The session started with the players deciding to roll up a new party as the thief was still levelling up to level 3. We were playing on a different day than last session so the level-up duration didn't line up like they usually would. We ended up with an assassin, a bard, and a cleric (Samir al-Haid).
They started in a town near Blackbird and were hired to escort a caravan to the main city the next day along with 4 other guards. No encounters along the way, but a city encounter revealed 11 ruffians including 1 level 6 assassin nearby.
A narrow road, split up guards, and surprise led to a couple of dead guards and the party surrounded. Samir al-Haid was killed in the fighting, unable to spread the word of Allah. The assassin and bard made a speedy exit, leaving the caravans to be ransacked.
Samir al-Haid was tragically killed before he could spread his god's word
The two remaining party members decided to find leads elsewhere while the 3rd rolled up a magic-user. The bard did nothing while the assassin tried to find his guild in the city. After 7 days of searching, he found them and was assigned a simple spying mission lasting 8 days. Just barely earning enough to scrape by, the 3 decided to try the dungeon 2 days to the southwest of the city, with around 12 man-at-arms in tow.
A random encounter revealed a small gnoll party of 8 who attempted to quietly pick off the two sentries, but failed. After the gnolls tried to charge the sleeping party, a quick rally despite the lack of armour soon turned the way of the humans, killing all but 2 gnolls and losing 1 man-at-arms
I decided the gnolls would return with a significantly larger band to snuff out the party the next evening, as they camped near the Viking village. It turned out there was another night encounter, and who else could it be but a Viking patrol?
I rolled some dice and the Viking patrol's lights attracted the gnolls, who decided this was probably the party and attacked. 23 gnolls + leader vs 14 Vikings + leader led to a one-sided fight, were not the party nearby. As they barrelled into the back of the gnolls, they managed to kill all but the leader + one. There were casualties, only 4 heavy foot and 1 crossbowman remained.
A reaction roll headed by the group's face, the bard, plus the circumstances meant the Vikings were very pleased to see the party. The party, safe in the Viking village, looked for something to do. It turns out that the Viking chief wanted a tribesman chief nearby dead for previous grievances and commissioned the party to kill him. It had to be at least somewhat discreet, to ensure nominal non-hostile relations could continue. As an aside, one of the 4 heavy foot rolled a 100 on his reaction roll to the Vikings, so he chose to assimilate to the Scandinavian lifestyle and marry one of their women.
The party was desperate for something to do so seeing as an assassin was present, I assigned a percentage chance for Ingvar to want the nearest notable NPC, a tribesman chief, dead. After the dice agreed, the party harvested some poison with the help of an undercleric (aka shaman). I really should've made this harder to handle since poison is such a maligned topic in the DMG, requiring special training, time, and payments through the nose. Just like that, the party was off to assassinate a tribesman chief with 3 Viking scouts as guides.
Since the tribesman were in a swampy wetlands area to the northwest of the Viking village, the plan was to light a fire to the west of the tribesman houses at pre-dawn, which were protected by a log palisades. After narrowly avoiding a patrol on their way there, the party got started lighting a fire. Dice indicated another patrol coming (very unlucky) from the west, so the party scattered. The patrol didn't notice any tracks, fortunately.
They decided to try the same from the northwest side, 1-2km from the walls. A fire was soon blazing and the wind declared it moving to the south, potentially threatening the tribe. At the same time, they rushed to the east and the assassin scaled the walls from this direction.
He eventually reached the chief's hut after nearly being caught twice, leaving two corpses. Finally, he entered the chief's house after seeing him leave through the front door. He sprinkled poison into some food he found then got into position above his doorframe and waited about 40 minutes before the chief returned.
As the chief came in, the assassin got a 70 on his d100 so he failed to roll the 35% needed for instant assassination, but managed to hit nonetheless. The following brawl meant the level 5 fighter chief killed the PC, but he was left on 2hp. When he went to go eat a well-earned meal, the resulting poison was enough to finish the job. Over the next 3 days, the party found out about the death and received their reward.
They rested for 5 days then returned to Blackbird, where they nearly got killed by a giant skunk that ambushed them. One useless skunk pelt later, the two surviving PCs reached Blackbird.
Forgot the exact XP and gold. Should keep better track of this stuff.
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Day 15 - Bard, Samir al-Haid (cleric), and Zarkaos (assassin) secure a contract at the town of Grove to escort 3 carts to Blackbird.
Day 16 - The party is ambushed and loses Samir al-Haid (RIP). The assassin begins searching for the assassins guild in Blackbird.
Day 23 - The assassins guild is found and Zarkaos joins, agreeing to give a portion of his earnings relating to assassinations and spying to the guild. He is assigned a simple spying mission.
Day 31 - Zarkaos fails his spying mission (unknown to him) and the party begins travelling southwest.
Day 32 - Ambushed by gnolls
Day 33 - Gnolls return and mistakenly attack Vikings, party flanks and crushes gnolls, earning Viking respect. They rest for 4 days, departing to assassinate on the 5th day of arrival.
Day 38 - The chief is assassinated.
Day 41 - News of the chief's assassination reaches the Vikings and the party, who leave for Blackbird having made new friends.
Day 42 - Ambushed by skunk
Day 43 - Arrive at Blackbird and rest for 5 days.
Day 48 - Rested.
Graveyard:
20 heavy foot (pikemen)
Another 7 heavy foot
Samir al-Haid the Cleric
Zarkaos the Assassin
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