Jorthan's Rescue

Jorthan's Rescue was a Runequest scenario published in one of the early editions of White Dwarf magazine. Believe it or not, before it became the house rag of Games Workshop, White Dwarf was quite an innovative games publication, carrying all sorts of interesting bits and pieces for a wide range of systems. I bought the very first compendium edition many years ago, and still have it. I have been intending to run this one as the first major scenario in the new campaign, with appropriate changes of course. I've never liked the Glorantha setting, but to people like me Runequest was a step up from the levels system of D&D, seeming more 'realistic' because of the emphasis on statistics and skill levels. I kept the name, and so Jorthan is the son of Nikorn the sadly now deceased noble adventurer from Ilmiora. Trollkin have become Pikarayd warriors armed with clubs to fit the Young Kingdoms setting.


Bomilcar's narrative
With the sun rising, we scout out the land around the Nikorn holiday estate. From our encounter with the three ambushers the evening before, we know that there are nine men left in the raiders' capture party, with their leader being particularly dangerous. The house is located on one of three hills that form a natural valley, which has been planted to become rather a nice garden. The flat areas between the hills have been secured with walls, and there is a large gate facing the trackway:

Destiny is wearing a cloak taken from one of last night's opposition, and walks right up to the gateway. She is tall enough to pass for a Pikarayd warrior in the early morning gloom, and we are hoping that she is able to do a reasonable imitation of a deeper voice. The rest of us sneak round to the narrowest point of the hill to the left of the gateway.

It turns out that there are two guards, one on top of either hill flanking the gateway. Destiny does a reasonable job of confusing them initially, more because of their ineptitude than her own skill. They quickly realise something is wrong, and move towards the house to raise the alarm, shouting as they go. I put an arrow through the leg of one of them and Destiny climbs over the wall, managing to get in close to the other and engaging him to stop him making it to the house itself. If we can prevent them grouping together we will have a much better chance of success; we have superior weapons and armour. The guy who has taken the arrow is effectively out of the fight, and the other hesitates when he sees three more of us heading up the final hill towards the door. With us between him and the house, he does a runner, trying to save his own skin. This effectively leaves seven bad guys.

We arrive at the door, although not all at the same time. Marion gets there first and surprises a guard coming through it. He is forced back inside to avoid a flying kick she aims at his head, and the doorway is temporarily available. A confused melee develops as we force our way in, coming between the various groups of men who are trying to get their act together to put up a defence. Their leader whacks me on my right leg with a great two-handed club and I go down, but he too falls, senseless, to a combination of several wounds inflicted by my compatriots. Destiny arrives and gives another raider a couple of nasty gashes, one on each arm, taking him out of the fight. That leaves five, two of them on this floor and another three trying to come down the stairs. Sir Blanque and Marion hold these guys off. I manage to get myself into a corner to massage my leg. Fortunately nothing is broken, but it hurts like hell and a large bruise is already forming.

One of the raiders on this floor manages to get in the way of another, who it turns out is their second in command. He tries to make a run for it, but is stopped by Destiny, and he promptly drops his club in the confusion. At the same time, Sir Blanque disarms one of the guys on the stairs, and their sergeant type surrenders, swiftly followed by the others. Apart from myself, the only other of our group who has been hurt is Sir Blanque, who took a minor nick on the chest as part of his lacquered armour was bashed inwards by a particularly heavy blow from a club.

We find Jorthan lashed to a bed upstairs, and Ehlessa unconscious on another. Both of them bear several bruises from the raiders' clubs. In addition to some money, Destiny finds a stoppered vial with several doses of a powerful sleeping drug, which their leader has used to keep Ehlessa out of harm's way.

Destiny uses her First Aid skills to revive their leader, albeit rather rudely, and between his groggy replies and a great deal of information volunteered by his second, we manage to elicit enough to decide on our next move. Jorthan in particular proves to be a very able interrogator, although he has a habit of wincing occasionally from his bumps and bruises. He questions them while we herd the rest of the crew into the basement room, closing the external shutters on the windows to stop them making an easy escape. Marion disappears for a while, then comes back with an annoyed look on her face. It turns out that in the dawn light she threw her other knife at one of the guards in the garden, and lost it. This is becoming a bit of a habit.

Ehlessa; figure by Bad Squiddo.

Jorthan is extremely worried by the recent turn of events; the implications of his father's death and his own capture, together with Ehlessa, lead him to suspect a concerted plan by the Pan Tang sorcerer who killed his father and destroyed the estate. "This lot here were supposed to take Ehlessa and I to a secluded part of the Ilmioran coastline. The guy even had a crude map; here, take a look." A scrap of parchment has the locations of the Nikorn estate and holiday home marked on it, together with a dotted path through the western hills towards the sea. An X marks a spot called 'Tower Cove'. It's not entirely surprising that a hidden cove exists on the jagged coastline; the shallow seas off the Ilmioran coast are well known to be rather unpredictable, with a combination of shifting sands, reefs and tides. Jorthan says that, "Nobody has ever successfully mapped this area, which stretches for a good 200 miles or more, and the increasing activity of Pan Tang raiders hasn't helped. Speaking of which I am really worried about this new alliance between the blackbeards and the Pikarayd pirates from the south; the Consortium needs to be informed at once."

