As promised, I have begun DMing a new adventure in my campaign world The Lands of Dual and will be making regular session reports from now on.
Introducing the Heroes
- Ai-Nyx - (Tara) - Female Phylus (demi-human cat) Thief from Xix
- Ai-Styx - (Zoe) - Female Phylus Rogue from Xix
- Jan the Sell Sword - (Craig Tanner) - Human Fighter from Newhon
- Laurel - (Carol Cunningham) - A female Half-Elf (Aeroimm) Ranger from the Great Desert of Sankahar.
- Sir Tarigoz Purplenderise - (Mark Cunningham) - A Human Knight of the 5th legion of the Wulfschlossen Army
- Ssinkar - (Steve Tasso) - A male Salamankari Cleric from the deserts of Sankahar.
Lurneslye in Wulfschlossen
Our heroes find themselves in the farming village of Lurneslye in the foothills of the mountains which form the spine of the great nation of Wulfschlossen.
A public meeting has been called to examine a creature which was caught skulking around the outskirts of the village by Bernhardt the Chosen of the Temple of Lurneslye. The villagers, a mob of some 500 or so folk have assembled around the large wooden stage in the centre of the village. They bear makeshift arms, in order to defend themselves from the abomination and to ensure that it receives the appropriate justice should it be convicted or try to escape.
The creature, a winged bird like humaoid, is being torturtured, plucked and interrogated on the stage by Bernhardt and his two acolytes whilst the imposing figure of Murdoch, their Bodyguard, stands beside them preventing anyone from mounting the stage.
Laurel, deciding that she has had enough of this cruel treatment of what is clearly not a daemon, attempts to mount the stage. After casting a Detect Evil spell, Ssinkhar determines that no-one on the stage is Evil and proceeds to addresses Bernhardt directly claiming that as a fellow cleric he has the power to do the same. Bernhardt dismisses the Salamankari as a foreign devil in league with the deamon.
Sir Tarigoz, tasked with upholding law in this frontier village, storms the stage demanding that Bernhardt hear Laurel's evidence as it is written in the law. A war of words ensues between Bernhardt and Sir Tarigoz which ends when the villagers call for a trial by combat. Ssinkhar accepts the trial on behalf of the creature and Bernhardt orders Murdoch to fight on behalf of the temple.
The villagers immediately step back to create a circle of combat and the two acolytes cast detect magic spells to ensure that Ssinkar does not cheat by using a magic weapon. Murdoch and Sinkar engage in a battle to the death.
Meanwhile under the stage the two Phylus, Ai-Nyx and Ai-Styx, are hiding in fear. They have been living in the village for a few months and have witnessed Bernhardt addressing the crowd every holyday. He has never been this zealous and the crowd have never been so animated, they decide to wait out the events until they can make a break for it.
On the edge of the combat circle, Jan the sellsword is eating an apple and watching the events in anticipation of learning a few things about Murdoch's fighting style.
After a good dealing of pacing around Murdoch closes the gap by lunging at Ssinkar but misses with his broadsword. The wily Salamankar takes advantage of the closesness of the encounter and surreptisiously casts a command spell on Murdoch but fails.
Ai-Styx slinks out from below the stage to get a better look at the creature followed by her sister. They both feel great pity for it and decide to release it by picking the manacles whilst the mob are pre-occupied by the fight. Laurel spots the pair and stands between the clerics and the creature to block anyone's view of their actions.
Murdoch stabs Ssinkhar. The crowd cheer and the Salamankari responds by casting a hold person on his opponent. Murdoch is frozen in place, but the obvious use of magic angers the two acolytes and they both cast hold person on Ssinkar. Bernhardt demands that Sir Tarigoz arrest the now paralysed Ssinkar as he has clearly broken the rule of law and must face the same punishment as the creature, death by fire. The enraged mob demand immediate satisfaction in blood and someone shoves Jan into the circle.
As it is written in the law if another enters the circle he must take up the challenge. Jan, an opportunistic sort of fellow, knows that he cannot possibly beat Murdoch in a fair fight. He takes immediate advantage of the fact he is currently paralysed by Ssinkar's spell and slashes the unfortunate man's throat.
The two Phylus successfully release the creature and, aided by Laurel, lower it down out of sight behind the stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment