GM Ukyo's Rise of a Hero campaign arc

Game Master Ukyo

"It's the first of the year, it's hot and sticky and nasty and people need to have some fun! They've worked hard for you and they should be rewarded! Plus you need to have some fun too, you work too much!" is her response.

Ok then, Titus will allow it. 86 silver it is.

The castle will be a madhouse of activity leading up to the beginning of the new year. Tapestries will be removed and changed out with ones paying homage to the God Xenon in all his radiant glories; images of the sun, hammers and gavels, and knights arrayed in yellow armor with massive lions for mounts grace the halls. The courtyard is lined with poles with lanterns on top, with more on the castle walls. Streamers with patterns of fire and in oranges, yellows, and reds, fly from every parapet, rooftop, and tree.

The last day of Renadrol every dominus of the Komis shows up. Anthony is prepared and has them all assigned rooms either in the castle or the Inn, which they've rented for the time. The sawmill foreman, ship captain, masoner, and the rest of your advisory staff not already in town will arrive as well. Megalos also arrives with his entire family, and Brak as well. Marking the first time you've had all of your advisers, Dominus, and Hippotus, all in the same place at the same time!

Tessa arrives with barely a moment to give you a hug and kiss before she's spirited away by Alliandra. You'll catch glimpses of her drawing runes throughout the castle, courtyard, and even the town.

Finally the day ends, at the stroke of midnight the sun rises in the sky like a beacon, driving back the darkness, the streamers catch the light and refract it, sending brilliant sparkles of every shade throughout the town and courtyard, the castle is bathed in a glorious wonder of color. You feel a sense of refreshment come over you, despite the hour you are well rested and ready to enjoy the day.

You hear music and go to investigate, finding that the townsfolk have picked up a happy tune and people are beginning to dance. As you watch in amazement as your entire Komis is participating in a festival that would rival that of Caratos City, with fire and food and music and wine and dancing and song, everyone paying happy tribute to the Lord of the Day on this his longest. Even Brak and his family happily pay respect.

Alliandra will slide up next to you and slip her small soft hand into your sword calloused one, "You approve my lord?"

you mean Trak?
"Yes, it's amazing..." he says in wonder. "Well done indeed, my lady."
He'll gaze into her eyes and give her hand a squeeze.

Yes I did mean Trak; typoed

She looks up at you and you can't doubt that she loves you, but then she seems to realize something and looks away, upset, "I can't..." and she pulls her hand free, almost running towards the castle.

Just as you would move to follow, one of your Dominus approaches, "M'lord, if I may have a word with you?"

holy crud just squeezing her hand sets her off now?
He'll sigh, letting her go...again.
Which dominus is it?
"Yes, of course. What can I do for you?"

something is upsetting her, and it's not you...

Dominus Marcus Durbin dips his head in a bow(He is one of the ones that took no sides in the rebellion attempt), "M'lord I hate to ruin such a wonderful event with unhappy matters, but many of my people have come to me expressing their fear over the rumors of an orc invasion, and their fears that we have orcs already within our borders when the invasion comes. What can I tell them to sooth their fears?"

"Is this in reference to the lands I've given Dominus Grush Bearclaw?"

He nods, "Yes m'lord, and the coming orc invasion. They are scared and I don't know what to tell them."

"They have nothing to fear from Dominus Grush. From the rest of the orcish clans, we estimate it will be some time before they attack. I am doing all I can to train all who would defend us well, and be ready if they come at all. If they want to kill the sons of Caratos, we'll destroy them for trying.
Tell them the rumors are true, there is a concern, but their Komis is no stranger to war."

He nods, his eyes hardening a bit, "I will then m'lord, and I will find volunteers to send to you for training..."
-----------------------------------
Four days later he makes good on that promise, 20 men lead by his oldest son show up for training and Derbin begins to work with them.

The month of Antinol blisters as the heat continues with seeming no end in sight. Derbin institutes a midday sleep rotation for the trainees, working them hard in the early morning and later at night and allowing them to rest during the hottest portion of the day. Megalos suggests similar rotations to all the Dominus.

Trak finishes the wall and begins working on homes for his estate workers, he himself still sleeps in a tent. "I'll not sleep in a fancy house while my people sleep on the ground." His attitude motivates the workers, slaves and civilians alike.

