seasong's Light Against The Dark (FEB 06)

[seasong]

Okay, so this is the scary part for me . Here's the Theralis web page. Still very much a work-in-progress - I haven't even uploaded a map!

It's scary, because I'm not running pure D&D - I'm using alternate hit points, classes, and weapon proficiencies, to name the big changes. And the spell casting is different, although the spells are basically the same.

I know there are purists out there who won't enjoy the story knowing that we're not playing the same way you are, but I can't really help that.

Anyway, commentary welcome.

Character sheets will be put up a little ways into Chapter One, so you can see what hellions the players gave me.

 

[seasong]

For some reason, this one was a lot harder for me to write. I've gone ahead and written it "sucky", so we can get past it and on to the good stuff.

You'll also note that I put it all in one big post, instead of two. My next story update shall be the beginnings of Chapter One.

PROLOGUE
Tangled Threads

Merideth
A month in, and she was already in trouble. If she'd known how registration worked, she'd maybe have done things differently, but now...

When a person is born, their full name (such as Merideth of Southbottom) is written on a page. All of the pages for a particular year are gathered up and kept. Fifteen years later, they are used for the roll call to Service.

There was no Merideth of Northwood.

Now she sat in a small, locked room along with a handful of others who had tried to represent themselves fraudulently. No one spoke - they were all to busy trying to be invisible. She wondered, briefly, if the others felt the same deep shame she felt. Probably not... they looked like they came from better families than she did.

Finally, the captain, a tall woman with silvering black hair, stepped into the room and called her "name". They walked in silence to a small office. The desk was sharply scented pine, hand-polished and well constructed. The rest of the room wasa violent clutter, filled with naming lists, maps, and other records of a city gone soft.

There was no other chair than the one the captain sat in behind the desk, so Merideth stood.

The captain sighed, "Is Merideth your real name, or also a lie?"

The words, though soft, stung. Merideth bit back hot tears and anger, "It's real. My name... it's Merideth of Soutbottom."

There, it was out. She was a backwood servant, the only child of clothes washers to the second class rich.

The captain looked at her, no pity evident, "I suspected. Your former master is a fairly well-known healer, and I was, quite by coincidence, keeping an eye out in the rolls for his apprentice when she came through. Imagine my surprise when, after your mentor's glowing praise of her, she completely failed to register for Service. And then, topping it off, there is the matter of this fraudulent Merideth of Northwood, who does not seem to exist anywhere in the rolls."

A hefty sigh from the captain, "You have wasted a lot of my hours for the sake of your pride. If we did not need a healer at the northeast pass, I would put you in the most god-forsaken duty I could find!"

Merideth shrank, but the captain seemed done yelling. She continued, "As it is, we do need you in the northeast pass. But I will be keeping an eye on you. I don't care what kind of a healer you are, we don't need liars for soldiers. I've assigned a shieldman to escort you up there, so you can waste some of his hours. I don't want the Southbottom girl disappearing on me again."

And that was that. No punishment, but Merideth didn't feel like she'd escaped anything.

The northeast pass beckoned, and she went.

Athan
A month into training, and Athan was the hero of his group of trainees. Like some young hero, stepped out of myth, he consistently excelled in athletics, and rapidly became well feared for his accuracy and unsettling distance with the spear.

At the two month mark, his training ended, and he went to be assigned. There was never any real question - he was assigned to the rich northern valleys because they liked him, and he was assigned to a pass because he was heroic.

The northeast pass beckoned, and he went.

Greppa
Greppa's training near Tartwater was harsh and gruelling for the slender ellini. Still, he did well enough at it, and quickly got assigned as a scout - an odd choice for a spell caster, perhaps, but Greppa was naturally stealthy from years of sneaking peeks in Hurath's library, or just sneaking out.

He was not needed anywhere in particularly, but he wanted to see the north a bit, and so his captain pulled a few strings and got Greppa sent to a pass north of Theralis.

The northeast pass beckoned, and he went.

Eastpass

Merideth hauled the pair of buckets out of the well, cursing her luck with each grunting pull. The captain of Eastpass, a shrewish woman named Agina, had apparently been told all about Merideth, and had found a lot of very creative uses for a spell caster, like this one. As an esper, Merideth could intuit the lay of the well bottom, and get the buckets to hit water instead of ice... so she got well duty. Every day.

She'd been doing this instead of weapons drills with the others for a month, when she first saw him. Built like a young god, and stepping lightly across the snow-covered ground, was a heart-gripping young soldier. Captain Agina greeted him when he arrived, and Merideth's heart lurched.

He was so beautiful, it hurt.

Although no one noticed, Athan was accompanied by a slender, dark-skinned ellini who had joined him on the road. Greppa stuck close to Athan, mouth shut and eyes aimed downward.

Greppa was fascinated by the graceful Athan as well, but even less inclined to admit it than Merideth.

Over the next few months, the three became swift friends. Athan genuinely liked people, and Greppa and Merideth were very interesting people to him. Athan's association with Merideth also had an unexpected benefit - it considerably softened Captain Agina's opinion of the girl, and gave her a more normal soldier's lot.

Marked by Allas

Merideth and Greppa were sitting at the sidelines of an up-mountain sprint that Athan was winning, when Agina unexpectedly walked by. They startde to scramble to a stand, but she waved them down, "Relax. I was just curious - the three of you spend a lot of time together. Is it because of the birthmarks?"

After that point, yes.

Merideth, in particular, became obsessed with the mark, spending extra time each day praying to Allas for guidance. She became convinced that she (and the others) were meant to be great heroes. She cast herself in the role of a legendary warrior-healer who wandered the land curing terrible plagues and defeating monsters of all ilk.

For the most part, Athan just ignored the mark and Merideth's fancies about it. He still planned to be a career soldier, and didn't put much stock in heroes.

Greppa, while not as fanciful as Merideth, was also not as duty-driven as Athan. He saw adventuring from a different light... as the opportunity to discover ancient secrets of magic.

Over much of the rest of the year, Merideth and Greppa (but particularly Merideth) continued to wear on Athan, trying to persuade him that the road to glory was the best road to take. He remained unconvinced.

And then, as summer first reached the peaks of Eastpass, the first rumblings of a war to come came rolling down the mountains.

END PROLOGUE

 

[seasong]

Soldiering

Training

Training in Theralis takes four forms: athletics, shield work, spear work, and sparring.

Athletics is fairly informal, with the occasional more formal contest. In many ways, this is just an extension of the natural competitive spirit of the Theralese people, and is not strange to anyone. The usual events are up-mountain sprints, long-distance runs (usually circling a single valley), rock climbing, spear throwing for distance and accuracy, stone carrying events, wrestling and swimming.

Athletics competitions are done in the nude - Theralis is body conscious, but in a very egoistic sort of way, and most young Theralese are justifiably proud of their bodies.

This at least partly explains why Captain Agina noticed the birthmarks - the fact that the youths in question stuck together like ponies in a glue factory explains the rest.

Shield work is something not everyone expects to do in the normal course of events. Theralis soldiers fight in four lines: the first line is the shield bearers, who carry heavy tower shields in parallel, and use those shields to keep as much of an enemy attack out of the line as possible. The second and third lines carry short and long spears, respectively, and stab through brief gaps as often as possible. The fourth line consists of everyone behind the first three, and has the duty of supporting the front lines, whether by healing, throwing javelins or spells at the foe, and so on. When there are sufficient numbers, everyone works in shifts, switching out positions when a front liner gets tired.

Shield work requires a short person with a lot of endurance. The shields are held high, and carried forward or backward as needed. Athan would be a perfect shield guard, except that he is too tall - his feet or head would always be an easy target, and a shield sized for him would not fit the formation.

Training for shield work consists of a lot of formation marching, with a near-50 pound shield held up in front of you. Everyone does it, in case they have to, but no one likes it.

Athan, Greppa and Merideth did not train in this.

Spear work is the basic training in the spear. The quarterstaff fighting methods that practically everyone practices in Theralis is the simplified form of spear work - or, to put that another way, spear work is quarterstaff fighting with a point.

Every soldier learns this, both in forms intended for formation fighting, and in forms intended for solo fighting.

Merideth had never done quarterstaffing prior to the military, and didn't spend much time on it in training, either, so she's pretty poor with a spear. Greppa and Athan were both avid quarterstaff competitors, and expended similar effort in the spear.

Sparring is exactly what it sounds like: ranging from organized "army-on-army" clashes to solo competitions, the sparring in the Theralese military is both intense and constant. Athan shone here, and part of most people's admiration of him currently stems from this.

Arms & Equipment

A Theralese soldier wears a knee-length tunic and sandals, but is otherwise naked. One in two shield guards carry a shield on their back, which they hand off to a fresh shield guard when hostilities start. A few of the stronger soldiers carry several wrapped long spears, which are handed out to third-line soldiers at battle. Each company has a captain who wears a sword, and carries the battle banner for the company - when the banner falls, that means the captain has had to join the fight.

Everyone carries a short spear, bread pouch and water flask.

 

[seasong]

Just a quick note to say that we've gotten started on Chapter One: Mountain Thunder.

And incognito, if you're still reading, "Yea, I say unto thee, that there was the sticking of pointy things into soft fleshy things, and it was good."

I'll update when I finish writing it all up.

 

[seasong]

CHAPTER ONE
Mountain Thunder

The First Battle of Eastpass, pt I

Merideth woke in a panic, to night's darkness. A dream of terrible carnage, of orcs flowing into the valley like water into a crevice, and a lingering image of the sun watching over it all. She waited for her heart to calm, then listened carefully to the sleepers around her. No one awoke. She'd kept silent in waking.

She resolved to mention her dream to Captain Agina in the morning. It might be for real. The captain should listen to her - she was an esper, after all.

 

[seasong]

Edit: fixed a typo, and inserted the shadow servant + spear trick Greppa popped up with.

The First Battle of Eastpass, pt II

Greppa woke first, to what sounded like a distant heartbeat. As he came to alertness, his mind classed the sound as deep, bass drums.

bom bom babom
bom bom babom
bom bom babom

Faint memories of something about orcs drumming their way to war penetrated, and Greppa began yelling for the others to wake up. It was a few moments before anyone else could match the ellini's sharp hearing, and even then, it was too faint to be certain. Captain Agina assigned Greppa and another soldier to run up to the pass and check with the watch, and in the meantime treated it as a convenient drill for everyone else, grabbing shield & spear and preparing to march.

Eastpass was narrow - perhaps twelve soldiers wide, shoulder to shoulder - but there were currently only a pair of watchmen there, and once an enemy was through the pass, fighting would be brutal indeed. And with less than a hundred soldiers in the barracks, fighting might be deadly. Greppa gripped his short spear tightly, and jogged as quickly as he dared up the starlit slope.

As he got closer, his ears clearly identified the sound. They were definitely drums, thick-skinned and heavy. Greppa slowed his pace, and moved as quietly as he could. It was a few long moments before he spotted the orc. It was huge, looking eight feet tall or more silhouetted against the predawn sky, and it was standing on the watchers' rock where the watch should have been.

Fortunately for Greppa, at that moment it was looking down the other side of the mountain, towards the drums. Unfortunately, Greppa decided on the riskiest course of action - he screamed "ORCS" at the top of his lungs, then turned and began running back to safety. The orc scout whipped around, yelled something in his own dark tongue, and dropped, cat-like and ferocious, from the boulder to the ground, and hit running.

Very quickly, the distance between Greppa and the orc seemed too small. The orc was far swifter than the tiny ellini, and Greppa had a brief nightmare flashback to his harsh-tongued sisters.

"With legs like that, I'm surprised he can get down the stairs!"
"You're so slow, turtles use you for a rest stop!"
"Uh oh, he's mad! Better watch out or he might walk after us!"

Gritting his teeth, he drew a spell circle in the air, traced the sigils for lesser shadow killer and spoke: "mal ath abthyr manaros".

Then he turned, released the spell... and tripped, sprawling across the trail and rolling several dozen feet downhill.

The spell worked, however. The air-traced circle darkened for a moment, and a faint shadow creature pushed its way through and sped at the orc. It was Greppa's best spell, and one he'd never been desparate enough to use... especially considering that he'd studied it in secret, after sneaking into Hurath's library late at night.

It failed to impress the orc much - it grunted, and got angry enough to pause and throw its spear, but that was it. Fortunately, it threw wide.

Greppa stopped breathing. Scrambled to his feet. Ran. Stumbled. Grunted. Ran.

Somewhere behind him, the orc grabbed its spear on the run, and yelled something that sounded vaguely insulting.

Then, like some heavenly cohort, Greppa saw the jogging wall of shields that meant they'd heard his scream. Unfortunately, the orc was practically on top of him. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He cast shadow servant as fast as he could, dropped his spear, and told the servant to lift the spear between the orc's legs. He heard the spear break behind him, and the orc tumbling, and pushed as hard as he could for the line of safety. He was almost there when the orc's spear punched through his floating ribs. Serrated chitin poked out through the front of his tunic, and he fell again, as the shields swarmed past him towards the kneeling orc.

Merideth, her face oddly pensive in the slowly brightening dawn, slipped close to him. Touching his chest with one hand, she cleanly pulled the spear through with the other. Another moment, and heat raged through the wound, closing and sealing it.

Greppa was still in pain, but well enough to move.

The orc that had chased Greppa was quickly cut down by the line of soldiers, and then it was a race up the remainder of the mountain. They'd done uphill runs before, even with shields, but it felt almost easy with the blood pumping and the excitement of warfare boiling in the blood.

They just reached Eastpass as a warband of some thirty orcs began spilling through. The first clash was horrendous - the orcs, a bit uphill of the defenders, raised spears up and began stabbing down, over the shields. Many youths forgot to raise their shields high enough, and were stabbed in the shoulders, chest or head. The line quickly dissolved into near chaos, and the long spears were the only thing that saved the Theralese soldiers, piercing several invaders and forcing them back while the shield line repaired itself.

Merideth immediately rushed in, head low, looking for the worst injured.

Athan, meanwhile, was standing behind one of the head-stabbed soldiers, with naught but a short spear. The shield fell and the orc stepped into the breach.

Athan had always been the biggest, strongest person he knew. This orc was fully a head taller than him, and heavily built. A brief thrill of fear, and Athan grinned, baring his teeth to the orc's matching grimace. Athan sidestepped the orc's first attack, and thrust his short spear into the orc's neck, nearly severing it.

He continued to grin as a shield guard replaced the fallen on, and Merideth slipped in to try to heal.

Greppa, meanwhile, was continuing to panic. He began casting lesser shadow killer repeatedly, hitting the orc that looked most like the leader.

Slowly but surely, the line shoved the orcs back. The youths kept their shields high, and short and long spears thrust between the shields like a vicious thicket.

Between losing a few orcs and being continuously hit by Greppa's shadowy phantom, the orc captain finally called the retreat, "BUNAHKEN, ETHRAT! ETHRAT!"

The attacking orcs made a concerted shove on the shield line, shoving it back a few feet, then turned and began to run up-mountain. The leader paused a moment, then spitefully hurled his spear at Greppa, before turning and leading his warriors in the retreat.

The throw was accurate and clean, and sunk into Greppa's chest, just below the collarbone and just inside the shoulder. His retreat, however, was less successful. Athan hefted his short spear and threw it, matching the huge orc's own arc and punching the Theralese spear into the orc's back and cleaving its spine.

Merideth healed Greppa a bit more, and Captain Agina told him to go rest.

-----

Everyone was prepared to spend the rapidly brightening day at the pass - reinforcements had been sent for, and were expected by nightfall. But the first person to look at the valley on the other side of the pass nearly deserted on the spot.

Filling the other side of the mountain were what looked like two dozen warbands of similar size to the first, carefully watching the pass.

The drums continued to beat.

bom bom babom
bom bom babom
bom bom babom

 

[seasong]

Orcs and Things

Those of you who watched the the recent Iron DM may recognize the look of the orcish language. This is a different tribe, but yes, I've adapted that kind of orc to this campaign setting. Barbaric, often cruel, but with a solid ethos and society, these orcs can be reprehensible and admirable.

This particular tribe is the Bunahken (Bone-Ache) tribe, as opposed to the Bohkenahk (Broken Knuckle) tribe of the Iron DM scenario. They are more nomadic than their Broken Knuckle cousins, and more prone to conflict with the civilized lands due to their homeland proximity.

Why they are here, instead of there, will be interesting to discover.

"Ethrat" translates to "retreat", but can be more accurately described as "fight later".

War Drums

My players were fascinated with these last time around, so I might as well describe them here. The orcish war drum is made of tanned and water-soaked leather stretched taut and then dried over a three foot wide, six inch deep wooden bowl. Orcish scouts carry one on their back, or hold it between raised arm and ribs when beating on it. To beat on it, they use a thigh bone - usually taken from a dead enemy, but sometimes from a favored ancestor or great warrior who died in glorious battle.

