Wednesday, June 29, 2016

'Into The Death Lands of the Lizard Men' A Keep On The Borderlands Encounter - A Warlords of the Outer Worlds Actual Play Event

With little prep time my players arrived on my doorstep and off we went into the world of post apocalyptic Russia. The PC's in last night's Keep of the Borderlands adventure are progressing right into it very nicely. They're back into the wastelands & wilderness surrounding the keep and they've run into the machinations of the lizard men. Last week's episode of this game can be read about here.



The Tuesday night game is progressing well, the players and I got together last night. They equipped themselves & despite the best efforts of the banking guild bargained & really role played the process of equipping themselves. It might have gone on way too long but it was a blast. Another thing is the fact that I'm convinced that  the keep is  bastion of civilization against the encroaching darkness of the wilderness outside. I've got a commentaries about using the Keep of the Borderlands adventure here and using Dark Albion Cults here; this is one of the resources I'm going to be drawing upon for this adventure.
After waking up to breakfast in the Keep's inn and a hearty meal the PC's witnessed an escalating situation  and got into a scrap with the Keep's guards & mutant were wolf who was trying to take out the keep from within. Things could have gone very badly but quick thinking by the PC's and the NPC guards got everything under control. The PC's learned two very important facts about the lands surrounding the Keep.
  • A cult of chaos has been operating within the area & a dark priest of the Ancient faiths has returned or so the rumors go. 
  • The PC's know their limits and that encounter proved to be more then a bit sticky for them. The tone of the encounter was very enlightening. They also learned the Keep's guards have stun wands that they are not at all afraid to use repeatedly on targets.
     

    The PC's also learned that folks at the keep were a bit to free with their gold & scared of the forces of chaos that surround the place. This wasn't the case with the NPC businessmen within the keep however. The bank, the traders, and every  business person within the keep were trying to gouge them for every last copper piece they could get and several times the players remarked about the high prices & the hard sell approach. Several items in the bank/pawn shop could have sent them spiraling in another direction or two of the adventure but these are veteran players.

Several of the NPC's the PC's met last night were both weird & dangerous; they're keeping a weary eye on them inside the inn. But then things got very interesting as several of the items that one of the party had ordered were ready the next day and when they came down for breakfast, drovers whom have been adventure background furniture were missing.Also half of the tavern patrons were missing & the common room was filled with the keep's guards. The guard looked tired & ragged.What the hell was going on? The inn keeper didn't want anything mentioned or else he might lose even more business and patrons! Of course the party's resident psychic got them right  into the action by loudly asking around! The party were sucked into the next patrol who were searching for the drovers & their valuable cattle.  So off they went into the wilderness with the next patrol of the keep's guards.


 Swamps of The Lizard Men



  The PC's were off hunting for the drovers when they came across a wrecked wagon laying on the side of the road ten miles outside of the keep. There were huge tracks made by giant snapping turtle used by the lizard men as living siege weapon and bits of horse here and there. An arm and part of a foot were found. The PC's decided to make camp off the side of the road near some small cavern depressions in the side of a nearby hill for the concealment factor. They thought they were going to have a peaceful night but the lizard men had other ideas!


During the night a party of ten lizard men snuck up on the PC's as they 'slept' & in complete blackness a pitched battle began. Cross bow bolts flew out of the darkness and the action was hot and heavy. The PC's and NPC keep guards both took their licks for  a while.



But a combination of  dark vision plus fire arms & good old fashioned blood lust carried the night as the PC's kicked ass with some very lucky die rolls. There was lots of role playing in  the pitched blackness & battle confusion in the dust up. The next day the PC's were able to gain some loot & search the bodies of the fried lizard men after a lucky fire spell by the Fae Mage. The psychic was able to lend a hand with a relic weapon. The battle with the lizard men took up the rest of game time.
So now I have the PC's right where I want them and the forces of chaos are on the ascent. Can my Monday night gang possibly help our heroes? Find out next week!


And what did the players think of the game? Well my friend Herbie and his son Ian had this to say on Facebook;"Another fantastic game night with my son Ian and Robert.
Thanks to Eric Fabiaschi for hosting and DM'ing the "Fantastic Heroes and Witchery" OSR RPG tonight!
On the ride home all that Ian and I discussed was how to develop our characters for melee combat and racial/class skills can enhance the character in play. Missed being a "player" and I will continue to play as much as I can while still writing settings for others that want to keep the old school pencil and dice on the table top."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.