The Valley of Yurd Session 002: DECAPITATION

 The adventures of my medieval-fantastic Ottawa Valley continued this past Wednesday as our squad of adventurers awoke from a night of raucous carousing at the Shucked Oyster and sought to replenish their reserves of gold. We had 5 players compared to last week's 3, introducing 3 new characters, making the party this week:

1. Francois Jean-Marc Marseilles, with his 4 surviving men-at-arms

2. Jonathan the Once-Herder, looking for a good time

3. Alden, a sell-sword who styles himself as a disgraced knight, along with his squire (porter) Belvedere

4. Taff, a fighter. 

5. Gard, a fighter with only 1 hit-point. 

THE ADVENTURE

    The players did a little hob-nobbing around town to resupply and in doing so had a few town encounters. They saw Gaston the Righteous, the greatest paragon of goodness and strength in the land, arguing loudly with his sword. They overheard one of the women from the Oyster enthusiastically prattling about a "Adventurer School" being set up on the outskirts of town. Finally, they are approached by Janice, who lures them into an alleyway in an attempt to peddle her "Mystically Enlightening" vials of Mystiflux Slug venom. Francois becomes convinced she is a witch, but Jonathan takes her up on the offer and hallucinates prodigiously. During his trip he encounters the spectral likeness of Mondopolis Gangler, the towns reclusive and eccentric tailor. He asks if there is any bandit hideouts nearby, but a middling reaction roll leads to Gangler instead relaying the location of a smugglers cache in a corn field outside town. The players decide to investigate!

    The cache has a burried box containing some sort of dark indigo liquor, a bag of coins, and a note that instructs the reader to "Avoid moving the product until after the festival, he has eyes everywhere and I think he suspects us", signed "Jasper". The crew recognize the name as belonging to Jasper Cunningham, a local moneylender and shifty individual. They elect to take the money (As it is harder to trace) and relocate the liquor to a different spot so that after the festival they can try to move it themselves. Happy to have gotten some easy loot straight out the gate, they conspired to try and find some kind of dungeon or lair to expand their profits further. 

    The townsfolk speak in hushed tones about a shrine to Andal, the god of death, in the local cemetery. I'll spare my dear readers a prodigious lore-dump about the pantheon of the setting, but in short-hand Andal is the third of three principal gods known by the Yurdish, and represents death, chaos, evil, darkness, etc etc etc. He is never directly worshipped or prayed to, and while there is always a statue of him looming over any given cemetery, it is taboo to ever look directly at it. This shrine is the only known "place of worship" dedicated to Andal anywhere in the Yurdish kingdoms, and has not seen regular use in 180 years, since the great-grandfather of the current king of Aberlin constructed it in a fit of delirious fury. Either way, it seems that the place has been mostly sealed for a long time. 

    When the party arrived to check it out, they noticed that Pleasant Peter, the gravedigger and groundskeeper of the cemetery, was uncharacteristically absent. Approaching the shrine it towered over the headstones of the graves, a featureless stone edifice standing some 30 feet tall, with a 20x20 footprint in the dead center of the cemetery. The only adornment of the shrine was the smiling face of Andal carved above the brass double-doors leading in (Which the players piously avoided looking at). Pressing in, they found a corridor that slopes down into the earth, with damp flagstones covered in over a century of dust and grime. They ventured forth, wary of what they might find in this seemingly forgotten fane of darkness. 

    The sloped passage opened into a much drier chamber, with footprints in the dust indicating recent traffic. The flagstones of this room were made of chopped-square tombstones, the players felt deeply uneasy. Doubly so because laid out on the floor was a toppled statue of Andal, his head cracked off and his nose chipped off. On a pedestal where he stood before was a horrible statue of a wretched Ape-Demon. The players groaned "Of course, the Spongs are back. 210 feral spong women occupy this dungeon". They had three potential doors they could go through, and true to form they took the door to their left. 

