The Weavings of a Different Wheel (Orichin's custom WoT campaign)

Orichin

First Post
OOC:
ooc thread: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1814075#post1814075
PC sheets coming eventually.







Here we go.
Hanjia, Al'Shain de'Kossin, and Audrey Lyonde are the only complete characters so far, the rest will be cycled in as character creation is finished (hopefully soon). Text that any given player character would not have access to will be in black. If players are going to read it they're going to read it, I just ask that it's kept out of character for those whose characters are not mentioned in the readable portion of the message.



The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turnings of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Hanjia: Rising in the snowy peaks of the mountains, the wind carried the scent of snow and ice down the eastern slopes and across the verdant forests, sparkling rivers, and rolling fields of Andor. The scent was unfamiliar to Hanjia, and it was another of thousands of unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, and flavors that she had experienced since crossing into the wetlands. She filed it away in her memory, the breeze that wafted it already gone. Trotting near-silently through the sparse, bare trees, Hanjia dodged leaf-litter as she calculated in her mind where the main troupe should be, judging by how far the sun had moved since she left it to exchange orders and reports from the field leaders of the scouting Maidens.
Her calculations having been re-checked, and Hanjia confident she was on an intercept course; her mind began reciting the report from the scout leader of the forward unit. "The wetlander hunters have killed one of the large, oddly-horned goats that live in the forest, and are headed due south from their last reported position, presumably to their residence(s) outside of the scouting range. The road reported 90 minutes ago is clear and has been delegated to the flanking scout units (the main troupe should be crossing the road in about 10 minutes if Hanjia's estimations were accurate; she would be crossing it in less than 5). A wetlander settlement of no more than 30 adults and 8 juviniles lies in the path of the troupe, suggested logistical adjustments were detailed on the rough map Hanjia had in one of the folds of her cadin'sor".
Hanjia was reciting the report again to herself after crossing the empty road when she heard a noise she certainly recognized, but never expected. The others of the troupe who had been to the wetlands said they were free of shadowspawn..but Hanjia could have sworn she heard a trolloc battle horn to the north. In one swift motion, Hanjia exhaled, crouched down, cupped a hand to her ear, and held her breath, listening to the north. The sound came again, this time closer, and ever so slightly to the east. A loud, resonating crack issued from the east. Arrun had given the call to arms using a pair of 2 foot long boards hinged at the ends so they could be clapped together, creating a distinctive report. Dashing at a sprint, Hanjia laced her veil into her shou'fa and tossed one of her spears in front of her, snatching it from mid-air 2 strides later with her fighting hand.
Suddenly throwing herself shoulder-first against a tree to stop her momentum, Hanjia took to a silent crouch again, using the tree for cover as nearly a dozen trollocs ran at a gallop toward the sound of the horns that still blew at intervals. 2 horns. Could mean 2 fists. The troupe would be outnumbered about 14-1 without the scouts if that was the case. Far behind the first group of trollocs, another trio was moving more slowly (one seemed to have a limp, another had rediculously short, furry legs for it's enormous body). By the time the 3 slow trollocs passed within 40 feet of Hanjia, the other 10 had passed out of earshot.



