Chapter 10: The Outbreak

Beginning of Game Session 10

Sa: "I can order thingz for you from' zee other cities while you are training"

Everyone exchanges their collected treasures for new equipment. Everyone now has magical armour, Pyrosh scribes some new spells into his spellbook. Roedyn ponders selling helaini.

"Oh the nerve! Although, at least I won't have to stare at that bloody wall."
Roe "Oh nevermind, we'll sell you later, when we've decided what we want."

The indians are rescued from the islands are rescued, and return to their village.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Twenty-Eight

Sa: Ah, I’m glad to see you have completed your training. Some of the villagers have reported seeing beastmen north of here. I want you to see if that’s true or not.

heading north. other side of the woods.

Night Two-Hundred-and-Twenty-Eight

camp
Waylander catches a couple of rabbits. Oops, there wasn't supposed to be rabbits on this continent... but then again, it only takes two.
Each party member takes their turn at camp watch.
Kafka casts invisibility and spots four beastmen on his watch. He wakes the party and they easily dispatch the beastmen.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Twenty-Nine

The party continues on their journey north and exits the forest they had camped in.

You can see a large group of humanoids in the distance, about a mile away. There are at least 35 of them, and they have funny legs.

The retreat behind a hill to allow for planning time.
Pyrosh's familiar, Beaky, is sent to watch the beastmen.
Pyrosh asks, "How good is entangle?" 
"I don't know. I've never used it. Long range though,." Replies Waylander.
Beaky returns... "Ah, boss. There's at least 50."
Roe: "good thing you had a look Beaky"
Beaky: "Yeah, I'll count em properly now."

Several minutes later.
Pyr: "These might be friendly beastmen'
Roe: "Yeah... coz they have been so far... we could try talking... do they speak?"
Pyr: "Not our language."
Pyr: "Lets go tell Sa"

Pyrosh gets a quick moment of panic then relief from Beaky via their empathic link.
Beaky returns. "Bloody Gleahn!" 
Gleahn joins the group.

Pyr: "How many were there?"
Beaky: "I counted 60 before I got shocked by Gleahn"
Pyr: "Gleahn, we need to take out those beastmen out. got any ideas?"
Gleahn: "I don't think even I can do that many. And auhhh.. I think they saw me."
Roe: "I wonder if they're coming to attack Northway"
Pyr: "That's what I'm wondering"
Roe: "no seige weapons... no horses." 
Pyr: "No wagons. Like an army with no supplies... that they probably don't need anyway"
Roe: "Not a village"
Pyr: "Maybe if we get Gleahn to fly the other way, then they'll all be looking away, and you can shoot them in the back of the head."
Roe: "I could fly past them..."
Pyr: "Gotta cast entangle first I reckon."

Roe: "If we make a fortress in the forest..."
Kafk: "... and a year later, we'll be ready."

Beaky goes to count again.
Discussion has lasted nearly an hour and no decisions have been reached.

Kaf: "I could perform for them, and make them happy before WE die."

Pyr: "Can you cast fly on me? Not that it matters, since I don't have a ranged weapon."
Roe: "Yeah I can."
Kaf: "We do have 4 bows."

Pyr: "Hmm, short, dry grass.. burnable grass."
Roe: "I like your thinking!"
Kaf: "But this short... it isn't likely to achieve much and they have hooves for goodness sake."

Roe: "The city is a better idea, at least we have walls then."
Beaky returns. "Guys, there's at least 100, a second group arrived from the Northwest. Needless to say that made it hard to count."

Pyr: "Okay, back to Northway."

The party finally agrees and at the end of day they camp on south side of forest.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Thirty

Back to Northway
.
Sa: "What do you have to report?"
Roe: "There's a couple of beastmen up to the north."
Pyr: "Yeah, a couple of hundred. They seem to be gathering there."
Sa: "That's not good."
Roe: "We were gonna kick their ass, but there were too many."
Pyr: "We did kill four"
Roe: "And they may have noticed 4 missing by now."
Pyr: "Now they know not to walk around in the woods."
Kaf: "If you go out in the woods today..."
Sa: "There's only really one thing we can do about it"
Pyr: "Nothing?"
Sa: "Exactly."

Divination: "There will be change coming."
Pyr: "'Coz we're here?"
"Possibly. Something else happened"
"They're coming to attack Northway."

