Wolves Reloaded session 2
2nd SESSION
Warriors in Attendance
Flavius Hutchins
Cadwall, the Drunk
Dochartach
Rolfr
Nero
And the missing in action, but not forgotten...
Donn Ciarachotin
Maybe-Dane
Raven
In Cloyne,
they all met while looking for fame and fortune. Donn Ciarachotin rode in on horse as Maybe-Dane and his dogs were sat at the town center. Cadwall's resolve was hardened by his dry throat and penniless purse, and Raven was there too as was Dochartach, a brave of the druid cult. They were of a mind to destroy a monastery, yet the great St. Olhams was already gone. Hacksson and the Orcs he led had made sure of that (note: in a session I don't remember enough to clearly write up). Their next plan was to seek out a band of pirates who -- rumor had it -- must have been based somewhere within a days travel by the pattern of their raids.
They traveled along the coast, passing by crags and beaches looking for likely spots. When they discovered the freebooters camp they boldly approached them, seeking to join as equals in the enterprise!
Their boss would not have it, and instead offered them to be put to work as servants, for trying to kill the five of them wouldn't be worth losing even one of her brothers or sisters and they couldn't be left to spread word of the hideaway.
The party broke and fled, every man for themselves: Donn Ciarachotin, Maybe-Dane and Raven were wounded by javelins and captured, left to the mercies of the pirate band. Cadwall and Dochartach made their way to a cave they had seen before on the coast, looking to break off from their pursuers. As they went into it and checked for wild animals, they discovered among the accumulated scat a great deal of gold coins!
Dochartach leapt onto the hoard, filling his hands as the cave's master came up behind him and dug their claws into his forehead. As Dochartached eeked out a cry of pain from his strangled throat Cadwall sprung into action and landed a mace-blow into the wretch's arm! The scuffle was intense, as Cadwall's torch was snatched and thrown to the side of the cave.
He quickly broke into a run and dove for the light, narrowly escaping his foe. As the wild-thing came into the dim torchlight, Cadwall threw a net on him and acting quick, laid a second and decisive blow. He did not stop until the job was most certainly done, and then quickly went to tend to his comrade who was bleeding profusely and helpless. A bandaging later, they settled in to rest in the disgusting conditions for the night before departing to Culemwarden the next day.
Meanwhile, the captured three were set to task doing chores and labor around the camp they had sought to join. Their hope of a quick escape was gone with the clearing of the storm-clouds and the pirates departure from the cove, setting sail for another site to base themselves...
Resting in Culemwarden, the two survivors met Nero and Rolfr who readily joined them as they redoubled their efforts to locate the pirates. They would sweep the coast again, and then detour to seek the wisdom of the Druids' Circle before continuing.
As they crept up on that filthy cave again to double-check, they peeked around the corner of the rocks to see something -- far too BIG to be called a man, too over-muscled and swelling with raw strength, meticulously picking off bone-charms from the rocks around the entrance and cleaning them before tossing them into a great sack as tall as a man. Focused on its work, it ignored the party who swiftly detoured around the site.
With no signs of the pirates on that leg of the journey, they ended up at the Druids, where Dochartach revealed the wound on his forehead in explaining their story. The meaning of the deliberately shaped scar was clear: Enemy of all Druids. But, his story painted him as an ignorant violator of territorial claims he did not understand, and as the victim and victor of a fight in self defense... The pesky details of the story caused some deliberation among the eight present in duties at the Circle, and it was decided that Dochartach would be anointed with sacred soil for his wound and Cadwall would join him in his punishment: it would be their honor to leave for Albann on a journey to find the missing Druid Meabh or continue her quest to find the missing Druids of that great isle.
On the spot with the zeal of a true believer, Dochartach boasted that he would return with the head of the one responsible for imprisoning or felling Meabh! Hand on his chest as well, Cadwall boasted that he took full responsibility for her return or the success of her mission, and would put his word to anyone that might hear, for his word would keep him more honest than any threat the Druids could make!
They went down south by the great town of Blulach, where they boarded a ferry and set across to Cernyff. A Christian city to be true, but if they had caught a druid surely they would tell all about it...
rulings rules and emergent gameplay postscript: Combat was done by announcing actions -> initiative -> resolution. This led to a couple interesting conflicts because it set up Cadwall to declare his specific moves in relation to what the feathered biped wanted i.e. opposed rolls started happening. that's something to think of for later, because rather than both parties attempting individual rolls with possibility of nothing happening there's one contest that will settle one side as the sufferer of consequences.
surprise check and sneak attack. The druid took one guy out no roll because they were invisible and the player was totally distracted, while i took that as the start of an encounter that could cause surprise as cadwell while on the lookout for a foe, had no exact idea what to see coming. good thing his ass succeeded on that surprise check
the pirate cove. what a wild mess that was LOL, the players of course fell dying in two minutes as is my usual for 0 hitpoints, but i sort of cooked the circumstances together in the pirates mind and figured they'd be taken as... not quite thralls, but the lowest of low on the press gang totem pole. at least until proven otherwise. likewise with the druids, i was taking stuff into consideration but i was also thinking "it would feel pretty shitty and not be interesting for the druids to instantly smoke someone who came to parley and bluntly said 'look at this cool scar i've got', so i made it into an excuse for a boast for them. A boast that puts their name pretty squarely on a certain regional faction...