Session XV - Scene I (of VI)

Chrysostomos stands at the edge of the beach in Castellios, cleaning his soiled robes after his bout with dysentery. As he looks up into the distance, he spots a small makeshift raft approaching the shore. A single person stands on the raft. He calls out a greeting.

The person on the raft yells a reply, and the priest can tell it is the voice of a female but one dressed as a warrior. As the raft gets closer, he can see that the rift is piloted by Gayloria.

As his robes have just dried, Chrysostomos refuses to get back into the water to help drag her raft ashore, but Gayloria doesn't seem to mind. Instead, she complains about being "back on this damn island". She briefly explains to the priest that several days ago her ship was capsized by a storm at sea and she was the only survivor, rafting back where the current took her.

Chrysostomos then explains about the rest of the group – the many deaths and how Dion and Artemisia went back to Brigand Forest themselves. He senses they are likely in trouble and he and Gayloria decide to head off to rescue their friends.

Session XV - Scene II (of VI)

Two days later...

Dion finally recovers from his injuries enough to wake from his coma. He sees that he is chained to a wall inside a cell in a small room that also contains an area for committing torture. Inside the large cell he sees he is imprisoned along with Artemisia, Fredo, a merchant, a woman, a young man, and a Xersian. Before he can determine exactly what is going on, two brigands open the cell and throw in Chrysostomos and Gayloria.

Fredo is excited at seeing a younger female in the cells and tries to stretch his chains to get nearer to her, making amorous advances. She brushes him off but he is convinced she is just playing hard to get.

Everyone then has a brief conversation, explaining how they came to be captured, the death of Bernadino, and where the merchant's family and the Xersian fit in.

While the adults talk, Pankratios manages to put together a crude lock pick from some trash material on the floor. He picks his lock then frees his mother and father. Nicos then encourages his son to free the others, but he has a harder time with their chains, only able to free Chrysostomos. The priest notes it is a sign of his favor with the gods. Unfortunately, Pankratios is also unable to pick the main lock to the cell door.

Rather than rely on thievery skills to free him, Dion works at loosening his chains from the dungeon wall. Nicos produces a hidden knife from on his wife's person and the barbarian uses it to chip away at the mortar on the wall.

Just then the main door to the room starts to open as the guards have returned. Everyone quickly stops what they are doing and pretend to still be chained.

The guards head over to the cell and mention that Skilira wants a chance to interrogate the new prisoners. As one opens the door, Chrysostomos begins to cast a light spell to blind them.

But the guards are too fast. They move in and stab Chrysostomos with their swords, causing his spell to fail. As the guards fight with the priest, Pankratios leads his parents out of the cell to safety.

Dion pulls with all his might, ripping the chain out of the wall. Whipping it through the air like a flail, he strikes into the head of one of the guards, taking him down.

Next to Chrysostomos, Gayloria tries to kick at the remaining guard, but fails. Fredo tries to pull his own chain out, but is not as powerful as Dion.

Dion spots the guards' keychain on the ground and kicks it over to Gayloria. As she struggles to unlock her chains, Chrysostomos fights off the guard and strikes him with a cause wounds spell. Pankratios then finishes the guard off by sneaking up behind him and stabbing him through the back of the neck with his father's knife.

Session XV - Scene III (of VI)

As Gayloria unlocks Fredo, Pankratios heads over to one of the two doors exiting the room. He can tell there are people in the hallway beyond the door, heading towards them. He tries to peek out the door but finds it locked.

Dion has headed over to the other door exiting the room but finds it locked as well. Gayloria heads over to the door Dion is at and attempts to find the key on the chain to open it, but is having difficulty.

While she works on the door, Dion takes the torture table and moves it to brace the door Pankratios heard people behind just in time to prevent them from getting the door open.

Gayloria continues to fumble with the keys as more guards try to smash down the braced door. The door breaks open as Artemisia points out the correct key to Gayloria and guards start to enter the room, Skilira behind them. Dion puts himself in position to take on the guards and yells to the others to leave.

Fredo pays the barbarian no mind and heads over to help. Pankratios instead moves to drag him away from the fighting, but Dion is struck down by the guards as the young thief pulls him away.

