The Iliran Revolt

In 707, the military genius Coriandas the Magnificent finally overreached himself and fell in battle against the inhuman tribes of the Great Grass Sea. In the absence of an heir worthy of this colossal figure, the Bathuran Empire fell into a protracted series of internecine conflicts now remembered as The Wars Of The Successors. The decay of central power which this caused inevitably allowed other disruptive forces also to come to the fore, seizing their opportunity while Imperial forces fought amongst themselves.
One such group were the Ilirans, the native people of the province of Valkania. Though occupying an important position between Bathura and the great city of Parsantium, this had never been a province that was easy to govern. The Ilirans had a reputation for savagery and truculence, and also for unsavoury religious practices which had only been forced underground, rather than eradicated or assimilated, under Imperial rule. In 713, encouraged by the withdrawal of much of the Imperial garrison to fight wars on behalf of one or other of the generals squabbling over Corandias’s throne, the Ilirans rose up in open revolt against the Empire.

Bloodthirsty Ilirans

Their first act was to recover control of their ancient fortress capital of Samseg, which had been turned into an Imperial garrison. From within its daunting defences, they ranged forth to massacre Bathuran settlers and raze the lowland cities, giving the unfortunate people of Valkania a foretaste of the utter devastation that would later be visited upon them by orc hordes in the Years of Darkness. The Ilirans were led by a man who is remembered as Ygron - a Valkanian dialect term meaning “The Beast” – though his real name was undoubtedly different, and who was said to command strange magics, particularly in the summoning of monsters.

Eventually, after a decade of horrors, reports concerning the nature of Ygron’s terror alarmed even the venal self-seekers who styled themselves emperors in the long shadow of Coriandas. An Imperial force under the devout Theophilus (known as “The Monk” for his excessive asceticism) was sent, along with a contingent of magicians led by the Wizard-General Carataxas to counter Ygron’s occult threat. After a couple of years of indecisive manoeuvring, clever tactics by Theophilus combined with subterfuge engineered by Carataxas (who bribed a Diomatic hill giant clan into changing allegiance), so that the Ilirans were flushed out of their mountain fastnesses into open battle. A serious of vicious encounters ensued as the rebels apparently attempted to flee towards Parsantium, their intentions unknown. The final, climactic confrontation occurred in mid-725, on the road from Trimontis to Parsantium where it crosses the Druba Gorge – a spot now known as Ygron’s Bridge. That battle culminated in a massive magical duel between Carataxas and Ygron, from which neither emerged alive, and which released  magical energies which have lingered unpredictably in the area ever since.

Theophilus then mopped up the shattered remnants of the Iliran forces, and retook their capital at Samseg. What he found there so disturbed him that he declared an anathema against the place, ordering the city utterly destroyed and its very location struck from the records. Deep mountain forest reclaimed the site and it is lost to mundane knowledge.

Theophilus; a possibly fanciful detail from a later Lorantan painting

The Iliran Revolt is not now remembered as perhaps it should be. It occurred during a chaotic period of history and its major participants did not leave powerful descendants to sponsor hagiographic histories. Theophilus, notoriously, was blinded and sent into exile a few years later by claimants who feared that he would also seek Imperial glory*. Furthermore the catastrophe that Theophilus and Carataxas sought to avert – the separation of the Eastern and Western Empires – occurred anyway, for other reasons, so the war was not remembered as a heroic success. Miklos Cassio’s History of the World (Part I) is the only commonly known chronicle that covers the conflict in any detail.

* “He who cannot see, cannot turn his eyes to the throne.” – Quaestus Preceptor, Duke of Ancora, self-styled Emperor Argentus

Episode 4a - It's All Over For The Wizard

The demise of Open the tiefling wizard at Ygron's Bridge had as its immediate cause the dreadful Death Save rolls that Alex was unfortunate enough to make. Another, earlier, bad roll -  a very low initiative - had an important influence as well, as it left Open acting after the enemy, while his fellows were before them. This left him exposed and distant from his comrades at a critical moment and meant that when he went down, he had to start making death saves before any one else could act.

