A Warm Welcome at Karim (Steelshod 47)
Hey there!
As the name implies, this is part of an ongoing saga. See below for previous installments:
Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8 || Part 9 || Part 10
[Part 11] (https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/69fzi4/the_reveal_steelshod_part_11/) || Part 12 || Part 13 || Part 14 || Part 15 || Part 16 || Part 17 || Part 18 || Part 19 || Part 20
Part 21 || Part 22 || Part 23 || Part 24 || Part 25 || Part 26 || [Part 27] (https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/6chy6n/remember_sigrun_steelshod_27/) || Part 28 || Part 29 || [Part 30] (https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/6d4ap5/killing_the_party_steelshod_30/)
Part 31 || Part 32 || Part 33 || Part 34 || Part 35 || Part 36 || Part 37 || Part 38 || Part 39 || Part 40
Part 41 || Part 42 || Part 43 || Part 44 || Part 45 || Part 46
Sporadically updated Lore Document.
Comments are open, so feel free to leave one if you have any questions or requests for more content of a particular variety.
—MAPS—
World (Shitty scan of the original world map… if you zoom in it’s semi-legible though!)
Back to some folks we haven’t seen in a little while!
The Serpentes Column
For reference, this group includes: Almost all the Serpentes; all the Sons aside from Breaker, Cass, Quickly, and Tiny; plus Dylan, Jaspar, Chauncey, Olivenco, Leon, Gerald, Evan, Zelde, Felix, Varley, Anatoly, and Perrin.
The Serpentes column makes it out of the Underpass without any further issue
For those that are confused by the timeline, this is at least 12-24 hours earlier than the previous chapter, when the various groups in the depths met up.
Dylan wants to leave a few folks behind, but for now they decide to press on a little further.
He knows he is not being practical, or a good, clear-headed commander
He mostly knows this because Varley and Jaspar are happy to tell him so.
He’s thinking with his heart
Acting out of fear for his comrades
Not out of the best interests of the mission
Dylan does what he can to rise to the occasion
Puts on a stoic face for the men
And leads the column down the road.
They’ve entered a small Torathian kingdom called Karim
It’s no bigger than a large fief in Caedia, but it calls itself a Kingdom and the ruler calls himself a King.
In name only, really
All the “independent” kingdoms this close to Torathia proper are little more than vassal states
They pay tithes to the Church, and their kingdoms primarily exist under the aegis of the Serpentes.
They spend a few days trudging through the snowdrifts piled onto the road
Eventually reaching Karim Keep
Where Torthian is confident they will receive a great deal more hospitality than in, say, Kirkworth
After all, Kirkworth is large enough that it can defy the Church, at least in small, reasonable ways.
Whereas Karim cannot.
Karim Keep has a good sized little trading town sprawling around a simple motte and bailey fort
Their company draws a lot of stares
Especially the Serpentes.
And, as expected, they are given a warm welcome at the keep.
There aren’t enough accommodations for all of them, nearly a hundred, to stay inside the keep
Nor can the stables hold all their horses
But they are welcome to use the courtyard
And a few can enjoy the keep if they like.
Torthian tells Steelshod and the Sons to take the better quarters,without hesitation
His men are accustomed to spartan living conditions
(don’t get me started on real-world culture based idioms like “spartan” or I’ll be here all day)
And he feels Steelshod has already risen above and beyond the call of duty, they deserve a night inside, with warm rooms and servants
Dylan has the quarters assigned to Varley and the wounded
Leon is still unable to walk due to the massive damage he took from his fall
Gerald and Evan are both suffering moderate wounds from their fight with the strange ogre-like creature
And of course Jaspar is still recovering from a nasty stab wound in his abdomen.
They meet Karim’s King
A lean, good looking man named Micah Enorius
Seasoned but not yet old, perhaps in his mid forties
He has a Cassaline nose, coarse dark Torathian hair, a strong jaw
Some of the best features of the mixed lineage that is common in the Midlands and Torathia.
King Micah welcomes them to his hall
His saw them coming a few hours earlier, and he had his people dip into their winter stockpiles
A modest feast is in preparation
Torthian, Jaspar, Dylan, and Varley are invited to meet with the king
As commander of the Sons, Gwynneth was invited as well
But she just laughed, and walked off to spend time with her lads.
