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[Oathday, 25 Sarenith 4708 A.R. continued]
Having fought beside Order of the Nail Hellknights in Kaer Maga and then against them just minutes ago in the ruins of a massacred Shoanti village, the Harrowed Heroes now wait in ambush for a third encounter. The trio of Hellknights—two tieflings in blood-red robes and a third, heavily armored cleric of Asmodeus—begin to slow down when they see no sign of their allies. Suspicious, the cleric sends his diabolists to scout while he begins casting more defensive magic. The Reckoner, completely invisible, leaps on one of the tieflings, revealing his appearance in such a frightening manner that the foe would have turned tail and ran if he wasn’t struck down with a single blow! Anorak magically enhances his speed and moves like a blur, wounding the other diabolist as Goldcape emerges from hiding mounted on Rocky. Yraelzin then joins in the attack, using necromancy to crack the tiefling’s bones in two! It’s almost a mercy when arrows fired by the Boneslayers kill him. The Hellpriest shouts “You savages will burn before the Order of the Nail!”, but it’s not to be—the Reckoner dodges the cleric’s flaming ranseur and crushes his ribcage with another stunning swing of his enchanted war-maul. The battle is over in seconds, with the victorious side barely wounded at all. Goldcape asks the Boneslayers whether defeating these Hellknights will earn the Korvosans respect among the Shoanti, but Ahalak shakes his head, indicating they weren’t worthy opponents since they fell in battle so easily.
After the battle, The Reckoner gathers everyone together and reveals what happened to him while he was waiting in ambush: he received a telepathic message from Korvosa! Bishop Keppira d’Bear, leader of the city’s Church of Pharasma and member of Field Marshal Kroft’s resistance group sent a short magical message indicating that martial law has been re-imposed in the city after Grau Soldado’s (separate) resistance group conducted repeated ambushes of Gray Maiden patrols. But, the message says, the “real resistance” is planning a major operation during the Founding Festival. The message concluded by asking if The Reckoner and his allies would be back in time to be part of it, and he said they would try and asked where to meet—but hasn’t received an answer back yet. Estimating that the Founding Festival is about eighteen days away, The Reckoner says the group has about twelve days to finish what they need to in the Cinderlands before leaving for Korvosa if they want to take part in the operation. Goldcape insists the group’s present method of stop-and-start travel is taking too long, and that they need to move faster. Various alternatives are discussed, but the only solution is a short-term one: using the magical wand that Thousand Bones gave the group to inure them to the effect of the sun’s heat. The wand’s magic, however, will be quickly exhausted if used on the whole group, providing them only a few days’ respite.
The Boneslayers
nod in approval as The Reckoner deals respectfully with the bodies of the slain
Shoanti of Blazehearth. The group then
travels a short distance outside the site of the massacre to camp for the
night.
[Fireday, 26
Sarenith 4708 A.R.]
The first rays of
dawn are just coming over the horizon when Goldcape wakes up because someone
has stepped on her hand! It’s Anorak,
fully dressed, and headed away from camp.
Goldcape asks what’s going on, and Anorak says something startling: he’s
planning to desecrate the bodies of the Hellknights! The dwarf lets the vanara follow him back to
the remains of Blazehearth. He then
crouches over the slain tieflings, performs a dark necromantic rite, and drinks
their blood! Goldcape is alarmed and
races back to the others to share what she’s seen. The Boneslayers are alarmed, but The Reckoner
and Goldcape persuade them to stay at the campsite along with Yraelzin. They then return to Blazehearth and confront
Anorak. The dwarf argues that he gains
power from drinking the blood of slain spellcasters, but The Reckoner says it
sounds evil, reflects badly on the group, and could create a real problem with
the Shoanti. Goldcape is even more
insistent and draws steel, threatening violence if it happens again! Even The Reckoner’s magically-intelligent
armor gets in on the condemnation, whispering (none too quietly) that Queen
Ileosa was also collecting blood in Korvosa, and perhaps there’s a link! Anorak plays it cool, however, and refuses to
apologise—though he does say that if he does it again, he won’t do it unless
it’s for a very good reason. The
Reckoner ends the discussion by saying he’ll consider the matter closed for
now, but if Anorak reopens it, it won’t be good.
Once the day’s
march begins, by using the wand, the group make good time despite the sun’s
heat, covering almost sixteen miles through the Cinderlands and reaching a
landmark—the Yondabakari, the only river that crosses the Cinderlands. The group set up camp on the eastern bank and
settle down to dinner. But as they eat,
they spot hippogriffs flying high overhead, and The Reckoner catches flashes of
crimson from their riders. Yraelzin says
it must be Red Mantis assassins, and as they’re flying in the same direction
the group is travelling, someone in Korvosa has divined their destination! The
others aren’t so sure, but The Reckoner says if it is Red Mantis, he may have
no choice but to harm the mounts in order to deal with them. Goldcape asks him to at least try to hurt the
riders and not the mounts. But for now,
it’s all a moot point, as the hippogriffs fly much faster than Rocky could ever
hope to catch up.
[Starday, 27
Sarenith 4708 A.R.]
In the morning,
the most skilled survivalist among the Boneslayers, Hargev, leads the group to
a point where they and their mounts can ford the river. Shadfrar, a Boneslayer with friends among the
Sklar-Quah (Clan of the Sun), removes his armor and races ahead to nearby Flameford
to inform them of the massacre at Blazehearth.
The rest of the group continue on, but once again the Korvosans and
their mounts quickly wilt under the unending heat. Goldcape notices that the Boneslayers seem
untouched by the heat, and asks Ahalak if they could share their magic. Although Ahalak says he may in a truly dire
emergency, the visitors must learn self-reliance if they wish to gain the
respect of the Shoanti.
Having covered
roughly twelve miles, the group again set up camp. Shadfrar catches up to the group and says the
news of Blazehearth has further inflamed the passions of the Sklar-Quah, and
now is not the time for tshamek to
visit.
[Sunday, 28
Sarenith 4708 A.R.]
In the early morning hours before dawn, The Reckoner and Ahalak are standing watch around the campsite when Ahalak’s keen eyes see something in the moonlight: a massive fin seeming to cut through the earth like a fish through water! The Boneslayer leader shouts to rouse the camp, but there are only moments to spare before the attack comes: bulettes! With toothy maws and fin-like dorsal plates between their shoulders, the bulettes burrow ever closer until suddenly they leap out of the ground and pounce! Anorak’s fireballs light up the sky and The Reckoner inflicts devastating damage with his trusty weapon. Goldcape’s mastery of nature magic allows her to conjure ice spears that flip one of the bulettes over onto its back! But although the predators are dispatched, the fighting has taken a heavy toll on the Boneslayers, with all but Ahalak and Hargev barely able to stand.
Despite
Hellknights, heat, and night-time assaults by burrowing beasts, the Harrowed
Heroes have managed to persevere and are now within just a few days of the
Acropolis of the Thrallkeepers. But will
they succeed in replicating the feats of the bravest Shoanti warriors?
GM's Commentary
It's nice to have a situation once in a while where the PCs are the ones lying in wait for an ambush. The Reckoner's player was happy to get to use his vigilante character's "startling appearance" ability, which is like when the Batman appears out of nowhere in a dark alley and terrifies criminals.
The sending at the end of last session is revealed this session, and it accomplished a few different things. First, it was a reminder of what's going on in Korvosa and that the situation has escalated to the point of martial law. Second, it set up the storyline I wanted to develop of multiple rebel factions (Kroft's and Grau's) so the PCs might have a choice to make. Third, it created a time-related dilemma: if the PCs take too criss-crossing the Cinderlands, they would miss out on the raid on Deathhead's Vault. (the Founding Festival is a "real" Korvosan holiday, so it was great to be able to use it to mark the symbolic first strike of Kroft's resistance group)
The Anorak blood-drinking incident caught me and the other players completely by surprise. If I remember right, it was to activate some spell or other minor ability, and almost surely wasn't worth the alarm it caused the other PCs. It made for some exciting role-playing though!
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