The Caves of Chaos Part 01 "The Lair of the Kobolds"

I've recently started a D&D 5th edition game set in "The Keep on the Borderlands".  In previous adventures the party explored "The Cave of the Unknown" where they made a pact with a Bugbear and cleared an ancient monastery which was the final resting place of a Wight and several skeletons.  After that they fought animated armors and giant spiders in "The Tomb of Ballanor".  They then set out of the "Caves of Chaos" to rescue two citizens of the keep who had been kidnapped by Kobolds.

The heroes belong to a mercenary company named "The White Stag Keep Irregulars".  Their company specializes in dealing with monstrous threats in their own lairs.  Basically they are a company of dungeoneers.  

 After tracking the kobolds who abducted the beggar Old Gregori and the prostitute Sasha to an area near the Cave of the Unknown before loosing the trail they consulted with their Bugbear contact Thrack who told them where they could find the Kobold's lair.  They entered the lair cautiously but unfortunately Anton managed to fall into a carefully concealed pit trap.

 The Kobolds sprung their trap attacking the party from an alcove near the trap.  Anton fought the entire engagement from the pit while Brigga the dwarf and their Lawbringer cleric Dannika tried to cover the fighter.  Although they killed most of their attackers one kobold managed to flee and raise the alarm.

 Instead of following the fleeing Kobold the party decided to head down a short hallway where it looked like their might be an empty room to recuperate in.  Unfortunately the rubble in the room was infested by rats.  Brigga suffered several bites but her stout dwarven constitution saved her from getting sick.  Strangely the found one of the rats was wearing an expensive looking necklace as a collar.
  

When they returned to the main corridor they discovered even more Kobolds waiting for them.  This time they even had a couple of archers.

 Many of the Kobolds rushed around the edges of the pit to engage the party while their archers supported them.  The fight was brief and the party dispatched all the creatures with minimal injury.

As they pressed on the party found a large common room with several sleeping pallets laid out on the floor.  There were over a dozen Kobolds in the room who were ready and waiting for them.

 Anton eventually managed to break free from the main melee to attack the archers in the back on the room who had dealt a lot of damage to he and his friends.  With one sweeping attack he caved in both of the creatures skulls.

 Unfortunately however Dannika was knocked unconscious during the fighting after healing Brigga so she could continue fighting.  Fortunately Anton and Brigga were able to dispatch the remaining Kobolds.  The party barricaded the entry to the large room and rested as long as they could.

Searching the Kobold's food storage room they found Old Gregori and Sasha locked in a large crate.  Anton pried the crate open with a crowbar and they decided to escort the prisoners back to the Keep before returning to finish off the remaining Kobolds.

Back at the Keep they ran into Hedge Ironfist a Dwarf they had freed while exploring the Cave of the Unknown.  Hedge agreed to accompany them back to the Kobolds lair for a share of the loot.  When they got their they began to make their way down a corridor they had not yet explored when they were attacked by four Kobold archers hiding behind a barrel barricade.  Brigga and Anton quickly dispatched two of them with crossbow and hatchets and then closed on the others.  They managed to kill the remaining creatures easily.
 

Finally they came across the chambers of the Kobold chief.  The door was locked by Brigga managed to kick it in with a mighty display of strength.  The chief and his two mistresses were ready for them.  Anton took an bolt as they entered the room and the chief sprung out of the corner and attacked Brigga.

Anton rushed the chief's mistresses while the others attacked the chief.  Although he managed to dispatch them one of the Kobolds managed to give him a nasty wound.  

 Even after being wounded badly Anton managed to deliver the killing blow to the chief caving his skull in with a powerful strike.
The party managed to save the kidnapped prisoners and walk away with a modest treasure.

Notes:  Well this adventure went pretty well.  The party had some tough fights but they succeeded in all of their objectives.  I'm using "The Keep on the Borderlands" module as a guideline for this campaign but it is taking a lot of adjustment.  5E definitely makes low level monsters more potent.  Of course the Caves of Chaos are all about old school dungeon crawling but I've managed to plant some interesting plot hooks with a couple of introductory sessions.  The sandbox nature of the module really lends itself to injecting your own story onto the setting.  

Battletech Antallos 3040 Campaign (The best campaign I've had that I never blog about.)

 Well I've started my third Battletech campaign set on Antallos.  This time the campaign is set in 3040 during the time when a lot of lost tech was being discovered on the planet.

I think of Antallos as a planet in the Battletech Universe where someone is always fighting over something.  Usually smaller bands of pirates or mercenaries or treasure hunters fighting over Star League era resources left on the planet when the Star League collapsed.  That makes it a great place for a map based campaign for multiple forces.

We've set our 3040 campaign in Port Krin the closest thing to a capital city on Antallos.  I've divided the map into 74 or so neighborhoods and each faction is trying to take over neighborhoods in the city and build up businesses to help supplement their income to maintain their forces.  The trick is that we are not only fighting each other for control of the city.  Various NPC forces are also active in the city and player neighborhoods can even be raided by these NPC.  We are 7 or so turns into our campaign and we have yet to fight each other outside of the starter scenario.  Instead we have mostly been spreading out through NPC controlled neighborhoods fighting off other pirates and mercenaries.

Each of the four players in the campaign choose a force style based on their experience level.  Myself and the other player who have over 20-30 years experience playing Battletech built Pirate forces.  I call mine "The Scrap Dogs" and he calls his "The Blue Phantoms".  We started with a lot less money than the other two players and we can only deal with the Black Market to buy supplies, mechs, and parts to repair our mechs.  My daughter is playing an irregular mercenary force called "The Hunters of Horus".  Mercenary forces can deal with the Black Market or buy supplies, mechs, and parts from Military suppliers located in the Inner Sanctum which is a non contestable area at this time in the campaign.  My wife who has only played a few games of Battletech prior to this campaign choose to play a Draconis Combine force consisting mostly of units from The Legion of Vega who's background make them particularly suited for operating on a mostly pirate controlled planet.  She can requisition supplies, parts, and even mechs from the DCMS for free but these request can be denied based on her rank.  She can also deal with merchants from the Inner Sanctum and the Black Market to buys supplies like everyone else if she chooses.  Each force can also buy influence among their available markets to make finding things easier and cheaper.

To kick off the campaign we had a four way battle set outside of the city of Port Krin where we all fought over Star League era technology that had been scattered across the desert by a drop ship that was attacked by pirates.  

Immediately the Blue Phantoms and Scrap Dogs agreed not to fight each other and split the booty nearest our deployment zones.  We planned to engage the others only to keep their heads down.

 The Hunters of Horus and Legion of Vega however choose to fight it out causing some nasty damage to each other in the process.  As such even though they won slightly more of the booty than the pirate forces they had to spend quite a lot of it just to replace and repair their damaged units.

 Since the first engagement we have largely been fighting various NPC forces.  Here "Redcap" a Scrap Dog commando supported by two Savanna Master skimmers flanks a pirate Trebuchet.

Hunters of Horus mechs and tanks move through another part of the city defended by another mercenary company.

 A Draconis Rommel tank is and two Legion of Vega mechs engage pirates.

 The Scrap Dogs commander "Big Dog" in his Marauder is escorted by two Centruions "Slick" and "Rotgut"

 Scrap Dogs engage mercenaries in a ruined section of Port Krin.

A combined force of Blue Phantoms and Scrap Dogs attack The Carrion Crows an NPC pirate force defending the Carrion Pit neighborhood.  

The Draconis Legion of Vega Forces attempt to move into the North Slums of "The Lost" neighborhood only to be pushed back by The Lost Dogs an NPC pirate militia force defending that part of the city.

The Scrap Dogs and Blue Phantoms again fighting side by side against local forces.  I believe this time to capture a neighborhood for the Phantoms.

 The Hunters of Horus commander in the Black Knight fighting mercenaries.  

 Here is the campaign map on turn 5 I believe.  The Blue Phantoms are blue, the Scrap Dogs are yellow, the Legion of Vega are red, and the Hunters of Horus are green.  The flags represent our respective bases.  We all managed to blind pick neighborhoods that were fairly close to one an other to start the campaign.

 The Scrap Dogs have suffered the most NPC raids during the course of the campaign.  Here they are fighting off pirate raiders attacking one of their neighborhoods.

 The Blue Phantoms field a large number of Saladin hover tanks.  Here they have been wrecking havoc on a mercenary force.

 My wife has used her Rommel tanks quite extensively during the campaign.  Her Legion of Vega mechs act more as support for their heavy fire power.  

 Another shot of the Hunters of Horus in action against mercenary forces as they push into the middle part of the city.  The Hunters captured the blue Battlemaster in this engagement.  Quite a nice prize.

 Here the Legion of Vega manages to successfully invade the East Slums neighborhood of "The Lost" exacting some revenge against The Lost Dogs pirates.  The Draconis forces managed to capture a number of mechs and vehicles in this engagement as well.

