The story so far

2023-08-23

I’m currently preparing the curriculum for this fall’s D&D classes that I’ll be teaching/DMing. It will be a continuation of the previous semesters’ campaign, although many of the players will change as well as there being new characters. Apparently it is quite popular, with a growing waitlist for the younger kids class.

But as part of the prep I had to write up the story so far. I want to recap everything so the new kids know some background and the experienced ones will get a refresher.

Beginning in the small village of Þýdal (the actual name of the town is Ås, in Norway, but I can’t call it that with kids), and using the real world map, I’m teaching the players geography, history, sociology, as well as math and science. I’m basing the campaign at roughly 800 AD, and while I have to play a bit loose with the historical accuracy in order to allow magic, I am trying to keep the weapons and armor as close to accurate as possible.

But this post is mostly for fun, so here’s the story at this point.

Campaign Overview

The tiny village of Þýdal (Thydal, or “dale on the river Thi”) was shaken when the halfling Amilia Frodedottir barely managed to drag herself back to town. While recovering from the edge of death, she informed the inhabitants that a large army of goblins, orcs, and giants was forming and aimed squarely at them. Thankfully the monstrous humanoids were still busy occupying their latest conquest and needed time to rebuild their war machines.

Calling for a Thing, Jarl Hoffer gathered the villagers to decide what they should do. A few thought they should flee, but most wanted to stay and fight for the place they had come to love. Once that was decided, talk turned to what they should do to prepare. Gobber Haraldson suggested that they might build a palisade of timber poles, and he was put in charge of that. One of the young adults suggested that they recruit warriors from nearby villagers. After a short discussion a small group was selected to pursue that. Someone mentioned a recent meteor that had crashed a few days travel to the north, and another small group set out to investigate that to see if perhaps some metal from the meteor could be retrieved. Legends tell that metal from fallen stars often make incredible weapons.

When that last group returned from their hazardous journey with a large amount of star metal, the smiths of the village quickly got to work. When one of the newly crafted weapons showed some magical properties, Alwin Silverthorn, the elven lorekeeper, recalled stories of a wizard that folks in the town knew about when he first moved here a couple hundred years ago. A group of hearty young folk decided to track down the wizard’s tower to see if perhaps there was anything that could be of use in the fight against the goblin army. What they found was stunning: the wizard was still alive but had been trapped. By rescuing him, the adventurers had secured a valuable ally for the village.

It was a little over a week later that one of the village’s scouts reported seeing the army on its way. They had been building a crude road through the swamp so they could bring along their war machines. The villagers scrambled for the next two days to finish as much of the defenses as they could.

The bright moon shone down on a cloudless and chilly night when the attack finally came. The sound of the war machines rumbling in the distance gave plenty of warning to the villagers, who rose from their fitful slumber when the sentries started shouting. Everyone knew the plan and they took their places. The women and children herded what animals they could muster and drove them down to the docks where the longboats were readied in case a retreat was necessary.

As the first few giants crashed through the trees and appeared in the open, the villagers started hurling stones and arrows as fast as they could. Those who knew magic used everything they had. But the number of giants was quite a lot more than they had thought, and when the orcs and goblins started pouring out of the treeline, they saw that their numbers were also vaster than predicted. Their war machines looked rough-hewn and primitive but they proved to be effective, hurling flaming balls that started to burn the palisade or ramming against it with great force.

When the wizard caused a huge ball of fire to explode, catching two of the giants and a gaggle of goblins in its radius, Hoffer and Gobber both jumped down and started attacking wildly with their sword and axe. Amilia and a bunch of warriors followed quickly. Amilia swung her Dane axe with gusto, felling many goblins, gleeful revenge evident on her face.

Kris gracefully lept into the fray, slashing orcs with his seax and dagger while lightning burst from his mouth.

Melody Marigold flittered about the field, singing praise to bolster her compatriots while skewering several goblins with her rapid rapier strikes.

Screech Hawthorne flew overhead, dropping glowing stones until the goblin arrows forced him down, He turned into a giant spider, shooting webs out that slowed down some of the enemy so the archers on the village walls could get better shots. He then transformed into a giant wolf and tore into the screaming goblin horde.

Sanura Sefu, wielding a magnificent spear, shot lightning, flames, and ice out of it, killing several orcs. She then also turned into a giant wolf and ripped into the crowd of enemies.

Isar Geirson stayed on top of the palisade, helping keep the horde from swarming over the top. Bolts of flame came from his fingertips at any orc or goblin foolish enough to try to climb the wall.

Sally Swift trotted all over the battlefield, rescuing anyone who fell by blasting back any enemy that was too near and then carrying their comrade to safety.

When Thordak Faerdahl struck at a giant, the villagers were amazed. He dealt the giant a strong blow with his trusty meteor metal warhammer. The giant returned the blow, staggering the dragonman, but as the giant’s fist struck it was enveloped in a blast of lightning. Thordak responded with a wave of thunder and the giant fell! The crowd cheered but the numbers were still too much.

All of a sudden, more forces sprang out of the woods from the North. The villagers roared when they realized this was the promised support from the Goliath tribe. With Tor, Crag’s father, leading the charge, they nearly broke the northern wing of the invading army.

But as the battle wore on it became apparent that the defenders were running out of ammo, magic, and hope as the wooden palisade started failing. Hoffer called for a strategic retreat and the defenders fell back to the docks. The Goliath tribe melted into the woods, returning to their hidden homes in the mountains. The wizard wiggled his body and disappeared, presumably transporting himself back to his tower. The rest of the villagers ran onto the boats and shoved off, heading downriver as fast as they could row, with Jarl Hoffer shouting that he would one day return and reclaim his home.

When they got to Aunet they stopped for a short break. Hoffer told the folks there about the battle, pointing out that while they had killed at least three giants, dozens of orcs and perhaps as many as a hundred goblins, the remaining army was more than that.

By the time the boats got to Gressli it was almost sunrise. They stopped there for a bit longer, with Hoffer again relaying the news while everyone had something to eat. Then the boats launched back into the waters and took a slower pace, getting to Mebonden by that afternoon. The exhausted former Þýdal residents had dinner and slept on the shore by their boats. In the morning they set out for the final part of their flight from terror, and rowed out of the river and across the fjord to Niðaróss.

When they arrived in Niðaróss they were greeted by Anidori and the rest of the young folks that had helped raise extra defenders. They had helped the town prepare in case the battle at Þýdal went poorly, and many of the local longhouses had bits of red cloth tied up near their doors to indicate they would welcome strangers needing a temporary place of shelter.

Afterthoughts

The named characters are mostly the players’ characters. I figure they’ll get a kick out of hearing about their participation in the big battle (which there’s no way we could actually play out in the limited time we have in sessions).

We’ll be starting out this new semester in Niðaróss, which is the name used during the Viking age for modern Trondheim. At this point they’ll be able to delve deep into Norway or perhaps set out to sea. There are two classes, one for teens and one for preteens, so they could go in different directions.

While most of the kids do enjoy battle, I am hoping to lean more into the role-playing aspects this year. Wish me halfling’s luck!