bhakashal god of Vengeance (Aeskaros appears as a fiery red humanoid with four arms and the head of an ape, carrying a pair of two-handed swords), where he left a very large donation, the Seers pointed him to his prey. They had a fight in the Raosk, essentially on the street, there was lots of informal betting, and this time the PC won the day.

They loved that.

Then one of the PCs decided to take downtime to make a magic item, they had found a scroll with Enchant an Item and took the chance to try and memorize it. That was successful, and he had access to the library and the laboratory at House Quannar, so he decided to start with enchanting three shuriken to be +1 and return on throwing. Bhakashal has a process for that, so we rolled and spent a lot of gold (just getting the shuriken made is expensive as they have to be the very best quality materials, made by a skilled artisan) and he got his shuriken.

But that, combined with level training and other housekeeping activities, took up about two weeks of game time. By that time Quin Faal had tasked another one of his groups with discovering the possible extra healing pool.

So that was off the table.

They eventually decided on trying to take out the Guildmaster of the Raosk Brass Blade Guild as their initiation task for status as House nobility. I think the demons scared them off!

At that point they talked strategy, how to best identify the Red Arachne? Eventually they settled on finding something of import to the Raosk branch of the Guild, something that they wanted or wanted out of the way, and dealing with it. That would hopefully get the Red Arachne’s attention, and maybe help them to find out who they are. We broke at that point with the players busily hatching schemes and seeing if any of their new, recently leveled abilities would be helpful.

I should add that generating high level tasks like this is something else that Bhakashal does if the referee desires. There is a rumor table for the setting that has high level stuff like this that is up to the referee to decide on as true or false. So it could just be a rumor, or it could be the basis of something bigger. Add to this any rivalries from the PCs past that impact the House, or any tasks they have completed that hinted at bigger things going on. There are tons of sources of inspiration for this level of play in Bhakashal.

For those who are curious (these figures are rounded, I wasn’t watching the clock the entire time):

Time for Tasks: 7 - member party [OoC means “out of character”, IC means “in character or played out at the table as the PCs)

1. (OoC) Recap of big developments of previous year, enemies/allies made, achievements - 30 min

2. (OoC) Leveling up - 20 min

3. (OoC) Brainstorming "main task" - 20 min

4. (IC) Discussion with Quin Faal - 30 min

5. (OoC) Bookkeeping Tasks (money changing, expenses, henchmen, etc.) - 20 min

6. (IC) PC fight with brawler - 20 min

7. (OoC) Magic Item creation - 10 min

8. (OoC) Brainstorming "main task" - 30 min

Total – 180 min, 3 hrs

 

Building Bhakashal – High Level Play

My gaming groups are starting later this year, which gave me some time to review my campaign notes over the last few days. My Wednesday group started the year heading to a place on a map, the Forgotten City, just because it sounded cool, and there was lore suggesting it had great riches.

The lore was off, it had a gateway to hell, and moderate riches. After releasing a Pit Fiend, and pissing off a very high-level warlock, they managed to flee and catch up with their caravan. On their way back they had a bandit encounter that was very chaotic, but they managed a stalemate and retreat and headed home to Bhakashal.

They have all accumulated enough experience to level, which will make some of them 7^th level, and some of them 8^th. For reference, it has taken 4 years of gaming, about 360 hours of table time for the highest-level PCs in the party to get there. When you hit 9th level in Bhakashal you get to join the upper echelons of your faction. Each faction has a ruling class, a group who, by distinction of raising through the ranks, are now those who direct the faction. So, some time near the end of this gaming year, assuming they survive, they will be in a position to become part of the ruling class of Bhakashal, and will no longer have a patron directing them.

 However, you don’t just automatically become a Lord upon hitting 9th level.

You have to do one of two things:

a) defeat a sitting Lord in combat in the arena

b) perform a service for the House that significantly impacts their status/repute 

A Lord can refuse a challenge if desired, unless they have dishonored their station or the challenger. So that route is risky as the party doesn’t have any “dirt” on anyone. Over the next gaming year, they could look for some and challenge someone directly.

Option B would involve something BIG. Something that would significantly impact the status of their House. They are of course welcome to come up with a task that would meet the requirements. My Friday group did this last year, as they were older than my Wednesday group and had party members that hit 8^th level halfway though the year. They came up with the idea of establishing trade relations with factions in the underworld in order to get access to the unusual monsters and plants of the underworld. Establishing an outpost and trade relations for their Noble House would be a big deal.