 An entire company of Scrap Dogs attack the Talisea Raiders in the Portside neighborhood.  The "Dogs" were trying to secure the port to give them access to the southern parts of the city.  

The Scrap Dogs secure the port capturing some new assets but loosing a Whitworth mech in the fighting.  This was the last battle in the campaign so far.

At seven turns in we are starting to run out of room to avoid each other especially since we managed to deploy so close together.  I'm about to start a series of special scenarios like the one we fought to kick off the campaign as well as adding some other elements.  Once one of our forces secures Port Krin and becomes the new controller we will expand the campaign to the rest of the planet.  I should be adding more frequent updates from here on.    

Alpha Strike "The Battle of the Fruit Cake Factory"

 The Year is 3038.  Rumors of war have led the DCMS leadership to conduct several intelligence raids along the Federated Suns border.  Following up on intelligence about a secret weapons development lab on Bastrop a small DCMS Sword of Light unit has launched a raid.
 

 Draconis forces move across the rolling hills as they approach the Fed Suns base.  Two Rommel heavy tanks lead the charge followed by a Cyclopes, Cataphract, Raven, and Catapult.

 Federated Suns forces scramble to intercept the DCMS units.  A Dervish takes up position behind a warehouse looking for targets for it's long range missiles.  A Jagermech and two Partisan tanks move to protect the Davion left flank.  

 One of the DCMS tanks learns first hand the dangers of engaging a Davion firing line at long range.  The Jager, Partisans, and Rotunda Scout Car all score hits doing heavy damage to the Draconis tank's armor.

 The Draconis forces take up a position behind a low hill.  The damaged Rommel takes up a position providing full cover behind the rest of the forces.  The Federated Suns Dervish is caught in a hail of fire and brought down when the DCMS Catapult scores an ammo hit.  The Cyclopse takes several hits from the Fed Suns forces doing significant damage to it's armor.  The relatively short range Whitworth and Enforcer try not to get caught out in the open until the enemy closes.    

 The Sword of Light forces advance boldly across the open field.  A Partisan is destroyed by the Dracs and the Cataphract casually destroys the Fed Suns scout car attempting a flanking maneuver.

 The Draconis forces press their advantage having taken out three enemy units while suffering no losses.  The Fed Suns Enforcer finally decides to join the fray doing some damage to the fresh Kurita tank but it immediately regrets it loosing all of it's armor and a weapon in the process.

 The Davion Enforcer and Whitworth attack the DCMS Cyclops with support fire from the Jagermech.  The assault mech suffer major damage loosing it's armor and crippling it's movement.  The Enforcer is however easily destroyed by the return fire.  

 The Drac Cyclops retreates to a safer location.  The Whitworth destroys the damaged Kurita tank but takes a nasty hit from it's companion.  The Raven and Catapult finish off the Fed Suns Jagermech.  The battle is looking grim for the 1st Crucis Lancers of the Federated Suns.

 The DCMS Cyclops continues to retreat but the Whitworth jumps over a hanger to finish it off.  However the Draconis Raven and Rommel take the Whitworth down in retaliation for the loss of the Draconis assault mech.
  

The last Partisan is destroyed by the Kruita Cataphract leaving the outpost in the hands of the Draconis forces.  Unfortunately after an exhaustive search of the factory the Draconis forces find the the facility was in fact only producing "Bastrop Fruitcakes" and the 1st Crucis Lancer garrison units were stationed here to protect this important agricultural region from raiders.

Notes:  This was an Alpha Strike game played between myself as the Davion Forces and my Son and Wife as the Kurita forces.  This is the first time we used tanks and other non mech units.  We hope to work up to full combined arms battles in the future.  The Alpha Strike rules seem quite suited to this.  We've even been talking about doing a full campaign some time in the future.  I'm looking at the War of 3039 as a template.  

Star Wars Shards of the Empire Season 01 Episode 02 Recon in Farce

Sand Panther Squadron had been sent on a mission to Nod Kartha a planet in the Karthakk system near Lok to search for one of Nym's operatives.  Morago was a Kubaz member of the Lok Revenants who was spying on Storm Lord activity on Nod Kartha.  As near as Nym could tell he had made it to the planet but they had not heard from him since.  Nym was not sure if he had been captured by the Storm Lords or the Local Neimodians who were no friends to Nym or his followers.

First they would have to get past the Spine and the Storm Lord patrols.  "Eyeballs dead ahead!" shouted the Zabrak Sune' Arkel over her comm.  "I see em!" replied one of the Revenant Y-Wing pilots.  "Darin let's get these two on the right!" Jenny Kule.  Two X-Wings and a Y-Wing banked towards their targets scoring a few hits.  "Hey I'm gonna need some help over here!" Sune' said excitedly.

