Thursday, October 31, 2013

Blowback and Character awards for "The Palantir Commission"

This last session was rather eventful. Here are the awards and things to keep in mind for tomorrow the next session.


  • Arnadil
    • Lasting effect: Claw wound on chest while in dirty water, possible infection.
    • Lasting effect: To fullfill your compulsive carousing after all this excitement, you must get yourself to the drunk level (or else get bad temper...) once that the company has a down time. You aren't sure that you'll have enough booze to get there. Maybe the orcs have a stash of moonshine... It was a hard day, and it ain't over.
    • 2 cp in whatever makese sense, or 1 LUCK point.
  • Finbert
    • Great session! 1 free cp for the spotlight award.
    • 2 cp to whatever you want (stealth would make sense, but your are free with them)
  • Halin
    • Lastin effect: Uncorrected nearsighteness. -2 combat, -6 PER. You may use your one scratched lense and have -2 PER while using one hand. You are temporarily under a Social Stigma (infirm) for as long as you are squinting this heavily.
  • Irina
    • Whoa swordplay girl! 1 cp to shortsword and 2 cp to a brand new HP (ceiling raised, not actual HP!)
    • Lasting effect: You have a bleeding gash in your chest. You may want to put a bandage on that!
    • Lasting effect: How many arrows are left again?
  • Kasper
    • 1 cp into Fear (yes, a critical spell failure is a learning moment).
    • 1 cp into Panic (the old staple)
    • 1 cp into tactics.
  • Nilppi
    • 1 LUCK point
  • Nimrodel
    • Lasting effect: you are missing a nose!
      • No sense of smell (disadvantage)
      • -2 reactions because you are grotesquely disfigured.
    • 1 cp into bow
    • 1 cp into Fast draw
  • Thannolf
    • Lasting effect: You are traumatized by the close call on your groin area, for this one session alone, you must break off combat reach of your opponent if you fail an active defence. The effect is dispelled once you cause someone's bodily harm and get your mojo on (HP, FP or pain damage).  
    • 2 cp into whatever makes sense. 
    • 1 cp into tactics (you learned a lot doing pitched battled this time).

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Naugrim Path of Ritual Magic

Gesdrek's Compendium of Naugrim arts

These rituals uses the Energy Accumulation variant of Ritual Path Magic. Base time in low-mana 1h for dwarven practitioners.  The cost of rituals is indicated within []. The mystic powers derive from Ritual Magic (Naugrim Arts). Each chapter is considered to be a Path, with specified default. Path skills cannot exceed Ritual Magic (Naugrim arts). Each individual spell is a hard technique. 
  • Chapter 1 - Ritual Fires (defaults to -6)
    • Salamander Fire [8] : Invoke salamanders which will live in the furnace of a forge to attain the extremely temperatures required for the making of many enchanted alloys.
      • Requires a missing rune, and Khazad-dum's "True-Coal".
    • Cold Fire [15] : Ignite Khazad-dum's cold forge with the help of a mystic drummer. 
      • You are key missing runes for this ritual.
      • The mystic drummer may be Tov
  • Chapter 2 - Shaping Earth (defaults to -4)
    • Earthquake [6] : Used for mining dangerous veins, dislodging dangerous rocks overhead and the defensive collapse of caves. 
      • Missing at least one rune to cast this
    • Magma Surge (volcano) [6] : Manipulate lava flow to create Laen (Enchanted volcanic glass) and for defensive purposes. 
      • Will work only within Khazad-dum apparently. 
    • Hasten Geological Processes [10] : Unknown use. You have fragments of information on the ritual but are missing too much for it to be used.
  • Chapter 3 - Communication (defaults to -2)
    • Ancient History (Cost as per M106):  Cast Ancient History on rocks that are first marked with a run. Can be used as History spell on marked stone if the rune uses Moon-metal (which you don't have). 
      • This is the only ritual that you can perform at the moment.
  • Chapter 4 - Mystical alloys (default to -3)
    • Eog [8], extremely hard, rare steel-alloy
    • Ithildin [2], Moon Metal, run writing. Mithril derivative.
    • Ithilnaur [2], very hard, weapon and armor, Mithril derivative.
    • Laen [5], Volcanic glass.
    • Mithril [4] , True-Silver. 
    • Ogamur [3], Magic bow string
    • Tasarung [3], glowing, flexible, unstretchable fibers.
    • Non-magical (Khazad-dum specific): 
      • Ardacer: very hard. Can cleave steel.
      • Galnin: Aluminum, light and strong.
      • Naukomalda, dwarven gold, glows.
      • Neukotelpe, dwarven silver, glows.
  • Chapter 5 - Runes (Not a Path)
    • Rune Syntax and Semantics ( your reference for Symbol drawing)

Monday, October 28, 2013

Gesdrek Delver, Loremaster of Erebor

Lets define Gesdrek by attempting to piece together fragments of his biography. 


Gesdrek according to Throdar, son of Ilkrik

There is more to Gesdrek than the eyes can see. I can't quite pin down anything substantial about his past other than he came from the Gray Mountain at the same time as Balin. Gesdrek made my sword, he is a keen smith and an erudite. Yet, his demeanour is very unassuming. When you talk to him, it does feel like he let you in only on the surface of things. 


Character Award for Reclaiming Khazad-dum


Every player receive a 1 LUCK point award. This LUCK point can be used to reroll 1 to 3 dices on a single check. Alternatively, 
  • Arne 
    • 1 LUCK point
    • Vadek
      • What will Vadek do with the Obsidian Rod? Drolf would be amenable to buy the trinket from you.
    • Bain
      • Roleplaying Vadek throught this chapter: You may spend 4 cp on Bain, this must somehow make sense with what he has been up to: preparing for the Emerald's departure, travelling from Erebor to Browek Bridge (where the adventure will resume) 
  • Jason
    • 1 LUCK point
    • Khazek
      • Khazek has gained an artifact Dagger ( highest quality, yet to be determined properties)
      • Khazek has gained an Obsidian rod.
      • Khazek had 2cp on Acrobatics or climbing from the previous session, did you spent them?
      • 4cp: What did Khazek learned in this chapter? Wrestling? Dagger and sword? Hidden Lore?
  • Paul
    • 1 LUCK point for Throdar
    • Thordar
      • 2 cp in survival (forest) or survival (woodland) 
      • 2 cp worth of contacts/allies within the Emerald-Unit
  • Douglas
    • 1 LUCK point for Gesdrek
    • Gesdrek
      • 2 cp worth of contact/allies within the Emerald-Unit
      • 1 cp Area Knowledge (Mirkwood)
      • 1 cp Cartography
  • Gordon
    • 1 LUCK point for Gror
    • Gror
      • 1 cp Intelligence Gathering
      • 1 cp Strategy
      • 1 cp Leadership
      • 1 cp survival (forest)

NPCs
  • Drolf has gained 1 artifact dagger.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

K17 - Yavanna's eye

Heading back to the light...

The dwarven company turned to Drolf for guidance. Gimvar's shoulder was mangled and the ranger was on the cusp of collapse. The wraith had had the best of Donarik, which was laying on the ground, breathing weakly. Gimvar, usually a go getter, reminded the company that to get in the Obsidian Tower, they had to bypass a large force of Mirkwood orcs camping a few kilometers down the vale.

Vadek was fidgeting with the obsidian rod. The air coming from beyond the gate was bad. Any dwarf could tell that unless some mechanical pumping of air from the surface was arranged, that this cave would soon become dangerous. Drolf, Kalin and Khazek seemed to be more interested in the daggers pulled out of the elves. Without much debate, they agreed to try to get out of the tower before the trap sprang on them for good. 

They dragged Donarik up the tunnel, into the great hall where the Huorn died. As they passed by the hall's door, Khazek noticed that the elven wraith was circling slowly above the green orb. Donarik was put down against the stairway's walls. Gimvar and Kalin sat down for a rest. Khazek, Vadek and Drolf entered the hall to inspect the orc once more.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Thordar, son of Ilkrik, the Viceroy's invisible hand

TA 2971 ( 63 years ago )

Thordar was the first born of Ilkrik "StoutHearth". Thordar was born in a long lineage of Kings' butlers. He grew in the muffled comfort of Dain II Ironfoot's personal quarters in Erebor.  At this time, Dain was going through a rough patch, and was drinking heavily. His brother, Bain StoneTongue was keeping a close eye on the sovereign to preserve the King's dark secret. Since Thordar could easily walk through the King's personal quarters, Bain took upon himself to train the child as a first line observer. Thordar grew fond of the King and his brother. Most notably, his quick thinking saved Dain II from death after a day of excessive drinking.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

K16 - The cystic mire


The company of dwarves had barged into an obsidian cave.  In this cave, a statue of the now dead green wizard towered over an orc's nest. Drolf jumped down and hit an orc hard that the orc expired on the spot. Kalin and Vadek engaged the two other orcs that had once worked by the mud pit.  The orcs didn't last for long.