However, it can be hard for players to come up with, “something big”. As much as the players are involved in faction play, and familiar with their patron’s interests, coming up with a significant goal to gain prestige amongst the upper echelons of Bhakashal House nobility isn’t. So, I’m going to give them some ideas. In each case the idea will be one that they learned through a contact or ally they have made over the last 4 years of play.

It’s time to cash in on the many relationships they have built

Option 1 involves the Brass Blade Spider’s Guild, it currently has 2 branches, one located in the Ward of House Quannar, the party’s House, the other branch works out of the Raosk. The Lords of House Quannar have sway over the city branch.

But the Raosk branch is out of their sphere of influence. So, task one would be for the party to either assassinate their Guildmaster or determine how to bring them to heel. This would bring all of the guild into Quannar’s orbit. That’s the kind of “big move” that would be worthy of a Lordship, as it would fundamentally shift the relationship between factions. It would involve infiltration and spying, gathering power. 

Option 2, over the last year there have been several prominent attacks by demons in the city. Demons, even powerful ones, rarely enter Bhakashal, there are so many wards, warlocks and high level priests around. So, someone in the city has likely been summoning them, or there is some sort of rift that lets them through. If the party can stop this it would be a major achievement, as demons are quite powerful, defeating several of them would be notable.

It would also put all of the Noble Houses in their debt, as the demons have attacked and killed several powerful Lords and Warlocks in the city before they were themselves destroyed. In addition, it is believed that some of the demons are polymorphed and hidden amongst the population.

Option 3 involves the Bhakashal Blossom, a huge plant that has roots throughout the city that connect to the healing pools that are accessible only to the most powerful in the Bhakashal factions. The PCs would hear that there are one or more pools that have not been discovered, and their task would be to find those pools and either secure them or bargain with the faction who control the territory where they are found.

The pools are extremely important, discovering new pools and securing/controlling them would be an achievement of the highest order. It will also be very challenging as it will involve negotiating with other Houses if they are found outside of the territory of the party’s House.

These three options were created by raiding the Bhakashal City Rumors Table. The table has 50 rumors about the city, the ref gets to decide which, if any, are true. Most of them have a conspiracy flavor, so they make excellent fodder for the sort of bold, game changing action that would be worthy of soon-to-be Bhakashal Lords who want to impress their House to gain stature and standing.

This year they will need to step it up and do some game-changing things in order to earn their spot amongst the Bhakashal elite.

It going to be epic.

Also, it is important to note that I haven’t had a chance to play test this part of the game much yet, two of my groups are approaching the goal, but none have made it.

One of the key differences between Bhakashal and other indie games is that it has been extensively playtested, over the last five years we have put in 1000+ table hours of playtesting. This high level piece is one of the few that hasn’t had the opportunity. Playtesting ensures that the systems work, work well, and the system is integrated.

Onwards and upwards!

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.

 

 

 

 Building Bhakashal - Session Report 

My after school D&D starts off in a few weeks, but my home game has been going on all summer. We haven’t been able to meet that often, the game is two fathers of my son’s friends, and summer is filled with family events.We played again last night. In the last session, the PCs rescued a warlock, Bhomar the Bronze, who had been petrified by a basilisk. Bandits had taken over his tower after he was petrified, the PCs cleared out the bandits and discovered a plot

The PCs found out that the bandits were hired to harass caravans and patrols in the area around the tower. Each Noble House in Bhakashal has a section of the marshlands under their jurisdiction, this area was under House Rostus. The bandits were hired to disrupt trade and activities in an area controlled by House Rostus, this brings dishonor to their House. So this wasn’t just a case of “bandits attacking caravans”, it was part of a larger scheme.

The party brought this information to their patron, Kamerli the Ivory or House Quannar. Kamerli saw an opportunity to gain an alliance with House Rostus. He approached Lord Kammershorn the Iron and the Warlock Tairnay the Sphene of House Rostus. These two were responsible for House Rostus interests in the marshlands, and they were very keen to hear this news. Kamerli, wanting to ingratiate himself with House Rostus with a potential alliance in mind, offered to “solve” their problem. He then tasked the PCs with finding out who hired the bandits, and kidnapping them! In Bhakashal kidnapping is an honor crime, victims are NEVER harmed, instead they are captured, the House is dishonored, and a huge ransom is demanded.

