LostKnightsRPG.org

[rydi]

The story begins with a chance meeting at an inn along the Great Easter Road, a little to the west of Halfling Home.

Busy for a winter night, several visitors sit quietly eating their dinner, many of them more than they appear: a human prince of Sandalara disguised as a wanderer, an elven war wizard from the far land of Lanara, two dwarven companions on much more than a mission of trade, a cloaked elven archer bereft of his memory, a wood elf vagabond, and a halfling chef with more than a passing familiarity with knives, all populate the inn on this fateful night, along with several other bit players in our tale.

As the halfling serves dinner to the various guest of the inn, Karnish soldiers barge in, demanding service. As they rest and eat, the officers of the karnish troops discuss plans for the unearthing of a lost temple, and their assignment to deliver messages to the karnish leaderhip, totally unaware they are being listened to by keen elven and halfling ears, Meanwhile, the soldiers drink and assault the other patrons with their foul humor and poor manners. After hours of drinking and disrupting the meals of their fellow patrons, the soldiers begin harrassing the other patrons in earnest, pushing and shoving several guests for their amusement. The prince and the dwarves refuse to stand for such behavior, and attempt to politely stop the soldiers, but the Karnish troops, used to obedience and fear, move quickly to violence, forcing a deadly confrontation.

The clash of steal rings out across the inn as dwarven axe and mace crash against Karnish armor, hiding the soft sigh of daggers as they fly through the air, burying themselves in unprotected Karnish flesh. The fighting ends nearly before it began, with the troops dead and the remaining patrons realizing that they have, in an instant, moved from being the "simple travelers" they were posing as, to outlaws. Worse, looking out the window, they realize that a company of orcish soldiers accompanied the human troops, and camped only yards away... With little time to act, the patrons move quickly to defend against the assault that is sure to come. The archer and the vagabond run to the second floor of the inn, and take up positions at windows, both pulling out longbows and sighting the enemy. The dwarves and the prince block the doors, while the halfling assassin-chef and elven bladesinger take up the rear.

A knock sounds at the door, and a gruff voice asks "is ev'thing a'ight in 'ere?" An arrow from the second floor answers him, as it buries itself into a trooper behind the orc. Several more follow, bringing down the powerful warhorses and the more powerful orcish shock troops. Finally realizing they are under attack, the orcs organize, and assault the inn, breaking through the doors and windows, but meet with unexpected resistance. The dwarves block any advancement by the orcs, a wall of muscle and iron. The human, a knight as well as a prince, shores up any momentary lapse in the dwarven defense. Arrows continue to pepper the orcs as they attempt to gain the cover of the inn, and meet them again inside, as the vagabond shoots from the stairwell. Daggers sting from the shadows near the kitchen as the halfling strikes, and blazing energy lances out from the elf as his kooshie mauls orcs climbing through the windows.

The battle is long, and the orcs are only narowly defeated. At the end, all of the original patrons remain standing, if only barely. The mace weilding dwarf prooves to be more than a simple warrior, and heals the wounded, while the vagabond heals his own wounds secretly, and the knight's wounds mysteriously seal themselves without his notice... After recovering slightly, the patrons, now companions in battle and blood, as well as their new criminal status, take stock of the situation. The halfling raids the kitchens and leaves money for the inn keeper who ran away in the middle of the fighting. The elves loot the bodies of the fallen, while the prince and dwarves puzzle over the goods carried by the captain: a map, and four messages.

After finishing their tasks, the rest of the companions slowly organize around the prince, as he reads the first message to the largely illiterate crowd. Apparently a new temple was found, one that will allow the king of Karn, Cormoth II, to complete some sort of ritual... something that must not happen. The message tells the powerful drow priestess San'Shala to break the seals on the temple, and summon defenders to protect the powerful artifacts held there.

The bladesinger reads the second. The orc shaman and leader of the Burning Eye tribe, Fuourshka has been ordered to send part of his troops to support a siege against the dwarves of shield keep (this elicits a gasp of surprise and cry of outrage from the dwarves), another part to hunt a druid in the forests north of the Spires, and to the muster the the rest of the orc tribes.

The prince reads another. Ulic, assassin and close friend of the king, has been ordered to kill the king of the Vaiken, far to the north and west. and to sow dissent in their lands so that they will be unable to protect the frostfell, or interfere with the ritual that will take place in the city of lost stars on the spring equinox. The halfling fondles a knife and smiles a slow and unsettling smile...