While they await dinner, they explain to King Micah what happened in Caedia
And the grave danger they believe Taerbjornsen now poses to Nahash and the Church
Micah listens intently, but privately, Jaspar feels that the King doesn’t seem to really believe them
Or perhaps he just doesn’t feel the gravity of the situation the way they do.
At several points, he seems to find Torthian and Dylan’s coarser behavior… irritating.
Towards the end of the meeting Varley retires to rest
Torthian and Dylan excuse themselves to see to their men, and they freely admit that they are not the lordly sort
Torthian was a common beggar on the streets of Peranople before he became a Serpentis
Dylan, a freeman from Victoria, was never instilled proper deference for nobility.
They apologize to the King if they have given offense, and suggest perhaps they should just eat with their men
King Micah agrees, suggests perhaps Jaspar and Varley can join him for dinner by themselves
Once they’ve both excused themselves, the King has a private chat with Jaspar
He suggests that Karim may be involved in some significant fighting soon
And he wonders if perhaps he could entice Steelshod to take a new contract with him.
Jaspar says that they would be happy to discuss it… after they have finished helping the Serpentes
Micah points out that they’ve gotten the Serpentes to Torathia, now, haven’t they?
Isn’t their contract concluded?
He suggests that working with him could be very lucrative for an ambitious group of mercenaries.
Jaspar agrees that they would love to work with him… once they have concluded their business in Torathia.
The King concedes the point.
Dismisses Jaspar, tells him he looks forward to the feast, it should be ready in a few more hours.
Jaspar retires to his new quarters, to lie down for a bit
His wound is aching fiercely.
He dozes off, and wakes up to the sound of his chamber door opening
Evening has fallen, and only a bit of gloomy light streams in his window
A shadowy figure stalks across the room
Stands over his bed
Jaspar gropes around for anything he could use as a weapon
Finds nothing…
“J-J-Jaspar?” Chauncey whispers.
Jaspar heaves a sigh of relief.
“Yes, Chauncey?”
“W-w-we, we need to t-t-talk!” the nervous rogue stammers.
Chauncey, it appears, has been busy.
When they parted ways with Prudence, he says she took him aside and told him that with her and Yorrin gone, it was up to him to step up.
To be Steelshod’s eyes and ears in the dark
To be vigilant, alert, and trust no one
So when they arrived in Karim, he made himself scarce
And has wandered the halls, listened at doors, and peered through keyholes.
His news is simple: Karim plans to betray them.
“How can you be sure?” Jaspar asks.
“I h-heard them!” Chauncey whispers fiercely
He goes on to explain, in painfully stammering detail, that he discovered that part of the reason the Keep’s accommodations are so limited is because there are already a lot of people staying in the guest quarters
And a lot of people hiding in the stables.
Soldiers.
Several dozen knights, scores of men-at-arms, all massed in the back rooms, the stables, the kitchens, anywhere out of sight
It made him mighty suspicious, but the clincher was much more overt
He listened in on King Micah and one of his lords, the captain of the guard, discussing their plans openly.
While Micah treats Steelshod’s commanders to a feast in his private chambers, the rank and file will be eating outside
And that is when they will strike.
I’d rolled a series of escalating stealth and observation checks for Chauncey as he scouted the keep, and the little guy was on fire
Yorrin had, mostly, dismissed him as a second-rate stealth NPC, a sort of discount Prudence
But he did Yorrin very proud that night.
Jaspar tells Chauncey that they must move quickly and maintain utmost secrecy.
Chauncey is to slip out of the keep
Notify the others
So that when the attack comes outside, Steelshod and the Serpentes are ready
He tells Chauncey that when he has finished warning the others, he must return to the quarters and protect Steelshod’s wounded: Leon, Gerald, Evan
And Varley… they quietly slip over to Varley’s room, inform Varley of the situation
Varley agrees he is too old and infirm to be of any use, and would just be a liability
“Tell them I’m dead to the world asleep,” he suggests.
“Old codgers like me often are. I’ll wait here, with the wounded, out of the way.”
Chauncey promises to sneak back inside and join them before the fighting begins, in case Micah has a soldier or two set to go execute the wounded.
Jaspar’s not going to stay with the wounded, however.
His job is, possibly, even harder than that of the warriors
As he must go to dinner with King Micah and pretend all is well, so as not to arouse suspicion.
Chauncey recently picked up “Ghost,” a hot-shot style tier that allows him advantage on a series of sneaking checks
He puts it to great use here, slipping in and out of the keep with ease.
