Battle on the Vale River
Waging War Against the Vril Beyond the Pachuco Expanse
General Summary
It is February 28th, 1000 PCE. The Party is headed south towards Tabazan where Orphea Chastain and the crew of the Arcadia are in need of help. On the way, they hope to rendezvous with Locard’s banner of Chimalli warriors (including Tashtego and Fulbeard), who are also headed for Tabazan after receiving word of chaos in the city from a Chimalli commander named Odem (now stationed in Indar).
After repairing the airship and recharging the solar cube, the Party continued following the Vale River southward towards Barrier Lake. Midway between the villages of Duygu (SS27) and Kivana, the Party put down in a broad section of the river and decided to await the arrival of Locard. When a Vril patrol approached on the river, the Party took to the top deck and opened fire with arrows.
We concluded this battle with a session on April 14, 2022. The Party was victorious and held their position until Locard’s banner arrived as well as a Duygu merchant known as Malik.
After repairing the airship and recharging the solar cube, the Party continued following the Vale River southward towards Barrier Lake. Midway between the villages of Duygu (SS27) and Kivana, the Party put down in a broad section of the river and decided to await the arrival of Locard. When a Vril patrol approached on the river, the Party took to the top deck and opened fire with arrows.
We concluded this battle with a session on April 14, 2022. The Party was victorious and held their position until Locard’s banner arrived as well as a Duygu merchant known as Malik.
Hunting Expedition
During the Party’s mid-morning layover (and subsequent repair work), their new Chimalli companions began asking about provisions, drawing attention to the Tercelet’s empty cargo hold. The PCs decided to spend the day hunting for game and encountered a pack of five leucrottas amidst a blackened crater containing the charred skeleton of a giant winged reptile.
After dealing with the beasts’ disturbing talent for human mimicry, the PCs slayed the leucrottas, field dressed them, and took their carcasses back to the Tercelet along with the giant bones. Five leucrottas yield 2500 lbs. of beef, which can be portioned into 1250 daily rations. I hope you like badger-faced, denture-toothed, hyena-goat meat.
River Control
As the afternoon drew on, the Party took flight once again and touched down on the Vale River, where they would effectively picket river travel and proclaim their presence to all who they met. In this way, they would draw Locard’s banner of Chimalli warriors out and successfully rendezvous with them.
During the course of the late afternoon, they saw much river travel, and parlayed with a passing fisherman who would not give his name for fear of the Vril garrisons that now controlled and patrolled the wilds and waters of the Vale River valley. When asked about provisions, the fisherman offered to fetch a merchant who could trade with the PCs.
Battle on the Vale River
While awaiting the return of their local contact, the PCs caught sight of two Vril war canoes, fully manned and approaching from the east (down river). The Party immediately gave battle, and directed their Chimalli marines to loose volleys of arrows at the Vril, who took up their own longbows and returned fire. The Vril were armoured in heavy plate, which was almost impervious to arrows at mid range (500-600 feet), but more susceptible at closer ranges.
As the Chimalli battle line began taking enemy fire, the Party directed their wounded to retire below decks for cover, but Math and William continued to spur the remainder of the Chimalli to continue pressing the attack. Meanwhile, Everest manned the helm and (with Adelle handling the engine room) lifted the Tercelet to the surface of the water so that Edmund, Jayne, and Rob could deploy their own war canoe and meet the enemy deck-to-deck. As the Vril closed in at a distance of less than 100 feet, Edmund and company emerged from the cargo hold drifting forward with the current to engage.
As the enemy neared, Jayne took a running leap forward and landed on the prow of one of the enemy vessels. Standing upon the knife edge of the bow’s gunwale, he began cutting his way through the Vril warriors in ruthless melee combat. Edmund opened fire to target the Vril commanders while fending off the Vril’s superior numbers with his parrying blade. Concentrating on the biorhythms of the Vril’s humanoid forms, Rob gained psionic focus and prepared to launch his own assault, but, when his canoe drifted into the midst of the enemy, he was surrounded and quickly put down by a mob of Vril wielding heavy flails.
While Rob lay bleeding and unconscious, the rest of the Vril moved to grapple the Party’s canoe and surround Jayne and Edmund. The warriors on the deck of the Tercelet continued laying fire down upon the foe. Everest, having mastered the art of crash landings, lifted the Tercelet out of the water and prepared to send it lurching forward.
Aftermath
The Party defeated the Vril in a close contest. Jayne slayed many warriors but was forced to fall back when the Vril’s mutant berzerkers entered combat and he was rendered disabled at 0 hit points. Math relentlessly defended Rob’s position and actually fought from his back (and finished off a Vril berzerker) for two rounds at 1 hit point until he was caught in a spreading fire and incapacitated. Everest used the Tercelet to try to swamp the enemy canoes until leaving the ship’s helm to fire at range with personal weapons at the end of the battle.
Edmund remained in the fight until the end and faced off against a Berzerker as well as the last of the fleeing Vril when they finally routed after the loss of their last leader, another mutant berzerker who had climbed up to the Tercelet’s deck. This attacker was blasted by William and mobbed by the Chimalli shields, who closed ranks and formed a shield wall. These warriors finished off the berzerker, but not before he hacked one of them down.
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