Eaglesford Campaign: "Strange Lights"

[Videssian]

Torsten thinks back on his recent past.. the events which had so changed his life and caused him to end up the company of this diverse group of folk..



They had come with overwhelming force, in the middle of the night, using their huge
greatswords like threshing scythes, cutting down groggy soldiers like ripe wheat. They
had used magic; they had appeared inside the stockade walls, everywhere at once. The
battle, such as it was, was decided in a few moments.

You came to the next morning, tended by an elvish matriarch of Morwyn, only one of her
gentle eyes visible behind her own bandages. Around her lay the survivors of the giantish
raid, including the Captain. The Captain's face was a mask of grief, anger, and shame.
He was unwounded. You, too, felt the shame of it.

The next day, the Captain brought the survivors together. His words were brief,
but charged with rightous anger. We will not be taken so easily, he said. We will
not be defeated by these ogres, he said. We will make them pay, he said.

Days later, you and your fellow troops were overlooking a cave, deep in the north
country, far from the battle lines. The Captain had lead you here; no Legionnaire
general had given the order. This was the Captain's fight, not some pansy Empire
general's. The generals had ignored them, the Captain said, and now things had to be
taken into our own hands.

Your troop starts the raid early, before dawn....the Captain gives the order, and
you attack. The cave's defence is light, and taken unawares. Only after a string of
successes do you realize that you are raiding a cave that giantish families
(women and children) have been hidden. There are no giantish warriors here. This is not
a military victory; this is a punative slaughter.

The women and children fought bravely, but your troop over came them. You (along with
the others) are ordered to "leave no survivors"; that would include murdering
those that had surrendered. Most of the troops do just that, their hatred and anger
filling them. Some of your fellow brothers-in-arms even smiled beautifically as they
covered themesleves and the dry ground with giant gore.

There was a small gianish child laying curled at your feet. She was crying, and holding a
ragged cloth doll beneath her. You are angry at the giants, to be sure.....you
know them to be a cruel and viscious race...they are winning this war, and they
slaughtered your brothers-in-arms.....but you could not bring yourself to do it. For
some reason, you put away your weapon, loisted the child (she's big!!), and slipped
out of the cave. The girl-child offered no resistance.

You headed back to the the place of your own childhood - your parent's farm. "The
captain will have noticed my absence", you mumble to the child in your arms, "but
will he assume that I was ambushed and thus dead? Or will he consider me a deserter?

"Or even worse, did he see me take the giant child and so declare me an enemy?"

Other dark thoughts skitter across your mind as you travel. It's a long journey;
It's mid-July before you reach your father's home. It has changed quite a bit...but
then again, so have you.

It doesn't take long to convince your parents to take in the Giantish child. You hope
that years forward, if the child can be raised with kindness, perhaps he will not
have the savagery of his kin. Your mother agrees - but your Uncle does not. Still, you
were able to pacify him with tales and stories from the north country. Besides, you said,
work that requires teams of oxen to do would be light work for an adult giant.....

"If we can hide her for long enough." mutters your uncle.

 

[Nail]

Good stuff, Videssian!

Torsten will be a fun character to watch.

For the gentle Reader: We've had a bit of a "summer vacation" for this group for the last 6 weeks. Six Weeks of no gaming! Aack!! This Thursday we'll stop that horrifying trend.

Currently the party is at Greystone's....Gina's notes haven't quite caught up to that point....and at a significant decision point. Do they check on their home town of Eaglesford, which would mean dealing with the besieged farmers and the legionaires, or do they skip it and move directly to Alderslook, hoping to take advantage of the orc's disarray?

Alderslook holds the promise of an end to their self-accepted quest of returning the kobold's dragon idol. Eaglesford would mean more battles with orcish raiders and their druidic Animal Masters. Which to choose?

<DM shrug> I dunno which they'll take. Only 3 days to prep!

 

[Gina]

Currently the party is at Greystone's....Gina's notes haven't quite caught up to that point....and at a significant decision point. Do they check on their home town of Eaglesford, which would mean dealing with the besieged farmers and the legionaires, or do they skip it and move directly to Alderslook, hoping to take advantage of the orc's disarray?

Oh, gee...just looked at where I left off...I do have more notes done than that, just forgot to post them (d'oh!).

Guess I should take a look then....(wanders off to look for her notes file.....)

 

[Nail]

Oh, you do? Great! Thanks!!

I'm doing my best to "read up" and get back in the game. We missed all of July, right? That one shot we did in the middle there has kinda confused me. For awhile I was thinking "....and then mephit will.....oh, wait a minute: wrong PCs!"

 

[Gina]

August 4th
Morning came and we took to the road again.

As we traveled, we noticed that all of the farms we passed were abandoned. In some fields crops grew, in others they had been burned. Some farmhouses stood, some were burned to the ground. All in all, it was most distressing. I become more and more worried about winter and how the people will feed themselves if there is no harvest this year.

As we moved on we spotted a scattered group of orcs. They seemed to see us as well, becoming more alert preparing to rush us.

I decided that this was a perfect time to try a spell I have recently mastered. I told the others to stand back and cast Spike Growth. Suddenly, as the orcs began to rush us, they discovered that they were slowed considerably by the intense pain in their legs and feet as they trod upon the spikes.

Seeing what the orcs were experiencing, Torsten and Kytum-up decided to stay back and watch. The orcs never even reached us in this battle, finding themselves injured before they could get to us. Tieran caught several with a web/thunder ball combination while the rest were picked off by arrows and lightning.

We moved on, after the orcs were dealt with and finally found ourselves crossing the stream that marks the edge of the Eaglesford area. Soon we came upon the path to Graystone’s new grove. Near the road, his bear crouched, waiting to attack any intruder.

