This was the first session of my second Heroic Orchestra campaign, and it was a very successful one even though we were missing half the party. I’m very happy of the outcome, I had a blast, I know my player had a blast. All in all, this was a bitchin’ comeback after months of not touching the dice.

The Mission

The Draven Academy’s scholar have been working on a prototype airship, able to fly seemingly for ever at a never before reached speed. This airship is the machine that will bring our party to the Ancient island discovered a few weeks back. Problem, we need a power source. Solution : a village of beastmen, seemingly gone mad, are known to have, in their possession, a power crystal (ancient energy source of great power). Go get it.

The Cast

We only had 3 of our 5 players (maybe one or two more will be joining, I’m still looking) in for this game, all soldiers of the Golden Brigade.

Master Chief Ernest Falcon : A civilized beastman of towering bulk, this old veteran spent most of his career refusing desk jobs. He is a monster of a man, but though intimidating, known to never leave a man behind. His face covered by hair and beard sport many scars, including a lost eye concealed by an eyepatch. He is a cavalier.

Balladine Groundscaper : A field medic and proven warrior, gifted with the Song, as proven himself invaluable on the battlefield. In his 16 years of service, no Brigadier in his squad as ever fallen. He also looks like the type of guy with a flawless record. Shiny armor, long blond hair, chiseled jaw, blue eyes. The smallest of the trio, he likes to lift weights in his spare time and is a measly 6′1 in height. Ballad is a cleric

Kazaj Lorzick : A new recruit who has proven himself many times, always through raw intensity, never through foresight. Known in Ludsburg for his outstanding barbrawling talents, he is undoubtably the friendliest person who will ever punch you in the face (he’ll probably laugh and buy you a beer afterwards). Kazaj is a proud fighter.

Thus is our trio of Gears of War-type over-steroided supermen. Everyone is level 2.

The Session

After a short briefing, the players left to a small tribal village of Beastfolk with which the Brigade had a good relationship. After meeting a dwarven inventor (an envoy of the Brigade, in charge of taking care of the outpost) and the village chief, our band of merry adventurers heard a panicked woman, begging one of the tribes warrior for help. Her mate, a powerful warrior of the tribe, would’ve been attacked and eaten by the “Beast of a Thousand Maws”.

Of course, our friends decided to help without any hesitation, grabbing a few of the clan’s warriors with them (three level 1 warriors) and went off to the beast’s cave.

Now, I never prepared for this fight to be so ridiculous, in fact, I was scared the encounter would’ve been much too hard for a full party, hence why I gave them a bit of back up. But really, the fight with a Pathfinder common hydra, beast of CR4, no less, took about 2 rounds. Kazaj hit the beast solidly with both his sword and his shield, impaling one of the heads of the hydra (who had 5) on his shield-spikes. Falcon then proceded to casually charge the hydra, dodging three of the four attacks of opportunities and scoring a critical hit for over 40 damage. This hit sliced the hydra in half, leaving everyone in awe, the only casualty being one of the beastfolk warrior.

There was much rejoicing, the tribe even modified our friend’s armors with the bones of the beast (counting as a masterwork tool for the “intimidate” skill).

The next day, our friend assaulted the warcamp of the “Mad Ones”, corrupted beastmen, who were all destroyed without much difficulty, losing 4 of the beastmen (out of 7 accompanying them) in the process.

Conclusion

Nothing went has planned, the players had a blast. My job here is done. This game as had me reconsider the long-term planning of the game, we’ll see what comes out of it all. Overall, it was a good introduction and I am quite happy with it, even though i need to expand my musical selection.

Also, rolling magical items is worth it.