Scenario 3 - Distraction

Armies are marching. In the east, the forces of the Jungle Deep have swept all before them, destroying villages, burning farms, and crushing what little resistances the forces of Alladore have been able to mount. Now, the king has dispatched a new army, under the command of his cousin Lord Arklin, to form a new line of defence anchored on the Scree. His first task is to stop the advance of evil, and then counterattack, hoping to drive them back into the dark. Numerous ranger companies travel with the army, operating as scouts and messengers, finding safe routes of march, and fighting small skirmishes with advance parties of Hu-Mans.
Meanwhile, within the dark realm of the Jungle Deep, more experienced rangers have been tasked with attacking the enemy supply lines in an effort to prevent reinforcements from moving to the eastern front. The more damage that can be done, the more men the enemy will have to commit to protecting its lines of advance. It is a dangerous game of cat and mouse, and, every so often, the rangers come across something that they have never seen before.…

Scenario 3 - Distraction

After the raid on the Hu-Man encampment, you circled around until you reached the top of a line of hills. This is the direction in which the Hu-Mans had been heading, as well as the direction in which the cultist leader had pointed. From a concealed depression, you looked down into a long, dark plain and felt a coldness grip your heart. 

A small army camped upon the plain, next to a sluggish river. From the heights, you could just make out dozens of Hu-Mans, cultists, and other creatures moving about. Some unloaded supplies from a barge on the river, others appeared to be working on weapons and armour. All of this, though, you took in at a glance, for your eyes were immediately drawn to the centre of the camp, where a towering monolith loomed over everything. 

It was a stone, many stories high, covered in roughly carved runes that glowed with a nauseating pink light. A group of robed cultists prostrated themselves in front of the stone, while another stood before it with his hands raised. As you watched, the runes glowed brighter and thick pink mist seeped out of them. The mist writhed and twisted and then flowed together until it took the form of a floating pink horror. The demon gave out a piercing wail that reached all of the way to the hill top, then sped off in the direction of Alladore.

Quietly signalling to your companions, you slipped back down the hillside, and headed for home. You only had a short time to take in the scene, but this intelligence was vital. This monolith, this demon stone, was obviously a weapon of great power, one that could potentially overwhelm your kingdom.

After a wearying journey, you escaped the thick, dark air of the Jungle Deep, only to find Alladore in chaos. Once again, you were forced to sneak past an enemy army before finally locating your company. Reporting directly to your captain, you soon heard about the horrible defeat of the army of Lord Arklin, and the role played by the Pink Horrors. Most of the story was told by another group of rangers who had been on the outskirts of the battle. You then shared your own intelligence about the Hu-Man encampment, the things you found, and most importantly, about the Demon Stone that created these spectral warriors.

For a moment, a grim silence fell upon the little council. Then your captain spoke up. ‘There is no choice. The stone must be destroyed.’ 

You shook your head. ‘It’s the size of a tower. We’d need a siege engine to topple it.’

Your captain grinned. ‘There is one woman who could do it, if we can get her close enough.’ 

‘How? There is an army between us and that stone.’

 The captain looked over at the other group of rangers. ‘We’ll need a distraction...’.

 

Along with the other ranger group, you slipped down into the Jungle Deep, and made your way carefully to the line of hills they had spoken of. It was tough going, and often you had to stop and hide from patrols, but eventually you reached the ridge without major incident. From that height, you could see the difficulty of the task before you. Hundreds of cultists and Hu-Mans moved about on the plain.
You scanned across the whole area, looking for weaknesses. Finally, your eyes settled on the river. At the far end of the camp, masses of supplies had been unloaded on the ground next to the water, forming a kind of open-air warehouse. A small boat is moored nearby, and a couple of cultists are unloading supplies. If you could get in amongst those supplies, and set them alight, it would be sure to create chaos in the camp and draw significant forces away from the stone. In theory, if you could do this quickly enough, you could then steal the boat and make your get-away.

The main difficulty will be in getting close enough without raising the alarm...

 

After the briefing in the camp, The Twins decided to stick together with Bohwihsh and Keila, meaning that Kiara would once again be assisted by G.P, Lucky and Ace.

As for Aka Morumotto, the fiercest Guinea Pig in the West, he was accompanied by his sailor companion Trig, but joined also by Sobeq; this seemed like a good team for an amphibious assault.

