The group playing the custom Malazan rules I’m working on with /u/prerus met and played through the first scenario, the Siege of Pale. They all seemed happy with how it went.

I’ve decided to go ahead and put details into these play reports, because I’m not planning to run this again or for other people concurrently.

Dramatis Personae:

2nd Army, 11th Mage Cadre:

Svea – Fenn Shaman (Ranger)

Caitriona – Human Healer (Wizard – Denul)

Boris – Human Mage (Wizard – Serc)

2nd Army, 10th Infantry Squad:

Kint – Barghast Heavy Infantry (Fighter)

S’ki’ps – Human Sapper (Rogue)

The Session started out with the PCs being escorted through the Imperial Warren, to finally arrive in camp outside of Pale. They are quickly whipped up into the ongoing combat when an injured soldier rushes them to defend some sappers working on the wall.

While guarding the sappers, they were attacked by 8 guards of Pale and a Demon. The Demon had damage resistance to everything physical, so the limited spellcasting definitely had an affect on how tough it was for them. The guards themselves were not an issue. Two NPCs were killed by the guards, and the Serc mage was rendered unconscious by the Demon, but the healer brought him back. I modified Spare the Dying to give 1 hit point, rather than only stabilize. That seemed to help. The healer was also the first to invent her own spell. We haven’t typed up and finalized Ranger yet so nobody outside of that table has seen it, but Svea was given a war dog (a mastiff she named Euphemius) as an animal companion at 1st level instead of 3rd, and will not be getting a fighting style at 2nd level, or Foe Slayer at 20th. Euphemius helped a good deal with the guards.

As the party and the sappers were preparing to move back from the wall, a chunk of Moon’s Spawn fell onto the wall, detonating the charges. The sappers were all killed in the blast. The PCs looked for survivors in the rubble. Svea found an 11th Mage Cadre corporal and took a necklace invested with Telas from his body. S’ki’ps found a dying sapper who explained the mission to him, and gave him munitions for the job.

The party was now charged with sneaking through the hole in the wall and into the tunnels under Pale, in order to strategically place charges to punch a hole in the wall of the inner keep. They would know the place under the keep walls by the otataral dust in the mortar.

The party proceeded through the hole in the wall, and into the tunnels under Pale, successfully evading notice of any guards. They moved a ways forward and then started resting. Rest was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps, so Svea and Kint, who were uninjured, moved forward and allowed the rest of the party to finish their rest. They encountered a single mage on patrol and Svea shot her through the throat before they were seen, killing her silently. They brought the body back to the crossing the others were resting at and left it there.

They continued again together, and ended up in front of another patrol. They decided to hide on either side of another crossing, and wait for the unsuspecting guards to stumble into their trap. The first guard was nearly liquified by their combined assault, and the other two made fairly short order with as well.

The party found a place under the wall and S’ki’ps placed the charges. They decided to proceed back the way they came before lighting the fuse. All but S’ki’ps proceeded to the landing point under the grate they entered the tunnels through. S’ki’ps waited until he could no longer see the burning fuse and climbed up to the surface with the rest of the party in time to see the Malazan forces pushing their way through rows of Pale’s defenders at the hole in the wall left by Moon’s Spawn and the explosives. One guard heard the players behind him just in time to turn and see the detonation underground shake the keep and bring part of the wall down. The players joined the rest of the 2nd Army and successfully overcame the guards and took the keep. Moon’s Spawn fled, presumably with the Governor of Pale who was never found. The Moranth were given their terrible Hour of Retribution. Another city belongs to the Malazan Empire.

All players received 175xp and a reward card noting that they can increase the level of a character they choose to use in any given session if their level is lower than the next lowest character selected.