Trollopulous Adjusted Session 91 (Machodor #51); Durka Durka!

       

The Bora Tora locals love to give strangers a warm welcome, no strings attached

Timekeeping

This session took place on 24/10/2024, and the PCs adventured for 4 days.

Player Characters Present

Slippery Pete (Level 8 Thief, background unknown, wearer of the Hat of Disguise and wielder of the Black Dagger)

Sever (Level 8 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength)

Giuseppe (Level 7 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of the Dragonslayer and the Shield of Protection from Missiles) with henchmen Bishoy and Tawadros (F5)

Comfort Rod (Level 5 Cleric, Psionics user and wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence)

Gurt the Green (Level 4 Paladin of Machodor, wielder of the Longsword+3) with henchman Solaire (P1) 

Downtime

• Slippery Pete had travelled to Schloss Ragnar and on his way back to Guarda witnessed the Pegasus Corps 6th Company attacking a force of "little blue men" encroaching from the desert.
• Gurt the Green had called his Holy Warhorse and succeeded in finding it in the city of Battra far to the south.
• Sever, riding Convess, was shot down by a strange spell or weapon near Bora Tora, thankfully the Pegasus was able to land safely.
• The players had prevailed upon the 6th Pegasus Company's cleric, Sixtus, to cast Know Alignment on their dragon cult prisoners; all of whom showed up as various flavours of Evil. However, the captured Talibandit prisoner from last session showed as Neutral.

Session Report

Discussion in the Guardan villa of Countess Echellet was interrupted by a knock at the door. Aston the butler had an urgent message for the adventurers: something had happened upstairs just now with the Talibandit prisoner Allo Howarya. The players rushed to the scene to find their two guards along with Saffira the maid laid out cold on the floor, and no sign of the prisoner; but there was a newly made man sized hole in the wall. 

Quick thinking Comfort Rod was able to save the fallen by casting Slow Poison, but, once they had regained consciousness, neither the guards nor Saffira could explain what had happened after she had brought breakfast in. Again Comfort Rod used his psychic powers the get a read on what had happened. In punctuated flashes he saw Saffira first coming into the room carrying a tray with food (roast beef sandwiches), then, after eating, the four collapsed to the floor,. Then a hole formed in the wall, large enough for Allo to fit, opened by no visible means, just that the blocks making up the wall were knocked inwards, and then then Talibandit could be seen simply 'floating' outside. 

Upon examination it appeared to Sever that a large, clawed creature had recently been on the roof of the building right above this spot; he found a couple of red scales found up there as well. The players were determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, and some time was spent before they narrowed it down to kitchen maid, Millie, who had framed another kitchen hand for poisoning the sandwiches. They locked her up, satisfied that they had explained the mystery; but without much to show for it. At least they had evidence that this was the work of the Dragon Cult, and not an attempt by Usama Loot Laden to rescue his man.

Meanwhile, having done his bit on the roof, and not one for intrigue, Sever had taken off on the recovered Convess to scout around in the hope of spotting the culprit leaving the area. This could have been completely uneventful but in fact he had a very near death experience. 

Out of the clouds, some miles to the to the north east, appeared two adult Blue Dragons; and they surprised the ranger for one segment. Their breath weapons were easily capable of wiping the Pegasus from the sky. It would all come down to encounter range, altitude, and how much the creatures could close in one segment.

 

I was adjudicating all this while the interrogation was going on with the other players: Range 6d4 (-1 for the surprise); max range for lightning breath: 100 yards, and in one segment they could travel 24 feet, double that if they were diving (they were). So, a roll of less than 12 and Sever was toast! I rolled 19, so the range at the end of the surprise segment was 164 yards; meaning Sever was safe, for now, but he needed to win initiative or the dragons would have another chance next round. The dice came up in the ranger's favour, and immediately he made to escape; with his greater speed and the cloud cover to pop in and out of, he was soon back safely in Guarda, none the worse for wear. 

He found that the mystery solving part of the session had concluded, and so the players' thoughts turned again to the Talibandit mountain base. At least they had been able to get Allo to draw them a map before he was taken.

incredible verisimilitude

The players poured over this map and compared it to what they had discovered last session, finding that it generally matched their memories. I started to feel a bit of a heel. Recall that Usama's player had provided me with a very detailed map, but I wasn't about to just hand it over; Allo Howarya was too clever for that. Instead he had drawn them a fake map, which I produced by googling "Tora Bora Mountain base" and running the result through a filter to make it look line drawn. The party would not discover the ruse until a future session.

Having approached the base from the west last time, the players decided to try coming up from the east this time, again without bringing their regular troops with them; but instead going for more of a commando mission to rescue the Countess. The trip, in the autumn rain, was almost uneventful; but Sever was on watch that night, near the Valley of Pillars, when he heard heavy footsteps stomping along not very far away. The party stayed quiet until the sound of footfalls had receded.

maybe next time.

