FRC Session 7…The Keep

In our last session, Strik had entered Cagair Keep and had quite the conversation with Lady Hawke and his own little adventure. The session ended with Strik, naked, bound, and shot, leading Hawke and her men to Thokk…or so Strik had convinced them. Unbeknownst to Strik, the rest of the PCs and Thokk as well had, in fact, made their way to the area of the cave where they first encountered Thokk…the same place Strik was headed. That’s where we pick up.

This recap is from Andrew. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].

So last we left off Rory and Thokk were camped out in foxholes near Thokk’s original cave of deception, whilst Dru, Luther, and Adran waited in a nearby copse since Thokk did not consider them capable warriors.

From one side Lady Hawke and a group of her men approached, some on foot, others on horseback including Lady Hawke. Simultaneously a smaller contingent of Lady Hawke’s men appeared at the top of the ridge just above Thokk’s cave, with Strik in tow. One of the men escorting Strik shouted from the top of the ridge for all to hear, “Betray Thokk or we kill your master!” He then begins to slowly count down from 10.

The party is caught in a quandary, do we immediately start pointing out and attacking Thokk? Or do we stand with Thokk and turn to attack Lady Hawke? Rory stands up and gets ready to point out Thokk, while Dru, Luther, and Adran leave the copse and get ready to defend Rory as necessary. But before Thokk can be thoroughly betrayed, Strik realizes that his bonds are loose and that he can probably break free. In one smooth motion Strik breaks free from bonds, leaps forward from the ridge, and grabs the rope that is dangling just above Thokk’s cave. Then while dangling Strik uses his cleric magic to make his voice boom, he shouts out, “KILL LADY HAWKE!”

The party, now with a clear sense of direction, turns their attack on Lady Hawke and her men. Adran casts sleep on Lady Hawke’s general area, but only manages to put to sleep several of her cohort’s horses. [Not the horses…some of the men on the horses did though.] Luther hits Lady Hawke with an eldritch blast, knocking her off her horse. Dru fires off arrows as Lady Hawke’s men close in on the party. Thokk springs up, and he and Rory begin taking on Lady Hawke’s men in melee combat.

Meanwhile the guards escorting Strik are attempting to recapture and/or kill him, but Strik is too wily for them, he shakes the rope violently, knocking one guard to his death.

Lady Hawke then recovers and mounts one of the riderless horses; she rides off at a gallop out of the party’s reach. At this point many of Hawke’s men begin to surround Thokk after realizing that he is perhaps the gravest threat. Rory steps up to help Thokk, which lead to this fun little exchange:

Thokk: They’re mine!
Rory: I’m helping!
Thokk: I’m gonna rape you first
Rory: Not without a penis!
[The cross-cultural exchange continues to be quite educational]

The battle rages on until eventually all of Lady Hawke’s men are dead, save the few which Adran put to sleep. At this point Luther attempted to tie these men up for interrogation, but Thokk was having none of it and insisted that they be killed on the spot. Thokk throws the last of the sleeping men to Luther and Adran insisting that they kill him; Luther and Adran are understandably mortified. Not wanting the situation to come to a head, Rory came over and slit the last sleeping guard’s throat.

[A handful of Hawke’s men also fled and were neither killed nor asleep. I believe one or two went off with her and the three survivors at the top of the cliff also escaped.]

Strik, during the combat, was able to take refuge in Thokk’s cave, from which he could fire out spells. But after the skirmish ended Strik needed some assistance exiting the cave, so Drusilla tied a rope to one of her arrows and fired her mighty bow into the cave.

It was then that the party needed to decide how to proceed. After much deliberation it was decided that we would go and offer Lady Hawke’s men a choice (or perhaps the better word is ultimatum): Lay down your arms and allow us to get to Lady Hawke and you’ll live, or defend her and die.

So the rest of the party waits within earshot in a nearby copse of trees, while Strik and Thokk ride up to Cagair Keep to deliver the offer. Thokk encourages Strik to ride within the range of the Keep’s crossbows to show Hawke’s men that we do not fear them. Strik agrees that this is a good power play and does so, and the guards surprisingly do not shoot. Strik with his booming magic voice delivers the offer:

WE ONLY WANT LADY HAWKE! LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS AND WE WILL SPARE YOUR LIVES! YOU SAW WHAT WE DID TO YOUR FELLOW MEN! YOU SAW ME CARRIED OUT OF THIS NAKED AND IN CHAINS BUT I KILLED YOUR MEN AND NOW I COME BACK TO STORM YOUR KEEP! IF YOU STAY AND DEFEND LADY HAWKE WE WILL KILL YOU… OR WORSE!*

*This is not word for word what Strik said, but I was probably too busy laughing to write it all down.

The party then works out their plan of attack and eventually it is decided that Strik ride around on horseback on one side of the keep to create a distraction, while the rest of the party storms the back right corner of the keep along the ridge.

The assault begins at nightfall, as Strik begins his distraction, flaming arrows fly out of the Keep, illuminating the surrounding area. The charges forward with their assault despite this change in circumstances, all the while crossbow bolts are wizzing past them. When they get to the palisade Dru, Luther, and Thokk attempt to lasso the top of the palisade (Thokk ties a big stick to the end of his rope, ensuring success, a tip which he does not share with the rest of the party) [a wooden palisade with the logs sharpened to spikes at the top so that trick worked; that’s how his men got in when they first attacked.]. Dru’s lasso catches on while Luther’s fails, Luther gives up and simply climbs up Dru’s rope after her; the rest of the party scramble up Thokk’s rope.