-----------------END SECTION----------------










Al'Shain: The wind rode the eastern slopes of the mountains of mist down into Andor, and farther east. By the time it reached the back of Al'Shain's head he had no attention to waste on it.
The carriage leapt over another bump, ruining the shot Al'Shain had been drawing a bead on. Releasing the tension on his bowstring for a moment, Al'Shain looked over his shoulder at the driver, shouting "Get the bloody horses back on the road! We need to go faster!"
Most of the driver's reply was lost in the rushing wind of the racing carriage, all that could be made out was something about the horses being spooked. Turning his attentions back to what was behind the carriage, Al'Shain ducked back in through the window of the vehicle as a spear-sized trolloc arrow thunked into the ground beside the carriage. Inside, 3 passengers huddled on the floor. A sobbing woman with her arms around her son, and another, younger woman who looked up at Al'Shain with fear in her eyes and his quiver in her hands, held out so he could grab arrows without looking while he hung out of the window. The quiver was almost empty, maybe 5-6 more shots and he would be firing from his second quiver. A click could barely be heard over the cacophony of the leaping carriage as the mother's husband recocked the crossbow that was stored in the compartment that lay open near the cieling. Light showed through the compartment, it was open at the other end too, under the driver's seat.
Training his face to a blank mask, he looked down at Ellysa, the woman, girl really, that held his quiver. She had been trying to flirt with him an hour ago as they rode liesurely along the south road to the town of Alkhaven and a step closer to Illian. At this rate though, Illian was the last thing on Al'Shain's mind. Al'Shain softened his face for Ellysa, squared the knock of the unfired arrow on his bowstring, arched his back, and leaned back through the open window. Fully two score trollocs chased the carriage, and Al'Shain had heard two trolloc horns, one persuing from farther north, one coming from the southeast. Most of the trollocs in the immediate area were 40 feet or more distant, but gaining.
The fastest trolloc had closed several feet since Al'Shain's shot had been interrupted. Had the beast brains to think of such a tactic, it could easily have taken one swipe with its scythe-sword and destroyed the rear wheel on Al'Shain's side, crippling the carriage. Luckily, Trollocs are dumb. Unluckily, they're fast, and big, and violent. Al'Shain focused a moment as he drew the fletchings of his arrow to his cheek and aimed the bow with his extended left hand in the same act and fired the arrow into the trolloc's wolf-like maw as it roared and swung the sword a foot short of Al'Shain's bow-enclosing fist. The trolloc stumbled and receded in Al'Shain's view like it had been dropped from a tower.
"What are they?!" Exclaimed the mother's voice from inside as Al'Shain reached in through the window to grab an arrow from the waiting quiver.
Having informed the southerners that these were trollocs 4 times already, Al'Shain considered his next move.


OOC: I'm basically giving you 6 arrows more than what you had on your character sheet because that's the way the post wrote itself ;). Al'Shain is 5 feet from the back of the carriage, the nearest trolloc 15 feet behind that. The trollocs are scattered to 20 feet on either side of the 10-foot wide carriage, though their formation is gone, the trollocs are 5 to a rank, 7 ranks deep, each rank 10 feet behind the one before it for simplicity's sake (sorry, I'll have a map before long). Each trolloc will get 5 feet closer to the carriage every other round (they advanced in the previous round). Your initiative is 17, the NPC's in the carriage (Ellysa, the family of 3, and the driver) will act at 8, and the trollocs as a group at 10.




-----------------END SECTION----------------













Audrey: The wind from the Mountains of Mist meandered east, high above hundreds of miles of unsettled terrain. It whipped around statues that stood like monuments in the wilderness; monuments that had been in need of repair for centuries. Climbing the Black Hills, the wind continued into the sky and formed a jetstream, racing faster and faster to the east. Howling, the wind lashed the peak of the Dragonmount, as if taking out the anger of the land upon the tomb of Lews Therin. As if its fury abated, the wind drove then northeast toward Tar Valon. Through a window opened a crack on the 37th floor, a portion of the wind breezed its way into the White Tower. Seeping slowly down the stairs like a flood of slow moving, invisable water, the breeze ebbed gently around Audrey's ankles.
Ignoring the cool draft that tussled the colored hem of her Accepted's dress, Audrey called softly again down the hallway. "Iemynne Sedai? Brienne Sedai sent me for you. With a note." Audrey had been sent on a blind hunt for Iemynne Sedai, a sister of the brown ajah, who, not suprisingly, had a habit of getting lost in her books and forgetting appointments. She was somewhere in the libraries of the 36th floor. That narrowed the search down to only 4 rooms. Unfortunately the rooms were each large enough to house several families comfortably.
Audrey had already checked 2 of the libraries, and was making her way to the doorways that lead to the other 2 when she noticed that one of the doorways stood open about 6 inches. Pushing the door gently to allow herself space to enter the room, Audrey called again for Iemynne Sedai and walked into the library.
Walking down one row of books and then another, Audrey called again from time to time. "Nesting Behavior of Tairen Wood and House Finches. Nesting Behavior of Southern Red-Winged Finches. Nesting Behavior of the Southern Wood Grouse. " Audrey read the titles aloud of a few randomly chosen books that lined the shelf to her right.
"Iemynne Sedai?" Audrey called, convinced that this library too, was empty as she rounded another of the long bookshelves and stepped around a nondescript man with a broken chair leg in his hand. Audrey continued another half a step toward the next aisle before a female voice cautioned her from nearby:
"Don't turn your back!"
Spinning on one heel and letting her dress flare out a bit, Audrey spoke, "Is that you Aes Se-bleut-"
Audrey's world exploded with dancing sparks as a chair leg held by a man who seemingly appeared out of nowhere collided with her chin. Had she not spun, the blow would have fallen squarely on the nape of her neck, surely knocking her out. As the man raised the club above his head again, Audrey's mind raced...


