I will edit this blog post after each session, to keep all the information in one convenient place. Keep in mind that this is a rough-and-ready document. You're basically reading me journal right now. For my players, also know that this is mainly a record of the main series of events, and not all information revealed or mentioned during a session will be recounted here.
Note that this particular instance of the campaign uses the unofficial "Folk Wisdom & Forbidden Truths" supplement, which you can find here. I also read the "Reavers" fanzine, and incorporated the practice of reading the opening text and post-script of the rules booklet at the start of sessions, as a way of marking entry into the ritual playspace.
Spoiler Alert: If you plan on playing a Wolves of the Coast campaign other than mine, I encourage you not to read the following, as it reveals secret information about various locations on the map.
Session One
Grimhild (F) and Aoife (eee-fa,
he/they/she) are two escaped thralls riding upon the raiding ship
MacCumhail, with Grimhild having killed their former captor with a knife.
Also on the ship are 12 rowers and some other adventurers, who are yet
to enter our story.
Monday Spring 1, 754
The MacCumhail sailed South across open waters, soon reaching the West Coast of Ruislip. They then continued to sail South alongside the coast. The sky was clear, and there was a gentle Southwest breeze.
Along the coast, they spotted a hill with two runestones, one noticeably larger than the other, and further South, a line of cliffs dotted with seacaves. Aiofe boasted he would return to the runestones, uproot the larger one, and steal it. Grimhild added an extra challenge, insisting that Aoife further increase the challenge of the task by swimming a mile to shore. Grimhild agreed, and they continued their journey Southwards.
The crew encountered another raiding vessel, bearing a raven banner. The crew of the other ship had a positive inclination towards them, and a brief conversation was had, in which the other crew announced their intention to plunder Saint Olham's monastery on the South coast. The crew of the MacCumhail claimed to be on route to raid another monastarey, "St Ondheim's".
Intent on beating their rivals to the St Olham's, they promised to double their rowers' rations for them rowing faster, giving them a minor edge.
Tuesday Spring 2, 754
Continuing South, with the same gentle Southwest breeze, the crew encountered a patrol ship from the nearby town of Dorbog. The patrol ship had a negative inclination towards our adventurers, but allowed them passage onwards on the condition they stay clear from Dorbog.
Further South, they found the Monastarey of St. Olham. They approached and knocked on the door, taking on the personas of guilty sinners seeking penance. After entering and leaving their weapons at the door, they upped the ante by further claiming to be possessed by devils they encountered while fighting in "a great war". While most of the monks were in the chapel attempting to exorcise Aoife, Grimhild was told to wait outside in a corridor, with a novice sent to attend her. Grimhild lured the novice deeper into the Monstarey, where she suddenly attacked him unarmed. She punched him and slammed his head against a stone wall, killing him. She then hid his body in an alcove. Exploring the monastery looking for things to steal, she pilfered a silver candellabra and multiple books of scripture, sneaking them back to the ship.
Aoife's drawn-out and dramatic exorcism drew to a close, and Grimhild re-entered the chapel. Grimhild's exorcism began, with the monks dunking her head in holy water and brandishing crosses at her. While the monks were distracted, Aiofe snuck to the back of the chapel, and soon discovered a trapdoor leading down to a tiny basement room, containing two wooden chests and a skeleton dressed in fresh priest's garments. She rattled the two chests, and broke open one of them, revealing silver coins within.
With some prompting from Aiofe, Grimhild
insisted the monks go to the garden, eventually succeeded in luring the
crowd out to the garden. When there, she demanded the monks eat all of
the unripe turnips growing there, causing an argument with the abbot. Grimhild eventually pretended to collapse unconscious. In the meantime, Aiofe smuggled silver coins out to her donkey named Bucket, who she had left outside of the monastarey. Soon enough, Aiofe saw a crowd of the monks returning to the chapel, preventing her from sneaking out the rest of the coins.
