SIFRP: Session 2

I only had four players for the second session of my Song of Ice and Fire campaign, which was really the first full game, because there was a cold going around the office. The list of players and characters in the game is:

Erik Wyrmwood (Bill) the eldest son of Lord Wyrmwood and the heir. He is a schemer and flaunts his wealth a bit. He's maybe a bit flighty, but very savvy when it comes to negotiations and dealing with other lords and ladies.

Damian Wyrmwood (Randy) the second son of Lord Wyrmwood. He is more practical than his brother and very charismatic and persuasive. He grumbles a lot and has little patience for his elder brother's way of conducting himself.

Jasque Wyrmwood (Adam) the third son of Lord Wyrmwood, but there's some kind of story about his past and origin that makes him a very distant third in the house order. Jasque is actually a bastard of one of the Lannisters, but was taken in by the Wyrmwoods to curry favor with the Lannisters. Jasque is quiet and spends most of his time practicing the Water Dancing fighting style -- which makes him pretty unusual for a Westerman.

Wulfgar "the Nighthawk" Oakmeade (Jim) is the eldest son of House Oakmeade, a Bannerhouse sworn to Wyrmwood. His house is known for their archers, scouts, and guerillas and Wulfgar is one of the men responsible for whipping them into shape. He is an excellent archer, but has realized he'll have to begin spending less and less time in the woods and more and more time dealing with lords and ladies in the coming years. He's the eldest son after all and his father isn't getting any younger.

Ser Olivar Bryce (James) is an anointed knight sponsored by Lord Wyrmwood. House Bryce used to be a landed house of its own, but when Ser Olivar was captured by bandits and ransomed back, his mother worked out a deal with Erik Wyrmwood to take the Bryce holdings in exchange for the money to pay the ransom. Now, Ser Olivar is safely returned, but chafes with the knowledge that he's sworn to the family that took his land.

Ana Greyjoy (Kate) is the niece of the deceased Lady Wyrmwood and cousin to Erik, Damian, and Jasque. She came to stay at House Wyrmwood for some mostly undefined reason because the player isn't very familiar with the setting, but we're working on it.

The first four were present for the first night. When we sat down I had them draw from a pile of random "normals" I'd created for the intro encounter. I'd actually created seven characters, but took three of them out of the mix when I learned I only have four players. The characters they drew were:

Escor Smith (Bill) is the smith in the seaside village of Goldwater.

Laurent Cargill (Randy) a messenger on his way back to Lannisport. He is Craven, but the only character with a weapon; a sword he's not very good with. His horse is bedded down in the stable for the night.

Lizbet Shaw (Adam) wife of Timmin Shaw and one of the owners of the tavern. She works as a server and cook at the small tavern. She's a handsome woman in her 40s.

Timmin Shaw (Jim) husband to Lizbet Shaw and the barman and cook at the tavern they own. He's Bound to the Bottle and has access to a knife and a bludgeon behind the bar.

After they had a moment to look over their characters we dove right in with a short scene in which Laurent was sitting at one of the small tables in the tavern eating fish stew after turning his horse over to the stable boy for the night. Escor walked in as he always did for a drink and some dinner after working at the smithy all day. Lizbet and Timmin chatted with each other and their customers and made sure they had something to drink.

There was a solid knock at the back door to the tavern, which was located in the small pantry/kitchen area off to the side of the bar. Just as Timmin and Lizbet turned to see who was knocking, the front door opened and in walked three weatherbeaten Ironmen armed with axes and wearing armor.

(In talking to one of the players later, he said when the men walked in he realized that he and the other characters were all going to die -- and he thought that was the coolest thing ever, that the whole point of this scene was that they were doomed. That was a good thing to hear.)

The Ironmen stood at the bar and surveyed the scene. I explained who the Ironmen were to the players who had no clue and they all figured out they were in a lot of trouble. Especially when they started to hear screams outside and smelled a bit of smoke in the air. Timmin offered the men drinks, which they took, then told Lizbet to get some food, with a knowing look. Lizbet took the cue to go into the kitchen where she promptly unlocked the back door to walk out, but the body of her stable boy pushed it open and gave her quite a shock as it slumped to the floor. Quckly, she snuck out, saw the huts of her neighbors burning and made for the stable.

Back in the bar, Timmin kept the men talking a minute, then took a swing with his knife at the leader, a man named Garron. The player rolled a critical hit, but still most of the force of the blow was blunted by the armor, so Garron took only a single point of damage. Even so, both he and his companion, Athan, cut  Timmin down with consecutive strokes of their axes. The third man went to see where the woman had gone and told them the back door was open.

Escor was very careful not to move or make any action whatsoever as he watched his old friend crumple to the floor. Laurent on the other hand took advantage of Timmin's death and the conversation between the three Ironmen to make a run for the door and made it outside to find two raiders standing guard. The men raised their weapons, but then Laurent was bowled over from behind as Athan ran out to tell his men to find the woman. Again, taking advantage of the confusion Laurent ran for the front of the stable. Once he reached it he saw Lizbet taking his horse from the stall.

Back in the bar, Escor swore he'd sit at the bar until the men returned. He had no interest in dying. So, the men left him there. Alone, Escor took the opportunity to step behind the bar, tsk at his dead friend, and then take most of the money from the coin box he knew was kept behind the bar since he knew Timmin would prefer he have it than those barbarians. Then Escor sat back down at the bar and waited.

Ironmen headed to the front and back of the stable to find Laurent and Lizbet who they'd seen run in. Lizbet stood by the horse and Laurent jumped onto its back. He had the opportunity to grab Lizbet or spur the horse to action. He glanced down at her and said, "I'll never forget you!" and spurred the horse onward. Not defeated yet, Lizbet made a desperate grab for his waist and managed to get a solid grip. Unfortunately for Laurent he was riding bareback (and failed both a riding and opposed strength check) and was pulled off the horse as it took flight! In a jumble on the floor, the pair looked up to see four Ironmen surround them. Laurent was cut down quickly and Lizbet was then treated poorly at their hands.

(The race for the stable and the interchange with the horse had everyone at the table in stitches! It was easily the most hilarious thing that had happened at the table in a long time. We still joke about it around the office. I especially liked it because had the characters worked together there was a very good chance ONE of them (maybe even both) had a very good chance of surviving, but the way it played out was just fantastic!)

Escor, meanwhile waited at the bar for the men to return. When they did he said he was a smith and would gladly trade his freedom for his life. Garron and Athan considered for a moment, then agreed they could make use of a smith, so Escor was taken back to the boats with them.

With the raid completed we changed gears and moved to the players' actual characters. First, we made some rolls for the House Fortune for the month and they decided to reallocate some of their 14 reserved wealth to raise their House's Law from 27 to 31, which bumped it up a category. They reasoned they spent the money to recruit some new men and supply them with better equipment so they could better patrol and police their lands.

We also defined their troops:

Trained Garrison ☼ 5 Power ☼ Easy (3) Discipline at home or Challenging (9) away
Armor Rating 3 ☼ Armor Penalty -2 ☼ Defense 5 ☼ Health 9

Fighting Damage 3

Awareness 3, Endurance 3, Fighting 3

Trained Guerrillas ☼ 5 Power ☼ Challenging (9) Discipline

Armor Rating 1 ☼ Armor Penalty 0 ☼ Defense 7 ☼ Health 6

Fighting Damage 3 ☼ Marksmanship Damage 3 close range

Athletics 3, Marksmanship 3, Stealth 3

Finally, a servant interrupted their discussions to say a woman named Lizbet Shaw had arrived at the gates just a few minutes ago saying her village, Goldwater, had come under attack by raiders. They went to see her and it was clear by the sight of her that she was in shock, badly hurt, and had been walking for days. Once she was made comfortable and the maester was called for, they questioned her. She had little else to say except that she thought they were Ironmen, but she didn't recognize the crest on their shield; a red crab or lobster claw on a deep blue field. None of the characters recognized it either.

They talked a bit and decided they should leave immediately for Goldwater since it was only a few hours' ride by horse.

And that was the end of the night.