So that was their task. They had one advantage, Maglane the Malachite, a Bhakashal Thaumaturge (thief/magic-user) was with the bandits but switched allegiances after they left her to die with the party after a botched attempt to repel the PCs. Maglane knew that after being routed the bandits would likely head back to the city to find work, she had five leads as to their location- The Iron Galleon (a tavern where they look for work), Kelgir’s Brand (a tattoo shop of one of his friends), the Temple of Xoam (many of his crew worship Xoam), The Arena (they like to bet) and The Ivory Door (a tavern in Raosk where they recruit)

They decided to ignore the arena as it was busy enough that it would be hard to spot the bandits. They also decided against the Temple As they felt the priests might not take kindly to inquiries about worshippers. That narrowed it down to the Iron Galleon, Kelgir’s Brand or the Ivory Door. The PCs decided against the tavern in the Raosk as they were in the city already, the Raosk could wait for another day.

To keep it spontaneous, I created a list of options for daytime and night time activities for the bandits, so when the PCs wanted to look for them, I rolled to see where they were. It was mid-afternoon, and I rolled the tattoo place. They had two options to choose between. It just so happened that one of them was right, but they didn’t know that. At this point it was a matter of luck. 

Then the gods intervened, as one of the players decided to cast Augury.

Side note, I routinely see people complaining that PCs can get “stuck” trying to make decisions, but they don’t even think to use spells like this. It isn’t guaranteed, but using divination in a game with magic should be a go-to. It’s another reason why priests are awesome.

“Will it bring weal or woe to go to the Iron Galleon rather than Kelgir’s Brand?” The party Seer (Bhakashal priest), Ghollen Taz, threw his gem inlaid lizard bones and read them, the answer was strong and clear, “Woe”. 

Now, the interesting thing about Augury is that “woe” could be any number of things unrelated to the bandits, all it means is that things won’t go well if they go to the Iron Galleon. The bandits might actually be there! Augury is sort of vague, but it was enough to tip them towards going to the tattoo parlor, and that happened to be the right place. I then rolled to see if the bandit leader was at the tattoo place, or just some bandits. 1 in 6 chance, and I rolled a 1. So the bandit leader was there.

So, suddenly, the party was on a track to get to the bandit leader about 10 min into the game! I know some refs would have thrown in complications so it wouldn’t be “too easy”, or to make it “more dramatic”.

Nonsense. 

The PCs went to Kelgir’s Brand.

They didn’t know they were about to hit paydirt, they walked into the place and the bandit leader, Rojmi Yin, was there with three of his lieutenants, all talking to the tattoo artist, who was a friend of Yin’s. I rolled for surprise, and the bandits won. 

Now, the PCs were there with Maglane, Yin and Maglane knew each other as former colleagues, and Yin had fought the party before, so he knew who they were. How would he react? 

Here is another place where I find that there is a default to combat with many refs. They fought before, so he would naturally attack (particularly as they had surprise) on sight, right?

Thing is, Yin doesn’t know exactly what happened at the tower, I do, but I’m the ref. So he might think that Maglane was charmed, or threatened, or that this isn’t really Maglane, as illusions are a thing. Just because she left with them doesn’t mean she is a traitor. If it IS Maglane, and she did turn on them, then he would want to know what she “gave up” before slaying her. So, attacking right away isn’t necessarily the smartest thing to do. Then again, maybe he’s angry, maybe he has been dishonored, maybe he and Maglane were close. 

What I have realized over the years is that there is no right answer to these sorts of questions, all sorts of decisions could “make sense”, so I roll the encounter reaction dice, with mods based on the fact the party kicked his ass a few days ago, and it comes up negative/no immediate action.

So, he isn’t happy about the situation, but he doesn’t act as he wants to know more, and to talk a bit of smack. He asks questions of Maglane, the threatens the party, but he doesn’t pull steel. At this point, the PCs make him an offer, give up his boss and they will pay the bandits off handsomely. Rojmi Yin was wary, his boss would already be pissed that he was kicked out of the tower and lost men, if he turned loyalties he was as good as dead.

No deal.

Instead he counter proposed, not knowing who the PCs worked for. Help him retake the tower and defeat Bhomar the Bronze (now that he was de-petrified), and he would give up his employer. They quickly refused that offer. There was some shifting of feet, Rojmi Yin, three bandits and the Jugyi (turtle person) tattooist outnumbered the PCs by one.

Then, the party Seer chimed in, I’m not sure where he got the idea, and why he thought he could make the offer, but he told the bandits that they could work for the PC’s patron instead, they just had to give up their current patron. 

At that point it was time for another encounter reaction roll, how would he respond?

It was a positive result, so I had to decide WHY the bandit leader would shift alliances. When you make these decisions you end up not just resolving the actions, but also creating the fabric of the game world. So I decided that Rojmi, having failed his current patron, was eager for the protection of a new patron. 

So he agreed to their terms and gave up his now former employer. The bandits were hired to disrupt trade and activities by Mitrax Toma the Bold and Calligaster Naukan, a House Omander Lord and Warlock.

Now they had a target.

They left the bandits with promises to get them new employment and headed to Kamerli the Ivory. Kamerli was pleased at their progress, and armed with this information quickly found out about the pair. Calligaster lived in the tower of the Magus Warlock of House Omander, Mar Kassan, and spent most of his time there. That location was far too dangerous. Mitrax spent most of his time at the House Omander barracks, also an impossible task to infiltrate.  

Mitrax Toma the Bold, however, has a villa in the city, the PCs decided to surveil the villa. They started by looking in the area for a tavern or inn to stay at, they found one and then they spent a morning from dawn until noon walking around the surrounding neighbourhoods. Their plan was to get to know the area well enough that they would have an advantage when fleeing later.

I rolled for encounters in that time but nothing came up.

They repeated this routine for the afternoon, and called it a day.

The next day they returned to their watch point and kept an eye on the villa. By 1 pm Mitrax emerged from the villa, flanked by two soldiers, and rode to the barracks. The PCs decided to take advantage of this opportunity. The players were running a warlock and a seer, and they were travelling with a Thaumaturge (Maglane the Malachite). They waited until night to act. As it happens, Maglane had the gear necessary to infiltrate the villa, and in cases like this I give the NPC to the players to control, otherwise they are just watching me play. 

That’s no fun.

They looked over Maglane’s character sheet and came up with a plan. They found an alley near the villa and Maglane the Malachite took out two scrolls. The first had a Fly spell, the second had an Invisibility spell. She then flew over the wall surrounding the villa and found an open window (many windows in Bhakashal have no glass, they  are completely open, due to the incessant, infernal heat). She entered and saw a guard inside the house, clearly bored.

As she landed on the floor and was walking around inside I asked for a Move Silently roll, which was passed. Slowly she looked at the different rooms in the house. She was sorely tempted when she found a chest in Mitrax’s room, but decided against trying to open it as they wanted to look around without it being known they were there. She had to pass back by the guard and I asked for another Move Silently roll, which she also passed. 

After surveilling the whole villa, she left the way she came and made it back to the PCs. 

I should note here that the gardens around the villa were filled with berry laden plants, these berries burst when people brush against them, and the scent summons a pair of giant wasps from hiding. Since Maglane flew in she circumvented this trap. The players made that decision for her without knowing.

Lucky!

They decided they would head back to the tavern to wait. The party warlock has a familiar, a red hawk, and they directed the hawk to fly around and watch the barracks while they waited. Mitrax didn’t always come back to his villa at night, sometimes he stayed in his accommodations at the barracks, or was out on maneuvers overnight. I rolled to see what he would do… and it came up that he came home to the villa. 

The warlock now felt a tug in his head, closed his eyes and saw what the hawk could see, Mitrax and two of his guards returning to the villa from the barracks. The party decided to get close and picked a spot near the villa to watch Mitrax pass. They were contemplating following him and then entering the villa and sneaking in to kidnap him.

Then, the party warlock suggested they just ambush him on the way by. It was the kind of decision that gives some players grey hair. They had spent a good chunk of the session casing his villa and his guards, and carefully stalking the guy. Now they were just going to grab him in the street. 

The party Seer had a Hold Person spell, and the Warlock had a Emyar’s Armor Lock spell on a scroll. They found a spot to wait. Mitrax and his guards appeared, riding on gess (giant lizards). I rolled to see if there were any people passing by, none came up. I rolled to see if anyone was watching from nearby windows. Nothing there either.

As he passed by their spot, they cast the two spells. The Seer decided to cast Hold Person only on Mitrax, to maximize the save penalty. It was successful, and he was paralyzed on his mount. The warlock cast Emyar’s Armor Lock on the guards, crushing one to death and holding the other. Then the Thaumaturge cast Magic Missile, slaying the other guard. 

