Played Friday, 16th December,

Well we had a full group last night for our game; Jonathan was now amongst us again after a 2 year absence in Canberra. Brad had arrived from Adelaide for Christmas. All the usual group were there so we had 10 players again and I and everyone know what kind of nightmare that gives a C&S GM!

The night started with the mopping up of the Agrikian’s and the turncoat Men-at-arms. The fall of Thurl brought about the retreat of these men and the party was in no condition to pursue them. The wounded were being attended too and poor Ordeth the Dwarf was left in the middle of the courtyard for along time before someone thought to come to his aid. Paralysed as he was he was still conscious but now suffering the effects of the Frost spell, he was beginning to fade.

As the Agrikian’s dropped back towards the North wall, Thorvald could see 2 of their number lagging behind. Thinking quickly he rushed the gap in order to cut them off. One managed to out run him but the other; suffering from slight wounds did not make it. Thorvald covered his only retreat and turned to face him; the man wearing a torn Agrikian surcoat, shield charged Thorvald but failed. Hitch the Thief (Victor) coming up rapidly, lunged his short sword at the man’s flank wounding him further. Suddenly Thorvald was attacked from behind, the man that had out run him had returned to save his companion. Thorvald ignored this threat to focus on the Agrikian in front as did Hitch. Other party members by now were rushing to help. The blows were exchanged one after another as the combatants fought on.

Meanwhile Erich the Mage (Denis) had cast his sleep spell on two other men-at-arms; being successful he brought down both men to the surprise of all. Xavier and Erich quickly bound these captives and moved on to come to the aid of poor Ordeth.....eventually :roll: I had Ordeth rolling his CON CR each turn and a failure meaning he had lost HP but he managed to stay conscious

Back at the fight the Agrikian’s, now fighting for his life yelled at his companion to forget about him and, "RUN"! Hesitantly at first he did finally run while the Agrikian Soldier was surrounded by the party. He fought on bravely until it was clear he would not escape. He had suffered many wounds and was out of breath, no hope was left but to call for mercy.

I asked each player in turn their reaction to the call and each one in turn said the same "drop your weapons". This the badly wounded Agrikian did do and the fight was now over. All three captives now tied and bound were guarded as the party gathered the wounded and went about cleaning up the area (looting corpses).

At this point Experience & Honour points were handed out proportionately to each member as per their involvement etc...I gave Honour to those whom worshipped the Gods, Larani, Peoni and Siem as they are diametrically opposed to Agrik. (Religion plays an important part in Harn and we actually enjoy its diversity and depth of detail. Thurl's corpse was covered and bound and taken with the party when they left in order to take back to the Larani temple to prove the Agrik Evil Priest leader was dead.

The party set off after a five hour rest and recovery of fatigue, moving off at day break for Tashal. After 4 hours they passed thru the village of Kathane and on to the North. Upon reaching the walls of Tashal the party were confronted by the city guards whom demanded to know who the 3 bounded men were and why they were so tied up and who were their guards? Xavier in a haughty voice declared that the captives were Agrikian Worshippers and the party were charged to deliver them to the Larani temple. The Captain instantly summoned four of his men to accompany the party to the Temple to oversee their safe arrival at their destination.

The Larani Knight Commander plus many Priests and acolytes gathered to see the foul and distained Agrikian’s and to take charge of them from the party. After the official dialog was finished the party, especially Xavier were officially recognised for their efforts and as a reward experience etc. was rewarded to each member for successfully completing the scenario.

The game had finished after this as it had become late in the night. The party next week want to set off quickly for Chybisa and leave Tashal behind them for another 3 years at least. They are striving to set up their own Manor House in Chybisa so next week the journey South will begin. Being now the dead of winter the dreaded Pagaelin horsemen should be non-active but you never know...

To be continued…