With the other door open, Artemisia sees that it is a short hallway that leads to another door. She heads down but finds the other door locked as well. Gayloria heads in with the keys to unlock it.

Back in the room, Fredo strikes down one of the guards using the sword he got off of the other guards. Pankratios picks up the newly-dead guards' sword and attacks as well, but strikes only a glancing blow.

The guards attack back, striking Fredo and Pankratios. Another exchange leads to the death of two more guards. A fourth attempts to turn and run but Pankratios stabs him in the back. Skilira, however, does manage to get away.

Rather than chase after her, they tend to Dion. Artemisia manages to stop his bleeding while Chrysostomos heals Pankratios' wounds. Nicos grabs a sword while the Xersian still cowers in the corner. Nicos drags the Xersian out while the others move the unconscious Dion.

Session XV - Scene IV (of VI)

When the door at the end of the hall is unlocked, it opens into a large hall with several doors and a pair of stairs heading up. Rather than search for their confiscated belongings, the heroes decide to take the stairs and get out as quickly as possible.

Chrysostomos takes the lead while letting the others carry Dion. He sees no reason to take Dion with them, as he feels the gods have sealed the barbarian's fate.

Once up the stairs, he sees a large throne room. As the others come up, Fredo identifies it as the area where they were attacked by the sorcerer Zulfiqar.

Rather than wait around for anyone to attack them, Fredo immediately heads out the main doors. There are no guards but several archers line the walls and trees in the area.

Artemisia confirms the command – telling everyone to make a run for it just as the muttering of a spell can be heard, plunging the throne room in darkness.

Gayloria, Artemisia, and Fredo make a run for it while carrying Dion as the others run out ahead of them. A skaven in the nearby trees calls out an alarm as they are halfway across the courtyard, and arrows begin to rain down.

Worse, Zulfiqar appears in the doorway behind them. Casting a dark spell, he fires out a bolt of lightning, mostly hitting Dion. The warrior's body is incinerated into ashes with Gayloria taking something of a shock as well.

Everyone runs for the main gate while trying to avoid the arrows. Fredo is hit by one shot and nearly goes down before they make it out the gate and into the forest beyond.

Knowing the brigands could be after them, they continue on as fast as they can in the forest, even travelling through the night in the dim light. The Xersian breaks off and heads out on his own, with the others leaving him for dead. Finally, they reach the werecat cave and collapse into exhaustion, with Pankratios electing to sleep outside up in a tree.

Session XV - Scene V (of VI)

When Pankratios wakes the next morning, he spots a large, burly man sleeping below his tree. The man has a large beard and wears nothing but a loin cloth.

Gayloria is the first to awaken in the cave and spots the man when she exits. She does not recognize him.

From behind the camouflage in front of the cave, she throws a pebble over towards him to waken him. He stirs and notes aloud that he does not know where he is or what happened to his clothes.

Gayloria emerges from hiding and talks to the man. He claims to be a forester, heading into the woods to gather wood to repair his home.

As the man moves away from the tree and towards Gayloria, Pankratios drops down. Gayloria wonders if brigands stole the man's clothes, but he finds that unlikely. It also fails to explain his memory lapse.

When he notices he has bark under his fingernails, Pankratios becomes suspicious. Looking around, he spots bear claw marks into some of the nearby trees.

He quietly heads over to consult his father. Nicos believes the man may be a werebear. They decide to tell the man who now worries what to do.

Everyone points out to the man that Chrysostomos is a priest and should counsel him. But they are in turned stunned when the priest claims he can cure the man. Chrysostomos performs a ritual that seems to Artemisia to be made up on the spot but it convinces the man. He gives his gratitude that he can now return to his wife and family and leaves.

Artemisia remains suspicious of Chrysostomos, as she knows he previously stated he was unable to cure lycanthropy, but isn't sure if he gained new favor with the gods or is simply lying. She decides to say nothing.

Instead, the heroes focus on gathering fresh water for drinking and edible berries for eating. While searching, Pankratios spots a recently dug-up area. Uncovering it, he finds a bottle of some liquid and a fine mace.