They quickly ditched the bodies and rode off on the mounts with Mitrax. The last hurdle was to get to their hideout with a paralyzed body without being spotted by anyone suspicious. Since Mitrax was riding when he was paralyzed, it was possible that someone riding by, sitting behind Mitrax on the mount, wouldn’t arouse suspicion. So I rolled to see if any city guards or other NPCs might have noticed them. They passed through 4 wards on the way back, and each roll came up negative.

Home free.

They had successfully found and kidnapped Mitrax Toma the Bold. 

The neat part is that Mitrax will be freed with a hefty ransom, dishonored as he was kidnapped by a rival, and he will have it out for the PCs and their patron. They have made a new enemy, and a powerful one at that. If he hadn’t failed the save Mitrax would have been able to slay the PCs quite easily, he is a high level Mercenary (fighter) and at close range they would have been at an extreme disadvantage.

This session was another reminder to me of why I don’t like “success with a cost” or “failure but you move forward” style mechanics in my games. Pass/fail is far more dramatic and fun. There were dozens of rolls in this session that could have completely changed the adventure if they had gone a different way. That wouldn’t have happened if I felt the need to attach a disadvantage to a success, or an advantage to a failure.

So that’s two successful missions for their patron, one to rescue a Warlock, another to kidnap a Lord. 

Let’s see if the third time is the charm…

Building Bhakashal – Session Report

My Wednesday group has stopped for the year. In our previous session the lads had an encounter check with 5 min left, they opted to roll and find out what it was rather than waiting the week and rolling first thing next session. We rolled an encounter with bandits. I grabbed a sample bandit crew from the 1^st Edition AD&D Rogues Gallery to check for the makeup of the group.

It was a very large group, 123 NPCs, organized into 7 units of varying sizes, most of whom were mounted. Since the party was far from Bhakashal, the bandits rode horses. Since it was at night, the bandits had a few torches but were generally hard to see. I rolled for encounter distance, and they were 300’ apart, behind a section of forest. We rolled for surprise, neither side was surprised. When that happens, it means that the two groups notice each other about the same time. I told the party they saw some torchlight flickering through the trees, and the bandits heard the sound of the caravan moving. The caravan travels dark wherever possible, but with almost 90 giant lizards they make some noise while moving. Craight the Swift (the caravan master) sent out a guard to investigate, there was a clash of steel and the guard returned.

He had been attacked and slayed his attacker, when he turned to leave he saw another figure in the distance turning around too. Craight acted instantly, I rolled to see what he would do (I typically come up with 3-4 options and roll between them). In this case, he asked the party warlock to stay with the caravan, then sent it off away from the bandits, he called over 10 guards and a guard captain (all mounted on giant lizards) to stay with him, all the other guards went with the caravan.

He ordered the caravan seer (priest) and caravan warlock to stay their ground with him. The caravan Seer , Hurna Gamelin cast a prayer spell on the party in anticipation of the battle. The party Warlock, Mahl Unoss the Puissant, took out his Wand of Conjuration and summoned two wyverns (randomly determined), which he immediately dispatched towards the force in the distant trees. Craight asked the rest of the party to stay with him.

The party crossed the mountains with Craight, fought with him, gambled with him, talked maps with him, were saved by him, they said yes. I played Craight as plain talking, practical and ruthless in defending his caravan.

The bandit leader, Waymar the Lion, is a disgraced former Lord of a nearby kingdom (they are miles from Bhakashal at this point), he works as a bandit to attack the holdings of the other Lords who discovered his dishonorable works and brought him to account. Waymar is no fool, he reacts just as fast, I roll to see what he does, and the result is sending out three units to the party’s location, and another two out to flank the caravan, anticipating that it might flee rather than stand its ground.

The remaining units stay with Waymar.

His caravan Seer, Pyringa the Coal, activates Fire Shield, enshrouding her body in holy flames. Their caravan warlock, Garmondgol the Reed, travels with Unit 7, commanded by Ygami Ayse, 6^th level  Kutya mercenary henchman of Garmondgol’s. Garmondgol casts Charm Plants on a section of trees immediately beside their main group, they will now work to tangle anything that comes through.

The Unit 1 and Unit 4 bandits take off to cut off the caravan if it chooses to flee (which it did!). They travel without magical protection.

