Eveningstar: What to Do Next

At the end of my last gaming session, Ivy Blacksword found herself in possession of a new warband and vowed to conquer Eveningstar. I took a long break from the game to stat up Eveningstar’s defenders (Lady Winter, her knights, and the local monks), and to think of what to do next.

All told the warband consists of 27 HD worth of creatures. At present, only the four party members have any equipment. The former prisoners are serving under duress, dressed in rags, and have low morale. They have no food or drink, although the bugbear cave is well-supplied with both. There are also bugbear-sized maces, shields, and blankets available. Against this force are Eveningstar’s 169 HD of defenders (not counting any adventuring parties who may fight in the town’s defense). Lady Winter and her knights all have warhorses, while Ivy’s warband are on foot. Her troops are untested and liable to desert or fight amongst themselves at the first setback. Harg the bugbear is loyal, fortunately, and for the moment at least Heinryk the Hero appears to be. The elves, dwarf, and two other humans can be counted on to obey orders, but not necessarily to fight. For the orcs and goblins, the reverse is true: they’ll happily burn farms and loot the town if they can, but won’t do labor if they can help it.

Ivy may have plans of conquering the town, but I begin to see why none of the monster bands in the caves have managed it so far. With Blackstar in her hand she’s an even match for any one of Lady Winter’s knights in single combat, but her odds in a military campaign seem insurmountable. Still, she has at least three advantages that she knows of, and one that she doesn’t:

1. Eveningstar doesn’t know that she plans to attack.

2. It’s almost harvest season. The militia will take longer to gather, and the thanes will be slower to respond and eager to get their followers back to their fields to bring the harvest in.

3. The Caves are difficult for either horses or the militia to assault.

4. Lady Winter is not a very attentive ruler.

A more immediate problem are the other inhabitants of the Caves of Chaos. There are:

• 2 bugbears (HD 3, returning from a hunting trip tomorrow)

• 14 male gnolls (HD 2)

• 20 female gnolls (HD 1)

• 1 gnoll chief (HD 3)

• 1 minotaur (HD 6)

• 1 owlbear (HD 5)

• 3 slimes, 2d6 giant rats, 13 stirges, and 5 fire beetles

Counting just the active monsters, that’s 61 HD. The gnolls alone outnumber her little band, and are already unhappy with Ivy for sending back one gnoll prisoner carrying another’s severed head. Reactions for the bugbears and minotaur have yet to be rolled (owlbears, naturally, are hostile to everyone). Depending on how things at the Caves shake out the town may never know it was threatened at all. 

Her first moves will need to be to secure her position here in the Caves. I don’t think she can make her recently-freed prisoners move quickly without food and rest, so the gnolls will have plenty of time to respond while she loots the cave, arms and feeds her followers, and so on. After that (and barring an assault by angry gnolls) her plan is to head for the goblin and hobgoblin caves. The bugbear lair only has one exit that she knows about, making it easy to lay siege to. Furthermore, the cleared goblin lairs contain an armory and a cave full of supplies. If she secures those she can arm her followers and feed them for a considerable period. She’ll need to cross the gorge and ford the Starwater in order to reach it, however. The gnolls will likely see them coming, and her followers will be particularly vulnerable during the crossing.

Assuming all goes well, she may be able to make contact with the bandits in the Briarwood through Robart and Delgert. If she can forge an alliance, she’ll add 13 HD of disciplined, well-equipped troops to her cause. She may be able to bargain with the minotaur as well, although "Keep on the Borderlands" informs me that he is “fiendishly clever” and is accustomed to taking payment in live humans, which he eats. The owlbear may have to be killed if she remains camped in the gorge for a long time, although she has the advice of the cave-dwellers to help her avoid it. Rivior’s ghost knows a great deal about the Haunted Halls (having constructed them in life), but they’re even less secure than the Caves. The mad king is surely paranoid about being trapped and starved in there a second time. Still, it’s just possible that she could rally the immortal/undead curst to her banner, and Room 17 holds Rivior’s consort, trapped in a temporal stasis…

All told, Ivy’s options in case of a defeat are pretty bad. Eveningstar blocks the way south, so she would likely need to retreat north into the Stonelands, where supplies would become an immediate problem for her ragtag army. It is perhaps just possible that Ivy and Tessaril could work out a peace agreement, with Eveningstar ceding the Starwater Gorge to Ivy and in exchange for outsourcing defense against attacks from the Stonelands. Ivy would want to levy a toll on all wealth looted from the Haunted Halls, however, while Lady Winter would want an oath of fealty that the ghost of King Rivior would not let Ivy swear, so it seems unlikely. Maybe some enterprising young adventurer who is popular with the townsfolk and has a history of improving his land will some day earn the right to settle Starwater Gorge…

Ivy’s Warband

Ok maybe not quite this grand

After the raid on the bugbear cave, Ivy has found herself in charge of a decent-sized - if badly equipped and largely unwilling - warband. Her adventuring party forms the core of it, consisting of:

• Ivy Almyr, Fighter 4

• Ambrosius Blackcloak, Cleric 3

• Nogi of Firedeep, Dwarf 2

• Mothclaw, Orc 1

Added to this are the former prisoners of the bugbears:

• One 4th-level Fighter

• Two 1st-level Fighters

• A 2nd-level Dwarf

• Two 1st-level Elves

• 1 Bugbear

• 3 Hobgoblins

• 2 Orcs

• 1 Goblin

• 1 Kobold

A more detailed write-up for Ivy’s warband follows. To fit with my loose ideas for how the Caves of Chaos interact with the town, none of them are people with connections to Eveningstar. To prevent an angry 9th-level wizard riding down on them with her knights in tow, the bugbears avoided the town and limited their raids to the Stonelands and the Briarwood. All of Eveningstar’s farms constructed close enough to Starwater Gorge to make for easy pickings were destroyed years ago (at least until Trigg bought and started renovating one).

Eveningstar's Defenders 2: Monks & Miscellaneous

In addition to the warriors in my last post, the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar module highlights the temple priests and a smattering of NPCs with class levels.

Monks of Lathander

In the original module Eveningstar has a temple rather than an abbey. I decided to switch it because I think a monastery is cozier (having read lots of Redwall books as a kid), and I have some vague ideas about how to use one in adventure stories (having listened to several of the Brother Cadfael audiobooks as an adult). The module tells me that there are 28 priests (now monks), a Patriarch, and a high level paladin with a magic ring. I’m going to dial that back a little bit. I’ve already established that the Abbot can cast Raise Dead, so he has to be at least 7th level. The paladin can be 5th level, putting him on even footing with Captain Gilbear. I’ll add a prior and a couple other spellcasting clerics, filling out the rest of the brothers with 1st-level clerics and a few novices. While the abbey is supported by townsfolk who rent land and work their fields, there will also be some lay servants who live at the abbey and perform non-spiritual labor there.

Despite their class levels, these guys are not warrior-monks. The Steward is the only monk who has proper weapons and armor. If Eveningstar is attacked, the monks ring their bell to sound the alarm, and people who live close by seek shelter behind the abbey’s walls – the module informs me that most Evenstar buildings are made of fieldstone, but their thatched roofs probably make them more vulnerable than they would be in the abbey. If called upon to defend themselves, the other monks will use staves and clubs. They are of more service in the aftermath of the attack, providing healing, charity, and administrative capacity, although with this many clerics around Eveningstar is pretty well protected against undead (explaining why Ambrosius the evil priest never marched his undead army into town).

Abbey Roster

• The Abbot (cleric 7)

• The Prior (cleric 5)

• The Steward (paladin 5)

• Brother Cellarer (cleric 2)

• Brother Almoner (cleric 2)

• Brother Infermarer (cleric 2)

• 18 monks (cleric 1)

• 6 novices

• 20 lay servants

The Abbot

Cleric 7        HP 24        AC 10        XP: 60,247        Morale 8

Str 10, Dex 9, Con 11, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 10

Wargear: staff

Spells:

1. Cure Light Wounds, Light

2. Bless, Speak with Animals

3. Continual Light, Cure Disease

4. Cure Serious Wounds

5. Commune

Description: Kindly old man. Devout, but understands worldly matters enough to leaven order with mercy. Well-educated, with a weakness for reading. Speaks elvish.

