STALKER7

A Nightwatch Blood and Bone AAR

Our Grave of the Sun campaign continues.

Last session, our heroes rescued the recluse scholar, Rajul Hakim. For their bravery, the old man deciphered the cryptic markings on the wooden cylinder and confirmed its terrible contents: a Blood Ruby used in vile, necromantic rituals.

After hearing the rest of the party’s story about the artifact and the murder/theft at the Emir’s palace, the hermit then recounted the bloody tale of Hazm Ar-Ghayb; a cruel sorcerer reported to have bound a demon to his staff, an entity that not only granted Ar-Ghayb sinister, infernal powers, but profane and forbidden knowledge – including the location of the Grave of the Sun, the vault imprisoning an undying necromancer known as the Mistress of Bones.

Loaded with the hermit’s gratitude and provisions, the party returned to their sand ship. There, they discovered the captain had received a distress call from a nearby border station. It seemed infiltrators from the northern rival kingdom were crossing the border in force, and trying to surround the outpost, thus forcing the small garrison to abandon the station or be captured. The garrison commander is requesting help from any and all allied forces in the area.

The Choice: Outpost or Tomb?

Torn between duty to the Emir and their greater mission to combat supernatural threats, our heroes ordered the ship’s captain to take them to the site of Ar-Ghayb’s tomb, then depart and render what aid he and the crew could to the border garrison. And so, our heroes were left on the edge of a rocky jebel in the north-west desert, approaching the sorcerer’s tomb alone and on foot.

A Short, Sharp Battle

Rolling well for their approach, party arrived together and surveyed the immediate area: signs of recent foot traffic – a lot of foot traffic. With the tomb entrance at the far end of the wadi, the party advanced between the sun-bleached, wind-scoured pillars on the alert.

Good thing.

In Nightwatch Blood and Bone, enemy models spawn at random from two of four corners. Here, the first wave of adversaries appeared in front and behind the party, archers and spearmen from the northern rival kingdom. Ignorant of our heroes’ true purpose, the soldiers are nonetheless intent on fighting.

Arrows fly, Mike D’s Mancer takes a hit, but nothing says “Go home!” like a well placed hand-grenade and a few Arcane Bolt spells. Three spearmen and two archers go down. The surviving bowman widdles his sirwal and backpedals toward an ancient jackal-headed statue.

Won’t Take No for an Answer

Mindful of more enemy skirmishers in the hills, our heroes move cautiously up the dry river bed, and resort to Overwatch and Defensive Posture.

The next wave of enemies appears fore and aft once again, only this time, a skirmisher captain and enemy war mage arrive on the scene, along with more soldiers.

Eager to avenge their fallen comrades, the fighters advance. Implacable yet cunning, the war mage summons a dervish. (A D10 Terror caste adversary)

In the previous turn, our heroes had split the party to address threats on two fronts. This left Mike E’s Alchemist and Matt G’s Mancer at the tail end of the party to face a now supernaturally-reinforced enemy.

Charge up those Relics.

John’s Skirmisher trades shots with the enemy archer to no effect. The archer is uncannily good at evading damage from the nearby Nightwatch warriors.

A serious brawl breaks out at the wadi entrance as the Mancers and enemies mix it up in a flash of spell craft and scimitar slashes. Wounds are received. Healing potions are imbibed. The two groups lock up in a melee scrum.

John’s Skirmisher manages to take down the enemy archer at last. That frees up Mike D’s Mancer to send a little Elemental Fury love toward the enemy spearmen before they can close with Matt G and Mike E’s characters.

Meanwhile, John and Matt B run their Hunters toward the fight at the back end of the wadi.

All Together Now

The fight at the wadi entrance hits high gear. The enemy champion, the whirling Dervish, the swordsman, and the war mage are all tough opponents, able to withstand hits and deliver damage. Mike E’s Alchemist struggles to get another grenade fuse lit but Matt B’s lance-wielding Mancer darts in and delivers several well-placed blows on both the dervish and the captain.

With the enemy spearmen smoldering on the black fused sand, Mike D’s Mancer can move to assist his friends. This is a short session, so there are no more enemies inbound, but it’s a vicious frenzy at the wadi entrance.

Another ‘all or nothing’ brawl. In the final turns of the game, the enemies inflict some real damage, but thanks to judicious application of magic, our heroes are victorious.

Relics depleted, satchels empty, bodies battered and bleeding, the Nightwatch loots the bodies and scours the area for treasure before heading to the red stone slab that marks the entrance to sorcerer’s tomb.

Safe for now.

Who knows what waits in the darkness below the scorching sands of the Furan desert in the Kingdom of Harab?

AFTERMATH

Midway through this campaign, our heroes find themselves in midst of political turmoil as the sheiks, imams, governors, and neighboring kingdoms all whisper lies, rattle scimitars, and uncork poison seeking ultimate power in and around the Kingdom of Harab. The unforgiving desert, it seems, is fast turning into a slithering tangle of vipers, each vying for the top position.

However one question looms over the intrigue: as ruthless and cunning as the powers that be are, is one of them so driven, so vain, so mad as to employ profane magic and seek the aid of ruinous powers to achieve their ambitions?

After all, the path to the throne is forever fraught with danger. But how does the dead sorcerer, Hazm Ar-Ghayb, and the legendary Mistress of Bones fit into the dark scheme of things?

We’ll find out one way or another.

Thanks for stopping by. Good Hunting.