Session V, Part I

For a job well done, I credit the PCs with experience for overcoming two major challenges:

• getting Mlle Nguyễn (阮) out of jail, and

• resolving the conflict between the Cham and the Lizardfolk.

This brings Sister Aleena, the party's NPC cleric, up to 2nd level.


[As DM] I ask S, "How was your first Olde School D&D session?  I usually don't really do much hack-and-slash."

[OOC] S says, "That was great!  All you need to do is lie your ass off!"


The PCs decide that, to bring peace to the Borderlands, either Gouverneur Trần or Colonel Thứ năm has to go.  Since displacing a Gouverneur will be far more difficult (they'll have to travel to the provincial capital and execute a complex plan), they focus instead on figuring out a way to get rid of the Colonel.

Heading back to the Keep, the party spends some time meeting the garrison and making friends.  Captain Đào says he placed a spy to find out what the Cham and the Lizardfolk are planning but that his spy was killed during the mission.

[As Captain Đào] I ask, "Do you guys know what happened?"

[As Zakalwe] K says, "Uhh... no."

[As Captain Đào] I say, "It's interesting how my spy was blasted by lightning. I didn't realize that the Lizardfolk had magic-users."

[As Zakalwe] K says, "Me too."

The PCs find that many of the soldiers, including Captain Đào, the Birdkeeper and Colonel Thứ năm's adjutant are leery of the Colonel's plan to have the garrison violently put down a Cham rebellion, since that would leave the garrison open to a sneak attack from the Khmer Empire or an aggressive hill tribe.

However, despite their misgivings, the garrison's sense of duty prevails and they aren't ready to frag Colonel Thứ năm.

Early the next morning, the party wakes up as alarms sound throughout the keep:

[OOC] K says, "That's a pretty sophisticated alarm for the Iron Age."

[As DM] I say, "Well, it's magic.  And stuff."

Heading up to an arrow tower, the PCs see a party riding furiously up to the Keep, including the Reverend Mother Guinan, Monsieur Dimon and a grim warrior: