Trilian Seekers - Freeband

Trilian society is ideally suited to the idea of freebands. In fact, any Trilian would tell you they originated the idea. Trilian freebands are essentially an extension of their cultural wanderlust. They seek knowledge and artifacts from other civilizations and are less interested in gold and glory than freebands from other realms. Typically the patrons of Trilian freebands are either the princes and princesses of the Deepwood or the Border Captains of the Reach. Deeper freebands are more likely to hold warrants to locate some prize object or exotic beast. Reacher freebands will often reflect their patron’s paranoia over the defense of the border and be set some task of clandestine action or espionage. One type of warrant is uniquely given to Trilian seekers, a warrant of return. Trilians have an almost fanatic seeming devotion to each other and will stop at nothing to recover one of their own placed in danger or harmed by someone of the world beyond the realm. The patron of such missions is the High Enforcer and Enforcers are commonly found working within freebands to rescue Trilians in peril and to recover a stolen sholas.
Faction Assembly Rule: May not have more than one Tree Runner for every full 75 gold in the freeband’s base cost. May not have more than one Guardian for every full 75 gold in the freeband's base cost.
This is Home! In a freeband led by the Starseeker, the Trilian player may place one Woods feature, of up to 6" in any direction, anywhere on the table after deployment zones are determined.
Flank March. In a freeband led by the Bladerider First, the Trilian player may keep one Cavalry model off table at deployment. In the Movement Phase of any turn, the model may arrive from any table edge.

Parent Organization

The Realm of Trilias

Related Professions

• Bladerider
• Bladerider First
• Defender
• Enforcer
• Guardian
• Mist Dancer
• Searcher
• Stargazer
• Starseeker
• Talsytar
• Tree Runner
• Treespeaker
• Veteran Defender
• Wanderer

LEADERS

Starseeker (Leader)

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d12	Toloron d10 Swift	*	*	5	5	3	d12	Leader, Arboreal, Parry [2], Bold, AGL d10, Elusive [1], Deflect	39

Bladerider First (Leader)

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
10	d12	Toloron d10 Swift	d10	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	4	4	3	d12	Cavalry, Leader, Parry [1], Bladedancer, Scout, Fast	44

Bladerider First (Dismounted)

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d12	Toloron d10 Swift	d10	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	5	4	3	d12	AGL d12, Leader, Parry [1], Bladedancer, Scout	41

CASTERS

Treespeaker (Caster)

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
7	d6	Staff d6 Two-ended	*	*	4	2	2	d8	CAR [Treespeaking] d10, 15 Power, Tree Bond, Arboreal	32

Treespeaking

Treespeaking is spirit magic. This is the Freeblades spell list for the Treespeaker (Caster).

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Power Cost	Spell Name	Effect	Duration
(3)	Compel	Target model takes SPR test 5. If failed, you determine the only type of movement action target may take from: Charge, Hold, Maneuver, Run, Break Off. Charmed targets may not make any reactions.	C
(1)	Fortify	Target adds +2dl MAR or RAR, your choice	C
(1)	Mend	Target recovers 1 LP that it has lost. 9” Range.	I
(2)	Nature's Grace	All conditions of the Caster's choice applying to the target are ended.	I
(2)	Portent	You may add one to any one friendly die once.	C
(2)	Tree Gate	Target friend entirely within a Woods terrain feature or object may be placed into any other Woods feature on the table. The target may not be placed within 12” of an enemy. This does not count as movement for the target, and the target retains its original facing. The location in which it is placed need not be in your LOS.	I
(3)	Vines	Target makes a STR test 4. • Crit: No effect • Pass: SPD = ½ • Fail: Loses this turn’s movement • Tarch: loses this turn’s movement and is Restrained.	C
(1)	Wings of Warning	The target is -2 DEF against ranged attacks and cannot benefit from Chameleon or gain Stealth or Camouflage Tokens.	C
(3)	Summon Animal Swarm	An Animal Swarm Creature is placed within 6" of Caster and at least 6" from any enemy. Spell is Target Number 4 to cast.	C

Stargazer (Caster)

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
7	d6	Staff d6 Two-ended	*	*	4	2	2	d8	CAR [Celestial Magic] d10, 15 Power, Spellbracer [1], Arboreal	32

Celestial Magic

Celestial Magic is energy magic. This is the Freeblades spell list for the Stargazer (Caster).

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Power Cost	Spell Name	Effect	Duration
(3) Aetherblast	Places a d8 damage 4” AoE centered on the target enemy. Those hit by the attack pass an END test or are Dazed. Missile Spell.	I
(2) Aethersight	Target model gains Covert Charge and its ranged weapons gain Indirect Fire .	C
(1) Illuminate	This spell places a 4" AoE. Any game effects that restrict LOS or provide a bonus to DEF for ranged attacks are negated in the AoE. If you attack a target in the AoE, you are are +1dl to ranged attack tests.	C
(1) Pause	Target friend is treated as having passed a Delay test. This has no effect on other Delay actions or their restrictions.	C
(2) Push	Moves unengaged target that is not you directly away from you up to a number of inches based on a STR test from the target. This distance is -3” if the model is on a larger base than you. Target stops at Impassable terrain, table edges, and friends or 1” from any enemy.	I
(2) Shift	Target may take up to a 3” Free Move in any direction. May not end in contact or Impassable terrain.	I
(1) Star Beam	d8 damage ranged attack. Those hit by the attack pass an END test or are [blocking:339815]. Missile Spell.	I
(3) Vortex	You place a 4" AoE, with its center within 12” and in LOS. Each model on the AoE that fails a STR test 7 is moved 3” in a random direction, then the AoE is removed. Each model’s movement from a failed test is made before the next test is taken. Models stop at Impassable terrain, table edges and friends, or 1” from any enemy. You choose the order in which this movement occurs.	C
(3) Wall of Force	Creates a wall in a straight line 1-6” long, 1” wide and 2” tall. All of the wall must be within 18” and more than half of its length must be in your LOS. Friends do not block LOS for the purpose of placing the wall. Wall of Force has no effect on LOS. Ranged attacks that trace LOS through a Wall of Force are -1dl damage. Cannot be cast on top of models and models may not end their move on it. A Wall of Force is Very Rough terrain.	C

HEROES

Bladerider

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
10	d10	Toloron d10 Swift	d10	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	4	4	2	d10	Cavalry, Parry [1], Bladedancer, Scout, Fast	37

Bladerider (Dismounted)

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d10	Toloron d10 Swift	d10	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	5	4	2	d10	AGL d12Parry [1], Bladedancer, Scout	34

Enforcer

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d10	Toloron d10 Swift	*	*	5	4	2	d10	Contain, Arboreal, Parry [2], AGL d10, Hunt d8	30

Searcher

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d8	Herenkal d6+1	d12	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	5	4	2	d8	Arboreal, Scout, Marksman, Find d10, AGL d10, Hunt d10	34

Mist Dancer

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
7	d10	2 x Herenkal d6+1	d8	Herenkal d6+1 Thrown 2"-4"-6"	5	2	3	d10	Covert Charge, Arboreal, Tough [1], Parry [1], Dodge [1], Bladedancer, AGL d10	37

Veteran Defender

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
7	d10	Herenkal d6+1	d10	Javelin d6 Thrown 4"-8"-12"	5	3	2	d10	Treefall, Sergeant [Defender], Dodge[2], AGL d12	30

Talsytar

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
10	d10+1, d8	Toloron d10 Swift, Warhorse d6	*	*	5	4	2	d10	Cavalry, Fly Low [SPD X] [10], Parry [2], Assault , Missile Parry [1], Warhorse, DEX d10, AGL d10	46

Talsytar (Dismounted)

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d10+1	Toloron d10 Swift	*	*	5	4	2	d10	Parry [2], Assault , Missile Parry [1], DEX d10, AGL d10	32