Their approach to Bora Tora brought them close to the abandoned and destroyed village that Pegasus Patrols had surveyed previously. It had never been checked out on the ground though and they were tempted to do so; but in the end they held to the task and began the equally long and arduous climb of the east side of the mountain, first having secured their horses. All the horses that is but Giuseppe's Bonecrusher, whose magic horse shoes allowed him to make the climb fairly easily.

route of march

Some hours later they reached the top and began closing in on their best guess of the target location, which was to the north. Unknown to them, their approach was observed by the local inhabitants, the Durka Durka Tribesmen, who had taken up positions to cover this approach in five fox holes hidden under camouflage netting (provided as part of a deal with Usama).

Combat #1: 20 Durka Durka Tribesmen

Rounds: 5

Result: Part Victory

Highlights: The enemy possessed strange combat capabilities linked to magic acorns & pine cones projected from wooden poles, druid magic perhaps? The smaller projectiles were like bullets, and the larger like RPGs, when pushed the tribesmen had vests that could blow up everything around them.

When shots from some unknown form of attack ricocheted all around them and the air filled with yells of "DURKA DURKA!", Slippery Pete immediately changed his appearance to match what he had seen the Talibandits wearing last session; unknown to him, this was similar to but not the same garb as the Durka Durkas. He then started to circle around behind the enemy. Comfort Rod took cover and waited for someone to get injured. Everyone else charged in. They found the going much tougher than against the 0-level Talibandits last week, these guys were a full HD, and were armed with weapons that could fire multiple times a round.

While the battle raged on behind him Slippery Pete found a cave entrance ahead and moved to explore it. He snuck up and cautiously shone the light from his Continual Light gem inside, there he saw a strange sort a cage with three doors, it held a very large bull, lion, and eagle; they immediately start screaming and bellowing when his light shone on them. The resulting cacophony produced a very familiar sound!

The Gorgimera is a fake! I've got to tell the others!

By now the battle against the Durka Durka was won, although at great loss of hit points, but thankfully with no party kills. Gurt & Giuseppe used their Lay on Hands, while Comfort Rod used Cure Light Wounds liberally. Sever flew ahead and soon set his sights on a Talibandit he spied running out of a cave ahead and waving his arms madly; the figure transformed back into Slippery Pete just as the Ranger was getting lined up to impale him with his lance.

When the rest of the party had clambered up to the cave, or trotted up in the case of Bonecrusher, the thief showed them the strange set up of cages holding the three creatures: a bull, a lion, and an eagle. The eagle was in fact a young giant eagle, named Little Wing, the grandson of Big Wing who the party had met last session; when they freed him he informed them that the there were no entrances into the base from this cave; but that there was another nearby, that held a secret door within, that the magic-user who had trapped him here used to come and go. What a good piece of luck!

With their combined searching they were able to locate the secret door. Slippery Pete somewhat characteristically failed to identify the trap on it, which was an "Indiana Jones" style big rolling sphere of stone. To add insult to potential future injury, he failed to unlock the door as well, though he may have been correct in blaming magic for that. Sever and Co. attempted to use their strength to force the door open, which on a normal Wizard Locked door would have worked; but in this case (a massive stone block), only succeeded in activating the ball trap, which they manged to evade by running out of the cave. However, the manoeuvre left them stuck on the out side looking in. 

At this point they heard the shouts of many Durka Durka's approaching and decided, very reluctantly, to retreat pretty much empty handed. They grabbed up the fallen Durka Durka weapons (which they later found to be inert) as they did so, and returned to Guarda without any hostile encounters along they way.

Bonus Patron Info: Having finally realised that the true identity of his female prisoner was the sought after Countess Echellet, Usama Loot Laden first tried to intimidate her into cooperating. When this failed he had his magic-user henchwoman, the evil Ayliah of "surprise lightning bolt" fame, cast Charm Person on her. The Countess failed her save, and immediately she began answering all of Usama's questions about the various adventurers she knew; but, sadly for him, this wasn't all that helpful since quite a period of time had elapsed since she had last seen them (she had no idea they had been flopping in her villa the last few weeks). On the other hand, she also told him of her value to the Dragon Cult, and that may have sealed her fate.

Session Statistics: 

Wilderness travel: 38 Miles

Combats: 1

Combat rounds: 5

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 91 (Machodor #51)

Treasure & Items

"Magic" acorns and pine cones 0gp

Monsters

2 Adult Blue Dragons Evaded

1 Giant, of some kind, Evaded

20 Durka Durka Tribesmen 880 xp

880 XP & 0 GP Assignment

Slippery Pete (Level 8, E) 126 XP &  GP

Sever (Level 8, E) 126 XP &  GP

Giuseppe (Level 7, E)

  and Bishoy & Tawadros (Level 5,E) 63 XP & 0 GP

Comfort Rod (Level 5, E) 126  XP & 0 GP

Gurt the Green (Level 4, E) 126 XP & 0 GP

Graveyard

Domby (Henchman with Dex 5), double surprised and turned into a pin cushion in session #87

Luke (Half elf Fighter/Cleric level 1), tragically killed by a normal hydra while trying to cauterise one of its neck stumps in session  #86

Gurt the Green (Paladin level 3),  killed by a hydra bite in session  #86 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Pleasance (Footman level 0), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Siegward (Henchman Fighter level 1), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Tawadros (Henchman Fighter level 4),  killed by a phase spider bite in session #81 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Patria (Footman level 0), killed by a two headed snake bite in session #81

Deltacron (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 1/1), threw his last flask of oil at, and was level drained to death by, a Vampire in session #76

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), wrong place, wrong time; killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Red (Paladin Level 1), always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Magic User level 1), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2)  Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 90 (Machodor #50); Bora Tora, The Talibandits' impregnable cave fortress

      

The fearsome Gorgimera!

    

Timekeeping

This session took place on 17/10/2024, and the PCs adventured for 3 days.

Player Characters Present

Slippery Pete (Level 8 Thief of unknown background, wearer of the Hat of Disguise)

Sever (Level 8 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength)

Gurt the Green (Level 4 Paladin of Machodor) with henchmen Solaire (Pal 1) & Ann (MU 1)

Boduke (Level 2 Fighter/Lever 2 Dwarf Thief)

Morb (Level 1 Human (?) Fighter of great proportions)

Downtime

With the players still none the wiser to the location of Countess Echellet, Comfort Rod (Cleric Level 4) used his Psionic Power of Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions to narrow things down to the spot where she was taken prisoner by the Gnolls when the Talibandits had attacked Guarda. Once rested up he tried again at this spot and, sure enough, found that her location was in the mountains near where the players had searched fruitlessly before.

Session Report

With some characters unavailable due to training, today's party was fairly lopsided in power. There was some discussion as to whether they should try an all out attack on the Talibandit base with their conventional troops, or a stealthy one with just the player characters.  They also had to be wary of a powerful creature, the Gorgimera, known to inhabit this region. The group decided to send Sever and a unit of Pegasus Air Cavalry to search the area by themselves first, since their great speed meant they could get there and back quickly. 

Nothing attacked the scout force, however, the search exhausted most of the day before they found something tangible; smoke coming up out of a chimney like area of rock. The surroundings matched those scried by Comfort Rod. When Sever reported back at nightfall, the party decided to head out with just the crack unit of PCs they had on hand, which they did the next day under clear skies. They passed the nostalgic location of the Dungeon of Refuse without issue, and upon entering the valley near their target mountain encountered a large group of Giant Eagles. These would have simply kept flying on, except Gurt suggested that an attempt at mental communication might be beneficial. While none of the PCs were strictly capable of this, I ruled that the helmet Sever wore (taken from Hawkmen last year, one of whom had later used it to communicate telepathically with the Ranger) would enable him to reply if the Eagles were of the mood to communicate. A reaction roll indicated they were.

The name of the leader of the Eagles was translated as "Big Wing", and he had some information that confirmed the location of the "men who devour other men"; by which he meant "preyed upon" in the sense of banditry, but which the players took to mean cannibalism and I made no real effort to clear that up for them. Big Wing also warned them about the Gorgimera, that it had taken one of the younger eagles that was part of his flock, and was very dangerous.

They thanked their new friend, moved on to the mountain itself, and quickly realised that it would be too steep for their horses; only possibly mountain ponies could scale it, and so they left their mounts with one of Gurt's hirelings in a convenient hollow at the base of the mountain. So began an arduous climb.

Combat #1: 5 Talibandit scouts

Rounds, 5: Sever wins, sever wins, bandits win, bandits win, tied

Result: Sever Victory

Highlights: The scouts set off a small avalanche which nearly did for some of the lower level PCs and Henchmen. Seeing the Pegasus closing in, they then dived into a small tunnel which led to a trapped room, sadly for them the trap didn't even slow down Sever, who had used his Wing of Flying to good effect. Only one enemy got away from the ranger. The lucky survivor clambered further up the mountain to what proved to be an illusionary wall, which he ran through just as Sever's arrows went through after. Did they hit? The party would need to move up to find out.

Yes, when Sever stuck his head through the illusionary stone face, he saw that one of his arrows had hit the fleeing Talibandit, who was lying dead at the end of the cavern. Slippery Pete was then able to discern the meaning of some writing etched into the wall nearby, "Bora Tora". Reciting the words caused a stone panel to pivot around and allowed them to advance into a long, straight tunnel/cavern. The Talibandit Patron (playing Usama Loot Laden) had provided me with an excellent map of this place along with defences and dispositions; all I had to do was work out the scale in some places, excellent job!

The long tunnel beyond the door went far into the mountain, the players caution had worn off by the time they triggered a pit trap, and after this were attacked by two giant skeleton monsters with built in sword blades made from sharpened bones. 

Combat #2: Giant Undead Constructs & 20 Talibandit Archers

Rounds, 7:  Monsters, Monsters, party, monsters, party, tied, tied

Result:  Party Victory

Highlights: Skeleton damage reduction versus blades maximised the value of their hit points. The enemy took advantage of the lopsided party levels. Slippery Pete earned a new nick name, gaseous Pete. Sever, cursing the earlier use of his Wings of Flying, had to get up a wall the hard way. 

While the party were getting comfortable engaging these foes, the tunnel ahead collapsed and filled with rubble. Then a group of archers appeared above, on a balcony built into the rock of the cavern, and began happily peppered them with arrows. An oversight by me saw these guys have a big disadvantage due to the range versus the Shortbows they had with them, but 20's could still hit and enough of those happened to keep people's head down. Anri was dropped to below 0 hp and her super high Constitution kept her alive; but this meant Gurt had to try and get to her to safety, taking him out of the fight.

Boduke and Morb made a run back the way they had come to the tunnel exit; but when they got there they could hear an odd, and very loud, scream/roar/bellow from outside. It was as though three monstrous throats gave voice at once. There was only one explanation; the Gorgimera! Fear stopped them in their tracks.

Slippery Pete chose to try and climb up stealthily to deal with the ranged threat, but instead drew their attention; he responded by quaffing his Potion of Gaseous form. This called for a reference to my seminal article on the subject of spell casting in melee. Potions take 2-5 (d4+1) segments to take effect, I rolled a 2 for this, and initiative came up as 3 for the party and 2 for the Talibandits. This meant that the Talibandits ranged attacks came in time ("segment" 3) for the arrows to pass through Pete just as the potion was taking effect (also "segment" 3). Safe, but unable to attack in this gaseous form, he used this effect to explore beyond the collapsed tunnel, but found nothing there that grabbed his attention and so returned (empty handed for a change).

Was the party going to get run out of the Talibandit lair with nothing much to show for it? Sever decided no. With tied initiative he shimmied up the rope he had managed to toss up there the in the previous round, and engaged the Talibandits. As there was only one officer and the rest were level 0, this fight was a slaughter reminiscent of the end of Rogue One; but Sever, somewhat uncharacteristically, managed to capture the officer, one Allo Owarya, which proved to be useful and very important later.

The captured leader became more and more crafty as I settled on his accent; he admitted that they had a prisoner matching Echellet's description and even offered to sell her for the right price, except that sadly he could no longer access the interior of the base and get her, so he also offered to lead them away down the mountain without attracting the attention of the Gorgimera. With no sign of further means to ingress, the party decided to take up his offer. Once safely back with the horses the return trip to Guarda was uneventful.

Bonus Patron info: Usama Loot Laden had been off on a diplomatic mission and so was unable to respond immediately to this incursion by the player characters. He returned a few days later and then allied with a local tribe, the Durka Durka's, who had likewise been offended by the "infidels" invading their lands. This alliance significantly increased Loot Laden's power. It was also during this period that Usama realised there might be something more to the "feisty warrior woman" his Gnolls had captured during his raid on Guarda weeks before.

And so ended the 50th session since I started DMing in Machodor. I'd like to thank all the players who made this possible, and also the merry few who read these session reports.

Session Statistics: 

Wilderness travel: 63 Miles

Combats: 2

Combat rounds: 12

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 90 (Machodor #50)

Treasure & Items

126cp

60gp

Monsters

2 Giant Undead 5900xp

24 Talibandits 480xp

6440 XP & 60 GP Assignment

Slippery Pete (Level 8, E) 1171 XP & 11 GP

Sever (Level 8, E) 1171 XP & 11 GP

Gurt the Green (Level 4, E) 1171 XP & 11 GP

  with henchmen Solaire (Level 1,E) 585 XP & 5 GP & Ann (Level 1,S) -unconscious 11 XP & 5 GP

Boduke (Level 2/2, S) 1171 XP & 11 GP

Morb (Level 1, E) 1171 XP & 11 GP

Graveyard

Domby (Henchman with Dex 5), double surprised and turned into a pin cushion in session #87

Luke (Half elf Fighter/Cleric level 1), tragically killed by a normal hydra while trying to cauterise one of its neck stumps in session  #86

Gurt the Green (Paladin level 3),  killed by a hydra bite in session  #86 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Pleasance (Footman level 0), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Siegward (Henchman Fighter level 1), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Tawadros (Henchman Fighter level 4),  killed by a phase spider bite in session #81 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Patria (Footman level 0), killed by a two headed snake bite in session #81

Deltacron (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 1/1), threw his last flask of oil at, and was level drained to death by, a Vampire in session #76

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), wrong place, wrong time; killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Red (Paladin Level 1), always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Magic User level 1), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2)  Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 89 (Machodor #49); Waylaid by Hobgoblins

     

Before shot of a mass battle.

     

Timekeeping

This session took place on 10/10/2024, and the PCs adventured for 6 days.

Player Characters Present

Slippery Pete (Level 8 Thief, wearer of the Hat of Disguise and wielder of the Black Dagger)

Sever (Level 8 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength)

Bumblebore  (Level 4, Magic User of Machodor, wielder of the Wand of Paralysation) 

 and  Firedrake Familiar O'Malfoy

Comfort Rod (Level 5 Cleric, Psionicist and wielder Hammer of Giant Influence)

Deadeye Donny (Level 1 Monk, likes animals)

Introduction

In this session the player's plans go astray and they never reach their objective, yet have fun anyway.

Downtime

In the aftermath of the battle in session #48, Slipper Pete followed the fleeing Gnolls and Usma Loot Laden in order to infiltrate the Ice Castle and find Countess Echellet, if she was there. If any valuables found their way into his pockets, so much the better. He was even considering trying to sneak attack Usama if the opportunity presented itself. What happened next was a story worthy of Appendix N. Neither he nor the Gnolls reached the Ice Castle first, it was the Dragon Cult Leader on his red dragon who did so. As he approached Pete observed him flying off again, and he got a good enough view to be pretty sure the DCL had left empty handed. 

As a peak into how I handle such things, here are the discord logs:

and then once I found out what Usama's player was intending to do, I could get back to Pete's player as he made the castle battlements.

and then things got weird.

A favourite attack of this magic user

Showing his true nature, Usama surprise attacked his own allies, unknowingly catching the thief at the same time. Pete made his save, survived the lightning bolt, and got out of the way as the surviving Gnolls and Usama fought it out. After a sweep of the back rooms he found no sign of the Countess. He did find the torn up banners of the previous occupants of the Ice Castle, and a large circular hatch-like door which he could not open. By the time he returned to the courtyard all the gnolls were dead; and Usama, his wizard, and his Mammoth had vanished. All this happened while the players army was on the way back to Guarda, and Pete was able to re-join them before the next session. Note that, of course, Usama had no idea he had been observed.

Session Report

DMG p30

The session started in sombre fashion, with time catching up right on the heals of the party's activities in the previous session. A solemn Mass was held at the Guarda Cathedral for the militia and Pegasus Corps members killed in battle. The leader of the Pegasus Corps Air Cavalry 6th Company, Sir Colias, gave a eulogy and later pledged his help to avenge them against the Master of Winter and the Dragon Cult. With Sever now a fully fledged named level Ranger (the first in the campaign) he was able to recruit hirelings, and with Giuseppe and Gurt the Green out of action they were needed. 

I rolled a 95 and got 'Any FOOTMAN', which turned out to be 50 Heavy Foot with a Captain. Of course, these guys do not come with any equipment, that needs to be provided; but the player characters had been gradually accumulating arms and armour over the last year, and so they drew on these stores to set up with  the recruits with Scale Mail, Spears, Hand Axes, and a shield. Not bad. I'm excited to see where this goes as there are lots of rules to support running a mercenary company in the DMG, but I've not put them all together and seen them working in a campaign before. Along with these humans under Captain Falcon, there were still 45 Dwarves (though 15 were still recovering from last session's battle). From these they drew out enough to man operate the 3 captured Ballista; but I ruled they would only be at half efficiency until they could build up enough skill from practice.

So, with their army of 50 Men, 45 Dwarves, & 32 Pegasus Air Cavalry, backed up with the party members and 6 wagons they had captured (technically re-captured), they set off to verify Slippery Pete's findings regarding the Ice Castle. If they could confirm the Countess was not there, they would return to searching for the original Talibandit base. With the ground forces limited to three 3 mile hexes a day, Sever took 10 Pegasus riders with him to scout ahead (the speedy fliers could make it to the castle and back in only three hours).

Things had changed since Pete had left an abandoned castle behind. Recently restored banners flew on the battlements.

Sever was wary of approaching and exposing himself to the Ice Cannons Slippery Pete had identified were also on the battlements, never the less it was hard to get a good look without taking a chance from close range. When he did so he was lucky to not be as surprised as the gunner who stood dumbfounded looking back at him. Convess soared away before the gunner could react. So, the castle was inhabited, and the occupants now knew something was up. Was it time for Plan B? Sever returned to discuss this but the session took a different turn from here. There was a random encounter of 120 Hobgoblins to deal with!

Combat #1: 120 Hobgoblins

Rounds 2: Surprise 2 Segments, Party win

Result: Total Party victory

Highlights: If you're a bunch of Hobgoblins looking for trouble in the Bandit Mountains of Machodor; let me tell you, you do not want to get surprised by a unit of Pegasus Corps Archers. 

The initial aerial archery attack with surprise was devastating and then the ground units closed and ensured the remaining hobgoblins were cut down in short order. With the main body defeated, thoughts turned to lairs and loot rather than the mission. Sever was easily able follow the tracks made by the creatures, and so he set off in search of their origin with the army following; but the lair proved to be much further away than hoped.

The Hobgoblins had come from the aptly named: "Caves leading South"

They reached the caves before a major storm hit, so they had that going for them, and for the best part of two days followed the trail south. These were the same caves where the players had defeated an orc force with its baggage train last year. A branch led off to a bridge over a shear drop; and beyond was a curing tunnel that lead to a text book example of a hobgoblin lair. Sever staked out a spot nearby, hoping to ambush a hobgoblin or two while the main body caught up with him; but the ground force again run into trouble. This time it was 7 Fire Giants (by coincidence there had been a fire giant here last year as well). The creatures got a segment of surprise and launched a fusillade of stone projectiles; but, they were not overly aggressive, this was a warning fusillade. They then demanded tribute; which, in other circumstances, I'm sure the party would have seriously considered. 

