It’s been a while since the crew has assembled, and we get orders to meet at Mumbleport City. It’s a pretty big city,and we all meet up at a tavern by a wharf. Included in our orders are rank changes – trading in the Army rank of Sergeant to the naval rank of Petty Officer. We have two days until we report to the troop ship “DragonTurtle” – tomorrow is a rare day all to our selves. Of course, I spend part of it working – barely. Sure, I spend time having drinks, but I’m also checking the shoreline and wharves. There are a lot of short stays – many the same: offloading of troops, replenishing of supplies, and returning to sea. Mostly see soldiers, but there’s also a fair amount of Marines. And while most of these vessels are barge-like transports, ours has a deep-V hull – a true seafaring vessel.

When we board, we’re given a place to hang hammocks – we’re  living large. Most other others – it’ really just us and 40 Marines – just sleep on the deck or in the hold.

We awake the next morning to a ship no longer moving. Since the air is dead calm, Tmolus volunteers us for rowing duty. That’s a hard shift – when it’s over, we’re pretty exhausted. We get to rest a bit, but then there’s a sudden jolt – what, this far out, could we possibly have hit?

Well, what I should have asked was “What, this far out, has hit us?”

I don’t have to wait long to get an answer – I see a great green coil. Perhaps this monstrous sea serpent is the very Jörmungandr that I’ve heard the Northmen speak of? It has a head the size of wagon which it ferociously swipes across the deck before taking a few men with it under the surface. I climb up to the crow’s nest as fast as possible and cast Hunter’s Mark on the great serpent. I notice the rest of my team has been busy – it already has large smoking wound!

Despite the size of the target, its jarring hits on the vessel are throwing me off – I’m sadly only hitting about half the time. It bolts away – perhaps we’ve done enough to discourage it from making a meal of the rest of us! Alas, no. It turns and charges at ship.

Right before contact, it dives at the last moment and swims under. I take a good hold of the mast, keeping my eyes peeled. Its giant head lands on the deck on the other side, taking out more people. Instead of becoming disheartened, Zalaz inspires us, and it seems that was just what I needed. I land two devastatingly placed arrows in a row into the serpent and Robin follows up with a harpoon shot from the ballista. It dives and after a few unnerving minutes we assume that it has sought a meal that doesn’t bite back.

The remaining people on the ship take stock of damages and injuries, and tend to them. Eventually we sleep. We’ll likely need our strength for another rowing shift tomorrow since we’re now moving slower due to damage to the ship.

Session Date: 07/31/2017
Title Source: Mastodon – Sea Beast

In the morning, we re-assess the status of our section of the caravan, and get things ready to move out. And then? From out of nowhere? Pen comes riding in, on a goddamn horse, looking all clean and pristine. Like a bastard.

Oh, it gets better. And by better I mean worse. You see, he has an admission: this was all his fault. He told them where to find the fertility idol. He’s apparently been working as a double agent, to our “benefit”. Apparently we can expect more absences here and there, as he has to maintain his story. And apparently as long as we have their idol, their power is reduced. Or something. I’m skeptical.

The Captain’s adjutant approaches us. Odd, normally our Sergeant would relay the summons, but he was unfortunately wounded last night. He field promotes Tmolus to Sergeant, and we head to the Captain. And maybe Pen isn’t messing with us – the adjutant salutes Pen on his way out. Tmolus delivers his report to the Captain, and we learn we weren’t the only ones attacked last night – the whole caravan was.

The Captain is (rightfully) impressed with our squad, but laments that we’re not being used to our full potential. We’re being reassigned, and will now be reporting to Lieutenant Cromartie. While I’m not super happy about that, we do get to pay the Quartermaster a visit for a bit of a gear upgrade.

