STALKER7

The Cape Cod Wargamers Symbaroum campaign continues.

Our heroes returned to Mergile and reported to the Duke’s steward about their encounter and defeat of the dire wolves terrorizing a nearby mill town. Mission accomplished, they gifted the Duke with the head of the pack Alpha. (Make a fine addition to the collection in the third floor study, eh?)

While they omitted a few minor details from their report – the dead refugees in the abandoned logging camp and the Kohinoor heirlooms found on their bodies. Oh, and the attempted ambush by insulted barbarian fur traders – the steward was satisfied enough to reward them and offer another task: accompany a shipment of timber and dwarf goods to the duke’s warehouses in the city of Yndaros.

Accept!

Matt G and Gage D couldn’t make it to the session, so their characters ‘went on ahead’ to prep the warehouse for the incoming shipment. The reduced party – John S, Matt B, Mike D, and new player, Connor – will travel along the River Road, guarding the dwarf merchandise in the wagons while keeping pace with barges in the Noora River stacked with lumber.

Two stops. Three days at a slow and steady pace. It’s a nice walk in the woods, right?

FIRST STOP – MILLBEND

Inspired name for a village way-station built on a busy road around a grain mill at bend in the river. Genius, I tell you. Creative genius.

According to the barge captain and the wagon master, the party has two threats to watch for on this journey: sneak thieves pilfering goods in secret, and a straight up ambush by bandits determined to seize the cargo by force.

The goblin barge crew keeps muttering about missing persons and the ‘angry river goddess’ but that’s dismissed as superstitious goblin gibberish. Nothing to worry about there. Right?

With that information, the caravan joined a steady flow of foot traffic and merchant wagons on the River Road and stayed parallel with the barges throughout an uneventful first day. The only action of note occurred when the party opted to help a group of refugees fresh over the Titans, on their way to the new capital, Yndaros. (Hired guides were being stingy with rations, trying to squeeze a few extra coppers out of the desperate, exhausted unfortunates.)

The party’s intervention enhanced their reputation with a pair of clerics – Father Ansel and Brother Bortolo – who were ministering to the refugees and helping them relocate in the new homeland. “Prios is pleased with those who come to the aid of the oppressed and destitute.”

The evening of the first day ended as the barges docked at Millbend and the wagons settled down in one of the many campsites just outside the village. Stoke the fire. Break out the cooking pot. Set a watch. The sun dips west and in one stride comes the dark.

Screams in the Night

The second watch, to be specific. Screams coming from the refugee campsite.

The party readies weapons and sets off at a run.

[ Note: the party has a new member. Mike D’s son, Connor. He sidled into the story line as a caravan guard, a deadly shot with a crossbow. Outside muscle hired by the duke’s steward to ‘keep an eye on things’, as it were.]

Our heroes sprint through the trees to find the refugee camp in chaos: men shouting, women and children huddled in fear, bloody bodies on the ground.

Two large Ambrian men with great axes are slaughtering people indiscriminately. One is furiously swinging away at a knot of men, husbands and brothers, who are trying to restrain him. Armed only with staves and cudgels, they’re failing.

The second is attacking Brother Bortolo. The young cleric of Prios is standing over the broken body of Father Ansel, valiantly holding his master’s staff with a trembling arm. Bortolo has invoked Blessed Shield in a desperate effort to save himself and keep Father Ansel from further injury. The large man is hacking away with a possessed fury. The arcane protection sparks and shudders, holding for the moment, but the strain has driven Brother Bortolo down on one knee.

The party fans out and takes the fight to the attackers. They inflict wounds but the two men seem oblivious to injury. The men slowly turn to face this new threat and inflict serious damage of their own; both Matt B and John S characters get hit hard. Whoever these men are, they are experts with those huge barbarian axes and they cut deep.

OODA

Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

Between the damage of those huge axes and the wielders’ seeming unconcern for bodily injury, it becomes apparent a straight up slugfest isn’t going to work.

Matt B’s character staunches his wound then takes a moment to notice each of these men have a large tumor – or goiter – on their neck. And, oddly, there appears to be light, like a candle or small lantern, coming from their mouth when they try to speak.*

Next activation, John S rogue darts in close enough to sink a dagger in the first man’s neck. Then Connor’s hunter fires a quarrel into the second. Both men stagger and the pause is enough for the rest of the crew to sweep in and finish them off. (Mike D’s Flaming Servant gives one a big, toasty hug.)

The damage is bad but the hostiles are finally down. Father Ansel and seven of the refugees are dead. Another five are wounded. Our heroes offer what assistance they can, then retire to tend their wounds and snatch a little rest before sunrise.

The session ended with a good stiff drink for everyone, lots of bandages, and an herbal cure or three. Matt B’s character also suggested to Brother Bortolo that he and the refugees travel with the wagon train the rest of the way to Yndaros. The journey isn’t over and it can’t hurt to have a cleric close by.

Plenty of content coming down the pipeline – Nightwatch, Zona Alfa/Kontraband, Exploit Zero, Nightmares, new Sci Fi – but that’s it for now.

Thanks for stopping by. Good hunting.

As always, you can find Stalker7 Games and Stories at

Wargame Vault and Amazon.

• Glint Carriers – poor travelers infected with a bio-luminous parasitic beetle that crawls into the throat of their victim and takes control of the host’s nervous system/body. The beetle secrets chemicals to boost the host’s strength and speed while they slowly starve to death. Once the host perishes, the beetle lays eggs in the body to provide a ‘nest’ and nourishment for the larvae. That’s what you get when players complain the NPC hostiles are too easy.