Better late than never: Sessions 2 (played 16 Feb 2015) and 3 (played 2 Mar 2015)
Dramatis Personae:
- Kam (Male Vanara cleric of Hanuman – Richard Green)
- Nymeria (female Urskovian human, barbarian – Lucy Mounsher)
- Olrik (male dwarf monk – Wayne Furmidge)
- Open (male tiefling wizard – Alex Hegazy, absent for Session 3)
- Aris, male Bathuran human, bard (NPC)
- Amira, female Bathuran human, fighter (NPC)
- Lucinius, male Bathuran human rogue, merchant (NPC)
- Lodvik, male Urskovian human fighter, Lucinius’s bodyguard (NPC)
Lubzug’s Wayside Inn
Following Sarjan the bounty hunter’s cryptic ultimatum, the
party decide to take matters into their own hands. Their attack on Sarjan’s
quarters initially yields mixed results, as the outer guard goes down but
attempting to pull the curtain of the bay aside provokes a volley of arrows. Nymeria
and Kam go down briefly but are rescued and resuscitated by Amira and Aris, though at the cost of Amira's precious healing potion. A
second assault is better co-ordinated and another of Sarjan’s thugs falls,
while the bounty hunter and his remaining injured sidekick are captured. The
proprietor, Lubzug, intervenes to insist that there is no looting of bodies or brutality
towards prisoners; Sarjan admits he was hired by Iacomo Pavone to bring Amira
back to Parsantium where she will be forced to marry.
The next morning the caravan continues along the Via Bathura
towards Koinepol, the chief town of Etressia.
Black Masks
As the road passes through woodlands, an attempt is made at
ambush. Bowmen attack from one direction – though a well-placed sleep spell from Open silences them
quickly – but this is revealed to be largely a distraction as a trio of masked
attackers pounces on Amira from the rear and attempts to carry her off. Their
attempted kidnap is inept, however, and they and the bandit leader are killed
while the bowmen are captured. The bandits are members of the Black Masks, a
long-standing bandit group which once ranged largely unopposed in this area;
recently however their activities have been curtailed by the increased
confidence of the Counts of Etressia, especially the current incumbent,
Timitos. It is with surprise that the party discover that the masked leader is
none other than Lubzug, landlord of the Wayside Inn! In his tunic they discover
a parchment, presumably originally carried by Sarjan, commissioning the
retrieval of Amira for a handsome reward of 250 gp. It appears that the
innkeeper has disposed of the defeated bounty hunter and taken it ypon himself
to complete the commission, with no greater success.
The awakened bowmen are released after being stripped of
their weapons, but Nimeria and – less predictably, Lucinius – don’t accept this
decision and follow them into the woods, returning a little later apparently now
happier with the situation ...
Off-Track
A party conference follows. Whilst there some of the group
cast glances towards the now rather valuable person of Amira, others – in particular
Kam and Lucinius – seem less than keen on the idea of interacting with the
Pavone to collect the reward, and the caravan continues on its way. Lucinius,
however, thinks it is now unwise to consider visiting Koinepol. In such a large
town, there are bound to be Pavone agents, and they are a distinctive party. He
suggests leaving the main route of the Via Bathura and bypassing Koinepol,
travelling through the Vasta Hills to get to Trimontis, where the Via Bathura
and the Via Diomantica (the coast road) part company. There they can further consider their options, though Lucinius has business in the wilderness caravanserai of Torbruck, which rather rules out the coast road. The diversion, however, is agreed upon and the
caravan shortly takes a side road to the west of the main route.
That night a roaming ghoul attempts to enter the camp, but
Lucinius’s alarm spell does its work
and the creature is easily destroyed. The next day, the caravan is attacked by
aggressive blood hawks but these also are driven away.
The Hunting Party
The road into the Vasta Hills is much quieter than the Via
Bathura. Lucinius explains that this route has fallen out of favour owing to
strange happenings around Ygron’s Bridge, where the route crosses the gorge of the river Drabus. In
ancient times there was a great battle there, in which powerful magic was used,
and the area has always had a reputation for peculiarity. Recently however this
has got worse, and strange monsters have been reported plaguing the area,
particularly the bridge itself. Since this is the only good way across the
gorge for miles in each direction, trade has started avoiding the route.
