1650: The Miniseries – Session 03 – Part 2

[The new Baron is crowned, the border sweeping starts, and the Baron's birthday is celebrated a bit more than expected.]

Player Characters:
Lasairfhiona [pronounced “Lah-sah-reena”] – human female Medicine Woman (4th-level Shaman)
Ysgwyn [pronounced “ees-win”] – elf female Warrior-Seer (2nd-level Elven Spellsword)
Ignis – human male Commissary (4th-level Venturer)
Vladimir – dwarf male Dwarven Repriser (3rd-level Dwarven Fury)
Vojtěch – human male “Theurgist” (actually a Spiritualist, a 3rd-level Warlock)

Non-Player Characters:
Gabriel – human female Forester (3rd-level Explorer)
Heinrike – human female Gammertingen Scout, head of the Scouts unit
Marcus – human male Slayer (4th-level Assassin)
Wolf-Klaus – human male noble, Baron of Gammertingen


Thursday, June 9, 1650 AD
9:00 AM
START MONTAGE

GAMMERTINGEN LUTHERAN CHURCH:
Wolf-Klaus, dressed in his most impressive clothes, fit for nobility but with a bare head, enters the Gammertingen Lutheran church and all present stand.  The church is full of dignitaries and the elite of the townsfolk.  Paintings of Wolf-Klaus’ deceased family were also present at the altar, each with a black ribbon around it.  Wolf-Klaus starts walking down the aisle to where the priest waits.  The organ starts playing impressive music.  [Organ music continues playing through entire montage.]

CUT TO SOUTH OF KETTERNACKER:
Ignis and a small detail of mercenaries crawl up the side of a low rise, each wearing a light blue armband.  At the crest they spy a blockade manned by troops in black.  The mercenaries ready their muskets.

CUT TO FURTHER SOUTH:
Another group of mercenaries with light blue armbands are prepping their harquebuses and sighting on a blockade different from the one previously shown.

CUT BACK TO GAMMERTINGEN LUTHERAN CHURCH:
Wolf-Klaus is kneeling before the priest, taking his oaths.  The priest is asking, “…to defend the barony and the people therein and keep the peace?”  “I will,” Wolf-Klaus vows.

CUT BACK TO SOUTH OF KETTERNACKER:
The mercenaries in black are sitting and joking with each other when a fireball erupts among them, unleashing an inferno of flames and burning everything.  The mercenaries die screaming.  Ignis and his team stand up to watch.

CUT BACK TO FURTHER SOUTH:
One of the mercenaries in black at this blockade looks to the horizon to the north, where a plume of smoke can just barely be seen.  The others stand as he draws their attention to it - then a volley of harquebus fire from a nearby rise cuts them all down.

CUT BACK TO GAMMERTINGEN LUTHERAN CHURCH:
Wolf-Klaus, now wearing the baronial crown of Gammertingen turns to face the attending dignitaries and townsfolk and is greeted with applause.

FADE TO BLACK

Late Morning
Following the coronation ceremony, a minor reception happened where Wolf-Klaus, now Baron of Gammertingen, publicly mixed with the visiting and local dignitaries.  As all the important issues were discussed in private the night before, this is a social setting for small talk and congratulations, to see and be seen.  The paintings of Wolf-Klaus’ deceased family from inside the church were also present and kept the reception slightly somber.

Afternoon
Waiting for the baron’s birthday feast later that evening, Yswyn decided that her bed had been too empty the last week.  She sent a message to the Snuggly Duckling, asking that Micha and Sigi be sent over to Gammertingen town and the guest house Wolf-Klaus had set aside for his trusted friends.  If she was going to stay in this human town, she thought, she might as well have some toys to play with.

Vojtěch spent the time doing the things a court mage would do, planting the idea that he is the court mage in the minds of both the visiting dignitaries and the baron’s household staff.  Vojtěch doesn’t actually hold that position, but when the time comes for that to be decided, he wants all involved to see him as the natural candidate.

