Trouble in Somerlisse is a Savage Worlds campaign using the Hellfrost setting. The Games Master is Mark Hamilton and play takes place every Friday night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club.
Thingol Chillblane - A Frostborne Paladin of Kenaz (Tony)
Sister Athura Magnusdottir - A healer and member of the Sisters of Mercy (Tony)
Vigo - An engro rogue of various talents (Martin)
Vissarel Nerinen - A Taiga Elf and mistress of Elemental magics (Kat)
Alvina - A Hearth Elf and Lorekeeper (Esme)
Zigmursund - A human roadwarden (Dave H)
Roderick - A Taiga Elf Bladedancer (Kat)
Athura's healing spell repairs the damage inflicted by the birds iron feathers and saves Zigmursund's life, but everyone born in the north knows being wet and cold leads to exposuire and death and his clothes are quickly stripped off. Thingol quickly lights a bush on fire and Vissarael magically manipulates the air around to warm Zigmursund and dry his clothes. Ever the opportunitst, Vigo takes out a small pan and begins cooking a couple of bacon rashers and eggs for his second breakfast.
Athura inspects what is left of the the bird carcasses and establishes that they are Stymphalian. These swamp dwelling man eaters have iron bills, talons and iron stemmed feathers which are often coated in poison. Once dressed again, Zigmursund collects 10 intact feathers from the three birds. He muses that these will make useful throwing knives.
The Brinya Stead
Continuing through the bog for a couple of hours, the party finally crests a hill revealing the Brinya Stead below. A small settlement of three house, a small barn and a few sheds all of which surrounded by a wooden pallisade. The footprints of what they assume to be the the rider from Somerlisse, lead directly to a gate in the palisade wall. From their vantage points several party members spot bodies scattered around the houses.
Vigo approaches the gate stealthily whilst Athura and Thingol make very bad attempts at staying hidden on the top of the hill. The Engro shoots a couple of arrows at the closest body to ensure that it is dead. The last thing he wants is a repeat of the surprise undead attack which encountered in Lier. Seeing no reaction, Viggo calls the party husing his expert bird mimicry "Cawcaaaaw, Cawcaaaaw!". Rather than stepping inside the compound, he decides to follow a small path along the outside of the palisade where he finds many footprints in the snow. Big heavy ones probably belonging to orcs going both ways and others indicating that the orcs have probably departed with adult human prisoners. The path continues across a bridge crossing a small river at the back of the stead before disappearing out of view up trail into a wooded hillside on the opposite bank.
Having reached the gate, the rest of the party considers what to do next. Zigmursund tries to follow the rider's prints but quickly loses them as in the tumultuous mix of numerous others. Approaching the closest body which has two of Vigo's arrows sticking out of it, he quickly establishes the cause of death. Large slash marks from a bladed weapon across the corpses back show that this person was violently and mercilessly cut down as they fled.
Among the corpses, Thingol finds a snow orc impaled by a farmers pitchfork. The steadsfolk of Brinya clearly put up a fight but the many prints seem to indicate an unusually large raiding party of orc of upto 15 where only 3 or 4 might normally have led this attack. The scale of destruction is uncommon. All the houses have been ransacked and every farm animal has been slaughtered. Zigmursund inspects the body of the orc further and finds some crude weapons and a few gold shields.
Approaching one of the sheds, Roderick hears the soft whimpering of a child and finds inside a young boy keeping watch over a barely conscious older lady.
"Suvvy is dying" the boy splutters between tears.
Athura checks on them and quickly establishes that they require warmth, sustenance and rest but otherwise seem unharmed.
"Carry the woman to one of the houses, Roderick. I'll take the child" she commands her companion. As night falls, the party retreats to the safety of one of the houses and begin caring for Suvvy and the boy, Erik. In his own simple words Erik explains that the orc raiders just wrought havoc and took everyone with them just a couple of days ago. The party decides to give chase in the morning and they organise themselves into watches in case some orcs come back during the night. During the evening, Viggo soothes the child with fantastic stories of Lady Athura's exploits and the rest of the party's humble contributions. Vissarael and Roderick take possession of another house to carry out some "business" of their own. Fortunately the orcs do not return and everyone manages to get some rest during the uneventful night.
On The Trail of Orcs
In the morning Viggo uses the last of his bacon and eggs which he carried from Sommerlisse to cook a robust breakfast for Suvvy and Erik, adding a few rations on the side for them to await the return of the party.
The company crosses the small bridge and take the trail up the hill and into the woods. Zigmursund takes the lead and his excellent tracking skill enables them to follow the orc prints for a few hours untill they approach a small valley with a large compund overseen by a small bluff.
The party observes from the cover of the trees two orcs atop the bluff, one of them relieving himself off the cliff directly into the waters below. The trail continues alongside the compound and then veers steeply to the right of the cliff. It is decided that Vigo should try to draw their attention whilst the rest of the party set an ambush in the wood.
The Engro tries his best to taunt them, but has to throw himself to the ground as the orcs return fire, shooting a volley of arrows at him. Trying to crawl back under the cover of the trees, Viggo gets hit square in the back by an arrow. He stops moving, pretending to be dead.
With their charismatic and handsome friend lying dead on the ground what little discipline that held the party together evaporates. Vissarel breaks cover and repeatedly casts her spell of protection which is eventually noticed by the watching orcs...
Comments