Clan Rumbleseed, played 3.28.20 IRL and 3/25/2121 IG.

• Miraeg Dunn (Jonathan) Leader, Performer, Mechanic.
• Ivo Flynt (Imre) Support, Gunsmith, Engineer.
• Cagroot Hopstrider (KC) Skirmisher, Brewer, Delver.
• Thoreson Grimeater (Anders) Berserker, Chef, Healer.

Wedding Preparation

Lady Kreshka, Marchionesse of Sinlaya was to marry Lord Santeel, Count of Vandov, to unite their families. Border skirmishes between their domains had gone on too long, and a wedding was the way to end the fighting. The Sinlayans won the concession of having the wedding with their allies, the dwarves of Rumbleseed, in Dunn Hall. Miraeg was in charge of making sure everything went smoothly.

Of course, everything didn’t go smoothly. The hall steward, Dobbis, was a self-important toady managing the hall to keep him out of the way. He didn’t order the specialty mandibles Thoreson planned to use for the main dish, so Thoreson expertly substituted glazed carrots. The beverages special-brewed for the human palate were a day late, since the shipment was too late to ride the macropede across the chasm between Powder’s Rest and Dunn Hall.

Miraeg was practicing the puppet show and music for the wedding with Ivo’s help as his shield. They were interrupted by Elder Priest Murinor, who had gotten nowhere dealing with Lady Kreska as she struggled with cold feet and insisted on backing out of the wedding. Miraeg had a conversation with her, wary of her rapier as she armed up in her dress and considered cutting her way out of the deal, taking her frustrations out on her dressing dummy. Miraeg offered words of wisdom, noting that if you set issues of free will aside, you could be a craftsman to construct a marriage relationship, shaping your partner over time. Mollified enough to be resigned to her fate, she gave up thoughts of escape.

Guests Arrived

Cagroot had some close calls getting the beetles to carry the alcohol down the curving stairs to the hall, and barely got the barrels stowed in the hall before the groom’s party arrived. He greeted Lord Santeel, Count of Vandov, who was somewhat condescending. Daynell, the Count’s vixen agent, was somehow both flirty and insulting, but Cagroot wasn’t interested in responding to either attitude. Cagroot also greeted other guests, including the wizard Master Delter who arrived as a bird with his raven familiar, and Lady Litiska, an elven princess ally of Vandov.

Ivo set up the seating to evenly mix the limited delegations from each faction, thinking they would not be able to escalate and make plans and start fights if they were isolated from each other. The elven princess Lady Litiska (and her more diplomatic agent Nevesti) flatly refused to go by the seating cards, which Ivo had painstakingly hand-lettered. Ivo caved, and the guests sat wherever they wanted–predictably isolated by faction. The dwarves suspected the elves might be planning something underhanded.

Right before the wedding started, Lady Kreshka’s agent Hen got in a heated argument with the Vandov agent Daynell. When Thoreson shooed them away from the kitchen, the fight escalated to drawn steel in the hall. Ivo intervened, but Hen pushed past him to assault Daynell. Miraeg interrupted the fight, and the Count insisted Hen be removed. The dwarves managed that tricky issue as Ivo stepped up and offered to stand in as Lady Kreshka’s guard, in Hen’s place. Lady Kreshka agreed, and Ivo was delighted to escape puppeteer and musician duty.

The Wedding Commenced

Miraeg sweated through running a subtly satirical puppet show of two humans finding love, without the aid of a partner to run the other puppet. Then he played a musical piece using mechanical assistance. Exhausted, he was pleased to step back as the Elder Priest completed the handfasting between the sneering count and the grim marchioness.

As the handfasting was completed and the legality became binding, magical darkness plunged through the hall, so the only light was the dimly magical glowing of fossilized carapaces in the quartz streaks of the walls. Still up on the stairs, Cagroot gusted a flaming breath out to push the darkness back somewhat, and in that ruddy smear of light Ivo spotted a sleek figure diving down through the central column of the hall. He managed to snap off a couple shots, and the unnaturally lithe target dodged one of the bullets as the other one sent bursts of blue sparks off her supernatural defenses.

As the intruder leaped at the wedding party, Miraeg snatched a loaded dynamo from the torso of a mechanical puppet and jammed it into the dimly magical quartz, his force of will bridging between the stored energy and mystic residue; the magical darkness was dispelled, and Cagroot leaped down from the landing to try and tackle the intruder.

The intruder managed to flip around and over the dwarves, stabbing the startled bride through the back with a killing strike. The assassin sprang up the stairs, into the hall’s corridors; but there was only one way out.

Thoreson was wheeling the dessert cake into the room as the assassin struck, and he raced over to the bride and managed to preserve her life force so the killing strike was crippling instead. Cagroot and Ivo raced to the top of the stairs to keep the assassin from escaping. Cagroot managed to spot the ripple because of his delver training, and he blasted another jet of flame at the distortion, slathering the elven assassin in flame. Together, Cagroot and Ivo captured her.

The clan was especially grateful for not only avoiding embarrassment of a successful assassination, but capturing the assassin–alive. They got 4 Ledger.

Played 3/21/20 IRL, 3/20/2121 IG.

• Cagroot Hopstrider (KC) Skirmisher, Brewer, Delver.
• Thoreson Grimeater (Anders) Berserker, Chef, Healer.
• Miraeg Dunn (Jonathan) Leader, Performer, Mechanic. NW Warclub, animated legs.
• Ivo Flynt (Imre) Support, Gunsmith, Engineer. NW Falkata.

Event Planning

Torala Dunn, patriarch of the family, operates Dunn Hall. A local human ally has rented the hall for a tense marriage to ally two skirmishing domains. Before inviting the humans to travel to the hall, Torala summoned his nephew Miraeg to take some of his friends and go flush the bandits out of a local ruin overlooking the road, prone to hosting bandits who prey on trade.

Miraeg took Ivo, Thoreson, and Cagroot with him. They first borrowed a pack of four grubblies and a cannon to haul out into the wilderness in support of their assault.

Offroading

After traveling through the night, they approached Griffinwatch Ruins. They left the road, knowing it would be watched, and guided the grubblies and cannon through the dense forest. They were delayed by going the long way around some nesting wildlife, and had to course-correct near the riverbank to get close enough to fire on the ruins with the cannon. In the final approach, they were spotted by scouts, who used birdcall signals to summon reinforcements. Grimly aware that they would soon be assaulted, the dwarves fell back to the river bank and set up the cannon on some boulders that would protect their flanks, herding the grubblies around behind the rocks to minimize their danger. No one wanted to explain to the handlers that they lost grubblies on their expedition.

Bandit Assault

Growing bold, a couple dozen bandits advanced on their position. In the rear, the two bandit leaders arrived with reinforcements. Darveen, a hard-bitten scoundrel with a history of piracy, and Carroway, a swordsman wizard assassin, led these mercenaries who turned to banditry in these hard times.

Ivo fired the cannon, wiping out a swathe of them, and the Fellowship boldly charged the approaching bandits. Tearing through them with brutal force, the dwarves knocked back the first wave. As Carroway led a flanking team of skirmishers around towards the cannon, Cagroot hurled a firebomb that torched the wizard and most of his troops.

Darveen called for the bandits to withdraw, and the dwarves let them–but set up the cannon to take aim at the ruin. They pounded a number of shots at the tower until it collapsed. Satisfied they had driven the bandits out and made their point, they packed up and headed back to the clanhome.

Conclusion

Torala Dunn was pleased by their efforts when they Told the Tale, and offered Miraeg the honor of becoming his Pick. Now a dwarf of some stature, Miraeg offered Ivo the honor of becoming his Shield.

With the road secure, the wedding could commence–and Torala wanted the Fellowship to make sure everything went smoothly.