However, Comfort Rod hefted his Hammer of Giant Influence and for the first time used its magic power in earnest. The giants' leader rolled a 1 for his save. At first I think they were planning to get the giants to join them in smashing the hobgoblin lair; but then someone though to ask them to bring out the treasure from their lair! This was a great idea, in theory; but in reality it turned out that the fire giants lair was some days' journey distant; and so they never saw them again. With that threat taken care off, they were ready to push on and join up with Sever.

He explained the situation, a gate house blocked access into a cavern beyond which presumably held the hobgoblin lair. Keen to get the job done, they opted for a frontal attack.

Combat #2: Hobgoblin lair

Rounds 6: Monsters win, Monsters win, Party win, Party win,  Party win, Party win

Result: Party crushed their enemies, saw them driven before them and heard the lamentation of the (hobgoblin) women. 

Highlights: Donny deflected multiple ballista bolts with with monk magic. A new combo tactic, I think it was called Light and Smite, was invented by Bumblebore and Comfort Rod.

for some reason he insisted it looked like this

In his extended downtime, Bumblebore had been working on a captured piece of the sentinel the players had defeated in the Pizza Slice of Doom some time ago. The result was effectively a Wand of Paralysation.

The gatehouse proved to be difficult to get through and was well defended. Slippery Pete went invisible and scooted past to "check the defences further in". He found a ziggurat in the center of the cavern, atop which was a (self)important hobgoblin who must have been leader and his bodyguards. The temptation to back stab the leader proved to much, but somehow he missed and so ran off, inadvertently giving the chief the courage to chase after him in the direction of the battle (which by now had got past the gatehouse).  The chief reached the battle in time to be the target of a repeat of the "Light and Smite" tactic, the remainder fled while they could and and the party looted a ziggurat (after setting off a poison gas trap that nearly did for Bumblebore!). 

Session Statistics: 

Wilderness travel: 42 Miles

Combats: 2

Combat rounds: 8

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 89 (Machodor #49)

Treasure & Items

Gems:

10 gp Obsidian, 10 gp Rhodochrosite, 100 gp Smoky Quartz, 100 gp Star Rose Quartz, 10 gp Tiger Eye Agate, 50 gp Tiger Eye Agate, 500 gp Aquamarine, 600 gp Coral, 100 gp Star Rose Quartz, 12 gp Moss Agate, 2000 gp Diamond, 80 gp Azurite, 500 gp Spinel, 5000 gp Star Sapphire, 20 gp Azurite, 5000 gp Amethyst.

Jewellery:

3000 gp Belt, 5000 gp Statue, 2700 gp Chalice, 1800 gp Sceptre

Total Value:  26,592 gp.

Scroll 3rd Level *2 (Tongues, Fireball) 4th Level *2 (Confusion, Fear) 1400 XP (to Bumblebore)

Potion of Flying 500 XP

Monsters

Mass Combat #1:

120 Hobgoblins grunts  3480 XP

6 leaders 12 assistants 684 XP

Sub Chief 52 XP

(1877 cp, 626 gp distributed to the troops)

Total XP: 4216

Adjusted XP: 1476

Hobgoblin Lair:

20 Hobgoblin Home Guards 570 XP

Chief Hobgoblin 64 XP

3 Giant Apes 810 XP

30,012 XP & 26,592 GP Assignment

Slippery Pete (E)  6002  XP & 5318 GP

Sever (E)  6002  XP & 5318 GP

Bumblebore (E)   7402 XP & 5318 GP

Comfort Rod (E)   6002  XP & 5318 GP

Deadeye Donny (E)   6002  XP & 5318 GP

Graveyard

Domby (Henchman with Dex 5), double surprised and turned into a pin cushion in session #87

Luke (Half elf Fighter/Cleric level 1), tragically killed by a normal hydra while trying to cauterise one of its neck stumps in session  #86

Gurt the Green (Paladin level 3),  killed by a hydra bite in session  #86 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Pleasance (Footman level 0), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Siegward (Henchman Fighter level 1), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Tawadros (Henchman Fighter level 4),  killed by a phase spider bite in session #81 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Patria (Footman level 0), killed by a two headed snake bite in session #81

Deltacron (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 1/1), threw his last flask of oil at, and was level drained to death by, a Vampire in session #76

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), wrong place, wrong time; killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Red (Paladin Level 1), always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Magic User level 1), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2)  Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 88 (Machodor #48); Battle of the 5 Armies, Bandit Mountain Style

    

The Dragon Cult leader makes a move

     

Timekeeping

This session took place on 03/10/2024, and the PCs adventured for 6 days.

Player Characters Present

Slippery Pete (Level 8 Thief, wearer of the Hat of Disguise and wielder of the Black Dagger)

Giuseppe (Level 7 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer and the Shield of Protection from Missiles)

Primus (Level 4 Fighter of Machodor, wearer of the Medallion of the Rising Sun) 

Gurt the Green (Level 3 Paladin of Machodor, wielder of the Longsword+3)

Boduke (Level 1 Dwarf Fighter Thief)

Introduction

In the last session a patron kidnaped the Countess Echellet of Guarda, or so he thought, and that set off a cascade of events. This session these events in turn converged into a mass battle in the mountains, with three patrons and the PCs taking sides.