    This next room had a copper-lined cistern in the center, and Alden decided to lower a stone on a rope down into the water to feel around for what might be down there. He felt the clank and jingle of small metal pieces, and it was determined that there was loot down about 15 feet into the cistern. He requested that his porter go for a swim, and it was here that we needed to determine his loyalty. Dragons Beyond uses the "Ego" ability score to determine the loyalty and courage of hirelings, and we rolled. 6, SIX, was the score determined, and thus is was established that Belvedere was a bit of a coward. He staunchly refused to swim, and so Jonathan stepped up to see what he could do. Fastened at the waist, he descended into the waters, only to find himself stuck in the carcass of a slime! We rolled to see if he was hands-first or feet-first, as this had not been specified, and he got lucky, with his free hand he tugged the rope and the party pulled him back up. 

    Being of much sturdier stuff (Strength 18!), Francois went down to retrieve the goods. He had an easier time, and returned with some coinage and some very nice-looking weapons and armour. A shield and mace, and a coat of chainmail, all shining as though just polished yesterday. Given the "low-fantasy" milieu we are operating in, I kept it extremely vague as to whether it was "Magical" or if the bonuses to hit and protection were instead the product of advanced alloys or craftsmanship. However, as we shall see later, the party decided that it was cursed anyways. Alden put on the complete set, and I hinted at a minor enchantment "You feel at peace, nothing in this dungeon can frighten you". At this moment a random encounter came up. Eight Berserkers were barreling into the room, wielding two-handed swords and garbed in patchwork leather armour. I described them as having skinned faces sewn over their own faces, and this generated the desired response of disgust and virulent desire to smite. 

Berserkers deserve a spooky, autumnal theme

    How we've been handling written/declared orders is that I jot down what the bad guys are going to be doing on an index card as the players are deciding what they are going to do, so that my declared actions aren't revealed to them while they are in the tactics phase but also keeps me from having an idea of what the players are going to do when I decide my actions. Actions were declared and the Berserkers won the initiative. They elected to move first, 3 charging Taff, 2 charging Jonathan, and 3 just charging in the general direction of the players, hoping to make contact. The charge movement was enough for them to close the distance, and melees broke out. Much like Dab's duel with the Bandit Leader last week, weapon class became a really important variable, as the Berserkers got first strike in every melee they entered. We resolved the attack made on Alden first, clad as he was in his shiny armour and shield. Despite the bonuses to protection present from the new gear, the berserker landed a blow and dealt the maximum of 6 damage, Alden was beheaded without ceremony. His porter-squire, Belvedere, loosed a crossbow bolt in a fit of uncharacteristic courage, "MY LORD!!!!!" and felled the berserker. 

    Everyone else fared much better, I landed very few hits in comparison to the players, and when I did hit I rolled a 1 on damage 3 consecutive times. The berserkers were quickly slain, and looting commenced. There was some paltry coinage, and nobody wanted the leather faces or rusty zweihanders. The party decided to quit while they were ahead and head back to town. Alden's player took over Belvedere as his new PC, and we gave him a 1-6 chance that he could raise his Ego stat after this blistering act of courage which ascended him to the ranks of "Levelled PC". A success! What was once 6 is now 12. As they approached town, Gaston the Righteous was waiting for them. 

    Gaston (A Shucked Oyster NPC) has a mechanic wherein if he sees a PC with 18 Strength, he immediately challenges this PC to a contest of might. He had not had the chance to challenge Francois in a match previously, as he was preoccupied arguing with his sword. But he was ready now, and in a booming voice that exists somewhere between Brian Blessed and Kermit the Frog demanded this contest occur immediately. Francois, equipped with the shiny chainmail and shield, decided to accept the challenge. Throughout the duel, the poor guy could not roll a single hit, the dice felt loaded against him, a truly wretched string of bad luck. Gaston thrashed him thoroughly. After the match, Francois lamented that between this and the decapitation of Alden, the armour was almost certainly cursed. Gaston was appalled, and demanded a rematch during the tournament that is happening next week "When you are feeling more like yourself". Francois has earned the respect and admiration of Gaston, who may prove to be a powerful ally going forward. 

    We ended the night here but people did message me afterwards indicating if they wished to carouse for downtime. Various minor things happened but there were two that matter most. First is that Taff had a Mystiflux Slug Venom trip where he asked Mondopolis Gangler "Where are Mystiflux Slugs found?" and learned of their location in a nearby marsh. Second is that the OYSTER BURNED DOWN!!!!! The true culprit is unknown at the moment but as it stands everyone in town is blaming Mungo Borlov, a suspicious-looking aristocrat from the horrible wild-lands north-east of the river. 

The Valley of Yurd Session 001: The Road Crew Job

    We're back, after a lengthy hiatus from writing as I concluded my undergraduate studies I have returned to begin documenting my games in the written word once more. The Dschungelberg Campaign came to a close, and now it is time to explore new avenues. We will be dialing back from the encroachments of the Supplements that arrived at us just defaulting to AD&D and returning to OD&D in the form of Dragons Beyond, though this time we are not permitting the arrival of the d20 and the Alternate Combat System. We will be using Chainmail as rigorously as possible (Though many say this is not possible!) and exploring the "Lowest Fantasy" setting ever put to our table. Effectively just medieval, with magic and fantastic elements intended to be as infrequent, uncommon, and deeply evil as one might see in the Howard Conan stories or Arthurian myth. The players will all be playing fighters for the foreseeable future, though magic will be accessible to some of them on account of the ELDRITCH and VILE nature of their assigned factions. While the factions (and campaign map) were primarily generated using the AD&D DMG, I have "massaged" the results to integrate well with the Shucked Oyster by Black Lodge Games as well as a Lamentations of the Flame Princess module that I will be revealing at a later date (We love surprises!).   

    I've written this introductory paragraph in advance, so I will now step away from my computer and get ready to run the session. Things should be interesting, I have sent out the last relevant faction sheet and I look forward to seeing how things will all shake out. 

THE RESULTS ARE IN

    This was super cool. I had three players, all of whom have already received their faction/patron-level dossier for this campaign. We did a brief rundown of the key details about the part of the map their characters would be calling "Home Base"

        1. The city-state of Aberlin was their home, with 2000 urban residents and some 3-4000 rural peasants in the surrounding area

        2. The king, Elgar, is seeking to establish permanent trade with the city of Galurgan on the uncivilized side of the river. This has been slow going, as the road crews have to deal with constant raids by local clan chiefs and bandits who do not want their territory to be civilized.

    This was all the detail that they really needed, and after rolling up characters, purchasing equipment, and hiring men-at-arms, "The Herdsman" were ready to take on some muscle work for the crown. There was talk that a group of bandits had taken to raiding the road crews building a road from the north bank of the river to the city of Galurgan, and the merchant's guild was offering a 200gp reward to anyone who could deal with this for them. They rowed across the river in search of trouble!

First session in "Fantasy Ontario" and the adventure is about a stalled-out road crew. Some jokes write themselves. 

THE CREW

Jonathan the Once-Herder: A hapless farm-boy roped into seeking adventure by his friend Jean-Marc. He rolled three 1's on his starting gold (for 30 total) and could barely afford weapons, let alone armour. His player is playing King Elgar of Aberlin (Riddled with Senility) at the Patron Level.

Dab the Charmer: An ambitious and handsome fellow, character details are sparse for now but he did hire 10 Light Foot to accompany him on the mission. His player is playing Prince Edric of Aberlin (Valliant knight of virtue and the only legitimate son of King Elgar) at the Patron Level. 

Francois Jean-Marc Marseilles: A Yurjan man who spent his adolescence working the farms and militias of the Yurdish kingdoms. He hired 5 Light Foot to come along with him, and this player is playing Garfunkle the Wise (A Shucked Oyster character, enthusiastic occultist and probably the smartest man in town) at the Patron Level.

THE JOB

    The Herdsman arrived on the north bank of the river Yurd at around noon, and after asking for some details from the road crews, learned that the bandit attacks had been occurring generally at the "End of the Line", the furthest developed piece of road. The players decided that rather than tromp about the woods looking for bandits, they would set up an ambush and watches at the end of the road, near the road workers, and wait to be attacked. Two more days went by with no sign of the villains, and Dab had run out of rations to feed his men-at-arms (There was no money left after equipment to get a full week of rations for his 10 men). A fortunate reaction roll with the road workers saw the crew on the receiving end of some shared stew and beer, and on the third day north of the river some bandits appeared. Five men in chainmail carrying axes stood at the end of the road. 

