The Siege of Medilano
In 2020, during the lockdown, I did a lot of work developing Tirenia for Kickstarter. It soon became apparent that writing an entire campaign guide in that time frame was too ambitious, so instead we produced a Dragons of Tirenia introductory guide, with a short overview of the setting (virtually all obsolete at this point, as I continue to develop the setting), an adventure and a promised impending full Kickstarter - which never eventuated, for a variety of reasons. My wife and I decided that our indie games company Sky Bear Games would rent a stall at Armageddon Expo convention to promote her computer games and my roleplaying games. To really sell the product, I decided to run the most complicated promotional campaign possible: The Siege of Medilano. We made maps, posters and stickers and got people to earn points for the two warring factions, the bronze dragons of Staglia and the silver dragons of Medilano. Every day, I ran hour-long introductory Dungeons & Dragons adventures telling the story of the siege. Players could decide whether they wanted to fight for the silver dragons or the bronze dragons, and would get a different adventure every day, each with campaign-altering decisions for the players to make. The decisions that players made, along with the points they accrued for their factions, decided who would be the victors. It was an incredibly ambitious project, and I lost my voice every hour or so. Here is, as best I can remember, the story of what happened during the Siege of Medilano.
Medilano: the Beautiful City, home of the silver dragons, was located between two enemies. To the south, the dragons of Staglia sought to re-unify Tirenia by force, and they were now cautiously annexing the land surrounding Medilano. To the north, the imperialist red dragon merchant-princes of Selenizia were expanding their power inland following a bloody revolution. Either of these armies would be able to conquer Medilano, but in doing so they would leave themselves too vulnerable to their rival. As long as this stalemate continued, Medilano was safe. To further protect it, Medilano had formed the Tirenian League, an defensive alliance with the most powerful city-states to the east. If they were ever threatened, then they only had to hold out until reinforcements arrived from Fiumenze or Malieso. So Medilano was safe - as long as the stalemate continued...
Chapter One: The Unhallowed
A patrol from Medilano was sent to discover why everyone in the town of Tribiano had vanished. When they arrived, they found no people or animals living there, until they discovered an old woman, Isadora, hiding in a basement. She was exhausted and half mad with fear, and thought the patrol had come to finish her off. Once she had been calmed down and given food and water, she claimed that Tribiano had been attacked by Medilanese soldiers. She did not know what had happened to all the bodies. The patrol discovered the trail of the attackers and followed them to find the ghastly truth: Tribiano had been attacked by Sconsacrati, the Unhallowed. These demonic spirits possess corpses that have not received their last rites. They are well organised, can use weapons and tactics, never get tired or hungry, and anyone they kill joins their number. The Auromian Empire fell a thousand years ago because an attack of the Unhallowed grew too large to be challenged, and this group had already swelled in size as it slaughtered its way closer to Medilano. Recognising the Unhallowed as a greater threat than any of the nearby armies, the patrol made its way to a nearby encampment of Staglian soldiers and proposed a truce. The Staglians accepted, and the united forces of the Silver and Bronze dragons were able to destroy the Sconsacrati army. However, after the fighting was over, the impolitic words of a young silver dragon shattered the temporary alliance, and the Staglians and Medilanese turned against one another.
(The silver dragons won the first day easily. It was a short evening early-access before the convention started on the next day, so we only had one game. The players' deliberately outrageous behaviour towards the bronze became the inciting incident for the whole campaign!)
Chapter Two: The Siege Begins
The Medilanese were defeated and driven back into their city. The bronze dragons decided, since war had begun, that they would try to capture the city quickly, and began to attack the walls. To wait risked reinforcements from Medilano's allies, or for their mutual enemy the Selenizians to arrive and catch them both off guard. Staglian forces attacked the walls and made initial progress, with the aid of traitors within the city. However, the impassioned defence of the city, led by the famous Knights of Medilano, drove the attackers off the wall. The bronze dragons brought up powerful siege weapons, but the Knights sallied forth and destroyed them. The Staglians had been stymied.
(The convention started, and I was running non-stop games! More people supported the silver dragons, but the bronze dragons had more passionate supporters - especially a boy at a booth opposite ours, who became our most dedicated follower! He single-handedly kept the bronze dragons in the race, but the silver dragons won the second day.)
Chapter Three: Goblins and Humanists
With the initial attack defeated, both sides hunkered in for a long siege. There was still no sign of Medilano's allies or the Selenizians. Both sides appealed to new allies. The bronze dragons reached out to the disenfranchised goblins who lived outside Medilano. By showing themselves willing to humble themselves before the goblins and treat them as equals, they were able to win their support. Meanwhile, the silver dragons investigated humanists dissidents within the city. Their heavy-handed tactics dealing with these idealists meant that, while the humanists would not hinder the war effort, they would not help the silver dragons either.
(The bronze dragons won the third day. At this point, my wife was getting me nonalcoholic hot lemon toddies for my throat every hour!)
Chapter Four: The Final Battle
The bronze dragons had broken through the city's walls, with the help of secret routes known to the goblins. The silver dragons' troops had fallen back and were defending the Principessa's palazzo. To make matters worse, envoys had returned from the Tirenian League. Medilano's allies had decided not to honour their treaty and were abandoning the city to its fate. At this moment, with both Medilano and Staglia exhausted from the long fighting, the red dragons of Selenizia arrived. They called for the bronze dragons to withdraw, and the silver dragons to surrender. They had been responsible for summoning the Unhallowed that had broken the status quo. Very quickly, the bronze and silver dragons agreed to an alliance and sallied out to fight the Selenizians while their much larger army was still in disarray from the march. The Knights of Medilano led the charge on land, while bronze and silver dragons, ridden by the heroes of their factions, took to the air. Their goal was to break the red dragon lines and slay Generala Flammorta, the red dragon necromancer commander. However, the bronze dragons decided to delay their charge on the ground, leaving the Knights of Medilano unsupported. They timed their treachery perfectly, and the greatest heavy cavalry in Tirenia was killed almost to a man. Even as they fought their last stand, they broke through the Selenizian lines. Meanwhile, a vicious aerial dragon battle raged above, but the silver and bronze dragons and their riders were able to tear Generale Flammorta from the sky. Her mighty corpse fell upon the ranks of the Selenizians and finished the battle: the great army fled, and the shattered silver dragon army finally surrendered to the bronze dragons.
(This was my favourite day! All the players got to decide whether their faction would betray their allies or stand fast. If both sides had betrayed their allies, the Selenizians would have won the entire campaign! All the silver dragon players decided to be honourable - but NOT all the bronze dragon players, and the bonus points they got from their treachery was enough for them to win the entire campaign!)
Comments
Post a Comment