# Vs. the Slavers



## the_bruiser (Aug 31, 2002)

Okay, here is the start of a (potential) new story hour.  Let me know what you think!  I'm not exactly a writer, as will be made clear shortly.  First, I'll give a little background.

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW
Our playing group is a relatively small one in Charlotte, North Carolina, with three core players and a cast of five or so, some of whom live out of town, who join us every once in awhile.  Since 3rd edition came out, we’ve played two main campaigns that went to fairly high levels of magic, in accordance with the new rules.  As DM, I’ve gotten fairly tired of the handing out the constant barrage of saving throws – stun and hold effects, poison, ability damage, etc. – I felt necessary to challenge high level characters.  I wanted to go back to a simpler style of play.  In this campaign, magic will be reduced significantly – no straight-classed wizards, sorcerers, or clerics are allowed.  All characters are human and start at third level.  Attributes were determined by a card system similar to that used by Wulf in his Lazy Days story hour.  It is our intention to play every other Wednesday night.

Below is a summary of the background provided to players.

The campaign will largely take place in the Bandit Kingdoms, starting in the year 590.  The Bandit Kingdoms were once a collection of seventeen independent fiefdoms called the Combination of Free Lords but have been dominated by the Empire of Iuz (the Old One, a grossly evil and powerful demi-god) to the West since 583.  The fiefdoms have since largely disintegrated into four main provinces ruled from four regional capitals.  Day-to-day activities are left to the judgment of the local rulers, who are all nominally in service to Iuz.  The Bandit Kingdoms encompass approximately 200,000 square miles, almost as large as Texas, with a scattered population of approximately 500,000.  The lands are bordered (more or less) by the Ritensa River to the west, the Shield Lands and lake Nyr Dyv to the south, the Fellreev Forest and Bluff Hills to the north, and the Phostwood and Artonsamay River to the south.  

This area is filled with poor, despairing people motivated largely by fear, greed, and desperation.  Having something of value is dangerous in and of itself, because others will try to take it from you.  Those who are not powerful tend to hide their wealth.  Few can afford such luxuries as plate mail or a horse – if someone is seen with either, they are usually assumed to be powerful, both because they were able to acquire the item and because they have been able to keep it.  Generally speaking, people hope to avoid notice by minding their own business and asking no questions.

Your characters have individual reasons to hate the slavers’ guild.  Collectively, you decide you’re going to do whatever it takes to destroy them; maybe even if it means bringing the world itself down around their ears.  You’re not real sure how you’re going to do it, and you know it’s not going to make your rich.  It’s not going to be a safe trade in a land controlled by a self-proclaimed evil demigod of deceit, pain, oppression, and evil.  But you’re going to do it, or die trying. 

CAST OF CHARACTERS
Below is a brief background and description of the party.

XANDER, Ranger/Cleric of Tritherion.  As a cleric of Tritherion, Xander champions individuality, liberty, retribution, and self-dense, and represents the moral center of the party.  Xander is a beefy man in his mid-20s with a special hatred of slavery (favored enemy: slavers) who has been fighting guerilla warfare on the slavers for several years.

KIT, Rogue.  Having run away from an abusive father early in life, Kit is a quick-witted city boy with a special talent for fast-talking and stealth.  Still an adolescent, Kit uses his nondescript and non-threatening appearance to his advantage whenever possible.  Kit and Daniel (below) have established an array of confidence games used to separate marks from their money.  

DANIEL, Bard.  Daniel’s good lucks, charming mannerism, and piercing intelligence made his early life all too easy.  Daniel has found music to be a pleasant tool to cloud the minds of men and women, focusing on enchantment and defense magics.  Daniel is curiously reticent to talk about his past.

“NASTY” JED, Fighter/Ranger.  Nasty is a hulking brute of a man with a seemingly limitless ability to take physical abuse.  After years of bouncing between jobs as a bodyguard, bouncer, and professional boxer, Nasty fell in with Xander’s quest to rid the land of the Slavers’ Guild.  

SESSION 1
In the sparsely treed plains between the Rift Canyon and the Phostwood, a caravan travels northward.  Ten armed men walk alongside three wagons packed to bursting with men, women, and children in shackles.  As night falls, the horses are corralled and a hearty bonfire lit not far from the wet and cramped prisoners.  The guards are now far enough from civilization to have some fun with their slaves-to-be.  Several women are dragged from one of the wagons.  Xander, Kit, Daniel, and Nasty, chained helplessly in one of the wagons, can only watch in frustration as the terrible acts begin not twenty feet away.  Eventually, even a little boy is brought into the mix, and mutilated terribly in front of their eyes.

One of the guards wanders close to their wagon.  Using its bulk to shield his flint from the wind, the guard lights his pipe.  As he does so, however, he mumbles under his breath.  “Xander, I know of the good you’ve done.  You must not be allowed to fail.”  When the guard walks away, Xander is stunned to find a key at his feet.  The guard motions to several of the others on watch, and the trio begins a game of dice to pass the time. 

Xander quietly frees himself, then noiselessly slips over the side of the wagon.  Kit, Daniel, and Nasty are loosed in short order. As the last unchained, Daniel hands the key to another in the wagon and says, “Here, pass this around.  But don’t run until we tell you.” 

The party hides under the wagon, unsure of the next step.  While most of the guards are engaged with the women by the fire, three play dice and one is unaccounted for.  Finally, Kit decides to secure a weapon.  Slithering through knee-high grass toward the dice-playing guards, Kit takes several minutes to get close.  Carefully, he reaches up and removes a dagger from the belt of one of the guards.  Reaching across to take the belt of the other guard, however, he slips and falls onto the guard’s back.  In a panic, Kit stabs that guard in the back and flees back to the party.  Having alerted the camp, the party is forced to beat a retreat, felling guards as best they can with bare fists until out of the range of torchlight.  In the melee, Kit takes a terrible blow from one the guards’ clubs as he takes a crossbow.  Barely able to walk, he too manages narrowly to escape. 

The next morning the party discusses the situation.  Clearly outnumbered and with little equipment, a number of plans are discussed.  The party considers fleeing to the Rift or heading south to Stoink.  Finally fed up with the discussion, Xander stands.  “Less than a mile from here, innocent women and children are being tortured and raped for sport.  When they are delivered to their destination and sold as slaves, things might only get worse.  I will not stand for it.  Right here, on this spot, I vow to rid the world of the scum that do this.  I will hunt down oppressors and tyrants, and I will teach the people to defend themselves from Slavers and all others who would do such harm.  I call on you now, as capable adventurers and as my friends, to join me in this Vow.  Our choice is clear.  We will not rest until the people in those wagons are free.”  

After a moment’s silence, Kit speaks up and takes the Vow.  Less enthusiastically, the others agree, and the Rangers take up the trail.  Along the way, they find an offshoot, and discover the injured little boy they saw tortured last night.  Still terrified and in shock, the boy will say little but his name, “Johnny.”  The party decides to take the child along for now.  While food is scarce in this land, the party manages to get by on berries and occasional food taken from farmland.

Two days later, still trailing the caravan, the party comes upon a small town of eight buildings.  As farmers sprint toward the town from their work in the fields, they are met by an old man who introduces himself as Jonah.  “They came through here last night,” he says, “and took my niece Kara.  I wish we could help you, but we’re barely getting by as is.  We can only wish you luck.”  After some badgering, the party manages to coerce the town into giving up some weapons – Daniel and Xander both take an axe.  It is Nasty that is truly excited, though, by the gift of an old scythe. His eyes lit, he promises to use it well. 

The next night, the party makes a hit-and-run attack on the guards.  Forced again to flee, they manage to take down at least one or two more.  Having taken no serious injuries, and with magical healing assistance from Xander and Daniel, the party is ready for more tomorrow.  As the destination city of Narleon approaches, however, the party must fight against both the Slavers and time in order to free those trapped in the wagons.


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## gordonknox (Sep 1, 2002)

*I really enjoyed it.*

I hope you keep posting.

A few questions...

Did the characters know each other before being captured?

Did you play out the capture, or did it just start out that way?

Are all of the PCs in favor of the "nunt down the slavers" plot or will this change in the future?

gk


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## the_bruiser (Sep 2, 2002)

*Re: I really enjoyed it.*



			
				gordonknox said:
			
		

> *I hope you keep posting.
> *



*
Thanks!  I'll try to make a point as we continue to play to note better what people say, etc.  I'm also going to ask a guy in our playing group to help me with dialog - I've never written any "fiction" like this before.  



			A few questions...

Did the characters know each other before being captured?
		
Click to expand...


*
Kit and Daniel did, they wrote a background detailing what kind of stuff they'd been doing together in the past.   Nasty and Xander didn't really know any of the others, but I allowed them to "notice" the others such that they knew the adventurers from the random prisoners. 


> Did you play out the capture, or did it just start out that way? [/B]




We did not play it out - I wanted the characters to start out with nothing but robes and fists, rather than playing with gear and then having it disappear.  This way they are happy when they get a scythe to swing, instead of bitter that their longswords are gone.  


> Are all of the PCs in favor of the "nunt down the slavers" plot or will this change in the future?



Well, I guess you'd have to ask them.  A fundamental background point was, "This is the campaign arc, so make characters that would want to do it."  So everybody's preconceived character idea had a predisposition toward this sort of vendetta.  


> gk [/B]




Thanks for your interest!


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## gordonknox (Sep 2, 2002)

Im from NC myself, so I enjoy keeping an eye on happenings there.

I want to start a campaign with a similar arc, eventually.  I look forward to reading your events.

gk


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## (contact) (Sep 3, 2002)

The Bandit Lands!  This sounds fun-- I'm looking forward to your next post.


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## the_bruiser (Oct 17, 2002)

*SESSION II*

SESSION II

DM NOTE: This was a fairly short session.  Daniel's player (the bard) will be unable to join us for many of our sessions, so I expect that in a fair number of these recaps Daniel will be “back watching the fire.”  Due to some pretty bad scheduling conflicts, several of our planned Wednesday sessions were skipped.  Side note – would anyone be interested in the stats on these characters?  If so, I could post the basics in a follow-up.  


After regrouping a few hundred yards from the camp, the party discusses its options.  Wounded and weary, the group is uncertain whether to press the attack again that night or to rest – while time is of the essence, the party believes it has the edge in Tritherion’s healing via his cleric Xander.  Still, any delay grates on Xander.  

Kit brings up an interesting point.  “Guys, what if we kill most of them?  Wouldn’t that be really bad?  I mean, if we killed all but a couple of the guards but had to run, what then?  Wouldn’t they just kill a bunch of the slaves to cut their losses, put the rest on the horses, and outrun us?”  Xander and Nasty share a glance of surprise at these words – they have found Kit’s ability to put himself in the minds of the enemy and imagine such terrible acts both useful and disturbing.  Coming from the mouth of a 15-year-old boy, however, gives the words a sharper edge.

“He might be right, Xander.”  Nasty doesn’t like this much planning, and wishes the other two would just come to a decision.  “We might should wait, heal up, hit ‘em again tomorrow.  They won’t get away.  If it comes down to it, we’ll skip a meal or two, not worry about foraging tomorrow, we could even get ahead of ‘em that way.  But you know me, I’ll do what you say.  Long as it ends with a fight.”  

“Fellows, Tritherion’s will within me says we should strike again tonight.  I shall channel what powers I am given into your wounds.  As long as I am able I cannot abide their presence this close to me.  The wails of the women are a scratching on my soul.  We go now.”

By now it has been established that Kit is capable of far more stealth than Nasty and Xander, so he leaves their small camp first.  The others count to 100, then do their best to follow quietly.  Shortly after Kit has positioned himself with his light crossbow and the party’s six remaining bolts, he hears a loud snap from the darkness behind  him – one of his companions has stepped on a fallen limb.  As the guards whip around, Kit rises from the swaying grass, now visible in the torches ringing the wagons, and kills one with a bolt through the throat.  Knowing that their noise will have alerted the camp, Xander runs at full tilt into the clearing but is immediately surrounded by waiting guards.  Several of the guards pierce his defenses and within seconds he is near death.  Swooning, he shoulds “Run!” hoping his companions can save themselves. 