As they travel through the hills, the party hear strange
shrieking whistles from the north, and shortly afterwards an enormous insectoid
creature burst out of the ground and attacks. It is recognised as an ankheg,
and while the creature manages to bite Olrik they avoid lining themselves up
for an acid attack. As the monster is defeated, however, a number of people
appear, led by Bassedas, Lord of Vasta, who is annoyed that the party have
killed his quarry. The situation is smoothed over by Halstrud, one of Count
Timitos’s foresters; it is she and her assistants who were making the weird
noises, funnelled into the ground to drive the ankheg towards a stone dyke
where it would be forced to the surface. Bassedas had hoped to capture it for
sale to the arena in Parsantium, but Halstrud is happy that it has been
destroyed, and placates the lord by removing its acid sacs for him to sell to an
alchemist. She invites the party to overnight at the foresters’ lodge, and next
morning Lucinius does some good business selling his wares to the people of
Vasta, who see fewer merchants than they once did, and celebrates by paying the
guards their outstanding wages. The party get on very well with Halstrud, and
rather like the sound of her job, travelling around the County of Etressia
hunting down monsters. Yrgon’s Bridge is beyond the established borders of the
County, so she is not responsible for keeping it clear, but she knows something
of it. She tells that until recently the bridge was plagued by a bizarre,
shapeless entity that she calls “the gibbering mouther”, but this seems to have
gone now.
Goblins
The next day’s travel passes uneventfully and the caravan
makes good progress through the hills; the road is good if a little overgrown
owing to the fall in traffic recently. Early the next morning, however, the
camp is attacked, first with arrows and javelins, then by a worg which charges
in to engage Olrik and Lucinius, who are on watch. The merchant’s alarm spell again proves its worth,
quickly rousing the rest of the encampment, which is fortunate, since Olrik has
gone down after being the focus of the attack, and there are goblins behind the
worg. Emerging from his tent at the other end of camp, Kam spots that, taking
advantage of the confusion, a couple of goblins are attempting to make off with
some of the mules, and stops them. Eventually the worg and most of the goblins
are despatched, though one manages to make off into the night, and the party
are left to lick their wounds.
The Angry Oak
The next day the party delay their departure to allow for
proper recovery from the previous night’s exertions. Setting off again after
noon, they are passing through woodland when, without warning, a large tree
comes to life and begins assaulting the caravan guards. Amira finds that her
twinned shortswords are not very effective against it, and there is further
annoyance from an animated vine attached to the tree which immobilizes both her
and Nymeria with entwining tendrils. But Nymeria, once Olrik has pulled the
vines away from her, has no problems chopping at the tree with her battleaxe,
while Kam’s sacred flame spell seems
unusually effective against the wooden opponent. The tree is defeated, and
shortly afterwards the party meet Erdas, a druidic hermit who explains that the
plants here sometimes come to life, filled with anger, animated by the curdled
magic of this ancient battle site. He knows this particular tree, and has
attempted to help it come to terms with its condition, so he is sad that it has
been destroyed, but accepts that it was probably for the best.
The party ask Erdas what he knows of the bridge. He tells
them that someone has shut both ends off with gates and that, while the gibbering
mouther has gone, a small party of adventurers who came this way some weeks ago
were killed on the bridge. He didn’t see it happen, and doesn’t know what was
responsible, but their bodies still lie at the centre of the crossing.
Furthermore, there are now people living in the partly ruined tower on the far
side. He has seen them from a distance but doesn’t know anything about them.
The bridge is not far away now, but as darkness is
approaching, the party decide to overnight at Erdas’s cave and tackle it in the
morning...
Experience
During Alex's absence at Session 3, everyone else levelled up to 2 except Open. I've made a minor adjustment to the XP awards to allow Open to be at level 2 for next session, which will be recouped next time, and which leaves the scores as follows:
- Amira (NPC), Kam, Nymeria, Olrik: 510xp
- Open: 300xp
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