Campaign: The Turakian Age

[James Gillen]

This is the chronicle of my Fantasy HERO campaign in the Turakian Age setting. Being an attempt at cheap amusement for this board, and a means of analyzing my own GMing procedures, I am posting reports and impressions of the game here, as RDU Neil did for his Dark Champions campaign “Secret Worlds.”

Set-Up (pre May 20)
I have four players:
Dustin, my niece’s 13-year old son, who’s living with his Granddad (my brother) and me for the time being while the niece gets her life together.

Gary Ciaramella (known on these boards as ‘Gary Ciaramella’), one of my best friends and gaming buddies.

Don, an even older friend, and ex-roommate, who’s now living with…

Jason, a newer friend of ours, but who’s been playing with us off and on.

All of us except Dustin are big HERO System fans. Dustin is familiar with fantasy games via computer, but this is only his second tabletop RPG and his first HERO game. Previously Gary had tried running me, Don and Dustin in a D20 Star Wars game, but soured on that system and first planned to convert it to HERO, then abandoned the game altogether, which set up an opening for me to GM. I wanted to see how The Turakian Age works as a setting, (and had very little free time to redevelop my D&D conversion setting from my last game) so as soon as the book came out I started making plans for people to make characters.

Dustin: In the Star Wars game, Dustin was playing a Trandoshan (big, tough lizardman) Soldier, and Gary pretty much figured that he’d want to make something similar. Gary was correct. When we told Dustin there was a lizardman race (actually two) in the setting, he looked over the Drakine and chose that. After pondering Rogue, Dustin picked the Package Deal for Heavy Warrior. It’s worth pointing out that with the stat mods for the race and profession, Drakine combines with Heavy Warrior at least as well as Dwarf does- especially with the Drakine’s natural weaponry and Damage Resistance. Merely adding the two yielded a base character with 18 STR, 15 DEX, 18 CON, with 12 points in Combat Levels.

Given that he’s a novice, and fairly young at that, I first started by putting most of Dustin’s character together myself and then showed it to him. It’s layed out in 5th Edition format, so I had him first look at STR. I said, “Off to the right, you see where it says Lift capacity for 18 STR is 600 kilos. If most characters start with a base of 10 and can lift 200 kg, you’re six times as strong as a normal man. Every 5 points of STR you have lets you hit for a die of punching damage. 18 STR means you roll 3 dice, plus a half die, which means you roll that and round up.” Then I went over DEX: “Dexterity determines how quick you are. DEX over 3 is your Combat Value, which is divided here into OCV and DCV- basically how easily you can hit somebody versus how hard it is for them to hit you. If the average human has a DEX 10, his Combat Value is 3. If yours is 5, then you’re at +2 to hit him, basically, and if he attacks, he’s at –2 to hit you.” I went on like that.

I then had to go over the concept of Disadvantages with Dustin to help both of us get a feel for his character. He’d actually wanted to play a Drakine Knight, but there really don’t seem to be such things in the setting, and in any case, as the FH implies, the real difference between the Knight and the Heavy Warrior is that the Knight is bound by the Code of Chivalry. I pretty much figured that wasn’t Dustin’s style. Previously he was watching a tape of “Kill Bill Vol. 1” with me and Gary and we realized that Dustin was laughing at it far too much for him to roleplay chivalry effectively. The Psych Disad “Likes to Fight” on the other hand, would suit both the player and the Drakine Warrior pretty well. I explained that a Disadvantage is something that you get points for because it determines your actions even in cases where you might prefer to do otherwise- for instance, if the group needs to retreat, the Drakine’s “Likes to Fight” Disad becomes a real factor. I interviewed Dustin a little to see what other Personality Disads would be appropriate, and he figured that from his own perspective, he sometimes got in trouble in school because he got into fights. And sometimes these fights started because some other kid would try pushing someone else around, acting “too big for his britches,” or something. We also figured that the Drakine would possibly be Enraged in an extreme case of such bullying, specifically if a woman is hit. (I also knew that Gary had decided to play a female PC, so these factors may help me decide how to bring the two together…)

I could tell that Dustin was really getting into the process, and the actual stat work was pretty easy for the Warrior. At the moment, we figure that the Drakine is off on his own in Human lands because he didn’t like the way Drakine society worked, and didn’t like taking orders in a military unit. (Later he expanded this to confirm he'd been drummed out for insubordination, i.e. beating up a superior officer.) So far so good.


Gary- Gary deliberately decided to wait for everyone else’s initial concepts then make something depending on what professions the group lacked. Jason was going to be a Wizard and Don was going to be some kind of Rogue. Gary decided to make a Cleric, since he knew no one else was going to. He also decided to play a female character- since he knew no one else was going to. He’d already decided to make her a Druid, and eventually decided to make her an Elf, because Dustin was the only other nonHuman.

The character’s stats so far are not that high, except for 18 EGO (for Faith Skill), 15 PRE and 18 COM. Gary very quickly ran into problems getting enough points for what he wanted, compared to Dustin who has a pretty tough Warrior on what is so far only 110 points. There weren’t too many places to cut: The character needs a good range of Skills to be a Druid (outdoor/nature, etc.), the attributes mentioned above are sorta vanity stats (especially COM), but I think they also hint at a character with some real leadership potential- especially since, as a priestess, she’s the only character so far who has heroic goals beyond herself. Plus which, of course, she needs spells, and the Turn Undead power.

So Gary kept complaining to me about the whole thing, saying that if Turakian Age is supposed to be an epic setting, that this character didn’t feel really ‘epic’ to him. He wanted me to use the higher end standard (IIRC, 100 base and 75 in Disads). I said that that was supposed to be for REALLY epic games, and I hadn’t really planned for characters to be that tough yet. I also didn’t think it was appropriate for characters to be that tough at the start of the story.