Nicos suspects both are magical so he gives the materials over to Artemisia. Chrysostomos convinces Artemisia to give him the mace, but only after she makes him pledge to use it to defend the group. In return, Chrysostomos uses a spell to heal her.

He then uses his other spell to confirm the potion and mace are indeed magical, though he is not sure exactly how.

Session XV - Scene VI (of VI)

The heroes decide to head back to Castellios to heal up and regroup. The first day and night are uneventful, and the end of the second day leads them to the edge of the forest.

That night, Artemisia spots a small group of brigands approaching their area while on watch. She quietly wakes Chrysostomos but Gayloria's snoring as she wakens attracts the brigands to their location.

Yelling out a battle cry, Artemisia grabs a nearby tree branch and uses it as a makeshift staff to attack the nearest brigand. Chrysostomos wakes just in time to knock the man over with a kick and Gayloria uses a nearby rock to smash the man's head in.

The brigands cut into Artemisia and Chrysostomos with their swords. Artemisia responds by crushing in a skill with her tree branch while Gayloria stabs the other through the groin.

The remaining brigand trades attacks with Chrysostomos and Gayloria as Pankratios sneaks away in the darkness. The priest uses his new mace to smash in the side of the brigand's head, ending the conflict.

They hide the bodies and move camp, finding the rest of the night safe. The next two days are spent heading back to Castellios.

Session XV - Translation Notes by Prof. Barker

Readers may note that although this is a "heroes escaping from imprisonment" story, many elements do not conform to the standard tropes.

For example, instead of waiting to ambush the guards when they least suspect it as they open the cell, Chrysostomos blatantly casts a spell alerting them to his freedom. And instead of finding their weapons and hunting down the main antagonist, the heroes decide to rush through a dangerous gauntlet of danger while ill-equipped.

The "shocking" death of Dion is one that troubles most readers as it seems rather anti-climactic for such a colorful character. However, the point being made here is that he was sacrificing himself to save the others.

Another interesting twist was Gayloria's sudden return. There is also the curious choice to cut right to her and Chrysostomos being imprisoned along with the others, almost a cartoon-like "cut" in the story. It is likely there was an actual tale behind those two heading into the forest, but no surviving copy has ever been found (at least, no authentic one). Serendipitously, however, it does actually make for a better story – it was inevitable the two would be captured and skipping straight to the interesting part of the story makes for a better read.

Finally, this story has Pankratios emerging as another would-be hero as the story with the brigands heads towards its conclusion.

Session XV - Session Notes

I'll start off by noting this is a month overdue - this session occured back on June 8th. I simply hadn't gotten around to posting it here for a while.

This session was the one that edged me to a decision to end the campaign and take a break for awhile. The campaign is over, but we did have one more session (once I type up the notes for that I'll post them).

It's not that it wasn't fun at all, it's that it was beginning to feel like having a second job. And I simply don't have the time or energy for another job; I want something light and fun that I can do to relax. Gaming with this group was no longer doing that for me.

I'd previously mentioned the group seemed to be in a bit of a rut. Instead of the light-hearted, fancical campaign I'd intended this to be, it kept turning into the dreary, paint-by-numbers "serious business" that the last few campaigns went.

And whenever one character would start to do something interesting (Chrysostomos' increasing narcissism), he would invariably get peer-pressured to return to the groupthink way of playing. That is the reason one of the other players left during my D&D 4e campaign - he wanted to play someone with a more nuanced sense of morality and the groupthink posse couldn't let that happen.

But the straw that broke the camel's back for me was having to listen to another of my problem player's personal drama rants. She never does much interesting during the sessions and seems to only come because it is her only social outlet and/or for some sort of group therapy purpose. I simply can't take listening to her anymore.

As for the session events themselves, that went OK. Gayloria returned because the player's move schedule seems to keep getting delayed and I did the Scooby-Doo style cut to having them thrown in the cell just to save time. I was a bit shocked at the complete lack of tactics / forethought by the group during their escape; I always wonder "have you guys never read/watched this sort of scenario before?"

