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Borderland - An Open Table West Marches-style Game

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Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
My next available dates are July 6-8, 13-15, 20-22, 27-29.
My bad. You're right.
June 23, 20:30 CET (I suggested 21 CET instead) Temple of Hehl
July 7 could be Lonely Tower part 2, right?
And personally, I would be looking forward to investigate Freiholt and Castle Holt in the following sessions July 14, July 21, and July 28.
 

Rardian

Well-known member
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
Do any of you think we could squeeze in the one or other session that starts at 7pm?

Jochen will you offer sessions every week in July as opposed to every second week?
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Do any of you think we could squeeze in the one or other session that starts at 7pm?

Jochen will you offer sessions every week in July as opposed to every second week?
7pm would be cool. Every week equally so!
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
July 7 could be Lonely Tower part 2, right?
@cr90, sadly I have to tell you, that we haven't finished the Hehl temple yet.
Thus, July 7 could either be Lonely Tower 2 without Eremis and Nichuan, who have both great interest in delving into it, or one more session for the Temple of Hehl and the Tower afterwards.
Personally, I want to finish the Temple of Hehl before going into the Lonely Tower once more (which will also be more than one session again, I believe). I don't want you to be sitting around disappointed though, so would you like to play one or both of our NPCs? They are inquisitors with crossbows!

We have just entered a hall with a lot of pillars and bones and gold... and then skeletons rose and Eremis immediately commanded the others to retreat to the entrance for an easy to defend tunnel effect. As the rest clustered there (but did not retreat enough for that effect), Hrgungdvar felt heroic, stayed and was almost killed in the first round, if it hadn't been for the holy prayer by Brother Benedikt, which made the dwarven skeletons shrink away and keep their distance. Hrgungdvar could finally retreat back to safety. And Nichuan dispelled a magical effect, but sadly only the light on the pillar, not the skeletons. We stopped in the middle of the combat. Perfect timing for you to take over the NPCs and show us how heroic the inquisitors could be!
What do you say?
 

cr90

Member
Borderland Explorer
@cr90, sadly I have to tell you, that we haven't finished the Hehl temple yet.
Thus, July 7 could either be Lonely Tower 2 without Eremis and Nichuan, who have both great interest in delving into it, or one more session for the Temple of Hehl and the Tower afterwards.
Personally, I want to finish the Temple of Hehl before going into the Lonely Tower once more (which will also be more than one session again, I believe). I don't want you to be sitting around disappointed though, so would you like to play one or both of our NPCs? They are inquisitors with crossbows!

We have just entered a hall with a lot of pillars and bones and gold... and then skeletons rose and Eremis immediately commanded the others to retreat to the entrance for an easy to defend tunnel effect. As the rest clustered there (but did not retreat enough for that effect), Hrgungdvar felt heroic, stayed and was almost killed in the first round, if it hadn't been for the holy prayer by Brother Benedikt, which made the dwarven skeletons shrink away and keep their distance. Hrgungdvar could finally retreat back to safety. And Nichuan dispelled a magical effect, but sadly only the light on the pillar, not the skeletons. We stopped in the middle of the combat. Perfect timing for you to take over the NPCs and show us how heroic the inquisitors could be!
What do you say?

First, good luck in this fight. Seems like a quite thrilling scenario. Hope you all make it out alive and well (and perhaps a bit richer with all the gold ;-) ). Of course, it is completely OK to finished your quest. I'm not dissapointed. Fighting as an NPC sounds quite interesting for me (if everyone is OK with that. I especially do not want to break any DM Plans here with the NPCs or interfere with DM gameplay.)
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Summary of the last session:

On a gray, rainy morning, the adventures left #Holt-Lindeck through the #Harbor Gate and headed north-west for the #Twilight Forest. The first night was dry and quite comfortable under a large tree at the forest's fringe.

Our heroes wandered through the mostly silent forest the following three days without encountering neither men nor monsters.

