Session 110 - The Gang Commits An Atrocity - Campaign Days 1411-1423

The Situation: "Team Nature" Takes on Kel

For weeks now the self-described "Team Nature" - the ranger/cleric Aewdil, the ranger Mugwump, and the druid Errol - have been conducting a form of biological warfare against the pigmen tribes living in the Hirkwood forest. This stretch of woods and hills is just north of the seat of Kel, the High Priest of Arkabal. 

Kel over the last 2 years has steadily climbed through the XP ladder and is now the undisputed top man on the boards. He was first to reach name level and now enjoys all the benefits of his domain. The lands from Burmstone to Arkala are under his control. Team Evil seems unstoppable. At least in this area of the milieu. Players have been complacent in this arrangement despite Kel's strong Lawful Evil alignment!

The roads are generally safe, the beastmen are subdued, and the forces of chaos have been repeatedly crushed under Kel's undead legion of blackened skeletons. Kel has been generous with either purchasing various magic items found by other players for good sums of gold. Finally, he has shown himself willing to broker deals with Aeravir to combat greater threats like the Fishmen invasion and the Skeksis raids.

As a DM I've done my best to constantly harass the good aligned PCs into some sort of stand against this growing empire. After all part of the job of the referee, per Gary, is to rib the players with accusations of cowardice.

Finally a few players came up with a scheme to knock out an ally of Kel, the pigmen tribes that settled in the Hirkwood following the Great Pigman War. Their plan involved using Cause Disease and hope a contagion would spread, then move in and wipe out the survivors. They dubbed themselves as "Team Nature" and began to scout the woods for the various pigmen settlements. 

Through an extended async chat thread, we played out the reconnaissance and initial contact and ambush. At one point they had witnessed one pigman war party attack and sack a sickened pigmen village, taking captive and loot. Team Nature wanted to double back and get their hands on the combined on that loot!

The Nighthawks and the Hyena-men

Before play really kicked off we tried to arrange a way for Gerolt and the Nighthawks to participate in this ludicrous effort. As it turns out I goofed on the movement rates for daily travel. For some reason we were fixated on the movement rate as listed (slowed was about 9"), then extrapolated this to a daily rate. But that's not what we should have done!

The distance from New Addstra to Burmstone was about 96 miles on a rough track through some mountains but mostly flat, rolling terrain. This should have taken about 5-6 days, not 10. So Gerolt had to wait, patiently, as some side shenanigans took place. The plan was to wait for the Nighthawks to arrive and use their numbers to augment an assault on a pigmen base.

We played out the travel. Here's where I get a little nervous as a DM - what happens if something happens? The solution of course, is not to hand wave this and to get any present players to pick up an NPC and play along. It wasn't a big deal, despite Gerolt's men encountering a tribe of hyena-men. At first they captured a patrol after a short fight. Gerolt used his mounted troops to route the patrol and kill the leader, which forced a morale check. Gerolt asked them where their treasure was and they indicated the old ruins of Ft. Bronzebrooke yonder (which could be seen from the road). They indicate they have a lot more warriors, and Gerolt wants to ransom them, sending 1 off to negotiate.

The negotiations don't come to pass. The hyena-men simply muster the rest of the tribe and head out to murder the men. Gerolt elects to run and they manage to evade the oncoming swarm.

They finally make it to Burmstone on day 1418, which leaves a pocket of time for Team Nature to use or not. Team Nature proceeded with another scheme to introduce another bout of sickness on another set of pigmen. In retrospect I should have pushed for them to engage in something that could have been adjudicated rapidly allowing us to compress time in session and get Gerolt in on things.

It's not a war crime if you had a good time

Team Nature was already keyed up to get going and so they jumped out to start their foray.

One player provided a substantial mission plan for their eventual assault. I try my best to understand this, but it's really for the players to refer to. Me, I just need to roll dice and deliver bad news.

Team Nature also has a group of animal friends, including dogs, wolves, and a black bear. It's ridiculous and I hate it. Pile on top the stupidly good surprise odds for rangers. It's almost as obnoxious as a silenced, invisible opponent (1-4/d6) to achieve surprise.

It's really hard to get excited by the prospect of something nasty crushing the players (and their egos) in the woods when they have rangers at hand. They don't suffer from being lost for long, for one. Sure they can get lost, but they can easily trace their steps back to a known point. Half the time they surprise encountered monsters and can elect to evade. They themselves are rarely surprised. What can you do?

I try not to mutter darkly too much and carry on. They pick on a group of pigmen and use another Cause Disease then dump the body in the nearby stream. The idea is that this will cause an outbreak in the nearby pigman village.

We're only at day 1412 (they're catching up to where Gerolt will be on the calendar), and the next day they spend waiting around in the woods. That night they encounter a group of bandits.

I consult the Monster Manual for bandits...

