When we last left our heroes, they had encountered some “bandits” holed up in a tower along the Crystalflow River. The leader of the bandits had just conceded that the party could stay in the tower for the night (i.e., he surrendered) and Taranis had been gravely wounded from an arrow shot by the same leader and had plummeted to the ground from the tree he had climbed for a better vantage.
There are spoilers for The Pirates of the Crystalflow. Although, even though we are two sessions in already, we haven’t really gotten very far into the module at all. We have a definite tendency to “go off the rails” and get sidetracked with things. This entry is, again, from me. None of the players had volunteered to to do it…even for an extra benny. I guess I’ll just have to put the carrot away and pull out the stick.
My GM comments are, as always, in [italics and brackets].
With three of the “bandits” dead and three remaining, the bandit leader had essentially surrendered and his remaining men followed suit. Andwik and Skuli were atop the tower with the bandits and set about securing the surrendered weapons and tying up the bandits. Drefan provided cover from the nearby tree he had climbed while Wulfwynn frantically climbed down here tree to reach the fallen Taranis. Reaching his side, Wulfwynn quickly applied her healing magics to his numerous broken bones, bumps, bruises, and scratches…oh, and the arrow protruding from his torso. Her ministrations revived the fallen elementalist but failed to provide him complete relief. Despite having been healed of all of his apparent wounds, Taranis still suffers from pain and limited strength from his broken ribs.
I’m still deciding how I want to handle Incapacitation with the PCs in my Hellfrost campaign. We’ve had a relatively high degree of lethality in our Savage Worlds games and I’m not sure I want things to be quite that lethal. So I just had Todd rolled on the Injury Table and he got a result of Guts/Busted and so Taranis’ Strength has dropped to a d4. Todd asked how long this would last and I let him know that I’ll let him know when it goes away. 😉
Andwick, Skuli, and the bandit leader (who happened to also be named Skuli) had a fairly long conversation. Turns out that Skuli (the alleged bandit) is quite talkative and quite overconfident. It didn’t take long before Skuli (the alleged bandit) got on the nerves of Skuli (the PC) enough that Skuli (the PC) punched the tied up and defenseless prisoner. A few witty and sarcastic comments later and Skuli (the PC) landed another blow on Skuli (the one that just wouldn’t shut up). Once Wulfwynn finished healing Taranis, they joined the others in the tower and had much of the same conversation with Skuli (the mouthy leader). Much of the conversations revolved around various nuanced definitions of bandit, pirate, and mercenary, and whether or not the recent fight was just a misunderstanding or actual banditry (or piracy) on the part of one of the parties.
At one point, the Slaughterer of Silence brought up the issue of having shot Taranis and was quite surprised that he was both standing and did not have an arrow sticking out of him. The elementalist took that as an opening to exact a little vengeance and bolted Skuli Tonguewagger. A powerful arc of electricity struck the assumed bandit leader and laid him low. Although it should have killed him, even that could not put an end to his constant talk. Todd, of course, aced his damage on the bolt and did almost kill the Wild Card…but not quite. The action did, however, seem to earn the Tuomi some respect from the prisoners and a chastising look from Wulfwynn who healed the slightly smoking victim.
Needless to say, Skuli (the mouth) insisted that he was not a bandit…despite having asked the party to drop their valuables and be on their way. He insisted that they were just mercenaries traveling to the Orcmark to seek employment battling orcs. He also insisted that he thought the party were bandits themselves and that he and his were simply defending themselves. Also needless to say, no one really believed him.
Taranis was also quite concerned that these men claimed to have not passed a swamp/marsh in their travels. Skuli had claimed that they had traveled from Bridgwater and had followed the Crystalflow south from the town. In Taranis’ mind, that meant that they had to have passed through the Gnatmarsh but Skuli firmly denied having passed through a marsh. Taranis was even concerned that someone had somehow stolen the marsh or made it disappear…an idea that Skuli found rather incredulous.
Wulfwynn took one of the other bandits out to the woods, alone. When they stopped, he sunk to his knees, lowered his head, and told her to get it over with. Wulfwynn had to explain that she had not brought him out to kill him but to just talk. It wasn’t really clear if he was relieved by this admission but he did answer all of her questions in a quick, gruff, and, after Skuli River Mouth’s incessant talking, blessedly brief fashion. He confirmed that his leader was a bit of an ass but he had done well by them. He also corroborated the story from Skuli they had been out east fighting in some wars but were now heading to the Orcmark to hire on as mercenaries. There was also a little discussion about the difference between being a mercenary and fighting for money (even if for a good cause) and being a hero. The prisoner also confirmed that this had been there first attempt at banditry as they were too low on funds to reach the Orcmark.
