Session 344 - Plans of Orcs and Men
General Summary
Summer 727TR
The Story So Far
The King is dead. Long live the King.
King Minigath Elendsa, who had ruled the Kingdom of Kaldor well for thirty-three years, has been assassinated. His nephew, Sir Conwan Elendsa, has been crowned King, but the former King's bastard son Sir Maldan Harabor has contested this and made his own claim.
While the kingdom is embroiled in a civil war, the mysterious Esoterical Order of Lothrim has struck, and armies of orcs, many thousands strong, have invaded the fractured kingdom.
Meanwhile, the heroes have seized Baseta Keep from the forces of the Usurper, Sir Maldan Harabor, and held it against a determined attack by an orc army. Now they search the stronghold for the war plans of the Usurper and interrogate their captive, the odious Sir Crya Dezella.
This is the continuation of Session 342 - The Foulspawn Invasion.
Location - Baseta Keep in the Kingdom of Kaldor.
29th Nolus (Summer) 727TR
Part 1 – Interrogations
Searching the captured Baseta Keep and questioning some guards, they learn the approximate size of the Sir Maldan Harabor army. It is about 400 strong, but apart from a strong core of local knights and men of arms supported by mercenaries, the bulk of 300 men are conscripted peasants and yeomen from the Sethew, Olakand, and Baseta Baronies. The rebel settlements and keeps are sparsely defended, especially Olokand Castle. However, the enemy has a large garrison holding the City of Tashal and the crucial bridge at Habe keep.
Now Rycon interrogates Sir Crya Dezella, and he wants information for military and personal reasons.
The Usurper has moved east, attacking the manors west of Gardiren Castle. He drew a hastily assembled response and won several engagements, sending the Earl of Gardiren's army running back to his castle. The Usurper has laid siege to Yeged Keep and hopes to draw the Earl to respond and thrash him again. Sir Maldan is realistic enough to know conditions have changed, and he does not have the support to win a prolonged war, but he holds a significant portion of the kingdom and, more importantly, the critical City of Tashal. He wants to inflict enough damage to force a negotiated peace, giving up Tashal in return for founding his own kingdom in the northwest of Kaldor.
On a personal level, Rycon wants to know why Sir Crya’s older brother, Sir Kathel Dezella, killed his now fiancé, Dame Afaewynn Barthy, late husband. Sir Crya's response is a jumble; he claims no involvement but suspects his brother carried out the murder as a plot to infiltrate the Earl of Kiban’s entourage. He does not know any other details; it is not something his brother talks about. Rycon insists Sir Crya put suspicions in writing.
The party writes a message with all the important strategic information and sends it to the King via Valaria’s bird companion.
Part 2 - Fear
It appears the Order of Lothrim has noticed the heroes, possibly more specifically Valeria's, use of magic in the previous day's battle and summoned a powerful demon to eliminate them. The creature is a mottled grey, terrifying amalgam of a giant snake with random limbs, crab-like pincers, and a huge fanged maw.
To the heroes' shock, they notice the foul, monstrous demon hovering outside the keep's window, glaring at them with sinister eyes that seem to uncover their worst fears. Suddenly, it projects a devastating mental attack, a wave of absolute hysteria that wrecks the heroes' minds. Valeria can barely stand and needs healing from both Rycon and Dryueh to be of any help.
The demon teleports into the keep and hovers high above the main hall room. Dryueh dives under a table and hides while Valeria, just holding it together, turns Invisible and creates an illusionary replicate of herself. Unfortunately, the demon sees through the illusion, but before it can attack, Rycon leaps onto the chandelier and slams his sword onto the back, knocking it to the floor, where Dryueh emerges from the shadows, wounding it with a skillful stab. While Valeria blasts it with Fire Bolts, the demon creates an evil duplicate of Dryueh. Fortunately, before it can inflict any more serious damage, the fiend is destroyed. It turns into a smelly, sticky slop, which the keep's staff show great displeasure cleaning.