I fill him in about the history of Syphax, the renegade tribesman who helped bring down Jorthan's father. "There seems to be a plan in motion here; Theleb K'aarna must have been hoping to catch me at the estate as well, but had to rely on this bunch to take me out for him. He seems to have left in haste with your man Syphax to go eastwards and then south to the lands of your people" he says. "He certainly must be very well informed". I mention that Syphax is probably looking for me, now that Masinissa my father is dead, and (as far as he knows) Ehlessa is being sold into slavery. "This is beginning to look like an attempt to wipe out my family and take over the Pure Horse tribe. Pan Tang would then have an ally at the gates to the silk route."

Jorthan muses for  while. "I know we all want Theleb K'aarna and Syphax dead, but this 'Tower Cove' is only a couple of days' ride from here. I suggest that Bomilcar and I head off to the northwest to alert the navy while the rest of you invest Tower Cove. Set up traps and generally make the beach hell for anyone who tries to land. We will pick up three galleys and hem them in from the sea. The losses they have suffered in the assault on our estate, as well as the dozen or so you guys gave taken down, will have cut them to half strength. Even with an ensorcelled vessel they won't be able to stand against odds of 3 to 1, so they'll probably try to make it to land and escape that way."

Destiny's interest is piqued. "Sorcerous vessel?" she enquires. "Yes," Jorthan says. "The sergeant here says that the ship handles much too easily to be normal; it's even capable of sliding across reefs and through mud flats. This is something else the Consortium needs to know. It really is imperative that we take the opportunity to capture this galley."

Sir Blanque interjects: "You mentioned something about a naval base?" Jorthan replies, "Yes. My father was hoping to retire from the adventuring life now that I am old enough to look after that side of the family business; he wants - wanted - to take up his permanent seat on the Consortium. He has been instructing me in the ways of strategy, and although I don't quite know everything he had in mind, I do know that he had ordered a naval waypoint to be set up at his own expense, to station three war galleys. The intention ultimately is to build several of these to give a response force to Pan Tang encroachments. The first one is not too far from here. If we can capture a black galley, we will have all the persuasion we need for the Consortium to back the plan and make a substantial investment."

So that's it, then. I'll go with Jorthan to the base, because my leg is too sore for combat. Riding will be okay, but I'm probably not up to another fight. Jorthan tries not to look too worried as Ehlessa takes my place with the others. She does her best to look at ease, but I detect an underlying murderous air; not only has she lost her father, but she came close to becoming a slave on Pan Tang. She is already recovering from her own bruising, but my leg will take longer to heal properly. I would pity anyone who gets on the wrong side of her now, but the time for vengeance is approaching.

Now we just need to decide what to do about the prisoners...


Umpire's Notes
The raid turned into a bit of a struggle, as subtlety went out of the window. The characters were better armed and armoured, and also were able to get into the house reasonably quickly before the raiders all woke up to form a coherent group. Nine of them at once would certainly have been a lot more difficult to handle. I threw a flurry of critical failures, both for Bomilcar and the opposition, and then Thomas got lucky with a critical parry to disarm one of the last remaining crewmen. To explain: I'm using a D20 to make life easier for the players, but basically it's the old Chaosium system of stats and skill percentages, converted. Thomas rolled a 1 for Sir Blanque. To be honest, we were rather fortunate that only my character took a really solid hit.

I'm pleased with the way this is turning out. The use of the hit location system combined with Stormbringer's concept of the major wound level is making combat seem much more realistic, if that word can even be used of a fantasy role-playing game. Thinking about it, nobody has yet been killed, and that includes the party's opponents. Several nasty wounds have been dished out, the kind that would incapacitate and probably eventually kill the recipient due to loss of blood or infection, but so far there hasn't been an outright death. I'm also liberally using Intelligence rolls for outmatched opponents to surrender, because I believe that humans aren't usually stupid enough to fight to the death. Or fanatical enough, for that matter, although that may change when the players come up against someone other than paid hirelings with more concern for their own skins. After all, what would you do when a tall Melnibonean comes at you with a battle axe and you've just dropped your only available weapon, a measly club? Ultimately, the two raiders left standing on the stairs leading up to the remainder of the house failed a group roll for morale; with no way out except maybe trying to get to a top floor window, it only seems reasonable that they wouldn't fight to the death. Besides, they had been expecting an easy capture raid, not a dawn assault by armoured warriors.