Turn 17 - Days 92 to 94 - The Camp of the Ruin Within

 

 

The journey from Mankhandun to the enemy camp was largely uneventful.  The company met a few pilgrims heading in the opposite direction, but they were wrapped up in their awe and were little communicative.

Finding the camp was easy.  Even Partho, normally blind to the common things of the world, could have followed the tracks of the enemy, who cut a broad swathe through the countryside, and left camp fires barely stamped out, let alone scattered.  It was obvious that Godric and his companions had cut off the right heads, and that the Tidjits were exploiting their advantage.

"I do hope it is not their Priestess whipping them up into a frenzy", Godric muttered.  Parthoghimeos said nothing, which was an eloquent silence.

The enemy camp hove into view.  "Well", said Godric, "we know what we have come here for.  Let us get to it".

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Scenario Parameters :

 

This is a Raid, leading to a Camp Raid against The Ruin Within.

The enemy are little more than a confused rabble, that their leaders are still struggling to whip back into order.  When they are not spoiling their own camp, they are squabbling over ill-gotten gains, little gold and mostly shoddy-looking captives.  These enemy are Slave Raiders (p.154).  There are only Hu-Mans to be seen, so it is entirely possible that some of the captives were their desperate Elain allies of yesterday.  There are 7 enemies, of whom 2 have slings.

The leadership of the Ruin Within may be having a hard time, but it has been bolstered.  Hence there is a Sergeant to contend with, and another Sergeant besides that.

The entire band is under the command of a Lieutenant.

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 Sneak Up (p.138).  On the first round, one initiative die is automatically set to '1'.

If the central feature of the battle zone is contacted between turns 1 and 4, an immediate Loot roll can be made, since this is the first attack on this camp, and the results equipped immediately. 

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).

Holding the Field and saving the prisoners from a dreadful fate at the hands of these slavers, will win a few Friends (p. 154).  It will also allow the company to Achieve the Objective and thus gain Vital Information (p.66) and d6 Gold Marks.

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Godric's plan was for Mina to sneak into the camp from the right hand side; Krik was to take up position on the left side, behind the large quartz outcrop, and pepper the sentinels with arrows as they began to return.  The rest of the company would march straight in, so as to split up the defense.

 

Things began very well indeed, with Krik seriously wounding an enemy sergeant, Mina holding her own against two slavers, leaving Godric and Noctulo to hack their way through the enemy facing them, and whose sergent went down within seconds.  Partho was briefly threatened by an enemy slinger, forcing him to try to advance into sword-swinging range, until the enemy was distracted by Noctulo.  The monkish bat was not however quick enough on his feet to avoid being taken down by a lead ball.

The enemy lieutenant had by now reached the campsite, but was mostly fighting alone, and quickly wounded by Godric. The fish-man even had time to surge forward, loot the camp's cart, before attacking the enemy leader again; the combat was however inconclusive.  It was at that moment that disaster struck, as Godric went down to a well-aimed slingshot fired from behind the cart.  At almost the same moment, Partho was struck from his tortoise by yet another well placed sling shot.

 

Fortunately Mina rose to the occasion.  She had overcome both the warriors she was facing, and had rushed to back up Godric; now bellowing with anger, she bowled the enemy lieutenant over with her charge, and killed her with a hoof strike.  Only to go down to yet another well aimed strike from the damned slinger !  Fortunately, the loss of their leader sent the last enemy slaver in the camp area scarpering.

On the flank, Krik had gotten the better of his two adversaries, resorting to his axe to finish the job as quickly as possible.  There was now a most unlikely standoff between Krik and the elite enemy slinger, the only two left standing.  Slingshots went wide, but it would only take one to end all hopes of victory, and after missing with two arrows, Krik decided to close in.  Willing himself to close the gap as quickly as possible, the insect-man managed to engage the last slaver in close combat, in which he had a firm upper hand(s).  Victory went to Drake's Seven by the narrowest of margins !

The pillaging and destruction of their camp was a severe blow to the Ruin Within [Threat reduced to 0].  Copious applications of silvertree leaf, which fortunately were not in short supply, helped bring Godric to his senses, and possibly saved Mina's life, leaving her nonetheless with a very nasty wound.  Noctulo escaped with a few scratches, and Partho with equipment damage. 

The bounty was considerable : 8 gold marks from the pockets of the enemy leaders, and the enemy band's collective treasure.  With 18 gold marks in pocket, Drake's Seven had never been so wealthy.  They also picked up an enchanted necklace, which Godric gifted to Mina, who had truly saved the day.

The slaves could be freed; some had fought alongside the enemy before he turned upon them, but Godric decreed that their conscience and their future actions would be their judges, not him.  Such magnanimity was well received, and the company can count upon new friends.

The greatest bounty of all, however, was information.  Collated with the maps and descriptions of troop movements the company had previously recovered, two well-leafed parchments revealed the location of the enemy hideout : a stone's throw from Tidjit, no wonder operations were so heavily concentrated there !

Krik and Mina reached level 4 after this intense raid, whilst Noctulo emerged as a true hero [through an Adventure Milestone].