Hey, folks! Will from Runeforged here.
If you haven’t already, please read entry #0 in this series, which sets the stage for the campaign. You can find that here.
Here’s the recap for session 1 of our campaign!
The Road to Ironpeak
Our heroes begin their adventure traveling north on the King’s Road towards Ironpeak, the last bastion of dwarven power in the north. Once they arrive, they plan to pledge their service to King Torvald Thundercrown and join his expedition to reclaim Dwarfhome, the lost capitol of the once-great Dwarven Empire.
Only a few hours from their destination, the party hears a commotion on the road ahead. Quickening their pace, they see a well-laden dwarven wagon and its two drivers surrounded by a group of masked humans. Bandits!
*Map by Neutral Party (Patreon).
With the aid of the other dwarves, the party is quickly able to defeat the small force of bandits. The wagon drivers introduce themselves as Orin the Smith and Kova (Orin’s daughter and apprentice). They thank the party for their timely assistance, though insist that they were in no real danger (though it is unclear to what extent that is true…)
Peecha, the party’s Forge Priest, has heard of Master Orin, and knows him to be the greatest living smith among the dwarves (and therefore, of course, the entire world).
The smiths and party agree to travel together to Ironpeak. During the journey, Orin laments the state of his homeland. In his youth, bandits would have never dared to attack a dwarven wagon openly on the road, for it would have incurred the wrath of every dwarf within 100 leagues. Much has changed since the fall of Dwarfhome…
The Gates of Ironpeak
After a few hours, the exhausted party and their new companions arrive at the Great Gates of Ironpeak. The Gate Warden, Daugrimm, was not expecting them and asks their business under the mountain so close to nightfall.
*Map by Terkographer (Patreon).
After an impassioned speech by Josef, the party’s Engineer, and assurances that they have come to join King Torvald’s expedition to retake Dwarfhome, the gates are opened for them.
Before long, they are greeted by Erik, who will be acting as the Quartermaster for the upcoming expedition. His grumpy facade melts as he warmly greets Master Orin and his daughter - they seem to be old friends.
He then agrees to store Master Orin’s wagon somewhere safe until the expedition is ready to leave, and advises Orin that King Torvald wishes to see him and his traveling companions. While Orin and the party are tired from their journey, they do not believe it would be wise to make Torvald wait.
Audience with King Torvald
Before long, Orin and the party are escorted into the Great Hall by a small contingent of Greybeards, veteran dwarven warriors who serve as the King’s guards.
*Map by McKley (Patreon).
There, they meet King Torvald, as well as his closest advisors, Deathseeker Ragnar and Earthmender Runa.
Master Smith Orin advises the King of the bandits they met on the road. This seems to trouble Torvald greatly (as King, he is responsible for protecting against such attacks).
Ragnar volunteers to lead a small force into the foothills to root out any bandits that might remain, but Earthmender Runa reminds Torvald that all of their efforts must be focused on the reclamation of Dwarfhome. She believes that, if the ancient fortress cannot be reclaimed, there is no hope of stabilizing the Northlands. Torvald agrees with Runa. It would not be wise to split their forces at this time, especially when so few of the other clans had answered the call to join the expedition.
It is at this point, Torvald turns to the party and asks them what business they have in Ironpeak. Again Josef gives an impassioned speech about the party’s desire to join the expedition to Dwarfhome. At first, it seems as though Ragnar might mock the party for their small numbers and lack of experience, but even he is moved by their fiery words and determination.
Torvald laughs, a rare thing in these dark days, and invites Master Orin, his daughter Kova, and their new companions to the feast that will be held this evening. A last supper before the long march on Dwarfhome. Happy to fill their bellies with warm food and delicious mead, the party accepts this invitation.
The Great Feast
Eager to make a name for themselves among their new allies, and knowing that every dwarven feast features many contests of skill, endurance, and cunning, the party spends time gathering information and strategizing the best way to prepare for these contests…
Here are the guidelines I gave to the players before the contests began:
The contests, the expected champions, and PC challengers are as follows:
Storytelling (CHA):
Expected Champion: Earthmender Runa
PC Challenger: Geode (Earthcaller)
Runewords (INT or WIS):
Expected Champion: Master Smith Orin
PC Challenger: Peecha (Forge Priest)
Drinking (CON):
Expected Champion: Apprentice Smith Kova
PC Challenger: Josef (Engineer)
Stonebreaking (STR):
Expected Champion: Deathseeker Ragnar
PC Challenger: Cyrus (Berserker)
Marksmanship (DEX):
Expected Champion: Quartermaster Erik (but only because Daugrimm refuses to participate in such contests).
