Tim's Outlanders: Between Adventures, Winter of 18 IC to Spring of 20 IC – Part 2

[This is a summation of events in the world that happened after the completion of the Flight of the Yard Bird and the beginning of Cultists, Cultists, Cultists.  It covers slightly more than a year of time.  I think I read it aloud to the players during the first session before we got into the actual adventure, but I’m missing the session notes for Session 1 of the Cultists, Cultists, Cultists adventure, lost to the Hard Drive Crash of 2014, so I am not entirely certain.]

[This is a huge wall of text, so I broke it up into two parts for the blog.  Both parts are roughly the same length as the complete session notes for one session.  Part 1 covers the Weather and the happenings in the three regions of the Empire: Southern, Central, and Northern.  Part 2 covers the Syrak Alliance, the Free City of Freegate, the Gnome Consortium, the Tribes of the Spur (orcs and goblins that settled in the mountains west of Freegate), and The Mountain Wars.  Consider these two posts a huge “Happening Off-Stage” for the previous adventure.]

Part 2

The Syrak Alliance

The Syrak Alliance started 19 IC facing multiple issues.  The Khanate of Grimthug Og Garguzgulz was expanding in the southwest, the Goblinoid Horde North (GHN) was raiding from the old 7th Imperial Legion Citadel in the east, the Lizardfolk Horde (LH) periodically raided for supplies in the north, and the 5th Legion was operating just inside of the Alliance's northwestern border.  To top it off, Borot Grotto in the southeast appeared to now be under goblinoid control.

Representatives of the Alliance traveled to Freegate to meet with the Faceless Five, the Gnome Consortium, and representatives of the Northern Dwarven Kingdom (NDK).  They secured the right from the Faceless Five to place postings in Freegate requesting wizards and dragonslayers for work in the Alliance.  Diplomatic representatives of the Empire attempted to block this and the other activities of the Alliance representatives, but were defeated by Freegate's "Business is Business" attitude.  The Faceless Five somewhat reassured the Imperial Representatives by stating categorically that Freegate will remain neutral in the Empire/Alliance dispute and offered to host any negotiations and/or talks between the two.

The Alliance wanted wizards, air power, and dragonslayers, not necessarily in that order.  They needed earth mages to assist in the creation of defensive works and fortifications.  They wanted quick troop transportation and aerial fire support in the form of airships and belf'rads.  They placed several orders with the Gnome Consortium and the new NDK Airwerks.

By the end of 19 IC, the Alliance was in a somewhat better position.  The 5th Imperial Legion had left their territory, the LH was disorganized after their defeat, and many miles of defensive works were completed thanks to wizards hired from Freegate, blunting the raids from the GHN.  On the downside, it was confirmed that Borot Grotto was under the control of goblinoids, the Khanate renewed attacks in the south, and the LH appeared to be settling down for a long stay.  The Alliance is hoping the delivery of belf’rads mid-year in 20 IC will start tipping the balance in their favor.

The Free City of Freegate

The Thieves' War

Fighting between the Fordsway Mob and the various Freegate Thieves' Guilds was almost continuous throughout 19 IC.  The Freegate Guilds attempted to keep the action out of sight in back alleys and on rooftops to avoid a Crackdown by the Faceless Five.  The Fordsway Mob had no compunctions about causing public displays and caused several notorious "incidents".  The Faceless Five maintained a "business is business" attitude until the infamous Norlimba Incident forced their hand.

The Fordsway Mob was muscling into Brass Town to take over the fencing operations there.  The fences were controlled by the Brass Tacks, one of the Freegate Thieves' Guilds.  Their leader, Miles Norlimba, was leading a strong resistance to the Mob's attempts to take over and succeeding.  The Mob decided to crush the Brass Tacks in one act and send a message to the other Guilds.  They spent three weeks tracking Norlimba to learn his real identity and the location of his residence in the Merchant's Quarter.

Once this was done and verified, the Mob sent the "Cat's Claws", their top killers, to deliver their message.  The Cat's Claws killed everyone in the residence – Norlimba, his family, the servants, and the house guards – in a very bloody and messy manner.  They then trashed the rest of the house, taking nothing but destroying everything.  The Mob believed this would cow the rest of the Brass Tacks into line and warn the other Guilds to beware opposing the Mob.

While this method would have worked in Fordsway (in fact it had in the past), in Freegate it had a different reaction.  The guildmasters of the Freegate Guilds arranged a meeting of themselves.  At that meeting, for the first time in hundreds of years, they agreed to set aside all of their differences and act in concert against a common enemy – the Fordsway Mob.  The Guilds combined their forces and resources to wage war upon the Fordsway Mob for complete control of the city’s underworld.

Over the next two weeks, Fordsway Mob businesses and warehouses were systematically robbed and/or attacked.  Their safehouses were invaded by combined teams of troll heavies, knife fighters, and bandit archers.  Known members of the Mob were tracked down, their homes stripped bare, and their bodies thrown to the klakkers in the canyon.  Mob smuggling shipments were continuously attacked and looted by goblin raiders from the Spur, newly allied with the Freegate Guilds.

To keep the heat off, the Freegate Guilds took pains to reduce the amount of damage done to non-Mob targets that were merely in the vicinity.  They also spread bribes around thickly.  They bribed Watch patrols to be elsewhere when "things happened".  They bribed witnesses to "see nothing".  They bribed people suffering incidental damage from a raid to not report any problems.  They bribed snitches to provide information on the Mob and their operations.  Due to the unpopularity of the Mob, these bribes did not have to be as large as one would expect and went a long way to keeping the war on the sly.

The Freegate Guilds gradually pushed the Mob out of the city, from west to east, leaving a single safehouse on the eastern rim alone.  Naturally, the Mob assumed the Guilds did not know about that safehouse and used it to house Mob personnel pushed out of the rest of the city.  Once the Guilds had cleared the rest of the city, they staged their final assault upon the Mob.  They assembled every fighting member of the Freegate Thieves' Guilds, paying heavy bribes to the Watch and the Guard to keep them from "noticing", and surrounded the Mob's last safehouse.  They attacked at midnight with the rallying cry, "Remember Norlimba!"

The next morning, when the Watch finally arrived to investigate "some strange noises", they found the building heavily damaged.  Inside, the bodies (or portions thereof) of the remaining members of the Fordsway Mob were found laid out in a central room with the words "Remember Norlimba" written in blood on the walls.  Surrounding these words were the bloody right-hand prints of the 182 Freegate guildmembers who participated in the raid.

As a result of this event, the Faceless Five were forced to declare a crackdown.  The King's Guard were seen to be active across the city for a full month and crime nearly stopped completely.  However, the Guilds had expected this and every guild thief in the city was hidden away and kept safe.

At the end of a month, the Faceless Five announced that order had been restored and the crackdown was over.  Astute observers noticed that while there was much activity and some arrests, the only thieves arrested were non-guild thieves.

Those guildmembers who volunteered to participate in the final raid are considered honored members of their guilds and respected by the other thieves’ guilds of Freegate.  They are allowed to wear something indicating their status, with each guild using a distinctive manner to indicate this: red right gauntlets or gloves, red armbands worn on the right, pendants with a red right hand in the design, or a body tattoo of a red right hand.  [Darkfox’s identifying tattoo of a fox was modified so its front right paw was red.]

Collectively, this group is referred to as the Red Right Hands of Freegate.  Members of this group are given more leeway and/or the benefit of the doubt when found in another guild's territory in Freegate.  Pretenders are beaten heavily when discovered and thrown to the klakkers.  As word of the final raid spreads through the underworld across the continent, Red Right Hands will be treated with a mix of respect and fear by the thieves' guilds of other cities.  Those few surviving members of the Fordsway Mob who were out of Freegate during the war have scattered to the winds and hide in other cities.  No other guild will accept them, fearing the ire and attention of the Red Right Hands of Freegate.

The Gnome Consortium

Construction Projects

As a result of Alliance orders plus other orders plus their own needs, the Gnome Consortium has hired many more non-Gnome workers than in the past to build the facilities they need.  This is increasing the economy of Freegate and making it a destination for people looking for work, particularly people from Fordsway.