When we meet with her, she asks my role: sniper. Keeping my unit safe by keeping danger from getting to them. The problem is, my standard issue quiver can only hold 20 arrows. She thinks for a bit, unlocks a some storage, and hands me a new (to me, but appears to be quite old) quiver. I accept it gratefully, and look forward to hitting the range. She even mentions that she’s even pre-loaded the arrows to capacity. To Robin, she issues a rapier with a skull on the hilt. It apparently once had rubies in the eye sockets. To Zalaz, she issues Pipes of Haunting. To Tmolus, a Brooch of Shielding. And to Pen, a Ring of Spell Storing. And she’s impressed with the upkeep of our gear. Why wouldn’t it be well taken care of? It keeps us alive.

*META*
No new magic is being created. No new spells, no new scrolls, no new magic items. All remaining magical items/artifacts have a legacy. You learn the item’s heritage when you attune to it. By bearing one of these items, you become part of its legacy, part of the items story. We’ll need to come up with a backstory/name/etc. for the item, too. And, since magic is degrading, the item may be too. Once attuned to an item, it only responds to you – so no sharing. And once per day, when the command word is used, I can draw arrow from the first chamber and it will have a random effect.

Before I can test out my new quiver, we must go see Lt. Cromartie. We –return to the cave- arrive at the cave for the first time ever, and comment on the cleanup of what appears to have been some sort of skirmish in the clearing outside. He elaborates on his earlier story of how they were ambushed before the caravan attack. Says that one of his men ran back to this cave shrieking about something, trying to stab his other men. Just lost it – driven mad by the horrors of war, perhaps? Desepite that setback, he’s happy to learn we’re his new outfit. He was real impressed with our work last night, he feels like he’s hit the jackpot. He also gives us orders to move out tomorrow morning. We’re heading East, preparing for a major offensive. But, he thankfully gives us the afternoon to get things in order.

I use this time to go down to range. This quiver has an odd layout – it has three chambers, the first is filled with arrows, so I start shooting. I usully refer to train in short 3-round bursts, but I want to get the feel of this faster, so I decide to shoot everything in one go. I keep count as I go (you must ALWAYS know exactly how much ammunition you have at all times) and by the time I nock and loose the twentieth, something tells me to draw another. And there is one! I continue, wondering when I’ll be depleted. 25 passes, then 35! I take aim at another target and press on to 50! I finally hit the end at 60. Sixty!

I inspect the chambers a bit closer – but they’re all empty. I know the first chamber holds 60 arrows, which I refill, but is deceptively small. How is this bigger on the inside? I decide to test out the other chambers with other nearby weapons. I’m able to get eighteen! javelins into the second compartment, and two longbows, three spears, and one quarterstaff into the third. Amazing. And when fully loaded – it is no heavier than when empty!

I decide to unload the gear that isn’t mine, but shoot through the full amount of arrows again. As I draw, nock, and fire each round, I get a better feel for this quiver. Not just where it rests on my back, but a feel for *it* – I am attuning. I learn of a number of its former masters, but none are as clear as the first – who was also the creator – a great archer named Zurgadai. It is quite fond of him, I hope that I can live up to that and be well-remembered by the time it passes to another.

Over the next 18 months, much changes. We’re all now at least Sergeants (and are now 7th level), and have traveled much. We initially went East out of the mountains and across the hills towards the Green Sea. While we were still with Cromartie for a while, our talents were recognized, and while a very effective unit, it became clear that our talents were all but wasted. Yes, we are brought together for special missions – like the time we destabilized the Urartu government by setting up Zalaz to be a figurehead of the opposition-turned-resistance, only to “martyr” him and push the country into chaos. Or when we spent six months doing wetwork and slowly but efficiently dismantling an armada of pirates and mercenaries in the Green Sea. That was fun. As much as I love the woods, there’s an odd solitude I’ve found in the water, and have developed an affinity for the waterways and their coasts.

Now though, we mostly our spend my time further honing our crafts, and building units like ours – each member of ours working with the new groups, being forces for change. Someone even mentioned the term “Delta Force” but I’m not entirely sold. It’s not bad, but I’m not that into giving black ops groups official names. Kinda defeats the purpose.