From this report onwards I will be including some Patron downtime actions to try and put the reader in a better position to appreciate what it is like to DM in this kind of campaign. Keep in mind that none of the events below were pre-planned or scripted by me, I'm just doing my best to keep up and ensure patron orders are interpreted in a way that produces the best opportunities for convergence.

Downtime

The Dragon Cult Leader allied with the Master of Winter, the latter concerned with keeping the pressure on the forces of civilisation and/or bandits muscling in on his territory; the former interested in obtaining a certain hostage - the Countess Echellet - he believed had been taken by the Talibandits when they attacked Guarda. 

At first, the forces of the MoW marched west (and were spotted by Sever last session); they continued until they were positioned to the east of the mountains presumed to be the location of the Talibandit's lair, and there with the Dragon Cult leader began searching for an entrance. 

However, before they could find anything, an attack by a force of gnolls from the south east was tracked back towards the Ice Castle. You see, unknown to anyone else; the leader of the Talibandits, Usama Loot Laden, and his allied gnolls had already taken the Castle and had then sent 50 gnolls back to base to inform the rest of the gang. 

Convinced that the Ice Castle was were they needed to go, the DCL & MoW and their troops set off in that direction, oblivious to the fact that the Countess was actually right where they had been searching. In time, under the direction of Giuseppe, Machodorian Pegasus Patrols scouted these troops matching the description of those Sever had sighted the week before and marching in the opposite direction (east) to the previous sighting; but as yet they were still an unidentified force.

Session Report

Saffira

This session started with a bit of mystery. Saffira, the maid of the household of the missing Countess Echellet, had been investigated by Slippery Pete during down time. She had been working at the villa for about a year, and was effectively running the place in the countess' absence. Incidentally, there was little of value in the villa, it was run on a spartan budget, anything valuable was sold to help the poor of Guarda. He had tried Thieves' Cant on her, but she showed only confusion. However, one morning he spotted her reading a note and then hastily getting rid of it. The thief retrieved the note, it read: "This is the last note you will see unless you provide the ransom. Next time it will be body parts. Bring the funds to the Ice Castle NOW."

Obviously this was important, to say the least.

The charismatic Pete persuaded Saffira to confide in him. He found out from the maid that the Countess had been afraid for some time that the Dragon Cult was out to get her, that they had people all through the town who were part of the cult. Saffira wasn't sure about her employer's paranoia until recently, but now she agreed. 

The players investigated the household without much to show for it, then went to the Garrison and spoke to Commander Sheffield there to get his cooperation. Knowing that the Garrison and Militia don't get on too well, and that the party had good relations with the latter, they would have their work cut out for them with Sheffield. The usual sort of D&D shenanigans followed where the PCs merely caused offence without finding out much. When Slippery Pete tried to pick his pocket and failed, the party were escorted out of the building by his subordinate Captain Falkorre; however, not before the Commander had agreed to their request to examine the troops for a certain "eye-disease". Believe me, this was serious and important.

Both the garrison and the 500 strong militia were investigated during the morning. I rolled for reactions from the various NPCs for this request, with various modifications based on the individuals dispositions. One of them, the Militia Captain Tallon, refused outright to be examined and declared he would challenge to a dual anyone who insisted on such an examination. Gurt, taking the role of the party heavy in Sever's absence, took him up on it and soon had beaten him into submission.

To cut a long story short, through clever investigation the party learned that the dragon cult had substituted an Echelle look-a-like to give them time to mass an army and get the real thing before the forces of Guarda could do so.

The players connected this information with the troops reported earlier by the Pegasus patrol. Gathering up their forces, 100 human militia volunteers, 50 dwarf heavy foot paid for themselves, and 32 Pegasus air cavalry made available by the 6th Company Commander, they moved out east. They had a problem in that Gurt had disabled the Captain of the human Militia; but the remainder consented to command by the martial PCs.

Late on the day of Sunday October 6th, the vigil of the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, their army caught up with their foe. But what was actually going on here was initially hard to work out. A battered force of Gnolls, led by Usama Loot Laden mounted on a huge mammoth, had just been devastated by a surprise attack of some kind. 

hastily scribbled battle map

In red, a hundred men clad in outlandish red-dragon themed armour and sporting flags of similar design. In black, fifty Gnolls; but, clearly, fifty more had just been killed along with some a small human cavalry unit, by a combination of a White Dragon and a team of Ballistae (also in white) positioned on a ridge near the entrance to the Master of Winter's valley.

Combat #1: 100 Dragon Cultist Fanatics

Rounds 4: Party win, cultists win, party wins, cultists win

Result: Party victory

Highlights:  Giuseppe used his magical shield to block a ballistae shot. The power gap between Sever and Primus wasn't helped by my constantly getting the names mixed up. Dragon breath weapons attacks galore.