Luckily, he recognized us and led us to the small hut in the grove. The door was closed and strangely colored smoke drifting out of the chimney alerted us to Hara’s continued presence there. From the look of the area, Hara has pretty much taken over the hut, leaving Graystone to the outdoors, though there is another hut being built on the other side of the grove.

We introduced Torsten to Graystone. He told Graystone about his dilemma and that the giants are winning in the North. Graystone seemed surprised that things were going as badly as Torsten indicated.

Graystone informed us that Reena is in town, helping with the defense. He also told us that the orcs recently raided the keep itself. They stole all of the healing potions Mrs. Wiggins had stored and did a great deal of damage to the stores, as well as killing several guards. The mill also burned down in this raid.

We told Graystone about the hiding place built under the Longwood’s farm. He was very suspicious about this, he knew that things were getting bad, but that indicates to him that things are much worse than he thought. He went on to say that when he last visited Kaleal Oakenstaff he was rather taken aback with how badly things were going generally, in the north. He had not realized, for instance, how many giant raids there had been.....nor how many of these giants are apparently spell casters.

"And now, with all the orc trouble around here.....although you all seem well-equipped to fight the orcs here in Eaglesford. Your victories seem easy, as you tell them. Perhaps you should stay nearby to help defend your hometown."

Our victories over the Orcs have not been easy exactly, though we have developed better tactics for dealing with them as we learned how they tend to attack. We also have found that it is better to engage them in small groups, separating them if possible, rather than taking them on in groups. We have also gotten extremely lucky.

The hidey holes are very troubling to us as well, the fact that the one under the Longwood farm has been in use is especially troubling. Since there was a wall built in Eaglesford, possibly by the same spellcaster who put up the stockade at the Longwood's, there is likely a similar bolt-hole in Eaglesford. My father and brother might know if there is such a place, I told Graystone.

I also mentioned that Moira thought that the Giants had recently become better organized as well as my own observation that the legions seem to be more sparse than before. In Three Oaks, there were very young soldiers and very old ones, but few in between. The legions we met on the road were ill-prepared to deal with the orcs, most being killed, though it seems that they may be taking officers and spell-casters prisoner (only evidence of
this is the incident where the captain and the wizard were gone, carried off).

Torsten interjected a comment that it is possible that the bolt-holes are being used by the officers and wizards of the Legions, that they would save themselves and leave their troops to die at the end of Orcish spears. I hope that is not true, but given other things he has told us, I cannot deny that it might be true.

Staying nearby is an option, but I do believe that it is important to finish the tests. The orcs are sweeping territory faster than we thought they would and managing to do a lot of damage in the process. I believe that the end of the tests will find us in a better place to help out on a broader scale. Plus, now the orcs are spread out, if they range from Keproc to Alder's Look. We may never have a better chance to get back in.

As it stands now, the Orcs will win, unless we can find an advantage. The tests may give us that. If they do not, well, eventually, the second orcish tribe will join the battle. We cannot hold out forever against them. I seriously doubt that there is even enough of a food store to last through winter with the farms abandoned. Before the end of winter, I think that either the Orcs will be defeated or we will.

In the morning, we will talk again and decide what action we should take. Thaile is distracted, she seems as if something is weighing heavy on her mind, but then, we all have ponderous thoughts these days. The lives of so many may hinge on our actions, or not. At this point, we cannot be sure of anything.

I miss being sure of what is right.

 

[Nail]

For those keeping score at home: The second orcish tribe Rowan writes about is called "Grinning Death" in orcish.

Don't they sound friendly?

They're rumored to be camped in The Garesh, a narrow gap in the Easthills called by the locals "Cursed by Korak". According to Greystone, the tribe probably is lead by a necromancer or two, and has a "Render".

No word yet on what a "Render" is.....

So far the PCs have only been playing with the Bloody Spear tribe of orcs. They've played "cat's cradle", "hopscotch", "tag",...they've even squeezed in a quick game of "capture the flag" with these playful Bloody Spear guys.

("flag" -- "farmer's wife"....ahhh, what's the difference....)

 

[Gina]

So far the PCs have only been playing with the Flaming Spear tribe of orcs. They've played "cat's cradle", "hopscotch", "tag",...they've even squeezed in a quick game of "capture the flag" with these playful Flaming Spear guys.

("flag" -- "farmer's wife"....ahhh, what's the difference....)

Um....Nail?

According to my notes, the Orcish tribe is called the "Bloody Spear".

Now who the heck are these Flaming Spear guys?

 

[Nail]

Um....Nail?

According to my notes, the Orcish tribe is called the "Bloody Spear".

Now who the heck are these Flaming Spear guys?

Crap. Fixed.

.....got the "Grinning Death" part right, though.

 

[DrSpunj]

Just thought I'd post (for those that are lurking) that last Wednesday's session brought another death. Though Rowan is high enough level to cast Reincarnate now, there were...difficulties...with that approach this time around.

You'll have to wait for the Story Hour update for more specifics as I was forced to leave the room for a time.

Thanks!

DrSpunj

 

[Nail]

....the really "kicker" was: this death was not of some trivial death. It significantly shifts the direction of the campaign. Not that any PC death is insignificant (example: Riva's death sucked too.), but that with this character gone, the entire gaming experience and flow of events will be different.

Moreover, the "death-causing bad guy" very nearly completely succeeded in his plans....something I had not expected to happen. (Aww, come on you other DMs out there: do you ever really expect your bad guys to succeed?) Now that we've finished session #39, I'll have to go back and figure out how my NPCs will react to the almost complete success.

Cool!