Copperheads: Betrayal and Strange Runes and Burning Dead, oh my (short update 02/12)

[arwink]

It’s the first day of Stonefast, and the Copperheads are walking along one of Thorbeck’s longer streets as the sound of merriment fills the air.

“Festive people, aren’t they,” Geoffrey comments blandly. “I thought dwarves were supposed to be dour and grim?”
“Maybe they just like to party,” Halgo says. His badger-familiar, Wraith, ambles happily in front of him with a rat in its mouth. Dangling from the rat’s ear is a leather tag bearing a small number. Jogging behind them is Yip, carrying a second rat under his arm.

“Yip caught rat real way,” he mutters occasionally. “Ran after rat on his own. Didn’t need badger-familiar to catch it for him. Yip earns barrel of dwarf-beer all on Yips own.”

No one pays much attention to him.

“So what do we start with today?” Geoffrey asks.
“Bhally and Goblins squash,” Amarin says.
“We need to decide positions for the Bhally game,” Halgo reminds them. “They’ll want to know who is what when we show up.”
“What do we need?” Geoffrey asks.
“One Heal-Caster,” Amarin announces, looking through his notebook. “They’re the player permitted to cast spells on their own team-mates.”
“Me,” Geoffrey announces.
“One Attack Caster, who can cast spells on the opposition.”
“Me,” says Halgo.
“Two Mute-runners,” Amarin says. “They can cast spells on themselves, but they’re also the only people who can make contact with the other team.”
“Blarth and Yip,” Blarth announces. “We hit hard. Blarth sledgehammer one, Yip sledgehammer two.”
“And someone who can cast spells on our goals,” Amarin announces. “They have to stay close to the goals.”
“Which is going to be you,” Halgo tells him. “Unless you’ve got something that’ll be useful in some other position.”
“Not that I can think of,” Amarin says.
“How many games do we play in a day?”
“Just one,” Amarin says. “It should be interesting.”
“We’re letting Blarth take out his frustrations by attacking the other team,” Geoffrey says. “It should be a bloodbath.”

“Is it a timed match?” Halgo asks. “Or first to score wins?”
“The first to reach three,” a gruff voice announces. “Or until the other team is annihilated.”

Ogath breaks away from a nearby group of dwarves and joins the group, the shield-mages face breaking into a wide grin. He’s dressed in dark blue robes, and holds a heavy mug of ale in one hand.

“Heard you folks had signed up to perform in the Bhally games,” he says with a smile. “Among other things.”
“Its in the name of bonding our two cultures,” Geoffrey says smoothly.
“Of course it is,” Ogath says, his smile widening. “I have to tell you, though, you’re not the favourites.”
“We weren’t really expecting to be,” Halgo says. “It’s more for the experience than anything else.”
“As you say, but I’ll put a few gold on you regardless.”
Ogath offers them a wink.
“I’ve seen the results of your handiwork on the gnolls,” he says. “I have faith.”
“You figure we’ll be the first to three?”
“I figure you’ll wipe out the other team,” Ogath explains. “You’re playing against the team sponsored by the Fellhammer clan – they’re good, but they’re mostly new players who haven’t made it into the academy teams. I figure you could wipe the floor with them without much trouble if you’re as tough as I think you are. Why don’t I show you to your starting area, and you can ask me any questions about the opposition you can think of...”

 

[Lela]

Oh, this should be fun. And brutal.

Is this from a module arwink or did you come up with all this yourself?

 

[arwink]

All of the sporting events come out of Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns (and bits I didn't write, at that), so I can claim no glory there.

Stonefast originally started as a reason to make use of the sporting rules while a bunch of priest murdering and other skullduggery went on in the background.
Instead it became the session where we spent an hour or so introducing Amarin and letting him irritate the other characters, then four hours playing dwarven football and Goblinsquash. Everyone was having fun with the festival itself, so I ditched the subplot and let them run riot for a while.

On the whole, it was a strange kind of session

 

[arwink]

The dwarven maze is hidden deep beneath the earth, a chamber hundreds of feet wide with a complex maze cut within. Yip and Blarth both pause as they enter, looking at the vast array of full seating set in place around the edges of the maze. Dwarves fill the area, a horde of bearded faces leading off into the dark recesses of the cavern.

