Scenario 3 - Tor Varden The Upper Level

Only hours after you arrived back from destroying the nest of spiders, you received a message from your commanding officer. There is fighting all along the old Lorenthian frontier.  Contact has been lost with the beacon tower of Tor Varden, and it is presumed to have been overrun. 

You are commanded to round up what men you can and proceed with all swiftness to Tor Varden to ascertain the truth. If the tower has fallen, learn what enemy forces now occupy it and harass or eliminate them as opportunity presents.

 

 

Scenario 3 - Tor Varden : The Lower Level

Your party is battered and bruised, but the fight is not over.  The Banshee that now rules in this tower is likely on the upper level.  While it is tempting to leave now with the gains you have made, it would then be left to some other group to come and finish the job, and who knows what evil might be done here in the meantime.  Readying your weapons, you advance up the stairs....

The Upper Level of Tor Varden.  You have to imagine this as a bird's eye view, with the top of the tower, a wooden walkway, and fifty feet below, the ground level with scattered rocks, fields and bushes.

 

In the middle is a greay pyre, with a hapless victim enclosed within a heavy sarcophagus.  Torches burn with a sickly green light, and it is obvious that an animal sacrifice is intended.

Akriss, Keila and Pattashin emerge first from the stairwell.  The Ranger-Magician quickly split-casts "Shield of Light" on both warriors, a spell that will save them several times from death.

The plan is for Keila and Pattashin to rush the warriors around the pyre, slaying them before the Banshee can pitch in.  The Twins and the remaining companions are to take out the archers.

 

The presence of the Banshee was obviously galvanising the Hu-Mans, however, as both Pattashin and Keila were badly wounded, although Akriss' Heal spell did wonders for the armadillo.

Bohwihsh ran towards the archer in the corner overlooking the stairwell, flicking throwing daggers at him which unfortunately missed.  In return, the Hu-Man archer sent an arrow spinning towards the squirrel, which took him out of action [on a '20', ndlr].  Is he dead, or did the arrow bounce off a wooden crate first and only knock him out ?

 

The situation was looking pretty desperate as green fire flared up on nearby Tor Dargos.  Already seriously wounded in the battle on the lower level, this was too much for Katniss' and Jabir's nerves.  Fear now gripped them both and slowed them down.

The Banshee crossed swords with Keila, who nonetheless wounded it, thanks to her heavy axe but also the vital information drawn from the guard captain's secret note.

To keep the Banshee away from the main fight, Akriss sent his cobra-familiar to what seemed certain death, but to everyone's surprise the snake caused two serious wounds in quick succession to the phantom, pushing it back away from the pyre.  Down to only two wounds, the Banshee now began to look vulnerable.

 

Both the Twins and Pattashin pounced on it, as green fire now glowed from the top of Tor Hammel, striking dread into Jabir and Keila.  It proved in truth to be Keila's undoing, as a troublesome Hu-Man warrior got through her defenses and laid her low.  Akriss was laying about him, slaying two Hu-Mans, but the sickly green fire must have contaminated his magic, for he was also struck down by the Hu-Man.

Akriss' cobra survived him by only a few seconds, and it might have been the end, had not cooperation between the Twins and Pattashin finally brought the Banshee down, Pattashin dealing the death blow [with a magnificent '20', ndlr].  On the other side of the pyre, Katniss, that Akriss had also protected with a Shield of Light, seemed to be winning her archery duel.

The Twins, Katniss, Pattashin and Jabir, all wounded [with respectively 14, 6, 2 and 8 remaining wounds, ndlr] now faced one Hu-Man warrior, bleeding badly [down to 1 wound] and three archers.  These were better, although still very dangerous odds.  It occured to no-one, however, to abandon Tor Varden to its fate : a signal must be sent to Alladore that there were still fierce pockets of resistance.

The heros' determination did not fail even when Pattashin fell to a lucky blow from a wooden club.  The Hu-Man warrior was finally disposed of by Jabir, who then charged one of the archers, beat him in combat and threw him over the edge of the walkway to his death.  The Twins and Katniss made short work of the two remaining archers, and the fight was sudenly over !

 

The company have played a pivotal role in what quickly becomes known as the Night of Green Fire.  A week after Lorenthia fell, the forces of the Jungle Deep surged up and assaulted the line of Tors, swarming over the defenses with a tide of Hu-Mans and Giant Spiders, pushed on by Banshees whilst Pteranodons whirled overhead.  On that horrible night, the beacon towers burned with a phantasmal green light, announcing to everyone within thirty miles that the Jungle Deep now controlled the border.  Only in a few spots along the line, such as at Tor Varden, could the light of orange fire be seen, offering just a sliver of hope that the warriors of Alladore were still fighting to hold back the darkness.

 

It turned out that everyone made a full recovery; Akriss had a close call with the spine of his spellbook shattered by a club, but he will be able to draw a new one.

The Rangers add up their XP.  We have decided to implement a house rule : instead of Rangers getting equal XP, each Ranger gains XP for what s/he and his or her companions achieved, which is then doubled (as we have 2 Rangers).  This doubling is not applied to XP gains that, by nature, benefit both rangers.

Akriss' companions slew four Hu-Mans, and The Twins three.  Pattashin dealt the death blow to the Shadow Knight, but the XP rewards were shared, as were all those from saving the sacrificial victim and the tower itself.  After this epic adventure, Akriss has 302 XP and reaches Level 3, adding +10 BRP, but retaining all his spells.  The Twins now have 358 XP.

The only two companions who were left standing at the end of the fight, Katniss and Jabir, obtain +2 PP.  This takes Jabir to Level 1 (+1 Health).  All the others gain +1 PP. We have also adopted another House Rule : a Companion gets an additional PP for each 10 XP [FRD] he personally acquired for the Ranger.  This gives an additional +1PP to Pattashin.

All Heroic Abilities and Spells used are regained.

There was no treasure in this scenario, and no gains to redistribute.

The company did not redistribute any other gains from the scenario or previously.

Akriss' Spellbook is destroyed.

This is the end of a mission, so reorganisation takes place.  Katniss returns to the Border Guards for now, The Twins instead take on Tor Varden's Battle Ram (Warhound) [with +1 Will].   Akriss is issued with a new spellbook, into which he inscribes Heal.