I said, “Gary, just how tough do you think Rand and Mat were when they started out? They were just militiamen in their home town.”
Gary: “Yeah, but The Wheel of Time series has been going on for at least 10 volumes dating back to the Middle Ages. How many Experience Points does Rand al’Thor have by now?”

Me: “Good point.”

Nevertheless, I held to the standard of 75 plus 75 in Disads. Eventually we agreed to let him use the 30 points he gets in Spells (from the Priest Package Deal in the Turakian Age book) for some of the miscellaneous stuff his character needs. One of the spells he has will be a unique creation allowing the Druidess to grow sharp thorns out of her walking staff, allowing it to be used for Killing Damage. The PC is also getting the Speak in Tongues spell, which will allow the party a means of communicating with anyone.


May 20:
We actually got Jason and Don to show up to brainstorm over characters. Jason is pretty straightforward so far, playing a Wizard. Gary and I both figured this would be his choice because Jason is the member of the group who most resembles Brian Van Hoose.
The character itself is a fairly straight take on the Wizard Package Deal in FH, except that with the various ‘arcana’ counting as separate Magic Skills, Jason took his main arcana in offensive Fire Magic (like the sample Wizard in FH) and additional skills for Conjuration, Sorcery and Thaumaturgy. Of course, with all those points to spend, he’s even wimpier physically than the Elf Druidess. In fact I allowed him to shave some of the points off spells to get a couple Weapon Familiarities, just as I allowed Gary to shift points from the Package Deal in order to fit within 150. So far Jason’s concept is vague, except that he knows he wants to be from the Westerlands. I figured he’d be Vestrian, as some of the Turakian Age background detail seems to center on that part of the region.

Finally, I had Don. Don is playing a Ninja. Well, essentially. The concept is basically a combination of Rogue/Martial Artist. I told him the only real unarmed combat version of Martial Arts in the game was Tran-Dhuk, the art from Thon-Sa, which resembles Tibet more than anything else. Don had already decided that his character was from the Kumasia region- specifically the “melting pot” of Keshaman- so the idea of him learning Tran-Dhuk wasn’t totally far-fetched. He then figured that he’d gone on a merchant ship with his relatives at a young age (I think puberty) and the crew was attacked by pirates. Don’s character washed up on shore and the only other survivor was a Thona national who (for some undecided reason) agreed to teach him Martial Arts. Don spent adolescence training with this guy but decided to use his training to seek out the pirates who’d killed his family. Towards that end, he also traveled a great deal and picked up thieving skills to make his living on the way.

There are of course, a lot of unanswered questions in this origin- especially since it’s not clear whether the character even knows WHICH pirates were responsible for the attack. Also, at one point Don had asked if his mentor could be in the group with him so he’d have someone to train him in the art’s additional combat manuevers. He was thinking the mentor would be sort of a Chiun to his Remo Williams. I wasn’t too keen on that. If the NPC is gonna be that powerful, he shouldn’t be a regular member of the group, since he’d solve too many of their problems too easily. I’m told Don that instead I might give him XP credit for roleplaying ‘David Carradine flashback’ sequences.

Also this week: we convinced Dustin to name his Drakine Trogdor.


May 27:
We finalized character generation, except for equipment lists, which shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Gary gave his priestess a name (Lo'rma'ndra) and a short spell list consisting of Divine and Druidry spells useful for a village priestess who also operates in the forests.
Lo'rma'ndra had been sent to train with a High Church Druid in one of the Vestrian villages over the mountains from Elvenhome. At one point she was sent on an errand by her mentor, and returned home to find that the entire village, including the older Druid, had been slaughtered, with few clues as to how or why. Gathering her mentor's things (including sacred writings and effects) on a donkey, she rode north to return his effects to her superiors and ask them what to do about the situation.

Dustin/Trogdor was almost fine as he was, but I added a 15 point "floating" Hunted and the appropriate Psychological Limitation "Short-Tempered." I did this to get him a few more Background Skills (like the foriegn languages he'd need to communicate with the non-Drakine, i.e. everyone else around him).
Dustin also mentioned the idea of attacking with a sword in each hand, so I got Trogdor Two-Weapon Fighting.

Don actually took the most time, and that was to finalize his Disadvantages, and to come around to a name for his character: Rogar.

Before that, I got Jason to finalize his character, who is now named "Valdergast Arcanus". (I'm just gonna call him Valdergast.) It was mostly done except for Spells (almost all of which turned out to be from Elemental/Fire) and Disadvantages. So I asked, "what Psychological Disadvantages would he have?" Jason said, "Ruthless." I wrote that down. He then got a Distinctive Feature, a long scar going down the side of his arm. Then he got a Hunted Disadvantage, defined as a nearby Baron who wants revenge because Valdergast killed the Baron's relative... in self-defense, in the same incident where he recieved the scar. Then he got another Hunted, "Watched by Duke Jabel Duharion of Daravel", along with the Psych Disad "Hatred of Orcs". I asked why Valdergast was Watched by this particular Duke, and Jason said he owed Duke Jabel favors. When I asked why, Jason said, "because I got in trouble with the law and the Duke agreed not to hang me." So then I asked why the "Hatred of Orcs," and Jason said, "because the Duke is always sending me on missions to kill Orcs!!"

So let's see: I have Rogar, who by Don's description is basically a "heroic rogue." I have Trogdor, who might be defined in D&D as a Chaotic Good Fighter. And I have Lo'rma'ndra, the do-gooder Elven Druidess.

And then I have this Fire Wizard with the "Ruthless" personality who got at least two of his Disads from pissing off the local nobility.

