Grand Duchy 1

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 1
January 21, 2014

The Adventure Begins

Griffin

Moldain 7th of Thaumont, 1001AC

Four strangers are brought together by the offer of work in the river city of Kelvin in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. The job, offered by a Traladaran by the name of Stephan, is to travel to the homestead of Susikyn and escort a herd of trained white horses across the wilderness to the Elf village if Rifflian. His brother, Pyotr, is willing to pay 100 Gold Royals (1000$) for the completion of the job. 

Griffin has arrived in Kelvin for the job with his friends Akaios, Burik, Eranthil and Ree, accompanying a herder from Penhaligon who told them about the job. Remar, who had met Stephan while traveling through the hinterlands on his way from Thyatias, arrived in Kelvin with the Traladaran. Marcel had met Stephan a week earlier and befriended the man and been offered the job after Stephan saw him handle himself well against some street thugs. Draven was brought into the endeavor after meeting Marcel at the Church when he had been seriously wounded exploring some caves under the city.

Remar

After being all acquainted, Stephan told them to meet on the docks by day break and that he had secured passage on a riverboat heading upstream. The crew assembled in the morning and were led aboard the boat, captained by a man named Kalanos and crewed by 8 strong backed rowers. The plan involved one day's travel up river to Misha's Ferry where the crew would disembark, rest for the night, then travel overland for a day to reach Susikyn. It sounded simple enough.

Marcel

But things never seem to work out as simply as they sound. Just after midday, the boat seemed to hit some sort of unseen snag in the river and upon closer investigation, it proved to be a thick, barbed chain that had been pulled taught just as the boat was passing over. Archers from the wooded and rocky shore began raining down arrows on the boat and everyone quickly took cover.

Draven

Marcel jumped overboard and tried to see if he could get the boat unstuck but it appeared that it would take too much time and was probably not the best thing to do while being shot at. The captain and rowers took cover behind the boats high sides and several of the passengers presented their bows and crossbows and began firing back at their assailants. 

Sailing up river

After a few rounds of shooting missiles at each other, several members of the attackers leaped into the water and began swimming out toward the boat while their archer allies continued to fire at anyone presenting themselves as a target on the boat. Likewise, the archers on the boat fired back at the men trying to swim out and at those shooting from the shore. Griffin managed a lucky shot with his bow and took out the leader of the group who had been identified when he began barking orders at his bandits. Remar also proved to be a good shot with his arcane bolt, though its effectiveness was questionable. As the swimmers got closer, Remar put his Spasm spell to good use, causing some of the swimmers to have horrible cramps and be swept downstream by the river's force. Draven moved around the boat and used his divine power to armor his companions and heal any that received wounds. Marcel coordinated the right side rowers to pull their oars back and wait for a group of swimmers to approach, only to have them swing the long wooden oars out, striking at the swimmers, even managing to knock a few of them unconscious. 

Ambushed!

Eventually some of the wet bandits reached the boat and tried to climb in. Griffin, Draven, Marcel and Remar would have none of that. Swords and spears were drawn, spells were cast and the boarders were repelled with ease. In the midst of the melee though, one of Captain Kalanos' rowers revealed himself as a turncoat as he unsheathed a long knife and stabbed Eranthil the Elf in the back, nearly killing him, before leaping overboard and trying to swim away downriver. Remar was able to disable him with his magic and he panicked and slipped under the rivers dark water. 

The bandits on the shore

As the last of the boarders were dealt with, it was observed the archers on the shore had either been taken out or had fled the scene as no more arrows flew at the boat. No one could be seen moving on the shore at all.

Marcel quickly shed his heavy gear and hopped back into the water, heading for the far shore in an attempt to undo the chain holding the boat in place.

Continued on GDA2 - The Journey to Susikyn

Session Notes

This was the first session of a new GURPS campaign I am running. It is set in the Grand Duchy of Karamekios, of the old B/X Dungeons and Dragons fame. We developed the characters to have a "1st Level" feel. Overall I think things went great. We will continue the story online through a sort of Play-by-Post action utilizing Google Docs (link above.)

Cast of Characters

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Remar Umerus, an Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army conjured by +Ben Lipe 
Marcel Maas, a down on his luck Traladaran soldier turned mercenary commanded by +Christian Blouin 
Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos piously played by +Jason Packer 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM