Novalia Campaign Session 31: Kasumi's Journey

Novalia Session 31 is a 1v1 (one player, one DM) session featuring a new character and new area never before explored by the players.

While this is part of the Novalia Campaign (read: world) in the old-school sense, it’s a new campaign in the modern sense (read: new party). I’m playing these with my wife after the baby is asleep, so they’re short sessions by necessity.

The setting is Ayen, an insular kingdom ruled by a council of liches. It lies about 300 miles southeast of Priorsford County in northern Ostheim, where the first 30 sessions of the ACKS campaign took place.

Hexes are 96 miles. The red box is the area covered by the original 6-mile hex map of the Middle Plains.

Where in Ayen are we? I don’t know yet, and neither does the lone PC. For these 1 on 1 sessions I’m doing some terrain generation on the fly, at least at the start.

Terrain and settlement generation is being done with AD&D Appendix B, and all the wilderness expedition rules, random encounters and weather are from ACKS II.

Party

• Kasumi, Assassin 1

Recap

Dolor (Sept) 24, 1181 EC

On a gloomy, drizzly morning, Kasumi left her hometown of Oborozato, never to return. Her attempt to kill the tyrannical local necromancer had failed, and they’d be after her soon.

Heading east along the river, she traveled all morning without trouble, and came to a forest in the afternoon. She decided to leave the river and enter the forest. After a couple miles, she spotted a herd of creatures ahead and hid herself. She remained undetected, narrowly avoiding being eaten alive as a swarm of 16 giant rats passed nearby.

As evening fell, Kasumi desperately returned to the river, hoping to find the next settlement. Finally, she found the village of Kageroishi and crossed the ford, having travelled over 24 miles.

She found a room at the inn and talked to the bartender Gyo. Not knowing anything about the geography beyond her village, she questioned him and found out that his supplies come downriver from Namigata, the nearest large town.

Map so far:

Kasumi’s path on Dolor 24:

Dark Age of Eracost Session 18

 

Party

• Baron Fingol Innes, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 4

• Kilosz the Cataphract, Fighter 3

• Tavenna, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 3

• Iazhir, Dragonman 2

• Ranenno, Forester-Bard 1

• Saporobir Caan, Explorer 4

• Bartosz, Fighter 2

• Ileisan, Navgarine Warrior 2

• Arananno, Navgarine Battlemage 1

• Ransolnan, Navgarine Battlemage 1

• Karmrakir, Tratkean Thief 3

• Nalin, Assassin 1

• Gregosz The Chosen One, 0-level man teenager

Recap

Sept 18, 427

After the mixed results of our previous expedition to Iarocain’s Academy, we decided to spend a week in Siaro to allow Karm to recover from his tampering with mortality roll, and to hire a new thief to replace the late Koreltos.

Word was received from our recent comrade and fellow oligarch Ambrogino that he would renounce his noble title and follow the path of an ascetic (his player is actually entering a carthusian monastery and can’t play in the campaign anymore).

In the meantime, Fingol sent a letter with his mercenaries to Tavenna, summoning her to join them, and bring some of the spearmen from Vigilant Keep. The party had been noticeably struggling with a lack of healing and missing out on lots of profit from monster parts without her.

During the week, Karm managed to hire a 1st level thief named Soreltos - the brother of the thief who had been killed on the last expedition. He also attempted to hire a Navgarine Commander-Priest, but failed to convince him.

Fingol visited the Heaven’s Lance academy and spoke to Oneswir about what they’d seen. The ring of stone at the base of the vortex of chaotic power was a total mystery, but the sigil of the raven looking downward was a known Keeper symbol, indicating a secret.

Sept 24

Party left for another delve into Ierocain’s Academy. On the way we found a dead rattlesnake in the woods. Karm extracted a dose of poison, and Saporobir picked up the trail of a group of beastmen moving away from the scene in the direction of the academy. We decided to follow.

Before catching up to the beastmen we ran into a nest of giant weasels, and harvested them for components without trouble.

Late in the day, we were suddenly attacked by a mob of bugbears. The beastmen had detected us and turned on us, catching the party by surprise. Thankfully, the party’s formation is very solid against a frontal attack. Several of the dogs and mercenaries were wounded along with the bear and spider, but the only death was a single spearman.

The party’s counterattack was fierce. Navgarine lightning and dragonman fire blasted through the bugbear ranks, and in moments the majority of them lay dead.

A few stragglers fled, but were cut down by Kilosz charging after them. Two laid down arms and were tied up. The party figured that their value as beastman slaves outweighed the value of their magical components and kept them alive (for now).

Sept 26

After a day of rest, the party entered the dungeon.

We set the new thief to work, disarming the trap which had killed his brother. Surely he wouldn’t also nope he died too.

At this point the party had a bit of a brainstorm, since Karm didn’t want to be the next thief cut in half. Finally we realized that since this was the bottom floor, Fingol could use Earth’s Excrescence. The troublesome door and its attached trap trigger were exploded with extreme prejudice.

No enemies were found inside, nor in the room marked STUDY when we broke that door open. But we did find a few very valuable gems, and a bunch of notes and maps which we tragically did not study sufficiently. Finally we found a single electrum coin, which seemed to be a key meant for the indent in the stone ring. So of course, being cautious men but expecting glorious results, we handed the coin to Ileisan and he reached out to place the coin in the ring… and was disintegrated.

This led to a whole bunch of ideas and experimentation whose only result was both of our bugbear prisoners being disintegrated as well. Finally, we read the notes.

"Any man who takes this coin to the seal shall perish into dust, but any man who has neither murder of innocent nor theft nor heresy in his soul and has been blessed or bears an item of venerable power shall not perish"

RIP, Ileisan.

The notes also revealed that the ring was containing five horrific super-specters. So honestly, they may have done us a favor by disintegrating our guy instead of opening the seal.

Sept 27

Returned to Siaro without further stupidity.

Strategic Overview

Experience

Reserve xp: 346

Fingol Keeper 4 14412 / 14560

Kilosz Fighter 3 6795 / 8000

Tavenna Keeper 3 5242 / 7280

Iazhir Dragonman 2 4063 / 5120

Ranenno Forester-Bard 1 1503 / ??

Domain

Vigilant Keep

Barony of 1 6-mile hex

Population: 56 families

Stronghold value: 60,000gp

Mercenary garrison (210gp / month):

• 10 light infantry

• 8 heavy infantry

• 6 bowmen

Notes:

• Keep contains an alchemy lab worth 4100gp

Expeditionary Force

Fingol, Tavenna, Iazhir and Ranenno on riding mules

Renenno’s Wolf

Armored War Bear

Kilosz on Medium Warhorse with backup War Mule

Animal handler with 2 hunting dogs, 5 war dogs

Baggage train of 7 draft donkeys

Mercenary squad of 5 spearmen, 3 crossbowmen

Exotic Creatures in ACKS II Markets

"Can I buy a bear mount?"

"How about a trained giant spider?”

"What kind of trained beasts are available in the markets of Cyfaraun?”

These questions seem to arise naturally out of ACKS II, especially with its incredibly detailed monster statistics, including training time, cost, roles and ecology. But the availability of exotic animals in markets, like other things not included in the general equipment list, is left to the Judge to figure out.

I put together the house-rule below as a tool for judges to answer that question in a satisfying and consistent way.

Exotic Creatures in ACKS II Markets v1

Dark Age of Eracost Session 17

 Party

• Baron Fingol Innes, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 4

• Kilosz the Cataphract, Fighter 3

• Iazhir, Dragonman 2

• Ranenno, Forester-Bard 1

• Baron Gregoire, Paladin 3

• Saporobir Caan, Explorer 3

• Bartosz, Fighter 2

• Ileisan, Navgarine Warrior 2

• Arananno, Navgarine Battlemage 1

• Ransolnan, Navgarine Battlemage 1

• Karmrakir, Tratkean Thief 3

• Koreltos, Thief 2

• Nalin, Assassin 1

• Gregosz The Chosen One, 0-level man teenager

Recap

Sept 16, 427

We pick up immediately after the party had defeated a barrow of wights with a barrage of navgarine lightning and dragonman fire. The wight room was looted and produced a sword +1, which was claimed by Karmrakir (every other PC having already gained one).

The party proceeded down the circular stair to its end, now the 4th level of the academy basement. Here the central vortex of chaos had its source in a stone ring. Inspecting the ring we found a large stone with a curious indent, but could not determine its purpose.

Three doors exited the central chamber - south, east and north.

The north door was labeled SOURCE. Behind it Koraltos detected the sound of insect scurrying. Fingol deduced that this door would contain monsters and little else of value, just as the other source rooms had.

Inexplicably and without bothering to check the other doors, Karmrakir the foolhardy Tratkean decided to spin his fancy new magic sword to determine which door to open. This landed pointing north, and the brash non-baron immediately began convincing Gregosz that opening this door was the will of the Grand Marshall. Flabbergasted, Fingol ordered Iazhir to bar the door to prevent its being opened until the others were checked.

Finally Koreltos checked the others, finding the south door (marked STUDY) locked and the east (marked with a sigil of a raven looking downward) unlocked. Gregoire opened the east door, opening onto a short hall. The door at the end had an obvious blade trap in front of it.

Koreltos tried to pick the southern one while Sapporo tried some tricky stuff with a bag of flour to disarm the trap. The flour was unsuccessful, and Koreltos returned to inform us that he had jammed the lock - just as he had jammed the lock at the Nimonuin Trade Guild’s fence hideout. Thoroughly annoyed, we sent him to disarm the trapped door. Surely three natural ones in a row would not happen. A moment later he was sliced in half.

Karmrakir cried out that this was the Grand Marshall’s vengeance for ignoring his instructions (the astute reader will note that those instructions were entirely fictitious) and threw open the north door.

As predicted, there was massive trouble behind this door in the form of 6 Giant Acathaspis (and no treasure). Fortunately, the remainder of the party managed to salvage the situation by blocking the narrow door with the two bears (Gregoire’s hunting black bear, and Fingol’s plate-armored war-mount brown bear). A bit of lightning and luck helped too. The bears tanked 40+ damage between them, but the fight was won with no losses.

