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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flynn" data-source="post: 3971419" data-attributes="member: 1836">Session Notes: January 2nd, 2008Good Morning, All:The Holidays always impact my gaming schedule in some form or another, and this year was no different. We did not game on Wednesday evening, Dec 26th, but we were finally able to game again last night (Jan 2nd).The Synopsis:After reviewing the map they discovered among the goblins they had slain, the party voted almost unanimously to return to Trader's Point to help the valefolk defend themselves against the goblin raiders. Approaching Captain Azarius of the Blue Shields, who was leading the caravan south, the Warlord Andrus played upon the Captain's sympathies towards their homeland of Synovia and picked up fifteen mercenaries at a very reasonable rate. Taking these warriors, the party made haste to return to Trader's Point before the goblin hordes could spring their attack on the "tent city" as a diversion for their bigger assault on the Vale of the Lady itself.When they arrived, the party met with Lieutenant Gareth, the current de facto leader of the Valefolk defenders that protected the mostly evacuated Trader's Point. Andrus and his friends informed Gareth of the intentions of the goblins, pointing out that the plan's dual layered approach to conquering the Vale through the use of such diversionary tactics was beyond the normal range of goblin strategists, and thus the goblins were likely to have some external assistance.While Andrus, Yngvar (the dwarven stonecutter) and Chrysander (the scholar-mage) stayed in the tent city to set up distractions and fortifications, both Anzjin (the elven monk) and Calyt (the sneaky rogue) led a small scouting party in search of the goblin forces that were gathering in the dark of night. The elf's innate connection with nature served the scouts in good stead, and they were able to spy upon the gathering goblin horde as they prepped to attack Trader's Point. The scouts determined that a human bandit chief named Ekarus the Grey and an orcish shaman Korgath, along with the shaman's bear companion, were leading the goblins into battle, and so swiftly bore the news back to the defenders in Trader's Point.At dawn, the goblin hordes attacked, and the outnumbered defenders fought desperately to defend themselves from the attacking forces. Yngvar drew more than his fair share of attention from the attackers, but held a position practically by himself throughout much of the massive battle. Calyt displayed some of his new control over magic as he summoned arcane shadows to obscure the vision of the goblin forces, and used his stealth to strike hard against the goblins. Chrysander started the battle pretending to enact a great ritual to curse the goblins, drawing the attentions of the main body of forces to a position where the mercenaries and other defenders could strike from flanking positions. Thereafter, Chrysander resorted to his own magical talents, using arcane webs to entangle many foes over the course of the battle. The elven monk Anzjin slew many goblins in the beginning of the battle, before his valorous actions drew the attentions of the goblin commanders and he was swamped thereafter by small bands of goblins. The Warlord Andrus directed the defending forces, issues orders to be executed in a manner that ultimately proved quite effective. The battle waged back and forth, before the morale of the goblins finally broke and the raiders retreated, fleeing the Battle of Trader's Point with about half their number still intact.The defenders quickly looted the bodies of their fallen foes, slaughtering any goblins they found wounded and incapacitated, and began to clean up after the battle. The next day, Trader's Point received word that, due to the early warning given by the party, the Vale of the Lady successfully defended themselves and routed the goblins with minimal loss of life. The High Priestess of the Vale, the nominal leader of the Valefolk, recognized the efforts of the party, awarding them recognition as Honorary Defenders of the Vale, and given them tokens of recognition such as fine articles of clothing and potions of healing, a rarity indeed.The party also learned that goblin prisoners interrogated from the Vale assault that the original assault plans had come from a wandering cyclops named Abrontes, thus leading the party to speculate on the nature of the Curse. Andrus considered the point that some agency perhaps knew ahead of time about the Curse itself, and has set a number of plans in motion. He reasoned that Veridia the Red had been hired by this unknown agency (be it an individual or a group) to bring about the Curse, and that Abrontes had managed to get Ekarus the Grey and the goblin forces involved in this plan. He could see that a larger picture was forming, but as yet, there wasn't enough information to bring it entirely into focus.In addition, the party's reputation increased, each earning nicknames as befitting their contribution in the Battle of Trader's Point. Andrus became known as the Warlord Phaetren of Trader's Point, giving formality to his informal title. His dwarven comrade Yngvar earned the name "Stonewall" for his contributions to the defenses as well as his prowess on the battlefield. The rogue came to be called Calyt the Shade for his arcane mastery of shadows and his stealthy prowess displayed over the course of the battle. Chrysander earned his new mastery of magic in the eyes of the public, as they began to call him by the title Magus. Anzjin the Stave was recognized for the incredible martial talent he displayed in the beginning of the battle.Resting in Trader's Point, the party spent over a week and a half recovering from their wounds. After ten days, all but Magus Chrysander had fully recovered. The Magus, feeling the need to be quickly healed so that the party could return to Synovia, took it upon himself to visit the High Priestess of the Lady, seeking her greater magical healing prowess in possible exchange for a relic he had in his possession...And that's where the session ended...Commentary:We had a great time with this session. The players chose to return to Trader's Point instead of continuing forward, so they quickly returned with mercenaries in tow and began to set about proper actions for defending the trading post/market that was Trader's Point. I really liked the way they jumped into different areas, exercising their creativity in a way I have rarely seen in D20 games. Either it is the freedom of the system or the freedom with which I am running this particular campaign, but either way, I am pleased to see this level of RP freedom going on.I did RP out the scouting of the enemy base a bit, to allow the players to learn that Ekarus the Grey, the bandit chief that had slain a few of them in a TPK during a One Shot before the campaign started, would be leading the goblins. Seeing as how some of the players already knew of Ekarus the Grey from that playtest, I felt it was a great point to introduce a nice recurring villain for a future adventure, and create a sense of continuity with the world.As they made their preparations and we covered the results of each, I asked them if they wanted to play the battle out under the normal combat rules, where the PCs could control the allies in a big all-out brawl, or if they wanted to try the Mass Battle rules from the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition. They were all over using the Mass Battle rules, especially once they learned how each of them could be a contributing member to the success of a round.The Mass Battle rules were great, although I did feel that they were rather deadly to the heroes involved. Despite that fact, the players seemed to really like the rules, particularly because of how they were able to be involved in a mass combat. Typically, the options for action are limited to the characters' combat and arcane skills, but I did allow a few well-thought out substitutions originating from the suggestions of the players: Chrysander started the combat using a Knowledge(Rituals) skill to serve as the big distraction in the beginning, and later on, Calyt used his Stealth to attempt sneaky back-stab maneuvering and that kind of thing. I thought the suggestions fit the characters and the battle very well, and went with them. I think that helped energize the players in terms of their participation, and added a lot of flavor to the scenario. All in all, most of the party came out heavily wounded, but felt the system works very well. Seeing this small scenario as a test bed, Andrus in particular is definitely looking forward to future scenarios that involve mass battles as it builds heavily on his character concept.The revelations that the group came up with after hearing about Abrontes the Cyclops started showing some of the overall structure of the starting campaign elements, and surprised me as much as it pleased me to hear them working through the elements. It does indicate that I am being successful in presenting my campaign elements early on and well enough to form a good picture, and that is a cool thing. I used to have a habit of planting seeds early that were not revealed until after the first or second year Real Time of the campaign. This campaign is giving me the chance to try the big reveal sooner and still keep the game moving forward.Chrysander's decision to approach the High Priestes of the Lady of the Vale for Greater Healing (as Savage Worlds has a separate magical healing power that heals after the "golden hour" after a wound is taken) will allow me to introduce the next adventure to the party in the form of the quest she gives him in exchange for the healing she will give. The players like that as the source of the next adventure, and appear to appreciate the adventure hooks I have given them so far for things to do afterwards. So, we'll see what happens next week, as we resolve the scene with the High Priestess as our first scene in the next session.Wish Them Luck,Flynn</blockquote>

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