Having made contact with a ghost, who was quite upset at bandits from the North, and who was acting as protector to orphans from a destroyed farm, Utana and Juan José offered to clear the Northerners away, but felt some more bodies would be useful, and headed back to the same destroyed farm, where the group had been camping.
Only Fetnah and Smersh were there. Farshad and Jalabu were off looking around the area, Dhran and Arpaesis had remained in the capital, Arpaesis to study and Dhran probably to foment mischief amongst the proletariat.
Having filled in Fetnah and Smersh, they headed back towards the tower, seeing the wreck of the old border wall to either side. When asked, Utana recalled that, in a period of history, during one of the phases of the nation of Vaykattara, the north and south were split in Civil War. This must have been the border
North of the remnants of the ditch are some forested hills, and the denser wood where the bandits are said to be.
The group did manage to stumble into a patrol of bandits, coming down the path they were following. Combat ensued, and Fetnah summoned spirits tro affect the battle, causing the enemy to be hesitant and at another point to be slammed by a spirit in the form of a swooping falcon.
Smersh was injured too as he went to the fore. Secure in his near impenetrable full cavalry armour, Utana hung back with his archery. Juan José mixed archery and hand to hand, and the foes were despatched and looted. They did not have much of use, apart from spare arrows and daggers, and they were stunned, and intrigued, by some erotic potsherds.
Smersh was injured too as he went to the fore. Secure in his near impenetrable full cavalry armour, Utana hung back with his archery. Juan José mixed archery and hand to hand, and the foes were despatched and looted. They did not have much of use, apart from spare arrows and daggers, and they were stunned, and intrigued, by finding some erotic potsherds.
Forrest dwelling Fetnah and the wilderness savvy Utana looked for tracks back to the main camp. Both came to the conclusion that it was, err, thataway , yess, thataway.
So they went, thataway. After their stumbling into the patrol, Smersh went ahead as a scout. Good news, the group found their way to the bandit camp, bad news, two of the bandits found him, and he had not spotted them. The bandits came at Smersh, he dodge one, but the other got a cut on him as he fled back to the rest of the group.
The group moved up as the bandits readied themselves. Some of the bandits were better armoured more heavily than their scouts, and one casat magic on one that seemed to be thir leader, enhancing her strength, and making her armour almost as powerful as Utana’s.
Smersh was severely injured, and Fetnah tried to patch him up, but she dare not risk summoning spirits, as she was more open to possession without rest or sacrifice. She did lob daggers to distract some of those crowding Juan José.
A terrier, a pet of the bandits, ran up and attacked Utana’s leg. He kicked ir away, far away, and it fled away, yelping in pain, lucky not to break its teeth on Utana’s armoured leg.
Utana was a murder machine, at one point a blow skewering a foe and driving up off their feet. Juan José was knocked over and vulnerable, but hius opponent foolishly though him down, and stepped Juan José over to attack Fetnah and Smersh. Seizing his opportunity, the Faliscan stabbed upwards, and rendered the foolish foe hors de combat, writhing around as Juan José scrambled to his feet.
Utana did learn as lesson about trusting to his armour alone and not bothering with his shield, as he did find his defence pierced.
The combat ended with Utana again skewering a foe, the leader, not as dramatically as before, but effectively, and the mage and the last bandit able to move ran away, at speed.
The group was in no shape to pursue, what healing they were able tio do they did, and Juan José’s medicine will make Smersh’s recovery faster. They gathered up some food from the fire and ate and rested, before heading back to the tower, with such spoils as they could gather.
“Two shortswords, three daggers, a few coins and semi-precious stones, more carved up armour, rather well used bedding, a spear, cooking utensils, some bags of grain.”
At the tower, the ghost was fading, the reason it had returned gone, with the dead and fleeing bandits. Before she went, she did obtain a promise from the group to take the two orphans to relatives they have, in the city of Khanedarya to the East, luckily on the group’s route
And there we left it.
Conclusions of this session. Heavy armour is perhaps too OP. I will either need to nerf armour a bit, or put a penalty for use in. It already tires the wearer quickly. Either that or throw more opponents at the heavily armoured.
The rules and setting are not out yet, but the core rules are available for free, including character generation, skills, a bare setting and a character sheet, all in 10 pages here