I sum 2d10 and multiply by 10 and I get 120 men. Who are these guys? I have no idea why 120 bandits are doing in the woods, but they're Neutral. Maybe they've heard of the pigmen and want payback for pigmen predation directed to the north? I didn't plan this! It's actually pretty fun now because what seemed like a pretty dull, pre-planned attack now has a new wrinkle and perhaps a hostile one. 

Side note: the players pronounce Okwalar as AWK-WALL-ER and not AWK-WA-LAR. I sigh in resignation, reminded that the players don't care about your dumb world. It's their playground and I'm just living in it. The bumpkin pronunciation is not fixed in my mind.

I also need an idea of the leader and roll a d4 which tells me it's a 10th level fighter! This could be big news. I generate the guy's stats from an online tool. I want some idea of this leader's capabilities in case it comes to a fight. I need a name and somehow we decide the guy's name is BOB SIMMONS.

Aewdil approaches them to parlay and the reaction is positive. A deal is struck! The men are the "concerned citizens of Okawalar" and they've come to get some payback on the pigmen. It's perfect for Team Nature. They agree to attack ASAP.

The attack plan is adjusted slightly now that they have a contingent of men at hand. Errol will still use Call Lightning on primary targets, while the rangers conduct harassing actions. The hope is that a strike on the pigman chief will cause a collapse. The tide of Team Nature bullshit reaches it's peak when the players tell me they use birds to determine on which ever pigmen is the "shiniest" and therefore probably a chief. It actually is not difficult to pick that one out. 

I did need to figure out if the settlement was aware of the incoming threat. Again, we look in the DMG:

What a great idea, Gary!

Well as it turns out there is not surprise for the pigmen. The attack proceeds with the lightning bolds obliterating the building the chief was in, forcing him and his bodyguard to evacuate.

 For a few rounds there is a a lot maneuver and positioning outside the fort. I try to describe the construction but I'm not sure I'm doing a great job. I need the players to get a good idea of if they can or cannot scale the walls, peek into the interior, etc.

Eventually the second bolt of lightning kills the chief and several bodyguards.

The remaining pigmen fail morale, which I interpret as a power grab by the sub-chiefs and generalize looting of the chief's smoldering log house. There's even a group of 4 ogres who were living outside the walls in their own disgusting "bachelor pad" than now get in on the fun.

At some point the tribal shamans reveal they have about 20 zombies at their command. They apparently are acolytes of Arkabal! There is absolute chaos in the fragmented tribe and several dozens are killed by the fighting. The men of Okwalar move in while Mugwump closes in on the southern gate, securing it by blocking with ogre furniture. The northern gate the bashed open by the Okwallarans. There is a massive melee after that, resolved round by round using 1:10 scaling and bog standard AD&D combat. That's about 250 combatants, several PCs, shamans, sub-chiefs, etc.

In the end the pigmen looters make a break for it southwards as Mugwump opens the gate. There's about 150 pigmen females (pigladies?) and more young (piglins?) crowded near the southern gate, which is far from the fighting as they can get. They are all terrified and just want to hide. Mugwump and Aewdil are mostly concerned with catching and killing the looters. They don't want to see anything valuable get run off with.

Erroll manages to put an entangle down. 

We have a momentary disagreement about the exact effects of this spell. The players insist it only effects creatures already in the area of effect. I say it entangles any creature entering the area for the duration. I put my foot down here and the players settle down. You be the judge:

The players can still murder every pigmen caught in the spell effect with concentrated missile fire. They give no mercy. Aewdil's player informs me that Aewdil has enacted the Kamentari "Rite of Extermination". This basically translates to "I kill everyone and I won't feel bad about it."

I ask about the females and young, and they are murdered too. At least the ones that couldn't make it to the tree line and the shelter of the dark night.

The Okwallarans have fared well. They have few casualties. Bob Simmons is happy to start dividing the spoils, which includes a lot of silver and a pile of gems. Team Nature elects to keep a large 2000gp black opal out of the picks. They are dismayed to learn that the pigman chief has 7 (!) potions on him, and I roll a save for each one.

Not a single potion survives. The players realize they may have lost out on potentially 10's of thousands of gold pieces.

Wrap Up

On day 1414 Team Nature gets to Okwalar where they meet with Lady Mina, ranger lady.

The players lobby or reduced training from her after explaining their campaign against the pigmen. Mina is dismayed - these were allies of Kel! She cannot condone or be associated with this act. She fears a reprisal from Kel. (Kel is the guy who destroyed Dubrak by killing every living thing in it.) She also will not try to lie, pointing out that Kel has access to powerful divinations and would likely discern any mistruths.

The players are not please by this. Okawalar is written off as a possible haven. It's too close to Burmstone. They will have to go elsewhere, like Aeravir, for training.

We wrap up the session with the Nighthawks taking an easy escort job to taking a Goblidar merchant to Dubrak. Apparently the Stormbringers are already on scene, clearing out the area for a new construction project. and return to Burmstone by day 1423.