At the end of our last session, the Clerics Three were victorious…mostly. They had defeated their foes and had provided a merciful death to a presumed doomed and innocent woman. They had begun to inspect this last chamber and had found a small golden statue of the demon Demogorgon on a larger statue of the same. Alaric had tried to destroy it by striking it with his warhammer, leading to an explosion of the hammer. He then went to pick up the statue and that’s where we pick up after the break.
There are potential spoilers for “Troll Trouble” from Gary Whicker and from “Here There Be Monsters” from Dungeon Magazine #142. Both smooshed toegher and significantly modified for our use. This write-up is from Jason and my GM comments are in [brackets and italics] as usual. We had a full table and Bridgett joined us as well. She played Cora.
Alaric, ever wanting to display just how brave he is, grabs the statue – nothing. The lack of drama is remarkable. That aura lasts just a moment when the fires within the pit are somehow put out.
As the room dims, Pallas casts a spell and a light explodes over the party, healing cascading over Alaric, Delg, Chuck, and Otilia.
Bolstered by Pallas’ healing, the team moves from the altar room to the, well, accurately named bone room. There is a distinct lack of movement found within.
As we pass through the door leading to the room we first entered hours ago, surprise strikes the team. No one faces the mind-incursion from the serpent woman so often experienced in just this space. A few
series of investigation reveal nothing, Chuck sticks with his modus operandi and does something without informing the group. He casts at the serpent woman to no effect. The party has become accustomed to these unannounced attempts at a better situation. They’ve had mixed results. Alaric and Pallas provide cover for the party in case of any attempt by the two-story tall seductress of death ensues.
[When the group entered the “blood room,” they were not mentally contacted as before. Instead, as they reached the middle of the bridge on their way to the exit, the serpent rose up in anger weapons in all six arms, yelling “Infidels!” in their heads. Chuck cast scorching ray, to little effect, and we were in initiative, everyone, however was able to reach the mirror and its portal to escape.]
Most of the party jump through the portal, leaving Pallas, Alaric, and Chuck. Chuck encourages them to go through first and they do so. Chuck he hears the serpent women say that this will not be forgotten. He responds with his own telepathic message, “I’m sorry, who’s this?” He smirks with his back to her as she stammers, searching for a response, and hops through the portal.
The party regroups in the, well, blood/throne room. We see no reason to delay and begin retracing our steps out of the cavern. As we do, we hear the strangest sound – bagpipes [louder as they get closer to the outside]. As we cautiously exit the cave, Chuck takes lead and, as I’m sure will become the norm, completely misses a potential threat. Otilia proves her worth (duh) and notices a halfling playing the bagpipes just outside the cavern. The best part? She’s sitting on a badger the size of a mastiff. The halfling has white-blue eyes, brown hair, wearing leather armor with a bow stowed at her back and two short swords within quick access should danger approach.
As Otilia approaches, the halfling greats the party – introducing her badger, Digger, and herself, Cora. She explains that she encountered the same tragic wagon scene that the rest of us had on her travels and followed the trail to the cave entrance. As the party is introduced to Cora, Chuck feels especially connected to Digger.
We learn Cora is from Scottsland [RJ isn’t allowed to help come up with place names anymore] and has been traveling for longer than she can recall. Playing the bagpipes acts to banish evil. [An old halfling tradition.] As she entered the pass she had the same feeling the rest of us had and saw fit to keep her pipes playing.
After a brief discussion everyone decides it’s best to return to Clem to assuage his fears of the “Bad Place.” Clem, to most of the party’s pain, is no where to be found. He seems to have left with a deal of haste, potentially immediately after the party began their trek towards the “Bad Human” and the “Bad Place.”
Otilia then calls out to Nefton. The party finds him and his sons still hiding in the bushes in which they were left. Chuck, never interacting with them before did not know just how dumb he and his sons are. Chuck picks up that the party would love to extricate themselves from the Nefton, Pedr, and Colbyorn. He suggests they join the circus that he came from just a few days before.
The party begins following in the circus’s trail and head back to Oakhart. As they travel to Oakhart they reach Havel’s Cross and encounter the ruins of an inn. They search for bones that were previously buried on the premises. They destroyed an evil bone from an Elven temple of death. It was shattered and buried in several locations. The clerics spin a few lies before Pallas fesses up ad admits to setting the bar on fire during a previous visit. [It was Delg that actually set the place on fire.] As they leave the scene of the crime, they travel further on to a clearing to take their rest. The clerics inform Chuck and Alaric that this spot was used previously where they had their “mushroom nightmare occasion” [and not to let Delg cook with the mushrooms.]
[Out first session resulted in a TPK pretty early on and so it was all a dream caused by psychedelic mushrooms that Delg mistook for high Dwarven cuisine.]
They rest without interruption and make their return to Oakhart. They immediately head to Wizard’s Tower Brewery. Outside the brewery, Orctallica was playing [to annoy Roscoe] which piques the interest of Cora. She whips her bagpipes into position and are greeted warmly by the band. The remaining members enter the brewery and see Winsome and Roscoe sitting with a gnome.
Winsome runs to Otilia and wraps her a hug and starts chatting. She informs her that Roscoe had a need and then began searching for Delg [who is trying to avoid Winsome’s attention]. She sort of falls over herself with anxiety and then spouts out a string of mouth diarrhea. [Winsome talks fast, talks a lot, and it is generally rather stream of consciousness.]
Roscoe intercedes and introduced Bale Havensack III to the party. He explains that he needs traveling companions as he heads to Oldsten. We agree and the party splits to ready for the trip.
Winsome begins a diatribe regarding men and their wicked ways. [With an emphasis on Pallas.]
Delg does his best to keep Nefton from spilling the beans about the pig “intercourse.”