Aiofe and Grimhild declared they must swiftly return home to their parents, despite the abbot's insistence they wait until a demonologist from Albann could come visit them. Back the the boat, they discovered the ship of the earlier-discovered rival raiding crew. Their rivals were angry that they were in fact targeting St Olham's and not the invented St Ondheim's. Our adventurers claimed they hadn't raided St Olham's and were merely visiting, to which their rivals responded that "if we go there, and the skeleton isn't still there, there will be trouble". Eight of the fifteen rival crew approached the monastarey with churches, leaving seven of them guarding the ship.
Our adventurers retreated to their own ship, where they concocted a scheme to seize their rival's ship, and hold it hostage in return for the skeleton...
Session Two
Tuesday Spring 2, 754 Continued
Two players joined us, playing adventurers that had formerly been guarding the ship. These adventurers were Orm, an archer and Tendency, an old lady with a handaxe and a pet pidgeon.
Our intrepid adventurers seek to seize the Karvi of their rival raiding party. They instruct their rowers to row the Karvi away to trick the rivals into thinking they're leaving, then the adventurers wade out to launch a surprise attack. Their rivals had pulled their Karvi on shore and left seven to guard it. Tendency's pidgeon Pidgey distracted the rivals just long enough for the group to climb into the ship. They started making ghost noises and one of the rival raiders went on board to investigate. The group successfully ambushed and killed him. The rest of the raiders went on board and open combat ensued. Two of the raiders died, and Orm, Tendency and Grimhild were mortally wounded and fell unconscious. Aoife was offered surrender and refused, and continued to fight, strapping Grimild's shield on her arm while continuing to fight with a two-handed axe. Aoife killed two more people, and the surviving four fled to their compatriots in the monastarey. Aoife used bandages to stabilise her own unconscious companions, and sailed away with the stolen Karvi.
Session Three
Wednesday Spring 3, 754
Session Four
Thursday Spring 4, 754
Tendency captained the Cú Chulainn, taking it to the town of Dorbog in order to sell the group's captured treasure. Orm, Aiofe and Grimhild sailed the MacCumhail further upstream the river. At night, they hunted herds of deer, succesfully securing more food for the ship. Grimhild made a boast that she could throw a javelin and have it fly straight through a deer's body, a boast that was not fulfilled. While hunting, the group discovered a stone ruin, with a giant creature looming over it, which they could not make out the details of in the dark.
Friday Spring 5, 754
Orm, Aiofe and Grimhild investigated the stone ruin. The giant creature was a Juggernaut, with a giant stone-and-bramble body, four stone legs and two orange eyes. It was taller than all the buildings around it, and was standing still. It was proved to be responsive when Aiofe threw a pebble past it and it turned it's head to look. The group snuck into the city from the opposite end than the Juggernaut was facing, and started searching through buildings, finding some coins and baubles. Orm climbed on top of a building in order to see the layout of the city, noticing a temple at the very center of it. The group moved slowly towards the Temple, scrounging more baubles and coins along the way. They encountered groups of childlike creatures (goblins). The goblins were mostly disinterested in them, but when approached seemed to have some interest in their backpacks. Orm and Grimhild fed some rations to the first group of goblins they encountered, leading some of the goblins to follow the group. As they came close to the central temple, they discovered marble statues, first of goblins, and then of terrified human warriors. The temple itself was intact, but looked like it had been deliberately deconsecrated and defaced.
Most of the goblins that were following them left when they came across the statues, but a few remained. Grimhild offered one of the goblins a torch, which it greedily accepted. The torch was lit alight and food was thrown into the temple, causing the goblin to run inside. The goblin made noises as it ran inside but then the noises abruptly stopped. Grimhild watched what happened inside the temple, and was turned to marble. Aoife and Orm fled the city with the marble statue of Grimhild. They did not encounter any of the goblins on their way out. They attempted to restore Grimhild's life by dipping the statue of her in running water, to no avail. They tied the statue to the front of their ship. A possible scheme was hatched of describing the statue as being the petrified corpse of the fictional "Saint Ondheim" they had invented on Spring 1.
A moment of silence was had for Grimhild, and her player created a new character: Hippolyta, a grave defiler literate in Latin. Hippolyta started play with incomplete knowledge of the Yew Ward.
