Expedition: Blackjack/Emmisaries to the Orcs - 01 Oct 2021

[Marullus]

So.... Which way do you choose?

• Veer east and travel along the river to Pinewood Vale
• Southwards through the forest to pass the crystal dome and the green dragon suspected within
• Veer West then south the way you came, emerging near Beith's Watch

[Jernau35]

Back the way we came would be my first choice. And definitely nowhere near the crystal dome and the green dragon.

[Spearmint]

Amistad

while we travel I would like to take stock on the inventory we have in the wagon and also if my armour is ruined change into the plate-mail we took from Bulak.

[Marullus]

The troops seem encouraged by Piers' response and grateful as he prays for their wounds. They accept his leadership. With all who are still alive in good health, the mounted troop reapportions itself efficiently and heads south along the river to return along the same pathway which they took to reach here. Having marched the full day before, labored building rock Cairns through the night, then begun another march to flee the released dragon at dawn with no sleep, the group is sober and tired (-1 to rolls).

The wagon is damaged and pocked by the spray of acid, but not enough to compromise its ability. It is still loaded with trade goods which were intended for the main orc camp, of course, so remains heavily-laden. Most of it is still in fair condition as it was carefully packed, and Amistad ensures it remains so. The wagon is further laden with the first black dragon's head, Bulak's armor and sword, and 20+ orc-forged weapons of fine dark steel which were added to its previous load. Amistad's armor is only as damaged as Bulak's is (as the former only -almost- died and the latter was beaten completely to death) and the large orc-woman's plate would be ill-fitted on the lumberjack. He recalls that, even with Trick's capabable skill to fix the wagon, it broke down twice trying to get through the forest and arrive here and slowed your party to half speed, extending the trip to seven full days, and Trick is no longer along for the return trip.

As on the way north, travel along the logging road on the riverbank to the forest is swift and easy. The 16 miles is traversed in the same seven hours, leaving two to three hours of useable light when you reach the forest's edge. Determined to travel southwest as you came, you press on into the forest without roads and are about two miles in, the slow pace of the wagon readily apparent as you force it over root and thicket, when the early sunset compels you to camp for the night. The knights set campfires and assign watches, the large size of your party making you much safer than a normal group in the woods. The sign of orcish lumbering abounds here and it is not so thick as in the untouched depths where you spent so many days coming north not long ago. You are able to enjoy the stars as they begin to come out, the night being almost clear.

The cookfires are still roasting and none have yet drifted off to bed when the sentry yells an alarm. It was superfluous, however, as there was no way for you to miss the woosh of the low-flying dragon skimming the tree tops above you and banking sharply, arcing around your camp. By its massive size and the green glistening scales, you assume it is likely the mother dragon from the Crystal Dome which Amistad speculated about that morning...

Actions?

Date: 10 October 2021, 8:10pm
Light: Campfires
Effects: none
Injuries: Akkara, Bera, Trick (Dead), Issachar (Dead and eaten)

[Spearmint]

'Blackjack' Amistad

the extra wagon load unfortunately counter balanced and offset by the loss of three npc's.

The logger leads the draft horses away from the wagon and out of sight or at least as far under cover of the trees as he can reasonably get. I don't think we should go for anything confrontational. At best it may just be checking us out and hopefully sated from chewing on the orc warrior group that passed us a few days ago. This dragon is also more intelligent and cast spells. It also has a name. Lissateth (or something like that?).

Choices:

Go Emu and put head in sand hoping it doesn't see us and flies away.
Run in a multitude of directions and hope it chases someone else.
Fight it out as a last stand in the woods.
Acknowledge its' presence and approach it peaceably and with tact. With nothing much else to lose, Amistad will volunteer for that should it land.

[Jernau35]

"Sergeant!" barks Piers. "Take the men and the horses and go. Now!"

"Let's not give this thing a reason to attack. Get out of sight among the trees."

Piers helps the troopers grab their gear and move out quickly. He calls to Amistad.

"It'll probably breathe all over a large group just to be sure. But two harmless eccentrics out for a country ride in their old wagon, sitting around a fire and telling stories? It might just leave us alone. Want to try it?"

[Spearmint]

Amistad

Okay we'll go with that action. Amistad will keep the draft horses by the wagon and sit around the campfire whistling dixie.

[Marullus]

The knights scatter under the trees, leaving Piers and Amistad sitting on the wagon by the campfire, inoffensive and minding their own business. The firelight shines upon Amistad's carefully polished lion crested breastplate and the red dragonscale worn by Piers. The dragon takes a low, slow second pass. You are buffetted by the rush of wind under its wings, you can smell the dry, ascerbic scent of its flesh. With its second pass, it banks again, but this time flies back off eastward, leaving you alone.

Eventually, confidence returns and the camp is resumed. Night passes until just before dawn when the last guard signals a warning. The sound of orcish voices can be heard to the northwest, dragging cut logs noisily through the forest. Eager to avoid further conflict, you see if they'll pass and they do. The camp rises and prepares breakfast and is underway by the dawn, hoping to make the most of the long, cold day and its scant daylight hours.

You begin in earnest the difficult task of hauling the ill-suited wagon back to the lands of Gaul. You weave and detour, shoving over roots, through brambles, and around trees. The day passes as slowly as your passage north and after ten hours the light is fadiing to the horizon once more. It is then that you hear the dreaded sound...

CRACK!! The wagon bumps down over a large root and hits the wrong way. The rear axle cracks in two. The wagon broke twice on the way north, but it only took a full-day for Trick to get it operational. Without the journeyman cartwright, your options are far more limited...

Actions?

Date: 11 October 2021, 5:20pm
Light: Fading sunset
Effects: none
Distance Travelled: ~6 miles today
Injuries: Akkara, Bera, Trick (Dead), Issachar (Dead and eaten)

[Jernau35]

Piers looks at the wagon and lets out a long breath. "I'm surprised it lasted that long really. Does anybody know anything about wagons?"

Piers inspects the load on the wagon. He begins to mentally divide the gear into essential and non-essential. He calls over to Amistad, "If we have to, we can use our horses to carry what we need and walk back to Gaul".

How many miles from Gaul are we? Or how many days march on foot, if that makes more sense?

[Spearmint]

Amistad

"We can triage the foodstocks and goods. Perhaps store the preservable stuff. Load up the horses and move on.".

I have a list of goods and weight in my files. I will dig out and edit post with what we take and leave behind.

[Marullus]

How many miles from Gaul are we? Or how many days march on foot, if that makes more sense?

You take a movement penalty in the forest and then a second for encumbrance. On the way north, you had the wagon setting you at 1/2 speed for encumbrance (it's Max speed off-road). You thought it would take five days but the wagon broke twice so Trick the Cartwright fixed it and you got through the woods in seven days instead.

Depending how you load the horses (and assuming you use them for baggage and walk full speed yourselves) you can potentially faster. Your draft horses have a max speed of 3/4. You can drag the wagon as a sledge at 1/4 speed. Rules for this stuff are here.

[Spearmint]

This was my pre expedition wagon store:


Supplies:

Strongbox of healing potions.

1 week of unpreserved rations:
2 weeks of preserved rations:
x 20 people = 12sp/21lbs x20 24gp / 420lbs

5 x four man tents 60gp / 100lbs
Bedrolls and winter blankets x20 12gp / 260lbs
Hemp ropes and grapnels 300ft' (6 x 50ft') 6gp / 60lbs
Lanterns (x6) 54gp / 18lbs
Pints of oil x 100 10gp / 100lbs
Barrels of provisions: x 6 
(Water, Ale, Salted eels), 6gp / 240lbs

Sundry equipment: spades, spikes, toolbox, crowbar, 1st aid, reins and harness, saddle bags, extra arrows, blankets, tinderboxes, mess tins and cooking utensils, parchments, inks, candles 28gp / 200lbs

Totals: 200gp Total weight hauled 1,400lbs.

Supposes two draft horses and off-road iron shod wagon wheels.


This is what each of the troops carry:

Each of the men wear platemail armour (AC3), hp 6. Strength +1 in melee. Save as F1. Each rides a warhorse with battle familiaruty and barding (AC5). They carry lances, shields, longswords and three javelins. 

Each has two saddle bags which contains their personal gear (clothes), rations and equipment for three weeks.

Saddle bag 1, 
side a) personal gear of clothes, boots, 15lbs
side b) 7 days unpreserved rations, 7 x preserved 14lbs

Saddle bag 2,
side a) bedroll, blankets, sundries, (sacks, mirrors, spikes, holy symbols, candles), 15lbs
side b) flasks of oil x6, torches x 8, mess tins, tinderbox. 15lbs

Wineskin, waterskin.

Sgt Danzeiger also has a set of manacles and cuffs (Morlock chain) from Amistad and a lantern. Tubby also has a lantern.


