STALKER7

A Nightwatch Blood and Bone AAR

Saturday’s game session saw the CCWC members continue the ongoing campaign in the desert kingdom of Harab. Last time, our heroes had been invited to the Emir’s palace to help determine the nature of a mysterious artifact found in the deep desert.

Turned out the artifact was a sealed wooden tube carved with strange and sinister runes. “Definitely old and undeniably dangerous’ was the verdict after a renown scholar deciphered enough of the text to know the hollow tube contained a ‘blood ruby’: a rare and potent gem used in vile necromantic rituals. (soaked in sacrificial victims’ blood, imbued with madness, dark magic, and iron-willed malevolence, it’s bad news.)

The players were then charged to get the item after the banquet and transport it to a secure vault for safekeeping. Wouldn’t you know when they entered the Emir’s private quarters later that evening, the scholar had been murdered and the artifact stolen. The assailants were seen fleeing in the direction of the souk near the city’s western gate.

Narrative scene concluded, the fight is on.

Market stalls closed up for the night, the souk was a wide open space. Four coins mark the possible spawning points for enemy reinforcements.

Rolling to determine success at pursuing the murderous thieves, three of the four characters managed to keep pace and determine which one was carrying the artifact. Mike D’s Mancer got turned around in the dark, narrow streets of the city and had to wait until Turn 2 to join the combat.

When John’s Tracker, Matt’s Mancer, and Mike E’s Alchemist arrived, they cornered three black-robed assassins, one of whom was holding the etched wooden tube.

Seeing them, the head assassin whistled for reinforcements.

Turn 1

The Nightwatch advances into the market square. John’s Tracker deals with a scimitar-wielding assassin while Mike E’s Alchemist approaches the bowman on the roof. Matt’s Mancer calls out the head assassin only to discover he’s extremely nimble at dodging attacks and armed with two daggers. Poisoned daggers. (Wounded? Keep rolling ’til you save or succumb to the spreading affliction.)

Light armor, no Defensive Posture. The poison spreads from the initial wound and down goes Matt’s Mancer. Ouch. The sacred text asks “Is there not in Hell an abode for the proud?”

End of the turn, more assassins emerge from the shadowed alleys to menace his very startled comrades. ‘Wait. Is he…dead?’

Not yet, but he’s getting there.

Turn 2

Mike D’s Mancer appears, out-of-breath and apologetic, to find his comrades hard pressed by the new wave of assailants and Matt’s Mancer convulsing in the dust and foaming at the mouth. Cackling, the head assassin heads toward the Snake Wall at the western edge of the souk, trusting his minions will buy him time to escape.

Mike D rushes in, using two of his limited store of spell charges straightaway. Mike E’s alchemist lights the fuse of another grenado. Fire and thunder, the tables start to turn.

Turn 3

Sufficiently wary of their enemies now, the Nightwatch gets downright methodical. First step is to revive Matt’s Mancer, then pair off against the remaining threats. More spells, grenades, and ranged attacks leave the head assassin pinned near the exit. In a last-ditch attempt to flee, he whistles up one last wave of reinforcements: a trio of desert jackals who spawn near John’s Tracker and immediately charge him.

Dressed in little more than a Speedo and a cape, the Tracker gets bit and rightly declines going toe-to-toe with the giggling, four-legged carrion eaters. He beats an expeditious retreat to the roof of a nearby building where he starts firing arrows.

With Mike E’s Alchemist and now Matt’s revived (and angry) Mancer coming his way, the wounded head assassin uses the last of his strength to crack open the tube, pocket the contents, and slip over the wall. A narrow escape.

He is last seen heading toward the West Gate where the caravans and sand ships come and go across the vast golden desert.

Conclusion

Mike E’s Alchemist gathers up the splintered wooden tube. Meanwhile, his comrades search the bodies of the dead assassins to discover they are members of the Nab Al-Kubra, a death cult of thieves, bandits, and mercenaries who sell their nefarious services to the highest bidder. (dark robes, scorpion tattoos, distinct weapons, doses of a powerful hallucinogen, tongues removed… the usual)

As they finish their search and scrounge a few needed supplies, a servant of the Emir arrives and leads them back to the palace. There, they are ordered to travel into the deep desert to find the hermit, Rajul Hakim, the only other man who can decipher the arcane writing on the now broken tube.

“A great evil looms on the horizon. You must find and destroy it before it threatens the peace of the great kingdom of Harab.”

With the blessing of the Emir and a sleek sand ship at their disposal, our heroes set off early the next morning into the great desert. All of them can sense something wicked stirring on the hot desert winds. But what that is remains to be seen.

***

That’s all for now. CCWC game sessions have switched from weekly to monthly, so look for the next episode in March.

For more information on Nightwatch Blood and Bone, you can pick up a print copy here at Amazon or in pdf at Wargame Vault.

In the meantime, I’ll start to work on some posts and AARs for When Nightmares Come.

Thanks. Have an excellent day.