Fordsway

Restarting Fordsway's economy has been extremely difficult, even for the Gnomes.  Few of the residents had valuables left, let alone money, as the majority were previously enslaved by the Khanate.  The Gnome Consortium loaned the Fordsway City Council monies to jump-start their economy.  The loans are sums delivered over a period of four years with repayments starting at the end of 5th year (24 IC) and spread over 30 years.  Final repayment is scheduled to be at the end of 54 IC.

The Consortium is in the process of setting up a manufacturing facility in Fordsway to produce repeating arbalest and repeating ballista (non-magical) components.  This facility will employ locals and provide a second vector for introducing money into the economy.  Ownership of the facility is by a joint venture including the Consortium, the NDK, and the City of Fordsway.

Finally, the Consortium is coordinating the effort to establish a center of education in the city – Fordsway University.  The majority of the money funding this effort is from grants made by wealthy individuals from Freegate, organizations based in Freegate, and Outlands University.

Local workers, paid half in cash, half in credit, are constructing Fordsway University.  The credit can be used by the workers to pay for education for them or their children once the University is able to start.  This has made it a very popular project to work on as tuition for students covers room and board.  Many parents in the city work whatever time they can on the University to gain credit.  They plan to put their children into the University as a way of feeding them.

Tribes of the Spur

Several things are happening in the Spur [an area of mountains west of Freegate and south of the road that leads to the remains of the High North Trade Route (HNTR)].  The tribes have established their survival needs and started a low-level economy amongst themselves.  Some of the tribes raid the merchants using the road between Freegate and the HNTR.  One tribe, the Snaga Naskop, traded their riding lizards for horses and started skirmishing with the Horse Lords.  As a general rule, most of the tribes seem to avoid drawing too much military attention to themselves.  The Flight of the Bottles seems to have given them a strong respect for the wizards of Freegate and they don't seem to want to face that again.

Contact has been made between the Tribes and groups in Freegate.  One of the goblin tribes is acting as highwaymen and is now allied with the Thieves' Guilds of Freegate.  Members of this tribe participated in the Thieves' War and six of their goblins are Red Right Hands.

In addition, Go-Tok of the Snaga Dakaz (Snake Bites) has sent delegations to confer with "Boombottle" (Tim) about establishing trade.  Success has only been minor so far, but has allowed both sides to learn about each other.  Recently, the Snaga Dakaz have started producing their own alcoholic beverages for trade with Boombottle.  It is meeting with some success, particularly in Outtown [the district of Freegate where those not human, elf, or gnome live].  Orcs have also occasionally been seen working odd jobs around Tim's Tavern, but there have been no incidents (so far).

The Mountain Wars

Below Ground

During 19 IC, relations between the two dwarven kingdoms started deteriorating.  The Keybreaker Incident cemented in the minds of many Northern Dwarves that the Southern Dwarves were becoming irredeemably corrupt.  This led to a raised level of hostility and suspicion towards Southern Dwarf merchants who traded between the two kingdoms.

The Southern Dwarf merchants reported this hostility throughout the SDK in the form of stories and tales of oppression.  This increased the resentment of the Southern Dwarves and Northern Dwarf merchants started receiving the same hostile treatment from the Southern Dwarves.  Ancient grudges, long set aside, started weighing heavily on the minds of dwarfs from both kingdoms.

During the winter of 19/20 IC, when communications between the two kingdoms was most difficult, the Betdmuans started staging small raids on both sides of the border.  Their raiders left evidence implicating members of the opposing kingdom.  Where possible, they made use of clan rivalries that crossed the borders to incense the dwarfs.  These raids further heightened the tensions between the two Kingdoms and sparked spontaneous revenge raids, worsening the situation even further.

As the war becomes more immanent, the Militant faction in the SDK started to gain power.  While they were not able to get the King on their side, they were able to take more control of the government and start limiting the King's choices.  They gained a great deal of influence when the King requested additional support from the Imperial Legions to protect the Southern Dwarven merchants moving along the HNTR.  By the time the King concluded that the only way to stop the war was by a direct appeal to the King of the Northern Dwarves, the Militants had maneuvered him into a position where he could not do so without appearing weak and unable to defend his kingdom.  He realized too late that his options had been narrowed down to war or the loss of his throne – and probably his life.

Above Ground

Once the 8th Imperial Legion left the Worldspine Mountains, the Uplander Clans started thinking hard about reclaiming their lost lands.  They did not want to destroy the HNTR (they had learned the benefits of trade with the lowlands), but they did want to kick the Empire out.

Having learned the strength of the Legions the hard way, there was much planning and discussion about how to accomplish their goals.  Time and again, as the talks stalled or threatened to break out into a fight between clans, Mikal Torvaldson, known as Mikal the Wanderer, stepped in and defused the situation.  Mikal became the voice of reason and was regarded as a sort of holy man, dedicated to the expulsion of the Empire but without destroying the Uplander Clans in the process.

By the middle of 19 IC, the Uplanders' plans were ready and the Clans start preparing for the coming war.  Due to the tensions between the Dwarven Kingdoms, the Clans did not ask for dwarven support, but planned to accept it if offered.  When the SDK requested Imperial support for their merchant caravans, the Clans start leaning towards the NDK as possible allies.

The First Mountain War

The First Mountain War was between the Uplander Clans and the High Reaches Protectorate.  The Commander of the 4th Legion stationed troops at critical points on the HNTR in fortified positions, but did not start re-activating the Reserves – the retired legionnaires who had settled the High Reaches Protectorate.  He was not expecting the Clans to make any kind of move that year and saw no reason to pull the Reserves in early.

Much to the Legion Commander's surprise, the Clans did attack that year, just after the first snows fell.  The Clans targeted the critical control points and attacked, easily overwhelming the under-prepared legionnaires and seized all of the supplies they could.  By the end of October 19 IC, the HNTR from North Terminus down past the Southern Citadel was in Uplander control.  The only exceptions were the two Citadels, which were isolated and besieged.

In early 20 IC, the NDK offered air support to the Uplanders besieging the Northern Citadel in exchange for an alliance.  The Uplanders agreed and the addition of the Northern Dwarf forces, particularly their canons, rapidly brought the siege to a close as the legionnaires surrendered rather than have their citadel demolished on top of them.

Flush with victory against the hated Empire, the commander of the Northern Dwarf forces volunteered to help at the Southern Citadel.  His assistance was accepted and his force moved south with Uplander messengers and letters of introduction.  Once the Northern Dwarfs were in place, it was a relatively short time before the Southern Citadel fell to the combined Uplander/NDK forces.

[This represents a break with later writing about this war, where I wrote that the Southern Citadel held after some bitter fighting.  I’ll need to reconcile the two accounts at some point.]

The Second Mountain War (Ongoing)

The rash collaboration between the Uplanders and the NDK forces had an unintended side effect.  The SDK Militants used this as an example of uncontrolled NDK aggression against a SDK ally (ignoring the fact that the Militants were previously against cooperation with the Legion).  With this ammunition, they whipped the SDK populace into a frenzy of fear and paranoia and were able to seize control of the SDK government and military.

Citing the military adventurism of the NDK, the SDK declared war against the NDK and its allies.  The War Council sent the SDK armies north, attacking Uplander and NDK forces alike.  In their zeal to "defend" their lands, the SDK armies overran several of the locations the Uplanders had sent their non-combatants for safety.  Many were killed and the rest were sent back to the SDK as prisoners.

These acts cemented the alliance between the Uplanders and the NDK.  Both sent armies to intercept the SDK forces to protect their people.  The Uplanders and the NDK then started planning military strategy against the SDK.

End of Part 2.

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Between Adventures

Previous session: Part 1

Next Session: Cultists, Cultists, Cultists – Session 1 [not recreated yet]

Tim's Outlanders: Between Adventures, Winter of 18 IC to Spring of 20 IC – Part 1

[This is a summation of events in the world that happened after the completion of the Flight of the Yard Bird and the beginning of Cultists, Cultists, Cultists.  It covers slightly more than a year of time.  I think I read it aloud to the players during the first session before we got into the actual adventure, but I’m missing the session notes for Session 1 of the Cultists, Cultists, Cultists adventure, lost to the Hard Drive Crash of 2014, so I am not entirely certain.]

[This is a huge wall of text, so I broke it up into two parts for the blog.  Both parts are roughly the same length as the complete session notes for one session.  Part 1 covers the Weather, and the happenings in the three regions of the Empire: Southern, Central, and Northern.  Part 2 covers the Syrak Alliance, the Free City of Freegate, the Gnome Consortium, the Tribes of the Spur (orcs and goblins that settled in the mountains west of Freegate), and The Mountain Wars.  Consider these two posts a huge “Happening Off-Stage” for the previous adventure.]

Part 1

Weather

The 18-19 IC winter was slightly colder than the previous one and lasted until April 19 IC.  This was slightly later than normal, but not alarmingly so.  Planting season was delayed by a few weeks, particularly in the north.

Another side effect of the longer winter was a higher level of snowfall.  This caused rivers to run a little higher and colder during the spring melt.  There was some minor flooding in the usual places, but nothing particularly unusual.

The summer 19 IC would be fairly normal in the southern plains and forests.  On the northern plains it would be slightly wetter, cooler, and shorter.  However, the farmers were mostly expecting it this year and planned accordingly.  When winter of 19/20 IC arrived (slightly early yet again), the crops had been harvested and nothing was lost.

The 19-20 IC winter, as mentioned, arrived early, like the winter of 18/19 IC.  Snow started falling in the mountains in early September and was falling on the Northern Plains by the end of the month.  The snowline moved gradually south and by the end of October 19 IC all portions of the continent that normally experienced snow had it on the ground.

[This is related to the block of permanent ice that Tim touched to tile mosaic on the floor of the Temple of Baharat.  It returned a critical bit of power to Ymer of the White Eyes, one of the Elderlan Gods (those who assisted Baharat in the creation of the world) and got himself locked away in the far past.  The returned power allowed Ymer to start escaping his prison and exert his will on the world.  Yes, the Crystal Brotherhood (see below) are related.]

Southern Empire

The 2nd Imperial Legion

During the end of 18 IC, the 2nd Imperial Legion gradually pushed back the Goblinoid Horde, South (GHS) [its official Imperial designation] out of and to the edge of the Farwood Forest.  However, once out of the forest, the Legion's advantage over the Horde lessened and the battle lines stabilized.  Both sides immediately started digging in.

Due to the 2nd Imperial Legion's focus on the GHS and the need for troops, the Imperial Navy was extremely short on Marines to defend ships and attack pirates in the seas along the south and east of the continent.  Both the Pirates of the Far Drift Isles and goblinoid hulks sailing from Borot Grotto discovered and confirmed this in mid-19 IC and pirate attacks on shipping rose as a result.

The Gnome Air Fleet

The Gnome Consortium maintained a commitment to Fordsway's freedom from the GHS.  The regular bombings and intensifying air war continued for most of 19 IC until the addition of the dwarven improved air carrier, the Radhwyr ("Iron Wind"), convinced the Khan of the GHS to negotiate with the Gnome Consortium while he still had air power.  This led to the signing of the Treaty of Fordsway.

The Treaty only governs relations between the Horde and the air arms of the Gnome Consortium and the NDK.  It allowed for the creation of the Free City of Fordsway and established the domains of the city [a triangle between the Greater and Lesser Tabor Rivers with the southernmost edge of the Worldspine Mountains across the top].  It also established an air-route Gnome and Dwarf airships may use unmolested between Fordsway and the remnants of County Silverloc [a wide valley set into the edge of the Worldspine Mountains over 75 miles north of Fordsway, bordered by the Greater Tabor River].  Protocols were also established for later contact between the belligerents.  Finally, the GHS's actual name was recorded for the first time by someone outside the Great Swamp: "The Khanate of Grimthug Og Garguzgulz".  [Imperial scholars, at the Emperor’s direction, instead use “the Khanate of the Horde” so as to not aggrandize the Khan personally.]

The Khanate continued to improve its' airpower to maintain parity with the Gnomes and the Dwarfs.  They developed wing blades for the giant bats and experimented with various types of wands as armaments.  It is rumored that back in the Great Swamp, goblin and orc shamans are attempting to breed giant bats that have a magical gland that provides the same effect as a potion of speed.

Central Empire

The Imperial Capital

Evacuation of the Imperial Capital

The Lizardman Horde (LH) spent the spring of 19 IC crushing the remaining 1st Imperial Legion forces on the south side of the Saggil River.  Reliable Imperial reports put the dragon strength of the LH at eight dragons – unreliable reports put it closer to twenty.  This increased number of dragons allowed the LH to completely stall the 5th Imperial Legion on its western flank.  The LH then massed troops south of the Saggil River and east of the Winnowglen River.

The anticipated attack happened in mid-June 19 IC.  Two armies of lizardmen crossed the Saggil and a third crossed the Winnowglen.  After two weeks of intensive fighting, the LH established secure beachheads and started marching on the Imperial Capital along three fronts.  The new defensive works built by the Legion during the winter slowed the Horde's advance, but failed to stop it.

When the new defensive works started to fall to the LH attack, the Gnome Compound in the Imperial Capital sent word to the Gnomes of Freegate requesting evacuation.  The Yardbird was quickly reconfigured for refugee transportation.  While it was being reconfigured, the Northern Dwarven Kingdom (NDK) informed the Gnome Consortium that the Hwyrrak was en route to the Imperial Capital to evacuate NDK personnel.  The dwarves requested a combined air operation to speed up the evacuation and to increase the security of the operation.  The Gnomes agreed immediately.

Two weeks later, the first combined air operation commenced.  The air fleet, comprised of the Yardbird, the Hwyrrak, 18 belf'rads, and the Driver of Foes [one of the Mjolnir-class Gnome airships], headed northeast from Freegate.  They established a temporary base on the border of the Horse Lords lands and southeast Thuringia to reduce turnaround time from the Imperial Capital.  Then they swung into the war zone, maneuvering to approach the Imperial Capital from the north.

The Imperial Capital learned of the arrival of the air fleet early one morning when two drop pods (Runaround Mark 5's) dropped from the sky – one on the Gnome Compound, the other on the NDK Enclave.  Both contained troops to supplement security at each location during the evacuation.  The Yardbird then took position over the city to receive refugees from both locations.  The Hwyrrak hovered higher to provide belf'rad air support for the operation while the Driver of Foes positioned itself to intercept air attacks coming from the front.

Initially, the populace of the city was cheered by the appearance of the air fleet, thinking that the Gnomes and the Dwarfs were aiding in the defense of the city.  Then they realized that the Northern Dwarves and the Gnomes had barricaded the gates of their respective enclaves and were evacuating from the city.  First outrage, then worry, then fear washed through the city as the populace realized what the evacuation really meant – the Imperial Capital was going to fall.  People, commoners as well as nobles, headed towards the Compound and the Enclave to negotiate space in the evacuation.  When told only Gnome and Dwarven diplomatic personnel and their families were being evacuated, panic started to spread across the city.

Halfway through the initial evacuation, a dragon was spotted approaching the city.  Driver of Foes turned and moved to intercept the dragon while the Hwyrrak started launching belf'rads armed with repeating arbalests.

The dragon, having never seen anything like the airships, had flown ahead of the Horde front lines to investigate.  The Captain of Driver of Foes allowed the dragon to close well within the range of the six repeating ballistae mounted on Driver before turning hard to port and ordering a broadside attack.  The dragon was caught by surprise and was hit several times.  Angered, it attacked and the fight was on.

