Turn 15 - Days 81 to 82 - The White Hills

The Temple of Sisyn has been liberated.  Worship of the god, which has been in voluntary or involuntary abettance for quite some years, can now resume.  The High Priestess - daughter of Tidjit's Alderman, but now under the influence of the village's shaman - and that the company had been dispatched to Okerdik to bring back home - can now lead members of a suddenly reappearing cult, to the temple to purify it.

The company continues to be unsure whether the return of this Death God cult is a good thing.  No doubt it will strengthen resistance against the Jungle Deep, but at what cost to the people of these lands ?

What will the quest that Sisyn has set for Drake's Seven, and which they can hardly refuse without losing Tidjit's friendship, allow the Death God to accomplish ?  Will Godric's keeping back of the strange object he found in the Temple, and which surely belonged to a long-dead High Priestess, make any difference to those plans ?

Is it a coincidence that Kehar, the forest shaman who had, far more than any of them, built some link with Sisyn, has fallen in his Temple, and been clearly welcomed into the divinity's arms ?

What is the link between Sisyn, and the mysterious and haunted Taran burial ground located in The Shroud, on some ancient battle site where their chariot-warriors seem to have died in great numbers ?  The company had first crossed paths with Sisyn's white stag shortly after fleeing the baleful site, and the statuettes they had recovered there generated a lot of excitement in Tidjit.  The shaman had called them zilniri, and bought them to prevent Sisyn "leaving his dreams".

Godric and Partheghimeos hope that the scholar from the Cascades, who has just ridden into Tidjit with a small company of Rangers, might be able to consult his colleagues and shed some light on what the Death God and his worshippers have planned.

In the meantime, the agents of the Jungle Deep must be stopped, and the enemy of one's enemy...

 

The company sent the wounded Radovan back to Tidjit, along with the precious information they had gathered.  They split into two smaller groups to continue expeditions into the lands around the hilltop, with instructions to meet atop it at dusk.  "It is a pretty safe bet that the enemy won't be heading back there", Godric told them.

Their own camp was slightly less miserable than the enemy's had been, thanks to a cave that Partho and Radovan had discovered when they were up there.  The rain hissed down, though, during the night, and Krik discovered that the pouch he kept his bowstrings in had been damaged during his fall.  They were all wet through, useless.  Foraging brought thin rewards, so out came the rations again; at least there was no complaining, with Radovan away.

At daybreak, Mina climbed back up the needle of rock, dangling down two lengths of rope to help everyone else up.  The view was breathtaking (at least, what breath was left after the wind had ripped it away).  It was also very encouraging : they could clearly make out rising smoke, from which the enemy were fleeing, pursued by bands of angry Tidjits.  The information had clearly been used well to coordinate attacks [The Ruin Within : Threat Level reduced to 2].

"I think", said Mina, thoughtfully, "that they" - she pointed a finger at a band of fleeing brigands, seven or eight in number, unidentifiable at the distance - "are heading there".  Her sword pointed out towards some sort of circular ruins, which must have been about twenty miles yonder, where the northern tip of the White Hills petered out into the plain.  From this height, the sharper eyed members of the company could make out the trail the enemy was surely following to their goal.

"Hum, that is indeed an interesting choice", Godric replied.  "Let us join them, and add to their misery".

Even Ruairidh, who kept reminding them of their pending quest at every opportunity he was given (or not), looked bright eyed at that idea.

They stood there for a couple more minutes.  Partho pointed out another range of hilltops that were visible on the horizon.  "Therein lays the monastery of Mankhundun", he chirped.  To their right, the mountains gradually rose into the distance, the sun glinting almost purple on their snow-covered slopes.  It was, all in all, quite beautiful.  "Well worth preserving", thought Godric.  Then the wind, which had discreetly dropped, suddenly rose again.  It almost struck him off his perch, as if the land was determined to test his will to the utmost. 

The circular ruins turned out to be an eery looking giant stone head, that had seemingly rolled from a great height to lay on the ground.  It must have been some time ago, as vegetation had grown all over it, and through its empty eyes.  The company reached it shortly after the enemy.  There were Hu-Mans and desperate looking Elain all mixed in together, as if they had run into each other by accident.  They did however have a mean looking captain, who had thrashed them into some semblance of order, but not enough that they had thought to post guards.

"I would very much like a look at that", said Godric, pointing towards the satchel that the captain had thrown down, rather carelessly, forced as she was to chase up her ragged band and have them set camp.

"Right you are", said Ruairidh, and as one they were off, the hedgehog and Mina letting out a screaming, bellowing war cry that shook the enemy to their foundations.

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Scenario Parameters :

This is a Battle Against the Enemy Threat, leading to a Meeting Encounter against The Ruin Within.

The enemy are another Outlaw Gang (p.154).  There are 7 enemies, of whom 2 have slings, the entire band led by a Captain. [These will be a mix of Hu-Man outlaws and Elain].

The objective is to Search for Something (p.132). 

The enemy are too disorganised to attempt to Outflank.

The enemy captain hopes to use this place as a rallying point, so his goal is to Establish a Larger Presence.  If the company fail to Achieve the Objective, this entails a roll on the table on p.98

There is no special Story Point in this scenario, so no means to immediately gain 1 Story Point.

Terrain is set up as per the generic rules (p.128-129), and for set-up see p.134.

After setting up, the heroes can attempt to Seize the Initiative (p.134), with a +1 modifier. 

Under Siege (p.219) is in effect, so should a Unique Foe appear during the battle, and is not slain, a roll must be made on the Enemy Plans Table (p.207).

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Parthoghimeos' eyes lit up as, despite the shooting pain behind his eyes, he deftly translated the scrawling script on the sheaf of parchments they had found.  "That was worth the bumps and bruises", he squeaked.  He spoke from experience, a slingshot having rattled his brains around inside his pointy, fortunately solid, magician's hat.  The lump he now had was half the size of his head.

"Enemy plans laid bare", he enlightened the battered company.

The enemy had it worse.  One of their captains, an impressive figure but whose skull Mina had cracked open with her heavy swords, lay dead.  She had been a tough adversary, luckily Krik had only been knocked unconscious by her brutal attacks.

 

Half of the bandits had died with her, the rest had taken to their heels.  The Ruin Within was firmly on the back foot [Threat Level reduced now to 1]. 

One of them had left Ruairidh with a nasty gash on his shield arm, too incapacitating for him to carry on for now.  The treacherously slippery slopes of the quartz block that he had fought over had finally betrayed him, though he had put up a tremendous fight [and is chosen for the +1 XP reward for "Holding the Field"].  Partho had been on hand to grab the satchel.

 

The success of the mission brought Godric up to level 4 [+1 Luck]. 

The pickings were really good too.  The captain's pockets were heavy with gold marks, robbed or extorted, and the satchel not only gave away precious enemy plans, it also yielded 7 marks' worth of elegant jewellery, perhaps looted from a merchant attacked along the Great Trade Road.  A smaller, strangely ornate pouch in an inner pocket contained two precious doses of Silvertree Leaf.

"She wasn't much into sharing" rumbled Mina, both proud and amused, wiping her swords on the dead captain's shirt, after stripping her of her heavy, elaborate cloak.  "When you think she used to be a schoolmistress, before the fall of Lorenthia", Godric mused, a mixture of wonder and regret.

Drake's Seven set up camp at the foot of the statue, after burning the bodies and roving out a little to make sure the other bandits had really dispersed.  They had found it grotesque before, now it seemed a little sad, and in need of companionship.