Ep. I Troubles in Haranshire

[Son_of_Thunder]

After reading Serevin's Night Below I had to post mine.

Some time ago on RPG.net people posted movie trailers to games. So that's what I'll start with, a trailer.

Opening Scene:

Birds are singing in the gently flowing wind. Leaves are beginning to fall. The ground is dappled from beams of light filtering through the trees.

A group of six people are enjoying the day as they walk a well-worn path. The leader, an elf in studded leather armor looks up and spots a group of farmers ahead near a copse of trees.

Ominous, deep, low music begins to play.

“Hi friend”, the lead farmer says, extending his hand in greeting. Close-up of the other farmer’s hands. They grip the hilts of weapons hidden in a cart and in bundles of branches.

Music begins to crescendo.

Farmers draw closer to the small group.

Music stop instantly to hear the creak of bows being drawn back by men hidden in the woods.

Screen goes dark as music returns with a thunder.

Scenes flash upon the screen. The elf draws an arrow and fires. Somewhere underground, a dwarf with a flail crushes a man. A human in blood stained armor pleads with a god to close the wounds of the dwarf. A gnome’s hands rapidly change colors as he utters words in an arcane tongue. And a half-elf sings a war chant as a mob of orcs rush over a small rise.

Music stops, silence, screen goes dark. A low moaning wind is heard as the following words appear on the screen and a deep male voice reads:

Night Below
Episode One: Troubles in Haranshire
A Jerry Bruckheimer Film

Followed by:

Final Image: An underground alien city lit by an eerie green glow, water everywhere, a tentacled horror swimming rapidly towards the watcher, followed by maniacal laughter that slowly fades.

 

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

Nice.

 

[Seravin]

Nice.

ditto.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Episode One: Troubles in Haranshire

It’s a cool autumn day in the Border Marches. In a small shire, largely untouched by the troubles of the recent wars, a small group of hired guards head toward the town of Thurmaster. They are to deliver a small coffer to one Tauster, wizard of no significance.

The man in the lead is elven, lean and quiet, rarely joining in on his companion’s conversation. The elf has black hair and deep green eyes. Girding his torso is brown studded leather armor, crafted to stop blows yet allowing a great deal of freedom. With bow in hand he stalks quietly, eyes constantly watching.

“Celeborn, are we there yet?”

The elf smiles as he looks at the dwarf.

Rhegar looks up at Celeborn from underneath his helmet. Hair and eyes of brown, skin deeply tanned and heavily muscled, Rhegar clanked along behind the elf. A case of javelins poked over his right shoulder. He wore mail of scale while a serviceable heavy flail hung from his girdle.

“We’ll be in Milborne shortly Rhegar. Just have patience”, Celeborn replied.

“Hrmph, patience. That’s for wizards and elves”, Rhegar said.

Celeborn simply smiled at the dwarf’s attempt at humor, but Seebo took the bait.

“Hey, I resemble that remark”, joked the gnome.

Seebo’s clothing is nondescript brown, serviceable and warm. His eyes are a merry blue and hair of auburn. His face looked like a craftsman had molded it from rich brown soil, fine boned and expressive. A small dagger hung at his waist while a crossbow was slung over his left shoulder. Small pouches with interesting smelling material were tied to his belt alongside the dagger.

“Patience is a virtue taught by Cora”, the human said. “Patience can withstand siege and weaken your enemy.”

“Oh, sure it can”, said Rhegar. “But a more direct approach has its appeal too.” he said patting his flail.

“True enough”, came the reply.

Therick is a devoted follower of Cora, the Warrior Maiden. Armored in scalemail and shield and ably wielding sword, Therick is a stout and steady ally.

Bringing up the rearguard is Severus and Keth. Both are tall, lean and fair of hair and complexion. They are brothers, half-brothers really because Keth is half-elf while Severus is full elf. Both wore supple leather armor and bows slung on their shoulders. They converse quietly in elven, leading a mule that’s packing a chest they are to deliver.

The six were contracted by the merchant Meerthaen in Teagal to deliver a small coffer of goods to a man named Tauster in the domain of Count Lothar Parlfray.

After several days of uneventful traveling they were finally within the borders of Haranshire. The road curved northeast and, judging by the map they were given, just a few miles south of the Eelhold, a man made lake.

Looking ahead they see that the road will pass through a small copse of trees. It’s a beautiful day in the shire. A cool wind is blowing through the trees and birds sing in the tops. Autumn is coming as the leaves are starting to change and fall. They walk into the shade of the trees as the sun dapples the trail.

Celeborn looked up to see a group of farmers coming from the opposite direction, four in total. One was leading, two pulling a cart, while the last has a bundle of sticks high on his shoulders. “Hi friend”, the leader said. All four wore tired expressions on their faces, signs of working a hard day.