This is gonna be SO much fun.

Next Week:
I run.
If I run fast enough, I may be able to avoid GMing this group.

JG

[Enforcer84]

Can't wait!

[Nolgroth]

Now, just reading this post makes me want Turakian Age even more. Sigh! Looks like it'll be a fun campaign. Can't wait to see the next post.

[James Gillen]

Thanks for the encouragement so far.

Just letting you know, we finished our first game, and everyone seemed to like it. It'll be a while before I can compile my notes, as I'm working tomorrow.

JG

[joen00b]

I think I'm going to have to drop by my local Gaming Store instead of ordering online, I really can't wait to get it, GRRRRR!!

[Mastermind]

James, what was your prep time from deciding to run a game, reading through the books, to actually running? Do you think it was a quick start or did you have to mull over how/what/where to run your campaign?

I've had FH and FHG. TA should be on the way.

What about the magic? How does it compare to Steve Long's excellent Channelling system from Wheel of Time?

[James Gillen]

James, what was your prep time from deciding to run a game, reading through the books, to actually running? Do you think it was a quick start or did you have to mull over how/what/where to run your campaign?

I've had FH and FHG. TA should be on the way.

What about the magic? How does it compare to Steve Long's excellent Channelling system from Wheel of Time?

I think that it's been about a month since picking up TA. I read through the FH book for longer than that, of course.

I had to mull over things, but a lot of this was done on the fly- I find that that's often the best way to handle PCs, who are often going to do the exact opposite of what a module requires them to do.

Magic... in some ways it's like the 4th Edition Fantasy HERO (Skill Roll-based), but the fact that costs are divided by 3 makes it easier to have a mage with some versatility. However, a mage also has to buy Skill Rolls per school. I like this because it gives the magic some flavor. But it also means that clerics (who need only Faith skill) have more potential in theory. In practice, our PC Druidess had to spend points on Turn Undead, and on the physical abilities and Skills she needs to work out in the wilderness. Whereas the Fire Wizard is mostly concentrated on Knowledge Skills and Fire Magic (despite knowing four arcana), and only raised his CON above 10 to increase his personal END for spell use. So he's a stereotypical D&D Wizard- a walking artillery platform with little in the way of defenses or fighting skill - while the Druidess is reasonably good but not expert in fighting, spell use and Skills, like one would expect a beginning Druid to be in D&D.

JG

[EDIT: As for The Wheel of Time, the Turakian system bears little resemblance to that. Actually D&D's new version of the Psionics Handbook bears greater resemblance to that, in that powers don't require anything in the way of spellcasting gestures, and it is possible for some characters to 'overchannel'.]

[Old Man]

update update!

[Steve Long]

How does it compare to Steve Long's excellent Channelling system from Wheel of Time?

To be fair, the person who deserves credit for the WOT magic system is Charles Ryan. I had a little input here and there, but I actually wanted to do something significantly different. Since Charles got that particular part of the assignment, he's the one who deserves the praise.

[James Gillen]

OK. First off, more thanks for the feedback so far. And again, sorry I didn't report sooner. Actually this is going to come out in bits, cause I'm trying to "narrate" like RDU Neil did, and it may take a while to write this down in prose.

Also, thanks to Don Garner for coming up with my campaign title:
Fear and Loathing in The Turakian Age

Harvesting Month was the beginning of autumn in the Vestrian calendar. As an Elf, Lo’ma’ndra knew it by another name. As a Druid in training, she had come to care less about the names of months and took more care to the seasons. There were some years when one could point to the day and notice that summer had left overnight: Suddenly the lingering heat of day was gone, to be replaced by an imperceptible chill as the winds came and the day was somehow shorter than the last. This year, this day, she felt the change more strongly than ever.

Three days before, her mentor, the Druid Thossyryn had sent her into the mountain woods to pick some special herbs for the upcoming Harvest Festival. The last day, she returned to the village of Thelham and found the entire place had been wiped out. It was not merely raided; there were no refugees. It was quite clear from the number of corpses Lo’ma’ndra saw that no one had been left to survive. Her own mentor, the Man who had accepted her when she first came, and who had taught her for more than a year, seemed to have been torn apart by beasts, with his head left on his own desk as a macabre artifact of the scene.

Lo’ma’ndra had searched the remains of the town, not only in Thossyryn’s home, but various hiding places her mentor had made her aware of. Everyone knew that with Orc raids increasing, that it would be necessary to defend the village and protect as many resources as possible from the “greenskins.” But even Orcs would have left some alive.

She had managed to find some of Thossyryn’s own writings inside the village church, which remained mostly intact for some reason, and loaded both her pony and the donkey that the old Druid had given her the last time she saw the villagers. The books and notes and foodstuffs she’d already managed to preserve were for all purposes the last of the village of Thelham. Now Lo’ma’ndra had decided to gain more provisions in the nearby city of Greyspan before asking her superiors in the High Church how to proceed.
-