In the late morning on %23.05.1021 NL, they finally reached the #Lonely Tower, standing on a clearing of vivid green grass and shining like polished ivory in the sun. As they studied the tower and clearing, shadowy forms flew in their direction and drained their very life force when they came in touch with them. Thankfully, a magic wind could destroy these creatures. But upon stepping unto the grass, the heroes noticed the starving properties of hunger grass. To prevent unnecessary contact with the grass, they threw up a grapnel and bound the other end of the rope to a tree.

At the top of the tower, they found a raised platform and three daggers beside it. Obviously, one should fit the daggers onto engravings on the platform. Doing so, mighty magic teleported the adventurers into the center of a circular room...

Summary of Session 5:

The walls of the circular room were translucent and allowed the heroes to see outside onto the clearing surrounding the tower. The ground floor was filled with high bookshelves, a neat sitting area with comfortable leather armchairs and smoking paraphernalia, a studying area with a lectern, parchment, ink, feathers, and a strongbox. A black portal on the outside wall leading to "somewhere."

The first few moves of the party triggered a rain of daggers. More cautious now, they discovered more traps, valuable tomes of lore and magic, potions, scrolls, and another portal behind an illusionary bookshelf.

The first portal transported @Bausum to the outside, so he had to climb back onto the tower and trigger the dagger riddle on top.

The second portal transported @Jacob von Falkenstayn into the next level - a living and sleeping chamber on the second floor. A Rakshasa was awaiting the group, and just as he tried to greet Jacob, the thief fled back through the portal and into the library.

Feeling unprepared and the portals now only leading to the outside, the heroes plundered the library and headed back to #Holt-Lindeck.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Summary of Session 6:

The heroes left #Holt-Lindeck for #Auheim to delve into the mines and seal the Temple of @Hehl.

On %08.06.1021 NL, they reached #Old-Auheim, which is now called #Bruckheim and home of halflings, humans, and gnomes alike.

On %09.06.1021 NL, they reached #Auheim and prepared for the mission starting on the next day.

On %10.06.1021 NL, they entered the mine and discovered Dwarven wonders on the first few steps. Following the mine cart tracks, they reached a great hall where the light of their torches and spells never reached neither ceiling nor opposite wall. After taking on additional equipment and examining the corpse of a huge insect, they followed one wall and left the great cavern for a smaller tunnel leading to a rope ride lift used by the silver-mining gnomes of today. Pony carcasses and insectoid tracks and marks invoked visions of grizzly breeding behavior.

Several hundred yards further down, behind fissures, cave-ins, and attacking Kikimora hatchlings, they finally reached the entrance to the Temple of @Hehl. High above a river of molten stone, a broken bridge led to an open stone portal. Flanked by pillars depicting myriad ways of torturing dwarves in hell, the yawning gate waited for the heroes to enter.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Summary of Session 7: Meanwhile...

%14.06.1021 NL


Having heard of the misfortune of his family's former subjects, @Arthur von Falkenstayn traveled northwest to a farm at the fringes of #Twilight Forest.

On %15.06.1021 NL, he reached the general area and found it strangely deserted, the winter wheat unusually ripe and unharvested. Seemingly overnight, the dirt road he followed had mature trees growing on it.

When he walked on the farm, @Illandor and @Foxrouge joined him after they had observed and shadowed him for a while. In the barn, they discovered dead animals. In the living quarters, they found a zombified child. In the fields, one scarecrow turned out to be the farmer's mutilated and barely alive body.

In the cellar and under the upper crust of the fields, strange amounts of vermin crawled.

Two other scarecrows suddenly moved. One was slain, and one escaped. They discovered a bald, white-skinned, vampire-like creature with razor-sharp teeth.

Following the tracks of the escaped scarecrow and some horses, they reached the outskirts of a forest village hours later. They disturbed a child that was gathering poisonous mushrooms and thereby gave away the moment of surprise.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Summary of Session 6:

The heroes left #Holt-Lindeck for #Auheim to delve into the mines and seal the Temple of @Hehl.

On %08.06.1021 NL, they reached #Old-Auheim, which is now called #Bruckheim and home of halflings, humans, and gnomes alike.

On %09.06.1021 NL, they reached #Auheim and prepared for the mission starting on the next day.

On %10.06.1021 NL, they entered the mine and discovered Dwarven wonders on the first few steps. Following the mine cart tracks, they reached a great hall where the light of their torches and spells never reached neither ceiling nor opposite wall. After taking on additional equipment and examining the corpse of a huge insect, they followed one wall and left the great cavern for a smaller tunnel leading to a rope ride lift used by the silver-mining gnomes of today. Pony carcasses and insectoid tracks and marks invoked visions of grizzly breeding behavior.

Several hundred yards further down, behind fissures, cave-ins, and attacking Kikimora hatchlings, they finally reached the entrance to the Temple of @Hehl. High above a river of molten stone, a broken bridge led to an open stone portal. Flanked by pillars depicting myriad ways of torturing dwarves in hell, the yawning gate waited for the heroes to enter.

Summary of Session 8:

%10.06.1021 NL


Before the gates to the Temple of @Hehl, the heroes decided their strategy and prepared to storm the courtyard behind. Three doomchildren, six hellhounds, and three gnome-like creatures harassed by the demons awaited them. Although @Nichuan got wounded, she glued two-third of the enemies in place to stop their advance. The other three killed one each, and then the hellhounds triggered a chain reaction, exploding doomchildren and shredding bystanders.

The three dark gray-skinned gnomes were very thankful for their rescue. As the power of @Solus could not heal them, the inquisitors accompanying @Benedikt von Falkenstayn insisted on killing them, too. @Eremis Gladis protected them and sent the gnomes home.

Following the motives on the walls: dwarves flayed to their bones, the next gate led into a large hall. Columns decorated with gold and engraved with Old Dwarven runes lit up with an inner glow and reflected their light from gold encrusted bones and skulls neatly stacked from floor to ceiling between walls and columns. Here and there, beautifully crafted weapons were held by protruding skeletal hands.

It was eerily silent until someone disturbed the bones, and skeletons formed and attacked the intruders. @Hrgungdvar had been wounded within a second and needed to retreat while @Benedikt von Falkenstayn kept the undead at bay brandishing his holy symbol.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Fighting as an NPC sounds quite interesting for me (if everyone is OK with that. I especially do not want to break any DM Plans here with the NPCs or interfere with DM gameplay.)
You are very welcome, and you aren't breaking any plans. The two inquisitors are holy warriors sent to support the group in sealing the Temple of Hehl. You can play them as you want, one or both of them.


Thus, July 7 could either be Lonely Tower 2 without Eremis and Nichuan, who have both great interest in delving into it, or one more session for the Temple of Hehl and the Tower afterwards.
So, should I plan Wednesday, July 7, starting at 8:30 pm CEST for the Temple of Hehl?

@cr90, @Stephan Hornick, @Rardian, @Morvar, @Rohwar?
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
Jochen, I just watched Matt Colville: Politics 101. The Central Tension.
He goes on and on about examples of different kinds of central tensions for our games, which is all quite good, but it was the end that really peaked my interest. He began to talk about Law vs. Chaos, represented by Civilization vs. Wilderness, and a level deeper the reign of the former king vs. the reign afterwards. And this is where it becomes relevant for the Borderland West Marches campaign. I think we have until now overlooked (or not yet brought up) what the people think about that their margrave mysteriously died and the land fell in chaos, orcs and other things roaming the wilderness, people being terrified of what lies beyond their village, and the role of the few adventurers who journey outside to bring law and order into the chaos, and people who still remember the good old days of the old king when law and order was upheld and you could walk to the next town without fearing to be attacked by whatever there is now.
I think this could be a nice video for you, Jochen. I'm looking forward to your (or the others') comments.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Next up:
  • Temple of Hehl (cont.) - probably Wednesday, July 7 starting at 8:30 pm CEST
  • Foray Into Twilight Forest (cont.) - no date yet
  • Second Visit to the Lonely Tower - no date yet
 
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