Lasairfhiona, Gabriel, and Yswyn picked up their dresses from the dressmaker and had a final fitting to fix any minor details.  The dresses all had extra pockets sewn into them for concealing things [read: “pistols and other weapons”].  Gabriel’s and Yswyn’s dresses both had sword sheaths artfully hidden in the back of the dresses.  [Short swords only, but still swords.]  The three women spent the rest of the evening filling the pockets with various implements of warfare “just in case” and adjusting placements and positions of the gear so they did not clank when they walked and the dresses draped naturally.  Ebba Schultes, the dressmaker, had done her job well and the three women felt ready for anything untoward that might happen that night.

Evening
The party for Wolf-Klaus’ birthday was a feast held in the courtyard between the manor house and the barracks.  The decorations were extensive and tasteful, having been arranged by the Baroness prior to her untimely death.  The initial stages of the party went well until Vladimir noticed that his most recent refill was only half full.  He looked around for the server who had given him the half empty drink and spotted the man steadily walking towards the high table while pulling out a previously concealed pistol.  Vladimir stood up to get a better view and noticed three other “servers” also walking steadily towards the high table where the baron and the prince were seated.

At the same time, Lasairfhiona also noticed four servers acting unusual and ignoring requests from the guests near them.  She glanced over at Vladimir and saw the dwarf picking up his battleaxe and stepping towards one of the servers.  That was all the warning she needed to nudge Gabriel and discretely point out the possible trouble.

Vladimir struck the first blow, sneaking up behind the closest assassin and striking him with his battleaxe, loudly declaring, “Never short a dwarf on his ale!”  This made everyone else at the feast pause in their conversations, wondering how drunk the dwarf was to over-react so badly.  Then the assassins raised their pistols, pointing them at the High Table.  Suddenly the crowd realized this was an assassination attempt, maybe the dwarf wasn't really that drunk, and they did not want to get caught in the crossfire between the assassins and the possibly sober dwarf.  Almost as one the crowd started scrambling toward the exits [or at least away from the High Table].

In the ensuing scramble and fight between the assassins and Wolf-Klaus’ “associates”, Vojtěch cast Summon Hero to engage one of the assassins and eventually kill him.  Another assassin shot Wolf-Klaus and hit him with a glancing blow with his pistol [I rolled low on damage].  Lasairfhiona used Command Word “Surrender” on him, which he did.  Yswyn and Gabriel killed the last two assassins, by which time most of the guests had fled the courtyard.  Lasairfhiona immediately moved to Wolf-Klaus’ side and healed him.  The newly confirmed baron commented, “Now I’ll have to be seen at the street festival or everyone will think I died during the attack.”

Vojtěch had the assassin’s bodies taken away to be examined later [as a court mage would do].  Meinrad, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, excused himself for the evening, claiming he had had enough excitement for the evening and retired to his rooms.  Wolf-Klaus went and changed into fresh clothes without so many bullet holes in them and more appropriate for a street festival.  The rest of the visiting dignitaries [once they were located] accepted the baron’s invitation to adjoin to the street festival.  The group of worthies [plus the baron’s “associates”] exited the walled portion of the town and spent several hours enjoying the street festival just across the river.  The baron made a point of being seen to counter any rumors he had just been killed in an assassination attempt.  Many of the townsfolk were surprised and pleased to see him still alive.  Those that weren’t, hid it well.

End of Session


[So, for the opening scene of this part of Session 3 I was channeling the baptism scene in the Godfather, where Michael Corleone was renouncing the works of the devil while his hit teams were killing all those who had wronged him and murdered his father.  I might not have done it full justice, but I was trying to be concise while getting the idea across – the session notes are long enough as it is.]

[Next session the PCs will be reunited as the Baron goes to war against the enemy forces inside his barony.  I plan to use the mass combat system in the ACKS Domains at War supplement.  I’ve played using it before and it is one of the reasons I chose the Adventurer Conqueror King System for this campaign.  This will be my first time running it, so wish me luck!]

1650: The Miniseries
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3, Part 1

Session 4 [Not Yet Written]

1650: The Miniseries – Session 03 – Part 1

[Forces put in place, raids happen, and guests arrive.]

