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FR - 5E - Battle of the Aerie Part I

Page history last edited by Jon Goranson 4 years, 6 months ago

Battle of the Aerie - Part I

 

September 4, 2019

 

The group starts with a Heroes Feast with their friends.  In the middle of the feast, Dorn slips out, pulls out the Ring of Wishes, and wishes that all of the group and their allies be able to get a full rest.  Dorn, Maldar, Michel, Jinn, and Tyrel, along with the Steel Eagles, find themselves in the keep but not.  They quickly realize what happened as Dorn's wish created a demi plane, where time flows differently.  They are able to catch up, talk without fear of anyone hearing, and get a good sleep.  Maldar is able to take care of tattoos.  When the effects of the wish end, they know that they were gone no more than the blink of an eye and weren't missed.  It takes all of them a few heartbeats to readjust back to where they were standing but the feast continues.  

 

Sadly, the villagers had Besheba's own luck.  Several baskets broke, spilling the food they were going to take.  Then the repair tools had been put back in the wrong place and took time to find.  Several people who were going to walk, instead of be on the wagons, found holes in their boots.  They had to swap with some who weren't going to walk as best as they could.  Then the wheels of several carts broke!  This was more than the work of Besheba, although her hand could be felt in it.  Something else was going on but there was nothing to do but keep going.  By the time the wagon's and villagers were ready, the drums started.  

 

A fog had rolled in from the swamp.  Completely unnatural, it had stalled several hundred feet out from the keep.  Thirty feet high, hundreds of feet long, the fog taunted them.  They heard the hisses of drakes, the footsteps of armed men, chanting of priests, and drums.  The drums kept going.  Tyrel knew the drums couldn't be real.  Drums were used to keep timing, so the men didn't get out of step.  The swamp stopped any ability to march in formation over long distances!  The irregular ground combined with the marsh made walking in rank difficult.  Nonetheless, the drums continued.  

 

While the fog arrived slow, building up to its height and hiding the troops contained within, it left fast.  It looked like it collapsed to the marsh floor and swirled around the feet of the hundreds of men and creatures lined up.  The drakes hissed and spit.  The armsmen banged their weapons on their shields.  Then, as one, they all quieted.  

 

An illusion of Thoss in his human form appeared before the group.  "This is your last chance.  Surrender to me.  I will let you keep your lands and titles, elevate you even!  Then we will can stop the true threat."  

 

"Why not join us and Daggerford.  Together, we can defeat your enemy.  There is no reason to be enemies," replied Jinn.  

 

"Fools," spat Thoss.  "You have not the stomach for what needs be done.  This enemy will require sacrifice and I see you don't have it in you.  Let me show you the truth of this!"  And with that, the illusion faded and the troops started moving forward.  

 

The general plan was to protect the villagers as they headed south.  To that end, they had grouped several of the earth elementals they had to protect them.  Commander Miller had shown up with several squads and some were protecting the villagers, some were out front ready to attack.  The Steel Eagles and Danger Magnets were held in reserve, ready to act.  

 

The drakes charges, the militia moved forward to meet them.  The elementals rolled or burrowed.  In no time, battle was met!  

 

Really, the fight went well with the cultists and drakes going down and them having lost very few.  That's when the water elementals appeared from the pond as the villagers passed by!  However, several from the groups were able to respond to it and take them out.  It did let the Red Wizards move just before the groves twisted into a corrupted Treant!  Fire from Tyrel and Jinn soon saw that die.  As the drakes and militia started fighting, the cultists shoot arrows and magic into the groups!  The elementals were sent burrowing to pop up out of the ground and attack.  Maldar and Dorn got into the frey along with Heinten, Brianna, and Onja.  

 

Disaster!  As Dorn was fighting and taking out cultists, who barely seemed to know how to use their weapons, it seemed to Dorn, the air crackled in front of him and the thing he feared the most appeared.  A rust monster!  And as much as he tried to avoid it, as the elementals were directed to attack it, it was persistent.  It came at Dorn and its antennae touched his armor.  And ate it!  Dorn waited until the rust monster was down and was not going to fight without it!  The Danger Magnets felt the pull of energy as another wish expended and Dorn's armor was back!  

 

Finally, a dragon appeared and Dorn went toward it.  But Maldar got pinned by a Bullette!  Tune in next week!

 

GM Notes

  • I came up with a quick and dirty battlesystem to use for fighting.  
    • It simplifies it to one attack and one move.  A few units can turn an action into a move but few. 
    • Hit points are lower than they should be but it works to convey the scope of the fighting. 
    • We did have to create a chart to track who had gone and who hadn't and once done, it worked well. 
    • I didn't realize how many things I "knew" but hadn't written down, like the chart due to everyone has to go once before a unit goes again, that I then hadn't prepared for!  Lots of on the fly adjusting for that.   
  • I think due to the battlesystem, I was terrible with descriptions.  Awful.  Maybe next week I will be doing better.  
    • It didn't help that my computer not only rebooted but updated.  That took more than a half hour.
    • And the update reset settings!  I had to adjust to get the correct speaker output and more.  Really annoyed by that.   
  • I told the group this will take several sessions.  And when we are done, after a quick wrap up, thus ends the campaign.  
    • They win and become landed nobles near Daggerford.
    • They lose and Thoss has the start of his dragon empire! 
  • I like how this is epic for the characters but still on a local level.  I don't want to go big just to go big.  I think this makes it much more personal for what is at stake.   

 

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