Aersalus Season 1, Session 11 Attacking the Bandit Camp

 

The Cast of B-Team (Aersalus)

Listens to Ocean aka Osprey (Rory) Halfling Magistrate, mage, healer, priest, historian.

Rhum Kaldalsson (Curtis) Minotaur artist.

Trapper (Chris D) Gremian, artificer, hunter, Armsmaster.

Unit 7 (Brice) A Cog, magical construct golem.

NPC's

Altan ru Chuulaii the tax collector

Raito

Tesseikai Watersinger, healer

Murk the Lurk, spirit crab

Skeleton Man

Are We Ready?

After locking up the latest batch of prisoners we finish up the day doing minor odds and ends and preparing for the battle ahead. When we wake up...

Listens heads out to his morning meditations and hopes to get the spirits ok on using Snowstorm to trap the bandits. On his way out the door the impromptu mayor asks him about the bandits, concern is food is too short in supply to take care of them. Listens lets him know they are aware of that but have not had the time to do a proper trial. His team has to keep going out for supplies and to stop bandit raids, not leaving time for administrative or other work that needs to be done. However, he feels it should all be over very soon, within the next few days one way or another. He is a little light on details in case the bandits have a spy in town.

Listens then heads out to his rock to meditate.

The spirits are not happy with the snowstorm idea and as he finishes he notices the tauren Rhum waiting nearby. Rhum says its time to go after the bandits, since we discussed that the night before Listens is not sure why he felt it needed to push the issue up but guess the tauren is impatient to die. Listens almost tells him if he is impatient and unhappy with his leadership he should take over as team leader but alas the Duke assigned him to the task and yielding it would violate rules, oaths, and perhaps common sense as well as getting everyone killed. The tauren does not seem to like planning, relying instead on his considerable strength. Good for most things, but not as much when up against superior number numbers and unknown magic. (FYI Listens has spent 57 points on Rank, plus more on supporting traits like skills, Legal Enforcement Powers, Status 3, etc.).

Apparently Unit 7 has also wandered off (Player called into work) so the team goes looking for him. His trail ends at the edge of the forest, turns out he went on a spirit walk. A squirrel spirit (same one who met Trapper a few days ago) says he is there while the cog does his own thing. Down a warrior Listens asks if the team is ready to go anyhow. On the one hand we are down a valuable member, on the other the bandits will be expecting trouble if we delay another day as they would be expecting the ones we killed or captured the night before to return with the towns "tithe"

We decide to go now and the team agrees to meet at the edge of town in an hour.

Listens casts some echoes (Charms, preset saved one use spells) to help buff the group.

Trapper gets a cart and loads it with bombs.

Rhum says his good byes to the innkeeper.

The Battle!

The squirrel hauls the cart at supernatural speeds so we get there by afternoon.

Trapper has disguised his abused skeleton minion as a bandit and he takes the cart up to the gate. The guard was going to let him in but is overruled by someone else since the minion did not give the password. The guard climbs over and looks things over, getting blown up in the process.

Rhum charges the wooden gate, breaking through and scaring most of those inside (mental stun).

Trapper breaks for the nearest bush, a moment later Listens heads for the same bush. Trapper indignantly objects but Listens points out it was the only one Listens could reach and Trapper had plenty of others he could have ran to.

Trapper starts sniping the guards atop the wooden walls. Rhum and Skeleton charge inside and start dispatching guards on the walls. Rhum cleaving them with his great axe and the skeleton doing acrobatic flips and knocking them to the ground.

Listens calls for the Lady of the Silvered Lake.

Rhum is getting peppered with arrows, a minor nuisance. But also taking a lot of damage from a magical effect.

Listens Casts his elemental blast spell and knocks a guy back a few yards but the bandit stays on his feet.

Listens tries two more spells but is pretty much useless, Rhum, Trapper, and his skeleton are however easily wiping out the bandits.

Then the boss shows up. Dogskull appears next to Rhum and takes him out with a single spell.

Trapper hits him with two bolts, minimal effect. Listens goes all out, this was what he was saving his energy for and casts as big a chill spell as he can. Crit fails.

Luckily the GM had apparently used all his Doom points earlier in the fight and Listens still had several Impulse points left, goes for the reroll and it succeeds doing 50 FP damage to the bandit leader - Dogskull. He drops like a rock.

A spirit claws its way out of the bandit, looks around and then flees north. Listens quickly goes to Rhum, checking for life. He casts a big healing spell (75 HP) with the help of the squirrel and Trapper.