Added to this are the orc weapons, dragon head and Bulak armour and weapon.

[Jernau35]

So if I'm doing the math correctly (quite possibly not ), the wagon took a week at half-speed, therefore a wagon/sled would take two weeks at quarter-speed? And draft horses at three-quarter speed would take about ten days?

I think we should load the draft horses with rations and tents, distribute stuff like the healing potions, lanterns&soil, cooking equipment amongst the men and leave what we can't carry. The extra stuff isn't worth the wandering monsters we'd attract over the extra days out here.

[Marullus]

Draft horses (.75) are faster than the wagon (.5) if they are carrying less than 450lbs each. So the expected five day trip goes down to 3.5 days.

[Spearmint]

Leaving the barrels saves the most weight. Taking days off the trip is fine with Amistad.

The way the trip has gone he suffers from the PTSD of the deaths. I think he will hibernate in the logging yard for the winter and review his choices for further adventure when spring comes.

[Marullus]

Okay, you leave six barrels of provisions, which I assume gets your draft horses below 450lbs each. I want you to post your accounting at some point to show what's apportioned where and if anything else is left behind, but I will accept that you're choosing to move ahead with speedy horses (.75).

Repacking the mounts by firelight and saying goodbye to both your provisions and the broken wagon, the group is ready to set out again once more when the morning light trickles through the heavy canopy above. Your spirits are slightly improved, no longer wrestling the wagon through undergrowth. As you approach mid-day, you are excited to see that the forest is thinning and showing signs of logging - the knights shed their oppressive palor and talk of soon being in their beds.

That is, until you emerge from the forest and see the massive mountain in front of you, not behind. You realize you got turned about in the deep forests and wandered on a completely different heading. You suspect you're a bit further west than you entered the wood, and though you can't make out the river itself, you can see the watershed dipping that direction as you peer to the eastern horizon. The arm of the mountain that juts southward and hosts the orcish watch tower is to your northeast - going due north from where you are now it is further to the mountain slopes, at least 24 miles rather than the 16 or so you estimated along the river's course.


Date: 12 October 2021, 12:20pm
Light: Midday sun
Effects: none
Distance Travelled: ~5 miles today
Injuries: Akkara, Bera, Trick (Dead), Issachar (Dead and eaten)

[Spearmint]

Amistad

Not amused by the complete turn around and practically wasting half a day. Perhaps keep the sun at our backs and follow the forest westwards away from the river and mountain for the rest of the day and then head south in the morning to appear eventually north of Beith Watch?

I would like to steer clear of orcs and dragons if we can.

[Jernau35]

Okay, you've seen how bad I am at math but if I'm doing this right:

Sundry = 200lbs
Tents = 500lbs
Bedroll etc = 260lbs
Oil = 100lbs
1 wk rations = 140lbs
Lanterns, ropes etc =78lbs

Total = 1278lbs between two draft horses.

That keeps everything except the barrels. Does that work?

Piers agrees with Amistad's direction of march and the reasons for doing so.

[Spearmint]

Supplies kept on the two draft horses:

Strongbox of healing potions. 20 lbs.

Unpreserved rations are eaten or ditched by now.
2 weeks of extra preserved rations:
x 10 surviving people = 140lbs

3 x four man tents = 60lbs.
Hemp ropes and grapnels 300ft' (6 x 50ft') 60lbs
Lanterns (x6) 18lbs
Pints of oil x 40 40lbs (in strongbox)

Sundry equipment: spades, spikes, toolbox, crowbar, 1st aid, reins and harness, saddle bags, extra arrows, blankets, tinderboxes, mess tins and cooking utensils, parchments, inks, candles 200lbs.

Bulak's axe and platemail, orcish weapons. Circa 300 lbs.

840 lbs shared between two horses. Gear packed in saddle bags and tied large sacks.

In a previous list I described what the troops personally carry. We have enough food and winter supplies that is certain.

Drink the ale! Leave behind stuff we don't need, extra food, tents, trade barrels (in fact the trade barrels could have been gifted to Mohawk prior to us deciding to return to incentivuse future trade).

[Jernau35]

Yes, a shame we didn't think to leave them behind. But it looks like we've saved the rest of the gear.
Do you think it's worth burying them? Make a map for anybody coming this way another time?

It might make a great starting adventure for a couple of broke 1st level characters. "Hunt for the Lost Barrels of Amistad"

Especially if we spread a rumour we buried a 5000gp gem with them