G01 — Session 10
1626
Season, Week, Day
Dramatis Personae
Dramatis Personae
PC
Serala
Finarvi
Ivalla
Arim
Jorrim
Uhnta
NPC
Jeepol
Some Crafty Lunars
The Feathered Horse Queen
King Herengvot
Some unfortunate Lunars
An obligatory one-eyed, three-legged dog
Events
The party left the Troll lands and returned to Ironspike with the mule train. Jeepol and Finarvi got the supplies unloaded and the drying of the giant mushrooms started, while Ivalla and Uhnta scouted the area under the pretence of hunting. They soon spotted a suspicious clump of bracken on the ridge that hadn’t been there last time, and which turned out to be hiding a pair of Lunar scouts.
Ivalla reported back to Jorrim in the village that the inn was being watched Jorrim asked about strength in depth. They told Arim, and he took the direct approach, drawing his sword and advancing on the ridge while Ivalla and Serala tried to circle around in opposite directions in a slightly more stealthy manner. Meanwhile, Finarvi took advantage of the distraction to hide the glass wand in the privy.
Faced with a large, grim Humakti with a colossal sword, the bracken clump sprouted legs and made a run for it. Ivalla and Serala watched the two Lunar scouts throw off their camouflaged cloaks and scarper towards a larger force of 20 Lunar peltasts who had been concealed by the ridge. The Lunars retreated hastily back around the mountain. Gaius was not spotted among them, but they had the look of his men.
They returned to the village and discussed what to do next. Jeepol felt they needed to negotiate with King Herengvot, and summoned Garath to lead them through the woods. Finarvi felt the wand would be better coming from the hand of a Queen than a scruffy trader, and so he and Serala raced each other over the mountain pass to take the wand (now thoroughly sanitised) to the Feathered Horse Queen.
Jorrim, Arim, Ivalla and Garath travelled back to the fort of Herengvot to let him know the Feathered Horse Queen would present him with the wand in return for the safe passage of her armies. Heading through the Lady’s Wood, the party was shadowed by Aldryami but their guide was not concerned and nothing untoward happened. On nearing the glass-walled fort, it became clear the Lunar army had mostly pulled out, leaving a much smaller force reinforcing the earthworks and pretending to be a much larger force, with campfires and tents for a larger army, plus helmets propped on sticks near the palisades. From the tracks, they deduced the rest of the army had headed towards Alda Chur the day before, possibly in response to the Luminous Stallion King’s force causing trouble.
From the fort side of the earthworks the ruse was obvious, but it likely looked a lot more convincing from the direction of Sartar. The Feathered Horse Queen’s forces were mustered in force just outside the pass, but it was noted that the Colymar were not with them. The party also noticed that Herengvot’s war machines had moved, and were now aimed to cover both the pass and the Lunar encampment. A group of riders emerged from the fort and ushered them into the presence of King Herengvot.
Meanwhile, Finarvi and Serala were met by a squad of Grazelanders and escorted to the Feathered Horse Queen’s camp. Serala made the formal greeting and presented her queen with the gift of friendship the Mistress Troll had given her, and the message that they would stand together in the fight against chaos. The gift was a prancing horse of crystal which glowed with an inner light. The Feathered Horse Queen said that Leika had returned home with the Colymar, Kallyr lived, and the Sartarites were busily embroiled in politics.
Finarvi explained Herengvot’s terms for helping fight the Lunars, and presented the wand.
The Feathered Horse Queen said she could not give Herengvot access to the Jonstown ring but she could give him the wand. She summoned a scribe and dictated a message to Herengvot, that if he opened the way, the Grazelanders would remember and support his people in their liberation, whatever route they chose in the future. She gave her word she would give him the wand herself when the Lunars had been dealt with.
Serala and Finarvi rode back to the fort and delivered the message to Herengvot. They and Arim reassured him that the Queen had the wand in her possession and would keep her word. Herengvot ordered his Humakti to attack the Lunar defences. Catapults hurled barrels which magically exploded, destroying the empty sections of the earthworks and knocking down the palisades. The Lunars formed up and abandoned the camp, marching quickly towards Alda Chur.
Jorrim and Serala questioned why Herengvot’s attack seemed to be aimed to avoid harming Lunar soldiers. The king replied that the Lunars could not capture the fort nor hold the pass, so why should he bother killing them? He would not waste a drop of his soldiers’ blood in so futile a gesture.
The Grazelander army were ready to take advantage of the breach and advanced, cutting off the Lunars’ retreat. Arim and many Grazelanders offered challenge, but the Lunars refused, choosing to fight and die as one.
Session Quotes
GM: “I’ll show you my thing.”
Tom: “Please can you rephrase that?”
GM: “That’s the last apology you’ll get from me, even if I chop you into bits later on.”
“We can assume he came with the LSK” – GM re: Arim
“I was just faking it” – Arim
“So was he.” – Jorrim.
“While everyone is distracted by Arim’s huge sword, I’m going to pay a visit to the necessarium and hide the wand deep down where nobody will want to look for it.” Finarvi
“Arim’s massive sword is very distracting.” GM
“It just popped up there.” Arim
“I was mixing up Jorrim and Arim.” Serala
“One has the giant polished sword and the other one we like.” Serala
“On the grounds that I only outnumber them one to twenty, I’m going to find some cover.” – Arim
“I thought it was a given you never chased after the fleeing few because you suddenly find yourself amongst the murderous many.” – Serala
“I’m going to slap you so hard you won’t enjoy it.” – Serala
“The GM’s now going to roll for wandering giants and other interruptions, because he’s a git.” – GM
“We knew that!” – Serala
“There is something green shadowing you in the woods.” – GM
“It’s not badly-dressed Lunars again, is it?” – Jorrim
“Don’t forget the Troll Queen gave you a gift to give to the Feathered Horse Queen.” – Finarvi, whispering
“It could be poison for all we know.” Serala
“Or Powsey throat-lozenges.” – Finarvi
“We’re talking about the horrors of drinking powsey…” – Finarvi
“If I were a cruel GM I’d make you roll for addiction.” – GM
“Bringing out the wand…. which has been very thoroughly washed…” – Finarvi
“I will not do it. Especially now I know the Starbrow is alive.” – Herengvott
“Did we pass that information along to him?” – Serala
“No, no you didn’t.” – GM
“Serala holds a grudge with the best of them, and one day she may knife Kallyr in the back herself.” – Serala
“There may be a queue.” – GM
“I will hand a dagger and a lead bullet to Jorrim.” – Arim
Engraves ‘catch’ – Jorrim
“Does this say ‘Coward’?” – Arim
“No, but I’ll do you another one.” – Jorrim
“You realise I’m doing this purely for future archaeologists.” – Arim.
“If you’ve ever seen one of those British Regimental Last Stand Movies, it’s like that.” – GM
“It’s traditional for a three-legged, one-eyed dog to be the only survivor of a regimental last stand.” – GM
“These are Grazelanders. They let the dog live.” – GM
“Uhnta will eat the dog.” – Ivalla