The assailant is in the square next to audrey, his initiative was 14, Audrey's is 11. Audrey has taken 4 points of bludgeoning damage and is up in the initiative count. The nearest exit to the room is the one she came in through, 50 feet away in the direction Audrey is facing (the attacker between she and the door), in the wall to Audrey's right. The other exit is 90 feet behind her in the same wall. Bookshelves 5' wide and 12' tall are spaced with 10' aisles between them, 10 feet from the near wall (and perpendicular to it). The attacker stands at the end of one such bookshelf, Audrey in the square next to him, an aisle to her left, 10 foot wide paths made by the wall and bookshelf ends to the exits in front and behind her, and the wall 5 feet to her right.


 
Last edited:

log in or register to remove this ad

Old Fezziwig

What this book presupposes is -- maybe he didn't?
Slightly dizzy from the blow to the head, Audrey decides that discretion is the better part of valour and retreats towards the far door [Double move, 60 ft], keeping an eye on the strange man the entire time. She carefully calls out to the female voice — "Iemynne Sedai?" — but her mind races. I wonder why I didn't notice him there?
 
Last edited:

Karl Green

First Post
Al'shain de'Kossin, Borderlander Armsman

Al'shain shakes his head, and leans out the door firing an arrow into the closes one...
Attack roll 9 +7 =16, if he hit, Damge is 8 points
...he also yells up to the driver again "Get us back to the road NOW or we are all dead!"

Next round, if they are to close he pulls out his swords and stabs one of them. Otherwise he will rain arrows on them until they are close and will then switch to swords...
 

Zweischneid

First Post
Trollocs? Here?
Hanjias eyes brightened with surprise and determination.

Three-to-one! The chances certainly did not favor the young Aiels, but the veiled figure moved without hesitation. Silently on her soft boots, careful not to distrub the underbrush and with murderous intent.
She knew that with Trollocs, there would be no honorable fight, no quarter asked for or given.
[Move Silently d20(9) + 10 = 19]

Till shade is gone, till water is gone,..

These ancient words, an oath and promise heard and spoken dozends of times among the Far Darais Mai filled the young Maidens mind and steadied her hand. In one swift and deadly move she slipped out of her hiding and hurls one of her spears at the closest Trolloc*

'..into the Shadow with teeth bared..'
Hanjia hissed the invocation under her shou'fa as she falls into a low battle-stance, gripping yet another spear². There would certainly be more fights coming for Arrun and the rest. This dance would be hers.


----------------------​

* Combat:
[Initiative d20(18) + 11 = 27] Off to a good start. *impish laughter*

Ok, I am kinda assuming Hanjia surprises the Trollocs.
In that case (single action only) she'll throw a spear at the closest Trolloc at a range (?) of 40 ft.
[Attack d20(12) + 8 - 2 (range) = 18 / Damage d6(3) + 2 = 5]
Correct me if anything went amiss.

² Combat (next round):
Again assuming alot a things.
If the surprise round plays out roughly like described above and no Trolloc reaches Hanjia in the Surprise Round and she goes first in the first regular round (Initiative 27 after all), she'll pick a new Spear (Move Action?) and ready it (free Action) against the first inevitable charge, hoping to skewer the first brute who comes crashing in. (i.e. double damage against the charging Trolloc if it works out.)

Anything different, I'll just post her actions when I see what the Trollocs are up to.
 
