Mahalala Campaign Summary 010225

Kill these =====>						Do not kill these <=====
	Five Scythe	Ampango		Four Knives	Lonara

1st: Politics as Usual, (Played February 25, 2001)
The Lambo Action Squad is sent on a mission to interrupt political activities of nearby clans. Two families are meeting in a small stone house near a bridge over the River Areli. Mission will be to kill only members of the Five Scythe Tribe and not members of the Four Knives Clan.
Adventure Background, Adventure Outline
Players: Scott Chelette, Liz Henry, John Kim, Ken McKinney, Joe White, Kara White
Summaries: 010225.Kim, 010225.Henry

Adventure Background

What the males know:
Members of the Ampango family of the Five Scythe Clan are meeting with the members of the Lonara family of the Four Knives Clan. Mission is to kill Randzavola Antsimbary Ampango the Hostess and any members of her Five Scythe Tribe that are convenient. Definitely do NOT kill any females of the Four Knives clan and try to avoid deaths of Four Knives males. Each delegation should have 5-10 people total. They are relying on keeping a low profile for safety. The squad is to disguise as Ronin for this mission and sneak to and from the meeting site. A messy and loud battle may cause the return trip to be very interesting.

What the females know:
The reason that Randzavola is to be killed is because she is trying to have many members of the Five Scythe Tribe join the Four Knives Clan. She has been quite clever in the past and is definitely dangerous. Her death will hopefully prevent the transition from occuring, preventing the Four Knives Clan from getting stronger. Mukala Antsibe Lonaka the Delicate should be handling the negotiations for the Four Knives Clan and should definitely NOT be killed for any reason. Mukala the Delicate has not only been a terrible and demoralizing leader, she has inadvertantly made the Imperial Envoy to the Four Knives Clan incensed more than once. The Lambo squad has this mission because it is not seen as that dangerous.

Adventure Outline

1. Planning. The characters will need to decide how to get to the meeting site, near the border of the Five Scythe and in the Four Knives lands. Ideas like not wearing the clan mon and no major armor should be reasonably successful. Most likely someone in the party will raise the suspicions of the Four Knives border guards. Any one person in the party can try a deception attempt to pass the questioning and get the group through. [Characters avoided the border posts completely]

2. How Early. The party needs to decide how early they plan to arrive before the meeting. More than a day gives the party a chance to see a group of Kanosa Gang ronin cross the bridge in the morning before the meeting. There will be other peasant traffic and a few Four Knives patrols, but nothing else of note.

3. Where to Hide. The area near the meeting spot has several hiding spots. Some are more secure than others, with the easier ones to hide in have limited view of the area. A good idea would be to have one person hide at a time watching the bridge. The person watching should be able to see the bridge, bridge approaches, and millhouse (meeting place).

4. The Battle. The party should be able to move from their camp spot to nearby the millhouse with little difficulty. They should be able to attack the guards with a little suprise. Their attack will bring the hidden Kanosa Gang members. If the party waits for the negotiations to break up, the Kanosa Gang will be moving to attack at the same time.

5. Kanosa Gang. The security of this mission by Mukala Antsibe Lonaka the Delicate has been quite poor. A pile of ronin show up with the crest of the Kanosa Gang. Who knows if they are really Kanosa Gang members, but everything goes wild in short order. Four Knives clan members seem to be attacked by none and slipping away.

6. Headmaster Rivo. When the Four Knives members seem to be able to slip away, a single warrior with Fikomiana mon and Holy Trinity halo attacks them. He should be able to cut them all down, if not interferred with. A successful Monomon will recognize him as Headmaster Rivo Antsibe Fikomiana the Vast, head of the Four Knife clan school and married to the Assistant (Council Leader) of the Clan. Recognizing him will also reveal his sword skill is in the 25-30 range. Headmaster Rivo will depart after killing all Four Knives Clan members.

7. Four Knives Reinforcements. Not to far from the meeting spot is the escort of about 40 Four Knives warriors. Almost surely all the noise will bring them into the area. Hopefully the Lambo action squad is gone by the time they arrive. Four Knives warriors will try to track and kill any of the interlopers.

8. The Getaway. If the party does not diddle around and if they cross the Five Scythe boarder to the Four Knives area quickly, they should be able to get away with ease. Otherwise, deception rolls or battles may be required. The Five Scythe lands will be a bee hive of activity for several days after the ambush.

Kanosa Gang, Set of Maolo the Furtive (Ronin): [Kanosa = nervous] Bandit gang of disreputable ronin.

9. Changes. The characters were careful and hid effectively. Headmaster Rivo tried to connect the party and the Kanosa Gang, but failed. The party attacked after the Kanosa Gang showed up and told the delegates that the meeting must split up or the Gang will kill them. The Gang fled to hide and in the gap before the delegate groups departed, the party attacked. Mukala the Delicate and her bodyguard escaped across the river. The party exfiltrated successfully, killing Randzavola Antsimbary Ampango the Hostess.

