Many great adventures provide ample opportunities for both lethal combat and deadly threats. The Treason of Dakaan is no exception.

Under the forceful (and, let’s be honest, aggressive) direction of Tyrant Lexaar (Ed), our cast of characters found themselves stuck in the thick of things more than once as they tracked Daakan through the treacherous desert.

Marching across the sands, the group found themselves relying more and more on Warki (Will) for direction, and as night fell, Warki asked the Tyrant if he wanted to continue on or allow his people to rest. Yet Tyrant Lexaar refused to acknowledge Warki had even spoken until Sakad (Michael) had repeated the question. With a sneer, the heavily armored Tyrant declared rest was only fit for slaves and that his prey would not receive a second of reprieve until Tyrant Lexaar had brought honor back to his house.

So, on through the night the adventurers marched. Hours later, the sun rising over the dunes shed its light on an unexpected pack of fierce cyclopes. The Tyrant gave Warki and Eberu (Valerie) leave to sneak to the sides while Sakad, Ashuur (Simon), and he would march down the center. Warki barely made it five steps before the Tyrant’s battle cry shook the sands, ruining the ambush but fulfilling the warrior code of hoksune.

The Skorne Empire is home to numerous dangerous creatures, some of which dwarf the skorne themselves in size and ferocity—but never in cunning. Working together as a team, the players balanced aggression with strategy. The bold Tyrant Lexaar and the slightly less bold Ashuur strode directly into the jaws of whatever danger they encountered. Of course, Ashuur made certain he did so while behind Lexaar, where he could cast spells more easily. Or so he told the Tyrant.

During the adventure, each player got a chance to experiment with his or her character’s weapons and special abilities. In battle, Tyrant Lexaar and Ashuur made an unlikely yet formidable pair, as the Tyrant held the center of each major conflict. Strengthened by the mortitheurge’s spells like Inviolable Resolve in addition to well-placed blasts of Stranglehold, Lexaar shrugged off attacks that would likely have killed lesser beings. Eberu meted out punishment with enthusiasm, happily carving into the flesh of her enemies with both her assassin’s blade and her razor lash. [Editor’s note: this was Valerie’s first game of Unleashed, and she took to it like a ferox to mauling. Expect to see her again in future roleplaying game reports.] Sakad didn’t hesitate to mow down his targets with blasts of reiver fire and follow every order his tyrant bellowed (with some room for interpretation, of course). Warki also shot down his targets, but he took a more measured approach to battle. He relied heavily on his skills of survival and stealth, maneuvering himself to line up the perfect shot before vanishing back into the dunes again. A strategy which was greatly aided by absurdly good dice rolls over the course of the game.

Leaping from atop a dune, Eberu brought her razor lash down in an arc, separating her one of the cyclopes’ head from neck. Drawing her assassin’s blade, she sliced deep into another cyclopes’ spine, exposing bone to the desert heat. Supported by Ashuur’s spells, Tyrant Lexaar slashed with his spear, opening wide cuts in the beast’s chest. Sakad fired shot after shot, peppering his foes with needles, while Warki reaped a fearsome tally with his long rifle until the final two beasts collapsed near death. With the scorching air redolent of copper, the group began chaining the pair of beasts in hopes they could be conditioned into warbeast assets for their house under the cruel beastmasters’ minstrations.

The players’ rapport breathed life into the game. Each player was quick with a witty remark when something went right (and perhaps even quicker when something went wrong). Much of their success could be attributed to the willingness of the players to cleverly capitalize on every potential resource in the adventure. Facing the raging winds and sands of the Mokkar Desert, Sakad salvaged shields to construct a hasty barricade. And when the characters overcame the vicious denizens of the wastelands, Ashuur was quick to stabilize the group of enemy combatants and keep them alive for future use. After all, what fun is it playing in a skorne game if you can’t break some captive creature’s spirit to your will?

With the end of the adventure in sight, next week will mark the final entry in our play through…and then comes the official launch of The Treason of Dakaan!