28/07/2020 - Curious Comrades, Teddy-bear Training and Campsite Combat

## TL:DR

* Khrom  et al. delivered the weapons safely to Finnian and met some of his halfling comrades.
* Finnian outlined the plan, which was to take the weapons to Rocksend from where they’d be distributed, do some recruiting, and then do a sudden surprise attack against the ATC .
* After an evening of training and entertainment, the groups camp was attacked by a band of ATC  hunters. The hunters were eventually defeated, with the not-so-silent-old-one ensuring none escaped to tell the ATC  of the group’s presence.

## Curious Comrades

Having watched their friends sail merrily off towards Ilbidor , the brave revolutionaries of Khrom , Kelda, Merric  and the donkey (and Elyan ) began the long walk towards their meeting place with Finnian: the campsite by the rock. Kelda’s pro-tracking skillz ensured that their journey went without incident, and they arrived safely with the weapons. Upon their arrival an overjoyed Finnian introduced them to his new, somewhat curious, comrades…

First up was the one-eyed, piercing-covered, mohawk-sporting, bard-protegee Pimpernell Girdleblower (Pimp for short). Young Pimp, whose appearance did not inspire confidence, told how he had always dreamt of fighting alongside his childhood hero, the great Finnian, and that since he lost his eye in a horrific mining accident, he had dedicated himself to his music. Pimp then introduced young Williband “Willy” Gammidge, an 11-year old trainee-healer who had twice helped save Pimp’s life, first in the mining accident and second following an unfortunate bellybutton piercing incident… In a distinctly high-pitched voice, little Willy explained that he was great at helping people, though could also hurt them to if necessary. It was highly unclear why Finnian and Willy’s mother had allowed a young child to come on such an adventure, but he was at least being carefully looked after by Asfodel, a stern yet competent looking halfling. Asfodel introduced herself as a scout by trade, who was fortunate enough to have avoided the dangerous mines on account of her precariously small stature. However, to her surprise, Asfodel was not the shortest new recruit! No, for that great honour went to the weirdly silent hunched old woman in the corner of the camp, who introduced herself with a slight scrunch of the face and some strange moaning noises.

Seeing Khrom’s  eyebrows raise at the sight of his curious comrades, Finnian just shrugged: “They may not look like much, but they’ll do the job”. Finnian’s attention then turned to the weapons, which Khrom  very overexcitedly begun unloading. With the weapons inspected, Finnian outlined his plans to the group…

## The plan

They weapons were first to be transported to Rocksend, from where they would be redistributed to fighters across the Island. Whilst in Rocksend the group would act as the face of the rebellion and aim to secretly recruit more halflings to their cause. Then, when all was in place, they would launch a sudden strike at the ATC  in Rocksend and Branxom, with the aim of quickly forcing them to retreat to their ships. Surprise would be their main advantage, so it was imperative that the ATC  got no hint of what was being planned. Finnian finished by highlighting that this task was going to be incredibly difficult, that everyone involved was incredibly brave, and that they might die. Khrom  scoffed at the thought of death, but young Willy was keen to point out that his Mum needed him home soon, so they’d have to avoid the death thing if possible... As everyone grimaced at the realisation that they were inexplicably taking an 11-year old to war, Asfodel confidently proclaimed that she’d promised Willy’s mum she’d keep him safe, so safe she’d keep him!

## Teddy-bear training

Willy then innocently walked up to Khrom  and begun stroking the “teddy bears” fur. Staring intently into Khrom’s  eyes, Willy asked if Khrom  would keep everyone safe, adding that it was scary, but he would make people get better if they got hurt and that Asfodel had a shiny thing that could help save them from dying. As Khrom’s  usually stony exterior crumbled under this unexpected assault of cuteness, Finnian cut in to add that he also had two healing potions and a philter of love, which he thought Khrom  should keep hold of.

After giving Willy a large full-body (one handed) hug, Khrom  offered to spend the evening training people. Pimp and Asfodel were super enthusiastic for weapons training, but Pimp was far too weak to wield the hammer that Khrom  suggested he use. Seeing Pimp floundering, the silent-old-one lobbed a rock at his feet, presumably for him to use as a projectile at some point, though this was unclear as she said nothing and just grinned strangely. Whilst Khrom  was engaged with weapons training, Kelda introduced herself to Willy and the two exchanged healer-tips. After promising to watch each other’s backs, Kelda dropped the breaking news that she could summon animals. This sent little Willy into quite the excited frenzy, but before Kelda could demonstrate, Finnian ordered Willy to go to bed as he’d promised Willy’s mother that he’d maintain a strict bed-time schedule. Willy was most upset at this development, but fortunately after some persuasion from the others Finnian relented and gave him an extra hour. The silent-old-one then staggered forward and with a flourish summoned a little squirrel into Willy’s arms. She then proved she wasn’t so silent by somewhat threateningly gasping: “there, the child has seen an animal. Now he can go to bed…”.