Session Four
Saturday Spring 6, 754
Sunday Spring 7, 754
They reached the village of Killucan where they met the rambling Ultán and heard of his plan to become one of the gargoyles. They had a meal in the house of Ciamhnait, a widowed mother who told them that Ultán had been in his current state for a week, after she had spurned his advances. They went up the river, and saw the gargoyles. The crew poured water on the gargoyles, and Ultán began the process of gargoyling himself, only to ultimately decide that he would rather be a rower on the ship, after a trumped-up sales pitch from our adventuers, who had been dealing with a labour shortage due to managing two ships (they also hired some people in Dorbog). Further up-river, they found a wolfhound, who they decided not to adopt. Even further up-river, in a marsh, our crew found a fortified tower, leaning on an unsteady foundation. They knocked on the door multiple times, only to be met with a javelin, which seemed to be aimed at Orm, but missed. They retreated into a nearby woods, and right after the sunset they saw a group of what looked like large, hulking men leaving the tower.
Session Five
Monday Spring 8, 754
Hippolyta and Orm aboard the MacCumhail sailed downstream to the sea, back past Killucan. They then sailed North along the coast, seeing the town of Blulach and then a field of ancient barrows. Further North still, they came to a small cove, wear they were greated by Niamh, leader of a crew of pirates. They ate a fish lunch with Niamh's crew while speaking to her about her recent raids. She was cagey on details, but stated that Albann had more oppurtunities for raiding than Ruislip, and told them of the town of Guthram, ruled by a pirate-queen.
Tuesday Spring 9, 754
The two sailed further North still, the crew came to the small fishing village of Cloyne, and met the 'mayor' Beyf. Beyf told them that there was a Griffon somewhere further North, and that many in the town ignored his authority to instead consult with a nearby druid.
The two sailed further North still, the crew came to the small fishing village of Cloyne, and met the 'mayor' Beyf. Beyf told them that there was a Griffon somewhere further North, and that many in the town ignored his authority to instead consult with a nearby druid.
Wednesday Spring 10, 754
Hippolyta and Orm pay a local to tell them about the nearby druid, and later to take them to the druid's lair. The local leaves them in a ravine with a cave. Hippolyta found an animal charm carved from bone near the entrance of the cave. Eventually the druid arrived, apparently angry at the two tresspassers. The druid raised an almost-clawlike hand and chased the two out of the ravine, but did not pursue them further.
Session Six
Thursday Spring 9, 754Hippolyta and Aoife ask Beyf if there's anyone in the town who can read the druid-signs. He tells them that most people who read the signs end up leaving the town to be druids themselves, but there is one child he knows of who can read the signs but has not left the town yet. They meet the parents of the child, but fail to convince them to let them speak to their child. They wait for the adults of Cloyne to go out fishing and then come by the child while he is tending to livestock. They lure the boy out by convincing him that they are Aiofe's donkey, named Bucket, is a traveling attraction. They ask the boy about the druid's powers, and they tell them that he turns invisible to ambush people, but that that when moving unseen he can still be noticed by animals. They take the boy to near the druid's lair and ask him if he can find any signs. He sees two broken twigs surrounded by blood, and tells them that it means that two intruders have come to the druid's lair. They return him home before his parents get back.
Session Seven
Friday Spring 10, 754
Hippolyta, Aoife and Tendency go to investigate the druid to determine if the druid is in fact in league with the Devil. Hippolyta kept her distance from the lair. Tendency pretended that she fell over and needed help. When the druid arrived, they lifted up Tendency and put her back on her feet. Tendency and Aoife say they're very thankful. They try to sway the druid, but the druid only growls and gestures for them to grow away. When Aoife asks the druid about Jesus, the druid prepares to attack, and Aoife boasts that she will kill the druid. The three adventurers quickly defeat the druid, and conduct a christian burial. Aoife looks through the druid's cave and finds some treasure, buried under accumulated shit. The group resolves to go to Cumblewarden, to distance themselves from the druid they murdered and to get closer to the griffon, which Tendency had sworn to adopt the chicks of.