PC Challenger: Tophee (Deepstalker)
Here’s a breakdown of the key events and outcome of each contest:
Storytelling (Geode vs. Earthmender Runa):
Round 1:
Runa tells the story of the rise of the Dwarven Firstborn (Brokkr, Jorda, and Dauthi) and the creation of Dwarfhome.
Geode tells a (fictional) version of the dwarven creation myth where the first dwarves were sculpted from the arms of Earth Elementals. He uses his Rock Armor spell as a prop during the storytelling (awesome).
I give Geode DISADV for telling a non-cannon version of the creation myth (which borders on heresy), but ADV for the cool use of Rock Armor, making it just a flat roll.
Ultimately, despite the heretical re-telling, Geode won the audience over and took the first round!
Runa applauded politely, but also threw a little shade about how Geode’s story wasn’t true, but still a very pretty work of fiction.
Round 2:
Runa tells the story of the Great War between the Elves and Dwarves. It started when the Dwarven Prince was sent as an ambassador to the Lord and Lady of the Elfwode. He was returned home dead and (even worse) clean shaven! This sparked a war that lasted for centuries. Ultimately, the war ended when the Dwarven High-King, Torvald’s Grandfather, slew the Lady of the Elfwode in single combat, steel against sorcery. The loss of his beloved nearly broke the elven Lord Thalanor, and an uneasy peace was brokered, but not before the might off both peoples had been shattered.
Geode tells another (fictional) story of an even more ancient war between dwarves/earth elementals and the elves/air elementals.
Unfortunately for Geode, this story fell flat, despite the fact it was more palatable to the audience than his previous story. Round 2 went to Runa.
Afterwards, Runa came over and gave Geode a conciliatory pat on the shoulder which “accidentally” turned his Rock Armor into mud, drawing laughs from the crowd. Runa, of course, “apologized profusely” and said that she’d clean that right up (after the contest was over, of course).
Round 3:
Runa tells the story of the Fall of Dwarfhome. The coming of Cindraxxa the Red Ruin and her monstrous minions. The brave final stand of the dwarves, and the lucky few who managed to escape… Runa included.
This was, perhaps, the greatest and most heartfelt version of this story ever told. The audience is deeply moved.
Expertly reading the room, Geode decides to tell the story of how this expedition will retake Dwarfhome and restore the once-mighty dwarven empire to its former glory, bringing about a new Golden Age of peace and prosperity.
It was the perfect counter, and he got ADV on his roll!
With ADV, Geode’s player rolled EXACTLY what he needed to win this round, securing the entire contest 2-1!
Geode’s story brings a tear to Runa’s eye, and she congratulates him, genuinely, on his victory and hopes that his story proves true.
Runewords (Peecha vs. Master Smith Orin):
Prep: Peecha spends his time preparing by praying to Brokkr for guidance. Luckily for him, Brokkr was, in-fact, the inventor of the game of Runewords, and he got an extra Luck Token that could only be used in this contest.
Round 1: Peecha attempts a feint to lull his opponent into a poor position on the board, but Master Orin is too clever to fall for it, and the attempt is unsuccessful.
With the feint easily identified and dealt with, Orin handily takes Round 1.
Round 2: Peecha notices that Master Orin made a slightly sub-optimal move, and tries to determine why, not trusting that it was a simple mistake. Correctly, he identifies that Orin is holding his best runes for a devastating final round, and makes a bold move to counter it!
This move won him Round 2, and prevented Orin’s master play the next round!
Round 3: Peecha went full out on the attack, forcing Orin to deal with the advantage he had gained the previous round. Peecha nearly fumbled the gambit, but Brokkr’s Blessing revealed an even better move!
After re-rolling his initial failure due to the Luck Token he’d earned during his prep phase, Peecha was able to win round 3 and the Runewords contest 2-1!
Drinking (Josef vs. Apprentice Smith Kova):
Prep: Josef spent his prep time filling up his stomach and making use of various mineral compounds known to reduce the effects of alcohol on the body.
As a result, I gave him ADV on his rolls during the first two rounds.
Round 1: Josef attempts to get into Kova’s head by pointing out that the craftsmanship of her tankard is inferior to his own.
