Growing the Clan
Last week, we left off having just owned the Ortysia tournament, with an eye set on continuing to grow both our wealth and our party. Early on, this means a lot of hunting down bandits and following up on quests provided by notable townsfolk across the land... and, of course, smashing more folks in more tournaments! Tournaments that we - because we're not stupid - bet on ourselves to win!
But first, we take care of a bandit hideout. These little missions are a lot of fun. You take a small group of soldiers (10 + you, by default) and attack as night is falling, catching bandits by surprise. If you're careful and have good archery or crossbow skill, it's entirely possible to take out a lot of the enemy force before they're even aware of you being there.
After taking care of the minions, we cut to a confrontation with the bandit boss. In these events, we are always given a chance to 1-on-1 duel the bandit leader, or, simply say 'get fucked ya hoser' and toss everything we have at them.
I don't duel brigands, as a general rule... so 9 times out of 10, I tell them to get stuffed and send my entire party down on them. Good times are had by all.
And then we loot the corpses.
Usually, you get a decent little haul from these. Leaving them for a while can increase the number of bandits available as well as the amount of after-battle loot you can take, but they also harass caravans and villagers so there's a balance to be struck if you want to try for maximized bandit profits in this fashion. Usually, I just take them out - more will spring up in due time and it's a pretty easy way to earn some Denars.
After dealing with them, it's time for another tournament!
Round one, we're faced off against by an Archer. Poor poor unprepared bastard.
We take a few hits but hey, no biggy - that's part of tournament life. We have a shield so the chances of anyone else winning here are... not great for them, let's put it that way.
Round two pits us against a Cataphract, they're decent mid-tier troops but are built for horseback. This does mean they're packing some great armor, but, also means they're just a touch slower.
Round 3 - and like I said, always bet on yourself when you can. It's the smart play.
The other team really didn't stand a chance. Though they made a good show of it - enough bloody arrows are peppering me and my shield that had I not been gifted with a shield this would have played out very differently.
And I mean, of course... of course we win round 4 and take the tournament. My poor teammate from Round 3... the last thing he saw was a back-hand slash and then he was out.
After this, we return to the cycle of hunting bandit parties, crushing looters, and owning tournaments. We actually acquire some pretty good weapons and a decent amount of experience for both Oblivion himself and the party as a whole. And, of course, we end the session with something like 2300 Denars above what we started with.
That's a pretty good day, all in all.
Until next time friends, happy gaming!