Eventually, all of the PCs, Captain Kjartan and his barge, and the captured bandits were all rounded up and everyone settled down for the night with guards set for both the barge and the prisoners. The night passed without further incident.
In the morning, Wulfwynn announced that Skuli and his men were to be set free and given their weapons back…although they’d be provided no arrows for their bows. Many in the party were not happy with this decision and Skuli (the PC) was particularly not pleased. He and Wulfwynn had a heated discussion and Skuli made it clear that if these men committed banditry or killed innocents, it would be on Wulfwynn’s head. The other Skuli seemed quite pleased with this decision and they quickly headed south through the woods.
With the not so fond farewells out of the way, Kjartan got the barge underway. It wasn’t long before the party spotted the Gnatmarsh on the western bank of the river. It wasn’t long after that that they spotted swarms of the marsh’s namesake and learned just how miserable the bugs can be. By evening, the barge arrived in Bridgwater. Pulling into one of the open berths, Captain Kjartan let the party know that his barge would be heading back to Scathmoor in a few days and that they were more than welcome to join him for the return trip. As the party disembarked, they spotted a warehouse with a stylized sun dragon’s head painted upon it…Oswald’s warehouse.
The docks were still busy with dockworkers, merchants, guards, and the like. An urchin quickly approached the party and offered to be their guide. Securing the urchin’s services with one of their few remaining coins, they followed him to the east…and poorer…side of town to seek out cheap lodging for the evening. After stopping at a couple of rather seedy establishments, the party settled upon renting out a shack owned by the urchin’s mother…or at least that is what he said. It turned out to be nothing more than a shack…four walls (well, mostly), a roof (again mostly), a door, and a window. The evening was rather uncomfortable and the bugs were quite voracious.
In the morning, Taranis clearly was suffering from the predations of the insects. His face had some bad bites that had swollen badly. [Vigor checks were called for due to the bugs and Todd rolled snake eyes on his. Taranis had a bad allergic reaction to some stings he suffered on his face and I ruled it led to a -1 Charisma as it is rather nasty looking.] When on the barge, the party had noticed that Kjartan and his crew had slathered on some sort of herbal concoction to help ward off the bugs. Wulfwynn decided to head out to find a temple of Eostre to see if she could obtain something along these lines. Taranis and Drefan elected to accompany her. Andwick and Skuli decided to seek out the local Iron Guild office.
Arriving at the temple (actually a barn), Wulfwynn met the local Husbander, Yrsa, in the process of breech birthing a calf. The Reaper jumped right in so to speak. Wulfwynn offered her assistance around the temple (barn) for the day in exchange for some insect repellant and Yrsa agreed. As they worked, Wulfwynn asked a few questions about the piracy and merchants that had been impacted by the attacks. She learned that a few merchants had had their businesses impacted particularly hard and others seemed to be benefiting. Lars, Peder, and Mikkel all had their businesses hurt by the piracy while Oswald [Remember him?], Hethinn, and Skuli [Yep, it is a common name…it is even in the Players Guide as a suggested Saxa name. ;)] had all seemed to have benefited from the losses suffered by the others. With this information in hand, Drefan and Taranis decided to go and talk to some of the impacted merchants rather than continue their labors at the temple (barn).
In the meantime, Skuli and Andwick had arrived at the Iron Guild offices. Skuli asked some rather vague questions (e.g., anything new going on?) that seemed to put people a bit off. He also asked about work but then indicated that he already had a job. It didn’t seem to really get anyone at the guild to open up and give him information he wanted (i.e., about the piracy and Oswald) so the duo decided to head out and check out Oswald’s warehouse.
Arriving at the docks, they could see that two guards were stationed outside of the entrance to Oswald’s warehouse. The warehouse also looked to be in very good repair. Trying not to look out of place on the docks, the two warriors spent almost an hour walking about the vicinity of the warehouse, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. Having spotted nothing of the sort, they approached the guards.
Before they reached the guards, an individual approached them and asked if they were looking for work. He inquired if they might be up for nearly “anything” in terms of employment…clearly something shady. Skuli mentioned that he was an Iron Guild mercenary and the shady individual immediately lost interest in hiring them and quickly made his way off in the crowd.
Reaching the guards outside of the warehouse, Andwick asked if Oswald was within; they wished to talk to him about some employment. The guards answered that he was not at the warehouse. Skuli pushed the potential for employment and indicated he was an Iron Guild mercenary…although not one in good standing. Making no headway with the warehouse guards, the pair decided to head to a tavern to have a drink.