Last edited:

Orichin

First Post
Hanjia: Trolloc1 (the one with the short legs) and trolloc2 (twisted to nightmarish proportions, but otherwise a 'normal' trolloc with an Aiel shortspear hanging from his side) charged as Hanjia expected, each snarling with bloodlust at their newfound foe. Trolloc3 (with the limp) was a bit more hesitant than his comerades, who readied his massive axe in both hands and waited to see the results of the first round.
The first 2 trollocs shook the ground as they bore down on Hanjia, black-bladed scythe-swords held over their shoulders so they could be swung in a powerful downward arc.
Eyes set with determination and teeth bared in challenge under her veil, Hanjia tucked her head down and rolled forward at the last moment. Both trollocs swung wildly and missed the fleet maiden as she rolled upright between one of the trolloc's legs and forced the spear into one of the cracks on the trolloc's armor and prepared to pull the butt of the spear down to dig into the ground and use the trolloc's weight and momentum to drive the head home.


Trolloc 1 or 2 (the one you don't decide to hit) will be adjacent to Hanjia, to the north. The trolloc Hanjia attacks will be adjacent to her to the east. trolloc3 is 20 feet to the east

Al'Shain: "I'm trying! I'm trying burn you!" The driver shouted back, his whip working furiously in one hand and the reins drawn far to his left in the other hand.
Al'Shain arched his back again, taking pressure off his spine so it wasn't resting against the bouncing carriage's window sill. Balancing precariously and bracing against the handle on the inside of the door with his buttocks when he lost balance for a moment, he was able to hold his shot somewhat steady. Still, he had to hold his shot for several moments, waiting for the instant the arrow lined up with the next trolloc in line.
Al'Shain's helm had a thin metal plate protruding from the inside of the right side that was easily bendable and roughly fitted to the form of his cheekbone. It allowed him to press the string of his bow against his cheek where he could sight along the arrow and release much more quickly and precicely than rolling the string off his fingers. Al'Shain found that especially useful when firing from horseback, and, for the first time in his military career, from a moving carriage.
Watching the pyramid-shaped steel tip of his arrow bounce up and down around the trolloc, Al'Shain watched the arrow's head point at the trolloc's center mass as the carriage jarred it down and to the left. Without hesitating the bowstring snapped from Al'Shain's face as he released pressure on the arching plate. The arrow spiraled perfectly through the air and struck home in the trolloc's right breast, piercing the black iron plate and sinking nearly a foot into the beast's flesh. Never missing a stride, the bloodthirsty trolloc roared in pain and rage and continued its chase.
Al'Shain did not see the arrow hit home, he was already glancing into the cabin of the carriage and leaning to grab another arrow.

Al'Shain's arrow struck for full damage, the trollocs are in persuit and will advance next round. The man with the crossbow fires a bolt and hits another trolloc. The driver fails a handle animal check to get the freightened horses back on the road.




Audrey: The man swung the makeshift club at Audrey again as she leapt back and backpedaled away from him at top speed. She trusted that the floor was smooth, and as expected she met no obstacles.
Recovering from the failed swing, the unremarkable assailant smirked and began trotting toward Audrey, quickening his pace with each stride until he caught up to the suprised accepted and struck again, landing a solid blow to the left side of her abdomen.
"Iemynne Sedai?" Audrey called out loudly, but with no response.
"I'm afraid she isn't around, lass." A man with a chair leg in his hand hissed as Audrey looked for whomever hit her in the ribs.


Audrey's assailant makes a charge attack, moving 60 feet and hits for 5 points of damage. Audrey is now 30 feet from the other door (which is closed, but should be unlocked, since the rest of the doors to the libraries had no locks)
OOC: a check was made, results witheld.
 
Last edited:

Old Fezziwig

What this book presupposes is -- maybe he didn't?
Audrey grunts as the chair leg catches her in the ribs. That's going to leave a nasty welt. I wonder where Iemynne Sedai is? If I keep on heading towards that door, he's going to keep on catching up with me and hitting me with that chair leg...the Great Game was rarely this violent. At least physically. The girl grimaces, steps back [5 ft. step] and embraces the One Power [full round action]. She braces herself for the man's next attack, knowing that he'll strike again before she can do anything.