“Lots of people watching,” Blarth says.
“A couple of thousand,” Ogath says. “All the popular games are held here – tunnel fighting, Bhally, goblinsquash.”
“Nothing like having a home-side advantage,” Geoffrey mutters.
“Set yourselves up around your goal,” Ogath reminds them. “The game starts when the balls dropped into the centre of the maze.”
“Thanks,” Geoffrey says.
With a wary look, he drops into the maze with the rest of the Copperheads and takes his position around the wide tunnel that serves as the goal.

There is a brief roar of approval as the Fellhammer team takes positions on the far side of the complex. Blarth and Yip stand ready, looking down one of the long corridors that leads towards the far side of the maze, mentally marking off the side passages that can be used to reach the ball. Halgo stands by Yip’s side, watching the faint flicker of movement at the end that shows there’s Fellhammer dwarves down there. Halgo mentally counts off the distance, figures its only a hundred and fifty feet.

Everyone breaks out into a cold sweat, listening to the sound of a thousand dwarves screaming encouragement to the opposition.

Then the sound of a gong echoes throughout the chamber, and a stone ball drops from the roof of the chamber.

Everyone seems to react at once, Halgo webbing those members of the opposition he sees as everyone else scrambles for the ball. Only Amarin seems to be immobile, the young psion standing by the goals and staring intently as he sculpts a winged construct in the air before him. He listens to the sound of combat in the distance, hears Yip let out a fearsome yell as he stuns one of the enemy players, and then the winged construct appears in the air before him. There’s a roar from the crowd, and Amarin assumes this means someone has been hurt. Another roar sounds a few seconds later, following after Blarth’s war cry and the sound of a dwarf screaming in pain.

The construct appears in the air before Amarin, a shimmering form shaped like a winged kobold.

“Fly up, and look for a ball,” Amarin thinks, forcing his thoughts onto the construct. “Then go get it.”

The construct shoots off to obey, and Amarin manifests spider climb and scales the goals to get an overview of the playing field. He sees the flying construct shoot down over Yip’s head, scooping up the ball before taking to the air. A billowing cloud of mist fills the cavern, a dwarven wizard grinning confidently from the far side. Yip smiles back, diving through the obscuring cloud to lay the wizard low with a single blow to the head. Halgo is manifesting strangely colored lights that render the opposition slack-jawed and awestruck, and Geoffrey is trailing behind the group with a grin on his face.

There is little opposition as the construct flies through the goals.

“I think we have a tactic,” Amarin thinks to himself with a smile. He manifests a second winged construct, and has it in place at the central chamber by the time the second ball comes into play. In the distance, he can hear Yip and Blarth screaming as they scramble for opponents.

 

[Lela]

I admit, this is very cool. I'd get the book if I ever thought there'd be a point I'd use it. I'm tempted nonetheless.

Did you write part of it arwink? Or did I misread?

 

[arwink]

I did a few locations for TFT. Most of the truly cool stuff in the book comes from the ENworld community at large

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Copperheads! Copperheads! They're so cool!
They always win that is the rule!
If Yip doesn't stun 'em, Blarth will smash!
Then they'll win and get the cash!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Copperheads!

 

[arwink]

Don't encourage them.

Khynal's already had the bright idea of Yip-shapped constructs in cheerleader outfits, standing along the sidelines as fights progress.

Giving them something to chant will only make things worse...

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Mwahahahahahahahaaaaa...!

Although I can imagine that someone that stood up and said "Gimme a C! Gimme a O!" would be fairly unpopular.

 

[arwink]

“We could have won on points,” Amarin protests, trying to be heard over the sound of several singing dwarves that are trying to harmonize with Yip and Blarth.
“I know,” Geoffrey says calmly, sipping at a mug of ale. In the corner, Halgo and Ogath are talking about the game as the Sheildmage enthusiastically recounts several of the groups triumphant moments.
“Then why did we try to wipe them out?”
“There wasn’t any try,” Geoffrey reminds him. “Blarth and Yip wiped them out before they could get near the ball.”
“But it’s unsporting,” Amarin says, appealing to the priests sense of fairness. “We didn’t need to over-power them – we could out-run them. I don’t think these people have had to deal with constructs before – they don’t have much to counter them flying.”
“You’re probably right, but there’s no need to let them know that now. You scored the first goal, and we know the tactic works. We should keep it in reserve for when we play a tougher team tomorrow.”
“I suppose,” Amarin says. His face is uncertain.
“Trust me,” Geoffrey says, raising his glass to the young scholar. “It’s a sound plan. I’ve studied battlefield tactics, and they apply to this game in much the same way they do the battlefield.”

