LogThe Watch-Jason-6

The beginning of the end

== Game log for the 2020-06-21 session of The Watch, as taken by [[:User:{{{Author}}}|{{{Author}}}]] == Property "Author" (as page type) with input value "{{{Author}}}" contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.

The party arrives at the Southern Legion's main camp (map location 5), and notice immediately that there are fewer people than we'd expect. They immediately run into Sgt Marro, who explains that the camp is depopulated because the Shadow hit a few weeks ago and inflicted heavy casualties. Word has it that Commander Dirdu is planning some sort of counterstroke. This camp was once a Clan Sharn meeting place, and it's been fortified with earthworks to make it defensible.

Lt Cmdr Rezi goes to talk to Yeli. Lomo goes off to be by herself a bit. Tovy and Marro tour the defenses to see if all's secure, and come away thinking that the threat, if any, is from the northwest. The defenses are good, but the woods in the northwest provide a way for the enemy to approach. The Watch needs to either aggressively scout those woods, clear them, or both.

When Rezi finds Yeli and asks how she is, the Warden admits to fatigue, but seems reluctant to engage emotionally. When Rezi pushes it, all Yeli says is that she'll do her job, but isn't happy.

Lomo's walking around, looking to see what's what, having herself a think about that time she killed an old woman who wasn't really a threat. She concludes that the way to change the focus from disgruntlement to elan would be to go on the offensive. She gets her kit ready and then goes to report to her chain of command.

Tovy goes to report into Rezi. The Lt Cmdr likes the scouting notion. Lomo appears shortly after Tovy and suggests scouting the woods. Tovy just smiles and cocks an eyebrow at Rezi. Time for the squad to swing into action!

Some of the conscripts in camp seem kind of lost. It doesn't seem like the chain of command has integrated them. Rezi goes to Lt Cmd Dirdu to report her intentions. Dirdu queries her exact plans for the forest. Rezi talks about scouting the forest and maybe creating an outpost. Dirdu's concerned that the legion can't spare the manpower, and Tovy interrupts to suggest that absent a lot more manpower, it would be better to scout the woods unpredictably and offer the enemy no pattern they can take advantage of. Dirdu does tell the Rezi that the Shadow overran a Sharn site at the edge of the forest, but abandoned it. She'd like to know why they left. Dirdu dismisses the squad with a nod. Rezi tries to push the matter of the conscripts a little and gets slapped down.

The squad deploys in its usual marching order. Rezi fails her roll. Lomo gets a full sucess. Yeli gets a strong success, and so does Tovy. Rezi panics at a crucial moment and everyone sees it. Lomo and Tovy both get wounded. (Retcon: Lomo healed her wounds on the march and in camp. Rezi failed to heal hers, she's just going too hard for that.)

Yeli's on her own clan lands, and finds a fast path through the woods. The woods seem quiet. The site we're looking for was a collection of earthen yurts, used whenever the nomadic Sharns needed to gather for a ceremony. When we arrive, many yurts have collapsed, and there's fire damage suggesting they were fired from the inside. It's also too quiet. The animals aren't making any sounds. That reminds Yeli that if the Watch did clearcut the forest to gain extra security, it would ruin the local hunting and make it hard to feed the troops.

Rezi goes to the center of the camp and begins looking for clues. She orders Tovy to look around for half an hour or so and report back, splitting up the squad to cover the whole area. Tovy looks in one of the burnt-out yurts and finds a spearhead made of sky metal, and searching more closely, discovers signs that a great many Shadow creatures died there. Probably the Sharn defenders punished the Shadow too badly for them to remain here. Yeli looks but finds no survivors. Lomo looks for explanations for why the Shadow attacked here, and concludes it was probably preemptive, to clear out a potential threat. The site was picked over pretty well, and it's possible the Shadow has been back since their first attack. Rezi's searching the stable and decides she needs to consult with Lomo about the signs. Lomo thinks the signs she's looking at might have been Shadow, or they might have been scavengers. She's bending down to see an object on the floor more carefully when she sees Thin Boy's hand curling around a corner, and then the monster jumps Lomo. Rezi looks over and sees Thin Boy trying to strangle Lomo, and panics. She drops her knife and can't seem to pick it up, she's just pawing helplessly at the ground.

Loisa knocks an arrow but doesn't have a shot. Erda prepares to use their spear. Lomo stabs Thin Man pretty good, but he's still strangling her, and somehow stares at Rezi the whole time. Yeli spears Thin Boy, but despite her best efforts, can't pin it down. By crowding them, she's also making it hard for Lomo to escape. Tovy sees the problem and positions herself to cut off Thin Boy's escape. Thin Boy's bleeding black goo and screaming his head off. Lomo manages to fight free this time, aided by a swift kick to the monster's crotch, and Thin Boy charges Tovy.

Tovy tries to make Thin Boy impale himself on her spear as he approaches, but she misjudges his speed and size, and ends up knocked on her ass instead, with a big ol' Thin Boy handprint burning on her face. Yeli looses an arrow at him but he's on his way out at high speed, and she's not sure she hit.

Rezi collects herself, picks up her knife, and assesses the situation. Erda asks what that thing was as Loisa mentions that Thin Boy was also at the mine. Yeli just looks meaningfully at Rezi. The Lt Cmdr just says that he's bad news and they need to do away with it. Yeli pushes to see if she knows more than she's letting on, and Rezi suggests that this thing seems to be following them. Rezi sees that Yeli doesn't trust her, and realizes that the Warden's distrust is all about her tendency to get taken over by the Shadow. Lomo notices that Thin Boy seems real keen on spending time with Rezi. Rezi finds a blood trail that leads int the forest and then heads up a tree. Rezi decides that pursuit will have to wait and the squad should focus on defense, especially since Lomo's hurt.

Lomo tends her wounds, with a little help from Tovy.

Tovy shows Yeli the sky metal spearhead, and she recognizes it as a cermonial spearhead. Tovy allows her to keep it.

Rezi decides to turn around, but to scout through the woods on the way back to camp, rather than taking the most direct route. The squad eventually meets a four-person scouting party, led by Corporal Mealde. Her squad's been scouting back and forth between forest and foothills, but they haven't seen anything in the last month. Mealde's frankly a little worried that they've been forgotten, so Rezi promises to carry word of their situation back. Lomo, Yeli, and Tovy all offer up their remaining rations.

The squad then returns to base. Rezi reports in to Cmdr Dirdu right away, notifying her that the site was burned down and there's no sure sign of any recent Shadow activity. Dirdu presses for any other information, and Rezi reminds the Commander that Corporal Mealde's team needs resupply, and probably some R&R.

Tovy checks in to make sure someone has the recruits in hand. They're mostly at hard labor. Lomo goes to the healers' tent to get more attention. The healer (Ealle can't believe the size of the marks on Lomo's throat, but Lomo assures her that the enemy got the worst of the exchange. When they talk about recent events, the healer mentions that Dothas is running everything, and she's not sure she trusts Dirdu. Tovy arrives just as Lomo is leaving, so Lomo decides to stick around.

Yeli goes looking for a dice game, but she's told that Lorru has forbidden gambling in this camp. There's also no ale available. Yeli sighs despondently and goes to sharpen her spear.

Rezi goes off to try to figure out what keeps Thin Boy following her. It's the lock of hair she gave him. She reckons that getting rid of him will require some help. She goes looking for a Dothas mystic other than Dirdu, and finds Pera. Pera's older, and uses a staff as a walking stick due to a limp in her right leg, but she still carries a blade. Rezi finds her inventorying fodder, and they agree to meet for a private conversation in Pera's cabin in an hour.

Rezi returns on time, and tells Pera how exhasted she is of the Shadow following her. She tells the mystic about how Thin Boy looks and how she feels, but holds back some facts, like the lock of hair she gave it. Pera suggests she needs to confront Thin Boy by summoning him and dealing with him.

In the squad camp, as Tovy's taking care of her weapons, Lomo talks to Tovy about how she doesn't see their situation improving. They're just going around in circles, betrayed to the Shadow on missions and mired by clan politics at home. With a couple hints from Tovy, she realizes that maybe she needs Rezi to step up for them and get them better missions. Lomo then gets up and walks off.

Out in the woods, Lomo looks in the spirit world and sees whisps of Shadow tendrils coming in from the northwest. He finds one that seems to connect to Rezi and cuts it. He then asks the spirits how to cut that connection permanently, but they will her she can't, because it's not hers to sever.

Rezi leaves Pera's tent and goes to the squad area, where everyone seems preoccupied. She goes to her own tent and invites Thin Boy in so they can fight it out. When she opens her eyes, there's a shadow cast against the side of the tent. It's nine feet tall, and its eyes glow through the tent walls. Then it gives a shriek and a giant vacuum seems to suck it away from the tent wall. Rezi goes outside and sees the situation as she left it. The Thin Boy's gone, but it seems happy that she wanted to meet with it again.

Lomo can sense that the tendril was Thin Boy. She returns and tells Tovy what she found, and asks Tovy to explain it to Rezi. Tovy does so, haltingly, admitting that she's a lot more comfortable in the real world, working with weapons. Rezi seems a little invigorated at the prospect of actually settling something with the Shadow.