[Assuming she's conscious in the next round...] The initiate turns tail and runs again, heading straight towards the door. If it's open, she goes through; if not, she braces herself against it and taps into saidar, concentrating on the man's bones and muscles — when she was young, she had, when she was very scared or frightened, found that she was able to perform a rather severe mischief on any assailants, dislocating fingers and causing rather nasty looking bruises. Although she hadn't used the One Power to this end since coming to the Tower (by choice, mostly, although she wasn't sure she was really capable of all the time, either), Audrey hoped against hope that it would work for her now [rend, roll of 11 damage on 2d8+3].

OOC: Why did the grey man get an AoO when Audrey disengaged last round? She did nothing but move. As I understand the rules, she shouldn't suffer an AoO this round, either, as her only move was a five-foot step. Let me know if I'm reading something wrong here, but it's what I'm getting when I read page 139.
 

Karl Green

First Post
Al'shain de'Kossin, Borderlander Armsman

"I'll put an arrow into yea iffin' yea don't get us back onto the road you bloody fool..."

Al'shain then fires another arrow into the trollocs (wounded one if possible)...
Attack roll 14 +7 =21 to hit, Damage is 7 points
 

Zweischneid

First Post
Both trollocs swung wildly and missed the fleet maiden as she rolled upright between one of the trolloc's legs and forced the spear into one of the cracks on the trolloc's armor and prepared to pull the butt of the spear down to dig into the ground and use the trolloc's weight and momentum to drive the head home.

Rolls:
Attack d20(11)+7= 19 / Damage 2d6(7)+4= 11

To late, the charging brute realized his mistake. Crouching low, Hanjia steadied the sharp blade of the Aiel spear against the attacking Trolloc, impaling the nightmarish beastman like a frenzied boar.

Still, Hanjia knew she was in a precarious position. Surrounded by Trollocs, each of them at least twice the weight of the young Aiel warrior and nearly all of it muscles, teeth and claws, the fight might well be her last.
If anything, it only spurred the young Maiden on. More determined than ever to leave non of the Shadowspawn alive she continued her deadly dance.

Twisting out from under the skewered ((and dead?)) Trolloc Hanjia cruelly pulls the bloody spear from the beastmans side, snarling '...defiance with the last breath' below her veil.

Her hide buckler raised high against the vicious scythe-sword, Hanjia moves to skewer second, short-legged Trolloc. Quicker than he appeared however, the ugly shadowspawn evades the deadly spear, the perceived victory bringing a cocky smile to the Trollocs ugly muzzle.

Attack:
Attack d20(3)+7= 10 / Damage d6(3)+2= 5



------------------------------​

Continued Combat:
Precluding any major changes in the scene, Hanjia will continue to dance the spears with the Trollocs for rounds 3 and 4, likely even round 5, moving and whirling about in order to deny them their advantage of numbers (flanking) and brute strenght (charges) as much as possible.
Trying to dispatch them one by one, she'll always concentrate on the one who looks to be the most severely wounded.

Some more rolls if you need them:

1. Attack d20(20)+7= 27 / confirm d20(16)+7= 23 / Damage 3d6(14)+6= 20 (nice one!)
2. Attack d20(17)+7= 24 / Damage d6(3)+2= 5
3. Attack d20(9)+7= 16 / Damage d6(5)+2= 7
 
Last edited:

Orichin

First Post
OOC: you'll find from time to time that the story doesn't quite sync up with the rules, my bookkeeping isn't sloppy, though (no attack roll was made for the AoO, it was just there for flavor). As mentioned in various d20 rulebooks, many swings and misses, feints, dodges, etc. are assumed to happen during the course of combat that won't be reflected in the rules.
 

Orichin

First Post
Hanjia:
The horn to the north sounded again, closer than before, as if marking a point awarded to the underdog.
With her gaze fixed upon the uninjured trolloc that had charged her, Hanjia watched the axe-wielding trolloc with the corner of her right eye, and the mortally wounded, face-down trolloc over the top of her veil through the corner of her left eye. On the other side of the veil, the axeman closed quickly and planted the axe in the ground where Hanjia stood only a moment earlier. Finding her dodge had placed her far too close to the other trolloc, who was quickly regaining his balance after the charge, Hanjia leapt backwards, clearing the axe haft by a foot or more and planted the toes of her right foot in the ground for a leaping sidestep to give her a few more inches from the newly-engaged trolloc.
Unfortunately, in that same instant the first trolloc unleashed a mighty backswing at Hanjia that dug deep into her hip. Pain exploded on the other side of the veil as Hanjia's trajectory changed in mid-air. As Hanjia landed she found her left leg still had the strength to support her, and drove the pain back outside the veil, where it could be controlled.


combat: The trolloc you have been attacking is dead and twitching. Trolloc3 made a move and attack action, missing with his axe. Trolloc1 recovered from his charge (ac back up) and hit once with his scythesword for 8 damage.





