At the end of the ninth session of this campaign, the party had started exploring the areas below Cagair Keep and found them occupied by some sort of dwarf zombie things. Dwarf zombie things that remained “alive” after encountering the party. An additional shaft leading even farther down was also found. However, without more rope they decided to head back up and regroup. That’s where we pick up this session.
This recap is from Thomas. Everyone was in attendance. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
One by one, each member of the party arrives at the top of the shaft to an awaiting Berguk asking for “Master.” When Adran finally arrives, he hands him a missive from Lokka. The letter was a response to the instructions he sent to her concerning visitors. The response was extremely well-written but sassy. Adran had unwittingly confined his instructions to treat visitors well if they were from Daggerford and Waterdeep with no mention of other locations such as Floshin Estate. Lokka’s reply included that, despite her better instincts, she would not treat visitors from Floshin Estate as visitors in this case but instead as hostile interlopers.
[Well, Adran’s note to Lokka was rather condescending. Her note back was in fine penmanship and well-written. I wonder what’s up with all that.
Part of Adran’s note was asking Lokka to have guards posted in the room with the shaft leading below. She directly responded to this in her response by pointing out that she didn’t even have enough men to man the keep’s outer defenses let alone provide a rearguard for his strange explorations.]
Knowing he would need to speak with Lokka, the party spent some time deciding what their best course of action would be. The possibilities included: further exploration below the keep, getting a message to Waterdeep saying that we have fulfilled the immediate requirements of the will, gather supplies from Daggerford, or participate in guarding/scouting in anticipation of Hawke’s return.
After some deliberation, the party decided they would continue exploring down below and would send Lokka and Berguk to Daggerford for supplies and more men. Adran then went to speak with Lokka about this. As he approached, he saw a row of his guards and a very upset Lokka. She explained that some emissaries from Floshin Estate had come and, as per the instructions, they treated them as hostile, resulting in some of the guards dying. In the end, this turned out to be a ruse, frustrating Adran. After some back and forth, Adran finally succumbed to giving Lokka an order – to take Berguk to Daggerford with her. Strik gave 200g to Berguk and 20g to Lokka (all from the money they found below) for the getting of supplies and additional men, respectively. Both Berguk and Lokka head out on horseback for Daggerford.
[Lokka was clearly not happy with Adran’s apparent inability to think that she might actually be competent at doing her job. This little display was an expression of that.
Lokka was also very unhappy about having to take Berguk with her to Daggerford. She has a clear dislike and disdain for the dworcs. She actually forced Adran to directly order her to take Berguk with her. Needless to say, Adran’s captain of the guard was not very pleased by this.]
That evening, Ugak decided to visit Skarr’s room, since her attempts of seducing Strik had been checked. Skarr was much more amenable to her sexual advances and they had sex.
[Hmm…what would a child of a orc/dwarf (aka dworc) and orc/human (aka half-orc) be called? Maybe a qworc for quarter orc?]
The next morning, the party returned below planning to take out the dwarf zombie-like creatures they had left down there. This time, the party went in prepared. They lined themselves up, made use of defensive spells and tactical arrangement and dispatched of the undead in both rooms.
[Ho hum…that was a boring fight. When we got to the second set of undead dwarves I said, okay, they’re all dead and Strik (who was the main front man in this fight) takes such and such damage instead of dragging it out longer.
The prior couple of encounters with these dwarves were certainly more tense as the players really weren’t sure if they could handle the numbers and weren’t able to employ the same tactics–due to lack of information–as this time. But this time, by controlling where the baddies would attack–essentially one at a time–and with judicial use of Protection from Evil and Good spells, the dwarves never really had a chance. Oh, the number of 20s I rolled, combined with a low roll on the other disadvantage d20. It was…painful to watch…at least for me. 😉 ]
The group decided they should continue on, especially with the money situation drying up so quickly. Running a keep turns out to be quite expensive.
Skarr climbed up the shaft once more and retrieved all the rope they had used to descend. Coming back down using just the shaft as bracing, the party then had around 150 feet of rope. With a clever idea from Adran and some teamwork to make it happen, the party was eventually able to secure the rope onto the chain hanging above the large elevator shaft. Strik volunteers to head down first. The shaft went down approximately 160 feet, leaving a small gap between the end of the rope and the floor. Strik yelled up to the rest of the party to follow him down and then he drops off the rope.
The shaft opened into a large room with lots of debris and some dust, which showed footprints that led back and forth from the shaft to a door. After everyone had descended, the party went through the door to find a small landing before a 25 foot chasm. On the other side was another landing and a door. Unfortunately, at the point the party was completely out of rope. Rory, with the help of a blessing from Strik (and his still unspoken deity), scaled the walls around to the other side.
With the rest of the party on the other side of the chasm still, Rory opened the other door. She was immediately assailed with a smell of musk and burnt flesh. The corridor led gradually down and had some intersections through it, a marked difference from the worked stone which characterized everything so far.
As she advanced down the corridor, she spotted some movement further down. Stopping abruptly, she wonders, was she seen?
[And that’s where we stopped for the night. It was kind of a slow feeling session for some reason. In fact, the beer was probably better than the session. Oh well, they can’t all be crits, right?
So, the space below the keep appears to be more extensive than, perhaps, anyone had thought. Is there more treasure down here that Caill was referring to in his will? The fairly paltry amounts in the “treasure chest” couldn’t really be all the treasure, right? I suppose that we might find out in the next session.
Beer Log: Using our hit, miss, crit, and fumble rating scale, below is what we sampled this session.
- Toppling Goliath Golden Nugget: It might not be psuedo Sue but it is a damn good IPA. A definite hit with citrus and floral notes rather than just bitterness.
- Toppling Goliath 1492 IPA: Meh. Maybe I’m not just a fan of Columbus hops but this one was average and mainly bitter with little of the citrus, pine, or floral that I like in IPAs. Still a hit but only for a little damage.
- Exile Brewing The Raspberry Bohemian: Really nice. Fruity and a bit sour. A certain hit and if it had a bit more carbonation, would be close to max damage.
- Green Flash Brewing Natura Morta Plum: Courtesy of RJ. Tangy and tart with a bit of funk and fruit. It might have been my favorite of the night. A hit that resounds with a mighty thwack!
- Drie Fontienen Intense Red: This one has been sitting in my fridge for a few years. Very dry, woody, almost a bit of vanilla with some cherry and tart. A solid hit and I’m not sure if lost or gained more by aging so long.
- Westbrook Udderly Stout: Courtesy of RJ. We have a small problem in our house. People bring us beer. We buy beer. Sometimes new beer blocks old beer in one of the fridges with beer. Such was the case here. RJ brought this weeks ago and it sat none the worse for wear, fortunately. Another hit for the night which meant not a single miss and nearly all were really solid hits and near crits…unlike the undead dwarves during the session.
I thought the session was good, a hit I would say not a critical but still a hit. We worked as a team and seemed to have a bit of the strategy going on. And while some decisions were made eventually it was fun having all the discussion about it. 🙂