Octavia and Dardanos produce 15 fine quality hardened leather chest plates, they are yours to sell or supply to your men.

The ship captain shows up at the end of Antinol(his normal rotation time) with a letter from the Doukas.

Komis Titus Von Andronicus,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. I have heard many things about your lands as of late and desire a personal meeting. Please come to Port Haros with all haste.

Doukas Kosmas Faunus Von Anesti

He'll give the armor to Derbin.

He'll read the Doukas' note, wondering at the tone...then show it to Tertius and Derbin.
"Looks like I'm going on a trip..."
If nothing else happens, he'll set up the usual for who's in charge of what, and head with the captain on his next foray to Port Haros.

Anthony has become very efficient at managing the incoming and outgoing taxes, with the Consigliere overseeing his work as well as managing the rest of the castle. Derbin handles all military needs in your absence and Megalos handles all the needs of the various Dominii. In the next three days you'll take care of any specific needs you may have, and then make your way south along the river for two days until you get to the port. There you can see the beginnings of what will someday be your second town, currently nothing more than a single dock and the framework for a couple warehouses.

The ship at the dock is small by Caratosian standards, roughly half the size of the vessel you took getting to Salbatica. The sails and rigging however are completely unfamiliar, she has three masts which seems a lot for a ship of her size, and the sails are a strange square pattern instead of the traditional triangles. "This way m'lord." the captain says, as he leads you towards the vessel, "She'll be loaded and ready to sail with the morning tide."

He'd say goodbye to Allie and his kids and head off...

"Very good Captain. She looks fast."

"No faster ship flying the Caratosian flag m'lord!"

As you board your greeted by a friendly crew of about half moon elves and half caratosians, there's no dwarves on board and only one sun elf, no Tskra. The captain will take you below deck to a cabin at the very fore of the ship, "This'll be your room m'lord." and he shows you what must be the largest room on the ship. While not necessarily fine, it's clearly high standard and large enough to have it's own dinner table. The hammock looks like more of a swinging bed and there is a dresser as well as a foot locker. "If this will work for you m'lord, I'll attend to finishing the loading and we'll be underway on the morrow."

Assuming you agree, he'll depart and let you get settled in. The next morning the ship will set sail, smoothly leaving the small bay. The water is bright blue and calm, the ship slides through the water more gracefully than your last trip at sea. The wind whips your hair and the coastline flies by.

He'll stay out of the way, but on deck.

The ship is small but fast, meals will consist of fruits and vegetables and ham or beef, in fact you'll recognize it as the food that is being transported to Port Haros. The Captain will tell you that he made an arrangement with the Consigliere to buy just enough to feed the men at a discount, it helps with morale.

On the port side of the ship you'll see crystal blue waters and gentle waves. The Starboard side will be sandy beaches that become forested mountains within 100 feet of the shore. The shore itself appears deceptively uninhabited.

On the second day the ship will shift directions very quickly... ten minutes later it'll shift again, half an hour after that it'll make another sharp course correction... this will continue for the better part of the day and seem to be completely random... at the end of the day the ship will again be heading in the right direction, north around the cape. If you ask the captain will tell you that there are reefs in the waters and he's memorized the way through, "Saves two days sailing around em!"

The next morning as you come on deck the sailors are in a flurry, rushing about in controlled chaos. The ship itself is moving faster even than normal and you hear the Captain calling for more speed and for the crews to man the ballista! Two hours later however, the pirate ship gives up the chase and things relax a bit... though everyone seems a bit more tense for awhile.

Two days later you'll be heading southeast along the coastline when the crows nest calls out pirates again, You can see them off in the distance to the north, they are chasing another Caratosian vessel and they are going to catch it! The Captain gives the order to stay the course...

"Captain, a word please?" he indicates to follow him below.
"I will not counter you in front of your men. This ship has alot of speed, is there anyway we can harrass the pirate ship with quick attacks enough to distract her from her prey? Or get me close enough to burn her or hit her sails?"

the only fire spell you have is heat, which is great if you planned to cook them a meal or if their bed was cold, but not much use for setting things on fire. However you could shoot arrows at their sails, so I'll assume that's what you meant. On a positive note, I created a new fire spell that you'll be able to learn soon as you find someone who can teach it.