After reaching the fork in the road that went west toward Greyspan, Lo’ma’ndra walked her mount toward a hill, and there saw a small procession of soliders, led by a horseman in scale mail. The Druidess peered at them. They were certainly Vestrian, but the heraldry on their surcoats didn’t seem to match the local Baron’s forces.
Their leader hailed her and then dismounted, walking up slowly. Getting close, Lo’ma’ndra could tell that he and the other men were unshaven and fatigued-looking. The officer nodded to her and said, “Good day.”
“Good day to you,” Lo’ma’ndra said. “If you please, would you know anything about the forces that attacked the village of Thelham?”
The officer said, “We have had several Orc attacks keeping us busy.” He motioned for his men to surround the young girl and her animals. “Actually, we were wondering if you could help us.”
“Of course, sir, I will do whatever I can.”
“You see, we’ve been on the road ourselves, and haven’t gotten food for almost a day.” One of the men rifled open one of the packs on the Elf’s donkey, looking at the books inside and turning to his commander. “I don’t think we’ll be able to sell that,” he said.
Lo’ma’ndra, a bit nervous, said, “Ah, yes, I do have some food. Here’s the pouch with my provisions. I can share what I have.”
The man smiled. “That isn’t all we would be sharing.”
“I don’t follow…”
He stretched and looked around. “You see, we’ve been out doing the Duke’s work, and haven’t gotten a chance to see home for months, not to mention that we don’t really get paid regularly.. so we haven’t really had much. No money, not much food, not much in the way of entertainment. So, we saw you and thought maybe you could service us.” He looked Lo’ma’ndra over.
She finally remembered to pull her holy symbol out from under her robes. “Of course. I am a cleric of the Gods.”
The leader said, “well, then, you wouldn’t mind being charitable, would you?”

The officer then clinched her roughly and brought her in for a kiss.
Lo’ma’ndra backed off in anger. “What was the meaning of that!? I can tell you right now, I’m not going to be ‘entertaining’ any of you!”
The men laughed at this response. “She’s an arrogant one, isn’t she?”
Then the group heard a strangely accented voice: “What’s going on here?”

The group looked up to see another horseman had arrived. The skin underneath his chainmail was itself coppery and scaled, and the ridges of his face made it clear that he was one of the Drakine race. He sat straight, with a broadsword on each side of his belt, and an unstrung longbow at his back.

Lo’ma’ndra, more indignant than plaintive, said, “Sir, please, I would appreciate your aid against these robbers.”
And the soldiers snickered to hear the non-Man called “sir.” One of the men surrounding the young priestess looked up at the newcomer and said, “No business of yours if we have a little fun, eh?”
The Drakine looked down, hands by his swords. “I wouldn’t do that.”
One of the men looked at his officer and said, “Gressig, I don’t know. How far were we going to take this, anyway?”
The officer- Gressig- looked at his men, and saw they had even less stomach for fight than he did. He gave the Druidess another ugly look, and then looked up at the Drakine and smirked. “All right then. I suppose my men and I will be on our way… SIR Drakine.”
The priestess took her bag of food and threw it toward Gressig’s feet.
He reached for the bag of provisions Lo’ma’ndra had tossed him. “Take that and go,” she said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t satiate your other appetites.”
And with that, the soldiers went off towards the path Lo’ma’ndra had just left behind.

Lo’ma’ndra let down the hood of her cloak, revealing a very young face and shining blond hair. She looked up at the warrior before her. “Many thanks to you. It was most fortuitous for me that you arrived when you did.”
“All right,” he said.
Lo’ma’ndra wasn’t sure how to read the reptilian’s face. She said, “Fortuitous, in this case, means ‘lucky.’ "
“Mmh,” he nodded.
The Druidess said, “I am Lo’ma’ndra. Who would you be, and where are you going?”
The warrior said, “I am Trogdor. I’m a mercenary. I was going west toward Greyspan seeking work.”
Lo’ma’ndra went towards her pony and said, “As long as we’re going the same way, would you like to accompany me? It seems I could use the help.”
Trogdor looked at her, and said, “Makes sense.”

More tomorrow...

JG

[Mastermind]

To be fair, the person who deserves credit for the WOT magic system is Charles Ryan. I had a little input here and there, but I actually wanted to do something significantly different. Since Charles got that particular part of the assignment, he's the one who deserves the praise.

THanks for the clarification. Loved Charles' Millenium's End game!

[Mastermind]

So do you think that the game will be geared more towards role-playing and peaceful resolution or Combat?

Am really intrigued by Trogdor! I got the T-shirt too

[James Gillen]

So far it seems to be Combat!

JG

[James Gillen]

More apologies for not posting earlier. As I mentioned in Random Musings, my PC is screwing up on me.

Chapter Two

Valdergast Arcanus was not having a good day.
Duke Jabel of Daravel had sent him down to Greyspan to suit up for yet another Orc hunt, and sent his fellow Wizard Nordal out with him- more than likely to spy on him. Out with Sir Bernon’s patrol, they’d somehow lost almost half their unit before even getting over the Greyspark River. And they’d spent most of the day on the far bank trying to find the marauders who were rumored to be in the area, only to be ambushed as they backtracked toward a ford in the river.

There were at least half a dozen Orc archers on the north bank, blocking the way back to Greyspan, peppering the troops with arrow fire. Fortunately their aim was horrible. Valdergast stood up on his horse, unhurt, looking over the scene. Then from behind him, he heard war cries and the shouts of the soldiers and realized that a larger group of Orcs was charging them from behind. And that Nordal was nowhere to be seen…

Sir Bernon called out, “Wizard! They’re in the woods!”
“I see them,” Valdergast said. The Wizard stroked one of the sleeves of his fine red robes. He looked at the first ranks of the charging Orc footmen, then concentrated at a point just beyond that rank, and spoke his spell. He pointed, and a dart of fire streaked from his fingers, past the soldiers, behind the Orcs, then suddenly exploded in a white-hot blast illuminating the whole of the woods, a light which then flared out in less than half a second. Orcs- Valdergast could see over a dozen of them now- were running, and putting out their burning armor and burning skin. But they were still alive.

The mage shook his head slightly. “Not one of my better ones,” he thought.
The knight Bernon shouted, “They’re scattering, but I don’t think they’re down.”
“It’ll keep them off our backs and give us time to organize,” the magician said.
Bernon looked at Valdergast and said, “What about the damage to the forest?”
“I’m a Fire Wizard. I don’t care about trees.”
The knight said, “There’s still the group of archers on the other bank.”
“Give me a moment,” the Wizard said.
Bernon yelled, “Men! Take cover! Back to the woods! Spears ready!”

