LogThe Watch-Jason-12

Game log for the 2020-08-02 session of The Watch, as taken by Jason

The next morningPayli summons Tovy to her tent for a mission briefing, and tells her to bring her troops. The whole encampment is abuzz with activity. People are constantly coming and going. Payli asks if the platoon is ready, and when Tovy gives the affirmative, Payli announces that the Watch is attacking the enemy stronghold today. All units are ordered to look for enemy leadership. Payli expects that once inside the citadel, organization may break down, and units will have to act as they see fit. She then briefs Tovy on the plan for how the Watch will break in. Comparison of older maps and the latest reports shows that even the walls of the enemy citadel have changed in the last few days, which makes it impossible to guess what might be waiting inside.

Tovy spends a couple hours with the platoon running extra practices on chain of command, breaking the unit up into random groupings and seeing how quickly they can figure out who's in charge and regain military effectiveness. As part of that, she promotes Lomo to Sergeant. After the briefing and exercises, Tovy gives them a break before moving out. Lomo communes with nature and tries to look for ways to improve their chances of survival. She comes away thinking the best bet for survival is to be vigilant for Shadow influence on other soldiers. Yeli and Loisa hang out together. They talk about what civilian life might be like, if they can last that long. Lomo and Risoc change their bandages and clean their wounds. Marro comes to Tovy, armed bandaged but out of its sling, and announces that the unit's ready. They agree that they're ready to go out there and make it happen.

Everyone musters. Tovy tells the platoon they all know their jobs, and if they do them properly, this is just going to be an unusually good day at work. Payli addresses the assembled troops, lays out the plan (which involves a pincer attack, with the Northern Legion having already left to get ready for their part of a pincer attack), and a reminder that there may still be stragglers in the recently demolished tent city. The troops march.

Tovy gets a full success to watch everyone's back. Lomo gets a full success on navigate and strategize. Yeli gets one for scouting. Risoc gets one on point. It's full successes all around! Complication: the mission was particularly hard on Risoc, who marks Weary and Jaded.

The platoon gets to the citadel and gets a little disorganized working through the detritus of the tent city. The sky overhead is full of storm clouds, making it harder to see and adding an oppressive feeling to the situation. Somewhere to the left of Tovy's unit, a fight breaks out, proving that there are still Shadow forces around. Yeli sees them coming out of a sort of burrow, and Risoc takes the brunt of their attack before the rest of the squad gets involved. Yeli and Lomo move to cover her, and once the whole squad arrives, it's a winnable fight. Tovy's elated to face the enemy with a weapon in her hand again and goes right at 'em. Lomo tries to flank around the pit, but the Shadow creatures had planned for that and had a second exit from the burrow. Tovy has to cover her while she gets back into formation.

The squad reunites with the platoon at the wall, including Marro, and people start throwing grappling hooks over the wall. Marro cracks a joke to Tovy about how tenacious the Shadow is today. Atop the wall, the Shadow forces have concentrated on the north side of the interior courtyard. On the western end of the courtyard, there's a keep, and on the eastern side, a couple towers in the wall. They're concentrated on the north wall because they're working siege weapons firing at the Northern Legion, but they're starting to get oriented. Tovy leads the platoon across the walls to try to protect the Northern Legion. Lomo tries calling out a strategy, but the Shadow hears her yelling orders and targets her specifically. Yeli has to jump in front of her with a shield at the right moment to keep her from taking a large-size arrow while she's busy shouting orders in the other direction.

Looking over the battlements, the squad sees the Northern Legion setting up ladders, and the units sortieing against them from the keep hesitate and then back up to the keep. Tovy doesn't like that and orders her troops to attack down into the courtyard, though she takes a wound on the way. Marro's squad keeps up with Tovy's as they push to the edge of the keep. Yeli looks for a better way into the keep than just running headlong into it, and thinks she sees it when Northern Legion troops catch some of the defending Shadow troops in a pocket. There's a lane open for a moment that will take the squad into the keep, and she leads the squad down it, with Tovy ordering the squad to follow. Risoc, on point, fights her way forward into the keep, Tovy watching her back.

Inside, there's a bellowing roar. The keep is huge but oddly empty, devoid even of interior walls, and it seems like the roof ought to collapse under its own weight. Some strange forces are keeping things standing. The space is lit only by burning braziers set on the cobblestone floor. Once we're in, a 20ft giant comes out of the shadow. It's cloaked in darkness, clad in black chain mail and rotting leather, and it roars again as it charges the squad. Tovy roars back and sees whether being jabbed with the pointy end hurts giants. It does! Lomo moves forward to cover her, with Risoc alongside. She's actually able to get behind it and strike at its legs, keeping it from focusing too much on Tovy. Yeli follows through on that opening, with Loisa covering her, and it's only Loisa help that saves her when the beast turns unexpectedly and she's briefly the sole object of its attentions. Only a well-time sprear throw from Loisa keeps the giant from skewering Yeli. The squad's attacks are clearly working, and Risoc darts it at the opportune moment to strike its leg and bring it to its knees. It roars, shaking the building, collapses to all fours, and then melts into a pile of writhing black tentacles. The roaring continues even after the giant seems to lack a mouth.

The tendrils turn out to be evil and attack the squad, so the squad hacks them to bits. The noise stops, and there's a rumble of thunder before lightning strikes the keep and collapses part of the roof. The squad can see storm clouds overhead as the keep begins collapsing. Tovy orders everyone out of the keep. The fight outside is going in the Watch's favor, but the walls are also collapsing, and people are having to dodge falling rocks. Marro is fighting hard, holding her own in company with her squad, and calls out that it's time to go. Tovy confirms that it is indeed time for the platoon to get outside the walls. A pit opens up where the keep used to be, and the driving rain and lighting make an impressive backdrop as the stronghold collapses into the ground. The Watch cheers. Tovy offers Yeli her hand.

How is society changed after defeating the Shadow?

• The Clans aren't as isolated as they were before, since everyone knows people from other clans.
• People rapidly return to normal and take up productive pursuits.
• The people begin exploring across the old border, and become more curious about the outside world.
• The troubled souls move on to the next plain, and the spirit world becomes a more pleasant place.

What do our heroes do after the war?

• Risoc goes back to her clan and pursues her religious vocation.
• Yeli and Loisa go into business together. It shows all the signs of being a life-long friendship.
• Lomo finds a group that explores unsettled territory and hunts down any remaining Shadow stragglers.
• Tovy starts a freight company, delivering goods from the heartland to the new territories beyond the old border. She's a major cog in keeping Lomo and Marro's organization supplied. She and Marro also become lifelong friends.