We now find ourselves back together for one of these special missions, on the Eastern shore of the White Sea. Awaiting our orders, and our vessel.

Session Date 07/17/2017
Title Source: Danzig – The Hunter

I come to, mid-stride, back at the rear of the train. You can imagine the surprise that just barely flashed across my face when I saw Lt. Cromartie, the leader of “The Punishers”, talking to Cpl. Robin. Offering help. You would then see my utter lack of surprise when I see her faint as a dozen people then start to slowly appear from the treeline.

Zalaz quickly fills me in on the reminder of our encounter with “The Punishers” – wish I’d have been able to help. Apparently the dead rose. They move slowly, and the only (or at least most efficient) way to return them to their restful state is to remove or obliterate their head. Seeing these lumbering figures, I get now why Robin fainted. My instinct is to climb a tree for high ground – bth to be able to target them easier, but I get the feeling they’re not the strongest climbers. Alas, we’re in a clearing and our wagons have been circled. So, I settle for the next best thing and climb up one.

With Robin out of commission, the Lieutenant is now talking to Briff, and after a brief convo, the Lt. summons a few soldiers clad in all black, moving quietly and gracefully.

I see a dozen awakened shuffling in, and some look super fresh – members of “The Punishers” that we’ve recently killed. Others look long dead. I suss out 1 Sfardi in the group. I yell out ‘TWELVE INCOMING!‘ and promptly put an arrow through his eye, dropping him. ‘ELEVEN INCOMING!‘ I yell, nocking an arrow. I drop the one next to him and yell ‘TEN INCOMING!‘

One of the wagons has somehow caught on fire, so Briff has us redirect to handle that. Damn – I’m much better with a bow than a bucket.

Well, it soon because moot as I see a glint of a crossbow, aimed at Briff and Zalaz who are carrying Robin to (greater) safety. I nock an arrow, hide in case they attack and aren’t aiming for an awakened who may be right behind my teammates. I yell at them to get down, and they do just in the nick of time – a bolt barely misses them. There’s no awakened in their proximity, so I pop around the edge of the wagon, fire off an arrow, and hear a death scream as I re-hide. Excellent. Three arrows used, three enemies down.

The Punishers are busy addressing the awakened, so I guess that rules them out as our living assailants. Briff casts shatter – a sound attack – on the three remaining mystery combatants. One of them is more affected than the others. I see Zalaz doing some magic thing at one of them, and a guy grabs his ears and slows. I put arrows into two of them, but don’t put them down. Two of them close on Zalaz, Robin (still unconscious), and Briff. I take out one, and plant an arrow onto the other, who still has enough life in him to attack Zalaz. He doesn’t have long though, as Briff quickly finishes him.

That threat neutralized, I run over to a barrel of water. The cart that’s on fire collapses into a gush of fire, causing the two next to it to start to catch.

Again, firefighting is put on hold as I hear Tmolus call for help, followed quickly by one of his thunderclaps. I pop around a cart, hit an enemy carrying a polearm. There’s someone carrying something obviously heavy – is this all a cover for a mere theft? The three of them take off towards treeline. Tmolus does another thunderclap as I target the runners. I hit the encumbered one who drops whatever he’s carrying. My second arrow finds only night as the one with the polearm skillfully knocks it out of the air. The other is struggling to pick up the box, and is helped by the one with the polearm. Two others close on Tmolus and I. One swipes at me, but misses and Tmolus quickly dispatches the other one. The ones escaping are a higher priority, so I step to the side to target him, giving my immediate attacker a free swipe at me, which he takes. Worth it though – I use Hail of Thorns on the one with the box who again drops it. I miss the other one again – a worthy foe. My immediate attacker hits me again – and I have to say I’m hurting.

I decide to drop my bow and attack him with my rapier. He’s soon on death’s door, and knowing this, starts singing. His hands, slick with blood, drop his sword. He turns to Tmolus, still singing. He knows what’s coming, and shortly he slides off Tmolus’ short sword, and crumples to the ground.