"Got em!  Two down!" excalined Darin-Une.  "Yeah but their chewing us up over hear.  Shields out!" yelled Sune'.

 "Interceptor down!  We're comming to help." replied Jenny.  The Sand Panthers swung around to help their friend.

 "Hey I got one!" shouted one of the Revenants.  "We might just pull our backsides out of this yet" Sune' said.

 "Got the last TIE!  Take out that Squint before he gets away." Sune' said as her X-Wing rolled through the debris of the TIE fighter she had just vaporized.

 Darin lined her ship up on the final TIE Interceptor and opened fire.  In a flash the small craft vanished.  "He's down.  Let's get clear of the Spine and make our jump." she said.

The three Sand Panther pilots and two Revenants landed a few kilometers south of Gunray station on Nod Kartha.  The planet was a cold and desolate wasteland but there was so little moisture that nothing more than a heavy frost covered most of the ground.  "Separatist used to make Trihexalon weapons on this rock.  Cold kept the stuff stable." one of the Revenants said.  "Sounds like a great place to live." growled Sune'.  

Gunray station was a large town consisting mostly of prefabricated structures in fairly bad repair.  As the three pilots made their way through the outskirts they noticed that the town itself was fairly sparsely populated and in fact they had not seen any Neimodians at all.  

They got directions to the local cantina.  The place was named Rizzno's and it was owned by a Rodian.  Darin went up to the bar.  "Hey I thought that this was suppose to be a Neimodian town.  Where are they?" she ask.  The Rodian bartender looked around nervously "They moved on.  Yeah some time ago.  None of them left around here.".  He was obviously hiding something but Darin didn't know what.  

Sune' went up to the bar next and ask if the bartender knew Morago a Kubaz.  "Yeah there has been a Kubaz in here lately.  Comes in about this time most days. 

Sune' set back down with here drinks and watched the door.  After a while a Kubaz came in and set down at a table along.  The three Sand Panthers approached his table.  "Well, well you all don't look like the locals." the Kubaz said through a robotic sounding translator.  "We aren't.  You wouldn't happen to know a Morago would you?" Sune' asked.  The Kubaz leaned in and said "I hope Nym sent you.  I'm Morago.  I've got some intel for Nym but I need to get it out of my safe house.".  "Lead the way." Jenny said.
  

They made their way across the street to Morago's safe house.  "Hold on here.  I'll get my stuff and we can get back to Lok." the Kubaz said then went inside the small structure.

 Darin heard a group moving up behind them.  Turning she saw a group of four Stormtroopers.  "We've got company!" she shouted.

After a brief blaster exchange all four troopers lay on the ground.  "Crap they got me." Jenny said.  Just then the Kubaz ran out a side door of his safe house and headed across the street.  "Stun that bastard!" Sune' yelled.  The three pilots shot the Kubaz with stun bolts and he fell to the ground.  

After patching Jenny up Darin used some smelling salts from her pack to wake the Kubaz.  "So Morago you planned to double cross Nym" Sune' said as she held her blaster out at the Kubaz.  "I'm not really Morago.  The Storm Lords hired me to impersonate him in order to catch any Revenants who came looking for him.  My name is Velis.  If you promise not to kill me I will show you where the Storm Lords are holding Morago." the Kubaz said.  "Well Velis" Jenny said "We best get moving".

The Sand Panters and their Kubaz captive traveled to the warehouse sector of town.  There were eight Stormtroopers guarding a large warehouse.  Velis pointed at the structure.  "Morago is in there and I can tell you there will be more troopers in there guarding them.  Now if you let me go I promise I won't be any more trouble".  "Get moving then before I decide to kill you." growled Sune'.  The Kubaz ran off.

After searching around the three pilots found a large barrel full of fuel.  "Let's set this up behind this warehouse and set a thermal detonator to blow it.  When the troopers come to investigate we can attack the warehouse." Sune' said.  "Sounds risky but I don't have another plan" said Jenny. 

The Sand Panthers set the detonator then moved across the street to another warehouse. 

The entire warehouse exploded in a ball of fire.  The shock wave knocked the three pilots off their feet.  The Stormtroopers ran towards the inferno but stopped in the middle of the street gawking at the flames.  

 "Quick let's move out!" Darin said and she and Jenny ran towards the warehouse that Velis had pointed out.  A Stormtroopers came out a side door and Darin shot him.

