[MENTION=12377]77IM[/MENTION] [MENTION=58197]Dausuul[/MENTION] [MENTION=27385]aco175[/MENTION]
Finally have all primary characters and alternate characters caught up to the same in game day. What happened?
The halfling mage Pips ran to ArKay's camp crying and wailing. Arkay's men pushed and shoved her around a bit, knowing that she is the coward that always flees. Arkay comes out to see what the commotion is about. Pips throws herself at his feet and begs for him to save Jynefer. ArKay asks why? Pips exclaims that Jynefer is carrying his child and he must save her. Shes explains with the timing of the moon and the blessing of Venus that Jynefer conceived. It is a lie but a possible truth which ArKay has no way of verifying.
I make a roll even odd, care or does not care. Arkay cares. Now he has a dilemma. He cannot leave his lover and unborn child to suffer, yet he also gave his word and accepted payment to serve in the mercenary army under the anti-paladin on behalf of the enemy state. His men split into three groups: save the captain's woman, how much will we be paid, and find a new wench. ArKay enters his tent with his retainers and henchmen leaving Pips to talk with the men.
Pips makes a d20 roll to see how many men she knows by name, she gets seven. Three are in the pay group, four in the get a new wench faction.
Pips talks and answers questions
There will be more than one ransom the ranger and druid are there too, so three ransoms.
She adds herself to the list for a fourth ransom.
Asked about her smaller size she will use Jynefer's clothing instead of hers.
Asked about the druid who mostly is a huge bear, there is a discussion about size of paws, do paws wear boots or gloves, how much larger will a bear sized helm and cloak be.
Then Pips is asked about how they're expected to carry all the coin, jewelry and foodstuffs that the previous ransoms consisted off.
Pips promises that the character group will pay 500 shares which each share consisting of
200 silver
100 electrum
50 gold
10 platinum
1 piece of jewelry
Each man gets 1 share, sergeants 3, officers 7, henchmen 10, retainers 15 with the remainder going to ArKay.
The party does not have anywhere near this wealth but that is a problem for later.
ArKay comes out and the men say they want the loot offered by Pips, ArKay agrees but his plans are different.
Arkay's goals are to get Jynefer, rob what can be taken from the anti-paladin's pay master, get Jynefer's and any other gear, then get the druid and ranger.
ArKay cannot ride in with all his men as that would look suspicious. He divides the men into ten squads and will take two with him, one for Jynefer one for the pay master. One will move the camp gear and wounded to a safe rally point. The other seven will take position to cover the rescue and harass any pursuit.
Pips given some time prepares several stink potions on the premise that a toxic mix will burn the noses of the gnolls and minotaurs.
Arkay has 3 other knights, a halfling/goblin mage (who used illusion to make Arkay's sword flame and stead look like a hell horse, causing Pips to flee the first time), a cleric, a half troll bandit, half ogre gladiator, and a thief/assassin. His men mostly are lightly armored thieves, bandits and thugs who ambush and skirmish from a distance. In total 172 men.
Opposing is the anti-paladin, lamia, wizard, half elf cleric (made to be a complete apostate to the light elven religion (seven stars first seen when they awoken) by worshiping the eighth star, the dark star which consumes all. Her skin has been completely tattooed with obsidian and black marble. In game all elves are bright fair and beautiful. She is totally insane.), and five minotaur guards in the interrogation tent.
15 other minotaurs, 100 gnolls and Captain Fork in the Eye's remaining 97 men who are all heavy infantry.
ArKay, his senior knight, the mage, half troll and three men bring a naked Pips into the interrogation tent.
The anti-paladin was interrogating the ranger who was critically wounded and could not walk or use a weapon. The lamia was torturing the druid who had a critical wound to his abdomen which would cause death in two days. She was inserting flesh eating beetles into the wound. The cleric was attempting to convert Jynefer.
When Pips is brought in the anti-paladin and lamia approach leaving two minotaurs to continue torturing the ranger and druid.
Pips's hands were only loosely tied so she could cast spells. She not knowing what to do uses a contingency placed on her by an archmage she freed from a prison. Not having a clue about what it will do she has to pick seven of the nine possible targets. The archmage's theme is color and Pips has a Roy G Biv choice to make. She leaves the cleric and wizard out of the contingency. For her efforts she is run through by the anti-paladin and flogged by the lamia. However this gives the ranger and druid a chance to pray, perform a miracle, call on the divine, etc...
The ranger heals himself so he can join the fight. However the druid calls on the divine. In game we use piety points borrowed from Harn, the druid burns everyone that he has to increase his chance of success. He is successful. He and the other players know that I do not allow "cheap" things to happen. Asking the deity spirit to slay his foes is off the table.
The druid calls on the spirit of natural balance to "restore the natural order of things so he and his friends can return home." My decision as to what this would mean is that in our game history in the distant past the lamia, minotaur, gnolls and other anthropomorphic races were created by a cabal of priests and sorcerers. So the spirit separates the beasts from the man. The lamia is now a naked woman that the anti-paladin picks up and retreats, the minotaurs are men in shock and the beasts all run off.
Outside the tent this causes chaos and with Pips's stink potions going off the only unit in fighting condition is Captain Fork in the Eye who withdraws.
Arkay frees Jynefer who wants to heal the druid, however, by his choice he has been removed to an unknown place in the woods and takes form of a great oak tree to heal over time. The player decided to start playing one of his alternate characters and when the druid returns will have a huge scar that looks like burled wood. Deity spirit did that too.
ArKay provides the characters with one piece of information, what the anti-paladin and now ex-lamia wanted from their city. A artifact key in the form of a statue that will unlock another artifact back in the country they came from.
It is going to be interesting to see how Jynefer explains that she is not with child. More so as to how Pips is going to pay all that she promised to pay. The thief characters I feel want to kill her. Will the characters use the option of stealing the statue to give to the anti-paladin and ex-lamia?