Zalaz meanwhile has closed on those trying to escape. I close on them, and take my rapier to the one with the polearm. He reaches for a pouch, shakes it – it’s filled with coin. He says in heavily accented speech, “let me take that (the box), and this is yours.” It’s not a deal we’ll make, so he disengages and runs into woods.

Perfect. Before I can chase him down, Briff sets him alight. Zalaz loots the corpses as I recover arrows. One thing’s for sure – I need a way to carry more ammunition. Maybe the Quartermaster has some tricks up her sleeve.

We return to the carts, with the box. There are similar sized boxes in wagon it was in, strewn about. They were obviously looking for this specific one – but why? There’s something heavy in the box – but what?

I’m able to loot a useful crossbow and 6 bolts on the way to meet up with The Punishers and see how they’re handling the awakened. They’re lopping the head off the last one as I approach. Three of the nine of them have been beheaded, too. Perhaps they got infected, and precautions were taken. I take them back to wagons, where we talk.

The Lieutenant thinks this was all staged – planned. He says that his men were ambushed, likely by the same people, over by their camp. So, he doesn’t think we were responsible for the earlier events – that works to our favor in multiple ways. Briff rambles a bit, like he does, and Cromartie says that we’ll need to report to our Sergeant, and likely the Captain, too.

I get permission to secure the perimeter, which in my opinion means separate the heads from the bodies of the newly dead. I find a short sword, and secure the area, but do nothing else with these corpses – I want to leave whatever evidence this constitutes in as intact form as possible.

Session Date: 07/03/17
Title Source: Ozzy Osbourne – Zombie Stomp

Sgt. Zayno makes it our responsibility to get the newbie in line. His name is … does it mater? He’s the newbie, so his name is Private Newbie. He’s apparently a gifted lutist.

Some quick catch-up, since its been a bit. We were ordered to reinforce an army laying siege to the capital of Urartu. Tmolus went through the forests to take out some enemies, all stealthy-like like. Like he do. Coincidentally, my mission was to support an assassin’s mission to disrupt the enemy – as it turns out, it was Tmolus. I had his back from afar and took down commanders as he was sneaking around camps up close, doing similar things. Have to say, we make a pretty good pairing. Thankfully, I got to hermit a bit – get some alone time while on mission. Kinda re-center a bit – which is good. It gave me time to work on a new technique I’d been mulling around. I think I’ll call it Hail of Thorns™.

Upon my return, I learned that Pen had invented “trucknuts” and then invented the codpeice to hang the nuts from. He … he has issues. And I have a feeling they’re only going to get worse.

And, back to the now. We’ve been on the road for close to two weeks now. Two rainy weeks. We’re learning that the army’s methods for estimating time/distance/troop strength are more of an exact art than observation and data based. We also learn that our ranks are indeed rife with spies. It’s mostly our duty to protect the rear by taking out traitors.

Our current stretch has found us in the forest, and it’s been raining for three days straight. Raining enough that two flash floods have come through that took out a fair amount of supplies. Couple that with the natural dwindling of supplies, and morale seems to be pretty low. Well, low for most groups – I’ve been foraging, so my unit is not hungry. Plus, I can get a fire going at night even with wet wood – something that even the boisterous cleric of the death god (Pen) dare not mock. It’s drizzling now, but there’s a downpour imminent – we’re in for a long cold wet night. Sgt. Zayno shows up, knowing we’ll have a good fire, and hunkers down with us. He has word about Pen – he’d fallen and injured himself bad enough to warrant a stay with medical. A runaway horse spooked him, and he fall-down-go-boom. Apparently he was taken from medical?