The Prior

Cleric 5        HP 19        AC 11        XP: 12,315        Morale 6

Str 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 11, Cha 6

Wargear: staff

Spells

1. Detect Evil, Protection from Evil

2. Bless, Hold Person

Description: officious, strict, ambitious. Covets the abbot’s position and believes that Eveningstar needs a firmer hand in spiritual matters.

(I like that the randomly rolled stats essentially recreated the abbot/prior relationship from the first Brother Cadfael Mystery, A Morbid Taste for Bones)

The Steward

Paladin 5        HP 12        AC 18        XP: 25,405       Morale 10

Str 15, Dex 15, Con 6, Int 11, Wis 17, Cha 16

Wargear: sword, shield, helm, leather, mail

Lay On Hands: 10 hp, cure disease 1/week

Description: an old soldier, became a monk late in life. Loves the peace of the abbey. Takes pleasure in annoying Brother Prior.

Brother Cellarer

Cleric 2        HP 7        AC 10        XP: 1,944        Morale 8

Str 9, Dex 12, Con 9, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 7

Wargear: club

Spells: Purify Food and Water

Description: fiercely protective of the abbey stores (which prior to Lady Winter’s orchard-spells were an important backstop against starvation), and to the quality of the abbey’s beer. Near-sighted, short, and rather mole-like.

Brother Almoner

Cleric 2        HP 4        AC 10        XP: 1,616        Morale 8

Str 10, Dex 9, Con 5, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 13

Wargear: club

Spells: Cure Light Wounds

Description: thin and prematurely frail, with wispy puffs of hair at the edges of his tonsure. Mild-mannered and sympathetic, but not as easy to take advantage of as he appears.

Brother Infirmarer

Cleric 3        HP 14        AC 9        XP: 3,832        Morale 8

Str 13, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8

Wargear: club

Spells: Cure Light Wounds, Cure Light Wounds

Description: tall, fat, with muscular arms. Rather harsh and impatient in the exercise of his duties.

Other NPCs

Maea Ironeye

Magic-User 3        HP 5        AC 10        XP: 5,394        Morale 9

Str 6, Dex 12, Con 6, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 16

Wargear: dagger

Spells: Floating Disc, Sleep, Mirror Image

Description: proprietor of the Blue Star Inn, Eveningstar’s best inn (also dance hall and theater). Small, wispy, pretty. Conceals her magical abilities. Her owl familiar plays the part of a sleepy pet.

Duny Kreegle

Fighter 4        HP 15        AC 10        XP: 8,211        Morale 8

Str 9, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 10

Wargear: dagger +2/+3 vs orcs, goblins, and kobolds

Description: Barman at the Blue Star. Pleasant, jovial, unassuming man with thin brown hair and a nose like a potato. Secretly a Harper.

I don’t actually know what the Harpers’ deal is or why they’re secret. My impression from the Chris Pine D&D movie is that they’re some kind of do-gooder adventuring guild. I gather that they may or may not have a beef with organizations called the Emerald Claw and the Order of the Gauntlet (I think I’ve seen those names in the faction/plot hook section of some 5th edition books). I’ll say that Duny and Maea are retired adventurers who collect maps and information for somebody, but it probably won’t matter who. Maybe they’re in debt or something.

Does Lady Winter know about them? A high/low roll on the oracular d6 says Yes.

Duny and Maea aren't likely to leap to Eveningstar's defense in open battle, but I think they would try to help.