A messenger is sent with warnings to the Indians.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Thirty-One

The messenger returns. "They have their own problems."
Sa elaborates: "Natives are used to this. They have wars with the beastmen frequently. There are three main 'peoples' on this land; the Indians, beastmen, and the salamanders... and now us."
Roe: "Lets send all the women and children to the island. Then we can fight, and if we get whooped, we can sail off too. As hired goons, I recommend, we find some more hired goons."
Sa organizes for the women and children to leave
A quick count reveals that there are around 120 men left in the village. It is fortunate that they knew this was a frontier town - they all brought their own crossbows.

Roe casts bull's strength on Pyrosh and himself, and then casts fly on himself.
Gleahn and the villagers hold off their own sections.

The party takes up positions on the town wall.
Roe and Kaf shoot one beastman.
Pyro casts colour spray and hits three beastmen, they all save.
Way finishes the one Roedyn and Kafka shot.
Pyr grabs Roe's old mighty bow and shoots also.

It is quickly established that the beastmen can't hit the party.

A second battle ensues, a beastman shaman casts sleep, clearly not knowing that it would have no effect on elves.
The whole party targets the spell caster but it manages to disappear into the crowd.
This group of beastmen runs away. 

Third battle arrives, this time on top of the wall - the beastmen broke through the town's defenses elsewhere. 
Roedyn shouts out "Alakani", to activate the special power of his bow. He quickly adds, "peanut butter sandwiches."
Waylander and Pyro both get pulled off the wall by their adversaries. Roedyn flies away from the wall to avoid the same fate.
Blows are traded and then Kafka discovers a world of pain as he is sneak attacked by a formerly invisible beastman.
Kafka gets sneak attacked for 22 damage.

Pyrosh casts sleep on the beastman fighting Waylander..
Waylander stands up from where he fell and and hits it.
Kafka hastily downs a potion of cure light wounds.

Pyrosh gets hit hard with a great axe.

Kafka puts up a valiant fight on the wall, then trips while trying to avoid an axe, and gets hit again with a sneak attack from behind. 
Roedyn's arrow finished the rogue beastman moments later, but it was too late for Kafka.

The remaining beastmen pull back.

Roedyn flies out and drops a summoned bear in their midst

Day Two-Hundred-and-Thirty-Three

The beastmen make several more attacks but don't breach the walls again.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Thirty-Five

Kafka can be raised dead. loses the 50% chance - lost spell slot. loses a level.

We have received word from our native friends that their villages have been attacked also. It would seem that the beastmen were planning a full-scale invasion, and then stopped for some reason. Our best divining has only revealed that the beastmen were attacked elsewhere, causing the withdrawal of their troops here.

I suggest you venture west in search of this beastmen army, and find out what you can. If they’re under attack, we might be next. Start from the native village and head west. They shouldn’t be too hard to track. They are good at field craft, but an army is hard to cover up. Speak with the natives while you are there, I believe they have a means of negotiating with the beastmen, similar to our white flag of truce.

Remember, I want you to find out what you can about the situation, and return home. I do not want any hostilities. The town wall here has finally been completed, but we are still vulnerable.

The party heads off to see how well the natives survived the attack

While they're in the Indian village an Indian named Kinj joins the party.
"Hello, I am Kinj. Your friend Sa has made quite an impression on me. It is because of him that I will accompany you. I know you need to speak with the beastmen, I can help you - I can speak their language. Also, we have a means indicating that wish to speak peacefully with them."

Day Two-Hundred-and-Thirty-Six

Heading west of Indian village.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Thirty-Eight

The beastman army is spotted. Kinj does the truce thing, then talks to beastmen, then returns to party.
"As Sa probably suspected, the salamanders have attacked the beastmen. 
Roe: "Good. Lets go thank the salamanders."
Kinj: "No, it is not going to be that simple. Usually the salamanders are content to stay in their own land, they only make light attacks - testing us you might say. This is not a light attack.
There is another matter... the beastmen want your help.

The party turns around and returns to Northway, eager to consult with Sa. 

Night Two-Hundred-and-Thirty-Nine

The gnome elaborates on the situation. "There are sixteen different nations of Indians, and generally speaking they don't really get along. Beastmen use magic weapons, usually made of stone. Indians use psionics, and often make their weapons from crystal. These magical, and psionic weapons are a necessity. Salamanders cannot be hurt without them. There is no single nation of inhabitants on this continent with enough magic to hold off a salamander army. Fortunately the people here are aware of that. The Indians and the Beastmen will co-operate so long as the salamanders continue this war.

Sa continues: "I have terrible news. The king has declared war on the Saoun. He states that the Saoun are trying to steal the land here in De Mutrio that is rightfully ours. So we have two wars on our hands - that of the salamanders, and that of the Saoun. Given the nature of the situation, I can no longer responsibly employ you. You must make your own decisions as to the future.

Pyr: "So the beastmen want our help... seems to me we need to start a third war. Make the Saoun fight the salamanders."
Roe: "I don't particularly want to fight my own people." 
Pyr: "I want to know which will give me the most reward." 

Pyr: "We could join the beastmen, bring them down from the inside. If we have to, we'll switch to working with the salamanders."
Waylander: "Have you ever tried talking to a Salamander?"
Pyrosh adds "I ain't joining no army."
Arguments and counter-arguments continue, but most of it is half-hearted. The more it goes on, the more it seems helping the beastmen is the only real option.

An easier decision to make is what to do first - Pyrosh wants to delay any trip by three weeks for training and no one has any argument against that. The war is clearly not going to end before then..

During this time the women and children are collected from the islands, and are brought up to date with the situation. 

Sa pays the party's final wages and thanks them, "You may not think it but you have done a lot for this town. So long as it exists and I am able to provide influence, you will be welcome here. I will continue to provide as much assistance as I can, but my duty, for now at least, is to remain here."
Sa also presents the party with a more up to date map of the continent.

End of Game Session 10

Beginning of Game Session 11

Three weeks are spent while Pyrosh trains.

Food is considered... they quickly realize they will not be able to carry it all
So they look at mules... and horses. And discover that they will need to feed the horses as well.
How cold is this winter? We should cross a horse with a donkey and a shag pile carpet.

Roedyn went overboard and bought 10 mules. Roedyn then hires Bob and Bill to tend his mules.

Pyrosh names his heavy war horse 'Bitey', and introduces it to Beaky.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Fifty

After three weeks of planning, the party is finally on its way.
At the end of the first day they arrive arrive at the first village. They stay the night there and listen to the tales of the indians. They lost a number of men during the fight with the beastmen, but enough were spared that they can continue to exist. They seem more worried that another daughter has been taken by the Sisters of Raven. Kinj explains that it is not normal to be visited by the Sisters more than once in a year.
 

Day Two-Hundred-and-Fifty-One

The party leaves the village behind and follows the course of the river.

During their travels they see the group of natives heading northeast. Pyrosh sends Beaky to follow them. Beaky reports that there are enough to fill a whole village, and they appear to be carrying a village worth of supplies and materials.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Fifty-Two

The next day starts off sedately, and looks to be a fine and clear winter day, when Kinj suddenly yells "Duck!"

Several people duck, but Pyrosh steadfastly remains on his horse. Kafka hurts himself in the process of jumping from his horse. What appears to be a pair of birds can be seen wheeling around in the sky and swooping past. Close to, they can see that it is actually a single bird with four wings and a long tail.

As the bird swoops past Pyrosh, a bolt of lightning shoots from its tail, striking him. Kafka shoots his bow in return, landing a sound hit. Roedyn follows suit, muttering Alakani as he does so. The arrow bursts into flame and strikes true, hitting the bird so hard that it is visibly knocked off of its course. Waylander shoots also, but misses.

The bird apparently decides not to press the matter and flees as fast as it can. Kafka, Waylander and Roedyn both take another shot. All three miss. The bird is soon out of sight.
Pyrosh says, "Thanks mule man", as Roedyn applies a healing spell.

Day Two-Hundred-and-Fifty-Seven

Five days have passed, with nothing more exciting than light rain and a few muddy bits of ground.

The party is beginning to think they will make the journey relatively unhampered, then Kafka spots the flame brothers - the smaller kin of true salamanders. They are quite a distance away. Waylander dismounts and draws his bow. Roedyn simply stops walking and fires - he doesn't have a horse to dismount. His arrow hits but from such a distance it is hard to see the result. Kafka rides forward, and is quickly overtaken by Pyrosh, who is charging towards the flame brothers with his lance set.

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Here is the short version:

Kafka and Pyrosh ride forward, leaving Roedyn and Waylander to support them with arrows. Pyrosh makes several charges through the flame brothers with his lance, while Kafka opts for the more traditional melee. Kafka tries a few sleep spells, and Pyrosh uses colour spray. Eventually the two fall back and regroup with Roedyn and Waylander.

Even though the battle lasts for quite some time, the party is well contained, and rarely looks to be in any grave danger. Eventually the flame brothers are whittled down and defeated.

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Feel free to skip down to the end of the battle. I haven't written it all up. Frankly it took too long, and was supposed to be a fairly insignificant battle anyway. To find the end of the fight, just use your browser to search for **********

Kinj dismounts and readies his crossbow. The flame brothers slither towards the party. Waylander, Kinj and Roedyn all shoot at the flame brothers. Kafka and Pyrosh continue on their way towards the creatures, Kafka's light war horse easily catching up to Pyrosh's heavy war horse.

Roedyn and Waylander advance cautiously, firing arrows all the while. Kafka casts sleep, knocking out one flame brother, then he retreats a short distance. Pyrosh charges through, and being stabbed with spears in return.

Three of the flame brothers turn to follow Pyrosh, while one lies sleeping on the ground and the remaining four continue towards Kafka and the rest of the party.

Waylander and Kinj continue their rain of arrows, but Roedyn shoots his own foot in his haste, pinning himself to the ground.

Matt: "At least you didn't say your word. That could have been painful."

Kafka dismounts and draws his longsword. Roedyn removes the arrow and breaks away from the others - moving to the side to get a clearer shot. Pyrosh has made a wide turn, and the three salamanders that were chasing him return to their sleeping comrade.

More arrows are fired and Kafka charges towards the most injured flame brother, neatly finishing it off. Pyrosh casts sleep, but the spell has no effect. Three flame brothers mob Kafka. Most of their attacks glance off of his armour.

Kafka attacks. Matt: "I'll just attack and kill one.. DEAD". He proceeds to roll a 20, however the second roll is too low to be a critical.
Kafka gulps down a potion of cure light wounds, while Pyrosh casts colour spray on a few of the flame brothers
Three of the flame brothers miss Kafka with their heated spears, and one attacks Pyrosh, and also misses.

Waylander missed as Roedyn heals his self inflicted wound.

Kafka uses his lucky sword to convert a miss into a hit. Pyrosh charges past the nearest two flame brothers and hits one with his lance. He doesn't get through unscathed though.
sals. 3 (1 is stunned). attack pyr. 2 attack kaf.
pyr takes 11 damage.

way misses
roe shoots and misses. (last 4 rolls : 2 1 1 4)
kaf hits for 10
pyr runs. 70 ft
kinj misses
sals charge towards kaf. one hits for 4 damage.


waylander continues walking and draws his sword. now 80 feet away.
roe summons a black bear.
Kafka hustles 60 feet away. towards Roedyn
Pyr also turns towards roedyn. 105
Kinj shoots and misses
Sals regroup and move towards kafka.

Way moves to group up with Kafka.
Roedyn casts shield of faith.
bear does nothing
Kafka cures himself 2
Pyrosh runs to Roedyn.
Kinj missed.
Sals. move to 10 ft away from Kaf and Waylander.

Waylander readies.
Roedyn casts cure serious wounds on Pyrosh. 26
bear moves
Kafka cures himself. 7
Pyrosh joins others and readies.
Sals charge, and Waylander hits pyr hits. 6 and 8.
the bear is hit for 7

Roe moves to the side and shoots. missing.
bear hits one for 6
Kafka missed.
Kinj does ntohing.
Way slashes for 11
pyr hits for 5.
sals kill the bear.

Roedyn moves forward and shoots. misses.
Kaf hits for 4 damage.
Kinj shoots and misses.
way hits for 9
pyr misses.
Sals hit kaf for 10
and pyr for 8


Roedyn shoots, drops his bow, draws his sword, and steps.
KAfka missed
Kinj missed - shot himself in the foot 6 damage. to -1 hits.
Way kills one.
Pyrosh misses and steps aside
sals hit wy for 12
and pyr for 10
One falls prone.

roe flanks - hitting with his sword for 6 damage
KAfka hits for 5.
kinj -2
way hits for 4
pyr hits for 4
one misses Pyrosh.
the other stands. roe hits the prone one as it stands.

Roe misses
Kafka kills the final one.

kinj -3


Roedyn rushes to cure minor wounds on Kinj.
heals everyone.

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Roedyn heals everyone, then camp is made and the travelling is halted. Kafka feels somewhat invigorated after the fight, having effectively blown away the cobwebs that his short death left him with.