OSE Solo #8: Fighting by Firelight
Yaïma the Elf and her comrades meet a baronetess and battle orcs.
This is part of a series of blog posts in which I play Old School Essentials as a solo RPG. You can read the first session here or the previous session here.
Scenario
The party has escaped from the dungeon, after having been trapped on the second level for 30 turns. They find, surrounding their horses on the surface, a lavish encampment.
Adventure
Day Four (cont'd)
The daylight is growing dim as Yaïma leads her comrades boldly among the camp to retrieve the horses. They are met by a young warrior, Deilahr. He takes the party to meet his lady, the baronetess Chorine.
Technical Info on the Noble group
- Baronetess Chorine (Ftr 3)
- Squire Jasmine (Ftr 2)
- 8 retainers (Ftr 1): Alere, Deilahr, Kaelle, Frayt, Grenne, Mer, Wyne, and Zulia.
- Treasure:
- 1 Scroll: Protection from Evil, Sleep
- 4 pieces of jewelery: 5,600 gp in total
- 86 gp
The village (which I am now naming Halme) and the chasm fall within Chorine's baronetcy. She insists that any treasure found therein is rightfully hers, but otherwise is uninterested in their presence. I suppose the party will have a decision to make if they return to explore in the future!
The party returns to the caravan at dusk. Hader is glad to see them and, maybe more importantly, the horses. He is disappointed to hear they didn't find any treasure, but he returns Yaïma's deposit in full. Hader jokes that he should have rented them out by the hour.
The caravan staff camp with the wagons at the edge of town. Hader opts for the village inn.
Yaïma and Astha, the captain, are keeping first watch when a rustling in the nearby fields draws close. The guards hear a low argument break out in a guttural language. For better or worse, Yaïma does not recognize the language as Ogre (which she is able to speak). She and Astha rise and call out into the darkness beyond the firelight.
Fireside Combat
A spear flies from the dark toward Astha, but the captain deftly dodges! Four shouting orcs break into the camp with wicked hand axes held high. One chops into Yaïma, leaving a bloody gash. Yaïma counter-attacks, cutting the orc's head off with her sword.
Yaïma makes a fighting withdrawal, backing away from the living orc with her sword at the ready. Astha locks steel with two orcs.
Linsey, Olam, and Perston are on their feet. Linsey and Olam are wary of the enemies, having been wounded by the zombies in the chasm. Perston steps in to defend Yaïma in her retreat and kills the second orc!
One of the orcs facing Astha breaks and runs. Astha realizes he is left facing off with his orcish counterpart, their squad leader. Human and orc move to strike simultaneously, but Astha stabs him through the gut first.
The guards wipe the blood from their swords and let the last orc escape without pursuit. He will deliver a message. On the orc leader's belt, the guards find a blood-stained leather case containing three vials of liquid: two silver and one green.
"How should we divide this treasure?" Perston asks.
"Figure we should find a buyer and split the gold," Yaïma replies.
"Best not to go through Hader. He's a good man, but he's a business man first," Astha says. The guards stash the potions.
Potion spoilers
- Two silver potions of invisibility
- One green potion of growth
Astha leaves the group to inform the local village militia leader of the kill. The orc bodies are burned in a far field.
Day Five
In the morning, Hader and Astha begin scouting for new guard recruits. Not only are they down two guards after the beetle attack, but Yaïma, Linsey, and Olam are injured quite badly. Yaïma should be able to heal after a day of rest, but Linsey and Olam will take several. [RN: there is another, unnamed, guard that I keep forgetting! I'm gonna say their name is... Caesir.]
The village militia makes a competing offer to the guards to stay in Halme and follow the orcs back to their lair in the forest to the northeast, across the river. The folk of Halme want assurance that the orcs will not return. Four young adults are willing to join the party as retainers.
The party of four guards—Yaïma, Linsey, Olam, and Perston—decide to stay in Halme, rest, and then head out to the northeast. Hader pays Yaïma 3 gp for services rendered and 1 gp each to the other three. Astha gives them two of the potions, a silver and a green; they call it settled.
The party is joined by the four young villagers ('normal humans,' level 0): Berda, Dian, Elsic, and Gillea. They are each offered 1 gp/day and a half-share of any treasure taken (reclaimed?) from the orcs.
The injured guards spend the day resting. The party is given shelter within the families of their retainers.
Day Six
In the morning, the caravan with new guards leaves Halme. Yaïma has healed fully; Linsey and Olam are still sore, but overall recovering.
Day Seven
Linsey and Olam have healed fully. The party prepares to head to the forest in the northeast.
I'll pick up here in the next session!
Referee's Notes
I forgot to generate the orcs' treasure ahead of time. I guess since the orcs didn't get the chance to use those potions, maybe they didn't know what effect they would have. Or they got cocky!
I didn't really do much mapping this session, but here is the currently known area of Chorine's baronetcy. I will figure out some way to determine the actual boundaries.
Map
The only tool I used this session was a table I made up: What Rank is that Noble?