The tactical map of the cave as used on roll20.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Gror, son of Bain.

TA 2930 - Gror is Born ( 119 years ago)

Gror was the first born of Bain, son of Nain III and Brother of Dain III Ironfoot, King of the Iron Hills. He was taught from the start that he was to behave like a King in case that the lineage of Dain II failed. This information never came from the mouth of his father, Bain Stonetongue, who never uttered out loud the possibility of such the failure. This rather came from his mother, who was a very pragmatic matriarch.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

050 - Noseless in Middle-Earth

... or as +Zack Mackay puts it, "Fear and Nosing in Middle-Earth".


Kicking up dust

Nimrodel and Nilppi walked up the valley road towards the orc camp. The goal was to draw the orc army's attention as soon as possible. While the elf remained alert, bow at the ready, the lossoth hunter busied himself throwing dust up in the air to make himself seen. A keen eye would have probably noticed the hobbit creeping overhead off the mountain side. A keener eye would have been required to spot Irina perched above the back gate of the Numarii fort that the company had just cleared. She stood there, motionless, behind a large rock with her bow in hand. 

The rest of the company had fashioned heavy curtain by weaving all sorts of rubbish and orc cots together to make it hard to rush through the open door. The contraption was a sigh for sore eyes, but would probably be heavy enough to cramp the orcs' style for a moment. 

Nimrodel spotted two wargs in the camp. That was just about when Nilppi's dusty mess drew their attention. The two companions sprinted back to the gate to gain high ground.



Thus tumbled down an elven nose

The first wave of orcs to rush away from the camp was 20 strong. Among them, two wargs and their riders. Nilppi climbed above the gate on the cliff side and readied his weapons. Nimrodel found a good shooting nook and arrayed his ammunition. The wargs didn't overtook the orcs and seemed to match the group's speed. Both Irina and Nimrodel had a limited stock of arrows and decided to hold fire until the orcs were in range. Irina mowed four in the last leg of their charge, while Nimrodel cut two down. 

Arnadil prompted Kasper to make the best use of his magic elven wand and "do his trick". Kasper gave him a puzzled look, but obliged. A wave of panic filled the valley and sent the majority of the orcs running away from the gate. A warg rider was attempting to rally the troops, but without luck. Nimrodel and Irina zeroed on the leader right away. Irina almost sprained her wrist in the heat of the moment and was left defenceless. Just at this time, Nimrodel placed an arrow into the warg, with no great effect. Nilppi sprang from his hiding spot and jumped down the cliff side down to meet the warg. 

The charge had failed: most orcs that didn't get terrorized by Kasper's magic had turned around anyway to follow their allies. Nimrodel's fancy footwork as he shot caused him to slip (critical fail #1) and tumble down the cliff. He ended at the bottom of the cliff in the crouched position, presenting his head to the last orc still charging (he failed to notice that he was almost the only one left in the charge). The orc sliced Nimrodel's nose almost cleanly from his face. The elf, in shock, recoiled to protect himself while Halin the dwarf rammed through the orc and knocked him dead. From then on, the company was out of one cartilaginous appendage.

While Irina, now out of arrows, rushed down to the ground to tend to Nimrodel's profuse bleeding. Nilppi and Thannolf were working together to flank the warg. Thannolf's well placed Lossoth's dagger punctured the beast's lungs and knocked it unconscious.  The rider fell to the ground only to get skewered by Arnadil. He arrived just on time to look good (after fighting off a few orcs on his way). 

Irina did stop the bleeding, and the elf used his elven healing to bring himself from the brink of death ( -4 hit points ). The orcs that once were on the run were starting to regroup some 500m down the road. Time for round two.

