Five Leagues Turn 13 - Tower Hill

The locals were so pleased with our heroes clearing the caverns of the Taken, that they plied them with plentiful food and ale [Village Event - no need to pay for upkeep].  A passing knight joined them, and in return for pie and wine offered to help them out if the opportunity should ever arise [Village action - Interact].  Unfortunately all the ale (and the subsequent hangover) put a damper on the group's attempts to study and no new skills were gained.

Instead of the usual adventuring, the party chose to follow up on the story told by their new party member, Wynn Stone [points if you can work out why he's named that ;-)], of a camp full of the Taken in an old tower in the fells to the north.

[The party would be facing 8 Taken, including a 'Captain', Skulker and Stumbler.  The terrain was rolled up as a ruined tower, with the 3 of the Taken within it and the rest randomly scattered around.  The battle would take place in fog, reducing all shooting to no more than 9"]

The ruin of an old watchtower loomed darkly through the mists that clung to the fells, the only other shapes those of scattered, ruined and dying trees.  The fog seemed carry strange sounds, that could perhaps be chanting, or just the wind through the trees.  Clothes and bow strings were damp, as well as spirits.  Will cursed, the mist would make it difficult for the bowmen in the party, "can't see a damned thing, anything could be out there, and it'll be on us before I can get a decent shaft off".  "You might even have to fight like a real soldier" Robert retorted.  Will was about to remind the arrogant knight about saving his bacon outside Winterbourne, when an inhuman howl came from the direction of the tower, and a dark shapes stumbled from the mists at the foot of the tower...

 

 

Dastardly goings on in the tower

  

 

"are we sure we want to go up there?"

Giacomo, Thomas, Oswald and Finan contemplate the watchtower

 

 

From left to right: Jocelyn, Will, (new boy) Wynn, Gregory, Robert and Guy

 

 

"There's definitely something out there"

Robert and Giacomo both stepped up and felled one of the Taken each, while one of Jocelyn's bolts found its mark in another.

 

As more rushed out of the tower, Thomas charged another on the right, taking him down after a protracted fight. Wynn's first outing was a success, shooting one of the Taken, while Will's arrows wounded another, only to be finished off by Robert's bastard sword.

 

But our heroes did not have it all there own way, as a particularly stubborn monstrosity beat down both Oswald and Giacomo, before finally being put out of its own misery by Thomas.

 

Oswald and Giacomo fall, while Robert and Guy take on the leader

In the centre, Robert and Guy engaged the Taken's leader, who proved to be made of tougher stuff, wounding Robert and pushing the knight and his retainer back.  Another creature charged at Gregory from behind the tower, only to meet a bolt from Jocelyn and then felled by a single blow from Gregory's hammer.

Now only the Taken's leader was left standing.  As a wounded Robert prepared himself to launch into the fight again, Will took aim, drew back his bow... and placed an arrow neatly into the once human's heart.

"That's another one you owe me", smirked Will.

 

eyeing up the target.  

It's unclear who the rude gesture is aimed at though

Oswald turned out to just be knocked out and nursing a sore head.  Giacomo had fared worse, his wounds were still light, but would put him out of action for three turns.  A rummage around the tower turned up three gold marks,some tarnished silver jewellery (no doubt taken from some unfortunate) an old map of the area, and several old swords and axes.

The tidy up at the end saw Will and Jocelyn level up Luck and Agility respectively, and the whole group gain a story point.

All in all, not a bad turn.  I liked the story beats, with the idea of the looming tower in the mist; and the way that the 'dark shadows' opponent rolls have come together to tell a story of a cult turned bad, and then worse.  However the action itself was a bit routine.  The party has become quite large and powerful, and the random enemy deployment meant that it was quite easy to overwhelm them in small numbers.  I might have to 'load' some die rolls in the next couple of turns  (possibly by spending some Story Points) to make sure of getting some variety in scenarios and opposition.  That said, I think I have also been lucky in not taking more serious harm, so I may need to be careful what I wish for!