BY THESE WOLVES I RULE #5: (Most of) The Gang's All Here!
Players: Zero (Dejganas), Mfree (Adem), Sammy (Ajmi), Osim (Ejnidon)
Sing, O Goddess, of How our Heroes seek the Lord called Dejnon,
and Bring About his Doom...
Fourthday the 19th, Fourth week of Flood 2, or, the 19th Day of the River-Swelling Month.1
Over the last week, Dejganas and Adem toil in the city, fishing and training sorcery in secret. Ajmi's experience on the other hand is... less than pleasant.
As she goes about gathering, she encounters a mighty Akkat2. Attempting to fight it off with a torch and spear, with no avail. Waking up a day later, in rank cave with her ribs cracked, she scales down the cliffside for freedom. Encountering some merchants, she acquires some medicinal grubs from them to suture her wounds. Travelling a day later, the group encounters a hiccup, cracking the wheel and sending the merchant flying. Patching him up, the group decides to abandon their cargo and return later.
Meeting up with her companions, the party of 3 seeks to return to Cha-Se for their own reasons: Ajmi to go back to her stuff, Ejnidon to avenge Tooath (as he had found speck and new it means the man who saved his life had died), with Adem and Dejganas following because they have nothing better to do.
Setting out, the group runs across the hills, with Ajmi almost slipping down to her face, but not before her companions manage to grab her in time. The group settles down and gathers food.
The next day they head up the mountains, encountering the Drake-riding herders from before. Parlaying, they learn of the direction Tooath went and set out for there.
Travelling forward is uneventful, until they reach Cha-Se. Seeing a fancy cart outside the gates, they pay it no mind as they enter the town and find that lord Dejnon has yet to be returned to his position by the Drake-Riders. Ejnidon boasts that he will return the man.
The next day begins with further mountain climbing, yet at night, Adem is awakened to horrible crying. Bolting up he sees 2, no - 4, no - 6 eyes in the darkness. Awakening his party the 4 try to stay still in the darkness. The eyes approach, and a snort of flame reveals its form: A Drake bearing three heads.
The group springs to action, however, pouncing with wild fury. Ejnidon's axe cracks one of the beast's necks - rendering it unconscious. Adem's shortsword misses the beast, but Ajmi's spear runs along the beast's side like a knife, leaving a deep wound that causes it to fall over dead. 17 Days of food and Several teeth are gained.
They travel further south the forested mountains, They find a group of youthful, drake-riding oandu-herders. Insults are slung back and forth, with the group hurrying off hastily in social defeat, but not before Adem steps on something nasty and stings his foot. The Herders laugh as he limps away.
At night, Ejnidon is awakened to the bristly feeling of reptilian tongues. Assuming it to be his "inherited" hunting lizard, he soon realize it to be that of a wild Drakes, inquisitive with the man-things. Awakening Ajmi, a drake-rider by blood, they discuss the ethics of feeding the creatures, chilling with the group as they fall back asleep.
The next day greets itself with the smell of ozone, as it continues to drizzle. During the day, they continue their journey south, where the mountains and forests give way to plains and hills. Dejganas finds feathers and ushers the group to follow them, which leads to an Akjusi village alive in celebration.
The group asks around and finds the defacto "Leader" of the village - a Warrior by the name of Lantur, of whom reveals to have captured lord Dejnon himself. Adem is taken aside to the healer of the village, with incense applied to his sting to numb the pain. Dejganas decides to join the festivities and drinks some dark, sweet wine from a bowl.
As night falls, Ejnidon is alive with brazen determination. He stands up and points his axe at the face of Lord Dejnon, challenging him to a duel for Tooath's honor. The revelers, not in the right minds due to wine and merriment, humor him. Crowding around the pair, Dejnon is released from his bindings and is tossed an Axe himself. With a prideful proclamation and a surge of energy, he flies forward. The coward-lord attempts to trick the Woodsman with a feint, but Ejnidon moves through the ruse. His arms move with his waist, flowing into a brutal swipe. The attack hits, but as soon as it does there is nothing more to cleave through, as Dejnon's head falls clean from his neck. Thus the duel, and the session, ends.
Good Session! Many Meat Moments! I do find the one/two-shot kills, however pretty cool. A peak behind the curtains for a second: I had rolled 10 HP on the Three-headed Drake, which I gave 4HD to. The group, however, managed to roll extremely lucky: Osim managed to hit a 6 on his axe, which rolled a "Mangle" on the Wounds roll, as I had ruled that wounds occur on a 6+ damage roll, causing a 2d6+"Overflowing Damage" results. I believe osim had rolled an 8, as that's the bare minimum of a Mangled Result.
With Dejnon, he had 9HP out from the get-go, but Tooath again rolled a 6 on his Axe, with an additional 3 damage from the dueling rules from his. He technically rolled a 9 on the Wound, which should've been a mangle, but since Ejnidon did all his HP in one blow, I decided to amp up the effect for the vibez. Was it a good move? Probably not, but fuck you it's my game.
Oh right, the dates. I should explain: the first date is the Chanu calendar, structured in 6 weeks of 5 days, each within a Month labelled 1-3 and bearing either the name Flood, Slack, Harvest and Drought. The second is the Akjusi calendar, structured in 12 uniquely named months of 30 days.↩
Appendix A5: Akkats are big cats with deep amber fur, with white manes and long ears tipped with black.↩