He frowns, not in disapproval but in thought, "I'm not keen on putting my men in danger when I don't have to, but I can empathize with your need to help. We get close and that ship could turn on us and slow us down before we can get away. One good shot to the rigging can all but stop us dead in the water. Then she'll threaten to sink us and kill us all unless we surrender. I don't challenge your courage m'lord, but do you really think it's worth the risk?"

"I don't know if it's courage, or just a different way of thinking, Captain. It has occurred to me that with a fleet of fast decently armed ships, you could hunt pirates instead of run from them. Taking in hulls could probably make more cash than cargo...I defer to your judgement though, you are the sea expert here, not me. If you think it an unecessary risk, then we will not engage. It just occurred to me they would be expecting you to run, and we may have an advantage..."

He boggles at you, "A fleet of ships you say? And I thought I was nuts!" and he shakes his head, "You make that happen and I'll run those pirates back to wherever they came from!" and he laughs, walking back up the stairs and on deck, yelling, "Mate, turn us about, we're going to sink that ship!"

The first mate doesn't even blink as he begins giving orders and your almost knocked off your feet as the ship banks hard! The crew pulls weapons out of places you'd have never thought, inside buckets and hidden hatches, from underneath coils of rope and rolls of sail cloth. One sailor hands you a short bow and quiver, "M'lord." and walks off without even assuring that you've got it. The arrows are all wrapped in an oiled bundle of hay and mud and cloth. As the distance closes the men drop coals into some of the sand buckets and then set them aflame, pulling arrows and preparing set them aflame.

"Thank you." He'll string his bow, and get ready to knock a flaming arrow.
"Are we going for her sails, then?"

A swarthy sailor next to you grunts, "Aye, aim fer the lowest sail on the center mast. If ya miss ya might hit somethin else, if ya hit then the fire'll go up and take all four sails. They treat em so it doesn't always catch, but it's worth a shot. Don't worry 'bout their men, that's Gathos' job," and he gestures towards an arrogant looking thin young man on the upper deck with a longbow and a strange brass wire framed device on his eyes. You can see runic energy glowing from them.

A voice behind you yells, "READY!" and the sailor to either side of you lights his arrows and notches it... "AIM!" and the pull back, leaning back and taking a high arc, "FIRE!" and they let loose, 30 arrows flying through the air to land in the water about 40 feet off the other ship's bow. Most of the sailors immediately relight their next arrow.

He'll fire as well. Does my warlock ability specify a melee weapon?
He'll attack in sinc with the others...

It has to be a bladed weapon.

Your aim isn't very good and your shots are wide, but the sailor next to you calls out simple corrections, higher or lower, left or right, more pull... By the fourth salvo will actually hit the deck of the ship! Then the enemy returns fire and arrows come flying towards you, most of the sailors duck in time, but a couple will get hit. You'll duck in time but only barely as an arrow lands in the deck that would've clipped your shoulder. The swarthy sailor next to you grins, "Got there attention, we did!" and notches another arrow, standing and firing and then ducking back down again, "Don't stay up long, just shoot and drop! That's the way to stay alive!" On the Fore upper deck you hear the ballista crew firing and reloading as well.

I'll stay low and buff folks with aegis, between shots.

You'll buff and shoot for a full minute before anything changes. Gathos hits the helmsman of the other vessel, at the same time the ballista lands a direct hit on her main mast and in a loud wrenching of wood and snapping of ropes the enemy ship's mast tears free, pulling one of the secondary masts with it! The enemy ship however shoots as well and a strange metal ball and chain contraption goes flying over your head to rip into the sails, causing them to come down around the deck.

Both ships come to a virtual stop within 80 feet of each other...

For what it's worth, you notice, the Caratosian cargo ship made it's escape...

"Boarding them Captain?"

captain's on the main deck giving orders, I'll assume your talking to the sailor next to you that you've been working with

He grins at you, "Nah, they'll try ta board us!" he seems excited by the prospect.

Sure enough, you glance over the railing and you see the enemy ship lowering small single masted sailing skiffs, they have a miniature ballista mounted on each end, and there's two dozen dark skinned men crammed onto each one, six skiffs makes for close to 150 men... you do a quick tally and realize you've got about a third that many defending...