Maethlin, son of Maglor

Thief 3       HP 11        AC 11        XP: 2,661        Morale 6

Str 10, Dex 14, Con 9, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 9

Wargear: dagger, vial of poison

Description: town apothecary. Grew up under a cloud, as his father was executed as a spy for a Stonelands wizard who led an attack on Eveningstar. Left town with a party of adventurers some years back, recently returned to take up the family business. Wants revenge.

Arbold Tethyr

Fighter 2       HP 13        AC 15        XP: 2,054        Morale 6

Str 9, Dex 9, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 6

Wargear: spear, shield, helm, leather

Description: the fat and greedy master harness-maker. A shrewd businessman and landlord, locally rich and important. I’ll say he’s a captain in the militia out of a desire to burnish his reputation, although he’d prefer to avoid any real fighting. Has three fat daughters, one of whom Eldred is smitten with. Sadly for the Enchanter, the Tethyr girls prefer men of substance over weedy wandering scholars.

Syndair Silverthorn

Illusionist 4       HP 8        AC 10        XP: 10,240       Morale 7

Str 10, Dex 10, Con 9, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 11

Wargear: dagger

Spells: Detect Illusion, Glamour, Magic Mouth, Quasimorph

Description: elegant older woman with a grey bun. In the module she’s a dressmaker who uses her magic to entertain guests and enhance her art, which I think is delightful. In OSE, however, a 4th-level magic-user is a much bigger deal than in AD&D. I think I’ll make her the owner of the Silver Branch jewelry store and say that she’s a collector of antiques with an interest in fine fabrics.

Eveningstar’s Defenders

With war potentially looming over the horizon, I wanted to determine how Eveningstar is defended. 

The Process

My approach for writing up my version of Lady Winter was to identify what I thought were the key aspects of the NPC as she appears in the original module (beloved wizard-lord, high level, cool cat, used to sleep with the king, gender stuff) and then make the numbers smaller (level 9 instead of 21, etc.). I’ll apply that same process to Eveningstar’s military: I’m ditching all of the patrols that “pass any spot every four hours”, with their 1d12+12 2nd or 3rd level soldiers and magically equipped clerics and mages, as well as Tessaril’s access to teleporting squads of level 14 war-wizards, and using only the warriors mentioned as being part of Lady Winter’s household. The nearby towns aren’t sending soldiers in to regularly patrol the roads – as the lady of Eveningstar, that's her job.

The module says that she has nine fighters of 3rd and 4th level, a 5th-level captain, six level 1st-level recruits, and four “hostlers,” semi-retired 6th level fighters who are “missing an eye or hand, or sports a limp,” for a convenient total of 20 men. There are also 45 “well-trained but poorly equipped” 1st-level fighters in the militia, which takes at least a day to muster.

I forgot to include Lady Winter's herald Tzin Tzumner (7th-level Bard) and the 3rd level town clerk Auldo Morim, as well as the fact that the captain was named “Flaergan Hondh”. I’m fine to keep omitting those details.

I’ve decided to make these guys knights, because I didn’t realize that “Purple Dragons” and “Purple Dragon Knights” are different things, but ironically they will no longer be Purple Dragon Knights. In my Realm orders of chivalry are fairly new, and the Purple Dragons are an invention of King Azoun that he hopes will bind his kingdom together after the strife of the Succession Wars. Lady Winter is one, but most of her men are knights in the sense of “a warrior who can fight from horseback”.

The six hostlers will be veterans of the Succession Wars who fought for Lady Winter when she and Azoun’s other companions supported his claim to the throne. I’m splitting up the rest of the fighters into housecarls (Lady Winter’s retainers, who live with her), and thanes (landowners who owe her military service). The thanes live on Eveningstar’s outlying farms and supply small contingents of militiamen from amongst their own followers. These take longer to muster than the local militia.

A distinction I’m choosing to make with how I interpret these guys is that they’re professional warriors, not adventurers. While they may do battle with orcs, goblins, and the occasional wizard, and think that hunting dragons and giant spiders sounds like a good time, they won’t have a lot of magic items. I’ll only roll items for the captain and the old 6th-level grognards, representing relics of House Winter and prizes of war, respectively.