A dangerous gamble, insulting the craft of another dwarf’s craftsmanship, but the gambit was successful, and Kova became flustered!
As a result, Josef gained a further round of ADV and easily took round 1.
Round 2: Josef makes no attempt at further shenanigans and simply does his base roll with ADV, again easily defeating Kova.
Round 3: Kova attempts to use her feminine wiles to persuade Josef to let her win.
Josef, calmly states that he is married to his craft, and suggests they drink the last round at the same time, and let the best dwarf win!
Kova agrees. They drink, and Josef handily wins the 3rd round, with Kova passing out cold after it’s over. Her father carries her off to her room and is left to sleep off the effects of the contest. A worthy effort!
Josef dominates the drinking contest 3-0!
Stonebreaking (Cyrus vs. Deathseeker Ragnar):
Prep: Cyrus, confident in his victory, simply stretches and casually breaks a few test rocks in the corner.
Round 1 and 2: Despite Cyrus’ confidence, Ragnar simply proves too strong to overcome. As perhaps the strongest (and greatest) warrior in the expedition, he is truly a force to be reckoned with.
Round 3:
Ragnar looks deep in Cryus’ soul, trying to intimidate him, and crushes his own rock with ease. Cyrus will lose the contest unless he can accomplish an extraordinary feat (DC 20+)!
Cyrus uses his Berserker Rage ability to nullify the effect of Ragnar’s intimidation, and reveals the trick he’s kept up his sleeve the entire time. His player has been saving his Luck Tokens all session for this final round of the contest.
With Cyrus’ companions nearby to cheer him on, he crushes the final rock in spectacular fashion (he got a 22!), without a hammer, to the amazement of the onlooking crowd.
With this incredible finish, Ragnar steps forward, his face an emotionless mask. For a moment, it looks like it may come to blows, but ultimately, Ragnar simply laughs and holds up Cryus’ hand, proclaiming him the winner (but whispering under his breath that he let the beardling win).
Marksmanship (Tophee vs Quartermaster Erik):
Prep: Tophee spent her preparation time convincing everyone who would watch and listen that she was, in fact, a terrible shot and not a threat to be taken seriously in the upcoming contest.
I didn’t know exactly how that would come up, but I told her player that if there was a situation where she thought that would apply, to remind me and we could adjudicate from there.
Round 1: Disaster strikes! Tophee rolls a natural 1 on her first shot!
But, her player, remembering her preparation, asked me if she could have pretended to crit fail "on purpose” to lull the other contestants into a false sense of security to give her ADV in future rounds. I thought that was a wonderful idea, and that’s what we went with!
The first round went to Quartermaster Erik, but he had, mistakenly, underestimated his opponent!
Round 2: Having lulled her opponent into a false sense of security, Tophee was easily able to take Round 2, evening the score at 1 to 1!
Round 3: Sensing that something was off about his opponent, Erik attempted something desperate. A bribe! He whispered to Tophee that if she threw the match, he would see to it that a masterwork crossbow “fell off the wagon” and into her room later that evening. A great prize!
Tophee, disgusted by the offer, refused it, and swore to make the corrupt Quartermaster pay for this insult!
Erik took his shot, and landed a near-perfect bullseye!
Tophee then shoved the Quartermaster aside, and quick-fired her own crossbow. With the use of a Luck Token, she was able to get a critical success, splitting the Quartermaster’s bolt in two!
As she departed victorious, Tophee shot off a quip that greatly hurt the Quartermaster’s pride.
Tophee had won the Marksmanship event 2-1, but the public humiliation of the Quartermaster had turned a potential ally into an unfortunate rival…
Unexpectedly (to me), the party managed to win all 5 of the contests, securing a massive 3 Luck Tokens each for next session!
But trust me when I say: They’ll need them… =P
King Torvald Speaks
After the winners of the contests were announced, and sufficient honor, food, and drink were heaped upon them, King Torvald stood up, held out his hands commanding silence, and began to address the assembled crowd.
You can listen to the audio file below, if you’d like to hear Torvald’s speech for yourself!
And that brings us to the end of Session 1 of my Reclamation of Dwarfhome campaign. I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know what you thought of it down in the comments below.
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The recap for the next session can be found here.
Sincerely,
William (Runeforged Tabletop Gaming)
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Nice start to the expedition. This is an interesting champaign setting.