G.P's spy skills proved to be useful in drawing off the guards, allowing him to quickly reach the piles of supplies furthest from the river, without having to worry about much enemy opposition.

Having also sneaked into position, Kiara summoned her ibis, and it and Lucky swooped down on the guards of another supply dump.  The alarm had not yet gone up.

The amphibious assault worked out perfectly, the two strong swimmers reaching the boat without concern.  Trig rose from beneath the waters to plant his throwing knife right between the cultist's eyes.

The alarm had by now been sounded, bringing plentiful reinforcements running, including an Ogre.  There was thick fighting nearby the boat, where two piles of supplies were ready to go up in smoke.

The heroic view

A more messy one...

Aka Morumotto laid about him to great effect, greatly assisted by Kiara's well placed "Caltrops" spell which kept the Ogre at bay for a short while, and caused considerable damage to the cultists as they ran through or were pushed back through them.  His enemies already weakened when they reached him, Aka Morumotto brought down the Cultist Leader and the Ogre, as well as three other Hu-Mans.

Ace had been busy trying to light one of the supply piles, and failing miserably, no doubt too busy admiring the shiny weapon he had found in one of the crates.  His hesitation cost him dear as a Hu-Man champion and two archers surprised and overwhelmed him.   He lost the weapon to boot !

G.P. had already set one pile of supplies alight, and found a second weapon....before he too went down to the Hu-Man champion, another magical weapon lost !  He had bought time however, and by now Lucky had set two more piles alight.  As the heroes gained the upper hand in the fighting, Kiara lit the fourth pile of supplies.

The amphibious assault had overwhelmed the boat - with the loss of Sobeq, however - and everyone now made for the quay.  A dreadful foe had made an incursion - a Mantis Demon, no less.  The distraction was definitely working famously, but the cost had become considerable, with Ace, G.P. and Sobeq down, and Aka and Trig grievously wounded.

Everybody made it to the boat, however, which Trig cast off and expertly navigated downstream.  The companies trials were not over, as the Mantis Demon was tracking them, and a swarm of vampire bats now appeared, making its way upstream.

The battle became the stuff of legends, the four heroes pushing back the demon time and time again, and Aka standing tall in the prow and smashing his way through the entire wave of bats.  The boat was nearly away when an arrow from a Hu-Man archer caught the valiant guinea pig in the shoulder, and he slipped into oblivion.

Victory, with five out of six piles burning, but at what cost ?

 

The moments after the battle were tense.  It turned out that Aka's armour had held up to the arrow strike, the impact had simply been one pain too many.  Ace's enemies having been more concerned by the boat slipping away, he had managed to escape unharmed.  Sobeq, after drifting to the bottom of the murky river, had also managed to swim away, and last of all, G.P., hoisted over Kiara's shoulders, was not in too bad a shape.  All in all, everyone made a Full Recovery.

In this adventure, characters return to full Health at the end of each scenario.

We use our house rules for XP acquisition for Rangers and PPs for Companions.

Aka Morumotto's company did the bulk of the slaying, bringing down no less than five Hu-Mans, the Cultist Leader, four Vampire Bats, the great Mantis Demon (finally slain by Trig), the Ogre and a Pink Horror.  With the 4XP for Trig surviving, and the shared 8XP for the supplies captured on the boat, Aka picked up 108 XP, coming close to Level 6.

Kiara's companions, although also in the heart of the fighting, had taken down only three Hu-Mans and a bat, but the had sent four piles of supplies up in flames.  With the 110XP, Kiara reached Level 6, improving her fighting skills to +3.

All of Aka's Companions survived and, using our house rules (+1 PP for each 5 XP acquired by that Companion for the Ranger), Trig gained no less than 6 PP.  Sobeq had been less effective and gained only 1 PP.  Kiara's companions gained 3 PP (G.P.), 1 PP (Ace) and Lucky, who had burnt two piles of supplies and remained standing to the end, gained 6 PP.

In one of the piles, G.P. had found an interesting book from a fallen eastern kingdom, which Kiara was able to translate.  The eloquent prayers it contained brought hope to the company, and also 1 PP for Trig and Lucky, bringing each of them to Level 2 (+1 Health).

All Heroic Abilities and Spells used are regained.

No treasure was discovered.

No new equipment was picked up, and none changed hands.

No reorganisation occurs.