FOLLOWERS

Wanderer

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d6	Longspear d8 Standoff	d6	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	4	4	1	d6	Arboreal	16

Defender

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
7	d6	Herenkal d6+1	d8	Javelin d6 Thrown 4"-8"-12"	4	3	1	d6	Treefall

Tree Runner

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
7	d6	Herenkal d6+1	d6	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	4	3	1	d6	Arboreal, Scout, Limited	17

Guardian

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SPD	MAR	MW	RAR	RW	DEF	AV	LP	DISC	SPECIAL	COST
6	d4	Knife d4	d8	Longbow d8 12"-24"-36"	4	4	1	d6	Guardian Shot, Limited	13

Saving Silana
Elinkir spat, a fruitless attempt to remove the grit from his mouth. The dust of the Bloodwall infiltrated everything, propelled by the wind down the craggy slope into their faces like a million tiny missiles. Most of his group had their torils over their mouths, but even that was scant relief. Thalorn, stoic as ever, pressed his uncovered jaw into the sand-filled wind as if to challenge it. The enforcer led the way up through the scrabble both physically and spiritually, showing the rest of the band that it really was no hardship to climb this mountain in a scouring wind through the blackness of near midnight. Elinkir had not really had to think about selecting Thalorn to take point. Recovering kinsmen who had been seized against their will fell squarely in the domain of the enforcers. Thalorn took his responsibilities even more seriously than most of that serious group. When we find Silana, stars help whoever stands between her and Thalorn.
The group stole upslope silently, masked by the wind and slipping between boulders, and picking their way over stones through the moonsless dark. He knew that his treespeaker, Marelen, climbed just a few paces behind him, though he could not hear her movements. He could just make out the two wanderers, Laerin and Serelan, to his left and right, scanning the starlit boulders and fissures for the slaver and his minions. Elinkir’s freeband made a diamond shape with him in the center, ready to confront whatever might try to catch them unawares. His plan scrolled through his mind as they crept up through the rocks and ledges. He had gambled, sending Relisi wide around the enemy. The young tree runner had come a long way since he had recruited her back in Gladeshaven, but he endured risk giving her the task he had. Bold girl, true, butunseasoned. Elinkir had no real idea what lay out there in the shadowed crags beyond the enemy camp and he had chosen the newest member of his band to find out. Thalorn halted them with a hand gesture. Elinkir could see the enforcer retrieve his sholas from under his cloak where it hung on a chain. Thalorn consulted it briefly, stowed it away and turned to Elinkir to signal that they were still on the right track. Somewhere between their approach and wherever Relisi might be, lay a small Kandoran slave pen and trapped in it, a fellow Trilian named Silana. She had been on her Wandering, the far-reaching journey of passage unique to Trilian culture. Silana hailed from the southern reach, and her Wandering had begun with a caravan headed east to Symidia. On her return trip, slavers had swept down on the caravan, seizing whatever and whoever they considered valuable and slaying the rest.
Word of her capture had traveled quickly through the reach until Elinkir learned of her plight. As his freeband had the nearest enforcer to her last known location, it fell on him to return her to Trilias and dispense warnings and retribution to her captors. They had paid a visit to Silana’s home so that they could tune their sholas’ to her family’s starstone. The young girl’s parents had been distraught but grateful, a combination of emotions Elinkir had encountered all too often. Now he stalked this stony slope to bring her home.
In lands where law held sway and the locals were friends to Trilias, enforcers moved in ones and twos to conduct their business. In perilous territory, like these sand-scoured border mountains, the Trilian King dispatched his enforcers as part of a freeband, with charter to do whatever it took to bring home their own. When someone went missing there were no strangers among the Trilian people. The lost, exploited, even the dead became family. None of Elinkir’s group had ever met the girl. Yet they would risk their lives for her. This was not Elinkir’s first warrant commanding a rescue, just his first requiring a pursuit high into the Bloodwall.