Felix and Zelde hear about the plan
They and the other Steelshod and Serpentes covertly prepare their weapons and ready themselves for the upcoming battle.
Meanwhile, Jaspar attends King Micah in his private dining hall
The food is good
The music, loud
And the dinner conversation is fraught with tension
Double meanings that are now all too obvious
Outside, once dinner is well underway, the attack begins on schedule
The walls of the keep line up with archers
And from the stables, dozens of cavalry suddenly emerge
From the keep, a throng of men-at-arms
They attack the Serpentes and Steelshod without warning.
That’s okay, Chauncey was all the warning they needed.
Olivenco and a couple of the Serpentes Knights had positoned themselves near one wall
And they now rush up to the battlements, cutting a quick and deadly swathe through archers that realize they’re under attack a little too late.
Olivenco is one-armed, but his steel dagger flashes in the moonlight
Months of sparring with Yorrin has honed his skills fighting one-handed to, at least, a solid fraction of what they once were.
Anatoly, Dylan, and a number of Torthian’s men had slipped away to stand amidst their massed horses
Covertly saddling up the animals
Now they leap astride and ride out to harass the flank of the incoming mounted knights.
Gwynneth, her Sons, and Perrin form a battle line
Her Axemen are adept at withstanding cavalry charges
Known for their aptitude for slaying horses, and sometimes even their riders, in a single brutal axe-swing
Perrin is well versed in formation fighting and holding a line, as the Sons have well learned over the past months fighting together.
When he says hold, they hold
When he says strike, they strike.
The Serpentes fill the gaps, fighting on all fronts, with Torthian in the thick of things.
Felix and Zelde are kind of loose cannons
They fight out of formation, following their own agenda
And like cannon, if pointed in the right direction they are devastating.
Felix, well versed in heraldry, spots the Karimite lord that serves as Micah’s captain of guard
He is mounted, charging with the knights, behind the front ranks.
He points him out to Zelde, and she takes off like a cannonball
Felix takes aim
Exhales
Shoots.
His arrow pierces a gap in the lord’s plate, getting in a good hit
The lord tumbles from his horse
And by the time he gains his feet, Zelde is upon him
Her axe rises and falls in a furious rain of blows
He struggles to bring up a shield
Staggers
She takes off his shield arm at the elbow
He screams, and one more blow silences him.
Meanwhile, Jaspar and King Micah have run out of pleasantries and subtleties
The sounds of the fighting are not clearly heard over the music
But even so, Micah sighs.
Says he finds this whole thing regrettable
He wishes that Jaspar and he had been able to reach some kind of accord.
But now, Jaspar will have to die with the rest of the Serpentes.
Two guards step into the room, weapons drawn.
Jaspar is alone
Wounded
Unarmed.
But his legs still work.
And he took a note of each door and window as King Micah showed him around the dining hall.
He bolts across the room
Takes a deep breath
Perhaps he even says a silent prayer
And leaps through a shuttered window.
The impact of breaking through the shutters hurts.
The drop from a second story window would hurt a lot more.
But his memory served him well
He falls maybe eight feet
Wincing in pain as he lands on the battlements of the keep’s wall.
His stomach wound is blazing with pain, but he struggles to his feet
Scurries away as fast as he can
He runs past archers shooting below
Internally lamenting his own foolhardy idiocy, as he runs past he shoves an archer off the battlements
And then another.
The third one turns to face him
Draws a sword
Dies, as Olivenco’s dagger cuts his throat from behind
Jaspar collapses at Olivenco’s feet, gasping for breath
Guts searing with pain.
Below, the Serpentes and Steelshod have taken the field
The loss of Karim’s captain of the guard, the counter-surprise attack, everything is working against the Karimites morale
Ultimately, the Knights Serpentes are elite troops
King Micah’s treachery always relied upon surprise with overwhelming force
And that’s been denied them
The fighting makes its way into the keep
Where King Micah’s personal guard have taken up positions
And the king has come down to enjoy his victory
Steelshod, including Felix and Zelde, are among the first to enter the hall.
King Micah looks at them in shock.
Felix has neither patience nor mercy for traitors
He hefts his bow
Draws an arrow
And lets it fly.
King Micah dies with that same, stunned look upon his face.
The arrow piercing him through the chest.
A bit of an abrupt stop today, sorry.
I am also prepping to run a regular 5e game for my family, so I need to get back to that. Enjoy, all!
Edit: Next
Posted Jun 11, 2017, 9:49 PM UTC · edited