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| Dire Hail |
Timekeeping
Introduction
Player Characters Present
Downtime
- In the wake of an aborted attempt to raid his lair and rescue the Countess Echellet (NPC), the Talibandit leader, Usama Loot Laden (Patron) had a message posted on the noticeboard in the town square in Guarda. It read: "If you come sniffing around where you're not wanted again, I'm handing the countess to the Dragon Cult. PS: and killing all the other prisoners while we're at it. Signed U.L.L. PSS: DURKA DURKA"
- Gurt penned a reply that Sever carefully dropped into the vicinity of Bora Tora without getting shot down again. "Provide us an alternative to sending you to the bosom of your prophet, where there is naught but weeping and gnashing of teeth, and we may take it. Elsewise you are manstealers and murderers at minimum, guilty of kidnapping or killing a war maiden and her subjects, crimes for which you have forfeited your right to live. We are willing to allow you to go free and let the Most High God to see to your rewards in his providence rather than by our hand should you set the captives free and allow us to collect and extract with them under the banner of the white flag of truce." That told him! I'm sure this won't come back to bite the PCs (I say writing 3 months later).
- Right after Sever returned to Guarda on the afternoon of the 30th of October, Dire Hail fell from the sky; followed by a chilly rain, and then a thick cold fog on the morning of the 31st.
Session Report
Discussion in the Guardan villa of the still missing Countess Echellet was interrupted by a knock at the door. Aston, the butler, had a message for the adventurers from Garrison Commander Sheffield, asking them to come to his office at their earliest convenience. When they did so he recounted a story of being attacked by a dead man, who had pulled himself out of a grave to do so as the commander crossed the square from the Cathedral. An old sergeant then regaled them with a tale of something similar that had happened years before, Revenant Rain, he called it.
"Any spot that rain landed where there had been a killing, or the body of a man killed, strange creatures resembling the fallen took form and went to seek revenge." Speaking of the attacker, the sergeant continued to explain that Sheffield had sentenced that man to death, and, because the dead man was a murderer buried in the un-consecrated part of the grave yard, the overnight rain had effected him, with Sheffield his target.
The players sat back and you could almost hear them thinking over the discord chat: "What have we killed recently?" "How far back does this effect go in time?" "How wide in area?" "Was this sergeant nuts?"
Now I threw everyone a curve ball by declaring that this situation was a "Sudden Braunstein"; they could choose to play through the scenario as a party in the normal fashion, or they could each take roles in the town of Guarda: such as the Militia Captain, the Bishop, and of course the Garrison Commander himself. The party then would be a non-player faction that could be influenced by the players but not directly controlled. Some of the players were intrigued at this idea, and I probably undersold it by not mentioning up front that some of the roles included the local Dragon Cult cell leader, and an undercover Talibandit. Anyway, I think in the end it was about 60/40 in favour of playing it normally (with one player always completely opposed to Braunsteins); so that's what we did. For sure the idea was a bit undercooked, but was the first Battle Braunstein less so? At some point it would be interesting to redo this scenario as a Braunstein, but that is probably unlikely to happen now that the moment has passed.
EDIT: It struck me that I should delve more into my idea of these Revenants. The basis of course was the Fiend Folio entry, but, given the situation and numbers involved (usually only one is encountered), I watered down their powers somewhat by lessening their fear effect. See the FF for more details of these creatures.
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| Page 75/76 of the Fiend Folio |
As the players discussed this and made a decision, reports came in of locals sighting figures of a similarly pallid and corpse like description of the man who had attacked Sheffield. These were seen pulling themselves out of collapsed rubble left from the Talibandit/Gnoll attack some weeks ago, and then starting off in the direction of the mountains. As they had not received a proper burial, they too had been effected by the Rain. The party hit upon the idea that by following these poor victims, who had risen to seek revenge on the Talibandits, they might be able to find a new way into the Bora Tora defences.
They made hasty preparations to depart, but with the ground still covered in inches of skull shaped hail, as well as the thick fog, movement wasn't going to be easy. They decided that their dwarf and human troops and siege wagons were too unwieldy to bring, and so the party set off on their own (though with a considerable number of henchmen it must be said). Only Giuseppe's holy warhorse, Bonecrusher, with his magic horse shoes, was completely at ease in the terrain. Sheamus had risked bringing the Rocket Cycle along (always under the threat of it suddenly ceasing to fly) and so was able to hover over the ground with slightly more difficulty. Even with these advantages they had only slogged east a few miles when a dozen or so figures appeared out of the fog ahead of them. They looked familiar, not to mention hostile; once the party were close enough to be seen the creatures' eyes lit up with the desire for vengeance, and slow shuffling turned into a purposeful charge. The party set about dealing with them as though this was no big deal.
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| A few weeks of being dead had done nothing for their appearance |
Combat #1: "Night Owl" Revenants
Result: Party flees!
Highlights:
None of the party's attacks had lasting effects on the enemy. Both Paladins found their turn undead powers to be ineffective, which jibed with their guesses about the nature of Revenants, but I guess they had to try. The players quickly realised that standing and fighting was not an option in this case.
They beat their way back to town, but there was no time to rest. From out of the desert, a huge force of little blue revenants had reached the walls and were threatening to breach them by climbing over themselves as living siege ladders. A desperate combined unit of militia, garrison, and Pegasus riders were holding them back for now, but that was all they could manage as the creatures were likewise immune to normal damage. The party jumped in and we resolved this as a mass battle.
Combat #2: 300 Xvart RevenantsResult: Party Victory
Highlights: The creatures from the desert to the west of Guarda wanted revenge on the Pegasus Corps Archers, who had been killing them by the bushel for weeks on end. Sarumin (NPC Wizard) cast Wall of Fire on the little blue buggers as the party held the walls to the town.
The lesson of Fire was not lost on the players, they now knew how to kill these revenants. The question was, how to apply it? They really missed Bumblebore, who had just levelled up and learned Fireball; and his familiar O'Malfoy, who could breath fire. Instead, with plenty of men on hand to help, the town was stripped of anything that would burn and the troops applied pitch and cloth to the various weapons available, as well as fire bombs for throwing.
Once they were happy with this the party took up a position at the east wall and waited. Sure enough, soon the Night Owls were approaching for round #2.
Combat #3: "Night Owl" Revenants
Result: Party Victory
Highlights: The party found that their improvised fire weapons were very effective. Properly prepared, this time they dealt with the enemy handily.
No sooner had the sounds of battle died down before the guards at the north wall, running away in panic, paused to report a massive creature with many heads approaching. The party grabbed new flaming weapons and threw themselves into the battle before it could cross the wall into the town.
Combat #4: 11 Headed Hydra Revenant
Result: Party Victory
Highlights: Gurt faced down his nemesis and this time came out on top. Sheamus' player reminds me that he made good use of the Rocket Cycle's weapons to blast a number of its heads in one go. Did I count that as fire damage? I guess I must have but I forget now. Anyway, the creature managed to inflict significant damage before it went down, leaving the players considering more efficient methods. Perhaps they were already contemplating the battles to come?
Once again utilising the large amount of man (and dwarf) power at their disposal, the party began digging huge ditches at the approach to both the north and east walls; these were filled with flammable materials and much of their available pitch. With time on their side (though they didn't know it) they were able to complete their preparations. Now if I'd been a prepper I would have known precisely how much pitch and the like was available, and a true shortage may have added to the tension; but not knowing this I had to wing it, and it seemed to me that in a town of over 5000 souls there would be plentiful supplies.
With the pits available and the PCs ready with flaming arrows and pots of oil, the next two battles were brief and gruesome.
Combat #5: 20 Durka Durka Tribesmen
Result: Party Victory
Highlights: Fortunately, the enemy's strange combat capabilities linked to magic acorns & pine cones were not to be seen in this battle.
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| nasty |
Combat #6: 100 Dragon Cult Warrior Revenants
Result: Party Victory
Highlights: Only 10 warriors made it out of the pit and scaled the wall, and the party made short work of them.
Flammable material was starting to be short in supply, what could come next? When would it stop?
Giuseppe got a mysterious message that this phenomenon was connected with the Altar in the Valley of Pillars, east of Guarda. No one questioned the Paladin further about his source, and they raced east again to investigate. Sure enough, when they arrived they found the old abandoned altar now sat at the centre of a swirling vortex; with evil power going in one direction and some other force being draw into the other. Throwing caution to the wind and themselves into the vortex, the PCs found themselves spinning through the ether until they ended up, elsewhere.
The elsewhere was Brovenloft!
Combat #7: 6 Sweetums Guards
Result: Party Victory
Highlights: It started well for the guards with their charge and longer weapons (halberds) giving them first strike, but it quickly went bad for them from there.
The doors were cleared of traps and then thrown open; the party found themselves at the threshold of a crypt of some kind. In the middle of the room a dark cleric (the revenant version of Malric the Grim, who they had killed with the Night Owls some weeks before) had been raised to perform an evil ceremony upon a stone bier. Where a body would have lain were only scraps of bone placed around various pieces of jewellery. A golden spike was driven into the stone, in about the location where a heart may have been located of the body was whole. The vengeance energy drawn through the altar on the other side of the vortex in the Bandit Mountains flowed into the bier at this point; and was some form taking shape there? The party resolved to attack now and ask questions later, but the cleric was defended by a small army of felt-warriors. In addition he had many spells of protection, the party advanced right into exploding glyphs!
Combat #8: 20 Sword-Care-bears & A Cleric
Result: Party Victory
Highlights: Lack of air cover proved fatal for the cleric who had thought he was safe behind Glyphs of Warding and 20 warriors. Sever unfolded his Wings of Flying and made a dive attack, ending the caster's life for the second time in a matter of weeks.
With the interruption and abrupt cessation of the ritual, it was clear that the process of re-vivination (if that is what is was) had been spoiled; and, further, that the energies keeping the vortex open would quickly dissipate, leaving the party trapped here if they did not hurry. They immediately grasped the situation, as well the golden spike and jewellery from the top of the stone slab, and made a run for it. The characters made it out just before the vortex closed with the shriek of planes of existence disconnecting; and, elsewhere*, other active revenants returned to ashes.
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| Usama's Halloween |
Session Statistics:
Wilderness travel: 26 Miles
Other Planes travelled: 1
Combats: 8!
Combat rounds: so many, theatre of the mind or bust.
Addendum: This idea was great for a low prep Halloween session, why not try some Revenant Rain in your campaign?