Smoke, horses and sweat announced the camp before it could be seen, even with the starlight vision Trilians possessed. The smells attacked Elinkir’s nose, a sharp contrast to the nearly odorless waste of the mountainside. He had been right about its location and they were approaching from downwind. After a few more steps, Thalorn took a knee and raised one hand. The group instantly did the same. He signaled to Elinkir that he had spotted something. Elinkir crawled to him, his ability to move silently tested by the gravel underfoot.
Danger of discovery had prevented Elinkir from using a trail through the mountains, but the slavers were not so constrained. The slaver’s camp lay arrogantly astride the trail, shapes of men and horses limned in orange by the coals of a nearly dead fire. Nine garrons stood hobbled and tied in a vague line. Three blanketed forms lay in a rough circle near the embers. Two men sat close in murmured conversation, their hoods pulled close and their backs to the wind. The silhouette of another stood near where three prisoners sat around a post driven into the ground. The prisoners’ chins slumped on their chests in sleep, their hands bound back behind the pole. Silana was the middle of the three, her long white hair thrown forward, masking her face, but marking her unmistakably Trilian. “I sense no magic.” Marelen’s hushed voice came from the darkness over his shoulder. “But if they have a caster, he may be one of those sleeping.”
“I do not intend to let him wake,” Elinkir whispered back, addressing both her and Thalorn. “And I do not see any reason to change the plan.” Thalorn nodded. Marelen placed her hand on his shoulder. He could feel that strange prickle her spelltouch always passed to him. “Your plan will work, at least at first. Be ready.”
Elinkir looked to the two wanderers and sure that he had their attention, held up his fist and then pointed his hand at the camp, fingers together, the sign to move. The two knocked arrows to their longbows and shifted forward, spears slung across their backs. Thalorn and Elinkir slunk through the rocks and scrub, preselecting each footfall. Elinkir could see that the two sitting men were what the Kandorans called abductors, slave-catchers with wicked-looking scimitars on one hip and a lasso coiled on the other. Not the best fighters, but superb bullies. The man on his feet was another matter entirely. A reaper, armored in black plate edged in red lacquer and gripping a tall, heavy-bladed scythe. Reapers of Krayech acted as the mainstay of Kandoran slaver bands. They crushed any serious resistance the abductors might encounter and culled the souls the jackal priests animated as undead servants. He and Thalorn reached the last bit of cover before another step forward would reveal their presence. They crouched at the ready as Elinkir made eye contact with Laerin and Serelan. The two saw his look and each took aim into the camp. He grasped the hilt of his toloron and tapped Thalorn on the shoulder. The two then sprang into the faltering firelight, tolorons whisking from their sheaths. The zip of arrows accompanied their charge, along with their running steps the only sound until one of the abductors cried out. The man drew his scimitar. His fellow leapt to kick the sleeping men awake. An arrow skittered among the sleepers. Elinkir saw another clang off the armor of the reaper, who lunged at Thalorn.
Elinkir attacked the first abductor with grace, easily brushing aside the man’s slices and pressing him away from his comrades. The drab-skinned minion was clad in a ragged mix of metal shards and boiled leather, which defied a killing blow the first couple of times Elinkir’s blade struck home. In the back of his mind, this annoyed him. He knew instinctively how precious each second was. The slice that finally felled the man conveyed the force of his frustration. By now, the sleepers were awake and gaining their feet.
Clangs and grunts to his left told him Thalorn and the reaper still clashed. That left him to face four men. The stars-cursed slaver and another reaper clattered from their bedrolls nearly fully armored. The third sleeper slunk away into the shadows near the horses before Elinkir could get a good look at him. The slaver barked something guttural and the remaining abductor lunged forward, scimitar in one hand and a whirling lasso in the other. This is getting trickier by the moment. As the man circled, his lasso weaved and flickered toward Elinkir probing for a chance to snare him. A zip past Elinkir’s ear announced a longbow arrow that took the abductor in the shoulder. The enemy minion crashed backwards into a pile of camp gear near the firepit. That’s better. Elinkir just had time to slip to his right, barely avoiding the entangling snare of the slaver’s own lasso. Then it was all he could do to keep the blades from his body. Where he’d block the wide sweep of the reaper’s scythe, the slaver’s scimitar would appear. Where he whirled and sidestepped and parried, his two opponents just carved and cut in a relentless assault. It seemed they planned to batter him down, without finesse or flair.
