I've probably mentioned before that the party never does what I think they are going to do, always keeping the DM on his toes. Today's session was no exception.
The party woke up after camping overnight in goblin territory. These were the Hill Beater Goblins, and the toll was paid, keeping them safe overnight. Upon waking, most of the party member felt stronger than before, having leveled up overnight. New spells and more hit points all around! After studying spells, and Cadwin summoning some bears and wild boars to escort them along the way, the party headed off along the road.
After a few hours, thanks to some overhead scouting by a familiar, they were informed that there was a hill fort a few miles up the road, and also what looked like a small army of orcs marching on the road toward them. Expecting the pay another toll, the party engaged in discussions with the Flaming Skull orcs, whose numbers were around 150, and included 10 Verbeeg giants in their ranks. Jarrus introduced the party as slavers in the service of the Slave Lords, but instead of demanding a toll, the orc leader declared that they hated the slave lords and all who served them, setting up the inevitable fight.
Once again, Cadwin proved his worth to the party. Sarril was able to take out the first several ranks of orcs, including all of the officers with Boccob's Rolling Thunder while Jarrus engaged and took out the leader. The remaining orcs were only a challenge due to numbers, and Cadwin was able to take them all out of the fight with an entangle spell, which, at his high level, worked in a 150 ft. radius. This also took most of the Verbeeg giants out of the fight as well, which was good because they proved to be challenging to Pontus, who was fighting four of them in melee and, despite receiving healing from Luapan, was still nearly killed (good thing he has over 100 hit points!).
After entangling the enemy, Cadwin moved forward and cast the spell again (his high wisdom allows him to cast it a ridiculous number of times). Eventually he had entangled nearly the entire army, leaving them only to fight with ranged weapons. But for that, he cast Obscurement, limiting visibility and making ranged attacks impossible. Once Pontus and Jarrus were finished taking down the remaining free orcs and verbeegs, the party was able to get around the army, under cover of obscurement, and head to the hill fort.
The fort appeared to be well guarded, with hobgoblins looking through parapets with ranged weapons trained on the party. Sticking to the plan, the party boldly went up to the fort, claiming to be agents of Sturm Bucholz with an important letter for the merchant Alforas. They claimed to be on their way to catch him, but with a coming storm, they needed shelter until it passes. The ruse appeared to work as they were let inside to speak with the garrison commander, Icar. Icar did not know the party members and did not trust them fully, so he allowed them to come inside one at a time and disarmed them, placing their weapons in an outer gatehouse before leading them further inside.
At this point, the party passed through a second portcullis, which was then closed behind them. Cut off from their weapons, the party now headed further into the fort with Icar. We were not able to play any further to see if the ruse would continue working, or if they were walking into a trap. Stay tuned as we will find out in two weeks.
It is the afternoon of the 22nd Day of Reaping, CY 580.
Oct 22, 2017
Oct 15, 2017
21st day of Reaping, 580 CY - One Minor Slavelord Down
And here today the party did what the party does best - slaughter. Once again the blind druid, Cadwin, proved to be a valuable member of the party as Sturm Bucholz, the minor slavelord and thief below them went on an invisible back-stabbing spree. He only managed to get one attack in before Cadwin exposed him with Faerie Fire and Sarril followed up with Hold Person.
The entire party worked together like a well-oiled machine this session, which was really nice to see for a change. Pontus proved he could be a pincushion and absorb the crossbow bolts from the 10 orcs that were shooting, giving Jarrus time to finish off the 5 giant weasels that were actually quite a bit scarier than they might seem. Before too long, Sturm, his weasels and all 10 orcs lie dead, giving the party time go through his belongings and recover quite a bit of information about the Slavelords.
In addition to learning that the inner council of 9 slavelords have some members plotting against each other (no surprise, really, as evil always turns on itself at some point), they also learned that the slaves are taken to a hidden city in the Drachensgrab Mountains called Suderham to be sold and traded. Only trusted slavers are allowed there, so the party decided to use the information in the ledgers they found to pretend to be agents of Sturm travelling to Suderham to do his business. They learned of a merchant named Alforas who left a few days prior on his way to Suderham and if they were quick enough, they might catch him and free some slaves on the way.
The party decided not to waste time exploring the rest of the temple and instead find the quickest way out. That way appeared to be through a trapdoor they found in one of the tunnels. The trapdoor led into a chapel inside the ruined temple where they were attacked by sturges. But the noise they made fighting the sturges allowed the real enemy, a cleric of something called the Earth Dragon, and her minions to prepare for an attack. When the party barged into the next room, she was ready. It was a tough fight, but the party prevailed, even sparing the life of the cleric if she would answer some questions and provide safe passage out of the temple, which she did.
From there, the party wasted no time going back to town, buying some riding horses, and making their way to the southern road that leads into the humanoid invested foothills of the Drachensgrabs. With Pontus tracking the merchant caravan, the party was on their way, stopping to pay tolls to the humanoid tribes along the route to avoid trouble. It is now the evening of the 21st Day of Reaping, 580 CY and the party has made camp for the night. We shall see what dangers await them next week. . .
The entire party worked together like a well-oiled machine this session, which was really nice to see for a change. Pontus proved he could be a pincushion and absorb the crossbow bolts from the 10 orcs that were shooting, giving Jarrus time to finish off the 5 giant weasels that were actually quite a bit scarier than they might seem. Before too long, Sturm, his weasels and all 10 orcs lie dead, giving the party time go through his belongings and recover quite a bit of information about the Slavelords.
In addition to learning that the inner council of 9 slavelords have some members plotting against each other (no surprise, really, as evil always turns on itself at some point), they also learned that the slaves are taken to a hidden city in the Drachensgrab Mountains called Suderham to be sold and traded. Only trusted slavers are allowed there, so the party decided to use the information in the ledgers they found to pretend to be agents of Sturm travelling to Suderham to do his business. They learned of a merchant named Alforas who left a few days prior on his way to Suderham and if they were quick enough, they might catch him and free some slaves on the way.
The party decided not to waste time exploring the rest of the temple and instead find the quickest way out. That way appeared to be through a trapdoor they found in one of the tunnels. The trapdoor led into a chapel inside the ruined temple where they were attacked by sturges. But the noise they made fighting the sturges allowed the real enemy, a cleric of something called the Earth Dragon, and her minions to prepare for an attack. When the party barged into the next room, she was ready. It was a tough fight, but the party prevailed, even sparing the life of the cleric if she would answer some questions and provide safe passage out of the temple, which she did.
From there, the party wasted no time going back to town, buying some riding horses, and making their way to the southern road that leads into the humanoid invested foothills of the Drachensgrabs. With Pontus tracking the merchant caravan, the party was on their way, stopping to pay tolls to the humanoid tribes along the route to avoid trouble. It is now the evening of the 21st Day of Reaping, 580 CY and the party has made camp for the night. We shall see what dangers await them next week. . .
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