Tvesdag, 9th of Frandrecht, 1482 AA. Early Lentmarch.
Early Morning. 37° F (~2° C), Dry Thunderstorm.
Characters
Void as "Manwell"
Ethan as "Das"
Teragen as "Raenius"
Sybildis as "Gaabriel"
Torgo as "Arlan of Aberdeen"
Canute as "Aleksander of Isenhold"
The thick clouds block the sunlight from shining down onto the city, as distant thunderstorms are heard. They are standing around, waiting for someone to break the silence. They are getting to know each other while their contact, Carter of the Alleys, prepares his cargo, which should only take him another fifteen minutes. They've agreed to split the bounty to 100d/man, a great price for something so simple.
They introduced each other, Aleksander stepping up to be the ice breaker. They also notably discussed the lack of food and money they have, a more than pressing issue. They decided to buy some rations before they depart, about 60 pounds of food to spread amongst the group, and they also discussed who would take what roles. They did not discuss any tactics.
After all this, Carter of the Alleys returned. He gave them a small box, less than four pounds full (and one pound empty), which could fit no more than a chicken. Arlan asked if the box had carrying instructions, which he was given: don't drop it. Shaking it lightly or getting it wet is fine, it has padding. He was also informed that opening the box would void the contract. The box itself had metal chains and a lock around it; quite menacing.
Arlan opted to carry the box, and make sure no one were to touch it. They also decided to take a sack and make a makeshift set of packbags for Das' two Black Mastiffs, Stridjer and Hondje. The dogs carry the food between them, with other rations being split among the others.
Finally, they set off. First, they headed West from Eisenburg, towards Seedorf. They realize at this point, that they are going to be trudging through a bog for the next few days. Upon nightfall of the first day of travel, Manwell reveals that he has a large sheet of canvas, roughly ~6 square yards (~5.4 square meters) in size! The group rejoices, using it to set up a tent. They then divvy up the men: three to watches, with Gaabriel an Raenius cooking the rations. They also send someone into Seedorf, but don't enter, unwilling to pay the toll, deciding that they couldn't afford a night at an inn anyway.
Nothing eventful happens the first night, which is to be expected. They had a short discussion about the current events, but they don't have definitive proof if the war is in full swing or not, so all they talk about is rumors. They then take down camp and cook breakfast, and set out south-south-east towards Mühleburg. On their way, they pass a partially sunken Imperial fort, made of wood and stone, clearly from a greater time. At a glance, it does not look flooded, but who knows what is inside. Arlan makes a mental note of its location in relation to Seedorf.
The second day goes on with no interesting events, just walking. They set up and take down camp fine, though, the cooks burn some of the rations. The second day of travel, they find something odd. Two beings are walking towards them on the same general path, trudging through the mud and bog water as well. They wear Aketons, and peasant hoods with coifs, and have staves that they use for walking. Arlan and Aleksander go to greet them out of curiosity, at which point the taller of the two (both being around 4' 6") uncloaks himself. He is an Elf! A very odd sight this far west indeed.
The man speaks in a raspy and accented voice. They have a short exchange, talking about how they're messengers, and that they're going toward Eisenhold. They don't have any rumors for them regarding the war. Aleksander asks about the average age an elf lives, which is answered, saying that they live roughly three human lifetimes. Das also speaks an odd dialect of Imperial or something similar at them, which they do not understand. They then depart, and the merry band of adventurers go back on their way.
Upon the third day of travel, near the end of the night, they planned to camp just outside of Mühleburg, a castle. As they approached, they saw a group of Anubian religious folk camping on the riverside. They waved down the group, with all but Das moving over to greet them. They are quite merry, and offer to feed them and let them rest, while they set up their tent and such. The mercenary band graciously accepted, and even Das come over as well.
With the Anubians, who introduced themselves as Knights of the Dawn, members of the Order of the Dawn, a group of paladins and knights who serve only the One True God, Anubus. One of them, named Longinus, cooked with Gaabriel and Raenius, while the other knights, Adalbert and Percival, were merrymaking with the mercenaries. They had sweet mead to drink and seared beef with fine bread and honey and butter to eat, a more than wonderful free meal!