Drefan and Taranis made it to the docks sometime during the morning. They spoke to some dockworkers and then one of the barge captains, asking many questions about the pirate attacks, cargoes, etc. The captain was curious as to why they had so many questions along these lines.
The pair then headed to talk to the three merchants that had been hurt by the attacks: Lars, Peder, and Mikkel. Starting with Mikkel, they found him to be a brewer and a merchant and, at least at that moment, rather drunk. Mikkel invited them in and offered them a drink. He explained, in a slur, that he had lost pretty much everything in the attacks and that he didn’t even have enough funds to purchase more supplies to brew more ale. Plus, none of the barge captains were willing to even take his product as every barge carrying his goods had been targeted. Both Oswald and Hethinn had recently offered to front him funds in exchange for a share of his business but Mikkel had not yet accepted.
[Don’t let anyone ever tell you that hanging out at a bar a couple of times a week is not good for honing your GM skills. You get to see lots of drunk people and, given how many times an adventuring party winds up in a tavern, that can be useful, um, fieldwork.]
Next, Drefan and Taranis stopped by the warehouse of Lars. He was outside boarding up a window. Taranis started to assist him in his work and the two entered into a conversation regarding some conspiracy of sorts. Although Lars never divulged what or who he thought the conspiracy involved, he seemed to believe that Taranis also know about it. Taranis brought up Oswald and Lars assumed that meant that the engro merchant was also somehow involved with this unnamed conspiracy. It wasn’t much after that, however, that Lars changed his opinion regarding Taranis and exclaimed that Taranis himself was probably part of this conspiracy and asked him to leave.
A bit confused by Lars, the pair pushed on to the last of the three impacted merchants, Peder. Impatient and stating that he was in the middle of some business affairs, he pushed the pair to make their intentions clear. They began to ask their questions about the piracy and what had happened. Peder expressed some curiosity about their line of questioning as did a man behind the pair.
Turning around, Drefan and Taranis saw about a dozen of the city guard and an officer. The officer said that they had been asking a lot of questions and one of the barge captains had tipped him off to it. He asked who they were, where they had traveled from, why they were in Bridgewater, and all the sorts of questions an authority figure might ask of someone suspected of being involved in criminal activity. Both answered honestly and answered consistently when the same questions were asked again. The officer indicated that he’d be keeping an eye on them and then the unit went on its way.
When Drefan and Taranis turned back to continue their conversation with Peder, they saw that he had closed the door to his warehouse. Having collected a good amount of information (and possibly being a bit confused by some of the events), the pair started to head back to the temple (barn) to meet up with Wulfwynn. As they left, they noticed a couple of the city guard watching and then following them.
[Drefan and Taranis had happened to ask questions of a barge captain who was a little suspicious of them. The captain reported them to the watch and they had been looking for them most of the morning. I suppose it is possible that the watch officer was just doing his duty in questioning the two. It is also possible that he actually believes that they are involved with the piracy and is hoping to find out more by having men follow them. Of course, he could have also just been hoping for a bribe for any inconvenience they may have caused.
Regardless, the party now has to take into account the potential that the authorities are watching them. This is a good thing for a couple of reasons…trust me…it really is a good thing.]
Leaving the tavern, Andwick and Skuli noticed the pair of their compatriots and noticed the pair of guards following them. Realizing that Drefan and Taranis were heading back towards the temple (barn), the other pair decided to take a more circuitous route to avoid the guards. By about midday, the entire party had joined back together at the temple (barn) to determine their next moves in their investigation.
And that is pretty much where we ended. Not really a cliffhanger like I usually prefer but that’s just how things go sometimes. For those familiar with the module, Pirates of the Crystalflow, you will notice that there is not all that much familiar here. This episode was pretty much all improv on my part. We hadn’t played the last two weeks (due to a trip on my part and then St. Patrick’s Day) and I think that some focus was lost. Plus, the initial session (and this one) had a lot of focus on a couple of “random encounters” to give a bit of experience with the system for our new to SW players. So it isn’t surprising that some focus has been lost…I think that the focus went from being investigate Oswald’s connections, if any, to the piracy to just investigate the piracy.
Although it is easier to, um, encourage the players to follow he predetermined path of the module, I guess I prefer not to do that. I enjoy it more if a campaign just develop as it develops and, in this case, I’ve let the same thing happen with this stand-alone practice adventure.
At the end of the session, we did discuss how the players might be over-complicating things a wee bit and maybe casting their investigative net a bit wider than required by the module. 😉 ]