Part 3 - The King's Reply
Late afternoon, Valeria’s bird returns with a reply from King Conwan Elendsa. His Highness congratulates Rycon on capturing and securing the Baseta Keep against all odds. He orders Rycon to hold it and use his initiative to weaken his enemies. That is the good news.
The bad news is that massive orc armies are attacking the kingdom from all directions. There are reports of orc armies moving towards key settlements, including the castles of Gardiren and Minasas. Orcs have blocked off the Salt Route and the Pagaelin barbarians have become much more active, raiding the kingdom’s southern settlements.
Things look bleak.
Part 4 - A Well-Timed Ambush
The heroes consider options, ignoring the orcs for the moment they want to strike back at the Usurper. With the intelligence indicating that Sir Maldan Harabor has left Olokand Castle lightly manned and is campaigning and otherwise occupied in the east, the party decides to pay a visit to Olokand.
Objectives: Rescue any hostages held by Sir Malden and, if the opportunity arises, capture the castle for the King. When Sir Malden seized Baseta Keep late last year, he took hostages from local lords to ensure their support and compliance. With the hostages free, some of the lords can join the rightful King's side safely.
At night, they head south towards Olokand Catle but spot a huge host of foulspawn moving in their direction. It appears the enemy has not given up on taking Baseta and is now returning in much greater numbers, and surprisingly with some human-made siege equipment. Scouting, the party discovers Captain Carrick, the leader of the failed attack from a few days ago, in the center of the enemy army near a ballista and catapult.
With the enemy drawn out in a line along the narrow roads, the heroes identify an ideal ambush spot, a tight bend where they can attack its leadership without being directly observed by the orc masses. However, the attack has to be precise and fast, without any warning raised. They set an ambush and strike with complete surprise. All goes nearly perfectly. The shocked leadership and black orc bodyguards are quickly slain. Captain Carrick is a good warrior but no match for Rycon and Dryueh's sneaky tactics. Dryueh knocks several of the human leaders unconscious so he can use his favorite gruesome form of magical interrogation later (i.e., opening their skulls and recording a few of their memories with a magical artifact, a fatal process).
As the battle proceeds, the human siege engineer commanding the artillery sees things going badly and retreats, trying to get help from a nearby orc mob, but Valeria Dimension Doors in front of him and “persuades” him to surrender. This foreign mercenary is relieved and surprised to be spared. He, almost eagerly, informs the party the siege equipment was taken from Olokand Castle. The large castle has fallen to the Order of Lothrim and is occupied by a large force. Apparently, a traitor opened the castle gates, allowing the orc hordes to rampage in and butcher the ill-prepared castle inhabitants. Only some of Sir Malden’s hostages were spared because they were secured behind bars, and the orcs could not find a key to the dungeon cells to get at them before being brought under control. They are also told Sir Malden’s wife, son, and grandchildren were among the slaughtered. Also, one of the larger orc armies is heading towards Heru Keep.
Part 5 - A New Plan
Using an Illusionary Disguise, appearing as exactly as Captain Carrick and speaking through True Speech, Valeria commands the orc hordes to turn around, head west, and attack Sir Malden's army. The bloodthirsty horde, almost 400 strong, roars its approval and rushes east to kill as many humans as it can find and cause chaos.
The party returns to Baseta Keep with their prisoner and new information. After the Interrogations, they need to devise a new plan.
To be continued.NPC Interactions
Zosimus - The captured siege engineer.
Sir Crya Dezellar - former acting Constable of Baseta Keep.
Player Characters
Valeria - Human - L15 Shadow Sorcerer
Background - Magical Experiment.
Archetype - Beastmaster.
Rycon - Human - L15 Fighter
Background - Rebel Knight.
Archetypes - Liberator Champion/Dual Weapon Warrior/Swashbuckler.
Dryueh - 1/2 Elf - L15 Thief Rogue
Background - Scout.
Archetypes - Vigilante/Medic/Shadowdancer/Wizard.
Next Session
Rycon
Dryueh
Valeria
Esoterical Order of Lothrim
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