Marelen’s melodic voice flowed from behind him, the distinctive song of one of her spells. Then the reaper he fought took a few halting steps back. She must have charmed him… Elinkir immediately shifted his style from defense to attack, assailing the slaver with deft slashes and fearsome cuts. One took the man across the cheek, spilling dark blood in a string of red tears. The man smiled wickedly. Not good, but it is a start.
A crash of plates announced the end of Thalorn’s opponent. Out of the corner of his eye, Elinkir could see him leap upon the other reaper, now just recovering from Marelen’s charm. In that moment, she cried out.
“Jackal Priest! I did not stop him,” her words a hiss of disgust. Once engaged, they would shout out what they knew. In the fight, stealth no longer mattered. Awareness was everything. It took a long moment for that last to register as he battled. Then he knew. As he and Thalorn swirled in melee with the slaver and his reaper, Elinkir could see the form of the abductor he had slain jostle and quiver on the ground beyond. Then, to his horror, its bones pierced its skin in half a hundred places and began to rise, forming a blood-slick skeletal figure as it grew taller, chunks of recently dead flesh clinging to wet bone or sloughing off onto the ground in sodden thuds. The skeletal thing snatched up its scimitar and started towards him implacably. The slaver forced Elinkir’s attention to the fight. If the nightmare headed his way were not enough, Elinkir could now see that the slash he had given his opponent had faded and grew fainter still as he watched. Stars, is there no end to their abominations. He set to the slaver with force and determination. He had heard tales of “Krayech’s Gift”, the power of regeneration the Kandoran necrogod awarded to some of its devoted. He would have to kill this man outright, wearing him down would not work. He sought a killing strike, but before he could take advantage of only having to fight one, the undead creature rattled into his struggle with the slaver like some elaborate puppet. Its scimitar rose and fell in a simple motion recalling a woodsman’s axe, no grace, no art, just mindless persistence. It was enough, however, to force him to the defensive again. His toloron swept from one scimitar to the next, parrying and glancing. Even with all his skill, a wound was inevitable. It came as a chopping cut to his left arm from the skeleton as he blocked a strong slash from the slaver. “Laerin! Serelan! Now would be good!” he shouted, the pain of the cut shuddering through him.
As if in answer, Laerin shot past him to his right, straight at the Jackal Priest, whose outstretched hands suggested he had just cast another spell. He caught glimpses of Laerin thrusting at the jackalhelmed caster with his spear and the thin man dodging and smiling. Blood from his cut made rivulets down his arm and soaked his hand. When he threw it back for balance, thin red sprays whipped across his opponents. They took no notice. The wound burned, he whirled, the skeleton chopped and the slaver sliced. Frustration seethed within Elinkir as he fought to shake himself free of these opponents. He needed to help his comrades, to lead his comrades. The cool rush of Marelen’s healing power coursed through him in timely relief. The blood ceased flowing and flexion returned to his stiffening left arm. Renewed, he brought a new onslaught upon the slaver, driving him back. Elinkir concerned himself with the skeleton-thing when a truly dangerous blow threatened. Slowly, step by step, his fight pressed the slaver and his disgusting servant back from the firepit, towards where Laerin held the jackal priest at bay. He glanced left, to see another bloodslick skeleton trying to force its way down Serelan’s spear. Where in the heavens had that come from? Elinkir and his companions battled the living and the dead in a tight knot near the line of garrons, who whickered and stamped at the frightening scene. The jackal priest ducked under one of Laerin’s thrusts and planted his splayed hand on the wanderer’s chest. As Elinkir watched in horror through the flash of blades around him, the young Trilian staggered backward, skin blanching to grey.
“NO!” he bellowed, causing the slaver to instinctively start to turn and look, a mere moment offorgetfulness before he tried to snap back to full intensity, but too late. Elinkir’s slash took him from shoulder to groin, his toloron ripping through lacquered plates like a saw through soft wood. The man fell to his knees, scimitar clanking to the stony ground as he pressed his hands to his belly in a vain attempt to prevent his entrails erupting into view. Raw, red pain seared into Elinkir’s side as the skeleton-thing drove home a wicked strike. He reeled, but kept his feet, throwing his toloron in the way of the next blow and the next. He coughed, blood spraying the air, and he clutched his side with his balance hand removing all grace from his fighting. The thing chopped and chopped and he blocked and blocked, each blow forcing his sword closer and closer back in toward his body. He could see nothing around him now, just the corpse and its scimitar through a crimson haze of pain. Faint strains of Marelen’s singing wafted to him, and the cool rush returned. Strength flowed into his parries. He found himself able to return slashes of his own, one smashing a rib and spraying viscous bits back through the creature where its back should have been. Alone the mindless thing was no match for him. A few moments later it lay at his feet in a tangle of bones as lifeless as they had been before the jackal priest’s spell. The jackal priest! He had killed Laerin!Elinkir spun to face the caster. He found him keeping a seething Thalorn and a wounded Serelan at bay, a jagged-bladed dagger at Silana’s throat. Laerin lay splayed in the dust, one of many bodies on the ground, but the only Trilian. The last glows of the embers edged everything and everyone in a thin deep-orange outline, all else was shadow. Silana, stars bless her, looked defiant, if exhausted. She made Elinkir proud of his race. No tears, no whimpers, just grim determination in the face of her own likely death.
“Zzlay your cazzter and bind your friendzz, tree-demon,” the man commanded in thickly accented Trilian.
“You know I will not,” Elinkir replied. “You will die, Jackal, as is your wish. But I assure you, if you harm her, my Treespeaker will ensure your soul is never found by your people.” The priest’s eyes widened for a moment under the black edge of his jackal-cowl, giving him an even more otherworldly cast in the ember glow. Elinkir knew he was puzzling out if Marelen could actually do what he claimed. Then the priest’s eyes sharpened, and Elinkir knew instinctively he had decided it a bluff. Both Elinkir and Thalorn moved to rush him at once, thought a distant part of Elinkir’s mind told him it would be too late. The jackal priest’s wrist turned as he began the motion to draw his blade across the young girl’s neck. But instead of her throat being slashed, the priest’s own throat sprouted the broad sharp head of a longbow arrow. The priest released her, dropping the dagger to clutch in vain at his neck, blood spurting between his fingers as he gurgled and gasped. Thalorn reached him first and ran him through unceremoniously, the man’s robes offering no opposition to a deep thrust into the heart to the hilt. The enforcer pulled his toloron free by pushing the man away with his foot, toppling him with a thud. Marelen gathered Silana up in her arms as the girl ran to her. The young woman buried her head in the treespeaker’s neck, no longer in need of defiance. Longbow in hand, Relisi stepped into the ember light from behind where the priest had fallen. She looked down at him, and for all Elinkir could tell, she was admiring her shot. And well she should.
“Superbly done,” he told the tree runner. She looked up at him, a slight frown creasing her ivory skin. “I did not save Laerin. I saw whatwas going to happen, but was not close enough.”
“Your timing was perfect.” She did not seem convinced, so he added, “Laerin knew the risks. If anything the fault is mine for not having ended the fight more quickly.” Silana turned from Marelen’s shoulder. “You have my thanks, mistress.” The others “ayed” their agreement, even Thalorn, whom Elinkir did not remember ever thanking anyone. Relisi’s frown morphed into the slightest smile and she nodded.
“All right,” Elinkir said as he bent down to rip Silana’s sholas from around the neck of the priest, “let’s clean this mess up and get down out of these stars-cursed rocks.”