Sunday, October 25, 2020

[Petals & Thrones] Session 13: Karis Kapture

Session XIII

Previously, on Petals & Thrones 12, our players had outright slain Bishop Cornelius and prepared to make a decision on what to do next in the war.

Round 3 With a +13 bonus, they get themselves another rout. Wanting to take out Dame Leona, they opt to do mop up.

Thanks to Colombina & the ranger hireling, they have a strong stealth advantage, and basically have their choice of forces to take on. This fight ends up pretty solidly in their favour, taking out a lone patrol, followed by a more prolonged mêlée. They almost had Dame by having her polymorphed into an octopus, but she falls off the roof, takes enough damage to "die", then climbs back onto her horse, & flees further into the city. With the sheer volume of archers where she falls back, the party takes their victory and falls back themselves. By this point, they personally took out four patrols.

Round 4 It would have been just a +3 bonus, but the casualties have shifted it to 36 vs 13 patrols, favouring the Lunatics. Therefore, this is a +8 bonus, and they roll a 4, resulting in a bloody mêlée (35 v 10).

Round 5 Due to the increased numerical advantage, they encourage Harlequin to press the advantage with their +10 to this roll, and get a rout. This outright takes out every single patrol on the side of the Order of the Lions without any further casualties on their side.

Having captured Karis, they recruit the Ba'alzamon Society, and begin the War Council.

Harlequin shows them the distribution of forces, and there's a fair bit of chatter as I establish the movement struggles and ability to recruit the various factions, which the party are assigned to handle while she handles the logistics of the war itself. After that is fully understood, they make some decisions.

Harlequin takes 35 patrols to attack Goblin Town. The party pays a retainer to the Raven Company to support the Ba'alzamon Society's forces and garrison Karis whenever the Lions send forces from Old March. The party themselves take 12 patrols for the attack on Fort Briar.

But before the war effort begins, they take their first long rest and head to Ramshorn to pick up Morluck's magic item order. Upon arrival, they Rinn Taylor, who explains that a caravan had been attacked/massacred by a group of trolls, to which Morluck responds...

After calming down, they get an understanding that they'll have the assistance of a militia to help deal with these trolls, and so make a promise to join in this hunt after the mass combat.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

[Petals & Thrones] Session 12: Plenary Assault

Session XII

Having assembled the map & units for overland travel, the trip to Karis from Ramshorn is much less eventful. They find the adventuring corpses, and while passing by Lion Patrols, tell them of what they find and it seemed to be the work of dire wolves. Upon reaching Karis, they meet up with Harlequin, who informs them that the goal of liberating the Eastern Frontier from the oppressive Lions begins today. Morluck attempts to get a better idea of Harlequin's motivation & goals, which partially runs into my own limit of conversational political discussion; forcing me to give an outline of her goals and a "this is a long form debate that we don't have time for."

After a quick bit of deliberation, the party offers the advantage of their allegiance not yet being known, and perform reconnaissance on Karis. They buy some things in the market, repair the contact with Goldblum's supplier (bribing him to make his caravan guards stay at one of Ramshorn's taverns), figure out troop numbers/placement, chat up Bishop Cornelius in the local temple, and Aquilan goes super spy into their central area where contingency plans are stored. After everything is done, they return to Harlequin and begin the war.

The first round is a rout. Offering to improve things even further, the party opts to cut off one of the heads of the leadership, Bishop Cornelius. Surrounded by three Lion patrols in the streets of Karis, he isn't a simple attack; but Harlequin's animate objects provides ten flying knives that really absorb the blows of their counterattack, made all the easier by a fireball from Ribbles. The Bishop was seemingly rescued by an extra patrol that comes up and carry his unconscious body on a knight's steed in the fifth round, but Thoradin takes a ladder to a roof and uses a maximized lightning bolt from his wand (and class feature) on the Bishop. From there, they flee as two more patrols start moving forward.

This assassination assists the Lunatic assault greatly, and allows them to break the enemy line for even more casualties in the second round of mass combat. At this point, there's some debate whether to do yet another assassination, this time for Dame Leona. They retain access to a casting of pass without trace and Colombina's blessing grants advantage to Stealth checks to one person (nominally Thoradin).

It's at this point, we end the session and I prepare things for the next part of the Battle of Karis.

Combat Summary

Round 1 With a +12 bonus, the Lunatics routed the enemies solidly

Round 2 With a +6 bonus, the Lunatics had initially outflanked the Lions, but the PCs upgraded the results to breaking the enemy lines by outright killing Bishop Cornelius.

Round 3 Due to round 2's positioning bonus and the death of Bishop Cornelius, the Lunatics are back up to a +13, the results to be decided next session.

Current Force Disposition

Lunatics 37 patrols

Lions 28 patrols

Sunday, October 11, 2020

[Petals & Thrones] Session 11: Troubles with Trolls

Session XI

Word spreads fast of the party's success with the saboteurs from the Clans of Tiamat, and the Lunatic Court hosts a party a day later to celebrate such. At this party, the heroes play the part of loners, occasionally asking questions as they hear about the growing shadow of war in the Eastern Frontier. Toward the end of the party, Morluck approached Harlequin to ask if he can join the Lunatic Court; getting a solid thumbs up of approval from her and a suggestion to meet in Karis toward the end of the week.

The following morning, everyone but Thoradin hungover from the party, they head downstairs from the Accidental Gryphon & see the mass of merchants and other NPCs ready to offer quests. They go back to their rooms, sleep an extra hour (mumbling "quest log full"), then come back down and begin to talk to the mass to learn of the various needs of the merchants and wizards of Ramshorn. Ultimately, they decide to escort Bruen & Hawk to Mithrallavien and hopefully rest for a few days before they head north to Karis.

The trip to Mithrallavien is quite eventful. As we're using the d20 encounter process, it proves to be pretty eventful as the party runs into five trolls. These galumphing giants are felled, but not before consuming four 3rd level, two 2nd, and two 1st level spells in a terrible mêlée of blood & tears & flame. After a quick rest and slaked thirst from their skins, they return to the trek to the elven village.

That's when the wyverns attack.

Fortunately, they are not ambush predators, so they have some time to gird their loins. Unfortunately, one wyvern descends down upon Morluck to the tune of 65 damage, knocking him out with a flash of blood and venom. After the clash of blade and song of spells are over, everyone takes two short rests to attempt to recoup some of their loss.

Elf town is passing pleasant, especially with two elves leading the group. Morluck cover's Hawk's 100gp tab to ensure the trade deal is made. Once this is done with, they return to Ramshorn and sleep in the Accidental Gryphon's familiar beds. After a few days, the day of the Battle of Karis is at hand, and they set out.