Player Characters:
Lasairfhiona [pronounced “Lah-sah-reena”] – human female Medicine Woman (4th-level Shaman)
Ysgwyn [pronounced “ees-win”] – elf female Warrior-Seer (2nd-level Elven Spellsword)
Ignis – human male Commissary (4th-level Venturer)
Vladimir – dwarf male Dwarven Repriser (3rd-level Dwarven Fury)
Vojtěch – human male “Theurgist” (actually a Spiritualist, a 3rd-level Warlock)

Non-Player Characters:
Marcus – human male Slayer (4th-level Assassin)
Gabriel – human female Forrester (3rd-level Explorer)
Wolf-Klaus – human male noble, Baron of Gammertingen


Monday, June 6, 1650 AD
In the morning, Wolf-Klaus sent Marcus and Heinrike east to attempt to intercept Ignis and his forces on their way back to the barony.  Wolf-Klaus gave them new orders for Ignis and his troops to deliver to Ignis.  They stopped only to pick up supplies before walking east.  Heinrike knew some good lookout points to spot an approaching force, but some measure of luck would still be necessary.

Vojtěch spent the day perusing the baronial records and library looking for information on the town of Bitz.  He found a record of the town being abandoned in 1641.  Most of those leaving the town headed south, staying inside the County of Sigmaringen, but a clothier known to the Gammertingen’s Steward stopped to speak with the steward and the baron.  The clothier, Timotheus Sonnen, relayed that the few people left in Bitz chose to “flee the evil that had taken residence there.”  The notes are not very specific about what exactly happened, only that Bitz was now abandoned.  As the Thirty Years War was ongoing, the baron decided to not pursue the matter as he had trouble enough.

Lasairfhiona decided she wanted to go harass the enemy troops camped in the northern part of the barony.  She felt there should be some animals in the area she could induce to attack the campsite and make life difficult for the enemy and Gabriel, her bodyguard, could not dissuade her.  Lasairfhiona informed Yswyn of her plan and Yswyn thought it sounded entertaining, so she volunteered to accompany Lasairfhiona and Gabriel.  They paused long enough to inform Wolf-Klaus of their plans before the three of them headed northeast on the road towards Harthausen.

Vladimir decided that his time would be best spent doing two things: bodyguarding Wolf-Klaus and drinking.  He spent the day tailing Wolf-Klaus around as Wolf-Klaus made the arrangements for his official coronation on Thursday and performed the tedious duties of ruling.  That’s where the drinking came in for Vladimir.  No one attempted to dissuade the dwarf of either of his plans and got used to him being there.

Afternoon
Lasairfhiona and Yswyn reached the area roughly south of the enemy camp [by 2-3 miles] and turned north off the road.  Carefully approaching the area, they noticed a guard picket in a small copse of trees.  Lasairfhiona sent her totem animal [a raven named “Wren”] to investigate.  Wren reported humans in the trees, numbering twice as many as them.

Lasairfhiona, Gabriel, and Yswyn discussed tactics and decided to attack from range.  While Gabriel and Yswyn prepared their bows, Lasairfhiona noticed some squirrels in the grasses nearby and went over to talk with them.  Lasairfhiona cast speak with animals and asked the three squirrels to go harass the humans over in the trees.  Lasairfhiona later reported that the squirrel leader replied, “Those humans?  They chased us out of our trees.  We’re in.”  She vows that the squirrel leader then snapped his claws and a pack of 12 squirrels moved out of the nearby tall grass and advanced on the enemy picket.  Lasairfhiona then went over back to where Gabriel and Yswyn waited.

They watched the squirrels advance and then attack the sentries, hearing the humans cry out in terror as the squirrels swarmed them.  Deciding that the squirrels were distracting enough, the trio changed plans and drew swords.  They charged the copse of trees, Lasairfhiona stopping outside the copse to chant [she cast holy chant to provide bonuses to Yswyn and Gabriel].  As Yswyn and Gabriel charged in, the sentries discharged their weapons, trying to kill some of the squirrels.  The sentries were mostly unprepared for the two women: Gabriel cut down two of them and Yswyn whirled through the remaining four like an elven reaper, cutting them all down.

The three women then emptied the pockets and haversacks of the sentries, looking for useful information.  While Lasairfhiona sorted through the pile of material, Yswyn arranged the bodies into “amusing positions.”  They soon noticed 20+ additional enemy troops moving in formation towards them.  They grabbed the sentries’ weapons, black powder, and ammunition and ran for it.  Lasairfhiona sent Wren flying ahead and Wren returned almost immediately, reporting humans on horses approaching from the west to cut off their retreat.  Warned of the cavalry, Lasairfhiona, Gabriel, and Yswyn took evasive action.  It took them most of the afternoon to truly lose their pursuers [and several Evasion rolls].  Once clear of the riders, the trio used a combination of wilderness proficiencies and the occasional pass without trace spell to safely exit the area and report back to Gammertingen town.

Tuesday, June 7, 1650 AD
Mid-morning
The family of Wolf-Klaus’ deceased brother-in-law, Carl zu Hohensolms-Lich, arrived at the town gates.  The group consisted of Alexander zu Hohensolms-Lich (Carl’s father) and Judit-Daniela (mother) and Katja and Sibylle (sisters, unmarried) with a small retinue.  Wolf-Klaus broke the news of the assassination of his family and their son to them as gently as he could and brought them into the manor house.  [Note: Lich is the name of a town and in this case denotes one of the branches of the Hohensolms family.]

Noon
Thanks to Heinrike’s excellent knowledge of the land, she and Marcus were able to intercept Ignis and his troops north of Wilsingen as the army marched across the northern Zweifalten Abbey lands towards the Barony of Gammertingen.  Marcus delivered Ignis’ new orders.  The new orders were to take his troops and any engineers to Harthausen and fortify the village as seems best while awaiting new orders.  Not for the last time, Ignis wondered how he went from merchant to army general.

A couple hours later, Ignis and his army approached the border into Gammertingen.  They could see some enemy troops hurriedly packing up a blockade and gear.  When asked if he wanted the army to give chase, Ignis said, “No.  I’ll handle this.”  He pulled out his cube of force, stood up in the wagon he was riding in, and used the cube to lob a fireball at the enemy troops.  Clustered as they were, he caught all of them in the blast, along with the wooden rails of the barricade, incinerating everything.  This impressed the mercenaries to no end and they marched through the burned remains of the blockade with heightened morale, knowing that their leader WAS the artillery they seemed to be lacking.

Mid-Afternoon
Ignis and his troops marched into Harthausen.  The villagers were very nervous at first, but once Ignis showed the badge indicating he was on the Baron’s business and explained his orders, they became very happy and enthusiastic.  Ignis set Axel Oppenheimer, the engineer he had hired in Justingen, to surveying the village and drawing up plans for fortifications for the troops and the villagers.  The rest of the mercenaries set up camp adjacent to the village.

Back at Gammertingen town, Meinrad von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and his party arrived for the coronation.  While a representative from Sigmaringen had been expected, the Prince himself was not, nor were his possibly-armed retainers.  Wolf-Klaus greeted his very noble guest, apologizing for the low-key greeting as so illustrious a guest had not been expected.  Prince Meinrad graciously accepted the apology and stated he had heard word from merchants that there were troubles in Gammertingen and he felt obliged to come in person to support his neighbor to the north.  If Wolf-Klaus needed troops to secure his birth-right, Prince Meinrad was willing to send a contingent of his personal forces to assist the young baron.  Suspecting that if he accepted this offer, those troops might never leave, Wolf-Klaus politely declined, stating that he had forces in route to meet his needs.  The two men and their entourages then entered the manor house to get settled.  Vladimir suddenly had a lot more people to keep an eye on.  This was going to take more beer.

