The Haunted Woods update

[Hopeless]

Previously listed two members of a rival group for the PCs in a Legend game I'm still running (albeit long periods between sessions!) listed below is the third member and would like your opinion on her:

Character Name: Ashen Ravens Meadow
Race/Gender: Elven female
Culture/Profession: Barbarian Priestess
Strength: 12, Size: 13, Constitution 10, Intelligence 18, Power 16 (6pts dedicated), Dexterity 14, Charisma 13
Common Skills:
Athletics 36%, Brawn 30%, Culture/Own 76%, Dance 42%, Drive 60%, Evade 33%, First Aid 47%, Influence 51%, Insight 49%, Lore/Regional 81%, Perception 49%, Persistence 42%, Resilience 40%, Ride 45%, Sing 44%, Sleight 32%, Stealth 37%, Swim 27%, Unarmed 26%

Combat Styles:
Common Magic 49%, Bow 48%, Spear & Shield 41%, 2H Spear 46%

Advanced Skills:
Healing 34%, Language/Native 81%, Language/English 36%, Lore/Pantheon 46%, Pact/Cult 34%, Survival 26%, Track 28%

Magic Known: Blade sharp 1, Heal 1, Multi-missile 1, Protection 2, Strength 1

Divine Magic: Dismiss Elemental, Heal Body 1, Shield 2, Sun Spear, True Spear

Equipment: Hard Leather armour, Healer’s Kit, Spear, Target Shield, Bow, Quiver with 20 arrows, Cord necklace with runic engraved wooden pieces, spare clothing, backpack, small belt pouch, Black banner normally tied to spear (acts as Blade Sharp 1 in combat as long as still attached) and a small potion (acts as Protection 2 when drunk).
Pouch holds a small gemstone (worth 75 silver), 6 silver coins and 4 copper

Brief Background: A member of an elven tribe located near Flintlocke’s home she joined him on his mission to acquire the barony of the area being led to believe this would help secure her tribe’s own forest as their own fiefdom.

Notes: Have yet to focus on the cult she follows or pantheon although have elves in this setting as being descended from humans who settled in the forests and adapted accordingly to living in treetops or underground but still within the forest that they depend upon. Haven’t decided on what language they speak although written languages are currently either Latin (Civilised) or Norse (Barbarian).

 

[warlock1971]

I like her! Interesting to have elves descend from a human line ... could we have dwarves as a human offshoot as well?

 

[Hopeless]

I like her! Interesting to have elves descend from a human line ... could we have dwarves as a human offshoot as well?

Yes, the background for my campaign is that a catastrophe caused some survivors to take shelter where they could.

The descendants of the dwarves were miners and lived underground long enough that it became natural for them to be stronger and shorter with more emphasis on their skills to survive, the elves being descended from those that retreated to the forests grew taller and thinner as well as more agile as they adapted to their new home.

Most humans have had to literally scratch out a living in this era and have prospered albeit have a long way to go if they ever want to rebuild their civilisation anywhere near the levels they had before.

I figure halflings being the result of interbreeding between the various communities and are shorter thanks to their dwarven genes but hardier as a result and have remained shorter due to their natural tendency to build their homes underground albeit not deep underground or anywhere near mountains.

The catastophe was responsible for the creations of goblins, orcs and the other races who were also originally human, once I can get hold of Historia Rodentia I plan on expanding that to include some formerly considered animal species!

Unfortunately I can't use ducks even though I really would like to use them!

 

[warlock1971]

Do you have to have Halflings at all?

What caused the catastrophe in your world? Is it an alternative Earth setting?

 

[Hopeless]

Do you have to have Halflings at all?

What caused the catastrophe in your world? Is it an alternative Earth setting?

Currently i'm going with Yellowstone erupting and the event fractured the american nuclear silos causing a leak that the eruption prevented being resolved so that the leak caused a number of mutations.

Elsewhere in the world this event caused the downfall of the Eurozone and the various nations tried to take advantage of the chaos and confusion eventually resorting to warfare that included the release of biological weapons as certain nations becae desperate as their resources were either contaminated or their forces were stalemated as their opposition managed to rally.

The cost in life was staggering but the collapse of civilisation still allowed for certain points of light to persist, as far as my game is concerned a new Roman Empire was formed and has spread across most of Europe with Scandinavia and the British Isles being the exception.

However most of these civilisations have only managed to survive thanks to the Lightbringer Cult which is a group founded to help preserve and support the people through recovering or keeping libraries of lost knowledge safe and available when needed.