My favorite part was the werebear guy encounter. The rest of the group foisted him off on Chrysostomos as a "punishment" for not carrying Dion's corpse earlier. It was hilarious when it backfired because he lied and pretended to cure the man, sending him back to certainly murder his family. And the only one who saw that coming and would have prevented it was the Dion player, who was dead and couldn't do anything.

Session XVI - Cast of Characters

Artemisia, the magic-user and scholar
Fredo, the Oscanii barbarian
Chrysostomos, the cleric
Gayloria, the sapphic fighter
Pankratios, the young thief

And introducing:

Skullas, the turncoat skaven

Session XVI - Scene I (of V)

From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.

After taking some time to rest, the heroes regroup to decide what to do next. But they have many different opinions and can’t seem to make a decision. Pankratios gets bored and decides to head off on his own for a little while.

Meanwhile, Artemisia decides to head to Mordecai’s shop to retrieve her money as the group has lost all their carried treasure and equipment. She finds that Bernardino’s message is still on the door and the door is ajar.

Opening it, she sees the moneylender’s office cleared out. He appears to have left in a hurry.

Next, she leads the group to the archon’s home. When granted an audience, she tells him of Dion’s brave self-sacrifice. She also complains about Mordecai absconding with her money, but he believes the moneylender may have felt threatened by Bernardino’s note. He does, however, offer to give her group a small reward from the city treasury.

After buying some standard supplies, but finding little in the way of armor, everyone regroups. Pankratios excitedly tells the others of the rumors he heard around town, but is dismayed to find most of the group had already heard them.

Artemisia is quite upset about losing her spell book and feels the group has no choice but to head to Asylopolis on the other side of the island to find a wizard to retrain her. Not everyone is convinced they will survive the perilous trip, but no one has a better suggestion so they take off.

Session XV - Scene II (of V)

A few hours into the journey, the heroes spot a cloaked figure up ahead on the road pulling a mule and cart. As they cautiously wait for him to approach, he surprisingly calls out to them, greeting them in the name of Dion.

After confirming the group is indeed the friends of Dion, the person reveals himself as Skullas, a skaven from the brigand camp. He goes on to explain he has always had moral quadries over Skilira's leadership, and was finally inspired to defect after seeing the bravery of Dion.

Skullas goes on to show the group that his cart carries their weapons and equipment that were confiscated by Skilira. Fredo makes sure to claim all of Dion's belongings, particularly his magic sword. Pankratios, meanwhile, is suspicious of the skaven; and curious as to why the rest of the group isn't more so.

The stranger then leads the group a little ways off the road, telling them he has something important to tell them. Pankratios is convinced the skaven is leading them into an ambush and keeps a cautious eye out, but it turns out his worries are unfounded.

Instead, Skullas explains that Skilira is going to lead an assault on Castellios and is planning to do it soon, before the heroes will have a chance to fully recover and prepare.

The heroes discuss the brigands plans and numbers. Skullas explains he has no papers with their plans as the skaven do not typically read and write. He gives the brigands's remaining numbers as six human and twelve skaven warriors along with the leaders – Skillira, the sorcerer Zulfiqar, and a Balyrian pirate named Agron.

After briefly discussing whether or not it is better to try and meet the brigands on their home turf, the heroes ultimately decide to head back to Castellios and start getting ready for the imminent battle.

Session XVI - Scene III (of V)

The heroes reach Castellios by late afternoon, finding it still unmolested by brigands. Artemisia once again decides to head to the archon to warn him, sneaking Skullas in through the main gate wearing his cloak. Gayloria accompanies them.

The youth Pankratios sees alerting the archon as a waste of time. Instead, he attempts to convince one of the gate guards to blow the horn alerting the city of trouble. When the guard explains he must first have orders to blow the horn, the thief attempts to grab the horn to blow it himself. Fredo tries to stop him, but in the ensuing verbal and physical conflict, both are seized and thrown into a holding cell under the matter can be sorted out.

Chrysostomos, meanwhile, heads over to the temple to see Theodysus and the indigent he is protecting. Chrysostomos attempts to affect a cunning plan of giving a speech telling the poor that the gods need them to provide themselves as human shields to protect him in battle when the brigands come. The beggars see through the priest's self-serving ruse and pelt him with rotten fruit and vegetables; he runs out as they go for harder objects like rocks.

Back at the archon's home, Skullas decides to reveal his true nature to the archon as a sign of good faith. Aristedes immediately calls for his guards. Skullas and Artemisia convince the archon that the skaven has come in peace, but still has his men disarm him as a precaution.

Archon Aristedes' initial thought is to have Skullas quarantined in a cell until after the brigands are vanquished, but he and Artemisia convince the ruler that Skullas' combat skills will be needed against his brethren.

 As a compromise, the archon assigns two guards to accompany Skullas at all times. Skullas is prohibited from going anywhere near the main gate and the guards are instructed to kill him immediately at the slightest provocation or suspicious activity. Skullas agrees to the terms. The archon then directs them to go meet with the sergeant in charge of the town guard.

Artemesia, Gayloria, and Skullas encounter Chrysostomos as they leave, noticing his fruit-soiled robes. He does not wish to explain what happened.

They quickly meet up with a pair of soldiers at the main barracks. When they inquire about the sergeant's location, one of the men mentions he is busy dealing with some idiot who tried to blow the warning horn. Chrysostomos immediately realizes who it is and lets Artemisia know they will need to talk to the sergeant to get their other group members back.

After yelling at Fredo and Pankratios and assigning them latrine duty for a week, the sergeant talks to Artemisia. She explains that although Fredo and Pankratios are morons, they were telling the sergeant the truth about the threat to the city.

They then proceed to discuss with the sergeant about how to use the very few men left able to defend the fort, and what tactics the brigands are likely to use – which Skullas details as the skaven climbing the walls while the humans attack the front gate.

Session XVI - Scene IV (of V)

As night falls, everyone gets into position. Chrysostomos and Artemisia elect to man the top of the guardhouse while Fredo and Gayloria stand down below next to the main gate. Pankratios decides to head off into the wilderness on his own to scout. Skullas, flanked by his minders, takes a position along the walls and readies his bow.

But the vile skaven are tricky and highly skilled in the art of stealth. In the darkness of night, they make their way past Pankratios and over to the walls. Skullas doesn't even notice until one of them comes over the wall nearby.

Skullas immediately leaps into action. He fires a quick shot into the nearby creature and one of the guards finishes it off with his sword.

As the battles begin to rage along the wall tops, the main gate bursts open in an explosion of fire. The human brigands begin pouring in, with the one-eyed Agron heading straight at Gayloria. She elects to take a strategic retreat as Fredo trades blows with the brigands, taking injuries but killing one of them in the process.

From the top, Artemisia spots Zulfiqar from his spell. She blasts him with a magic missile. Chrysostomos tries to follow it up with an arrow from his bow, but misses. Down below, Pankratios attempts to sneak over to the sorcerer, planning on stealing his spell book.

In the courtyard, Fredo finds himself surrounded as the town guards are cut down by brigands. The barbarian fights back, killing another of his enemies. Gayloria ties to help him with her spear.

Zulfiqar sends a blast of lightning up at the walls, partially hitting Chrysostomos. Wanting to take the fight to the sorcerer, he turns and starts heading down the stairs.

Down below, Pankratios has reached the sorcerer but spots no book on him. He does notice a pouch of spell components. He attempts to use his cutpurse skills to acquire the pouch, but moves too quickly. The strange magic-user turns and immediately blinds the thief by blasting his eyes with a wall of bright light.

Up above, Skullas uses his bow to take out several more of the skaven along the walls. Along the other walls, guards fight the encroaching creatures, each suffering some casualties.

Chrysostomos rushes down the remaining stairs past the courtyard and out towards the sorcerer. Artemesia decides to start heading for the stairs as well.

In the courtyard, Fredo and Gayloria chop down three more of the brigands before Fredo collapses from his injuries. Agron then downs Gayloria as well. He and his surviving compatriot begin heading up the stairs.

Artemisia finds the brigands heading up as she heads down. She fights at them with her staff, but is overcome. Luckily, they decide to leave her unconscious body in the stairwell and continue up to the walls.