Wednesday, June 8, 1650 AD
At dawn, Marcus and Heinrike left Harthausen to return to Gammertingen and report back to Wolf-Klaus.  When he finally heard how many mercenaries Ignis was able to hire, he was pleased.  He drew up some new orders for Ignis, instructing Ignis to start clearing all the blockades set up by the enemy at the borders of the barony and be ready to march against the main army on Saturday, June 11.  Wolf-Klaus then asked Marcus and Heinrike to deliver these new orders to Ignis and then return for the coronation.  As the coronation was the next day, they ask to borrow horses from the baronial stable to complete these orders and were granted permission.  They were both glad for that.

Throughout the day, additional guests arrived for the ceremony.  Lasairfhiona acted as the greeter, allowing Wolf-Klaus and the Steward to continue with preparations and paying attention to Prince Meinrad.  The first to arrive was Erich Volk, the lone (and alone) representative from Ketternacker.  He wanted to speak with the new baron about when the baron was going to help rebuild Ketternacker.  He was currently happy to have soldiers there protecting the survivors but didn't want them there forever.

Next arriving was Hermann Kromer, the Mayor of Trochtelfingen in Fürstenberg, with his entourage.  The mayor had heard rumors of bandits cutting off the trade roads south of him and seen the drop in merchants arriving from the south.  He wanted to verify with the new baron that trade will resume soonest.  If the new baron cannot do this on his own, Mayor Kromer was willing to ask the Fürstenberg family for troops to fix the problem…if the baron will agree to move the border south so the trade road is in Fürstenberg territory.  Lasairfhiona agreed to pass that offer along to the baron.

Around midday, Marius Franke and Wolfgang Langenberg, representatives from Feldhausen and Harthausen, respectively, arrived together.  Wolfgang was very happy with the defenses and troops the new baron had arranged and the good work they were doing.  In fact, he wouldn't shut up about it, speaking enthusiastically with anyone who would listen.  Marius Franke was a bit grumpy about it as he wanted defenses and soldiers to keep his family safe as well.  He may also have been tired of listening to Wolfgang for the last three and a half hours.

About the same time but in Harthausen, Axel Oppenheimer reported to Ignis that most of the town could be incorporated or enclosed inside some basic fortifications, but three houses on the north side were too far away and might need to be demolished to avoid enemy attackers using them for cover.  Knowing how that information would be received by the owners of those three homes, Ignis told Axel to start building the fortifications [a ditch and an earth ramparts], but not mention the demolition part.

Later in the afternoon, back in Gammertingen town, Kurt Havener, a master potter by trade and the representative from Brunner arrived.  He turned out to also be the representative from Mariaberg as the nuns did not feel safe enough to travel at this time.  He brought gifts from both the village and the monastery and wanted to meet the new baron to find out what he will do to make the barony safe again.

In Harthausen, Marcus and Heinrike arrived on horses and delivered Ignis’ new orders.  Looking the orders over, Ignis called in the mercenary captains to plan out the raids and in what order to accomplish them.  Scouts were sent out to verify the locations of the target blockades.

In the early evening, just before the drawbridges into Gammertingen town were raised, Father Kovac, a representative of Zweifalten Abbey, and his assistants arrived in a rapidly driven carriage.  His arrival was not expected and when asked, he stated he hadn't planned on attending until a small army of mercenaries marched across the northern edge of the Abbey's lands and entered the barony.  He was tasked by the Abbot himself to find out what is going on in the barony and what the baron plans on doing with those troops.  He had the grace to bring a present.

During the evening, Wolf-Klaus had private meetings with most of his guests, Vladimir his silent shadow.  Wolf-Klaus attempted to instill confidence in his guests that he had the situation under control and a plan to fix things without going into details.  He also did his best to placate Father Kovac.

End of Part 1


[This entry started running long and I still had a big scene or two to write up, so I broke it into 2 parts.  Part 2 will follow in about a week.]

[This session was about providing clues to the players about what is going on plus seeding plot points for use after the miniseries, plus I got to introduce some significant NPCs.  I’ll write more about this session after Part 2 so I can get this posted.]

[Despite showing up in the session notes, Marcus has become an NPC due to his player moving across the country.  I email his player periodically to find out how Marcus should respond to events and to keep him up to date on the campaign.  Hi Mike!]


1650: The Miniseries
Session 1
Session 2

Session 3, Part 2