“Hello”, said Seebo, “where are you headed?”

The leader put on a tired smile and said, “Home.”

As the farmers drew near, Celeborn noticed an odd sight. The three men behind the leader had their hands on the hilts of weapons concealed in the cart and amongst the branches of the bundled wood.

“Hands away from those weapons now”, Celeborn said.

The men seemed startled and their facial expressions gave them away. Instantly the leader’s face turned ugly.

“Get the gnome”, he yelled.

Arrows flew from the trees ahead, one grazing Keth’s leg. The men drew their weapons and moved to attack. Celeborn, already having an arrow on the string, pulled back and loosed at the leader, striking him in the right breast. Hissing in pain the leader grabbed a club from the cart and charged the elf.

Celeborn sidestepped the charge and drew another arrow. Therick drew his sword and intoned an invocation. Rhegar hefted his flail and swung it at the leader impacting right above the left hip. The leader went down, never to rise again. Seebo chanted arcane words while throwing sand into the air. The three bandit’s eyes closed and they fell to the ground asleep. The archers in the woods broke and ran after seeing the ease with which their fellows were dealt with.

Celeborn glanced at the brothers to see if they were safe. Keth was clutching his thigh where the arrow had grazed it. Severus had drawn his short sword and stood guard by the mule while intently scanning the terrain for more enemies.

“Come here Keth, let me tend to your wound”, Therick said. He pulled some bandages and a foul smelling poultice out of his pack. Working quickly Therick cleaned and bound the half-elf’s wound.

“Why were they after me?” Seebo said, worry in his eyes. “You’d think they’d be after the coffer.”

“Don’t know”, said Rhegar turning toward the sleeping men, “but we’re going to find out.”

Celeborn went into the woods to find out what happened with the archers. He returned a short while later saying that their tracks went to the southeast into a large forest.

“I don’t believe we should follow them”, said Celeborn.

“Agreed”, said Therick, “let’s find out what we can from these fellows.”

The bandits were awakened by slaps. It didn’t take anything but threats to get them to speak. They were simply hired by the man the group had killed to “put an end to witchery and sorcerer’s ways”, as they put it.

“We’ll take them to the local authorities in Milborne”, said Therick.

They bound the hands of the men and marched them towards the small hamlet of Milborne.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Tpk

We had a TPK.

I won't post the gory details. <spoiler alert> During the attempted abduction along the river I rolled and confirmed three crits by bandits with battle-axes. Which equalled three dead pc's right off the bat. The other pc's refused to surrender and basically forced Ranchefus to kill them. Which was ok, the party wanted to start fresh.

Look for an update with a new party.

 

[Seravin]

Bummer about the kill. Good luck with the new group. I look forward to the accounts.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

update soon to follow.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

A new beginning

The Heretics are back in Haranshire.

My brother is playing a human fighter specialized in footman's pick and a gnome thief. His brother-in-law is playing a human fighter and elven wizard. I, as the DM, also have an elven cleric of Ehlonna to travel with them.

The party is all around 4th level as they've gone through Book I before. They're all part of the standing army of Furyondy. All saw action at the tail end of the Greyhawk Wars. They're ordered by their superiors to travel to a small shire to investigate some 'queer disappearances'.

The party travels from the east of Haranshire and are in the Howler's Moor area when they have their 1st encounter. I had a pack of eight death dogs be heard before they're spotted. I tried to describe the howling as very 'peculiar and unsettling'. The party dismounts on high ground figuring they'd see the pack coming, and they did. These coal black mastiffs come charging across this desolate hilly region.

You know that scene in The Two Towers where Legolas is shooting the worg riders? That's how it was kind of here. The gnome thief and elven cleric brought down three of the dogs with their bows before melee. The fight was then on with the horses scattering and the character's fighting for their lives. The elven cleric failed his save vs poison after being bitten but he survived.

My brother's human fighter with his pick just did not miss this combat. And he rolled very well for damage as well. The fight was over with most wounded but the cleric the only serious one. The player's took a completely different path than I expected and decided to track the dogs to their lair. The thief and cleric both had the tracking NWP and they both made their rolls.

They tracked the pack back to an abandoned mine where the thief snuck in and saw a human in chain mail armour sitting at a rickety desk reading some scrolls. Lying at his feet were two more death dogs. The party decided on a diversion, ambush type attack. They called him out to parley but Ranchefus was having none of that. He was overconfident and he and his two mutts were put down quickly. My brother's pick fighter critted the alpha male in the first round.

The party finds the letters that Ranchefus was reading and how an unknown source was expecting the next shipment of slaves in one week. That's where we ended for the evening.

Much fun was had by all and I'm really excited to get back into this game.