They're opposed by a much older group who survived the Yellowstone disaster by preying on the other survivors and rebuilding an empire of their own that has had to remain in the shadow because of the horrible mutations they suffered through and their quest to conquer the rest of the known world was set off after they suspected the Lightbringer Cult possessed the means to cure them of their inherited mutations.

So far the only reason halflings have been included is because they're present in the Monsters of Legend book, I picture halflings as being farmers whom keep to themselves since I can see their small size and relative harmless appearance being one of the reasons they prefer to keep to communities of their own for their own protection.

 

[Hopeless]

Here's the fourth member of their band and quite possibly the weakest!

Character Name: Hartley Byron
Race/Gender: Human Male
Culture/Profession: Civilised Sorceror
Strength: 6, Size: 9, Constitution: 10, Intelligence: 15, Power: 14, Dexterity: 13, Charisma: 9

Common Skills:
Athletics 19%, Brawn 15%, Culture/Own 65%, Dance 32%, Drive 32%, Evade 36%, Evaluate 64%, First Aid 28%, Influence 63%, Insight 54%, Lore/Regional 80%, Perception 34%, Persistence 43%, Resilience 25%, Ride 37%, Sing 23%, Sleight 27%, Stealth 28%, Swim 16%, Unarmed 19%

Combat Skills:
Common Magic 53%, Crossbow 66%

Advanced Skills:
Courtesy 39%, Craft/Cook 33%, Language/Native 74%, Language/Latin 24%, Lore/ Alchemy 50%, Lore/ Astronomy 35%, Manipulate 34%, Sorcery/Grimoire 30%

Magic Known: Befuddle, Demoralise, Mind speech 2

Equipment: Carried his superior quality light crossbow along with a case of 10 bolts, wears his only set of clothing and carries his grimoire in his backpack along with two potions (Heal 2 and Protection 1)

Notes: A very novice sorcerer with little interest in physical labour however he’s been forcibly enlisted as a member of the mercenary group due in no part to his extended list of sorcery contacts one of whom arranged a meeting at a country inn as part of helping their team leader gain the barony up for offer by the noble council.
However their contact stole the prized heirloom of their primitive goblin ally and used it in an attempt to frame a rival noble unfortunately if that doesn’t pay off the suspicion would return to their group and that’s something his group would rather not happen and ironically both they and their PC rivals would like nothing better than to hunt the contact down and have him take the blame!

 

[warlock1971]

Thanks for the feedback! I love creation stories, so always interested in the ideas.

Are you figuring monsters as coming from standard animal stock, perhaps mutated by radiation?

 

[Hopeless]

Thanks for the feedback! I love creation stories, so always interested in the ideas.

Are you figuring monsters as coming from standard animal stock, perhaps mutated by radiation?

Waiting on historia rodentia but couldn't help noticing there's a section on dinosaurs in the Monsters of Legend!

Maybe I've been watching Jurassic Park too many times but I figure the mainland playing host to wandering dinosaurs would make an interesting subplot should they decide to travel abroad, the mutation side will only play a slight role in whats going on since I want there to be something normal for them to relate to.

Making the stories of sea monsters actually closer to fact will make an interesting addition though!

 

[Hopeless]

Maybe I should add Planet of the Apes series as one of the inspirations for this?

Hmm already had the party find an engraving which showed figures in black cloaks with cloven hooves might be a bit much.

Still working on the cults size might end up sticking to Runequest 3e for simplicity sake, maybe some of the new releases might help with that end.
Anyway next session is next weekend at the moment will be interesting to see what happens next or where the PCs decide to go!

 

[Hopeless]

Just received my copy of historia rodentia and i have an important question to ask.

Can I use a pair of npc meercats with one piloting a Valkyr and the other acting as its engineer?

Of course the pilot must be named Aleksandr can't remember the name of his older cohort though!!!

Just keep getting an image of what the players will think when confronted by that wood and metal humanoid figure and discover its a mech piloted by a certain meercat!

Sigh he's probably too big to fit knowing my luck!

 

[Savage Yinn]

Is Sergei the meerkat you are looking for?

"Simples!"

 

[Cyporiean]

Just received my copy of historia rodentia and i have an important question to ask.

Can I use a pair of npc meercats with one piloting a Valkyr and the other acting as its engineer?

Of course the pilot must be named Aleksandr can't remember the name of his older cohort though!!!

Just keep getting an image of what the players will think when confronted by that wood and metal humanoid figure and discover its a mech piloted by a certain meercat!