When beaten with proper strength, their deep bass can be heard for miles over flatland. Mountains tend to baffle the sound somewhat, of course.

Orcs use them for very simple communication, and also for striking fear into their enemies. They are pretty effective at both.

 

[seasong]

A few side notes.

Characters

It's not apparent in the above, but Athan really rocked in this fight. I don't think he missed an attack roll once (total attack +5, orc AC around 11), and he was doing heinous amounts of damage: the average orc HP was about 30 (CON 13), and he was typically dishing about 8-10 damage per hit, with two crits, one at 27 damage and one at 33 damage.

Greppa really roleplayed his panic-stricken fleeing well. He's the one that mentioned his older sisters making fun of his short legs, and he really freaked out when he failed his Reflex save and fell down.

Also, I don't think it really showed very well, but Greppa very nearly died twice. Both spears that hit him were crits, and brought him close to 0. I hated to pick on him like that, but he was really making himself an attractive target.

Merideth had a bad day on this one. First, I saddled her with a prophecy that was only useful if she followed it up right then, then she came face to face with how hard it is for a low-level healer to really help in a fight.

Levels

The near-year of soldiering provided the PCs with their 2nd level. When I eventually post their character sheets, I'll show their 1st level version (what they were like going into the military) as well as what they were like when they went into this fight.

In short, however, Greppa and Athan both went heavy on the soldiering stuff (BAB, spear proficiency & focus, etc.), while Merideth continued to work on her magic. After this scenario, she has assured me that she will be focusing on her fighting abilities next level.

 

[incognito]

He was almost there when the orc's spear punched through his floating ribs.

mmm...that's the stuff!

"Ethrat" translates to "retreat", but can be more accurately described as "fight later".

Seasong: you've got to admire a DM who makes up his won Orc Language!

Filling the other side of the mountain were what looked like two dozen warbands of similar size to the first

How do you say "My moneys on the Orcs right now..." in thier language?

love.this.story hour.

 

[seasong]

mmm...that's the stuff!

I'm glad you like . There's going to be a whole lot of orc, seasong style, throughout the Mountain Thunder chapter...

Seasong: you've got to admire a DM who makes up his won Orc Language!

How do you say "My moneys on the Orcs right now..." in thier language?

Heh. I am such a geek.

I usually do some basic word construction rules (like, what sounds are used, how they flow, etc.), and a double fistful of words to use as a reference, for any setting I run. It really helps with place names, local color, history notes, etc. And some of my made-up words (with the attached cultural meanings) have made their way into my players' general vocabulary, which is about as good a compliment as you get. And careful what you ask for. My best guess for your phrase would be:

Offinom, ulg ffut oggmah teh Bunahken. Offinom, Bunahken slahg teh pashin Grugahk.

Offinom, roughly, means "IMHO, for the moment"
Ulg means "me", but stems from unworthy; that's why offinom in this case is IMHO instead of IMO.

You might replace it with tegahk nom, which means, roughly, "strong start, weak finish" if you were trying to say that you thought they would win for now (as opposed to "for now, I think they will win"). You could also replace ulg with meh and drop offinom entirely, to come off a bit more arrogant.

Ffut means "put", "place" or "ante up". If you put your arm in front of an attack, that's ffut. If you put a flower on table for decorative purposes, that's not ffut.

Oggmah means "odds" with the suffix -mah meaning "mine". Odds are the bread and butter of orc gambling - they discuss odds first, then how to valuate it.

You might replace this with a specific item of trade, such as oslaffmah, meaning "my slave".

Teh is a generic linker. In this context, it means "on" or "on the".

Bunahken is the tribe of orc (bone-ache). Orcs don't have a word for orc, they refer to all peoples by their tribe.

Slahg means what it sounds like in English - to totally wreck something or someone.

Pashin meant "clean ear" in old orc. These days it means wuss, wimp, pansy, and similar such. It is almost as insulting as leffshahk, which translates as "leaf sucker", referring to a particularly toxic, but otherwise defenseless, caterpillar.

Grugahk means "good wine", and is the "tribe" of the Theralis valleys. Those orcs who trade with Theralis call the Theralese this. It's actually fairly complimentary, when it's not paired with something like pashin or leffshahk.