Now very low on spells, Fingol advocated for returning to the surface for the night. But Sapporobir, having perhaps been temporarily influenced by Tratkean insanity, wanted to sleep in the acathaspis room. So the party was split, with Fingol taking his henchmen and Karmrakir’s henchmen to camp in the forest, and the remainder planning to spend a peaceful night in the dungeon without any encounters.

Unfortunately there was an encounter, and Gregoire contracted rot from a wight.

Sept 17

With our illustrious paladin’s flesh steadily rotting, the expedition was called off, and the party set off for Siaro.

Sept 18

Arrived in Siaro, and Gregoire sought healing from the temple.

Strategic Overview

Experience

Reserve xp: 346

Fingol Keeper 4         12209 / 14560

Kilosz Fighter 3         5693 / 8000

Tavenna         Keeper 3         4140 / 7280

Iazhir Dragonman 2 2961 / 5120

Ranenno         Forester-Bard 1 401 / ??

Domain

Vigilant Keep

Barony of 1 6-mile hex

Population: 56 families

Stronghold value: 60,000gp

Mercenary garrison (282gp / month):

• 10 light infantry

• 14 heavy infantry

• 6 bowmen

Notes:

• Keep contains an alchemy lab worth 4100gp

Expeditionary Force

Fingol, Iazhir and Ranenno on riding mules

Renenno’s Wolf

Armored War Bear

Kilosz on Medium Warhorse with backup War Mule

Animal handler with 2 hunting dogs, 5 war dogs

Baggage train of 7 draft donkeys

Mercenary squad of 3 crossbowmen

Dark Age of Eracost Session 16

 

Party

• Baron Fingol Innes, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 4

• Kilosz the Cataphract, Fighter 3

• Iazhir, Dragonman 2

• Ranenno, Forester-Bard 1

• Saporobir Caan, Explorer 3

• Bartosz, Fighter 2

• Ileisan, Navgarine Warrior 2

• Arananno, Navgarine Battlemage 1

• Ransolnan, Navgarine Battlemage 1

• Karmrakir, Tratkean Thief 3

• Koreltos, Thief 2

• Nalin, Assassin 1

• The Chosen One, 0-level man teenager

Recap

Sept 16, 427

Last week the party had signed up to buy a magic item from the Nimonuin Trade Guild, with no intention of paying. Now, the day of the meeting had come, but the guild had already tried to assassinate Karmrakir, and we knew they were very suspicious of us.

After much discussion, the party decided to gather outside the guild hideout in the early morning, send a scout forward, and be ready to attack in force. Since Karmrakir was still incapacitated after his magical healing, Koreltos was chosen to pick the lock on the front door. Unfortunately, he broke his pick and jammed the lock. So we went on to plan B.

Fingol’s squad now took point. Iazhir, the hulking dragonman, forced the door with a crowbar, and charged inside with Kilosz and the armored war-bear following close behind. They found the place abandoned and cleared of valuables, with the shopkeeper and his assistant lying dead. A note had been left. Something along the lines of "Dear Keepers from Heaven's Lance Academy, we know what you're doing. Don't come after us further or we'll kill you."

Having been outmaneuvered, we contented ourselves with leaving a small reply pointing out that they have our identity wrong.

The PCs held a quick discussion, and it was decided that the company should leave Siaro and pursue the Amalgam. Better to ignore the Guild for now, while they are on high alert against us. We’ll wait for an opening to pursue them later. We immediately left and travelled to Ierocain’s academy in the forest.

On the way we encountered what appeared to be a brigand force. They greeted us politely and made no move to attack, perhaps noting that our company was fairly large and well equipped. We also noted some copper deposits which had largely been depleted - apparently by magic. The metals looked to have been ripped out from within.

At the academy, not much seemed to have changed. We made our way back to the room where Karm had fallen into the pit trap, and searched there, finding a potion and a few small gems.

We approached the room where Karm had spotted wraiths. This room was off the central chamber, so we set up a navgarine firing line and had Koreltos throw the door open. The wraiths were still there, and were surprised! A barrage of navgarine lightning and dragonman fire sorted them out before they could react.

Strategic Overview

Experience

Reserve xp: 346

Fingol Keeper 4         11503 / 14560

Kilosz Fighter 3         5340 / 8000

Tavenna         Keeper 3         4140 / 7280

Iazhir Dragonman 2 2608 / 5120

Ranenno         Forester-Bard 1 48 / ??

Domain

Vigilant Keep

Barony of 1 6-mile hex

Population: 56 families

Stronghold value: 60,000gp

Mercenary garrison (282gp / month):

• 10 light infantry

• 14 heavy infantry

• 6 bowmen

Notes:

• Keep contains an alchemy lab worth 4100gp

Expeditionary Force

Fingol, Iazhir and Ranenno on riding mules

Renenno’s Wolf

Armored War Bear

Kilosz on Medium Warhorse with backup War Mule

Animal handler with 2 hunting dogs, 5 war dogs

Baggage train of 7 draft donkeys

Mercenary squad of 3 crossbowmen