The fight lasted for the better part of a quarter hour, with Driver of Foes maneuvering to bring as many ballistae as possible to bear on the dragon, the dragon trying to find a way to get in close for a good attack with its breath weapon, and the belf'rads chasing after the dragon like angry bees.  The fight came to a conclusion when the Driver of Foes bombardier attempted to drop a TDD bomb on the dragon.  The dragon easily avoided it and then slapped at it with its tail, thinking to knock the "rock" into one of the belf'rads.

The resulting explosion flipped the dragon and several nearby belf'rads through the air.  The explosion also battered the Driver of Foes, knocking two of its repeating ballistae out of commission and breaking most of the windows in a one-mile radius.  The dragon was able to catch itself in the air and avoided hitting the ground.  A few belf'rads were not as lucky and two crashed into the city below.  The dragon was seriously injured and had its confidence shaken to the core.  Deciding it had had enough, the dragon flew back to the Horde, dripping blood and looking for answers from the shamans.

On the ground, no one was certain exactly what had happened.  Witnesses of the explosion could only report that the dragon had performed some odd move and then its tail appeared to explode.  The witnesses further testified that the dragon appeared to be heavily wounded by the explosion, leading them to believe that it was some sort of magic the Gnomes or dwarfs had used on it.

After the battle, Driver of Foes moved back to its station and performed emergency repairs to bring the damaged repeating ballistae back online.  Drop pods were deployed to retrieve the downed belf'rads and their pilots.  Once this was complete, the evacuation of the Compound and the Enclave continued.  The populace of the Imperial Capital took this all as a sign and started to flee the city, heading north to the Wold Forest and away from the LH.

Emperor Orion was rumored to be not entirely displeased with the people fleeing the city – it kept him from having to order the evacuation himself.  He sent orders to the 5th Imperial Legion, ordering the Legion to cross the Saggil River in the west and defend the remainder of the Grand Duchy of Crendia.  He appeared to have written off everything south of the Saggil River as the Syrak Alliance's problem [see Part 2] and cut his losses.

It took the Gnomes two trips to evacuate all of their and the NDK's people.  Less than two weeks after the Gnome Air Lift, the Lizardman Horde broke through the Imperial lines and sacked the Imperial Capital for the first time in its 8000-year history.  The lizardmen and the dragons spent over a month ransacking the city and the Imperial Palace before reforming their armies to pursue the survivors.  This delay turned out to be a mistake on their part.

Pushing Back the Lizardmen

Using the time afforded by the ransacking of the Imperial Capital, Orion reinforced the remains of the 1st Imperial Legion with troops raised from the Wold Forest and ordered the creation of the 9th Imperial Legion at Ihyr (see below).  Using magic, he contacted the Legion Commanders of the 3rd and 5th Imperial Legions and outlined his attack plans against the Horde.  The goal was to push the Horde back south of the Saggil River and keep them there, causing as much harm to them as possible.

When the LH finally resumed its march north, it faced two problems.  The first was the renewed vigor of the Imperial Legions.  Furious at the sacking of the Imperial Capital and shamed by their failure to prevent it, the Legionnaires were now highly motivated to attack.  The second problem the Horde leaders faced was a lack of direction growing in their troops.  Their holy cause was to sack and destroy the city that defied their living gods in ages past.  Having done that, the troops were starting to feel adrift and their motivation was ebbing.  These two changes in attitude and motivation were costly for the Horde.  The Horde was finally fought to a stand-still and stopped before they could enter the Wold Forest.

The lines would have stabilized there, but an early snowstorm at the end of August spooked the dragons, who returned south.  Without the morale and physical support of their living gods, the Horde was slowly pushed back by the vengeance-filled Legions.  When the dragons returned two weeks later, the Horde was in full retreat.  The dragons were able to slow the retreat but not stop it.  The Horde held at the remains of the line of forts the Legions had built north of the Saggil River the previous winter.  The dragons and the shamans rallied the troops and prepared to resume the offensive, until a small cadre of priests appeared on the Legion's front line.

These priests wore white robes and claimed to be from a new sect known as the Crystal Brotherhood.  Their leader had been given visions and now knew how to drive the Horde back across the river.  The priests stood in a line in front of the Legion's battlelines and started chanting in unison.  Holding their arms out, great gusts of frigid air poured out of their robes towards the Horde.  The frigid air rapidly dropped the temperature over the Horde positions until it was freezing.  Then waves of snow flowed from the robes of the priests and suddenly the Horde was engulfed in a blizzard!

This was too much for the lizardmen who turned and ran.  They fled south until they crossed the Saggil River and the snows stopped.  When the priests stopped chanting, the lands for 20 miles south of their position were covered in snow.  Orion is said to have asked them to repeat this miracle again south of the river.  The leader of the Crystal Brotherhood responded that this was a single miracle granted to them and could not be repeated until it was granted again, but he was willing to discuss the matter further at the emperor’s leisure.

The Legions spent the winter of 19/20 IC re-establishing their defensive works and improving upon them.  During this time, the emperor occasionally reviewed the progress of the fortifications.  The leader of the Crystal Brotherhood was always seen in the emperor’s entourage and some of the legionnaires converted to the new faith.

Northern Empire

The Northern Dukes

The loyalty of the Northern Dukes to the Malachite Throne of the Empire remained steadfast.  This loyalty was due to two things: continuing extensive trade and no hordes.  As long as the trade routes stay open and the Hordes are kept south of the Wold Forest, the dukes see no profit in deserting the Empire only to be reconquered later.  Additionally, they expect to be rewarded for their loyalty once the hordes are stopped and the rebellions are put down.  Emperor Orion has done nothing to abuse them of this belief.

Orion ordered that Ducal Militia units start assembling near the cities of Ihyr and Krakow.  He used these troops to create the 9th and 10th Imperial Legions (in Ihyr and Tusmit, respectively) and started training the troops to operate as Legionnaires.  He also sent runners into the Wold Forest to recruit troops from the Fiefdoms.  The troops from the Fiefdoms had veterans assigned to lead them and the new units were incorporated into the remains of the 1st Imperial Legion.

The veterans are legionnaires seriously wounded in the fighting against the LH and were looking at early retirement due to the cost of reattaching their limbs or providing magical replacements.  They were offered the option of becoming civilians or leading Fiefdom troops in a diminished capacity.  Given the option to lead troops back against the LH and get some personal revenge, every legionnaire offered the opportunity immediately accepted.

The veterans were magically healed to a point where they could return to combat, but not necessarily fight at full strength.  They were promoted and given bonus pay increasing their morale even further and they set to training the new troops with a fervor.  Once they assembled two companies, they marched south to join the rest of the 1st Legion.  As detailed above, the 1st Legion went on with the 3rd and 5th Legions to push the LH back across the Saggil River.

The Grand Duchy of Thuringia

The Cattle Barons of Thuringia have kept a close eye on the fighting to their east.  They drove herds of cattle and horses to the 5th Legion during the summer of 19 IC and sold them to the Legion for half cash and half credit on Thuringia's Imperial Taxes.  This helped the 5th Legion's supply logistics greatly and bolstered the Legion's morale, particularly with Sachsen and Sachsen-Anhault rebelling to the south.  It also inclined the 5th Legion to head towards Thuringia if a retreat was called for and this helped the morale of the barons.

The Domain of Ihyr

The Imperial University spent the year scouring their archives for references to dragon slaying and dragon-slaying weapons.  Undergraduate mages were organized into three-person teams lead by a fourth, experienced mage and deployed south.  An emphasis was placed on strong, ranged attack spells for use against dragons and strong, area effect attack spells for use against the lizardmen.  The initial units sent contributed greatly to the 3rd Legion's ability to stop the lizardmen from entering the eastern Wold Forest.  It was also discovered that dragons have some level of immunity to magical attacks, which is worrisome.

Once the full strength of the University's mages joined the 3rd Legion, they were able to push the Horde back to the Saggil River.  There the mages used spells to rapidly create defensive works to maintain control of the lands north of the Saggil, from the Gulf of Herault, all the way to the Winnowglen River.