The bladesinger reads the final letter. Olric, the commander of Fort Braxas, is ordered to take the majority of his troops from the halfling lands and move to assist in the siege. Since this leaves the potential for halfling revolt, as only a small contingent of troops and the knights are left behind, all insubordination is to be punished harshly, and any deaths are to be repaid 10 to 1.

The companions are all enemies of karn, and all of their peoples are at risk from Karn's seemingly limitless expansion. They have stumbled upon a great opportunity, and after a brief silence followed by hasty introduction, the companions begin to plan. They debate their options, and decide that they need to do the most harm possible to Cormoth's plans before the equinox, by which time they need to be in the City of Lost Stars to disrupt his ritual. To do this they need troops and fast transportation.

The group determines that their first course of action will be to set out for the halfling lands, in hopes that they can eliminate Fort Braxas, and in so doing acquire both horses for quick trasportation, and allies against Karn. Tentatively, they expect to then move against Ulic in the north, and then move back down with a horde of Vaiken to storm Karn.

Realizing the need for haste, the company sets out from the inn, loaded with provisions, and bolstered by hope, confident that they will be able to finally put a stop to the Karnish tyranny that has plagued the continent for generations...

[rydi]

The party moved quickly towards the southern portion of Halfling home, where Fort Braxas was located. They followed the road by night, and paralleled it by day, forcing themselves on despite exhaustion as they attempted to avoid notice by enemy patrols or otherwise alert the Karnish troops to their presence.

After several days of travel they arrived at their destination. Wearily they entered the town, posing as human noble escorted by bodygaurds and several manservants. After watching halflings urged by their overseers to perform back-breaking labor, the prince of Sandalara was able to win over a guard following a brief but tense confrontation. Convinced that the prince was a "good" karnian citizen, he and his human looking companions were escorted into the fort proper, while his other companions were forced to find beds in the nearby halfling village.

The halfling assassin and cook meanwhile explored his old home, looking for familiar faces... and professional associates. Finding one of the elders of the Order of Knives, and speaking in code, he asked for an update on the situation in the area, and found that the halflings were in dire need of a morale boost. After years of harsh labor and quelled uprisings, they had lost hope, and any assistance from them in a rebellion would come only after the Karnish troops were dealt a crippling blow, especially with the new law stating that any karnish death would result in the death of 10 halflings.

That night, after everyone was settled in, the party gathered in the local halfling inn. They discussed their options, and decided on a course of action. They would disable the guard patrols, which were much lighter due to decreased manpower, late the following evening, after most of the soldiers were asleep. The vagabond and the assassin would scout out the surrounding area for likely ambush points and place traps, and then lie in wait until the appropriate time, striking together south of the castle, and then splitting up and moving around to the sides, where the dwarves would meet them to take out the east and west patrols, and finally they would all move around to the front gate which, if everything went correctly, would be open for them. The vagabond had managed to gather the herbs to create a tasteless but potent poisonous draught that the Prince's party would slip into the soldier's dinner, and then they would disable the guards manning the gates before opening them to their allies... then they would fight the remaining soldiers, driving them from the fort.

The following night, all began as planned. The first guards went down soundlessly, and the potion was added to dinner unnoticed, resulting in several guards to lethargic and ill to take their posts. The gate guards were disabled, though several of the party were wounded in the process. But then things began to diverge from the plan, as the patrol outside the west wall took more time than anticipated to go down, and made a significant amount of noise in the process, alerting those on the wall. The halfling assassin and dwarven priest were spotted on their way around to the north side, and those on the wall sounded the alarm. Soldiers blearily stumbled out and, realizing the gate was for some reason open, rushed the gaurd shack. Those outside took out the final patrol as they returned to the fort, and then sprinted inside the guard shack to avoid the hail of arrows from the walls of the fort.

Inside the guard shack at the gate, the battle was over quickly as the party came together once more. Wounds were quickly treated, with bandages hastily applied and the glow of holy power closing wounds. A fresh wave of soldiers, now armored, made a poor attempt at moving into the guard shack, but so many fell in the first assault that the plan was quickly aborted. Instead, they began burning the mostly wooden shack. With few options left, and knowing that they would burn to death if they didn't soon leave the shack, the party charged into the mass of soldiers waiting for them outside. They chose to move toward the towers, and hopefully disable more soldiers, rather than escaping to the gates, as the prince stated what they all knew: it was too late to leave, and they must win or die trying to prevent the slaughter of halflings that would come if they failed.

