Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Land of One Thousand Towers Session 7

 What follows is a session of a B/X hexcrawl I'm running with friends.



Session 7 
Cast: 
Kishar the Hollow Agate - Magic-User 2 (Seer)
Marko - Thief 3 (Robber)
Guardsman Vanon - Fighter 2 (Warrior)

Retainers:
Croaker - Grasshopper-man Ranger 2
Sunflower - Grasshopper-man Ranger 2

Book of The Dead:
Shaggy - Fighter 1

Kills and Loot:
17 Red Plume mercenaries (10 xp)
Reclining jade figure in the classical style (60 gp/xp)

In the falling dark the party gathers in a storage cave cut into the hillside the village sits on. Not long after they do, the first group of eight peasants (Ahnum supporters) appears with clubs and knives. They are hearty peasants, ready for a fight and to strike back against those who would keep them suppressed.
So too appear the chandler and one other (Lasca supporters), themselves quiet and isolated. The two factions eye each other suspiciously, some still wearing their pins even in the dark.

Young lord Enuran Ahnum is also present. Kishar makes sure to establish his presence and importance while she addresses the masses in a rousing speech: a call to break free from these oppressors on the hill, to take back their fates. It diverts into calling out the cowardice of everyone so far, but ends on a high confident note towards decisive and mutual action. 
All cast down their faction pins into the dirt, united by the cause before them.

Plans are laid: a scouting party will check if the band has been followed (it hasn't). On the all clear, Vanon takes nine of the peasants in a war party down the main road to grab attention, Kishar takes Enuran and the chandler to a position just below the castle to observe and plan a Sleep spell, Marko sneaks up hillside to a darkened part of the wall to scale and scout.

The castle respond: five watchfires and ten mercenaries on patrol over the walls, three of whom note Vanon's march and appear to prep crossbows. Vanon's squad takes cover in the shadow of a cottage, and Kishar lays down powerful magics. Every single man on the wall crumples as Marko scales the wall and gets to scouting; he refrains from cutting throats to start, and instead checks out the large courtyard inside the castle.
One mercenary, drunk and confused, spots him and ducks a crossbow bolt. The cry of alarm goes out. Marko goes to release every animal from the stables to cause panic, only to find splatters of dried blood and dead-eyed mules inside.

Vanon takes the lead on the attack, but another bolt from the castle takes out an unlucky peasant. Worse, a group of crossbowmen makes use of the watchfires in another way: they have bolts tipped in resin, and rain down fire on the cottages. Most fly far into the street, but one catches. A fire begins.

The siege begins in earnest with many a careful movement by each side. The mercenaries are tough and well armed, but the peasants are righteously angered and have strength in numbers. Beyond a play-by-play the salient points of the combat are:
  • Kishar has young lord Enuran boosted up on the wall to cut throats, prove he's bloodied the enemy, and be present for the rescue story. She then doubles back and riles the townsfolk as their village is set alight, hands out money for rebuilding, and leads a second charge.
  • Marko meets up with the grasshopper-man Croaker, and together secure the main keep's roof while taking shots at the mercenary squads.
  • Vanon leads a charge at the front gates, but himself also scales the wall to take out the crossbowmen with spear and sheer fortitude. Through unlucky fumbles he finds himself locked in a duel with the last crossbowman, each trying for ever closer blows. He finds on at least three occasions someone dies in front of him.
  • Croaker and Sunflower make good use of their slings to crack heads, but both take serious wounds.
  • The peasants fight a battle of attrition against the castle, taking first the front gates with club, knife, and thrown rock. Near a dozen are cut down, but the mob becomes an unstoppable tide once inside the courtyards.
  • The mercenaries set fire to the village as punishment, but with all the ranged elements out of the picture are forced to mount a rear-guard action with worse and worse losses. They are battered into a corner, and their commander (a huge figure surrounded by some kind of magically thickened air that drives aside missiles) issues a fighting retreat. He and one other flee into the catacombs beneath the castle, and three other mercenaries surrender before being beaten to death.
The siege ends in fire and blood. The party sends their mob to chase after the surviving mercenaries while taking time to explore what's in the main keep. 

Rooms had been cleared to make space for makeshift barracks, a dining hall had been stuffed with the detritus of occupying mercenaries. A throne room had the throne itself shattered in two, looted, and left scattered in a corner while blood had dried where it was smeared. Vanon did not have much hope for the leaders of House Lasca.
Kishar checks out a fresco on the dining hall's wall: a bald figure with a sword, flanked by a lion and a smaller figure also with sword. No secret doors there, but a grinding underfoot suggested something else. in the catacombs they find wax-sealed sarcophagi (and don't break them open to loot), and a secret exit: one cyclopean stone had been pulled away.

The secret exit leads to a hidden cellar with scraps of food, and then through a second, clay-smeared door that led back to the storage cave in the hillside! It is clear that the mercenary commander has fled into the dark, and the party makes moves to claim spoils instead of the unsafe castle.

Marko checks out the castle's well, and brings back a box from its depths locked between his legs. The bizarre treasure-hunter impulse yields treasure!

Vanon crosses the courtyard to check the stables and sealed rooms beyond. It appears the Lasca horses had been butchered and replaced with stoic mules. As well, it appears that the door leading into hidden rooms has been spiked shut. Suspecting a trap, the guardsman removes the spikes and enters carefully.
Inside is so smoky he can barely see five feet, warm, and with a terrible feeling of dread. Vanon takes it slow, and comes upon a bonfire—and beyond it a young woman staring back, a knife held to her own throat.

It is Na Sunna Lasca, soot-smeared, wild-eyed, and ready to die before "the vultures come to run her through." Vanon placates her and leads her out into the night air.

Almost immediately Kishar starts talking about the Circle's ideals, the bonds of protection, and how the mercenaries (everyone has started calling them bandits) have been driven away. Moreover how the young lord has come through great danger to rescue her from the captors and end the tensions between their families: Enuran, covered in blood and blank-faced, meets her stare. There's a weak smile between the two.

All the survivors have gathered, and Na Sunna offers hospitality for the night. Let the new day bring its troubles, and let the dead be buried.

Let it be known that, in the last days of the month of The Eye, that peace was brokered between House Ahnum and House Lasca.

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