Pankratios swings wildly in his blindness at the sorcerer, but is easily avoided. However, Zulfiqar does leave his back turned to Chrysostomos. The priest smashes into the back of the sorcerer's head with a mace, staggering him. As he readies to finish the magic-user off, he feels a sharp pain as Skillira stabs him in the back.

The priest quickly turns and casts his light spell into Skillira's eyes. Meanwhile, the also-blinded Pankratios has managed to tackle Zulfiqar to the ground.

Chrysostomos tries to take down the blinded skaven, but Skillira gets in a lucky shot, causing him to collapse from his injuries. She then stumbles off into the darkness.

Zulfiqar, however, is having worse luck. Using his staff, he tries to fend off Pankratios, but the tenacious youth holds on.

By now, Skullas has finished off all of the skaven along the walls. Not seeing any of his companions up and about, he scales down the wall to the courtyard. He spots Zulfiqar and immediately fires an arrow into the sorcerer's back.

As Zulfiqar yells out in pain, Pankratios finds the arrow with his hands and moves it around. The damage he does is severe, and the sorcerer finally falls silent.

With all of the other brigands dead, Agron is the only one left. He attempts to hurl his spear down at Skullas, but the weapon is ill-suited for throwing. He then jumps down off the wall in a fit of rage, charging at the rogue skaven. Before he can reach him, Skullas puts an arrow through his good eye, killing him.

Skullas considers chasing off into the night after Skillira, but ultimately decides to stay behind and help his wounded companions and the townspeople.

Session XVI - Scene V (of V)

One week later...

Chrysostomos is the first to waken from his coma. Once he has recovered he heals the others. By the second week's end, everyone has fully recovered.

The heroes decide to head out to the brigand's fort and burn it down to ensure that no other forces of evil can fortify it again.

Two days later, they reach the keep. They approach it cautiously, less Skillira is inside with allies, waiting. But no sign of her can be found.

When they get inside they can see the fort has been abandoned. Skullas leads them through the outer buildings – the tall tower where the human brigands lived, the tree homes of the skaven, the hut of Balkios the ogre, and the stables and connected home of Kakios the centaur.

After discovering the treasure hordes hidden behind in the lairs of the deceased Balkios and Kakios, they head into the main keep. Like the outbuildings, the main keep is deserted. The upper level contains Garakion's personal quarters, the main hall, and a kitchen but little of value.

The basement of the keep is arranged somewhat maze-like. Inside they travel through the rooms, finding the torture chamber where they were held, some old store rooms, the simple mattress in Skillira's personal quarters, the armory, and finally a section of the dungeon that is locked.

Using a key taken from the body of Zulfiqar, they unlock the chamber and discover several more rooms – the sorcerer's personal chambers, a library, and some sort of ritual room. The only thing Pankratios is unable to unlock is the desk, which seems supernaturally sealed.

Finally, the heroes discover the main treasury of the keep. Inside are more riches than they ever dreamed of. They widely avoid opening the chest marked with a skill and crossbones, but the others are filled with coins and jewels.

The heroes decide to move their other treasure into this room and retain the fort as their own base of operations. From here, they know they can use some gold to repair Castellios while they rid the island of its remaining menaces...

THE END

Session XVI - Translation Notes by Prof. Barker

Like all things, this tale too must end. Like any good work that draws you in, the tale of these heroes leaves most readers wanting more while savoring the climactic victory the heroes had.

Some scholars have found further tales of these heroes, but none of them have ever been authenticated as part of the original mythology. Instead, they appear to be like the fan-fiction of today, taking small pieces of information hinted at in the stories and building on them.

Another fan fiction favorite is solving mysteries that come up in the original story but are never resolved in the original stories.

The most popular type is to explain what happened to Skillira – did she die while blinded in the hills? Or did she head out to the caves of the unknown to ally with the other skaven there.

The second most popular usually involves Sharag and whatever became of her. Some have her killed by brigands, others have her fighting against the remaining Xersians on the island (their fate also being a big mystery in the tales).

Unfortunately, we'll never know the real answers for these questions, or why the original storytellers stopped telling their stories about these heroes. Perhaps they died themselves or simply grew tired of the tales and needed a break. The important thing is that the stories were enjoyed when they were told and are now recorded for others to enjoy.