Units 2 and 3 from the bandits appear in the clearing, far apart, the unit 2 lancers spread out and charge directly, the unit 3 bandits attack the flank and pull their horses up in a line to fire crossbows. The unit 5 bandits are going around the long way to approach from directly behind the party and hopefully achieve surprise.

The party responded. When you are being fired at and charged, you get to fire back if you desire. Several party members shot bows and took out mounted 4 bandit crossbowmen, the caravan guards shot crossbows and took out a few more.

The other side shot crossbows and took out a few caravan guards and did minor damage to a few PCs. The party Thaumaturge (thief/magic-user) asked which of the Unit 3 bandits was shouting orders, he then used Magic Missile to target the leader, any attack that reduces you below ½ your HP while mounted dismounts you, the leader shook as the missiles lit him up, and fell to the ground. Magic missiles on the battlefield are very cool, they weave through the chaos to unerringly find their target.

Badass.

The party Seer cast Cacophony of Lies on 5 of the charging lancers, all failed their saves, and the spell took effect. They stopped their charge and began to argue with each other, increasing in intensity, soon abandoning the charge entirely. They scream accusations and abuse at each other, unable to act.

Craight the Swift charges out towards the remaining lancers as they charge, at the last moment he springs into the air using his magical boots and comes down on one of the lancers, splitting his head open with his sword.

The party illusionist was casting a Spectral Force when one of the crossbow bolts, shot from the Unit 3 leader, struck him in the arm, disrupting his spell.

The remaining lancers arrive in the next round, and the crossbowmen drop their bows and charge from their flank with broadswords or battle axes in hand.

Then the remaining 10 lancers and leader arrive. There are 9 party members in the group, 10 guards, the caravan seer and the caravan warlock. The way things were set up, the lancers attacked the party and the caravan warlock. The lancers are 0-levels, so most of them missed, but 3 hit, doing minor damage to the PCs.

Mahl Unoss now casts his first spell (the initial action was with his wand), Stinking Cloud, it commences away from the party and envelops most of the charging bandits. They all fail their saves, LOL, and are down for 4 rounds.

The caravan guards, under the cool eye of Seer Hurna Gamelin, priest of Eddea, target the charging bandits not caught by the cloud with crossbow bolts, between the 10 of them they slay them all.

The party engages in melee with the mounted lancers after the charge, who have switched to broadswords. Since they all got their charge attack, the party Mercenary (fighter), Spartan (monk), Seer (priest) and Slayer (Ranger/assassin) get to respond.

The Spartan uses his magical glaive and slays a lancer handily. The Seer uses his magical Beak and Claw, a short sword dagger combination, if the sword hits, the dagger automatically hits. He has used this a number of times, and he consistently misses with the beak and hits with the claw. This time it worked, and he hit twice, slaying a lancer.

The Slayer used a longsword and gets one attack per round against 0-level lancers (I hold over this rule for my table, in Bhakashal it disappears and is replaced by a crit system that gives high level fighters extra attacks), so he butchers 4 of them with 5 successful hits. This leaves 4 lancers for the Mercenary to deal with.

At this point the Unit 5 bandits are coming around and will attempt to surprise the party, the bandits in the Stinking Cloud are neutralized for 4 rounds, the bandits hit by the Cacophony of Lies are still unable to act, shouting and arguing with each other for another 5 rounds.

While all this fighting has been going on, the two Wyverns have been attacking the main group of bandits. As there are no player characters in the area, I take 5 at the table and roll the results of the encounter. I roll first for surprise, which was successful for the wyverns (the bandits were not expecting an aerial assault). The beasts dive, shrieking, and randomly target two bandits, and two of them are snatched in their beaks, flown into the sky, torn in half and fall to the ground below.

I figure that counts for a morale check, not all of the bandits are seasoned veterans, but all units make the check. As the wyverns dive again, the units separate, forcing them to choose targets. A die roll determines that they both focus on Unit 6 again. This time there is missile fire from 18 bandits, 7 of them hit, doing damage, but not enough to take either Wyvern out of the sky.

The two leaders of unit 6 throw nets at the creatures, trying to foul their talons, one misses but one hits, and the wyvern screeches in anger, veering off. The other whips it’s tail around as it passes, skewering one of the leaders, who fails his poison save and dies on the spot. The leader of Unit 7 hurls a spear at one of the Wyverns as it passes and scores a crit, blinding it, and it crashes into the trees.