Sarge asks how we are, and reports that other units are not doing so well. Do I detect the faintest sense of pride? While we’re eating well and having a fire every night (you’re wecome), the other units are suffering from trench rot, low morale, etc. And in fact, he has another mission for us. It’s completely off the books, and he will disavow the very orders he’s giving us if we’re discovered. He knows full well that war is hell, and a certain amount of ill behavior is to be expected. But, when troops get too far out of line, it affects discipline. The Captain knows there’s a rogue unit taking the opportunity to plunder while on our march. Not “requisitioning” as normal – taking. We’re now asked to “chastise” them. According to reports, these abusers have an insignia of sorts – a skull (Punisher-like) scarred onto their forearm.

In fact, Briff has seen them. He’s seen at least one lieutenant, three sergeants, a number of corporals, and a slew of privates. Roughly thirty to forty in total.

Tmolus and I investigate around. They have a notorious reputation – badasses. Bullies, even – they’re known for messing with other units. It also looks like they’ve taken shelter in a series of caves, two ravines over. And like us, they are hardened vets. This won’t be easy. Although, it would seem that we have a new advantage – apparently Briff can change his appearance. From this, we develop a rudimentary plan: I track the Sfardi members of this unit, show where they lead to Tmolus and Briff, and watch them impersonate and draw out a few true members at a time. We take those out, rinse, and repeat. We also want to make sure they can’t yell for help, so death will need to be quick. And just to make sure they get the message, also cut an X through their scar marker, rubbing dirt/charcoal into the wound. Also, we take their tongue.

After picking up on their tracks, I lead us across some difficult terrain, since we’re in a forest, we get to proceed at a normal pace. It’s raining and raining and muddy, but this doesn’t deter us. We sneak through a camp on way with ease, and come to the ravine where we believe they are. There’s even a clearing in front of their supposed caves. We find a spot we like, and I climb a suitable tree for a better overview. We’re far enough away from the caves that hopefully between swift kills and the rain, that anyone still in the caves will not hear any screams. We detect that seven are coming through, two in chains. Not sure what’s in store for those in chains, but it can’t be good.

(By the way, SCAT isn’t army-wide, but specops. We have our own “dialect”)

Briff summons some dancing lights in the form of a person somehow, and throws voice his voice to the area of the shape. He make the shape act drunken, cursing loudly and vowing revenge. It works – they notice, and all stop and crouch down. One is clearly the leader – he talks (whispers) and two others peel off with him towards the illusion, while the other two knock out and stay with the prisoners.

Even though we have the element of surprise, Tmolus throws a dagger and misses. I plant an arrow through the neck of one (Nat20!) with my Hail of Thorns, tagging him to a tree and bursting damage to the other. I quickly knock a second arrow and loose it on the other combatant (Horde Breaker) and hit him, but Robin puts an arrow through his eye and silences him.

Two quietly down, three to go.

The other three start returning. I can’t who is in charge, but can see that one is on Tmolus, so I plant an arrow in him and then duck back behind the tree. When I next look, I can see two running through the clearing, towards the caves. I hit one (Nat20!) with Hail of Thorns and he stumbles. My second arrow goes aimlessly into the grass. The other yells, and three men come out. Tmolus finishes puts one down, and Robin hits one of the runners with arrow. An odd crown of iron appears on his head, and he turns and chases the one running towards cave. I don’t how Robin “turned” him, but he tackles closes and tackles the guy, and starts stabbing him. (We’ll have sneak attack against guy getting stabbed.)

Session Date: 06/05/17
Title Source: Megadeth – Holy Wars … The Punishment Due

Question from the DM: Reveal something about 0ne other character I’ve learned. I flipped a “coin” which broke in twain, and one of the pieces landed standing up, so I did both: Cpl Xaphs Robin made a hard decision leading us to our current dungeon crawl that outwardly I had to decry due to current orders, but inwardly very much wanted to do, so am glad she made the call. As for Tmolus: I respect his sneak to the point of not really trusting him.

We’re still inn the goblin room, searching for hidden doors and finding none. Heading back, we see an offshoot passage to the South, which dead-ends after 10′ or so. Or, so we thought – Tmolus finds a trapdoor in the ceiling.