I did the number wrangling on the subject of death saves, and if you leave a character on 0 hit points without healing or further damage, the figures come out as follows after 5 rounds (by which time the injured party must be either stable or dead):

• Conscious with 1 Hit Point: 18.1%
• Unconscious But Stable: 41.4%
• Dead: 40.5%

The chance of dying after only two rounds, as Open did, is 4.25%, so he really was rather unfortunate. Any other result would have allowed Kam to stabilise him, but the vanara was just too far away to get to him in one round.

Here are some other thoughts, though:

The battle at Ygron's Bridge demonstrated that the mechanism in 5e for measuring encounter difficulty is a fairly vague instrument, and that a difference in tactical situation can make a huge difference to the lethality of the combat. It might surprise the players that the second part of the encounter - the fight against the Followers of Ulur in the derelict tower - offered on paper a lower level of threat than the preceding battle with the animated items on the bridge itself.

To wit:
1. Animated Armour (CR1, 200xp) + 3 Flying Weapons (CR 1/4, 50xp) = 350xp
    --> Encounter Budget = 350 x 2 (3-6 opponents) = 700xp
2. Minor Priest* (CR1, 200xp) + 3 Cultists (CR 1/8, 25xp) = 275xp
    --> Encounter Budget = 275 x 2 (3-6 opponents) = 550xp

For a 2nd level party of 5 (4 PCs + 1 NPC) this makes Part 1, Hard; Part 2, Moderate. Clearly, that's not the way it played...

The opponents in part 1 were in plain sight, in the middle of a bridge, and simply attacked the nearest opponent within 60ft. They had no situational advantages and employed no co-operative tactics. The opponents in part 2 were in a building, with good cover, had observed the first combat without joining it, and had a leader exercising tactical control.

The animated weapons and armour were pure melee combatants. The armour took a while to grind down, but there was never any feeling that anything was happening that was beyond the ability of the PCs to control. The animated objects did however achieve something that was valuable to the next set of opponents - they soaked up most of the Wizard's firepower. If the combats had taken place the other way round, the tower would have been rather less challenging.

The Followers of Ulur, on the other hand, were all equipped with missile weapons, and had cover (behind arrow loops or on the roof). Having observed the progress of part 1 their leader, Hauska, cleric of Ulur, had a good picture of his opponents. In particular he had identified the spellcasters, who were then prioritised as targets**. Furthermore, he was himself a spellcaster, with guiding bolt prepared (4d6 damage on a hit, so 4-24, avg 14). Things could actually have been a lot worse - if he had hit more than once with this spell, this easily could have resulted in Kam getting taken down as well.

It probably shouldn't be a surprise that tactical considerations can make a big difference to combat lethality, but it does serve to illustrate that purely book-keeping methods of measuring encounter difficulty aren't necessaily particularly reliable.


I like the Death Save mechanism, which avoids the situation where the other PCs metagame the amount of time left till a character bleeds out, which you get in Pathfinder, and makes immediate support for downed characters more imperative. Occasionally it will get nasty very quickly, though, as it did here.

* a scaled down version of the NPC "Priest" in the MM. I took 2 levels off him, so fewer HP and no 3rd level spells. But it was a 1st level spell that did the real harm, and no-one did him any damage till they got into melee with the half-orcs, so the hit points didn't come into play at first either.

** Let's call this the "No Sleep" tactic. When the defenders have low hit points (as is likely in low level encounters) and are in a confined area, it's entirely possible for a well aimed sleep spell, of the kind available to any 1st level arcane caster, and giving no saving throw, to render the whole lot inoperative for a whole minute. So, effective spell as it is, sleep has a double edge; any opponent who understands how dangerous it is, will inevitably aim to remove enemy arcanists from the battlefield as quickly as possible, at the furthest possible range. In this combat, the half-orcs' concentration of attacks on Open was actually largely a waste of resources, since he had burnt his 1st level spells already - sleep was no longer at the table. But they weren't to know that.

***My opinion is that guiding bolt is too powerful for a 1st level divine caster - the arcane equivalent, chromatic orb, does comparable damage but requires a 50gp diamond as focus, and has no follow on effect. I don't like seeing clerics being as effective as "blasters" as wizards. But I'm trying not to house-rule at this early stage, and it's there for the players, so inevitably the enemy will be using it as well.