## Evening entertainment

With everyone somewhat freaked out by the not-so-silent-old-one’s input, Finnian quickly tried to raise moral with a sing-song. He was enthusiastically joined by the other bards, Pimp and Elyan  (plus Khrom  on his horn). This musical interlude began with some classic flute-heavy “concerning halflings” but soon transgressed into some proper motivational bangers.

After tiring everyone out with their bardic threesome, Finnian announced that sleep was required, as they had an early start in the morning. The first few watch shits went without incident, but halfway through her watch Asfodel perceived a faint barking noise. Concerned, she woke the other adults (except Pimp, who she considered a child still). This was wise, as Finnian immediately recognised the sounds as an approaching band of ATC  dog-hunters. Normally the halflings would run from such a combat, but with the weapon cache this wasn’t possible. They would have to fight…

## Campsite combat

With the dog-hunters still a few minutes out, everyone had a few moments to prepare. Asfodel hopped up into a tree from which she had the perfect vantage to fire her bow, whilst not-so-silent-old-one turned into a feral looking wolf. Everyone else got into positions around the campsite and held their attacks for the moment the dog-hunters came into view.

With a ferocious growl, two dogs closely and three orcs crashed into the campsite. The dogs did not last long, with Asfodel and Khrom  rapidly taking them out with bow and javelin. Seeing the three orcs, Pimp used his bassoon to summon a cloud of stinking gas right over them. With the orcs hidden by the gas, everyone once again readied actions to attack the orcs when they came out. Khrom  looked at his scimitar with the feeling that he was forgetting something, but really couldn’t remember what. After several seconds of grim sounding retching noises, one large orc-chieftain emerged out of the gas and immediately began laying into Khrom . As the orc’s massive hits brutally cut into Khrom , he remembered that he probably should have raged already…

Seeing Khrom  take damage, Kelda summoned her mighty bear-totem, giving most of the group some tasty extra health. As little Willy fired a bolt of radiance at the Orc, Finnian climbed up onto his favourite rock and began some inspirational leader-like throat singing. With the Orc-chief just out of range, Asfodel leapt down from the tree to fire at it, wounding him badly. However, it was at this moment that four horse-riding hunters galloped around the gas and into the camp, two from the north and two from the east. The two from the north immediately laid into the obvious threat that was Khrom , brutally injuring the still-not-raging-barbarian. Not-so-silent-old-one-wolf then darted in to bite one of the horses, not quite managing to take it down. With the riders distracted, Khrom  finally had opportunity to rage, and made use of this by immediately killing one of the horses. To the east of the camp, Pimp successfully blinded the nearest rider before inspiring Khrom  with some words of encouragement. He then dove into the nearest tent to hide.

Back in the gas cloud, one orc was having a sad day and kept retching uncontrollably, but the other managed to stumble out and attack Khrom . It was at this point that a slightly discombobulated Elyan  emerged from his tent, somehow having missed the start of the fight. However, he made up for his slow start by using a string of dissonant whispers to scare off the remaining horse to the north, giving Khrom  and not-so-silent-old-one-wolf the opportunity to kill it. As the angry orc-chief continued to attack Khrom , Kelda, seeing three horse-riders and two more dogs emerge from the east, summoned many bears to attack them.

The next portion of the battle can be summarised as follows:

* Khrom  got hit a lot. Got healed a lot. Killed a lot.
* Asfodel sneak attacked the crap out of everyone.
* ALL of Pimp’s spells fail miserably, though he did help with the constant Khrom -healing and made a sword be hot. He learnt that his bassoon was not an effective defensive weapon.
* Willy radiant bolted the crap out of all the things and helped with the constant Khrom -healing.
* Kelda’s bears killed and got killed, whilst Kelda threw down some moon-based shade and helped with the constant Khrom  healing.
* Elyan  made the riders laugh so hideously they were rendered useless, mocked them to the point of physical pain, and helped with the constant Khrom -healing.
* Not-so-silent-old-one-wolf savagely bit all the things.
* Finnian did throat singing.

As the combat hit its climax, some of the remaining riders began to realise they weren’t going to win and made a run for it. This was a problem, as if they escaped they might tell the ATC  that a strange group of fighters were running amok, thus ruining the element of surprise. Thankfully, the not-so-silent-old-one-wolf was on it. Seeing one of the riders charge off northward, she gave chase for many many feet. Eventually, she got close enough to slip out of wolf-form and kill the rider with a David-and-Goliath style hit from her sling. Back in the camp, Kelda’s bears were ripping the intestines out of a still hideously laughing rider. All of this proved too much for the final rider, who also made a run for it. However, he did not get far, as young Willy commanded him to “stop, play and grovel”, which he promptly did. Khrom  then stomped forward to kill the final rider by “slicing him like a particularly expensive Italian sausage”.

With all the hunters now dead, Finnian stopped his throat singing and congratulated everyone on such a successful start to the campaign. As not-so-silent-old-one staggered haggardly back into the camp, Finnian commended her for chasing down the runner so valiantly. By ensuring there were no survivors the ATC  would remain unaware of their plans. Finally, after looting the bodies for weapons and coin, everyone tried to catch a few hours of (not long) rest in preparation for their journey to Rocksend the following day.