[Petals & Thrones] Session 2: Bear Naked Tower

Session II

Our players come upon the perimeter guard of the goblin caves, and fairly readily take them out, ultimately deciding not to chase down the lone goblin escapee. In fact, they pointedly avoid the direction said goblin fled to, figuring that whatever location the goblin felt safe would not be the direction of the Order of the Bear's base of operations. The next perimeter guard they fight, that of the hilltop with Bear archers and infantry, is definitely not as easy. It's a prolonged fight, and because the warlock strives to be as far out of LoS of any possible enemy, nearly all attacks go toward the cleric and fighter, and Roland's 16 AC quickly forces him to hide in the bushes on a smidgen of HP to jack-in-the-box those who come close. The cleric, forced to be the tank, goes full defense and slowly moves toward the archers in the back nearly completely unscratched.

Once that squad is defeated, the players follow long enough to confirm that the small army of Bear Warriors is indeed right over the hill, and then high tail it back to Ramshorn. They deal with some local fauna, warily greet a vampire they pass by, and return. After some deliberation, they decide to enlist the aid of the Order of the Lion with taking out the Bear clan. They are thanked by the Bastard Prince, and ride out the next day for the Watchtower.

This is where things get very dicey. The single wave takes out half of the squad given to the players as backup, and the personal guard of Sir Brander fully takes out everyone but the warlock (again, stays as far back to avoid being an option for targeting) is K.O.'d. We check as to whether they stablize, and they do, and I rule that since the overall fight was fairly good - Prince Darius and the rest of the surrounding military takes out the Brander's Bears, so the party ultimately wakes up as one of the wounded and are thanked for their service.

Taking their pay, they return to Ramshorn a bit worse for wear and slightly more scarred, but ultimately still heroes.

Aftermath
There is going to be deliberations on what kind of goodies are available for sale, which will be discussed over between-session chats. Unfortunately, there will be no Lunatic Fete because of their decision to side with the Order of the Lion - though they still have a chance down the line.