However, an inquiry that Das made put a stop to this merrymaking. He asked the men to tell him about their religion, causing the entire camp to go silent. Their leader, Percival, then asked a slew of questions to Das, all of which he answered. They also searched him, in fear that he was a Cultist of the Hunter, but found nothing but an odd pendant that they assumed was a family heirloom. The paladins then relaxed, and Percival preached to Das, while Adalbert and Longinus made merry with the mercenaries, drinking, singing, and dancing. At the end of the night, Percival gave a sermon, asking Anubus to bless the adventurers with safe travels and good health.
The next day, the paladins helped the mercenaries ford the river, but parted ways. The mercenaries were on their way East, but did not specify why. They did say that they had spent a fortnight in Pilzstein, and a week in Mühleburg, reporting that they saw the garrisons preparing for war. They bade them farewell, and parted ways.
The group continued towards Mühlenau, where they planned to rest for a night, just outside of the town. However, they came to a river, where no bridge was to be seen. The giant Arlan and the smaller giant Manwell were able to simply walk across the river with only minor issue, but Das and the others could not. Das had a plan however. He simply told Gaabriel, first he would help over, to think about going across the river. Then, as he did, Gaabriel began to fly!
At this point, as soon as Gaabriel landed, the group was clamoring to be able to fly as well. Aleksander went next, motioning like he was swimming through the air, giggling and laughing with pure glee. Raenius then went, and finally, Das did so as well. The dogs swam across as well, not needing to levitate. Needless to say, the group had great morale at this point; it is not every day that you get to levitate above the ground, if ever!
The group then asked Das a million questions, however, while this happened, Arlan felt something behind him along with jiggling metal. He looked back to see Raenius fiddling with the box, which he just couldn't keep his eyes off of. Everyone told him off after this point, and Raenius then set up a campfire to dry off in the 37° F (~2° C) temperatures before night fell.
During Arlan's watch that night, he spotted someone in the distance. A man with a thick stick wearing a sackcloth was tip-toeing closer to the group's campsite. He saw this but didn't move yet. As the man got closer, he saw that he was a leper. Arlan got up, drawing his sword, scaring the leper, who then scrambled through the semi-frozen mud and bog water.
The next morning, they set out, planning to go into town first. Aleksander went, as he was the most charming. He was only able to scrape up 17d from the mercenaries, which he was rather annoyed at. He then went into town, paying the fee of one farthing, and went to the markets. On his way, he felt compelled to steal a sweet roll, but didn't, as this food was more important than some cake. He managed to haggle as well, getting 19 lb of provisions for only 16d, a more than great price.
Once they had finished this, the mercenaries set out, while Raenius sung pleasant marching tunes of Imperial origin. As they marched, the bog and mud began to finally thin out, and they saw the forest they were told to curve around. To the south of them were hills. They all saw it then. Three men, with grey-black skin, staring at them. They looked frostbitten all over their body, and they had weapons drawn. They were ~250yds out when the group spotted them.
They decided to get closer, in a loose formation, until something happened. And something did happen indeed. The men began to sprint, at roughly 24 feet/second (~7.3 meters/second), straight towards Arlan, which he noticed. The group then braced.
The two groups clashed into each other, but no substantial hits were made; Arlan made a square strike at one's arm, but it seemed to almost bounce off of him. Gaabriel curved around a rock preparing to throw his net at one, while Aleksander shot an arrow at one, which made a somewhat square hit. Manwell and Raenius also fought two others, having Arlan's back. Das sent Stridjer to fight, after casting spells on them, while he gave Hondje the order to stay.
GM's Notes
Man, that was fun! The group seemed to mesh well and there is a good character dynamic going on. Next session we continue the fight, as Canute had to go and everyone else was getting tired. They made good progress on their job, and should complete it next week. I have high hopes for at least an 92% survival rate for this combat. :þ
Character Advancement
+0pts from Missions
+0pts from Roleplay
+0pts from Heroism
No Traits Earned
Total: +0
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