The City-State of Galān

The people of Galān seem to have started a revolt against the Military Governor.  The exact situation inside the city is unclear as both sides have reasons for keeping the true situation hidden.  In late July 19 IC, the Military Governor declared the city quarantined due to plague.  All non-official communication from within the city stopped as all communication is now funneled through the office of the Military Governor.  Ships in the port when the quarantine was announced were trapped there when the Harbor Chain was drawn tight across the harbor entrance.

There is speculation about fighting going on inside the city walls, but no one is certain what is happening.  In fact, the only thing those outside the city are certain of is that something is happening inside the city.

End of Part 1.

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Between Adventures

Previous session: Flight of the Yardbird – Session 16

Next Session: Part 2 [not posted yet]

Tim's Outlanders: Flight of the Yardbird, Session 16 – November 12-15, 18 IC

[Return to Freegate and defending the ritual from attack.]

[This session took place May 17, 2003.  We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University

Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Mord Worldfist – male dwarf bodyguard [and handler] for Dangar

Wendell Dorshield III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird

Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert

Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw

Session Begins

November, 12 IC

After the attack at the Northern Dwarven Kingdom (NDK), the Yardbird headed back south to Freegate with Keybreaker and the Outlanders aboard.  To avoid any possible entanglements, Wendell had the Yardbird take a route directly over the Great Nef.  While this avoided enemy attacks, the high altitude reduced the Yardbird’s airspeed and it did not reach Freegate until November 12, two days before the conjunction.

The Yardbird landed at The Yard, where security was noticeably tighter.  They were met by Arthax Earthshaker, a representative of Outlands University.  Arthax informed the Outlanders that there had been several attacks on the University and The Yard that seemed to be attempts to stop the Ritual of Unmaking.  As a result, he, Arthax, was sent to escort the Outlanders and Keybreaker directly to the University.

Arthax had a wagon to carry all of their luggage and the Outlanders plus an experienced driver.  Everything was loaded into the wagon and they made their way into town.  When they approached the Guards at Far Gate [the city gate allowing entrance from the Western Rim], Arthax produced a badge from his robes and the wagon was waved into the city.  The trip across the bridge to the central mesa and then through the Adventurer's Quarter was tense, but uneventful.

While traveling the main street through the New Town ward, the wagon was ambushed.  Masses of black tentacles sprouted up from the ground both behind and in front of the cart, entangling the horses.  Two carts full of thugs then pulled out of alleys, boxing in the wagon the Outlanders were on, and attacked.  All of the thugs wore a set of long metal claws on their hands.  Darkfox recognized the favorite weapon of the Fordsway Mob, the primary thieves' guild in Fordsway, by reputation.

The fight was relatively short but intense.  For reasons known only to himself, Dangar jumped into one of the carts full of thugs and was nearly killed by them.  Only the quick action of Arthax, who cast a spell that created a whirling field of cobblestones around Dangar and himself, kept Dangar from being killed by the thugs.  The Outlanders killed most of the thugs and finally drove away the rest before continuing to the University.

Passing through the Student's Quarter, Darkfox noticed snipers on top of several buildings.  Before she could warn the Outlanders about them, the snipers were each grabbed from behind and apparently pummeled.  Then others stood up and gave her the "All Clear" sign used by her guild – Freegate thieves had reclaimed their turf from the interloping Fordsway thieves.

November 14, 18 IC

The Outlanders spent the next two days confined to the University Grounds.  The University Guard was at full alert and all classes were cancelled until the 15th.  The upper floor of the HET building was prepared for the Ritual of Unmaking and various last minute preparations were completed.

The night of the Ritual, every wizard in Freegate was pressed into defending the University.  The walls of the University Grounds were lined with wizards and University Guard, ready for battle.  The Gate of Knowing was completely sealed and warded [including the “secret” student entrance] and the Outlanders (minus Dangar) were stationed on the roof of the HET building as a final line of defense.  The Yard was also on high alert, with additional repeating ballistae in place.

As midnight slowly approached during the dark night, the Black Moon was eclipsed and the Ritual started.  For the Outlanders on the roof, the first sign of trouble was the sudden sound of alarms at The Yard followed by the steady "thump-thump-thump" of the repeating ballistae being fired.  Periodically arcs of lightning would reach up from a gnomish wizard and strike a flying attacker.

Shortly after this started, the sounds and lights of spell fire started coming from the eastern wall of the University.  The walls there were under attack by the same mysterious flying creatures, underlit by the light from fireballs and other attack spells.  This continued for several minutes until a flight of the creatures topped the western University walls directly across from the HET building!

While the Outlanders observed the fighting at the wall nearest them, five of the dark, hulking creatures dropped directly out of the sky above them, crushing the portions of the roof where they landed.  The Outlanders reacted quickly and attacked the creatures, desperately trying to keep the creatures from ripping a hole in the roof and attacking the Ritual below.

The Outlanders were lucky and able to drop one of the creatures early, but the tide of battle slowly turned against them.  Fighting heroically, the Outlanders delayed the creatures the precious final seconds the Ritual needed to be completed.  Suddenly, just as one of the creatures tore through the roof, there was a thunderous silence, followed by an engulfing flash of darkness.  The silence and darkness lasted for a small eternity and then rushed back into the ritual space below.  The Ritual of Unmaking was complete and the Orb destroyed!

Knowing they had failed, the creatures ceased their attacks everywhere and started to withdraw.  The final creature fighting the Outlanders snarled, "You have won here, worms, but you have made powerful enemies.  Lord Taurkauld will not forget this affront.  He will open the Vault and destroy you all."

The creature then turned and started flying away.  With a, "Oh no you're not," Tim cast a final spell at the creature and killed it – its corpse falling down into the deep canyon surrounding the city.

November 15, 18 IC

The party honoring the Outlanders was legendary.

Session Ends.

Adventure Ends.

NPCs Met

Arthax Earthshaker – representative of the Outlands University and wizard of some skill.

Happening Off-Stage

Wendell later used his Rod of Engineering to shape the stony remains of the creatures into one-meter diameter spheres.  They will be incorporated into a memorial to the successful completion of the Ritual and to honor all those who died to make it happen.  The final form of this memorial is currently up for debate.

With the competition of the University Annex on the West Rim, the HET building on the University Grounds is no longer needed by the HET.  Therefore, the building will now house the newly founded Thaumatic Engineering Department, chaired by Wendell Dorshield III.

As word of the Orb Commission and its accomplishments started spreading, the Outlanders became something of celebrities.  Dangar was declared a National Hero by the NDK and Mord was permanently assigned to keeping Dangar from dying an embarrassing death for a National Hero.  This will keep Mord busy for some time.

A guild war between the Fordsway Thieves' Guild in Freegate and the various Freegate thieves' guilds started brewing.  Life started getting dangerous in the local underworld and roof tops over the next several months as the war heated up.

Monteflurio finished attuning the Sorcerer's Rod to himself.  He will start experimenting with tapping into the power of the Rod over the next several months, using the family lore he has access to.  The magic field around his home starts increasing as a side effect of this.

DM Discussion

[This is the end of this adventure.  Next posting will be a summary of events happening over the next 5-6 months in-game before the next Tim’s Outlanders adventure begins.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Flight of the Yardbird

Previous session: Session 15

Next Session: Between Adventures - Part 1

Tim's Outlanders: Flight of the Yardbird, Session 15 – End of October to Early November, 18 IC

[Retrieval of Keybreaker and the fight to keep it.]

[This session took place in April, 2003.  We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University

Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Mord Worldfist – male dwarf bodyguard [and handler] for Dangar

Wendell Dorshild III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird

Malwyn Talath – male High elf fighter and military expert

Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw

Session Begins

[I’m missing the session notes listing what happened during this session.  What I do have are my GM Notes as to what was supposed to happen, which is what I’m listing here.  This should give you some insight into what I had planned.  You will find that these notes are very sparse or empty in some spots as I just needed a mental note to include material, which I either made up on the spot (for the most part) or sourced from previous writings (rarely).]

Enter Worldspines

Description

Bad weather looming to the north.

Legion on the High North Trade Route (HNTR)

Description

The 8th Legion is moving down out of the HNTR on orders from the Emperor.

Contact

The Legion Commander and his staff will stop to discuss things with the Yardbird, while the rest of the Legion will continue marching by.

Taxes and Negotiations

The Legion Chief Accountant will ask if the Yardbird has paid for use of the HNTR and request they do so.  He is open to negotiations.

[This encounter was optional and most likely ended up with the Outlanders and crew flying by in the Yardbird noticing that the 8th Imperial Legion was marching down out of the Worldspine Mountains, indicating how serious things were fighting the Hordes to the south.]

Arrival at Karak-Urd

Dwarven Airship!

The dwarven airship, called The Hwyrrak (or “Wind Citadel”), is fatter than the Yardbird and is belching smoke from two smokestacks in the top rear.  It has a single, large propeller in the rear.  It has the symbol of the Fireworker clan (the clan of inventors) [I clearly changed this to the Worldbender clan in actual play] emblazoned on the front and flies the flag of the NDK.

The Hwyrrak uses helium for lift and a single, higher speed, steam-powered engine in the rear for propulsion.  Most of the Hwyrrak’s lower deck is configured for launching and retrieval of belf’rads (see below).

Warning from the Sky Guard

As the Hwyrrak approaches, the front of the lower deck splits and slides back.  There is a high-pitched whistle and a large dart-shaped thing shoots out trailing wisps of white smoke and making a buzzing noise.  Wings snap out from the sides and instead of dropping it starts rising.  Getting a better look at it, it looks like a large, odd-shaped battle-kite with a metal basket underneath it and some sort of gearworks turning a propeller behind it.  It is the propeller which is making the buzzing noise.  There seems to be a dwarf flying the contraption towards the Yardbird, his beard flapping in the wind.

The Sky Guard uses ultra-lights, known as belf’rad (“noisy iron”), with clockwork engines and snap out wings.  They are deployed with steam-powered catapults from a launching deck in the front of the airship.

[This actually happened in the previous session and included more detail than I recorded in the session notes.]

Land at Allies’ Gate

[Absolutely no notes here, so I improvised the entire encounter.]

Fight for Keybreaker (November 4, 18 IC)

Discussion with Dangar’s Uncle

• Attacks on outposts
• Saboteurs in the city attacking production of Keybreaker

Delivery of Keybreaker to the Outlanders

• Very large number of the King’s Guard escorting Keybreaker
• Three cases: two decoys and one original

Attack of the Betdmuan Warrior-Priests

• Four groups attacking from multiple points
• They will use a few mass damage, area effect spells before closing in.
• They will continue to attack until they have taken 75% losses and will then retreat to report back.

Looting the Bodies

• The Outlanders will find a teleport scroll on the leader of each attacking group.
• The scroll goes to a rally/resupply point.
• Amongst the supplies is a letter from Lord Taurkauld, ordering the attack and specifying the targets – Dangar and Keybreaker.
• The seal on the letter is the symbol of The Enemy.

[I definitely ran this combat and I seem to remember the Outlanders finding one of the teleportation scrolls and using it to find the rally point, but no one was there, having either died in the fight or fled before the Outlanders arrived.]

Session Ends.

NPCs Met

Unknown.

Happening Off-Stage

[As mentioned in the notes, the 8th Imperial Legion, one of two Legions maintaining control of the HNTR, was in the process of marching down to the lowlands to fight the hordes.  Unmentioned, the 4th Imperial Legion, the other Legion securing the HNTR, sent half of its numbers to the 8th Imperial Legion’s citadel and now covered the entire Route by itself, effectively at half-strength.  This would have consequences in the near future.]

DM Discussion

[Not much to say as I have no record of what actually happened.  I got the Dwarf lift gas wrong in my last blog post (Helium, not Hydrogen) and under-described the Hwyrrak in the session write-up.  I might update the previous post with this better description, but not immediately as I’m working on other stuff right now.  If the description here matches what is in the notes for Session 14 then I got around to it.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Flight of the Yardbird

Previous session: Session 14

Next Session: Session 16

Tim's Outlanders: Flight of the Yardbird, Session 14 – September 23-October 29, 18 IC

[To the Temple of Baharat and then a surprise in the NDK.]

[This session took place March 29, 2003.  We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University

Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Mord Worldfist – male dwarf bodyguard [and handler] for Dangar

Wendell Dorshild III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird

Malwyn Talath– male High elf fighter and military expert

Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw

Session Begins

September, 23 IC

After taking their leave from the Horse Lords, the Yardbird skirted the eastern edge of the Great Nef, moving through the western edges of Thuringia and Tusmit before arriving at the turning into the desert suggested by Camazotz.  At the very point where they were planning to turn into the desert, lookouts spotted a human, standing in the middle of the empty plains, as if waiting for them.  The stranger was carrying a banner that appeared to a variant of the Outlanders’ banner, but had the silhouette of a giant bat behind the bottles.

A group of security gnomes landed in a Runaround Mark 6 (which looked like a paper airplane) and talked to the waiting man.  He identified himself as Mikal, one of the founding members of the Outlanders.  After a quick conversation via semaphore, Mikal was invited to travel with the Yardbird.

After picking up Mikal, the Yardbird turned west and headed into the Great Nef.  The Yardbird’s airspeed was low due to winter winds blowing from the north and the need to fly high over the Great Nef to avoid the anti-magic field of the desert itself.

In order to avoid running into any unexpected increases in the anti-magic field, the Yardbird trailed a line with “detectors” placed along the final 50 yards of the line.  The “detectors” were stones with light spells cast upon them – when the stone goes out, it is in the anti-magic field.  By raising and lowering the line, the gnomes were able to map the height of the anti-magic field.

October 3, 18 IC

Approaching the general location of the Temple of Baharat at mid-afternoon (3:00 PM), the crew notice two things: a steady drop in the height of the anti-magic field and the first rocky outcropping they had seen since crossing into the desert.  Redirecting the Yardbird towards the rocky outcropping, the anti-magic field dropped below the range of the detector line.

Once close enough, the details on the outcropping resolved and a sense of scale became apparent.  The outcropping was some sort of crater nearly 2 miles in diameter and 1000 ft high.  The eastern rim had collapsed and dropped to the ground, providing access to the bowl of the crater.  The temple could be seen within the crater, near the broken lip.  It was surrounded by three distinct types of forests that were separated by clearings.  Despite the separateness of the forests, they seemed to be growing naturally.

The Outsiders descended from the Yardbird (which stayed high in the air) in a Runaround Mark 5 along with Rebecca’s Roughnecks.  As the Yardbird was staying at a height that made it impossible to use semaphore flags, the away team was given colored smoke bombs to signal the Yardbird.

Nervously expecting to suddenly drop when the Runaround entered the anti-magic field, the Outlanders and the Roughnecks were pleasantly surprised to discover that the temple was in an area where magic worked.  This allowed a controlled descent the entire distance and a safe landing in front of the temple.

The Outlanders started to explore the temple.  The outer walls and main gate were covered in ivy and the Outlanders spent some time clearing the wall to verify this was the Temple of Baharat and not to some ancient evil.  Under the ivy they found mosaics of Celestial Pegasi and decided they were good to go.

The temple courtyard was a giant eight-sided mosaic.  It was subdivided into eight wedges, each decorated with a different abstract theme, one of which seemed to have been burned or magically darkened.  In the exact center was a pillar covered with eyes that were actually looking at them.  Mikal vaguely remembered this from his training as the Pillar of Eyes, reputed to be lost sometime around the Mage War over 8000 years ago.

Realizing they were too close to make out the patterns in the mosaics, Malwyn and Darkfox climbed the outer wall to get a better view of them.  This gave the duo some impressions but nothing concrete.  They were able to identify some of them, including one that seems to represent Ymer.  Tim remembered that part of the loot from the first job he did for Montiflurio was a “Book of Ymer” and a block of ice that never melts.  Still having the block of ice (which he used to cool his drinks) Tim placed the block on Ymer’s section to see what happened.  What happened was the block of ice was absorbed into the floor section without a trace.  The Outlanders stood around trying to decide what to do next until an elderly man walked up from deeper in the temple complex.

