Company 12
A war story about an old vetrans past, could lead to a mystery type adventure.
The intent was to take a player's background, and twist it into an adventure/mystery. The campaign was ended by your truely, before it was ever realized.
I think it would be interesting to see where others would take this poorly written story.
If it interests you, take a shot at it.
** Note: I spell orks differently in the setting this was written for, so please excuse the germanization of the word. **
The commonly heard public story leaves out the most important details and thus glorifies the terrifying incident...The story ' John Wayne Movies ' the moment, and creates a typical war story of bravery and patriotism...Minus the terror and sadness that truley is war. This is the real story not told in taverns and inns. This is the story of Jakk and Company 12 ' The Rum Runners '.
It was a spring night, and it was pouring rain...Typical in spring. Jakk was a young man, full of ambition and spunk. He displayed exceptional skill as a teamster, and took well to it, since riding crossbow was too dull.
On that night, the wagon train left on schedule for Faule. 2 hours into the journey, just 10 miles from the midway stop at Uberfall, the last wagon threw a wheel. The wagon tipped and spilled it's cargo into the flooded ditch alongside the road.
' Great ' Jakk thought, and for the next few minutes he sat impatiently as the rest of the unit tried to tip the wagon upright. While the unit was working on the wagon...Master Sargent Klauss Rheinwald ( A Massive, and stern Hessian man. A fine leader and mentor to Jakk. ), 2nd lieutenants Freder, Fischer, 1st lieutenant Goreman, and the Captain seemed to be in a heated discussion near the ditch where the cargo spilled...With the downpour, visibility was poor and hearing any of the conversation was impossible...Curious and bored, Jakk watched as the Captain prevented Klauss from slipping into the ditch...It looked like he was alright, but it took the 2nd liutenants and the captain to keep him on his feet...
Then 9 Hells broke loose. The Mountain Ork war cries pierced through even the droning of the downpour. Arrows, bolts, and spears followed...Then the hatchets, and finally the mud caked orks...Dozens of the kaferz swarmed from all directions. Both 2nd lieutenants were struck down with hatchets, letting the master sargeant slip into the flooded ditch...He was visibly yelling for help, but could not be heard...The orks decended upon him moments later, hacking and spearing. The captain made it back to Jakk's wagon, a hatchet in the back, and several bolts in his left leg and right arm...losing conciousness once on the wagon...1st lieutenant Goreman was wounded badly as well, but made it to the third wagon...
As the orks hacked their way to the overturned wagon, and the rear guard did their best to hold them off, Jakk ordered the wagon train to move on...And move it did, dumping non essential cargo along the way...including the wounded that would not survive the next ten miles ( Jakk couldn't bring himself to dump the captain, and 1st lietenant Goreman was well enough to take shots at the kaferz as the wagons sped towards Uberfall ). Through the hail of arrows, and spears, Jakk drove his horses at full speed all the way to Uberfall...The horses collapsing and later dying soon after arriving.
The brutality and the cruelty was overwhelming. The sounds of the wounded begging not to be thrown off the wagons, the thud of their bodies on the muddy road, and the visions of Klauss silently screaming for help haunted the young Jakk. War wasn't glorious, or exciting. It was terrifying, and cruel. Heroes were people that were just better at surviving, and or just lucky. After being decorated, Company 12 disbanded, and Jakk was reasigned...Not as spunky, not as ambitious, and not as sober..
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? Responses (6)
Almost a character submission for Jakk. I like it though. Could be the PCs are at the tavern and he tells his tale. Nothing like a orc hunt to spice up the night. Easy side trek. Orcs could be replaced with any bad guy for a night of fighting.
Could take the same story and make a NPC out of Jakk and just add some more personal details. This story shaped him, what other history does he have. Good descriptions! It was a pleasure to read.
Thanks. It was a plot hook I was experimenting with. Like a tv show, I wanted to have a few episodes related to individual PCs. This one was going to be a murder mystery related to Jakk's past. The Hessian that appeared injured and being held up by his fellow officers was actually the victim of theirs.
The officers and the commander were smuggling some illegal goods and splitting up the profit. Klauss, the Hessian, was a stand up guy and left out of the deal. When the wagon overturned on the road, he saw what was going on and was killed. The Ork attack was a complete surprise and a blessing for the surviving conspirators. Klauss was listed as KIA and the issue dropped.
Years later, as Jakk returned to his hometown, a regional hero, recent landowner and wealthy, Company 12 was arranging a reunion.
It was going to be a fun little break from the dungeon crawl, but never came to be.
Klauss, the Hessian was going to rise from years of slumber in the limbo of death, and bring his murderers to justice...The dilemna for Jakk would have been...Does he destroy his former mentor to save corrupt killers? It could have went in a bunch of directions.
Wait....I have always spelled it ork!
You could add a bit of a moral diemma as well. The illegal goods could simply be drugs intended to deal to orks that would make them physically dependent on the dealers, or a more sinister and twisted version, some nobles could believe that since orks are so hardy and strong, eating select parts of the orcs will give them vitality they lack. A sick underground could develop, adding herb and other things to the ork parts to give the stupid nobles a bit of a buzz.
So now not only is your mentor a killer, he's a scam artist and a bit of sociological scavenger. The orks could have been quite justified in attacking the shipment. Do you help the savages, or use it to blackmail your old boss?
The possibilities are endless. That's why I wish I could have made the adventure for this.
Huh? What was that all about, Turwen?