   

Keeping the eye off Frodo... ahem Finbert

The plan called for making enough noises to allow Finbert to slip to the orc camp and scope the entrance of the Numariis. Finbert noticed that a second wave of orcs had waited for an orc leader to get outfitted before leaving the camp. Some 20 other orcs left at the jog to link with their companions at some point down the road. Finbert leaned against a rock and determined that there was no more than 10 orcs left in the camp: all of them squinting to find out what was going on at the other end of the valley. 

The second wave, combined with what was left of the first one, didn't attempt to enter the gate. They stood there, jeering and shooting the occasional arrow at the company members. Poo was flung in the process, which was a nice touch. Nothing was happening at the other end of the valley.

Finbert took advantage of this situation to slip by the camp and walk through the open gate of the Numariis. The first gate didn't have door and lead into a kill zone room similar to the first Numarii's entrance. The room was dark and cool. Finbert slipped along the wall until a faint noise caught his attention.

Finbert isn't dropping no eaves on the dwarves.
Through the murderholes on his left, he could hear the muffled voices of dwarves arguing in the Naugrim language. Finbert considered slipping past the open doors at the end of the killzone, but decided instead to back down for the moment.

He sneaked into the camp to find many cooking fires. The tents were filled with straw beddding. Finbert managed to set a few of the tents on fire without being noticed. As he was plotting more destruction, he heard the rumours of many armored feet coming from within the citadel. He slipped out of the camp and found a hiding nook just on time to miss a wave of roaring dwarves.

There was about 10 of them, and the overran the camp: burning what was left and slaying the remaining orcs. When the dwarves were done, they stopped and debated while looking at the far end of the valley. The smoke of the burning tents drew the besieging orcs' attention. A great many of them abandoned the stalemate against the company and ran back to their camp.

The dwarves hurried around to create chokepoints amid the smoke. They were about to fight the orcs! Finbert smiled and began the tedious way back to the company. 

Thus tumbled down a pair of dwarven spectacles

Nilppi lying down after a critical fail, Irina badly hurt on her chest, Halin looking for his
spectacles on the ground, and noseless Nimrodel hidden beyond the gate.
Not exactly the most glorious moment of the company.
The company had braced for a big showdown into the entrance hall. To their disappointment, the orcs didn't dare barging into an obvious trap. When most of the orcs ran back to their camp, Nilppi didn't wait for a cue to launch into a pursuit. About 5 orcs sprang from cover to meet with the lossoth hunter. The company was taken aback by the tactical soundness of the remaining orcs. Halin, perched up above the gate had a rock ready to push down. However, as the company poured out of the gate, he decided to change tactics to flank the green mob.  After a brief conga line to get out of the gate, the company fanned out to engage the orcs. This is when things started to go bad. Nilppi, about to strike slipped on a flung orc dung that was steaming on the ground. Thannolf and Kasper moved into to cover the lossoth.  Halin, some 5 yards overhead, began a charge down. Quickly, the charge turned into a tumble, then into a bowling strike against the nearest orc. The orc was knocked out alright, but in the process Halin lost his spectacles. The world turned into a whirl of blurry sploshes while the dwarf was feeling around. At this point, Thannolf would have suffered a major wound to the groin, but we figured out that his +1 to active defence due to combat reflex saved him. Arnadil had taken on two orcs and Irina, sword in hand for the first time in this campaign's history, moved in to fill a gap. The orc thrusted his sword into her chest, shattering a few mail loops and causing her great pain (Picture above taken at this moment).

This was the low point, Nimrodel's arrows rescued Irina who moved on to strike at orcs in anger. The last orc to fall was their leader. He collapsed to the ground without a strike. From the other end of the melee, Kasper was waving theatrically his pair of elven wands.  

An orc with no hope... wait... nope.

Halin's spectacles go crushed during the tumble, making him now a card carrying member of the nearsighted club (-2 combat, -6 Perception, ouch). Irina tended her own wound briefly to stop the blood flow. Nilppi wiped his foot on some rocks. At the other end of the valley, orcs and dwarves were about to clash and nobody in the company could have explained why. 

They gathered around the sleeping orc sergeant and kicked him until he woke up. The orc considered his options and realized that he was dead. With nothing to lose, he jeered and insulted the company in hope to the slain before he had to say anything useful. The company tightened the ring around him as Halin gave him the best string of dwarven expletives that money can buy. Kasper even used his elven wands to bolster the dwarf in his attempt to take control of the raving orc. 

The attempt was successful, the orc was cowed into silence, his chance to meet a quick death dashed. The company got out of him that orcs and dwarves hated each other. That, the master would skin the company members alive when he'd chose to. When prompted as to whom was the master, the orc replied "Farathu". 

Thannolf roughed him up, trying to get more out of him. But the orc smiled, he knew that he was about to die. "And so will you", he concluded with a smile.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

K15 - The orc's nest

This report is the second part of Session 10 - The Botanical Educations of dwarves. The first part can be found here. This report is incomplete and will conclude during our next session. +Douglas Cole posted some notes about this session here



Barging in...

The companions caught their breath after the fall of the huorn. The defunct tree straddled from the edge of the cliff down to a small opening leading down deeper under Sarn Goriwig. The dwarves decided to explore the way down in hope to find what the wizard didn't want them to find.

The orc's nest under Sarn Goriwig
The tunnel was winding at a steep angle. It lead some 50 yards below into another large chamber made of obsidian. The dwarves were advancing at a good pace and found themselves on an elevated platform. The platform turned into a wooden bridge. The pavement of the bridge crossed most of the room some 2-3 yards above ground. The front dwarves spotted right away an orc archer on guard beside a rough statue made of wood. To their right, there were at least two more orcs working around a large pit of mud surrounded by pillars.

The dwarves charged ahead at full steam. Donarik stayed behind to take aim while Khazek, Vadek and Drolf rushed through to get to the archer. Uncle Kalin and Gimvar slid down the way to get to the other orcs faster.

Drolf blocked an arrows and overran the archer with a sweep. The orc tumbled to his knees as Donarik's arrow hit its chest. Seeing Khazek and Vadek barging in, he slipped down the way to hide by the base of the statue.

Friday, October 11, 2013

049 - One big, elaborate dwarven joke.


The Entrance of the Numarii dwarves.

Walking knowingly into a trap

The gate under the mountain was adorned by two large statues of drakes. The gate itself was made of solid steel. At its center, there was a ring. Two flames shone like bright beacons atop pillars from which the mechanism of a draw bridge was secured. A canal crossed the hall, some 3 meters deep. Dark water was flowing from left to right through a pair of grates.

The company looked around in suspicion. Irina was the first to cross the bridge. She approached the steel gate and kicked it. Her toes absorbed the shock: no sound was heard. This door was in a wholly different league as the last three. Arnadil drew from his past as a fortification engineer to inspect the draw bridge. He noticed that the floor off the far wall was in fact a platform. The platform was made of slates and a steel structure that was bracketed at both ends and off the pillars opposite to him.

While Halin was prompted to inspect the structure, Nilppi got Thannolf to help him fathom the canal. There was only about a foot of water, and the current was marginal. Nilppi lowered himself with the help of a rope. The water was foul smelling and oily on its surface. Nilppi didn't made much sense of the steel structure underneath the floor until Halin got himself down there. The old masterdwarf had carefully removed his armor before taking a dip. It became obvious to him that the brackets holding the platform were moving components of some larger mechanism. Halin noticed that the platform would probably swivel down if the mechanism was triggered.

Nilppi, unable to grok dwarven engineering, headed to the upstream grate. At first, he thought that he heard a noise and stopped. He stretched his neck and drew his torch though the bars to see farther outward. A shockwave of roars rammed into the grate. A wall of claws and bony faces pressed senseless against the bars. Nilppi stepped back, some other members of the company readied their bows.

By the time that they had decided what to make of this. The brawling ghouls had turned against each other and drifted out of sight. The clamor died down. The company turned to the gate. The whole thing smelled bad. The choice left was walking into the trap, or go home.


Waddling in the wading pool

They knew that things would have to get bad before they got better. Two ropes were strung across the hall. They ran between the dragon statues: one on the ground and one at chest level. A third rope was tied to the ring on the door. Kasper, Nilppi and Irina got themselves on the ground-level rope such that they would not fall down if the platform was to collapse. The rest of the company returned to the near side of the canal to tug on the third rope. The pulled on the ring, which slid out smoothly. 

Nilppi jumped in style.
Predictably, the platform swung down into the water and the grates opened at both ends. The gate clicked open. The three company members balanced themselves against the wall. Kasper grabbed the door and slipped beyond. The disappointment was sharp when he realized that the gate lead to a room the size of a closet which housed the trap's mechanism. Nilppi dodged the claws of the ghouls by shoving Kasper into the closet. Irina considered jumping in, but one of the ghoul was in the process of chewing up the rope on which she stood. 

 Nimrodel and Finbert were shooting freely into the pit. Arnadil took a leap and knocked a ghoul off balance on his way down. When the rest of the company realized that he was now in close combat against 6 raving ghouls, they began jumping in as well. Nilppi first, then Kasper dove with his longsword swinging. Thannolf took a flying jump and snapped with his knee the head from one of the ghoul's spine. The ghoul fell in the water, then stood back on its feet. 

The melee was made of an unstructured mix of good and bad guys. Arnadil got clawed on his chest and blood started to drip from his armor. His attempt to retaliate was more spiteful than effective: his sword hit the ground and bent his wrist at a questionable angle (critical fail, crippled hand for 30 minutes). Thannolf, still hot in the collar from his super cool entrance grappled the ghouls from behind and tugged at its head. Halin hit hard but failed to silence the beast which fell only after Thannolf sliced its head with his sacred Lossoth knife. That was the last one still standing.

The company discovered that the ghouls didn't want to stay down. They had to hit them until their bodies were mechanically destroyed. Once that the smallest parts of the ghouls were too small to be articulated, only a floating mess of writhing flesh was left drifting to the right grate with the current. 


The Palantir commission as a novelty act

Climbing out of the pit was a trivial affair, but would lead only back to the entrance. A summary exploration of the upstream hallway lead them to an octogonal room. The room appeared to be the bottom of a chute set at its center. The chute was a mere 1m by 1m, but how far above was its origin couldn't be estimated. Nilppi tried to climb up but slid back down. By tossing a grappling hook, the company figured out that the chute was about 3m long. However, the grappling hook didn't caught on anything near its upper rim. 

The company decided in the most bizarre chain of reasoning to make a human pyramid so that the lighter and more nimble member could climb up to the chute's top. To convince the GM, there was threat to fetch video of cheerleader teams performing said action. The GM finally got swayed when the company threw into the plan the trunks used to make the battering ram. Kasper, Thannolf and Kasper were to make the base, supported by the battering ram's components. Arnadil, towering over his 7 feet made the second layer which took the construct into the chute. Nimrodel, nimble and light elf climbed up, then the hobbits. Irina managed to pull herself to another octogonal room. The beams from the ram were passed upward and Irina secured the ropes. In about 15 minutes, even the stoutest company member had made it up to the top.   

The only way out was a set of stair, running parallel to the stairs that lead to the hall. At the top there was a dead end and two small levers. Irina spotted in the dust many recent tracks of orcs and evidence that the far wall swiveled around a hidden axis. Pulling on the level brought them at the foot of a new set of stairs and to another secret door. Crossing the second door took them back behind the third wooden gate that they had rammed through about an hour ago. Irina tracked a large number of orc tracks in the dirty floor. Evidence of outdoors dirt could also be found. The company headed up the stairs and noticed a cool and fresh draught coming from higher up. 


The subterfuge revealed

The company walked through a storage room turned into an orc barrack. Beyond the door, they found themselves outdoors on the other side of the mountain. A path ran down into a close valley. It went back up at the other end, some 1500m away from the door. A camp of orcs was bustling with activity on the mountainside. Beyond the camp, there was another gate carved into the cliff. Arnadil used his looking glass to scan the area. He estimated the number of orcs to 50 to 70. He also noticed higher up on the cliff side there was an elaborate opening. 

The complex behind them seemed to be a decoy to mislead invaders. Halin shrugged at the Numariis' strange ways (The players are actually thinking that the Numariis could be some kind of duergars). The company was acutely aware that it was just a matter of time before the orcs would notice the death of all of their gatekeepers. Irina and Finbert, the resident hobbits in the company, volunteered to scout along the valley road. Finbert stumbled, lost his cool and came back to the gate right away. Irina kept on climbing, identified a hidden spot on the mountainside, but determined that she would be detected if she dared going further. 

The company pondered whether wait 15 days to get the support of Sir Galdor and his the soldiers of Gondor, or somehow trick the orcs into a winnable battle near the exit of the false Numarii gate. 

Thursday, October 10, 2013

K14 - I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK...

Recollection from Drolf, Unit lord of the Ardacer

I banked a lot of hope in severing the orb from the roots of the wicked tree. This didn't work. After I chopped it off, the Huorn's full wrath rained down on me with fury. I felt something slip through my armor and sting me on the chest. I dodged the giant whips and found my way back to my men. Donarik was making good progress in attacking the trunk. From up above, Gimvar managed to pull himself from his impaling grip and fell with a thud at my feet. The rattle of heavy armor could be heard behind me, I bent down and watched Kalin's poleaxe slice into the Huorn. The sap sprayed around and left a bitter taste on my lips.

Khazek dots the "i"s

This wizard was so dead from the start. I held him tight with both arms and legs, hard enough to make him gasp. He uttered a few words in an obscure language, which made me nervous. My right hand slipped off and in a flowing motion I drew my knife and sunk it into his heart. The wizard spoke no more. Senseless violence you may say, I though that was pretty cool. Thus died the villain.

Quick glance around, Donarik made a twirl and got off balance. The Huorn slapped him across the chest: that looked like it hurted. I looked up to try to find a face, an eye... anything to strike hard at. I thought that I caught the glimpse of a face high overhead. As the rest of the dwarves had regrouped and were poised to strike again, I fearlessly made for the trunk and started hopping up.


Vadek's recollection (not that he'd share even if you asked)

Garg, why do you care about what I've seen? After I did the orc and snatched the obsidian wand from his armless body, I made my way back up the stairs to find that my lazy colleagues hadn't finished the tree yet. The wizard was dead alright. Khazek has already walked away and was climbing up the tree with his bloodied knife in hand. Gimvar was lying on the ground, covered by his companions as a storm of heavy limbs struck down on them. 

Kalin holding on to his dear life while the
huorn takes him for a ride.
A big sweep came from the left. Drolf artfully jumped over and so did Donarik. However, Uncle Kalin and his shiny armor didn't get airborne quickly enough. The root caught his foot and flipped him sideways until his legs were fully dangling off the ledge. Luckily, the drop underneath was only 10 yards... still a painful fall. Poor old Kalin pulled himself back on even footing just in time to be swept once more. This time, he grabbed on to the root and held tight (the other option was to take 3d6 of fall damage).

Once in range, I shot one of my trusty hatchets at the huorn but the tree got out of the way, if that is possible (Note: this may be the only dodge that the huorn made all night). I tried to keep my eyes on the hatchet to find out where it went but Khazek and his antics caught my attention.

Donarik's take on the Huorn's last moments

I think that I was the belle of the ball on that day. I must have hit the bastard more than anyone else combined, and I kept on going. That tree was about to call me uncle! My axe made it passed the sapwood and into the dark heartwood when Khazek-boy stole the show. I could see it as he managed to pull himself about 8 feet over my head. He stabbed at the huorn twice in fast succession. The first strike chipped the trunk but the second strike seemed to meet no resistance. His knife went in like a needle. A tremor traversed the huorn through and through.  

The tree started to topple into the chasm on its right. Kalin, passing over the heads of the others and dropped to the ground.  He roughly bounced a few times on the way down. Khazek-boy dramatically took a running jump just as the huorn started to tumble down. 


Flashes!

Vadek didn't seem stirred by the turn of even, I guess that he expected that to happen. He walked to the wizard's corpse and really really made sure that he was dead. In the process, he recovered his hatchet and a second obsidian wand. Khazek got back on his feet and busied himself at controlling Gimvar's bleeding. 

Drolf was particularly interested in the orb. A 2.5' in diameter glassy orb with a satin finish. For a brief moment, he thought that he caught a glimpse of Browek Bridge. The vision was short, but Drolf managed to see his command post and a bunch of dwarves hanging out in the trenches. The vision was then gone and mere flashes of light would show every now and then. 

Kalin was tired, Gimvar was reeling. Gimvar pointed out that to get in the tower they had bypassed a thousand orcs "and it'd be uncool if they found out about it". The rest of the companion gave him a glazed look. In Khazad-dum, a thousand orcs will be called "breakfast".

The companions decided to head down the path an find out what the Green Wizard didn't want them to get to. 

End of part I for our 10th session.