The skiffs slide through the water very quickly despite being overloaded and soon one pulls up directly in front of your location, the two ballistas fire at the hull, ropes attached the thick bolts sink into the wood and create an anchor, men then pull the ropes and the skiff slides sideways through the water to thunk against the side of the ship, you hear a booming voice from somewhere below, the accent is thick and alien to you, "Surrender you do, death do follow you do not."

He'll wait nad see what the captain says...and draws his 2 hander.

The Captain curses and yells back, "And be slaughtered or slaves, never!" and he leans over the deck, taking a shot with his personal hand crossbow!

You hear a huzzah from the crew and they all lean over the deck, firing one last volley point blank into the enemy! As a rain of arrows descend on the skiffs they hit an invisible barrier and you hear a fifty loud clanks, the arrows bouncing harmlessly into the water. You hear an erie laugh and then grappling hooks come flying over the railing, latching on in pairs creating climbing ladders for the enemy. One of the grappling hooks overshoots and catching a sailor six feet from you in the shoulders, he screams in agony as the hooks dig into his flesh and pin him to the railing!

With incredible speed the enemy scales the ladders, leaping onto the ship! Some of them are cut down as they come over, but they climb so fast that more are on board before they can be killed. They carry a strange thin curved blade with a basket of metal around their hand and wear loose leather vests in gaudy purples, blues, oranges, and yellows. The sailor next to you leaps at one, locking blades with him!

Titus grins and starts swinging, charging his blade and going to town. He'll hack at men, ropes, etc. Slavery is not an option.

Your blade cuts through flesh and ropes with equal ease, the other sailors however have far more trouble. Their blades bounce off the rope ladders harmlessly and they are equal match for the men, since there are far more of the enemy they are losing the fight.

A circle quickly appears around you, the enemy darting it to try and strike at your unprotected flanks. Three sailors band up with you, creating a tight knot of defense against the seemingly endless stream of pirates!

One pirate wears a strange cloth wrapped around his head, with a large red jewel on his forehead like a third eye, he stops and watches you for a minute and your eyes lock... you have no doubt that he is the one who spoke earlier... He pulls a knife from his belt and throws it at you, it clips your arm and buries deep into the back of one of the men guarding your flank!

He'll smile, and call the guy forward.

The man kicks a sailor out of the way, not bothering to finish him off as he charges you, a large two handed scimitar held up, his balance and baring perfect as he brings the weapon down with enough force to cleave you from shoulder to hip, you barely manage to deflect the blade, your hands and forearms go numb with the shock.

He'll give him a look and nod of respect, then retaliate...
Realizing how important this fight is, hw won't hold back at all, using all of his warlock and fighter abilities to full measure.

Your greatsword glows with energy as you pour your magic into it, striking back with speed and force but he gets his blade up in time though he is knocked back a step! He throws several quick slashes at you, which you block and retaliate, neither of you landing a hit for what seems like minutes. At each of your strikes sparks fly from your blade and his eyes narrow in concentration. Finally he slashes hard and this time you fail to parry, his blade hits your upper chest just below your right shoulder with more force than a horse's kick, sending you flying across the deck to land on your back. The blade however did not penetrate the armor your father gave you, the armor hardened with the impact, then as you exhale it relaxes again, becoming fluid as leathers. You climb to your feet and the man's eyes widen in surprise, he barks out a loud singsong word and all the pirates break off attacking and leap off the ship and back onto the skiffs.. In broken Caratosian their leader says to you, "We fight again another day, I kill you." and also leaps from the deck, the grapples left behind, the skiffs quickly detach and cut through the water towards their own ship.

The sailors look around in amazement, several of them are dead, and there are several more pirates dead as well...

Casts a transaltion rune...
"I welcome it. Make sure you live till then..."

He'll assist with the clean up...

The captain watches helplessly as the other ship limps away, somehow still moving faster than ores could allow for despite having no masts, no sails, no rigging, and no other discernible means of movement, "It has to be magic..."

Clean up will take some time, and will give you the first chance to really look at the pirates... besides their gaudy clothing, some of them have a strange red dot painted on their forehead and some of them have simple gold chains around their necks with symbols on them that you don't recognize but look very similar to the chains with symbols of the gods many of the pious where. Their weaponry is also alien and made of a shiny looking iron rather than brass, with no runic markings on them. The metal appears to be heavier, so the blades are thinner. This was a disadvantage to the pirates and several of the blades are broken.

