[This entry is from Thomas and is from the Journal of Karaphos…which means all the names are spelled wrong. I’ve added the correct names.
RJ and Jamie missed this session. Drew came over again and played Cuðbert.
My GM comments in brackets and italics as usual.
Spoiler Alert: Some portions of this session borrow from the adventure, Stolen Land, by Paizo. I’ve borrowed some locations, etc. and changed to protect the innocent. One encounter is also from the Hellfrost Encounters Book 1…encounter #8 to be specific.]
Hearthlands – Freelands – Olfun’s Stead
Day 485 of Search for Known New Species
Day 2 of Saxa Culture Lessons with Sian
From the window I can see Anklwerk [Andwick] is questioning the bandits that surrendered. Wusterfin [Wulfwynn] is helping bring the unconscious Ulder [Ölfun] and Sent [Sian] towards the living quarters (where I am now). Asterick [Andwick] and Wubblywuts [Wulfwynn] talk about the info obtained from the bandits and what the next course of action will be. Summary: Hasky [Hákon] is a part of the Stag Lord’s group but he has never met the Lord personally; Velvon’s [Vény’s] camp is two hours east, then one day’s journey north; that camp has about a dozen members and is also affiliated with the Stag Lord; there are countless bandit camps littered about the Freelands. (All this info was gleaned from Hilton [Hákon]. If a bandit knows the penalty for banditry is death, why would he give all that information away? Either way, Astlinky [Andwick] keeps looking at that red hot poker during the interrogation process, no doubt thinking of using it to torture the bandits. Perhaps his childhood was traumatic. Poor guy just needs a good older uncle figure to look up to…)
[Hákon did seem quite willing to offer up information with little in the way of threats or promises from the PCs. He said that his temporary camp was about two hours to the east and Vény’s camp was another day’s travel north from there. He even offered to lead them to Vény’s camp but drew the line at assisting in attacking the bandits..he would not provide info on their defenses. When asked about the missing Sister of Mercy with the implication that he may have had something to do with it, he was quite offended. Hákon claimed that he would never attack a Sister of Mercy as they do good deeds…he only stole from greedy merchants. The party, however, did not pursue any additional info about Hákon’s “moral” code of banditry or why he might have such.]
After discussing options together, Wimplikin [Wulfwynn] comes back inside while Nysteria [Nissa] and I begin brewing some Numbing potions (Nysteria [Nissa] created a nice salve. I am thinking it might not be as tasty as a tea, but the texture on the tongue should be interesting.) Out the corner of my eye, I see Skittle [Skuli], Cumberbun [Cuðbert], and Amblit [Andwick] execute the bandits (Osterun [Ölfun] hasn’t woken yet. Although I haven’t met him yet, I have a feeling he might be angry about this). Eventually Oblong [Ölfun] wakes up and seems to be disoriented. After meeting him and helping him with a little healing (his head injury created some kind of horrible smell hallucination), he seemed to have an adverse reaction to the remedy I gave him and tried to jump out of a window with me in his arms! Luckily for us, Slim [Sian] is able to reorient him. He decides to walk it off.
[Andwick, Cuðbert, and Skuli decide to execute the bandits as it is not clear that it would be safe to “imprison” them somewhere at the Trading Post while the party went off after the other bandits. The bandits’ gear was taken. The small amount of coin recovered was given to Sian by Wulfwynn (I think) and an alchemical device, Blast with a Fire Trapping, was found on Hákon…a twin to the one that he had thrown awry during the battle. The words, “Drink me,” had been written on the bottle containing the alchemical oil…Hákon appeared to have something of a sense of humor. Skuli took the bottle. The armor and weapons of the bandits were claimed by the now awake Ölfun.
Ölfun remained his hot-tempered, grumpy self and was quite upset that no bandits were “saved” for him to execute. He also grew quite annoyed with the ever-talking Karaphos and threatened…numerous times…to throw the old man through a window.]
During the night, it seems like some kind of heavenly levee broke! We wake to 5ft of snow on the ground! Finding the camp is going to be very tough now. The others discuss which direction to go. Oklun [Ölfun] subtly implies we should leave. I decide to walk myself outside and wait on the others. I stumbled ever so slightly so my loyal brother Testicleness [Taranis] helps me out the gate. We eventually leave for [Vény’s] camp. I found some snowshoes! My, these certainly are helpful!
[Jutta had said that it would not snow again in the Vale until the end of the month. It was now the end of the month and almost seemed like days worth of snow came down that night…almost as though someone had been holding it back and could do so no more. Regardless, the snow wasn’t just going to make it difficult to “track” down the bandit camps, it was also going to make it rather slow going.
Ölfun did seem quite keen on the party clearing out…perhaps he had had his fill of a certain elderly individual or maybe he has more nefarious plots going on…Hákon did seem to imply that Ölfun was a rather greedy merchant. The party had hoped to get enough snowshoes/skis for everyone but Ölfun didn’t have enough stock left for such…plus he was clearly going to charge for any such supplies and the group is rather low on funds (especially since the player who has been responsible for keeping track of the party’s finances hasn’t really seemed to have been doing so). Sian, however, provided the party various supplies (such as the snowshoes for Karaphos) without charge…telling Ölfun that they had been paid for.]
The first night of camping, we align the tents up and set up watches. Crumples [Cuðbert] sees some kind of blue light. Dremlin [Drefan] goes with him to investigate. Skeletons come out of the snow and attack us all! What a terrible fright! Tenderwrist [Taranis] looses control of some spell. Where did it go? After the undead are dead again, we investigate the blue lights. It is arcane in nature. But I am tired.
[As the party set up camp that night, it became clear that there were ruins under the deep snow. The party lit no fire and even the guards hunkered down in one of the two tents for the additional warmth provided. Assuming the skeletons would have attacked the unaware party in the tents, it was fortunate that Cuðbert noticed the light and got some of the party on alert. Drefan and Cuðbert walked side-by-side to investigate the light and, in so doing, indicated the tactical shortcoming of being on the front line without a melee weapon. Drefan had left his spear behind and was only carrying his bow. The skeletons received the Unarmed Defender bonus to their attacks against him and he almost died (got to three wounds).
During the fight, Todd rolled a one on his spellcasting die and Taranis would have suffered from Siphoning. However, I offered him a Benny to keep the roll and not suffer Siphoning but some other effect. He agreed…they still do not know what happened as Taranis’ magic were siphoned off…somewhere. The party only did a cursory look around after the fight before returning to their tents.]
In the morning, we find that the blue light was emanating from some stone runes in the ground. They have been dug up! Tastrinus [Taranis] recognizes it as a boost for necromancy and a ward against undead. We find human tracks leading to and from it. Who did this? What will we do?
[When they investigated in the morning, they discovered a few things. Following the trail of the individual skeletons, they found that they had dug themselves up from some shallow graves. More importantly, they found a new trail that came to the area where the light had risen from the ground and led away…the ground had been dug up, exposing a stone slab with an “arcane” circle carved in it. The circle, as Taranis determined, provided both a boost to necromancy and a ward against undead. The party broke camp and began to debate what they should do now. Should they follow the new trail? Should they destroy this arcane circle? Should they just be on their way and continue their search for Vény’s camp and leave the circle and new trail undisturbed and unexplored?
This is where we ended the session…with answers to those questions unanswered.]
