Turn 13: The Thrappled Lemmings Use Their Loaf (Five Leagues from the Borderlands)

Local Events

Wido gets in a fight in Utstein Marknad. Although Sigrid speaks up for him, her status is too low and the family of the man whose arm Wido broke is unwilling to leave the party alone until they have been paid 2 Marks.

Hard Times

The Thrappled Lemmings dine on their own rations, rather than spending money.

Campaign Activities

Wido and Fulrad train, and gain 1 XP each.

Trade

The party sells one load of tapestries for 6 Marks but Utstein is only a small market so they are not able to offload everything. They realise they need to go to a larger settlement like Haitabu to offload all the rest.

Research

Lysanthir has a long talk with Sigrid, who tells him of a Quest. There is a place in the wilderness that she has heard of (Hex 1914) where a powerful artifact is rumoured to be. She is unclear on the details, but swears blind that the Thrappled Lemmings will like what they find.

Adventure

The party travels towards Haitabu with a caravan of supplies. Unfortunately, they are waylaid by foes on the way. A gang of Roving Fiends led by a sergeant ambushes them. The Fiends move quickly and mostly silently through the surrounding brush and woods, but Fulrad spots them quite quickly despite this.

The party forms up quickly, side by side to support each other. As the first wolfman nears him, he lets fly a crossbow bolt that punches it backwards, never to move again. The wolfmen close on the party undeterred and Onesipe nails another one. Meanwhile, Fulrad fires off all his arrows in a panic and draws his sword.

The wolfmen close on the party, quickly getting into tooth and claw range. Drogo yells as he is wounded. Onesipe draws his sword and kills another wolfman, before dropping that raising his crossbow and slaying a fourth. Undeterred, the remainder fight on. Drogo is knocked out without even touching any of the wolfmen. Fulrad avenges this insult by killing a wolfman.

The melee flows back and forth. The warriors and the wolfmen are quite evenly matched and they each take it in turn to have the advantage but none can land a telling blow for a long time. Then, suddenly, Onesipe slips and falls. The wolfman claws him across the chest and Onesipe lies still. Wido is wounded, but manages to wound the leader of the wolfmen.

Sir Thiebault finally lands a blow and a wolfman falls at his feet. Another attacks him. Distracted, he trips over the one that he slew and the wolfman's claws pass through the space where his head was a moment ago. That blow would surely have taken his head off (1 Story Point used). Getting back to his feet, he plunges his sword into the wolfman's chest, and the remaining two flee. The Thrappled Lemmings hold the field.

Checking Onesipe and Drogo, they find that Onesipe had merely banged his head and was ok, but Drogo was severely wounded (out for 5 turns)

While Lysanthir is helping the wounded, Fulrad loots the corpses. he finds a ring with a lock of hair in it. No doubt someone is missing this item and they will be grateful for its return. He also finds a salvageable chain shirt (partial armour) and a helmet.

Helping the wounded Drogo along, the party continues on to Haitabu, where the locals are delighted to see them and promise to pay their bar tab and feed them for a short while, now that they have food once more. The Thrappled Lemmings can skip their next upkeep costs and earn 2 Adventure Points. Fulrad also finds the ring's owner. Ketil, son of Ketil, is grateful for the return of his wife's ring.

News Travels

As people travel more and settle further inland, more sites of interest are being found. Travellers have spotted something unusual in the forests to the north.