Bale and Chuck have a back and forth regarding the job and Bale becomes enthralled with the idea of a wagon of holding.
Winsome corners Delg again so Chuck blinks Delg away and Delg realizes Nefton and his sons were left behind with Winsome. He hurries back to sweep them away before any self-incrimination. He arrives to hear Nefton ask if she’s interested in either of his sons.
Chuck sneezes in Winsome’s face and pretends he’s sick to get her to steer clear of the party.
As Cora lets her last note run out, she leaves Orctallica and the party all reconvene at the bar. Delg tries on the magical arm wraps [found in the Two-Face Shrine]. He feels no effect until they attempt to connect to him and he resists.
Bale introduces the party to his well armored wagon [parked out back]. Chuck’s jaw drops as he sees the crossbow on the roof and he climbed to the top of the wagon. He swung the crossbow around quietly saying “PEW-PEW!!!” quietly to himself. Seeing this, Bale mocks Chuck and his attempt to use the crossbow stating that perhaps someone more militarily inclined might be better trained for its use.
As the all head to the Copperkettles for dinner and to spend the night, Bale gives out three rules:
- Don’t enter the wagon unless invited
- If invited in, don’t touch the chests
- SURVIVE!
As the wagon just begins moving Winsom comes running and informs the CL that she believes Delg has fungal quarts. When she arrives, Alaric realizes he should ask her about the statue. Commence the screaming – “There’s a demon cultist!!!” We explain how we came across the statue and Winsome states she will head to Tristen to research the statue and deduce a way to destroy the figure.
[Delg claimed to be very sick and described some symptoms and various members of the party alternately claimed that they might be contagious or they were fine, depending on whether or not they wanted to have a conversation with Winsome. For her part, Winsome, based on the described symptoms, theorized with concern that Delg might have a disease known as Fungal Quartz, a potentially fatal disease that can be contracted in the Underdark.
The group spent a pleasant night at the Copperkettles and then set off the next morning.]
Almost immediately after beginning the journey, Chuck pisses Bale off and is forced to walk along the wagon and not sit beside Bale at the helm.
[Chuck called dibs on shotgun, was a jerk, and so Bale, rather evenly, told him he had to walk instead.]
After finding out that Nefton named his pig-lover Suzy, the group speaks to Bale about the magical items they found recently. They strike a deal, forgoing their payment for the travel for a couple of perals needed for Otilia’s identify spell.
[The group tried to coach Nefton on referring to Suzy when discussing why he was banished. Rather than flat out saying that he was a pig, um, lover, he should just say he had relations with Suzy. It was only partially successful.
House Rule: The pearl component for an identify spell is consumed when the spell is cast.]
Otilia learns that the wraps are called “Monkey’s Grip” and the provide bonuses to climbing and strength checks. As she investigates the mace she is swept over with a mounting rage but is able to resist the red creeping in at the edges of her vision and learns the mace’s abilities. She chuckles as she accounts the mace [called Baboon’s Scream] induces “baboon rage”. When triggered the mace wielder goes into a rage and, whether friend or foe, they attack the closest creature within 60 feet [among other things]. Alaric is granted the mace.
After a day of travel, they settle in camp and Alaric attempts to attune to the mace, after everyone moves more than 60 feet away. He is overcome by the mace and goes into the baboonish rage[, lashing out at whatever small creatures are in the area around him]. After the rage abates, he returns to the party. Without attuning, the mace acts as a simple mace with no buffs.
The following few days pass without incident, and as we approach Rooksten, we see smoke on the horizon. We see vultures circling in the sky. As we get closer, we can make out two palisades [motte and bailey] and see the smoke coming from the larger one.
Chuck and Cora begin sneaking towards the scene, but Chuck is thoroughly outclassed and quietly allows her to do what she does best. Closer to Rooksten, an attack by hill giants becomes obvious [to Cora, her favorite enemy is giants]. There are huge boulders strewn about and a smashed bridge that connected the palisades. Cora circles around Rooksten and finds many tracks leading to and headed away.
[Giant tracks look to enter the settlement and then leave, looking like they lead off into some nearby hills. Another series of tracks, human most likely, that only leave the settlement and circle around to towards some nearby hills and woods…in a different direction than the giant tracks. It looked like the human tracks left prior to the giants entering. Lastly, there are tracks that only go in, after all the others, and look to be those of goblins.
A bell, most likely from a temple, was also ringing and had been heard from a distance. It wasn’t completely regular or rung as in alarm…just a consistent ringing.]
The party departs from the wagon, leaving Bale with Nefton and his sons, and join back up with Cora. She scouts ahead [crossing the drawbridge to the bailey] spots two worgs feasting on a fallen horse [in a courtyard within].
[Cora then started to sneak inside the gate.
And that’s where we stopped for the night.
There was also one point during the session where Chuck brought out a letter that he had been provided. It was in a language that he could not understand. Pallas took a look at it, using his comprehend languages ability. He recognized that the language was some form of a Primoridal language but was gibberish, perhaps encoded in some fashion. Hmmm…I wonder if that might be something interesting.
Station: Queen (for Clem) and then transitioned to Seven Nations (for Cora’s bagpipes) and then to Metallica for the return to Oakhart.
Beer Log: Here’s what we sampled this session, using, as always, our hit, miss, crit, and fumble rating scale.
- Toppling Goliath Golden Nugget w/ Mosaic: Thanks to RJ! If you like IPAs, so yummy. A near crit.
- Sour Cellars Sooper: So Sour Cellars is becoming a favorite of mine. Tart, fruity, and tangy. Great sour. Another near crit!
- Sante Adairius Lady in Grey: A incredibly well done Grisette…not a style we got to have all that often. Musty, a bit tart, and a nice hoppiness. Not a beer that will knock your socks off but very well made…enough to be a real solid hit.
