GURPSHammer: Vagir's Campaign Session 2

Onwards with Session 2.  Fertig?  Los.

Original Session Document

Note:  Setting was changed between game 1 and 2 from Iron Kingdoms to Warhammer Fantasy.  The note now reads:   Kolach, Brawny Bear, Hanco, Sundown, Friday

Time:  Just after noon

Location:  A dirt road cutting through a forest between Kiel and Trautenau, Ostermark

RECAP:  Vasily cleverly ambushed a rider along a forest road by “closelining” him with a stout tree branch thrust out into the road.  This rider (Tilmann Hage) was evidently abducting a girl (Ana Wenzel).  After defeating the rider, he has looted the body and addressed his prisoner  This girl identifies herself as Ana, the rider’s cousin, and that she and her family had come to the house of Tilmann’s father, Olbrecht, to discuss inheritance of her uncle’s Allod.  She was taken from her room, bound and gagged, “sometime before sunrise” and had been travelling since.  Vasily has left Ana’s captor for dead and now seeks to rider her back home.

Ana noted that even in the dark, her cousin seemed to stay off main roads, away from settlements if possible, and doubled back several times - either as a ruse or out of ignorance she does not know.  She presently has no idea how to make it back to where she was abducted (Olbrichthall), but knows it is a few miles along the South road from Kiel, which she knows they did not travel through.  She believes at the last fork, on the left there was some settlement as she could smell smoke (GM NOTE:  Slight riddle potential; was on the left as they headed onto the road she and Vasily are now on - it would be the right now).

It isn’t long before the fork is reached.  Options:  Go straight on or go to the left.

Left:  Isolated road that leads to an ENCOUTER.

Straight:  Short road that rounds a bend and arrives at a HAMLET, about four miles from where the fight with Tilmann took place.  The trees begin to thin out as the cultivated parts around Kiel begin.

Hamlet

This hamlet is in some kind of distress.  No one is around when the party approaches, though there are signs of the village having been occupied only a short while ago.  Assorted thatched homes and barns make up the settlement across the fruitful looking fields.  A single stone building - a church and central hall - commands the center, where a lookout in the bell tower challenges the party, begging them to hurry inside.

Turns out a group of three harpies attacked some of the flock earlier in the day.  When they came back for another pass, several of the villagers loosed arrows at them, striking two and even downing one.  Unfortunately, this angered the survivors who turned on the villagers, killing two (priest of Sigmar Talan, farmer Grem) and wounding several others.  The villagers are unwilling to break cover as the lookout has seen them swoop back from high up in this direction.  They want to alert the village’s lord three miles up the road at his estate in Kiel, but the last runner they sent was slain just outside the village (and lays there still).

Surviving a Harpy attack on horseback will require three Ride or Dodge checks to avoid their swooping claws.  There is a -4 penalty for each additional rider.  A successful Brawling 12 attack by a Harpy does 1d-1 cutting damage.  After managing these defenses, the Harpies will soar back up and back towards the village.  They have Dodge 10 in this instance, and no DR.

Entering Kiel ends the session.

Encounter

Along this road (which curves north towards the main Trautenau-Keil highway, is a man who has evidently just killed a beastman of some kind.  He is injured (7HP/10) in the Torso, evidently from the small horns on the beast man - the head of which is halfway off.  He is attempting to tend this wound but lacks material.  He has a short bow on the ground and a hatchet and knife in his belt. A small water skin lies on the ground as well.   He is dressed in a short grey cloak with dusky green (bloody) shirt and tannish-brown trousers.  Claims he is a traveller.  If asked about travelling gear, he’ll mention he has a camp “near here”.  He will accept aid, but when he sees the horse, the girl, pistol and the rapier he will take advantage of the situation and try to rob Vasily.  If just outright attacked he will defend himself enough to run away.

 

Axe/Mace 10, 1d+2 cut, Brawling 10, 1d-1 cr

    *  Uses Hatchet and Knife together

    *  Likes Telegraphic Attacks (+2 to hit, +2 to target’s defenses) with Hatchet

    *  Keeps knife as a defense

Speed 5, Dodge 8, Parry 7 (knife), can’t block

Beating him awards his stuff.  A small pocket in his short cloak has a bundle with a little hard cheese and harder bread.  He has nothing else; there is no camp.

Session Notes

I made the following notes on this document:

After flipping a coin, [Vagir] chose left.  He tried to aid the wounded man, but was unsuccessful.  The man mistook/was fooled into thinking Vasily was a noble, so he tried to rob him.  The argument was short and teh fight shorter; the woodsman got one failed swing before getting a staff to the face and groin.  That knocked him out cold.  Vasily left him for dead & took everything but his clothes.  (Bow had two arrows).

• +2 Character Points
• Bow, 2 arrows
• Waterskin of beer
• Hatchet
• Nice knife

Closing 

Seems I may have mis-remembered the chronology of setting changes, but that does not matter.  This was an attempt at adding a bit of randomness to an encounter's outcome - a style that I was later told (on Reddit, I think) is poor design.

I believe I had intended there to be a lot of left-over pockets of Chaos forces in and around the deep woodlands of Ostermark - deserters, survivors, new incursions, etc.  As I mentioned in the introductory post, I probably have more bits and bob notes about Ostermark tucked away in session info that simply never made it to my "official" reference document - my direction for the region definitely changed over time.

Enough for now, Session 3 is coming soon.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!