Once things are cleaned up as well as they can be, ores will be drawn and the sailors healthy enough to will begin to row. The Captain will finally have time to speak with you, "Not quite how we'd planned it.." he sighs, looking at the mass of splinters that used to be his main mast, "That's going to cost me at least two crowns to fix... unless your volunteering?" and he grins at you.

"I suppose it's only fair I chip in..."

Didn't he learn a couple mending runes? Probably wouldnt help here, but...

I remember now. It was healing runes he learned. Nevermind :)

He nods, "Thank you m'lord," Just then his first mate, arm in a fresh sling, walks up with a report, "16 dead, 12 wounded, four of them likely will die. Masts are done for, we'll be using ores the rest of the way to the port."
"Thank you, do the best you can to make the injured comfortable, record the names of the dead and ask any crewmen if anyone can remember how they died and what they did during the battle, same for the living. We saved that other ship and the militia will want a detailed report." Then he turns to you, "Well whatever your doing in Port Haros I hope it takes some time, it'll be a month to repair the ship and that's IF we can get the shipwrights to do the work right away."

He will use healing runes to try to save the 4...and shore up the others as best he can.

"It will take as long as it takes, but I'll see if I can bump up the time table. Even if it takes a month it'll be better than land travel this time of year."
He'll draft a note using his signet to seal it.
"Take this to the shipwright, it basicly says the Komis' ship needs a priority, the circumstances in which she was damaged, if it can, and heavily implys a favor will be owed by me if they can take you earlier. Good luck, Captain."

He'll head off to see the Doukas.

Two of them were beyond your skill, but the two you do save would've died without your help... their shipboard healer died in the attack so without you their wounds would've been fatal and the other injured wouldn't have recovered so fast.

As the ship limps into the port you see soldiers lining the docks... As the ship pulls into it's spot more and more soldiers show up until you can't see the end of them... there's easily 300,000 soldiers and civilians! Suddenly with a great roar a loud HUZZAH goes up and people are shouting and clapping! One of the sailors shouts, "What do I do captain? Do I run out the ramp?"

The Captain shakes his head, "NO! We'll be overrun!" and to you, "M'lord can you do something about this?"

Titus shrugs.
He'll head to the edge of the boat towards the docks, waving at the crowd, then calls for the senior most soldier there to come forward.

When you wave the crowd goes wild! It'll take you a couple minutes to calm them down enough that they'll listen to you. You ask for the senior most soldier and people start looking around, there'll be some shuffling and two Lord's Sergeant and three Lord's Majors will make their way to the front. The three Lord's Majors will consult and then one will step forward, she looks to be about 45 years old, she's thin as a rail with short cropped white hair and a straight back, her voice carries well and she's clearly used to command, "I am Lord's Major Elendra Von Drabek."

Titus salutes her. "Ma'am. Will you come aboard please?"

She nods and gestures towards the Lord's Sergeants, one of them immediately barks commands that clears a space for the ramp... they may be excited but their still militia!

At a quick word from the captain the ramp is run out and she comes aboard, only then does she return your salute, then she frowns, "Your... only a Lieutenant? To hear the talk your the Emperor himself come to save us all!" and she smirks at that, though there's something about her demeanor that pulls all rudeness from her words.

"Yes ma'am 'only'" He smirks. "I am Komis Titus Von Andronicus, here at the order of the Doukas. What was this reception for? If it's for saving that Caratosian vessel, it was our duty, and these sailors need to offload and tend to their dead and get some much deserved rest. How can we disperse the crowd here without dampering spirits or seeming ungrateful? They are the reason we fight, after all."

She snaps, "Most of the crowd are from the ship you saved... Komis." and she takes a deep breath, "You need to speak to them, something rousing and inspiring would be a good idea Lieutenant." and she shakes her head, "You have no idea what you've done do you? You, and your crew here, are the first ship to defeat a pirate vessel young man, and you saved over 200,000 lives in the process. Now go speak to them, remind them of the value of the war, reassure of their leadership's capability, inspire them to heroic deeds, your an officer and a nobleman, show them greatness!" and she waves her arm in a wide arc towards the crowd which lets out with a great cheer.