Scenario 5
I feel like its time to return to the machinations of the lord
of blades (he is supposed to be the focus of this story after all), and lets
introduce a new character while we’re at it.
How about a warforged hero loyal to Breland. A Ranger perhaps…
Enter Dart,
warforged scout for Brelands armies on the Cyran border.
Because the
Lord of Blades is gathering an army, it would be a problem for Dart if they
tried to recruit him…
Will Dart
join up with the Lord of Blades?
Can Dart
destroy the recruitment cell?
Can Dart
persuade other warforged not to sign up?
Can Dart
discover where the warforged training camp is?
Looks like
this is primarily going to take place in the city, out of Darts comfort zone.
First we need
to figure out the recruitment cell;
Recruitment Cell
Goal: Recruit
warforged for the Lord of Blades
Obstacle:
considered to be terrorists (or unrecognised agents of a foreign power)
Assets:
Captain (boss), agents (threats), recruits (filler)
Next steps:
Set up a station in the city to gather recruits and prepare them for their
journey to the mournland.
Scene 1
Will Dart
sign up with the lord of Blades?
Given his
loyalty to the Brelish crown it is likely that he won’t, but that won’t stop a
warforged cell from trying to recruit him. And you never know, he might sign up
to work as a double agent (although that is far from his skill set, so it seems
unlikely). Actually they need somebody who can guide recruits through to be
picked up in the mournland – this sounds like exactly the job Dart would
qualify for…
First we need
to figure out who is trying to recruit him;
NPC
generator; A generous charmer. Motivations- Access to allies, discover love,
fulfil force.
This sounds
like a charming Bard, forming relationships with warforged in order to build
alliances and recruit soldiers. Their generosity suggests that rather than
openly recruiting they start with relationship building by offering whatever
the warforged needs, creating obligations before bringing up the suggestion of
any business relationships.
What can they
offer Dart?
It seems like
Dart needs two things – to serve king and
country and to track hidden paths and
ways.
I see three
things they could offer-
1 Contacts in need of his tracking
services
2 A lead to a group who are
threatening the safety of Breland (and who just happen to be opposed to the
lord of blades as well)
3) Something else
Rolled a 2,
so Dart is following up on something and they give him a generous lead.
What is
Dart’s current assignment? (waylay) Hallowed
bounty hunter overcome by favoured
ability. He is working as a bounty hunter, tracking fugitives in the
wilderness. The contact can point him in the right direction. Most likely
reason he needs that edge is because he has lost his quarry in a city – the
same place where Verden and Jolene are residing! Oh the coincidence!!
So who is his
quarry? (NPC creator) a Pragmatic Cleric motivated
to assist enemies, steal happiness, and
indulge lust.
So a cleric
who has made pragmatic alliances with Brelands enemies in order to steal and
pillage.
1
Bandits
2
Monsters
3
War
criminal
4
Crime
syndicate
1, so bandits
it is. Times were hard during the war, and are not much better now. A cleric of
1 the seven
2 the flame
3 the dark six
4 Blood of Vol
5 Dragon Below
6 Undying Court
4, so he is a
cleric of the blood of Vol. He is operating out of pragmatism rather than piety
however, so is part of a maverick bandit gang rather than a coordinated force.
His Bandits are probably causing problems with the warforged recruitment root
(or just drawing unwanted attention to the area). In fact, he is probably not
even a properly ordained member of the church. (I have been assuming he, but am
I correct? No, she is a cleric of the blood of Vol. Is she human? Yes but… not
Brelish. Rather than just having her be from another of the central kingdoms of
Khorvaire, lets have her be a bit more exotic. How about being from Xendrick as
that is another bastion of the blood of Vol. (note – clerics of the blood are
called ‘seekers’ and they worship the living blood within themselves as divine.
There are two
options at this point – keep the focus on the Lord of Blades cell and leave her
as an incidental threat, or bump her up to a boss making her the main focus of
this storyline and keep the Blades cell as a more subtle influence (presenting
themselves as allies who are merely helping Dart carry out his duties), this
seems more like the way the warforged Bard I rolled up would operate, so I will
go with it.
She is a Boss
So…
Pragmatic Seeker of the Blood of Vol
Banditry enables my indulgences
Refuse me and die (and then serve me)
Great Faith, Resources
Good Fight, Contacts, Rapport
Fair Provoke, Athletics,
Physique, Lore
Average Empathy, Ride, Will, xxx, xxx
Physical:
Mental:
[Mild][Moderate]
Divine Channel; May use faith to create magical advantages
relating to the blood of Vol (Death, Necromancy, deathbound, evil, law,
necromancy).
Hands of Healing; use faith to promote recovery of physical
consequences
Temple weapon; +1 attack and proficiency with daggers
WOW. That was
a lot of work, and we still havent settled on a setting for the first scene
yet.
I guess Dart
has been trailing (a name from Xendrick… Cant find any so I will just make one
up) Thurrellna through the wilderness for months. Coordinated bandit raids have
been making travel difficult in northern Breland, and while at first they were
thought to be the result of stranded Cyran soldiers stubbornly clinging to
their last orders of the war, it has become clear that they are nothing more
than the usual banditry and brigands being coordinated by an ambitious cleric
for her own gains. After a long and bloody road through the wilderness, the
trail has finally led Dart to the city, and his skills have been exhausted.
On arriving
in the city he found lodging at a Gholander run inn and began asking questions
(rolling contacts for 0+0=0 and success at a major cost). He doesn’t find her,
but she finds him…
It is dark
when he finds himself making his way through dimly lit alleys back towards the
inn, demoralised but undefeated and prepared to keep asking until he finds
somebody who knows something (roll notice for 0+3=3 and success). As he walks
the smpty streets he half hears something that causes him to glance about and notices
a group of rough looking men following him.
A glance down
a side street shows him more men flanking him. Hunting him like wolves. Finally
something he can understand in this crowded city. You cant run from wolves, so
instead he simply turns to meet them head on, drawing his bow while he spins
and nocking an arrow.
Conflict
Thurrellna
isn’t bringing out the big guns yet – she just wants to deter (and maybe test)
whoever is looking for her, and so these are nothing more than a gang of street
toughs.
Lets say 3
average mobs
Street
toughs
Average Fight
(+1)
Swords (w2)
Light armour
(a1)
[1][1][1]
[1][1][1]
[1][1][1]
Round 1
The first law
of the Jungle is survival, so Dart strikes first on the theory that he can ask
questions later (rolling shoot for -1+2=1, +2 for weapons of the hunter and bow
specialist for a total 3 against the mobs agility of 1+0=1. Gaining
3-1=2+w2-a1= 3 shifts). He unleashes a barrage of arrows and three of the men
following him drop to the ground with grunts of pain as their companions
charge.
(all three
groups attack for 1+1=2 against -1+2=1 causing 1 shift and 1+w2-a2=1 stress.
Then -1+3=2 against 1+2=3 causing 0 shifts, then 2+3=5 against 0+2=2 for 5-2=3
shifts and 3+w2-a2=3 stress. Marking Darts 1 and 3 stress boxes)
Dart is
surrounded by sword weilding thugs and forced to stow his bow in favour of the
spear he uses at close quarters, even so he is hard pressed to fend off so many
attackers at once.
Round 2
(Dart attacks
for 4+2=6, +1 weapons of the hunter for a total of 7 against 3+0=3 for 7=3=4
shifts, causing 4+w2-a1=5 stress, taking out 5 men).
Realising
that he cant continue to defend from foes on all sides Dart feints to his right
to gain a little space and then assaults the men on his left, thrusting his
spear into one mans gut and driving him backwards before kicking him aside and
whirling the haft into another mans jaw and then thrusting again into a third
mans face as Dart breaks through their line into open ground.
Two more men
rush to attack and Dart stalls their advance with short fast thrusts, filling
them with bloody holes and maintaining his distance as their advance falters
and they stagger to the ground.
7 men remain,
and they attempt to flank him in two teams (rolling 0+2=2 against 0+2=2, and
1+2=3 against 2+2=4. Not enough for any shifts of damage but they do get a
boost flanking).
Round 3
(Dart attacks
for -3+2=-1, +1 for weapons of the hunter =0, against -1+0=-1, tagging
the boost for +2=1)
With the men
attampting to close on both sides, Dart is forced back onto the defensive as he
attempts to hold them at bay.
(Thugs attack
for -2+2=0 against -1+2=1, and -1+2=1 against 0+2=2, failing to gain any
shifts.)
Round 4
(Dart attacks
for -2+2=0, +1 for weapons of the hunter=1 against 1+0=1 for 0 shifts and a
boost held at bay)
This is
starting to grind, so the thugs will concede, gaining 1 FP each for Dart and
the GM. Injury is still a real possibility here, so I will simply accept the
concession that the thugs back off and flee leaving no survivors for Dart to
interrogate.
In fact they
will do so because another party has arrived on scene – the warforged bard,
Boomer.
Syncopated
drumming reverberates through the streets, thrumming right through Darts steel
and filling him with vigour. It seems to have the opposite effect on the men
fighting him, and they cast each other nervous glances before taking off into
the darkness.
“Well met,
stranger.” Says an elaborately decorated warforged as he steps into view, still
drumming a faint beat on the large metal drum he has strapped to his chest with
two heavy looking beaters.
“Well met
indeed.” Dart responds warily, “Thanks for your help stranger. I’m not sure who
those men were, but its a fair bet they were working for the bandit I have been
tracking. It seems I have been getting to close.”
“They work
for a human witch called Thurellna.” Boomer says, sheathing one of his beaters
and holding out a hand in friendship. “Nasty piece of work. One of those blood
cultists. Associates of mine have been tracking her as well, but alas she is
simply too well guarded for us to handle alone.”
“A blood
cultist? Taht could well be the very same. She has been running bandit gangs in
the forests to the north and east of here. I am sworn to put an end to her activities.”
Lets give
Dart an Empathy roll to see if he picks up on the fact that Boomer has an
agenda here (rolling 0+0=0. A fail, leaving him foolishly trusting his apparent
benefactor).
They agree to
a joint raid on the cultists lair, and retire back to the inn to make plans.
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