Valdergast looked back toward the river, still sitting on his horse. Realizing that the Fireball was going to wink out too fast to cause the lasting damage he required, this time he resorted to Kheldred’s Flammifer. Even as he prepared, arrows went by, missing him but scoring a minor wound on one of the retreating men. Valdergast pointed to each of his targets, successfully hitting all but one. The archers’ bows- and gloves- spontaneously caught fire, along with the trees they were leaning against. Some panicked, some smothered their fires on the ground, and others jumped in the river. But Valdergast knew they were broken.

Off in the distance, Trogdor and Lo’ma’ndra saw the woods as they rode towards the river. As an explosive sound went off, Trogdor saw Lo’ma’ndra’s body tense. She looked and saw that the forest was burning, and said, “I have to stop this.” She spurred her mount on, and Trogdor had to push to keep up.
They rode quickly off the path towards the woods, and Lo’ma’ndra’s keen eyes saw that a group of Orcs were pressing to attack a patrol of Vestrian soldiers, and had them on the defensive, cutting down at least one with their swords even as the Men tried to hold them back with polearms. Lo’ma’ndra looked towards three Orcs nearer her, and spoke an invocation while throwing a length of vine to the earth. At once, tangling vines erupted from the ground by the Orcs’ back line, grabbing one in a mass of vegetation.
Trogdor rode up past the back line to swing a broadsword against one Orc, barely connecting. By this time, the monsters realized they were being outflanked, and the two nearest Lo’ma’ndra started advancing toward her. The one that Trogdor attacked tried and failed to dismount him, so the Drakine obliged his opponent by swinging off his horse and drawing his second blade. The two circled each other and clashed, and though Trogdor’s two-handed attack caught the enemy off-guard, he lost his own balance. One of the Drakine’s blades caught the Orc in the leg, but he stayed up. The Orc returned the insult with a swipe that nicked Trogdor’s thigh. Trogdor was becoming increasingly frustrated.

Lo’ma’ndra continued to use spells to defend herself. She first created a glittering golden aura about herself, then threw another spell to entangle one of the two Orcs advancing on her. As the third reached melee range, she took her walking staff from her saddle, and as she invoked another prayer, thick thorns grew all over the length of the staff. The Orc swung at her, his sword deflected by the golden aura. The Druidess counterattacked with a fierce blow, drawing blood with the thorns and staggering the foe.

Yet the rest of the marauders were still beating down on the soldiers, and one of them was now in melee range with the horsed Valdergast. The Wizard looked down and recited the arcane formula for the most destructive spell in his arsenal: Magefire. He pointed at the Orc in condemnation.
Greenish-red fire erupted from the Orc’s body, causing the humanoid to panic and run. But even though his target was out of the fight, Valdergast maintained his mental grasp on the spell, grimacing with fatigue, fueling the Magefire even as the Orc warrior ran, until he fell dead in his tracks.

Meanwhile, Sir Bernon was able to take on two Orc warriors with his longsword, and managed to put both of them down. His men, finally getting the advantage in numbers, were able to move forward again and team up to cut down their foes. As they did, they moved past Trogdor, as he finally managed to complete his two-handed attack and kill his opponent. There was no one left for him to fight.

The Orc warrior against Lo’ma’ndra moved against her, but she got the first attack and wounded him sorely, and as he staggered back again, two of the advancing soldiers caught him as he fell, and Lo’ma’ndra watched in shock as they stabbed him to death with their spears.
The Druidess looked around to take stock of the situation. It seemed that after all the chaos, only two of the Men were cut down, and one of them was getting back to his feet. But she was more concerned about the fires on the north bank of the river. They were small, but several trees were smoldering, and it was quite likely the flames could spread into a full blaze.
Lo’ma’ndra looked for the leader of the soldiers, and as she took in the details of their gear, she realized that these men were wearing the same surcoats as the men who’d harassed her earlier in the day.
The chainmailed warrior who seemed to be their leader rode toward her. “I am Sir Bernon, in Duke Jabel’s service, priestess. We appreciate the help you two gave us. Those greenskins had us outnumbered.”
“Yeah, especially since Gressig and his squad deserted before the rendezvous…” one of the men muttered.
Steeling herself, she said, “If you are truly the Duke’s men, you will do right by this land and help put out these fires!”
“And we’ll do just that,” the knight said. “Get some buckets, men! Use your helmets if you have to!”
Valdergast saw the others running back and forth from the river to put out the flames. Eventually he got off his horse and casually walked to the river bank himself. He wet his fingertips in the stream, turned back, and spoke some words as he pointed to the woods.
Suddenly the remaining fires snuffed out, as if of their own accord.

Lo’ma’ndra looked relieved. She walked up to see the mage, a tall man with dark hair, trim beard, and piercing blue eyes. She bowed slightly. “I am the Druid Lo’ma’ndra.”
The Wizard bowed lower. “I am Valdergast Arcanus.”
The priestess nodded. “Thanks to you for putting out those fires. It would seem that these evil Orcs were responsible for setting the forest ablaze.”
“No, that was me,” Valdergast said.
Lo’ma’ndra was almost at a loss for words. “Why was that necessary? Was the forest attacking you?”
“They weren’t able to use the cover against us anymore. I did what I had to.”
A blond, clean-shaven young man appeared almost out of nowhere. “Forgive him, my lady. He’s quite full of bluster.”
Valdergast smirked and introduced his fellow Wizard to the Elf. “Nordal. My master’s lesser apprentice. Exactly what were you doing while I was fighting for our lives?”
Nordal said, “I suppose you noticed that hail of arrows coming against the enemy. That was my illusion. At least it kept the greenskins off you long enough for our friends here to come and reinforce us.”
Valdergast said, “Yes. You do realize, Lo’rma’ndra, that you can’t trust anything he says.”
The other Wizard was about to respond when the soldiers near Lo’rma’ndra made a move to kill her captives under the entanglements. She held up her hand, “No!”
Sir Bernon said, “My pardon?”
The Druidess said, “We need to spare these two. For information if nothing else.”
Nordal shrugged and said, “Does anyone here actually speak their language?”
Sir Bernon said, “I’ll accede to your judgement, Taal Lo’ma’ndra. But these two would be subject to our laws, and for attacking the Duke’s soldiers, they’d almost certainly be hanged after we got back to town.”
“It saves us the trouble of feeding them,” Valdergast said.
Trogdor spoke up. “We can keep them with us and not feed them.” Lo’ma’ndra frowned at him.
Sir Bernon said, “But again, how can we speak with them?”
“Leave it to me,” Lo’ma’ndra said. “It is a gift of our Gods.”

She turned to the captive Orcs and remembered the miracle Thossyryn had explained to her, enabling her to speak in tongues and understand others’ speech. She enacted the short ritual then looked at the prisoners. “You two.” They looked up, surprised that someone was speaking to them in Orcish. She said, “Do you want to live?” They nodded eagerly.
Lo’ma’ndra said, “Who is your leader? Who gives you orders?”
The first Orc said, “Skarill. He’s the big chieftain. We don’t see him ourselves, though. He’s the chief of our chiefs.”
She said, “did you have anything to do with the burning of the village of Thelham?”
“Which one’s that?”
“We did more than one,” the other said.
“The one east of here,” she said. “It was completely devastated.”
“Oh, yeah,” the second Orc said. “Yeah. We had help.”
“WHO?” the Druidess ordered.
“This man in white armor,” the second said. The first Orc said, “He had two swords. Skarill sent him to kill anyone we didn’t.”
Lo’ma’ndra stared at the Orcs, her jaw firm.
One of the prisoners said, “Are we good now? We get to live?”
Lo’ma’ndra smiled, looked at them and said, “Say hello to your Dark Gods for me.”
The Orcs nodded and looked confused.
She turned away and spoke to Valdergast. “You may kill them now.”

one more...

JG

[James Gillen]

Here we go:

Chapter Three

Rogar arrived in Greyspan and managed to find work the same day. He counted that lucky. But then, the kind of work he specialized in was often dangerous even by the standards of Thieves’ Guilds. It also garnered unusual rewards. He stroked the surface of one of his arm bracers, made from Dwarven steel. He walked inside an old tavern, got a mug of ale, and sat down with his walking staff at the side and his back to the wall. At this point, it was late afternoon, and he was waiting for his next contact, whom he knew only by description.
Minutes later, a blond man with slight beard growth came in, looking somewhat out of place. He bought his own drink at the bar and started looking around. He was a young man, maybe Rogar’s age. The blond eventually caught sight of Rogar sitting at the back of the tavern, and walked over.
He gave a curt nod, and sat. “They told me what you looked like,” he said.
“No names,” Rogar said. “They told me that was the deal.”
The stranger nodded again. “Are you a traveler?” he asked.
“I could be.” Rogar couldn’t help but smile. His brown skin and Kumasian features should have made it obvious he wasn’t from around here.
“I, that is we, needed to have something delivered. Secretly.” He took two scrolls out of a belt pack. The first scroll he unrolled on the table to show a map of all Ambrethel, with the kingdom of Vestria on its western edge. The other scroll was in a fine case, which the stranger put to his right hand, away from Rogar.
“This,” he said, pointing to the scroll case, “needs to go to the city of Ytheis, in the kingdom of Umbr.” He pointed his left hand to where Greyspan was on the map, moving his finger off right a considerable distance past both the Greyward mountain range and the Elven forests, to a city in the land of Umbr.
Rogar shook his head in mild surprise. “That’s a good thousand miles of journey, not considering the mountains. Not really typical for me. And I’d need payment for getting myself outfitted.”
“Of course, we are prepared to pay handsomely.”
“Like?”
The blond man lowered his voice a little more. “5000 Nobles.”
Rogar thought. “Who am I delivering that to, anyway?”
The man paused. “The Alarch Belsarius. In Ytheis.”
More curious yet, Rogar thought. From what he’d been able to gather since moving to this area, ‘Alarch’ was a senior rank in the Ardunan version of the High Church, and Belsarius was one of the prominent clerics who’d been moved up the ranks to serve the Bonifact himself. Thus the stranger’s emphasis on Ytheis; everyone knew that was the place of the Bonifact’s Cathedral Meruvoisin.

Rogar said, “Let me see your silver.”
The stranger took out a smaller bag from his pack. He revealed it to be full of Vestrian silver pieces. “I have half on me now. If you’re serious, meet me outside in five minutes.”
Rogar nodded. The stranger prepared to leave. Rogar said, “I take it you’re not used to this sort of mission?”
“Why?”
Rogar handed him back the scroll case that he forgot to pick up.
“Ah. Of course. Thank you.” And he made his way out.
Rogar thought for a little bit before leaving. 5000 silver pieces was good pay for a simple delivery, but the client automatically meant it wouldn’t be so simple. And he’d have to convert the most of the coins into gems before he left; he preferred to travel light, and he’d have to convert the money into local currency again anyway once he left Vestria.
After the time had passed, Rogar left by himself, and walked behind the tavern to an alley. As he thought, he saw the blond man down the way. The man started walking toward a better section of town. Rogar followed as unobtrusively as possible. The stranger went to one of the busier taverns in town. Rogar looked around outside. Everyone was preparing signs or sitting by stands for the local Harvest Festival. It was almost nightfall, and it looked to be an exciting evening.
-

