After roughly five weeks spent in this strange new world, the PC’s somewhat idyllic existence was rudely interrupted by the arrival of four Lizard Person sky rafts. Roughly wedge-shaped, their appearance brought to mind the stories of sky raiders who traveled on vast spearheads in the sky. Each sky raft had six Lizard Person warriors and one Lizard Person pilot. The warriors carried long swords, axes that glowed blue, and strange energy weapons.
The Lizard Persons lost no time in disembarking and looking for “the Outlanders.” Commands were given to capture the Outlanders and to kill all who resisted. The seriousness of these orders was punctuated by the energy weapons being used to destroy the watch towers flanking the sunset gate.
Donvan Knight was the first PC to see the sky rafts. They floated over the fence where he found himself sleeping (he he got there was anyone’s guess.) As they landed, he stood and prepared to run to the shed where the PCs had been living. As he got ready to go, he took one step and simply shot into the air, to land next to the PC’s living quarters. Not even stopping to think about what had just happened, he hammered on the door, rousing Cyan and alerting an already awake Edward.
The noise of the warning gongs, the firing of the energy weapons, and the shouts of attacking sky raiders alerted the whole village. As most people slept in their clothing for added warmth, it took them little time to grab any available weapons (mostly boar spears and axes) and defend their longhouses from the invaders. Soon, a swirling melee developed in the center of the village, as a squad of Lizard Persons clashed with Billy Jo Earl Brown. Billy Jo almost singlehandedly killed the entire squad, shrugging off energy weapon fire, and getting back up from a blast that tossed him 6-9 meters or so.
Elsewhere, Edward Aldrich found himself in dire straits. Surrounded by Lizard Person warriors, he was felled by their energy weapons. However, in their haste to take prisoners, the Lizard People didn’t disarm him, allowing him to fight back. Eventually freeing himself, his actions impressed the squadron commander. Indicating a dropped Lizard Person longsword, the commander told Edward to pick it up. And motioned his own troops back so he could defeat this upstart in single combat.
Edward, willing to take any chance he was given, picked up the longsword. Suddenly he felt as Arthur must have when he drew the sword from the stone. He felt invigorated—he’d found his calling and his blade—and who the hell did this lizard guy think he was anyway?
The following clash took everyone by surprise, the Lizard Warrior commander most of all, as after several exchange of blows, Edward slipped his sword under the commander’s guard and sliced his stomach open.
Meanwhile, Cyan Chartreuse and Donovan tangled with another group of Lizard Warriors. It went poorly for them, as Donovan was shot and Cyan grabbed. However, using his newly-found ability to fly, Donovan managed to escape the Lizard People’s clutches and turn the tables, sending one Lizard warrior fleeing in fear from a sudden flight into the air sans sky raft.
Calvin Murdoch found himself trapped in the longhouse used by the villages teens and unmarried adults. As he wasn’t a fighter, he let the others take the lead in fending off the attackers, until two were felled. He then took their place at the door, and while he was unable to put down his opponent, they seemed utterly unable to hit him.
Marcus Dreamseed Andersonwas in the same longhouse as Calvin. However, he was at the far end and able to escape out of the door on that side. Leading a troop of Fyrkat youths (and joined by Vidar, his family, and Herger) he led an attack on the Lizard Warrior’s exposed flank. He also tried to single-handedly take a sky raft, but his valor exceeded his skills. Leaping away from the Lizard Person pilot, he fell into the arms of Dagfithr, Vidar’s wife, who refused to allow him to return to the fray. So, Marcus settled for leading Dagfithr around one of the longhouses to try and capture a different sky raft. This didn’t work out as the sky raft had already lifted off. Then, in no short order: a) Dagfithr picked up a fallen Lizard Person longsword, b) Billy Jo appeared on the sky raft, and c) Donovan flew to the sky raft.
The battle ended with three sky rafts taking to the air (sans troops) and leaving. The PCs captured the forth, albeit by simply doing their best to tangle it in the trees when it drifted into a nearby copse. They also captured a supply of Lizard Person weapons and equipment, and one living Lizard Person warrior (the rest either dead, wounded and dead soon after, or escaped.)
As the battle drew to a close, Cyan realized that one of the longhouses was burning (two storage buildings were afire as well.) To make matters worse, people were trapped inside, including two children she’d taken an exceptional liking to. Not wanting to see the death of Red reenacted here, she charged in to save them. Cyan found the children trapped by flaming debris and without a second thought, lifted the heavy timbers off of them (bare-handed no less) and then took the children to safety. In the excitement of the moment, her apparently immunity to the smoke and flames went unnoticed.
After the fighting, Marcus discovered that only he could make the weapons work. He eventually deduced (after recalling the film District 9) that the equipment must be activated by certain DNA strings... which didn’t explain how he could make it all work. In addition, while getting the sky raft to operate, he activated some sort of communication device. The head and neck of a snake appeared and demanded a report. Some banter later and the hologram vanished, but not before the Snakeman stated the PC’s victory would be short-lived.
Notes
The village of Fyrkat took 17 casualties from the fighting and an unknown number of others from the Lizard warrior’s rampage through one long house. The known daed and wounded is as follows:
Dalla the Hunting Person—wounded, but not seriously.
Finnogi the Hunting Person—wounded.
Gormr the Hunting Person—dead.
Harfreder' the Hunting Person’s brother and sister-in-law —both are dead. This leaves Gyda, their daughter, an orphan.
Kolli the Farming Person—he has a broken leg.
Styrmir the Farming Person—wounded.
Unnamed glassblower—a Farming Person, he was wounded in the leg.
Vakr the Hunting Person—dead.
Vidar the Farming Person—he lost most of his left arm trying to block an descending electro-axe.
Vilgerthr the Leaping Person—survived, but saw one of her friends killed before her eyes. This has left her an emotional wreck.
An additional four villagers were killed in the fighting, with five wounded. The two villagers in the watchtowers were killed by energy weapons fire. The burning longhouse and the Lizard Person rampage through another longhouse caused another dozen casualties (three killed, nine injured/wounded.)
All told the village lost 14 people and has 20 injured.
The PCs have one Lizard Person sky raft. They have 10-12 longswords,4 axes, and 6-8 CREW (coherent radiation electron weapon.) Dagfithr has claimed a long sword, as has Edward. What happens to the rest?
The slain Lizard Person troops also give you a small pile of equipment. Each trooper was outfitted with clothes and a harness for weapons and gear. The clothes are a ruin (covered with blood and the like), but you can use a lot of the gear. It includes simple tools, mess kits, water bottles, simple medkits, and assorted electronic devices. Everything the Lizard People have looks mechanically massed produced.
The captured Lizard Person is Chook. He’s roughly 6’ tall and looks very much like a human(oid) Bearded Dragon (do a Google image search to get an idea.) He tells you he and the rest of the troops were sent out to capture the Outlanders (the PCs) and he comes from the Citadel, which Donovan knows is the Center. As the Citadel is in the center of the ocean, (which is “the Center”) Marcus deduces the PCs are in a flat disc-shaped world. The Citadel is also where Chook’s masters are—the Snake Men, who aren’t the same Serpent People as Vidar described.
The rest of the day is spent cleaning up after the battle. The PCs are not forced out of the village (in fact, Billy Jo is hailed as a hero and Slayer of Sky Raiders) and can assist however they feel.
The villagers will send a delegation to Jarl Thorkell in Askam to report what happened and ask for help with repairs. There will also be a funeral for the slain. The sky raiders will be dragged out of the village and burned.
Donovan has said the PCs must leave, as it’s apparent the Lizard People and their Serpent Men masters will return. So, what next?
You’ve met the following people:
Chook the Lizard Person.
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