Several units of Karnish troops had by this time emerged, and they moved together into a single, well-coordinated unit, blocking off the party from escape. With a wall of burning wood to their back, and rows of soldiers three ranks deep on all sides, the heroes knew they were likely to die, but grimly fought on. The party fought as only those who know they are already dead can, lashing out at the enemy with no thought of defense, but striking so rapidly and forcefully that the enemy could not counter. Finally though, their strength began to flag. The prince, fighting 4 enemies alone, fell to the ground, a spear piercing the join of his plate mail, and it appeared that his allies would soon follow. But as in a dream so lifelike it was real, a halfling woman of immense beauty, armored in plate mail much like his own, appeared before the prince, granting him succor and thanking him for his loyalty to a people not his own... Her voice soothed him, and her calm infused him; he felt the pain in his side ease, and gradually woke, finding that no time at all had passed.

Seeing his friends faltering, the prince... Nay, the paladin, rose and cleaved into the enemy, buying his allies precious moments to recover. They then struck back with the last of their strength, while at the back of the karnish ranks, unexpected aid again came to them, this time in the form of a disgruntled orcish soldier, once of the Iron Hand tribe, but now a forced recruit in the Burning Eye tribe and member of the Karnish military. The orc, seeing a chance for vengeance against the troops that had made his life a living hell for years, humiliating him for his half-halfling heritage, struck back, cutting into his own ranks from behind with his lucern hammer, meeting his strange new allies in the middle as they felled the front ranks.

When the battle ended, all were shocked. Piles of corpses surrounded them, and both sides were too embroiled in the battle to realize the toll it had taken. Only a few wise individuals among the karnish managed to flee before they too were slain. In the aftermath, the paladin was greeted by a strange pony, fully barded, that refused to leave his side, and one of the dwarves pointed to his armor, which now bore a new symbol: the crest of Yondalla, god of the halfling people, an overflowing cornucopia. Amazed at what had just occured, the group simply stood for the moment, lost in wonder... a man returned from the dead, the blessing of a god, an enemy seemingly at random recruited to their side, and a battle won at odds of at least 5 to 1... But the heroes respite was once again short lived. The knights stationed at the fort had finally managed to armor themselves, and were even now riding down on the allies. Rather than dying under the hooves and lances of the cavalry, the party moved towards the eastern tower.

Reaching the tower just in time to avoid the charge of the nights, the party barricaded themselves inside. The soldiers had abandoned their posts, seeing the slaughter outside, leaving the tower to the worn heroes. They again patched their wounds, and weighed their options, even as the knights decided they would burn the fort to the ground if they had to in order to reach their enemies, and set about doing so, with half the force moving outside the fort, and the other half staying within, blocking any possible exit.

The heroes moved across the wall quickly, running to the next tower over to escape the rapidly growing flames, but were met by a barred door. Their new orc friend and the dwarven warrior both attempted to break the door down as the party was peppered with arrows, but they managed only to break away several boards, and to find out that a huge log leaned against the door, blocking any attempt at forcing it. The dwarves moved in with their heavy weapons, the orc prying at the splintering door, trying to make a hole large enough to crawl through, while the elves and halfling launched missile fire of their own at those below.

Finally making enough room to crawl in, the party moved out of the hail of arrows that, though poorly aimed, had more than once found their mark. Even the pony, shockingly intelligent, was able to crouch down and move its bulk into the tower. But once inside and able to think for a moment without the stress of their imminent deaths to confuse them, the heroes realized that they were in no better position. The knights had once more set fire to the tower they were in. Realizing that they had to get down somehow, and seeing... something moving in the corn fields, the halfling assassin and the "simple" vagabond pulled out rope and secured it, preparing for a climb down the sheer tower. Using the shadows and flame to disguise their stealthy movements, they made it down without being noticed, and the halfling ran to the nearby fields, out of which he struck at the knights with well thrown daggers, providing the distraction needed by those inside to prevent them from being ridden down once they were on the ground.

The rest of the party quickly climbed down. The paladin, knowing his new mount (and he knew it was meant to be his) could not make it down without jumping, resigned himself to healing the pony with his divinely granted rejuvenative abilities after it broke its legs, and possibly being killed by the knights... but the pony was able to make it through the leap with little more than a strain. The dwarven priest stayed behind, letting the rest of the party go forward, while he searched for a flaw in the construction of the tower, and then hammered it with his mace. Slamming into it a final time and then leaping to the ground, the dwarf rolled away from the tower as the upper portion of it came crashing down, in a burning heap, onto a knight.

Together again, the heroes ran once more, moving toward the fields. The knights pursued, one even managing lance the orc, but as they moved further into the fields to pursue their quarry, the knights realized that they had become the new prey. Knives in the dark hamstrung their horses as they ran, spilling the Karnish knights onto the ground, where halflings climbed onto them, stabbing between the plates of their armor, tearing at their visors, and ultimately ending their lives, feeding the corn with Karnish blood.

[rydi]

The remainder of the evening was a blur. The emboldened halflings looted the fort, and then tore it down. The party was treated for its injuries, and slept, too exhausted to change out of their blood-soaked clothing, or even to move from the village building they had leaned themselves against.

The awoke the next day however to find themselves nestled in clean linens, with bandages covering the most grievous of their wounds, and their lesser wounds healed. The village's priest and the innkeeper greeted them, and provided them with food and drink. Famished from the night before, they spared little time for talk, and ate rapidly. After finishing, they discussed the previous night, and called a meeting with the elders of the surrounding halfling villages, where they asked for aid against the Karnish troops.

The elders responded with gratitude to the heroes, but explained that their people were not warriors, and that even if they were, they would need to recover from the harsh tyrrany of Karn before they would be able to aid anyone else. The halflings in the area would be retreating to Sandalara, away from the Karnish oppressors and the threat of reprisal, until they were strong enough to take back their land. The elder representing the Order of Knives stated that his people would stay behind however, and offered to send the majority of them to aid the dwarves in their siege by harrying the Karnish troops with guerrilla tactics... which also had the benefit of keeping the Karnish occupied longer, and away from the retreating halfling villagers.

Realizing they could hope for little more from the abused halfling people, the heroes changed their plans. They decided that they would go west, through the Spires, and attempt to reach the Anvil of Heaven, most ancient of the dwarven keeps on the continent, and urge them to aid their cousins in Shield Keep far to the east.

The heroes prepared to leave the following day. They gathered horses from the remains of the fort, and though not of a particularly fast breed, they were hardy and made for war. They healed themselves, and gathered provisions. Two halflings volunteered to go with them as assistants as well: a young man wanting to learn from the legendary cook-assassin of the Order of Knives, and a starry-eyed young woman that idolized the knightly servant of her god. The paladin in particular was busy with preparations, as he spoke to the priest of Yondalla about what his vision during the battle had meant, and had to prepare messages for his father, the king of Sandalara.

The orc and elvish archer were also busy that day. Attempting to bury any camaraderie or teamwork that had grown from the night before, they constantly argued and bickered, as the elf blatantly insulted the intelligence, honor, and breeding of the orc-halfling, and the orc threatened reprisal agains the rude elf. Their bickering for the day was ended by the orc sneaking into the elf's room during his evening meditations, and defecating on him. Later, after cleaning himself up and asking the halfling assassin-chef for an explanation of what had happened, the halfling politely explained that the female dwarven warrior (the one with the axe; they all look alike), had done the deed... It was several days before the confused archer managed to regain the will to again insult anyone in the party.

The party went to bed that evening, tired but hopeful. The next morning, they were greeted by a great feast for their departure, a gift of the halfling people, after which they set off in the dead of winter for the Spires.

[angelicyokai]

This game looks amazing, is it a previous adventure or one your still running? Excellent writing.

[rydi]

ty, and it was the one we ran over the break for our marathon session. we smelled bad by sunday.

[angelicyokai]

keh, and this is different how? I am just surprised no one passed out.

[rydi]

oh, several people took naps at various points. emily and mike both slept, jason nodded off a few times, thael slept in spirit, and i think someone else may also have nodded off... zach?

[Ivanovich]

I know i slept at one point, but i do not think it was for more than a few minutes, but then again that weekend is kind of a blur in my memory.