The Reconquista OOC

Third Adventure Synopsis

Here's the third adventure synopsis, which is a little different than the first two. Let me know what you think. As before, I am copying the synopsis to the first post of this thread for reference sake.

[SBLOCK]We now take a large leap forward in time from your adventures at Godakin Keep. The time is early Coldeven, 586 CY. The war for the liberation of Sterich and Geoff has been raging with many successes and failures for the last two years. The Confederacy for the Reclamation of the Occupied Territories (or just Confederacy) now holds the banks of the Javan River, and is beginning to make inroads into the heart of Sterich.
Spies have recently reported that something strange is happening among the Occupation forces. After the betrayal of Hilden’s Grange last fall, where the orc chieftain Yagga One-Ear turned against the eldritch giant sorcerer Hawesti, there has been much infighting among the occupying forces. Reports of skirmishes between the giants and their erstwhile allies are heard with growing frequency.
Even stranger, there have been no reports of King Galmoor in Istivin since last Sunsebb. None of the magical or mundane spies of the Confederacy seem to know what happened to him; he simply seems to have disappeared.
Without a strong central leader, the giants are becoming sloppy, and lesser leaders are siphoning men and resources to benefit their own territories.
The forces of the newly titled Marquis Querchard, with the support of King Skotti, are taking advantage of this by striking hard and fast against the nonhumans. Still headquartered in the Keolandish town of Flen, they have just begun a new campaign whose ultimate goal is to retake Istivin.

Your group has been kept busy over the last two years. Currently you are under command of Valtgraf Jorgen Wallur, a famous gnome noble from the Stark mounds. Based in his secret, underground base about 50 miles north-north-west of the ruins of the village of Steryn, you have been conducting spying and hit-and-run operations against the local occupation forces headquartered at Oytpass Keep. You are also in contact with the wood elf forces of the nearby Oytwood, who are currently trying to keep the trail that leads to their sylvan home open. Most recently a small band of mountain dwarves under the leadership of Chief Kurgi Hammerhand have crossed back over the Javan and have joined your group. They are here to support the retaking of the Oytpass Keep, but ultimately wish to retake their lost communities in the western Stark Mounds.

For this adventure, I’m going to leave it up to you to decide on exactly what happens. The only thing that is essential is that at the end of the adventure the Oytpass Keep is held by you or allied forces. How exactly you achieve this is up to you. If you have major problems with this, please let me know.

Forces on your side:
1. Gnomes of the Stark Mounds under Jorgen Wallur
2. Mountain Dwarves under Kurgi Hammerhand
3. Wood Elves from the Oytwood
4. Some Human Forces (mainly light infantry and skirmishers) from Gorna
5. The young adult Copper dragon Maetus who lives in the Stark Mounds, who although he is selfish, has no great love for the giants and their allies.
6. The Sisters of Righteous Vengeance, a flock of harpies from the White Oyt River valley whose initial attempt to ally with the giants was rudely dismissed and who are now out for a bit of payback.

Forces against you:
1. The defenders of Oytpass Keep. A collection of hill and stone giants.
2. Bonespear and Bloodmoon tribes of gnolls and flinds from the Stark Mounds. They know the area exceptionally well and are good at many of the same tactics you are. They are led by a powerful flind blackguard.
3. The fallen of the battle of Gorna. Mainly wraiths, specters and wights who haunt the Stark Mounds at night. They are not allied with the giants, but present a constant danger to anyone traversing the Stark Mounds at night.
4. The Tuskbreakers, a small band of near-feral wereboars working for the giants who have difficulty following orders.

Locations which you might avail yourselves of:
1. Oytpass Keep: A small keep surrounded by a tall curtain wall. It sits an a steep-faced hill overlooking the road. Its defensive towers contain ballistae and catapults, and the gates are defended by numerous murder holes, boiling oil dispensers. The walls of the keep were reinforced magically and have heightened hardness and hit points. The main gate is magically warded and has the equivalent of SR 25. This effect can be dispelled, but this only lasts for 1d6+1 rounds.
2. Valley of Sorrow: Highly haunted area as a result of the Battle of Gorna in the 5th century CY. It is reputed to hold a magical weapon of some power.
3. Grey Wood: A small forest once connected to the Oytwood. Home of the Tuskbreakers who inhabit a complex on connected tunnels.
4. Ruins of Soraoh: Ancient Flan standing stones in the Stark Mounds. Used as a gathering place for the local gnoll and flind tribes.
5. Oytwood Trail: Connects Sterich to the Oytwood. Not maintained by anyone. Ancient path first used by the Flan people over a thousand years ago.
6. Roothome: The underground base of Jorgen Wallur’s band of gnomes. Not a full gnome community, more of a bolt hole for raids and hunting. Well-stocked with supplies and weapons. Not sized for Medium or larger-sized folk.

Let me know if you need more info.[/SBLOCK]
 

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Like I said earlier I am offline till monday.

Anyone feel free to write me into your deeds. The orders would be to go do something, and you would be ordered to inculde me in on the raid. Particularly if it involves buildings and locked boxes.

For the most part, I would be seen coming and going into the head honcho's office.
 

I have a couple of ideas.

1) We make hit and run raids on the Flind/Gnoll group in such a way that they pursue us afterward. We make for the mounds just before sunset with the enemy close behind. We link up with Maetus and the Sisters of Righteous Vengeance who fly us clear of the undead leaving the Flind and Gnoll forces to face the undead alone.

2) Having hopefully weakened the undead we return to try and find the magic item which could either be one of our more powerful items or something we pass on to higher forces for use in the battle.
 