Sune' sat on the ground shaking her head.  It took her a moment to get to her feet.  She then moved back towards the street and fired at one of the gawking troopers killing him.    

Jenny and Darin took out another pair of troopers who came out the door.  The troopers who were watching the fire seemed confused for a few moments then they realized they were under attack.  The split into two ground.  One group headed back to their warehouse while the other moved towards Sune's position.

Sune' dropped another detonator and ran away from the advancing troopers.  One trooper rounded the corner of the building and shot her knocking her out.  The detonator exploded killing the trooper and his comrades.

Darin and Jenny engaged the other group in a fierce fire fight.  They had good cover from a piece of heavy industrial equipment they were hiding under.  Eventually they managed to kill all the troopers.

Darin ran back towards Sune' and pulled her medpack out.  Jenny went into the warehouse and found a Kubaz tied up.  "Hey are you with Nym?  I'm Morago." the Kubaz said through a very chipper sounding translator.  "Yeah he sent us to find you" Jenny replied.

Darin managed to patch Sune' up.  "We had best get our butts out of here." Sune' said.  "Yeah let's get someplace safer." Darin replied.  Morago and the pilots made their way to the edge of town.  "Alright I need to get to my Z-95.  Don't worry she's got a hyperdrive so we can make an in system jump back to the Spine." Morago said.  "Sounds good.  See you in space." Jenny replied.

 After making an in system jump the Sand Panthers and pirates made their way towards the.  "Looks like we got problems already.  These Imp bastards just won't give up!" Sune' said.  "Six Eyeballs, two Squints, and a Decimator!  Who did you guys kill?" asked Morago.  "Oh just a couple Storm Lord patrols." replied Jenny.

A pair of Z-95s bearing Revenant markings came up on their position.  "Nym thought you could use some help" said one of the Z-95 pilots.  "We certainly do.  This is going to be a tough fight!" Jenny answered.

The ships engaged at high speed firing at each other.  Several scored hits in the first pass but kills were scored.  "I always end up by myself!" Sune' growled.  "Stop doing that then." Jenny answered.

 The Decimator turned into the fight it's turret spraying out deadly green fire.  One of the Z-95s exploded.  "We lost one already!  We've got to fight they are too fast!" Morago yelled.

Darin, Jenny, and two of the pirates concentrated their fire on the Decimator and the larger ship exploded in a flash.  "Yeah he's down!" cried Jenny.  "Good, now get over here and get these Squints off me.  My shields are down already." Sune' yelled.

Another TIE exploded.  "Don't worry Sune' we're on our way" Jenny said.  Just then Sune's X-Wing exploded.

 "Sune'! Sune' are you there!" Jenny shouted into her comm.  She hit her thrusters charging straight at a TIE firing as she flew.  The small craft exploded but she over shot directly into the path of the oncoming interceptors.  The two fighters riddled Jenny's X-wing with laser fire and her ship spun out of control before exploding.

Darin took down another TIE and another was taken down by the Revenants but the TIEs took out a Pirate Y-Wing.  "Sith!  Did anyone see if they ejected?" Darin yelled over her comm.  "It's too hot.  We've got to get out of here!" was Morago's only answer.  
  

Darin-Une banked her craft away from the battle.  As she did she check her scanners.  Two familiar emergency transponders were blinking on her screen.  There was at least a chance her friends had survived.  

"I'm sorry about your friends but I want to thank you for bringing Morago home.  Jenkins if analyzing some vital data he brought back.  The Storm Lords have rounded up the Neimodians and they have them working as slave labor trying to produce Trihexalon weapons.  We're doing everything we can to find out what happened to your squadron mates.  Rest assured that we will let you know if we find anything."  Nym said.   Darin nodded and walked back to her quarters.  

Sune' and Jenny awoke to find themselves tied to a pair of chairs aboard some kind of ship or space station.  "Welcome to Blood Razor Outpost.  I'm Jorund Saleem a captain of the Blood Razors. I sure hope for your sake your worth more to me alive than dead." a tall human man with braided hair stood and crossed his arms smiling at his two captives.  

Notes:  Well that was another rough one.  The players planning to rescue Morago was a little too rushed.  They planted their explosives way too close to the guarded warehouse.  While it cause the distraction they intended most of the troops were able to recover and get right back into the fight before they could rescue the Kubaz.  The final space battle in the Spine went pretty poorly as well.  I think the opposing force was just a bit too strong but they also split up a bit too much.  At first they tried to just punch straight through but TIEs are too fast for that so they lost a whole round of fighting trying to run too early and they also took too much damage doing that.  Fortunately the two players who got shot down managed to eject.