An Unkindness of Ravens : Solo Play

      Continuing the adventures of our small newly formed band of The Righteous Vendetta. We rejoin our band in a small clearing within the Ravenwold near the borderlands... Part one can be found HERE.

     Before anything else could be said or decided, Elysion looked towards the treeline to the east of the clearing, just as the ravens in the nearby trees all took flight at once, cawing loudly and seemingly angrily.

  

   The Volturian turned towards the sound drawing his blade, and in a calm voice said,"Ambush!".. A horrible cackling echoed around them, seeming to come from several directions at once, as a crossbow bolt fired from the trees, the bolt struck Elysion's chainmail, narrowly deflected by his armor. The elf began to mutter an arcane chant. From the other side of the clearing an iron spear flew out, right at Elysion! but missed the elf by a league. The dwarf 'Grevele' turned to the elf and muttered,"It would seem someone doesn't like you, monsieur?"..Elysion continued with his chant. 

     A shrill whistle blew through the air, from the direction of where the iron spear had come from. Then out from the brush four freakish beasts rushed out cackling, they looked like a disturbing cross between a large hyena and some sort of predatory bird!

"Carrion Cacklers!" Yelled Aryon, drawing his sword, "Don't let them gang up on you!", although with the loud crazed cackling he wasn't sure if he could be heard clearly. 

     As if understanding the dwarf, one of the cacklers charged straight for him leaping at his throat!

The beast striking true to the unarmored part of the dwarf's neck between helmet and mail. A serious wound, gouts of blood soaked 'Gevele's' tunic, but the stout dwarf still held his ground!

  

   Another of the beasts attacked Aryon, but the veteran warrior's armor easily deflected the beast's bite. 

The remaining two carrion cacklers charged Solace, attempting to use pack tactics to swarm the paladin. The first beast couldn't penetrate her armor, but the last one struck true!  A vicious bite, but Solace still stood. 

      Now it was the party's turn!  Aryon struck at the cackler he faced, striking true! A mighty blow, which would have slain a natural beast, but these creatures were the results of foul magic. Then the Volturian leapt to assist Solace, again a hit, a blow as fearsome as Aryon's but this beast also still lived!  Solace swung her mighty two-handed sword, etched with the markings of her lost order. A strong hit against the cackler that The Volturian had just hit! This was enough to slay the beast, but three still remained and there were clearly other foes still hiding in the trees. Cacklers could not use spear or crossbow!  'Gevele' blood pouring down his neck, a cackler still gnawing at the dwarf's throat, struck with his sword at the beast, but missed, "Zut!"no doubt the loss of blood affecting his aim. Now it was Elysion's turn, He finished his chanting, turned towards two of the cacklers that were close together and unleashed arcane energy. The two cacklers immediately fell to the ground.

  

     This left only one cackler still attacking, the one ripping in to 'Gevele's throat!, the beast unconcerned about its fallen?sleeping? pack members attacked the dwarf again!  Again a hit! 'Gevele' went down slumping to the ground! Unconscious, and quickly bleeding out!  

     Aryon charged the cackler moving in to kill 'Gevele', swinging his sword, a hit!  The beast was slain, nearly split in two by the strong blow.  Solace raced to 'Grevele's side, kneeling down beside him, unconcerned about her own injuries, she started saying a prayer to her deity, while laying her hands upon his chest. Sweat poured off Solace's brow,'Gevele's injuries were grave, but her faith was strong, though still weak, the dwarf opened his eyes, he would live!!  The Volturian charged into the forest in the direction the crossbow bolt had fired from, mere moments ago, so much had happened so quickly. Elysion went to the two sleeping cacklers, dispatching them quickly, they were helpless in their magic induced slumber. He then crept towards the forest, towards the direction the iron spear had come from...

     The Volturian charged into the brush, a barely visible aura of blue energy was now surrounding him, he quickly came face to face with a rough looking man in leather armor working to quickly raise the heavy crossbow that he had just reloaded. The arbalest fired the crossbow nearly point blank at The Volturian! It should have hit! It should have torn a whole clean through the lightly armored warrior, but instead the bolt deflected off the blue shimmering shield empowered by the very will of The Volturian! The kineticist responded in kind, a fearsome strike against the crossbow wielding warrior. Striking true! The crossbowman went down, bleeding out in the forest as the ravens cawed overhead.