The wyvern with tangled talons circles, this gives the soldiers time to shoot, but they roll terribly and it manages to strike again, this time not bothering with talons and using the tail, it skewers the other unit 6 leader who dies instantly.

This triggers another morale check, and unit 6 breaks up and flees. Unit 7 crossbowmen manage to do enough damage that the second wyvern crashes into the ground, and dies.

I now switch to the party Warlock who has fled with the caravan. Borun the Majestic, an 8^th level Bhakashal Warlock, along with 40 guards, are being pursued by Units 1 and 4, who are trying to cut them off. The guards split between front and back of the caravan, and Borun chose to ride at the back, assuming that they were fast enough and reacted soon enough to get ahead of their pursuers.

Movement is treated deterministically, so plotted trajectories using the routes available on the map, measured distances, and determined that the caravan would indeed make it past the pursuing group, that would be approximately 100’ behind them when they emerged.

I rolled for surprise, the bandits failed, which means when they burst out on to the trail the caravan was on, Borun was aware they were coming. My job as the ref is to interpret the rolls, in this case I decided that the bandits, in trying to cut off the caravan, had to move through the forest, and made quite the ruckus doing so, which allowed the PC to know they were coming and react before they could. Riding full bore through the forest and exploding out on to the trail would be disorienting as well.

ME - “You hear crashing through the woods behind you, getting closer by the moment”

Borun - “I call to Glose, Makel and Khog, ‘circle’! I call to the other guards “flank, crossbows!”

“Circle” means that the guards will surround the warlock, protecting him while he casts spells. Borun lost some gold to these three guards in cards over the last few days of travel, they are eager to keep him alive! They are all mounted, like Borun, on giant lizards. “Flank, crossbows” means that the other guards in the unit will flank Borun and shoot crossbows until melee or flight is necessary.

Borun takes out a scroll, unfurling it and beginning to read. The symbols dance on the papyrus, there is a shimmering in the air, then Borun’s eyes roll back, and he points, slashing his finger across the air in front of him, then around 80’ back, a searing circular wall of fire appears, cutting across the trail.

Seconds later, the charging bandits explode from the forest, surprised, and ride through the curved wall of fire. Unit was was in the lead, riding in two rows of 5, as they have nets and were going to net the party for Unit 4 to finish off. Because of the placement, and surprise, the radius of the wall (30’), it caught all of the first wave of 5, the second wave rolled saves for half to avoid. 

The wall does 2-12 + 8, so it incinerated the first 5 bandits, and almost killed all their horses, the second wave had a few successful saves, but the damage was enough to kill them too.  The only survivors were the two 3^rd level unit leaders, they made it through the wall but were now in the middle of a circular wall of fire.

The next wave of riders saw the flames and heard the screaming before emerging and called a stop.

They ride around and emerge into the road, at this point the crossbowmen from the caravan were in position and fire, 13 shots, med range penalties but they did respectably, taking out 4 of the next unit.

Now, Unit 4 saw unit 1 incinerated, its leaders captured, so a morale roll was in order. They passed though, so I had one of the Unit 4 leaders fire them up with screams for revenge. Now, they had the choice to either return fire or charge. Tactically, returning fire was probably smarter, but they were pissed off, so I rolled to see what they would do, and they took out swords and axes and charged.

The guards fired crossbows again, this time 13 shots took down 3 more bandits. 13 left, but 2 of these are 5^th level leaders, and they were pissed.

Borun easily identified the leaders from their shouted commands and targeted one with Polymorph Other.

“Borun takes out a small caterpillar cocoon from his belt pouch, he whispers the words “czoam, kallam noss beka”, five times over, moving the cocoon to a different point in the air with each iteration, finally, he holds the cocoon in between his cupped hands, blows on them, and opens them again. The cocoon is gone, but a green and yellow smoke curls out and shoots in the direction of Nogoth the Fist, the primary leader of Unit 4, the smoke enters his mouth, and as he screams his body thrashes so violently it falls from his horse, then his limbs begin to distort and twist, and with amazing rapidity his form is changed from that of an adult Emberi (human) to that of a small wild boar.

The bandits stared in horror. That required another morale check, and this one failed. The remaining bandits peeled off and headed back to their leader. The two leaders caught in the wall of fire were starting to choke on the smoke, they both rolled saves to avoid asphyxiation.

So now Unit 6 and the remainder of Unit 4 have fled, Unit 7 is with the bandit leader, priest and warlock, Unit 1 is destroyed, it’s leaders almost dead. Units 2 and 3 have sustained losses, and there are lancers still under the effect of Cacophony of Lies, as well as a chunk of the other mounted unit in a Stinking Cloud spell.

At this point, the party Slayer, who is a Garudin (bird folk) flies up into the air and over towards the bandit leader. He surveys from the air and sees the carnage that Borun has wrought, the fleeing bandits from both the leader’s position and the caravan’s, as well as the unit approaching from the rear of the party.

He calls out to the bandit leader.

“Your bandits broke and are fleeing, we have slain dozens, is it worth so much death?”

Waymar, the bandit leader, had a decision to make. He had lost one unit entirely, most of two others, including his precious lancers, and he had done some damage to the caravan (about 10 guards dead so far), but it was clear that this was going to be a tough fight, with heavy losses. One of his personal henchmen blew on a horn three times, signalling for all units to return. One of the fleeing units came back, another kept going, deciding they had enough!

He decided to parley.

I rolled to see what Craight would do.  As soon as the party Slayer started talking Craight decided he would not trust Waymar to stick to his guns if he did agree to parley, especially once his troops regrouped, so he told Mahl Unoss to use his Wand again, and the Warlock took it out, tracing a pattern in the air with its glowing end, speaking the command words just low enough that no one nearby would hear.

I rolled to see what he got this time, and it was 3 manticores, they shrieked, then landed and surrounded Mahl Unoss. The bandit leader, flanked by his remaining units, emerged from the woods, the Unit that was sent to attack the party from behind was now gone and back with Waymar.

The two groups faced each other.

The leader from Unit 5 shouted to Waymar, “Nogoth the Fist is transformed, he squeals as a young, wild boar now, let us slay them all!”

Waymar barked a response, “SILENCE”, and turned to the party and Craight, pointing at the figure beside him, sheathed in bright blue flames.

“You place me in a bind strangers, my priestess, Pyringa the Coal, who burns bright beside me even now, burns for your blood, she is a priestess of Iospha, god of the pyre, you used your debased magic fire to burn our warriors, your continued existence is an affront to her god.”

He then pointed to a Togmu (frog-folk) figure who was sitting atop a strange mount, it appeared to be a stag, its tail being rather lion-like, and its legs ending in cloven hooves. Its head is that of a huge badger, but instead of teeth it has sharp, jagged bony ridges. It’s fur was mottled and grotesque.

Dressed in only a cloak and harness, the Togmu had a scimitar, several scroll tubes and a pair of drums all within easy reach.

“Garmondgol the Reed is my warlock, you have slain many of his friends today, and he begs me to command him to summon a powerful creature to crush your men like insects.”

 

Craight spoke up now, hand gripping his sword like a vise.

 

“My warlock, Mahl Unoss the Puissant, has summoned three beasts to his side, they will impale dozens of your warriors from afar and tear the heads off the others when close. While they do that, he will use his magics to slay dozens more.”

 “My priestess, Hurna Gamelin, protects our warriors from your weapons with blessings from Eddea, they will endure”

 Then the party warlock spoke up, Craight had advised against this, as he was directly responsible for many horrible deaths, so he was ready for anything.

 “I, Borunn the Majestic, Warlock of House Quannar, will, in a gesture of good faith, break my transformation of your Nogoth the Fist, returning him to you intact.”

 There was some conversation on the other side, then Waymar turned to Pyringa the Coal, whose flames were still flickering, and she then doused the flames, and sat down, casting gem inlaid bones in the dirt and reading them. Pyringa cast an Augury spell.

 It advised that they should disengage and leave. I then made an encounter reaction roll, since Waymar’s personality was “calculating” and he was fairly intelligent, I gave a bonus to the roll, I also added bonuses for Borun’s offer and the Augury result, and deductions for the havoc the party wrought on the bandits.

 The reality was that with several spellcasters on both sides, there would be much more death coming. He rolled positively enough that he agreed to call a stop.

 “We leave now, I need my troops too much right now to lose them foolishly over revenge. But know this, if any of you should pass this way again, we will slaughter you without mercy or hesitation.”

The boys considered bantering with the guy but decided against it.

The two groups carefully separated, with the party Slayer staying in the air for a while as they separated, ensuring the bandits were not in pursuit.

In a few game weeks I will roll to see if Pyringa the Coal will leave the caravan at their next stop and take some bandits with her to exact revenge on the party. But they don’t know that.

That's the stuff.