"Never say die!"

@Edwin Voskamp's AD&D Game: Freehold 2000-04-16

The party:

• Zooo, a Dwarven Fighter.
• Lothar, King of the Hill People, a Human Fighter.
• Angus, a Human Fighter.
• Banba, a Human Fighter.
• Claire, an Elven Cleric of Labelas Enoreth.
• Rynna, a Halfelven Mage.
• Thalen, a Halfelven Ranger-Cleric of Solonor Thalandira.

Orc Attack At Dawn

After making our way out of the immediate vicinity of the attack on the caravan, we travel about half a day NorthEast, to get the farthest away from the river, the road and the Orc town-to-be. That night we set camp and continue the next day straight North. We get out of the forest about a quarter day West of the prairie.

We turn in the Orc and Hobgoblin heads and, when the offical ask if there is anything else, I haul the Ogre head out of the bag and drop it on the table, asking why we were not told about these. He tells us no one has ever come back telling them about these, leaving the implication open, but we both ignore it studiously. I ask him how much information about the Orcs' plans is worth to him and he tells us it is not within his authority to deal with. He tells us he wants us to go directly to Sir Alphonse, Lord Tara, at his castle near the mountain pass. He promises us an escort and a lightly armored messenger rides off rapidly. A bit later a sergeant shows up, asking us what we want to do. We decide to stay the night, as it is close to sunset, and push off in the morning. He sends his men to get a good night's rest.

We put the captured Orc and Hobgoblin equipment on the merchant's wagons and collect a nice chunk of change (352.5 gold!). As we set in for the night we see quite a bit of activity: 15 to 20 farmboys seem to be joining the militia and we see another adventuring party: two fighters, a cleric, a mage and a thief. They're not Guild members. The fighter comes over and we talk a while. He mentions they're from Flagstaff, a town about two days' travel East of Tara. He gives us more information about the surroundings, allowing me to update the map we keep. We give him the standard advice: day South, go East. Groups of 15-20 Orcs. Stay away from the river, etcetera.

The next morning we get up, forced march all day and put up camp for the night in the fields, guarded by 10 soldiers and the sergeant.

The next day, after a restful, uneventful night, we march off again and reach Castle Tara around 2 in the afternoon. It is an improved "Motte & Bailey Castle": a large mound of earth topped by a wooden palisade and ditch. Within the palisade is a stone tower. Around it are servant quarters, guard towers, troop barracks, stables, livestock pens and storage buildings, all within another palisade and ditch. This palisade continues up the motte and connects with the palisade there. We walk over the outer drawbridge and through the gatekeep, passing inbetween the two sturdy towers. There are soldiers on guard duty and the gate winches are attended, apparently ready to be lowered. There is also lot of other activity, soldiers getting ready, adventurer types in uniform-like clothing.

We are greeted by the Seneschal who wants a brief to take to the Lord. I inform him we have information about a significant buildup of Orc troops. He assigns us the back half of the second floor of an all-stone house within the inner palisade. We unpack our donkeys, get them stabled and get ready.

After I have my bath, I find clothing in Lord Tara's colors, a golden-brown, with his symbol: three golden sheafs of wheat on black. A page arrives asking us when we can be ready to meet Lord Tara. I tell him in 30 minutes and start rousing people out of their baths. We get dressed and after several tries everyone but Zooo and I dress in the guest clothing Lord Tara has provided. Zooo finds nothing that fits him and I prefer to show my independence, and dress in my god's colors, in my second set of clothing. Admittedly, it is not fit for any court, but the clothing is clean and in good state. Several of the others started dressing in their own clothes, until Claire started eying a nice dress, followed by Banba and Rynna. Of course, between Angus and Lothar, one of them thought of the benefits of nicer clothing when it comes to chasing women. Zooo and I explain that we are going to court and that excessive weapons, armor, etcetera, are not polite. We are allowed, and expected, to wear our main weapon (long sword, battle axe, if you're a dwarf), but nothing like ranged or pole weapons. This causes several discussions and I have to resort to a door check, sending both Angus and Lothar back several times. Lothar even tries to convince me a spear is perfectly alright in court!