After the Fire Wizard had destroyed the bodies of the prisoners, and Lo’ma’ndra had treated the minor wounds of Trogdor and one of Bernon’s soldiers, the group managed to reach Greyspan before night fell. Trogdor continued to follow the Elven priestess until he could hire on to a new company, which probably wouldn’t be till the morrow. At this point, Valdergast the Fire Wizard was offering to buy him and the Elf a round, and that was good enough reason to stick with them in a strange place. The Wizard took them to a large inn with the sign of a unicorn on a pink shield, which seemed to be his favorite watering hole. The Drakine heard several of the patrons yell out the Wizard’s name as they entered.
The Wizard turned to his favorite wench in the room. “Rebecca, get my usual, and get these two a round of the local. And put it on the Duke’s tab. Let’s see how much this expedition will cost him.” The girl waved and nodded without a word.
Lo’ma’ndra looked around as Valdergast managed to get them a table. It was getting busy, and she only then remembered that the Festival was this week. The people she’d met during her time in Thelham would never celebrate it again. Trying to put the deaths out of her mind, she sat down and looked upstairs, remembering that she’d probably have to get a room here quickly. The only other patron going upstairs was some young Vestrian, but then Lo’ma’ndra saw a tall, dark-skinned man in traveling clothes, carrying a staff, walk up shortly afterward. From the layout above the bar, she couldn’t tell if they were going to the same room. She wasn’t sure why that thought was important.
-

The blond kid unlocked his door and let Rogar follow him inside. He moved to check under his bed, without lighting a lamp. The only other light in the place was the moonlight through the windowglass.
Rogar saw the man pull another bag out, and opened it to show him the coins. He then rose up with the bag in one hand and the scrollcase in the other. Rogar put the coin sack under his belt and the case under his shirt.
“You can check the coins, if you want,”the blond said. Rogar shook his head. “I think I can trust you.” He noticed the man smile.
“I’m kind of relieved, actually. This whole time, it felt like I was being.. watched.”
“Oh, really?” Rogar smirked.
“I mean, more than you’d expect in this line of work. It just felt- like something was wrong with the world somehow.”
Rogar shrugged. “Well, you’re right. It’s over. I thank you- and good luck to you, sir.”
The other man was about to respond when it seemed that a cold wind had suddenly come up between them. Rogar immediately felt a third presence in the room, one that somehow stirred an ancient feeling of evil. Both he and the blond were pushed back as a whirlwind of snow and ice appeared in the center of the room, which with a flash of white light revealed a tall figure covered head-to-toe in sleek white plate armor, a sword in scabbard at each side. In an instant, the warrior drew a sword in the right hand and charged the blond. The sword made a hard striking noise as it caught Rogar’s staff. Rogar looked at this weird knight before him as he continued to hold the sword back. He looked around for his contact. He saw him, and said only, “Run!” The blond man immediately complied and ducked out the door to head downstairs.
The warrior’s sword edge moved along the length of Rogar’s staff as the two foes tried to size each other up. Rogar caught the knight’s gaze through his visor- pale blue eyes that looked at him with a strange mixture of rage and surprise.
The warrior swung up and around, and Rogar was on the defensive. He barely managed to block again. The warrior moved to block the open door, and drew his left-hand sword. Rogar admired the elegance of both the weapons and armor. Of course he knew there wasn’t much time for that. Realizing that the enemy was probably even faster than him, Rogar didn’t want to chance moving past. That left only one route.
Rogar immediately jumped back with the staff out to smash out the window. He flipped in mid-air and saw the roof of the horse-post immediately below. He bounced his feet off that before they could strike through the boards and jumped back again to roll and land safely to the ground, attracting the attention of various people who were setting up stands in preparation for evening events.
Rogar stood up with ease, and saw that the disturbance was causing a commotion inside the inn. He paused long enough to make sure his contact had survived. A few seconds later, the blond man had run out the door, in panic as though Death itself were pursuing him.

And so it seemed. Most of those who were not already preparing to leave bolted up when from the upstairs floor, the figure in white armor came out of the rooms, walking slowly and deliberately toward the staircase. As the innkeeper guided his staff out the back, the three adventurers at Valdergast’s table just sat there in curiosity- and in Lo’ma’ndra’s case, more.
Apparently disturbed by the warrior’s silence, Trogdor yelled out, “say something!” The warrior looked in Trogdor’s direction. It raised a slim blade and pointed it down towards the Drakine’s head. It then said, ”You die now.”
The priestess briefly touched her symbol of the gods, and laid a blessing on her two companions. Trogdor stood up. The warrior in white looked down, then stepped through the staircase, dropping softly to the ground. Valdergast could see no spellcasting involved. From what he could tell, the armor itself was magical, especially given how it fit the intruder like a second skin.
Trogdor, looking around, said, “we’re not in a fight with you, and we’re not looking for trouble. So you can leave us be.”
Valdergast turned to the Druidess and said, “This is a Drakine??”
Lo’ma’ndra said, “He seems to be one with a sense of propriety.”

The warrior shook its helmeted head, and whispered, ”too late.” It swung its blades and advanced on Trogdor. Just then, Rogar bounded in through the open doors, jumped past Valdergast’s table, and thrust his staff into the warrior’s chest square on, staggering the enemy and knocking it into the bar. It shook itself off and looked towards Rogar, saying only: ”Skilled.”
‘Skilled?’ Rogar thought. He took a blow that would’ve felled that Drakine, and I’m only ‘skilled?’