He pauses, frowning slightly.

“Without the killing, of course. What have we got on tomorrow?”

Amarin looks at his notebook. “You and Blarth are in the sword lists, and we move to the next round of the Bhal’Meral tournament and goblinsquash. And Ogath and his clan want us to celebrate with them for the duration of the festival.”
“Only fair,” Geoffrey says with a shrug. “He won a lot of money on our game.”

Ogath’s generosity extends beyond a simple meal; the dwarf gifting his newfound friends with ornately crafted daggers at the close of the meal. Each of the simple weapons is gilded in silver, and bares Ogath’s own rune as the craftsman’s mark. More intriguing are the veins of mithril that run through the pommels of the weapons, the glittering metal reflecting a silver-white sheen when held up to the light.

AS the festival progresses, the Copperheads draw a great deal of interest from the dwarven locals. Ogath and his clansmen seem to follow the group everywhere, an impromptu cheering squad that is vocally supportive of every move the group makes. While the other dwarves are initially hesitant to support the outlanders, the groups successes quickly draw attention.

The Copperheads prove a fair hand in the first round of Goblinsquash, defeating their opponents in the first match through a combination of raw enthusiasm and Blarth’s superior strength. Although they are defeated in the second round, the dwarves prove greatly impressed by the groups performance.

“Goblinsquash is a game of finesse and skill,” Ogath explains proudly. “It takes a rare skill for outsiders to win against even the most novice of dwarven teams.”

Geoffrey and Blarth prove adept in the melee lists, Geoffrey’s skill with the mace carrying him to final twelve contestants while Blarth’s training earns him a win. Ogath and his clansmen are in attendance for the finals, and their roars echo throughout the chamber as the half-orc is declared the winner.

Yip takes an early lead in the Tunnel Run, his kobold scamper easily out-distancing the short-limbed dwarves. For all his pace, he is quickly regulated to last place when he reaches the first obstacle – a rocky outcropping that must be climbed to continue with the race. The frantic kobold scrambles at the base of the climb for several minutes before the closest competitor catches up with him, and all the dwarves offer him a roar of encouragement as they smoothly scale the outcropping. Yip eventually withdraws from the race in frustration once even the slowest of dwarves have overtaken him, although his good cheer in the face of the dwarves mocking earns him several pints of ale as the evenings celebration wear on.

The kobold then proceeds to re-claim some of his lost dignity by placing fifth in the tunnel-fighting melee, his speed and agility in the narrow tunnels giving him an edge over the slower dwarves, and his skill at the arts of subterranean ambush letting him defeat many competitors with more skill than himself.

Geoffrey then places highly in the chess competition, defeating three opponents before he faces someone with a greater understanding of the game than himself. Once again, dwarves congratulate him on his fine performance against an obviously superior foe.

“It’s rare for an outsider to do so well against a dwarf,” he’s told, and everyone begins to wonder if perhaps this will be the refrain of the festival. Then he remembers the results of the Bhally matches, and the young cleric smiles. The dynamic team of Blarth and Yip, each enhanced by Geoffrey’s spells, have annihilated all opposition they’ve faced after Halgo has distracted them with spells and illusions. Amarin has grumbled, pointing out the needlessness of the violence, but Geoffrey can’t help but savour every victory as it comes.

The time would come to finesse, he knows, and Ogath will let them know when that is.

“The Copperheads against the Laughing Stones,” Ogath says, leaning over his tankard of ale as they celebrate yet another victory in the Bhal’Meral arena. “The outlanders against the greatest Bhally team Thorbeck has seen in the last fifty years. Ye’ve done well, lads, make no mistake, but ye’d best find some kind of plan before tomorrow’s game. Ye have made it to the finals on brute force and power, but the Laughing Stones aren’t likely to be taken down anywhere as easily. Ye’ll be needin’ goal’s in the mornin’, three of them, if’n you want to win.”

Geoffrey looks at Amarin and winks.

“I think we’ve still got a trick or two up our sleeve.”