The Battle of the Crimson Field

Human Army: 100 Tellgart spearmen, led by Zaros and Marcus. 100 volunteer spearmen from nearby towns, led by Sir Reynard. 50 Tellgart archers, led by Morty the alchemist. 100 Bauchfort heavy infantry, lead by a captain from Bauchfort. 50 Bauchfort crossbowmen. 30 paladins. 30 mounted mercenaries "the Storm Riders". The army is under the command of Sir Lautrec.

Demon Army: 50 boar-men, led by Bath'gu Zar. 50 blood men. 400 goblin spearmen, led by blood men. 100 goblin archers. 30 hellboars hidden in a nearby farmhouse. 

Demonic Descriptions: The boar-men resembled Bath'gu Zar, but were smaller in size and much weaker. The goblins wore red war paint. The blood men looked like armored humanoids made completely out of a mixture of solid and fluid blood. The hellboars were bloated red boars that breathed fire out of their snouts. 

Speeches: It should be noted that some speeches were given prior to the battle. General Lautrec gave an epic Shakespearean-style speech that left his men stunned. Marcus's speech was short- "There won't be a battle today. It'll be a massacre." Zaros promised to give a speech honoring the dead after the battle. 

Layout: 

Humans- Tellgart spearmen on the north flank. Heavy infantry in the center. Volunteer infantry on the south flank. Paladins attached to each formation. Archers and crossbowmen in the back.

Demon- Boar-men on the north flank. Goblins in the center. Blood men on the south flank. Hellboars hiding in a farmhouse to the south.

Initial Moves: The human army advances. The mercenaries charge the southern flank. They crush most of the blood men, but are surprised by charging hellboars. The mercenaries are slaughtered and the remaining blood men mount the hellboars. The north flanks clash, with the humans gaining the advantage. In the center, human heavy infantry decimate goblin infantry. Tellgart bowmen take heavy fire from goblin archers, but stay together. 

Collapse of the South Flank: The hellboars crash into the human south flank, breaking the volunteer spearmen. Sir Reynard, realizing that he has no chance of survival, hopes to buy time for his army by challenging the strongest blood man to a duel. The foe he faces rides a massive hellboar and wields a wicked serrated sword. The two warriors slug back and forth, neither side gaining a definitive advantage. Finally the blood man falls off of his mount, which promptly flees. Reynard tries to land a killing blow, but his attacks are parried by the prone champion. In the most tragic moment of the battle, the enemy champion severs Sir Reynard's legs in one fell blow. He rises from the ground and lops off Reynard's head, which he presents to his nearby men. 

Holding the North Flank: Bath'gu Zar's boar-men are slain by Tellgart spearmen. He remains steadfast, slaying spearmen by the dozen. Zaros and Marcus decide to move in only after he is sufficiently weakened. Morty's remaining archers provide supporting fire.

Decimation of the Middle: The human heavy infantry mop up most of the goblins in the center, and move down to the south flank to screen the Tellgart spearmen from rear attack. Although the heavy infantry and supporting crossbowmen inflict heavy losses, it is evident that they will soon fall to the remaining goblins, blood men, and hellboars. 

Fighting Bath'gu Zar: The party engages the demon. Lautrec attempts a lance attack from behind, but fails to penetrate the demon's hide. Zaros weakens the monster with magic, and he, Lautrec, and Marcus engage in melee. Lautrec is severely wounded by the demon and retreats to Morty for some healing potions. Zaros takes a massive hit to the chest by the demon's axe, but remains conscious on one knee. The demon turns his attention onto Marcus, but divine protection saves the young paladin. Marcus delivers a mighty blow with his greataxe into the neck of the demon. Bath'gu Zar falls and stops breathing. His demonic minions are dispelled, and his goblin army collapses into flight. As the army prepares to move out, Bath'gu Zar rises up, his neck injury knitting back together. He wallows back to his mountain hide-out. 

Returning to Tellgart: The army returns. They did not succeed in slaying the demon, but both the demonic and goblin threats to Tellgart have been significantly reduced. Marcus is heralded as the hero of the battle for delivering the blow that saved the heavy infantry (and most likely the spearmen) from certain annihilation. The rest of the party is honored as well, as is Sir Reynard "the Brave". 

Statistics: 

Humans: 20 Tellgart spearmen dead, 20 wounded. 20 Tellgart archers dead, 20 wounded. 50 heavy infantry dead, 40 wounded. 50 volunteer spearmen dead, 50 wounded. 10 paladins dead. 20 mercenaries dead, 10 wounded. Sir Reynard killed in action. Sir Lautrec and Zaros wounded in action. Marcus "Boarbane" and Sir Reynard "the Brave" cited for extreme heroism. 

Demons: 50 boar-men slain/dispelled. 50 blood-men slain/dispelled. 30 hellboars slain/dispelled. 320 goblins slain, 180 wounded. Bath'gu Zar wounded. 

A Brief Summery of Events Prior to the Battle of the Crimson Field

A Bardic Quest- Clay sought out a wizard to teach him magic. By chance, there was just such a wizard in Tellgart. After revealing himself to be extremely weird (possibly insane) the wizard directed Clay to a cave north of Layfell. There he would find a magical fiddle that could unlock his true potential. The party headed out to Layfell, where they spent the night. 

The Battle of Layfell- Their sleep was short, as the town was attacked by a warherd of beastmen (satyrs and minotaurs). The party rushed to the outskirts of the town, where an impromptu army of militia and townsfolk had formed up. Marcus took command of the townsfolk, Clay the militia, Lautrec the knights, and Edmund the archers. The beastmen army, over 250 strong, attacked. The townsfolk attempted to guard the left flank of the militia, but were slaughtered by beastmen infantry. Lautrec's knights cut down the minotaur shock troops, and then proceeded to cut into the beastmen middle. The battle was won, but at the cost of 100 human lives. 

The Blind Man- The party met the wizard again, who told them that they could be guided to the cave by a blind man who lived in the woods. They were warned that this man was crazy, and that he "must not see" under any circumstances. They went into the woods, where they found an old man wearing a black blindfold. He introduced himself as Serf. He took them to the cave, speaking in riddles the entire time. The party decided to leave this man alone. 

Belly of the Beast- The party discovered that the cave's only entrance was through the jaws of a long-dead dragon. The party descended down the neck and into the stomach, where they fought a gargoyle and some skeletons, and found a magical sun spear. Breaking out of the stomach, they found a campsite. There they were greeted by Professor Hucklefin, leading researcher at the State College of Saardam. He was greatly distressed that the party had damaged the insides of his dragon specimen.

A Cave of Sounds- The party journeyed further into the cave, where they encountered several sound-related creatures and puzzles. Two bucking brute monsters fought in a loud battle. A room full of cave paintings was discovered- paintings that made noise when they were touched. Some giant sonic lizards were encountered and avoided. A disintegration circle left Byrin the Squire naked (that wasn't sound related, just funny). A banging a drum would allow the party to collect a valuable necklace, but would also unleash a deadly monster. They banged the drum, killed the monster, and collected the necklace. Clay played into a magical fire, receiving a box of treasure for perfect musical skill. A sonic bat causes serious damage to the party, who promptly flee its presence. The World Obelisks- The party enters a room with a mysterious pit. The pit is covered by energized bars, and seems to keep horrible monsters from climbing up. They find an obelisk like the one in Klingsberg. An old satyr emerges, explaining that the obelisks protect the world from demonic invaders. This cave was dug out under the remains of Symphiel the dragon queen. Her husband was Zengius, an ancient dragon king that disappeared after her death. The great bard Lyrius expended his life force creating the obelisk. The party sees a skeleton laying next to the obelisk, holding a golden fiddle. Lautrec picks up the fiddle, but it crumples into dust, leaving behind only a small key. Lautrec and Clay have a fight over the key, interrupted by Byrin turning demonic and nearly killing everyone. They leave, and Byrin is later purified by Zaros. 

The Fight Over the Stupid Key- Clay and Lautrec continued to argue over the key. Clay secretly hired strongmen to "get rid" of Byrin. The party heads to Tellgart so that Lautrec can attend his knights' meeting. Soon after the meeting, Lautrec is attacked by these men, who fall to his and Byrin's immense strength. Clay is revealed to be the one who hired the men, and guards arrive to arrest him. He goes with great struggle, nearly killing Lautrec in the process, but is finally subdued by Zaros. 

Jail Adventures- Clay is thrown into jail. By accident, they place the man who ratted on him in the same cell. Clay, resigned with his fate, leaves the man alone. He gets a will written up, but the guard informs him that his weapons are now "evidence" and can be held indefinitely- specifically his sun spear and shrieking swordsword. The next day a fat pedophile is placed in the same cell as Clay. He confuses Clay for a little boy, and is promptly punched in the dick. A day later the wizard appears in jail. He pulls out a wand that he claims is the most powerful of its kind in the world. After a long and detailed history of the wand, he declares that the final use of this wand will free him from the confines of this jail. Clay asks why he doesn't just teleport out, but his question is ignored. The wizard sticks the wand into his mouth and blows his own head off. The night of Wolfgang's birthday party the jail is set on fire and Clay dies trying to rescue the other inmates.

The Count's Birthday- Sir Derruk is throwing a celebration for Count Wolfgang's birthday in his neighborhood. The party (minus Clay) attends. They are waited on by beautiful servant girls who provide plenty of free food and drink. Lautrec attends a private knights' dinner in Sir Derruk's house. Derruk leaves his knight friends with some lusty servant girls. Around this time the guard tower (containing the jail) bursts into flames. The servant girls at the party turn demonic, killing townsfolk left and right. Huge demonic boars burst up from under the tables, adding to the chaos. Lautrec and the other knights fight a desperate battle at their dinner, as none of them are wearing armor. They finally succeed, and Lautrec and Reynard lead the bravest knights downstairs. At the main party, Zaros and Marcus are able to beat down most of the demonic creatures, when Derruk sheds his skin and reveals the hellboar demon from Session 1. The knights lead a desperate charge against the demon, and one knight is cut in half. The demon is run off by a combination of the knights' efforts and Zaros's magic. 