Rhum is alive but spirit barely attached.

The spirit lady returns, saying she had done her part in rescuing the women and children. She wants her tithe of a child. The kid does not want to go. Listens takes her aside to see if he can explain things to her but the Spirit insists on payment. Listens points out the the agreement required consent and the chosen child appears too young to consent. Give him a minute to see what can be worked out. Trapper kind of goes off and is upset Listens would trade a child to a spirit and Listens tells him to just wait a few.

Meantime the GM is surprised at my characters actions as well. 

I, whose name on the groups Discord is "The Logically Evil One" which I think was given me by the GM replacing the Insanely Evil One or some such am both pleased and slightly offended at the same time.

Listens talks to the girl, who appears to be about 2 and explains how these spirit fostering's usually work. She as an aura indicating magical talent and most spirits would teach her great things, though this one does not seem like the usual nice spirit Listens is used to. Its her choice and she declines so Listens goes back tot he spirit and informs her of the childs choice and ask if another volunteer would be acceptable. She declines, getting angry and demands the girl and says Listens cant stop her. Listen calmly explains that a deal is a deal and she is breaking it, she should just keep his eye.

Th spirit wants to fight over it so Listens calls in his spirit father (A high ranking water spirit and ambassador to the Draculari Empire). This is a Patron with costs Impulse Points and I had been saving my last one for just this eventuality.

An argument ensues, the lady departs, turning Listens eye into dust. The nearby spirits do a bit of talking, Murk is surprised whom Listens father was, the squirrel and him have a past, and the skeleton does as well. We get some name dropping, Trapper now knows the name of his skeleton, and father lets us in on a few clues and events. GM was extra talkative and in an exposition mood (Possibly from over tiredness as the game had gone on much longer than usual).

The crystal sphere of clairvoyance is something more than we thought (not a surprise) and is apparently a highly desired item and bad luck to possess.  We go over who touched it first and its Trappers. Trapper tries to give it away or bury it but is advised that anyone who finds it will know its belongs to Trapper and come looking to force him to give it to them. So he hides it in his "Personal Pocket".

The bandits are all shrunk and put in a little wood box, kind of mini-statues.

Everyone else is packed up and taken to a kind of spirit road for a fast trip back home.

Father creates a new building next to the constabulary to make room for everyone, they have a chat about things and Listens learns more about the spirit fish, Misha. Its a local spirit of place for the shoreline.

We let the town know the bandit probelm is solved. Father spirit departs from the mediation rock Listens uses just on the edge and above the town and summons/creates a huge Kani crystal at the site.

Listens had already planned a shrine and this indicates the best place for it and strengthens it as well.

The kani crystal will attract attention, its incredibly valuable and people will want to carve it up and steal it. Likely even the Duke.

Aftermath

The game ended there and its our season 1 break, after this we head to another town.

I need to talk with the GM about some rules changes he is making and get him some paperwork. He mentioned changing some spells, the Spirit Bank, and who knows what else. Plus of course I may spend some saved CP.

Background stuff Listens is going to work with a stoneshaper and build that shrine so the towns people can make offerings to it. Likely in return for some protection and great fishing. Also clearly designating it as a shrine will deter some bandits and the Duke from messing with it. Listens will be sure to point out that it was made by a spirit powerful enough to create or conjure such a large crystal and that irritating such a spirit is a bad idea. Get some Kani crystal, in return for pissing off two powerful spirits.

Rhum is still unconscious but he appeared to be leaning towards becoming another shenin or a spirit warrior. So being on the edge of death for a bit is a good way to resolve that issue and further connect with the spirit world.

Unit 7 has been wanting to be come "a real boy" and seems set for that too.

Trapper has his own rules that are being changed to cope with, Quick Aim and Disappear at the least. But is well suited to expand with a variety of options.

A long ending but I think the funniest one I have had in awhile, that moment when everyone thought Listens was going to force the child into slavery was delightful. Listens had a privalged childhood and with his traits easily gets along with most spirits and even people (even if that hasn't recently seemed to be the case), grew up in a society that respected spirits, and has a father that is a spirit. Thus spirit fostering seems to him to be a wonderful thing, it can be lonely but you learn unique things and have unusual opportunities. He was very naive, but it made sense to me and got those still at the table involved.

Not sure what will happen to the girl, orphans in a TL3 society usually have it rather hard. But taking her with us? Not likely a good idea.