- +Annette plays Snowfall, a Human Paladin whose family owns an apothecary in Stormhaven.
- David plays Ret Inas, a Human Thief from the village of Dryfield.
- James (absent) plays Angus Arrowbeard, a Dwarven Archer/Rogue from a hold to the North.
- Michael plays Novim, an Elf Ranger who has sworn fealty to the local Lord.
- Sasha plays Kae Swiftfoot, a Monk/Rogue who owns a corn farm North of Stormhaven.
- Shane plays Typhus, a Wizard who seeks to make his fortune.
The party returns to Dryfield and speaks to Timpany about the orcs. The bard tells them that the warband split up into many smaller groups, and she suspects they have headed in various directions to search nearby ruins for ancient treasures. She tells them the tale of Sir Marden, an ancient knight who was cursed after defeating a necromancer, and who was laid to rest in a magically-sealed tomb in the hills, to prevent the necromancer's power from rising again. She also tells them of the Lost Library, an ancient repository of knowledge said to lie beyond the Shattered Mountain; and of Lorden Rill, a great rift in the land plagued by monsters and leading down to a wide marsh, beyond which stood the castle of the Knights of Estiban who have been protecting Caernfallen from orcish invasion for years.
Despite Typhus' obvious interest in Marden's tomb, the group decides to seek out the Lost Library instead. They travel to the Southeast and begin navigating their way through the Shattered Mountain's precipitous terrain. The group all works together, with those more skilled at climbing aiding those who start to lag behind.
Deep in the mountains, they find signs of many orcs having travelled this way. From their tracks, it appears as though they were searching, with many tracks doubling back as they reach dead-ends. The group makes haste, following the orcs' main trail in hopes of catching up with them before they reach the Library.
The party reached a great chasm, with a trail leading along one side, and an ancient suspension bridge connecting the near side to a great, cylindrical stone building carved outof the very mountainside. A group of orcs is making their way along the trail towards the bridge, so our heroes engage them in combat. The Wand of Vines helps, immobilising one orc and bottlenecking the rest, preventing them from attacking the party in melee. The orcish archer and shaman attack the group at a distance, but they are no match for Novim and Typhus' ranged attacks. As the last of the orcish grunts fall, the shaman, an archer, and his bodyguard make it across the bridge into the ruin.
Pursuing the orcs across the bridge, the party finds them in a large circular chamber, facing off against two large moving statues that seem to want to touch them and put them to sleep. The heroes finish off the orcs, and follow through on the statues once they begin attacking party members too.
They explore the ruined library; due to time and exposure to the elements, they can't find any books in good condition in the main tower, so they press on into the chambers carved into the mountain itself. In a dark corridor, they fail to notice the giant spiders on the walls and ceiling until it's too late! The party is surrounded, and take an early loss as Ret succumbs to the creatures' paralysing venom! A much larger spider emerges from a side-room, entangling Novim in a spray of web. Ret recovers, and they eventually manage to defeat the eight-legged fiends.
After a little searching, they manage to dig up a Scroll of Burrowing and a Tome of Bolt, so Holy Bolt is added to Snowfall's repertoire.
I was a little underprepared for the Lost Library, but figured I'd wing it a bit and test out Savage Worlds' much-vaunted low-prep requirement. It went pretty well, since I had a fair idea of what the Library was like, but it did suffer a little. With some additional planning I'm sure I could have made the journey there more meaningfully interesting. I also fumbled a bit with the final encounter, and had to reach a bit to come up with a thematically suitable challenge.
Normally Ret would have been paralysed for ages, but we discovered we'd done something wrong with his check, so I allowed him to recover after only a few turns rather than cutting him out of the rest of the session.
>>> Session 5
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