On the other side of the wall the party deals with Hawke’s men and the crossbow bolts headed their way, while Thokk spots Hawke and the two square off in single combat. Thokk deals Hawke a critical blow, while Hawke responds with two critical blows of her own. But Hawke realizes she cannot take down the massive Orc in full plate mail all on her own, so she turns towards the cliff and jumps. The party lets out a collective gasp and runs towards the edge, only to see Lady Hawke gliding away as if by magic. The party attempts to shoot her out of the sky, but to no avail. Meanwhile Thokk is absolutely livid, and cannot cease cursing in his native Orcish tongue.

[Thokk actually did very little damage to Hawke. His critical blow was on one of her men…killing him outright. Hawke, however, did leave Thokk with a couple of grievous wounds. I’m not sure I would characterize her retreat as being because of her inability to take out Thokk.]

After Lady Hawke flees the remainder of her men lay down their arms; there only five of them left at this point. It would appear at first that Thokk would like to induct these men into his tribe, but then he starts cutting their heads off. Realizing this, the two remaining men get up and bolt, but Strik is already on it. Strik, at Thokk’s behest, runs down one of the men and tackles him, as if this is not enough Strik then proceeds to bite the man’s ear off! The remainder of the party shoots the other man as he tries to flee (the party feared that the man might release the white-eyed monster, named Snowball).

[And the cross-cultural misunderstandings continue. 😉

I believe that all of the men agreed to become part of Thokk’s tribe…as explained to them by Strik. Once they did, their lives belonged to Thokk. He simply executed them as was his right. But it was fun to see Strik get more in touch with his orcish side. 😉 ]

The injured man, who’d been shot at, rounds a corner and Drusilla pursues. When Drusilla rounds the corner she finds the man has been killed by one of the strange little servants of the Keep, known as Dworcs (half-Dwarf and half-Orc).

Dru introduces herself and the misshapen little old Dworc whistles summoning the rest of his kin. The Dworcs demand to know who their new master is, to which Dru points out Adran. The Dworcs are quite taken with Adran stating that he is the true master. Adran inquires as to how they came to this place and the Dworcs state that they lead Lady Hawke; when Adran inquired why they lead Lady Hawke here, the Dworcs stated that this was a place from legends. Adran asked why they killed the previous tenants and the Dworcs stated that the previous tenants didn’t matter. When asked why they lead Lady Hawke, of all people, here, the Dworcs told Adran that Lady Hawke was tired of being a bandit in the High Moor and that she thought perhaps if she saved enough people from bandits that the people of this area would grow to love and respect her, even the though the bandits attacking the people were her own men. The Dworcs also stated that Lady Hawke had a magic cloak, thus her ability to glide away from the Keep. Finally, the Dworcs told Adran and Dru that Lady Hawke had dozens more men in the area that she could summon; some were as close as a half days travel, and others were farther out.

[I think the head dworc actually phrased it as where is the new master. They did make it pretty clear that they were here waiting for Adran to arrive and had convinced Hawke to come here so that they would be waiting for the master when he arrived.

Didn’t the earless guy give the info on Hawke’s men as well? I think he also shared that she had already sent off a messenger to have the closest band return to the keep…a band that could probably arrive no later than morning.]

Meanwhile Thokk and Strik are interrogating the severely terrified and confused remnant of Lady Hawke’s garrison. Thokk, following Strik’s lead, bites off the man’s other ear. The man tells them where Snowball, the red-eyed beast, has been penned up and that she’s been drugged. Snowball is penned up in a boarded up outhouse nearby. Luther and Rory secure the front gate.

Strik and Thokk then have the man direct them to Lady Hawke’s room; Strik retrieves his gear and takes a look at some of things Lady Hawke was reading/researching. Thokk states that he is hungry, and realizes that Snowball is probably hungry too, he brings the man outside with him and the party, sans Adran, follows.

Outside Thokk begins hacking off limbs from the man who’s ears have already been bitten off, while Strik uses a torch to cauterize the wounds. Rory, absolutely horrified by this behavior, contemplates shooting an arrow through the man’s head as this is going on, and eventually does kill the man out of mercy.

[It was only one leg…no other limbs…and Thokk did tell Strik to get the torch in preparation for this. See, he’s already becoming more human and showing mercy and compassion…of a sort. 😀 ]

Meanwhile the Dworcs take Adran back into a secluded area of the Keep and tell him that he is the true master whose destiny it is to unlock the great treasure hidden beneath the Keep. Adran is understandably excited at this prospect. After this revelation Adran goes outside and rejoins the rest of the party.

The party then attempts to decide what game plan should be from here on out in terms of dealing with Lady Hawke and her other men. After much consternation it is decided that Thokk will leave the Keep and seek to gather more Orcs to his tribe. Strik is reluctant to allow Thokk to bring more Orcs back to the Keep but eventually acquiesces after Thokk convinces him that he does not want the Keep or their lives at the moment.

[The final decision was made by Adran as he is the new “lord” of Cagair Keep. Thokk and Adran made a blood oath before Thokk left to bring back troops which kind of replaced the prior bargain that Strik had struck…especially since Strik did say that he was now breaking that prior bargain.