10. Postscript. Rumors revealed that the Kanosa Gang members on the trail of the party ran into the patrol the party avoided and were killed. After the confusion about the fate of Mukala Antsibe Lonaka the Delicate and her guard, Headmaster Rivo claimed he killed Mukala for spying against the clan (true, the Black Line Watcher tells the party that Mukala did favor the Black Line Clan). The Watcher is happy the party succeeded and survived an encounter with Headmaster Rivo.

010225.Kim

From the Journals of Rado e-Famaky the Redleg:

Participated in my first secret mission for the clan last week. I was part of a 6-goblin team lead by Aina Mahalala Mikitoantoana the Fair. We were sent to assassinate a leader of the Five Scythes clan as she went to a secret meeting with the Four Knives clan. The problem was that we were outnumbered and had no idea of what was happening except for the place and time. We got to the area five days before the meeting, but found there was nothing to scout out. It was a textile mill by a bridge surrounded by rocky cliffs. I went by myself to talk to some locals and even the guards at the mill itself, but they appeared to know nothing.

What was most puzzling was that we saw signs of others hiding out inthe wilderness. We spotted a group of nine Kanosa gang members, but after two days of searching we were unable to find them. Moreover, they (or someone) left a map in the dirt not ten feet from our camp.

We were still puzzling over this when the delegates arrived. First the party of our target (the Five Scythes) arrived, six of them accompanied by a squad of 15 local goblin soldiers (of the Four Knives clan). The soldiers appeared to be alerted to trouble -- they were keeping half-and-half watches through the night, although they did not set up a long-term camp.

This left us in a quandry. It was a lot of soldiers to take on at once, and I had no love of killing fellow soldiers in any case. However, it appeared to me that it was inevitable. I had presumed that the Four Knives would have their own guards, and we wanted to kill our target before the meeting if possible. However, our leader opted to hold off -- as it turns out wisely. The next morning the group of six Four Knives delegates arrived, and then for some reason the guards left.

The talks were going on during the day, so we positioned ourselves to strike as soon as possible. Before we moved in, though, the nine Kanosa gang members openly walked down to mill. They apparently spoke with the people inside, and then left. As soon as they were out of sight, we moved in. We attacked them just as they were leaving. We first took out most of the Four Knives soldiers, although we had to avoid killing their leader. This was unfortunate, since she paralyzed me and another of our party. As I am told, we then paralyzed her and moved against the Five Scythes. Their leader told her troops to throw down their weapons, at which point we darted past them to kill her. After that we left carrying our two paralyzed (including myself).

We heard later that there were in fact three (!!) sets of assassins in that wood. The Kanosa gang moved in after us and wiped out the surviving Five Scythes. The surviving Four Knives soldiers carried their leader across the river safely, but were apparently killed later by another assassin who was in the area.

My conclusion from this is that politics is very strange, and I hope for military missions which are more straightforward.

- Rado the Redleg

010225.Henry

Dear Diary,

Camping last week. On secret mission. Cold, wet, on watch half the time, wandering around godforsaken rocky hills with cousin Aina and motley troop. Men were uppity. They can't cook worth a damn.

The water mill was solidly built, too hard to burn down. The Sneak kept complaining that he was tired and didn't want to go on watch. The Thug did his share of watching on the windy bare hill above the mill. He's ok as long as he keeps his mouth shut, and he can hold his own with a sword. The Fop, as usual, did nothing but blow a lot of hot air about his cunning plan.

Rado talked with the locals a bit and investigated the water mill's layout, so at least we had that to go on.

Some other band of spies was there. Unclear who they are. They had Kanosa symbols, but that doesn't really mean much - they could have been anyone. I wanted to talk with them -- not much point in working at cross purposes. But we never found them. It reminds me of the old raids across the Black Magic borders, when we kept burning down villages, but were never sure where we were, or whether the village was friendly or not.

After all our discussion about plans, we just went in at the best opportunity and did the job. "Without opportunity, skill is nothing. Without correct timing, knowledge is of no use."

The Watcher wanted this woman dead - she was too good of a diplomat. It seems a pity to kill someone for being competent -- I can think of plenty of people who deserve death for their idiocy.

After I killed her, a funny feeling came over me, like I was under some compulsion to bring her body outside. I wonder if that is what it's like to have the spirits talk with you?

It turned out later that some other guy was involved in the killings. I heard him called the Headmaster, but don't know much about him. It is too bad, he seemed a worthy opponent. Perhaps we will meet someday.

The other diplomat didn't make it. I don't think that sets us back too much, but it's hard to tell. The Watcher and her women aren't talking about it -- typical. They don't understand the practical reality of any of these things they send us off to do. At least the house mothers are more realistic. Cousin Aina seems nicer than I remember her from when we were kids. Must get to know her better!

Note to self: pack matches next time.