Blackmoor Campaign pt. 12.

[William]

During our session on Saturday the 19th of May the PCs continued with their mini campaign playing B2 The Keep on the Borderlands in The Stormkiller Mountains.

They rested at Stormkiller Keep for just over a week, whilst the guards of the Keep kept watch upon the wooded area to the south west. No reported signs of any inhabitants from the camp were made, but the PCs have vowed to return to the area with reinforcements in order to find out the business of those who reside there. It is suspected that they are bandits.

On the first morning after their rest the PCs were approached by the Castellan of the Keep and one of his Corporals. He informed them that he is willing to hire their services in order to investigate the camp, and if necessary to clear it out. He will provide them with three archers, the services of the Corporal, plus 100 gold pieces each. Also, a blessing will be bestowed upon them from the Chapel of the Facts of Life, and they will be given passes to the inner bailey. The bailey can be accessed for any help that they may need on their adventures within The Stormkiller Mountains, but only if the adventure is for the good of the borderlands area within the mountains. They heartily agreed and made their way to the Chapel for their blessing, which was laid upon them by the Curate, and afterwards the Castellan gave each of them a leather pouch filled with 100 gold pieces. After we role played through these encounters they then prepared to set off to the woodland in the south western area of the valley that very day!
The group (Abbie, Ari, Kay, Percival, Stefan, the Corporal, plus all three archers) made their way from the Keep surreptitiously, wearing only leather armour or none (for stealth), and deciding to operate initially as spies before moving in to investigate the members of the camp. All agreed that the inhabitants of the camp may mean no harm, though all also agreed that it is more likely that they are bandits. If they mean no harm why not show themselves to the Keep? The Corporal and all three archers were given to the players to play along with Abbie the Ranger, though just like Abbie it was agreed that they shall be subject to morale checks (Abbie and the Corporal have a high morale score of 11 each, the archers a morale score of 10 each).

As they made their way toward the south western woodland area the party discovered a large herd of wild cattle that had made its way down from the mountains to settle in the valley and graze. They managed to avoid the rather innocuous herd by making their way quietly through the outer edges of the fens and across shallow parts of the river.
The party then started making their way into the trees and up the side of the hills that surround all parts of the valley except the road egress points. The group discussed tactics and then made their way to their agreed positions, with Ari rolling for Move Silently and the rest of the PCs rolling for Move Quietly. Luckily they also succeeded with their rolls, but only just, and this was largely due to them wearing only leather armour. The three archers plus Abbie prepared their longbows, Stefan and Kay prepared Arquebus and Musket, whilst the Corporal, Ari, and Percival prepared themselves for a potential melee. Three rounds later (once the firearms had been prepared) the Corporal shouted for the camp to declare their business.

The camp amounted to about a dozen members, and ten of their number immediately picked up spears, but had yet to prepare bows or possible firearms (it was uncertain at this stage whether or not such weapons were owned by the group). At this point I allowed all members of the PCs party a Hide roll, and gave them a generous percentile chance for success of 50% (10% Hide skill plus a 40% bonus for their cover in the woodland, with trees and bushes, etc), except Ari the Halfling Thief who got a 90% chance (40% Hide skill plus a 50% bonus for cover in the woodland combined with his diminutive size). All party members except the Corporal and Percival the Cleric succeeded in their rolls. The camp leader responded that their business was none of theirs and told them to leave before any trouble started. Fully aware of being outnumbered twelve to nine, but also being aware of their missile weapon advantage, the party held firm whilst the Corporal informed the camp that they were to move on. At this demand the situation (thanks to a dice roll) turned hostile and the camp, who now appeared to the PCs and their party to clearly be outlaws or bandits of some kind, mostly started moving towards Percival and the Corporal to attack with spears, whilst the remaining two members started to prepare longbows. Rolls were made and some successes were had as the Abbie, Kay, and Stefan started by hitting both archers and three of the spear men, killing one bandit spear man and one bandit archer, but missing any others. Arrows continued to be shot by Abbie whilst Kay and Stefan remained hidden preparing their firearms, and Ari, Percival, and the Corporal moved in for melee.
The battle lasted for numerous rounds and shortly turned into purely melee combat before the bandits were defeated. Luckily there were no fatalities amongst the PCs (though there was some hit point reduction), but their accompanying party suffered the loss of two archers who eventually had to take part in melee with long swords. Being only 1st level they had 4 hit points each and soon fell foul of the bandits spears, but the remaining archer and the Corporal both passed a melee check and stayed with the battle until the end, the Corporal being a bit more sturdy with 15 hit points. Kay and Stefan made best use of their firearms whilst hidden within the woodland, though they did not always manage to score a hit, but it did not take long before they were discovered and had to take part in melee. This was caused by being outnumbered by the bandits. They still have to experience firearms backfiring (1 in 10 chance; I have forewarned them).
After preparing a funeral pyre for the two deceased archers the party searched the bandits camp for treasure, and they found a good amount of silver pieces, and modest amount of gold pieces, two quivers full of arrows, a cask of good wine, plus a variety of game animals that were being prepared for food. They carried their gains back to the Keep in order to heal wounds, restock, and prepare for an expedition to the ravine in the north east section of the valley. Once back at the Keep there was more role playing as the PCs and Abbie were given passes to the inner bailey, and the Castellan arranged with the PCs that they will be given back up if trouble is to be found within the ravine area. The PCs, still operating undercover as scouts looking for hostile wildlife upon Blackmoor's border, reassured the Castellan that if they found any kind of threat to the Keep they would be back immediately for his help.

On the journey to the ravine (made by Abbie, Ari, Kay, Percival, Kay, and Stefan) rain began to pour and a thunderstorm was threatened from above, but the PCs continued on regardless, vowing to at least accurately map the whole of the ravine and what parts of the surrounding area that they had not already covered. However, they agreed to return if a storm actually did happen. Upon reaching the ravine the players began to map the whole of the outside area, taking down all details of the rises in altitude towards the edges of the ravine's side, plus all cave entrances located within the ravine area. Random rolls were made by myself for encounters with creatures coming to and from the ravine, but luckily for the PCs all rolls made were negative. The area surrounding the ravine was also finished off on the map, as there were still some blank areas that had not been covered the last time that they were not in this area. Luckily a storm never happened, but a constant drizzle in the summer humidity plagued their attempts at fully scouting the north eastern side of the Stormkiller Valley. No wandering monsters were encountered.
Mapping by the group is still slow but progress has definitely been made from their first sessions, plus mapping the ravine was a harder task than nearly all of the mapping that they have done so far. This took up most of the rest of the session though, with the end of the session consisting of them spying into the first cave entrance that they came to on the northern side of the ravine. We ended the session here.

Bill