Quail Valley Session 27 (SW)

We last left our heroes after they made an initial foray into an old mine in the Mélyen Hills and had retreated to recover. They encountered a number of strange and hostile creatures within. Creatures that they may not have been fully prepared to deal with…some unlucky dice rolls didn’t help either. They were just about to head back in to delve deeper into the mine before we ended the session. That, of course, is where we pick up after the break.

This write-up is from RJ. Muse was missing so Rachel played Cailana. Wink and Raspin’s players are no longer playing. RJ is now playing Raspin as well as Faelan. There are potential spoilers for Necromancer Games module, Aberrations…although heavily modified as usual. Also, as usual, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].

After healing up, there was a discussion on what we should do. The concern the party has is if we rest the night then the monsters will know we are there and will get ready to ambush us but at the same time the party is low on resources. We decide to wait and see if something comes out after us. After an hour, we decide to head back in, just as we realize that Wink is not with us. He was with us as we entered the mine but did not come back out.

We get to the entrance, light some torches this time since we are low on magic and head in. We slide along the wall watching the holes above us as we go by them. As Faelan is watching the hole to one side, something grabs him from the other hole and starts to drag him up. He screams, and everyone turns. He wiggles himself free but is shaken by the incident. Serena comes up and slams her mace into the monster’s arm. She crushes it and the arm goes limp, and Stilesto pulls the creature out. Stilesto, grabs its long fingers and pulls it and the bone stretches. The creature groans and Stilesto lets out a yelp. Stilesto pulls out his dagger and stabs it in the head.

We continue, at the bottom of the ramp there are the bodies of the frog men but only three of them. After looking around we see a blood trail that leads to the hallway and to the left. We suspect that something dragged one of the bodies away.

We decide to go the opposite way and head down a tunnel. To the left is an opening with another opening just past it and on the right. Raspin looks in the first opening but can’t see much with the fog. Stilesto goes past him and looks in the opening to left and hears dripping.

Raspin walks in and feels something drip on his head, he looks up and there is a creature staring back at him. He moves back in the hall and lets the party know that something is coming. Out of the darkness, along the ceiling comes a monster with tentacles reaching out for Raspin. They strike at him but he deflects the blow. Then another comes along the wall and strikes but misses. They are massing now and another slithers along the wall and strikes, lucky for him they can’t seem to get thru his armor. Several more slither out along the wall and surround Raspin. Eventually, a dozen of the creatures attack, focusing on Raspin and to a lesser extent Faelan. Unfortunately, Raspin caught Faelan with one of his sweeps at the creatures and badly injured him. Later, one of the creatures incapacitated Faelan and started to drag him away. Fortunately, we were able to defeat all the creatures and rescue Faelan before he became a meal.

[There actually is a reason why the creatures were focusing on Raspin and Faelan. I probably shouldn’t share though just in case the party encounters these creatures again.]

By the end of this battle, the large frog monster we had encountered previously was croaking and roaring so we grab Faelan and head out of the mine. We head to the top of a nearby hill and Serena starts to treat Faelan. She revives him but he is still wounded. Faelan helps Serena as she tries to heal Raspin.

Meanwhile, Stilesto goes to the top of the hill and watches the mine while hiding. Cailana does the same in a different location. “Zeke” comes out of the mine and looks around. He bends down, sniffs the ground, looks up, and heads in our direction. Stilesto slides towards the group to let us know Zeke is coming.

[Zeke is the creature the group freed from the ogre barn.]

Cailana shoots at him, missing. She moves down the hill away from the rest of the party, hoping to draw him off as the wounded are still being tended. As Zeke runs towards her, she stops and shoots again. Unfortunately, her bowstring breaks as she pulls the arrow back.

[Another critical failure.]

Stelisto joins the fight but doesn’t last long against Zeke’s attacks. After capturing Cailana in some webs, Zeke moves to attack the rest of the group. It was a difficult battle, but we were able to kill the monster. The fight left the party as the walking wounded and so we decide to retreat and recuperate.