Sigh he's probably too big to fit knowing my luck!

Keep in mind Historia Rodentia's species were not designed with the intent of being used with non-Historia Rodentia creatures, so balancing issues may occur. Meerkats will be included in a future book when we detail the nation of Zabar (based around Zulu and Boers Africa), and will be a Medium sized species so slightly too large in setting to be able to ride inside a Valkyr (Small or Tiny sized species).

A Valkyr has a single pilot riding inside of it, but it would have a team of Engineers back at their command post; Think of it like a walking fighter jet.

 

[Hopeless]

Keep in mind Historia Rodentia's species were not designed with the intent of being used with non-Historia Rodentia creatures, so balancing issues may occur. Meerkats will be included in a future book when we detail the nation of Zabar (based around Zulu and Boers Africa), and will be a Medium sized species so slightly too large in setting to be able to ride inside a Valkyr (Small or Tiny sized species).

A Valkyr has a single pilot riding inside of it, but it would have a team of Engineers back at their command post; Think of it like a walking fighter jet.

Thanks for the background pic and I look forward to the next supplement's release!

So Gerbils only then or any small or tiny pilot for the Valkyr is ok?

Still well worth the price!

 

[Bifford]

Making the stories of sea monsters actually closer to fact will make an interesting addition though!

three little words for you: Lock Ness Monster

 

[Bifford]

A Valkyr has a single pilot riding inside of it, but it would have a team of Engineers back at their command post; Think of it like a walking fighter jet.

Where are the spare crossbow bolts, and how does he reload? He'd have to stick the sword in the ground, grab a bolt, re-load and pick the sword back up. Meh.

 

[Cyporiean]

Thanks for the background pic and I look forward to the next supplement's release!
So Gerbils only then or any small or tiny pilot for the Valkyr is ok?
Still well worth the price!

Any Small or Tiny Species can fit inside, so Mice, Gerbils, Rats, Moles, etc. Gerbils are just the fluff/wargame appropriate ones as they invented the suits to take on Bears.

Where are the spare crossbow bolts, and how does he reload? He'd have to stick the sword in the ground, grab a bolt, re-load and pick the sword back up. Meh.

The standard Mass Production Valkyr Mk.I features a single use Crossbow, as they are designed as being a mostly Melee machine. In fact most pilots have a hard time being able to hit the broadside of a barn with it; though some Ace Pilots have had their Valkyr modified to feature an automatic reloading system built into the Valkyr's right arm.

Federwerk Engineers are constantly experimenting with new ideas on how to improve the Valkyr, there are rumors that the joint deal with Civitas' Venture Company will bring about a Valkyr Mk.II armed with Venture's feared Panzardi Speciale.

 

[Bifford]

Nice

 

[Hopeless]

And so the party met up again at the Country Tavern, the woodsman having gone csi filled in the others on what he'd been doing and they (eventually) headed for the stables as both the stableboy and the tinker he had seen were supposed to be there.

The nobleman walked in and saw the stableboy being strangled by someone out of sight of him, calling out he leapt in but the attacker had fled up into the loft and remained unseen.
The nobleman and his sister tried to help the stableboy but failed their first aid checks and didn't remove the cord that was used to strangle him before he died...(actually neither mentioned removing it and tried to perform first aid instead)

The blacksmith climbed up into the hayloft and felt something pass him (failed his perception check) but with only the front door of the stable open there was little light (he failed his Perception check again) so he kicked open a window cover behind him (and still failed his perception check after this).

The woodsman kept guard at the stable door and had an owl fly straight into him, fending it off it dropped a dagger at his feet and fled (successful unarmed check), it is at this point the nobleman passed his perception check and noticed the window cover on the opposite side to where the blacksmith was now standing had shut behind someone fleeing across the top of the tavern outer wall.
The nobleman climbed up and chased after him alerting the blacksmith who darted out of the window next to him and clambered atop of the stables to give chase.
Both the noblewoman and th woodsman chose to move outside the stables and keep the person fleeing from them in sight.
He dropped out of sight outside of the tavern walls with the blacksmith overtaking the nobleman in pursuit, he gets almost to the treeline before he is shot down by the opposing band led by Carl Flintlock.
He and his elven comrade shot the escapee in the legs, their sorceror comrade however shot him in the stomach... their goblin comrade was frisking him over looking for the dagger when the others caught up with them.
The blacksmith questions the prisoner who reveals he was hired to retrieve the dagger by the woodsman treachorous friend and reveals he was also asked to steal her headband (which holds the crystal blue gem from Kassen's crypt) but had refused it is only when they ask who he was working for that he falls dead from an unseen cause (and not the crossbow bolt in his chest and the arrow in each leg in case you were wondering).
It takes a moment before it sinks in their prisoner was talking to someone else in the stables and after passing word to the arriving sheriff they return to the stables but the woodsman's nemesis has already fled leaving a rope dangling from the window the blacksmith had used to climb atop the stables as proof of his presence.
The woodsman keeps the dagger hidden as during their questioning the tinker had revealed the dagger was orichalcum and the blacksmith's review of the first body revealed that the attacker had to have been taller than the goblin and crude review of the details they had available (mostly obscured due to the sheriff's interference) made it clear the victim had seen his killer who had silenced him and then left rapidly once the man's body was found but still didn't explain why the nobleman's father suspected his daughter was the intended target.