Their approach spotted, the white dragon made a run at the Pegasus Riders (as though it had some beef with them particularly). Its breath weapon wiped out 10 riders and wounded their mounts so badly they had to land immediately, these were the first recorded losses for the Machodor Pegasus Corps regular companies. The air battle then moved away from the ground battle (the White Dragon eventually retreated), leaving the player's army to advance on the dragon cultists who had turned to face them. Meanwhile the remaining gnolls had turned around and were making tracks back to the Ice Castle with Usama as fast as they could go.

The player's forces advanced; but, before they could engage, a Red Dragon, previously Invisible, breathed fire all over the militia unit; 60 were killed and 20 more fled. Only 20 remained, held to the will power of Gurt and Primus (who I kept calling Sever through out this session). 

At the same time, on the northern flank the dwarves were attacked by ballista bolts. It is not clear to me whether siege engines hit at 1/10 scale or not in mass battles, but I have been playing it that way. In this case though, Giuseppe, bearer of the Shield vs Missiles, managed to block a ballista bolt and save his square (ten) of dwarves from destruction.

Then the ground forces finally met; the enemy wielding vicious, short daggers, suffered from their lack of reach and lost many before they got in close. What had happened to the Red Dragon? It had immediately abandoned the scene and set off after the gnolls, in fact flying right past them and landing in the Ice Castle.

Meanwhile, Slippery Pete had gone into stealth mode and trailed both the Dragon and the gnolls, and he had quite the adventure in downtime.

The fighters among the ranks of the PCs rejoiced at remembering the rule that allows for multiple attacks against 0-level enemies. They cut down cultists left and right, and there were no levelled officers  among them to serve as a break (their main purpose of them being in the monster manual entries, I have guessed) against the fighter's onslaught. The dragon cultists proved to be true fanatics though, and fought to the last man. However, the Master of Winter's men were not of this sort. Several ballistae crews had already been taken out from the air by Pegasus archery and they'd had enough. With the wagons making a retreat, the party were not about to let them get away.

AI art really is bad.

Combat #2: Master of Winter's Ballistae & Wagon Train

Rounds 5: Party, MoW, Party, Party, MoW, MoW

Result: Partial party victory

Highlights:  The faster party members, supported by Pegasus air cavalry, initiated a running battle with the waggoneers, going as far as chasing them right into the Master of Winter's valley; but the sight of a returning white dragon gave them pause and they called it a day there.

The party searched the enemy and found what turned out to be quite a bit of loot the Talibandits had acquired from the Ice Castle. Then they returned slowly to Guarda, heavily laden down with the bodies of their dead. In this session they had gotten no closer to their objective of rescuing the Countess, which but had inflicted losses on their enemies and would have to be content with that.

Session Statistics: 

Wilderness travel: 48  Miles

Combats: 2

Combat rounds: 9

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 88 (Machodor #48)

Treasure & Items

The bodies of the Gnolls were loaded down with loot:

5000 cp, 3000 sp, 300 ep, 4225 gp

Gems (17):  100 gp Lapis Lazuli, 20 gp Malachite, 200 gp Jade, 200 gp Jet, 30 gp Malachite, 40 gp Lapis Lazuli, 45 gp Smoky Quartz, 50 gp Eye Agate, 50 gp Hematite, 50 gp Hematite, 50 gp Smoky Quartz, 50 gp Tiger Eye Agate, 50 gp Turquoise, 500 gp Garnet, 500 gp Jet, 500 gp Tourmaline, 60 gp Sardonyx. Total: 2495

Jewellery (7): 12000 gp Decanter,  3000 gp Necklace,  900 gp Belt, 600 gp Locket, 1000 gp Goblet,  1000 gp Anklet,  4000 gp Statuette. Total: 22,500

Total Value: 29,770 gp.

Monsters

100 Dragon Cult Fanatics 2950 XP

60  Master Of Winter Artillerists & Waggoneers  605 XP

Total XP: 3555

Modified* score:  1896

* details of the method for scoring mass battles will follow in its own post.

31,661 XP & 29,770 GP Assignment

Slippery Pete (Level 8, E)  5,954 XP & 5954 GP

Giuseppe (Level 7, E) 6,428 XP & 5954 GP

Primus (Level 4, E )  6,428 XP & 5954 GP

Boduke (Level 1/1, E) 6,428  XP & 5954 GP

Gurt the Green (Level 3, E)  6,428 XP & 5954 GP

Graveyard

Domby (Henchman with Dex 5), double surprised and turned into a pin cushion in session #87

Luke (Half elf Fighter/Cleric level 1), tragically killed by a normal hydra while trying to cauterise one of its neck stumps in session  #86

Gurt the Green (Paladin level 3),  killed by a hydra bite in session  #86 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Pleasance (Footman level 0), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Siegward (Henchman Fighter level 1), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Tawadros (Henchman Fighter level 4),  killed by a phase spider bite in session #81 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Patria (Footman level 0), killed by a two headed snake bite in session #81

Deltacron (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 1/1), threw his last flask of oil at, and was level drained to death by, a Vampire in session #76

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), wrong place, wrong time; killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Red (Paladin Level 1), always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Magic User level 1), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2)  Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39