So this session went on for too long, nearly getting me in trouble with the family, but the battle was long and intense, so what can you do?
The session started with the characters in the inn, having just defeated agents of the Slave Lords and realizing they needed to get of town quickly. They had about 30 minutes before the ice wall that blocked all of the entrances would disappear and reinforcements would pour in. They quickly split up and explored the rooms that the dwarf (Ragnar) and mage (Hazzard) were staying in, finding some documents that indicated some of the slave movements, including a noblewoman, an alchemist and an artist (possibly Dame Gold and guests at her dinner party?). The proprietor of the inn, Carn, offered an escape out of a secret tunnel in the cellar and, after the party decided to behead the dwarf in a display of justice and retribution for his crimes, Carn knew he wasn't getting out of this, and decided to escape with the party.
Using a Wall of Fire to melt through a section of the Wall of Ice so they could get to the cellar, the party also ended up setting the entire inn on fire. Some of the party members succumbed to the smoke and had to be carried out, but they all made it, and the fire, which quickly spread to nearby buildings, kept the citizens of Elredd very busy for the next several hours, effectively covering the party's escape.
After giving him some money to help him on his journey, the group parted ways with Carn, and headed out on foot toward the City of Highport. Late that afternoon, they came across a merchant caravan and convinced the merchant to allow them to travel together for safety. These lands were known as some of the most dangerous across all of the Flanaess, ever since humanoid hordes began sweeping across the Pomarj. The caravan had 20 armed guards to add to the party's own strength, which would soon be put to the test. For the next couple of days the caravan moved south, with only minor encounters along the way. But each night when they made camp, dozens of torchlights were seen along the tree line west of the road, and the sounds of hooting and hollering were heard all night long, interrupting sleep. This continued for three nights, and on the morning of the fourth day, the caravan encountered an orc raiding party holding white flags, asking to parlay. The parlay, was, of course, a poorly executed ruse, and the caravan was soon under attack by 40 orcs. Most of the armed guards were brought down quickly, but the party was able to make short work of the orcs through a combination of spell power and physical might. Luapan and Sarril were even able to use their healing spells to revive the caravan guards. The merchant, thoroughly impressed, asked the party what they call themselves.
"Bad-ass Motherfuckers" replied Jarrus.
"Hartsbane" replied Sir Gerard.
And thus was formed the party of Hartsbane, the bad-ass motherfuckers.
Unfortunately, the party would soon learn that the orc tribe was sent to wear them down ahead of the real ambush waiting ahead. As the caravan followed the road through a wooded area, Sarril felt something was wrong (the "something" turned out to be that he lost contact with his familiar that was flying ahead of them). When he turned to warn the rest of the party that something was wrong, he realized that he has been silenced. No one was making a sound. Multiple overlapping Silence spells had been cast on the road. They had sprung a trap.
As the party readied for action (everyone but Jarrus, who was in front and oblivious to what was happening, and kept walking), the trees around them transformed into armed soldiers. Each round, more soldiers appeared until there were 40 in all. As the battle continued, 6 clerics and 2 magic users appeared (one of whom was the mage Hazzard from Elredd). This trap had been planned well in advance and the attackers were very much aware of the party's capabilities. The foot soldiers did their best to stick with bows and avoid engaging in melee combat with Jarrus, Pontus or Sir Gerard - but that plan didn't work so well given the boots Jarrus and Gerard had, and Pontus' natural speed. The clerics and spellcasters tried to quickly take out Sarril and Luapan before they could escape the radius of the silence spells, but lucky saving throws prevented that plan from working. Although volleys of arrows were flying, the superior armor class of the fighters were preventing them from taking too many hits, and the few hits they did take were negated with some healing potions.
One of the fighters did manage to get a net around Sir Gerard, and even though he was unable to fight, he was able to get to a potion of flying and get away long enough to start cutting himself out. Soon, Jarrus had taken out all of the clerics and was going after Hazzard, who had already loosed a few lightning bolts and magic missiles and needed to go down. Sarril managed to go invisible and drink his own flying potion and take to the air where he used his Wand of Ice Storms to start devastating the fighters below. Unfortunately, the last lightning bolt Hazzard fired took Luapan down. Jarrus closed in on the mage, but he teleported away.
Even though Luapan was down, it did seem the party was starting to gain the upper hand. Sarril was able to get to Luapan and deliver an Elixir of Life, effectively reviving him, just as Sir Gerard managed to get free of the net and join the fight. Sarril unleashed Boccob's Rolling Thunder on the remaining clerics and mage, taking most of them out. The mage responded with some magic missiles of his own, taking Sarril down close to death (but not quite). Sarril was able to cast Minor Globe of Invulnerability and take back to the air. Soon, Pontus came in to mop up, killing the mage, before being attacked by two red-robed monks who seemed to appear out of nowhere. There were 8 monks in all, hiding around in the woods and grass, watching the battle, only to join in if it looks like they had no choice. They had no choice. The party was about to win this fight. Two of the monks managed to shoot down Sarril with arrows. It looks like he may be dead. The rest of the monks engaged with Pontus, Jarrus and Gerard. Gerard was taken down to negative hit points and he used to sword to levitate to safety while binding his wounds, but otherwise out of the fight. Pontus and Jarrus fought the remaining monks, eventually killing them, though with only a few hit points left between them.
It would seem the party just completed a hard-earned victory - possibly the most difficult fight they've ever had. At that moment, as they were catching their breath, three people teleported next to them. One was a large fighter carrying a magical net. The other was Hazzard, the mage who escaped earlier. And the third was a female cleric, skinny with stringy black hair, dressed all in black. Jarrus and Gerard, both recognizing that they cannot take on these newcomers, dropped their swords and declared their surrender. As Pontus' player was not present, we decided to end the session on this cliffhanger. Will Pontus surrender? Or will he go into a barbarian rage and go down fighting? Stay tuned. . .
It is the afternoon of the 6th day of Planting, 580 CY.
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