The page looks on in amusement and walks us over to our audition. He instructs us as to how to enter, pay our respects and address Lord Tara. We are brought into an audience room in the tower. Lord Tara, dressed in ceremonial armor and with his dress sword, looks resplendid, though functional. He sits on top of a three step dais. In front of him, one step down, a row of four advisors are seated. At least several of them look like clerics or mages. Spaced evenly along both side walls there are three guards eying us warily.

The page's instructions were all but in vain: Claire pulls off her bow and respects beautifully. Apparently my dress and respectful nod do not go over too well and the rest of our party make a shambles off it. Lothar bends respectfully and deeply, too deeply, as his sword clatters down on the floor. Lord Tara greets us and addresses Claire to tell him what information we have. She starts explaining what we've been doing and when she gets to the point beyond mere bountyhunting, she introduces me. I explain about the reinforced fords in the river, the quick response from the other ford, once we were seen, the prevalentness of Hobgoblins, the forest road, the Orc town, the caravan and the Ogre. At this point I ask Rynna to provide the Orcish town's plans. She does so and one of the advisors take it. The other three join him and the four go off in the far corner of the room and talk it over.

At this point, the doors burst open and a messenger, covered heavily with road dust and grime, runs in. He shouts, "The camp has been burned!", and almost collapses. Lord Tara and one of his advisors rush over, support the messenger and guide him to a chair. The advisors starts some healing magic.

I walk over to the advisors and ask about the feasibility of getting a messenger sent to the Elven Trading town and Freehold Guild beyond. They look at me in surprise and awe, asking if the legends are true and if there is really an Elven forest? I know it's been four or five hundred years since these people left Freehold, but this is ridiculous! I tell them the Elven Forests are real and that I hail from there. I explain that the hills West of the Orcish town lead straight to the Elven Forests and that the Elves, if informed, would not only appreciate that, but might even lend assistance in beating back the Orcs. Certainly some of them would enjoy hunting Orcs in the forests.

Claire walks over to where Lord Tara and his advisor talk to the, somewhat recovered, messenger. She comes back and tells us that this morning at dawn a horde of Orcs, lead by tougher, nastier, Orc-like creatures, and Hobgoblins and Ogres attacked the camp. The messenger was with the camp leader and he threw him on a horse and told him to get word to Lord Tara if he had to kill all his horses.

One of the advisors asks me if I can write and, when I answer affirmatively, asks me to write a note to the Elven trading town. I write a note to Freehold's Guild, listing who we are, what we are doing here, what we have encountered, explaining about the Orcs, the river crossings, the road, the town, the caravan, the plans. I sketch a quick map of what we have learned. I write another note, with the same information, leading off with Claire's and my Elven names, families, descent, and religious affiliations, asking for the enclosed note to be delivered to a Freehold Guild representative and to forward the information in the remainder of the note to the appropriate Elven leadership. I seal the notes with my religious symbol in wax and the advisor brings in a fighter: obviously very experienced, more so than we. He is to lead a cavalry group through the pass across the mountains. I tell him about the point where the Orcs tried to waylay us and ask him to deliver it to the Elven Mayor, the ranking priest of Solonor Thalandira (my god) or the ranking priest of Labelas Enoreth (Claire's god). I give him 9 gold pieces to grease palms and tell him to have some drinks from us with what he has left. He puts the gold in an already well-filled pouch and leaves.

Lord Tara notices we are still there and dismisses us as he and his advisors walk out the door behind the dais. As we walks us back to our quarters Rynna and I suddenly remember that the Orcs that attacked us in the mountain pass had the same clan markings as the ones in the forest. We realize that there must be a way for the Orcs to get from the hills near the Orc town being constructed to the caves from which the Orcs emerged on the side of the mountain pass. I summon a page and send him off with this information to Lord Tara.

We go get something to eat in the communal eating areas and we make some small talk with the soldiers. We find out that the castle does not have any outlying guard towers or so, only some of the newer recruits out on guard at watchfires, perhaps 2 to 3 miles out. We realize that we will have at best three hours of notice if an Orc army approaches over the plains, and perhaps twenty minutes if they come out of the mountain pass. We all know the major flaws of the Motte & Bailey construction: there is too much wood in its construction, which makes it fall easy prey to fire, and the series of palisades and ditches cannot support each other, allowing the attackers to concentrate their forces against each barrier in turn. We realize that this castle cannot hope to hold out against a determined attack by an Orc army and decide to get out as soon as possible.

