LogAn Age of High Adventure-Jason-7

Game log for the 2022/09/11 session of An Age of High Adventure, as taken by Jason

Oracle: God-Kings of War

• JS - A fortress guarding the only pass through treacherous mountains, overseen by a corrupt and voracious war-captain.
• 3D - A war-sorceress, slender but commanding, with golden hair.
• 6S - A flock of hunterbirds, sharp-beaked, clever, and dreadful, and their master.
• 5S - A great warship, set with ram and mangonel, and its crew.

The fortress is named the Iron Crag, and it guards the White Channel, not a road, which threads between two peaks. All ships passing through the strait must pay a toll. Various concerned parties have hired a sorceress and a warship to force the pass and end the extortionate tolls. Those parties, including the Duke of Koluris, want control of the fortress, but for the fortress itself to remain intact.

Natan works for the Iron Crag, helping to ensure that they receive warning of approaching ships.

• Niccolo Aguila, Captain of the ship - Joe
• Natan the All-Seeing, Master of the birds - Gary
• Nirar, faithful lieutenant of the war-captain of the fortress - Jason
• Zahir, bosun of the warship - Tim
• Annewyn, the sorceress - Lisa

NPCs:

• Borkar, captain of the Iron Crag
• Telus, first made of the Fanciulla del Vento
• Gastrion, the Duke of Koluris, which duchy includes the Crag, who is sick and tired of the Crag's failure to pay taxes.

The warship is the Fanciulla del Vento.

Best Interests:

• Niccolo
  • Save his crew
  • Profit from my mission
• Natan
  • Keep my home on the cliffs
  • See a regime change
• Nirar
  • Defend the Iron Crag
  • Keep his men alive
• Zahir
  • Humiliate the Iron Crag
  • Kill Telus
• Annewyn
  • Crush the enemy
  • Gain power
• Borkar
  • Hold the Crag
  • Enslave Annewyn

Niccolo knows that it's very difficult to approach the Iron Crag unseen. He decides to fly the Ducal flag and come straight in, dipping their colors in support as they approach. Telus does not like approach; Borkar will sink the ship as it approaches, since he knows the Duke is displeased. They decide to land well short of the Crag and approach unseen, overland. Natan, of course, has birds out to detect just such an event.

The crew notice the birds as soon as they approach land. The weather picks up, and Niccolo takes advantage of the wind coming off the cliff to disperse the birds. The birds see a ship come out of the south, heading east, and then can't observe it any more. Natan is left to assume they're trying to go the long way to avoid the tolls. Niccolo manages to avoid the birds.

Niccolo, Zahir, and Annewyn disembark with their landed troops, with intent to assault the fortress. They next need to get past more birds and also Nirar's patrols. Those patrols are positioned to observe movement along the headland. Annewyn tries to raise a mist, but the wind is so strong that she exhausts herself trying to maintain it. The others try to avoid the patrol, but they're headed directly for their avenue of advance. The raiders attempt to hide and let the patrol walk on by, and it works. They position grappling hooks and hang from the cliff, and the patrol, looking for human forms, do not detect the ruse. The intruders have gotten inside the patrols, and are looking down on the Crag.

Now the raiders can use a path, made for the patrols to move back and forth. They kick off their attack with Annewyn launching a fireball against the Iron Crag. It starts a small fire on a docked vessel, which at first could be confused with one of the torches lining the docks. The defenders do detect it, and call for more men to help put it out, which leaves the Crag heavily distracted.

This pisses Borkar off to no end. Nirar assures him they got the taxes off, and goes to make sure it gets cut away from the dock before the flames spread. While he's doing that, the raiders throw their hooks to the shoreside wall, and begin their assault. The guards raise the alarm immediately. Niccolo's grapple gets cut away, injuring him. Zahir's thugs get over the wall, though, and in short order, Borkar is dead.

Nirar hears the sound of fighting from the land side, and one of the towers burning. Since there are no avenues of escape, he leads them to investigate, and sees that the attackers look like soldiers, not brigands. They barricade themselves in the lower towers, near the gate. They see a huge gout of fire erupt from the tallest tower of the main keep. For an instant, the flames take the form of a griffin, rampant. Zahir locks himself in his room.

Niccolo arrives, and Zahir tells him the remaining guards are held up in the lower tower. The Captain tells the holdouts in the lower tower to surrender to their Duke. Nirar demands to see proof of his authority, and Niccolo provides it. He then hears the men inside arguing with their leader, wanting to grab the enemy captain and make him a hostage. Nirar insists it's wrong to do so, and Niccolo doesn't look so easy to take in a hurry. The men conclude that they want passage out, and the Captain agrees. He explains as much to Zahir, who is wondering if maybe some of those men might like to sign on.

Of cours, that leaves Natan, barricaded in his room in the tallest tower. Niccolo tries to make a deal that will get him out of there. He cons him into it, then kicks him in the rump and has him clapped in irons. That room, defended to the end, turns out to be mostly full of birdshit. There are no proper windows, just pass-throughs for the osprey rookery. The troops are not impressed to realize that Natan himself is also rather untidy with bird shit.

Zahir tells Annewyn that Telus will be the new master of the Crag for now, and then explains that neither he nor the Captain really trusts that guy. Could Annewyn perhaps make sure that Telus comes to a bad end? Of course she could.

Niccolo then breaks the news to Telus, who isn't real keen on running a fortress. Some of the men also think it's more proper for the Captain to take the fort. So many of them pitch in that Telus decides to seize the moment, put a knife in his Captain, and make it look like he just fell through some fire-weakened boards on the docks and then get dashed upon the rocks.

This hubbub interrupts Annewyn and Zahir's conversation. Also, Nirar sees it. The sorceress and bosun head down to investigate, and find a bunch of guys trying to fish something out of the water. Telus tells Zahir his whole cover story, and suggests that maybe Zahir needs to hold the keep. Telus calls him a mutineer backstabber and pulls a blade. Nirar calls out to Zahir that he saw the whole thing, and if the bosun will free him, he and his men will fight against Telus. Annewyn comes in on Zahir's side, and while the mutineers might have faced steel with courage, fireballs take the starch right out of them. Telus runs for it and escapes into the keep.

Nirar's men find a blood trail, and go to head Telus off. He manages to bar a door in their path, though. They try to go around and the blood trail ends up in a pile of bodies. They find a trail again, but Telus escapes. The defenders have to try to split up and search, with raiders sacking the place interfering, whereas Telus just has to beat feet.

Nirar's men are convinced that if they go back, having failed to kill Telus, Zahir will kill them all. When Nirar insists on being loyal to the new boss, they stab him and leave him for dead. Telus' men find him, and Telus decides to spare him. Nirar goes forth, convinced that trying to do the right thing and be loyal to the people around you is a damned fool sucker play, and next time, he's going to steal all the good stuff and retire.

Zahir spares Natan but does not enlist him. He's just a touch crazy.