Researching the Demon- Marcus learns from a paladin lorekeeper that the demon's name his Bath'gu Zar the Hellboar. He has appeared in Rhurland four times in the past, and was always banished at a great cost of human life. Meanwhile, Edmond and Albert return to town. Albert is haunted by talking animals, that warn him of a great danger. Finally a rat instructs him to go to the great library of Saardam, where he will learn how to defeat the demon. An army has assembled in Tellgart to face the demon, but the party convinces the count to wait a few days to allow them to gather information. The count introduces them to Morty, an alchemist he hired to study the demons' bodies. They go to the library and convince the owners to let them into the long-locked forbidden archive. This archive contains books that cause the reader to physically experience the subject. Zaros gets the plague. Lautrec experiences an elven brothel and gets elf herpes. Finally, they find a book that recounts an old battle against a crocodilian demon. That party put six magical coins onto a special shield, which shot demon-weakening energy and cleansed a world obelisk. The party decided that a quest to find magical coins would take far too long, and proceeded to lead the army into battle. 

A Brief Summery of Events Prior to the Battle of Layfell

Celebrating the Knights' Return- The party attended a celebration in Tellgart. A fat dwarf stripper was involved. An Asian woman was spotted. The party learned that bandits were preying on the eastern road between Tellgart and Klingsberg.

Securing the Eastern Road- The party fought through an ambush of human and goblin bandits on the eastern road. Their new friend Tycho the Shadow Ranger tracked the bandit's trail back to their lair in the mountains. After clearing about half of the lair, the party found the bandit leader holding a paladin hostage. After a three-way negotiation between him, the party, and the goblin king (who had taken another paladin as his bride) the party slew the goblins and walked out with the prisoners. Then they promptly walked back in and slaughtered the human bandits. 

Journey to Bauchfort- The party headed south to find instructors for the new Tellgart militia, passing through the Great Forrest en route. On the way they met an armature artist. While camping with the artist, the party was assaulted by a band of gnoll raiders. They slew all but two- the great grey gnoll lord and his only surviving minion. They tracked the two gnolls to a clearing in the woods, where they killed the gnoll lord in a difficult battle. They continued on to Bauchfort, where Lautrec (after some negotiating) was able to find decent instructors for the town. 

Journey to Wellwald- After escorting the instructors back to Tellgart, the party took the eastern road to Wellwald. There they discovered that a local farmgirl was murdered. One farmer claims that it was a mysterious creature known as the "owlbear". The Kato the dog tracked the trail of the supposed beast to a pond-side tent in the woods, where a mean hobbit shooed them away. They spent the night reconnoitering the hobbit. It was then that they met the owlbear (who was trying to steal food out of Lautrec's pack). He proved to be a nice creature, and informed the party that the hobbit was the real killer. The party entered a tussle with the hobbit, culminating with Clay severing one of the murderer's legs. 

The Owlbear- The owlbear (his real name being Jonathan) took the party to his cabin in the woods, where they all had lunch. The owlbear explained his story. He used to be a human adventurer, but was killed by a gnoll lord in the Great Forest. His girlfriend, a young druid, tried to reincarnate him. Unfortunately, the spell was too powerful for her to control and she was killed. The spell worked, in a fashion. Jonathan isn't sure if owlbears are real creatures or if the spell fused several animals together to create him. While they are eating, the cabin is approached by two Shadow Rangers. Tycho had gone off to get help to fight the owlbear, and returned with the captain of the Wellwald Bluecloaks. The captain declared that the owlbear was sentenced to death for being a magical creature. He would return at sundown with his band of Shadow Rangers to carry out the execution. 

Dilemma of Zaros- Zaros felt conflicted with the current situation. The owlbear was a nice fellow, but he was a resurrected being; an abomination in the eyes of his religion. Zaros went to the local temple to meditate. There he met a wise old priest. Using cups of water, he and Zaros concluded that his resurrection did not disrupt the balance of the world- the druid's death set everything right. Zaros realized that he had been missing the cornerstone of his faith; he needed to fight for the sacrament of death because death brings balance into the natural world by feeding life. He was so touched by this realization that he later purchased a grey cloak to replace his black one. 

Flight of the Owlbear- The party (minus Zaros) fled with Jonathan. Their goal was to get him to the druids of Hanlin, where he would be well treated. They ran for two straight days, finally stopping in Tellgart. Meanwhile, Zaros crossed paths with the Shadow Rangers, who were in hot pursuit. The rangers stole Kato to use for tracking, and Zaros tagged along. They reached Tellgart soon after the party, but wanted to rest a few hours before fighting the monster. They released Zaros, who immediately found his friends and warned them. They went to the church were Marcus, the owlbear, and the shadow rangers were staying. In the ensuing battle, four shadow rangers fell to Zaros's sound burst spells. The fight was broken up by Sir Derruk and Sir Reyndard, who sent the two groups out of town at separate times. The party got the owlbear to the druids, then promptly slept for two days.