Al'Shain: His thoughts racing for a moment while he drew another arrow from his quiver inside the carriage, Al'Shain reflected on how he got into this mess.
"You know how to use them swords, mister?" The driver had asked him in a large town in northern Andor.
"I don't wear 'em for fashion." Al'Shain had replied.
"Tell ya what then," the driver proposed after learning Al'Shain was going all the way to Illian, "supposedly there's a couple ah bandit troupes in a few spots in the Hills of Kintara. These folks are headed there, then I'm moving on to Illian myself to make a delivery. If you'll use them swords should it be needed in the Hills, I'll take you as far as I'm going into the country of Illian."
It had seemed like a good idea, Al'Shain simply sat with the driver in the reportedly dangerous parts of the Hills, and they hadn't seen hide nor hair of any bandits...

As Al'Shain knocked his next arrow, he noticed a shift in his weight as the driver finally managed to get the team of horses to veer toward the road. Drawing his sight, Al'Shain focused his thoughts again, concentrating on the path of the arrowhead.
The forest was growing closer to the road now, before long the trollocs would have to bottleneck to triple file or so to stay on the road, or run through the forest at full speed (the ones dumb enough to try this would undoubtedly not keep up with the carriage for long).
Al'Shain's arrowhead crossed over the injured trolloc's chest as a fast moving treebranch stung the back of his neck and slapped at his helm. Al'Shain watched as his shot swaggered through the air like a drunken duck. Falling far short of the trolloc's center mass, the arrow instead plunged deep into the thick-furred knee of the charging beast. The trolloc hit the ground face-down at the speed of a horse's gallop, leaving a bloody streak in the gravel of the road.


combat: the trollocs advanced 1 square this round, placing the 4 in the lead rank 10 feet form the back of the carriage and 15 feet from Al'Shain's position. about 30 of the trollocs either are already running on the road or are making their way to the road to accomodate the bottlenecking effect of the closing forest. The driver has made his handle animal check and is back in control of the horses. The man with the crossbow failed to hit a trolloc.





Audrey:
Backpedaling again as the strange man was busy recovering from his last swing, Audrey opened herself to Saidar . The familiar, exhilirating feeling of embracing the True Source, the source of light, life, and all that is washed over her . Audrey looked at the world with new eyes, seeing, and comprehending her opponent for the first time. Not a hair'sbreadth over 5'6" the man stood, with gray eyes and light brown hair. His skin too seemed gray, not because of the color, but because somehow it seemed dead to Audrey, like lifeless flesh. Not unattractive, but not handsome, either, the man was as average to behold in his neutral-colored tunic and trousers as Audrey could imagine anyone to be.
Audrey avoided the man's third swing with ease as she surveyed the room again. The scent of stone, dust, plaster, books, and herself pervaded her nostrils. Glancing back toward the door she was making for, Audrey noticed something very important that she couldn't believe she overlooked before.
The door was supposed to open into the library, and though it had no lock, there was a knife thrust deep into the wood of the doorjam about 6 inches above the floor at such an angle that the door would have to snap the blade to open, or the dagger would need to first be removed. Looking back at the man, Audrey saw an empty dagger sheath flopping from his belt. The sheath was about 3 inches longer than the visible part of the blade jamming the door. 50 feet across the room, a window stretched from waist height nearly to the vaulted cieling of the library. Some of the windows in the tower were so thick as to be nearly unbreakable, but this one had a crack in one panel, it was perhaps 1/2 an inch thick at most, but that would hardly do Audrey any good on the 36th floor...


Combat: Audrey makes a 5-foot step toward the door and embraces, her attacker follows with a 5-foot step and makes another attack, missing.
OOC: Another check was made after Audrey embraced, as you probably guessed, it was a spot check.
 
Last edited:

Remove ads

Top