    "If you do not surrender now, Pierre here will run and call for reinforcements!" Cried one of the bandits. In a straight fight this would have been a risky situation, they were much better equipped than the spears and lack of shields among the men-at-arms of the herdsman, and the three PCs, while more dangerous, had as few as 2 hitpoints before death loomed over them. Fortunately for the PCs, they had the advantageous position and won initiative, allowing them to close the distance and hit the bandits from both sides in a brutal flanking manouevre. This was the first combat of the evening and despite the players still being very shaky on the rules of Chainmail it went very quickly, with only one man-at-arms lost on the side of the players. 

    They spent some time trying to track back to where these bandits had come from, and after a few hours they found themselves on the receiving end of an ambush, just 30 yards from where the bandits make camp. 5 more heavy footmen along with a leader in plate with a mean-looking morningstar appeared in front of the party, and 5 archers appeared in behind, ready to pepper the unprotected rears of Francois' men. The bandit leader demanded their surrender, but this was not to be, and combat once more broke out. 

    We got a tie on initiative, so everything happened simultaneously. Dab took his men in a charge directly against the heavy foot and the bandit leader. Francois directed his men to veer 45 degrees into the trees, out of the firing zone of the archers, and about-faced himself, hoping his plate armour would save him from the archers. Jonathan also about-faced to stand alongside Francois. The archers fired, but didn't land any hits. Then the melee with Dab and the bandit leader (And their attendant men) was resolved. It was messy, Dab had the advantage of first strike against the bandit leader, as his spear was more than 2 weapon classes higher than the bandit leader's axe. Despite this, he missed (His spear was not well-suited against plate). The bandit leader failed to land a blow, and in the second round of combat also failed to take advantage of first strike now that the distance had been closed. In the second round of combat, Dab slew the bandit leader with a single spear-thrust. As this duel was playing out, their soldiers were exchanging blows. All said and done, Dab lost all but 4 of his 9 remaining soldiers, but the morale of the heavy foot broke with the death of the leader and Dab's men were able to take pursuit, killing all but one of the remaining bandits (Who promptly surrendered and was taken prisoner). 

    Over on the other side of the combat, Francois, Jonathan and Francois' men-at-arms made short work of the archers, who were too close to risk changing face and running, so they drew daggers and closed in to melee. Francois lost a soldier to these long knives, but none of the archers lived. The players interrogated the prisoner to get the rest of the way to the camp, which they found had no more enemies in it, and commenced to looting from the stores of loot taken by the bandits. A total of 3000gp worth of jewelery, baubles, gems and coinage was taken. This would have been enough to level all three of the fighters (Dragons Beyond, the OD&D clone I am using, has fighters hitting level 1 at 1000 xp) HOWEVER both Jonathan and Dab have negative modifiers to their XP gain. Poor Jonathan has 6 strength, resulting in a -25% modifier to all incoming experience. 

    Carousing at the Shucked Oyster was the only means of getting that last bit of XP needed to push Jonathan and Dab over to level 2. The party made their rolls, and we got our first results on the carousing table. Both Dab and Francois rolled "Said something nice about Ulric the Despoiler, killing the vibe" and had to roll a random patron of the oyster they had made an enemy of, both getting Ulric the Despoiler. 

    "The two of you go on and on about how pleasant Ulric the Despoiler is, and the people get so irritated with you that they leave, locate Ulric, and start harassing him, throwing stones at him, etc. The poor man begins to resent you for drawing this unwanted attention to him"

OVERVIEW

    This was great. The fatigue and morale rules of Chainmail are taking some getting used to. One player remarked that it was proving tricky to get his head around because it is simultaneously different from his expectations as a D&D player and different from his expectations as a wargamer who learned on modern rulesets like Black Powder, Bolt Action and Warhammer. The structure and mindset of 70s American wargamers was truly a unique and precious thing, may it never pass from the earth. Looking forward with great eagerness to the next session (October 2nd) when hopefully more of the regular group will be in attendance. The first round of patron orders for this campaign are due on September 28th, one week before the first Braunstein (October 5th). I spent a good deal of (enjoyable) time laying the groundwork for this game, and I look forward to seeing how this first month of player activity jostles, disrupts and modulates this initial static "snapshot" of the gameworld.