The man looked like a gardener of indeterminate age who had been working in the dirt.  However, after talking to him for a while, the Outlanders slowly realized that this was actually Baharat the Creator!  He identified the Elderlan Gods that each of the floor sections was associated with.  They were, from the section leading to the temple and going clockwise:

• Baharat the Creator (himself)
• Ningizzida, God of the Serpent, the Lord of the Tree of Life
• Scathos – Keeper of Secrets
• Lord of Storms
• Sothis the Traveller (this section faced the main gate)
• Ymer of the White Eyes
• Abol (the scorched section)
• Usher, Guardian of Time

These were the gods who created the world.  Baharat invited the Outlanders (and the crew of the Yardbird) in for dinner and quick grew some plant people servants from seeds and unseen cooks from the thin air.  He sent the newly created life forms off to prepare dinner and led the Outlanders into the temple.

Over dinner, the Outlanders explained their mission and learned several interesting things about the peoples on the continent.  Baharat confirmed that gnomes and dwarves were not original races.  He approved of the gnomes and always felt they were a good idea on the Nin-a-zu’s part.  When asked who the Nin-a-zu were, he sat back a bit and said, “well, I thought some of you are.  You have the look of them.”  He was specifically talking about Tim and Darkfox.  Mikal [an Uplander] looked like “a mix of Nin-a-zu and Annunaki.”

He said the dwarves appeared to be well created and wondered who made them.  He knew that none of the Elderlan Gods had made them and wondered if some of the Middle Gods did or if they were created in a similar way to the gnomes.  “I’ll have to ask Scathos about it.  He loves to keep tabs on what’s going on in the world.”

When asked about the Aetherstone anvil, Baharat admitted to having one “around here somewhere”, but was curious how the Outlanders knew to ask.  When they mentioned that Camazotz told them, he asked them to tell the story of their meeting with Camazotz.  He remembered Camazotz in a positive light.

At the end of dinner, Baharat presented each of the Outlanders with a gift, some tangible, some not.

Tim	Intangible	Knowledge of how to make the Mokenth Charm.
Dangar Stonekleaver	Tangible	The Aetherstone anvil and a pair of gloves that allow the wearer to carry the anvil.
Darkfox	Tangible	A Fox Mask that grants UV vision and +4 to Hearing PER roll.  “It will manifest additional features over time.”
Malwyn Talath	Tangible	Baharat imbued the enamel horn with the ability to summon Celestial Pegasi once per week.
Wendell Dorshild	Intangible	An IDEA and a blessing. “Let all of the gnomes know that they are favored by Baharat.”
Mord Worldfist	Tangible	Ring of Protection (PD, ED, EGO, Flash, PRE)
Mikal the Wanderer	Intangible	“I can give you no more than this - know that you are Chosen and have a part to play in your people’s future.”

At this point it a team from the Yardbird arrived and it became apparent that the temple was under a time dilation effect.  When asked about it, Baharat’s response was, “Of course time is dilated.  How else do you expect me to fix the damage faster than it happens?  It’s still going to take a few hundred years or so to fix properly.”

When the Outlanders left the temple grounds it was the morning of October 17.  A great comet was visible in the early morning sky.  Baharat identified it as the Comet of Fate – it last appeared in the skies when the Nin-a-zu first landed on this continent.  He then bid the Outlanders farewell and re-entered the temple.

October 29, 18 IC

The Yardbird flew north-northwest, heading to the capital of the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, Karak-urd, to pick up the hammer commissioned the last time the Yardbird was there.  Once over the Worldspine Mountains they were greeted in the skies by a dwarven airship!

The dwarven airship was a different design than the Yardbird but obviously borrowed from the Yardbird’s base design.  Its gasbag was significantly larger than the Yardbird’s, making it look somewhat fat in comparison.  The gnomes speculated that the dwarves were using a gas that was not as lift-efficient as aether.  Emblazoned on the front and sides of the dwarven airship was the emblem of the dwarven Worldbender Clan.

Where the command cabin was on the Yardbird, the dwarven airship had two large doors.  As the crew of the Yardbird watched, the doors slid back to either side.  A high-pitched whistle was heard and then a very large dart-like object shot out, trailing a wisp of steam and making a buzzing noise.  Immediately after exiting the dwarven airship, wings snapped out from the dart and instead of dropping, it started flying on its own.  It appeared to be a small, fixed-wing aircraft carrying a single dwarven pilot with a propeller behind him.

The noisy aircraft approached the Yardbird and the pilot indicated he was going to land on top.  The Outlanders and several gnomes headed to the top of the Yardbird and arrived just as the dwarf landed his aircraft.  The dwarf introduced himself as Dwar Worldbender and he was there to deliver a message to the Yardbird – unknown forces had been trying to sabotage the creation of Keybreaker over the last two months.  Further, the dwarven airship Hwyrrak (“Wind Citadel” in Dentugog) was sent to escort the Yardbird into the NDK.  The Hwyrrak carried several belf’rads (“Noisy Irons” in Dentugog), the small aircraft he flew over in, which would provide support to the Yardbird.  The belf’rads were fixed wing aircraft that used clockwork engines to turn the propellers at high rates of speed and were very maneuverable.

Session Ends.

NPCs Met

Baharat the Creator – leader of the deities that created the world.

Happening Off-Stage

[Nothing in my notes.]

DM Discussion

[Mikal’s player was back in town for a couple days and sat in on this session, hence his sudden appearance in this session and disappearance next session.]

[The Mokenth Charm magnifies the wearer's ability to tap into magical power, something the Department of High Energy Thaumatics, and Tim, were very interested in achieving.  Incidentally, Tim's listing here suggests that Oliver stayed back in Freegate and that player resumed playing Tim again.  My notes did not explicitly say that had happened, so it might be that he is playing both and Oliver stayed on the Yardbird.  I wish Past Me had been a bit more meticulous in his note taking.]

[Dwarven airships use hydrogen as their lifting gas, which is only a third as effective as aether.  The gas cell is magically reinforced to hold the gas in and to avoid tearing.  The clockwork engines on the belf’rads provide 45 minutes of flight when air-launched, 30 minutes if launching from the ground.  The belf’rad launcher in the Hwyrrak was a steam catapult similar to those used on real world aircraft carriers.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Flight of the Yardbird

Previous session: Session 13

Next Session: Session 15

Tim's Outlanders: Flight of the Yardbird, Session 13 – September 17-22, 18 IC

[Retread of the flight back to Freegate to handle things that happened on the flight plus the very busy next day.]

[This session took place February 15, 2003.  We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University

Oliver – male human monk from “someplace to the south” [secret agent of the Far Kingdom]

Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Kyle Logan – male human thief and stowaway on the Yardbird

Wendell Dorshield III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird

Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert

Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw

Session Begins

September 17, 18 IC

During the flight on the Yardbird from Fordsway to Freegate, the Outlanders examined the items “liberated” from the vault under the ruins of the 6th Imperial Legion’s citadel.

Early in this process, Darkfox pocketed three of the items before they were properly cataloged: a porcelain drum, a steel ring with a magical formula inscribed on it, and an electrum figurine of a shadow cat.

The Outlanders discussed the best way to profit from the haul.  After going through the options, it was decided that leasing several of the items to the University instead of outright selling them would provide better long-term income.  Along with items from the Temple of Camazotz, the following items were combined to create “The Yardbird Collection”.

1. A painting of the lighthouse at Andron Port showing the Flight of the Dragons, when the dragons left Kullab after the signing of the Treaty of Buried Memories.
2. A painting showing an earth creature engulfing a human and elf sacrifice.  The frame is made of dryad oak wood.
3. A painting that showed the stages of a magical experiment in creating a homunculus.
4. The bronze plate mail worn by the ogre bodyguard of Queen Talita De la Placa, 20th ruler of Crendia.
5. A cloak made of Cloth of Gold depicting the tower of Messilist the Destroyer, who “pulled the stars from the sky”.