We get back on the road and head to town. Our travel is slow given our injuries. The first night and the next day of travel are uneventful. Cailana finds us a cave to sleep in the next night. It is big enough for us all to get in and we set watches.

As Stelisto comes on guard, he casts his spell to see in the dark. Looking around, he sees lumps on Faelan. He tells Raspin who then lights a torch and sees three leather ball like things on Faelan. Raspin places his sword on one of the lumps and the lump starts to unfold and a winged creature pulls its long needle like tube from Faelan and squeaks and moves to Raspin.

It zips in and attaches itself to Raspin. Raspin drops his sword and shield and tries to grab it, but the creature [a stirge] moves out of his grasp. He thinks about running himself into the wall to squish it but realizes there is not enough room. The other two start to unfold. Stelisto quickly gets to one and slashes it, blood exploding on to him and Faelan. [This stirge had fed well.] Faelan is very pale and slumped over. The last one detaches and flies toward a small crack in the back wall. Cailana grabs it before it escapes and Serena kills it, leaving them covered in Faelan’s blood as well. Raspin finally grabs it and pulls it apart and blood washes over him. Serena goes over to Faelan and heals him, again reviving him but he remains pale and exhausted from the loss of blood. We stuff backpacks into the crack to block it.

In the morning, we head out and camp again. We reach Borsod late in the evening. We head straight to the inn. Rumble is there and just stares at us. Raspin asks for a drink which Rumble grudgingly gives. Stilesto asks where the baroness is and the dwarf informs us that she has gone back to Presov. Raspin asks if she left any messages for us, but Rumble just shrugs. When asked how long ago she left, Rumble says it might have been a couple of days…the days do run together after all.

[Rumble seems to be a bit more like he was when the group first met him and not the more helpful sort he became when the Baroness was around.]

Having finished his first drink, Raspin asks for another, but Rumble says only if he pays for it. Raspin, he muses, is a man of the Baroness after all and it wouldn’t do for him to be drunk. Less than pleased, Raspin points out that the Baroness had told the innkeep that the drinks were free. Rumble just stares at the big man. We let Rumble know that we’ll be back and then head to the temple to speak with Jolana.

She isn’t there so we head to the fletcher. He let us know that the Baroness had left about three days ago with some men at arms from Presov and Jolana. They had brought her a message and she left very quickly. He didn’t know why she left and suspected that any message for us would have been left with Rumble.

We go back to the inn. Serena and Cailana go in while the rest of us wait outside. The conversation does not go as we had hoped. Rumble is cagey and less than helpful. Serena is less than happy by the direction of the conversation and threatens to arrest him, particularly given his association with Miklós and Tamás. Raspin, listening from outside, had had enough and came in, walking straight at Rumble. He grabbed the dwarf, shouting at him to provide the Baroness’ message. Intimidation did not, unfortunately, work any better. When Raspin started to pull Rumble from behind the bar, the dwarf brought up the crossbow he had been hiding behind the bar and ordered us out of his inn, shoving the crossbow into Raspin’s gut as an emphasis.

Raspin backs away and heads out. Cailana and Serena linger, staring daggers at Rumble, and he tells them to leave. They grudgingly move to the exit. Just before Serena, the last to leave, heads out the door, Rumble tells her to give his best to Farkas and starts to laugh. Serena stops and asks if something had happened to Farkas, but Rumble just says that we’ll have to go to Presov to find out. Serena makes it clear that this night isn’t something that she’ll forget anytime soon, closing the door on her way out.

Already late at night, we needed a place to stay. We decide to head to the mayor’s home since no one would be there. Just in case, we knock on the door first before trying to open it. It is locked, but Stelisto is able to unlock it. Raspin opens to door and someone is walking towards us, yawning and saying, “Hi Raspin!” It is Willow!

[And that’s where we ended the session. This was a pretty brutal session from the perspective of wounds. The group got pretty beat up. At least they killed Zeke…a horror that they feared that they had unleashed on the valley.