Rescuing the Dryad Lord

My Lord Commander of the Imperial Army,

I am pleased to announce that our mission has been a success. We have rescued the Dryad Lord and have "him" in our protection now.

The First Rescue

I personally led the First Company into the western woods. We could see satyrs skulking about. We tried to reason with them and asked them to bring us to their leader. They responded by attacking us.

We fought off their attack and pushed deeper into the forest. At one point the trail split. There seemed to be more satyrs to the right, so we went in that direction. When we did, we got swarmed from front and rear. Fortunately, our troops fought like heroes, staving off the attacks and steadily pushing forward. We had the benefit of some healing potions as well.

Then I heard a commotion in our rear. There was the Satyr Lord! 

The Satyr Lord

We turned and fought our way back. Once we approached, the Satyr Lord called off his warriors.

We then negotiated with him. We had to answer a riddle before he would relent. Fortunately, Centarch Howl answered it. The Satyr Lord agreed to let us pass. He warned us that some satyrs would still fight us despite his orders.

We then pushed on into the woods. More satyrs joined the fray. In the distance, I could see the Dryad Lord. Suddenly, the fight seemed to veer to one side, and my path to our objective lay open. I rushed over, freed the Dryad Lord, and led him to safety. All the while, First Company protected my back.

The Interrogation

This part is pure fiction intended to tie the two rescues together

After arriving at camp, I interrogated the Dryad Lord about the machinations of the Dark Alliance. He knew some information but seemed ignorant of other facets.

“Are you holding back on us?” I asked him. “Imperial High Command said you knew that.”

“Oh,” the Dryad Lord replied, “my twin would know that.”

“Twin?” I asked.

“Yes, my twin. Most people don’t know I have a twin. They think we are the same person.”

Great. I wasn’t ready for this twist.

The Second Rescue

I sent out scouts, who reported sightings of the Dryad Lord, presumably the twin, in the eastern woods.

I sent Second Company, under the command of Centarch Ulveblod to look for him.

Ulveblod split his company into two parts, encircling the satyrs. Battle erupted on the company’s left flank. Our troops held off the attacks, and steadily advanced deeper into the woods.

They spotted a Satyr Lord. Not the same as before, a different one. We believe that there are two (possibly more?) – one of the West Woods and one of the East Woods. Celer rushed forward and brought this Satyr Lord to heel. At this point, the Satyr Lord offered to negotiate.

Thus Satyr Lord was a silly one, laughing and calling the legionaries funny. This seemed to irritate Ulveblod, who asked rather provocatively if the Satyr Lord thought the Legion was a joke. The Satyr Lord did not take kindly to this. He demanded a gift. Then Ulveblod offered him a ship. This amused the Satyr Lord to no end, and he readily agreed!

So now the Empire is committed to sending a ship into the deep woods. I have no idea how we’ll accomplish this, but I will confer with the Engineers.

Anyway, the Satyr Lord proposed a game – could the Legion rescue the Dryad Lord? Ulveblod and his company fought their way through more satyrs. Celer reached the Dryad Lord and proceeded to lead him out of the woods. Game over. Victory!

As noted, we now have secured the Dryad Lord(s). We await further orders.

GAME NOTES

This is an account of our lore battle from October 11.

As usual, this is my version, based on my best recollection of events. If you have corrections, or additions, please add a comment to this post. You can also post in our Discord and I will transcribe here.

RJ, our battle master for this season, played the Satyr Lord and Dryad Lord in the first run-through. Then we switched teams and did it again, this time with me in the main NPC roles.

• Note: I created the Satyr Lord image in Chat GPT using the picture of RJ from this post.

Satyrs had 1 hp, although I bumped that up to 2 hp the second time. I also gave Bentley a charm spell. The Satyr Lord counted as a mystic and had 6 hp. Fortunately, the Legion never had to fight the Satyr Lord.

We had a good crowd – 11 people! In addition to our regulars (me, Ulveblod, Howl, Jayden, Celer, Lionheart, Chris, Bentley, Wren), two new players from Amtgard joined us – Diego and Neeth.

The Satyr Lord's Storm

I, Comes Elias of the Chimera Legion, have received two communications.

Report from Our Scout Jayden

Jayden reports that the dark elves have given up hopes of opening the World Portal. Instead, they have turned their sights on our world and wish to conquer it.

Because their numbers are few, the dark elves have called upon every dark and wretched creature in our lands - goblins, trolls, gargoyles, minotaurs, basilisks, and all manner of tormented beings.

Jayden also reports that the King of Chevalia has been affected by the loss of his son and is now in an unpredictable state of mind. He could use his power to put the Legion in danger.

Orders from the Emperor

The Emperor has ordered us to rescue the Dryad Lord, held in the satyr controlled forest of Rhuunheim.

In addition, we need to negotiate with Satyr Lord to prevent him allying with the Dark Alliance.

Notes about the satyrs:

• They're cunning and hedonistic
• They're carefree and indulgent, which tends to get them into troublesome situations
• They favor humorous fair play, clever comments, and tend not to take anything as serious as it should be taken
• They don't take kindly to direct insults
• Do not underestimate them in combat
• They are prone to random emotional outbursts so do not overreact to their comments
• They enjoy offerings and gifts
• They dislike serious talk.

Report from the Front

This is my initial report to High Command.

My Lord Commander of the Imperial Army,

We have received the order to negotiate with the Satyr Lord and to rescue the Dryad Lord. To complete our mission, we have marched into the heart of the satyrs' forest. Yet we have not yet made contact with either satyrs or dryads.

Our march was interrupted by a terrible storm. With the muddy conditions, we were not able to continue our march. We hunkered down and waited for the storm to pass.

I have spoken with our Legion chaplain. He says that satyrs have magical powers. Most can charm enemies, and powerful satyr lords can even control the weather. Thus, it seems likely that the storm was a satyr prank.

Conditions have improved and we are preparing to resume our search. I will continue to send regular reports.

By my hand and seal,

Comes Elias Artocopus

Commander of the Chimera Legion

Servant of the Eternal Aurelian Empire

OOC Notes

Thanks to RJ (Jayden) for the background information, the report and the Imperial orders. I summarized the documents he created.

On the day of our event, we started with some sparring (Valhalla if I recall). Then, as we prepared for the lore scenario, a storm struck. It kept raining and raining, so I served lunch (hamburger stew). Thanks to Jesper for bringing some delicious, homemade bread and sausage.

By the time the storm subsided after nearly and hour, the park was swamped. We did not want to traipse through mud and standing water, so we called the event. We starting joking that the storm was a satyr prank, so that became the lore!