Rolemaster Season 2: The Fall of Teleria
By Jay Young
Posted 2/2/2007
(1) The Pirates of Teleria
After the Seven Manuscripts of Gurkha had been returned to the Headmaster in Tharbad, the player characters were confronted with their second quest, only this time the end of the quest would have such a drastic and terrible impact that its tremors could be felt throughout all of Middle Earth. Here once again, the players started out in Minas Tirith on a vacation to pick up Fleance’s stores of gold that had built up from his art gallery. The visit was brief and by the middle of the first adventure, the characters were back in Tharbad. Upon arriving in Tharbad, they were immediately given their next task—travel across the seas to the island country of Teleria, find, and bring back the legendary Sword of Rinora. Sounded easy enough. The only problem was that the sword had been lost for nearly a thousand years since it was brought to Teleria by a Gondorian knight and no one had seen or heard of it since.
To begin the journey, the characters took a passenger ship that sailed from the mouth of the Gwathlo River for three weeks until it hit the capital of Teleria, Richmond, located on the northern portion of the island. During the voyage, the players met for the second time a man named Abrecan who was both a travelling adventurer and a knight of Gondor. Abrecan had first been introduced during the first campaign when Eladin, Fleance, and Alexia travelled to the western shores of Middle Earth following Alexia’s vision. Abrecan had been on the beach with a host of dwarves and accompanied the three back to Annuminas. The knight was a large-framed Dunedain with black hair and was always wearing a plate breastplate.
Nothing in this campaign was easy (what’s new). About two weeks into the voyage, the real fun began. Late one night, one of the PC’s was on the deck of the ship when he noticed another unlighted vessel pulling quietly up beside the passenger ship. Waiting next to the gang plank of the strange new ship were gathered several armed men. Quickly the men lowered the plank, joined the two ships together, and began to board. Immediately, the players let out a warning cry and the battle began. The pirates flooded onto the ship attacking every passenger and sailor they met. The players drew their weapons and met the pirates with matching intensity. It soon became apparent that one or more of the crew members aboard the passenger liner had allowed the pirates to board the ship by slowing their speed. The pirate leader also came aboard and had a curious trinket in his left hand that resembled a dagger from a distance. Abrecan immediately made his way towards this mysterious cloaked figure. When the knight approached, however, a pirate momentarily drew his attention. Abrecan turned to face the new threat. The pirate leader raised the object in his left hand, pointing at Abrecan. Then the fears of all the players sitting around the table were confirmed. During the 10,000 years since the fall of Sauron, guns had been invented.
The pirate leader squeezed the trigger, shooting Abrecan straight in the back. The knight fell over suffering grave injury. Eladin swung into action and struggled to engage the pirate leader. Suddenly, a raging fire broke out on the passenger ship and quickly spread to the sails. The pirate leader used this distraction to retreat from the ship back aboard his own vessel, calling his pirates after him. Forced to help extinguish the flames, the players could do nothing but watch the pirate leader flee. Judging by the briefness of the attack, it must have been a raid for something on board. That something turned out to be a large shipment of Arnorian gold destined for Teleria. The pirate leader, the dread pirate Mordrid, was waging his own private war on the crown of Teleria and had stolen the gold to help fund the war. While the players cared little about this conflict, it had left them with a set of badly damaged sails, and so many dead crewmembers that it was doubtful whether they could complete the voyage to Teleria.
Just when the players thought things couldn’t get worse (and of course, they can always get worse), three nights later, a raging storm struck the crippled passenger vessel. This time, however, I believe it was the product of double sixes rolled on my part. The storm quickly broke apart the already damaged ship and sent the players, the remaining passengers, and the crewmembers swimming for their lives in the ocean. The players managed to clamber aboard a life boat and stay afloat. However, another unbelievable roll of double sixes spelled certain doom for the players. Looming off in the distance and heading straight for the group was a large rain-wrapped tornado. The life boat had capsized and thanks to Daniel’s ingenuity, the characters figured out a way to flip the boat and hang on underneath. As it turned out, this idea saved everyone’s life. With respect to the tornado, I realized quickly that this was an instance in which all of the players could be killed in a single adventure. Since the team had displayed nothing but the finest roleplaying, I decided to tip the chances in their favor. I ended up rolling doubles yet again for each individual player to determine whether he was blown away in the tornado. Fortunately that night there were no takers, and the characters managed to cheat death throughout the rest of the night.
The next day, the players landed on what seemed to be a deserted tropical island. As there were a series of small islands just north of Teleria, this meant that they could not be more than a few days out from the great island kingdom. They spent the first night on the island recouping from their brush with death. For Loarse, this meant laying his charms on Alexia. In fact, he did manage to succeed in stealing a kiss from her (yes, stealing). In the meantime, Chiana tried to build a fire on the beach and rolled a 66. Seconds later, a meteorite from space crashed down on her fire lay and instantly lit the dried twigs, leaving Anthony with a chunk of exceedingly rare metal (virtually worthless raw, but invaluable if forged into a magic weapon). It wasn’t long before they decided to pick up and explore. When they did, they discovered a great village several miles a way and about a half-mile inland from the beach head. As they wandered into the village several of the villagers stared at Loarse. Eventually, they were approached by someone who looked like he had some clout. He immediately asked Loarse what he was doing back so early. Stunned, the players decided to try to use this mistaken identity to their advantage and went along with it. It was a good call on the part of the PC’s for they soon realized that this village was actually a primary camp and staging point for the dread pirate Mordrid, the same pirate who attacked their ship a few nights earlier. Unfortunately, they also discovered that the real person Loarse had been mistaken for was due back in a matter of days. This meant that the PC’s had until then to procure a ship and get the hell out of dodge.
Apparently, Loarse’s alter ego was a wealthy Telerian who wanted to see Mordrid succeed. This Telerian, however, was skeptical about some of the details. Still not realizing the error, Jarman led Loarse, Abrecan, and the rest of the PCs into the jungle to let them in on part of Mordrid’s secret plan and convince them further to contribute to the cause. Hidden underground in the jungle outside the village was a stockpile of old rifles and pistols. It appeared that Mordrid had discovered what made these ancient weapons go boom. Jarman gave the PCs a quick demonstration of a rifle and mentioned that Mordrid had larger and more destructive weapons at his disposal. This meant canons. After leaving Jarman’s presence, a long debate ensued between Eladin, Abrecan and the other PCs about what to do with this fantastic new technology. On the one hand, these guns posed an immediate threat to the safety of the crown of Teleria, a staunch ally of Gondor and the largest naval power in the world. Even the Telerian navy couldn’t stand up to the onslaught of guns and canons. Alternatively, if the weapons could be seized and brought back to Teleria, the king would be able to use them against Mordrid. Still a third view that Abrecan pushed for was the slightly religious view that saw these weapons as a new and terrible threat to the safety of everyone in Middle Earth and that they had been lost from the grasp of mankind for a reason.
Naturally, besides these questions, another good question arose outside the game—why incorporate guns at all? Doesn’t that essentially violate the traditional setting of Middle Earth? Well the answer is yes. Indeed, had the PCs decided to try and steal all of the weapons and bring them back to civilization, the GM would have used all his powers of catastrophe-creation to ensure that this did not happen. Guns would quickly upset the balance of power in the game. I used the guns, however, for a very important reason. Bear in mind that this was still only the second campaign in a setting that took place 10,000 years after the fall of Sauron. I was still trying to establish the background for this new Rolemaster system. Naturally something had to have happened during that time, and I wanted to show just how far technology had advanced during that time and to make the players scratch their heads about whether guns and canons were as far as technology progressed (were they???). Some of the players, to include Joel, had wondered about the issue and this adventure segment provided some insight into the matter.
Ultimately, Abrecan’s view prevailed and it was decided that for the good of Middle Earth, the guns must be destroyed. How to go about doing this was another matter. As it happened, the pirate camp was located at the foot of a large hill, at the top of which was a sizeable damn that was used to regulate the stream trickling by the camp. It occurred to the players that if the support timbers for the damn were taken out, the damn might rupture and flood the whole camp, guns included. As the clock was ticking until Loarse’s masquerade came to an end, a plan was quickly conceived. Obviously, the players couldn’t make it back to Teleria in their life boat, so some method of escape off the island was needed. They discovered that the pirates had a few small ships anchored just off shore of the beach a half-mile from the camp. They picked a night and sent Druiden and Eladin to rupture the damn while Chiana, Loarse, Velic, Alexia, Aleron, and Abrecan went to secure the ship. Eladin cast a 2nd level spell which would disguise his face and climbed to the top of the damn to distract the guards while Druiden worked on severing the timbers below. Meanwhile, Loarse used his identity, with Chiana posing has his pirate wench, and the three of them went aboard the ship to wait. They decided that since a crew was needed to cast off from shore, that they would use Loarse’s sway among the pirates to convince them to leave.
Running for their lives to outrun the raging waters that would soon be crashing forth from the fatally-weakened damn, Eladin and Druiden returned to the getaway vessel and crept quietly aboard. During all of the commotion from the flooded camp, while aboard the getaway vessel, the crewmembers immediately voiced a desire to return to Mordrid’s growing armada. Though it may have been beneficial to the Telerian crown to discover the whereabouts of this elusive fleet, the PCs immediately realized that it would spell their certain doom. Since the crewmembers outnumbered the PCs, Druiden came up with the idea of simply poisoning them all to avoid a conflict. Once dead, their bodies could be dumped overboard and the players could sail the ship into Richmond, the Telerian capital. This is precisely what they did. Druiden concocted a whitish paste poison and the PCs served it to the all-too-unwitting sailors on their bread telling them that it was mayonnaise, to which the crew responded “we ain’t neva had mannaze befor”. Another round of good roleplaying. Readers take note.
(2) Richmond
When the PCs finally arrived in Richmond, they wanted to go straight to the King and tell him what the pirates were plotting. Relying heavily on Abrecan’s word as a knight of Gondor and a handwritten letter bearing the seal of the Headmaster of the University at Tharbad, the guards granted them passage into the royal palace. Once inside, the characters had to wait for awhile before they could be granted an audience with anyone. While waiting on the sides of the Great Hall, a large gallery where musical performances were held, the players saw for the first time an interesting character. Dressed all in black and wearing a sort of Three Musketeers-style hat, he entered the Great Hall and immediately snapped at some of the performers that were practicing. His presence was dark and ominous, his voice commanding. The group immediately inquired about this man from one of the guards standing at the entrance to the room. His name was Draevan and he was King Richard’s Chamberlain, essentially the second-in-command of the kingdom. The players were told to stay out of his way. Though the players didn’t know it at the time, Draevan’s destiny would help change the course of Middle Earth.
Instead of King Richard, the players were allowed to see the Captain of the Telerian Guard, Masnin Fletcher. The players told him they were from the University at Tharbad and Masnin listened to their story of woe about the strange new weapons Mordrid planned to use against the Telerian navy, and that the pirate planned to strike soon. Grateful for and extremely impressed with the new and valuable information, Captain Fletcher offered the players positions in the Telerian Guard. As I recall, the only one to accept the invitation was Eladin, but I could be mistaken. Eladin was told to meet with the Captain in his office on the other side of town later that afternoon.
At Captain Fletcher’s office, Eladin signed the necessary papers and was brought in as a sergeant. While there, they were introduced to Inspector Currigan and his assistant, Sergeant Durpin. Dressed all in black, the Inspector was tall and skinny while Durpin was short and fat. The two made quite a pair. The Inspector worked for a special investigative office in Teleria and Sergeant Durpin worked for Captain Fletcher. After the visit, the players decided to visit the University at Richmond while in the Telerian capital. Despite all that happened, they did not forget what they were after. Hopefully they would uncover some clues about the ancient Sword of Rinora. Thus, Captain Fletcher put the characters up in their own small guard shack in the castle.
That night, Loarse decided to carouse some women at various houses of ill refute down at the unsavory docks of Richmond, earning 25 experience points in the process. Naturally, Alexia refused to come along. The other players basically took it easy and relaxed in their small cabin for the night. Being highly superstitious, it was Loarse’s belief that going to bed after midnight would bring him misfortune. Therefore, after his drunken bout with a local “lady of the evening”, Loarse returned to the guard shack. After staying up all night, he cooked breakfast for the others. While the bacon was sizzling, the players heard a knock at the front door of the cabin. To their surprise, on the steps up to the cabin was Inspector Currigan and Sergeant Durpin. Bidding the players good morning, he asked how their night was and where they would be heading next. Immediately, the characters were suspicious. Then the Inspector asked if he could come inside. Joel promptly voiced his objection, but they didn’t want to do anything to raise an eyebrow. After all, the characters had already spilled their guts about the pirates. The only thing that the Inspector could possibly be interested in was the Sword of Rinora, but the only thing the players had disclosed was their affiliation with the University at Tharbad, and nothing about the sword. Yet he was up to something. The players wondered if perhaps he was in league with the pirates. It was all just speculation. Again these were the types of questions I like to bring up during the adventure. The more head-scratching that goes on, the better the adventure is. In the end, the players let them in for a few moments, and Alexia offered them breakfast. The Inspector politely turned down the offer, taking a nonchalant glance around the cabin. After a few minutes of chit-chatting, the two left.
A conference was immediately called in which everyone lodged their complaints against the Inspector. Everyone agreed that Inspector Currigan should be watched out for. The players also found out from the University at Richmond that there was a nunnery several days south of Richmond and just outside the town of Dwaeth which might have some helpful information about the sword. The Headmaster of the Telerian university had heard of the legend, but claimed to know nothing more. Thus, the group left that day for the nunnery.
(3) Graelin
Before coming into Dwaeth for the night, the group stopped at the nunnery to dig for information. They struck gold. As it turns out, the Mother Superior had not only heard of the Sword of Rinora, but was familiar with what little history there was to be learned. The sword was carried to Teleria a thousand years ago by a knight of Gondor seeking help to thwart the tyranny of King Sirion in Minas Tirith. Both long and wearisome, the journey proved fatal in the end. The sword itself was believed to possess great powers, though none could say what exactly. Even while on his quest, the knight fell in love with Arienne, a beautiful Telerian nun bound by the chaste ways of her faith. Breaking her vows, however, Arienne secretly pursued a relationship with the knight. What happened to the unfortunate knight is a complete mystery, but rather than find help to fight King Sirion, he supposedly ended up fighting another evil lurking in Teleria. Upon the knight’s death at the hands of his enemies, the power of the sword was used to seal off evil from entering Teleria. The Sword of Rinora wound up in the hands of his lover, Arienne, who was forced to leave the nunnery because of her transgressions. She took the sword with her and died soon thereafter. Presently, the players were told, the sword lied with Arienne in her grave on the northern slopes of the Anvil Mountains.
While it was a fine tale, the Mother Superior could say nothing about the precise location of Arienne’s grave. To this end, she told the group that if they continued on to Teregond, a small town located at the foot of the Anvil, then they could gather supplies to continue up into the mountains to begin their search. It was a long shot, but there was nothing else they could really do. Thanking her for the information, they left the nunnery.
Once in Pome, the players decided to take a stroll through the marketplace. They were immediately drawn to the herb shop. At this time in the game, magical herbs were still very rare. The fact that there was actually an herb shop in this town was novel. They were greeted by a large, brawny fellow named Graelin. He wore brown and green traveller’s clothing and had bracers on his wrists. Graelin had the look of an adventurer. As the players perused the herbs in his kiosk, they asked him questions about his travels and where he found his herbs. Most of them, he replied, were from somewhere in Teleria and the surrounding islands. Graelin appeared very knowledgeable about Teleria and its history. This led the players to ask him about the Sword of Rinora. To this, the large ranger reacted somewhat strangely. While trying to appear helpful, he denied having any knowledge of the ancient sword, but the characters could tell he was hiding something. Unable to get any further information out of him, they left to look further around the marketplace. Graelin’s reaction bothered the group, however. First, why would Graelin seek to hide anything about the sword? After all, it had been lost for a thousand years. If he actually knew of its resting place, why would he not dig it up himself? Second, the team was still troubled about the Inspector from Richmond. Undoubtedly, the Inspector knew of their quest. Perhaps, the group thought, Graelin and the Inspector were somehow related. One way or another, the players decided to return to Graelin’s herb kiosk to find out.
When they returned, the ranger was nowhere to be found. It was late in the afternoon and all of the surrounding shops were still open. Perturbed, the players asked a neighboring shopkeeper when Graelin normally shut down, to which the man replied after dark. Immediately, the players decided to pack up their equipment and leave. Graelin, they feared, would return to haunt them.
(4) The Vampyres of Teregond
Only a few days later, the group neared the town of Teregond further south of Pome. Teregond lied just at the feet of the Anvil Mountains and very few travellers had visited the town in recent years. In fact, as the PCs approached the town, the road narrowed to but a small path and was thickly overgrown with weeds. When in Teregond, the players naturally decided to head where knowledge flows as freely as the liquor—the local tavern. The bartender/innkeeper was quite surprised to see customers walk into his bar. He quickly disclosed to the players why the town was so completely overgrown and run down. Apparently, according to the bartender, a plague had struck Teregond in recent years, and ever since, visitors shunned the town. Teregond was all but stricken from the map. But there was more. It seemed that recently people had begun disappearing from the streets of Teregond, mainly at night. The bartender told the players that vampires had come to haunt the town and were claiming those who had not already fled the town. As far as he was concerned, Teregond was dead and he would soon be leaving too. If the players were smart, he advised, they would follow him.
Undaunted, the players decided to see for themselves if anything was amiss. The plague they could believe, but vampires? Very unlikely. A large graveyard lied just up the hill through the forest on the other side of town. They got a room for the night and decided that rather than risk vampires in the graveyard at night, they would wait until the following day to investigate. Who knows, maybe it would lead them to the sword. Ivy, however, had her own ideas. She decided to climb up on top of the inn that evening and take a look around. As the sun was setting, she succeeded in an observation maneuver, and saw a hunched over figure wrapped completely in dirty white rags stumbling through a back alley of the decrepit town. Freaked out about the prospect of vampires, she quickly climbed down and rejoined the players in their room.
The next day, the group gathered their belongings and started up the hill toward the graveyard. On their way up the hill, they passed by a couple of guys pulling a two-wheeled cart full of dead and rotting bodies. They told the characters that they were headed for the mass graves to dump their plague-stricken cargo. Fortunately, the mass graves were some ways away from the old traditional graveyard in Teregond. If there were any vampires, the group thought that would be a natural place to start looking. Tucked back in a nook in the hillside forest above Teregond the players found the old graveyard, dotted with gravestones and a handful of old crypts. Suddenly, everyone was asked to make an alertness check. Something was lurking behind one of the crypts. Weapons ready, the team slowly approached the stone building, when from around the side approached a man dressed in black with a black top hat. It was Inspector Currigan.
Curious and very suspicious, they asked him what he was doing there. He responded by asking them the same question. Again, the Inspector did not tell the characters why he was there or what he was doing. Most likely, he was following them, but they wondered if perhaps he also had something to do with the vampires and the plague in Teregond. Again, no one knew. He bid the characters an equally suspicious good day and headed back down the path towards Teregond. After the Inspector left, they searched all of the crypts and then searched the graves. Around one grave that looked to be still in the process of being dug, Velic found fresh blood. Something had been there recently—last night recently. Velic climbed down in the hole and poked around. His blade struck a stone trap door. Eladin jumped in the grave and gave Velic a hand pulling the stone away, revealing a dark underground passageway.
One by one the players all proceeded into the tunnel. Fresh blood covered the rocky path into the cave. Not long after they went into the tunnel, they encountered a six foot rock ledge. This ledge proved to be difficult for Velic, who fumbled and fell to his death. Awestruck that a player could lose his life from a six-foot fall, everyone struggled to think up a loophole. Somehow, they did, and Velic was allowed to live. There was just one more complication: there was blood all over the area that Velic landed on. The blood was infected with plague. Another long-shot roll gave Velic something else to worry about—leprosy. It was only a matter of time before the disease would begin to affect his body, and without the help of magical herbs, which were virtually unheard of at this time, Velic was all but doomed to die of the disease. Without any alternatives, the group continued deeper into the caves. After several hours it seemed of spelunking, they were ambushed by several fanged beasts. At last, the vampires attacked. In a heated but quick battle, each one of them was killed. While the characters themselves did not know what a vampire looked like, I showed a picture of their assailants to the players, and they knew exactly what the beasts were. They were not vampires, but orcs.
This was astounding news. Joel in particular had been somewhat distressed about the setting that I had been running. So far, there was virtually no magic, herbs, or any kind of main bad guy whatsoever. Basically, every element necessary for a good fantasy game was missing. Now, however, he was given a strange hope that things in the game were not as they seemed to be. There were orcs. Regular, run of the mill, kill in two rounds or less orcs who had been sneaking out of the caverns in the night and preying upon the leprous citizens of Teregond.
Continuing on, the players eventually happened upon an old hermit that was living very deep inside the caverns. He had long white hair, could barely speak, and looked as if he had never seen sunlight. But he was a man nonetheless. Scattered around the cave were some clay pots and a sword. Eladin talked to the man and discovered that not only did he seem to speak only Adunaic, but that he had been living down in this cave for centuries, guarding something. The players were also surprised to learn that the old man knew something about the Sword of Rinora. They were even more surprised to learn that he knew where the sword was. The mysterious old man told them exactly which mountain slope on which the sword could be found. Quickly, the players decided to continue their journey and recover this elusive artifact. On their way out of the cave, however, they discovered what appeared to be a large and ancient stone blocking a pathway deeper underground. The stone had strange markings on it that filled them with a feeling of dread. They left the cave wishing to see nothing more.
(5) The Shikari
The caverns led them to an opening at the top of the mountain next to Teregond. The mountain slope they were looking for was several days’ ride away on horseback. Having left the horses in Teregond, the group traveled back down the mountain to retrieve their mounts, this time unafraid of any vampires. They bought some food and supplies to take with them, and then began their journey into the mountains. We spent nearly an entire session just making climbing checks. The terrain was rugged, and Ivy and Eladin kept stopping and looking for herbs. While there were few players on that adventure, they racked up tons of experience on the climbing checks alone.
Eventually, at the top of one of the mountains, the group came across a lake with an island out in the middle. Immediately the characters were curious about what lay on the island, in particular Will, who was playing Drakus Seahelm. Will decided that despite the risk (which was substantial), he was going to swim across this frigid mountain lake to the island. He was eventually joined in this proposition by Eladin and Alexia who were both excellent swimmers. Unfortunately, about a hundred feet from the shore of the island, Eladin and Alexia failed their endurance checks to ward off the effects of the ice cold water. They began to drown. Quickly, Drakus left them with a rope, told them to hang on, and then swam ashore. Once on dry land, Drakus pulled the two of them in with the rope. By the time they reached the island, it was nearly nightfall. As soon as they went to have a look around, they were surrounded by a group of tall, slender figures wearing large wooden masks. They seemed at first like a rogue band of hostile natives, constantly pointing spears and bows in the characters’ faces. Yet there was something more to these natives. They didn’t know exactly what, but something told Joel and Will that they had better comply with the natives’ demands. They were herded at spearpoint to the center of their village, which hung high in the pine branches above them. They were eventually met by the chief of these natives, also wearing a mask, but who spoke Westron. He told them that they were called the Shikari, and that they were there to help. The chief would not harm them, but instead brought Velic ashore and healed him of his disease. The Shikari also gave the characters a few small herbs. Not only that, but the players were given 1,000 landmark experience points. I periodically awarded this experience when the players came across something truly novel, or reached an important point in the game.
To this day, the players aren’t sure who or what the Shikari were. They also don’t know why they were awarded the landmark experience points for an event so seemingly trivial. The most plausible theory was that these natives were actually elves in hiding, which might seem accurate given that they readily and easily wielded magic both to light their village and to heal the players of their fatigue. Regardless, they were grateful for the help, which after so many days in the rugged mountains, they desperately needed. After that, the group was sent on their way.
(6) The Sword of Rinora
Only a few days later, the players found themselves on the slope northern slope of the Anvil Mountains. The sword of Rinora was within their grasp. As they gazed from the top of the mountain onto the trees and grass sloping below, they could see a rocky outcropping that jutted out about 30 yards from where the evergreen trees stopped. They knew the sword lie in a cave just below the ledge. Excited about the discovery that awaited them, the group quickly rode down the steep mountainside. The rest of the players remained with the horses on the edge of the grassy outcropping while Ivy decided to climb down and check out the cave. Dangling from a rope, she found the cave and climbed inside. In the back of the cave lay a large pile of loose dirt next to a hole that someone had recently been dug towards the back of the shallow cave. They were too late. Ivy immediately climbed back up the rope to alert the others. Waiting at the edge of the tree line 30 yards up the hill was Graelin who had with him a small band of ruffians, each seeming ready for business.
From up the hill, Graelin demanded that the players hand over the Sword of Rinora. The players were stunned. At first they thought Graelin had taken the sword, but why would he hang around looking for a fight if he had? Then it occurred to them that if Graelin didn’t take the sword, then who did? Inspector Currigan came to mind. But these were questions that would have to wait until this was over. Velic did most of the talking here, and tried to convince Graelin that they did not have the sword. Naturally, Graelin didn’t buy it. There was only one way to resolve this and everyone knew it. Velic markedly drew a line in the dirt with his falchion right in front of Graelin. The fight began.
This battle, though not large, was one for the history books. It was full of energy and could have easily turned sour for the players. Right off the bat, Travis’ character killed a bandit and sent him flying over the edge of the cliff. Alexia, still mounted on the back of her horse, charged another and trampled over him before dismounting. Velic, backed up his line in the dirt with his falchion. I intended for this to be a close fight, and it nearly was. Graelin was ninth or tenth level (that was high back then), and he had with him a bandit who swung a two-handed flail. They could have easily sent the players running, but the dice were on the PCs’ side that day. A few lucky hits and the battle quickly turned around. Yet somehow Graelin managed to escape when it was over. Funny how that always seems to happen.
Nevertheless, bruised and bleeding, the group decided that the only thing left to do was head back towards Richmond. Once there, they went and talked to Masnin Fletcher, the Captain of the Telerian Guard.
To Be Continued…
Season 2 Quest Map I
Season 2 Quest Map II
