Session 15, Part 1

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jan 4, 2007

Filed under: D&D Campaign 16 comments

Last session the players defended the bridge, and then Mordan withdrew for reasons unknown.

Surprisingly, everyone was here this week.

Three days later the Dwarven army arrives, backed by the last of the Alidian soldiers. Mordan has pulled his army back and has not returned. The time has come for a counterattack. The army marches over the bridge, aiming north.

Many Dwarves look back over their shoulders as they travel, gazing up at the dark smoking peak of Khelberg.


The players ride out front. While not formally in command of the army, the commanders are nevertheless following their lead. The players have seen every side of this war, every part of the island, and have a clearer picture of what is going on than anyone else. They do not command the army, but if they tell the generals that a course of action is a good idea, then it is going to happen that way.

The army passes Hillstead, which is a smoking ruin. A few grave walkers are prowling around, gnawing on bones. They are overwhelmed and exterminated by the army without difficulty. They ride further north without contest. Mordan didn’t just pull back a little – he has evidently withdrawn all the way to Crossway.

The army moves slowly. The players are on hoseback, but the army is mostly on foot and some of them have siege machinery in tow. The trip to Crossway takes three days, during which they see only single grave walkers or other spies. They feared Mordan would strike while they were in the open, but now they have traveled for three days without answer from him. Nobody knows what to think of this.

They stop a few miles short of the city. Even from here they can see the city is smoking. Did Mordan put his own city to the torch? Did the Lormanites suddenly produce an army and assult him? Is this a trick? What is going on?

Eomer goes ahead and scouts out the town. It is, as they suspected, a smoking ruin. Stone buildings are toppled as if pummeled by siege weapons. Everything burnable has done do. A few grave walkers scamper about. Eomer evades their notice and returns to the others.

They deliberate. There is not much choice. Trick or not, they don’t have any option but to march into the city and see what happens.

Continued in Part 2…
 


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16 thoughts on “Session 15, Part 1

  1. Deoxy says:

    Nice twist! ARG! NEED…. MOOORRRREEEE…..

    Not addicted. Not addicted.

    A thing repeated often enough becomes true….

    Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. Not addicted. …..

  2. Robert says:

    I won’t be a bit surprised if they get in there and find Merry and Pippin, playing Battlemech.

  3. Ethan says:

    It’s Battletech! ;)

  4. Robert says:

    For knowing that, I sentence you to 10 years in Geek Hell. :P

  5. 808 says:

    Nooooooo!! I thought i had another year of narratives to read, instead it jumped FORWARD a year! but seriously, this is awesome reading. thanks!!

  6. Wonderduck says:

    If knowing that the game is called “Battletech” is worth 10 years of Geek Hell, what does being a listed playtester for Battletech bring me?

  7. Robert says:

    You’re already living it, Wonderduck. You’re already living it.

  8. 808 says:

    it brings you more strength than being a mechaknight?

  9. Damien says:

    All your geek are belong to us –

    Andre the Giant has a tombstone posse.

  10. Ethan says:

    So is that like ‘No gaming for you!’ Is that geek hell?

  11. David says:

    Unrelated to the “Geek Hell” topic, I love this whole blog. But I have one request. I want the stats for the grave walkers. I can’t seem to find anywhere you’ve posted this. As a DM, I feel the need to gather all random stats for everything I can find.

  12. Shamus says:

    David: Wow. I dunno. We finished this campaign about a year ago. I had stuff like that scribbled in my notes, but I’m not sure if I kept those.

    The full properties of a GW were never revealed in the game. It’s a fast-moving monster with a high AC. (High vs. our lvl 5-ish characters.) I’m pretty sure the big claws did 1d6+3, and it got two attacks per round.

    The other trick they had (which never came into play) was that I planned for them to have some sort of anti-turning magic. You could turn them, but it would reflect some of the turning damage back to the caster. Nobody ever tried to turn one, so it never got used. (Which is why I can’t remember exactly how it worked.)

  13. -Chipper says:

    Please sir, I would like some more. 8-D

  14. Deoxy says:

    Vision…. fading… strength…. failing…. nnneeeedddd… mmmoooorrree…. STORY!!!!!

    Not addicted.

  15. Robel says:

    Oh damn :)) I know this is one year later, but Deoxy is making me laugh so hard I think it`s gonna de-oxygenate my brain!
    Shamus, I would be damn right proud if I could be a tenth as creative as you.

  16. thumper69 says:

    Everyone showing up is only surprising if you had already planned it for certain players to be absent.

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