Meanwhile, Lo’ma’ndra, unsure of the thing’s nature, offered another prayer to her gods to sense the nature of the enemy. From what her spell could determine, this warrior was not undead, and most likely was a living being, but it seemed somehow ‘touched’ by unholy forces.
The warrior in white, recognizing Rogar as the main threat, advanced toward him, and the adventurer obliged by retreating back outside into the dirt streets. Trogdor followed to help. Lo’ma’ndra stood up and invoked the Staff of Thornsalong with her protective aura, then followed outside. The wizard Valdergast looked on all this nonchalantly, got up after everyone had left, and stood in the entranceway to prepare a spell against the warrior.
The others were outside, trying to flank the white knight from three sides as the townspeople gave them a wide berth. Valdergast looked at them from outside and threw Magefire at the enemy, but his reflexes weren’t nearly fast enough to connect with the spell. Lo’ma’ndra then swung the thorny staff, and was also too slow to catch the warrior. Trogdor took advantage to attack the warrior on his side, but only hit with one sword, which bounced off the enchanted armor.
The warrior looked Trogdor over, and used its own two swords in a terribly fast attack routine that the others could barely follow.

And as it did, Rogar fell into brief shock as his mind came back to a buried memory, of his cousins on board a ship, protecting him by hiding him in a barrel, and as Rogar the child looked through a lidcrack, he saw a white-armored knight wielding two swords, cutting men down with no reprisal… and Rogar the man realized why this being evoked such dread in him.

He snapped back to the present as the white-clad fighter charged against the Drakine. Almost in panic, Trogdor managed to catch one sword with his own- then the other. Rogar took his chance before the warrior could react, jumping forward to connect again with his staff. It caused the knight to step back a pace. So far Rogar was the only one who’d scored any damage against this thing. And he realized that that was just pure luck.

Lo’ma’ndra moved back and took out another length of vine, speaking another spell. From the open dirt, thick vines and plants erupted underneath the warrior’s feet, catching it by surprise and entangling it completely. Valdergast smiled and cast the Flammifer against the immobilized foe. The armor caught fire for less than a second- and snuffed out completely.
The warrior looked out through the vines and gazed at Lo’ma’ndra. And for the first time, she saw its eyes. Ice-cold, hateful, Human eyes. It almost seemed to nod through its helm, then collapsed into a whirl of snow and wind that blew through the plant growth and into thin air.
Valdergast shrugged, went back to his table, and got his mug.
Trogdor looked at the plant growth. All that remained of his foe was some snow flakes that were already turning to water.
Lo’ma’ndra acknowledged Rogar’s presence. “Thank you.”
He said, “ah, it was what I could do to help.” He looked nervously as the city officials began to restore order. “I should be going now.”
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary. What’s the problem?” Lo’ma’ndra asked.
“Suffice to say, I have misunderstandings with law enforcement. There’s also the matter of the window,” he said.
“Oh. I see,” the Elf said. “Don’t worry. I can tell them you’re with me. It’s true to say that you were just acting to help defend us.”
“What did happen?” a guardsman asked Lo’ma’ndra.
She said, “a warrior, armed with some powerful magic item, tried attacking me and my traveling companions. He might have killed my bodyguard if not for this man.” She paused. “I am Lo’ma’ndra. What is your name, by the way?”
Rogar had to remember the alias he was using while in town. He thought and then looked to the Elf, saying, “My name is Nagel.”
Ignoring him, the guard said to the priestess, “that seems to be what eveyone else is saying. So, it just… dissolved?”
“I think,” Rogar scowled.
-

After the excitement had died down, the guards let the Unicorn’s proprietor and staff back inside, no one wishing to disturb the Fire Wizard sipping his beer at the table near the door. Trogdor walked back to his table, and waited for Lo’ma’ndra to bring in ‘Nagel.’ She invited the young stranger to sit with her and Valdergast, and he did.
After introductions- including Rogar’s alias- were exchanged, Nagel asked, “So, what does bring you here?”
Lo’ma’ndra sighed. “I was taking my Druidic training in a Human village over a day’s ride from here. Yesterday I returned from an errand and found that marauding Orcs had destroyed the place.”
“That’s not unusual,” Rogar said. “Unfortunately.”
“They didn’t leave anyone alive,” Lo’ma’ndra said. “They made sure to destroy my mentor. And I found out that they were given aid by the chieftain Skarill. That man in white armor.”
Rogar nodded. Lo’ma’ndra said, “Thus I gathered what remained of my master’s notes and came here to report to my superiors. But I’m quite convinced that this isn’t just a random raid. I need to go back east to Ytheis and report to my Alarch.”
Nagel told her, “I could be going that way…”
“I came to town to get hired for guard work,” Trogdor said. “I should be leaving here in the morning.”
Lo’ma’ndra looked up at him. “You’ve been very helpful so far, and a good companion. Would you be willing to be my bodyguard?”
“How much does it pay?” Trogdor said.
“Ah, I haven’t actually hired a guard before… I’m sure my superiors will be able to reimburse you when we get to Ytheis.”
“Protection costs extra.”
Lo’ma’ndra wasn’t sure the Drakine knew much of the local language. “Protection is sort of the point,” she said. “Make yourself useful, and I guarantee you’ll be paid what you’re worth.” She paused. “And if you serve me tea every morning, that’ll pay extra.” Lo’ma’ndra smiled.
“We’ll see,” the Drakine said. Lo’ma’ndra still wasn’t sure how to read him. She looked over at the Wizard.
Vandergast looked up from his chair. “Either I stay here and get called off on another damn Orc-hunting mission, or I skip town and call this a vacation. I might as well go on vacation.”

And so it seemed that these four had, however tentatively, become a group.


JG