     Elysion found the spot where the other had hidden, the whistler, that controlled the cacklers. Boot prints behind a thick bush marked where he? had watched the battle. Then apparently fled when things turned against him. He reported his findings to Aryon.

To be continued...

     

Iustus Vindicta : Solo Play!

 The Introduction

     My buddy Matt recently encouraged me to give Solo gaming another try.  I find myself burned out on 5E; it just isn't my style of game. I looked at the 2024 edition at the local hobby shop and it just turned me off, the art especially was a huge downer for me. It looked more marvel movie superhero stuff than sword and sorcery or Middle-Earth. I'm not knocking you if 5E is your thing, it just isn't mine. Played it, DM'ed it, just no more for me. So, with that said, I have a gaming library full of stuff I want to use, mostly OSR related or even OD&D/AD&D era.  Matt challenged me to run two solo sessions before I go back to work Thursday, so going to try to see what I can come up with. Basically, just going to sit down and "JUST DO IT!".

     I ended up spending more than a brief bit of time playing with random tables and generating stuff before I just started play, which probably wasn't what Matt intended, but you know what? I have had a blast!!! I realized I wasn't burned out on Fantasy gaming, just 5E and whatever the apparent current corporate "modern" take on gaming is... This Solo experience has so far been loads of fun. 

     I've used multiple different resources for this; Knave 2nd ed., F.O.R.G.E. Anniversary Edition, Old School Essentials, Ordure Fantasy, Mythic, Tome of Adventure Design, Worlds Without Number, random online generators and more...Oh and I can't draw worth a darn, so forgive my use of A.I. art generators to give this solo campaign a bit of visual spark.

     

     Let me introduce the party, all randomly generated. While doing this endeavor, I was listening to metal, so the character names and other bits of inspiration are pulled from songs, albums and bands. 

The Party

                                           Aryon King

                                            'Grevele'

                                           Elysion

                                            Solace

                                           The Volturian

     The Gathering...

     A small forest clearing, secluded within the Ravenwold, on the edge of the borderlands, an unkindness of ravens cawed in the distance. A chill breeze stirred the air, a dead leaves blowing in the wind to land on the sparse ground. A group of five had assembled, all very different, and in other circumstances might never have interacted with one another, but they all shared a bond, or rather a shared pain and a common foe!

      All had their reasons to hate her, they had all lost much to the vile creature, the foul one, The Baboon Witch.  Aryon had lost a kingdom, 'Grevele' his only son, Elysion the love of his life, Solace her Order and The Volturian..his people. The Baboon Witch had much to answer for, but she was cunning, and powerful, and never faced her foes directly. She would pay, but revenge is a dish best served cold.

     Aryon had sent out the summons, using the last remnants of his now lost wealth, and calling in old favors and debts he had assembled this band. Not all he reached out too had responded, some were no doubt dead, others seeking oblivion at the bottom of a bottle somewhere or worse. But these had come, whether out of curiosity or something else, these others were here. Hopefully they would be enough. 

     It was Elysion who had gotten the tip, from some of his less than scrupulous contacts. Elysion had learned from his contacts within the Shadow Lanterns that the minions of The Baboon Witch had captured a young sorceress, Amalien the Amaranthine, and planned to sacrifice her, bleeding off her power (and life) to add to the Baboon Witch's own. Time was short, the sacrifice would happen in three days, under the full moon at midnight, typical evil type timing at a typical evil place the ancient Trees of Sacrifice. 

     The party discussed this information. This ritual if successful would make The Baboon Witch even more powerful. Solace, called their quest an "Iustus Vindicta"... The dwarf 'Grevele' looked confused "Excusez-moi" ?...The elf Elysion muttered an answer in his typical soft voice, "Righteous Vendetta". Aryon replied his noble background apparent in the way he spoke, "Righteous? perhaps, that is for the gods to decide, but revenge will be had upon this vile monster, though it may mean my last breath, I vow to destroy her! who stands with me?!...then as a united group, all raised their swords into the air and said with a yell "Aye!!" (Elysion merely said the words, an Elf never yells).

To be continued...