Primary
Operation: Friendly Knife was one of the special missions at the Sunstrider Camp in which they go after the Bandit Queen. The Officer, played with bravado and confidence by Charlotte, decided to load up heavy, march up to the front door and demand they join up with the Legion and turn their attention towards the undead.
I put a couple of odd details in play just to see how they’d shake out.
Detail #1: The knight in a cage
There was a Black Oak Knight in a crow’s cage in the middle of the bandit’s fort. He looked jaundiced and unhealthy, staring down the Legionaries with a grim smile.
Detail #2: Falka’s little sister
I decided that Falka had taken over the bandits after the undead had arrived and was holding on by a thin thread with her sister in tow.
Falka wanted out, wanted to leave the bandits behind and get out of there.
The Officer and the Heavy went into her cabin to talk while the Medic led the Rookies, having been left to shoot the knight. She did, shot him right in the head and had a talk with the other bandits about why they captured him. After taking a look at the food they had taken from the knight’s supply train a Research roll showed that it was tainted food, somehow poisoned.
Turned out the food was poisoned with a drug used to turn soldiers more brutal and free from fear. Falka’s little sister pulled older sis’ gun on the Heavy. A shot went off and the other bandits started to get into position.
I set a 4-count-clock - Shit pops off and an 8-count-clock - Shit’s cool.
There were a bunch of mixed-success rolls that I didn’t feel I dealt with all that great. Or maybe Shit pops off is a shitty idea for a clock. It was tense, as there were close to 50 bandits and they didn’t want it to turn into a fight but it felt like nothing could really happen unless the Shit pops off clock closed.
Could be it was weak clock-making.
The Heavy closed out the Shit’s cool clock, throwing alchemical explosives at the crow’s cage as a diversion so everyone could get out with Falka and her sister. The Medic figured out that he could get rid of the drug by offering a tonic that caused explosive vomiting.
They retrieved horses before they got out, so they got out with Falka and some horses. Not a bad gig - no losses, no wounds.
Secondary
Operation: Lost Sabre
Type : Assault
Mission Rewards : +2 Morale and +1 Intel
Mission Penalties : +1 Pressure
There is an cunning and ambitious Crow out there with an officer’s sabre getting messages successfully up and down the Broken’s lines. Lieutenant Crow needs to be put down and its missives poured over for clues on troop movements in the key months ahead.
6 on the engagement! Great stuff. The Officer from the primary mission had lost their sabre in the previous primary mission. The Scout who led the secondary mission brought it back in.
“Here. I got stabbed with it. Don’t lose it.”
Back at Camp and Intel
We had a Back and Camp in which the Silver Stags talked about their lives back at home. It was a nice switch after they had put some comrades to rest last game and welcomed the new rookies who they thought had gotten them killed.
Intel revealed that Blighter is working on Spitters, zombies with musket tubes in their faces who can vomit forth acidic bone shards.
Lotsa mention of vomit this session.
The time clock is past Summer and into Fall. They got to take a tick away but still, they’ve had terrible luck with those rolls.
While the players rocked out with their Back and Camp scene, I worked on the next missions, which might’ve very well been a mistake. I feel like I lost a bunch of details and those scenes are vital.
PRIMARY:
Operation: Village Go
Type : Supply
Reward : Laborers and +1 Supply
Penalty : None
Westernesse is a village of artisans north of Westlake. They need to evacuate and get behind the capital city’s walls and are willing to offer some supplies and laborers to have a military escort to the city.
NOGO:
Operation: Archer Boom
Type : Assault
Reward : +4 Morale
Penalty : +1 Pressure
Zenya the Black Archer has been wreaking havoc in Westlake; word is she has trained up some cultists to work as terrorist assassins in the Cinder King’s name, destabilizing the city by killing those who see best to its defenses.
SECONDARY:
Operation: Skydagger Tome
Type : Religious
Reward : +2 Morale, +10 Points
Penalty : -1 Morale
Some Rookie has been spending too much time among the Lorekeeper’s scrolls and has found evidence of a tome written by a legionnaire about how to best defend Skydagger Keep. The church is way behind enemy lines but that information might be worth the risk.