Nasty misunderstands, assuming the command is a call to action.  Charging into camp, he dispatches one guard immediately.  As the hacking guards turn to him, Xander manages to back away from the mass of slavers.  Meanwhile, the leader of the guards has mounted his horse and is hunting Kit through the high grass at the edge of the torchlight.  Kit continues to pop up and fire bolts at the guards while hiding from the Rider. Nasty, surrounded by four guards and wearing no armor, is bleeding profusely within seconds. Still he fights on to buy time for his friends. Nasty takes a terrible beating but manages to remain standing.  Seeing his henchmen reduced to two, the Rider gives up on his search for the crossbowman and return to dispatch Nasty.  

Six seconds later, the sides are at an impasse.  Nasty lies unconscious beside the four guards who surrounded him, Xander has staggered away, barely standing, and Kit has one bolt remaining for his crossbow.  Among the slavers, only the Rider remains conscious.  The Rider shouts into the night, unable to see Kit and Xander, “You two cannot take me; I have seen your wounds and I am stronger than you.  But I cannot revive my comrades while I know you are out there.  I seek a compromise.”

“Why should we believe you?” Kit shouts back.  “You’d just chain us up again if you could!”  

The Rider considers, then says, “I give you your friend.  You give me your bond not to attack again tonight so I can see to my men.  Their lifeblood flees at my feet as we talk.  Decide!”

Xander is torn, but knows the urgency.  Finally, he responds, “Give us the slaves and we shall go!  You and your men can live!”

“Never!  It would be my death.  Pick a wagon.  You have those slaves for your own. The wagons and other slaves remain with me.  And you do not attack us again for a week!”  

Knowing their friend may be dying, Xander and Kit agree.  The Rider backs up and allows them to drag Nasty away.  Bowing more to gestures and sentiment than to convenience, they select the wagon full of women and children to be their booty.  As they leave they find a present – a fallen guard whose body is out of the range of torchlight.  They manage to remove his leather jerkin, dagger, and club.  They also find a small pouch 20 silver pieces – increasing the party’s total wealth to 20 silver pieces.

Xander looks around.  “Which one of you is Kara?”  Blank stares.  “Come on.  Kara?”  A girl steps forward. “You’re in charge of the women.  Keep them together and keep them moving.  We’re taking you home to your Uncle Jonah.  We met him coming through Mudsdale after you guys.”  He looks around at all the women and children, perhaps as many as 15 altogether.  “I’m sure they’ll take you on there, get you some food.”  

As the party walks slowly back to Mudsdale, taking long periods for the foraging necessary to fill their bellies, the group gets a better idea of what happened back in Mudsdale.  Kara reveals that her Uncle Jonah actually sold her to the slavers willingly the night they came through.  

The party now becomes concerned, Kit in particular. “What about Jonny?  We left him there with Jonah!  What if he’s sold him off, too?”  

“Listen, Kit, we’re going as fast as we can. We’ll figure out what happened.”  Xander pauses, reflecting.  “It sounds like Jonah didn’t have a lot of choice when he sold Kara – he was probably afraid they would take her anyway.  None of us would make the same decision here today, but what if you had a village to protect, and no strong arms?  Tritherion says that we must teach the people.  We have to tell them right from wrong, and train them to defend their sense of honor.  Individuals can find redemption in strength, both physical and moral.  Of course, he might just be a bad guy.  He might have fooled us.  We’ll find out.  What he’s done with Jonny, that’ll be the test.”

Nasty speaks up.  “And what if Little Jonny’s gone?  If he’s been ‘taken’ like Kara was?”  

“Then he’s betrayed our trust.  And the gods help him and anybody else that tries to get between us.”

Nasty and Kit exchange a glance.  “Damn right.”


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