They decide to move on but not before learning that the quest they were heading out on had five other teams involved they were the last of the five with three having set out on this particular mission ten years previously of which one was a group of goblins and the only memorable things about the rest was the presence of anima or intelligent animals who apparently used some massive clockwork golem riding in its own steam powered chariot.

Yes they pulled faces too!

They headed to the forest and discovered the trail they were follo wing had been created about a decade earlier and there was evidence it had grown back in the years after.
They eventually found their way to a glade looking out over a lake and discover a wagon with a strange metal contraption on it two of its wheels in a rut.
Nearby was a trio of tent and a small fire with a kettle boiling gently above it on a stand.
A small figure darts out ignores them for a while before finally turning and raising a finger as if in thought before noticing them.
"Sergei we have guests!" yells the Meercat.
"Guests! guests! hold on I'll get ready we can then fight!" the other voice calls out as an older meercat leaps out of the other tent and swiftly pulls loose the other covering revealing the Valkyr...

 

[Hopeless]

Sorry got called away.

Anyway the players then explained they weren't here to fight and althoug disappointed its at this point Sergei noticed the gem laden headpiece work by the noblewoman and openly proclaimed.

"You found the duchess!"

Its now explained he and Aleksandr are part of a much larger force searching for the missing duke's rainments one of which the noblewoman is wearing and that he'd been sworn to aid a nobleman in the search for the baron's rainments the same quest they're now on but they had been betrayed by a guide named Flintlock who came from a village named Tarmsen.

The druid had been slain in the battle after the druid had summoned an elemental which none of those present could defeat as every time it was struck it immediately disappeared underground and reappeared in front of its attacker slaying them before they could react leaving only Sergei and Aleksandr after it threw his Valkyr clear out of the inn, they tried to continue the quest but ended up returning to their war chariot to set up camp as they had no liegelord to answer to.

Of course the pair swore allegiance to the noblewoman and even after the players' discussed what they were going to do they helped pull the war cahriot out of the hole and once the Valkyr was stored aboard they showed the way to the nearest location where one of the artefacts was hidden.
Since the chariot was designed to pull up and remove any vegetation or rubble in its path it cleared a trail but was much slower than the Pcs on their mounts they moved ahead.

Warned that the pool ahead of them was home to a nixie they approached on foot once they told the meercats to stay where they were and were promptly attacked by one of Flintlock's band who was under the control of the nixie.
Confused he was easily overcome and after the nobleman addressed the nixie who was initially confused becaue the most charismatic member of the group was the blacksmith but noticing the meercats she explained she could only turn over her artefact the Vial of Pure Water in return for an item stored at one of the other sites along with another of the artefacts they were looking for.

Excusing themselves they headed for the nearest location which was a massive ancient dead tree and told the meercats to head back to their camp and wait for them whilst the nixie had her mesmerised captive lead them to the site and upon arrival he fell unconscious and was tied up by the party.

Of course they saw a bone scrollcase tied to one of the upper branches of the dead tree which was banging against the tree due to the wind so the woodsman after using a rope and grapple scrambled up the tree and reached across to grab it as it swung towards the tree.
The subsequent silence was replaced as a horde of giant beetles poured from inside the hollowed out tree and whilst his allies attacked three of them the rest chased up the tree after the woodsman.
The noblewoman managed to stun her foe whilst her brother and the blacksmith had to spend a couple of rounds before being able to disengage after the woodsman having tied the rope to himself once up the tree manged to jump off before the other giant beetles that were climbing up on the inside of the tree poured out around where he had been and cut his rope.
Returning to where their captive was all they found was the loosened ropes but even the woodsman couldn't tell where he had gone, moving on to stay ahead of the beetles it turned out once they left the vicinity of the tree the beetles returned to their lair draggin their injured brethren along with them.

Returning to the camp its revealed that Aleksandr actually recorded the information the nixie had told them and explained the Earth's Ire had been left in a bear's cave over in the opposite area to the tree they had come from and since he knew the Spirit Staff was in the ruins of the Druid's Inn held by his elemental he figured the last item was in the opposite corner to where the nixie's pool was.

Denying Sergei's request to join them they head to the bear's cave and soon found tracks indicating the goblin and perhaps Flintlock had headed this way with only the man's tracks leading back towards the heart of the forest.
Assuming they had retrieve the clay wand they returned to the camp and headed for the last site and found a stone altar with a set of stone pillars covering it however surrounding the altar was a field of vines that had already captured and was killing an unwary wolf.

The nobleman tried to climb the nearest tree but fell discovering a couple of decomposed skeletons hidden in the bush and chose to scout the exterior whilst the woodsman climbed a tree and using a rope (having lost the grapple and about 10' of rope to the giants beetles) managed to jump atop the stone top and retrieve the sacred breastplate (a stainless steel plate breastplate with a flame motif) and in addition to a vial of water a stained silver ring with a wave motif.

They returned to the nixie's pool where they exchanged the ring for the vial of pure water after learning the elven member of their rival group had returned and tried to attack her only she spotted her first and stayed underwater until she heard the PC's call.

Now possessing three of the artefacts they chose to return to the meercats camp site and rest as night was soon to fall (and I asked them about guards but only had one of them roll).

The next morning they traveller to the heart of the forest and found the ruins of the druid's inn within which the only thing standing was a wooden statue holding a spear-like staff.

Sergei manned his Valkyr and stayed out of sight outside along with Aleksandr and his war chariot whilst the others gingerly entered the inn.

There was signs of the battle Sergei had told them about including the skeletal remains of the traitor Sergei had killed with a bolt from his Valkyr weapon

The nobleman eventually walked to the statue and touched the staff... the statue animated and swung him off his feet knocking him out cold.

The rest readied themselves but the elemental remained where it was and did nothing as the woodsman dragged the unconscious nobleman clear.

They waited and having enough their rivals appeared at the opposite side of the inn.

They exchanged taunts before it got down to the bitter facts (including the fact that the impaled skeleton was Carl's father and Carl openly wondered what had killed his father which the PCs notably coughed over) which was when the goblin sneered that he had the means to harm the elemental but his three attempts to use the wand failed miserably and his sorceror ally grabbed the wand and used it striking the elemental's right arm.

It responded immediately vanishing into the earth floor and bursting out in front of the sorceror and impaled him on its staff before flinging the corpse clear with a single flick.

The elf cast a spell on the elemental and the sunspear blew its right arm off and severely injuring it as Flintlock attacked it directly with his greatsword only to see it bounce off the elemental's unnaturally tough bark.

It then promptly killed him as Sergei entered the fray openly challenging the elemental and charged but his foe didn't respond as Aleksandr driving the war chariot charged it from the other side of the inn and and it stopped the chariot and overturned it effortlessly.

(Note I forgot that the elemental had lost its right arm at this point so I ruled it overturned the chariot on its left when it should have been turned over on its right and crushed the goblin.. retrospectively this would have been better but...)

The goblin panicking shot a dart at it from its blowgun and was promptly killed by the elemental as the nobleman retrieved the wand from the corpse of the sorceror and used it managing to hit it!

(Had the goblin not attacked when he did this could have led to either the chariot being demolished or someone else so I suppose there is a silver lining in there somewhere!)

The elemental then promptly disappeared and burst out in front of the nobleman with both the blacksmith and the Valkyr now no longer heading for where it had been Sergei fired his Valkyr's weapon and Aleksandr shouted a warning to everyone!

Back when they first met and they were pulling the chariot free I had a scene whilst they were helping to free the war chariot where Sergei in his Valkyr had whilst backing up yelling advice to Aleksandr had tripped over backwards and fired his Valkyr weapon by accident completely blowing up a large tree nearby

Sergei hit it in the head doing enough damage to reduce it down to 0hp so I said it collapsed at the feet of the shaken nobleman.

Now I admit I messed up here, I couldn't find any explanation of what weapons a Valkyr had and ended up equipping it with a shrapnel grenade launcher instead of a crossbow so when Sergei fired it I rolled and it managed to hit whereupon i then spilled all my dice all over the place trying to roll the d20 for the hit location!

The only surviving member of their rival team, the elf chose to walk away without a word having been stunned motionless after Flintlock died and the party did nothing to stop her.

They then managed to upright the war chariot and after picking up the spirit staff they headed back to the Country Tavern only to see signs of smoke up ahead and discovered the Tavern had been attacked whilst they were away.

The blacksmith headed to check on his new girlfriend... only she wasn't there and returned to the Tavern to learn from the others that something with tracks similar to the creatures they had missed back from the hilltop where Kassen's crypt was based underneath had been responsible for the attack.

The few survivors had fled into the cellar and remained unmolested, the professor who they were retrieving the artefacts for wanted to keep them but they refused and stayed overnight so he could complete his replacement shroud.

The artefacts were;

Sacred Breastplate: a superior workmanship Stainless Steel Plate Breastplate
Vial of Pure Water: functions as a Heal 6 potion
Wand of Earth's Ire: functions as a Wand of Disruption
Bone Scroll Case: holds a Scroll written in Gaelic which none of them can read...
Spirit Staff: don't know what it does... yet!

 

[Hopeless]

The night wasn't peaceful at all...

With the professor busy getting his new shroud ready the sudden sounds of thunder woke up the PCs and the sounds of shouting sent the blacksmith outside with a lit torch.

"Bring the headband and the dagger to Skull Mountain in two days or your friends will die!" the yelling now making sense came from somewhere above as a bright light shone down blinding anyone looking up as a bundle dropped from the skies and after another couple of minutes yelling the thunder flew off as the light switched off leaving the blacksmith to stare at the ominous looking bundle.

It held a number of clothing and personal possessions of a number of villagers' and worker's at the Tavern including the Sheriff, a couple of the village leaders, the blacksmith's new girlfriend and (Do not highlight nor read if easilly offended or offendable at all actually) the decapitated head of a child

That morning the Lightbringer Courier they met within Kassen's Crypt runs into the Tavern grounds.

She explains she met some refugees from the attack and followed the attacker's to their hideout and returned to get help as its too much for her to attempt a rescue alone.

They agree and look for supplies and reminded of the tinker's wagon head to strip it only to discover its already gone part of what was taken during the raid (well I wasn't going to let it be that easy!).

However they find the supplies they need and are about to prepare to leave when Sergei asks if they want some extra backup.
Questioned he explains he and Aleksandr are members of a platoon and he could send them a message to come help.

Asked how many that is Sergei explains he and Aleksandr compose a unit with 4 units to a squad, 4 squads to a platoon then he adds there's 4 platoons to a battalion and 4 battalions to a regiment but when he last had contact there was only 3 regiments that he knew of.

This involves Aleksandr and Sergei bringing out a mortar from the war chariot and after filling it with black powder and then they assemble what looks like a hollow rocket that they place over the mortar and flicking a switch it opens up making it look like an even bigger tube.
Aleksandr now carries out a small rocket and using a ladder leaves the rocket atop the tube before coming back down as Sergei finishes tying off a fuse to the base of the contraption.
He then fetches another reel of fuse and attaches that to the first and reels it out so he's now outside the Tavern walls.
As they watch Aleksandr fetches a pair of metal helmets and passes one to Sergei and then runs full pelt outside the Tavern walls where the PCs point out everyone has already headed after watching Sergei reel out the combined fuse line!
Sergei pulls a switch and then runs full pelt himself before dropping to the ground as the small rocket drops inside the tube ending up with a soft plop as it hits the bottom.
Picking himself up Sergei heads to where Aleksandr holds a lit match which he takes and sets light to the fuse and then the pair run away passing the now very scared crowd before diving into a ditch.

Fifteen minutes later...

Nothing has happened and the two Meercats argue with each other before Aleksandr gets up and climbs out of the ditch to check on the fuse... its now the rocket is launched covering the entire exposed Tavern area with soot and smoke which when it clears shows a soot laden Aleksandr removing his goggles to glare at Sergei...

The rocket ascends before detonating like a very expensive silver firework.

They then return to the Tavern and prepare to leave after learning it might take a while before getting a response.

As they're about to leave someone yells as 6 similar silver fireworks are seen detonating in the surrounding area followed by an orange one to the south.

Questioned about this, Aleksandr replies,"Oh thats just the troop transport".
Sergei's response was "Air transportation" he corrected.

It turned 9pm at that point so we finished for the evening!

TO BE CONTINUED