As we sit at dinner, discussing this amongst ourselves, a page arrives, with word from Lord Tara that he is greatful and that, since we are not in his service, we are free to go and if there is anything we desire that he can provide us with, to ask. We use this opening to explain that we are traveling to warn Banba's family and that we will use this as a scouting opportunity, sending back any new information we encounter, but that some of our fighters are rather lightly armored for this task ... Apparently Lord Tara is very appreciative, since not only do they bring plate mail that fits Lothar, they also gift Angus, Banba and me with ensorcelled long swords, which will hit better and cut deeper. Zooo is given a great gifts as they bring out a dwarven battle axe, very well made and possibly ensorcelled as well. It has a gorgeous mahogany shaft, chased in brass, dwarfish runes. Zooo falls in love with it and cuddles it, cooing to it and calling it "Little Blue".

Saving the Children

We get out of the casle and cut across the fields, avoiding the roads, force marching to Banba's family's farm. We arrive shortly after midnight and Banba wakes her family. They're not too appreciative of that , as they are in the middle of spring planting, but when they hear what's going on, they ask for our advice on what to do. Realizing that they cannot leave their spring planting, as that will kill them, just as surely as an invading Orc army, we offer to take their children and older ones to a safe place and have the rest keep planting, but be ready to bug out to join us on a moment's notice. The 10 adults stay and Banba's four grandparents elect to stay as well, but beg us to take the 10 children away to a safe place. We decide to do so, taking the children to the main Harvest God's Temple in Flagstaff, leaving them there with the priests, with sufficient information about who the children are, where they are from and what happened. We'll also provide them with sufficient gold so that they can send word back to Tara, get word from there, and provide for transportation back.

We take the children: a twelve year old boy, eleven year old twins, a boy and a girl, three nine year olds, two boys and a girl and an eight year old girl. There's also a five year old boy, a four year old girl and a two year old girl. We have them dressed in heavy travelling clothes and boots and have them pack their personal stuff, but only what they can carry. We set off at a good pace, the three youngest kids on the donkey, with Rynna at their side and the rest of them trailing Banba. The rest of us are up front in our standard combat formation. I have my dogs Sinann and Sanenn trail our group to cover us from behind and make certain we don't lose any children. We travel NorthEast, to avoid Tara and the roads and get to the foothills of the mountains quickest, then to cut east along the mountains, then hills, eventually to Flagstaff.

In the morning, after sunrise, we decide to break for a while. Our party has been up for a long while, marching all but the afternoon at Castle Tara. Banba and Rynna are staggering from the effort of the march and dealing with the children. Rynna's Elven senses stand her in good stead as she claims to hear battle sounds from the South. We take it for fighting at Tara, though it is 10 miles away! At the next farm we ask if we can stay in the barn and they let us set up in there. We decide to have the three reasonably well off fighters (Zooo, Angus and Lothar) take back-to-back one-and-a-half hour watches and let the rest sleep. The foothills are no more than half a day's march away and some of us must rest, especially the children. In the early afternoon, we have a quick lunch and set off again.

We keep going NorthEast, as it is the shortest path to the mountains. We get well into the foothills in the late afternoon. The children keep up admirably, though they are obviously too tired to ask any questions, after being woken up in the middle of the night, then marched four, five hours, sleep four hours, then march another half day. In the foothills, Zooo and I confer and he feels there's a large cave about 30 minutes to the East. We go there and he and I check it out: it is a large, extensive cave, about 1000' off the fields. In the back there is a large crack, about 5' wide, leading further into the mountain. We don't find anything but ancient tracks, and only of animals at that. We set camp in the cave: it is very defendable, though we could not escape from it, but then again, with the children, making a run for it, is out of the question anyway. Claire and Zooo set traps and snares in the crack and at the front of it, I have Zooo pour out oil into the crack, just in case.

As it gets dark, we can see a fiery glow to the South where Tara must be, though it is twenty miles off, we can clearly see it is much stronger than Tara's normal night lights. Claire claims to notice something of a glow in the direction of Castle Tara. We decide to stay the full night and rest everyone up fully, then decide what to do next ...

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