Adventurer Conquerer King: Session Two
May. 15th, 2013 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollCurrently, the party consists of
Sage Renaldo Hashton Bryce
Scout Otho
Vault Guard Iatro Sirequake
Former Legionnaire Titus
Cleric Patience (NPC today)
The group spent a day or so recovering at the farm, which gave the group the chance to deal with the various dead bodies: cairns for the family, the fire for the berserkers and the mage (when he finally expired of his wounds, his familiar vanished in a puff of smoke. Perhaps this was to reappear somewhere else). Otho marveled at the glorious luxuries offered by the dirt-floor house: a thatched roof! Rushes to sleep on! Ample food!
Having ascertained from the family holy book who their closest relatives are, the group took some of the food for themselves, made sure the farm animals were dealt with so the heirs could collect them and headed to town. While the mage's effects were doled out, the group was very careful to not loot the dead family's meager treasury, instead taking it and the holy book with them to the town of Fairhill.
There was some discussion of what to with the dead mage's make undead scroll. Otho felt destroying it would be prudent, given what Renaldo said about it but for some reason this didn't get done.
There were two encounters of note on the way.
The first was with a group of Legionnaires; Otho let Titus and Iatro talk to them while he stepped off the road in a manner intended to suggest he was giving the soldiers room to pass; in fact it was so he could blend into the bushes. Titus explained what the party found at the farm. The commander of the Legionnaires warned the party of of bandits on the road and especially in Stirge Wood. After this, the soldiers marched on up the road and the party continued to Fairhill.
Otho usually is out in front of the others, scouting; this put him out where two orcs could get a shot at him; they fired too soon or are crappy shots or got unlucky (or maybe because Otho has an armour class comparable to the dwarf's) and missed. Otho made the pre-arranged ambush whistle and vanished into the underbrush.
Iatro and Titus advanced up the road but because the orcs chose their position carefully, it was going to take the soldiers two rounds to get within stabbing range (more if they tried to use cover). Having learned from the encounter with the mage, Otho found his own, quiet path towards the orcs, preferring to pay time over blood to reach them.
It didn't matter because Renaldo has an absurdly long range on his one daily spell and he put the orcs to sleep long before any of the others could get near to the orcs. Iatro seems to have impulse control issues where orcs are concerned because he killed all three before the party could question them.
After some time, the group reached Fairhill, where they met its militia patrolling the outskirts. I didn't get the name of the male leader of the militia but he was accompanied by a half-elf woman named Lorial. The party delivered its doleful news and was received with reasonable hospitality by the town; it's the sort of place that has rules but also the sort of place that explains the rules to visitors.
Otho was sad to learn that he would not be allowed to camp outside in one of the vacant lots but rather would have to stay at a local inn (although he was very impressed by the luxuries offered by the farmhouse, such things are unfamiliar to him). He was a bit puzzled about the rule about no public drunkenness, because nobody explained to him what 'drunk' means.
Preferring not to be noticed, Otho lurked at the back of the party while the others spoke to the town leaders. This let him give Iatro some true but very misleading information about humans; Iatro is now under the impression that humans live about forty years, which is true for the Hidden Folk, the wretches of whom Otho is one. Otho spent most of his time being awed by the vast town of Fairhill, which at 500 people is about fifty times more people than he's ever spent a lot of time with (1).
There was an apparently mandatory visit to the local temple of Freya, one of the Empire's odd gods. Otho hung back and aped what the Imperials did, figuring Freya is a real god under a stupid Imperial name. When given blessed water to drink, Otho consumed it. Happily, he did not then burst into fire, which would have been a real possibility if he had been chaotic.
The party was not surprised to hear the town has had problems with recent issues w orcs and bandits.
Renaldo tried hitting on Shandrell, the Priestess of Freya and an impressive warrior woman (also with a bit of elf in her; a lot of the locals or at least the women are part elf). This did not meet with much success but she didn't run him through, which is what would probably happen if Otho tried it.
Having taken rooms at the Cask and Flagon and with money burning a hole in their pockets, the party decides to educate Otho about this mysterious substance called "beer", which is apparently even better than soup.
1: Otho's time in the Big City was very brief, very confusing and very terrifying; the reason he signed on with the expedition to the Tombs of Certain Doom is it would get him out of the Big City as quickly as possible. He couldn't wrap his mind around how big the Big City was but Fairhill is small enough he can conceive of its size.
Sage Renaldo Hashton Bryce
Scout Otho
Vault Guard Iatro Sirequake
Former Legionnaire Titus
Cleric Patience (NPC today)
The group spent a day or so recovering at the farm, which gave the group the chance to deal with the various dead bodies: cairns for the family, the fire for the berserkers and the mage (when he finally expired of his wounds, his familiar vanished in a puff of smoke. Perhaps this was to reappear somewhere else). Otho marveled at the glorious luxuries offered by the dirt-floor house: a thatched roof! Rushes to sleep on! Ample food!
Having ascertained from the family holy book who their closest relatives are, the group took some of the food for themselves, made sure the farm animals were dealt with so the heirs could collect them and headed to town. While the mage's effects were doled out, the group was very careful to not loot the dead family's meager treasury, instead taking it and the holy book with them to the town of Fairhill.
There was some discussion of what to with the dead mage's make undead scroll. Otho felt destroying it would be prudent, given what Renaldo said about it but for some reason this didn't get done.
There were two encounters of note on the way.
The first was with a group of Legionnaires; Otho let Titus and Iatro talk to them while he stepped off the road in a manner intended to suggest he was giving the soldiers room to pass; in fact it was so he could blend into the bushes. Titus explained what the party found at the farm. The commander of the Legionnaires warned the party of of bandits on the road and especially in Stirge Wood. After this, the soldiers marched on up the road and the party continued to Fairhill.
Otho usually is out in front of the others, scouting; this put him out where two orcs could get a shot at him; they fired too soon or are crappy shots or got unlucky (or maybe because Otho has an armour class comparable to the dwarf's) and missed. Otho made the pre-arranged ambush whistle and vanished into the underbrush.
Iatro and Titus advanced up the road but because the orcs chose their position carefully, it was going to take the soldiers two rounds to get within stabbing range (more if they tried to use cover). Having learned from the encounter with the mage, Otho found his own, quiet path towards the orcs, preferring to pay time over blood to reach them.
It didn't matter because Renaldo has an absurdly long range on his one daily spell and he put the orcs to sleep long before any of the others could get near to the orcs. Iatro seems to have impulse control issues where orcs are concerned because he killed all three before the party could question them.
After some time, the group reached Fairhill, where they met its militia patrolling the outskirts. I didn't get the name of the male leader of the militia but he was accompanied by a half-elf woman named Lorial. The party delivered its doleful news and was received with reasonable hospitality by the town; it's the sort of place that has rules but also the sort of place that explains the rules to visitors.
Otho was sad to learn that he would not be allowed to camp outside in one of the vacant lots but rather would have to stay at a local inn (although he was very impressed by the luxuries offered by the farmhouse, such things are unfamiliar to him). He was a bit puzzled about the rule about no public drunkenness, because nobody explained to him what 'drunk' means.
Preferring not to be noticed, Otho lurked at the back of the party while the others spoke to the town leaders. This let him give Iatro some true but very misleading information about humans; Iatro is now under the impression that humans live about forty years, which is true for the Hidden Folk, the wretches of whom Otho is one. Otho spent most of his time being awed by the vast town of Fairhill, which at 500 people is about fifty times more people than he's ever spent a lot of time with (1).
There was an apparently mandatory visit to the local temple of Freya, one of the Empire's odd gods. Otho hung back and aped what the Imperials did, figuring Freya is a real god under a stupid Imperial name. When given blessed water to drink, Otho consumed it. Happily, he did not then burst into fire, which would have been a real possibility if he had been chaotic.
The party was not surprised to hear the town has had problems with recent issues w orcs and bandits.
Renaldo tried hitting on Shandrell, the Priestess of Freya and an impressive warrior woman (also with a bit of elf in her; a lot of the locals or at least the women are part elf). This did not meet with much success but she didn't run him through, which is what would probably happen if Otho tried it.
Having taken rooms at the Cask and Flagon and with money burning a hole in their pockets, the party decides to educate Otho about this mysterious substance called "beer", which is apparently even better than soup.
1: Otho's time in the Big City was very brief, very confusing and very terrifying; the reason he signed on with the expedition to the Tombs of Certain Doom is it would get him out of the Big City as quickly as possible. He couldn't wrap his mind around how big the Big City was but Fairhill is small enough he can conceive of its size.
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no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 04:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-18 04:57 am (UTC)Good RPGs do not have "there is a 10+% chance that a PC will die to every newb's hit, and oh hey look here is another flock of newbs". But there are many RPGs that are crap.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 04:51 am (UTC)Lady Freya Bless
Date: 2013-05-16 10:56 am (UTC)Any, well, except maybe for Tyr, Norse deity as a deity of law?
I is boggled.
Re: Lady Freya Bless
Date: 2013-05-16 12:17 pm (UTC)Re: Lady Freya Bless
Date: 2013-05-16 01:10 pm (UTC)Also, although she's got the same name, Freya is not necessarily a straight lift from the Norse pantheon: the campaign's background is really syncretic and not meant to be firmly historical at all. The "Good" deities in the background are:
Mitra (Lawful) -- Justice and Sun (pretty much the de facto Imperial standard)
Thyr (Lawful) -- Law and Justice (passed out of widespread worship)
Muir (Lawful) -- Virtue and Paladins (passed out of widespread worship)
Freya (Lawful) -- Love and Fertility
Arden (Lawful) -- Sun
Kel (Lawful) -- Self-Sacrifice, Protection
Telephon (Neutral) -- Crops and Seasons
Bowbe (Neutral) -- War, Strength, Vengeance (deity of barbarian tribes)
Vanitthu (Neutral) -- Law, Protection, Martial perfection (deity of the old Empire)
Plus, a host of other, petty deities.
Obviously, the pantheon isn't meant to be tremendously coherent or historical.
Finally, the PCs seem to suspect but haven't yet come to the firm conclusion that Freya as worshipped in Fairhill is not necessarily typical of general modes of worship of her in other places. That might have something to do with the local head priestess... (but that would be telling)
Re: Lady Freya Bless
Date: 2013-05-17 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-18 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 03:41 pm (UTC)He can be talked out of this, but destroying the chaotic pestilence is almost an automatic action for him. You can let them go if, for instance, you're planning to secretly track them to their lair and burn them out, or if the presence of their corpses would notify someone else.
He won't if someone talks to him about this. I think we left it that the cleric had said something. Iatro will now wait impatiently for the group to get lies from the captured chaotic pestilents, and then kill them when everyone says it's okay.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 07:36 pm (UTC)There might be sense to delaying the slaughter of orcs so you can question them, but pretty much everyone agrees that the right place to put an orc is on the pointy end of your weapon.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 04:39 pm (UTC)(I'm not saying that bows wouldn't occasionally be useful; I suspect, though, that the dwarves have done a careful effort-result analysis and realized that being good at archery requires the kind of practice and time that could be better spent at being good at close-quarters fighting, or learning how to smelt things.
(Because of their environment, I suspect that dwarves are very very good at close-quarters fighting and smelting things. Though probably not at the same time.)
no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 06:34 pm (UTC)"Hey, baby, wanna go smelt?" will now reduce me to giggling. I think that "smelt" will now become Iatro's new favourite curseword.
"Oh, smelt!" came the cry below the table. "I just got a smelting splinter off the smelting table!"
Nah, having tried it, it's too close to "Smurf."
no subject
Date: 2013-05-16 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-17 02:47 am (UTC)"How many smelting snakes are on this smelting flying carpet?!?"