Episode 4 – It Gets Serious: Crossing the Bridge

Played 16 March 2015. All players were present, though some might wish they hadn't been...
NB: From now on the pseudonymonous NPC Amira will be known by her real name of Vanessa to avoid confusion with the similarly named PC, Nymeria.

Taking their leave of the druid Erdas, the travellers cautiously approach Yrgon’s Bridge, pausing in the cover of the trees to observe the valley below.  Each end is closed off by a ramshackle looking gate. On the other side sits a thin tower, from which a pair of narrow windows overlook the bridge. Careful observation suggests that there is someone hidden behind the remains of the spire on the tower roof, but otherwise nothing is stirring. In the middle of the bridge lie three humanoid bodies, along with what appears to be a wolf or large dog, above the body of which a shifting haze suggests a cloud of flies.

People from all over the Sunset Lands are just dying to take a trip across Ygron's Bridge

The guards leave Lucinius, Lodvik and Aris with the mules in the cover of the trees, and approach the bridge with caution. The gate at the near end is a flimsy affair, but they chose to bypass it by climbing around it. Kam, who has now learnt to produce an illusory duplicate of himself, summons it into being and sends it ahead of the group, approaching the corpses. There is no reaction to its presence, so the characters move forward. Suddenly, once they get to within about 60 feet, there is a stirring....

I don't want to suggest that the bridge is dangerous, but have you seen the last guy that tried to cross it?

Three weapons – a flail, a sword, and a morning star – rise from the ground by the bodies and fly forward to attack. One of the bodies staggers upright and lurches towards the group, but it appears that this is not undead, but that it is the armour it wears that is moving. All the animated objects ignore Kam’s illusory double and attack the flesh and blood characters. The weapons are dispatched relatively quickly but the armour takes some grinding down; nevertheless, before too long the broken remains of the animated equipment lies on the roadway and the characters loot some small change and a couple of healing potions from amongst the grisly remains of what looks like a small adventuring party. From the tower there is no reaction. Cautiously the group move forward again, on the lookout for traps such as cheese-wire strung across the roadway at ankle height – but the bridge is clear of such ruses.

When they get within about a hundred feet of the tower, however, it is clear their presence has not gone unnoticed. A bolt of magical energy – a guiding bolt - shoots from one of the windows, aimed at Kam, followed by a volley of crossbow bolts, also directed at the vanara cleric. Fortunately the magical attack misses, but Kam is wounded by the bow shots. Leaving Vanessa and Open with Kam on the bridge, Nymeria and Olrik dash forward, climbing the parapet to get round the gate, in order to assault the door of the tower, but in the meantime Open is pounded by another guiding bolt attack from the tower and is forced to use his only healing potion. Kam attempts his own guiding bolt in return, but without success. As Nymeria and Olrik smash away at the door, Kam and Vanessa elect to rush the tower to follow them up. But before the unfortunate Open can join them, further crossbow attacks - and a sacred flame from the tower - strip away his remaining hit points, and his first Death Save is a disastrous 1. Kam is out of magic apart from cantrips, but if he can get back to Open before he fails another death save, he can at least use spare the dying to stabilise him. Unfortunately, even a Dash leaves Kam just out of reach of Open, and the tiefling's next Death Save is ... 2. It’s all over for the wizard.

If this is what you can see, something has gone wrong...

As the disaster unfolds on the bridge, the melee fighters are into the tower and amongst the enemy at last, and the fight swings in the party’s favour as they dispose of a priest and three cultists, all half-orcs. But it has been a hard won victory, with Open fallen, and Kam and Vanessa badly beaten up. The party badly need a rest, and the tower is the only obvious place to do it. A search of the area throws up some interesting discoveries:

The corpses on the bridge appear to be several weeks old, except for the wolf, which is rather fresher and still accompanied by flies. From their appurtenences the bodies appear to be an elf and two humans, one of them a priest of Martek. A couple of healing potions and some small change are gleaned from the grisly search. The wolf has injuries suggesting it ventured onto the bridge to scavenge the corpses and was cut down by the animated weapons.

The tower has four storeys including a basement. The third floor is largely unsafe, but allows access to the roof, where one of the crossbowmen had been shooting from. The inhabitants are all wearing pendants depicting a coiled serpent, which Kam recognises as the symbol of the obscure god Ulur, also known as the Father of Monsters, a Chaotic Neutral deity who is regarded as the progenitor of strange hybrid monstrosities such as the owlbear and peryton. He is occasionally worshipped as a member of the Bathuran pantheon, for instance by those who supply beasts for the combat arenas, but his cult is largely historical, and associated with the Iliran people who ruled Valkania before the Empire. Ulur’s main point of curiosity is that he is said to live on the Prime Material, rather than one of the outer planes.

In addition to the pendants, the search turns up some further healing potions, a little cash, and a rather nice looking ring worn by the leader, which turns out to be a ring of evasion.

On the roof, they find a strange ovoid stone wrapped in strips of rune-inscribed fabric, about four feet across and roughly shaped out of something like basalt. Its surface is irregular and, from certain angles, gives the impression of hands and faces apparently trying to escape from the interior... It seems to be magical and Kam attempts to attune to it, but is almost knocked unconscious by a psychic blast in response. There are traces of blood on the plinth upon which its sits. It is too big to fit in the party’s bag of holding, and too unwieldy to transport otherwise. The party don’t want to leave an apparently evil item lying around here in the wilderness for anyone to find, so after a bit of debate pitch it first off the roof and then off the bridge into the water below, though they worry whether this might contaminate the river. Tethered nearby in the woods is a rather ill-kept mule, along with the broken remnants of a wood and fabric drag, which suggests that the stone was brought here by the followers of Ulur, rather than already having been in place.

In the basement they find a rude temple containing further symbols of Ulur. Here also there is a collection of papers, written in a rough Orcish scrawl, which unfortunately no-one can read, and a few pages apparently razored out of a larger book, which are in Bathuran. This is a section of Miklos Cassio’s History of the World (Part One), dealing with events shortly after the death of Corandias the Magnificent in 707, when the Iliran inhabitants of Valkania took advantage of the ensuing succession struggle to rise in revolt against the Empire.

In addition to the temple there is a makeshift cell containing a single captive, of whom we shall discover more next time....

Credits: the location for this session was taken from The Forge's "Ygron's Bridge", available at RPGNow.

A Character From History: Miklos Cassio

Miklos Cassio was born into poverty to lowly servants of the Megaris clan in 1099. However his intelligence was quickly noted by his parents’ employers and, under their patronage, he rose rapidly first through the Scholasticia and then as an administrator in the Prefect’s office. In 1135 he was put forward as a compromise candidate for the vacant position of Prefect to end a damaging political impasse between the squabbling noble families, and rather to everyone’s surprise was accepted. He proved an able and dynamic Prefect, who recognised that the fate of Rezana – recently sacked by orcish armies – would also befall Parsantium if neglect of its defences continued. However, his determination to actually spend all the money allotted for military construction and defensive repairs, on the works for which it was intended - rather than letting it be diverted into the pockets of corrupt nobility - inevitably made him enemies. 

In 1146 Miklos’s aristocratic opponents conspired to have him accused, however absurdly, of embezzlement, and he languished in prison for five months without trial as they fruitlessly sought evidence for even more serious charges. He was eventually released only to attend his father’s funeral, when he seized the opportunity to flee to Cervenna. There he lived simply for the rest of his life in a rustic setting, keeping goats and making (apparently rather excellent) cheese, though he was also periodically visited by important people seeking his advice, and kept a library rather in excess of that which might be expected of a simple herdsman. When he died in 1171, his son-in-law found, whilst sorting out the old man’s effects, a huge work entitled History of the World (Part I), which was posthumously published in 111 volumes. Since this work delineated a history from the earliest legends to the point when Miklos departed Parsantium, no-one is quite sure what he intended for Part II, no trace of which has ever been found. Cassio’s History has been a popular reference ever since, being erudite, opinionated and witty, though sometimes of questionable accuracy and even occasionally scurrilous.

Hook: Rumours are sweeping the Scholasticia that a fragment of Cassio’s legendary History of the World (Part II) has been unearthed, and the lecture halls are abuzz with speculation as to what it might contain. But the scholar who was supposed to be authenticating it has disappeared – along with the priceless text. Adventurers with contacts in the academic world may be contracted to join in the search...

Episodes 2 & 3 - Black Masks and Angry Trees

Better late than never: Sessions 2 (played 16 Feb 2015) and 3 (played 2 Mar 2015)

Dramatis Personae:

• Kam (Male Vanara cleric of Hanuman – Richard Green)
• Nymeria (female Urskovian human, barbarian – Lucy Mounsher)
• Olrik (male dwarf monk – Wayne Furmidge)
• Open (male tiefling wizard – Alex Hegazy, absent for Session 3)
• Aris, male Bathuran human, bard (NPC)
• Amira, female Bathuran human,  fighter (NPC)
• Lucinius, male Bathuran human rogue, merchant (NPC)
• Lodvik, male Urskovian human fighter, Lucinius’s bodyguard (NPC)

Lubzug’s Wayside Inn

Following Sarjan the bounty hunter’s cryptic ultimatum, the party decide to take matters into their own hands. Their attack on Sarjan’s quarters initially yields mixed results, as the outer guard goes down but attempting to pull the curtain of the bay aside provokes a volley of arrows. Nymeria and Kam go down briefly but are rescued and resuscitated by Amira and Aris, though at the cost of Amira's precious healing potion. A second assault is better co-ordinated and another of Sarjan’s thugs falls, while the bounty hunter and his remaining injured sidekick are captured. The proprietor, Lubzug, intervenes to insist that there is no looting of bodies or brutality towards prisoners; Sarjan admits he was hired by Iacomo Pavone to bring Amira back to Parsantium where she will be forced to marry.

The next morning the caravan continues along the Via Bathura towards Koinepol, the chief town of Etressia.

Black Masks

As the road passes through woodlands, an attempt is made at ambush. Bowmen attack from one direction – though a well-placed sleep spell from Open silences them quickly – but this is revealed to be largely a distraction as a trio of masked attackers pounces on Amira from the rear and attempts to carry her off. Their attempted kidnap is inept, however, and they and the bandit leader are killed while the bowmen are captured. The bandits are members of the Black Masks, a long-standing bandit group which once ranged largely unopposed in this area; recently however their activities have been curtailed by the increased confidence of the Counts of Etressia, especially the current incumbent, Timitos. It is with surprise that the party discover that the masked leader is none other than Lubzug, landlord of the Wayside Inn! In his tunic they discover a parchment, presumably originally carried by Sarjan, commissioning the retrieval of Amira for a handsome reward of 250 gp. It appears that the innkeeper has disposed of the defeated bounty hunter and taken it ypon himself to complete the commission, with no greater success.

The awakened bowmen are released after being stripped of their weapons, but Nimeria and – less predictably, Lucinius – don’t accept this decision and follow them into the woods, returning a little later apparently now happier with the situation ...

Off-Track

A party conference follows. Whilst there some of the group cast glances towards the now rather valuable person of Amira, others – in particular Kam and Lucinius – seem less than keen on the idea of interacting with the Pavone to collect the reward, and the caravan continues on its way. Lucinius, however, thinks it is now unwise to consider visiting Koinepol. In such a large town, there are bound to be Pavone agents, and they are a distinctive party. He suggests leaving the main route of the Via Bathura and bypassing Koinepol, travelling through the Vasta Hills to get to Trimontis, where the Via Bathura and the Via Diomantica (the coast road) part company. There they can further consider their options, though Lucinius has business in the wilderness caravanserai of Torbruck, which rather rules out the coast road. The diversion, however, is agreed upon and the caravan shortly takes a side road to the west of the main route.

That night a roaming ghoul attempts to enter the camp, but Lucinius’s alarm spell does its work and the creature is easily destroyed. The next day, the caravan is attacked by aggressive blood hawks but these also are driven away.

The Hunting Party

The road into the Vasta Hills is much quieter than the Via Bathura. Lucinius explains that this route has fallen out of favour owing to strange happenings around Ygron’s Bridge, where the route crosses the gorge of the river Drabus. In ancient times there was a great battle there, in which powerful magic was used, and the area has always had a reputation for peculiarity. Recently however this has got worse, and strange monsters have been reported plaguing the area, particularly the bridge itself. Since this is the only good way across the gorge for miles in each direction, trade has started avoiding the route.

As they travel through the hills, the party hear strange shrieking whistles from the north, and shortly afterwards an enormous insectoid creature burst out of the ground and attacks. It is recognised as an ankheg, and while the creature manages to bite Olrik they avoid lining themselves up for an acid attack. As the monster is defeated, however, a number of people appear, led by Bassedas, Lord of Vasta, who is annoyed that the party have killed his quarry. The situation is smoothed over by Halstrud, one of Count Timitos’s foresters; it is she and her assistants who were making the weird noises, funnelled into the ground to drive the ankheg towards a stone dyke where it would be forced to the surface. Bassedas had hoped to capture it for sale to the arena in Parsantium, but Halstrud is happy that it has been destroyed, and placates the lord by removing its acid sacs for him to sell to an alchemist. She invites the party to overnight at the foresters’ lodge, and next morning Lucinius does some good business selling his wares to the people of Vasta, who see fewer merchants than they once did, and celebrates by paying the guards their outstanding wages. The party get on very well with Halstrud, and rather like the sound of her job, travelling around the County of Etressia hunting down monsters. Yrgon’s Bridge is beyond the established borders of the County, so she is not responsible for keeping it clear, but she knows something of it. She tells that until recently the bridge was plagued by a bizarre, shapeless entity that she calls “the gibbering mouther”, but this seems to have gone now.

Goblins

The next day’s travel passes uneventfully and the caravan makes good progress through the hills; the road is good if a little overgrown owing to the fall in traffic recently. Early the next morning, however, the camp is attacked, first with arrows and javelins, then by a worg which charges in to engage Olrik and Lucinius, who are on watch. The merchant’s alarm spell again proves its worth, quickly rousing the rest of the encampment, which is fortunate, since Olrik has gone down after being the focus of the attack, and there are goblins behind the worg. Emerging from his tent at the other end of camp, Kam spots that, taking advantage of the confusion, a couple of goblins are attempting to make off with some of the mules, and stops them. Eventually the worg and most of the goblins are despatched, though one manages to make off into the night, and the party are left to lick their wounds.

The Angry Oak

The next day the party delay their departure to allow for proper recovery from the previous night’s exertions. Setting off again after noon, they are passing through woodland when, without warning, a large tree comes to life and begins assaulting the caravan guards. Amira finds that her twinned shortswords are not very effective against it, and there is further annoyance from an animated vine attached to the tree which immobilizes both her and Nymeria with entwining tendrils. But Nymeria, once Olrik has pulled the vines away from her, has no problems chopping at the tree with her battleaxe, while Kam’s sacred flame spell seems unusually effective against the wooden opponent. The tree is defeated, and shortly afterwards the party meet Erdas, a druidic hermit who explains that the plants here sometimes come to life, filled with anger, animated by the curdled magic of this ancient battle site. He knows this particular tree, and has attempted to help it come to terms with its condition, so he is sad that it has been destroyed, but accepts that it was probably for the best.

The party ask Erdas what he knows of the bridge. He tells them that someone has shut both ends off with gates and that, while the gibbering mouther has gone, a small party of adventurers who came this way some weeks ago were killed on the bridge. He didn’t see it happen, and doesn’t know what was responsible, but their bodies still lie at the centre of the crossing. Furthermore, there are now people living in the partly ruined tower on the far side. He has seen them from a distance but doesn’t know anything about them.

The bridge is not far away now, but as darkness is approaching, the party decide to overnight at Erdas’s cave and tackle it in the morning...

Experience

During Alex's absence at Session 3, everyone else levelled up to 2 except Open. I've made a minor adjustment to the XP awards to allow Open to be at level 2 for next session, which will be recouped next time, and which leaves the scores as follows:

- Amira (NPC), Kam, Nymeria, Olrik: 510xp

- Open: 300xp