After several indecisive skirmishes with the flind's troops, it became apparent that the gnolls were not going to meet the allied forces in a stand-up battle, but would continue to harry and disrupt the Valtgraf's plans. Reivik recalled an old elven story, however, that appealed to the gnome commander's prankster's nature. A picked force of elven and human skirmishers drew the blackguard and his core warriors into a pursuit that brought them into an area of the Mounds selected by Maetus, and a team of dwarven sappers triggered a rockslide that cut off the main pass back out again. At first, the gnolls considered the matter a strategic oversight - while the landslide was inconvenient, they would be able to clear it in a few days, and the terrain did not allow the allied forces to capitalise on the trap with archery from above... and meanwhile, the skirmishers were trapped as well...

But Maetus was able to ferry the humans and elves away. The gnolls were still trapped out in the open in the Stark Mounds as night fell, and the wraiths came out... and even a powerful blackguard can only command so many before the rest close in...

-----

Reivik has tended to avoid spending too much time with Hammerhand's dwarves. His family name has many mountain dwarves eyeing him suspiciously, and all in all, he finds the wood elves and Wallur's gnomes to be more pleasant company...

-----

A mixed group of gnome and dwarf miners, with some wood elf druids for support, were key in the taking of Oytpass Keep. Rather than attacking the enchanted walls or gate, the team instead went under the walls, with the druids using Soften Earth and Stone to change the rock of the hill into soft clay, mining under the cover of a Silence spell courtesy of a cleric of Moradin.

At a prearranged signal, Maetus the dragon dropped his invisibility spell and performed a strafing run across the front of the keep, surprise and the dragon's Frightful Presence providing enough of a distraction to the gate guards that a picked strike force could enter the keep through the tunnel and open the gate.

Naturally, even without a fortress to give them a defensive advantage, the giants still gave a grim account of themselves in the battle that followed, but after a long and bloody struggle, the Valtgraf's banner adorned the walls...

-Hyp.
 

Scotley said:
1) We make hit and run raids on the Flind/Gnoll group in such a way that they pursue us afterward. We make for the mounds just before sunset with the enemy close behind. We link up with Maetus and the Sisters of Righteous Vengeance who fly us clear of the undead leaving the Flind and Gnoll forces to face the undead alone.

Snap! :D

-Hyp.
 


Ranger Rick said:
Is it possible to get everyones self evaulation of each other?

One-Shot Morley brings a grin to Reivik's face. The man strikes him as a dependable companion.

Anastasia concerns Reivik at times - he feels there's a line between confidence and madness that she's inclined to walk a little too closely for his comfort. But she gave a decent account of herself for a novice in the fight with the bugbear ('... right up to the part where you got killed...'), and acquitted herself well in the Godakin Keep fight. He's happy to fight beside her, as long as she doesn't get too far out in front of her support...

Latalya - well, Reivik's always gotten along well with elves, and with the exception of George, he's the only other member of the team who speaks Elvish. Of the five, she's likely the one Reivik feels the most comfortable around. Her excellent taste in swords doesn't hurt, either :)

George comes across as someone handy to have around, but Reivik doesn't have much of a feeling for his personality yet. He hasn't really featured in any of the dwarf's poetry.

Mavic hasn't particularly registered with Reivik yet, either - no horseman, he hasn't spent a lot of time with Mavic's cavalrymen. He's somewhat disapproving of Mavic's attitude towards the seneschal's treason.

-Hyp.
 

Anastasia is a good, honest warrior. Maybe too good, or too young, or both. She means well, but she one of those in the Sheldomar that don't understand the big picture or the balance and sacrifices that must be made to reconquer Sterich. Part of him is jealous.

Reivik isn't the sort of person Mavic likes, but he's the sort of person he finds useful. While he doesn't have much use for poetry himself, he recognizes its value in waging war. Wars need heroes to give men hope, so if Reivik wants to make people heroes then Mavic is all for it.

George probably registers as a good yeoman in the same way his own rangers are. He and Mavic probably haven't talked, but I'm betting Mavic's vicious bunch of ranger cavalry and George operate in the same circles of a different crowd.

Morley's probably in the same boat as George, with higher credit. He's probably not gone out of his way to make friends with Morley, but he's noticed him and made note. He's probably spoken aloud to his older brothers and others in the military about him. Not only are heroes useful, men will follow them. Since they must follow their heroes into hell this time, every single one counts.

Mavic probably knows quite a bit more about Latalya than she knows about him, because brothers talk amongst brothers about pretty girls often. She's probably associated more with the brother than for her own sake though, "Cale's friend Latalya" is probably more likely to come to mind than any other notion.

***​
As for the skirmishers idea, I'd like to step up to the plate for that one. Mavic's still needing to find a reason to win that Medal of Gallantry, have his first cohort be killed, lose some brothers... What better way to get a whole bunch of people killed than to bravely volunteer for a near suicide mission. To increase the lethality though, I'd like to suggest that not only would it be beneficial to draw out the gnolls, but to use the wood elves to draw out some of the giants as well into the same trap...If we go with this Mavic would probably be trying to enlist Morley and Anastasia to join the light horse massacre as well, being brave heroes and all that. George would probably be begged to be involved in tightening the noose too, as someone who wouldn't shy away from committing people to die if it meant a great victory.

At some time before all this, news would probably come definitively on the fate of much of Mavic's family and aid in his (already) nihilist mindset.
 

James Heard said:
If we go with this Mavic would probably be trying to enlist Morley and Anastasia to join the light horse massacre as well, being brave heroes and all that.

Speaking of light horse massacre - I'm not certain it'd be possible to extract the horses from the trap. It's not the sort of mission you'd want to take your favourite mount on, because it's got even less chance of making it back alive than you do...!

-Hyp.
 

So that would be part of the plan, it's not like Mavic would be terribly upset if he lost a horse at the expense of a bunch of giants and gnolls. :D
 

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