He listens for a bit and relays what he hears – it was the Captain talking about supply lines. That’s pretty “meh”, but I have to admit that we could hear that is an issue. What if others know of this place? It’s a potential security concern. Also … how would we explain our discovery?

Back in the main room, I re-examine the tracks. They’re a bit old (makes me feel a bit better about the security issue), and we head though the North-West door. Pen does his light trick again, revealing a gate with iron bars ahead. Pen (being Pen) stubs his toe kicking said iron gate. Because of course. And you know this is going to slow him down (it does –  5ft/move). Tmolus gets the gate open, and thankfully I see a tripwire attached to what look like a bunch of stabby, cutty knives. We are all extra careful to go over it (even Pen), and manage to avoid a bladed death. For now.

I resume my ranger-ly duties and take point. I notice something in passageway, about 50′ ahead. The passageway is collapsed from one side, and there’s a lot of rubble to climb over. I lead our unit on the best path, and once on the other side I still see footprints. After bit, I find a secret door in the stone wall, and we open it.

It opens to a hallway leading left and right. The footprints go up a set of stairs, part of which are oiled. Cpl. Robin voluntells me to the top, to scout. There’s a glimmer of light up there, and the sounds of clanking chains. I stealth my way up, which ends in a semi-circular landing. There’s a slot at eye height, so I look in. It looks like a torture chamber, and I’m about to head back when I hear a panicky voice. They’re explaining that they don’t belong there, that they need to get back to their unit – and it sounds like they legitimately believe it. In fact – it’s Briff Brilliams!

I look a little more carefully around me, and notice a latch and hinges – the hemisphere itself opens up. Briff happens to throw his voice to make it sound like it’s a ghost in the “iron maiden” – which is exactly where I am. As a guard heads over to investigate, Pen, now right behind me, shakes the door and in a terrible and booming voice shouts

“TREMBLE BEFORE ME MORTALS!”

The guard falls back, frightened, but unfortunately sees us.

I roll back behind Pen as a guard charges to us, now exposed. He runs past, but not knowing about the partially oiled steps, tumbles down the stairs. Tmolus sneaks around me to get to the room as I head down to check on Cpl. Robin and the guard, avoiding teeth, oil, blood.

The guard is laying on the floor, motionless, a crumpled mass of man. I try (use inspiration) to resuscitate him – he is a member of our army after all – but it’s no use. Based on the angle his neck is turned, he won’t be walking this off.

*META-ish*
Also, the SCRAP communication method is now known as:
SCAT – Subtle Cricket Audio-communication Technique

When I get back up, I see the other guard has been killed. Cpl. Robin orders Briff to be re-shackled to the torturing post. Since he’s already visibly beaten and is chained to a post, his story will be that they deserted. Or maybe they didn’t – how could he know? He’s chained to a torture post. Either way, he’ll say that they left through an apparent secret passage through the false iron maiden.

We roll the other one down stairs – making it look like they both tumbled down the stairs to their death – the steps are partially oiled, after all.

We trace our path back, re-setting traps as we go. Now back in the main room, we head down the Southeast path. It  winds for about 100ft, then exits to a ravine at the bottom of the hill. There’s no gate, but it’s masked well by brush and overgrowth. It’s a quiet night outside, and we return to camp.

When we get back to our barracks, there’s a seated figure by a campfire. It’s Sgt. Zayno. When he asks where we’ve been, I say that to strengthen our team I’ve teaching them some nighttime ranger techniques. He says that it seems that we’ve learned a lesson about keeping our team together. He informs us that Briff is in the can for being awol, and unit is moving out in morning. He gives us a chit to take to the brig and get him out – we roll out in the morning.

From the DM: LEVEL Twice! (to 4th)
In the time between this session and the next, we’ve been accompanying supply lines. There were two pitched battles, and we need to explain what happened.

Session Date: 05/22/17
Title Source: Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden