Last Briefing Camp

[Erol of Backford]

Last Briefing Camp

This is within the Eternal Battle, and is a sacred spot of Storm Bull where he gives away anything that is desired by the combatants who are going with him to face Wakboth. It is a place of great and easy gifting, but the consequences are often more dire than the gift was good. (from the Well)

Any thoughts as to the appearance of this knowing the Hero Plane would greatly mutate any sort of pre-battle military encampment? Somehow the giant gorp Sun Dome military tent comes to mind.

The Hero Questing PC's sneak in, grab some potent item to help them and get out...

[dumuzid]

stealing the treasure there is probably setting up some future Chaos-fighting champion to face their part in the Eternal Battle without an appropriate gift

that's likely to have some unpleasant consequences later

[Squaredeal Sten]

If they leave with a Storm Bull  item - no matter what direction they think they are leaving to - they will next find themselves in the Eternal Battle.  

By the way, why do you interpret that as being given a magic artifact?  Couldn't Storm Bull equally give knowledge of his magic?  Or alter someone's fears?

 

[soltakss]

3 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

Any thoughts as to the appearance of this knowing the Hero Plane would greatly mutate any sort of pre-battle military encampment? Somehow the giant gorp Sun Dome military tent comes to mind.

Maybe a nomad tent, or a cattle pen.

 

3 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

The Hero Questing PC's sneak in, grab some potent item to help them and get out...

It's more about being given a gift, so maybe not an item you can steal.

Also, sneaking into the Eternal Battle is dangerous.

[DrGoth]

5 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

If they leave with a Storm Bull  item - no matter what direction they think they are leaving to - they will next find themselves in the Eternal Battle.  

By the way, why do you interpret that as being given a magic artifact?  Couldn't Storm Bull equally give knowledge of his magic?  Or alter someone's fears?

 

Or, given its name, useful knowledge about an enemy.

[David Scott]

7 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

Last Briefing Camp

This is within the Eternal Battle, and is a sacred spot of Storm Bull where he gives away anything that is desired by the combatants who are going with him to face Wakboth. It is a place of great and easy gifting, but the consequences are often more dire than the gift was good. (from the Well)

Any thoughts as to the appearance of this knowing the Hero Plane would greatly mutate any sort of pre-battle military encampment? Somehow the giant gorp Sun Dome military tent comes to mind.

The Hero Questing PC's sneak in, grab some potent item to help them and get out...

Last Briefing Camp is the gateway to the Eternal Battle from The Raging Storm (it's a kind of anchor between the Middle World and the Eternal battle). Storm Bulls go there first to hang out with Storm Bull on the night before the battle. It is however possible that a Storm Bull camp in the Wastes becomes the Last Briefing Camp, especially if near or under the Ranging storm. Sometimes a Khan will listen to a story and by the end it is Last Briefing Camp. Many Storm Bulls have been to Last Briefing Camp. 

The camp itself is a normal looking nomad camp with a raging fire in the centre, with meat cooking and beer flowing, above is ehe eye of the Raging Storm. Mounts surround the camp talking amongst themselves and the spirits of fallen warriors mingle and dance with those present. Storm Bull is seated on the ground surrounded by his Khans and all are telling their great stories of killing monsters. There is a call and response after each story:

• All - We have heard your tale of duty, ask, ask, ask
• Storm Bull - A tale well told what boon would you have to aid you in your duty
• Supplicant - I would wish your (hooves, sword, tail, soul, horns, cunning, rage, etc)
• Storm Bull - I grant you this power, for tomorrow we die.
• Supplicant - I will wear your (boon) as well as I can, for tomorrow we die.
• All - For tomorrow we die.

All boons are temporary, unless a point of Permanent POW is spent (most don't spend the POW).

Those that aren't storm Bulls, may stand and tell their tales, and also receive a boon. They must use their Beast or Air runes, to gain the right to tell their tale or be sponsored by a khan. If they survive the battle, the boon will change them permanently.

At Dawn, the Eternal Battle becomes visible and moves toward the camp eventually swallowing it up and the fight begins.

In my games, adventures have asked and received hooves and horns, lay members have received free to cast fanaticism that last 15 mins and the capacity to drink, and become sober when chaos appears. All of these became permanent for the survivors after the eternal battle (they spent POW). Two out of six died.

[French Desperate WindChild]

44 minutes ago, David Scott said:

All boons are temporary, unless a point of Permanent POW is spent (most don't spend the POW).

(...). If they survive the battle, the boon will change them permanently.

thanks a lot David, to be sure I understand :

 

permanently (red)  only if a permanent pow is spent, right ?

or is it because (...) = not storm bull cultists, so after the battle, these non worshippers feel "for ever"  the bull's call and now have, in addition of the boon (permanent or not) , a devotion passion - or something like that - ?

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by French Desperate WindChild

[David Scott]

22 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

permanently (red)  only if a permanent pow is spent, right ?

or is it because (...) = not storm bull cultists, so after the battle, these non worshippers feel "for ever"  the bull's call and now have, in addition of the boon (permanent or not) , a devotion passion - or something like that - ?

No... If they are not Storm Bulls, they will take on some aspect of the experience permanently. Basically they've gone and met Storm Bull, got a boon and gone off and survived the eternal battle (hopefully). I'd make a change like Sense Chaos at 1% + magic bonus, +20% beast, Hate (Chaos) 80%. Something that reflects their experience, a kind of touched by the Bull change.

Storm Bull initiates already have that connection.

[French Desperate WindChild]

thanks clear and nice 🙂

 

[Beoferret]

Seems like this would be an important Uroxi pilgrimage site. David, how did you set up the dangers that your players faced? Just throw a bunch of broo and other Chaos baddies at them?

[David Scott]

15 hours ago, Beoferret said:

Seems like this would be an important Uroxi pilgrimage site.

It's not a physical site. Any camp can become the Last Briefing Camp, it's the intent that counts. 

15 hours ago, Beoferret said:

David, how did you set up the dangers that your players faced?

The Eternal Battle is described in Nomad Gods, the key part is

[The Eternal Battle] is nothing less than the great battle, where Ragnaglar and the Devil fought against the Storm Bull for the fate of the Cosmos.

(see also Heortling Mythology page 106)

So each adventurers opponent is either Ragnaglar or the Devil or both together. The event should kill or nearly the adventurers, so that when they are beaten and nearly dying they can either use Earthpower and/or summon the block with their dying breath (Don't tell the players you are trying to kill their adventurers). I had my player fight both together.

15 hours ago, Beoferret said:

Just throw a bunch of broo and other Chaos baddies at them?

Use the imagery of Ragnaglar and Wakboth from the God's War, If you got the game use the Ragnaglar and Thed figures (no one has Wakboth yet), and based the stats on Cacodemon...

Note that this is a heroquest and not the middle world encounter from Borderlands

Edited April 28, 2023 by David Scott
Clarified heroquest not middle world encounter

[Zit]

21 minutes ago, David Scott said:

and based the stats on Cacodemon...

or use the Avatar of Chaos as in Borderlands and... good luck !

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Beoferret said:

how did you set up the dangers that your players faced? Just throw a bunch of broo and other Chaos baddies at them?

Borderlands (which is available as one of the RQ Classic books) has the Eternal Battle encounter and I'd just draw from that.

Briefly on p.135: "The sky will turn dark and broiling clouds will tear the heavens with tremendous noise. The sun will go dark, totally obscured. Howling winds will come from all directions. 1D10+5 melee rounds after the darkening of the sky, an enormous funnel of swirling bodies and dust will crash to the ground within 1D10×10 meters of the characters. Instantly upon touching down 1D10 skeletons and 1D10 ghosts will be tossed from the funnel. The skeletons will land standing and will immediately dash for the party. Ghosts will attack characters in spirit combat. There is a 25% chance that the Avatar of Chaos will also appear."

And of course you can scale accordingly depending on whether the adventurers have companions, etc. Perhaps they are with a party of Storm Bulls, in which case, there are a lot more Chaos foes thrown into the fray, but focus some selected number against the PC's. If you've got a Rune Lord, then quite likely the Avatar of Chaos will come too. If part of a larger battle, then PC's may defeat one initial group, but still have to decide whether to help save others in another part of the battlefield.  It is the Eternal Battle after all.

[French Desperate WindChild]

40 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

There is a 25% chance that the Avatar of Chaos will also appear.

Am I alone to not consider this part ?

I mean, as GM or player , I prefer when the GM decides if there is a big boss or not. It depends on the quality of the party. Are they strong enough to not be ridiculous ?

 

if the party is just created storm bull initiates, I would not allow a chaos god to appear if they are alone. this kind of opponent should fight an allied npc (but is there any npc with them ?), and maybe kill their ally after some dramatic sacrifice to save the pc lives (so no dice, story telling).

In the same way, if the goal is to kill all the pcs, why let the dice decides if it is now or in few weeks ?

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

I mean, as GM or player , I prefer when the GM decides if there is a big boss or not. It depends on the quality of the party. Are they strong enough to not be ridiculous ?

Agree, I'd definitely base it on how long the campaign has been going, whether this is a climactic event in a campaign, etc. 

The encounter as a whole does not come up randomly, but always as a GM special event. If the PC's deliberately go searching for the Last Briefing Camp, or invoke sufficient magic to make their camp become one, then there should be a reasonable chance for them to understand the terror of the Eternal Battle, or if a Storm Bull, be prepared to join it for eternity.

[Erol of Backford]

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

It's more about being given a gift, so maybe not an item you can steal.

Also, sneaking into the Eternal Battle is dangerous.

Like any Hero Quest, danger, excitement, meeting deities, what fun but not stealing, rather borrowing during a Hero Quest to help resurrect a broken god. Was thinking praxian tent camp but in a bizarre way - appearance... like nomads on acid, as many have been described Hero Quests in the past.

What other Hero Quests would give you tools to help repair a broken god?

Also what pops out if your PC's are chaos creatures? Ankubi Broostalker, Storm Bulls, ZZ Great Trolls etc?

[soltakss]

19 hours ago, jajagappa said:

There is a 25% chance that the Avatar of Chaos will also appear.

On a full HeroQuest, I would say that the Avatar of Chaos is guaranteed to appear.