Kansas. That’s where things ended in our last session. In the sense of “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” After having finally gotten out of Castanamir’s abode, the party passed through the main portal to find themselves not back in The Valley. Instead, they learned that they were in the Vesve Forest on Greyhawk. In addition, they got caught up in a quest to rescue a group of elderly folk from some hobgoblins and a green dragon…somewhat reluctantly on the part of some. The session ended with the party having found the elderly folks, defeating a number of hobgoblins, and having the dragon make an appearance from the top of a tower.
This week we had Bridgett (continuing her guest appearance), Muse, RJ, Theo, and Thomas so Katerine, Callie, Grim, Rurik, Aelwulf, Lilly, and Bronn were present.
My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].
After the last of the hobgoblins fell, Midoritosh, the green dragon, made her appearance. From atop the tower, she looked down upon Lilly and began to question the halfling hippie. The discussion ranged around why the party had come here and what kind of compensation would be offered in exchange for having killed Midoritosh’s servants. There was also some discussion regarding the release of the elderly folk but the dragon made it quite clear that she considered them her property and any attempt to free them would be considered theft with an appropriate response from her. As compensation for the death of her servants, Lilly offered up a magical dagger and to accomplish a task for the dragon. The dragon immediately agreed to this compensation practically before Lilly had even finished making the offer [and definitely before Lilly could specific a task or place any stipulations upon what they would do…tricksy dragon]. The dragon had an uncanny amount of knowledge about the party’s encounter with the hobgoblins at the “archway” as well. She seemed to have direct knowledge of the party killing those hobgoblins and was not overly pleased that both Lilly and Aelwulf, shouting from a bit farther away, attempted to lie about their role in it. Nor did she “fall” for Aelwulf’s clumsy attempt to convince her to go through this magical portal to a land of boundless treasure and opportunity.
Midoritosh then summoned Lilly to come up to the top of the tower to deliver the magical dagger to her. Lilly found the entrance to the tower and took the stairs inside to the top. Midoritosh waited at the top and accepted the offering of the dagger. It was, however, the dagger that whined and insulted the wielder while held that had been find in one of the rooms on Castanamir’s Island. The dragon ordered Lilly to bow on her hand and knees before her. Lilly obeyed and Midoritosh painfully stuck the dagger in the prostate halfling’s back, angered at having been given such an insulting gift.
The dragon then explained the TWO tasks that she expected to be accomplished for her. The first was to recover a cloven hoof. The hoof was lacquered and hung from a chain or string. It was rumored to be in some ruins, ruins of the Ashen Tower, about three days’ travel north. Under no circumstances, should anyone experiment or even touch the hoof…simply find it, bag it, and bring it back. The second task was to bring the head of Kurobosh, a former (and traitorous) captain of Midoritosh’s hobgoblins. He too had traveled to the north. Midoritosh handed over a small knar of wood which had some sort of map carved upon it which included the words “fiendish foot” [presumably a reference to the cloven hoof] and Neperchil’s Rest. The latter was not recognized by any of the party but the image of a skull with fangs and a coffin next to the words led to speculation that Neperchil is (or was) likely a vampire.
A timeframe of seven days was provided to return with both items or, Midoritosh threatened, she would hunt down Lilly and kill her in the most painful way imaginable. With the negotiations over, Midoritosh asked if Lilly would be willing to bring her two of the elderly. Lilly refused. The dragon also asked Aelwulf who also refused. She then asked Callie who, with no hesitation, asked what she would get in return and the dragon offered treasure but the borderline sociopath also declined. The party then regathered in the building with the elderly, who were still bound and discussed what they should do. Lilly filled everyone in on the dragon’s required tasks. Callie actually suggested that perhaps they should just let the dragon have the elderly [as though Midoritosh didn’t already possess them] and they should all leave. That suggestion did not find fertile ground with the others. Instead, there was discussion of somehow escaping with the elderly and going back through the “portal.” There was, however, no obvious method of spiriting away the folk.
When the elderly were relieved of their bounds, they were not overly enamored with the party. The discussions of giving them to the dragon or simply abandoning them had definitely overshadowed any discussions of saving them. This did little to help in the interactions with an already ornery and grumpy group of seniors. Resigned to doing the dragon’s bidding [even though it will not gain the freedom of the elderly], they party prepared to set off. Before leaving, they did get Midoritosh to promise that she would not harm any of the elderly but the dragon put on the stipulation that the promise would only hold if the elderly did not leave the building. In addition, the party left about half of their rations for the elderly. As the party got the elderly settled, the dragon took flight and headed into the woods…in the direction where the party had last left Grant! A moment later a short scream was heard and abruptly cut off. Midoritosh returned to the tower’s apex, carrying a lifeless Grant in her talons. The sounds of the dragon’s chomping could be heard as the party departed for the north. [None of the discussions of amnesty from the dragon’s attentions had ever specifically included Grant and, regardless, he was outside the safety zone of the building anyways.]
For three days, Katerine led the party north through the forest. They did not make nearly as good as time as they may have hoped given their deadline but they needed to forage and hunt in order to make up for the supplies left with the elderly. As they camped on the third night while Bronn stood last watch, he noticed a hint of smoke wafting on the breeze. Climbing a tree, he spotted the glow of good sized bonfire coming from a short distance off. Waking the others, it was decided that Callie and Katerine would scout ahead while the others waited about a half an hour for them to return before setting out themselves. Bronn scouted out as the second wave, followed fairly quickly by the others. All came to the same fate…surrounded by elves, armed with bows with drawn arrows pointed in the party’s direction.
The elves escorted the party to their camp. It turns out that they had recently battled a force of hobgoblins that had been attacking and raiding their settlements recently. Although the elves did not seemed overly pleased that the party was working for Midoritosh (perhaps mitigated by the honest admission of this), they did recognize a similarity of interests. It turned out that Kurobosh had established a base camp in an area of the forest that the elves could not travel. This area was infested by creatures called Needle Blight, an evil, sentient, and mobile form of evil plant life. Katerine was well versed about Needle Blight having encountered them before. The elves couldn’t enter the area because the Blights hated them with a passion and would rabidly swarm any elf entering the area. The elves, for their part, did their best to contain the creatures and prevent their spread. Not only had Kurobosh set up a camp in the area, the ruins of the Ashen Tower also lay within the blighted area. The elves provided a map of the area as well as a fine meal but would not provide a guide. Katerine could lead the party as well as they and none of them would enter the area of the blights. They also pointed out the trail that Kurobosh and his remaining followers took into the area.
[The elves also were not overly fond of the idea that Callie floated of burning down the blighted area. Instead, they asked for all of Callie’s torches and other fire making equipment, offering her fair compensation in return.
The map of the elves indicated that the ruins of the Ashen Tower was closer to one edge of the blighted area and the trail that Kurobosh took entered from the opposite side, the map being somewhat oval or egg-shaped in area. The party discussed if they should follow the trail to find Kurobosh or head for the ruins. They decided to take the shorter route directly to the ruins and then seek out Kurobosh. They also speculated as to how it was that Kurobosh could pass through the area and camp there and not be attacked by the Blights. Katerine knew that Needle Blights would defend their territory against any intruders but somehow Kurobosh managed to pass freely.]
Circling around to the area closest to the ruins, the party made directly for the ruins. A short distance in, they were, of course, ambushed by Needle Blights. They had been traveling in a formation with Katerine in the center with the others circled around her (she was only a half-elf but still the only elf type currently in the party). The Blights “fired” large, well, needles at each of the encircling party members and then attempted to reach Katerine. The fight was rather short and the Needle Blights were defeated but not before a pair had released a cloud of pollen into the air. Katerine noticed this and knew exactly what it meant. The pollen would carry on the breeze and summon any Needle Blight it reached; it wouldn’t be long before swarms descended upon the area. Sharing this information with the others, the party took off at a run to try and reach the ruins, hoping to find cover, before the Blights caught them.
It wasn’t long before the forest around them was alive with movement but there were no more attacks before the party crashed into a clearing filled with ruined buildings…safety, perhaps. Alas not. A trio of hobgoblins started shooting from the cover of the ruins. Hobgoblins to the fore and Blights to the rear! Fortunately, the party took out the hobgoblins rather quickly [much thanks to Rurik’s sleep spell]. Although the Blights made a few attacks to the stragglers in the party, none of them followed the party into the clearing. None of the hobgoblins had much other than their weapons and armor but Aelwulf found a trapdoor in the ruins. Opening it, a set of stone stairs led down into what looked to be an old wine cellar. Taking the lead, Aelwulf headed down and was ambushed by more hobgoblin archers from behind a shelf while a third banged a sword against his shield, an obvious alarm.
The hobgoblin trio was killed quickly but an alarm could be heard being sounded from a hallway leading away from the cellar.
[And that, of course, was were we ended the session.]