A few items were kept aside by the Outlanders, including:

• A set of bronze pages with a report written in Ancient Thracian.  It records a raid into some mountains against a military base and the sealing of the catacombs.  It provides the words to break the seal and concluded discussing the need to send in specialists to reclaim what is in the catacombs.
• Malwyn kept an enamel horn that once belonged to the Erodan Knights.  The Outlanders suspect it may be able to summon Celestial Pegasi.
• A cedar headboard with magical runes inscribed on it.  The Outlanders are uncertain of its use or value and wish to investigate it further.

The ingots were assayed and their value was determined as follows:

Ingot Metal	Value per Ingot
Gold	200gp
Silver	20gp
Mithril	1000gp

[Between sessions I converted some of the gold ingots into an equivalent value in silver ingots to increase the number of ingots in the treasure without changing the value of the treasure.  Sadly, my notes do not tell me what the final tally was of ingots.]

Evening

The Yardbird arrived at Freegate.  That evening, the items from the Temple of Camazotz that were not obviously of historical value (or easily identified), were “sold through various outlets” (fences).  The money raised was distributed among the Outlanders.  A full share came out to be 282 gp, 6 sp, and 3 cp.  Tim, Oliver, and Kyle only received half-shares as they were not present for the entire trip.  One half-share was given to the crew of the Yardbird as a bonus.  Dangar, Darkfox, Malwyn, and Wendell all received full shares.

During the division of the treasure, Dangar took one of the Mithril bars as the major component of his share, Wendell took another as his, and the Gnome Consortium purchased the third from the Outlanders with cash.

Most of the Outlanders invest the monetary gains in a variety of investments to provide long-term income [i.e., justify purchasing a level or two of Well Off with awarded experience points].  These investments were being handled through the gnomes due to the short time the Outlanders were in Freegate this stop.

The final breakdown of purchased levels of Well Off was as follows:

• Dangar 1 point (Yardbird Collection)
• Darkfox 2 points (Yardbird Collection, other investments)
• Kyle 2 points (Yardbird Collection, other investments)
• Malwyn 2 points (Yardbird Collection, other investments)
• Oliver 1 point (Yardbird Collection)
• Tim 1 point (Yardbird Collection, other investments)
• Wendell 1 point (Yardbird Collection)

September 18, 18 IC

The following is a summation of the activities that took place in Freegate on this date.

General

The refugees from Fordsway were unloaded without incident except for the women slaves freed from the goblinoids.  They were eventually talked down out of the Yardbird, but refused to leave The Yard.  The gnomes were looking after them and contacted the Priestesses of Besha for help.

Dangar

Dangar placed his ingot of Mithril in the safety deposit box he and Tim share in Brass Town.  He planned on using it as the basis for a Dwarven War Axe he wished to build.  He also discovered that he had been assigned a bodyguard by the dwarven elders.  The bodyguard’s name was Mord Stonecrusher Worldfist – a dwarven monk who favored a war hammer as his personal weapon [and the replacement for Kyle as a PC].  Finally, Dangar picked up the suit of mithril chain mail he commissioned earlier in the year.

Darkfox

Darkfox arranged for a secure deposit box in the Golden Triangle using her real name.  She placed the items she pocketed from the vault there and planned to investigate them later when she had time.

Kyle

Kyle chose to leave the Yardbird.  While lucrative, he knew that he was still considered a stowaway and no longer wanted the hassle.  Suddenly being independently wealthy, he decided that this was a good time to do so.

Malwyn

Malwyn spent his free time in Freegate learning the latest in military happenings across the continent.  He learned about the current positions of the Hordes, the fact that many of the Dukes on the Plains of Syrak had started raising militias against Imperial Decree, and that actual dragons were working with the Lizardman Horde.

Oliver

Oliver spent time investigating the city’s armorers, looking for someone to create a set of cloth armor that provided chain mail level protection.  He was unsuccessful, but had some leads to follow after the Outlanders returned to Freegate again.

Tim

Tim purchased brewing/distilling facilities out on the Western Rim and has set up to produce beer and whiskey.  Initial batches [done previously] were well received.  Tim was particularly pleased with being wealthy independently of the University and occasionally fell into gloating.  [Not unusual amongst wizards.]

Wendell

Wendell provided his most recent notes on the Yardbird’s performance and reviewed the updates on the two Mjollnir-class airships being constructed in The Yard – the Foe Hammer and the Cloud Darkener.  The Mithril ingots from Fordsway will supplement the Mithril already secured for their construction.

Most of the remaining experienced, security and engineering teams from the Yardbird were transferred off to crew up and train the Mjollnir crews.  Replacement teams were assigned to the Yardbird to bring it back to full strength.  These green teams will be drilled by the remaining experienced teams to bring them teams up to speed quickly.

Known Gnome crew remaining on the Yardbird are:

• Herschel “the Hunter” – Ballistics Engineer, also known as “Bearkiller”
• Rebecca – Ship’s Security, promoted to head of Security Team 2, “Rebecca’s Roughnecks”
• Gideon – Kite Commando, now commander of Flight Gideon
• Ethan – Lead Trader/Merchant
• Shlomo – Accountant
• Merriwether – Top Pilot of the Yardbird

September 19, 18 IC

In the morning the Outlanders and the gnomes loaded back onto the Yardbird to continue their quest, heading north.

September 21, 18 IC

The Yardbird located the Horse Lords in their winter pastures.  They made contact with Lugalbanda, a tribal chief the Outlanders negotiated with before.  During the negotiations, the Outlanders learned that the Horse Lords refer to Mosaliar Rock as “Mage Killer” due to its ability, when ingested, to make spells cast on the consumer fail.  It also made it impossible for the consumer to cast magic.  [Mosaliar Rock was one of the things the Yardbird was looking for to complete their quest.]

The Outlanders ended up trading one bottle of Orpheon Silver for two dwarf-fists of the rock [dwarfs got big fists].  Wendell negotiated further for another two fists of the rock to be delivered to the Gnome Yard for 100 steel arrowheads – half now, half on delivery.

Once negotiations were over, the gnomes broke out the pavilions and had a huge feast, inviting Lugalbanda and his bodyguards to participate.  All went well and everyone was satisfied with the arrangements.

September 22, 18 IC

Late in the day the Yardbird continued its flight north.

Session Ends.

NPCs Met

No new named NPCs were met during this time.

Banking Details

Tim and Dangar

Tim and Dangar share a safety deposit box in Prasutagus Private Bank in Brass Town.

• Tim had 119gp and Trade Bars worth 21.48gp in the safety deposit box.
• Dangar had a mithril ingot and 200gp in the same box.

The fee for the safety deposit box was 1gp a month, paid annually.

Darkfox

Darkfox had a safety deposit box in Bank Sigtrygg in the Golden Triangle under her real name, Karlyn Gryphshaw.  In it were the following:

• A porcelain drum with the picture of a Nereid in the decorations.  [It is 500 years old, worth approximately 130gp, and was created by the Master Craftsman Tamar Raventooth.  It is one of his rare pieces of work with a water motif and is valued for both its exquisite decorations and ability to be played without breaking.]
• A steel ring with a magical formula inscribed on it.  [Originally taken from the temple of a death cult worshipping Abol, the spell formula provides the learner the spell River of Fire.]
• An electrum figurine of a Shadow Cat.  [This was done by the famous human metal worker, Amani Sandor of Locris.  It is 2400 years old and worth approximately 1000gp.  Note, shadow cats are found only in The Moors, home of the Lizardfolk Horde.]

The fee for the safety deposit box is 10gp a month, paid annually.  Needless to say, service here was of the highest order and privacy was assured.

The Others

Financial investing in the names of Darkfox, Kyle, Malwyn, and Tim were handled through Appenzeller Kantonalbank, the gnomish public financial institution.  Security, identification, and privacy here are maintained magically and are the best in the city.

Happening Off-Stage

[Nothing in my notes.]

DM Discussion

[A little housecleaning, spending experience points, and swapping out a PC (Kyle for Mord).]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Flight of the Yardbird

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